The New Nation - Internet Edition

Further Army role will isolate Bangladesh, says Moriarty: 'Election extremely difficult under emergency’, he says

James F Moriarty

Staff Reporter

Newly appointed US ambassador James F Moriarty yesterday observed that the further role of army could isolate Bangladesh from the region and rest of the world in context of seizing power directly or indirectly or manipulating the elections.

The observation was made while he was talking to reporters after a press conference at American Club at Gulshan in the city. This is his first formal press conference after receiving the credential from the President at Bangabhaban in the morning.

Replying to a questioner at the press conference James Moriarty, the 13th US Ambassador to Bangladesh, said he thinks that holding free, fair and credible elections under the state of emergency would be extremely difficult.

He, however, expressed his optimism that democracy would be restored in the country through holding free, fair and credible elections by the end of this year.

In this context, he referred that Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed told him that the Army has no attempt to take power.

The US Ambassador, who arrived Dhaka on April 10, said he has taken up his new assignment with 3Ds theory-promoting democracy, ensuring development and denying of space to terrorism-which he termed the key challenges for Bangladesh.

He assured that the USA would remain a close partner to the people of Bangladesh in each of these areas.

Asked to comment on political parties' allegations that the government wants to hold elections to set up a parliament excluding the two former premiers-Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina he referred that corruption cases have been filed against one and the process is on to file cases against another.

"If there is substance in the allegations, it must be investigated and tried as early as possible. But the government must follow due process and all trials should be free, fair and transparent," he observed.

Asked whether he will take any role to pursue the government for lifting the state of emergency, the US Ambassador said he has no roadmap on that.

Terming the 1/11 changeover one of the important chapters in the history of Bangladesh, James Moriarty said, it provides a renewed opportunity to build a strong, tolerant and prosperous democracy in the country.

"As a friend of Bangladesh and the world's oldest democracy, the United States fully supports the Caretaker Government's efforts to restore democracy by holding free, fair and transparent elections by the end of 2008," he said.

Appreciating the government's anti-corruption drive which lowered corruption and reformed institutions, the US Ambassador said much has been accomplished in a short period of time, but with less than eight months remaining in this government's tenure, there is much work that remains to be done.

"In order to fulfil its mandate, the Caretaker Government needs the support of the public and private sectors, the international community and most importantly, Bangladeshi people," he observed.

He said Bangladeshi people deserve functioning democracy and political parties need to work together to return to democracy.

Asked whether the US would extend its assistance to Bangladesh deal with food deficit, he said the US alongwith other donors will look at it how to help Bangladesh to overcome the situation.

He said that there are two factors behind the food crisis- global food crisis due to production shortfall as well as diversion to bio-fuels-which cause increase in food price in this country.

The US Ambassador referred that the US has provided roughly five billion US dollars in assistance to Bangladesh since its independence while the annual assistance of the US programmes average 100 million US dollars.

It may be mentioned that James Moriarty, who previously served as US Ambassador to Nepal, was nominated as the Ambassador to Bangladesh by US President George W Bush last year and confirmed by the US Senate on March 13.

DU incident: Probe body formed: Concern over brutal attack on female student

Dhaka University Journalists Association brought out
a procession on the campus yesterday protesting the recent
attack on two journalists by the activists of student
organizations. Focus Bangla

Staff Reporter

The syndicate of Dhaka University in an emergency meeting yesterday expressed profound concern at what it said the shameful and brutal attack on a female student on Sunday.

With Vice-Chancellor Prof SMA Faiz in the chair, the meeting also strongly condemned injuring two reporters on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon on the cqampus.

The syndicate expressed its sympathy to those who were injured in the attack and decided to provide necessary treatment to the injured.

The syndicate was apprised at the meeting that a five-member high-powered probe committee was formed with pro-vice-chancellor as convener to submit a report examining the causes of tension and clashes among students and also the existing situation.

It was told at the meeting that the provosts of Muktijoddha Ziaur Rahman Hall and Poet Jasimuddin Hall were asked to submit reports within three days investigating the incidents happened at those halls.

The syndicate approved the probe committee at the meeting.

Besides, the syndicate requested the concerned hall authorities to take appropriate measures against the outsiders.

Expressing deep satisfaction about the roles of hall administrations, the syndicate urged them to keep a vigilant eye so that no outsider could stay at the residential halls.

The meeting also urged the authorities concerned to gear up the activities of law enforcers on the campus according to the recommendations of the provost committee at a meeting on Sunday.

Gyanendra denies exile plan

King Gyanendra

AFP, Kathmandu

Nepal's King Gyanendra on Monday angrily denied speculation he will be heading into exile following a victory by former Maoist rebels in landmark elections.

A statement from the royal palace rejected what it said were "malicious reports appearing in sections of the national and international media in recent days against the royal palace."

"The reports referred to are about his majesty going to India," a palace source told AFP.

"He will not be going anywhere. He is not going to leave the country."

Nepal's Maoists are on track to win the largest single bloc of seats in an assembly that will rewrite the country's constitution. The vote count is expected to end on Tuesday, and the Maoists are expected to win at least 240 seats in a 601-member constitutional assembly-making them the dominant party and just short of holding an outright majority.

The ultra-leftists say they intend to abolish Nepal's 240-year-old monarchy as quickly as possible, and have called on Gyanendra to leave the palace "gracefully" rather than be forcibly evicted.

They have also warned the king of "a trial and strong punishment" if he refuses to accept life as a commoner in one of the world's poorest nations.

Gyanendra came to the throne in bizarre and tragic circumstances in 2001, when his popular brother and eight other family members were shot dead by a drunk, drugged, love-sick and suicidal crown prince.

The new monarch and his son Paras-loathed for his reported playboy lifestyle-failed to win the hearts and minds of a public that viewed the pair's survival of the palace massacre as deeply suspicious.

In 2005 he seized absolute power to fight the Maoists, but instead fuelled a wave of republican sentiment that led to mainstream parties striking a historic 2006 peace deal with the rebels, ending a decade of civil war. Gyanendra has since been stripped of all his powers, including his role as head of state and army commander.

Gyanendra has since been stripped of all his powers, including his role as head of state and army commander.

He has faced numerous demands to step down quietly, but has so far refused to do so.

Analysts say the king can still count on support from sections of the army and Hindu fundamentalists who see him as the incarnation of a Hindu god.

Hasina’s trial in power plant case: Lawyer alleges intimidation by a govt agency

UNB, Dhaka

The hearing on defence-discharge arguments in the barge-mounted power plant case was deferred to April 24, as detained ex-premier Shaikh Hasina could not be produced before the special court yesterday due to her illness.

As the court of Judge M Firoz Alam resumed at 10.45am, the Chief Special Public Prosecutor, quoting a Square Hospital report, told the court that Hasina is unfit to attend it.

"So, the court may fix another short date for hearing on the inconclusive defence-discharge arguments," the prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, Barrister Shafique Ahmed, the top counsel for Awami League president Hasina, made an allegation before the court that the executive branch along with other Govt agencies in many ways interfere in the natural judicial process.

"The way they conduct the courts, we have reasons to believe that the judiciary, which was freed from the executive control in November 2007, is not functioning independently," Barrister Shafique said citing recent instances.

Shafique, also former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, submitted that the Govt agencies called Hasina's lawyers one after another to an unknown place and threatened them so that they do not go for long arguments at the trial court and refrain from making political statements to the media. "I may also face such music any day," he apprehended.

Referring to the incident of former power and energy secretary Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, a co-accused in the case, Shafique said, "Although the highest court granted him bail in two cases, a concerned court harassed him while furnishing bail bonds. "We don't know under whose behest the concerned court behaved in such a manner with Dr Towfiq, a liberation war hero."

He went on: "The police made a false statement before the media during his re-arrest at Panthapath on Friday on charges of breaking the Emergency Power Rules."

Shafique, quoting his (Towfiq) family sources, said, as Dr Towfiq was released on bail from jail at 7:45 am on the day, police drove him straight to Cantonment police station. Later, Tejgaon police station was ordered to file a general diary (GD) against him for violating the EPR, he added.

"Let the people as well as the world know how we are governed in the name of democracy and establishment of the rule of law and human rights," he said.

Shafique further submitted that as the executive kept on interfering in the judiciary, the question of getting even-handed justice has become a far cry for the accused facing trial.

After giving a patience hearing, the court refrained from making any observation on the raised issues and held back the arraignment hearings till April 24.

Most factories have no safety measures

Staff Reporter

Most of the country's factory owners are indifferent to the safety of their workers and though the laws are in place in this regard, their enforcement is not monitored, said a report of the Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation, an NGO.

The report pointed out that the factory workers themselves take precautionary measures before going to workplace. The workers, both male and female, wrap their legs and feet with old rags and bags to protect themselves from the heat of the steel foundries, or from the burns that could be caused by the explosion of a boiler, one of the leading reasons for accidents, according to the report.

The workers know that their precautionary measures are little to ward off any accident, but they have no other means of protecting themselves, the report added. As many as 1,768 accidents occurred in the factories across the country last year last year leaving more than 2,000 workers seriously injured. The workers are particularly exposed to accidents in textiles, rice mills and steel re-rolling mills, the report added.

There were 40 explosions in the rice mills alone in the year under review.

The government seems to be not interested in looking into these accidents seriously. No government organisation visited the workplaces after the accidents, it mentioned.

The government has " Boiler Inspection office, to see the operation of boiler in sugar mills, textile plants, cement factories, hotels and hospitals. But it has not been possible to monitor their operation due to shortage of manpower, said a government official wishing to remain unidentified.

The government's department has only four inspectors to monitor 6,000 boilers across the country, he added.

There are 9,000 factories and 5,000 textile mills in Dhaka and Narayanganj alone.

PSI irregularities to be probed

Syful Islam

The government has decided to appoint a Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) audit agency to detect the irregularities of the PSI companies.

To this effect the National Board of Revenue has invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from the audit agencies for short-listing.

The main job of the PSI audit agency will be to conduct post clearance audit and verify the correctness of information of Clean Report of Findings (CRF) for a maximum of 20 per cent of the CRF submitted by the PSI agencies to the customs authority per month.

The audit agencies will have to verify the correctness of information-values of the goods, quantity and quality-reflected in CRFs and other documents or in endorsed invoices. The audit agency will also conduct investigation in the country of export or if necessary in any other country or countries to ascertain the reality or otherwise or the CRF.

The appointed audit agency will also have to arrange training on pre-shipment audit system, risk management, commercial forgery and fraud prevention and also foreign training and tour for the customs officials to enhance the skill through transfer of technology.

There is huge allegation of gross irregularities against the PSI companies, which includes mis-declaration of import; wrong HS code classification, under invoicing and tax evasion during import through third country.

The government had decided to appoint an audit agency sometimes earlier to monitor activities of the PSI companies but failed to do so due to the opposition of some unscrupulous customs officials, businessmen and PSI agencies.

Recently the government cancelled contract of a PSI company for its alleged involvement in gross irregularities. Three other PSI companies are still working.

Meanwhile, a committee of the NBR has recommended the government for continuation of jobs of the PSI companies. NBR sources said the existing three-PSI companies might get extension of their contracts for two more years.

Textile export to fetch $25b by 2013

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh expects to treble its textiles exports to $25 billion over the next five years as China and India are grappling with the rising value of their currencies, said a top business leader yesterday.

The Bangladesh taka has traded around 68.5 per dollar since the middle of 2007.But China's yuan has raised by 8.6 per cent and India's rupee has gained more than 2 per cent over the same period. Both currencies are expected to continue rallying, which makes exports more expensive for buyers in other countries.

Anwarul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, President of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said, "China and India are our major competitors and we have proved our ability by beating them both in price and quality in some categories which will help us to sustain our export growth."

"We are receiving huge orders from buyers and are quite confident of achieving a rapid export growth in future," he said.

Sales of Bangladeshi knitted cotton trousers, a major export item, to the United States were higher than similar sales by China for the first time in January, he added.

"Due to weak prices of taka compared with strong currencies of China and India, Bangladeshi items are available at a cheaper rate," said Parvez.

He said that Bangladesh would earn $11 billion by exporting ready-made garments in fiscal 2007-08 (July-June) compared with $9 billion a year earlier.

But Parvez also cited a number of challenges for the sector, which include "image problems abroad for both the country and the industry, a lack of skilled manpower, social issues and weak infrastructure."

Bangladesh has been rated as one of the world's most corrupt countries. Parvez said, "A number of areas had been improved in the garment industry, including the elimination of child labour, increased safety for workers and improved sanitation."

"Now we are proud that the garment industries no longer have any child labour, but still we have to address a number of social issues, a new challenge," he said.

The sector would add another 1.4 million workers over the next five years totalling 3.6 million, more than 80 per cent of them women. Bangladesh has set an overall export target of $14.5 billion for 2007/2008 fiscal year, up 19 per cent from the previous year.

BNP unity still a far cry: CEC

Staff Reporter

Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said that the unity between the two factions of the BNP remains a far cry.

He made the observation following the submission of a letter by the reformist group BNP to prove their strength as mainstream of the party.

A 12-member delegation of the BNP reformist faction led by M Mofazzal Karim met the CEC and submit a letter signed by 54 former BNP lawmakers.

The letter requests the Commission to send invitation letter for the dialogue on electoral reform to acting secretary general of the party Maj (Retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed.

The dispatch section of the EC Secretariat, however, did not receive the letter,

as there was no list of the signatories enclosed with the letter.

Emerging from the meeting, the CEC told journalists the process of unity between the two factions of the BNP apparently seems far off.

After hectic meetings with both the groups of the BNP on Thursday the Commission had given them a timeframe of two to three days to unite that passed off yesterday but they failed.

"We are now waiting to get the High Court verdict in hand," he said, adding that they expect to get it by yesterday and the decision as to which group would get the letter, would be taken thereafter.

Talking to reporters Mofazzal Karim parried a question as to whether all the MPs were in the immediate-past parliament or not.

The letter was submitted a day after another submission of another letter signed by five standing committee members of the BNP in which they said the letter should be given to Khondoker Delwar Hossain, the secretary general of pro-Khaleda faction of BNP.

Asked if any former MPscould interfere in the party's policymaking matters according to its constitution, Karim said any leader could play role and express opinion regarding party matters.

The BNP delegation include BNP leaders ZA Khan, Dr Ziaul Huq Mollah, Ali Newaz M Khaiyum, AM Abdul Khaleque Chantu, Masud Arun, Reza Ahmed Bachchu, Nasirul Huq Sabu, Nazir Hossain, Shamim Kaiser Lincoln and Firoz Ahmed Khan.

Meanwhile, reformist leader Hafizuddin Ahmed yesterday told journalists that he is hopeful of unity in the party as soon as the Election Commission invites either of the groups for dialogue on election reforms.

"If we get the EC invitation, we will take Khondoker Delwar and associates with us for the dialogue," he said.

Asked what they will do if Delwar of loyalist group is invited Hafiz said, BNP will be united when EC invites either of the groups.

Niko graft cases : Chargesheets against Hasina, Khaleda soon

UNB, Dhaka

The Anti-Corruption Commission is going to submit charge sheets very soon in the two Niko graft cases filed against detained former Prime Ministers Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina and others.

"Charge sheets in the Niko cases are at the final stage. The charge sheets will be submitted very soon," ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal told journalists at the Commission's regular briefing.On December 9 last year, the ACC filed the two cases with Tejgaon police station against Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina and 10 others accusing them of entering into deals with Niko causing huge losses to the State.

The investigation report of the case against Khaleda and others was submitted to the Commission on March 13, while the investigation officer of the case against Hasina and others submitted the report on March 20.In their reports, the investigation officers recommended submission of charge sheets against more individuals initially charged in the first information reports.

About the submission of charge sheet in the Gatco case filed on September 2, 2007 against Khaleda and 12 others, Hanif told the reporters that the Commission is waiting for the verdict of the Appellate Division to make a decision on the case. He said the Commission has approved the submission of charge sheet in the case filed against Awami League presidium member Kazi Zafar Ullah for not submitting his wealth statement in due time.

The ACC director general informed that the Commission has approved the issuance of notices to Rupali Bank managing director Abdul Hamid Bhuiyan, general manager Moinul Haque, former director Mohammad Hossain and former deputy general manager MM Salimullah, directing them to submit their wealth statements within seven working days. Responding to a question relating to the arrests of Dhaka City Mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka and Justice Fazlul Haque against whom cases were filed by the Commission, Hanif said the arrests of the accused individuals entirely depend on the investigation officers concerned.

"When the investigation officers will feel it necessary to go for the arrest, they would seek help of the law enforcers to do so," he added.In reply to a question, he said the Commission is preparing an annual report for presenting to the President and it would be completed soon. To another question, Hanif said even though the members of taskforces extend cooperation in investigating the cases, the responsibility of investigation into the cases rests with the ACC officials concerned.He said the Commission has approved the filing of a case against Mofazzal Karim, a former deputy director of the Bangladesh Bank, and his wife Nasima Khatun for acquiring illegal wealth worth 2.81 crore.