The New Nation - Internet Edition

Task force identifies 747 corrupt recruiting firms: Extorting money from workers, issuing fake visa, cheating govt of tax

Mamunur Rashid

The Task Force and other law enforcing agencies identified 747 corrupt manpower-recruiting agencies and cancelled the licences of 24 such firms recently.

These manpower-recruiting agencies out of 757 in the country, violating Government rules and regulations, were extorting excess money from the overseas job seekers and cheating the Government on taxes.

Most of these agencies were collecting Tk 3.50 lakh to Tk 4 lakh per worker in the name of various office expenses under the very nose of the authorities concerned. The Government had fixed Tk 84,000 per labour for a work visa especially in the Middle East.

Moreover, these agencies were charging Tk 15 to Tk 20 lakh per person for sending them to the US, Europe and Australia with work visa. For a visit visa they were demanding Tk 10 to Tk 12 lakh per person.

Every day an average of 800 to 1,000 Bangladeshi workers are going to the following countries, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Yemen and Korea with work visa.

The Task Force source said, the agencies get some 50 offer letters for work visa from a particular embassy but they make 100 to 150 photocopies and sell those to unsuspecting job seekers by changing the names and addresses and pocket the extra money.

They were also involved in various other illegal activities such as sending people with fake visas, passport transfer, hundi and human trafficking.

The identified corrupt manpower-recruiting agencies run their business across the country through a large number of associates and their representatives or dalals.

These dalals buy passports at a throw away price from the returnees and hand those over to the corrupt recruiting agencies for onward sale. The recruiting agencies also buy snatched passports from the hijackers and sell those to the job seekers for a hefty amount.

These Bangladeshi youths go to foreign countries after being assured by the recruitment agencies but they face various problems abroad, as they are not provided with jobs as per contact. Many of them return home as they are charged with carrying fake visas and passports.

Due to the irregularities of the recruiting agencies many people are passing inhuman life abroad and around 3,000 workers from different foreign countries returned home during the last six months, according to sources.

Recently, the Government had signed an agreement with the government of UAE, which will help expand the labour market even further.

The Task Force found only 10 manpower recruiting agencies following the Government rules and regulations on sending workers abroad.

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said the export of Bangladeshi manpower abroad is continuing and this year, so far 314,000 workers have been cleared for employment abroad. Out of this 225,000 have already departed for their destination.

"The remittances are also increasing. Already the amount has exceeded US $ 3 billion in the first four months. Again at this rate we could look forward to getting US $ 10 billion by the year end," Iftekhar Chowdhury added.

Bangladesh Ambassador receives AL Chief at Boston: Hasina demands early polls

Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina was flanked by the
expatriate Awami League leaders and workers at Boston
Airport on her arrival. Focus Bangla

UNB, Dhaka

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, who reached Boston Thursday night, demanded restoration of an elected government by holding early general elections.

"You know, people in Bangladesh is in difficult situation. We want democracy; we want elected government through early elections," she told reporters on her arrival at Boston airport. Son Sajiv Wazed Joy and daughter-in-law Christina received Sheikh Hasina as hundreds of expatriate Bangladeshis and Awami League supporters greeted the Awami League chief with flowers and colourful festoons. Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Humayun Kabir, Awami League leaders AMA Muhit, Akhtaruzzaman Babu, Fakhrul Islam Munshi and Khaled Hassan, among others, were also present, according to a message received here Friday.

Hasina will be staying with her son Joy in Boston for few days before leaving for Florida where she will have treatment to her damaged ears.

Later, she will go to Canada to see her daughter Saima Wazed Putul. The Awami League chief left here for USA Thursday morning, a day after she got released from detention for an interim period of eight weeks to facilitate her treatment abroad.

Don’t give up trial of corrupts: Kamal: White paper on all graft cvases demanded

Dr. Kamal Hossain

Staff Reporter

Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday urged the Caretaker Government not to give up the trials of the corruption accused after bowing down to any pressure and not falter in dispensing justice.

"The establishment of the rule of law in the country will be affected if the Government gives concession to the perpetrators of the corruption and accused in graft cases," he told an extended meeting of the central committee of Jubo Gano Forum (JGF), the youth front of his party at the GF office in the city.

Terming the current trial process of the corruption accused an outcome of the struggles of the masses, Dr Kamal suggested that the persons, official or otherwise, involved in delivering justice should neither falter nor become hasty, while discharging their responsibility.

"These cases should not be ended under anybody's pressure or without following proper procedures, " he said, adding, "The graft cases so far filed against political figures and others must be seen through to the final stage by due process." Asking the Government to stand by the principles, he said. "You are facing a test of firmness, honesty. Fifteen crore people are with you. You must give priority to the national interests."

Dr Kamal urged the people to elect honest and competent candidates in the next general elections.

"The people should also keep vigil so that those who have been rejected from the political arena due to corruption could not make a comeback again," he observed.

"We do not want to see those old identified faces again," the GF President opined, asking the youths to involve in politics in order bring about a meaningful change in the national politics.

Making a clarion call to the young generation of the country, Dr Kamal said, "You must enter politics for the true welfare of the people instead of being involved in politics for personal ambition."

Meanwhile, in an interview with BBC Bangla Service, the renowned lawyer yesterday said, "Of course there are some quarters, which, putting pressure on the Government on behalf of those under trial to compromise the achievement."

When asked whether he was meaning the recent release of the Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina or the possible release of the BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia as "concession given by the Government due to pressure", the Gano Forum (GF) President said, "I am not pointing out any particular case or person."

He, however, did not elaborate as to the Government was conceding to pressure.

GF leaders Pankoj Bhattachariya, Mofizul Islam Khan Kamal, Mostafa Mohshin Montu and Advocate Subrata Chowdhury attended the JGF extended meeting.

US: Landmark Supreme Court ruling on detainees: Guantanamo inmates have right to challenge detention

Unnamed Guantanamo inmates

AP, Washington

The US Supreme Court ruling recognizing the right of Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detention in civilian courts deals a stunning blow to the Bush administration's detention policies, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. The lead plaintiffs in the case are Bosnian Lakhdar Boumediene and Kuwaiti Fawzi al-Odah, who are both being held at Guantanamo without charge.

The right of prisoners to challenge the legal basis of their detention, the centuries old right known as habeas corpus, provides a basic check against the abuses inherent in unfettered executive power. The June 12, 2008, ruling in Boumediene v. Bush undermines the Bush administration's practice of holding terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in indefinite detention.

"The Supreme Court decision has stripped Guantanamo of its reason for being: a law-free zone where prisoners can't challenge their detention," said Kenneth Roth, executive director at Human Rights Watch. "The ruling is not only a landmark victory for justice, it's a big step toward establishing a smarter, more effective counter terrorism policy."

The Supreme Court's 5-4 decisions, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, rejects the Bush administration's argument that prisoners can be held for years without a fair process for assessing the evidence against them. It means that the federal courts - which are equipped with the procedures necessary to protect sensitive national security information - will now be able to examine the basis for detainees' claims that they are wrongly held.

In reaching its decision, the court rejected the administration's assertion that the procedures established in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 were an adequate substitute for habeas. The Boumediene ruling is based on the US Constitution, unlike the court's 2004 decision in Rasul v. Bush, which would make it more difficult to overrule by legislation.

The Supreme Court's ruling firmly rejects the Bush administration's view of Guantanamo as a "law-free zone," which provided the original impetus for transferring hundreds of men for detention there.

It also represents an important step toward ending the administration's use of military commissions, set up to try foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo. As Human Rights Watch has long argued, these commissions are vulnerable to illegitimate political influence, permit the use of coerced evidence and hearsay, and place undue restrictions on the ability of military and civilian defense counsel to present an effective defense. The ruling, by raising questions about the determination of enemy combatant status, further shows that the process underlying the military commissions does not meet international fair trial standards.

"The Boumediene decision so undermines Guantanamo's distorted system that it should sound the camp's death knell," Roth said. "It sends a clear signal to the Bush administration that they should close Guantanamo and stop holding people in indefinite detention without charge."

Human Rights Watch believes that detainees who are implicated in terrorist crimes should be transferred to the federal court system for trial. In recent years, the federal courts have proven that they have capacity and expertise to handle complex terrorism prosecutions involving evidence obtained overseas. Their rulings will have the credibility necessary to command respect worldwide.

Human Rights Watch an amicus (friend of the court) brief in Boumediene v. Bush. The Supreme Court's ruling represents a complete victory for the position that the brief advocated.

"Today's ruling puts an end to the Bush administration's vision of unchecked executive power," Roth said. "It will be welcomed around the world as a sign that the era of US lawlessness in fighting terrorism is over."

No new drainage systems in DND area: Coming monsoon may play havoc

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

People living inside the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment will not get any respite from water logging this monsoon as no effective measures have been taken yet for a proper drainage system in the area due to non-completion of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of Dhaka city.

Tapan Kumar Nath, Project Director of DAP, said, "We have suspended all kinds of development activities, including improvement of drainage. No new projects for the area will be approved until and unless the detailed area plan is completed."

The deadline for finalising the DAP, which is to outline a proper housing and drainage plan for the capital including the 14,500-acre DND area inhabited by about 20-25 lakh people, has been extended for the fourth time by six months. The new time limit of the DAP project, undertaken in August 2004 with a 2-year time frame, has been set to December 31.

Prof Nazrul Islam, an urban expert, said, "As DAP includes an extensive and proper drainage planning for the entire Dhaka city, no new drainage plan for the DND area is being taken.

The DAP should have been completed much earlier, he opined.

The authorities should take immediate steps to excavate canals in the area before the rainy season sets in to avert recurrence of water logging, he stressed.

Architect Iqbal Habib, Member Secretary of the Urbanisation and Governance Committee of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), said, "The people in the area will suffer like the previous years for water logging, as the authorities did not take any steps to develop the drainage system of the area."

As unplanned urbanisation is going on unabated in the area, it will hinder flush out of water aggravating water stagnation situation for this year, he noted.

Although a drive to demolish illegal structures along the DND dam was carried out last year to ensure the flow of stagnant water to the pump station situated at Shimrail point, there are three more pump stations where water cannot flow due to the unplanned urbanisation, according to him.

The DND dam was constructed between 1962 and 1968 as an irrigation project to make the land cultivable for three harvests a year. Of the total land under the DND project area, dwelling houses have already been constructed in 85 per cent of the land, according to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB).

Apart from unplanned urbanisation, encroachment on canals and dumping of solid waste in it, construction of cross-dams and culverts, inadequate pumps, lack of retention points and coordination among the agencies like BWDB, Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) are among the major reasons for water logging in the area during the rainy season every year, experts said.

Govt clarification on direct, indirect expenditure demanded

Staff Reporter

Different organisations yesterday urged the government to clarify its direct and indirect expenditure in the proposed national budget relating to gender.

Addressing a joint press conference they pointed out that the budget lacks clarification on expenditure on different heads for women.

They suggested that the government should give break-up of expenditure on girls, children and women.

The press conference on "gender analysis in the proposed budget" at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity was jointly organised by Steps Towards Development, Unnayan Shamannay, Bangladesh Mahila Parished and Bangladesh Nari Pragoti Sangha in cooperation with UNIFEM-Bangladesh, ActionAid-Bangladesh and Canadian CIDA.

Eminent Economist Prof Dr Atiur Rahman, Chairman, Unnayan Somonay, Ranjan Karmakar, Executive Director, Steps Towards Development, Women leader Rokaya Kabir of Nari Pragoti Songha, Nigar Sultana of ActionAid, Humaira Haque of Mahila Parished, among others, addressed the press conference.

They urged the government not to appoint male teacher under 60 percent female quota of the primary schools on plea of lack of qualified female candidates.

Dr Atiur Rahman said the government should fulfil 60 per cent female quota by increasing their skill and quality through training programme.

He also said female enrolment in the tertiary and vocational/technical education is one-third of the total students and this should be increased.

Long-term gender goals should be set and in this regard prioritisation process should be aimed at achieving the broader goals, he suggested.

He also called for taking steps to protect the rights of the female labourers in the manufacturing industry.

Agricultural activities of womenfolk should be integrated into extension programme to ensure their food security, he mentioned.

Ranjan Karmakar said they expected the caretaker government would place long-term visionary budget in the perspective of women rights, but the budget did not fulfil our expectation.

Rokeya Kabir said allocation for the women in the budget is not properly utilised in most cases adding that they want gender responsive budget.

Police officer arrested while taking bribe

Staff Reporter

A police officer was caught red-handed while taking bribe around midnight in Tejgaon Industrial Area by Anticorruption Commission officials, said police.

Tejgaon police Sub-Inspector Zafar Iqbal said the accused, police Sub-Inspector Moinul Ahsan of Cantonment Police Station was produced before court on Friday.

The errant police officer was arrested from the first floor of a restaurant 'Banbhojan' in East Nakahal Para, said Zafar.

"ACC officials arrested Moinul as he was taking Tk 5,000 from Mozammel Haque, an accused in a robbery case."

"Moinul, the investigation officer of the robbery case, took the money from Mozammel assuring him that his name would be dropped from the charge sheet of the robbery case," said Zafar.

ACC Assistant Director Harun-ur Rashid filed a case against Moinul, Zafar added.

Tri-Nation Cricket Indo-Pak final today

Sports Reporter

Spirited India Cricket team will meet Pakistan Cricket team today in the final of the Tri-Nation Kitply Cup at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. The ODI match begins at 3.00 PM. Bangladesh Television will telecast the match live from the stadium.

Undefeated India started their Tri-Nation Cricket Series by a massive 140-run victory over Pakistan on June 10.

Later, India defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in their second league ODI match on June 12.

Earlier, Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 70 runs in their opening ODI match of the Tri-Nation Cricket Series on June 8.

India and Pakistan, the two titans of world cricket, faced each other 114 times. Of them, Pakistan won in 66 ODI matches while India won in 44 games and rest of the four matches ended in ties or those matches had no results. But recently India showed a better brand of circket than their arch rivals and won in maximum ODI matches against their old foes.

Garry Kirsten, the coach of Indian Cricket team, told the newsmen that it was always a great encounter. He added that there would be a different Pakistan team in the final. He also added that his boys would be really motivated and he expects them to play their best.

On the other hand, Geoff Lawson, the coach of Pakistan team told the reporters that it would not matter for them who would play against them in the final. He added that in every game, they showed their performance and set out to win. He also added that it was a final and anybody could win or lose in the game.

The cricket viewers of the world are eager to watch an entertaining final between the two titans of world cricket.

Army deployed in tense W Bengal Bengalis, Gurkhas clash

BBC Online

The Indian army has been deployed in and around the West Bengal town of Siliguri, after rising violence between Bengali and Nepali-speaking people.

The authorities have banned assemblies of five or more persons from gathering in and around the town.

More than 30 people have been injured in recent ethnic clashes.

Tension between the two communities over access to jobs and living space has escalated following a strike by the Nepali-speaking Gorkha community.

The regional Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) called the strike to demand a separate state and "fairer treatment" for the Gorkha community in West Bengal's hilly and tea-producing Darjeeling region.

On Wednesday it called the strike off until Saturday to allow tourists - mostly Bengalis and West Bengal Government employees but also some foreigners - to leave the region.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya told journalists that the army would help to maintain law and order.

"We have to take control of the situation, so we are not taking chances and calling the army out," Mr Bhattacharya told journalists in Calcutta.

Clashes between Bengalis and Nepalis broke out on the highway that connects Siliguri with the Darjeeling hill region soon after the GJM strike was announced.

Bangladesh most vulnerable to climate change

Rafiqul Islam Azad

Bangladesh is most vulnerable to climate change due to its high climate variability, population density, extreme weather events, poor institutional capacity and inadequate financial resources, according to experts.

Bangladesh, like some other nations, might face a bleak future due to climate change as the sea level could rise from 20cm to 80cm over next 100 years, they said.

The experts observed that the most adverse consequence of the climate change would have for the human health, particularly in increasing the rate of illness and death from familiar causes.

They observed that the rates of illness and death, related to heat and cold, increase due to exposure to thermal extremes while deaths, injuries, psychological disorders and damage to public health infrastructure causes by the changed frequency or intensity or intensity of other extreme weather events.

They recommended that Bangladesh should have clear mitigation policies for climate change, for which developed nations are held most responsible, and its impact focusing on arresting carbon, reducing carbon emission and strengthening regional and international advocacy.

The experts made the observations while addressing the two-day Bangladesh Public Health Conference 2008 organised by Unnayan Onneshan at BRAC Centre Inn in the city yesterday.

In his power-point presentation at on Climate Change:

Global & Bangladesh perspective, Dr MH Salim Ullah Sayed, an Associate Professor of Department. of Occupational & Environmental Health, NIPSOM termed Bangladesh as one of the innocent victims of Climate Change.

Developed countries are causing the global warming on the other hand Bangladesh, like other countries, is being victimised of it, he said

Salim Ullah Sayed referred that developing countries contribute of Green House Gases (GHG) only 33 per cent while developed counties contribute 67 per cent. He showed that Bangladesh emits only 0.10 per cent of CO2 from industrial process while the USA emits 32.79 and in Europe the percentage is 27.35.

H

e termed diarrhoea, skin diseases, malaria, kala-azar, mental disorder, and dengue as major climate sensitive diseases in Bangladesh.

Dr Hirendra Kumar Das, Project Manager, CDS, Department of Environment emphasised the need for protecting the Ozone Layer for survival of natural life saying that it shields plant and animal life from ultraviolet radiation, which in high doses, can be particularly damaging to natural life.

Dr Mohd. Abdul Matin, General Secretary, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) observed that about one-third city dwellers are the climate change refugees.

He emphasised the need or taking adoption measure to climate change as what he said some degree of global warming now seem to be certain.

He recommended housing design- that enhances summer time cooling, enhancing the coastal buffers, improving control of vector borne and water borne diseases, stricting health indicator monitoring, ensuring disease surveillance, conducting multidisciplinary research to develop early health warning system and improvising environmentally friendly public health interventions.

It is very high time to recognize the wide ranging potential consequences of climate change for our health and well being can greatly strengthen the international rationale for reducing green house emissions, he observed.

Abdul Matin said Bangladesh needs to have not only an adaptation but also the mitigation plan. Bangladesh government has developed a National Adaptation Program of Action for climate change but no mitigation plan is yet to be developed.

Earlier, Director General of Health Directorate Prof Dr Md Abdul Faez inaugurated the conference. Among others, the conference was also addressed, among others, by Dr Mohammad Yunus of ICDDR,B, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir , Tauhid Alam and Taslima Akter.

About 150 participants from home and abroad took part in the conference ending today.

Political understanding to make 9th Parliament effective urged

Staff Reporter

Speakers at a discussion meeting in the city yesterday called for taking preparations to make the ninth Parliament to be elected trough the next general elections effective by taking lessons from the failures of the legislative bodies of the past.

The suggestions offered ranged from creation of pre-election understanding for making the legislature functional, creation of a balance of power between the President and the Prime Minister, steps to make the committees of Parliament effective and secure attendance of MPs by reducing the period of unauthorized absence among others.

Former Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Rouf was the chief guest at the discussion meting organized by the universal News Agency with Justice Sultan Hossain Khan in the chair. Justice Khan and Prof. Tarek Shamsur Rehman presented two papers.

Former Adviser of the caretaker government Major General Moinul Hossain Chowdhury, former State Minister Abul Hasan Chowdhury, former chairman of the Planning Commission Al Hossainy, Eminent Journalist Sadeq Khan, Prof. KM Mohsin, Prof. Anisuzzaman and Prof Sukomol Barua of Dhaka University, Ambassador Waliur Rahman, leading businessman Rashed Maqsud Khan, editor of The New Nation, Mostafa Kamal Majumder, poet Abdul Hye Sikdar, and Brig. Gen Mosharraf among others.

Justice Abdur Rouf warned against making experiment with the Constitution because such trial and error might lead to its death. Instead the rules of procedures might be changed to secure attendance of members and discharge of responsibilities by others in Parliament and its different committees.

He said that the original structure of the US Constitution has been retained over the centuries through some amendments done here and there. He said that the democracy in India worked through many times more problems than those faced in Bangladesh by retaining the constitution.

Jusitce Abdur Rouf said it was not fair to view the masses of people was knowing little as they made no mistake in giving correct verdicts at different points of Bangladesh’s history. The talk about power balance would not help much. Under the present state of things theoretically the President is most powerful but exercise of the powers depend on the person, he said.

Justice Sultan Hossain Khan in his paper underscored the need for a government of consensus for five years after the election of the ninth Parliament so that all parties and MPs can work together in the national interest for one term. The Parliament may initiate a process of suitable amendment of the Constitution by forming a 'Constitution review committee’ and enlisting the opinion of old and experienced people at home and abroad, he said.

Justice Khan called for the formation of a strong National Security Council under the leadership of the President and the Prime Minister and emphasised the need for strengthening the armed forces to meet the defence needs of the country.

Prof. Tarek Shamsur Rehman presented a set of recommendations for ensuring power balance between the President and the Prime Minister, making Parliament effective and reforming the political parties.

Major General (retd) Moinul Hossain Chowdhury called for reposing faith in the people and organising elections as early as possible. Steps taken by an unelected government would most often be repressive, he said suggesting that the government should work on minimum programmes and complete those.

Abul Hasan Chowdhury called for strengthening the local government institutions which would secure the foundations of democracy. He said that the nation needed a shock like that of 1/11 to reform. The failures that led to the change are not only of the political leaders, but also of all citizens. “We do not want to fail again,” he said.

Al Hossainy said that the government should not embark on too many agenda and instead ensure holding of the next elections. He underlined the need for fundamental changes in political behaviour of politicians for the success of democracy.