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Leading News
Political dialogue to take place
at CA's office
Govt working to make dialogue
meaningful: Hossain Zillur
UNB, Dhaka
The Chief Advisor's Office (CAO) has been selected as the
venue for the much-talked-about dialogue between the
political parties and the caretaker government on the
outcome of which depends the nation's next course of
journey.
Reporters were informed on Wednesday about the government
decision after a luncheon meeting of the five advisors
assigned to deal with the matters of dialogue, meant for
making a bailout from the long-running interim period of
governance by eleven-plus technocrats following the past
political crisis.
Commerce and Education Advisor Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman
said the CA's office has been finalized as the venue for
the talks. "Dialogue will be held at CA's office".
Chief Advisor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in his address to the
nation Monday announced that the political dialogue would
be started on May 22, aiming to forge a national consensus
on the ways of transition through the coming general
election. He said the polls would be held in the third
week December.
The advisors' meeting was held at LGRD Advisor Anwarul
Iqbal's office. The four other advisors are Communications
Advisor Maj General (retd) Golam Kader, Foreign Advisor
Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Law Advisor AF Hassan Ariff and
Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman.
The Commerce Advisor said that invitation letters for the
dialogue have already been sent to more than 20 of the
political parties and the rest would be delivered by the
day (today).
In sending the invitation, the lists of the political
parties who participated in the dialogue with the Chief
Election Commissioner and also in the pre-dialogue
meetings with the government were followed.
"Keeping in mind that list of the political parties, we
are sending the letters," Zillur said, adding, "We are
working to make the dialogue meaningful."
He noted that all the political parties are being asked to
send five names of the leaders who would join the talks.
Zillur said it is yet to be decided as to who should be
invited from civil society to sit in dialogue with the
government.
Bdnews24.com, Dhaka adds : The Chief Adviser's office sent
out formal letters to the Communist Party of Bangladesh,
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Bangladesh Workers Party on
Tuesday night inviting them to the forthcoming formal
dialogue sessions.
The letters dispatched, however, did not mention the date
or time of the dialogue. CPB general secretary Mujahidul
Islam Selim and Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon
confirmed with bdnews24.com Wednesday that they have
received the invitation letters.
JSD president Hasanul Haque Inu said that he got the
letter on Tuesday around midnight.
"But the date of the dialogue was not mentioned in the
letter. We have been asked to furnish the CA's office with
the names, addresses and contact numbers of a number of
party leaders."
"The letter also said, the date of the dialogue would be
finalised at a convenient time," Inu said.
About accepting the invitation or otherwise and the issue
of attending the dialogue would be decided after the
central committee meeting, he said.
AL vows to join talks only with Hasina
CA's address rejected,
nationwide hunger strike May 20
Sahidul Islam Rana
The Awami League
Working Committee has formally rejected Chief Adviser's
address to the nation and vowed to take part in ensuing
dialogue only with the AL President and former Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Terming the address of CA Fakhruddin Ahmed as
self-contradictory, unexpected and ill- motivated, the
meeting also expressed grave concern saying, "The failure
of the incumbent government in creating a congenial
atmosphere for the talks between the Caretaker Government
and the political parties - has been reflected in the
address frustrating democracy-loving people of the
country."
Chaired by acting AL president Zillur Rahman, the ALWC has
announced a fresh action programme to press home their
six-point demands including unconditional release of
detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ensuring
her proper treatment abroad.
The fresh demand also include: withdrawal of Emergency
Power Rules and lifting of all restrictions on indoor
politics, announcement of Parliamentary Polls date prior
to the election of Local Government and cancellation of
re-demarcation's move of 133 constituencies, trail of war
criminals and declaring them illegible for any polls,
arresting the price spiral of essentials, release of
detained political leaders and restoration of fundamental
rights of the citizens
According to meeting sources, the working committee
meeting, started at 11.15am and continued till 4.50pm on
Wednesday with only a lunch break, was attended by some 36
central leaders. In the meeting, almost all the
participants vowed to join the talks with the Government
under the leadership of Hasina. The reformists' leaders
also changed their stand and were very vocal to free
Hasina, detained at the makeshift jail in Parliament
Complex since July 16 last year.
Briefing the newsmen after two-day-long ALWC meeting,
acting AL General Secretary announced next course of
action programme as per the resolution of the meeting.
With the demand of Hasina's immediate and unconditional
release, the AL has decided to observe 'Mass-Hunger
Strike' in all divisions, districts, upazillas and unions
level roots level on May 20. The capital Dhaka will not be
under the purview of the Hunger Strike programme.
AL will also form a human chain to press home their demand
for Hasina's release but the date will be announced later.
The party will also hold an "Extended Meeting" for the
next course of action on May 26, added Ashraful.
Asked whether the AL will join the dialogue or not with
Hasina behind bars, the acting party general secretary
avoided the question only saying, "The ALWC has reached a
unanimous decision to participate in talks only with
Sheikh Hasina."
Meanwhile, talking to The Bangladesh Today, AL presidium
member Amir Hossain Amu hinted that AL would not
participate in the dialogue with the government without
Hasina.
Referring to CA's speech, he said, "AL rejected the
address formally. Mentioning the possibility of holding
local government polls, especially upazilla election, the
Chief Adviser in his address to the nation further created
confusion among the countrymen.
Replying to a query, Amu said, "We do not want to go for
hartal and other street agitations to realise our demand,
but if the Government compels us to do so through their
works and activities, we will obviously proceed towards
that as a part of the democratic movement."
Gatco graft case
Arrest of BNP- Jamaat Bigwigs in the offing
Staff Correspondent
Following submission of charge sheets against BNP
Chairpersons, her son and 22 other influential leaders of
the then BNP-Jamaat alliance government in the Gatco graft
case, process is going on to nab the leaders whose names
have been included in the charge sheet.
As the Investigation Officer of the case appealed to the
court to issue arrest warrants against former Finance
Minister M Saifur Rahman, LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan
Bhuiyan, Heath Minister Khandaker Moshrraf Hossain, Land
Minister M Shamsul Islam, Ariculture Minister MK Anwar,
Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and
Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami.
Talking to this correspondent an official of Detective
Branch (DB) of police said process is going to nab the
persons involved in Gatco graft cases.
"As per the supreme the government's decision, we will go
for legal action. Just now we are not authorised to say
whether they will be arrested or not. We are waiting for
the government's directives in this regard. But we can say
process is going to nab them," the official added.
While talking to this correspondent Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan
said, "I am ready to produce myself before the court."
On other hand, Matiur Rahman Nizami in statement said
process is going on to nab him. "I know the move is on to
arrest me. But I am not worried about it at all. I have
faith in Allah and in the people," Nizami added.
Analysis
What did the CA really talk
about?
Mahmud ur Rahman Choudhury
In perhaps the most critical juncture in our Nations
history since independence, the Chief Adviser of the
Emergency Government decided to address the nation. The
media hype and build-up before the address, raised
people's expectations to a pitch and the address on the
evening of 12 May 2008 came as a sort of anti-climax. As
speeches go, it was a good speech, carefully scripted and
delivered with aplomb, almost by rote or so it appeared.
As a preliminary, the ban on "indoor politics" was
withdrawn hours before the speech was tele-cast; the
announcement that elections would be held in the 3rd week
of December 2008, came as no surprise since this
government has been consistently maintaining that polls
would be held by 2008 and 3rd week of December is a week
away from the end of 2008; the pronouncement that certain
Emergency provisions would be relaxed or suspended at the
appropriate time to create an atmosphere congenial to
elections and election campaigning, was also no give-away
as it is self-evident that Emergency regulations do not
permit political activities and without political
activities, mass participation in elections are impossible
and finally the declaration that a "National Charter"
based on consensus, is necessary before elections to
ensure qualitative changes in politics and governance, was
also not unexpected as the single most important agenda of
the Emergency Government now is to make sure that all
political parties agree in advance to legitimize and
ratify its activities and what better way to do that than
to have signatures of all concerned on a "National
Charter" based on "consensus".
Therefore, the two essential points in the entire speech
were: one, everyone has to get used to the idea that the
Emergency would remain hanging on people's heads as a
Damocles' sword till the elections are over and results
announced to the satisfaction of the Emergency Government
although some provisions may be temporarily relaxed or
suspended and two, everyone has to agree in advance to
legitimize and ratify the acts and activities of the
Emergency government or say good bye to free democratic
processes and institutions. Hidden within the agenda of a
"National Charter" are ideas of changes in the
Constitution allowing for powers to the President to
control the Parliament, direct Presidential control of the
Armed Forces and an assured role for the military in
governance and politics, a la Pakistan. Basically the
entire speech of the CA was centered on these two points
with the rhetoric and bluster designed to cover and
cushion the real intent, like an egg yolk protected by its
white.
The CA felt it necessary to "instruct" everyone on their
responsibilities and duties; the political parties and
politicians were advised on how they ought to behave and
conduct their politics and the electorate were advised on
what roles they ought to play in elections and politics
but never for a moment, not once did the CA deliberate or
ponder about what he ought and needs to do about the
terrible conditions of our economy, society and politics
or about the privations that our people are forced to
suffer under the Emergency. Therefore, the CA was not
addressing the Nation; he was talking to himself - that,
in the ultimate judgment, will be his and his government's
epitaph, if they are allowed one by the people of this
Nation.
Pro-govt
reformists desperate to merge with mainstream BNP
Delwar
still reluctant to take them back
Staff Correspondent
The pro-government
reformist splinter of BNP has now become desperate to
merge with the mainstream while key figures of the BNP are
still unwilling to take them back into the fold.
According to sources, reformists leader Lt Gen (retd)
Mahbubur Rahman, Osman Faruk and others held a series of
meetings with Hannan Shah, Nazrul Islam Khan and Goyeshwar
Chandro Roy to work out how to reach a consensus on unity
issue. Sources from both the camps claimed that the
declaration of unity will come in a day or two.
Nazrul Islam Khan and Goyeswhar Chandro Roy claimed that
whatever they are doing for the party unity is being
carried out after approval from the party Secretary
General Khandoker Delwar Hossain, the only person who was
believed to be an obstacle to reuniting the party.
Khandoker Delwar Hossain has long been saying that there
is no issue of unity in BNP. "Some leaders are derailed
from the track under the instruction or under pressure
from a certain quarter. They can come back after realizing
and thus admitting their mistakes following due rules and
regulations enshrined in the party Constitution."
About the issue of expelled Mannan Bhuiyan and Ashraf
Hossain, Delwar and his cronies have been saying the issue
is a matter of the party Chairperson.
It is believed that the BNP's unity was stuck at the issue
of Mannan Bhuiyan and Ashraf Hossain. But now the
government-backed reformist splinter is set to merge with
the mainstream following any conditions given by Khandoker
Delwar Hossain.
Sources said, the reformists are ready to quit their
respective posts canceling the proceedings of the
much-debated 29 October standing committee meeting to
merge with the mainstream. Sources said, Khandoker Delwar
Hossain is still unwilling to take them back into the
fold. However, he is not saying anything categorically
about the issue as he wants the reformists to quit their
respective posts first. Then he would take decision about
the issue.
When contacted, BNP's acting office Secretary Ruhul Kabir
Rizvi Ahmed did not comment about the unity issue saying,
"I know nothing about the issue."
Lawyers
boycott Appellate Division today
Staff
Correspondent
The lawyers under the banner of the Supreme Court Bar
Association will boycott the Appellate Division today to
protest the judiciary's some recent decisions rejecting
bails of the accused implicated in different cases under
the Emergency Power Rules and giving legality to the
placement of previous offences under the EPR.
The pro-Awami League and BNP lawyers joined hands together
to boycott the highest court. Yesterday the SCBA by a
letter informed the Chief Justice of their decision of
boycotting the court from 9 am to 11 am.
According to sources, the idea of protesting the SC's
recent judgments rejecting bails of Hasina, Khaleda Zia,
Tarique Rahman and others was very much in the mind of
pro-BNP and pro-AL lawyers but after Barrister Shafiq
having been elected as President of the SCBA such movement
got a fill up.
On May 11, all lawyers gathered at a meeting on the court
premises from where they announced the programme to stay
away from cases in the Appellate Division on Thursday.
They said the Appellate Division Judges violated their
oath by ruling that accused in cases filed under the EPR
cannot apply for bail and EPR will have retrospective
effect. They criticised the Appellate Division's decisions
as being contradictory to fundamental rights and rule of
law.
On the other hand, as former vice chairman of Bar Council
Khondkar Mahbub Hossain gave statements against lawyers'
court boycott programme, SCBA President Shafiq Ahmed said,
"Discussing with other officer bearers I shall take step
for canceling his bar membership."
Corruption
Shajahan Omar
jailed for 13 years, Makbul's son jailed for 13 years
UNB, Dhaka
A special court on Wednesday sentenced former state
minister for law Barrister Shahjahan Omar to 13 years'
imprisonment for amassing wealth illegally and hiding
information on his wealth to the Anti-Corruption
Commission.
Judge Khondker Kamal Uzzaman also fined him Tk 10 lakh, in
default, to suffer one year more in prison. Omar was tried
in absentia.The court ordered confiscation of his property
worth Tk 2.6 crore to the state coffers.
"The sentences will come into effect after his arrest or
surrender to the court, say's the court order.
Another special court jailed former Awami League MP Makbul
Hossain's son Masudur Rahman for 13 years for similar
charge. He was also tried in absentia.
Judge Sirajul Islam also fined him Tk 10 lakh in default
to suffer one year more in jail. The court ordered
confiscation of his property worth over five crore.
On May 6 a special court sentenced Makbul to 13 years
imprisonment for amassing wealth illegally and concealing
information about his wealth. His wife Fatema Tahera
Khanom was also jailed for three years for aiding and
abetting her husband in protecting the ill-gotten
property.
Niko
graft suit
Hasina and others
asked to appear before court on May 21
Staff Correspondent
The Metropolitan Special Judge' Court has directed Awami
League president Sheikh Hasina and other co-accuseds to
appear before it on May 21 in connection with Niko graft
case.
Although the prosecution was directed to produce Sheikh
Hasina, former state minister for power Prof. Rafiqul
Islam and former power secretary Toufique-e-Elahi
Chowdhury but the prosecution failed to do so. Even the
prosecution could not assign any reason why the accuseds
were not produced.
Thereafter, Judge Md Azizul Haque ordered the concerned
authority to publish in different dailies asking six
absconding accuseds to appear before the court on May 21.
It also directed the jail authority to produce three
detained accuseds Sheikh Hasina, professor Rafiqul Islam
and former power secretary Toufique-e-Elahi Chowdhury on
the stipulated date. The fugitive accuseds in the case are
Dr SA Samad, Akmal Hossain, Mosharraf Hossain, Dr AKM
Mashiur Rahman, Syed Anwarul Haq and Kashem Sharif of Niko.
They were prosecuted under the penal code 409/109/511 and
section 5(2) of the Corruption Prevention Act, 1947. The
provision of Emergency Power Rules has not been invoked in
the case.
After receiving charge sheet, the court ordered for
issuance of arrest warrant against the five absconding
accused: Dr Kamal Siddiqui, CM Yusuf Hossain, Mir
Moinul Haque, Shafiur Rahman and Kashem Sharif. The court
asked the prosecutor to produce them on May 13.
Meanwhile, on May 5, the ACC submitted charge sheet
against Khaldea Zia and 10 others in the same Niko scam
case for incurring a loss of Tk 13,777 crore to the state.
BD
an important player in many int'l issues: Anwar Chy
UNB, Dhaka
Outgoing British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury on
Wednesday said Bangladesh has become an important
international player in many international issues like
climate change, counterterrorism and migration.
He observed that UK values Bangladesh's partnership, as
its intellectual and moral values are important to the
United Kingdom.
The High Commissioner made the remarks while he paid a
farewell call on Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed at the
CA's office.
The Chief Adviser appreciated the contributions of the
outgoing High Commissioner in expanding multifaceted
relations between the two countries and congratulated him
for successfully completing his tenure in Bangladesh.
He mentioned that a number of high level visits took place
between the two countries during the tenure of the High
Commissioner, which helped to further deepen the bilateral
relation between Dhaka and London and taking it into new
heights.
Dr Fakhruddin said Bangladesh can share its experiences in
women empowerment and poverty alleviation with whoever in
the world so wants.
The High Commissioner said Bangladesh and UK have now a
strategic partnership. Three UK Ministers would visit
Bangladesh within next six months, he informed.
Back Page
Deadly train
accident in Ashuganj
9 dead, 54 injured; train route suspended
for 10 hrs
Staff Correspondent
A deadly train accident on
Dhaka-Chittagong route on Tuesday night left at least
eight people dead and 54 other injured.
Following the train accident, train communication between
Dhaka and Chittagong remained suspended for ten hours.
After completion of salvage work, train communication
resumed at about 10 am on Wednesday. Soon after the
catastrophe authorities have dismissed four officials
including assistant station master temporarily.
According to railway police and Kamalapur railway station,
the accident occurred when a Sylhet-bound speedy train 'Upaban
Express' rammed into the Noakhali bound standing train at
Asuganj railway station at about 11.15 pm. After being
rammed, the front side of the 'Upaban Express' broke down
and caught fire leaving six people killed on the spot and
scores of injured.
"When the Upaban Express' rammed into the Noakhali
Express, three bogies were damaged and five others
derailed with a loud bang. Within moments, panic gripped
people staying in and around the Ashuganj railway
station," quoting witnesses the railway officials told The
Bangladesh yesterday.
Soon after the deadly incident, station master, officials
and employees of the station, fled the scene. Being
informed, salvage train reached the spot and started
rescue operation. Later, they completed their rescue
operation by 10 am yesterday.
Meanwhile, government has formed a four-member probe body
to investigate the incident. It may be pointed out that
during the last few days a number train accidents took
places at different parts of the country due to negligence
of Bangladesh Railway officials and employees.
PDB
earns about Tk 4,000 cr in last 9 months
Staff Correspondent
Revenue collection by the Power Development Board (PDB)
amounted to Taka 3,958.51 crore over the first nine months
of the current fiscal year.
According to PDB sources, the amount of revenue collection
increased by Taka 15 crore against the electricity bills
sent to the consumers during the period from July to March
last of the fiscal 2007-08.
The revenues were collected from the six electricity
supply zones, Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO), Dhaka
Electric Supply Authority (DESA) and others zones of the
Power Development Board.
Around Taka 1,869.77 crore were collected from the six PDB
zones of the country.
Of these zones, Chittagong zone is the foremost with
respect to revenue collection while the second biggest
amount of revenues were collected from the consumers in
the PDB zone of Rajshahi. Comilla is in third position and
Mymensigh is situated in fourth position with regard to
revenue earnings while the fifth biggest amount of
revenues were received from the power consumers in the
district of Rangpur.
In Chittagong zone of PDB, around Taka 609.90 crore were
collected from the consumers. A total of Taka 343.35 crore
were received from the consumers in Rajshahi zone. The
Comilla Electric Supply Authority collected around Taka
371.16 crore from the PDB customers. The amount of
revenues collected from the consumers in the Mymensingh
zone reached Taka 238.43 crore while the revenues
collected by the Rangpur Electric Supply Authority
amounted to Taka 189.28 crore. Around Taka 184.78 crore
were received from the power consumers under the PDB zone
of Sylhet.
Besides, the PDB authorities received a total of Taka 855
crores from the consumers of DESA and Taka 420.40 crore
from the consumers under DESCO.
During the month of March last, the amount of revenue
collection throughout the country reached Taka 413.97
crore. In March last, revenue collection increased by Taka
11.74 crore compared to the corresponding period of the
previous fiscal.
‘Corruption cannot be eliminated by arresting political
bigwigs’
Staff Correspondent
TIB Chairman Muzaffar Ahmed on Wednesday said by arresting
political bigwigs and other influential people it is not
possible to combat corruption across the country.
"If we want to eliminate corruption, at first, we will
have to refrain from such activities. We will have to
ensure the trial of the corrupt persons. It is observed
that the persons who indulge in corruption in different
sectors, become influential persons in the society,"
Muzaffar Ahmed said while addressing a discussion on
Corruption and misrule are the main barrier of human
rights' held at the National Press Club yesterday.
He said people look for government service for earning
more money through corruption. "Widespread corruption has
engulfed every government institutions and organizations,
like government hospitals and educational institutions
from thana level to top level. We are habituated to
violate rules and regulations. We should change attitude
and respect human rights and abhor corruption," he said.
The TIB Chairman said the Ant-Corruption Commission and
educational institutions would not be able to combat
corruption if the attitude of common people is not
changed.
"We will have to abhor the corruption at state,
institutional, family and personal levels in a bid to
respect other's rights," he added.
Party offices once again swarming with activists
F. M. Masum
Leaders and activists of different political parties
across the country have started gathering at their
respective party offices and holding meeting on the second
consecutive day after lifting of the ban on indoor
politics.
After a long 16-months ban on indoor politics, activists
of the political party in district and Upazilla level
across the country on Wednesday gathered in the different
party offices and discussed about the release of their
party chiefs and they are waiting for the instructions of
their central leaders.
Meanwhile, most of the party offices of Jamaat-E-Islami
and Jatiya Party were seen closed and in the some places,
the party offices of different political parties had
earlier evacuated for being illegally set up.
But in the meeting, there was no presence of high ups of
the party. Due to many frontline BNP leaders being in jail
or in hiding to evade arrest, some BNP leaders who are
still free said they will observe the situation for
sometime and then announce their next course of action.
But no leaders and activists of the BNP reformists' camp
were seen in the party office as they are apprehending
that they might be the victim of the angry conformists'
faction.
Talking to this correspondent, Menhaj Fakir, a Thana unit
leader of BNP in Agailjhara Upazilla of Barisal, said
yesterday, "Now it is a great opportunity for the
political leaders and activists as it will help to create
a congenial atmosphere and we will be able to conduct
activities for planning organizational activities."
He also said, "We have decided to handover a memorandum to
the UNO demanding immediate release of our party
chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia before beginning the formal
dialogue with the government."
While contacted with a District Unit AL leader, Limon
Talukder told The Bangladesh Today, "We will hold a
meeting with the local leaders within a day or two and we
will also handover a memorandum containing signature of
the local leaders and activists demanding release of our
party chief and we also believe that the much anticipated
dialogue would not be successful without participation of
Hasina."
DESA starts ‘CitiConnect’
Customers can collect, pay bills online
UNB, Dhaka
Customers of Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA) now
can avail of the 'CitiConnect' online services of Citibank
in collecting and paying their bills.
Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh and DESA on Wednesday signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect.
With the signing of this MoU, the DESA customers will be
able to receive their bills at CitiConnect website and
make online payments via Citi's innovative payment
gateway, according to a press release of the US-based
banking group.
DESA secretary Rafiul Alam and director and head of Global
Transaction Services, Citigroup Bangladesh Khondoker
Rashed Maqsood signed the agreement on behalf of their
respective organisations. DESA chairman Brigadier General
Md Nazrul Hasan, Ivo Distelbrink, Managing Director and
Regional Sales Head for Treasury and Trade Solutions for
Citi Global Transaction Services (GTS) and other senior
officials of both the organizations also attended the
signing ceremony.
"The introduction of a faster and more convenient
collection system will give us a great competitive edge.
CitiConnect will allow our customers not only to better
manage their time and efficiency, it'll also enable them
to streamline their bill collection, reporting and
accounting processes," said Brigadier General Md Nazrul
Hasan. Ivo Distelbrink said "CitiConnect is widely used by
our clients in Asia, especially by government
institutions, to collect taxes, customs duties and utility
payments from their customers.
I'm happy to see the launch of CitiConnect in Bangladesh
which will help the country to move forward in
e-governance."
Crime
Housewife commits suicide
UNB, Sylhet
A young housewife allegedly committed suicide by taking
poison at Dattarail Lalmati village in Golapganj upazila
on Monday.
Police quoting local people said Champa Begum, 26, wife of
Tipu Ahmed Turu of the village took poison at her room at
noon.
She was rushed to the local health complex in critical
condition, where she died few hours later. Police
recovered the body and sent it to hospital morgue for
autopsy. The reason behind the suicide could not be known
immediately.
Two community police killed, 20 injured in clash with
dacoits
Our Correspondent, Barisal
Two community police were shot dead and twenty other
villagers injured by the armed dacoits while they were
looting three houses including the resident of an
assistant police super at remote Khas Tabak village of
Kakchira union under Patharghata upazila of Barguna
coastal district on early Monday night. It is to be noted
that two police camps and a unit of naval contingent
stationed in the Kakchira area of Patharghata coast.
The injured admitted at Barisal SBMCH and police sources
said that a group of armed dacoits entered in the house of
Abdul Mannan Master, father of Md. Kamal Hossain, an
assistant police super now posted at Motijheel police
station of Dhaka.
They tied Abdul Mannan and his wife, a former UP member,
Kohinoor Begum and looted valuables worth Tk 4 lakh in
cash and other valusbles.
The gang also looted properties worth Tk 1 lakh from the
houses of Majed Mallik of Khas Tabak and Abdul Huq Master
of Katakhali village of the same union on that night. The
dacoits opened fire on the villagers while they were
chased at. One Dulal Hossain, 26, college student and son
of Abdul Kader Member, Shah Alam Mallik, 44, son of Sattar
Mallik, died at the spot after receiving bullet injuries.
Md. Ismail, upazila president of Patharghata community
police, confirming the report said both the dead persons
were members of local community police unit. Twenty
persons also injured in the shooting and five of them
including Rattan Mia, 58, and Faruk Mallik, 40, admitted
at Barguna general hospital. Later Ratan Mia was
transferred to Barisal SBMCH in critical condition.
A murder and dacoity case was lodged in this connection
with Patharghta police station and the police after
recovering the dead bodies, conducted post mortem at
Barguna general hospital. Later the two bodies were handed
over to the respective relatives on Tuesday. Tanvir Haider
Chowdhury, district police super, Rahmatullah, assistant
police super of Betagi circle, Nurul Amin,
Officer-in-Charge of Pathatghata police station visited
the spot on Monday and law-enforcing agencies started a
combing operation in search of the miscreants.
7 criminals held; firearms, bullets recovered in city
Staff Correspondent
At least seven alleged criminals were arrested by
Detective Branch (DB) of police and a good number of
firearms and bullets recovered from their possession at
separate parts of the capital on Tuesday.
According to sources, acting on a tip-off, a patrol team
of DB police led by Sanwar Hossain, assistant commissioner
of DB police, went to Gendaria under Sutrapur police
station at about 9:30 pm and arrested Abul Kalam, 31,
Babul Hossain, 30, and Milon, 28, while they were taking
preparation for committing a robbery. The law enforcers
also recovered a foreign made pistol, three hand bombs,
three rounds of bullets and a sharp weapon after searching
their bodies.
Besides, a special of police led by sub-inspector, Sohrab
Hossain, went to Jhilpar under Badda police station at
about 10:30 pm and arrested Mehedi Hasan alias Babu, 18,
and Tariqul Islam, 19. One pistol with around 10 rounds of
bullets was recovered from their possession.
Meanwhile, on the basis of secret information, another
team of Badda thana police led by sub-inspector, Sheikh
Mahbubur Rahman, raided a house no-ch-43 at North Badda
and arrested Akil Mahmud Babu alias Dano Babu, 28 and
Maruf 19. The police also recovered a pistol and six
rounds of bullets from their possession.
All the arrestees are the identified criminals and accused
in several cases including extortion, robbery and murder,
according to DB sources.
Cases were lodged under firearms Act at the respective
police stations.
Labourer killed
BSS, Jamalpur
A day labourer was killed in Islampur upazila Tuesday.
According to police and victim's family sources, Ayenul
Haq, 45, went outside on Monday evening from his in law's
house at village Chardadna of the upazila but he did not
returned back. Following day villagers found his body at
char area of the village in the morning.
On being informed, police recovered the body and sent it
to Jamalpur general hospital morgue for autopsy. Police
suspected he might be suffocated to death.
Hailed from Sakuar char in Dewangonj upazila he would
lived at his in law's house. A case was registered with
Islampur thana police by the victim's son Anowar Hossain.
2 arrested for misappropriation of subsidy
BSS, Parbotipur
The joint forces arrested two persons including a
Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officers and a UP member of
Parbotipur upazila in Dinajpur for misappropriation of
subsidy money on diesel on Tuesday.
Police sources said SAAO Hafizur Rahman, 38, of
Monmonthpur UP and member of the same UP Nazmul Haque, 30,
misappropriated money of the subsidy on diesel and
committed other corruptions and irregularities while
distributing subsidy money among the farmers.
Getting information, the joint forces of Dianjpur camp
investigated into the allegations and found that
allegations against them were true and arrested the SAAO
and the UP member and handed them over to Parbotipur
police station.
Later, a case was filed against the arrested persons with
Parbotipur police station by authorities of Parbotipur
upazila agriculture office
in this connection and they were sent to the jail hajat
when police produced them before a Dianjpur court, the
sources said.
2 JMB cadres netted
UNB, Gaibandha
Two cadres of outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
were arrested from Mahmudpur village in Saghata upazila on
Tuesday.
The arrested were identified as Enamul Haq, a teacher of
Juma-rbari High School, and Ashraful Islam of the village.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of RAB-5 raided the area at
noon and arrested the JMB cadres who secretly returned to
the village from their hideout. A case was filed against
them.
RAB recovers statue worth Tk 6 crore
BSS, Khalishpur
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered a 20-kg touch stone
statue worth about Taka 6 crore from the Purbabania Farm
area of the town on Monday.
Acting on a tip-off, the elite force in a raid on Monday
night in the area recovered the statue in a plastic bag
and arrested one person in this connection.
The arrested was identified as Shamsul Huda, 60.n
2.5 kg of heroin recovered
Our Correspondent, Chapainawabganj
BDR recovered 2.5 kg of heroin from Polladanga boder in
Alatuli union under Sadar upazila in the district on
Tuesday night.
Sources said acting on secret information a squad of
Polladanga BOP under 39 Bangladesh Rifles in the district
conducted a drives and recovered 2.5 kg of heroin worth
about Tk 2.5 lakhs. In this connection a case was filed
with Sadar thana.
Bandits loot
expatriate's house
UNB, Sylhet
Armed robbers looted cash, gold ornaments and other
valuables from the house of an expatriate at Katlipara
village in Biswanath upazila on Tuesday.
Police said the gang, numbering 8/10, stormed into the
house of the expatriate Dilawar Mia, who is now living in
UK, at about 2:00 am by breaking the door open.
They held the house inmates, including Delwar's old mother
Makhruja Begum, hostage at gunpoint and looted, cash Tk
1.70 lakh, 15 tolas of gold ornament and other valuables
worth about Tk 6 lakh. A case was filed in this
connection.
Editorial
Demand for DUCSU
election
In the past the Dhaka
University Students Union (DUCSU) was considered by many as
the country's second Parliament for its role in campus
politics and even beyond that, but today it has lost both its
importance and glory as there has been no election to this
body for about two decades. In the absence of office bearers
elected by the students the DUCSU now exists only as a
non-functioning body and as a result social, cultural,
literary and sport activities of Dhaka University students are
being hampered seriously.
The last election to the DUCSU was held on 6 June 1990 during
the autocratic rule of General Ershad, but, strangely, no
election to it was held during the subsequent 'democratic'
regimes of BNP and Awami League and even the non-party
caretaker governments. More surprising perhaps is the fact
that although DUCSU has not been functioning since long the
university authorities have been realising fees for the
central and hall unions from the students. The amount thus
realised since 1990 till now stands at Taka 6 crore. Besides,
the university authorities have also sanctioned from its
budget Taka 1.5 lakh per year for the salaries of DUCSU
employees and maintenance of its office. Questions are being
raised increasingly by the students as to why union fees are
being realised from them when central and hall unions are non-
functioning and practically non-existent.
It is alleged that due to the absence of an elected DUCSU,
healthy student politics highlighting the genuine causes of
the students has disappeared from the campus and politics of
muscle power and violence have grown up there. True, attempts
were made at different times for holding the DUCSU election,
but those went in vain due mainly to conflicting positions
taken by student organisations. Now the demand for DUCSU
election by general students has gained fresh momentum in the
changed circumstances. It is widely felt that the authorities
should pay heed to this demand and take necessary measure in
consultations with all concerned to hold the DUCSU election as
early as possible for the interest of healthy growth of
student politics as well as extra- curricular and cultural
activities on the Dhaka University campus. All should remember
that most of the historic movements in the country had
originated from the Dhaka University campus under the
leadership of DUCSU and it has also produced a number of
national leaders of the past and present time. So, everything
should be done to revive the DUCSU which is virtually in a
state of 'coma'.
Power crisis: Immediate action needed
A
BSS report quoting official sources says that a total of 1,011
mw of power will be added to the national grid by the end of
this year. Of the total power to be added, 330 mw will come
from the public sector and the rest 681 mw from the private
sector. For overcoming power shortage in the country within
the shortest possible time, the government made arrangements
to rent power and also initiate some short term and long term
power generation projects. The works on setting up power
generation stations at both public and private initiatives are
going on, it added.
It is a good news, no doubt, as it shows that the government
is trying to do something for easing the severe crisis. But
unfortunately, the benefit of it is a long way off reaching
the people as the year-end is still seven months away while we
are suffering terribly right now due to non-availability of
proper supply of power and safe water. So far as the power
crisis is concerned, an immediate action is needed apart from
long term projects to bring solace to the people.
We are constrained to write frequently on power crisis as it
is a vital problem affecting the entire populace, because most
of the time nowadays even the capital city goes without power
and water leaving the dwellers in a virtual hell. The whole
country is in the grip of an unprecedented power shortage and
even in Dhaka city electricity supply goes off seven to eight
times a day and every time the load shedding continues for at
least an hour plunging the people into untold miseries as the
power crisis is also bringing with it severe water crisis. PDB
attributes aggravation of the power crisis to disruption of
gas supply to some power plants and suspension of electricity
generation due to repair work in other plants. But this
explanation does not bring any respite to the suffering
people.
Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for power Dr. Tamim
Ahmed said recently the demand for electricity in the country
is 5000 mw daily while the average production stands at 3900
mw. But according to unofficial sources the actual demand is
5,500 mw during this summer and the deficit stands at nearly
2000 mw. Surprisingly, in an apparent bid to downplay or
conceal truth relating to the crisis, the Power secretary Dr.
M. Faizul Kabir Khan has claimed that there was no crisis in
the power sector. This ridiculous claim has been made at a
time when the country is running huge short of power and many
areas in the capital itself are going dark and dry without
power and water for hours every day.
The grave crisis of power which is hitting hard the people's
day to day life as well as agriculture, industry, trade and
business have resulted over the years from rampant corruption
and lack of necessary measures to boost electricity generation
capacity by installing new power plants. Now the crisis has
reached such a grave stage that the people have no patience
for waiting indefinitely for the outcome of lucrative projects
being taken up now. In fact, the people are getting restive
and they want some sort of immediate actions to ease the power
crisis.
Analysis
SC Lawyers boycott of Supreme Court to
protest ruling obstructing granting of bail
The lawyers are also of the view that under no
circumstances could the Supreme Court be deprived of the power
to grant bail when the court is of the view that applications
for bail are justified.
The Supreme Court
lawyers decided on Sunday (May 11, 2008) to boycott the
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for two hours on
Thursday, May 15, in protest against a series of verdicts,
including the highly controversial ruling, which abdicated the
power of the Supreme Court to review applications for bail
regarding the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) made by the Supreme
Court Appellate Division on April 23, 2008. The Supreme Court
Bar Association (SCBA) decided that the protest is to start at
9 a.m. on the 15th. The SCBA is of the view that several
verdicts of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, which
prevents challenges to provisions of the EPR are in conflict
with the rule of law, the fundamental rights of the people and
the constitution. The SCBA went further to state that the
lawyers are disappointed and surprised by such judgments. The
lawyers are demanding the withdrawal of the state of emergency
and for an immediate national poll in order to establish
democracy and rule of law. The SCBA went further to term the
EPR as a 'black law' designed to put political opponents
behind bars without due process. The lawyers are also of the
view that under no circumstances could the Supreme Court be
deprived of the power to grant bail when the court is of the
view that applications for bail are justified.
The decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
made on the April 23, 2008 goes against the foundational
principle of the separation of powers and virtually makes the
highest court of the country, the Supreme Court, subordinated
to the executive. This is a fundamental blow, not only to the
constitution but also to the very institution of the judiciary
itself and the legal profession. If the executive can make
laws under whatever provision, whether it is through the
parliament or through the EPR, the courts have the ultimate
right to decide on the legality and the justifiability of such
laws. If the courts do not have such power then the very
reason for their existence and the legal profession will come
into doubt. The people can simply ask what the courts are for
and what the lawyers are for.
Before the Trial Division of the Supreme Court gave its
verdict interpreting the prohibition for any court to
intervene on matters of bail it consulted the leading lawyers
in the country as Amicus Curiae (Friends of the Court) who
gave their unanimous view that the Supreme Court derives it
power from the constitution and that power cannot be withdrawn
or abdicated. On that basis the Trial Division of the Supreme
Court decided that it had the jurisdiction to decide on the
matter of bail and that the prohibition against courts on that
issue does not apply to the Supreme Court.
The decision of the SCBA needs to be lauded and supported by
the lawyers, the people of Bangladesh and also by lawyers and
others throughout the world who oppose the absolute power of
the executive. The lawyers of Pakistan have shown the way by
uncompromisingly staging a protest lasting over a year to
protect the independence of the judiciary from the executive
which wants a pliant judiciary. They have demonstrated that
there is no way to save the checks and balances within the
power structure of a country and to protect the people without
upholding the independence of the judiciary. They have also
demonstrated that where there are no checks and balances the
law itself becomes a mockery and then the judiciary and the
lawyers
The AHRC congratulates the far-sightedness of the SCBA in
deciding to engage in active protests to safeguard the powers
of the Supreme Court and the independence of the judiciary.
The time has come for a courageous movement of lawyers in
Bangladesh. The people also need to actively support the
lawyers in this protest. The lawyers throughout the world
should demonstrate their support for the SCBA and the lawyers
of Bangladesh.
(The above is a statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
released on 13 May 2008.The Asian Human Rights Commission is a
regional non-governmental organization monitoring and lobbying
human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was
founded in 1984.)
Pakistan: Enter a New Crisis?
Sharif is keen to see the judges don't lose the case. Sharif
is counting on the restored judges to get Musharraf out.
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Judges
in Pakistan seem to have lost their case. Annoyed with
government's delay tactics on restoration of judges sacked by
President Pervez Musharraf during last year's emergency,
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), a key constituent of
Pakistan's ruling coalition, has decided on 12 May to withdraw
its ministers from the Cabinet. However the coalition partners
have, albeit for the time being, averted any explosive crisis
with the PMLN deciding to continue to support the government
from outside.
The decision comes after the PML-N's Parliamentary party and
central working committee meetings in Islamabad, both
deliberated the contentious issue at length and the possible
fallout of PMLN's withdrawal from the new "democratic"
government. This comes after the failure of talks in London
between Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari
and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and their close aides on May 11
due to differences on the modalities for reinstating the
judges.
The controversy has focused on the deposed Chief Justice,
Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, officially charged with corruption
and nepotism. Chaudhry stepped on a lot of toes while head of
the Supreme Court. He held the ruling elite to account. He
rattled the security establishment by pursuing the case of the
"missing" - alleged terror suspects abducted and held
incommunicado by Pakistan's intelligence services. And he took
up legal challenges to President Musharraf's re-election. That
was considered his biggest sin in the eyes of Pakistan's
military establishment. Last November, the president used
emergency rule to get rid of him and other troublesome judges.
Opposition used the issue during the poll campaign mostly as a
powerful weapon against Musharraf. Chaudhry's critics say he
played politics. His supporters say he stood up to
interference from a military ruler. For them, his
reinstatement has become the symbol of judicial independence.
"If we compromised on the chief justice then we wouldn't have
a principled stand!" says a former president of the Supreme
Court Bar Association. Of course President Musharraf is
against this. He fears a reconstituted Supreme Court would
rule his election and/or state of emergency unconstitutional.
Although the issue of judges was an emotive case for Sharif to
outsmart Musharraf it did catch the national attention. Media
have fully focused on that. With the two main parties in
Pakistan's ruling coalition set to miss their 12 May deadline
to reach agreement on the reinstatement of Supreme and High
Court judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf under
emergency rule last year. And the country's new,
democratically-elected government has vowed to restore the
sacked judges. The issue has been dragging on without
resolution. The case became a live issue in February's
elections. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif staked his
campaign on a promise to restore the sacked judges, including
the chief justice. To showcase the integrity of the poll
promise now Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) have
to deliver.
Sharif is keen to see the judges don't lose the case. Sharif
is counting on the restored judges to get Musharraf out. He's
repeatedly said Musharraf should be impeached. The president
has been weakened, but he's not ready to go just yet.
According to reports Musharraf is prepared to give up certain
of his powers if the authority of the chief justice is also
clipped. Political sources say Musharraf's strongest backers -
the Americans and the army - think that's a fair trade.
There are two sets of known deals among Pakistan's
politicians; one between Musharraf and PPP and another between
PMLN and PPP, both contradicting one another. Under the terms
of the deal, the then General Musharraf was to grant senior
PPP leaders amnesty from corruption charges, step down as army
chief and allow the party to contest relatively free and fair
elections. In exchange, Benazir Bhutto agreed to support him
as a civilian president. Since President Musharraf delivered
his side of the bargain, there is pressure on Ms Bhutto's
widower, Asif Zardari, to deliver his.
A peaceful transition from military to civilian rule was part
of a Western-backed plan that brought the PPP's late leader
Benazir Bhutto back from exile last year. Certainly, the PPP
doesn't want any more political turmoil. "We need to be sure
that we don't plunge Pakistan into another constitutional
crisis that will lead to further instability and chaos," says
a PPP spokesperson. "We are going to see to it that we pursue
the policies of moderation and a peaceful transition." But
many believe there's more to it than that.
There's been an understanding between Pervez Musharraf and
Asif Zardari on the one hand, and on the other, between
Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. The understanding between the latter
is that the judges would be restored, and the understanding
between the former is that Musharraf would continue as
president, but there is a complex contradiction between the
two.
Zardari has accused Iftikhar Chaudhry of complicity in a
campaign to victimize him while imprisoned on what he says
were trumped up murder and corruption charges in the 1990s and
early part of this decade. He's also said he remains committed
to his pledge to reinstate the judges. In the corridors of
power, however, negotiations are underway to find a compromise
formula without disturbing Musharraf and re-instating the
judges. There are tortuous discussions in political circles in
the country to try and square the circle, to reach a
compromise that's "acceptable to all the stakeholders".
Of course, the latest development was not entirely unexpected
given the firm attitude projected by PMLN, which is still
harping on ousting president Musharraf. The deadlock could not
be broken even by the intervention of US Assistant Secretary
of State Richard Boucher, who made a stopover in London on his
way back home from Bangladesh to hold separate meetings with
Sharif and Zardari. Boucher "favoured the idea of keeping the
PPP-PML-N coalition intact".
That is indeed a difficult task in Today's Pakistan, where
every one seems to be sticking to his own guns. Embarrassment
in both PMLN and PPP camps is understandable. But Pakistan has
to overcome the status of turmoil and move forward to
strengthen the country in all respects, especially when its
neighbor India has been busy testing more and more high
precision missiles, nuclear-enabled inclusive, to cover a
range of up to 5000 km.
The current critical development could be a great relief and a
much needed shot in arms for Musharraf who seems to be ready
with counter-action if the government gets the judges
re-instated and tried to remove him from presidency.
Further, the ongoing reform mood initiated by premier Gilani
should not be derailed by any untoward political crisis in
Pakistan and he should be given enough support to go ahead
with his sincere efforts to uplift Pakistan. By all
probability, then, PPP and PMLN would continue to cooperate
with each other on major national issues, even though the
latter is now officially out of the cabinet. A compromise
seems possible among the stakeholders of politics in Pakistan.
(Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal is a Research Scholar at the School
of International studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; New
Delhi)
A tyrant’s own ballot
The current calamity is
unsustainable. Political unrest and growing calls for
humanitarian intervention will continue to haunt Burma's
incompetent military leaders.
Aung Zaw
IT
IS over a week since Cyclone Nargis brought devastation to
Burma, and its people are in mourning - although there has
been no official condolence from the ruling junta.
Now, everyone is pointing the finger at Senior General Than
Shwe, his ministers and army leaders - first, for failing to
issue advance warning of the cyclone to those living in the
Irrawaddy delta region, and second, for responding so slowly
to the devastation.
Most shocking, the regime stalled aid packages coming into the
country and delayed issuing visas to international aid and
medical workers. While the rest of the world has been eager to
help, Burma's generals are only interested in consolidating
their power.
And so, only a week after tens of thousands were killed, while
1.5 million remain hungry and homeless, the regime went ahead
with its planned referendum to approve a new constitution at
the weekend. It is the first vote in the country since 1990,
when the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her
National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, which
the military ignored. The regime insists that the new
constitution will pave the way for democratic elections in two
years' time.
But critics and international observers have dismissed the
referendum as nothing more than a political ruse to legitimise
the military's grip on power. They note that the proposed
constitution reserves a hefty chunk of parliamentary seats for
the army and junta supporters, and effectively bars opposition
leaders - including Suu Kyi - from holding office.
On Saturday (May 10), exactly a week after the deadly storm,
Than Shwe came out to vote accompanied by his wife - the
couple had not been seen in public since the cyclone - defying
the opinion of the international community as well as his own
citizens. Clearly, the regime is manipulating a positive
result. Many voters spoke of being handed ballot papers that
had already been filled in with a tick, indicating approval of
the draft constitution. They also complained that the
referendum was not free and fair, saying they were watched
closely by officials as they cast their ballots, and in some
cases were advised how to vote. A few days ago, the UN
secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, expressed his concern about
the welfare of the people of Burma and suggested that it would
be more prudent to focus on relief efforts. Now, a population
that has suffered under a dictatorship for decades must face
both this natural disaster and Than Shwe's scheme to prolong
his rule. The deeply superstitious Burmese people believe that
the cyclone was divine intervention to disrupt the referendum
and undermine the stability of the regime. Certainly, the
heavens opened and the winds lashed the country - but the
generals appear to have escaped.
However, divine intervention or otherwise, the cyclone has
changed the country's political dynamics and disrupted the
regime's constitutional process. It has revealed Than Shwe and
his regime's true colours to the world.
The current calamity is unsustainable. Political unrest and
growing calls for humanitarian intervention will continue to
haunt Burma's incompetent military leaders. It may be wishful
thinking to suggest that Than Shwe's days are numbered, but it
is a hope widely shared among the victims of cyclone. His
regime will not remain in power forever but people are paying
a high price. The Burmese do not want ballot papers but food,
shelter and freedom from the tyrant.
Aung Zaw is an exiled Burmese political activist and editor of
the Irrawaddy news magazine, an independent monthly based in
Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
www.irrawaddy.org
Source:
www.khaleejtimes.com
Viewpoints
Shattering Nuremberg
Toward a Jurisprudence of Atrocity
The international law should strive to respect the intimate
connections between proceeding, place and public that give
legal judgments potency and meaning.
Lawrence Douglas
The
fabric of international law has been radically and irrevocably
changed as a result of its contact with atrocity - first in
the form of Nazi crimes, and more recently in the shape of
atrocities in the Balkans and genocide in Rwanda.
Unfortunately, the effort to gain legal dominion over acts of
atrocity has not been matched by similar efforts to examine
the purposes served by prosecuting the perpetrators of such
acts. In this essay, I will argue that the bold promise of
international criminal justice can best be fulfilled by tying
perpetrator trials to international law's expressive function:
the punishment of atrocities must be seen as a means of
serving the interests of history and memory in communities
riven by extreme crimes.
The Nuremberg Paradigm
The 20th century witnessed a paradigm shift in the basic model
of criminality. In the familiar domestic national paradigm,
law views criminal behavior as a deviant act harmful to
community norms and interests. In this model, the culprit is
an individual and the state intervenes as the accuser and as
the agent of enforcement, defending violated norms of
community order. This model was not created to deal with
situations in which the state itself is the sponsor of crimes
or the agent of criminality. To the contrary, the state has
classically been seen as the locus of legality, insulated from
international interference by prerogatives of immunity and
sovereignty.
Perhaps, then, the clearest way in which contact with atrocity
has changed law is by puncturing the shield of sovereignty.
Today, we accept without argument the idea that state actors
responsible for atrocities should have to answer for their
conduct in courts of criminal law - be they domestic,
international, or hybrid tribunals. But we run the risk of
forgetting how deeply radical this idea was before Nuremberg.
Sovereignty-articulated in the political theory of Hobbes,
enshrined in the Treaty of Westphalia-was, before Nuremberg,
an absolute bar to international prosecutions. I do not want
to overstate the practical significance of the puncturing of
the shield of sovereignty. Sixty years after Nuremberg, the
shield remains strong, and from the perspective of human
rights lawyers, frustratingly so. Yet the conceptual shift has
been dramatic.
We get a clearer sense of the importance of this conceptual
shift when we look closer at the four foundational
international crimes that can puncture the shield of
sovereignty: crimes against the peace, war crimes, crimes
against humanity, and genocide. Of these, crimes against the
peace may seem the most anomalous inasmuch as this
incrimination has never acquired a coherent definition and
will only fall under the jurisdiction of the fledgling
International Criminal Court if and when a satisfactory
definition can be agreed upon. But, if we turn the clock back
to Nuremberg, the crime against the peace was the gravamen of
the prosecution's case - it was understood as the principal
international crime. This, in fact, made perfect sense from
the perspective of the classic theory of sovereignty.
Definitional problems aside, criminalizing the unprovoked
attack of one nation on another can be seen as deeply
conservative, an attempt not to disrupt but to safeguard the
system of sovereign nation states. The jurisprudential theory
of Nuremberg can be stated thusly: on certain rare occasions,
such as in the case of unprovoked warfare, it may be necessary
to puncture the shield of sovereignty in order to protect the
larger system of sovereign nation-states.
This same jurisprudential understanding was expressed in the
other crimes adjudicated at Nuremberg: war crimes and crimes
against humanity. As is the case with prosecuting crimes
against the peace, prosecuting war crimes permits the
international community to shatter sovereignty for the
ultimate purpose of preserving it. The International Military
Tribunal's (IMT) conceptualization of crimes against humanity,
a crime first recognized at Nuremberg, also fits this pattern.
At Nuremberg, a crime against humanity had to have a
demonstrable nexus to aggressive war in order to be
justiciable before the IMT. But this nexus requirement was not
simply a cynical effort on the part of the United States to
insulate Jim Crow laws from judicial scrutiny. It also
reflected the larger jurisprudential vision of Nuremberg that
conceived of international crimes literally as crimes between
legal entities called nation-states. If Nuremberg pioneered
the radical idea of shattering the prerogatives of the
sovereign, it was toward the conservative end of preserving,
not supplanting, the larger system of sovereign nation-states.
Shattering the Nuremberg Paradigm
The incrimination that remained most volatile or unstable
vis-à-vis this conservative ambition was the crime against
humanity. Even before the end of the IMT trial, Control
Council Law no. 10, the Allied document which set forth the
legal basis for each occupying power to conduct war crimes
trials in its respective zones of occupation, had severed the
nexus requirement from its definition of crimes against
humanity. As an international crime that now no longer needed
to demonstrate a connection to international conflict, the
crime against humanity was soon joined by another novel
incrimination. The term genocide was first coined by Raphael
Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish jurist who long before the Nazi
extermination of the Jews had agitated for international legal
recognition of Turkish atrocities perpetrated against the
Armenians. But it was not until 1943 and the advent of the
Nazis' techniques of administrative massacre that Lemkin
coined his neologism to denote the destruction of a group qua
group. The term genocide first appears in a legal document in
the Nuremberg indictment (albeit as a description of war
crimes) and by 1948, genocide already finds itself elevated by
the international legal community to the status of an
independent international crime. Indeed, genocide is now
considered the international crime, supplanting crimes against
humanity as the gravest violation of any legal code, domestic
or international.
The concepts of crimes against humanity and genocide, however,
are radical not only in naming radical transgressions or in
authorizing the shattering of sovereign prerogatives. They are
radical in that the very term "international" is something of
a misnomer. They do not reach conduct between nations; on the
contrary, they can, and most typically will, reach actions
perpetrated against groups or populations controlled within
the territorial bounds of a coherent nation-state. This
remarkable trend toward severing "international crimes" from
any connection to conduct between states finds further
elaboration in the recent jurisprudence of war crimes. In one
of its most important rulings, the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) concluded in its
Tadic decision that a conflict need not be strictly
international to be justiciable in an international court.
Thus, although Nuremberg continues to be viewed as the most
important precedent in international criminal law,
developments in the field post-Nuremberg have largely
dismantled its basic paradigm. The crime of aggressive war,
which maintained the clearest connection to international
conduct, has become largely a dead letter and in its stead we
find the development of a rich jurisprudence of three
international crimes - crimes against humanity, genocide, and
war crimes - which have largely eliminated Nuremberg's
connection to the core meaning of the concept of
"international." Indeed, these crimes can better be described
as transcending the nation-state, or as "supranational."
Although these crimes may, at times, assume an entirely
intrastate quality, I call them supranational to remind us
that the traditional fixation on the nation-state as the
relevant unit of analysis has receded in importance.
"Supranational" crimes permit shields of sovereignty to be
punctured but not toward the larger end of protecting the
system of nation states. Rather, the prosecution of
supranational crimes claims to vindicate the interests of
humanity writ large.
Some theorists have found support for this position by
explicating the core idea of "humanity" contained in the term
"crimes against humanity." Already at Nuremberg we find
jurists who parsed the term as referring to a collective ideal
of humanity against those who understood it as referencing a
basic notion of humaneness. This ambiguity found its way into
official translations prepared by the IMT: German documents at
times refer to Menschlichkeit (humaneness) and at others to
Menschheit (humanity). Yet, since Nuremberg, the conceptual
shift has been clear. Hannah Arendt famously parsed the crime
against humanity as a vindication of the interests of
Menschheit, understanding the crime as an assault on the human
status as such. More recently, David Luban has attempted to
identify the crime as, at its core, an attack on the human
status as a political animal. Since Nuremberg, then, the trend
has been to understand supranational crimes as protecting not
the interests of nation-states but of humanity as a whole.
Our three supranational crimes - crimes against humanity,
genocide, and war crimes - are extraordinary in another sense.
It is no exaggeration to say that they explode law's spatio-temporal
coordinates. Most crimes tend to be controlled by a statute of
limitations, but with the Convention on the Non-Applicability
of Statutes of Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against
Humanity of 1968, the international legal community agreed
that these supranational crimes should not be controlled by a
prescriptive period. Thus, as was the case with Maurice Papon,
the former Vichy official and French Minister of Finance who
was convicted of complicity in crimes against humanity in 1998
(and who died earlier this year), prosecutors are authorized
to pursue perpetrators a half century after the commission of
their crimes.
More remarkable still is the spatial dimension. Recent
conferences commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the IMT
trial champion Nuremberg as the great innovation in
international criminal law; the Adolf Eichmann trial, by
contrast, tends to be seen as an important social and cultural
event, but not as a particularly important precedent in the
development of international law. While fair in its general
terms, this conventional wisdom presupposes a strict, and in
my mind, untenable, separation between the legal and the
cultural meaning of a trial. More to the point, it overlooks a
crucial legal legacy of the Eichmann trial - its
jurisdictional profile. The Eichmann court established
jurisdiction over the accused through an extremely unorthodox
reading of the principle of passive personality, the idea that
a state can claim jurisdiction over criminal acts in which its
nationals count among the victims. Here, the Israeli court
claimed that the victims of the Holocaust were would-be
citizens of Israel, an argument that overlooked the fact that
the state might never have been established but for the
horrific crime. More radically, the court relied on a theory
of universal jurisdiction, that is, jurisdiction conferred
exclusively by the nature of the crime. Here again, the idea
is that supranational crimes are so extreme as to authorize
any court, anywhere to sit in judgment on alleged
perpetrators. In the decades following the Eichmann trial,
universal jurisdiction seemed to be little more than a
moribund juridical curiosity, only to experience a remarkable
revival with the Pinochet affair, and with the prosecution of
Serbs in Germany for atrocities in the Balkans and Rwandans in
Belgium for genocide.
The Problem of Punishment
Law's contact with atrocity has thus led to the articulation
of supranational crimes that explode law's spatio-temporal
dimensions. These conceptual innovations have been matched by
a remarkable commitment of institutional resources. The ICTY
currently has a staff of 1,100 and an annual budget of a
quarter of a billion US dollars. The fledgling International
Criminal Court (ICC) has yet to stage a single trial, but
already has a staff of 600 and an annual budget of 90 million
Euros. But what is the purpose behind these extraordinary acts
of the legal imagination and of institutional will? If the
answer appears self-evident - to put an end to impunity for
perpetrators of atrocity and to bring them to justice - then
this response only begs the question. For what does it mean to
bring a perpetrator of atrocity to justice? Again, the answer
might appear obvious: justice demands placing a perpetrator on
trial, and in cases in which guilt has been established beyond
a reasonable doubt, putting the perpetrator in prison. But
here I share the concerns of scholars, notably Mark Drumbl,
who have located a troubling disconnect between the radical
and creative efforts to gain legal dominion over acts of
atrocity and the deeply conventional outcome of the process:
incarceration. This disconnect becomes more troubling when we
recall that the theory of penology does not defend
incarceration as an end unto itself; it has certain
instrumental justifications and is intended to serve broad
societal purposes. How well do these purposes serve the ends
of doing justice to crimes of atrocity?
American prisons are today referred to as correctional
institutions and at least nominally, most institutions are
designed to reform, rehabilitate, and correct. But however
fanciful that goal may be in the case of common criminals, it
plays virtually no role in the literature on the punishment of
perpetrators of supranational crimes. Whatever we hope to gain
by incarcerating perpetrators, it is not their reform. If
taking them out of circulation were the only purpose, it is
far from clear that a political solution like the one that
sent Napoleon to his island retreat, or Idi Amin to Saudi
Arabia, or Baby Doc Duvalier to the Cote d'Azur, would not be
equally efficacious.
Then, of course, there is the goal of deterrence. Deterrence
is specifically mentioned as a goal in the statute of the ICC
as well as in the charters of the Yugoslav and Rwandan
tribunals. Whether the trial and incarceration of perpetrators
of supranational crimes serves the ends of deterrence remains,
however, an open question. It seems dreadfully obvious that
the Nuremberg and Eichmann trials did little to deter Pol Pot,
and that the work of the ICTY and ICTR has done little to put
a brake on genocide in Darfur. This might simply be a
consequence of the fact that perpetrator prosecutions have
until now been extremely rare and anomalous events, and as the
institutions of supranational justice gain greater traction,
the deterrent effects will become more visible. But even this
seems highly questionable. Deterrence as a justification for
punishment remains, then, almost entirely speculative and
aspirational.
Then there is the retributive function of punishment. But here
again we run into problems that have vexed all perpetrator
trials. At the time of the Nuremberg trial, Hannah Arendt
wrote to Karl Jaspers, "For these crimes, no punishment is
severe enough." If retribution is anchored in some notion of
proportionality, no punishment would seem proportional to
crimes of atrocity. This identical concern surfaced at the
time of the Eichmann trial. In his summation before the court,
Israeli Attorney General and lead prosecutor Gideon Hausner
openly acknowledged the inadequacy of even the most extreme
punishment for Eichmann's atrocities, conceding, "It is not
always possible to apply a punishment which fits the enormity
of the crime." If these issues plagued debates about the
imposition of the death penalty, they apply with only greater
vigor in the case of the ICC whose maximum sanction is
generally set at thirty years imprisonment. Actors associated
with the ICTY have likewise expressed concerns about the
unseemliness of sentencing a convicted perpetrator of crimes
against humanity to, say, eleven years in prison. This is not
to say that the death penalty would better satisfy the
retributive goals of perpetrator prosecutions, but it does
drive home the notion that no matter how severe th |