Hartal called off, dist AL suspends all 22 accused party men

Slain Awami League (AL) leader Iqbal Azad's supporters who called a half-day hartal in Sarail upazila yesterday, withdrew it on Tuesday night.
Azad's family members decided to withdraw the programme considering the ongoing Durga Puja and upcoming Eid-ul-Azha, locals said.
Villagers were informed of the decision to call off the hartal through loud speakers in different areas at about 11pm.
Earlier, the supporters of Iqbal Azad on Tuesday called the hartal, demanding arrest of his killers.
They announced the hartal programme after Azad's namaj-e-janaza was held at Kuttapara playground in the afternoon.
AKM Iqbal Azad, vice president of Sarail upazila unit AL, was killed in an attack allegedly by his rivals in tempo stand area in the upazila on Sunday.
The attackers dragged him out of his car and stabbed him with sharp weapons when he was coming to Sarail upazila town from Kuttapara village.
The incident sparked waves of protests in the upazila.
Meanwhile, advocate Md Ashraf Uddin Manto, joint convener of Sarail upazila Jubo League, yesterday said they urged the authorities concerned to close officer in-charge (OC) of Sarail PS Md Gias Uddin soon as he is yet to arrest the killers.
On the other hand, district AL committee in an urgent meeting presided by its acting president Advocate Emdadul Bari, suspended 22 Sarail AL leaders who were accused in the Azad murder case.
Contacted, Md Helal Uddin, senior vice-president of district AL, said they have also sent a letter to the central committee to expel all the 22 accused AL leaders and activists from different posts of Sarail upazila AL and other party organisations.
The suspended leaders include Sarail upazila AL president M A Halim, general secretary Rafique Uddin Takhur and organising secretary Md Mahfuz Ali.

 

beshi boyoshe

Diesel price: LDF, BJP hartal hits normal life

Diesel price: LDF, BJP hartal hits normal life in Kerala The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by LDF and BJP to protest hike in diesel prices and curtail LPG subsidy hit normal life across Kerala. Reports from different districts said the hartal crippled mobility of people as public modes of transport kept off the roads and shops and hotels remained closed. There was no disruption of rail traffic. However, passengers who came by long-distance trains were caught unawares in many places as they found it difficult to get taxis or autorickshawas for their onward journeys. Police said no violence had been reported from anywhere.

Pro-left unions in transport sector has extended support to the protest. The state Human Rights Commission has warned the hartal supporters that cases would taken against them if they indulged in violence or attempted to forcibly close shops or caused damage to properties.

The hartal call was given separately by the LDF and the BJP.

Insight into reasons behind the june 27 hartal

BNP opted for street agitation as it feels it failed in its secret bid to reach an understanding with the government that the latter would not make a move on Khaleda Zia's Cantonment house, and would withdraw the cases against the party chairperson and her two sons.

A highly placed BNP source told The Daily Star, on condition of anonymity, that his party had offered to refrain from street agitation in exchange for an assurance from ruling Awami League that the government would withdraw the "false" cases.

Soon after AL came to power in January last year, BNP said it would not announce hartals, and blockades.

AL's initial response was positive, indicating that it would not embark on tough actions against Khaleda and her family -- if BNP refrained from street protests, and from bringing Tarique and Koko back to the country and politics.

The ruling party's expectations echoed the expectations of some European countries that also had been asking BNP to keep a distance from Jamaat, and to refrain from trying to bring back Tarique Rahman into politics because of his tainted image.

Accordingly, till a few months back, BNP maintained a distance from Jamaat, and refrained from harsh criticism against the government, and street agitations.

The "friendly" gesture faced its first major blow in April last year, when the cabinet decided to cancel the lease of Khaleda's Cantonment house on grounds of a faulty lease.

The government took the decision against the backdrop of the Pilkhana tragedy, as it had information that Khaleda was secretly meeting army officers in her residence right after the mutiny.

After some initial war of words between the two parties, BNP renewed its demand that the ruling party should not harass Khaleda over her Cantonment house.

Soon both parties again developed an understanding on the matter. The issue of the Cantonment house went to the court, and it did not proceed further.

Things however started heating up again in December when BNP activists, during the party's council, strongly demanded return of Tarique Rahman, and withdrawal of the cases against him.

In February the government decided to change the name of Zia International Airport, and removed the word Zia from the names of more than 50 organisations in one day.

Amid a growing bitterness between the two parties, ruling party parliamentarian Sheikh Selim, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself made some adverse comments on Ziaur Rahman during the parliamentary session that ended in April this year.

By then, the internal power structure of BNP underwent a change. The right of centre party was now fully controlled and influenced by hardliner rightist leaders.

They succeeded in convincing Khaleda that the understanding with AL was not working, and it would not be wise for her to maintain the soft stance, and to keep away from Jamaat.

They also convinced her that the government would surely evict her from the Cantonment house, and would never allow Tarique to return to Bangladesh and join politics again.

They convinced her that the government would file more complicated cases against Tarique, implicating him in some heinous acts like the August 21 grenade attack that occurred during BNP's tenure.

These hardliners pursued Khaleda to restore ties with Jamaat to announce a hartal and other street agitations, in a bid to mount pressure on the government, so the move to evict her from the Cantonment house is halted; and the authorities, especially the Anti-corruption Commission, keeps away from proceeding with the cases against Tarique and Koko.

One of the hardliners, who is a prominent lawyer, convinced Khaleda that the court verdict regarding her Cantonment house might go against her, as the legal basis of the lease was indeed very weak, and the leasing was actually not done through due procedure.

That is why Khaleda's lawyers pressed for changing the court, and demonstrated inside the court to delay the verdict, BNP insiders said.

With the hardliners calling the shots in BNP, liberal leaders and workers of the party are now very unhappy with the recent rekindling of a warm relationship with Jamaat.

They feel it will not be possible for many of them to directly take a position in favour of BNP, as it restored its old ties with a party and people who have allegations of war crimes against them.

Meanwhile, BNP began a hectic move to develop its relationship with the diplomatic circle. Several former bureaucrats and diplomats have been assigned to regularly hold meetings with heads of foreign missions in Dhaka.

However, one of the important assigned leaders told this correspondent that they have yet to get any positive response from the foreign diplomats in favour of BNP's cause.

An East Asian country with a long history of relationship with BNP, rather advised the party leaders who met its diplomats, that they should reorganise the party on the basis of reconciliation.

Hartal: A characteristic feature of Bangladeshi politics

DHAKA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- "Hartal" is a term in many South Asian languages meaning strike action and is still commonly used in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.
In Bangladesh, politically hartal (literally means "locking doors") is an important and strong instrument for opposition parties or other organizations to press the government for realizing their demands.
Bangladesh's present main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the ruling party Awami league (AL), which alternated in power for more than 20 years since 1991 after the fall of military strongman HM Ershad, both have wielded hartal as a weapon when in opposition.
The party that is out of power, and so the one to call a hartal, will explain that if the government is reasonable and if demands are accepted, there would be no hartal; while the one in power will always maintain that the demands are not logical to accept.
Both the parties have called hundreds of days of hartal against each other despite sensing very well how it takes toll on the economy as well as the life of mass people.
National Standing Committee Member of the BNP, Lieutenant General Mahbubur Rahman (retired), also the former Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army, told Xinhua Tuesday his party's stance on hartal. He also explained reasons behind the recent hartals enforced by the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance.
"Bangladesh is a poor country and a poor economy. If we call hartal, the production of factories will be stopped; School-going children, daily activities, among other things, will also be stopped. For a developing country, it is not a very good news," said the senior BNP leader.
Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's BNP enforced dawn-to-dusk hartals on April 22- 24 and April 29-30 to protest the "mysterious disappearance" of Elias Ali, the organizing secretary of the opposition party, who along with his driver went missing on April 17 night.
At least five people were killed in the anti-hartal violence and hundreds of people injured in a number of incidents of clashes in many parts of the South Asian country.
"The hartals, for few days we called, were all very spontaneous, successful hartals. But there were some violent incidents also. I can assure that this violence is not done by BNP cadres or BNP people. May be there are some agent provocateurs," Mahbubur said.
However, Bangladesh's economy counts a huge loss in every sector for each day hartal.
To avoid violence, economic losses and other negative effects on socio-economic life in Bangladesh on account of hartal, Mahbub said his party is also in favor of peaceful movements.
"Hartal, BNP never likes. We oppose hartal. We want to have peaceful demonstration, peaceful movement. It is the government that is forcing the party to go for hartal. But still we are trying our best not to declare hartal," Mahbubur said.
Apart from the latest hartals to press incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government to force the authorities to search for the party's organizing secretary M Ilias Ali and his driver, BNP and its allies including the key Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami called a series of strikes to protest against the annulment of the caretaker government system.
Mahbubur reiterated his party's demand for restoration of the non-party caretaker system for holding a free and fair national election slated for early 2014. He also expressed his fears over the conduct of a free and fair election under a political party.
"Bangladesh is a democratic country. The bottomline of democracy is a free, fair and impartial election. But we doubt whether the election can be free and fair," Mahbubur said.
BNP has been saying that when the country's now ruling party AL was in opposition, they called hundreds of days hartal. The party said it has called only 13 days of hartal since Hasina's AL came to power in January 2009.
During hartals in Bangladesh, main streets remain almost empty. Most people prefer to stay at home to avoid any kind of violence during hartal hours.
Hartal also adversely affects national education in all levels, which results in missing classes and disrupting exams.
Most people interviewed by Xinhua during the last week in different parts of Dhaka expressed their frustration over the continued hartals and urged the opposition parties not to enforce hartals.
They suggested the political parties use alternative programmes to hartal to exercise their democratic political right for the greater interest of the country. They also urged both the ruling and opposition parties to reach consensus over the disputed issues through dialogue.
Like many others, Milon Mahmud, a university student, has expressed his frustration over call of hartals, saying this should not be the option of political movement.
"In today's world, I don't think that hartal can be the language of political protest," said young man, about 24-year old.
"We miss our classes and exams due to hartals. I am a student of post-graduate final semester. I was supposed to complete my course by June this year, but today I have come to know that I cannot complete my course by this June," Milon added.
Abu Sufian, a about 38-year old service staff, also expressed his opposition against hartal.
"I think an alternative option needs to be considered. Hartals are hampering our economic development. And we, the public, are suffering a lot," Sufian said.
As Hartal hampers both domestic and foreign investments, the business community said they always hope political parties would resort to alternative activities to hartal to avoid negative impact on the economic sector.
Although Bangladesh's Readymade Garment (RMG) industry, which contributed nearly 79 percent to Bangladesh's about 23 billion U.S. dollars export earning in 2010-l1 fiscal year (July 2010-June 2011) , is exempted from the hartal purview, sector insiders said they face serious problem in continuing their production process, as vehicles used to transport raw materials are not exempted from the hartal purview.
The transportation sector also suffers due to hartal, causing the price hike of essentials in cities and towns across Bangladesh.
Sufian, like many others who raised voice against hartal, said political parties need to look for alternatives to hartal for exercising their democratic rights.
"Both the ruling party and the main opposition party of Bangladesh should sit together around the table for discussions to resolve disputed issues," Sufian added.
Most of the local people interviewed by Xinhua believe hartal is no more an effective option in the changing political scenario of the country. They said it is driving the country to the brink of innumerable problems.
Public rally, discussions in parliament, human chain could be alternatives to hartal, they said.
Shahidullah Shadu, the leader of a transport workers'union, urged political parties not to call hartal. "They (political parties) have the right to protest. But they should choose some other ways to protest so that we can avoid the losses of life and property," Shahidullah said.
Echoing a similar view, Rahmatul Kibria, the owner of a private passenger bus company, said hartal is not a way to protest. "It affects people on both personal and national levels. Those who are calling hartal have also been affected negatively by it," Kibria said, adding "Alternative methods of protest could be effective for realizing demands. And we can avoid all sorts of losses."

Ali Kayser, a trader of live birds in Dhaka, is completely disappointed about hartal. "We can't get our products in time and fewer customers come during hartal. And I cannot also supply products to my regular customers," Kayser said.

Nadir Shah in fixing scandal

Well-known Bangladesh ICC panel umpire Nadir Shah has been plunged into controversy after Indian television channel India TV conducted a sting operation that has revealed that six umpires from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Shah among them, were willing to give wrong decisions during a game in lieu of money.
The channel, which aired the footage of Shah yesterday, claimed that another Bangladesh umpire and a former national spinner, Sharfudoullah Ibne Shahid Shaikat who was also interviewed on Skype, refused to perform any favours in lieu of money offered by the undercover reporters.
It was reported that the footage was shot on July 25 in Delhi where Shah was supposed to sign a contract with a Sports Management Group (which was actually an undercover sting by reporters) so that he could officiate matches of the Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL).
Although the questions in the footage were focused on what favours the umpires could do for them in the SLPL, Shah spoke on a number of issues without being prompted.
According to the video, Shah, who has officiated in 40 one-day internationals and three T20 Internationals, was ready to fix matches of the SLPL, international or domestic level. He also revealed that Pakistani batsman Nasir Jamshed "fixed" matches in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Shah also stated that umpires from Bangladesh are always ready to 'help' their country's cricketers.
The other umpires named in the sting operation are Nadeem Ghauri and Anees Siddiqui of Pakistan, Sri Lanka's Gamini Dissanayake, Maurice Winston and Sagara Gallage.
In another video, Gallage agreed to leak information on the pitch, weather, toss, and the playing elevens of India and Pakistan ahead of their World Twenty20 warm-up match on September 17 for 50,000 rupees. He was the fourth umpire in the game.
Shah, who has been a frequent visitor to India reportedly to visit relatives, was learnt to be in Mumbai, but could not be reached for comments after repeated attempts to contact him at his local number in India.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) media committee chairman Jalal Yunus, when contacted declined to comment on the issue saying, “We have also heard about this, but we cannot comment on the issue without looking into it further.”
Meanwhile the International Cricket Council (ICC) has requested India TV to hand over the video footage.

Grameenphone Federation Cup 2012

Muktis maul Noakhali in rematch

 

A depleted Muktijoddha Sangsad all but confirmed their quarterfinal berth in the Grameenphone Federation Cup when they handed an emphatic 7-1 defeat to Noakhali Football Academy in the rematch at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The freedom fighters side just need a point from their last Group B match against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club to ensure the last eight but they will be through before playing their last match if Noakhali FA lose to Sheikh Jamal on Thursday.
Veteran midfielder Azmal Hossain Biddut struck twice while Jewel Rana, Faisal Mahmud, Shihab, Mohammad Biplob and Shaymal Ahmed Rony netted one goal for Muktijoddha Sangsad while Murad scored a consolation goal for Noakhali FA.
Following the power outage at the BNS on Saturday, the match between Muktijoddha and Noakhali FA was called off with Muktijoddha Sangsad leading 2-0 until the 73rd minute. It looked like the rematch might turn into a potential banana skin as the Muktis failed to make much headway in the first half with a re-jigged team missing the likes of national stars like Zahid Hasan Emily, Mithun Chowdhury, Mamunul Islam, Shakil Ahmed, Ariful Islam and Rezaul Karim who hand all left the All Reds this season.
But the scenario totally changed in the second half and Muktijoddha Sangsad just toyed with the team from outside the capital and opened the floodgate six minutes into the second half through Jewel Rana before Biddut struck two successive goals inside six minutes to make it 3-0.
Faisal Mahmud joined the party with a curving cross that found the back of the Noakhali net in the 61st that forced Noakhali to bring a change under the post but the new goalkeeper Minhaz could not stop Muktijoddha and was sent off two minutes from time after handling the ball outside the box.
Substitute Shihab and Biplob widened the margin scoring in 74th and 75th minute before Noakhali pulled back one goal with Murad converting a penalty in the 79th minute.
Winger Shaymal Ahmed Rony sealed the match by scoring from a goal-mouth melee five minutes from time.

Hartal cuts into business

An exporter was looking tensed when the opposition party called hartal last week, protesting the disappearance of one of its key leaders. The businessman was supposed to send his newly made apparels to a washing factory in Savar.
The exporter thought he would have got the clothes washed on April 23. But unfortunately that was a hartal day. So, he waited. But the next day was again a day of dawn-to-dusk strike.
Another exporter was scheduled to send a container of clothes to Chittagong Port, but he could not do so due to shutdown.
Both of them faced a common problem -- in transportation. Though Savar is around 30 kilometres away from Dhaka, no transportation was there to carry the clothes. So, taking anything to Chittagong Port was unthinkable.
In both cases, failure to take the products to buyers on time caused huge losses to the exporters. Many exporters lost a huge sum of money just because their buyers declined to receive the goods for delay.
The business community also expressed their concern seeing how the country's politics is getting self-destructive as the opposition parties observed five days of hartal in a span of eight days.
“We are worried…please help keep the wheel of economy moving,” said AK Azad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the apex trade body.
Azad said many foreigners who are in the country, cannot come out of their hotels due to the shutdown. The country's image is being tarnished, he added.
“Two days of hartal actually spoils three days as we cannot transport goods before the hartal day in fear of picketing and looting,” said Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury, a garment exporter and a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Unlike the Pakistan regime (1947-71) or that of Ershad (1980s), Bangladesh's economy now is not limited to a few areas of potentials or threats. Over 40 years of time, Bangladesh's economy has been developed and diversified to many areas and getting more and more internationalised.
The country's national budget is likely to be of Tk 160,000 crore in fiscal 2012-13 from Tk 786 crore in 1972-73. The budget size has grown by more than 20,256 percent in just 40 years. On the other hand, the country's dependence on foreign aid has decreased to 2-3 percent of the budget now, from as high as 50 percent in 1970s.
Bangladesh exported goods, particularly jute, worth a few crores of taka in 1970s, which has now become a few lakh crores of taka. The country has also been diversifying its export basket to come out from its excessive reliance on apparels. Now Bangladesh exports bicycle, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, frozen fish, leather and leather goods, vegetables, handicrafts and many more.
Local entrepreneurs continue to find newer markets by developing newer products. Their relentless efforts paid them off. Bangladesh bagged nearly $23 billion from exports in fiscal 2010-11. Such earnings were only $1.67 billion twenty years ago.
International trade that means export and import constitutes nearly 60 percent of Bangladesh's present gross domestic product of $110 billion.
The fate of the businessmen, who take risks and make investments for exporting finished goods, now depends on the whims of the politicians. Though the exporters get buyers, they cannot export on time due to strike, which is unacceptable in most countries.
“Transportation is the main problem during hartal. A lot of imported containers lie idle,” said Shamim ul Huq, managing director of Maersk Line, a subsidiary company of the AP Moller-Maersk Group, which is a leading liner shipping company in the world.
Ahmedul Karim Chowdhury, deputy director (traffic) of Inland Container Depot at Kamalapur in the capital, also echoed Huq.
On Monday, the second day of this week's hartal, he said some 1,300 containers were stockpiled at the ICD because of no loading and unloading by transporters.
Syed Farhaduddin Ahmed, secretary of Chittagong Port Authority, said they delivered 797 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers on Monday, down from 1,300-1,500 TEUs on regular days.

Libyan assembly dismisses PM

 

 

 

 

 

Libyan premier Mustafa Abu Shagur was dismissed on Sunday after the General National Congress rejected his proposed "crisis" cabinet of just 10 ministers, days after his first line-up was also turned down.
The embattled Abu Shagur, who had been given 72 hours to come up with a new cabinet, was relieved of his duties after his last chance to form a government, and the GNC will have to elect a new premier within the next three to four weeks.
Before he had even put forward his second cabinet list in just four days, a motion of no confidence in Abu Shagur was signed by 126 assembly members.
That was rejected by the GNC president.
But when his pared-down list was put to the vote, 125 members of the 186 members present in the 200-seat GNC did not express "confidence" in his choices, against 44 members for and 17 abstentions, according to a live state television broadcast.
Under GNC rules, the assembly will now have to elect a new premier.
"In face of the dangers threatening the country, I present to you a crisis government restricted to 10 ministers, rejecting all geographical considerations," Abu Shagur earlier told the GNC.
He was taking neither geographical nor political considerations into account, Shagur said.

What can governments do?

 

With recent UN figures showing food prices still near historic highs, how can governments help ensure that poor people have enough to eat? In a new paper for the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, we reviewed the type of policies and mechanisms that poor, net-food-importing countries might use to overcome food security challenges during such price hikes. We argued that governments should heed the lessons of the 2007-08 price spikes, if -- as predicted -- prices remain high and volatile in the years ahead.
Consumers in net-food-importing countries, such as in Bangladesh or sub-Saharan Africa, have a lot at stake. Farmers in the big exporters, such as Argentina and Brazil, have most to gain.
Our research showed that 89 out of 136 countries examined are net importers of both food and non-food agricultural products. In addition, there are 22 countries that, while being net exporters of agricultural goods, are nevertheless net importers of food.
And since a decade ago, 20 countries have switched from net exporters to net importers of agricultural goods. Nations affected by civil war or political unrest feature heavily on this list of countries that have moved away from exporting farm commodities -- with Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe being among them. Other countries are now net importers of agricultural goods simply due to changes in their competitiveness in other activities relative to food.
On the positive side, with higher incomes people have diversified their diets, cushioning the international price shocks that affect basic commodities. More worrisome is the case of poorer, "captive" consumers of basic grains. Even in middle-income countries the food component of cost-of-living indices has risen faster than other prices, with a consequent rise in poverty levels.
Of course, even within food-importing countries, farmers could gain with access to rising world prices. Government policies and poorly-integrated markets might mean, however, that world prices are not passed on to poor producers -- especially those in remote areas. Moreover, the poorest in rural areas are often those who spend more on buying food than they make in selling it, and price hikes harm more than they help.
What can governments do? In the case of exporting countries, what we do know is that there are negative externalities of export restrictions, which have exacerbated global prices spikes, and undermined the reliability and credibility of world food markets. There is a vicious circle: Unreliable markets propel countries to shift toward self-sufficiency, incurring high social costs -- domestically and internationally. The resulting enhanced world price volatility reinforces the domestic political incentives to insulate national markets.
Although there are studies of the policy responses to the recent price spikes, the household welfare effects are not well understood. But importing-country policies can lessen the short-term impacts on the most vulnerable, as well as boost farm productivity in the longer term. Beyond lowering import tariffs, governments can use "safety nets" to assist with cash transfers those in need.
These importing countries should find that increased spending on farm advisory services or improved access to seeds and fertilisers is money well spent in the longer term: by boosting yields, farm incomes rise, allowing poor farmers to respond effectively to growing demand. The extra investment could make the difference in the future between what could be merely a food price rise and what could be another food price spike crisis.

Catering to own and regional business

 

The government's "go slow" approach in taking the initiative to develop a deep-sea port off Sonadia is going to cause the country serious problems after 2015. If we are to go by the Japanese Pacific Consultant International firm's Techno-Economic Feasibility study conducted for the Department of Shipping in 2009 that outlined a three-phase construction plan, the potential for GDP growth by 2% brought about by substantial employment generation and increase in bulk handling capacity should have been impetus enough for the government to have taken a decision by now.
Yet the first phase of the construction that was recommended to begin in 2011, at a cost of Tk.13,000 cr., and completed in 2015 has not seen the light of day.
While Bangladesh has been dilly-dallying with what to do, other countries have not sat idle. The deep sea ports in Karachi and Colombo, both scheduled to open in 2013 and 2014, will sport some of the most advanced facilities in the region. In an age of global economic downturn, it becomes imperative for countries to take strategic decisions to stay ahead by upgrading competitiveness, and in this case deep-sea ports play a crucial role in providing infrastructure that act as a gateway for the rapid movement of raw materials and cargo considered essential for manufacturing and reaching finished products to end users.
Although Chittagong port handles about 80% of the country's imports and exports, it will be in dire straits when meeting increased demand if transit facilities are granted to Nepal and Bhutan. Even if infrastructure were improved and better management practices introduced to improve turnaround time for ships, Chittagong port remains essentially a river port. The crux of the problem lies with the narrow approach of Karnaphuli River which means that large container ships more than 617ft. in length cannot pass through and transhipment of containers takes place either in Singapore or in other big regional ports.
The increased Chinese interest in helping Bangladesh develop a deep-sea port comes as no surprise particularly with Chinese wages increased to US$400-500 per month, while average wages in Bangladesh' readymade garments (RMG) sector hovers around $80 is obviously one of the key drivers for proposed relocation of the Chinese RMG sector.
In the backdrop of global consultancy firm, McKinsey & Company's study "Bangladesh's ready-made garments landscape: The challenge of growth" that predicts that Bangladesh can double its garments exports in the next decade, the arguments for a deep-sea port become more compelling. Beyond the "wage advantage," European and American companies believe that "with a current 5,000 RMG factories employing about 3.6 million workers from a total workforce of 74 million, Bangladesh is clearly ahead of Southeast Asian RMG suppliers in terms of capacity offered (e.g. Indonesia has about 2,450 factories, Vietnam 2,000, and Cambodia 260 factories)."
McKinsey forecasts that the RMG sector can look forward to an increase in sourcing by an annual growth rate of about 10% for the next decade resulting in an export value of $36-42 billion, up from the current $19 billion per annum. In other words, we are potentially looking at the market doubling by 2015 and nearly triple by 2020.
With lead-times for sea freight costing the country's RMG sector an additional ten days due to the lack of a deep-sea port, it highlights Bangladesh's vulnerability in both import and export. Going back to the suitability of the single sea port of Chittagong, it lacks the required draft (maximum at full tide 8.81 metres) that bars ocean going ships to berth in the port.
As a result 'mother vessels' anchor at the outer anchorage and we have to take the services of lighter vessels to carry goods to and from ships to harbour. This arrangement not only restricts the ports' cargo handling capacity but also adds additional costs and time. Additionally, the cyclone prone Bay of Bengal is not the ideal zone for lighter vessels operations.
Looking beyond the RMG sector prospects, it is worthwhile to point out that the government plans to generate 7,800 MW power using imported coal within 2015 by installing 13 coal fired power plants in the country. Apart from the investment and cost of power generation challenges, the major impediment is the absence of deep sea port.
The smallest coal carrying ocean going vessel carries 45,000 tonne coal (Handimax) and requires 12 metres minimum draft, therefore, Bangladesh cannot at this stage import large amount of coal (imagine small lighter vessels queuing at the Karnaphuli channel to unload a single coal carrying vessel). All the berths are busy only with coal unloading (8,000 MW power generation will require annually an estimated 24-25 million tonnes of coal import and handling facilities).
The latest Chinese proposal to finance construction of a deep-sea port is welcome news. What is interesting to note is that China has expressed its willingness to let other countries such as India and the US to come onboard in a joint development effort. We can take advantage of a deep sea port (if constructed) off Chittagong rendering services to our regional neighbours that are beneficial to both regional commerce and ensuring our own future needs.

Boy killed in Feni

Porshuram police yesterday morning recovered the body of an unidentified boy, aged about 6, from Shalia Eidgah field in the upazila. The body of the boy bore several injury marks. Police said, locals found the body at Eidgah field and informed the police. Himangshu Kumar Das, officer in-charge at Parshuram police station, said criminals might have killed the child somewhere else and dump the body at the Eidgah field

Man held with heroin

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested a drug peddler along with 176 sachets of heroin from the old Railway Station area in the city on Sunday morning. The arrestee was identified as Ranjan Das, 42, son of late Harekrishna Das of Sadarpur village in Sadar South upazila of Sunamganj district. Acting on a tip-off, a team of Rab-9 conducted a drive in the area at about 7:30am and arrested Ranjan along with the contraband drugs. Later, he was handed over to police.

Man killed by thieves

An employee of Mymensingh municipality was killed by thieves at municipal staff quarter in the town early yesterday.
The dead was identified as Nurul Islam, 55, who worked at water pump station.
Police and locals said, when Nurul Islam retuned to his residence at around 1am from his duty, he found a gang fleeing with valuables from his house. Nurul raised a hue and cry and chased the gang.
At this, the thieves returned back and hit him with sticks killing him on the spot.
Locals rushed to the spot, chased the gang and caught one of the gang members identified as Mukta, 25.
They handed Mukta over to police after giving him a good beating.

Robbers loot night coachess

Robbers loot night coaches in Bogra

Armed robbers looted cash and valuables from the passengers of two night coaches on Sunday night.
Victims said the robbery was held at Jamadar pukur Point on the Bogra-Natore highway under Shajahanpur upazila at 9pm by blocking the road with felled trees.
A gang of 10-12 robbers got on to two passenger buses and a micro-bus and took away 10 mobile phones, 20/25 thousand taka and ornaments from passengers at gun point.
The robbers also beat up two passengers for delay in giving money and a driver for slow driving.
In Chapainawabganj, police on Sunday night arrested two suspected robbers on Kansat-Bholahat road at Roghunathpur village of Shibganj upazila, reports our correspondent.
The arrestees were identified as, Khairul Islam, 30, son of Asadul Haque and Farukh Hossain, 35, son of Nawshad Ali of Mirataluk village under the upazila in Chapainawabganj.
Sub Inspector Dulal Uddin of Shibganj police station said, one Asgar Ali of Roghunathpur village was returning to his village home from Rajshahi along with family members by a car at around 9:00pm. When he reached Roghunathpur area, a gang of 10-15 robbers surrounded his car and took away Tk 31,000 in cash and three tolas of gold.
As Asgar started shouting, local people chased the robbers. The mob caught Khairul and handed him to police. Later, police arrested another robber, Farukh, in this connection.

UN chief warns syria

UN chief warns of Syria-Turkey escalation

Turkish military retaliates after new shell; rebel bastions pounded, 61 killed

 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned yesterday of a "dangerous' fallout from spiralling violence along the Syrian-Turkish border, as regime troops shelled rebel bastions across Syria leaving dozens dead.
"The escalation of the conflict along the Syrian-Turkish border and the impact of the crisis on Lebanon are extremely dangerous," Ban said at the opening of the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, France.
The armed uprising in Syria has increasingly sparked violence on the country's border with Nato member Turkey, with the Turkish military returning fire on Sunday after a shell launched from Syria struck the border village of Akcakale.
There were no casualties in Sunday's incident, but last Wednesday five civilians were killed in the village by shelling from Syria.
Since Wednesday, the Turkish military has responded in kind whenever Syrian ordnance has breached its territory, inflaming tensions between the former allies and leading to fears of a broader conflict.
Turkey's parliament on Thursday gave the government the green light to use military force against Syria if necessary.
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned cross-border attacks by Syria and called for restraint between the two neighbours whose ties have nosedived, with Ankara supporting the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The UN chief also raised concerns about arms supplies to both Assad's regime and rebel forces.
"I am deeply concerned by the continued flow of arms to both the Syrian government and opposition forces. I urge again those countries providing arms to stop doing so," he said.
"Militarisation only aggravates the situation," he said. "I am calling on all concerned to abandon the use of violence, and move toward a political solution. That is the only way out of the crisis."
Turkey's military yesterday struck back at Syrian military positions after a new shell fired by the neighbouring country landed in a Turkish border area, a Turkish official told AFP.
Turkey retaliated in kind after the Syrian shell landed in Altinozu district, in southeastern Hatay province, at around 12:00 GMT, said the official speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Turkish military retaliates immediately after every single Syrian shell," said the official. "We have anti-aircraft batteries pounding Syrian targets."

Earlier, Hatay provincial governor Celalettin Lekesiz said a total of six Syrian shells had hit the province so far, without any casualties.

A string of rebel bastions across Syria was rocked by regime shelling and clashes yesterday, as several army checkpoints also came under attack, with at least 61 people killed nationwide, a rights group said.

Twenty of the deaths occurred when the army launched an intensive pre-dawn assault on the town of Karak al-Sharqi in the southern province of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In the northwest province of Idlib, five soldiers were killed and three officers, including a brigadier general, were captured during clashes with rebels at a checkpoint in the village of Zaayniyeh, the Britain-based group said.

The rebels, who also lost one of their own men, seized that checkpoint and another on the road between Jisr al-Shughur and the village of Darkush on the Turkish border, amid ongoing clashes.

The village has suffered repeated military assault, heavy shelling and attempts to storm it over the past three days and was facing "a crippling blockade and terrible medical and humanitarian conditions," the Observatory said.

Hartal again

BNP-led 18-party announces dawn-to-dusk shutdowns for today, tomorrow as deadline for govt to rescue Ilias ends without result

 BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir addresses a press conference organised by the BNP-led 18-party alliance at the party's Naya Paltan office in the capital yesterday. Photo: STAR

 

The BNP-led 18-party alliance has called back-to-back shutdowns for today and tomorrow for the government's “failure to return” missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali by the opposition-set deadline.
Acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the dawn-to-dusk hartal at a press conference in the party's Nayapaltan office in the capital yesterday.
“The government has failed to produce Ilias before the nation by our chairperson's four-day deadline. Such forced disappearance is nothing but a crime against humanity,” he said.
He also threatened to go for tougher programmes if the government fails to make any progress in tracing Ilias and his driver Ansar Ali by Monday.

Fakhrul, however, hinted that the opposition would not stage any agitation during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's May 5 visit to Dhaka. “We will not do anything that harms the country's interests and image. However, Awami League had called hartal when the US secretary of state visited Dhaka during BNP's tenure. Besides, May Day will also be observed on Tuesday.”
When a reporter drew his attention to the ongoing HSC examinations, he said, “We tried to avoid calling hartal on exam days. But Ilias' disappearance is a national crisis. It is not a simple incident. It involves the future of the country's democracy, independence and sovereignty.
“Ilias' son is also an HSC examinee. Instead of preparing for the exams, he has been made to wait for his father's return.”
BNP leaders Moudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin Sircar, and Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Bangladesh Jatiya Party Secretary General Shamim Al Mamun and Islami Oikya Jote Secretary General Abdul Latif Nezami were present at the BNP office where several hundred opposition workers and leaders thronged in the afternoon.
A huge number of police and Rab personnel were deployed in the area to ward off pre-hartal violence.
Meanwhile, BNP and its allies staged demonstrations at upazila headquarters to protest Ilias' disappearance. Alamgir alleged that police charged batons to disperse the opposition's processions in many areas.
M Ilias Ali, BNP central organising secretary and its Sylhet unit president, along with his driver went missing on April 17 and his car was found abandoned near his Banani residence the next day.
BNP on April 18 called a dawn-to-dusk hartal for April 22 and later extended it for two more days.
After the hartal for the third consecutive day on April 24, Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia set a four-day deadline for the government to find the missing BNP leader.
Yesterday, Alamgir said, “Seventeen days have passed since Ilias went missing. But the government is yet to locate him. We believe government agencies are behind his disappearance, which is aimed to divert public attention from the government's failure to run the country.”
Asked about the filing of a writ petition with a court for banning hartal, the BNP leader said it is a political issue. “I don't know if the court has any jurisdiction to make decisions on political programmes.”
It's true that hartal will create some problems for people but they are ready to make this sacrifice in their greater interest, he said.
“Hartal will be enforced only during the daytime.”
The BNP leader thanked the international community for protesting Ilias' disappearance.

Serving free food on hartal day 

 A mother and child awaits their turn for free lunch that is being supplied on hartal day at the Mother and Child Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Photo: Meedhu Miriyam Joseph 

 

Every hartal day, they serve free breakfast and lunch to the people who reach Women and Children Hospital, Thycaud, here. On Saturday, it was no different. M. Premkumar and his friends served upma and sadya to nearly 1,000 people at the hospital.

The hospital authorities put up information on the notice board about the hartal feast. A sample of the food prepared was taken to the Resident Medical Officer and the senior staff. The food was served only after the sample underwent lab tests. It was during a visit to the hospital on a hartal day that Mr. Premkumar saw women finding it difficult to get food, especially as there was no transportation available. From the next hartal, Mr. Premkumar and his friends began serving food from a makeshift shed at the hospital.

Now, the team wants to take up another initiative — helping blood donors and seekers connect with each other.

“Visiting a number of people in hospitals, we came across many instances where patients were having a tough time looking for blood donors. That was when we decided to maintain a blood donor directory so that we could seek timely help.