|
Leading News
Hasina invites Malaysian
investment in Bangladesh
UNB, Kuala Lumpur
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday urged Malaysian
entrepreneurs to invest in Bangladesh particularly in
labor intensive industries including RMG, textile, light
engineering, electronics, agro-based products, ICT, power
and infrastructure.
Addressing a roundtable dialogue with Malaysian investors
at Hotel Istana, she also called for increased Malaysian
import of Bangladeshi products like jute and leather
goods, RMG, ceramics and pharmaceuticals, saying these are
already being marketed in many developed countries of the
world.
The Prime Minister told the Malaysian business leaders
that her government has adopted Public Private Partnership
Policy (PPP) for building infrastructure projects as
power, gas and water.
She said her government under 2009-2010 national budget
allocated a huge amount for PPP in these areas. "Malaysia,
with its experience of PPP, can support Bangladesh in
building such projects."
Hasina said a Joint Working Group of the two countries
could promote these potential areas of investment and
trade.
"For first hand knowledge, I believe, frequent visits and
participation in trade fairs by businessmen of both
countries are important."
She said Bangladesh is pursuing a free market policy and
it has liberalized trade regimes, investment policies;
reduced interest rates and cost of doing business, removed
infrastructure bottlenecks and improved port facilities.
The Prime Minister said investment climate is now
attractive with liberal fiscal policies like tax holiday;
concessionary duty on imported machinery; remittances of
royalty, technical know how, technical assistance fee;100%
foreign equity; unrestricted exit policy; and full
repatriation facilities of dividend and capital exit.
Bangladesh also maintains healthy macro-economic
fundamentals, enjoys stable environment; and has a
competitive workforce, she said.
"Despite recent world recession Bangladesh succeeded in
maintaining 6% growth rate. Our social economic indicators
are outperforming others at similar income level."
Besides, the rate of primary school enrollment in
Bangladesh is highest in the developing world, and it has
achieved gender parity in enrollment, food security,
capacity to cope with natural disasters, and reduction of
poverty, the Prime Minister said.
HC
stays reinstatement of 85 upazila election officers
UNB, Dhaka
A division bench of the High Court on Thursday stayed for
a month an Election Commission (EC) notification
reinstating 85 upazila election officers whose
appointments had been cancelled, by an administrative
appeal tribunal judgment.
The HC bench comprising Justice AHM Shamsudddin Chowdhury
and Justice M Delwar Hossain passed the interim order upon
a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petition.
The bench also issued a rule upon the government and the
EC to explain within two weeks why the reinstatement
order, that was impugned without exhausting the legal
process (by filing an appeal in the Appellate Division of
the Supreme Court against the administrative appeal
tribunal judgment) should not be declared unlawful.
On May 17, the jobless 85 upazila election officers joined
work at the Election Commission following its May 13
notification cancelling their terminations, in compliance
with the administrative appeal tribunal judgment.
Their appointments were cancelled during the
military-backed caretaker government.
A total of 303 upazila election officers were recruited
under the BNP-Jamaat alliance government in 2005. The
appointments sparked controversy as the recruits were
chosen on partisan grounds.
The reconstituted Election Commission, during the
emergency rule in February 2007, decided to test the
skills of these recruits. In total, 218 candidates passed
the test and the EC secretariat cancelled the appointments
of the remaining 85, who failed the test.
The terminated officers challenged the validity of the EC
decision at the administrative tribunal courts, and
thought they had won the legal battle. But the latest HC
ruling means the group of 85 will have to wait another
month at- least, before they can put the matter to rest.
Advocate Tasaddak Hassan appeared for the PIL petitioner
Motiar Rahman Hawlader of Barisal.
BNP
protests alleged murder of Jubo Dal activist by AL cadres
UNB, Dhaka
Opposition BNP Thursday strongly condemned and protested
the killing of Jatiyatabadi Jubodal activist Akbar Hossain,
who was allegedly murdered by the ruling party cadres on
his way to joining the party's Paltan Maidan grand rally
on Wednesday.
Addressing a press briefing at the BNP Nayapaltan central
office this afternoon, party standing committee member
Nazrul Islam Khan said Akbar Hossain, organizing secretary
of Jubodal of Mirkadim municipality unit of Munshigang
district was seriously injured by the attack of the ruling
party cadres, while he along with other leaders and
workers were coming to join the Paltan rally Wednesday.
He said Akbar Hossain went missing after being wounded and
his dead body was found in the Buriganga river at the
city's Sadarghat area Thursday.
Nazrul Islam Khan, who was also chief coordinator of the
just concluded Dhaka grand rally, alleged that AL armed
cadres unleashed attacks and obstructions in different
ways at different areas on BNP leaders and workers on
their way to joining the Paltan Maidan grand rally on
Wednesday.
The areas included Munshiganj, Keranigonj, Dhamrai,
Sarishabari, Bhaluka, Kishoreganj, Narshigndi, Rupganj,
Araihazar, Gazipur crossing and Savar.
He however said that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has
thanked and congratulated the party's leaders and workers
of all tiers and the general people as well for joining
the Paltan Grand rally and making it a success by defying
various attacks and obstructions.
Replying to a question, Nazrul said BNP has called hartal
to put pressure, along with the people on the government
to resolve the public problems.
Ctg city polls
18 submit nomination papers as mayor candidates
BSS, Chittagong
A total of 18 intending Chittagong Mayor candidates, 320
councillors and 67 reserved female ward councillors of
different political parties, including Awami League and
BNP, and a few independent candidates submitted their
nomination papers Thursday.
Today was the last date of submitting nomination papers in
the forthcoming Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) polls.
Nagorik Committee Chittagong (NCC)- backed outgoing mayor
A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury, and Chittagong Development
Movement (CDM)- backed former acting mayor Alhaj Monjurul
Alam Monju submitted their nomination papers, among
others.
The others mayor candidates are AL City Vice-president
Ishak Mia, Jatiya Party Presidium member Solaiman Alam
Shett, and Jamaat-e-Islami city unit Nayeb Amir Afsaruddin
Chowdhury.
Election office sources said, submission of nomination
papers was held peacefully and there was no report of any
untoward incidents in the city.
Local Election Commission (EC) office sources said they
have received 18 candidatures on the last day of
submission of nomination papers. With today's submission,
a total of 320 ward councillors against 41 CCC wards and
67 intending female ward councillors for 14 reserved seats
have submitted their candidatures.
Former Mayor and ruling Awami League-backed Nagarik
Committee, Chittagong (NCC) nominee A B M Mohiuddin
Chowdhruy collected his nomination papers on May 16 and
filed them today while Chittagong Development Movement (CDM),
a newly floated organisation, backed former acting Mayor
Alhaj Monzurul Alam Monu collected his nomination papers
on May 19 and submitted them today.
Withdrawal of the candidature is June 1 and the election
is on June 17.
The election commission sources said they would complete
the scrutiny on May 22 and 23 at the city's Muslim
Institute Hall.
UNB adds: Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Mayor ABM
Mohiuddin Chowdhury, who is seeking re-election, resigned
from the post of mayor Thursday morning to contest the
June 17 CCC polls.
Mohiuddin Chowdhury went to Nagar Bhaban and submitted his
resignation letter to the Chief Executive Officer of CCC,
Manzur Elahi, at about 10am. He later handed over the
charge to panel mayor Zahirul Alam Dobhas.
Final nail put in JTV’s coffin
UNB, Dhaka
The High Court on Thursday disposed of a rule seemingly
putting the final nail in the coffin of short-lived
private satellite television channel JTV.
In an apparent consolation, the court however, directed
the writ petitioner to resolve its application pending
with the government seeking a no objection certificate (NOC)for
running the Jamuna Television (JTV).
On November 19 last year, Bangladesh Tele-communication
Regulatory Commission (BTRC) at the behest of the
government shut down the test transmission of JTV, which
had just started out as a private satellite channel.
A division bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain
and Justice Gobinda Chandra Thakur delivered the judgment.
The BTRC had taken the action against JTV on the plea that
the test transmission was relayed without obtaining the
necessary no-objection certificate (NOC) from the
government.
On December 7 last year, the High Court upon a writ
petition issued rules upon the government and the BTRC
that asked them to explain why the actions cancelling the
allocation of frequency and pulling the plug on the test
transmission of JTV should not be declared "without lawful
authority".
The HC had also asked the BTRC to explain why a direction
should not be given to issue a final license to JTV for
regular transmission.
The High Court in its judgment did not declare valid or
illegal the impugned actions of the government and the
BTRC which were challenged, but disposed of the petition
upon directives, said a counsel for JTV, now apparently
defunct.
Emerging from the court, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam
told reporters that JTV started test transmission on
November 1 2009 without obtaining a license.
The High Court termed the action of the government as
appropriate, in line with a statutory obligation to make
effective the relevant laws and rules of the land, said
the government's chief law officer.
Reza-e-Raqib, the counsel for BTRC, told reporters that
JTV carrying out its test transmission sans license
amounted to a criminal offence.
A good number of JTV reporters, both male and female
including camera crew were seen anxiously waiting in the
apex court precinct to hear of their fate. In the end,
they left frustrated.
Injunction sought on construction in
disputed land
UNB, Gazipur
Libra Pharmaceuticals Limited Thursday sought injunction
from the court against construction on the land by Nobel
Laureate Dr Mohammad Yunus and 13 others accused of
illegally occupying at Kashimpur.
After hearing on the petition, additional district judge
Joyasree Samaddar set June 6 for order.
Dr Rawshan Alam, Managing Director of Libra
Pharmaceuticals, in his petition said the accused who have
illegally occupied his land have stockpiled construction
materials on it. He prayed to the court for issuing
injunction against any construction by the accused until
disposal of the case.
On Tuesday he filed the case against Dr Yunus and 13
others for illegally occupying 15.60 acres of land at
Kashimpur union of Gazipur sadar upazila. The court had
issued summon against the accused to appear on August 10.
Informed sources said that the government attached
significance to the case against the Nobel Laureate and
professionals. Different agencies are separately
investigating into the allegations.
A group of 29 Ansars are guarding the portion of disputed
land now under the possession of Grameen Telecom. Libra
Pharmaceuticals requested to withdraw Ansars but the Ansar
Adjutant at Gazipur declined.
Back Page
Hasina dismisses Khaleda’s
allegations
UNB, Kuala Lumpur
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina outright dismissed the
allegation made by opposition leader Khaleda Zia at the
Paltan grand rally on Wednesday that not a single megawatt
of power was produced during the previous Awami League
rule.
Speaking at a reception accorded by the Bangladeshi
community at Putra World Trade Center Thursday afternoon,
Hasina said when she took over as Prime Minister in 1996,
the electricity production was 1600MW and it increased to
4300 MW when she left the office in 2001. "Who had
increased the production while we were in power?" She
said, adding "there is a limit to lies." In her scathing
remarks, the Prime Minister who read her rival's speech in
newspapers said the person who lies with her own birthday
can tell lies about the power sector.
She said the present government has declared the energy as
emergency sector and undertaken several projects in the
sector, implementation of which would increase the power
production to a satisfactory level.
Hasina squarely blamed the five years of BNP and the two
years of the past caretaker government for the present
crisis of electricity and gas as well as the level of
poverty. She said: "It was due to the BNP government's
corruption, loot and terrorism as well as the fear of the
caretaker government that businessmen did not investment
money in the country including the power sector. The Prime
Minister also attributed the lack of development in the
country to the post-75 military dictators due to
corruption, loot and misrule. "Democracy must continue…
without democracy development cannot take place," she told
the function.
Referring to Khaleda's allegation that Hasina had pledged
to sell rice at Tk 10 per kg, Hasina said during her
previous rule rice was sold at Tk 10 but when she left
power it shot up to Tk 45. "She (Khaleda) must give the
answer first." In an oblique reference to Khaleda's
allegation that the present government is selling out
Bangladesh's interests, she said in the 2001 elections her
party got huge votes but could not go to power as she did
not agree to sell out natural gas.
The Prime Minister mentioned that former US President
Jimmy Carter came to Bangladesh before the 2001 general
elections, met with her and Khaleda Zia and wanted to know
about their respective position on the sale of natural
gas.
"I straightly told Jimmy Carter that I will first protect
the people' s interest," she said, adding that "the same
thing I told President Bill Clinton when he came to Dhaka
and also when I met him in Washington."
"On the contrary," she said, "Begum Zia came to power by
giving the commitment to sell out gas and oil of
Bangladesh."
Hasina said as long as she is alive she will not allow
anyone to play with the resources of Bangladesh and the
people.
She, however, did not say anything about June 27 hartal
called by Khaleda Zia.
Government to import
sugar to stabilize Ramadan markets
UNB, Dhaka
The government, in an advance effort to stabilize the
volatile sugar market during the holy month of Ramadan,
has decided to import sugar from the international market,
Industries Minister Dilip Barua said Thursday.
"The cabinet purchase committee has already approved
import of 25,000 metric tones sugar. Our ministry has also
set a target of 1 lakh metric ton sugar import through
Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC),"
Minister Barua said while addressing a press briefing held
at the ministry's conference room Thursday.
The Industries Ministry hosted the briefing to inform
about the progress of state-owned mills, factories and
government's initiatives for the development industrial
sector.
He said the price of the sugar would be fixed once the
import is done and the price would be kept under
commoners' purchasing capacity. The state-owned losing
institutions BSFIC last time imported sugar nearly eight
years back in 2002.
Revealing the government's plan to increase fertilizer
production, Minister Barua said the government has taken
steps to set up three new urea fertilizer factories having
the 5,77,500 metric tons annual production capacity.
"Among the three projects, construction work of Shahjalal
Fertilizer factory will be started by this year," Minister
Barua said confidently.
Bangladesh and China signed a framework agreement for
construction of Shahjalal Fertilizer Factory at the East
Hall of the Great Hall in Beijing on March 17 during Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to China. Industries
Minister Dilip Barua signed the agreement on behalf of
Bangladesh.
Politicians, business leaders
criticise hartal call
BSS, Dhaka
Leaders of different political parties said BNP has
violated its election manifesto by announcing hartal
programme.
They said BNP could not make any progress on the issues
during its own tenure for which the party is protesting
now and called hartal.
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at a rally at Paltan on
May 19 has announced hartal programme on June 27 to press
home various demands including fresh general election.
Expressing reaction on announcing hartal programme by BNP,
President of Communist Party of Bangladesh Manjurul Ahsan
Khan told BSS that announcement of hartal is u-turn to old
culture. BNP has called for hartal programme from its
consideration but it did not mention any guidelines on how
to resolve these problems, the CPB President said.
Mentioning that BNP could not resolve those issues in the
past during their rule he said resolution of these issues
is not their objective, rather going to power is their
target. "Even if they come to power, they will not be able
to resolve these issues," he added.
President of Banglad-esher Workers' Party Rashed Khan
Menon blamed BNP for violating its election manifesto and
said BNP told that it would never take hartal programme
even if it would be in the opposition. "No such situation
is created in the country for which BNP could announce
hartal programmes," he said adding there is no relations
of the common people of the country with this hartal. The
issues for which BNP has announced hartal were created by
itself, he added.
Terming Khaleda Zia's demand for fresh general election as
a laughing matter he said it is not a demand of the
people.
President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Annisul Huq Thursday
criticized strongly the hartal programme, called by the
major opposition BNP.
Huq, now visiting overseas, told BSS over phone that
business community never supported hartal in the past 25
years.
"Hartal causes business loss, hinders investment and
damages economy,' the president of the country's apex
chamber-body said.
He observed that the acceptability of hartal decreased in
recent times as it caused immense sufferings to the
people.
President of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham)
Aftab-ul-Islam on Thursday urged the businesses, chambers
and trade-bodies for taking a united move against hartal.
"Hartal damages the image of a country besides causing
huge loss to the economy," Aftab-ul-Islam told BSS today.
He referred to recent strike and street movement in
Thailand and said the unrest dented the image of the
country.
BNP calls hartal to foil war crime
trial: Amu
BSS, Jhalakati
Advisory Council Member of the Awami League Amir Hossain
Amu Thursday said BNP has declared various programmes
including staging dawn to dusk hartal across the country
to foil the trial of crimes against humanity of the
country's great war of liberation.
"The conspiracy of BNP and its alliances won't be
implemented till the soldiers imbued with the ideals of
Bangabanshu are alive in this soil," he said while
speaking as the chief guest at a huge public rally
organized by the district Awami League at the Jhalakati
Sishu Park here.
Urging all concern about the non-democratic programmes
including hartals of the opposition, he said Awami League
has assu-med the power through democratic way and the
power hand over will also be held under democratic
process.
Whitening black money opposed at
pre-budget round table
UNB, Dhaka
Former caretaker government adviser Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam
on Thursday said that the provision for whitening black
money should not continue in the upcoming budget as it has
proved to be ineffective in the current fiscal.
"It is giving a wrong signal as well as being an unethical
thing. It is also discriminatory against the normal tax
payers," he said while addressing the roundtable on
'Budget Proposal: 2010' organized by the Daily Bhorer
Kagoj at the National Press Club.
Chaired by Bhorer Kagoj editor Shyamol Datta,
parliamentary standing committee chairman on Finance
Ministry AHM Mustafa Kamal addressed the roundtable as
chief guest while TIB trustee board chairman M Hafiz-uddin
Khan addressed as special guest. On the demand for
increasing the individual income tax ceiling, Mirza Azizul
said that there is no necessity to increase the current
income tax ceiling of Tk 1,65,000 adding that if it does
prove necessary. "It could be extended to Tk 1,75,000." He
underscored the need for strengthening the initiatives for
simplifying the submission of income tax returns.
Mustafa Kamal, who is popularly known as Lotus Kamal,
blamed the think tanks of the society for the present
mismatch in the country's economy.
"The intellectual people are a danger for the country.
They earlier said that the country is floating on gas, but
where is the gas now? In some factories, it has become
hard to achieve 50 percent of their production capacity
due to gas crisis," he added.
Emphasizing the need for containing inflation through the
next budget, Lotus Kamal said that the budget for the next
fiscal will be made from a win-win situation which will
reflect desires of all.
TIB trustee board chairman Hafizuddin Khan alleged that
the physical progress of the government development
projects are not evaluated adding, "The development
projects are increased every year, but later those are
reduced,"
Raising questions on the government's capacity to control
revenue expenditure, the former caretaker government
adviser said that there is a frequent misuse of revenue
expenditure. Hafizuddin Khan also emphasized holding more
consultation meetings before finalizing the budget.
6 killed 15
injured in road accidents
UNB, Magura
Three people were killed and ten others were injured in
separate road accident here on Thursday.
Police sources said two people were killed and four others
were injured in a head-on-collision between a Magura bound
truck and a Sallow engine run trolley coming from the
opposite side at Ramnagar on the Magura-Faridpur road this
morning at about 8am. The deceased were identified as
Russel, 20, the driver of the trolley, of Magura police
lines area and Shafiqul Islam, 40, who hailed from
Satkhira district.
In another accident, Ziaur Rahman, 30, driver of a pickup
van, lost control over the steering wheel of his vehicle
and fell into a nearby ditch, leaving him dead on the spot
and six others injured.
A helper of a bus was killed and 5 other passengers were
injured in a road accident Wednesday noon at Madhupur
Chourasta, 6 km away from the district town. The deceased
was identified as Pikon hailed from Barobazar village in
Kaliganj upazila of the district.
Witnesses said when the passengers of a bus getting down
at the Chourasta bus stand another speeding bus hit it
from behind killing the standing bus helper Pikon on the
spot and five passengers injured.
Two young men were killed when a truck and auto-van
collided at Lohagara on Khulna-Satkhira road tonight.
Alamgir, 20, and Mahendranath, 22, traveling in the
auto-van died on the spot at 9pm.
Editorial
Food insecurity
Nobel
laureate Amartya Sen has said famine does not mean shortage of
food, but it means lack of capacity to purchase food. Almost
same is the reason for food insecurity. This is evident from
the fact that huge people in our country are facing food
insecurity although there is bumper production of food grains.
There are many people who skip the night without food not
because of scarcity of food in the markets, but because they
do not have the money to procure food.
According to a report published on Thursday, a government
survey has revealed that at least 39.80 per cent of households
in the country still live in food insecurity. The survey also
said members of most of those households often even live
without food or on borrowing to meet their want of food.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics conducted the Welfare
Monitoring Survey (WMS) in March 2009 which was released on
Wednesday. The survey covered as many as 14,000 households
across the country.
As regards food security, 60.2 per cent households reported
that food is secure while the rest reported food insecurity.
The households which reported food insecurity mentioned that
they managed such crisis by starving, borrowing and reducing
favourite food and taking less food.The households reported
that food crisis is a long-term phenomenon for them and the
main reason behind this is less income. The survey findings
revealed that poverty of around 37 per cent households
increased over the years while poverty of 40 per cent
household remained the same for several years.
The survey report depict a grim picture of the food security
situation in the country and the woes of the millions who face
drastic food insecurity. Extreme poverty is the main cause
behind the food insecurity. Because, due to poverty many
people are unable to procure the food they need although there
is no dearth of food in the market. The fact revealed in the
report that many people have to starve for their inability to
arrange food is a tragic aspect of our national life.
It is true that Bangladesh attaches high priority to ensuring
food security for the people of the country. The country
attained food self-sufficiency during the tenure of Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina's previous government between 1996 and
2001 and her present government wants to achieve food autarky
again by the year 2012. But the good efforts too fall short of
negating the cruel reality that millions in the country are
plunged in serious food insecurity.
The state of hungry and malnourished people across the world
has reached an alarming stage. The FAO said that "one sixth of
humanity," or 1.02 billion people, do not get enough to eat.
The situation is more grave in and around our country. A UN
report has said that hunger in South Asia has reached its
highest level in 40 years because of food and fuel price rises
and the global economic downturn. The report also said 100
million more people in the region are going hungry compared
with those two years ago. It named Nepal, Bangladesh and
Pakistan as the worst affected. World Bank said more than 400m
people in the region are now chronically hungry.
Hunger and malnutrition result from poverty and unfortunately
the progress in our struggle for poverty alleviation is very
slow. The price hike of essentials in the recent years has
increased poverty of many and at present 5.6 crore people in
the country live below the poverty line. Of them the number of
hardcore poor is 3.50 crore as against 3.25 crore in 2000. The
UN Millennium Development Goal -1 aims at halving the number
of hungry people in the world by 2015. As a participant in
this struggle Bangladesh must step up its efforts to build
itself as a hunger-free nation.
Illegal firearms
Huge
illegal firearms remaining in the possession of the terrorists
and criminals are posing a great threat to the country's law
and order and peace. According to a report there are four lakh
illegal firearms in the hands of terrorists in the country and
of these 1.5 lakh arms are being used for criminal activities.
Most of the godfathers of these crime syndicates are linked
with political parties. Of these unauthorised firearms, 60 per
cent are controlled by terrorists belonging to political
parties and 25 per cent by smugglers and border criminals
while the rest 15 per cent are in the hands of extremists,
coastal terrorists and pirates.
The report further said: The illegal arms are used mostly in
Dhaka, Chittagong and Bandarban. In the city there are certain
points where these arms are sold directly. At least 40 crime
syndicates are now working in the capital. In 1998-99 as many
as 80 such syndicates were active across the country. The
number rose to 124 in 2005 and reached 150 this year. Small
firearms are in high demand in the country as terrorism is
widespread in the politics now.
It is an open secret that large scale influx of illegal
firearms into the country from across the borders has been
going on unabated posing a serious threat to the law and order
situation since long. Although the law enforcers are
continuing their drives and recovering illegal arms on a
regular basis, the situation is not improving as huge illegal
arms, specially small firearms are entering the country afresh
everyday. These illegal firearms are being smuggled into the
country through several points on the border. The continued
inflow of smuggled firearms from across the border has been
frustrating the efforts to reduce the number of illegal arms
in the hands of criminals through recovery. The criminals are
reportedly engaging floating women and children in carrying
the illegal arms from one place to another. The government
should take steps to stop influx of illegal arms and arrest
the illegal arms holders.
Analysis
Let the future arrive
If the political
landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan stabilises, the energy
transit fees will enrich both states and international trade
will enhance people's livelihood.
Zeenia Satti
The
future socio-economic landscape of South and Central Asia
carries the potential for free trade between the resource-rich
Central Asian states and the emergent Indian economy. The
Pak-Afghan territory will form an essential transit corridor
for trade between Central Asia and the world. Ports on the
Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal will become the hub of
Central Asian energy supply to the international market and
goods and services destined for consumers in South and Central
Asia.
If the political landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan
stabilises, the energy transit fees will enrich both states
and international trade will enhance people's livelihood.
Once Afghanistan is stabilised, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
should both harbour "open border" with Afghanistan. The
cultural similarities of the border lands of Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Afghanistan boost the incentive for open
borders. For the smooth functioning of the trade corridor, and
for promoting maximum prosperity amongst the people of South
and Central Asia, the leaders, the rebels and the financial
elite of the region all must work towards peace that promotes
trade ties.
The US must save its troops from vicious combat and engage in
peace dialogue with the representatives of the people of
Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai is making sense by insisting on
negotiations with the Afghan resistance. Peace in the tribal
areas of Pakistan will return as soon as peace is established
in Afghanistan.
Once peace returns to the region, a free-trade zone should
extend from the Turkmen-Uzbek-Afghan (open) border, traverse
the centre of Afghan territory, extend to Pakistan's FATA
region through what should be an open Pak-Afghan border.
Included in the free-trade zone should be the entire area that
stretches from Peshawar to Quetta, turning both the metropolis
into a Karachi-like hub. This will lighten the burden caused
by migrants on Karachi while multiplying the centres of
economic opportunity in Pakistan.
The state of the art infrastructure should connect such a
free-trade zone to international ports on the Arabian Sea. The
same should extend to the Indian ports, including the Bay of
Bengal. This forms an ideal state for facilitating
international trade, supplying energy to world markets and
promoting peace in a region whose people will be happy at
their ever-growing chances at upward mobility.
The Indo-Pak hostilities negate either country's prosperity.
The stabilisation of Afghanistan should be the foremost
priority for the Obama administration. India is becoming
increasingly vocal for a regional force to negotiate peace in
Afghanistan by replacing the US and the NATO forces. Pakistan
should support instead of eschewing this stance.
The Taliban movement is like a troublesome weed in an area
whose future is better served by free-trade zones and open
borders that become the hub of cosmopolitan lifestyle,
servicing more than two billion people in the world's richest
and rapidly enriching societies such as China, India, the
revenue-rich Central Asian countries and the petrodollars-rich
Middle Eastern societies.
The future holds a promise of development of the Pakhtun lands
like never before. A rapid influx of capital, infrastructure
development, trade and employment opportunities await the
Pakhtuns. Their quality of hard work and honesty will ensure
their rise as the ace workforce in what will become a rapidly
expanding economy on their lands.
The strict ideological ethos of the Taliban movement cannot
survive the onslaught of powerful military and economic forces
that are bent upon shaping the region to serve the voracious
economies of future. For successfully ending this unfortunate
movement, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan need policies that
nurture people's power in each country. Democracy should be
allowed to flourish in the entire region, including the valley
of Kashmir.
America needs to go a step further than showing verbal concern
for civilian lives in Afghanistan and relinquish the myth that
it is fighting only the unpopular Taliban. Washington has
verbally defined the Afghan national resistance and the latter
has succumbed to the definition. All the Afghan ethnic groups
are joined in the fight to expel foreigners from their land.
For peace to return to the region, it is necessary that NATO
allows an equitable induction of regional forces while
simultaneously reducing, not surging, its own in Afghanistan.
A negotiated settlement that allows the future to arrive
benefits all. Terrorism atrophies at the hands of prosperity.
The Hutaree Christian warriors of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana
formed a militia and conceived their violent plot against the
US government after the recession set in and the resultant
poverty started to fill people's lives with uncertainty and
misery. If, instead of negotiating with the 21-year-old Joshua
Stone, the US government had resorted to bombing the mobile
home where he was hiding, and had killed innocent children and
women with him, the movement would have spread in the region
instead of being locked up in a jail house.
The US needs to address its concern for terrorism through
oiling its intelligence and restraining its war-fighting
machinery. America's insistence that Pakistan use more force
to squash its domestic Taliban movement would be worth heeding
were it not for the poor example set by the US itself in this
regard. What was initially America's Afghan problem has
subsequently grown into its "Pakistan also" problem. The Iraq
problem has grown into "Yemen also" problem. Everywhere the US
has used military force for tackling its security concern, it
has ended up augmenting the same while simultaneously ruining
its economy. Nudged by the US in the same direction, Pakistan
has ended up morphing its FATA problem into "Punjab also"
problem. Why follow a course of action that is a field-tested
failure?
Traditional state warfare and traditional interrogatory
methods have augmented America's terrorism issue. The tortures
that have made headlines from the secret US prisons tell us
that not only a lot of false intelligence is being generated,
the secret prisons themselves have become terror-nests
hatching the likes of Beitullah Mehsud. Terrorism is best
pre-empted silently to prevent the terror movement from
gaining sympathy. For this, discreet intelligence is required.
The neo-cons' initiated myth that the US is fighting the
Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Obama administration's honest
acknowledgement that the US is not winning the war, have
negative repercussions for Pakistan. The Pakistani downtrodden
youth has become vulnerable to the misperception that the
Taliban are a brave, anti-imperial force. It is for this
reason that the US has to stop perpetuating the myth that the
US/NATO forces are engaged against the Taliban in Afghanistan,
and acknowledge that it is up against a nationalist movement
against foreign domination. The Taliban are a part of this
movement, not the whole of it. The politically correct and
moral course of action for the US, in the face of the
nationwide resistance, is to allow peace to prevail through a
representative system of governance and allow the future to
arrive in the region by leaving a legacy of peace builders,
not mass killers.
India is cognizant of this factor. Its military footprint in
Afghanistan is therefore non-existent, while its diplomatic,
political and economic footprints are spreading. Bloodshed in
Pakistan, as in Afghanistan, will further build the movement
against the state. All secular forces will end up conceding
the space to the Taliban in the end. Just as Ali Shariati's
murder by the CIA resulted in opening the space for Khomeini
and the IRP in Iran, Benazir's murder will end up opening the
space for the Taliban in Pakistan, if it is followed by
US-style bombardment of insurgents. .
The bad news for India, a country that is proudly poised to
shift the historic balance of power from Europe to Asia, is
that despite its best efforts to insulate itself, it too will
get entangled in the long-term legacy of this bloodshed. India
is surrounded by Muslim states with whom it has some very
essential business to conduct. As Gandhi never tired of
saying, the legacy of bloodshed destroys the spirit of
cooperation needed for development.
The writer is consultant analyst of energy geopolitics
based in Washington DC. Email: zeenia.satti@post.harvard.edu
India & South
Asia’s future
Bangladesh to the east is still struggling to stand on its
feet although it has made some progress since the return
of democratic rule. It now has the second highest rate of
GDP growth in the South Asian mainland after India.
Shahid Javed Burki
India’s
GDP increased at almost nine per cent a year before
slowing down when the world went into the recession in
2008-09. It has picked up again with Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee promising in his 2010-11 budget speech an
annual 10 per cent increase in GDP to be achieved in a
couple of years.
While India is rising, it will find it difficult to
achieve the coveted status of an economic superpower. This
is for at least two reasons. One it has not found a way
for the relative prosperity achieved by a quarter of the
population to reach the remaining three-fourths. As Joseph
Stiglitz writes in his most recent book on globalisation
India is indeed shining "on the lives of some 250 million
people [but] for the other 800 million people of India,
the economy has not shone brightly at all."
The other reason why India has been held back from
achieving its ambition is that it is an island of relative
stability in a highly restive part of the world. There is
an on-going conflict in Pakistan involving the rise of
Islamic extremists who are challenging the writ of the
state. Thousands of people have perished in the conflict
to which there is no end in sight. This conflict has been
seen by some as posing an existential threat to the
country.
The militants and terrorists operating from within
Pakistan are not only endangering the survival of the
Pakistani state. They have also extended their operations
beyond the country's borders as evidenced by the Mumbai
attacks in November 2008. More recently, an American
citizen of Pakistani descent attempted to set off a car
bomb in New York City's Times Square.
The future of Afghanistan, not strictly an Indian
neighbour, remains highly uncertain especially given the
fact that US wants to begin withdrawing its troops from
that country beginning next year. Nepal to India's
immediate north, remains unsettled and in considerable
turmoil.
The powerful Maoists who earlier showed some willingness
to work with the established groups to stabilise the
country called a strike some weeks ago, paralysing the
capital Kathmandu. As Manjushree Thapa, a Nepalese, wrote
in an article published in May 2010, "we Nepalese are
still baffled about how to be part of the modern world ...
For this we are still … waiting."
Bangladesh to the east is still struggling to stand on its
feet although it has made some progress since the return
of democratic rule. It now has the second highest rate of
GDP growth in the South Asian mainland after India.
Then there is Sri Lanka to the south, not strictly a part
of the South Asian mainland but the narrow body of water
that separates it from India is not wide enough for it not
to cast a shadow on its neighbour.
Although the military was able to put down the
long-enduring Tamil insurgency, discontent among the
members of this large minority remains. That the Tamils
are a large community in India complicates matters. What
complicates issues further is the country's drift towards
authoritarian rule.
It is only with the little kingdom of Bhutan where the
monarch has willingly surrendered most of his royal powers
that India has a stable country on its borders.
Even India has had to deal with armed rebels in its midst,
whose ranks are being swollen by the discontent occasioned
by growing inequality. Known as the Naxalite-Maoists, this
challenge to the Indian state was first thrown in the
eastern village of Naxalbari. The areas in which
insurgents draw their support are sometimes referred to as
the 'red corridor'. In 2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
called the group's activities "the single biggest
challenge ever faced by our country". Two years later the
prime minister said the country was "losing the battle
against Maoist rebels."
India has enough military strength to first contain and
then overcome the challenges it faces at home. Its
leadership recognises that a high rate of economic growth,
which the country has demonstrated the ability to achieve,
will not trickle down fast enough to handle growing
discontent inside its borders and among its own people.
The government is committed to helping the lagging rural
sector. It was worried enough about creating new jobs for
new entrants to the work force to launch an employment
guarantee scheme for rural areas. It is the external
challenges emanating from its immediate neighbourhood that
need to receive the attention of policymakers in New
Delhi. India must lead the regional integration effort
rather than be the perpetual laggard.
What then are the options available to India, by far the
largest country in South Asia by virtue of the size of its
population and that of its economy, to achieve the status
of an economic superpower? This question has several
answers.
The most obvious one is to working towards bringing
stability to its neighbourhood.
It should not be tempted to go it alone since it will be
continuously distracted by instability and uncertainty all
around its borders. But to deal with its neighbours, India
will need to cast off part of its old approach and work
towards a new strategy aimed at producing a working
economic entity in South Asia to which it and its many
neighbours are fully committed.
A move in that direction is not taking place. The most
important initiative in this respect is the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation, Saarc, created a
quarter of a century ago. As shown by the Bhutan summit of
April 2010, there was much greater attention given to the
meeting between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan
on the sidelines of the summit than to the work of the
summit itself.
Viewpoints
American arrogance
Their
arrogance was buried in the jungles of South Vietnam, until it
was resurrected 26 years later.
Javed Hussain
The
marines had come with the belief that the 'racially inferior
gooks' would not stand up to America's military forces and
that they would be home in time for Christmas. The American
arrogance had percolated through their military's rank and
file. They soon discovered that their belief was entirely
misplaced.
The Vietnamese fighters not only stood up to them, but also
turned them into psychopaths. Ten years later, when they could
take it no more, the Americans withdrew in panic defeated,
disgraced and traumatised. During the war they dropped 7.8
million tons of bombs of all kinds against 2.06 million tons
dropped in the Second World War, and sprayed 75 million litres
of defoliants including Dioxin over the fields, forests and
villages of Vietnam, causing seven million casualties
including three million dead, for the loss of 58,000 American
servicemen. Their arrogance was buried in the jungles of South
Vietnam, until it was resurrected 26 years later.
History is now repeating itself in Afghanistan because the
Americans repeated the mistake made by the Soviets. They are
being made to pay for their folly of overestimating themselves
and underestimating the skill and fortitude of the Afghan
guerillas. Nine years on they have learned that it is far more
difficult to withdraw than it was to go in. As a consequence,
they have put in place a new strategy which seeks to create an
environment that would allow them to commence the process of
withdrawing the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf)
from Afghanistan in July 2011.
To create this environment they would apply such force on the
Taliban as would compel them to sue for peace, while at the
same time enticing the Taliban rank and file into desertion;
then negotiate from a position of strength, transfer security
responsibilities to the Afghan army, and commence the
withdrawal process. If the strategy succeeds President Obama
would be hailed as the victor in Afghanistan and his party
would not only sweep the November elections to the Congress,
but also the presidential elections in 2012. But if it fails,
their arrogance would once again be buried, this time in the
valley of death that south Afghanistan is for invaders.
Why was the need felt for a new strategy? In a war against
insurgency unless the mission is accomplished within a year,
the war tends to drag on for years on end. In the event, the
soldiers who are basically groomed for conventional war lose
their combat effectiveness, having to fight an invisible enemy
who is here, there and everywhere, yet nowhere. The guerillas
have no such compulsion as time is always on their side.
Therefore, they do everything to prolong the war in order to
not only cultivate more recruits, build their inventory of
weapons, ammunition and explosives, put in place an effective
intelligence network, but also to play with the minds of the
soldiers, for once the mind is defeated, the war is won.
Therefore, it follows that if a half-hearted effort is applied
against insurgency, it is bound to fail.
The first mistake made by the Americans was to defy history.
But having chosen to do so they should have assigned the
resources needed to accomplish the mission. Thus, their main
effort should have been in Afghanistan, not Iraq. Their second
mistake was to initiate the air-bombing campaign without
securing the crossing sites on their side of the Durand Line
to prevent the Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives from escaping
to the tribal areas of Pakistan - they thought that the
Taliban would give battle in which they would be wiped out.
But the Taliban were wiser. Even today, despite the deployment
of substantial Pakistani effort along the Durand Line, a
complementary effort by the Isaf is missing on their side of
the Line. Their third mistake was not to end the Taliban
domination of the mountains in which they have their safe
havens.
Yet instead of taking corrective action they persisted with
the mismatch between the mission assigned and resources given.
Consequently they suffered operational setbacks and blamed
Pakistan for them. The additional US forces sanctioned are
still not enough to accomplish the mission. However the least
that can be done is to employ the available forces judiciously
- one, for blocking at least those crossing sites which are
used by the Haqqani group to make forays into Afghanistan from
North Waziristan, and two, for ending the domination of the
mountains by the Taliban.
But they are fixated on Kandahar and North Waziristan. They
want the Pakistan Army to take control of North Waziristan
before the start of the Isaf operation against Kandahar
planned for August 2010, even if that involves uncovering the
eastern front which they mistakenly believe India would not
exploit. The Pakistan Army formations presently engaged in
holding the captured areas in Swat and Fata cannot be pulled
out for an operation against North Waziristan, for doing so
would create a weakness in these areas which the TTP would be
quick to exploit. Therefore a new force would have to be
assembled by denuding the eastern front even more, a situation
that should not be acceptable to the high command. Instead,
apart from their ongoing commitments in Fata, they should plan
on eliminating the religious militant groups who are capable
of orchestrating strikes beyond the borders of Pakistan.
Hillary Clinton's outburst is reminiscent of the arrogant
'stone age' call after 9/11. On reflection she just might have
discovered that Pakistan has lost more soldiers than the
combined losses suffered by foreign forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and five times more civilians than those lost in
the 9/11 strikes, which eminently reflect on Pakistan's
commitment to the war on terror.
What 'serious consequences' is she threatening with? Choking
the country economically, drone attacks across the country,
invasion of Fata, seizure of nuclear storage sites by special
operations forces or an air blitz against these sites and
allied facilities, perhaps even carrying out the 'stone age'
threat?
Instead of living in mortal fear, the Americans should shed
the paranoia that has gripped them and the arrogance that
characterises their conduct with weaker states, and show some
grace, serenity of mind and understanding and receptiveness to
Pakistan's concerns and constraints. Their uncalled for
outbursts against a 'partner' would only serve to alienate the
Pakistani people even more.
The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan Army.
Good morning,
and good luck
Politics is
about timing and Brown, too long in Tony Blair's shadow,
missed his moment. History will record - an onerous legacy
- that he led the country but never had its people's
mandate.
Roger Cohen
Good
sense has prevailed, the winners have taken office, and
there's a bit of rainbow-nation buoyancy to Britain that
seems impervious, for now, to Greek hangovers. Let's face
it: After a season of furrowed brows youth is a tonic.
At 43, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have that. They're new
in every sense, at the head of the first coalition
government since Churchill called Britain to arms seven
decades ago. Today, the blitz is economic. The one clear
message written into the election's inconclusive numbers
was that Britain demanded change. Collapsing banks,
expense scandals, a fierce recession and spiraling
personal debt have angered people. It was not that Gordon
Brown was a bad guy; he was just a tired guy at the head
of a weary Labour Party and a man with a tragic streak.
Politics is about timing and Brown, too long in Tony
Blair's shadow, missed his moment. History will record -
an onerous legacy - that he led the country but never had
its people's mandate.
"Thank you and goodbye," he said at the end of a gracious
valedictory speech that could not quite hide the
bitterness in that terse finale. It was not quite Edward
R. Murrow's "Good night, and good luck," but almost.
What now? I think Cameron was right to follow Obama and
weave the word "responsibility" into his every
post-electoral statement. Like Obama in 2009, he's taking
over a battered, baffled nation. After seeing the tab for
the past decade, learning of Icelandic illusions and
digesting just how crazy the City's antics and their own
representatives' spending had become, the British are
ready for a dose of transparency and accountability. At
least they ?think they are.
The rapid coalition-building was certainly an exercise in
responsibility. It can't have been easy for Clegg - with
his strong European bent, Spanish wife and sons named
Antonio, Alberto and Miguel - to agree to wording
freighted with visceral Tory suspicion of the European
Union, a body full of funny names to which "there should
be no further transfer of sovereignty or powers over the
course of the next Parliament." It can't have been easy,
either, for Cameron to accept a referendum on electoral
reform that could hurt his Conservative party; tax breaks
for low-income earners rather than his wealthy classmates;
and an awkward compromise on nuclear power that reflects
the lentils-and-sandals, touchy-feely streak among Clegg's
Liberal Democrats, a party long free to dream because it
did not have to govern.
Still, they got to agreement fast, with the best part
devoted to civil liberties - scrapping Labour's ID card
scheme and promising to rein in the rampant camera
surveillance that threatens to put Britain back in the
USSR.
Now each leader has to deliver or succumb to the
inevitable jibes, from the right in the case of Cameron,
the left in the case of Clegg. Effectiveness can be their
only answer to charges of opportunism and selling out.
That should focus minds.
I like the balance in the cabinet, particularly the
presence of the blunt Liberal Democrat Vince Cable
overseeing business and banks. Youth is good, but Cable,
two decades older than Clegg and Cameron, brings a dose of
hard-nosed wisdom. It was he who, seven years ago, asked
Brown if "consumer spending pinned against record levels
of personal debt," was not a recipe for economic disaster
- and was ignored.Cable and the Tory Chancellor of the
Exchequer, George Osborne, face an enormous challenge.
The agreement commits the coalition to an emergency
deficit-reducing budget within 50 days even as it
acknowledges the fragility of economic recovery: That's a
tough balancing act. It also calls for "robust action to
tackle unacceptable bonuses in the financial services
sector," and raises the possibility of separating retail
and investment banking - measures the City will resist,
and Britain depends more than America on its huge
?financial sector.
Britain's numbers don't look a whole lot better than
Greece's, with the budget deficit at 11.5 per cent of
national output, compared to 13.6 per cent in Athens. But
Britain has more flexibility, being outside the euro, and
has already allowed sterling to depreciate sharply to
regain competitiveness. Its debt maturities are also
longer. And, well, the United Kingdom is not Greece.
Still, Cameron and Clegg are going to have to steer the
country through very rough times. Europe, like it or not,
is where Britain sits, as Churchill knew. Britain will not
be immune to the south European blues. At home, interest
rates will rise and the end to the current mortgage
holiday for millions will cause anger.
But government is not just about numbers. When he took
office 13 years ago, Blair lifted Britain from its
navel-gazing. Cameron has the same energetic gifts, is a
better listener and more instinctive seeker of middle
ground. In a best case, he and Clegg will complement each
other. Europe can't afford a Britain of Tory prejudice.
The world can't afford a Britain of Liberal Democratic
wobbliness. So, here's to renewal in the spirit of the
Downing Street fertility clinic, preparing to usher
another Cameron into the unpredictable ?British fray.
Roger Cohen is Editor at Large of the International
Herald Tribune
New Iran nuclear deal is a good start
Breakthroughs in the Middle East come in small portions
and rarely as wholesale achievements.
Osama Al Sharif
Breakthroughs
in the Middle East come in small portions and rarely as
wholesale achievements.
This is how observers should read Monday's historic deal
between Iran, Brazil and Turkey under which Tehran has
accepted to ship 1,200 kg of low-enriched uranium to
Turkey in exchange for higher-enriched nuclear fuel that
it desperately needs to power its medical research
reactor. But the West's response has been less than
welcoming, raising doubts again about the prospects of
resolving Iran's tussle with the US and others
diplomatically and peacefully.
But Brazil and Turkey, whose leaders flew to Tehran to
convince the Iranians of the merits of adopting such a
deal, have made an important breakthrough in the current
standoff. The deal does not differ much from a previous
UN-backed proposal to ship Iran's nuclear fuel to Russia
and France in return for high-grade fuel, enriched to 20
percent, within a year. That offer, made in October,
collapsed when the Iranians backed down.
But the threat of more UN sanctions, diplomatic isolation
and even war, have convinced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
and the country's supreme spiritual leader, that the
Turkey-Brazil proposal was an acceptable compromise. While
it does not resolve all issues related to Iran's nuclear
program, it certainly is a big step forward.
But first, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) need to agree that the Turkish-Brazil deal is
valid. The coming few days will decide if the West can
live with this development or not. The IAEA will come
under pressure, primarily from the US and other countries
like France and Germany. But the fact that a positive move
has been made by Iran should be taken seriously at this
delicate stage of the conflict.
Critics of the deal, including Israel, believe Iran is
only buying time and hoping to deflate efforts to impose
new UN sanctions. Both Turkey and Brazil are members of
the current session of the Security Council, and now that
they have secured a deal with Iran they would feel
obligated to defend it and oppose new sanctions. The deal
may also sway the position of other members like China and
even Russia. Iran has already made contacts with other
non-permanent members such as Uganda and Bosnia to block
the US-led drive for new sanctions.
But aside from the obvious Iranian gains, the region, and
indeed the world, may also benefit from a new agreement.
Iran has proven that it will not be bossed around by the
US or others, the so called P5-Plus-1 (the five permanent
Security Council members plus Germany). It has also
declared, through Ahmadinejad, that it does not fear UN
penalties and that the Islamic Republic has been living
under sanctions since the revolution in 1979.
In addition to all this, Iran is not just any country in
the region. It has considerable influence over many issues
and partners, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Hamas and
Hezbollah. Drawing Iran back to the negotiations table may
prove helpful not only in defusing the crisis over its
nuclear program, but in working out solutions to other
problems as well. Ignoring this fact for so long has only
complicated matters and the current crisis in Iraq is but
an example.
The success of Turkey and Brazil, both of which have
strong ties with Iran, in reaching a deal signals
something else that has been missing in the previous
rounds of negotiations; trust. Mutual distrust has
characterized Iran's relationship with the West for a long
time. And for each accusation or finger-pointing coming
from the US or its allies, Iran could easily respond with
its own list of charges.
There is a dire need to build on the latest agreement even
if the US is not completely satisfied with its terms. A
fresh round of sanctions will only alienate the Iranian
leadership and give hard-liners excuses to close the door
on further negotiations. On the other hand, resuming
dialogue with the Iranians will yield results, especially
if friendlier countries, such as Turkey and Brazil, take
the lead.
Regardless of the final outcome it seems that Turkey's
strategy of containing regional crises is working well.
This is a triumph for Ankara whose role in the Middle East
is becoming essential and substantial. The same cannot be
said of Arab states whose influence in their own backyard
is receding dangerously. This has been demonstrated in
Iraq's case, with Iran's feud with the West and now we see
the same happening in Palestine and even with Egypt that
is facing a crucial test with its southern neighbors over
Nile water-sharing rights.
Political breakthroughs are rare in this part of the
world, but their existence, even at a modest level, is
always good news for the people of a region that has lived
through wars and uncertainty and is always at their mercy!
Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and political
commentator based in Jordan.
International
“Accord for
operation in North Waziristan”
Dawn Online, Islamabad
Pakistan agreed in principle to launch a full-fledged
military operation against the Taliban in North Waziristan,
but candidly told the United States that the timing of the
offensive would be decided by it.
"Pakistan is sincere and committed in combating terrorism
and is ready to expand its anti-militancy operations to
North Waziristan. "However, for that we will require time
to do the necessary shaping up. The operation will be
started according to our own judgment," a senior official
told Dawn after US National Security Adviser Gen James
Jones and CIA chief Leon Panetta held a meeting with
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief of
the Army Staff Gen Parvez Kayani.
The US has been pressing Pakistan for some time to act
decisively against militant sanctuaries in North
Waziristan, but the pressure has increased since the
recent botched attack on New York's Times Square. The US
alleged that the bombing accused, Faisal Shahzad, had
received training in North Waziristan and said it was
necessary to clear the region of Taliban, Al Qaeda and
other jihadi groups.
Pakistan agreeing to move into North Waziristan is also
evident from a joint statement issued after the meeting.
It said: "Discussions focused on measures that both the
countries (the US and Pakistan) are, and will be, taking
to confront the common threat we face from extremists and
prevent such potential attacks from occurring again. Both
sides pledged to do everything possible to protect our
citizens."
After the meeting, senior Pakistani officials appeared
reconciled to allegations that the Times Square bombing
conspiracy had been hatched in the lawless tribal belt.
Pakistan has hitherto been reluctant to take on the
militants in North Waziristan, but it appears that it was
forced to change its tack after a blunt message from
President Obama, delivered by the visiting US officials to
the Pakistani leadership, warning that any future attack
on the US soil originating from here would have serious
consequences. The message called for increased
intelligence sharing between the two countries for
thwarting terrorist plots.
Sweden closes embassy
in Islamabad due to security
AFP, Stockholm
Sweden's embassy in Islamabad has been closed for more
than two weeks due to the security situation in Pakistan,
a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Thursday.
"We don't know when it will be possible to reopen the
embassy," Tobias Nilsson said, refusing to say whether any
direct threats had been issued against the mission. "We
never comment on these kinds of security situations," he
said.
The embassy said on its website Thursday that "due to the
security situation in Pakistan, the embassy of Sweden in
Islamabad is closed until further notice". It did not
provide further information.
Swedish interests have come under threat in Pakistan in
the past.
Two years ago the Swedish embassy there tightened security
after receiving threats following a suicide car bomb
attack outside the embassy of its Scandinavian neighbour
Denmark that left six people dead.
The Al-Qaeda terror network claimed responsibility for
that attack, saying it came "in revenge" for Danish
caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
An Al-Qaeda front organisation had offered 100,000 dollars
to anyone who murdered the artist, Lars Vilks, with an
extra 50,000 if his throat was slit.
Vilks has received numerous death threats and in the past
week alone, been attacked while giving a lecture at a
Swedish university and had his house fire-bombed.
Pakistan blocks YouTube
over ‘blasphemous’ material
Dawn Online, Islamabad
Pakistan has blocked the popular video sharing website
YouTube indefinitely in a bid to contain "blasphemous"
material, officials said on Thursday.
The blockade came hours after the Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) directed Internet
service providers to stop access to social network site
Facebook indefinitely on Wednesday because of an online
competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Any representation of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is
deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous by Muslims.
Wahaj-us-Siraj, the CEO of Nayatel, an Internet service
provider, said PTA issued an order late on Wednesday
seeking an "immediate" block of YouTube. "It was a serious
instruction as they wanted us to do it quickly and let
them know after that," he told Reuters.
YouTube was also blocked in the Muslim country in 2007 for
about a day for what it called un-Islamic videos. PTA
spokesman, Khurram Ali Mehran, said the action was taken
after the authority determined that content considered
blasphemous by devout Muslims was being posted on the
website.
"Before shutting down (YouTube), we did try just to block
particular URLs or links, and access to 450 links on the
Internet were stopped, but the blasphemous content kept
appearing so we ordered a total shut down," he said.
He regretted that the administrators at the Facebook and
YouTube had not taken the content off despite Pakistan's
protests.
"Their attitude was in contravention to international
resolutions and their own policies advertised on the Web
for the general public," Mehran said.
Pak serves legal notice to India over
Kishanganga dam construction issue
ANI, Islamabad
Pakistan has served a legal notice to India concerning the
long pending issue of construction of the Kishaganga dam
over the river Indus.
The Nation reported a private television channel, as
saying that the notice has been sent by the Water and
Power Ministry in consultation with the Indus Water
commission with an aim to bring the issue before the World
Bank's court of arbitration.
It is worth mentioning here that the notice has been
served at a time when Pakistan's Indus Water Commissioner
Jamaat Ali Shah is scheduled to visit India on May 29th to
participate in the annual Indus Water Commission meeting.
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), inked between India and
Pakistan in 1960, provides appointment of a neutral expert
by the World Bank as a last option to resolve water
related issues between both the countries.
Pakistan has been blaming India for an unsporting attitude
during bilateral talks, which were initiated to resolve
the impending water dispute.
Pakistan has been opposing the construction of the
Kishanganga hydropower project on the Ganga River in
Kashmir, which is called Neelum upon entering Pakistan.
Pakistan has said that the diversion of the waters of the
Neelum is not allowed under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty,
and it will face a 27 per cent water deficit, when the
project gets completed.
It also claims that India has almost completed a
22-kilometre long tunnel to divert Kishanganga waters to
Wullar Lake in Jammu and Kashmir.
Japan, US ‘to end base row’
before Clinton visit
AFP, Tokyo
Japan and the United States plan to settle a row over a US
airbase this month, largely in line with Washington's
wishes, reports said Thursday, a day before Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton visits Tokyo.
Under the deal, expected to be officially announced Friday
next week, the base would be relocated within Okinawa
island rather than moved elsewhere, as agreed by previous
conservative governments in Tokyo and Washington.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama would announce the news at a
press conference on May 28, the Asahi Shimbun and other
dailies said, citing unnamed sources.
Relations have been strained between the two allies since
the centre-left premier took power last September after a
landslide poll victory, pledging to move the base out of
Okinawa, where most residents oppose it.
The administration of US President Barack Obama has urged
Hatoyama to stick with the original pact, arguing a strong
US military presence is crucial for the defence of Japan
and stability in the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Hatoyama appeared to concede that point in brief comments
Thursday.
"Now the Korean peninsula is growing tense," he said after
an international panel concluded North Korea sank a South
Korean naval ship in March, killing 46 people, in findings
that sparked an angry reaction from the communist regime.
"Considering situations like this in Asia, as well as for
the peace of Japan, we are making our final efforts to
reach a solution to this problem by the end of May,"
Hatoyama told reporters.
He was speaking a day before Clinton stops in Japan for
several hours on her way to China and then South Korea on
a week-long Asia tour.
Commenting on the base dispute, Singapore's founding
father Lee Kuan Yew said: "If Japan closes (US bases in)
Okinawa, I'd say it's a real setback for the deployment of
American forces, which is not to the benefit of Asia."
"Stability and security in the East Asian regions (from)
Korea down to Southeast Asia has been maintained by the
Americans since the end of the last war in 1945," the
former premier said, speaking at a Tokyo business
conference.
Kabul denies involvement in Maldives
peace meet
AFP, Kabul
The Afghan government on Thursday denied sending
representatives to the Maldives to take part in talks with
the Taliban and branded the meeting counter-productive.
A spokesman for the Maldives president said Afghan
government envoys and Taliban representatives would hold a
second meeting at a resort in the Indian Ocean nation on
Thursday. Afghan presidential spokesman Waheed Omar told
AFP that Kabul was aware of talks in the Maldives but said
no official representatives were attending. He said
President Hamid Karzai was opposed to the talks. "We are
not represented, we do not approve of it and we do not
support it," Omar said of the talks. "They will be
counter-productive. "The Afghan government has its own
plan for the reconciliation and reintegration (of Taliban
operatives)," he said. "We believe these meetings will not
be productive," he said. "We call on those parties to
follow the Afghan government to make sure that this
process is conceived properly and the Afghan people
support it, the international community support it and we
have a good result," Omar said.
Asked who was taking part in the talks, Omar said: "We're
not interested."
Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed's office said the
meetings would start later Thursday, although his
government was not involved. He said there was no legal
impediment for the men linked to the Taliban to enter the
Maldives as they had valid passports and their names were
not on UN or international travel blacklists.
NKorea warns of war if
punished for ship sinking
AP, Seoul
North Korea said Thursday that South Korea fabricated
evidence implicating the North in a torpedo attack in
order to pick on the North and any attempt at retaliating
for the warship's sinking would be answered with "all-out
war."
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed "stern action"
for the attack after a multinational investigation issued
its long-awaited results Thursday, concluding the North
fired a torpedo that sank the Cheonan navy ship March 26
near the Koreas' tense sea border.
"If the (South Korean) enemies try to deal any retaliation
or punishment, or if they try sanctions or a strike on us
.... we will answer to this with all-out war," Col. Pak In
Ho of North Korea's navy told broadcaster APTN in an
exclusive interview in Pyongyang.
An international civilian-military investigation team said
evidence overwhelmingly proves a North Korean submarine
fired a homing torpedo that caused a massive underwater
blast that tore the Cheonan apart. Fifty-eight sailors
were rescued from the frigid Yellow Sea, but 46 perished
in the South's worst military disaster since the Korean
War.
Since the 1950-53 war on the Korean peninsula ended in a
truce rather than a peace treaty, the Koreas remain locked
in a state of war and divided by the world's most heavily
armed border. The truce prevents Seoul from waging a
unilateral military attack.
UK's
Cameron, Clegg finalize coalition deal
AP, London
Britain's coalition government outlined a joint
legislative program Thursday, promising support for the
Afghanistan war, a new drive toward Middle East peace and
a "close and frank" relationship with the United States.
Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg published details of the agreement struck
between their Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties
after the country's inconclusive May 6 election, in which
no party won a clear majority to govern.
"Some policies have been lost on both sides, some have
been changed and yes - we have had to find ways to deal
with the issues where we profoundly disagree," Cameron
told reporters in London as he unveiled the plan.
The deal promises to support enlargement of the U.N.
Security Council, to review an extradition treaty between
Britain and the U.S. seen by some as unfair, and to rule
out joining - or even preparing for entry into - the
European single currency.
Clegg's party has long favored closer European ties and
eventual British entry into the euro, a policy which is an
anathema to Cameron's deeply euroskeptic Conservatives.
Cameron will hold talks in Paris with French President
Nicolas Sarkozy later Thursday, and travel to meet with
German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday to
discuss European ties and the continent's fragile economy.
He said Britain would not support closer economic
governance in Europe as a response to the debt crisis in
Greece, which needed a euro110 billion ($134.97 billion)
three-year rescue loan package from other EU countries and
the International Monetary Fund to stave off bankruptcy.
"We don't believe there should be further transfer of
powers in that way," Cameron said. The joint agreement
says any new attempt by the European Union to expand its
powers would need to be approved in Britain by a public
referendum.
Clegg and Cameron's joint government promises to support
"concerted international efforts" to prevent Iran from
obtaining a nuclear weapon - but does not specify whether
the Liberal Democrats will give up their policy to oppose
any military action against Tehran.
While the program endorses the previous government's
decision to authorize the 20 billion pound ($32 billion)
replacement of Britain's fleet of nuclear-armed
submarines, Clegg's lawmakers - who oppose the plan - are
free to "continue to make the case for alternatives."
Their joint program promises to "maintain a strong, close
and frank relationship with the United States," but to
bolster links with India and China, and focus on extending
trading and diplomatic ties to fast growing economies
beyond Europe or North America. It backs permanent U.N.
Security Council seats for Japan, India, Brazil, Germany
and an African representative. A planned review of
extradition laws covering the transfer of suspects from
Britain to the U.S. could have implications in the cases
of Gary McKinnon, who is wanted by U.S. prosecutors over
the alleged hacking of U.S. military computers, and Abu
Hamza al-Masri, a radical preacher accused of setting up a
terrorist training camp in rural Oregon. McKinnon's
planned extradition was put on hold Thursday.
But Cameron and Clegg said reducing Britain's record
163-billion-pound ($235 billion) budget deficit will be
prioritized over all other plans.
US envoy holds talks
with Israeli PM Netanyahu
Reuters,
Jerusalem
U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell met Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday in a second round
of indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
No details of the discussions, which followed a meeting on
Wednesday between Mitchell and Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, were released.
Though neither side is optimistic about making a
breakthrough soon, both Israel and the Palestinians seem
to be taking steps to build trust.
Government sources said Netanyahu was examining favourably
a proposal to build, on occupied land Israel had
originally allocated for Jewish settlement, a road linking
the West Bank city of Ramallah to a new Palestinian town
under construction.
Abbas broke with tradition on Monday by failing to give a
speech on the day on which Palestinians mourn the creation
of Israel, which they call the "nakba", the Arabic for
catastrophe.
Analysts said Abbas wanted to avoid an occasion on which
he would be expected to condemn Israel in strong language.
Palestinians have agreed to up to four months of indirect
"proximity talks", but have made direct negotiations
conditional on a halt to all Israeli settlement activities
in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory Israel
captured in the 1967 war.
The proximity talks began formally during Mitchell's
previous visit to the region two weeks ago.
The White House has said it will hold each side
accountable for any actions taken that could undermine the
negotiations, the first in 18 months.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the
state they intend to establish in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a
claim that is not recognised internationally.
Iran ‘could cancel uranium
deal over sanctions’
Reuters, Tehran
Iran could cancel its agreement with Turkey and Brazil to
transfer some of its uranium abroad if the U.N. Security
Council approves a new round of sanctions against it, a
member of parliament said on Thursday.
Brazil and Turkey brokered a surprise deal this week in
which Iran agreed to send some low-enriched uranium abroad
in return for fuel rods for a medical research reactor.
The first batch is due to arrive in Turkey within a month.
Such an arrangement was first suggested as a way of
allowing the international community to keep track of
nuclear material the West suspects Iran wants to use in
nuclear weapons. Turkey, Brazil and Iran have urged a halt
to talk of further sanctions because of the deal, but
critics describe it as only a tactic to avert or delay
sanctions.
Despite the deal, Washington has circulated a draft
sanctions resolution, agreed to by all five permanent U.N.
Security Council members after months of negotiation.
"If (the West) issues a new resolution against Iran, we
will not be committed to Tehran's statement and
despatching fuel outside Iran will be cancelled,"
prominent lawmaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar was quoted as
saying by Iran's Mehr news agency.
German arrests over Iran sale anger
Russia
Reuters, United Nations
Germany has detained several men suspected of buying
technology for a Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran,
opening the door to a diplomatic feud between the European
Union and Russia, Western diplomats said.
Diplomats familiar with the case said the arrests had
infuriated Russia, which complained to members of the U.N.
Security Council's Iran sanctions committee. That panel
oversees compliance with the punitive measures imposed on
Tehran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment
program.
The dispute highlights the gulf between countries like
Russia and China, which have continued to do business with
Iran despite three rounds of U.N. sanctions and a possible
fourth round in the works, and Western powers, which have
been quietly making it increasingly difficult to trade
with Tehran.
One European diplomat, who spoke to Reuters on condition
of anonymity, said the businessmen were detained at a
German airport by the customs police on suspicion of
violating a ban on the export of sensitive "dual-use"
technology to Iran.
The arrested men are German nationals working for a German
firm. The diplomat declined to name the firm and it was
not immediately clear how many men were detained or what
items they had purchased for the Bushehr plant.
The diplomats said the detained Germans were acquiring
equipment on behalf of Russia and its Bushehr light-water
nuclear power reactor in Iran, scheduled to open in
August.
The first U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran, passed
in 2006, exempted technology for light-water reactors like
Bushehr, which are seen as less of a proliferation risk
than heavy-water reactors, the spent fuel from which is
rich in bomb-grade plutonium.
Australia lawmakers vote
down burqa ban
AFP, Sydney
Lawmakers in Australia's most populous state voted against
banning the burqa Thursday, with one accusing the
Christian MP who moved the bill of stigmatising Muslims.
Fred Nile, of the right-wing Christian Democrats Party,
urged the New South Wales parliament to vote in favour of
banning the full Islamic veil for security reasons and to
"set women free from domination of males".
But his bill was quashed in the state's upper house by 26
to three votes, with the centre-left Labor and more
radical Greens parties condemning it as racist.
"There is no urgency in spreading further fear and hatred
in our community," said Islamic Labor MP Shaoquett
Moselmane. Nile's real intent was "stigmatising an entire
community", added Greens MP John Kaye.
It follows heated public debate sparked earlier this month
by calls from conservative national Senator Cory Bernardi
for a ban on the burqa, which he claimed was "emerging as
the preferred disguise of bandits and ne'er-do-wells".
Bernardi's comments, prompted by the use of the Islamic
veil in an armed robbery in Sydney, led both Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd and his opposition counterpart Tony
Abbott to declare that such a ban was not current policy.
Muslims make up about 1.7 percent of Australia's heavily
Christian population of 22 million, and religious tensions
have run high in recent years.
Anti-Muslim sentiment flared on Sydney's southern Cronulla
Beach in December 2005 when mobs of whites attacked
Lebanese Australians there in a bid to "reclaim the
beach".
The race riots, the country's worst of modern times,
sparked a retaliatory campaign in which churches, shops
and cars were attacked.
The French cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft law to
ban the Muslim full-face veil from public spaces, paving
the way for a parliamentary vote in July.n
Belgium last month became the first country to pass such a
national ban.
Obama, Calderon push for
immigration law changes
Reuters, Washington
President Barack Obama pushed for sweeping changes in U.S.
immigration policy on Wednesday, as Mexican President
Felipe Calderon complained that a harsh new Arizona law
discriminates against foreign-born workers.
Immigration, a traditional sticking point in the
neighbouring countries' relationship, became the focus of
Calderon's Washington visit when the border state passed
the law requiring police to check the immigration status
of anyone they suspect is in the United States illegally.
The Arizona law has been criticized as discriminatory and
Calderon, who had promised to bring it up in Washington,
jumped into the controversy in his first formal remarks of
the two-day state visit.
Despite their "significant contribution to the economy and
society of the United States," Calderon said, many
immigrant workers "live in the shadows, and at times, as
in Arizona, confront patterns of discrimination."
Ocean's depth and volume revealed
LiveScience.com
The Earth's oceans are among the most mysterious places on
the planet, but scientists now have at least figured out
how deep the oceans are and just how much water they hold.
A group of scientists used satellite measurements to get
new estimates of these values, which turned out to be 0.3
billion cubic miles (1.332 billion cubic kilometers) for
the volume of the oceans and 12,080.7 feet (3,682.2
meters) for the average ocean depth. Both of these numbers
are less than many previous estimates of the ocean's
volume and depth.
"A lot of water values are taken for granted," said
Matthew Charette, an associate scientist at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Mass., who
led the new audit of the oceans. "If you want to know the
water volume on the planet, you Google it and you get five
different numbers, most of them 30- or 40-year-old
values." The depth estimate of 2.3 miles is about 69 to
167 feet (21 to 51 meters) less than previous estimates.
(Some areas of the ocean, such as the Mariana Trench (at
nearly 7 miles or 11 km deep) are of course much deeper
than the average, while other areas, such as the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge are shallower.)
The researchers report that the world's total ocean volume
is less than the most recent estimates by a volume
equivalent to about five times the Gulf of Mexico, or 500
times the Great Lakes. While that might seem a lot at
first glance, it is only about 0.3 percent lower than the
estimates of 30 years ago. That small difference shows how
accurate even crude measurement techniques were at
estimating the ocean's volume. As long ago as 1888, for
example, John Murray dangled lead weights from a rope off
a ship to calculate an ocean volume - the product of ocean
area and mean ocean depth - just 1.2 percent greater than
the figure reported by Charette and his colleague Walter
H.F. Smith, a geophysicist at the National Environmental
Satellite, Data and Information Service of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Business/Economy
PM warns
of tough action against cheating immigrant workers
UNB, Kuala Lumpur
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said the
government would take instant tough action if any
recruiting agency is found to be cheating Bangladeshi
immigrant workers.
"Government is strictly monitoring the recruiting
agencies… anyone found guilty of cheating workers will be
punished," she said speaking at a reception given by the
Bangladeshi community at Putra World Trade Center. The
Prime Minister, however, urged the expatriate Bangladeshis
to abide by the laws of the country they have been living
in and cautioned that "we'll have nothing to do if one is
punished for one's misdeed."
Referring to her meeting with the Malaysian Prime Minister
on Wednesday, Hasina said all problems facing the
Bangladeshis here were discussed and he assured to look
into those problems. She said the Malaysian government
will grant 10 scholarships for poor Bangladeshi students
every year.
As a good number of expatriates in one voice blamed the
Bangladesh mission officials for not taking care of them,
the Prime Minister said it is the responsibility of the
Bangladesh High Commission officials to look after their
problems.
In response to harassment the expatriates face at the
Dhaka airport, Hasina said she would ensure safety and
comfort of the expatriates.
She said the government has undertaken training programs
for the intending immigrant workers to learn foreign
languages and laws so they do not face any problem after
arriving in a foreign country.
Besides, the Prime Minister said Machine Readable Passport
(MRP) is being introduced to check fraud with passports
and data bank set up to keep information of all expatriate
workers.
Moreover, she said the Expatriate Bank is being set up to
grant loans to immigrant workers, so they would not need
to sell their lands and property in the future.
Hasina urged the expatriates to send remittance through
banking channels avoiding 'hundi' and make investment in
Bangladesh. She said the government will set up economic
zones for investment by the expatriates. Besides, there
will be expatriates' quota for plots and flats.
Praising the hardworking Bangladeshi expatriates, the
Prime Minister said each expatriate is an ambassador of
Bangladesh in a foreign country and they should work to
enhance the country's image abroad. She said current
foreign reserve has exceeded US$ 10 billion and the credit
goes to the expatriate Bangladeshis. Commerce Minister
Faruk Khan, among others, spoke at the reception.
President
for increasing Dhaka-Manila trade volume
BSS, Dhaka
President Zillur Rahman on Thursday laid emphasis on
increasing trade between Bangladesh and the Philippines as
the existing trade volume is not adequate despite huge
potentials.
"The Philippine entrepreneurs can import more Bangladeshi
products and as well as invest in the country's thrust
sectors," he said while the outgoing Philippines
Ambassador to Bangladesh Zenaida Tacorda- Rabago paid a
farewell call on him at Bangabhaban here.
The present trade volume is tilting in favor of the
Philippines and as the country's export stood at $ 11.77
million and import at $ 31.56 million during the fiscal
2008-09.
Expressing his satisfaction over the excellent bilateral
relations between the two friendly countries, President
Zillur Rahman said Bangladesh attaches great importance to
its relations with the Philippines.
The President also gave emphasis to regular exchange of
trade related information by the concerned bodies for
reducing obstacles to trade growth between the two
countries. Through the outgoing envoy, the President
conveyed his warm congratulation to the newly elected
President of the Philippines.
Zenaida apprised the President that she had worked her
level best to increase the trade volume during her tenure
in the country. "Three proposed large Philippine
investments are now under consideration at the Board of
Investment here," she added.
Mentioning that both Bangladesh and Philippines carry many
common views and democratic values, the envoy said her
country is keen to work in collaboration with Bangladesh
in curbing terrorism and face the adverse impacts of
climate change.
She lauded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for raising her
voice against the adverse impacts of climate change across
the globe. She also highly praised Bangladesh's
achievement in empowering women."
Bangladesh has set an example that women can be good
administrators," she added.
Concerned Secretaries of the President's Office were
present on the occasion.
Ctg port to be a business gateway to SAsian
countries, Faruk tells WIEF
BSS, Dhaka
Commerce Minister Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan has described
the Chittagong Port of Bangladesh as the lifeline of all
economic activities and hoped that it will be able to
serve as an 'business gateway' to the South Asian region.
He told the 6th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) on
18-20 May in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, according to a
message received here Thursday.
Khan said the natural advantage of the country is due to
its strategic geographical location that is bridging the
emerging markets of the South Asia and fastest growing
markets of South East Asia and ASEAN countries.
Bangladesh is poised to become a regional hub where
activities relating to assembling, manufacturing, trading
and services, would be some of the areas that are picking
up over the years, he said.
"I strongly believe that this event will provide a common
platform for closer interactions between government
leaders of the OIC member countries," said the commerce
minister.
He said Bangladesh's economy, which has moderately
integrated with the rest of the world, is left largely
unhurt by the financial tsunami at a time when the global
economy is facing the challenge of economic recession.
The economy grew by 5.9 percent in 2008-2009 and the
current budget envisaged 5.5 percent annual growth for
2009-2010, he said.
He said the Bangladesh government has been offering a
generous package of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to
export- oriented and export-linked industries in order to
promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Malaysia is the fifth largest investor in Bangladesh after
Norway, UK, USA and South Korea. Though 70 Malaysian
companies have already invested in Bangladesh, but there
is enough scope for further investment.
Govt to allow use of Ctg, Mongla ports by all
neighbouring countries
UNB, Dhaka
State Minister for Environment Dr Hasan Mahmud Thursday
said the government wants to give Chittagong and Mongla
seaports for use by all its neighbouring countries, not
just by India, Bhutan and Myanmar. He, however, said some
policy-guidelines are needed in this regard.
The state minister made the remarks while briefing newsmen
about the outcome of a meeting between the minister Dr
Hasan and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Rajeet Mitter
at his Ministry.
Dr Hasan said they have also discussed about making
Sunderbans number one in the seven wonders of the world
competition as it needs 10 to 15 crore votes to attain the
topmost position. Now Suderbans is in competition with
Amazon forest.
Stress was given for strengthening campaign in both
Bangladesh and India as Sunderbans comprised 60 percent of
Bangladesh and 40 percent of India, it was told in the
briefing. Coordinated initiative by the two countries in
protecting the Sunderbans were also discussed.
In this regard a meeting between the two countries will be
held on next August or September, the state minister told
the reporters. About Indian VISA, Dr Hasan said India has
introduced electronic visa issuing system and is
considering to issue visa to Bangladeshi people in more
easier way.
Next budget
would fulfill expectations of all: Mustafa Kamal
BSS, Dhaka
The upcoming national budget would be formulated aiming at
fulfilling the expectations of all through balanced
development by ensuring infrastructure development
including power and energy.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on
Finance Ministry Mustafa Kamal said this at a roundtable
titled "Budget Proposal for 2010-2011" at the Jatiya Press
Club auditorium here Thursday. Former advisers of the
caretaker government Mirza Azizul Islam and M Hafizuddin
Ahmed spoke at the roundtable as special guests.
The Daily Bhorer Kagoj and The Diner Sheshe organized the
roundtable. Editor of The Daily Bhorer Kagoj Shymom Dutta
moderated the session. Income tax lawyer Md Jahangir Alam
Chowdhury presented keynote paper.
Mustafa Kamal said collection of revenue should be
increased for ensuring infrastructure development.
He said the government would make a law with the provision
of seizing undisclosed assets, if found and the tax
officials would be given the authority of asking
statements of assets. Collection of revenue is much less
as the manpower of tax department is few, he said adding
the manpower in tax department could not be increased due
to legal reasons.
The revenue budget of the country is much higher as the
country has to meet huge amount as interest servicing. "We
had to pay Taka 15,000 crore as interest servicing from
the revenue," he added.
DSE index nears 6000-mark
BSS, Dhaka
The benchmark price index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE)
neared 6000-mark today on a straight rally for the fifth
trading sessions, which began on 16 May, on the opening
day of the week. DGEN, the general DSE price index closed
at 5981.85 on Thursday, 60.35 points or 1.01 percent
higher then Wednesday's closing. The index, however,
reached at 5998.65 before the closing.
The rise in the index over the week was 60.36 points or
around 1 percent.
Stockbrokers attributed the pre-budget speculative trading
for the rally. Some of the brokers also thought the
bullish trend was a result of the high inflow of black
money into the stock market. There is strong indication
that the government would no more allow money whitening,
so this is the last year for taking such opportunity.
Some share investors were seen buying shares of some issue
on the hope that they would get good return once the face
value of the issues would be changed.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), however,
suggested the share investors to refrain from such
speculative buying as changes in the face value do not
bring any changes in the company's fundamental. But, it
was observed in the market that a good number share
investors did not pay any heed to such advice, resulting
in the price increase of the issues those are changing
face value. Besides the companies, issues from banking,
energy, services and pharmaceutical advanced
significantly, taking the index to the all time high on
the last day of the week.
Stockbrokers expected that the rally would continue if the
political situation remains stable.
National
RMP launches disciplinary
action against eve-teasing
BSS, Rajshahi
The Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) has launched
disciplinary action against eve-teasing in the metropolis
in context of the gradually increasing trend of the
nuisance.
Police already identified 25 eve-teasing points in the
city and launched preventive measures to make the city
free from any stalking.
Detective Branch (DB) wing of the metropolitan police
rounded up 15 eve-teasers from different parts during the
last two days and they were released on bond of good
behavior in the days to come.
Side by side with the ground level strong vigilance
against the social crime the police administration has
been organizing advocacy meetings and taking out anti
eve-teasing rally with the school students and others
concerned in the city schools in order to make the school
boys and girls aware in this regard.
Assistant Commissioner (DB) Mahfuzur Rahman, who was found
leading an anti- eve-teasing rally in the city today, told
BSS that prompt and stern action would be taken against
the persons who will be found guilty in this regard.
Meanwhile, a human rights-based voluntary organization-
Sechhasebi Bahumukhi Mohila Samaj Kolyan Samity (SBMSS)
brought out a rally and staged a human chain programme in
protest against the eve-teasing at Binodpur Bazar here
this noon.
A large number of students and teachers from the adjacent
schools and civil society members joined the rally and
human chain.
Headmaster of Mirjapur High School Nazmul Haque and its
Assistant teachers Mainul Islam, Badiuzzaman, Suchitra
Rani and Jotsna Rani, teachers of Sayera Khatun Junior
High School Hamim Reja and Salah Uddin and teachers of
Science Laboratory High School Shamima Akter Banu and
Alamgir Hossain and SBMSS Project Manager Shipak Chandra
Dey, among others, addressed the programme.
The speakers unequivocally called for forging social
movement to make the society free from the curse of eve
teasing.
Terming the eve-teasing as one of the major social crimes
and also detrimental to the human rights of women they
underscored the need for building a social commitment
against the crime.
They viewed that protecting and establishing human rights,
strengthening rural governance and ensuring gender parity
could be the effective tools for culminating the social
curse.
Besides, they expressed their grave concern over
increasing the inhuman and anti-social activities and
barbaric crimes like rape, killing, repression, domestic
violence and child murder in both the urban and rural
areas.
Similarly, the incidence of eve-teasing has gradually been
increasing in every sections of the society downsizing the
social harmony and tranquility.
In this context, they mentioned that many of the
eve-teasing victims are subjected to either suicidal
victim or social burden as they became demoralized.
They, however, mentioned that only the government or any
single organization is not capable to combat the crimes
but a concerted effort is a must.
To this end, they urged upon the local administration to
form coordination committee and monitoring team with the
district and upazila level government and non-government
initiatives and to declare Rajshahi as an eve-teasing-free
district.
In this regard, they expressed their commitment to build
social resistance in collaboration with the local
administration to attain the cherished goal.
Call to decorate
freedom fighters with state honour during lifetime
BSS, Brahmanbaria
President of Muktijoddher Chetona Bastabayan Committee (MCBC)
Principal Abdul Ahad Chowdhury Thursday called upon the
government to decorate the freedom fighters with state
honour during their life time.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Chief
Patron and Chief Adviser of the Bangladesh Muktijoddha
Sangsad during her previous tenure took the decision to
give state honour when a freedom fighter dies," Chowdhury
recalled adding that "Inshallah this time she would confer
state honour to the valiant freedom fighters during their
life time."
Principal Chowdhury, who was the former Chairman of the
Central Command Council of the Muktijoddha Sangsad, was
speaking as the chief guest at a freedom fighters rally
held at the Ustad Alauddin Khan Town Hall demanding speedy
trail of the perpetrators of violators of human rights
during the war of liberation in 1971.
Presided over by MCBC central leader Khan Mohammad Belayet,
the function was also addressed, among others, by noted
freedom fighters Principal Mizanur Rahman, Advocate
Tafsirul Islam, Wasel Siddiqui, Advocate Abdur Rashid and
Abu Huraira. Principal Abdul Ahad Chowdhury said the
government of Sheikh Hasina had fulfilled its election
commitment by executing the verdict of the Bangabandhu
murder case and freed the nation of a stigma. He said the
government has taken steps to fulfill its another
commitment of trying the war criminals.
Human chain for declaring vast
Barind tract as most vulnerable area due to climate change
BSS, Rajshahi
Speakers at a human chain programme here Thursday
unequivocally called for declaring the vast Barind tract
as the most vulnerable area due to the climate change
caused by global worming.
In this context, they also underscored the need for
including the dried up tract in the programme for climate
resilience project to protect it from desertification and
the adverse impact of the climate change caused by the
global warming.
They said immediate and effective step should be taken to
make the best use of surface water for irrigation side by
side with lessening the pressure on groundwater in the
drought-prone area.
Jonouddyog Rajshahi, a cluster of some development
organizations, organized the programme at Shaheb Bazar
Zero point to press home the demand.
Stressing the need for an environment-friendly irrigation
system instead of indiscriminate use of groundwater
resources for irrigation purposes, thy said there is no
alternative but to include the Barind area in any climate
change related uplift programme.
Besides, they underlined the need for an effective step to
protect the groundwater table in the area for maintaining
its ecological balance.
They said excavation of khas ponds and canals is a must
for sustainable rural livelihood in the area to attain the
cherished goal.
Executive Director of ASSEDO and Member Secretary of
Jonouddyog Rajshahi Agriculturist Rabiul Alam and its
Convener Syed Salauddin, Executive Director of SDP
Jahangir Salim, Executive Director of Adibasi Bikash
Kendra Benzamin Hasda, News Editor Hasan Millat and
journalist Hassan Abdullah, among others, addressed the
human chain program.
Slum dwellers get CRC from CARE
Bangladesh
BSS, Gaibandha
The slum dwellers living in College Road area of Gaibandha
Pourasabha in the district got a community resource center
(CRC) from a reputed organization CARE Bangladesh under
its Shouhardo programme funded by USAID and the government
of Bangladesh.
The center will be utilized as the meeting place for the
slum dwellers so that they can take decision on various
development issues sitting together to improve their
socio- economic conditions gradually, concern sources
said.
Besides, to use it as an education center for the drop out
students and the illiterate adolescents and the women of
the catchments area is one of the objectives of the
construction of the CRC, the sources said.
In addition, any service providers of the government and
non government organizations can provide their services
like health, sanitation and women empowerment to the slum
dwellers of the area from the center as per their
requirement.
On Wednesday afternoon, mayor of the local pourasabha M.
Anwarul Hasan Sabur formally inaugurated the center and
handed over its document and the key to the members of
Slum Development Committee on behalf of the organization
as the chief guest.
Govt to continue to support
poor cancer patients
BSS, Habiganj
Minister for Social Welfare Enamul Haque Mostofa Chowdhury
Shahid Thursday said the government would continue its
support to the poor patients sufferings from liver
cirrhosis, cancer and other incurable diseases under
social safety network programme.
"Observing the success of the 'Support services programme
for the vulnerable group' we are planning to extend it for
next three years," he said while distributing checks among
the poor patients at Habiganj Circuit House today.
The government has taken the programme on pilot basis
under its social safety network programme early this year.
Local administration and social services department
jointly organised the programme.
Advocate Md. Abu Zahir MP, Abdul Qadir Laskar, Upazila
Chairman of Chunarughat and Mahmud Hasan, District
Commissioner also spoke on the occasion.
The minister said to ensure public health services, the
government has taken a plan to recruit 30,000 more
doctors, nurses and health assistants soon.
"When the government has taken an integral programme
towards development through listing more schools in MPO,
developing communication system from central to the remote
areas and giving subsidies to the farmers, than the
opposition called hartal to stop the pace of development,"
he said.
The social Welfare minister distributed Taka 21 Lakh among
42 cancer patients.
Earlier, the government had distributed same amount among
42 cancer patients of the district.
Incidents after 2001 Bhola polls
Inquiry commission to visit constituency May 23
UNB, Dhaka
The 'inquiry commission' formed to probe the incidents
after the 2001 election will go to Bhola on May 23 for a
four-day visit.
Three members of the commission would visit Bhola sadar,
Lalmohon, Tajumoddin and Borhanuddin.
These members are: Former district and sessions judge
Muhammad Sahabuddin (President), deputy secretary of the
Home Ministry Monwar Hossain Akand, and additional DIG
(CID) of Bangladesh Police Meer Shahidul Islam.
The government on December 27, 2009 through a gazette
notification formed the three-member 'Judicial Inquiry
Commission' to investigate the incidents of violence
following the 8th parliamentary elections in 2001.
The commission has been given four months to submit its
report to the government. Later the time was extended till
September of this year.
Following the national elections in 2001 that brought the
BNP-led four-party alliance in power, members of the
minority community alleged they came under violent attacks
that also left their property damaged in the outbreaks in
different parts of the country.
The present Awami League-led Grand Alliance government
decided to conduct inquiry into the acts of violence.
BD replaces army contingent in UN
Mission in Sudan
BSS, Dhaka
Bangladesh Army is going to replace its contingents in UN
Mission in Darfur in Sudan.
A total of 175 army personnel of Sector Reserve Infantry
Company-2 will be replaced by Sector Reserve Company-1 in
the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
Under this programme, an army contingent, consisting of 50
officer and personnel, led by Lieutenant Colonel A K M
Nazmul Hasan left Dhaka for Sudan by the first flight last
night by a UN chartered plane. Remaining members are
expected to leave Dhaka for Sudan by 28 May.
Bangladesh Army contingent have been deployed at UN Peace
Keeping Mission in Sudan since 2008. They achieved
confidence of Sudanese government and people in mitigating
conflict by discharging their duties with efficiency,
professionalism and sincerity.
Munajat was offered seeking more excellence of the
Bangladesh army contingent in future at departure lounge
of the Hazrat Shahjalal Interna-tional Airport prior to
their departure.
Workshop on United Nation held at
Narsingdi
BSS, Narsingdi
Bangladesh Visually Impaired People's Society (BVIPS) with
the assistance of Sight Savers organised a day long
workshop on the United Nation Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was held in the
conference room of Narsingdi Progre-ssive Lions Hospital
on Wednesday.
Chief executive officer of Narsingdi Zila Parisad Jahangir
Alam attended the workshop as the chief guest with
convener of Narsingdi Press Club and BSS correspondent
Mohammad Abu Taher in the chair.
AKM Shamsul Alam, deputy director of Depart-ment of Social
Welfare was present in the workshop as a special guest.
Among others, District Child Affairs Officer Rashida
Begum, vice-president of BVIPS Sayedur Rahman, head of the
programme I Mahmud, Project Co-ordinator Amir Hossain,
Project Director of Assistance for Blind Children (ABC),
self help group members Jaha-nara Begum and Iqbal Hossain
addressed the workshop.
The speakers recommended a number of suggestions for
implementing the UNCRPD.
Two housewives died in separate
incidents
UNB, Thakurgaon
Two housewives died in separate incidents in Sadar upazila
of the district on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The deceased were identified as Ansara Khatun, 23, wife of
Based Ali of east Begunbari village and Pagambari Rani,
30, wife of Bhabesh Barman of Kachubari Gundhiapara
village.
Police said Ansara Khatun allegedly committed suicide by
hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her house on
Tuesday night. The reason behind the suicide could not be
known immediately.
A UD case was filed in this connection. In another
incident housewife Pagambari Rani was electrocuted while
cutting grass for her cows at the village on Wednesday
morning.
Local sources while cutting grass she got severe electric
shock when she touched an electrified pillar of Palli
Bidyut Samity.
Local people rescued her and rushed to Sadar Modern
Hospital where the attending doctors declared her dead.
Fierce clash leaves 50 people
injured
UNB, Brahmanbaria
Over 50 people were injured in a fierce clash between two
groups of villagers at Biswa road crossing in sadar
upazila Thursday morning.
Witnesses said the clash ensued between the people of
Khatihata village of sadar ulazila and Kuttrapara village
of Sarail upazila over a trifling matter at about 10 am.
Around 1000 people of the two groups, equipped with lethal
weapons attacked each other, leaving over 50 people
injured from both sides and halting traffic on Dhaka-Sylhet
highway four about an hour.
Two platoons of riot police rushed to the spot and brought
the situation under control at 11 am after firing 17
rounds robber bullet and lobbing tear gas shells.
None was arrested in this connection. A case was filed.
4 get life term for killing a man
in Gazipur
UNB, Gazipur
A court here on Wednesday convicted four people and
sentenced them to life term imprisonment for killing a man
two years back.
The convicts were also fined Tk 5,000 each, in default, to
face one year more RI.
The convicts are Habibur Rahman, 25, son of Abdul Barek,
Kawser, 24, son of Bachchu Mia, Shah Alam, 45, son of Chan
Mia Sarker and Saiful Islam, 23, son of Shah Alam of
Ujanikandi village in Devidwar upazila of Comilla.
The accused used to live at Outpara area of Joydevpur
thana of Gazipur as tenants.
According to the prosecution, the accused in an attack
injured Rafiqul Islam alias Rakib Hasan, son of hotel
businessman Nurul Islam, near his house at Outpara on
October 5, 2007. The injured later succumbed to his
injuries at a local hospital.
Victim's father filed a murder case with the thana.
After examining the records and witnesses, District and
Sessions Judge Tanjina Ismail handed down the verdict,
acquitting another accused Parul Akhter, mother of Saiful.
Three killed in lightning strike
in Noagaon, Noakhali
UNB, Dhaka
Three people were killed and two others injured in
lightning strike in Noagaon and Noakhali districts on
Wednesday and Thursday.
In Noagaon, a man and his son were killed and two others
injured as thunderbolt hit them during a storm at Gokul
village in Dhamirhat upazila on Wednesday night.
The deceased were identified as Abul Hossain,48 and his
son Uzzal,25. Uzzal's mother Rabeya Khatun and his wife
Habiba Khatun,20, were injured.
Witnesses said a lightning struck Abul Hossain and his
family members in their house during rain, leaving the
four people injured.
Among them, Abul Hossain and Uzzal died on way to hospital
while the two women were admitted to Patnitala Hospital.
In Noakhali, a woman was killed in lightning strike at
Biladi village in Senbagh uapzila during rain Thursday
noon.
Sports
Bangladesh A loses to WI A
UNB, Dhaka
Bangladesh A team conceded a huge 114-run defeat against West
Indies A in the first four-day match on the 4th and final day
at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on
Thursday.
The 2nd string Bangladesh side will meet their Caribbean
counterpart in the 2nd four-day match to be held on May 23-26
at BKSP in Savar.
Chasing a target of 430 runs, Bangladesh A team resumed the
2nd innings on the 4th and final day with overnight 233 for 7
and were all out for 315 runs in 81.5 overs after adding
another 82 runs to the total.
All-rounder Suhrawardy Shuvo, batting at number nine with zero
run, fought hard for Bangladesh contributing not out 64 runs
off 61 balls with nine fours and two sixes.
Earlier, on Wednesday, national colour opener Shahriar Nafees
played an entertaining innings of 133 runs, wicket keeper
Sahagir Hossain scored 47 and Rakibul Hasan made 19 runs in
the 2nd innings for Bangladesh A team.
Odean Brown and Lionel Baker claimed three wickets each for 60
and 70 runs respectively while Gavin Tonge and Shane
Shillingford took two wickets each for away 33 and 67 runs.
The 2nd string Caribbean side, which scored 285 runs in the
first innings, declared the 2nd innings at lunch scoring 269
runs for 6 in 78 overs giving a huge target of 430 runs for
Bangladesh in the 2nd innings.
Brief score:
West Indies A team first innings - 285 all out in 81 overs;
Darren Bravo 102, Travis Dowlin 75, Brendan Nash 44, Devon
Smith 30, Suhrawardy Shuvo 6/124, Mahmudul Hasan 2/53.
2nd innings - 269 for 6 (declared) in 78 overs; Kirk Edwards
72, Devon Smith 62, Dareen Bravo 37, Travis Dowlin 32, Brendan
Nash not out 27, Chadwick Walton 23, Shane Shillingford not
out 13, Suhrawardy Shuvo 3/104.
Bangladesh A team first innings - 125 all out in 45 overs;
Nazimuddin 33, Suhrawardy Shuvo 23, Marshall Ayub 21, Shane
Shillingford 4/30, Odean Brown 2/24.
2nd innings - 315 all out in 81.5 overs; Shahriar Nafees 133,
Suhrawardy Shuvo not out 64, Sahagair Hossain 47, Odean Brown
3/60, Lionel Baker 3/70, Gavin Tonge 2/33, Shane Shillingford
2/67.
McLaren’s
five star performance downs West Indies
AFP, North Sound
A career-best spell from Ryan McLaren bowled South Africa to a
13-run victory in the first of two Twenty20 Internationals
against West Indies on Wednesday.
McLaren captured five wickets for 19 runs from 3.5 overs to
earn the Man-of-the-Match award, as West Indies, chasing 137
for victory from their 20 overs, were dismissed for 123 with
one ball to spare at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
The 27-year-old McLaren finished with the second-best figures
in a Twenty20 international behind Pakistan's Umar Gul, who
collected five for six from three overs against New Zealand at
The Oval in London in last year's World Twenty20.
Both the West Indies and South Africa came into Wednesday's
match having failed to make it through to the knockout stages
of this year's World Twenty20, which England won in Barbados
on Sunday.
"It's a good way to start off the tour having practised
indoors and not outdoors for the last few weeks," said McLaren.
"But it's only the first day, and there's plenty more cricket
to come, so hopefully, I can better this performance.
"We all know the nature of T20 cricket - the bowler is always
up against it. You can take five wickets one day, and the next
day, take a thumping, but I enjoyed it."
South Africa captain Graeme Smith added: "It was not an easy
day for the batters, and you had to graft pretty hard.
"Playing shots was not easy, and there was a strong wind, so
there were a lot of things you had to take into consideration.
"It was obviously nice to start with a win. This was the most
important thing for us.
"We have worked really hard over the last few days here in
Antigua, had a few discussions, the energy has been good
around the team, and a lot of new faces have come in.
"We want to have a good tour of the Caribbean, so success in
this match was very important to getting us off on the right
foot."
Earlier veteran South African batsman Jacques Kallis had
struck one four and three sixes in 53 from 45 balls, as South
Africa laboured to 136 for seven from their 20 overs, after
deciding to bat on an uneven pitch.
He added 73 for the second wicket with Smith, whose 37 from 31
balls included three fours and one six.
Once they were separated, South Africa's batting collapsed,
and they lost their last five wickets for 16 runs from 26
balls.
McLaren then became only the fourth bowler to collect five
wickets in a T20 match, when he ripped out Andre Fletcher
caught behind by stand-in keeper AB de Villiers for a duck,
and had the dangerous West Indies captain Chris Gayle caught
at long-on for 14 to leave the hosts on 28 for two in the
sixth over.
Johan Botha snuffed out a West Indies revivial, when he had
Dwayne Bravo caught at long-on for 20 in the 10th over, and
Narsingh Deonarine stumped by de Villiers for a duck two balls
later.
When Roelof van der Merwe had Ramnaresh Sarwan caught at cover
off the leading edge in the 11th over, West Indies still
needed 85 from 56 balls, and there was little or no substance
nor stability from the rest of the batting.
"It was a disappointing start for us," said Gayle. "We wanted
to put our dismal performance in the T20 World Cup behind us,
but this was not the best way to do it, and was not the best
start to the series.
"We still have a match on Thursday, so we have to pick
ourselves up. This is no time for pointing fingers.
"We have a lot of corrections to make out there, and we have
to return to the drawing board to try and get the best out of
the players."
Laos NOC President
to arrive today
TBT report
President of Laos National Olympic Committee (NOC) Dr.
Phouthong Sengakhom will pay a courtesy visit to
Bangladesh en route to India to attend the 7th
Asia-Oceania Region Intergovern-mental Meeting in New
Delhi, India.
He arrives in Dhaka today for a two-day visit. He will be
accompanied by Lao NOC Director General and President of
Lao Swimming Association Southanom Inthavong.
During the visit, the honourable guests will visit Jatiya
Smriti Saudha, BKSP and Ahsan Monjil.
Apart from that, the Lao delegates will attend a dinner,
hosted by the President of Bangladesh Olympic Association
(BOA) General M Abdul Mubeen to their honour at Radisson
Water Garden Hotel on May 22.
They are scheduled to leave here on May 23
Gregs Club wins over Raiths 85-50
TBT Report
The Gregs Club outplayed Raiths Club 85-50 in the Premier
Bank 1st Division Basketball League at Dhanmondi Wooden
Floor Gymnasium in the city on Thursday.
The winners led the first half 40-25. Setu scored the
highest 27 for the Gregs, while Mizan caged 16.
The Gregorian Club scored a 121-73 victory over Eagles
Club after leading the first session 53-28 in the second
match of the day.
Mithun was the best marksman for the winners' side with
25, while Shoaib added 22 to bolster the victory. The
Shaons Club brushed aside Old DOHS 38-24 in the day's
other fixture.
The winners dominated the first half 22-8.
Agrani Bank defeats Badda Jagoroni 1-0
TBT Report
Agrani Bank scored a sole-goal victory over Badda Jagoroni
in the Basundhara Senior Division Football League at Bir
Shreshtha Shaheed Mohammad Mustafa Stadium in Dhaka on
Thursday.
Mehedi scored the only goal of the match on 39 minutes to
earn full points for the bank men. The other match of the
day between Jatrabari and Purbachal ended in a goalless
draw at the same venue.
Laurent Blanc confirmed as Domenech successor
AFP, Bordeaux
Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc was on Thursday officially
confirmed as the chosen successor to Raymond Domenech as
manager of France after the World Cup.
In a statement the French Football Federation said that
the federal council had "confirmed the choice of Laurent
Blanc for the post of national coach following the 2010
World Cup".
"The FFF will not comment further on this dossier before
the signing of the contract which will finalise the
recruitment of Laurent Blanc," the statement added.
The announcement followed a meeting between Bordeaux
president Jean-Louis Triaud and his FFF counterpart
Jean-Pierre Escalettes concerning the departure of Blanc
who still has one year left on his current contract.
Triaud had previously expressed his anger at the "very
premature" announcement of Blanc as a possible candidate
and estimated that the "loss of profit" by the move would
cost his club 20 million euros.
"A federation cannot simply go at will and hire a coach
who is already working. This contributed to our sporting
failure," said Triaud.
According to sports daily L'Equipe, Bordeaux will finally
settle for 1.5 million euros in compensation. Blanc also
wants to bring his current deputy coach Jean-Louis Gasset
with him to the France team.
Blanc, a World Cup and Euro winning defender with France
as a player, led Bordeaux to the 2009 league title and to
the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League,
losing to league rivals Lyon.
However his side could only finish sixth and out of the
European places in Saturday's final round of league
matches.
Federer braced
for rejuvenated Nadal onslaught
AFP, Paris
Roger Federer will confront one of his biggest challenges
when a rejuvenated Rafael Nadal, written off as an
injury-cursed, spent-force earlier this year, attempts to
reclaim his French Open title.
World number one Federer, the holder of a record 16 majors
and widely-regarded as the greatest player of all time,
completed a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2009
with a first Paris title.
But Nadal, who had won four straight French Opens, had
lost in the fourth round, his crumbling knees conspiring
with Robin Soderling's match of a lifetime to
sensationally engineer a first Roland Garros defeat.
Federer, defeated by his great Spanish rival in the 2006,
2007 and 2008 finals, stormed into the power vacuum to
take the crown. Critics, however, claimed it was a victory
by default leaving the world number one, despite all his
achievements, with a point to prove in 2010. The
statistics make uncomfortable reading for the Swiss.
Nadal holds a staggering 14-7 lead in career meetings with
Federer, having won six of the last seven match-ups.
The Spanish world number two has claimed 10 of their 12
claycourt meetings, including reclaiming his Madrid
Masters title last weekend. But 28-year-old Federer
insists he is neither concerned by Nadal's record nor his
own patchy claycourt form where his run to the Madrid
final was preceded by a second round exit in Rome and a
semi-final loss in Estoril.
The 23-year-old Nadal's form this spring has been
breathtaking.
His win in Madrid gave him a record 18th Masters title,
surpassing the previous mark of Andre Agassi, and making
him the first man to win all three Masters claycourt
events (Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid) in the same year.
His form has also allowed him to regain the world number
two spot, ensuring that the only way he and Federer can
meet in Paris is in the final. Nadal is desperate to prove
he is once again a genuine Grand Slam force, having been
unable to defend his Wimbledon title last year while
limping out of Janaury's Australian Open quarter-final
against Andy Murray. Between them, Federer and Nadal have
won 18 of the last 20 Grand Slam events.
That staggering statistic, coupled with an injury-depleted
and under-cooked chasing pack, should guarantee a fourth
Federer-Nadal final in five years.
World number three Novak Djokovic, twice a semi-finalist,
skipped Madrid after suffering an allergic reaction in
Belgrade, the latest health scare for the Serbian whose
fragile physical condition has prompted regular dismay.
Murray, who made the semi-final in 2009, has slipped back
to world number four after a promising start to 2010 which
saw him reach the Australian Open final.
The Scotsman's best claycourt effort this year was a
last-eight appearance in Madrid.
Missing from the tournament will be Russia's Nikolay
Davydenko and US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro of
Argentina.
World number six Davydenko, a semi-finalist in 2005 and
2007, has not played since mid-March because of a wrist
problem while Del Potro has a similar, but more worrying
injury. The giant 21-year-old hasn't played since making
the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.
Federer was given a major scare by the Argentine in 2009
when he had to come back from two sets to one down to make
the final.
League leader
Abahani plays Sheikh Russell today
UNB, Dhaka
League leader Dhaka Abahani Limited plays the third-ranked
Sheikh Russell KC in a key match of Citycell Bangladesh
League today almost to assure the league crown for the 3rd
time in a row.
The match will kick off at 4 pm at the Bangabandhu
National Stadium.
The popular sky-blue Dhanmondi outfit Abahani, which
comfortably dominates the league table securing 61 points
from 21 outings, needs just four points from three matches
to clinch the prestigious league crown on all three
occasions.
Mohammedan SC followed the leaders with 58 points from 22
encounters, playing one match more than Abahani while
Sheikh Russell KC is in the 3rd slot with 47 points from
21 outings.
In the remaining two league matches, Abahani will play
tenth-ranked Farashganj SC on May 25 and play arch-rival
Mohammedan SC on May 31, both at the Bangabandhu National
Stadium.
Dhaka Mohammedan SC will play Chittagong Mohammedan on May
26, apart from playing their traditional rivals Dhaka
Abahani on May 31.
Two national strikers
Enamul Haque of Dhaka Abahani and Zahid Hasan Emily of
Dhaka Mohammedan are also vying for the honour of highest
scorer of the league, with 18 goals already to the credit
of both.
Maradona names slimmed-down squad
AFP, Buenos
Aires Argentina coach Diego Maradona named his 23-man
World Cup squad on Wednesday, dropping seven players from
the provisional list named last week.
Colon defender Ariel Garce, 30, keeps his place despite
having won just one cap for the national team in this
month's 4-0 World Cup warm-up win over Haiti.
The seven men cut from the provisional squad are Newcastle
defender Fabricio Coloccini, Newell's Old Boys defender
Juan Manuel Insaurralde, Jose Sosa of Estudiantes,
Olympiakos midfielder Jesus Datolo, Napoli forward
Ezequiel Lavezzi, Lanus' Sebastian Blanco and Juan Mercier
of Argentinos Juniors.
Two-time champions Argentina were drawn alongside Nigeria,
Euro 2004 champions Greece and 2002 semi-finalists South
Korea in Group B and begin their campaign against the
African side on June 12.
The 23-man squad
Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar/NED), Mariano
Andujar (Catania/ITA), Diego Pozo (Colon)
Defenders: Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield), Martin
Demichelis (Bayern Munich/GER), Walter Samuel (Inter
Milan/ITA), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille/FRA), Nicolas
Burdisso (AS Roma/ITA), Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes),
Ariel Garce (Colon)
Midfielders: Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle/ ENG), Maximiliano
Rodriguez (Liverpool/ ENG), Javier Mascherano
(Liverpool/ENG), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes), Angel
Di Maria (Benfica/POR), Javier Pastore (Palermo/ITA),
Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina/ITA)
Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ESP), Gonzalo Higuain
(Real Madrid/ESP), Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors), Sergio
Aguero (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Diego Milito (Inter Milan/ITA),
Carlos Tevez (Manchester City/ENG).
|
|