The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

At least 2,553 people were killed across the country from January to December 2007, a report of the Bangladesh Human Rights Commission says.

The report says 196 people were killed during the month of December of the last year.

The report based on the news published in the national dailies also say that at least 228 women and children were raped during the period, among them, 35 were children and two incidents of rape in police custody also took place during the period.

In a news release the BHRC expressed concern over the killing of large number of people in the country last year. It also said the law and order situation was not satisfactory as the number of murders was very high.

Three journalists were also killed in the year 2007, while 38 politicians were killed during the time. According to the report at least 148 were killed by the law enforcing agencies.

The BHRC says 62 women were killed from January to December last year after being raped, while 111 were killed for dowry.

The commission says 263 incidents of human rights violation took place in the country last year with death in police custody, women and child trafficking, repression on journalists, acid throwing and Fatwa.

The commission urged the law enforcing agencies to be more responsible so that the number of murder decreases. It said only by ensuring proper rule of law the number of murders could be decreased.

AFP, Islamabad

It appears "impossible" for Pakistan to hold an election on Jan. 8 because of unrest following the killing of Benazir Bhutto, election officials said Tuesday - an announcement that could spark protests by parties demanding that the polls be held on time.

The Election Commission said it would announce a date Wednesday after meeting with Pakistan's political parties. Bhutto's party and other opposition groups have called for the elections to be held as scheduled in hopes that sympathy following her slaying could translate to electoral gains. The U.S., Britain and other countries view the parliamentary election as key to restoring democracy to Pakistan as it battles the rise of al-Qaida and Taliban militants. But they have indicated they would accept a slight delay if technical reasons dictated one.

Bhutto's killing last week thrust the country into crisis and triggered nationwide riots. Accusations over how exactly she was killed and who was responsible have been coupled with calls for an independent international investigation into her assassination.

The violence killed 58 people, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said. The rampaging mobs also caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to homes, government offices and transport facilities, but the violence has died down since Sunday amid a heavy police and army presence. Bhutto's home province of Sindh was especially hard hit.

"Our offices in 10 districts of Sindh have been burned, the electoral rolls have been burned, the polling schemes, the nomination papers have been burned," commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad told reporters. "We are in a very tricky situation."

He said it now "looks impossible" to hold the polls on Jan. 8. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who heads a large opposition party and is a vocal critic of Musharraf, has threatened street protests if the vote is delayed.

"We will agitate," Sharif told The Associated Press on Monday. "We will not accept this postponement."

Bhutto's party accused Musharraf of wanting to delay the polls to allow public anger over her death to diminish.

"There have been elections in conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, so I find it difficult to understand why this election cannot be held on time," Sherry Rahman, information secretary of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, told Dawn TV.

The United States said a minor delay in elections would be acceptable if all parties agreed.

"The key here is that there be a date certain for elections," said Tom Casey, deputy spokesman for the State Department, said Monday. "We would certainly have concerns about some sort of indefinite postponement of the elections.

Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack that the government blamed on Islamic extremists. But many, pointing to video footage and medical reports, have disputed the Pakistani government's assertion that Bhutto died not from bullet or shrapnel wounds but from injuries sustained while hitting her head on her vehicle's sunroof during Thursday's attack.

Her husband and other opposition leaders have called for an international, independent investigation into the attack and accused Musharraf of failing to adequately protect her. Some close to Bhutto have alleged forces close to the U.S-backed former general may have been involved.

In a statement received Tuesday, the government - which has rejected charges of involvement in Bhutto's death - said it was "committed to a thorough and transparent investigation and will not shy away from receiving assistance from outside, if needed."

U.S. officials, meanwhile, said Washington had provided a steady stream of intelligence to Bhutto about threats against her by Islamic extremists after suicide attackers came close to killing her in a massive blast hours after she had returned from self-imposed exile in October.

"She knew people were trying to assassinate her," an intelligence official told The AP. "We don't hold information back on possible attacks on foreign leaders and foreign countries."

The official added, however, that while the U.S. could share the information, "it's up to (the recipient) how they want to take action."

The officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the United States had quietly joined calls for Pakistan to allow international experts to join the probe into Bhutto's slaying.

The officials said they expected an announcement soon that investigators from Britain's Scotland Yard would be asked to play a significant role. Any U.S. involvement would be limited and low-key, they said.

UNB, Dhaka

Awami League Wednesday called for the caretaker government to open dialogue with the political parties as its acting president Zillur Rahman said discussion with the politicians is the only way to resolve the staggering political dilemmas.

The party also demanded of the government to send detained AL president Sheikh Hasina abroad for her better eye treatment.

"The government should now sit with the political parties to solve the political problems and should hold general election as soon as possible," Zillur said, while talking to reporters when some organizations handed over donation to him for SIDR victims.

And he said Sheikh Hasina must be provided with proper Medicare until she is flown abroad for better treatment without delay.

Earlier, Sheikh Hasina's personal physician Syed Modhassir Hosain had advised her to go abroad for her eye treatment. The acting AL president urged the government to withdraw state of emergency and ban on indoor politics across the country. "When the government claims that the country is running in a systematic way, why then emergency should continue?" he posed a question.

He demanded holding a free and fair election after withdrawal the state of emergency and claimed that if election would be neutral and people could cast their vote fairly, Awami League must return to power.

Zillur expressed his deep concern over the price hike of essentials, including rice, and said the government should take immediate initiative to control the price spiral.

"If the government doesn't take step in this regard immediately, then people could die from starvation," he feared and also demanded of the government to sit with politicians to solve the crises.

Terming 2007 as the year of sorrow and grief, the AL leader said, "In 2007 our leader Sheikh Hasina and other leaders were arrested, people of country's southern part were badly affected by SIDR and countrymen lost their democratic right due to state of emergency."

He demanded restoration of the democratic rights of the people by lifting state of emergency and release of detained party president Sheikh Hasina on the eve of New Year.

About release of the arrested Dhaka University teachers and students, Zillur alleged that the government has broken its pledge in this regard and urged the government to free them with respect.

"The government wants that the Dhaka University teachers seek apology for their deeds, but they didn't do it as they would not bow under any pressure," he said.

Responding to a query about Dhaka City AL demand for declaring conventional movement for releasing Sheikh Hasina, AL leader said that the party Working Committee would decide in this regard if it got resolution from the city unit.

Asked about Law Adviser Barrister Mainul Hosein's remarks that politicians are seeking permission from the government to go for movement in the name of indoor politics, Zillur didn't make any comment. But he said he "prays" for Mainul Hosein so that this Adviser continues his "tall talk daily".

AL leaders Abdur Razzaq, Tofail Ahmed, Syed Ashraful Islam, Abdul Mannan, Aktaruzzaman, Mostofa Jalal Mohiuddin, Prof Nazma Rahman, Dr Dipu Moni and Dr Hasan Mahamud were among others present.

BSS, Dhaka

Higher growth of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can help cut poverty to a satisfactory level by eliminating various prejudices against labour intensive and creating jobs for the skilled manpower in the SME sector.

This was revealed in the just released Bangladesh Bank annual report for fiscal 2006-07.

The report said, the key reasons behind the SMEs are not entering into manufacturing are financial constrains, dismal state of utilities, technology and policy discriminations. On the others hand, Bank and others financial institutions generally prefer large enterprise clients because of lower transition costs, and greater availability of collateral.

The SMEs also fall outside the reach of micro finance schemes, and thus compelled to depend on formal sources of funds at much higher interest rates, the Bangladesh Bank report said.

The BB report, however, said that other interrelated problems like shortage of short and long term finance, lack of modern technology and lack of promotional support services are major obstacles in the way of development of the SMEs sector.

Considering these obstacles, the report said, Bangladesh Bank has adopted a preferential lending policy to promote the SME sector in line with the government development policies.

An amount of Taka 2.27 billion was refinanced through different banks and financial institutions under some schemes during the fiscal 2006-07.

In the country, the annual report said, financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from banking sector is a long-standing demand that has been high on the agenda of the economists and the policymakers.

In Bangladesh the SMEs account for about 45% of manufacturing value addition. They account for about 80%of industrial employment, about 90% of total industrial units and about 25% of total labour force. Their total contribution to export earnings varies from 75- 80% based on the Economic Census 2001-2003.

The total number of SMEs is estimated at 79754 establishments, of which 93.6% are small and 6.4% are medium. The 2003 Private Sector Survey estimated about 6 million micro, small, and medium enterprises defined as enterprises, with fewer than 100 employees which contributed around 20-25% of GDP.

The report observed that the SMEs demand for bank loan, especially, medium and long term financing is relatively high.

The Banks are reluctant to extend loans, especially, term loans to SMEs and the reasons for banks' reluctance to extend loans to SMEs are perception that the current legal system is unable to protect their interests, funding costs are relatively high, shortage of access to long-term capital, inability to conduct proper due diligence and the current unavailability of information.

The report pointed out that financing of SMEs by the scheduled banks is explicitly supported by the refinancing facilities provided by Bangladesh Bank. The scheduled banks generally avoid working capital financing for SMEs, while the refinancing facilities help in favor of term loans.

Staff Reporter

The new year has started with optimistic output in the major sectors of export that had been going slow since the first-half of the year 2007. Exports of readymade garments, knitwear and leather are increasing both in volume and income, exporters said.

Raw jute, footwear, jute goods, hand loom, terry towel and leather and leather products are also doing better in the recent times. Exports in these sectors have been inching up but still fell short of their respective targets, official data and figures show.

The new trend started by registering US$ 941 million export in October last with an eight per cent growth over the same month in 2006, the latest figures released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) says.

"It is a sign of recovery from the previous slowdown," an official of EPB said.

The October exports, however, fell 11 per cent short of the month's target of US$ 1,060 million, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) figures released on Tuesday.

During the first four months (July-October) period of fiscal 2007-08, the exports were still 16 per cent below the period's target and about 3 per cent below the performance of the corresponding period of last fiscal year. The export earnings suffered a setback in the first quarter of the current fiscal year as it dropped more than 5 per cent to US$ 3,077 million from the performance of the same period last fiscal year. It showed minus 20 per cent growth in the first month (July) of the fiscal.

Trade experts said there were signs of export recovery lately and projected the performance would be even better during the second half of 2007-08.

Earlier, apparel industry exporters expected that the export figures would show some increasing trend from October as raw material consumption for export products increased since the month.

In July-October period, both the value and volume of exports declined respectively by 1.23 per cent and 1.40 per cent.

The government set an export target of US$ 14.5 billion for the fiscal 2007-08 with a growth rate of 19.07 per cent over 2006-07.

EPB figures show earnings from main export sector suffered setback during the July-October period as woven garments fall 20 per cent short of the target to US$ 1,431 million and declined 9 per cent from the same period in previous year.

Knitwear also dropped 12 per cent from the target to US$ 1,591 million and about one per cent from the same period of last fiscal.

Earnings from frozen food exports fell 11 percent short of the target to US$ 177 million and recorded 10 per cent decline from the same period in previous fiscal.

Other major items falling short of the target and previous year's performance were engineering products, handicrafts, electronics, chemical products, computer services and textile fabrics.

Export earnings from petroleum byproducts, vegetables, tea, ceramic products, cut flower and agro-processed foods surpassed both the period's target and last year's performance.

Staff Reporter

Environmentalists and experts at a rally on the River Buriganga urged the Caretaker Government (CG) to form a taskforce to make recommendations for saving River Buriganga.

They also urged the CG to evict illegal settlements from the riverbanks and not to give further lease of land to anybody.

This was urged at an environment and river related rally and cultural function held on the River Buriganga yesterday organised by Save the Environment Movement (SEM).

Sheikh Md Shahidullah, Convener of the national committee for protection of oil-gas and port, Barrister Raihan Khaled, Abu Naser Khan, Chairman of SEM, poet Lily Haque, Amanullah Montu, Vice President of Keraniganj Garments Owners Association, among others, were present on the occasion.

The speakers said Buriganga River is under threat. Dhaka city was developed on the River Buriganga. But now the river is facing severe pollution and illegal encroachment. "If the city's rivers, canals and drainages including River Buriganga was not saved, the very survival of Dhaka city will be at stake," said one of the speakers.

Although the government has formed a taskforce for the survival of the River Buriganga, but the team was yet to take any step to save the river, they said.

The speakers urged the government to dredge the river-bed to make the flow of the river smooth.

They also urged the government to stop dumping garbage and refuse on the Buriganga River by Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and WASA authorities.

They recommended the government to ensure that no garbage and waste of the industries was thrown into the river and take legal action against the violators.

BSS, Dhaka

The attention of the Bangladesh Film Censor Board has been to the confusing statements in a section of print and electronic media on organising the international film festival in Bangladesh.

The board in a clarification issued here yesterday said, the position of the board is that in accordance with section 14 of " the Bangladesh Censorship of Films Rules 1977", censor certificate is mandatory for "public exhibition," of any film.

It is also mandatory to pay fees at a fixed rate for obtaining the censor certificate under the same rule and which had also been followed in the past for organising film festivals, the clarification said.

"Section 8 of The Censorship of Film Act, 1963, stipulates that if any film shows arranged in the country without obtaining censor certificate will be regarded as punishable offence.

Under section 45 of the general financial rules there is no room for waving government revenue or fees without the assent of Finance Division," the clarification pointed out.

" On special consideration in one or two cases, proposal for waving the censor fee is sent to the Finance Division for its assent," the clarification added.

The film clubs are controlled by "The Film Clubs (Registration and Control) Act, 1980." The section 7 of this act has kept the provision for showing films on completely non commercial basis, the board clarification said .

Till now, no application, declaration, fixed fee or films has been submitted to the Film Censor Board for showing in the 10th international film festival, the release said adding, "Besides, the board did not get any response from the organisers though they were being contacted in writing ".

The Film Censor Board hopes that instead of creating any confusion in the people's mind about film festival, the international film festival organising agencies should adhere the prevailing law and rule to maintain the healthy film showing environment for the sake of exhibiting standard films.