Archive for May, 2011

Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — Rejecting the government decision to repeal the caretaker government system, BNP has threatened to wage a tougher movement.

Party’s standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan informed the media about its stance on the government decision after a meeting with BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Tuesday night.

“This decision is nothing but a grand plot to destroy democracy and a blueprint to establish a one-party rule,” Khan said.

“There’ll be increased political unrest following the decision. It’ll lead the country towards confrontation,” he observed.

An hour after the meeting with the party’s standing committee members, Khaleda also sat with the leaders of BNP allies.

Jamaat-e-Islami acting chief Moqbul Hossain and acting secretary general A T M Azharul Islam, Bangladesh Jatiya Party secretary general Shamim al Mamun and Islami Oikya Jote secretary general Abdul Latif Nezami attended the meeting that started around 8pm.

Earlier, the standing committee meeting was held from 6:30pm to 7:10pm.

Committee members Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Moudud Ahmed, R A Gani, Mahbubur Rahman, M K Anwar, A S M Hannan Shah, Rafiqul Islam Mia and Nazrul Islam Khan were present at the meeting.

Earlier in the day, prime minister Sheikh Hasina at a press conference said there was no chance for retaining the caretaker government system, since the top court has abolished it.

BNP has been saying it would boycott the general election unless a caretaker government was in place to oversee it.

Khan read out a written statement at the press briefing.

He said, “They (Awami League) has taken the decision to repeal the caretaker government system to hold election under partisan government and capture the power through trickery, not democracy.”

“We want to say that impartial election hasn’t been and won’t be held under Awami League’s supervision,” he added.

About the Supreme Court verdict repealing the 13th Amendment that introduced the caretaker government system, the BNP leader said, “To take such a decision after knowing that the verdict is not mandatory for parliament proves that there was a clear connection between the prime minister’s will and the chief justice[’s action].”

“The apex court has been used to implement government agenda,” he added.

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Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — The prime minister has said there is no scope to retain the caretaker government provision since the top court abolished it.

When asked at a press conference at her official residence on Tuesday what would be there, Sheikh Hasina said: “The state will be run in line with the Westminster system, when polls will be held under the Election Commission, not the government.”

Hasina’s remarks came a day after the constitution review committee took her opinion on the issue.

The briefing began at 4:15pm and continued for one and a half hours.

Several committee members on Monday said they would not suggest retaining the system, while opposition BNP says they would not join the next general election without a caretaker government overseeing it.

Hasina said: “We’re not doing this, but following the court order.”

The Supreme Court on May 10 repealed the 13th Amendment to the constitution that introduced the caretaker government. But the court said the next two general elections could be held under unelected rulers.

The apex court gave parliament the liberty to decide on the issue.

Earlier in the day, co-chair of the constitution review panel Suranjit Sengupta said the matter would be finalised in parliament and urged the opposition to give its opinion “in a hurry”.

BNP did not respond to the committee’s formal invitation to sit with it for talks on the 15th amendment to the constitution.

Although the committee is supposed to present its report in the current session, the opposition party has been boycotting the assembly.

Hasina said she was preparing for the review of the system “to fix the loopholes”. “I didn’t say no to caretaker government. It was the court.”

The prime minister said she had given her opinion on the system before the Supreme Court gave its order.

In reply to queries over the court’s observation to hold the next two national elections under the system, the prime minster said: “The court ordered the 13th amendment illegal and gave an observation, where one is mandatory and another is not. It also asked not to involve judiciary in it.”

About feared violence in case of elections without a caretaker government, Hasina questioned in reply, “Weren’t there violence during a caretaker government?”

Echoing Suranjit, she said BNP could still give their opinion over the system in parliament.

After the formation of the 15-strong parliamentary special committee to review the charter on July 21 last year, it sat with Supreme Court judges, constitution experts, lawyers and newspaper editors.

It also took opinion from Hasina on Apr 27, when she suggested “fixed term” for caretaker governments and “in case of failing to ensure elections in three months, the previous elected government will do the job”.

Hasina at the press conference said it was for the first time a committee was formed and it held discussions with people from all quarters. “It was done as we want to strengthen democracy. But, by this time, the Supreme Court verdict came, which can’t be ignored.”

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Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — A Dhaka magistrate has ordered departmental investigation into the abduction of a university student allegedly by Rapid Action Battalion members.

Dhaka’s chief metropolitan magistrate M A Salam on Tuesday gave the order after taking the testimony of plaintiff Mohammad Khabir Uddin, father of Towfique Ahmed Hasan, a second-year student at Stamford University.

Earlier in the day, Khabir filed a case against four RAB-10 officers charging them with picking his son up from Dhaka Central Jail gate.

Hasan was arrested along with two others with posters of the banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir on Feb 22 from the city’s Siddheshwari Balur Math area.

He secured bail on May 13 in the case filed following the arrest, but Khabir, quoting police and jail sources, claimed that RAB personnel, in plain clothes, picked up his son.

“A group of four to five people dragged Hasan into a microbus as soon as he came out of the jail at 10pm,” Khabir said.

In his case details, he made deputy assistant director Mohammad Harun, Flight Lieutenant Mohammad Emon, Dhaka Central Jail senior superintendent Touhidul Islam and its deputy jailer Mohammad Imran Hossain accused of concealing his son.

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Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — It is mandatory for law enforcing agencies to provide information on any death in their custody to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), says its chairman.

Mizanur Rahman told a discussion in the city on Tuesday that the commission would send letters to the agencies asking them to give information on such deaths.

“Information will have to be provided if anyone dies in the custody of RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) or police, whether it is crossfire or encounter,” he said.

“According to the Human Rights Commission Act, the commission has the right to seek such information,” he added.

He said the decision to send the letters would be taken at the next meeting of the commission.

Relief International organised the discussion at Dhaka University titled “Media’s Role in Establishing Transparency in Human Rights in Bangladesh”.

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Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — Much to the dismay of his fans, doctors say there is little chance for ailing pop-legend Azam Khan, now on life support at the city’s Square Hospital, to ‘come back’.

Evaluating the latest condition of the valiant freedom fighter, battling against cancer, doctors on Tuesday found ‘no way of improvement.’

“His chest radiograph showed serious cancerous tumours in both of his lungs. Over 75 percent of the lungs are involved (with cancer growth),” cancer specialist Dr Qamruzzaman Chowdhury, who supervises his treatment, told bdnews24.com.

He said they tried to put him out of life support on Tuesday following a little sign of improvement.

“He could regulate his own blood pressure without drugs and he regained consciousness a bit. But that’s not enough (to remove artificial ventilator),” Dr Chowdhury observed.

We could not remove the artificial ventilation as his condition was deteriorating every day.”

“It’s unusual to come back from this stage,” he feared.

The 61-year-old pop singer was admitted to the hospital on May 22 when his pains became unbearable after the oral cancer spread to different parts of the body.

He was diagnosed with the cancer in 2010 and underwent advanced treatment in Singapore twice that year. But he did not follow up his treatment.

Dr Qamruzzaman said his oral cancer spread to the lungs, liver and bones.

But doctors could not start his cancer treatment (chemotherapy) as they had to put him on life support.

Born in Feb 28, 1950, Azam Khan (full name Mahbubul Haque Khan) had fought valiantly against the Pakistani occupation forces in the country’s 1971 Liberation War. He introduced an energetic brand of music, too.

His first television concert was aired in 1972 on Bangladesh Television (BTV).

His popular songs include ‘Ore Saleka, Ore Maleka’, ‘Jibone Kichhu Pabona Re’, ‘Ami Jare Chaire’, ‘Ashi Ashi Bole Tumi’, ‘Obhimani’, ‘Rail Liner Oi Bostite’, and ‘Hei Allah, Hei Allah Re’.

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Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — The food minister has said Bangladesh would cut down food imports by banning tobacco cultivation.

Abdur Razzaque said that the ban would free up arable land for cultivating other food grains and thus save the country substantial amount of foreign currency.

“We are seriously considering banning tobacco cultivation.” Razzaque said the move would also strengthen food security while speaking at Hotel Ruposhi Bangla in the city on Tuesday.

The Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB), anti-tobacco activists PROGGA, Anti Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) jointly organised the function in light of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) marking this years international No Tobacco Day.

The food minister said that the government imports 100,000 tonnes of rice annually which is worth more than the annual budget allocation of many ministries.

“The government is very serious about tobacco issue. We will take measures to stop tobacco cultivation.” Razzaque said it would be possible with united efforts from all quarters.

Also speaking at the function, law state minister Quamrul Islam said the government had decided to enact a strong anti-tobacco law to cut down tobacco consumption and protect people from its deadly consequences.

“Tobacco Control Law 2005 will be amended soon to stop tobacco cultivation,” he said.

Media and advocacy coordinator of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Taifur Rahman proposed a few amendments for the act.

Those included fine of Tk 300 for smoking in public, banning tobacco related advertisement and add cautionary reports and photos on packets of tobacco products.

Eight journalists were given ‘PROGGA-PIB Tobacco Control Journalism Award-2011′ and ‘PROGGA-PIB Tobacco Control Investigative Journalism Fellowship-2011′.

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Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — The High Court has rejected a petition challenging the punishments handed down by special courts on the 2009 mutiny at Peelkhana and other outposts.

A bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Govinda Chandra Tagore passed the order terming the petition’s claims wrong.

The court said although lawyer for the petitioner alleged that representatives of the attorney general were present at the courts as judges, he could not substantiate the claim.

“Rather, they were present to assist the courts in keeping with Section 2 (2) (Jha) of Bangladesh Rifles Order 1972 and signed the verdicts thereby.”

The bench also rejected the claim that the defendants were not allowed to choose lawyers.

Nayek Mohammad Ibrahim, who was sentenced by a Chittagong special court, filed the petition on May 22.

On Feb 24, the petitioner was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and fined Tk 100 on charges of siding with the mutineers of Peelkhana headquarters in Dhaka on Feb 25-26, staging revolt against their officers at the battalion headquarters in Chittagong and looting firearms from its armoury.

The petition said the sentence was contrary to the Articles 27, 31, 32 and 35 of the constitution, and therefore, should be declared ‘unconstitutional’.

At least 70 people, including 57 army officials, deputed in the paramilitary force, were killed in the bloody mutiny.

The special courts across the country have handed down verdicts in various cases.

After the verdict, attorney general Mahbubey Alam told reporters that participants of the rebellion survived due to the reference given by the president, “otherwise, they would have to face trial under the Army Act”.

H said members of defence forces in all democratic governments did not have fundamental rights at par with general masses. “That’s why they can’t file petitions with the High Court. They knew it when they joined the job.”

Lawyer for the petitioner S M Zakir Hossain said they would decide on an appeal after talks with the petitioner. “To me, the base of the petition is very strong.”

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Prokash Biswas

Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — A provision is there for disposing of cases under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act within 180 days, but the directive is hardly followed.

Records show that some 9,000 cases filed under the law are pending with five women and children repression prevention tribunals in Dhaka alone.

Of them, around 1,000 are pending for over 10 years only at the tribunal number 2.

The act stipulates that cases under it shall be disposed of within 180 days of their filing.

The Section 31 (A) of the act requires the tribunal to submit report to the Supreme Court within 30 days of expiry of the deadline assigning the reason for the delay if any case is not disposed of within the stipulated time.

It also requires the tribunals to send a copy of the report to the government and says the authorities shall take actions against those responsible for the delay.

The records also show that the provision for explanation to the Supreme Court for delay is not being maintained either.

Talking to bdnews24.com, many lawyers said the 180-day provision of the law should be annulled.

Lawyer Aminul Gani said, “What’s written (in the law) doesn’t match the reality. It is considered that the provision is directional, not mandatory.”

“I’ve seen no instance of submitting explanation (to the Supreme Court) in case of failure in complying with the provision,” he added.

Mohammad Forkan Mia, special counsel for the state at the tribunal number 4, said: “The provision should be annulled as it is not possible to dispose of the cases under the law within the stipulated time.”

Clerk Mohammad Amzad Hossain of tribunal number 2 said: “Though judges take notice of the matter sometimes, counsels for the state usually seek more time to present witnesses. So, the cases cannot be disposed of.”

Most of the lawyers are also of the opinion that many cases filed under the act are false.

Lawyer Badiul Islam Tapadar, who dealt with a number of such cases, told bdnews24.com: “Most of the cases filed with the tribunal are false. But punishment to the plaintiffs of such false cases is rare though there is a provision for punitive actions against them.”

“Plaintiffs of only 8-10 such false cases in Dhaka have so far been punished,” he added.

Echoing Badiul’s view, Gani said: “Most of the cases filed under Sections 7 and 11, for assault and murder for dowry, are false. So the judges don’t be as attentive as they should be while hearing the cases. It (this attitude) leads to the rise in number of the pending cases.”

The government enacted the Women and Children Repression (Special Provision) Act in 1995 to toughen actions against anti-women and children crimes.

In 2000, the act was replaced by Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, which was amended as Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amended) Act in 2003.

CASE STUDIES

On Aug 2 2002, a housewife filed a case against some 10 people under the act with Sabujbag Police Station.

The police pressed charges against six of the accused on Dec 31 the same year and the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Number 5 framed charges against them on Sep 7 next year.

But the plaintiff never appeared before the tribunal though 44 dates passed. Despite issuance of summons and arrest warrants against the plaintiff and witnesses, nobody other than a doctor turned up.

The lawyer of main accused, Mezbaul Islam Tuhin, appealed for quashing the case, but the judge has not yet entertained his plea.

Another tribunal cannot dispose of a sensational human trafficking case against former deputy inspector general of police Anisur Rahman and his wife even after five years of its filing.

Human rights activist Alena Khan filed the case with the tribunal number 4 on Feb 6 2007.

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Dhaka, May 30 (bdnews24.com) – Condition of Azam Khan, the Bangladesh pop maestro now on life support at Dhaka’s Square Hospital, has improved ’slightly’, his doctor has said.

“We can say his (Azam’s) condition has slightly improved as his blood pressure is under control,” cancer specialist Dr Qamruzzaman Chowdhury, who supervises his treatment, told bdnews24.com on Monday.

He said they would try to put the pop guru out of artificial ventilation.

“He regained consciousness a bit. If it progresses, we will try (to remove his artificial breathing support),” he said.

The 61-year-old valiant freedom fighter was admitted to Square Hospital on May 22 when he could not bear excruciating pains after his cancer spread to different parts of the body.

He was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2010 and underwent advanced treatment in Singapore twice that year. But he did not follow up his treatment.

Qamruzzaman said their seven-member specialists’ team was working relentlessly to save the pop guru’s life.

“But we may fail as we cannot treat his cancer that might deteriorate… “The condition may turn from bad to worse in the coming days,” he earlier said.

His oral cancer spread to the lungs, liver and bones.

The doctor, however, said if his blood pressure remains controlled and he survives after removal of the artificial support, they would be able to apply chemotherapy soon.

“We’ll do the needful. We’re monitoring him closely,” he said.

Azam also suffered heart attack during hospital stay.

Born in February 28, 1950, he, full named Mahbubul Haque Khan, had fought valiantly against the Pakistani occupation forces in the country’s 1971 Liberation War. He introduced an energetic brand of music.

His first television concert was aired in 1972 on Bangladesh Television (BTV).

His popular songs include “Ore Saleka, Ore Maleka”, “Jibone Kichhu Pabona Re”, “Ami Jare Chaire”, “Ashi Ashi Bole Tumi”, “Obhimani”, “Rail Liner Oi Bostite”, and “Hei Allah, Hei Allah Re”.

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Dhaka, May 30 (bdnews24.com) — The Cabinet has approved the draft National Health Policy 2011 and the final draft of the Contempt of Court Act 2011.

A cabinet meeting, chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, gave the approval on Monday, PM’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said.

An updated health policy, he said, had been formulated as per the Awami League’s election pledge.

The health policy is aimed at reaching the health services to the doorsteps of people and thus ensuring good health for all.

The policy also encourages private entrepreneurs to supplement the government efforts in this regard.

The Cabinet meeting also approved the final drafts of Science and Technology Development Trust Act 2011 and Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project (Land Acquisition) 2011.

Azad said the Science and Technology Development Trust Act was being formulated to make sure the amount, taken from secondary and higher secondary-level students for development of science, does not create any confusion in the future.

Besides, the meeting discussed foreign minister Dipu Moni’s participation in the Commonwealth ministerial meeting in the UK, a Bangladeshi delegation’s visit to Vietnam for signing a MoU on import of rice at G2 level and another delegation’s participation in the 310th conference of the governing body of International Labour Organisation in Geneva.

Azad said the cabinet members greeted Hasina for receiving an award from Duphine University of Paris.

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