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Leading News
Steps taken to stop influx of
Rohingyas from Myanmar
UNB, Dhaka
The government on Sunday has taken a number of steps to
stop influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar into Bangladesh.
The National Committee on Prevention of Smuggling at a
meeting with Home Minister Sahara Khatun in the chair has
instructed the law enforcing agencies, including Coast
Guards, to take measures so Rohingyas cannot trespass into
Bangladesh.
Briefing reporters, the Home Minister said if any Rohingya
could manage to sneak into the country and was caught, he
must be immediately handed over to the BDR.
Measures will also be taken so Rohingyas cannot obtain
Bangladeshi passport or national ID card, she said, adding
that the meeting decided to take action against those who
helped issuing documents to Rohingyas as Bangladesh
nationals.
The Home Minister said that from now on no passport will
be issued without police verification by regional passport
office, especially for the people from the areas where
Rohingya people are living. She said in case of any
emergency like medical treatment the passport could be
issued from Dhaka passport office.
On cross-border smuggling, Sahara Khatun said the meeting
emphasized arresting the godfathers of smuggling to
effectively deal with the clandestine trade, as in most
cases only the carriers of smuggled goods were arrested.
The Home Minister said those providing information to help
catch the kingpins of smuggling will be given incentives.
State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Huq Tuku, Home
Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar and senior officials
concerned were present in the meeting.
Dhaka,
Moscow sign Protocol on peaceful use of atomic energy
Framework agreement on
Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant soon
UNB, Dhaka
Bangladesh signed with Russia a protocol deal on
cooperation in the field of peaceful usage of atomic
energy, as the country plans to install a nuclear power
plant to tackle crippling electricity shortages.
The cooperation instrument was signed in the Russian
capital, Moscow, on October 21 during the visit of a
nine-member Bangladesh delegation headed by State Minister
for Science and ICT Yeafes Osman.
M Neazuddin Miah, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of
Science and ICT of Bangladesh, and Mikhail N Lysenko,
Director of the State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom"
of Russia, signed the accord on behalf of their respective
governments, according to a message received here on
Sunday.
The Bangladesh delegation visited Russia on October 18-22
for spot inspections of Russia's nuclear sites preceding
the deal signing, following a series of talks between the
two sides.
According to the Protocol, a joint working group between
Bangladesh and Russia will be formed and its composition
and schedule of work be defined in the working process,
the message said. It was agreed in the accord to arrange
further exchange of visits from both the sides,
particularly at experts' level.
The Bangladesh side will prepare the proposals by the end
of this year on organization of meetings of their experts
with Russian specialists on "the most practical issues of
mutual cooperation".
During the visit, the attention of Bangladesh delegation
was drawn to the possibilities in connection with the
development of national program and its essential parts -
legal framework in the area of peaceful usage of nuclear
energy. The Bangladesh delegation sought support from the
Russian Federation in establishing nuclear power plant and
the Russian side assured of extending possible assistance
to Bangladesh in the regard.
Following this umbrella deal, the matter of signing the
framework agreement on the "Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant"
was discussed. The main procedural issues on completion of
negotiating the text of Agreement and carrying out its
technical revise in Russian, English and Bengali were
finalized.
"The draft Agreement is under examination and soon it
would be ready for signing," the release said. It was
agreed that it will be signed at a mutually convenient
time.
Practical steps on the realization of the "Memorandum of
Understanding" between Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission
and the State Corporation "Rosatom" on cooperation in the
area of peaceful usage of nuclear energy, signed in May
this year in Dhaka, were also discussed.
BNP
asks EC to declare Hafiz elected MP from Bhola-3
bdnews24.com,
Dhaka
Main opposition BNP wants the Election Commission to
declare Hafizuddin Ahmed elected MP for Bhola-3
constituency or hold fresh polls there involving the three
eligible candidates, barring Awami League's Jasimuddin.
"To us, by-election at Bhola-3 will be against justice and
fair play. We demand that Hafiz be declared the polls
winner from the seat," secretary general Khandaker Delwar
Hossain said at a news conference on Sunday.
"Or, the Election Commission should hold fresh polls to be
contested by the three candidates considered eligible by
the EC then." Delwar's comments came three days after
Hafiz, the BNP vice-president, himself called the EC to
declare him winner. Asked what he would do if by-election
is given, Delwar retorted, "The Election Commission is
regulated by the Awami League that has failed to hold
proper and unbiased election in the past."
"No fair and proper polls have ever been held in the past
nor any will be in the future."
The High Court on Feb 26 declared Jasim's nomination
unlawful after Hafiz filed a writ petition on Dec 17 to
declare Jasim's nomination illegal. Jasim moved the
Supreme Court on July 13 to overturn the verdict but the
top court on Oct 18 upheld the HC ruling, leaving the
Bhola-3 vacant.
Jasim, a retired major, defeated his nearest rival Hafiz,
another retired major, by nearly 14,000 votes in last
year's general elections. The electoral law stipulates
that none can contest the polls in three years from the
date of retirement and in five years after compulsory
retirement. Jasim went into compulsory retirement on Aug
3, 2004.
The EC said Jasim's application was validated following
the opinion of judge advocate general (JAG) Lt Col
Mohammed Aziz Ahmed after the chief election commissioner
sought opinion. The JAG told the EC that Jasim's
retirement had not been a mandatory one.
Alleging large scale administrative anomalies, Delwar
said, "Newspapers published stories that 17 of the Grand
Alliance polls candidates who eventually were elected MPs
and appointed ministers, state ministers, whip etc had not
submitted income tax returns during submission of
nomination papers." "If the law had been strictly applied,
all these 17 MPs would be declared ineligible to run the
election. In that event, their opponent BNP contestants
would win the polls easily."
Delwar also criticised the way the prime minister and an
election commissioner tried to defend Jasim's candidature.
Hafiz said, "I demand justice. The court has made it
evident today how we were defeated in the election."
Govt targets US$ 5 b investment in power, energy
sectors: Taufiq
UNB, Dhaka
The Power and Energy Ministry on Sunday laid out a plan of
road shows in three commercially important cities abroad
to attract investment worth billions of dollars into the
fund-hungry twin-sector of the country.
According to the preliminary plan, the road-show will be
held in New York, London and either in Singapore or in
Hong Kong. The planed show will take place for two days in
each of the cities separately on December 5-10.
Prime Minister's Adviser Dr. Taufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury
Birbikram, who was present at the Power Ministry's
decision-making meeting, told UNB that the government
targeted about US$ 5 billion to be mobilized for
investment for augmenting the generation of power and
energy to cater for high demands.
He said the country would require huge foreign funds to
implement the country's energy-and-power-sector mega-plan.
"Our main target behind this road show is to attract
foreign investment through showcasing our incentives and
opportunities for the foreign investors," he said.
State Minister for Power and Energy Brigadier Gen (retd)
Enamul Haque presided over the meeting, also attended by
Board of Investment executive chairman Dr. MA Samad.
The government recently announced a mega-plan for power
and mangy development for producing 7,000 megawatts of
additional electricity and raising daily gas production to
3267 million cubic feet (MMCF) from 1988 MMCF within next
5 years.
As per estimate, the power sector will alone require about
US$ 10 billion while the energy turf will need US$ 5-6
billion.
Under the plan, about 10 large base-load power plants,
having a total capacity of 3,700 MW, will be installed by
private-sector sponsors or in public-private partnership
(PPP).
PPR amendment likely to ensure
eligibility of contractors: Muhith
UNB, Dhaka
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Sunday hinted that the
government is considering ways to ensure eligibility of
contractors for public works through bringing changes in
the Public Procurement Rules (PPR).
"It's not that the contractors do not require any
experience to be qualified for getting a job of up to Tk 2
crore. It'll be ensured in one form or other," he told
reporters, after a review meeting on the changes of PPR at
the Cabinet Division.
Senior cabinet ministers, including agriculture and
communications, and Prime Minister's Adviser on Economic
Affairs were present at the meeting.
The government initiated the review of the PPR apparently
in face of widespread criticism, mainly by opposition BNP
and development partners, that the rules have been changed
to benefit the people of the ruling Awami League.
The immediate past BNP government enacted the PPA in 2006,
under which the interim caretaker government formulated
the PPR in 2008.
The government recently brought changes in the PPR,
relaxing pre-qualification of contractors for a job of up
to Tk 2 crore and allowing selection of contractors
through lottery.
The Finance Minister said they are considering amendment
to the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2006, which he
expected would facilitate changes in the PPR as well as
ensure some sort of eligibility of the contractors.
He said the changes are to create new entrepreneurs as
well as to ensure transparency and accountability. "We're
not departing from the spirit," he said, replying to a
question.
Replying to another question, Muhith said the government
had consultations on the changes with the development
partners. But he declined to disclose the possible
changes.
The senior ministers are scheduled to discuss the issues
again on Monday in an effort to finalise recommendations
in this regard for the Cabinet.
The changes would be placed in Parliament subject to
approval of the Cabinet, said the Finance Minister.
Back Page
Army captures
Pakistani Taliban leader’s hometown
AP, Islamabad
The army captured the strategically located hometown of
Pakistan's Taliban chief Saturday after fierce
fighting,officials said, snagging its first big prize in a
major U.S.-backed offensive along the Afghan border.
A suspected U.S. missile killed 22 people elsewhere in the
northwest, but apparently missed a top Taliban figure,
authorities said.
Pakistan's 8-day-old offensive in the Taliban and al-Qaida
stronghold of South Waziristan is considered its most
critical test yet in the campaign to stop the spread of
violent extremism in this nuclear-armed country. The army
operation has prompted a wave of retaliatory attacks by
militants this month that have killed some 200 people.
The battle for Kotkai town took days, and involved aerial
bombardment as soldiers captured heights around the town.
The final fight killed 13 militants and two soldiers, said
an army officer and an intelligence official. The military
has begun to clear the town of land mines and roadside
bombs planted by the insurgents.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to speak to media on the record.
Kotkai is symbolically important because it is the
hometown of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and
one of his top deputies, Qari Hussain. It also lies along
the way to the major militant base of Sararogha, making it
a strategically helpful catch.
South Waziristan is part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous
tribal belt, a rugged stretch of land along the Afghan
frontier where al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is rumored
to be hiding. Pakistan is under intense international
pressure to clear its tribal areas of insurgents, many of
whom are blamed for attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in
Afghanistan.
The U.S. has launched scores of missile strikes in the
region over the past year, killing several top militants
including former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
The latest strike hit Chuhatra village in the tribal
region of Bajur, local government official Mohammad Jamil
said. The missile hit a hide-out of the militants that
included a tunnel. The target appeared to be Faqir
Mohammad, a prominentn Taliban leader, but he is believed
to have escaped, Jamil said. Most of the 22 killed were
Afghan nationals, he said. Pakistan formally protests the
strikes, saying they violate its sovereignty and raise
sympathy for the Taliban, while the U.S. rarely discusses
the attacks. Analysts believe the two sides have a secret
deal allowing the strikes.
Access to the tribal belt is severely restricted, meaning
independently verifying the information is all but
impossible. Pakistan's government says it is committed to
the fight in South Waziristan, despite a wave of violence
that has killed scores and put the population on edge.
Bombings Friday alone killed 24 people, including 17
headed to a wedding.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani declared that "failure
is not an option despite the ferocity of these attacks,"
according to a statement after a meeting of top government
and military officials.
The army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, told
participants that the offensive is proceeding successfully
and that troops are trying to keep civilian casualties
low, the statement said. Some 155,000 civilians have fled
the region, the United Nations says.
The army has deployed some 30,000 troops to South
Waziristan against about 12,000 Taliban militants,
including up to 1,500 foreign fighters, among them Uzbeks
and Arabs. The latest official military figures - released
Friday - put the death toll for militants at 142 and that
of army soldiers at 20.
3.5 lakh tons of sugar on import
pipeline
UNB, Dhaka
About 3.50 lakh tons of sugar are on import pipeline and
TCB will sell essentials through its dealers before the
upcoming Eidul Azha to stabilize the market.
Lutful Hye, chairman of parliamentary standing committee
on Commerce Ministry, informed newsmen after the committee
meeting on Sunday that they reviewed the price line. The
meeting recommended to the government to take all possible
measures to stabilize the market. Hye was made chairman of
the committee in place of Abdul Jalil who has earned
displeasure of the Awami League chief by making
controversial statements during the recent visit to UK.
He said the meeting was informed that 3.5 lakh tones of
sugar are on import pipeline, including 2.46 lakh tones by
private sector. Sugar consumption is now estimated at
3,000 tones per day, which is likely to increase to 4,000
to 5000 tones per day during Eid-ul-Azha. Briefing
reporters at Jatiya Sangsad Media centre Hye hoped that
prices of essentials will remain under control ahead and
during the Eid-ul-Azha.
He said sugar is now selling at Tk 45 kg which should not
go beyond Tk 50 per kg during the Eid. Asked if the
committee recommended enacting law to fix profit margin
for traders, he said they have discussed the matter. It is
under process of the ministry, he added. The meeting was
informed that TCB has opened LC for importing 20,500 tones
of soybean oil and 5,500 tones lentil (Mosur Dal), which
are expected to reach before the Eid. Arrangements have
been taken to sell consumers items like sugar, edible oil,
spices through TCB appointed dealers. The meeting
suggested the government for taking steps to strengthen
the intelligence watch, regular monitoring of markets and
inspection of wholesale and retail markets in the capital
by law enforcing agencies to check artificial crisis by
dishonest businessmen. The meeting was informed that the
market prices of consumer items are being monitored
regularly. The prices of rice, ata, sugar, edible oil and
powdered milk remained stable while those of onion and
garlic increased slightly.
Bangabandhu
Murder Case
Col (retd) Rashid’s wife
Jobaida architect of Aug 15 putsch
Defence counsel claims
UNB, Dhaka
A defence counsel on Sunday claimed that none but Jobaida
Rashid, wife of condemned fugitive Lt Col (retd) Khondaker
Abdur Rashid, was the architect of the August 15, 1975
putsch that led to the murder of President Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman and his family members.
Khan Saifur Rahman, the counsel for condemned ex-army
officers Lt Col (dismissed) Syed Faruque Rahman and Lt Col
(retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed, came up with the stunning
observation while making his argument before the Appellate
Division on hearings in the Bang-abandhu murder case.
"Since Jobaida, the August 15-putsch mastermind, is a
single person, the question of conspiracy by my duo-client
under section 10 of the Evidence Act does not arise," he
said. Referring to the Act, the counsel said it would
attract when there is a reasonable ground to believe that
two or more persons have conspired together to commit an
offence or an actionable wrong.
Interrupting his argument, the five-judge App-ellate
Division bench of the Supreme Court said that the High
Court did not believe it and had disposed of the matter
setting aside the charge against Jobaida in the case.
"It was merely a boastful utterance of the then Lt Col
Rashid while chatting with a prosecution witness (retired
Maj Gen Khalilur Rahman) at Bangabhaban after the
oath-taking ceremony.
Besides, that was not the prosecution case," the court
quipped. Sticking to his guns, Khan Saifur told the court
that according to the information supplied by the
prosecution, Jobaida was the real planner of the August 15
changeover. "So it was not a case of criminal conspiracy
for murder-it was a criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny
to change the government," the defense counsel contended.
The defense claimed that there was absolutely no evidence
indicating what offence was intended to be committed by
means of criminal conspiracy.
Protests against bomb
attack on Taposh continue
TBT Report
Different socio-cultural and political organizations on
Sunday strongly protested the attack on Awami League MP
Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh, who survived a bomb attack
with minor injuries in the city on Wednesday night.
They also demanded arrest of the culprits and their
exemplary punishment, saying that the attack on Tapash is
ill efforts to disrupt the appeal hearing on the
Bangabandhu murder trial.
Amra Bangali Sankriti Mancho, a social organization staged
demonstration in the city after forming a human chain in
front of National Press Club.
"The attack on Taposh, the elder son of late Sheikh Fazlul
Haque Moni, is a part of the continuation of the August 15
massacre in 1975," said the leaders of the Amra Bangali
Sankriti Mancho.
Bangabandhu Prokoushal Parisad also formed a human chain
in front of National Press Club demanding proper
investigation of the bomb attack on Barrister Fazle Noor
Taposh and arrest of the attackers and their exemplary
punishment. The said the aim of the attack is to disrupt
the hearing of the Bangabandhu Murder Trial in which
Taposh is one of the state counselors.
Bangladesh Mohila Awami League organized a protest rally
at its party office to strongly condemn the attack on
Taposh and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.
EC enjoys full
freedom: CEC
BSS, Dhaka
Chief Election Commis-sioner (CEC) Dr ATM Shamsul Huda on
Sunday said the Election Commis-sion (EC) has been
enjoying full freedom under the present government without
any intervention.
He said the EC held five by-elections under this
government, besides election at other levels and these
were completely free. He said the EC received not a single
telephone from the ministers or the MPs to secure favours.
He said appointment of highly capable and right persons as
commissioners is vital to securing the freedom of
activities of the Election Commission. Otherwise, the
Chief Election Commissioner said, the independence of the
EC will become meaningless. He made the comments while
speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on 'Transparency
of funding political parties: Challenges and the way out
from it.'
Transparency International held the event at BRAC Inn
center in the city.
The CEC said the commission is now having all legal
safeguards to play independent role. But there is no
alternative to placing the right person to the post of the
commissioners.
He said if a commissioner is having a sense that his
employment is the outcome of a favour, or he is having
eyes on finding a next posting to a constitutional post,
he may undermine the independence of the commission.
Therefore, there should be some guidelines dominating the
appointment of the EC commissioners, he said adding the EC
has prepared a draft which suggest the formation of a
parliamentary business advisory committee to select
candidates and supervise the appointment of the
commissioners.
Probes on into medical
student riots
Three ICS activists held
bdnews24.com, Dhaka
Probe bodies were formed Sunday following violence and
riots by medical students at Chittagong Medical Coll-ege
and Sir Salimullah Medical College in Dhaka that forced
the former to close its doors and disrupted patient
treatment at the latter's hospital.
The violence at both medical colleges were sparked by the
battle to recruit fresher students to the student
organisations that are associated with political parties.
A five-member probe committee was formed to look into
violent clashes between Chhatra League and Chhatra Shibir
forcing Chittagong Medical College to shut indefinitely on
Saturday. The committee headed by CMC vice principal Dr
Aminuddin has been asked to submit its investigation
report within the next 15 days, said principal Dr Gofranul
Haque.
The CMC principal told bdnews24.com that all students had
left the campus by Sunday morning after the college and
its dormitories were declared closed following the bloody
clashes. First year MBBS admissions, however, were ongoing
despite the student riots and closures, Haque said.
Additional police have been posted in and around the
hostels and the campus, he said. Losses to the CMC and its
hostels in the Saturday riots are yet to be assessed, he
added.
Violence sparked between Chhatra League and Shibir on
Saturday over recruiting fresher students into their
organisations. The rioting medical students, some with
faces concealed behind hoods and masks, torched some 15
rooms and further vandalised over 50.
Police were forced to charge with batons and fire tear gas
shells to bring the situation under control. Authorities
and student leaders said at least 15 were injured during
the two hours of violence. Other members of the probe
committee are professors Dr Anwar Hossain, Dr Mohibullah,
Dr Zillur Rahman and Dr Saroj Kumar Majumder. Treatment
disrupted at Salim-ullah MCH. A three-member probe
committee was formed Sunday following a factional clash
between two groups of pro-ruling party Chhatra League at
Sir Salimullah Medical College the previous day.
BSS report from Chittagong adds: Chittagong Metropolitan
Police (CMP) on Sunday detained three activists of Islami
Chattra Shibir (ICS) in connection with on Saturday's
Chitt-agong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) incident.
Acting on a tip-off, a special team of Panchlaish police
chased the activists of ICS when they went to lock a few
rooms of the main hostel. Police detained three ICS
activists at Golzer crossing at 2.45 pm on Sunday.
The detainees were identified as Rushu and Mohammad
Waliullah, fifth and 4th year's students of CMCH and their
associate Moshrur Hossain, an outsider and 4th year
student of accounting department of Hazi Mohammad Mohosin
Government College.
Discord impedes DUCSU poll
DU Correspondent
Political rivalry and internal discord of the student
organizations are working as the main impediments in
holding of the election to the Dhaka University Central
Students' Union (DUCSU).
This scenario has surfaced again as the current DU
administration has apparently taken a fresh move to hold
the election to DUCSU, once known as the country's second
parliament.
VC Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique recently in a meeting with
the leaders of Chhatra Sangram Parishad (CSP) agreed in
principle to begin the process of the election on
condition of getting assurance from the student
organizations that no violent activities will occur on the
campus.
But many students questioned whether the CSP, an alliance
of seven student organisations led by Bangladesh Chhatra
League, is serious about election as most of their leaders
are either aged, not students of DU or have completed
their academic careers long ago.
Besides, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) has demanded
ensuring coexistence at the dormitories before holding of
the election.
"We want election but how can it be held when hundreds of
students are out of halls as BCL activists are repeatedly
threatening them?", said JCD president Sultan Salauddin
Tuku.
The immediate-past DU administration took several
initiatives over the last few years to hold the election
but all in vain for the non-cooperation of the student
organisations. The last DUCSU election was held on June 6,
1990 under the autocratic Ershad regime which was won by
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD). But, unfortunately no
election could be held thereafter during the subsequent
democratic regimes due to the objection raised by a few
student organisations on the plea of absence of congenial
atmosphere. BCL president Mahmud Hasan Ripon said the time
now demands holding of the election. "Currently we are
proceeding towards making a digital Bangladesh. For that,
there is no other way but to produce efficient young
leadership in the country.
The DUCSU can play a vital role here," he said. The newly
appointed Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique was
however optimistic about the matter.
Editorial
Unrest on campus
The spectre of
unrest is back on the campus once again after a break for
several weeks. Yet another institution - the Chittagong
Medical College (CMC) has been closed sine die after fierce
clashes between two groups of students. Besides, clashes at
Sir Salimullah Medical College in Dhaka city left at least 20
injured. CMC was Saturday closed for indefinite period
following a series of clashes between the activists of
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Islami Chhatra Shibir
(ICS). The clash erupted at the main male hostel at about 3:30
pm when the rival BCL and ICS supporters were trying to
establish supremacy over the campus, leaving at least 10
injured. During the clash, at least 15 rooms of the CMC were
vandalized and later the rooms were set ablaze. The
authorities declared the medical college closed sine die after
an emergency meeting amid the turmoil and asked all male and
female students to leave the hostels by 8 am Sunday.
Meanwhile, At least 20 students were injured and 12 rooms
ransacked as two factions of BCL clashed at a dormitory in the
Sir Salimullah Medical College Saturday night. The clashes
began with BCL activists led by Shuvo, Reaz and Shaheed locked
in a fierce competition, trying to woo the freshers into their
fold. Earlier in the day, they scuffled on the campus.
Closure of higher educational institutions in the country
following violence and unrest takes place frequently. In the
previous incident Maulana Bhasani University of Science and
Technology (MBUST) at Tangail was closed sine die after fierce
clashes between students and local people that left around 100
people injured on July 11 last. And now the CMC has faced the
same fate. The closure of the CMC sine die is very
unfortunate, not only because the studies of the students will
be affected but also because this disruption confirms the
continuation of the 'culture' of campus violence and closure
of educational institutions.
Complete peace and congenial atmosphere are essential on the
campuses of educational institutions for undisturbed pursuit
of knowledge by the students. But unfortunately violence
erupts on the campuses every now and then causing irreparable
losses to advancement of the process of education. Scores of
students were injured in violence in different educational
institutions over the last few months and a number of
universities and colleges were declared closed and students
were asked to leave the residential halls after clashes. As a
result studies of the students were hampered and examinations
postponed. The incidents at CMC remind us that the bad days
are not yet over. Against this backdrop, it is now hoped by
all that the college and hostels will re-open at the earliest
and measures will be worked out by the authorities to stop
violence on the campus and avert declaring educational
institutions closed.
Meanwhile, the intra-party clash between two groups of BCL
activists at Sir Salimullah Medical College is just the
continuation of the confrontational process in the
pro-government student body to establish supremacy. For this
cause BCL activists fight with those of other organisations
and alongside with party insiders. This disrupt peace and
educational atmosphere on the campus. But the ruling party and
the government have so far failed to bring these activists
under control. It is mysterious how could this happen although
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned of stern action if anybody
resort to acts of violence. It is now expected that she will
do everything necessary to check unrest and violence on the
campus in the greater interest of the nation.
Save the Buriganga
Thousands
of people at a rally in the city on Saturday reiterated their
demand for taking actions to save the Buriganga river from
pollution and illegal encroachment. Bangladesh Paribesh Bachao
Andolon (Paba) arranged the rally at Keraniganj to press home
their demand for taking permanent measures to protect the
river and adjacent Shubhadya Khal from the grabbers.
Saving the rivers around the capital, specially the Buriganga
is a long standing demand of the people including civil
society and environmentalists. In response to the public
demand the government had taken an initiative to save the
rivers from pollution and grabbing. But, unfortunately, the
government initiative to remove illegal structures as well as
soil and sands accumulated on the Buriganga riverbed is being
hampered due to interference allegedly by influential and
political quarters in the area. Vested quarters have long been
grabbing lands on the bank of the river. They have already
grabbed huge lands at Kholamura, Kamrangir Char, Keraniganj
and Basila by building illegal structures, earth filing and
developing plots with sands. But, all the government efforts
to recover the encroached lands may go in vain due to
interference by influential quarters.
Worse still, wastes coming from chemical industries and
tanneries as well as those from sewerage line of the city are
contaminating the Buriganga water posing serious threat to
public health. Under these circumstances, it should be a top
priority of the government to keep the Buriganga alive, and
its water free from pollution at any cost.
Analysis
New face of Talibanisation
After taking on GHQ, the proverbial nerve
centre, they have shown a change in the tactics of terror: the
militants' attacks have now metamorphosed into a full-blown
urban war.
Faizullah Jan
As the state
machinery took its time before launching the operation in
Waziristan, the Taliban outflanked it by launching an
offensive of their own, bringing the war to the heartland of
the country.
After taking on GHQ, the proverbial nerve centre, they have
shown a change in the tactics of terror: the militants'
attacks have now metamorphosed into a full-blown urban war.
The brazen attack on GHQ, which was quickly followed by three
synchronised raids on security establishments in Lahore, is a
change in the tactics of the Taliban. Until recently they
would attack military convoys with improvised devices or their
frenzied cadres would blow themselves up near a target or in a
crowd. Now they have descended from the hills of Waziristan
(as the common understanding goes) to extend the theatre of
war. It will divide the focus of the armed forces and put many
people's lives at risk.
The day GHQ was attacked two words seemed to stick out in the
local and international media: brazen and audacious. But there
is more to it than merely an attack by the Taliban who have
challenged the writ of the state everywhere and at will. No
less than six terrorist attacks in Punjab - one targeting the
visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, another the
Manawan police academy, the GHQ assault in Rawalpindi and
three synchronised attacks against security establishments,
including Manawan once more, in Lahore - bear the hallmark of
militants other than the Taliban of Waziristan.
According to the New York Times, these attacks showed the
deepening reach of the militant network, as well as its rising
sophistication and inside knowledge of the security forces.
These attacks are enough to jolt the country's establishment
out of its belief that nothing is brewing in the backyard of
Punjab. The sophisticated attacks across the Indus highlight a
stark reality: the phenomenon of the Taliban is not ethnic,
but a national one. The most alarming aspect of this saga is
that militants belonging to sectarian terror outfits have been
in the forefront of these attacks.
The mastermind of the GHQ attack, Aqeel, has been associated
with Lashkar-i-Jhangvi - a sectarian terror group active in
Punjab since long. He was also allegedly involved in the
terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team. It shows how
dangerously these sectarian groups have, over the years,
transformed into a force capable of taking on the state.
The southern part of Punjab shares many things with the tribal
areas of the NWFP. If the century-old Frontier Crimes
Regulation had imposed maliks on the common tribesmen for
their control and exploitation, feudalism has sucked the life
out of the common Punjabi. Exploitation and alienation is on
the same level in Fata and southern Punjab, which gives common
cause to the Taliban and the sectarian groups to team up
against an identical enemy - the FCR in the tribal areas and
feudalism in Punjab.
Things went awry when the state started patronising such
organisations, which played on the inherent contradictions in
society. The state wanted to privatise Kashmir and the Afghan
war, but little did it know that one day the militants could
turn their guns on it.
The whole of the NWFP in general and Peshawar in particular
had been the staging post for the so-called Afghan jihad for
no less than 10 years, which is enough time to contaminate the
local cultural and religious ethos. Besides, given poor
economic indicators, state patronage of militancy and its long
porous border with Afghanistan, the NWFP was bound to be the
breeding ground for obscurantist forces like the Taliban. When
inculcating 'jihad' became the state policy during Gen Ziaul
Haq's dark rule and 'jihad fi sabeelillah' became the motto of
the armed forces, the first seed of Talibanisation was sown.
Genuine political leadership was banished from the country
while political activity was stifled. The vacuum was then
filled by sectarian and linguistic groups which left the
social fabric in tatters. People started seeking identity in
narrow 'ideologies' in the absence of national parties that
could give representation to everyone.
Public display of ostentatious religiosity became the norm
with small militant outfits becoming an extension of the
state's foreign policy, while mainstream leaders - including
nationalists - were branded as traitors, corrupt and inept.
Religious vigilantes started stalking every segment of
society, especially campuses. Conformity replaced diversity of
opinion; anyone falling on the wrong side of the establishment
was either chased out or condemned to silence.
After years of mayhem in Afghanistan the Taliban emerged
victorious, in the process attracting jihadis of every hue to
the country. For the first time sectarian militants found a
safe haven in Afghanistan after spilling a lot of blood in
Pakistan. When the Taliban took over Kabul, it bolstered the
many obscurantist factions in Pakistan. However, when the
Taliban were toppled by the US after 9/11 and found sanctuary
in the tribal badlands of Pakistan, a local version of the
extremist militia emerged to challenge the writ of the
government in the name of the Sharia.
The sectarian groups of Punjab found an ally in Fata.
The rot does not lie only in the tribal areas. While they
provide sanctuary to every group that challenges the writ of
the state, they have their own grievances. They may fly in the
same flock but they are not birds of a feather. Once done with
Waziristan the state's focus should turn to Punjab, where
sleeper cells are not sleeping anymore. This should be done
before southern Punjab becomes another Swat.
Sectarian crimes accentuated by economic deprivation and
socio-cultural contradictions have clothed themselves in petty
identities. In the short term they need to be removed
physically; in the long term the inherent contradictions have
to be addressed, for which drastic steps have to be taken.
A gift for
the past
You can only dream of the gift of a past year. To survive
in electoral politics you need to create a future.
M.J. Akbar
When
the aging but still incomparable Groucho Marx, now
trundling into his 80s, was asked what he most wanted as a
birthday gift, his reply was succinct: "Last year." Which
is the year from their past that the BJP and Shiv Sena
would most like as a gift? 2001. Since then it has been a
steady trot downhill.
The Shiv Sena's stagnation is easily comprehensible. After
a lifetime of leadership by a dominant patriarch, it
confused the man with the mission. The Shiv Sena has two
dimensions.
In rural Maharashtra it is the regional, Marathi-centric
alternative to the Congress, playing the democratic game
with a slant but within the framework of conventional
politics. Its urban manifestation is different. In Mumbai,
particularly, and in Pune, to a lesser degree, the Shiv
Sena's success has been through the sharp articulation of
grievance and local pride, through a sensational rhetoric
and, when required, violent agitation. Balasaheb Thackeray
has been, for some years now, unable to either breathe
such fire or turn his rather mild heir Uddhav into a
fire-breather.
His nephew Raj Thackeray walked into vacant space; the
sound of broken windows was sufficient to persuade the
young unemployed that they had found their voice. Raj
Thackeray picked up 23.35 percent of the vote in Mumbai.
Translate that figure into ground reality and it becomes
more comprehensible. If roughly half the vote of Mumbai is
Marathi, then the nephew took around half the Marathi
votes cast. This is a huge swing, with an impact extending
far beyond the 13 seats that he won.
The Shiv Sena, already down by three percent in the Lok
Sabha elections from its support in 2004, dropped a
further three percentage points. Balasaheb still gets
respect, but that is really homage to his past. The
mission has passed on to Raj Thackeray.
The BJP has a larger dilemma. It is simply out of focus.
It has nothing by way of a new narrative to offer, and its
old one is so tired that it can't get out of bed. The
party has gone through an identity crisis before. Its
first incarnation, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, submerged
itself into the Janata, under popular pressure, in 1977.
The Janata never functioned as the sum of its parts, and
proved so incapable to understanding the compulsions of
power that it collapsed and split. The bruised Sangh
resurrected as the Bharatiya Janata Party, preaching some
strange form of pretend-Gandhism, and was promptly
battered in the 1984 elections.
It reinvented itself through the street politics of the
Ayodhya temple movement, consolidated its gains with
patience during the Narasimha Rao years and won
unprecedented rewards in Delhi. The Atal Behari Vajpayee
years can be summed up quite succinctly. As long as the
party followed Vajpayee's advice, it maintained a keel
that was acceptable to the country. When the party imposed
itself on Vajpayee, the balance went awry. It was only a
question of time before the keel broke.
Since then the BJP has been struggling to find the balance
between regional demands and a national presence,
emotionalism and shrill invective, communal rhetoric and
the compulsion of social peace as the necessary bedrock of
economic development - and, finally, an image that
reflects concern for the future rather than the conflicts
of the past. Such contradictions had a direct impact on
the Maharashtra elections.
When it joined the me-too Marathi manoos agenda of the
Shiv Sena, which is essentially anti-Bihari migrant labor,
its Bihar unit publicly dissociated itself from the
decision.
And so, typically, the BJP fell between the traditional
two stools. The Marathi shrugged and moved to Raj
Thackeray; and one can safely assume that not a single
Mumbai Bihari voted for the BJP. BJP leaders have neither
understood the reasons for their now prolonged stagnation
or decline, which is why they embarrass themselves and
their party with silly excuses on the day results are
declared. Some bright spark blamed the electronic voting
machines the moment the trend in Maharashtra pointed
toward defeat. That leader had not lost an election, he
had lost his mind.
The BJP's real problem is a sense that it has got lost in
a time warp at a moment when young Indians, the decisive
element in the vote, are either looking ahead or bursting
with anger and frustration. The BJP has been unable to
offer a road map for the next years, or - unlike say Om
Prakash Chautala - become an effective mobilizer of voter
resentment.
This has been a poor election for all major parties. The
Congress actually lost one percent of its vote from five
years ago in Maharashtra; while its embarrassment in
Haryana was plainly evident. The NCP vote dropped 2.4
percent from 2004. The ruling alliance won not because it
was better but simply because it was less worse.
Depression engenders an enervating lethargy. Government
is, of course, recognized as a full-time activity, but
opposition has become election season frenzy punctuated by
a few forgettable speeches during Parliament sessions.
Opposition is the time parties use to expand their base;
the BJP can barely protect what it had two decades ago in
a volatile state like Haryana.
You can only dream of the gift of a past year. To survive
in electoral politics you need to create a future.
M.J. Akbar is chairman and director
of publications of the fortnightly
news magazine Covert (www.covertmagazine.com)
Job cuts narrow NYT deficit
The New
York Times Company owns the International Herald Tribune,
the Boston Globe, 15 regional newspapers and a collection
of websites.
Andrew
Clark
The
struggling publisher of the New York Times continued to
battle with red ink as it ran up a loss of $35.7m in the
last quarter, though job cuts sharply narrowed the deficit
and the company heralded signs of improvement in
advertising trends.
In addition to its main title, the New York Times Company
owns the International Herald Tribune, the Boston Globe,
15 regional newspapers and a collection of websites. After
it shed a fifth of its workforce and enforced a five per
cent pay cut on many of its remaining staff, the
publisher's loss was significantly smaller than the $106m
deficit a year ago. The figures prompted a 17 per cent
jump in the company's shares during early trading on Wall
Street.
Newspapers around the world are facing deep financial woes
as companies cut back on their promotional spending and
readers migrate to online offerings. A year-on-year slump
of nearly 30 per cent in advertising revenue in the three
months to the end of September meant that, for the first
time, the New York Times Company's newspaper division
pulled in less money from advertisers than it did from
readers through cover price revenue.
But Janet Robinson, chief executive, said there had been
tentative signs of an increase in activity since the end
of September. She said trends were improving "modestly" in
print but "more significantly" in digital advertising:
"We're seeing advertisers telling us that they see their
businesses improving and, consequently, they're asking us
for more information on rates and on customised programmes."
This week, the publisher announced that it was seeking 100
redundancies in the newsroom of the New York Times, which
is one of the biggest journalistic operations in the US. A
weakening in its financial position prompted the company
to borrow $250m in January from the Mexican telecoms
billionaire Carlos Slim.
A collapse in classified advertising is plaguing the
company's newspapers. Revenue from recruitment ads dropped
by 52 per cent, property advertisements were down 44 per
cent and car ads suffered a 32 per cent fall.
Robinson said that the amount of display space purchased
by financial services companies in the New York Times had
fallen as banks, seeing a let-up in the financial crisis,
no longer felt the need to reassure readers that they were
solvent. At the same time, Hollywood studios were spending
less on advertising.
Nicknamed the "grey lady", the New York Times is one of
the few newspapers in the US to have national
distribution. Robinson said that cuts to journalism jobs
had been made with "reluctance". She added that the
publisher "continues to evaluate options" on charging
readers to get access to newspaper websites.
Viewpoints
What’s With Iran?
A good context would be engaging
Iran across a wider frontier of regional security issues. The
trouble is that trust is awfully low between the US and Iran.
Who will move first?
Mark Medish
As
a former US national security official, I have been straining
- along with many fellow Americans - to understand the Iranian
nuclear puzzle. What is really going on with Iran?
While it is difficult to know exactly what or whom to believe,
we can try to connect the dots of recent news reports and put
forth several hypotheses.
1. The Pittsburgh Gambit. President Obama's press conference
with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown at the G20 summit raised the stakes by
revealing a new enrichment facility at Qom and then calling
for tougher sanctions if Iran still fails to abide by its
obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
This was a rhetorical shift for Obama, who has been
experimenting with unconditional engagement. To be sure, he
has also been talking about a mix of "bigger sticks and bigger
carrots."
The real question is whether it was a purely tactical move to
increase pressure, or whether Obama and his colleagues
actually have a more comprehensive game plan. The latter could
be based either on some special knowledge - the expectation of
a landmark understanding with Teheran, for example, or
confidence that new sanctions would be both agreed and
effective.
If not, the Western leaders could be setting themselves up for
a further loss of credibility when deadlines again pass
without results.
2. Qom. What is it? The Iranians hurriedly informed the
International Atomic Energy Agency that something was indeed
afoot at Qom. Most experts I have spoken with suspect that it
was originally designed as a rocket site and is being
converted into a "survival enrichment facility" in case Natanz
and other nuclear-programme sites are hit. There is probably
no fissile material at Qom. The United States claims to have
known about Qom since 2007. Yet there is still no satisfactory
explanation why Qom was touted now by both the Iranians and
Obama.
3. The Geneva and Vienna Talks. Iran's talks with the
so-called P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council and Germany) have been at least superficially
productive. Teheran promised to allow inspectors to visit the
Qom facility and to send a substantial amount of low-enriched
uranium (LEU) to Russia and France for processing. These steps
could represent some progress - or at least "the beginning of
the beginning" as one analyst put it - giving Obama's
engagement strategy a hint of early success. A more skeptical
interpretation, prevalent among some veteran Western security
analysts, is that the Iranian regime simply did the bare
minimum to buy time.
In any case, the promises to allow inspectors as required by
the NPT and to shift LEU would be tested soon enough.
4. The Missing Nuclear Scientist. The recent disclosure of the
disappearance three months ago of the top Iranian nuclear
expert, Dr. Shahran Amiri - coinciding with the June crackdown
and before the Qom disclosure - is interesting, particularly
interesting in view of the report that Iran's supply of LEU is
running low and riddled with serious impurities that could
cause centrifuge failure. Whether he defected or was kidnapped
is unclear.
Critics of the Geneva talks immediately noted that these
technical problems would explain why Teheran is now eager to
transfer LEU to Russia in exchange for new fuel. But this
picture also cuts against the notion that the Qom disclosure
reveals a more imminent nuclear threat.
5. Moscow's Swing Vote. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
went to Moscow last week to keep pushing the "reset button."
The main purpose was to advance the nuclear arms-reduction
treaty talks. A related purpose of Mrs. Clinton's visit was
Iran. The Kremlin cannot deliver a deal with the ayatollahs,
but it can constrict their options.
The Russians oppose sanctions primarily because they fear what
could happen if sanctions fail. They understand that sanctions
are not an end in themselves. If Russia - or China - supported
sanctions, they would have been on the dais with Obama,
Sarkozy and Brown at the G20.
But Medvedev's final qualifier - "at this time" - was new and
significant. Teheran certainly noticed the nuance. The
Russians most likely told Mrs. Clinton that they would
pressure Teheran to fulfill its renewed NPT commitments.As a
permanent member of the UN Security Council and NPT
co-architect, Moscow prefers a non-nuclear Iran. But Moscow
also probably prefers the status quo - an isolated Iran with
nuclear ambitions that vex the West - to an Iranian détente or
rapprochement.
Yet Moscow would certainly accept the latter scenario if it
could avoid a regionally destabilising military strike by the
US or Israel. Hence, Russia's half-hearted, incremental
cooperation with the West.
6. The Tricky Endgame. Just as in the Afghanistan case, where
serious analysts are now floating the once radical idea of
withdrawal and containment, new paradigms are starting to
surface for Iran. There are only three theoretical options - a
pre-emptive strike, acquiescence and deterrence, or a
negotiated framework.
The first is basically untenable if not unfeasible. The second
is feasible but undesirable. The last is the best workable
scenario. The most encouraging theory is that the Iranians are
not really so close to nuclear testing capacity and, further,
that their strategy is in fact to remain in roughly this
position.
If Teheran is interested in what is sometimes called the
"Japan option" - maintaining an ability to produce a nuclear
weapon on short notice, but not actually testing one - this
could present a reasonable opportunity for a negotiated
framework of inspections, surveillance and early warning.
A good context would be engaging Iran across a wider frontier
of regional security issues. The trouble is that trust is
awfully low between the US and Iran. Who will move first?
7. The Israeli Wild Card. If trust between the US and Iran is
near zero, trust between Israel and Iran is sub-zero. What is
most worrisome is that some Israelis are privately calling
Obama weak and implying they can no longer trust the US on
Iran. A new rumour is circulating that Israel intends to
strike Iran in the near term.
Israel can start a war against Iran, but it is doubtful Israel
could finish such a war. If the strike scenario cannot work,
why do Israelis keep making so much noise? Perhaps noise is
the main part of their strategy. Before previous pre-emptive
strikes, on Iraqi and Syrian sites, Israel was silent.
But then threatening Israeli noise could also be
counterproductive, impelling the Iranians to move faster than
they otherwise would.
A top European official said to me, "There is a serious risk
that our policy will be failed talk followed by failed
sanctions followed by failed war." Then he added: "Better to
be smart and diplomatic - and to know when there does seem to
be an opening."
Mark Medish, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, served in the Clinton administration.
Perspectives on corruption
An act is
corrupt if it enables an individual to receive something
of value to which he is not entitled under the prevailing
laws or morality.
Anwar Syed
A
standing committee of the National Assembly recently
proposed terms of imprisonment - up to 14 years - for
public officials found guilty of corruption. The proposal
is no doubt well-intentioned, but careful scrutiny will
reveal that it is likely to be difficult to implement.
Corruption, like terrorism, is one of those words whose
multiplicity of meanings makes it hard to know what
precisely the person using it has in mind. In common usage
in Pakistan the term refers to a bribe, in cash or in the
form of some other tangible object, given to a public
official for doing something for a person to which he may
or may not be entitled to under the law, and which is
within that official's power to give or withhold.
In fact corruption can take many other forms. In my view
an act is corrupt if it enables an individual to receive
something of value to which he is not entitled under the
prevailing laws or morality.
Corruption is not limited to bureaucrats: it touches all
kinds of persons in various walks of life, going from the
lowest to the highest levels. If the peon posted at a high
official's office door will not announce a visitor to his
boss unless he has been given a sum of money, he is
engaging in corruption. A vendor selling vegetables is
doing the same thing if his weighing scale is crooked and
he is giving his customers less than their money's worth.
Similarly, a prime minister who appoints 70 men and women
as ministers in his government when 20 would have been
enough, and he does so to oblige friends and relatives or
to buy political support is also engaging in corruption.
Members of the provincial assemblies who sell their votes
to candidates for the Senate are likewise corrupt.
It is customary to condemn corruption as an evil. But that
is done mostly in drawing room conversations and speeches
from the public platform. In actual fact our culture does
not chastise one's relatives, friends and even mere
acquaintances because they are corrupt. I have never heard
of a family that refused the hand of their daughter in
marriage to a young man on the ground that his assets
included unlawful takings. It should be noted also that
those who offer improper inducements to the other side in
a transaction are as corrupt as the one receiving them.
Corruption in its various forms is not something that
surfaced yesterday. It has afflicted humans, especially
those possessed of any kind of ruling authority and power,
probably since the beginning of history. Its incidence has
varied from one time and place to another. It may be
lower, for instance, in England than it is in India. But
no country is entirely without it. It follows that while
corruption in a given society may be reduced, it cannot be
eliminated.
It does not travel from bottom up to the higher levels.
Generally speaking, it goes from top down to the lower
ranks. A superintendent of police accepts bribes not
because the station house officers and constables in his
jurisdiction are doing it. The reverse is probably the
case: they are taking bribes more freely than they might
otherwise have done because their boss is corrupt.
The lower-ranking functionaries in a government agency
will continue to resort to unlawful means of making money.
If they are to moderate their covetousness, their
superiors must first be persuaded to take the path of
propriety. Reform has to begin at the top. If the prime
minister and members of his cabinet follow the dictates of
righteousness and abstain from taking and giving undue
favours, their calls for probity addressed to their
subordinates may have a chance of being heard and honoured.
But if they choose to continue playing games with the
people's money and interests, their subordinates will feel
free to do the same in even larger measure.
Returning to the aforementioned parliamentary committee's
proposal and keeping in mind the broad range of activities
that can be called corrupt, its idea of sending corrupt
officials to prison has to be set aside because it is
unfeasible. A major problem may be noted at the outset.
Charges of corruption against a bureaucrat are likely to
be investigated by other bureaucrats, who will be loath to
return a guilty verdict against a colleague. Police
officers investigating alleged wrongdoing on the part of
another officer will be reluctant to have him judged
guilty and penalised.
One must also consider the scale of alleged corruption.
Recall the peon who charges visitors a fee before he will
let them see his boss. His practice is known to all. But
neither his boss nor anyone else intends to have him
prosecuted and sent to jail. It is the corrupt among the
higher-ranking politicians and civil servants who deserve
to be sent to jail. Their chastisement is alien to our
civic culture.
Prime ministers have been dismissed for alleged corruption
and incompetence but not prosecuted. Nor can I think of a
secretary to the government or a department head who, in
recent memory, has been prosecuted for corruption and sent
to prison.
The police department in Punjab used to have, and perhaps
still does have, an anti-corruption directorate. Officers
whom their superiors wanted to "kick upstairs" were posted
in that directorate.
One may ask if anything can then be done to stem the
rising tide of corruption in Pakistan, whom Transparency
International has ranked as one of the world's most
corrupt countries. It seems to me that threats of
prosecution and imprisonment will not eliminate or even
reduce it to any significant degree.
The pressure of public opinion, channelled by the print
and electronic media and organs of civil society, may in
time induce the ruling politicians to mend their ways and,
if they do, their example may bring about wholesome
changes of attitude among public officials at various
levels.
The writer is professor emeritus at the University of
Massachusetts.
Clear message to Israel
Regardless of how the Obama administration responds to the
challenge, we in this part of the world know well that the
Goldstone report is objective and accurate.
Musa Keilani
South
African jurist Richard Goldstone has challenged the White
House to justify its charge that the Goldstone report
accusing Israel and Hamasof war crimes in the
December-January Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip was
flawed.
Regardless of how the Obama administration responds to the
challenge, we in this part of the world know well that the
Goldstone report is objective and accurate. It concluded
that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes and
possible crimes against humanity during the conflict.
It might not be right to agree that Hamas could also be
accused of war crimes. The world knows that the
Palestinian group is exercising the universal right of the
occupied to wage resistance against the occupier and its
rocket attacks could not be considered as war crimes.
Furthermore, the world saw how Israel went about its
systematic slaughter of the Gazans and destruction of
infrastructure with a view to worsening the suffering of
the people living in the coastal strip under its choking
blockade. It used banned weapons against the Gazans and
bombed schools and other civilian installations.
Indeed, the international community witnessed the Israeli
war crimes and the Goldstone report does not need any
defence. However, the Obama administration found it fit to
describe the report as unfair and flawed, without,
however, being able to support its contention. That is
what prompted Goldstone to issue the challenge.
"I have yet to hear from the Obama administration what the
flaws in the report that they have identified are,"
Goldstone told Al Jazeera television on Thursday.
"I would be happy to respond to them, if and when I know
what they are," added the jurist, whose mission included
Christine Chinkin, professor of international law at the
London School of Economics and Political Science, Hina
Kilani, a lawyer of the supreme court of Pakistan and
former special representative of the UN secretary general
on Human Rights Defenders, and Colonel Desmond Travers, a
former officer in the Irish armed forces and member of the
board of directors of the Institute for International
Criminal Investigations.
"The Obama administration joined our recommendation
calling for full and good-faith investigations, both in
Israel and in Gaza, but said that the report was flawed,"
said Goldstone.
One should not overlook that 25 of the United Nations
Human Rights Council's 47 members voted for a resolution
endorsing the report last week.Voting against were six
others, including the United States, while 16 either
abstained or did not vote.
Predictably, Israel rejected the report as biased and the
Obama administrationsaid it would support Israel's efforts
to prevent a UN Security Council debate on the report.
The report recommended that the findings be referred to
the International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague,
if Israel and Hamas fail to conduct credible
investigations within six months.
Well, the report prompted Israel to launch its moves, but
not for any investigation into how its military handled
the war on Gaza but to open what it calls "intelligence
files documenting the incriminating evidence against
hundreds of Hamas officials and naming names".
Israel argues that while Hamas members travel the world
"without fear of legal action against them, Israeli
soldiers and officers never know when or where a war
crimes charge may be slapped against them."
Israel could not be expected to adopt any other position,
but the world would have expected the Obama administration
to adopt a fair stand. One would have also thought that
the Obama administration would be true to its declaration
that it had reversed the policy of its predecessors and
was ready to cooperate with the UN to solve world
problems.
Indeed, while criticising the Goldstone report, Washington
also called on the Israeli government to investigate
further into war crimes in Gaza Strip during its assault
on the area. That is in line with the Goldstone report's
recommendation that Israel and Hamas conduct such an
investigation.
According to Susan Rice, the US ambassadorto the UN,
Washington had "very serious concerns about many of the
recommendations" in the report. She highlighted "the
mandate that was given (to the Goldstone Commission) by
the Human Rights Council" came before the US joined the
council, "which we viewed as unbalanced, one-sided and
basically unacceptable".
Rice overlooks the fact that Goldstone had refused to
accept the mandate until he was assured that it included
looking into possible crimes committed by all parties in
the conflict. She now finds herself facing the prospect of
having to defend Israel in a possible Security Council
debate where she knows well she would not be ableto defend
the indefensible.
The way the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu stood up to US pressure over Jewish settlements
in the occupied territories is no doubt an eye opener to
the reality that no US administration will be able to
apply real pressure on Israel.
But even now, it is not too late for Obama to correct
himself. He could ask Rice to abstain from voting in the
Security Council on the Goldstone report. It would be the
clearest message yet that Israel can no longer count on an
automatic US veto on its behalf.
International
Pakistan troops
retake Taliban stronghold in Waziristan
Reuters, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan
Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships and
artillery recaptured a strategic town from Taliban
militants after fierce fighting, officials said on
Saturday.
Kotkai town in South Waziristan has changed hands three
times since the army launched a major offensive on Taliban
strongholds a week ago, highlighting the difficulty of
seizing territorial advantage in the rugged mountains and
valleys near Afghanistan. It is also the birthplace of
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and the home
town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior commander known as
"the mentor of suicide bombers."
The offensive is a test of the government's determination
to tackle Islamist fundamentalists, and the campaign is
being closely followed by the United States and other
powers embroiled in Afghanistan's growing conflict.
The militants have responded by stepping up a campaign of
suicide bomb attacks and commando raids that have killed
more than 150 people and wounded even more in the past
three weeks.
Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said security
forces entered Kotkai on Friday evening and were now
clearing the area. Government troops first took the town
on Monday, but the Taliban retook control a day later.
"The place was a stronghold of terrorists, with a majority
of households turned into bunkers," he told a news
conference, adding that militants were abandoning their
weapons and shaving their beards to try to blend in with
ordinary civilians and avoid capture. Abbas said the
military was ahead of schedule on the offensive but the
terrain meant operations were going to slow down. Tens of
thousands of people have fled their homes in South
Waziristan but aid officials do not expect the exodus to
become a humanitarian crisis, as did a similar offensive
in the Swat Valley earlier this year.
The rise in urban attacks by militants is taking a toll,
however, with the country's stock market-which has
performed well this year after a slump in line with global
markets-dropping 6 percent in a week.
Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as
the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan,
with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will
cause the government and ordinary people to lose their
appetite for the offensive. A suicide bomber killed eight
people outside a key airforce facility on Friday. Hours
later, a car bomb outside a restaurant in the northwestern
city of Peshawar wounded 15 people.
Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky
mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and
ravines, has become a global hub for militants who flit
between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Six killed in Pakistan
military helicopter crash
AFP, Peshawar, Pakistan
Six soldiers were killed when a Pakistani military
helicopter crashed in a restive tribal area bordering
Afghanistan overnight, the military said Sunday.
The MI-17 helicopter crash landed at Nawapass in Bajaur
district due to a technical fault, the military said in a
statement
"Six soldiers embraced martyrdom. The pilots of the
helicopter were injured but are safe and out of danger."
A senior military official late Saturday told AFP the
MI-17 helicopter was returning from a routine supply
mission to the border areas of Bajaur when it crashed near
Charmung village, killing three people and wounding two
others.
Pakistani security forces launched a huge operation
against Islamist militants in Bajaur last August. In
February, they claimed the area had been cleared, but
unrest has continued.
Hundreds of extremists are believed to have fled
Afghanistan into Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas
after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban
regime in Kabul in late 2001.
Shots fired to disperse
Afghan Koran protest
Reuters, Kabul
Afghan police fired into the air on Sunday to break up a
protest by thousands of people who had gathered in the
capital, Kabul, to protest against what they said was the
desecration of a copy of the Koran by foreign troops.
Protesters, claiming foreign forces had burned a copy of
Islam's holiest book during a raid in Maidan Wardak
province last week, blocked traffic in Kabul for more than
an hour.
A spokeswoman for U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan
said none of their troops were involved in the incident
and blamed the Taliban for spreading a false rumor that a
copy of the Koran had been burned.
More than 100,000 foreign troops are battling a resurgent
Taliban in Afghanistan, where violence this year reached
its highest level since the austere Islamists were ousted
by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.
Thick plumes of smoke rose above the crowd as protesters
set fire to a large effigy of what they said was U.S.
President Barack Obama.
"Death to America. Down with Israel," chanted one man at
the rally, which was organized mainly by university
students.
Others threw stones and clashed with police but no
casualties were reported.
"No to democracy. We just want Islam," said one banner
carried by protesters, many of whom shook their fists in
the air.
Captain Elizabeth Mathias, a media officer for U.S. and
NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, said the Taliban were
trying to undermine foreign troops by spreading the rumor.
"We did not burn a Koran ... It is unfortunate that the
protesters believe a Taliban rumor," Mathias said, adding
an investigation had been carried out.
The Taliban could not be reached immediately for comment.
Security is already being tightened across Afghanistan as
the country braces for a run-off vote in its presidential
poll on November 7 after the first round in August was
tainted by allegations of widespread fraud.
The Taliban on Saturday vowed to disrupt the poll and
urged Afghans to boycott the vote, as they had done before
the August 20 first round.
Afghanistan has seen protests in the past over similar
incidents, as well as over cartoons depicting the Prophet
Mohammad in a Danish newspaper in 2006.
Fearing new border
flare-up, Pakistan soothes Iranian ire
AFP, Quetta, Pakistan
With its focus trained on the Afghan and Indian borders,
Islambad can ill afford to fall out with Tehran over Sunni
rebels who last week carried out their deadliest attack on
Iran, say analysts.
Iran says those behind the October 18 killing of 42
people, including 15 of its elite Revolutionary Guards,
sneaked across the Pakistan border.
Islamabad roundly condemned the bombing in southeastern
Pisheen, which President Asif Ali Zardari called a
"gruesome and barbaric" attack by "a cowardly enemy" in a
call to his counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In talks Friday in Islamabad, Interior Minister Rehman
Malik assured his Iranian opposite number Mostafa Mohammad
Najjar "Pakistan would never allow its territory for any
terrorist activity".
While strongly denying the attack claimed by Jundallah
(Soldiers of God) was launched from Pakistan, officials
appear to be turning a blind eye to a subsequent Iranian
sweep for suspects.
A top provincial government official confirmed Pakistan
was aware Iranian security forces had been trying to track
down suspects along the porous border.
"We do have knowledge about the on-going Iranian operation
in the Jalik area along the border to arrest their
suspects," Baluchistan home secretary Mohammad Akbar
Durrani told AFP.
Durrani said Pakistan had a record of cooperation with
Iran and "very cordial and brotherly relations".
Jundallah has been waging an insurgency against Tehran for
five years but the attack on the Revolutionary Guards was
by far the most spectacular from a group which previously
confined its assaults to isolated security outposts.
Top Iranian officials, including Ahmadinejad, have alleged
that Pakistan's powerful and shadowy intelligence
apparatus, along with those of Britain and the United
States, had a role in Sunday's bombing.
Iranian officials believe Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi
is in Pakistan and want him handed over, although Pakistan
denies he is in the country.
There is no hard evidence of coordination between Pakistan
intelligence and Jundallah and in recent years Pakistan
has arrested Jundallah activists.
Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, which
borders Iran, is rife with Islamist militancy,
Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence and Pakistani Baluch
insurgents fighting for Baluch independence from Pakistan
and Iran.
Analysts say the last thing in Pakistan needs Iran
stirring up the mix further with the army waging a major
offensive against the Taliban along the Afghan border and
consumed by the perceived threat from India.
"The Pisheen suicide bombing was obviously a blow for the
Iranian security services," said Munsoor Akbar Kundi, who
writes for the Dawn newspaper.
‘Polygamy club’ draws
criticism in Indonesia
AP/UNB, Jakarta
Plans to open branches of a Malaysian"Polygamy Club" in
Indonesia have upset women's groups and religious leaders
in the world's most populous Muslim nation, who say the
search for multiple wives should be handled privately -
not by a matchmaking service.
Under Islamic law, Muslim men are permitted four wives.
The club claims a noble aim of helping single mothers,
reformed prostitutes and women who feel they are past
marrying age meet spouses. It also offers counseling to
people facing problems in polygamous households.
The Malaysian owners say they want to "change people's
perception about polygamy, so that they will see it as a
beautiful rather than abhorrent practice," club chairwoman
Hatijah Binti Am said as members from around 30 families
attended a gathering in Bandung, west Java, for the
opening of the first Indonesian branch last week.
Others will soon be added, including in the capital,
Jakarta, said spokeswoman Rohaya Mohamad. "Indonesia is a
Muslim-majority country, so polygamy can be a way of life
there too," Rohaya said. Polygamous relationships are
believed to be gaining in popularity in secular Indonesia,
but it's impossible to say how many there are because the
marriages are performed secretly at mosques and are not
recorded by the state.
Indonesia's 1974 Marriage Law permits a man to have a
second wife if his first is an invalid, infertile or
terminally ill. However, there is no way to monitor
adherence to the rules. Polygamists point out that the
Prophet Muhammad is thought to have married about a dozen
women in his lifetime, including widows in need of
protection. But a prominent member of the influential
Indonesian Ullema Council, a board of Muslim priests,
described the launching of a formal club as a "provocative
campaign."
"Such a club is needless," said Ma'ruf Amin. "It will draw
negative reactions rather than solve problems" because the
practice is generally opposed by women in the country of
235 million people.
Several prominent political and religious figures in
Indonesia openly married second wives in recent years,
sparking widespread public debate and calls to ban civil
servants from polygamy.
Opposition has also come from women's rights activists.
Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, director of the Institute for
Indonesian Women's Association for Justice does not oppose
men having several spouses, but said the club should not
advertise openly.
"If they did it privately, that would be fine," she said,
citing the acceptance of polygamy under Islam and by the
Indonesian state according to specific requirements.
However, Yohanna, a member of the same women's rights
group, said the club effectively promotes abuse.
Singh to Wen: Dalai Lama an
honored guest
Reuters, Hua Hin, Thailand
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rebuffed China's
wishes that it bar the Dalai Lama from traveling to a
disputed border area, telling Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
the Tibetan spiritual leader was an honored guest.
"I explained to Premier Wen that the Dalai Lama is our
honored guest. He is a religious leader. We do not allow
the Tibetan refugees to indulge in political activities,"
Singh told reporters on Sunday, a day after he and Wen
held bilateral talks.
The Dalai Lama plans to make a week-long visit to the
Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh which borders China in
early November. Singh visited the region earlier this
month, also to China's displeasure. Beijing reviles the
Nobel laureate monk as a dangerous separatist, and has
protested against the trip saying it was further proof of
the Dalai Lama's scheming.
But India, which has been home to the exiled Dalai Lama
since he fled a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese
rule in 1959, has cleared the visit. Asked if the plan had
changed for the Dalai Lama to travel there, Singh said he
was not aware of his travel arrangements-an apparent
indication that he still had the green light.
The Indian newspaper The Hindu (www.hindu.com) reported on
Sunday that China's embassy in New Delhi had asked the
Ministry of External Affairs to prevent the Dalai Lama
from visiting Arunachal Pradesh.
Singh said he and Wen, who met on the sidelines of an
Asia-Pacific summit in Thailand, agreed that both China
and India had an "obligation to maintain peace and
tranquility along the border."
The two sides have struggled to settle their decades-old
border dispute. Each side claims vast swathes of the
other's territory along their 3,500-km (2,173-mile)
Himalayan boundary.
Baghdad
blast toll ‘passes 132’
BBC Online
At least 132 people have been killed and 520 injured in
two car bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraqi officials say.
The blasts hit the ministry of justice and a provincial
government office near the heavily fortified Green Zone.
They came in quick succession at 1030 (0730 GMT) as people
headed to work during the morning rush hour. This is the
deadliest attack in Iraq since August 2007 and comes three
months after the US handed security control of cities to
local forces.
The attacks have drawn comparison with those of 19 August,
when truck bombs hit two ministry buildings and killed at
least 100 people. Iraq then blamed foreign fighters and
accused Syria of involvement, demanding a UN
investigation. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki visited the
site of Sunday's provincial government office attack and
later issued a statement blaming al-Qaeda and supporters
of former president Saddam Hussein. "These cowardly
terrorist attacks must not affect the determination of the
Iraqi people to continue their struggle against the
remnants of the dismantled regime and al-Qaeda terrorists,
who committed a brutal crime against civilians," he said.
Plumes of smoke were seen rising in Baghdad on Sunday
morning after two vehicles packed with explosives blew up
just outside the International Zone, or Green Zone, the
administrative heart of the capital.
There were conflicting reports from Iraqi police and other
security officials about whether suicide bombers were
involved. Iraqi officials say the number of dead and
wounded is likely to rise, as rescue workers dig through
the rubble to search for survivors. A number of workers
for Baghdad's provincial council, which runs the city,
were thought to be among the dead.
"I don't know how I'm still alive," local shop owner,
Hamid Saadi, told Reuters by telephone from near the
justice ministry. "The explosion destroyed everything...
it's like it was an earthquake, nothing is still in its
place."
A number of bystanders blamed the security forces and
politicians for failing to keep order. Ambulance driver
Adil Sami told Agence France-Presse: "We don't want the
parliament any more - let them leave us alone, we can live
in peace and solve problems ourselves."
Baghdad provincial council member Mohammed al-Rubaiey
said: "This is a political struggle... Every politician is
responsible and the government is responsible, as well as
security leaders."
Israeli police, Arabs clash
near Jerusalem mosque
Reuters, Jerusalem
Israeli police fired stun grenades at Arab youths who
threw rocks at them in the compound of Jeru-salem's
flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City on Sunday,
Israeli and Palestinian officials and witnesses said.
The clash, in which police said 12 people were arrested,
came a month after a similar incident that led to
restrictions on entry for worshippers for several days. It
adds to tensions that are already running high as
President Barack Obama struggles, so far in vain, to
relaunch peace negotiations.
An hour or so after the first clash, in which police said
less than 100 youths took part, Reuters journalists saw a
fresh outbreak of violence when young Arab men threw
rocks, lumps of masonry and water tanks from the roofs of
houses at police in the narrow alleyways around the mosque
compound.
A fire broke out in one street, prompting Israeli forces
to back away and raising fears fire could spread to gas
supplies.
Journalists saw Israeli police and troops inside the
compound, as helicopters clattered overhead.
The al-Aqsa compound, Islam's third holiest site which
also includes Jerusalem's signature 7th-century Dome of
the Rock, has been a tinderbox for conflict since Israel
captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.
Judaism's most revered prayer site is the Western Wall of
the esplanade, where many believe the Jewish Temple stood
until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
A visit to the mosque compound nine years ago by Israeli
right-wing leader Ariel Sharon was credited with sparking
an Intifada, or uprising, by Palestinians. Five years of
violence killed several thousand people and wrecked
efforts toward peace.
Palestinian officials have complained that Israel is
tightening its grip on the Old City and Arab East
Jerusalem.
World powers support Palestinian efforts to negotiate a
state with its capital in Jerusalem but Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any change in Israel's
position that the city must be the united capital of the
Jewish state.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police used
stun grenades against the crowd. He denied a statement by
a Palestinian official, Hathem Abdel Qader, that they had
used tear gas or rubber bullets, or that they entered the
mosque.
Parliament speaker says
West trying to cheat Iran
AP/ UNB, Tehran
Iran's parliament speaker accused the West on Saturday of
trying to cheat the country with a U.N.-drafted plan that
would ship most of Iran's uranium to Russia for
enrichment, raising further doubts about the likelihood
Tehran will approve the deal.
The U.S. and its allies have been pushing the agreement as
a way to ease their concerns that Iran is using its
nuclear program as a way to covertly develop weapons
capability.
The Iranian government, which insists its program is
peaceful, has said it is still studying the U.N. agreement
and will formally respond to the offer next week, but a
growing number of Iranian officials have come out against
the deal.
"Westerners are insisting on going in a direction to cheat
and impose their will on us," Iran's semiofficial ISNA
news agency quoted parliament speaker Ali Larijani as
saying Saturday.
Larijani said Iran prefers to buy the nuclear fuel it
needs for a reactor that makes medical isotopes rather
than accept the U.N. plan, which would require Iran to
ship around 70 percent of its low-enriched uranium to
Russia for further enrichment.
The Tehran reactor needs uranium enriched to about 20
percent, higher than the 3.5 percent-enriched uranium Iran
is producing for a nuclear power plant it plans to build
in the country's southwest. Iranian officials have said it
is more economical to purchase the
more highly-enriched uranium abroad than produce it
domestically. But they have also warned the country will
enrich uranium to the
higher level needed to power the Tehran reactor if talks
fail to help Iran obtain the fuel from abroad.
"They (Westerners) said we will give Iran 20 percent fuel
if you give us your enriched uranium," Larijani told ISNA
in an interview.
Pressure mounts over Iraq
election law deadlock
AFP, Baghdad
Pressure mounted on Sunday as Iraqi leaders prepared to
meet to try to end a deadlock over a stalled election law
amid growing concerns that the country's January polls
will have to be delayed.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned that postponing the
elections would threaten the legitimacy of parliament and
the government, while a top Iraqi general cautioned that a
delay risked increasing instability.
As if to confirm Lieutenant General Ali Ghaidan Majeed's
warning, twin suicide car bombs in central Baghdad on
Sunday morning killed at least 64 people and wounded more
than 600.
The remarks followed calls for a breakthrough from US
President Barack Obama and the special UN envoy to Iraq,
while the US ambassador to the United Nations held talks
with the leader of the country's semi-autonomous Kurdish
region, whose MPs' views have been one of the stumbling
blocks.
An Iraqi MP, meanwhile, predicted the meeting of the
national security political committee, an advisory body of
senior Iraqi politicians including Maliki, will fail to
reach agreement and that the nationwide ballot will be
postponed by one or two months.
"If it is postponed from the current date, the government
will lose its legitimacy and parliament will lose its
legitimacy," Maliki said in a speech on Saturday.
"We will go back to square one and we will return to
sectarianism... Therefore, our voices must unite to hold
the election on its present date."
Thousands eat breakfast on
Sydney Harbour Bridge
AFP, Sydney
Thousands sat down to breakfast on the Sydney Harbour
Bridge on Sunday after the iconic structure was closed to
traffic and carpeted with grass for the first time for a
giant picnic.
About 6,000 early risers were on the steel bridge from
6:30 am to take part in the two-hour event designed to
showcase Sydney's best food and outdoor lifestyle. As
accordion players and trumpeters provided the background
music, those who had won tickets to the picnic in a random
lottery munched on fruit, pastries, muesli, yoghurt, and
the staple Australian breakfast spread Vegemite.
"It's amazing to see the bridge in this perspective," said
Sydneysider Don Fuchs of the structure which is used by
about 100,000 cars daily. "Usually you sit in the car, you
cross it, and that's it."
"It was beautiful," said Linda Curnow who attended the
picnic with her family. "The grass was so thick it was
like being in your back yard." New South Wales state
Premier Nathan Rees said the event was set to become an
annual feature of Sydney's month-long October food
festival. About 45,000 people applied for tickets to the
breakfast for which people brought their own food but were
able to taste samples from some of the state's best
producers. "I don't think we were ever doubtful of the
success of this event today," a government spokesman told
AFP. "It was a unique world first for this iconic
attraction. This type of event typifies the Australian
personality."
Organisers are planning to use about 40 percent of the
grass on Sydney parks. The bridge was due to reopen at
about 1:00 pm.
Saudi female journalist
gets lashes for sex show
AP/UNB, Riyadh
A Saudi court on Saturday sentenced a female journalist to
60 lashes after she had been charged with involvement in a
TV show in which a Saudi man publicly talked about sex.
Rozanna al-Yami, 22, is believed to be the first Saudi
woman journalist to be given such a punishment, but there
were conflicting accounts about how the court issued its
verdict.
Al-Yami, who worked as a coordinator for the program but
has denied working on the sex-show episode, told The
Associated Press it was her understanding that the judge
at the court in the western city of Jiddah dropped the
charges against her. They included involvement in the
preparation of the show and advertising the segment on the
Internet. But she said he still handed down the lashing
sentence "as a deterrence." "I am too frustrated and upset
to appeal the sentence," said al-Yami.
Al-Yami refused to provide contact details for her lawyer
to ask about the legal proceedings, including the basis in
Islamic law for the punishment and whether the charges
were really dropped.
Sulaiman al-Jumeii, the lawyer for the man who appeared in
the TV show, said such "physical punishment is not an
indication of
innocence or a drop of charges."
"If the judge had dropped the charges, then why did he
give her the 60 lashes?" he added.
Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, the spokesman of the Ministry of
Culture and Information, told the AP he had no details of
the sentencing and could not comment on it.
In the program, which aired in July on the Lebanese LBC
satellite channel, the man, Mazen Abdul-Jawad appears to
describe an active sex life and shows sex toys that were
blurred by the station. The same court sentenced Abdul-Jawad
earlier this month to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes.
Al-Jumeii maintains his client was duped by the TV station
and was unaware in many cases he was being recorded.
On Saturday, he told the AP that not trying al-Yami before
a court specialized in media matters at the Ministry of
Culture and Information was a violation of Saudi law. "It
is a precedent to try a journalist before a summary court
for an issue that concerns the nature of his job," he
said. The case has scandalized this ultraconservative
country where such public talk about sex is taboo and the
sexes are strictly segregated.
The government moved swiftly in the wake of the case,
shutting down LBC's two offices in the kingdom and
arresting Abdul-Jawad, who works for the national airline.
Three other men who appeared on the show, "Bold Red Line,"
were also convicted of discussing sex publicly and
sentenced to two years imprisonment and 300 lashes each.
Business/Economy
President asks DSE for
steps to protect interest of small investors
UNB, Dhaka
President Zillur Rahman on Sunday urged the authorities of
Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) to take necessary initiatives
for attracting new investors along with steps to protect
interest of the small investors.
"You will have to be alert always so that no vested
quarters can influence or destabilize the market by
providing any wrong information to the market," he said
when a 10-member DSE delegation led by its president M
Rakibur Rahman paid a courtesy call him at Bangabhaban.
During the meeting, the President said that the DSE should
ensure the financial security of the ordinary investors.
"You must keep in mind that ensuring financial security of
the small investors is one of your main responsibilities,"
he told the DSE delegation.
Zillur Rahman noted that the present government has taken
various steps for expanding the capital market with a view
to making the industrialization process more vibrant.
Referring to the 'Vision 2021' declared by Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, he emphasized on ensuring strong and
efficient financial management in the country to implement
the vision. "The role of stock exchange is very important
in building a strong financial management."
Appreciating the government's initiative of Public Private
Partnership (PPP), the President believed that the PPP
would be able to play significant role for development of
the country's capital market.
"I urge all concerned including the DSE to work more
sincerely for making a success of the government's steps
as well as attracting local and international investment,"
he said.
President Zillur also highly praised the efficient role of
the DSE for keeping uptrend of the market amid ongoing
global economic recession.
DSE president M Rakibur Rahman informed the President
about their reform activities and the present scenario of
the capital market.
He mentioned that presently around Tk 1000 crore are being
transacted daily at the capital market, as the
non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) and other financial
sectors are playing vital role in strengthening the
market.
The DSE president said since induction of electronic
trading in the Dhaka Stock Exchange from 1998, the
activities of fake institutions were stopped and the
financial transaction got faster and more dynamic.
Rakibur Rahman told the President that the government
could also collect fund for its different sectors,
including power and energy, by floating shares in the
capital market.
Secretary of the President's Office Md Safiul Alam,
Military Secretary to the President Major General Abul
Kalam Md Humayun Kabir and President's Press Secretary
Abdul Awal Howlader were also present.
FBCCI
to create employment for 10,000 destitute people in 6
months
UNB, Dhaka
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FBCCI) will create employment for 10,000
destitute people in the next six months, as part of their
corporate social responsibility (CSR).
"We will also settle 250 destitute people as businessmen
under 'one businessman-one family' theme," said FBCCI
president Annisul Huq at a programme on Saturday night.
Two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) -- Management
and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI) and Manusher
Janno Foundation-co-organised the 'CSR Evening 2009:
Meeting Social Goals' with support from DCCI, FICCI and
Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (BFWE).
Prime Minister's economic affairs advisor Dr. Mashiur
Rahman addressed the function as chief guest while
chairman of parliamentary standing committee on the
Finance Ministry AHM Mustafa Kamal spoke as guest of
honour. Bangladesh Bank governor Dr. Atiur Rahman and
National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Dr. Nasiruddin
Ahmed spoke as special guests.
Address the programme as chief guest, PM's adviser Dr.
Mashiur Rahman expressed the hope that the projects taken
jointly by MRDI and Manusher Janno Foundation to promote
CSR in the country would be expanded in the near future.
Speaking on the occasion, AHM Mustafa Kamal, popularly
known as Lotus Kamal, said the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) should encourage the listed companies to
take more interest in CSR activities.
BB governor Dr. Atiur Rahman said CSR can contribute to
poverty reduction and supplement government's efforts
towards achieving the millennium development goals.
He urged all concerned to be more engaged in CSR
activities and said that the NBR has a more important role
in this regard.
NBR chairman Dr. Nasiruddin Ahmed also urged the business
community to invest more for promoting CSR activities in
Bangladesh.
Manusher Janno Foundation executive director Shaheen Anam
said they would like to work as a catalyst so that the
corporate sectors in the country realize their obligations
towards eradicating poverty.
Former adviser of caretaker government Rokia Afzal Rahman,
who moderated the programme, said although the country has
made a lot of achievements in fields like migrant workers
and women's development, still there is a long way to go
for the people of this country to have a fair and just
society.
"We will have to fight, address and eradicate poverty,"
she said.
President of Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and
Industry Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce
and Industry chairman Jafar Osman and Financial Express
editor Moazzem Hossain, among others, also spoke at the
programme. The businessmen present at the function also
demanded more involvement of the government in
mainstreaming CSR for alleviating poverty.
Deadline for submitting income tax return ends Nov 1
NBR
not to extend time anymore
UNB, Dhaka
The latest deadline for submitting income-tax return by
individual taxpayers ends on November 1 and the
government' s revenue authorities are determined not to
extend the time anymore.
Earlier, the deadline was September 30. The National Board
of revenue (NBR) had extended the timeframe by one month
up to Nov 1, as many couldn't submit their tax returns.
The extension was conceded following requests from
different quarters, including the apex trade organization,
the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FBCCI).
Talking to UNB, a senior tax official said that this time
they are against any fresh extension of the last date. "It
is not justified to extend deadline repeatedly without
having any strong reason," he said.
About the reason for the previous extension, he said that
they had considered the matter as people and business
community were busy for Ramadan, Eid-Ul-Fitr and Durga
Puja. "But, this time there is nothing like this," he said
to justify their stance.
The NBR official said that this time they are thinking
about going for tough actions against the taxpayers who
will fail to submit their tax return.
"If anyone cannot submit their return in four months (July
to October), then what else we can do," he said, adding
that till September 30, tax zones only got 3 percent tax
returns of the total taxpayers. The official said this
time around those who will be unable to submit tax return
by November 1 will face fines. But the official said that
the government is the highest body to decide the matter as
the NBR has to comply with government orders.
Meanwhile, the NBR is taking preparation to send request
letters to Bangladesh Bank and Sonali Bank to remain open
on October 31 (Saturday) and November 1 (Sunday) till 5 pm
for the convenience of the taxpayers. The tax officials
concerned were seen preparing a letter for the central
bank governor, Dr Atiur Rahman, regarding the special
banking transactions for taxpaying. "The letter will be
sent after signing the NBR chairman," said the NBR
official. Last year, the revenue board received a total of
670,000 tax returns worth Tk 792 crore, when the deadline
was November 12. The income-tax-collection target has been
fixed at Tk 16,560 crore for the current fiscal, 27 per
cent of the total revenue target.
Meanwhile, the government is expecting an increase in the
annual income tax by more than Tk 20,000 crore by the end
of its 5-year tenure through creating an environment for
people to pay tax spontaneously.
According to the NBR sources, there are around 24,00,000
Taxpayer's Identification Number (TIN) holders in the
country.
German business team to explore
opportunities
BSS, Dhaka
A high level German business team are now visiting
Bangladesh to explore more opportunity in different
sectors.
The team, comprises of over 20 representatives from
shipbuilding, engineering and energy sectors, will stay in
the country until October 30 when they will visit some
leading industries, business houses and will have
discussions at the government officials and private
sectors' representatives.
The members of the team will also participate in seminar
and business-to-business meetings to find out potential
partners and share information on the market developments
and the framework for doing business in Bangladesh.
The delegation will have separate meetings with the
finance minister, commerce minister and shipping minister.
It will also meet with the chairmen of the Board of
Investment and Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority
(BEPZA) as well as with leading chamber and trade bodies.
The visit is organised by the OAV - German Asia Pacific
Business Association in cooperation with the
Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI)
and supported by the German Embassy in Dhaka.
Peter Clasen, owner of the company Wilhelm G Clasen and
joint venture partner of GerBanFibres Ltd is leading the
team.
German is regarded as suppliers of speciality chemicals,
capital goods and equipment and a major partner for
infrastructure development. German companies also offer
excellent technological standards and a perspective for
long lasting partnerships.
Asian EU-style economic bloc not just a dream
AFP, Hua Hin, Thailand
Dreams of creating a huge economic bloc covering half the
world's population are slowly becoming a reality in a plan
that would boost Asia's global clout, analysts and
officials say.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama aired his proposal
for a so-called East Asian Community to fellow leaders at
a summit in Thailand this weekend, saying that the region
should aspire to "lead the world".
The plan still lacks details and is fraught with
challenges, but much of the groundwork has already been
laid for a grouping that would further advance the idea of
an "Asian Century", experts said.
"It is coming together," former Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretary general Rodolfo Severino
told AFP.
A more cohesive Asia would have a bigger role in global
affairs, Severino said, especially after the region rode
out the global economic crisis more quickly than the West.
"It's not just Asia coming together economically but
politically as well. The more integrated you are, the more
forceful you are," said Severino, who heads the
Singapore-based ASEAN Studies Centre.
The foundations of any East Asian community would lie in
the web of free trade agreements that the 10-member ASEAN
has signed with China, Japan, South Korea, India,
Australia and New Zealand.
At the Thailand summit, regional leaders agreed to carry
out a feasibility study on a huge free-trade zone covering
ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea, Thai Foreign Minister
Kasit Piromya said.
A separate study on a wider grouping that would also take
in India, Australia and New Zealand will be carried out in
tandem, and Kasit said the two could be combined to create
"one regional cooperation on a larger scale."
East Asia has also this year agreed on a 120-billion
dollar fund-using its currency reserves-to help nations in
financial distress without the need to borrow from the
International Monetary Fund.
Asian countries additionally made a concerted and
coordinated effort to provide stimulus packages during the
recent economic crisis which helped the region's
relatively quick rebound.
But any East Asian community remains a long way off,
largely due to the lack of concrete proposals and
disagreements about the involvement of the United States
and the influence of China.
‘Russia out of
recession’
AFP, Moscow
Russia is out of recession and its economy will grow by
two percent in the fourth quarter owing to a rise in oil
prices, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was quoted as
saying on Saturday.
"We now see that the Russian economy is starting to
grow... it is out of recession," Kudrin told the Interfax
news agency.
"In the fourth quarter, we already expect growth above two
percent, mainly due to rising oil prices," he added.
"As long as oil prices range between 70 and 80 dollars per
barrel, there will be growth," the finance minister said,
claiming any drop off would be a result of market
"speculation."
Kudrin said that is why the government had made its growth
forecasts based on oil prices remaining at 58 to 60
dollars-oil accounts for around 60 percent of Russia's
total exports.
The Russian economy, which is also driven by exports of
gas and other commodities, was badly hit by the global
financial crisis after enjoying years of strong growth but
officials have said the worst of the crisis might be over.
BD could reap
rewards from UK's £4b curry industry
bdnews24.com, Dhaka
Bangladesh could reap rich rewards by becoming a supplier
for the UK's £4 billion curry industry, mostly run by
British Bangladeshis, say industry insiders.
"The opportunities are huge ... all the inputs the
restaurants need can be sourced from Bangladesh," Syed
Nahas Pasha, chief editor of London-based Curry Life
Magazine, said in Dhaka on Sunday. Produce like
vegetables, spices, rice are now mostly sourced by the UK
from Indian sellers, he said.
"The only major product that now goes from Bangladesh is
shrimp and prawns."
He added that government support is very much needed to
open up a trade avenue from Bangladesh. Pasha suggested
subsidies for such exports and a cutting-edge standard
testing facility for curry products to the UK.
Curry Life Magazine, the industry's top title, is about to
launch a fusion food festival at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel,
starting Monday, as it has for the past six years.
This year's event, however, has a special significance as
the British curry industry is celebrating its 200th
anniversary.
Sake Dean Mahomed, who established the Hindustani Coffee
House in George Street, London, in 1809, is widely
acknowledged as the father of the now booming sector.
In the two centuries since then, the UK curry business has
come a long way-what was once seen as exotic dining is now
a part of the British menu. The industry of about 12,000
restaurants across the UK, run mainly by Bangladeshis, has
grown into a £4.2 billion industry, with curry gaining the
status of a national cuisine.
Four super grade Bangladeshi chefs have come to Dhaka to
take part in the three-day festival, organisers said at a
press conference Sunday.
Syed Belal Ahmed, the festival director, said that they
have renamed the event from this year as 'Taste of Britain
Curry Fest' in honour of the 200-year celebration.
The first of the fusion food festivals took place in 2003.
National
Police Reform Programme extended
for another 5 years
UNB, Dhaka
The Police Reform Programme (PRP) has been extended for
another five years to support the transition from a
colonial style police force to democratic policing for
enhancing human security in Bangladesh.
"We are encouraged by the commitment of the Bangladesh
government to improve the law and order situation and
strengthening human rights," the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director Stefan
Priesner said at the signing ceremony on Sunday.
On behalf of the Bangladesh government, Economic Relations
Division (ERD) secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan signed
the agreement with the UNDP at a simple function at the
NEC at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city.
Additional Home Secretary Ghulam Hussain was, among
others, present at the signing ceremony.
The new phase will contribute around Tk 203 crore, with
financial support from UNDP and the UK Department for
International Development (DFID).
During the next five years, the Phase II of the Police
Reform Programme will support the government to tackle the
law and order and human rights situation by building trust
with the community through community policing,
strengthening oversight and accountability of the police,
and boosting police professionalism in the areas of
investigations, training and gender sensitivity.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the UNDP Country
Director urged the government to amend the Police Act of
1861.
"An Act which allows the police operational autonomy
balanced with oversight and accountability could have an
important impact on police professionalism and the law and
order situation," Stefan Priesner said.
He also said that sustained high level political support
will be required to transform the Bangladesh Police from a
colonial style force to a more community minded democratic
police service.
The first phase of PRP ended on September 2009 after its
formal start in late 2005.
The contribution for the first phase was Tk 112 crore with
the support of UNDP, the UK Department for International
Development, and the European Commission.
Preparations completed to procure three well-equipped
dredgers
BSS, Narayanganj
Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan Sunday said necessary
preparations have been completed to procure three modern
dredgers in order to maintain navigability of the
country's rivers.
An agreement to this effect will be signed today and after
the signing, process will be started to add three new
dredgers with the existing ones within next three years,
he said while addressing a discussion on 'Prospects of
Shipbuilding Industry of Bangladesh' on the premises of
Ananda Shipyard and Slipways (ASSL) at Meghnaghat here.
The ASSL, one of the country's leading shipbuilders,
organized the discussion marking the visit of high-powered
German business delegation of OAV-German Asia Pacific
Business Association that arrived here Sunday.
Owner of a German-based company named 'Wilhelm G. Clasen',
Peter Clasen led the delegation comprising business
representatives from shipbuilding, engineering and
renewable energy sectors.
With ASSL chairman architect Abdullahhel Bari in the
chair, the meeting was addressed, among others, by newly
appointed German Ambassador to Bangladesh Holger Michael,
Shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader, managing
director of ASSL Afroza Bari and delegation members.
Shahjahan Khan said the government is contemplating
formulation of a policy for the promising shipbuilding
industry in view of its economic prospect, as the sector
is becoming a thrust one in the country.
About river encroachers, he said the present democratic
government is fully aware of the illegal acts including
encroaching of rivers and river banks. Necessary eviction
drive will be conducted countrywide after completion of
legal battles in this regard, said the minister.
Terming Bangladesh's shipbuilding industry as a promising
sector, Holger Michael said the German government is ready
to provide Bangladesh with all-out technical support to
boost the sector.
Wilhelm G. Clasen' highly eulogized the quality of
Bangladesh's oceangoing vessels and its skilled manpower,
easily trainable workforce saying that Bangladesh's
economy would grow more driven by the potential sector.
Abdullahhel Bari said easily trainable workforce is one of
the main attractions in the shipbuilding industry and that
is why foreign buyers come to Bangladesh to explore ships
of international standard.
Tk 2.72 crore allocated for agri rehabilitation
in Jhalakati
UNB, Jhalakati
The government has allocated about Tk 2.72 crore for
agriculture rehabilitation ahead of Boro season in the
district. Hybrid maize and mug dal (pulses) will also be
cultivated along with Boro paddy under the programme.
Some 18,698 farmers will get rehabilitation facilities for
cultivating 2,493 hectares of land in the district.
Department of Agriculture Extension sources said Boro
paddy will be cultivated on 9,336 hectares, maize on 213
hectares and Mug on 1,572 hectares. Upazila Agriculture
office is preparing the list of farmers to provide
rehabilitation facilities. Of the total amount, Tk 35.41
lakh has been allocated for purchasing 82.22 mts seeds, Tk
2.26 crore for buying fertilizer, Tk 4.11 lakh for
packaging and Tk 6.16 lakh for transportation.
23,140
hectares remain uncultivated in Barisal
UNB, Barisal
The target of transplanted Aman cultivation could not be
achieved in the district in the current season as 23,140
hectares of land remained uncultivated due to soil
salinity and insufficient rain.
Department of Agriculture Extension sources said some
80,860 hectares of land so far have been brought under
transplanted Aman cultivation against the target of 1.04
lakh hectares.
DAE has set a target to produce 2.78 mts Aman paddy from
the targeted land.
Farmers apprehend that the production may fall short of
the target by around 60,000 mts which may cause food
deficit in the district.
Farmers could not cultivate vast tracts of land as saline
water entered the cropland and remained stagnant for a
long period due to cyclone Aila on May 25.
Besides, cultivation was hampered due to drought like
situation in the district. Some 1.05 lakh hectares of land
were brought under Aman cultivation in the previous year,
DAE sources said.
Govt committed to ensuring safety of people and
properties
BSS, Sherpur
Minister for Land Rezaul Karim Hira Sunday said the
present government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is
committed to ensure the safety of lives and properties of
the people.
The minister said this while talking to the family
members, who were miserably affected by land grabbers at
the remote char areas of the Brahmaputra river.
The minister said persons involved in the attack would be
punished soon under the speedy trial tribunal.
Hira, however, asked the law enforcers to keep vigil so
that land grabbers can not attack again on the char
dwellers.
A survey is being conducted in the char lands that emerged
on the Brahmaputra to settle long standing disputes
centering over the char lands, he said adding that the
newly emerged char lands would be distributed among the
landless people as per the government rules after
completion of the survey.
Lawmaker Atiur Rahman Atique, deputy commissioner of
Sherpur, police super, upazila chairman, senior government
officials and local Awami League leaders were present on
the occasion.
A gang of land grabbers attacked the char dwellers on
October 21 and set fire on their houses and looted their
valuables.
Following the incident, a temporary police camp was set up
there and special assistance was given to the char
dwellers on behalf of the district administration.
Ctg Port workers
announce 8-hour work abstention tomorrow
BSS, Chittagong
Dock Bandar Sramik Karmachari Federation (DBSKF), an
organisation of the workers of Chittagong seaport and now
defunct Dock Workers Management Board Sunday formed a
human chain in front of Chittagong Press Club to press
home their demands.
Speaking at a rally, the DBSKF leaders also called upon
the workers and employees of the port to make success the
Tuesday's eight-hour work abstention programme.
Around two hundred workers carrying posters and banners
inscribed with their demands took part in the human chain
that began at 11 am Sunday.
The demands of DBSKF includes reintroduction of defunct
Dock Workers Management Board, reinstatement of retrenched
workers of the port, scrapping of different discriminatory
systems that used as tools for exploiting workers,
operating container handling work at Chittagong Container
Terminal (CCT) by CPA workers, reintroduction of
stevedoring system instead of newly introduced Berth and
Ship Operating system and start port transit facility for
the sake of greater national economic development.
DBSKF President Golam Mohammad Chowdhury presided over the
rally which was addressed, among others, by its General
Secretary Advocate Mahfuzur Rahman Khan, Jatiya Sramik
League Chittagong city unit President Bakhteyar Uddin
Khan, General Secretary Mahbubul Haq Etley, Dock Workers
Union general Secretary Abdul Ahad and DBSKF Joint
Secretary Rashid Ahmed Chowdhury.
Seminar on United Nations Day held
BSS, Dhaka
A seminar was held here on Sunday in observance of the
United Nations Day 2009.
The United Nations Information Center (UNIC) in Dhaka,
United Nations Youth and Students Association of
Bangladesh (UNYSAB) and Voice of Business jointly
organized the seminar at Dhaka University Business Faculty
auditorium.
Kazi Ali Reza, Officer-in-Charge of UNIC, Dhaka, delivered
the key-note speech as the chief guest while Helal Uddin
Ahmed, Associate Professor, Department of MIS, Dhaka
University, presided over the session.
UNYSAB Executive Vice-President Sheikh Mohammad Erfan
Uddin also spoke on the occasion, a press release said
here.
M Moniruzzaman of UNIC, Dhaka, read out a message of UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the day.
A question-answer session, video show and quiz contest
were also conducted in the UN Day programme. Certificates
and prizes were awarded among the quiz winners.
17,000 women die of breast cancer each year in
country
BSS, Dhaka
Nearly 17,000 women die with breast cancer each year in
the country, according to a study by Young Women's
Christian Association (YWCA) of Bangladesh.
Most of the women are not aware about breast cancer and
they can not observe changes in breast and feel shy to
take advice from doctors. " To check breast cancer, every
woman should check her breast by herself from the age of
20," the study report said here on Sunday.
It underscored the need for walking regularly and changing
food habit side by side with proper care and nurture of
breast, a YWCA press release said.
According to the press release, students of schools,
colleges and universities would undertake special
programmes in creating awareness about breast cancer among
the women.
"We will have to raise awareness attitude in our society
for taking education about well protection of breast, self
checking and detection of the disease at the beginning,"
it said.
Sports
Abahani gets winning
start
Sports Correspondent
Defending champion Dhaka Abahani got off to a winning start in
the Bangladesh League when it defeated Biani Bazar Sporting
Club of Sylhet 3-1 in the inaugural match at Bangabandhu
National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.
Dhaka Abahani dominated the first session and scored two goals
before the break but Biani Bazar, playing its first match in
the professional football league, reduced the margin to 2-1
after the change of ends. Abahani scored one goal more in the
fag end of the match.
Sherif Deen Mohamed brought an early breakthrough for Dhaka
Abahani with his 6th-minute strike. Down by 0-1, Biani Bazar
players tried to comeback into the game but the Abahani
defenders successfully foiled their attacks. Abahani players
took the control of the game and scored their second when
Mehedi Hasan Ujjal hit the net on 35 minutes.
Biani Bazar players started the second half with a view to
equalizing the margin, going on forays time and again from the
beginning of the second session. They pulled off one when
Toufiq Hasan Gafur netted on 57 minutes (2-1).
Despite raising hopes, Biani Bazar failed to draw level as its
forwards lacked the required penetration against a rock-solid
Abahani defence. Sherif Deen Mohamed scored his second just
four minutes from time to seal a 3-1 victory for Dhaka Abahani.
Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has organized the
competition with 13 football teams taking part in the
Bangladesh League, which was previously known as B. League.
The mobile phone operator Citycell is the sponsor of the meet.
Today's match: Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting Club vs Feni Soccer
Club (Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka at 5:30pm).
Zimbabwe
overpowers BCB XI by 192 runs
Sports Correspondent
Zimbabwe National Cricket Team bounced back from its
four-wicket defeat in the first one-day practice match as the
tourists scored a morale-boosting 192-run victory against
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) XI in the second practice match
at Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Narayanganj on Sunday.
BCB XI captain Hannan Sarker invited Zimbabwe to bat first
after his correct call but the decision backfired as Zimbabwe
plundered a formidable 335 for five in its allotted 50 overs,
thanks to a sparkling hundred from opener Brendon Taylor.
After devastating the BCB XI with bat, Zimbabwean bowlers also
showed their mettle as they bundled the BCB innings for a
paltry 143 in 36.4 overs.
Putting Zimbabwe into bat, Mahbubul Alam brought an early
success for BCB XI when Chamu Chibhabha departed giving a
catch to wicketkeeper Sahagir Hossain with the team score on
28.
But Brendon Taylor and former Zimbabwean captain Tatenda Taibu
put on 188 runs in the second wicket to inflate the visitors'
innings. Taylor struck six over boundaries and nine fours to
score 139 from 137 balls. Taibu faced 90 balls to score 68
before being caught by Raihan Arafat off Faisal Hossain.
Faisal also claimed the precious wicket of Taylor having the
opener caught behind by Sahagir Hossain. Elton Chigumbura
hammered 45 runs off 22 balls, while Wallar hit an unbeaten 37
off 26 balls to bolster the Zimbabwean innings.
Mahbubul Alam and Faisal Hossain picked up two wickets each
for 50 and 52 runs respectively for Bangladesh.
Chasing a tough target, BCB XI crumbled to 143 in 36.4 overs
with Faisal Hossain hitting the highest 30 and Shasur Rahman
scoring 29.
Chibhabha removed three wickets for 29 runs, while Prosper
Utseya, Mpofu and Graeme Cremer bagged two wickets each.
The first One Day International between Zimbabwe and
Bangladesh will be held on October 27 at Sher-e-Bangla
National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
Australia holds nerve to edge
India
AFP, Vadodara
Australia survived a massive scare from India's tailenders
to snatch a thrilling four-run victory in the first match
of the One-Day International series here on Sunday.
The world champions posted a daunting 292-8 and had the
hosts reeling at 201-7 before Harbhajan Singh (49) and
Praveen Kumar (40 not out) launched a stunning
counter-attack to take the match down to the wire.
Harbhajan slammed three sixes in his 31-ball whirlwind and
shared 84 runs off 57 balls with Kumar for the eighth
wicket, but his dismissal in the penultimate over turned
the match in Australia's favour.
Needing nine runs for a win in the final over, the Indians
could manage just four to finish on 288-8 and hand the
visitors a 1-0 lead in the seven-match series.
Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir top-scored with a
fighting 68 but India's chances were severely affected by
the early dismissals of Virender Sehwag (13) and Sachin
Tendulkar (14).
Australia, ranked number one in the one-day charts, were
indebted to captain Ricky Ponting (74) and Michael Hussey
(73), who ensured a stiff target for India through their
aggressive batting.
India's chase began on a shaky note as they lost explosive
opener Sehwag in the fifth over, caught behind by Tim
Paine off paceman Brett Lee (1-28).
Tendulkar, set to complete 20 years in international
cricket next month, lost his wicket in tame fashion,
holing out to Ponting after facing 39 balls and hitting
just two fours.
Ponting, 34, hit eight fours and two sixes in his 85-ball
knock and put on 97 runs with Paine (50) after electing to
bat on a placid wicket.
Hussey, named man of the match, built on the platform laid
by the duo to slam eight fours and a huge six in a late
assault that also saw Cameron White chip in with 51. The
Australians did well to regroup after the early dismissal
of Shane Watson, coming into this seven-match series after
hitting back-to-back centuries in the Champions Trophy
semi-final and final.
Watson (five) failed to read a sharp incutting delivery
from Ashish Nehra and was adjudged leg-before by umpire
Amish Saheba, who took on the on-field umpire's role after
England's Mark Benson fell ill on the eve of the match.
Saheba had earlier been named as the third umpire.
Scorecard
Australia
S. Watson lbw b Nehra 5
T. Paine c Dhoni b Sharma 50
R. Ponting lbw b Jadeja 74
C. White c Raina b Nehra 51
M. Hussey c Kohli b Sharma 73
A. Voges c Gambhir b Harbhajan 3
J. Hopes run out 14
M. Johnson not out 14
B. Lee b Sharma 0
Extras: (lb2, w4, nb2) 8
Total: (for 8 wkts,
50 overs) 292
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Watson), 2-102 (Paine), 3-151
(Ponting), 4-227 (White), 5-233 (Voges), 6-256 (Hopes),
7-291 (Hussey), 8-292 (Lee).
Bowling: Kumar 10-0-77-0 (w2), Nehra 10-0-58-2 (nb1),
Sharma 10-0-50-3 (nb1), Harbhajan 10-0-57-1 (w2), Jadeja
9-0-39-1, Raina 1-0-9-0.
India
V. Sehwag c Paine b Lee 13
S. Tendulkar c Ponting b Watson 14
G. Gambhir lbw b Johnson 68
V. Kohli c Watson b Voges 30
M.S. Dhoni c Lee b Watson 34
S. Raina c and b Johnson 9
R. Jadeja lbw b Hauritz 5
Harbhajan Singh b Siddle 49
P. Kumar not out 40
A. Nehra not out 2
Extras: (lb10, w14) 24
Total: (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 288
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Sehwag), 2-45 (Tendulkar),
3-103 (Kohli), 4-167 (Gambhir), 5-183 (Raina), 6-186 (Dhoni),
7-201 (Jadeja), 8-285 (Harbhajan).
Bowling: Lee 6-0-28-1, Siddle 9-0-55-1 (w7), Watson
10-0-70-2, Johnson 10-0-59-2 (w7), Hopes 2-0-10-0, Voges
4-0-22-1, Hauritz 9-1-34-1.
Sydney goes top of A-League
AFP, Sydney
Sydney FC hung on in a nervy finish to down Brisbane Roar
2-1 and returned to the top of Australia's A-League here
on Sunday.
The home side looked set for a comfortable win with goals
from Alex Brosque and Slovak Karol Kisel midway through
the second half.
However, midfielder Isaka Cernak set up a barnstorming
finish for Roar, playing for the first time under new
coach Ange Postecoglou, when he pulled one back with 17
minutes left.
Sydney survived several close shaves as they retreated
deep into their own half to cling on to their lead. Sydney
on 22 points lead defending champions Melbourne Victory by
one point after Victory beat Adelaide United in a 3-1 home
win. Youngster Mate Dugandzic scored twice for Melbourne
with Thai striker Sutee Suksomkit impressing on his
A-League debut.
Nigeria, Germany share six-goal
U-17 thriller
AFP, Lagos
Host Nigeria fought back from three goals down to force
Germany to a 3-3 draw in its opening Group A match of the
Under-17 World Cup played at Abuja National Stadium on
Saturday.
The result of the game, where kick-off was delayed by 30
minutes following a heavy downpour, extended Nigeria's
unbeaten run against Germany at this level, having won
their previous clashes in 1985 and 2007.
The Golden Eaglets were losing 3-0 after 48 minutes before
star player Stanley Okoro pulled a goal back for the
defending champions in the 54th minute after Omoh Ojabu
had been brought down by Robert Labus.
Labus' sending-off set the tone for a Nigerian fightback
as Kenneth Omeruo and Edafe Egbedi also scored to cancel
out goals from Lennart Thy (21min), Shkodran Mustafi
(39min) and the lively Mario Goetze (47min).
Argentina lead the group after a hard-fought 1-0 victory
over Honduras courtesy of a 58th minute strike by Sergio
Araujo in a clash the South Americans dominated.
In Lagos, Switzerland upset Mexico 2-0 in a Group B match
with first-half goals from Pajtim Kasami and an own goal
by Mexico goalkeeper Jose Rodriguez, while Brazil scraped
past Japan 3-2.
Organisers will be hoping for better attendances at the
matches particularly in Abuja, where the 60,000-capacity
stadium was virtually empty when Argentina played against
Honduras.
FIFA officials have expressed concerns over the poor
publicity for the tournament, while fans have voiced anger
at the high cost of match tickets.
Matteson grabs
PGA lead
AFP, Scottsdale
American Troy Matteson fired his second consecutive
nine-under par 61 on Saturday, a US PGA record, to seize a
three-shot lead after the third round of the five
million-dollar Frys.com Open.
On a stunning day for scoring that saw three aces and an
albatross, Matteson fired 10 birdies that included four
sets of back-to-back birdies, one after his lone bogey at
13 and two more to open and close the back nine.
Matteson's back-to-back 61s beat the prior 36-hole
consecutive PGA low of 123 achieved by US veteran Steve
Stricker with a 61 and a 62 in the final two rounds of
this year's Bob Hope Classic.
"The first one was pretty amazing. I've never shot 61 in
practice or out here. To have it happen again, I'm a bit
beside myself. I can't tell you how it happened.
"I've had a lot of really good looks at it. I've hit it in
the right places."
Matteson, whose only PGA title came at this event in 2006,
stood on 16-under par 194 with South Africa's Tim Clark
and Americans Chris Stroud and Webb Simpson sharing second
on 197. Clark and Stroud fired 65s. Simpson had a 64.
Australian Nick O'Hern was in a group on 198 that also
includes Americans Bill Lunde, Jamie Lovemark, Ryan Moore
and Rickie Fowler with US veteran Justin Leonard and
astonishing American Nicholas Thompson on 199.
Thompson fired a 65 that included an ace and an albatross,
the first time since statistics started being kept in 1983
that one player fired a hole-in-one and a double-eagle in
the same round.
Thompson fired his albatross on the par-5 11th hole,
sinking a 3-wood shot from 261 yards for only the fourth
double-eagle on the US PGA Tour this year, and then
followed on the 199-yard par-3 13th with a 7-iron for an
ace. Perfect playing conditions at Grayhawk Golf Club's
Raptor course saw two more holes in one Saturday, both on
the 198-yard par-3 16th. American Ted Purdy made the first
with a 5-iron while countryman Chad Campbell followed
later, sinking his tee shot with a 6-iron.
As the PGA campaign winds down, star players are taking
time off and lesser names are fighting to keep their
playing rights for 2010 by finishing in the top 125 money
winners of this year. Stroud is ranked 125th, the bubble
spot for those seeking a guaranteed place on the 2010
tour. Lunde is only one spot ahead of Stroud while
Matteson is only ranked 131st but can secure his place
with a triumph as well.
Of Matteson's eight nearest rivals, the only one with a US
PGA victory is Moore and his came earlier this year at the
Wyndham Championship.
That group includes Fowler, who in only his second pro
event is trying to become the youngest US PGA Tour winner
since Tiger Woods won his first event at age 20 in Las
vegas in 1996.
Schiavone wins
Kremlin Cup
AFP, Moscow
Italy's Francesca Schiavone won just the second title of
her career here on Sunday by defeating Olga Govortsova of
Belarus 6-3, 6-0 in the Kremlin Cup final.
The 29-year-old veteran, ranked 24th in the world and
seeded eighth in Moscow, won in one hour 17 minutes to
record her second win in three head-to-head meetings with
Govortsova.
The finalists traded breaks throughout a closely-fought
first set, but it was Schiavone, the 2005 runner-up here,
who was the more consistent.
She broke her rival's serve three times for a one-set lead
in 47 minutes, while Govortsova managed to just two
breaks.
In the second set Govortsova, currently 67th in the WTA
rankings, lost her nerve completely allowing the
experienced Schiavone to break three more times to win the
set to love. "In the first set we were pretty close
battling for every single point," Schiavone said. "But in
the end I was a bit more precise and served well when it
was 5-3 to win the set."
"I won! And I'm happy!" claimed Schiavone who had won only
one of her previous 10 WTA tournament finals at Bad
Gastein in 2007. At the award ceremony Schiavone, who was
playing in her seventh Kremlin Cup, praised the Moscow
public for their support throughout the week.
Schiavone received a silver trophy and a prize purse of
157,427 dollars, while runner-up Govortsova, who lost her
second career final, pocketed 83,908 of prize dollars.
BCB Awards Night to be held on Dec 26
UNB, Dhaka
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Awards Night of
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will be held in the city on
December 26.
The decision was taken at the 11th meeting of the BCB
Board of Directors with its newly appointed President AHM
Mustafa Kamal MP in the chair.
Presiding over first board meeting, the BCB President
said: "This is a significant day for me and I can assure
the respected Board Directors of my utmost cooperation
towards reaching our common goal: development of
Bangladesh cricket."
The meeting also endorsed the appointment of Shakib Al
Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim as captain and vice-captain for
the Grameenphone Cup ODI series against Zimbabwe that will
begin on Tuesday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in
Mirpur.
The BCB Board decided to accelerate the process of making
the Regional Cricket Association more functional.
The meeting has formed a three-member committee comprising
BCB directors Enayet Husain Siraj, Gazi Ashraf Hossain
Lipu and Aziz Al Kaiser Tito to explore the possibilities
of introducing the franchise concept in domestic first
class competitions.
The Board agreed to look into areas where expenditure can
be reduced as a contingency measure.
A decision has been taken to involve more Board Directors
with Age Group Programmes of the BCB Game Development
Committee. The Directors will be given specific
responsibility in relation to the Age Group Programmes.
Chelsea reclaims
pole position
AFP, London
Chelsea reclaimed pole position in the English Premier
League from champion Manchester United with a
comprehensive 5-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at
Stamford Bridge here on Saturday.
Chelsea will now hope Liverpool can produce a performance
against United on Sunday that will allow the Londoners to
stay there all weekend. But this display, which featured
two goals from Frank Lampard, was certainly an indication
the Blues, who beat Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the Champions
League in midweek, intend to take the title race all the
way once more.
Joe Cole started for Chelsea for the first time in nine
months, with the England international having recovered
from the serious knee injury sustained in January.
A knee problem meant there was no Ashley Cole in the
Chelsea side, however, but manager Carlo Ancelotti was
back at Stamford Bridge after returning to Italy earlier
in the week to visit his father Guiseppe, who is ill.
Illness was also a factor for Blackburn, who were without
their most likely goalscorer in David Dunn and most
powerful defender, Christopher Samba.
Pascal Chimbonda was unfit to take part and Rovers had to
remove Franco Di Santo from their squad as he cannot play
against his parent club.
The odds were stacked against Sam Allardyce's side but
they enjoyed the luxury of a first-minute let-off when
Cole put a free header wide from six yards out.
Lampard had picked him out in front of goal but somehow he
failed to hit the target with Paul Robinson helpless in
the Rovers goal.
The England international then came close to opening the
scoring himself with a curling effort from outside the box
that dropped just beyond Robinson's left-hand post.
But Rovers fell behind in the 20th minute when Gael Givet
put through his own goal.
The Frenchman was trying to make sure Didier Drogba did
not convert Nicolas Anelka's cross from the left but could
only slide the ball past Robinson.
Drogba then fired wide from close range before the unlucky
Givet felt the full force of a Michael Ballack drive in
his face.
Morten Gamst Pedersen fired a shot wide from distance as
Rovers attempted to get back in the game.
Lampard sent a header from Ballack's cross just wide
before Anelka was denied by a smart save from Robinson.
The keeper was a busy man and his saves from Drogba and
John Terry made sure Rovers went in at the break only one
down.
That deficit lasted just three second-half minutes,
however, as Lampard calmly slotted home a second.
Drogba had set up the chance by out-muscling Givet and
when the under pressure Lars Jacobsen could only half
clear the cross, Lampard was presented with a simple
chance.
The floodgates opened and Michael Essien, the defensive
midfielder, made it 3-0 in the 52nd minute when he caught
Robinson out of position with a speculative effort from 35
yards out.
Lampard blasted in number four from the penalty spot just
before the hour after Ryan Nelsen had tripped Drogba.
Robinson was perhaps fortunate that referee Alan Wiley
didn't award another penalty when he seemed to catch
Drogba.
The Ivorian, though, was not to be denied and headed home
a fifth in the 64th minute from a corner after Robinson
only ended up grabbing at thin air.
Chelsea's attitude was summed up when England captain and
centre-back Terry denied Martin Olsson a consolation by
clearing off the line after the defender had lobbed Blues
keeper Petr Cech.
Rio's Olympic
dreams challenged by drug gangs
AFP, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro's image of fun and sun that helped it win
the 2016 Olympics has been marred by a resurgence in
drug-related violence that raises questions over the
city's preparedness.
Pictures of a downed police helicopter in flames in one of
Rio's numerous slums were sent around the world a week ago
as media highlighted the defiance shown to authorities and
the big task they face.
Although President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowed to
"clean up" the problem of drug-trafficking gangs, and
hundreds of Rio police deployed to the slums, the violence
continued through the week, leaving a death toll of at
least 33. The International Olympic Committee, though,
reiterated its confidence in Rio's ability to host the
Olympic Games.
It pointed out that in July 2005 London was hit by bomb
attacks on its public transport system that left 52 dead
the day after it won the right to hold the 2012 Olympics.
Nevertheless, doubts remain over Brazilian authorities'
capacity to rein in its chronic urban unrest in a city
when a third of its six million inhabitants live in more
than a thousand slums.
The rival power of the drug gangs "is exploding the
pillars of the republic. For how much longer?" asked the
head of Brazil's lawyers association, Cezar Britto.
There are around 6,000 homicides a year in all the state
of Rio, which has a population of 14 million. That figure
is 10 times higher than for New York, or eight times that
of all of France.
Since 2007, "homicides have fallen from 45 per 100,000
inhabitants to 33," the head of security for the state,
Jose Mariano Beltrame, told AFP.
"That's still a high number, but there's no magic
solution," he said.
"Our aim to is to bring crime down to tolerable levels,
like those in industrialized countries," he added.
A police "pacification" operation has already been
underway for a year in five slums, which have permanent
patrols. Big investment has also poured to transform the
most violent shantytowns, in a program that is to be
extended to around 100 of them by 2016.
Thus far, though, the pacification effort has mainly seen
the drug traffickers simply move to other slums.
"The police retake territory occupied by the traffickers,
and there's a violent reaction on their part," a professor
at Rio University's Violence Studies Center, Alba Zaluar,
told AFP. She explained that Brazil's vast and poorly
monitored borders made it easy for criminals to bring in
arms and drugs. Compounding the problem is the fact that
Rio's police are poorly trained, badly paid and often
corrupt. "Only a cooperation between the police and the
military can improve the situation," she said. There are
three types of police forces in the country: the federal
police, the military police and the civil police. They are
present in all of Brazil's 27 states.
Lula in 2002 promised to reform the constitution to merge
the civil and military branches, but that has gone
unfulfilled, and the president has just over a year left
before he has to step down to make way for an elected
successor.
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