E-Bangladesh

Video. Reuters.

[Mashuqur Rahman, USA.]

Bangladesh has its own illegal immigration problem. The country plays host to approximately 200,000 refugees from the bordering country of Burma. Unofficial estimates, however, put the number at 800,000. The refugees belong to the Rohingya minority, a persecuted Muslim population who are being methodically ethnically cleansed by Burma’s ruling military junta. They live in Bangladesh under desperate conditions, battling for scarce jobs and resources in the already desperately poor south eastern region of Bangladesh. It is just one of the silent tragedies of the forgotten people of Burma.

Burma, or Myanmar as the ruling military junta would like to be called, is one of the most brutally repressed countries in the world. It has been under military rule since 1962. An impoverished country of 50 million people, Burma boasts an army of over 400,000 active personnel. It’s yearly military budget stands at an estimated 7 billion dollars and is greater than Pakistan, Iran and North Korea. Burma has the 12th largest standing military in the world and spends an astounding 19% of its annual gross domestic product on the military. While the junta leaders live in luxury the rest of the population lives on less than $1 a day. Burma is the most corrupt nation on Earth.

The Burmese military is at war with its own people. It is so fearful of its own people that it has moved the capital of the country. In 2005 the military junta built a new capital, Naypyidaw, about 320 kilometers north of the former capital, and Burma’s largest city, of Rangoon. Naypyidaw is secretive and under tight seal. Cell phone networks do not work there and the civil servants are housed in military built apartments while the junta live in luxury villas. Pictures of Naypyidaw are hard to come by.

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[Dhaka Correspondent] The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court Sunday refused to extend the time period of the status quo over the proceedings of the MiG-29 corruption case against detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Seven-member full court of the Appellate Division, headed by chief justice M Ruhul Amin, gave the ruling paving the way for the trial court to resume the long-pending proceedings of the case, deputy attorney general Abdur Rauf Miah told newsmen.

Hasina’s counsel Shafique Ahmed, however, told reporters, “We will file a petition before the Appellate Division seeking stay of the proceedings if the trial court restarts it.” They will also file a regular petition with the Appellate Division seeking permission to appeal against the High Court verdict, he said.

Earlier, on September 10, the Appellate Division ordered maintaining status quo till September 30 over a High Court verdict that rejected Hasina’s petition for quashing the MiG-29 graft case against her. Hasina’s counsels filed a petition Sunday seeking extension of the time period of the status quo.

Moving the petition, Shafique told the court that Hasina would file a regular petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court verdict and the status quo should be maintained till hearing of the petition. The petition will be filed immediately after the certified copy of the verdict is available, he said.

“What is status quo in a criminal case? It appears to be quite a new thing,” the court observed.

Shafique replied, “We sought stay of the High Court order and the chamber judge ordered the authorities to maintain status quo over the matter.”

“No order will be passed extending the time period of the status quo,” said the court.

The High Court bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ataur Rahman Khan on September 6 delivered the verdict rejecting the petitions filed by Hasina and five other co-accused for quashing the MiG-29 graft case. The verdict paved the way for the trial court to go ahead with the proceedings of the case, which has remained suspended since March 12, 2003, when the High Court stayed the proceeding upon Hasina’s plea for quashing the case.

Hasina, now detained and facing a series of cases, was the prime minister when eight Russian MiG-29 fighter planes were procured for the Bangladesh Air Force on February 9, 1999.

Abdullah Al Zahid, deputy director of the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption, filed the case with the Tejgaon police on December 11, 2001 against Hasina and six others, accusing them of corrupt practices in purchasing the war-planes, which, the case mentioned, caused the state exchequer a loss of Taka 720 crore.

Charges were pressed against Hasina, former army chief Mostafizur Rahman, former air force chief Jamaluddin Ahmed, former defence secretary Syed Yousuf Hossain, former air force officer Mirza Akhter Maruf, former joint secretary to the defence ministry, Mohammad Hossain Serniabat and businessman Noor Ali on January 29, 2003.

[Dhaka Correspondent] The High Court Sunday stayed the proceedings of the GATCO scam case against former prime minister Khaleda Zia and her younger son, Arafat Rahman, under the Emergency Powers Rules. The High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury granted bail to Khaleda in the case. The court, however, did not grant bail to Arafat.

Hearing writ petitions, the court also ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission and the chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka to explain in six weeks the legality of bringing the case under the Emergency Powers Rules. The government is likely to prefer an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the High Court orders, said sources in the attorney general’s office.

The commission’s deputy director, Golam Shahriar Chowdhury, filed the corruption case on September 2 with the Tejgaon police against 13 people, including Khaleda and Arafat, on charge of awarding a contract to “an incompetent and unfit firm, GATCO,” to handle containers at the Inland Container Depot in Dhaka and at Chittagong port in exchange of bribe. Police arrested Khaleda and Arafat the next day.

Khaleda and Arafat filed two writ petitions challenging the legality of the commission’s move of bringing the case under the ambit of the Emergency Powers Rules. Pleading for them, their counsel Rafique-ul Huq told the court that the case was brought under the Emergency Powers Rules in violation of the constitution and law.

Article 35 of the constitution stipulates, “No person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence, nor be subjected to a penalty greater than, or different from, that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence.”

Referring to the constitutional provision, the counsel argued, “As the alleged offence was committed between 2003 and 2006, much earlier than the enforcement of the Emergency Powers Rules and the Emergency Powers Ordinance, the case cannot be brought under the Emergency Powers Rules.”

He also challenged the authority of the commission secretary of allowing the case to be brought under the Emergency Powers Rules. According to the rules, only the government has the power to give the sanction, he argued. Rafique-ul Huq with Nasiruddin Ashim and Ruhul Quddus Kajal moved the case for Khaleda and Arafat. Deputy attorney general Syeda Afsar Zahan was present during the hearing.

[Dhaka Correspondent] Awami League and Workers Party of Bangladesh have decided to oppose the Election Commission’s proposal for its empowerment to punish people on charge of contempt. In the dialogs with the commission on electoral reforms, they will also demand that the political party registration process be simplified and no parties based on religion be registered.

Leaders of both the parties at a Saturday meeting at the Dhaka residence of the acting Awami League president, Zillur Rahman, also decided to place identical proposals on electoral reforms at the dialogs with the Election Commission in line with the 31-point reforms proposals of the Awami League-led alliance.

They also decided to oppose the “irrelevant and illogical” provisions on controlling political parties the commission proposed in its draft reforms of electoral laws. Awami League, earlier, decided to hold meetings with the AL-led alliance components to mobilize support for placing identical proposals at the talks with the commission.

Awami League sat with the Workers Party Saturday, beginning the meetings with the alliance components. “We have decided to place identical proposals during the dialog with the Election Commission based on the 31-point reforms proposals earlier announced by the AL-led alliance,” Awami League presidium member Tofail Ahmed told newsmen at a briefing on the meeting.

He said although the commission included a number of provisions of the 13-point proposals of the AL-led alliance, it included some provisions to control politics and such provisions would be opposed in the dialog.

“We will take up the issue of the registration process for political parties and will demand simplification of the process,” Tofail said.

Workers Party president, Rashed Khan Menon, said the alliance components should place identical proposals, opposing the commission’s efforts to control political party activities.

“Election Commission included a provision proposing its empowerment to punish a person on charge of its contempt as enjoyed by the High Court and this cannot be accepted,” Menon told reporters, saying there is no such provision anywhere in the world. He said the registration of political parties was aimed at controlling the parties, but the Election Commission is not the authority concerned to control politics. “The Election Commission is responsible for holding elections and not controlling politics,” Menon said.

He said the AL-led alliance components would propose that no religious extremist and communal forces should be registered.

“If we consider the constitution, religious political parties have no right to do politics in Bangladesh,” Menon said, adding they would demand that the commission should uphold the constitution by not allowing any political party based on religion to contest in the polls.

He said Workers Party had always supported elections without money and muscle power, but the commission should make it clear with specific provisions.

Awami League leaders Mukul Bose, Akhtaruzzaman, Sultan Mansur Ahmad, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Rahmat Ali, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Dipu Moni attended the meeting with Workers Party leaders Bimal Biswas, Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Anisur Rahman Mallik and Quamrul Ahsan.

Awami League will sit with the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) Monday.

[Dhaka Correspondent] The scheduled display of archaeological artifacts in Paris will brighten the image of Bangladesh and the government should take proper initiatives in this matter, said Ain-o-Salish Kendra executive director Sultana Kamal Saturday.

“We want such cultural exchange programmes to be held in a proper way. We request the government to clarify the controversy over this issue,” Sultana said at a news briefing at the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka. Organized under the banner of “Socio-cultural and green activists for conservation and dissemination of archaeological artifacts,” the briefing was attended by human rights activist Hamida Hossain, Professor Anisuzzaman, thespian Aly Zaker, Parvin Hasan of Dhaka University, and social activists Rubi Ghaznabi and Abu Naser Khan.

Sultana said, “We believe the reasons which have held the artifacts from being sent to Paris are not valid. The exchange programme is required to draw the attention of the world to our cultural heritage.”

Anisuzzaman said, “Fears that have stopped the sending of the artifacts to Paris are not convincing. We will be benefited from the exhibition. The government should make it clear to people. We think it is impossible to steal any artifacts during the display at the Guimet Museum.’

Aly Zaker said they had organized the briefing to inform the people that Bangladeshi cultural heritage needed to be exposed to the world. “We also want assurance from the government that the artifacts will be sent properly.”

Organizers said there is no legal restriction on sending the artifacts to other countries for display. They thought that the amount of insurance money was fixed on a comparative market study. They said the agreement was signed between the governments of Bangladesh and France. They also said they did not know of any incident of stealing artifacts from any international exhibition in half a century.