Bangladesh superior court halts ship scrapping operation

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH'S SUPREME court on Sunday overturned a lower court's ruling that allowed a ship scrapping operation until October. The court will review the case on Thursday.

Last week the high court allowed conditional importation of toxic ships and their dismantling. It extended the time on grounds that importers and ship dismantlers must ensure the safety and environmental protection of the public and workers.

The Bangladeshi Environmental Lawyers Association had appealed a previous ruling on the extension with the supreme court.

Attorneys of the Bangladeshi Shipbreakers Association, which is engaged in a $1.5 billion ship recycling trade, are scheduled to be at the hearing to ensure the original decision is upheld.

On March 7, the high court permitted import of hazardous ships and their scrapping for two months on several conditions, saying that no ships can be scrapped without cleaning toxic gas, and asbestos and toxic materials must be removed by experts before the ships are dismantled.

The high court relaxed the ban after leaders of the world's largest shipbreaking industry guaranteed it would adopt strict strictly rules to protect workers, such as an age limit of at least 18, training and proper safety gear, and cleansing of toxic material from ships prior to arrival.

It ordered the Department of Environment (DOE) to form a three-member committee to monitor whether the importers and ship breakers are complying with the given conditions.

Bangladesh's main source of 4 million tons of steel for construction is from the dismantling of cargo ships.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Mumbai blast mastermind believed to be hiding in Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

INDIAN SECURITY agencies believe that the mastermind of last week's serial bombings in Mumbai is hiding in Bangladesh.

Mumbai police say they suspect the bombs to be the work of the Indian Mujahideen (IM). The serial bomb blasts last week killed at least 19 people and injured more than 130.

The suspect, Abdullah Khan, of the Indian Mujahideen is alleged to have orchestrated the Mumbai blasts and is now hiding somewhere in Bangladesh. His movements had been tracked over the past few months, the daily Times of India quotes the National Investigation Agency, India's top unit to combat terror, as saying.

Khan is now "operating the IM module which is assigned to maintain liaison with the Bangladesh based Harkat-ul Jihad Al Islam (HuJI) and, in a joint venture, has recruited a few new jihadist for their outfit," according to the Times of India report.

Investigators said about six months ago, Khan was stationed in Nepal and shuttled between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The IM had started conducting training camps in Bangladesh, the newspaper mentioned.

The report also mentioned that the National Investigation Agency was homing in on IM members across India and was already questioning suspected operatives.

IM terrorists find it easier to penetrate through the porous India-Bangladesh border with support from the HuJI, the source said in the report.

In the first week of November last year, Bangladesh detectives foiled a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy and Indian High Commission in Bangladesh. Several terrorist sleeping cells were smashed simultaneously in India and Bangladesh with intelligence tips from the CIA.

In a bid to combat such cross-border terrorism, organized crime and the drug trade, during Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in January 2010 the countries decided to form a coordination committee comprising representatives of law enforcement agencies and the two countries' intelligence wings to "deal with international terrorism and drug smuggling, investigation and completion of trial in such crimes."

India and Bangladesh are highly likely to sign an agreement during a planned visit to Bangladesh by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in September. Security analysts predict the pact will significantly reduce terrorism in the region. However, the analysts said it will be difficult to drag troubled Pakistan into a regional cooperation agreement to combat terrorism, so it will be an incomplete effort.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

American's demands Bangladesh extradite Taliban-trained militants

SALEEM SAMAD

THE UNITED States has demanded extradition of Bangladesh-born militants who were recruited and trained by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina raised the issue Wednesday with the ruling Awami League’s central working committee. She also hinted at external pressure to hand over the suspects.

Hasina assured U.S. officials that her government would take necessary steps to nab the suspects, who are still at large.

The suspected jihadists, according to intelligence sources, returned to Bangladesh through clandestine routes soon after the U.S. and British-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Hundreds of Bangladeshi recruits have joined the jihad in Afghanistan that overthrew the pro-West Mujahideen government.

Senior Pentagon officials, through diplomatic channels, have submitted a list of Bangladeshi militants and demanded the extradition of those suspected militants now living in Bangladesh.

Since the government led by the pro-secular prime minister swept to power more than two years ago in Bangladesh, scores of self-proclaimed Jihadists who boasted to have fought with the Taliban have been arrested.

Earlier, Bangladesh pledged to the United States and Britain to support the “war on terror” and have received high profile counter-terrorism training.

Afghanistan-trained militants are a security threat to Bangladesh's tolerant and secular Muslim majority, according to political scientist Professor Imtiaz Ahmed of state-owned Dhaka University.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh has reservations about cholera vaccine trial

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladeshi authorities and officials of an international cholera research center are at loggerheads over the proposed trial of an anti-cholera vaccine, health terminology and the actual prevalence of diarrheal diseases.

Senior government health officials on Tuesday argued that the government does not see any reason for a trial of the oral vaccine, as the mortality rate of diarrhea is less than 1 percent (0.6 percent). Instead, Health Services official Dr. Khondhaker Shefyetullah said the vaccine trial needs government's public policy, based on a detailed technical study and the opinion of stakeholders.

The vaccine trial was launched in 2009 and was limited to low-income people in the capital Dhaka, where incidents of diarrhea are common during peak monsoon seasons, which occur April through May and August through September. The trial, being conducted on children under the age of 5 by the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) is set to end in September.

The government for more than three decades has avoided using the terms vibrio cholerae or cholera to describe the disease breakout. They insist that hospital doctors and the media describe the outbreak as diarrheal disease and dysentery.

Bangladesh deliberately avoids using the word cholera to prevent a ban on the export of fresh vegetables and freshwater fish, which are sold in markets in Australasia, Europe and North America, Shefyetullah told a seminar on the introduction of cholera vaccine.

Steve Luby, a researcher with ICDDR,B echoed statements by government officials that an affordable vaccine would provide only partial protection from diarrheal diseases. He stressed that social behavioral change and dissemination of health information could prevent 30 to 50 percent of the prevalence of diarrheal diseases, which mostly occur among disadvantaged populations in both urban and rural areas.

The government also disputes the prevalence of the disease. Professor Mahmudur Rahman of the government Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) sets the annual figure of cholera outbreak at 450,000. The international health research institution estimates the figure at 1.2 million cases in its research journal.

Government officials have urged ICDDR,B to review its estimate and said that the government stands by its figure, which it said had been documented after obtaining information from the field over the last several years.

ICDDR,B executives agreed to review their data. They also said they will wait for the government public policy on clinical trials of cholera vaccine to protect child mortality and morbidity.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh opposition threatens election boycott, hints of overthrow

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH'S MAIN opposition party has threatened to boycott the election if the government refuses to hold polls under non-partisan neutral government.

“We will not take part in the elections under a partisan government, as people will never accept the scrapping of the caretaker government system,” the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), former prime minister Khaleda Zia, said Wednesday.

She urged her supporters to overthrow the government through a popular uprising such as those that have occurred in some Middle East countries since the beginning of the year, a definite shift of strategy of her anti-government campaign launched two weeks ago.

Criticizing the government that has been in power for two and half years, Zia said should her party win the election, she would scrap the recently overhauled constitution that dropped the impartial non-party caretaker administration to ensure holding of a credible general election.

The opposition fears that the election would be rigged and manipulated, which would further marginalize their share in the 300-member parliament. The next election is scheduled in 2013.

“Election without caretaker government cannot be held in the country and any election without participation of BNP will not be acceptable,” she warned.

The ruling Awami League has amended the constitution, which not only prohibited the interim government from holding a general election, but also included a Koranic verse in the constitution. In a radical shift from secularism, the government has adopted an Islamic constitution.

The ruling party vehemently opposed the argument and said the election commission would hold the election independently after it is significantly strengthened.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Indian prime minister comments on Bangladesh raises eyebrows

SALEEM SAMAD

IN AN unwarranted comment, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said Bangladesh political landscape can change anytime.

Speaking at the capital New Delhi to a select group of Indian newspaper editors he frankly said his neighbours worries him a great deal. “So a very uncertain neighbourhood.”

He blames Pakistan’s dreaded spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) having nexus with the terrorist elements in Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami may change the political regime in Bangladesh, India’s eastern neighbour.

The prime minister also said that he reckons that at least 25 percent of the population of Bangladesh motivated by the Jamaat-e-Islami are diehard anti-Indian, and are working for Pakistan spy agency.

The branding of a quarter of Bangladesh's population as “anti-Indian” by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has raised diplomatic eyebrows here.

However, Bangladesh senior government official who does not wish to be names scoffed off Indian prime minister comments and said it was out of context. The official on Friday, of course said that Bangladesh would seek clarification from New Delhi regarding the sensitive comments.

Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah of state run Dhaka University said his comments came when Indian and Bangladesh senior officials are frequenting visits into each other capital prior to the visit of prime minister Singh’s visit to Bangladesh, like in the end of this year.

Since Shiekh Hasina returned to power nearly three years ago, has initiated steps to nab wanted Indian insurgent leaders who were sheltered in Bangladesh for decades. Most of anti-Indian leaders were unofficially extradited, despite both countries does not have any treaty to handover each others most wanted persons. Scores of camps of northeast guerrilla groups and were operating from inside Bangladesh territory have been busted.

India's former High Commissioner in Dhaka Veena Sikri was more forthright. “I don't think it is proper to describe people of another country in this manner,” she said while contextualising the BNP's stand. “The BNP says the interests of Bangladesh are not served by India. Sheikh Hasina on the other hand seeks to promote friendship because she feels friendship with India is in Bangladesh's interest.”

“I do not agree that 25 per cent population of Bangladesh supports the Jamaat-e-Islami. If you look at the votes they had polled in the last elections, it does not reflect so, although they contested elections along with the right-wing Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Begum Khaleda Zia,” said a close observer of politics in Bangladesh.

The influence of the ISI, which has been trying to regain its hold since the early days of an independent Bangladesh, was strong under earlier regimes. But institutions such as the Bangladesh Army or the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, unlike the Pakistani ones, are very sensitive to public opinion.

Singh mentioned that Bangladesh government has gone out of its way to help India in apprehending anti-Indian insurgents operating from inside Bangladesh for a long time, he said. “And that is why we have been generous in dealing with Bangladesh.”

The former Indian ambassador Dev Mukerjee, who was posted in Bangladesh echoed with the Bangladesh official and said he does not fear that Jamaat-e-Islami is capable of undertaking any action, when he does not have significant people support, which they failed to demonstrate in the electoral regime in past polls.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Thousands protest in Bangladesh against Islamic constitution

Photo Saleem Samad: Thousand demonstrates in Bangladesh capital on Thursday against adoption by parliament an Islamic constitution

SALEEM SAMAD

THOUSANDS OF protesters marched in capital Dhaka on Thursday against Bangladesh parliament adopted an Islamic constitution, steering away from a secular political culture, which was enshrined in 1972 constitution.

A half a mile long rally organized by a conglomerate of left parties and pro-secular groups, chanting anti-government slogans and waving red flags marched towards the parliament, where the ruling party and her alliance lawmakers hastily adopted several amendments to the constitution on Thursday noon.

Hundreds of riot police in flak jackets, armed with shot guns and tear gas shells blocked the marchers putting up barbed-wire fences. The protesters in summer heat and intermittent rain stopped at exit of the Dhaka University, where leaders in makeshift dais addressed the crowd and bitterly criticized the government for switching to an Islamic constitution.

In a massive constitutional reform, the non-partisan interim government has been deleted, which was practiced for 15 years to hold credible elections and ensure smooth transition to an incumbent political government. The opposition fears that the ruling party will rig the election, despite denial by the prime minister.

A set of 55 amendment proposals were incorporated in the constitution amendment bill by 289-1 division vote.

Main opposition described the abrogation of neutral caretaker government from the democratic constitution will be written in the history as a “black day”. Opposition leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia threatened series of street protests and political agitations to undo the constitution reforms.

Prime minister Shiekh Hasina warned the opposition not to create anarchy and instead olive branches to hold parleys with the government and suggest how to hold a credible election scheduled in 2014 and also reduce military interference in state polity.

The prime minister was highly critical of the last military-backed caretaker government (2006-8), which sent the present prime minister and opposition leader to prison for corruption.

The independence war veterans, secularist and left leaning parties have came down heavily on the government for converting a secular political culture to an Islamic one.

Several lawmakers mostly from the left leaning parties have voted against the proposed amendment of the constitution, which has included Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim (in the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful), a verse from Koran in the preamble and Islam as state religion.

The ethnic minority leader Mangal Kumar Chakma in a statement protested the new constitution, which has termed the indigenous peoples as “tribals, small nationalities, ethnic groups and communities.”

What angered the indigenous peoples when the discovered that they have been bracketed as “Bangalee”, who are majoritarian Sunni Muslims. The indigenous communities divided in several sub-groups have different languages and are mostly Buddhist, Hindu and animist.

Bangladesh gained independence from Islamic Pakistan after a bloody war on the principle to establish a secular and democratic nation.

Former Justice Golam Rabbany lamented at a seminar on Thursday that from now the nation has lost its secular identity, which was gained after decades of struggle. The sacrifices of thousands of martyrs during the independence war forty years ago have been insulted, he decried.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh ethnic communities protest Islamization of constitution

SALEEM SAMAD

THE BANGLADESH government’s dramatic turn around from secularism to Islamism has enraged the indigenous population, who are demanding to be recognized in a proposed re-draft of the country's constitution.

The nation is poised to amend the constitution, which is likely to be tabled in the parliament on Thursday. The move has been vehemently protested by independence war veterans, the pro-secularist lobby and social justice activists. Dissent is also being heard from within the ruling party and its pro-left alliance partners.

The superior court, in a landmark judgment last July, asked the government to restore secularism in the spirit of the bloody war of independence of 1971. Secular activists charge the government has deliberately adopted dilly-dally tactics while the charter changes are considered.

Former guerrilla leader Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma a.k.a. Shantu Larma, chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council, on Thursday rejected the proposed Islamization of the constitution and demanded constitutional recognition of the indigenous or Adivasi community, who have resided in the country for centuries.

The guerrilla leader, who fought a bush war for two decades, demanded the government drop a proposal to keep a Koranic verse in the preamble of the constitution -- "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim (in the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful)" and Islam as the state religion.

"A state can't have a religion," said Larma, who signed the historic peace accord between guerillas and the government 13 years ago. The treaty recognizes the inhabitants of hill forest as indigenous communities, acknowledges its traditional governance system and established regional autonomy. However, the constitution does not acknowledge them as Adivasis.

The matter of recognition of the indigenous people came to the fore recently following denial by a Bangladesh diplomat in the United Nations that there were no indigenous people in the country.

The statement has been construed as another step by the government to further erode the already limited rights of indigenous people.

Since Bangladesh gained independence four decades ago, the 35 ethnic groups that represent nearly 2 percent of the total 158 million majoritarian Sunni Muslims have demanded to be recognized as indigenous communities.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Despite rise of food price in Bangladesh, poverty has reduced slightly

Photo: Julian Francis/Millions of rural poor were empowered, mostly women folks

SALEEM SAMAD

THE POOR communities in Bangladesh described their eating habits have changed and forgotten the taste of red meat or even lentils. The kitchens, traditionally dominated by women have pieces of chicken and fish species which they never have previously considered to eat.

Despite rise of price of food in Bangladesh increased in first half of 2011, the poverty has surprisingly reduced slightly, a Oxfam survey claims.

The report “Living on a Spike: How is the 2011 Food Price Crisis Affecting Poor People?” said the price hike of 2011 is affecting the poorest most, but it has been generally adverse on the wider society.

While food inflation reached 10 percent, according to the study released on Wednesday, Bangladesh depends on the international market for additional food imports, and changes in global prices are expected to have a local impact.

Bangladesh, a nation of 158 million has reduced poverty levels and improved living standards significantly in recent years despite global economic meltdown and natural calamities, the report said.

The study was designed to explore how poor people experienced the food price hike of 2011 in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya and Zambia. It follows on from research in the same communities in 2009 and 2010.

On the other side, the national poverty headcount rate declined in Bangladesh to 31.5 percent in 2010 from 40 percent in 2005, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic and the World Bank jointly study launched on Wednesday.

The new survey report revealed that rural poverty declined to 35.2 percent in 2010 from 43.8 percent in 2005, while urban poverty has fallen to 21.3 percent from 28.5 percent in the same period.

Economist Wahid Uddin Mahmud said the poverty rate was 50 percent in 1990 and it came down to 45 percent in 2000 and 40 percent in 2005. The poverty rate has declined by eight percent in last five years, writes private United News of Bangladesh.

He said the poverty has been decreasing gradually in the country keeping pace with the increasing growth of per head national income.

The poorest and most vulnerable try to cope by working harder, eating less, living even more frugally, drawing down any resources and assets and managing on a day-to-day basis, the report said.

Small farmers do not always benefit from high food prices as is supposed, as many sell their outputs at low prices immediately after he harvest to repay loans taken for cultivation; many people believe instead that an increasing number of middlemen and large traders cream off the main profits from high rice prices.

However, the communities under study held the government responsible for failure to protect them against food price spikes.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh dramatic shift from secularism to Islamic constitution

Photo: Secularist campaign for trail of war criminals

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH ON Monday night decided to make a radical shift from secularism to a pro-Islamic constitution. The move angered pro-democracy, secularist activists and also surprised the nation's moderate Muslim population.

An amendment of the constitution will be brought soon to retain Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim (in the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful) in the preamble of the constitution, freewheel policy to religious biased politicking and Islam as state religion.

A meeting of the cabinet ministers chaired by Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina on Monday approved the amendments to the constitution. The constitutional reforms committee worked for months to recommend several revisions.

Meanwhile, the opposition led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia and Islamist alliance partners launched a countrywide agitation, including strikes protesting abrogation of non-partisan interim government to ensure free, fair, credible polls in the reformed constitution. They fear that the forthcoming general elections due in 2014 could be rigged based on proven track records of ruling party.

Two senior ministers AMA Muhith and AK Khandaker expressed their discontent during a cabinet meeting and protested the inclusion of “Islam as the state religion” of the republic in the reformed constitution. They argued that it will be in conflict with the constitution of 1972 ensuring the state should be secular with equal rights to all citizens practising other religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.

Commenting on the ministers’ argument, Hasina remarked, “The committee report has been prepared in this regard on the basis of reality as there have been many changes in the past 40 years.”

Secularists argue that state cannot belong to a faith, instead human beings may have a religion or practice a faith.

A year after the bloody war of independence from Islamic Pakistan in 1971, Bangladesh (formerly an eastern province of Pakistan) adopted a secular constitution. Despite being the fourth largest Sunni Muslim dominated population, the country banned political activities of Islamic parties.

The 1972 secular constitution guaranteed religious freedom and respect of all faiths was installed by independence leader Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, the father of present prime minister Hasina. Subsequently the military juntas ruled the country for 15 years doctored the constitution, encouraging Islamization of Bangladesh.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Gas deal with American energy giant sparks protest in Bangladesh

Photo: Ashraful Alom Tito/UNBconnect: Activists protest against gas exploration deal

SALEEM SAMAD

A CRUCIAL pact between the Bangladesh government and U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips for deep sea gas exploration has sparked a dispute in the country as activists and allies announced a strike to protest the deal.

The radical activist group the National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, with allies of the left-leaning parties, has dubbed the deal as controversial and against the national interest.

Professor Anu Mohammad, general secretary of the national committee, announced on Sunday a country-wide agitation and a six-hour shut down in the capital Dhaka on July 3 and demanded cancelation of the deal.

A professor of economics, Mohammad told reporters that his organization called a country wide shut-down because the agreement with ConocoPhillips endangered Bangladesh's ownership of maritime resources.

Mohammad claimed the provisions of the deal allowed Bangladesh to have only 20 per cent share of the explored hydrocarbon and eventually pave the way for the U.S. company "having a very poor track record" to export the gas abroad despite the energy-starved country.

The strike call came as the main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, demanded publication of the full text of the agreement so the deal could be studied.

The government, ignoring dissent within the ruling party alliance and protests by experts, on Thursday inked the production-sharing contract (PSC) for gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal despite an ownership dispute over the territory with neighboring India and Myanmar.

ConocoPhillips was chosen to conduct seismic surveys in blocks 10 and 11, an area of nearly 2,000 square miles.

According to the PSC, ConocoPhillips will get 80 to 85 percent of the lifted gas at the cost-recovery stage. The Texas-based company will ensure a bank guarantee of $160 million in the nine-year deal, with a condition to operate surveys and exploration.

The gas, converted into Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), could be exported if state-owned hydrocarbon corporation Petrobangla is unable to purchase the fuel through laying 174 miles (280 kms) of pipeline away from Chittagong port, the country's energy distribution hub.

Bangladesh will have to lay pipe nearly a mile under the sea in an area regularly visited by tidal surge. Experts argue that laying the pipe, coupled with maintenance costs, will be very expensive for a poor country.

Meanwhile, the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a business body urged activists to call off the strike. The business leaders reiterated its previous stand on shutdowns, saying such political action aggravates the country's economy, especially the industrialization process for shortages of gas and energy.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Despite protests, Bangladesh inks contract with U.S. energy giant for offshore hydrocarbon exploration

SALEEM SAMAD

THE GOVERNMENT of Bangladesh, an energy starved country, inked a contract on Thursday with a U.S. energy giant for offshore oil and gas exploration.

Ignoring protests, state-owned PetroBangla signed a production-sharing contract (PSC) with Conoco Phillips, an U.S. corporation for exploration of oil and gas in two deep-sea gas blocks.

Vice-president William Lafferrandre said his corporation, Conoco Phillips, will immediately begin exploration within Bangladesh’s maritime boundary. The agreement is for nine years.

Conoco Phillips is the world’s fifth-largest private sector energy corporation and is one of the six "super major" vertically integrated oil companies.

Controversy has raged with Burma and India over territorial ocean boundaries. The Burmese military junta has sent warships to threaten Bangladesh not to attempt to explore for energy resources within disputed territory in the Bay of Bengal.

Conoco Phillips is barred from exploring nearly half of the two blocks, said a PetroBangla official.

Bangladesh is awaiting judgment from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to settle the claims over the disputed waters.

The country currently produces around 2,000 million cubic feet (mmcft) of gas per day against a demand of more than 2,500 mmcft. The proven gas reserves are 7.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and probable reserves 5.5 tcf.

A citizen’s network called the Committee to Protect Oil-Gas and Mineral Resources, with allies drawn from leftist parties, workers, environmentalists and professionals staged a demonstration and clashed with riot police on Tuesday protesting that the contract would hamper national interests.

Prof Anu Mohammad, leader of the citizen’s network argue that the deal with Texas based corporation would lose ownership of the blocks once the contract was signed, which is nearly 150 miles away from the coast. It which would be suicidal for the nation, observed the economic professor of a state university.

Senior government officials, however, said that Conoco Phillips will not be allowed to export gas unless the country refuses to buy its gas under the contract.

Professional and academics claim the U.S. corporation will have the authority to export 80 percent of the gas, and PetroBangla will acquire the rest, which will have to be carried to the shore at its own cost, a costly proposition for Bangladesh.

PetroBangla chairman Hossain Mansur explained to website bdnews24.com on Wednesday that there is nothing against the country's interests in the contract.

The controversy further deepened after whistleblower site Wikileaks revealed that U.S. Ambassador John F. Moriarty in 2010 pressured the Bangladesh prime minister's energy advisor to award the contracts to Conoco Phillips, Halliburton and another American company.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh police block energy activists demo against U.S firm

SALEEM SAMAD

RIOT POLICE armed with shot guns, tear gas shells and wearing flak jackets foiled a protest march organized by energy activists on Tuesday against government’s plan to sign offshore contracts with an U.S. energy giant.

At least 20 activists of the Committee to Protect Oil-Gas and Mineral Resources were injured when riot police clubbed protesters with batons.

Despite the violent protest, the state-owned hydrocarbon corporation PetroBangla is set to ink on Thursday a deal with ConocoPhillips, an international company to award two deep sea oil-gas exploration blocks in the Bay of Bengal, intermittently visited by tidal surge and cyclones.

Critiquing the government the protesters were joined by socialist political parties and workers organizations sporting red flags, placards and banners demanded transparency and access to information of the deal.

Lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon, leader of Workers Party urged the government in the parliament on Monday not to sign the deal, and to discuss the issue in parliament.

Professor Anu Mohammad, leader of the energy activists group addressing the gathering said the proposed deal would be suicidal for the country.

It is contradictory that the government plans to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and on the other, it is allowing gas export through U.S. energy giants, says Mohammad also an university economics teacher.

According to the committee, the deal would go against the national interest since the Houston, Texas based company will be allowed to retain 80 percent of the gas from the blocks.

The energy activists argue that transporting the remaining 20 percent gas to the shore from the deep sea would not be economically viable.

The deal demands that the US firm will have to lay pipeline from the blocks to shallow sea gas field Sangu, from where PetroBangla will draw gas. The contractor will be allowed to have gas for the cost of pipeline as cost-recovery.

ConocoPhillips won these blocks in 2008, but could not sign the contract with state-run PetroBangla as these blocks were also claimed by India and Myanmar.

The agreement prohibits the American company from exploring the areas of the blocks claimed by Myanmar or India. ConocoPhillips will invest about $111 million and has offered a bank guarantee of the same amount for the two blocks.

Bangladesh has been experiencing severe gas crunch, which prompted the government to shelve production in a number of fertilizer factories, suspend operation of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations refueling vehicles. The government also introduced rationing of gas supply to industries.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Opposition strike paralyze Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

OPPOSITION AND allies have warned of fresh political action against the intimidation, harassment and arrest of 500 activists including scores of senior leaders.

Nearly a dozen commuter buses were torched and sporadic running battle with riot police armed with short guns and tear gas shells during the 36-hour countrywide shut down on Sunday and Monday, disrupting normal life and business.

The two-day marathon strike called by opposition Bangladesh Nationalists Party (BNP) and its ally Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami in a desperate bid to halt government’s move to scrap general elections under neutral caretaker government, when the superior court last month has declared such system as illegal. The opposition fears that the ruling party would rig the election scheduled to be held in 2013.

The government’s move to abolish the caretaker-government system through a radical constitutional amendment is underway, an official confirmed.

The authorities jailed at least 116 people on charges of rampaging and torching buses and disrupting public life, police said. Police has released most of the senior leaders, especially parliament members after nightfall on Monday.

Protesting the arrests, opposition Chief Whip Jainul Abedin Farooque said the authority requires to seek permission from the speaker of the parliament, if they need to arrest any parliamentarian while the parliament is on session. But, police failed to confirm that they took permission from the speaker about the arrest.

For the first time in 40 years, mobile courts manned by magistrates sentenced more than a 100 people, most of them opposition activists, to jail terms ranging from one month to three months in summary trials on the during the strike.

The BNP leader sternly condemned the ruling Awami League for what they said taking recourse to illegal means, for meting out repression to political opponents

Opposition secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Monday that they remained besieged in their central office in capital Dhaka for a second day.

Meanwhile rights groups came down heavily on the government and expressed their concern over human rights abuses and indiscriminate arrest and punishment of pro-strike activists by mobile courts.

Rights group leader Sultana Kamal of Ain O Salish Kendra, Sultana Kamal argued that most people detained and punished were innocent. Another legal expert dubbed the judgment as extra-constitutional.

However, interior minister Sahara Khatoon echoed with the law enforcement agencies for summary trial of street hooliganism during political action.

The export industries body, traders association and business leaders have separately condemned the opposition call for countrywide strike, which seriously hampers production and economic losses.

Surprisingly, the stock indexes gained 228.44 points or 4.02 percent to 5904.73 as trading on the second day of the week closed amid a 36-hour shutdown.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh unveils budget with high on defense, low on farm spending

Photo: Women garments workers demands rights

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladesh, the world’s poorest Muslim majority country reveals a $22-billion deficit budget, which is high on defense expenditure and low in farm spending.

The overall agriculture budget decreased over 12 percent while that for defense increased almost 29 percent, which is incidentally the largest rise among all major sectors.

Instead of investing in human development and infrastructure, the nation of 158 million, most of that money will likely go towards increasing Bangladesh's military firepower and salaries of defense personnel.

Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith calls for higher allocation in the energy and farming sectors to perk up economic growth.

The government targets revenue income at $16.01 billion in the coming fiscal year, from nearly $13 billion in the current fiscal year.

In a move to end a serious of power outage, the power production saw an increase of almost 20 percent as the finance minister outlined a plan to increase power generation by almost three times adding 7,800 megawatts to the national grid by 2013, write news portal bdnews24.

The minister set a 7.0 percent growth target for the gross domestic product (GDP) starting on July 1.

The budget holds down the rising inflation, principally blamed on price spirals and depreciation of the local currency, he explained.

Economic think-tank Unnayan Onneshan in a quick assessment on Thursday said the government might face extraordinary challenge to reach the growth target as quoted in the budget document of fiscal 20111-12 due to lack of supporting base in the overall economy of Bangladesh.

The budget was placed in the parliament on Thursday amidst boycott of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalists Party.

The fiscal space squeeze and IMF condition for accessing one billion dollar loan to Bangladesh might also pave the way for increasing different type of inequality; such as geographical inequality, income inequality and social inequality in the country, the think-tank said.

Finance Minister almost echoed with the think-tank and said that the next fiscal year would be challenging for the economy. "Recovery from the recession and political instability pose a great risk for the economy and we're going to form a taskforce to deal with it," he told journalist on Friday.

He does not hesitate to blame that the economy has fallen into trouble after recovery from recession due to commodity crisis and in Bangladesh political stability rubs salt to the injuries.

The anti-tobacco lobby expressed mixed reaction, when the government increased tax to 42.5 percent to discourage smoking. The activists were expecting strict economic restrictions of the tobacco growers.

Bank stocks went up Wednesday and Thursday riding largely on report that corporate tax will go down to 40 per cent for commercial banks.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

United States urged to resolve Burmese refugees in Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH FORMALLY requested United States to exert diplomatic pressure on Burma to repatriate thousands of ethnic Muslim Rohingya languishing in refugee camps in the country for decades, a breeding ground of Islamic extremism and human trafficking.

Food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzaque briefed journalists on Thursday after a holding crucial meeting in the capital Dhaka with the visiting U.S. assistant secretary of state for population, refugee and migration Eric Schwartz.

Dhaka requests Washington to open consultation with Burma (now Myanmar) for the repatriation of some 300,000 documented and undocumented Rohingya refugees living in untold miseries.

The Burmese Muslims are housed in three camps near Cox’s Bazaar, the sea beach resort bordering Burma in the south-east. The camps are run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees with support from international aid agencies.

Schwartz categorically told Bangladesh authority that the solution to the repartition of Rohingya refugees lies primarily with Bangladesh to encourage Burma for voluntary repartition of the refugees.

Bangladesh minister instead insists that U.S. should exert pressure on Burmese military junta for the repartition of the refugee. “We are already socially and economically burdened after hosting these refugees on humanitarian ground for so many years,” Razzaque told reporters.

The visiting U.S. assistant secretary of state requested Bangladesh authorities to register the undocumented refugees since the stateless people have been living in an inhuman condition too.

He said that the refugees living here is a political headache for the region, as well as for United States in the war against terrorism. The undocumented Rohingya refugee’s is a breeding ground for recruits for the Islamic terror network.

He assured that unless there is a change of military junta towards a political solution in Burma, the United States will continue to support Bangladesh for sheltering the Rohingya refugees.

Schwartz expressed concern over scanty food ration, inadequate shelter and poor healthcare facilities for the refugees who started entering Bangladesh since 1991 when Burma military junta drove away the ethnic Muslims from the southern Rakhaine state of Burma.

Recognizing the issue as a humanitarian disaster, Schwartz said the regime in Burma systematically denies human rights and human freedom of the Rohingya and also of pro-democracy Burmese.

An estimated 236,000 out of over 250,000 Rohingya refugees have returned to Burma in early 1990s, but persistent political persecution in their country have forced them again to take shelter in neighboring Bangladesh.

The process for refugee repatriation was halted for years because of the reluctance of military authority in Myanmar.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh opposition calls shutdown, demands to keep caretaker system

SALEEM SAMAD

THE OPPOSITION called for countrywide dawn to dusk strike on Sunday to protest the government’s decision to discard the non-partisan interim government system to oversee the general election.

The world’s only country, Bangladesh, where the caretaker government system is embodied in the state constitution to ensure a free, fair, neutral and acceptable general election in 90 days.

Mainstream opposition Bangladesh Nationalists Party’s acting secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the shutdown at a press conference on Wednesday. Rejecting the government’s decision, the fiery leader declared the strike schedule to undo the decision, writes wire service United News of Bangladesh.

The opposition threatened the government not to participate in upcoming general elections, scheduled in end 2013, if the provision was scrapped.

It is the fifth general strike since the current Awami League-led government came to power early Jan. 2009.

He said only four weeks ago the prime minister herself spoke in favor of caretaker government during her meeting with the parliamentary special committee to study constitutional amendment.

The supreme court on May 10 repealed the 13th Amendment to the constitution that introduced the controversial caretaker government in 1996. The government argues that there is no room for the neutral government to hold the election, while the section should be deleted immediately.

Opposition fears that the government would manipulate administrative power, which would thwart a free, fair and acceptable election.

In 1996, Shiekh Hasina led Awami League and her alliance launched week-long bloody political riot, which forced the government to accept the concept of caretaker government.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh likely to make u-turn from secularism to Islamic hegemony

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH, A Sunni Muslim majority country in a dramatic u-turn from secularism will adopt Islam as state religion and allow religion-based political parties to function.

Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday has expressed herself in favor of retaining Islam as the state religion, moving away from the secular provisions in the constitution that were incorporated when country gained independence in 1971, writes Indo Asian News Service.

The poorest nation of 150 million is the world’s third largest Muslim country. While Hindus is nine percent and rest are Buddhists and Christians. For centuries the minority religious communities faced persecution. The worst political-genocide bled the nation when India and Pakistan partitioned in 1947, triggering mass migration of Hindus to neighboring India and Muslims into Pakistan.

Pro-secularist advocates argue that the rural population and urban middle-class are largely moderate Muslim and practices tolerant Sufi Islamic philosophy. The moderate Muslims will be tormented by the Islamist political groups, which have an upper hand in state polity.

The rights groups and the independent press vigorously debated the summersault of the ruling Awami League, which is champion of secular politics for decades.

After a bloody war of Bangladesh independence from Islamic Pakistan, the new nation adopted secularism and enshrined in the constitution drafted under the founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, incidentally father of Hasina, the prime minister.

Subsequent military juntas’ after Rahman was assassinated in August 1975 doctored the constitution and incorporated religious expressions between 1975 and 1990.

Critics argue that such decision tantamount to defiance of the highest court’s landmark judgment in July last year. The court asked the government to restore the principles of secularism in the constitution.

Taking a new departure from the 1972 constitution, Hasina said that the Arabic phrase Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim will remain above the preamble of the constitution ‘Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim’ or In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

Sheikh Hasina told a special parliamentary committee formed to study amendment in the constitution in the light of supreme court verdicts that she would also like to see religion-based political parties to function.

Earlier, Hasina stated in the parliament that her government would keep Islam as the state religion, ignoring the emotions of the overwhelming secular population. However, her aides explained that the ethos of the majority of the population could not be tampered.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh plans to reduce poverty by half

Photo: Koranic schools run on state coffer

SALEEM SAMAD

THE WORLD'S poorest country, Bangladesh envisions alleviating poverty by half and dramatically increased human development budget by 28 percent.

Planning minister A.K. Khandaker told journalists on Sunday that beginning July 1 government will invest in health services, education and infrastructure development. While power, energy and transport sectors received top priority, independence war veteran Khandaker said.

After years of under-investment in the power generation, the impoverished nation of 150 million has a daily shortfall of 2,000 megawatts, with rolling blackouts hitting the private sector, particularly manufacturing, hard.

The National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by prime minister Shiekh Hasina on Sunday has approved a 460 billion taka ($6.3 billion), of which 251.8 billion Taka, or 55 percent, will be its own money, which aimed at accelerating development activities, writes state-run news service Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.

The remaining 41 percent or USD 2.54 billion will be from development partners as foreign aid, Khandaker briefed journalists after the meeting.

The World Banks says Bangladesh needs annual economic growth of 8.0 percent to achieve its goal of becoming a middle income country by 2021.

Nearly 13 percent has been budgeted for free primary schools and subsidies for controversial Koranic schools, while much talked about rural development and rural institutions have received nine per cent and 8.57 per cent for health, nutrition, population and family welfare.

The government after several hiccups finally approved a national health policy on Monday to keep pace with visible success in reaching the health-for-all goal.

Opposition and economist are critical of the government, regarding the slow and non-implementation of scores of development projects. The planning minister had no explanation to this widespread criticism, but said steps have taken to vigorously monitor the performance of the projects.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Yunus laments Bangladesh prime minister was badly advised

SALEEM SAMAD

NOBEL LAUREATE Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder and former chief of microfinance bank Grameen Bank, lamented that the Bangladesh prime minister was wrong to criticize him.

In an interview with the BBC's Lesley Curwen broadcast on Wednesday, Yunus said he was forced to stand down last month. He said prime minister Sheikh Hasina had only done so because she had been "badly advised".

Yunus for the first time spoke to news media, since he was forced out of Grameen Bank following a brief spell of legal battle.

Microcredit guru, Yunus was charged with allegation of siphoning money from Grameen Bank, prime minister Hasina on Dec. 5 last year told journalists that he was sucking blood of the poor, writes wire service bdnews24.com.

Hasina, criticizing Yunus, said "there is no difference between a person who enjoys taking interest on money and one who takes bribe".

The pioneer of microfinance contested the prime minister’s observation that bank of the poor failed to play its role to eradicate poverty.

An estimated ten million rural women, beneficiaries of modest loans from the Grameen Bank were empowered and have broken the threshold of poverty. Tormented by the Islamist in the villages, these rural women voted a secular and democratic party to power, which is led by current prime minister Shiekh Hasina.

Meanwhile, Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, a former president of the Bangladesh Economic Association on Thursday said he believes it is difficult to overcome poverty through traditional ‘recovery-based’ micro lending activities. ‘Microcredit alone cannot bring in changes,’ he stressed.

Dr. Ahmad, chairman of a the World Bank supported microcredit funding agency Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) told English daily New Age that that introduction by the Microcredit Regulatory Authority certain conditionality for microfinance operations from June will streamline microcredit operations to some extent.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh let international company to sell natural gas to private sector

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH FOR the first time allowed an Australian energy company to sell gas to the private entrepreneurs within the country, amidst widespread criticism by social justice activists.

The state-owned energy exploration company Petrobangla, after protracted delays signed on Monday a gas purchase and sales agreement (GPSA) with international oil company Santos Limited.

The gas demand in Chittagong port and industrial city in south Bangladesh is 420-430 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) against gas supply from possible sources reduced from 280 to 240 MMCFD.

Santos can now provide directly to gas starved Chittagong market to sell its share of natural gas to willing downstream consumers.

Petrobangla was scheduled to sign the GPSA in July last year, but it was delayed as the government Energy and Mineral Resources Division failed to take decision and finalize official formalities in time.

Petrobangla Chairman Prof. Hossain Monsur told reporters that the industrial production and commercial activities in Chittagong was facing serious crisis due to gas supply shortage, adding that he was hopeful about resolving the gas crisis in Chittagong by 2012 with support from the international oil companies, writes English daily The Sun.

Under the amendment to GPSA will allow gas starved industries in Chittagong. The export processing zones (EPZ) in Chittagong and a Japanese fertilizer factory have expressed to negotiate gas purchase directly from Santos, source said.

John Chambers, President of Santos Sangu Field Limited told English daily The Sun that he has received proactive responses from businesspersons in Chittagong who have already invested millions of dollars in infrastructure sector. But could not begin operation of their industrial productions due to gas crisis.

Entrepreneurs and investors in Chittagong demands primary fuel at any price to accelerate economic growth, Santos executive said.

Last year Santos acquired U.S, energy giant Cairn Energy Sangu Field Limited, which entered into Bangladesh in 1993. There is another stake of Sangu field which belongs to multinational company Halliburton.

Santos has plans to invest $120 million for the wells, drilling and connecting to national gas grid and complete in two years, 2012.

Economics Professor Anu Muhammad and activist of National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Port and Power said the bureaucrats in connivance with politicians were bent on giving away production sharing contracts to international energy giants. Whereas, the state-owned BAPEX was competent for oil and gas exploration, as they have demonstrated their skills, observed the activist.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh poised to offer Nobel laureate Yunus a position in the bank he founded

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH GOVERNMENT is contemplating to propose Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus a respectable position in the bank he founded, possibly after series of global uproar.Hours after Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus announced his resignation from the Grameen Bank as managing director on Thursday, government is considering to offer him an honorable position.

Microfinance pioneer Yunus announced Thursday his 'resignation' from the bank he founded as managing director, after two and a half months when he was forcibly removed by the central bank.

Last month, the United States and France exerted diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh to negotiate an honorable exit for Prof. Yunus. Robert O. Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs threatened the Yunus issue will cause dent in US-Bangladesh relationship.

Finance minister A M A Muhith told BBC Bangla Service radio on Friday night that government is considering to offer Prof Yunus the position of emeritus member of the bank in recognition of his contribution to the institution.

He did not elaborate the roles and responsibilities of an emeritus member. But said, if necessary the Grameen Bank ordinance will be amended to have the new position in the bank.

Nevertheless, the minister said Yunus is a pride of the nation and the government wants to ensure a respectable departure for him.

In a letter of the central bank on Mar. 2 Yunus, 70, had no legal authority to act as the micro-lender's managing director, and alleged that its board had not obtained the central bank's sanction to re-appoint him beyond the bank's official retirement age, reports news portal bdnews24.com.

Yunus is confident and said that his resignation would not interrupt the operation of Grameen Bank. He believes that the eight million beneficiaries of the bank, mostly rural poor women will not be subjected to any difficulty.

Earlier Bangladesh finance minister A M A Muhith announced that deputy managing director Nurjahan Begum will be the stand-in managing director until the position is filled in by the board.

The Nobel laureate echoed Muhith’s statement, adding that Nurjahan would hold charge until a managing director is appointed in accordance with the Grameen Bank ordinance.

The government, however have rejected the Grameen Bank employees demand for making Prof Yunus chairman of the microfinance institution.

Yunus resignation announcement follows his losing a series of determined court battle against his 'removal' as the micro-lender's managing director for flouting rules when he was reappointed in 1999.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh anti-crime unit kills with impunity, despite promise to curb extra-judicial killings

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladesh despite broken promises to curb the elite anti-crime unit has ignored to hold the organization responsible for extra-judicial killings, torture, abduction, and other abuses.

New York based Human Rights Watch on Monday blamed the elite anti-crime unit for an estimated 600 extra-judicial killings since March 2004 it was formed and dubbed Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) as a death squad.

The 53-page report “Crossfire”: Continued Human Rights Abuses by Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion," documents abuses by RAB in and around the capital, under the current Awami League-led government. Nearly 200 people have been killed alone during RAB so-called anti-crime operations since January 6, 2009, when the government assumed office.

At a news conference in capital Dhaka, Brad Adam, Asia director at HRW advise the Bangladesh authority to make major steps towards RAB accountable and reform in the next six months or disbanded it.

He urged United States, Britain and Australia to immediately withdraw assistance and cooperation unless dramatic improvements of RAB’s behavior and attitude. Responding the question of reporters, Adam argued that the victims of extra-judicial deaths none were terrorists.

Although the government has made numerous commitments to end the killings and to punish perpetrators, no RAB officer or official has ever been prosecuted for a "crossfire" killing or other human rights abuse. "Crossfire" is a blanket term used to justify most of the unit's killings.

RAB kills with impunity, even when the detained person is in custody, Adams concluded. [ENDS]

Nobel laureate Yunus says his removal was politically-influenced

SALEEM SAMAD

DESPITE THE supreme court had upheld Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus removal from the position of managing director of Grameen Bank by the central bank he is apparently not prepared to give in.

It’s unusual of pioneer of banking for the poor to break his silence, he made a press statement on Saturday. In a written statement, he explained why he appealed to the higher court seeking cancellation of the central bank’s order removing him from his position in the bank he founded, writes news portal bdnews24.com.

Yunus debated that some dubbed Grameen Bank he founded is a non-governmental organization. In reality, Grameen Bank is not a government owned bank, nor is it a NGO. Micro-lender Grameen Bank is a non-formal bank owned by the poor people, created by a special law. The microcredit guru explained that he must ensure that the achievements of the last forty years are not lost.

"I went to the court for specific reasons," he said. He thought it was a right decision to appeal the judgment of the higher court as the central bank gave him little room to explain his position before issuing the termination letter. The letter mentioned that Yunus held the position for the last eleven years illegally.

The statement reads, "I felt that this letter was not legally correct, and through this letter, not only was I wronged, but so was Grameen Bank. Nine elected members of the Board of Directors of Grameen Bank also felt the same.

"That is why the nine members of the Board and I filed separate writs in the High Court. We wanted these wrongs to be corrected. Therefore, we had to seek justice through all avenues offered in the Bangladeshi judicial system."

Yunus and the nine directors filed separate petitions challenging the legality of his removal, but the higher court in its verdict on Mar. 8 dismissed the petitions.

The central bank on Mar. 2 removed the Nobel laureate as the managing director for allegedly flouting rules when he was reappointed in 1999.

It said Yunus, 70, had no legal authority to act as the managing director, since its Board had not obtained the Bangladesh Bank's sanction to re-appoint him beyond the bank's official retirement age.

Yunus' legal team argued that Grameen Bank had been given special status and it was exempt from the rule.

The fate of 40 million poor people are connected to this debacle, he argued. The importance is to save the future of Grameen Bank and also to protect the hopes and dreams of the over 8 million borrowers. These borrowers are also the owners of 96.5 percent of the bank’s shares.

Yunus doubts whether there is a growing doubt as to whether any civil society effort can survive and retain its character and independence in this politically-influenced environment.

People have the impression that the interest rates on loans from Grameen Bank are very high. This is not true, which Yunus disputes. The interest rates on the bank loans are the lowest in the Bangladesh’s microfinance sector. The highest interest rate is 20 percent, on a declining basis and all of our interest rates are simple interest, says Review Committee’s Report.

Forty years ago, 85 percent of the population of our country was below the poverty line. Today, Yunus boast’s that 32 percent of the Bangladesh population is below the poverty line. In the next 20 years, is it impossible for us to raise this remaining 32 percent of our population above the poverty line?

Bangladesh became a role model for the developing world through the actions of its civil society, and the success of these actions. This catapulted Bangladesh into global attention, Yunus concluded.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes in Jihad, forced migration, good governance and politics. He has recently returned from exile after living in Canada for six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com