No wonder that the ‘Prothom Alo’, which is publicly established as ‘the parliament’ of this military-backed Government, killed the letter and labelled it red to uphold their so called credibility just to regulate their corporate interests for the time ahead.

But ‘unfortunately’ the letter and the scandal are now flying in the open. Because Dr. Anwar Hossain published it on 28 July in Chittagong while giving a speech to the general people and freedom fighters who gathered to form a human chain in front of the Shaheed Minar demanding the trial of the war-criminals of 1971. It was organized by ‘Ekatturer Ghatok-Dalal Nirmul Committee, Chittagong. The human-chain was a memorable event, because freedom fighter Sheikh Mohammad Ali Aman, who was recently assaulted by the followers of the collaborators of the liberation war for telling the truth about their activities, had participated.

[Speech of Dr. Anwar]

And though the Government have done nothing to console the brave freedom fighter, Dr. Anwar Hossain gave him the honour by disclosing a short description about the corruption at the Chittagong Customs House by some army officers. As we were being told by him, a packet was delivered at his office at the Faculty of Biological Sciences, Dhaka University. It contained the copy of the letter sent by an employee of the Chittagong Customs House.

In the letter the sender(s) says that a group of Army officers who were given the responsibility of reforming the Chittagong Customs House were engaged in severe forms of corruption. The group is led by Brigadier General Nasir Hasan and includes Major Tarikul, Major Quddus, Captain Arif, Captain Moyeen, Captain Delwar etc. This group has already collected over 15 crore Taka from various businessmen, importers, stock holders and CNF Agents of Chittagong in the form of ‘chada’ or extortion.

The long letter told the story about how the face of the crusaders against the corruption has been fading away. It also recalls the nightmares of the past, the long army regime who turned corruption in to the form of an institution. The army-corruption in Chittagong Custom House is in fact tip on the iceberg! We don’t know what the reaction of Gen. Moyeen U Ahmed, his neutral Caretaker Government and their domestic parliament, named ‘Prothom Alo’. But people were really happy to see Hossain’s way of honouring the freedom fighter Aman. He congratulated him for being in the centre of the collaborators like the war days and telling the whole truth about their activities and demanding their punishment.

Dr. Anwar took it as a good omen as people are reacting. But alongside Anwar warned about the Governments real intentions as their recent activities show as if they are actually protecting the war criminals. If so, Aman was only an instance, because a million Amans are there who would do anything to uphold the true spirit of 1971. And the consequence will be vague.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

 A Danish TV documentary has revealed miserable working conditions and environmental violations at companies in Bangladesh that act as suppliers to GrameenPhone, which is co-owned by Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor and firms founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

The documentary shows miserable working conditions at several firms supplying Telenor-owned GrameenPhone. Hard-hats were donned when Telenor came to inspect. PHOTO: TELENOR Telenor’s Baksaas with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Together, they own GrameenPhone, although Yunus has wanted Telenor to reduce its stake. PHOTO: TELENOR

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It’s an embarrassing labour scandal for Telenor, which itself is majority-owned by the government of Norway, a country that prides itself on championing fair labour conditions and human rights.

It also reflects poorly on Grameen Telecom and Grameen Bank, which own 38 percent of GrameenPhone (Telenor has 62 percent) and which were founded by Peace Prize-winner Yunus not least to help lift people in Bangladesh out of abject poverty through the micro-credit system.

The documentary, made by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann and to be aired on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) Thursday evening, reveals shocking working conditions at the firms supplying GrameenPhone. Employees were shown working with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals virtually without protection. Workers were as young as 13 years, a clear violation of child labour laws. The firms were caught allowing polluted wastewater to spill into nearby rice fields.

And in one case, a worker was killed when he fell into an unsecured pool of acid.

Telenor, clearly believing that the best defense is a good offense, opted to reveal some of the findings of the documentary even before it was aired. Telenor officials claim they were shaken by the documentary’s findings, and admit they failed to adequately monitor the operations of GrameenPhone’s suppliers.

“We are deeply moved by the case, and the human side of it,” Telenor chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas told reporters. He called the labour violations “completely unacceptable,” claiming Telenor had trained the firms in health and safety issues. “But we’ve clearly been bad about following up afterwards,” Baksaas admitted.

He neglected to mention the worker fatality, but confirmed it when questioned by a reporter from Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende.

Telenor and the Norwegian state have generated huge profits on GrameenPhone, which has as many as 20 million customers, but Baksaas said he didn’t feel badly that the operation earns a lot on the work of poor employees. “We haven’t taken out substantial dividends on what we’ve earned in Bangladesh,” Baksaas said. “The money has gone into investments that are building up the country.”

Norway’s government minister in charge of business and industry, Dag Terje Andersen, wrote in an e-mail to Aftenposten that the working conditions shown in the documental “assuming they are accurate, clearly are unacceptable.”

Andersen claimed, however, that Telenor has worked actively for years to make its own ethical regulations part of all operations, also those at suppliers. “It looks like the follow-up on the part of Telenor was inadequate,” he wrote. Telenor has since conducted inspections at five suppliers of mobile telephone masts, and has fired one of them.

Telenor and Yunus have been involved in a long-simmering conflict over ownership of GrameenPhone. Yunus has wanted Telenor to reduce its stake.

Note: The article belonges to  AFTENPOSTEN.

Photo: Md. Tawfik

[Sushanta Das Gupta, UK]

I just came through an email alert that was sent as a comment in one of our posts. While I was moderating it I thought it might be posted as a separate thread. It speaks about the illegal detention of Md. Tawfiq by DGFI for nearly four days. Md. Tawfiq was called in 4th of March around 10 PM and kept behind all of the sights until 7th of March. Few people might call one of our reports which stated the final list of 80 people as part of the drive against high-profile corruption suspects declared by the national coordination committee on corruption and serious crimes (NCC). We found the name of Md. Towfik in the published lists in other categories. But the issue  discussed here is not the corruption, it is the issue whether a citizen of Bangladesh can be detained illegally for four days or not.

Md. Tawfiq, a director of Bangladesh telegraph and Telephone Board, was called by DGFI on 4th of March ,Tuesday around 10 PM to see them in their Dhaka cantonment headquarters. As a law abiding citizen, he went there and for the next 4 days, there was no information on him from the DGFI as I was informed by an authenticated source. Not even his wife or family was informed of his location or condition which is a blatant violation of Bangladesh Constitution.

On the 7th March, he was produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate by Ramna police station. He was shown arrest under Article 54 (suspicious activity) and was said that he was arrested from his residence on the same day. That is to say that his illegal detention by DGFI for nearly four days where he was tortured severely was kept secret from the court.

His wife, in a press release yesterday, mentioned that she saw signs of torture in the uncovered areas of his body when she saw him in the court and asked the President and the chief advisor of the caretaker government of Bangladesh to save the life of her husband.
 
A fabricated false report was published in some Bangladesh newspapers on the 8th March alleging that Tawfiq was involved in illegal VOIP business in Bangladesh. The report is full of inconsistencies, doesn’t hold any truth, and the allegations falls apart even at the tiniest scrutiny.

It appears that Md. Tawfiq is the victim of some vested interest group in BTTB and Caretaker Government who took the advantage of current lawless situation in Bangladesh to realize some big plan in the telecom sector of Bangladesh.

The eye raising questions are:

1. If he was arrested by Ramna police on Thursday and was produced before the court next day, when did the joint forces interrogate him to find all the information that was published against him?

2. If the allegations published by the joint forces were true, why he wasn’t charged by any one of them?

3. Why he was picked up by DGFI and tortured  without any judicial procedure?

4. Why the police shown him arrest four days after he was detained by DGFI on no apparent allegation against him (Article 54 is just suspicious activity and is bailable).

5. Who is responsible for his illegal custody and torture by DGFI?

It appears that Bangladesh has become a country of torture under the present caretaker government where no law and human right exists as mentioned in the chilling testimony of Human Rights Watch Journalist Tasneem Khalil  who was kidnapped and tortured by the DGFI people in the same way as Tawfiq. The people in power, mainly, the DGFI are working with impunity like the Gestapo to pick up anyone at their will, torture, and then fabricated anything against them without any judicial processes involved.

Brad Adams, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, in his letter to Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed  urged that Bangladesh has obligation under international law to stop torture and to make the protection of human rights as much of a priority as its fight against corruption. Adams emphasized that the caretaker government should discipline or prosecute, as appropriate, members of the security forces, including the DGFI, the army and paramilitary forces such as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police and other government officials, regardless of rank, who have been responsible for arbitrary arrests and torture or other mistreatment of persons in detention.

It’s an unrest request to all concerned Bangladeshi citizen to put forward this news and pressure the caretaker government to save the life of Tawfiq and thousands of other innocent people who dont have any one to stand for them.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

[Read posts by Sushanta Das Gupta]

Update: Tasneem Khalil’s interview by Arafatul Islam of DW-WORLD is added.

[An E-Bangladesh commentary.]

Human Rights Watch, the international Human rights watchdog that conducts research and advocacy on human rights published today an exclusive report on tortures in Bangladesh. This report presents the testimony of Tasneem Khalil, a Bangladeshi journalist and the representative of CNN and Human Rights Watch in Bangladesh, recounting his torture at the hands of Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).

Human Rights Watch says:

“To our knowledge, this is the most detailed public account of a case of torture in Bangladesh available anywhere. It demonstrates the nature of ongoing state-sponsored violence in Bangladesh, including the torture of critics of the current government.
What happened to Tasneem Khalil – which, sadly, is not uncommon – makes clear that when it comes to human rights a critical part of what was promised is not being fulfilled. After one year, the state of emergency not only remains in place but is being used to limit political party activity and restrict freedom of expression and assembly, with torture a frequent consequence for those who do not toe the line and end up in the custody of the security services.

Increased domestic and international pressure to end such abuses cannot await elections or formation of a new government. The fundamental rights set out in the Constitution should be immediately restored and respected. Ending illegal arrests and torture should not await an election. These should be a top priority of the interim government. Those members of the security forces who have been responsible for such egregious human rights violations should be brought to justice.”

Read the horrid accounts of abuses against Tasneem Khalil here . Read how he was terrorized and maligned after his release due to international pressure only to find recluse in exile. You can also download the full report (pdf format) available in the Human Rights Watch Website.

[Sushanta Das Gupta, UK]

Reporters Without Borders has released their 2008 Annual Report on Bangladesh. Among their major concerns this year are the rise of the military government, the lack of freedom of press, threats to media personnel and the torture of journalists:

Bangladesh - Annual report 2008
Area: 144,000 sq km.
Population: 144,460,000.
Languages: Bengali, English.
Head of state: Iajuddin Ahmed.

A drop in the number of physical assaults and death threats was eclipsed by dozens of cases of arrests, maltreatment and censorship committed by the army against independent journalists. The interim government and the military put an end to political disorder but at the price of serious violations of press freedom.

There was a sharp decrease in the number of journalists physically attacked or receiving death threats from political militants and criminals. On the other hand, arrests increased markedly, with almost 40 cases in 2007. And the army, the real power in the country, committed serious press freedom violations aimed at silencing independent journalists. The government constantly stated that the media had a role to play in the fight against corruption and social injustice, but these good intentions were confounded and, in a new development, self-censorship began gradually to be applied to political issues. “Some asserted that the media was becoming the parliament in the absence of a government formed by elections. Others welcomed the emergence of a fourth estate. But one thing in the media was missing: critical articles on the current administration, clearly demonstrating the existence of censorship and self-censorship”, the Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC), a Reporters Without Borders partner organisation, said in one of its recent reports.

Censorship imposed at every political convulsion

A state of emergency was declared on 11 January and the country’s TV and radio were ordered to stop broadcasting their news programmes for two days. When the government faced student demonstrations at the end of August, it banned stations from broadcasting talk shows and political programmes. Army intelligence services officers summoned editorial heads and threatened them with draconian criminal proceeding, including under Article 5 of the State of Emergency Regulations. CSB News and Ekushey TV were ordered by the Press Information Department not to broadcast “provocative” reports and commentaries. A management figure at ATN Bangla told Reporters Without Borders, “The ban on talk shows is a disaster. While there is no parliament, political broadcasts are the best way for citizens to comment on the government’s decisions.”

Privately-owned television stations, which enjoy growing popularity in the country, were the main target of crackdowns. The government in September ordered the suspension of CSB News whose management had allegedly forged a document to obtain a frequency in October 2006, and police closed the station, but the decision was probably linked to the broadcast of footage of opposition demonstrations, in defiance of warnings from the authorities. According to the Daily Star, members of the government even accused the station of inciting students to demonstrate in Dhaka.

The written press did its best to resist pressure from the authorities. Mahfuz Anam, editor of the privately-owned Daily Star, said in an editorial in January, “As long as we have not received a written order from the government, we will consider them illegal (…) Friends of democracy never silence the press, it is only done by dictators. The people of Bangladesh will never accept dictators”. But in September, the management of Prothom Alo was forced to apologise and to sack the deputy editor of its humoristic supplement, Aalpin, under pressure from conservative clergy after cartoonist Arifur Rahman drew a sketch which included wordplay on the name Mohammed, gently poking fun at the habit of people in some Muslim countries of putting the name Mohammed before their usual name. Police arrested him and seized all copies of the magazine, which was accused of “hurting the people’s religious sentiment”. The copies were ritually burned in front of one of the capital’s mosques.

During the year, privately-owned dailies, such as Prothom Alo, Inqilab, Amader Shomoy, Jugantor, Daily Star and Shamokal were also victims of judicial harassment. The newspapers had to employ a large number of lawyers to keep their editors and journalist out of prison in the face of around 100 defamation suits.

Journalists tortured by members of the military

Several journalists were tortured for investigating the security forces. Tasneem Khalil, journalist and blogger (tasneemkhalil.com), was detained and tortured in May after openly criticising the army for the spread of extra-judicial killings. The Human Rights Watch consultant and contributor to CNN was forced to flee the country. Jahangir Alam Akash, correspondent for the newspaper Sangbad, and for CSB News and German radio Deutsche Welle in Rajshahi, who had been investigating the ‘execution’ by the army of a student leader, was arrested by soldiers on 24 October. He was released on bail on 19 November and spoke about the hell he had lived through at an army camp. “Officers and soldiers tortured me for several hours: electric shocks, blows to my legs. I couldn’t walk for a week,” he said.

Police, acting under emergency laws, arrested two journalists in March in Moulvibazar in the north-east, after local politicians laid a defamation case against him. A correspondent for the Daily Star, Asduzzaman Tipu, spent one month in prison after being falsely accused of extortion.

No fewer than 15 journalists were arrested on the same evening when a curfew was imposed in August and around 30 others were beaten by police and soldiers deployed in the capital. The chief news editor of the privately-owned Baishakhi TV, Anis Alamgir, was beaten up by soldiers, while a photographer with the daily Dinkal was seriously injured by police. The authorities apologised by nobody was punished for the assaults.

On the other hand, the anti-crime struggle allowed the arrest of suspects in the murders of journalist Gautam Das in 2005 and of Shamsur Rhaman in 2000. And several politicians, including Shahidul Islam, former member of Parliament from the Kushtia region, responsible for attacks on journalists in 2006, were taken into custody.

Although weakened, Jihadist groups continued to threaten journalists. An Islamist group threatened an attack on the Jatiya press club in May and in April extremists sent a letter containing death threats to a journalist on the daily Bhorer Kagoj, in Chittagong in the south-east of the country.

Finally, even though no journalist was killed for their work in 2007, the authorities did not fully clear up the circumstances of the death in March of Jamal Uddin, correspondent for the news agency Abas and local newspaper Dainik Giri Darpan, in Rangamati in the south-east, whom the authorities said had committed suicide. The president of the Rangamati press club said the journalist’s body bore marks of blows all over his body, which had been found lying at the foot of a tree, with a rope around his neck.

Reporters Without Borders has also published the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007. Bangladesh ranks 134th amongst 169 countries.

The International Media have shown growing concern over the recent rise in human rights violations in Bangladesh. One thing is evident, that no matter how much secrecy the military government tries to impose over its violation of human rights, the world is hearing about it. Because of the ready availability of information due to the internet and other channels of communication, we can now learn about the misrulings and outrages committed by this military government.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

[Read posts by Sushanta Das Gupta]

7th January -Oscar winner Nafees with his mother in their village home in Rajbari. Photo by Banglar Chokh 

[Sushanta Das Gupta, UK] 

Nafees Bin Zafar , a proud Bangladeshi has won the Scientific and Technical Academy Awards 2007 in OSCARS. The award was declared at The Beverly Wilshire on Saturday, February 9, 2008. Here is the OSCARS press release: 

7th January - Nafees with his family in his village home in Rajbari.

In an interview with philly. com honoree Nafees Bin Zafar said earnestly,”Fluid effects rock and all of us who work in fluids know this.” 

The blogger Promethean Dreamer wrote a few things about Nafees. 

The European Parliament has been keeping track on our current events, including the student riots, detainment of teachers, violation of Human Rights on many instances and the attack on the Press and Electronic Media.

On 6th September, the EU Parliament website released a resolution on Bangladesh. The resolution states that the EU is highly concerned about the arrest of the Ex. Prime Ministers, Freedom of Press and the re-establishment of Democracy. It calls for lifting the state of emergency, banning of political activities so that parties can prepare for the coming election.

Below are the highlights from the European Parliament resolution of 6 September 2007 on Bangladesh.

The European Parliament:

Is deeply concerned about the disproportionate response of the military and the police against the student protests which erupted in late August 2007 at Dhaka university; considers that the demonstrations were evidence of the unpopular political role played by the army; welcomes the fact that the curfew imposed in Dhaka and five other cities because of these protests was lifted on 28 August 2007; calls for the immediate release of the persons who have been arrested subsequent to the students’ and teachers’ unrest, including members of the teachers’ association Shikkhok Samity, i.e. Anwar Hossain, Harun Ur Rashid, Saidur Rahman Khan and Abdus Sobhan;

Is deeply concerned about the arrest and justification for ongoing detention of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, arrested on 16 July 2007 and charged with extortion, and of Bangladesh Nationalist Party president Khaleda Zia, charged with corruption; calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to conduct the trial in a transparent way and according to the rule of law; more particularly, calls on the government to base its anti-corruption campaign solely on facts relevant in the context of criminal proceedings concerning corruption;

Is deeply concerned about the conditions under which Sigma Huda, who has been sentenced on bribery charges is imprisoned, in particular the lack of any medical treatment which she urgently needs; urges the Bangladeshi authorities to provide Ms Huda with all the necessary medical treatment and help required by her health condition; calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to respect the fundamental rights of Ms Huda, in particular the right to receive visits from her family and friends in prison; urges the authorities to immediately allow these visits;

Regrets that the Caretaker Government, while making progress on tackling corruption, has been far less assertive on political reform; calls for a return to democracy and the lifting of the state of emergency in Bangladesh; calls in particular for the lifting of the ban on all political activity, in order to enable all parties and political organizations to prepare for open and fair elections, as provided for under the constitution;

Calls on the Caretaker Government to make progress with the creation of a National Human Rights Commission, the implementation of which should also be a priority for the future civilian government.

It is clear that the international community, including EU, is keeping a watch over the Government