The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mig case revival upheld: Appellate Div rejects Hasina's leave-to-appeal petition

UNB, Dhaka

Detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina now stands trial for alleged Mig-29 warplane-purchase scam as the Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed all the petitions of the accused for leave to appeal against the revival of the case.

A 7-member full hierarchy of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin, passed the orders, finally clearing the way for resuming the stalled trial proceedings. In its judgment the apex court upheld the High Court verdict that revived the Mig-29 purchase-deal case against the former Prime Minister and six others, including four former top military officials. The grounds for dismissal of the petitions of the accused could not be known immediately, court sources said.The long-unresolved case is now pending with Dhaka Divisional Special Judge's Court, which has set March 25 for appearance of the accused. On September 6 last year, the High Court, upon an interim government petition, discharged Sheikh Hasina's plea for quashing the charge of shady deals on purchase of the fighter jets from Russia, removing the hurdles to continuing the case proceedings.

The HC had discharged the quashing petition on grounds that the alleged offences were disclosed in the FIR and the charge sheet. Eight Russian-made fighter planes of the brand were procured for the Bangladesh Air Force when Hasina was Prime Minister (1996-2001). According to the case filed with Tejgaon Police Station against Hasina and the others, the purchase of the eight fighter jets during the tenure of the Awami League government caused a loss of Tk 700 crore to the public exchequer.

Former army chief Lt General (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, ex-airforce chief Air Marshal (retd) Jamal Uddin Ahmed, retired defence secretary Syed Yusuf Hossain, Air Commodore (retd) Mirza Akhtar Maruf, retired defence joint secretary Mohammad Hossain Serniabat and businessman Noor Ali are the other charge-sheeted accused in the case. Shortly after the BNP-led four-party alliance came to power, the now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption filed the Mig-29 scam case against Sheikh Hasina and the others in December 2001. After charge-sheet filing, the accused filed petitions with the High Court for quashing the case and the HC issued an order of stay on the trial proceedings until the court rule was resolved. But there had been a long pause as government side ceased from pursuing the lawsuit.

Commentary: Political leaders in Pakistan must go slow and weigh past mistakes

As Pakistan's new parliament met on Monday, opponents of President Pervez Musharraf vowed to end his "dictatorship". Slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party will head a coalition government with former premier Nawaz Sharif as its junior partner.

Backward looking stance of the victors of the February 18 elections, however, make democracy lovers to raise their eye-brows because through those they could pick up new threads of discord with a weakened Pervez Musharraf and the military establishment that he represented for nine years.

"This is the last day of dictatorship," Bhutto's widower and de facto Pakistan People's Party chief Asif Ali Zardari told reporters after meeting Sharif in the heavily-guarded parliament building on Monday.

"This is our first step. We have conveyed a message to the world community to support democracy, which defeats dictatorship," Zardari was quoted as saying. Sharif said the coalition's strategy was "very clear-our agenda is democracy versus dictatorship. It has to end, it has to be defeated."

When Benazir Bhutto (assassinated on December 27 last) was sworn in as prime minister for the first time in 1988 at the age of 35, she was scrupulous and farsighted enough to bury the past hatred with the establishment that had sent her father Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto to the gallows. Yet she was removed from office 20 months later under the order of then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 Bhutto was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges, this time by President Farooq Leghari. Bhutto went into self-imposed exile in Dubai in 1998 and returned to Pakistan on October 18, 2007, after reaching an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn.

Nawaz Sharif was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, serving two non-consecutive terms, the first from November 1, 1990 to July 18, 1993 and the second from February 17, 1997 to October 12, 1999 when his government was deposed from office by General Pervez Musharraf, who later declared himself the Chief Executive of Pakistan. Sharif was convicted of hijacking and terrorism after he blocked Pervez Musharraf from landing his plane in Karachi in lieu of dismissing him from his chief of the army staff post.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan did uphold the position of the Army, disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding any public office for 21 years, forbade his involvement in Pakistani politics (something which he has since chosen to ignore), and fined him 20 million rupees. A plea bargain and intervention of the Saudi Royal family spared Sharif from serving a prison term; instead he was exiled to the Saudi Kingdom.

Sharif isn't in the present assembly because he was barred from contesting. Zardari didn't run for a seat in the elections. Both the leaders Monday watched the proceedings from the parliament visitor's gallery. Musharraf quit as the country's army chief in November after nine years in the post, following opponents' demands that he give up the military role while serving as president. He appointed General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as the new army leader. Musharraf now faces a fight for his political survival as well as public anger over rising Islamist bloodshed and a host of economic problems.

In a sign of looming trouble for Musharraf, Sharif said he and Zardari had agreed in principle to restore judges Musharraf fired when he imposed emergency rule in November. The judges, if reinstated, can be expected to take up the question of the eligibility of Musharraf to stand for re-election as president while still army chief last October. They were expected to rule against Musharraf when he imposed the emergency.

Nawaz Sharif has been persistently demanding the president step down peacefully; other options, including his impeachment through Parliament, remain open. Imran Khan and the Pakistan Bar Council have warned that if the judiciary is not restored, anarchy will creep up and the popular parties will have to face agitation. In the presence of a vibrant civil society and an aggressive media, the public opinion is likely to be respected.

A defiant President Pervez Musharraf has rejected calls for his resignation as the opposition coalition could impeach him or water down his powers. Musharraf said he would remain in office until the end of his five year term in 2012.

Zardari has said his party ``wants governance and not just government'' and both Zardari and Sharif have pledged to change the Constitution and laws through the parliamentary process to bring about a balance between the powers of the president and prime minister. The PPP will choose a prime minister from its lawmakers in the assembly and Sharif's party will support the PPP's choice, according to their agreement. The constitutional amendment that PPP and PML-N are planning to enact is likely to do away with the National Security Council to curb the power of the military.

The signals that have so far been emitted by the leaders of the two major parties do not indicate a move towards national convergence by forgetting past hatred. They would succeed in their mission to restore democracy if they turn their backward looking stance into a forward looking one. The leaders of PPP and Sharif's party must go slow and weigh their past mistakes. Their politics of the past has to change to deal with the changed situation.

Police foils LDF human chain

TUG OF WAR: Police in riot gear trying to snatch a
banner from the activists of the Left Democratic Front's
human chain formed at city's Muktangon yesterday. NN
photo

Staff Reporter

Police in riot gear used batons to break up a human chain formed by supporters of Left Democratic Front near Muktangon in the city's Paltan area yesterday.

Witness said hundreds of protesters gathered at Paltan for demanding an end to the recent price hike of daily essentials. As the LDF activists tried to force their way into the Muktangon police put up barricades on the Paltan crossing and resorted to baton charge to disperse the crowd.

One of the protesters said, "When the 'Mollas' were demonstrating in the city in their thousands carrying sticks, police did not stop them, but when we are protesting price hike of rice in the country the police is gagging us."

Women empowerment : Experts find fault with PRSP

Staff Reporter

National and international experts at a roundtable in the city said the aims for implementation of women empowerment in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) are very weak.

They urged the Caretaker Government (CG) to make it more gender-friendly and sustainable for strengthening the PRSP to overcome poverty eradication in the country.

The roundtable on 'Sharing Review Findings of the Three Stand alone Issues in NSAPR' organised by Gender and PRSP Group (GPG) at CIRDAP Auditorium yesterday.

The speakers urged the CG to ensure equal participation of women in national and local levels decision-making activities.

They also urged the CG to ensure the national Human Rights Commission to promote the women's rights, strengthening women's representation in all public sectors and recruit women in government's high position through lateral entry. Despite having high utilisation of fund, urban-based women development project received lower allocation, said the speakers. Discontinuity of projects such as 'capacity building, poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihood of the socially disadvantaged women and their children' capacity building for gender mainstreaming and others raise doubts about the government's commitment to devote resources to women's empowerment, they said.

There is still little awareness among women about the availability of legal aid fund, budgetary allocation for social protection and safety net gross insufficient, the effectiveness of the violence prevention cell at Ministry of Women and Children Affairs cannot be addressed due to the lack of up to date statistics and the training projects of police and medical personnel on VAW are few and ill performing, they added.

There is a lack of institutional structures like independent human rights commission and ombudsperson. In the absence of independent and high-powered monitoring institutions it is difficult to implement the agenda related to women's rights and development, said the keynote presenter.

There is also a lack of coordination between different agencies responsible for implementation of the policy agenda, she also said.

The most critical problem in the PRSP is the lack of information and data. Many ambitious promises are made in the policy documents but the data to monitor real progress of these promises are scare and often they are not available for public security, said the speakers.

Sultana Kamal, former adviser to the CG, Jafar Ahmed Chowfdhury, Secretary of the Ministry of Planning, MA Hye Howlader, Secretary for Ministry of Social Welfare, Fritz Meijndert and Head of Development Cooperation of the Netherlands Embassy, Ranjan Karmaker, Team Leader of GPG Project, spoke, while Lailun Nahar Ekram, Member of Project Management Team of GPG Group, chaired.

Dr Dalem Chandra Barman, Professor of Department of Peace and Conflict Studies of Dhaka University and Nurul Kabir, Editor of New Age, spoke as panel discussants, while Dr Rita Afsar, Senior Research Fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), presented the keynote paper.

Bangladesh defeat Ireland in 1st ODI

Shahriar Nafees hitting a ball during the first ODI
match between Bangladesh and Ireland at the Sher-e-Bangla
National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday. NN photo

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Cricket team defeated the touring Ireland Cricket team by eight wickets in the first One Day International (ODI) match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday.

Coin-favoured Ireland chose to bat first and were restricted to 185 for the loss of seven wickets in the regulation 50 overs.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the right-arm medium pacer, bowled extremely well to restrict Ireland and finished as 10-4-22-3.

Besides, Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan and Farhad Reza picked up one wicket each for 31, 38 and 49 runs respectively.

AR Cusack, EJ Mogran, DT Johnson added 38, 35 and 31 (not out) to the Ireland total.

In reply, Bangladesh team coasted home making 186 for the loss of two wickets when they had 10.1 overs to spare.

Bangladesh lost their early two wickets for 56 runs. Opener Shahriar Nafees and skipper Mohammad Ashraful salvaged the team from danger contributing together 129 runs in the unbroken third-wicket stand.

Shahriar Nafees hit an undefeated 90 facing 121 deliveries including 11 fours while Mohammad Ashraful made a captain's knock of unbeaten 64 off 90 balls. He sent the ball eight times beyond the ropes.

DT Johnson and D Langford-Smith took one wicket each conceding 17 and 49 runs respectively.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the country's best medium pacer, was adjudged the man of the match.

Tomorrow Bangladesh team will take on Ireland team in the second ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

SCF vows to hold rally on March 21

Staff Reporter

The Sector Commanders' Forum (SCF) will stage demonstration on the spot if they were stopped anywhere to hold national convention rescheduled for March 21.

Chief Coordinator of the Forum Liberation War veteran former Army Chief Lt Gen (Retd) Harun-ur-Rashid Bir Bikram said this yesterday at a press conference at the SCF office at Banani in the city.

"We would speak to the nation at the place where we would be stopped," said Gen Harun.

"We have taken all the preparations to hold the convention and the government will take steps to ensure that the convention is held peacefully," he said.

Gen Haurn said the forum agreed with the Government to make no provocative remarks or campaign using loudspeakers and posters. The planned convention is the part of a series of programmes to create awareness among people for the demand of the trial of war criminals. The convention was stopped by a government notice that it would harm law and order on March 13 was scheduled to be held on March 15 at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre.

The same programme was also scheduled to be held on December 13 last year but at that time the Government gave the SCF permission only a day before the scheduled date.

"The demand for the trial of war criminals has become a national demand. The state has to arrange the trial of the war criminals," Gen Harun said.

"The present government has done many things that have no direct link with the elections.

We want the trial process to begin either through formation of a commission or through appeal to the United Nations," he added.

The former army chief said they had asked foreign embassies not to provide the war criminals with any help, giving visa, in particular. He thanked those embassies that had accepted the plea.

On March 16, the forum applied to the home secretary for necessary help to hold the convention on March 21, saying it would comply with the Government conditions.

Gen Haurn said the Government's refusal to give the permission for the March 15 convention had hurt the freedom fighters and cheered up war criminals.

"We were not allowed to hold an indoor conference. But nothing happened to the party staging demonstrations carrying sticks. Law should be equally applicable to all," he demanded.

HC quashment of extortion case: Appeal hearing adjourned till April 23

UNB, Dhaka

The hearing on government appeal against the High Court judgment having declared illegal the sanction for trying ex-PM Sheikh Hasina in an extortion case under the EPR and set aside the trial proceedings has been adjourned until April 23.

A 7-member full hierarchy of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin, passed the adjournment order, after hearing the argument by Additional Attorney General Salah Uddin Ahmed for the last three consecutive days.

During the hearing, the court asked the state attorney about the consequences of government sanction placing a scheduled offence for trial under the Emergency Power Rules (EPR).

"A detained accused will not get bail, speedy trial is ensured and any such convict would be disqualified from contesting any local or parliamentary election until his/her appeal against sentence is resolved," Salah Uddin told the court.

On February 6, the High Court, upon a writ petition filed by the detained Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, had declared illegal the government sanction placing the extortion case against her for trial under the EPR and quashed the entire trial proceedings.

On February 26, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upon an application had granted the government leave to appeal against the HC rulings, fixing March 16 for its hearing.

The apex court at the same time had also stayed the operation of the High Court judgment and stalled the trial of the extortion case against Hasina under the EPR until the appeal is resolved.

Azam J Chowdhury, Managing Director of East Coast Trading Pvt. Ltd., filed the Tk 3-crore extortion case against Hasina and her detained cousin and ex-minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim on June 13 last year with Gulshan police station.

Hasina was arrested from her Dhanmondi house a month after the filing of the case, when a crackdown was launched on former ruling politicians in the current interim period.

Later, her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, living in London, was also implicated in the case after police investigations.

Justice Nayeem stripped of writ powers

bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The chief justice Monday stripped High Court judge Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman, who handed down verdicts in a series of high-profile cases, of his writ powers.

The HC bench consisting of Justice Nayeem and Justice Shahidul Islam has been given the jurisdiction of hearing the first civil appeal of more than Tk 1 lakh, revision and rule.

The bench saw changes for a second time in less than three months. In a Jan 1 order, Chief Justice Md Ruhul Amin had shifted Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury from the bench of Justice Nayeem. Justice Shahidul Islam filled the vacancy at the time.

Monday's order by the CJ comes as the HC bench is scheduled to hold the final hearing from March 19 on a writ petition by Barrister Masud Reza Sobhan challenging the validity of not holding national elections in 90 days from the dissolution of parliament.The bench also gave a verdict cancelling businessman Azam Jahangir Chowdhury's case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

The bench also asserted that the High Court can allow bail even to convicts in cases under emergency powers rules.

The bench passed a verdict, declaring illegal the Anticorruption Commission's notice seeking a wealth statement from Hasina.

In a Feb 18 verdict, the bench ruled illegal acting law secretary Kazi Habibul Awal's appointment. The opinion given for appointing Awal as acting secretary was not of the Supreme Court and it was the opinion of the chief justice, the bench said.

According to article 94 of the constitution, the Supreme Court means the Appellate Division and the High Court Division, the judges had explained.

The Supreme Court consists of the judges of both divisions, but the two judges said they were not aware of anything about the appointment.

The bench also granted bail to former prime minister Khaleda Zia in the GATCO corruption case.

The jurisdiction of death reference hearing of the High Court bench of Justice Md Iman Ali and Justice AFM Abdur Rahman has been changed and the bench has been given the jurisdiction of hearing writ appeals.

Dialogue must for credible polls: Geeta Pasi

Staff Reporter

US charge d'affaires Geeta Pasi met with the Jatiya Party Chairman and former president LT Gen (Retd) HM Ershad and other JP leaders yesterday as part of her round of talks with the political parties.

They discussed the current political situation in Bangla-desh and the status of the election roadmap.

The US envoy hoped that the parliament election would be held according to the roadmap of the Election Commission.

"The US has confidence on the EC's roadmap. The US believes that the election will be held on time," she said.

The US envoy reiterated the US government's desire to see free, fair and fully participatory elections by the end of 2008 as promised by the caretaker government.

Pasi said Bangladesh should continue the democratic progress.

Gen Ershad said, "Local government elections can be held before the national polls as a stage rehearsal or test case to see whether the government lacks any preparation for the election."

"JP does not want any election just for the sake of an election, it wants a meaningful election," said the former president.

During the hour-long meeting in the afternoon Pasi underscored the importance of the role of political parties have to play in the process.

She also stressed the importance of dialogue between the political parties and the government in order to establish the proper conditions for the elections.

Pasi is slated to meet leaders of BNP among other parties in the near future.

Initiatives taken to merge BSB, BSRS

Staff Reporter

Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said the government was considering merger of Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS) and Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB) to strengthen their operation of similar nature."Talks on this issue are in progress," he told reporters, after

BSRS handed over to him a cheque for Tk 1 (one) crore as dividend for the year 2007 at the Ministry of Finance.

Replying to a question, Dr Aziz said the government did not step aside from the plan to offload some more shares of BSRS in the capital market.

BSRS managing director Hafiz Ul Islam said offloading of shares might be delayed as the government was considering otherwise about the two specialized banks for industrial credit.

He said the profit-making BSRS has given fresh efforts to strengthen its operation through motivating the staffers as well as reducing the classified loans and disbursement of fresh loans.

The Finance Adviser was asked whether the government was considering any measure to help people of the fixed income group to cope with price spiral, he said: "It remains under government's consideration, but when and what measures would be taken have not yet been decided."

When his attention was drawn to the demand of government officials and employees of providing 30 per cent to 50 per cent dearness allowance in the wake of recent price hike of essentials and serious inflationary pressure, he said he has not yet received any proposal in this regard.

He, however, said the government is aware about the problems of limited-income group of people, although there is still no good news for them from him.

The Finance Adviser was also asked about imposing different barriers to export rice from India, including overnight increase of minimum export price to US$650 per ton from US$505, as part of a conspiracy against Bangladesh.

The Adviser said he would not go into any conspiracy theory, rather he said they (India) might have problems internally; "one state to another" and "different states might have different interests".

Asked whether Bangladesh's diplomatic effort failed to facilitate the rice import, he said Bangladesh had discussions at different levels of Indian authorities.

Earlier, Asian Development Bank (ADB) country director Hua Du made a courtesy call on the Finance Adviser and reassured Bangladesh of the bank's continued support, particularly for the construction of Padma Bridge and energy sector.

Biman likely to have another Boeing in May

UNB, Dhaka

Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited, now spreading its wings in a turnaround, is likely to have another Boeing in its fleet in May to increase its flight operations to the Middle East. The latest procurement is part of its ongoing renovation process to make the national flag carrier a world-class airliner.

The next Boeing 747 will be incorporated under Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) lease process for one year.

This latest aircraft will be used to operate flights to Gulf and Middle Eastern countries.

"We are looking to refurnish and strengthen our activities in Gulf and Middle Eastern countries. The process of leasing the next Boeing 747 is a bid towards that destination," Biman managing director MA Momen told UNB.

A tender was floated in this connection on March 10, where it was stated that the Boeing 747 has to be 200 or 300 or 400 series and the manufacturing year of the aircraft must not be earlier than 1980.

The tender mentioned that the lease would be applicable for a year commencing from May 2008 and it is extendable subject to mutual agreement.

Biman wanted to have the guarantee that the leased aircraft has at least 3,000 block hours (every flying hour from take-off to landing) for the period of one year.

Aircraft manufacturers, airlines, owners, operators and leasing companies having aircraft of their own can participate in tender. Biman restricted any agent or broker from participating in the tender as it said that the organization would not deal with any agent or broker during the process of evaluation and finalization of contract.

The last date for submission of tender was fixed April 2.

Recently, Biman has leased a 542-seat Boeing 747-200 from a Nigeria-based airline, Kabo Air, in a bid to minimise the disruptions in flight schedules.

The national flag carrier has been facing serious troubles in maintaining flight schedules due to acute shortage of aircraft for quite some time now.

It was also taken under the ACMI lease process for six months. But its lease might be extended after that, following a negotiation between the two sides.

Under the lease conditions, Biman will have to pay $5,300 to Kabo Air Ltd for per block hour.

Biman currently owns three types of aircraft-four DC10s-30s, four F28s, and three A310-300s.

Of those, only four or five can fly everyday, while the rest are grounded due to technical glitches.

Biman is going to purchase eight Boeing aircraft at a cost of $ 1.265 billion and signed a MoU with Boeing representatives here on March 15.

Of the eight, the first consignment of four aircraft will be arriving here in 2013 while the second consignment in 2017.

The first Boeing 777-300ER aircraft will cost US$ 182.17 million while the other three US$ 182.51 million, US$ 183.20 million and US$ 184.01 million. The initial selling price of this kind of aircraft is US$ 272 million.

The first Boeing 787 aircraft will cost US$ 132.83 million, while the other three will cost US$ 133.08 million, US$ 133.53 million and US$ 133.81 million. The initial selling price of these planes are US$ 167 million.

Biman, rendered a moribund state-run national flag carrier through wanton corruption and mismanagement, was transformed into a public limited company in July last year to give it a new lease of life.

Woman named Pak Speaker

BBC Oneline

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has named a close associate of her husband as parliamentary speaker.

Fahmida Mirza, a businesswoman, will be Pakistan's first female speaker of the national assembly if she is approved in a vote on Wednesday.

But correspondents say divisions remain over who should be the next PM.

Fahmida Mirza, 51, is an experienced politician from Ms Bhutto's home town in the province of Sindh.

Her husband, Zulfiqar Mirza, is a long standing ally of Asif Ali Zardari, Ms Bhutto's widower and now the PPP's leader.

Zulfiqar Mirza sits in the Sindh provincial assembly.

The new parliament - comprising opponents of President Musharraf who swept to victory in last month's elections - met for the first time on Monday.