Who pays for what...

(I AM A WITNESS TO DAILY HAPPENINGS, DRAMAS, CHAOS...and a few POSITIVE CHANGES in Bangladesh)
Sat Jan5, 2008

Human rights group demands release of Bangladeshi cartoonist

By JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press Writer

Photo: E-Bangladesh.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has demanded the immediate release of a Bangladeshi cartoonist whom the military-backed interim government arrested for allegedly insulting Islam.

Mohammed Arifur Rahman, a former cartoonist for the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo, is "a prisoner of conscience" who was detained for exercising his legitimate right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International said in a statement Friday.

Security officials arrested Rahman on Sept. 18 after hard-line Islamic groups protested against one of his cartoons that they said mocked the Prophet Muhammad.

The Interior Ministry charged Rahman with "hurting the religious sentiments of the people" and detained him for 30 days. His detention was later extended by three months.

Rahman's cousin questioned whether the cartoonist’s arrest was legal, and said it had caused the family immeasurable hardship.

"We have decided to file a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of his detention," Jewel Ahmed said. "He is the main breadwinner of the four-member family."

Amnesty International said Rahman faces a maximum two years in prison if he is convicted.

Abdul Karim, a secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said Saturday that he had not heard about the watchdog's statement and that Rahman's case was a sensitive issue.

"The whole thing is under legal process," Karim told The Associated Press by phone, without elaborating.

The government confiscated all copies of Alpin, the Prothom Alo supplement in which the cartoon was printed. The popular daily apologized for publishing the cartoon and fired the cartoonist.

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 150 million people, has in the past banned publications for insulting Islam or the Prophet Muhammad.

Journalists in Bangladesh are routinely threatened, assaulted or killed for writing about political violence, corruption or organized crime, according to media rights groups. At least 11 journalists have been killed and dozens maimed in the South Asian nation since 1997, media rights groups say.

On the Net:
Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/

Politics-Unfortunate but Obvious

(I AM A WITNESS TO DAILY HAPPENINGS, DRAMAS, CHAOS...and a few POSITIVE CHANGES in Bangladesh)

Date: Sun Jan 14, 2007

New Bangladeshi leader takes control of security agencies as mass arrests continue
Photo:AP

By JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press Writer

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Bangladesh's new interim leader took charge of security agencies and the election commission Sunday, as mass arrests continued days after the president declared a state of emergency following weeks of deadly unrest ahead of disputed elections.

New leader Fakhruddin Ahmed also met with acting Chief Election Commissioner Mahfuzur Rahman to make fresh voting plans, as the impoverished country's two feuding political camps demanded that the ballot postponed from Jan. 22 be held as soon as possible.

"We have planned to sit with leaders of all political parties to discuss ways on how we can proceed further," the commission's secretary, Abdur Rashid Sarker, told reporters after the meeting.

Ahmed was appointed Friday after the president stepped down as leader of the caretaker government and declared a state of emergency to quell boycott threats, paralyzing strikes, and violent protests alleging the election was rigged.

More than 4,000 people were detained after the announcement, including 1,518 arrested overnight and Sunday, the Interior Ministry said, giving no further additional information.

The government said last week that disruptive elements would continue to be arrested until a new election was held.

Local news reports say people from both sides of the dispute over the elections have been detained.

The two feuding political camps on Sunday demanded the new caretaker government takes steps to announce a new election. It was their first clear response since President Iajuddin Ahmed ordered the state of emergency and appointed the new administration.

The major political alliance that organized the election protests, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday demanded new elections as soon as possible.

"We want the elections in a specific timeframe," alliance spokesman Abdul Jalil told reporters, without naming the timeframe.

He also demanded the new caretaker administration revamp the election commission, update and correct the voters' list and remove disputed election officials.

Separately, Hasina's rival former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's four-party coalition also made a similar demand.

"We hope the new administration will take initiatives of holding a new election soon," Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Zia's close aide, told reporters late Sunday.

Ahmed, a respected economist and former central bank governor, took control of the Interior Ministry and Election Commission Secretariat on Sunday, a statement from the government's Cabinet Division said.

The new leader distributed portfolios to five newly appointed advisers Sunday at the new government's first meeting.

"We have discussed a range of issues including law and order, and the new elections," M.A. Matin, one of the five advisers, told reporters after the meeting. He did not elaborate.

One of the main challenges facing the new interim government was to ensure a credible election with the participation of all parties, the United News of Bangladesh news agency quoted another newly appointed adviser to the caretaker government as saying.

"We've two challenges before us right now _ collectively holding a free and fair election, and proper running of the ministries concerned," the agency quoted Mirza Azizul Islam as saying.

At least 34 people have been killed in the protests that began in late October, when Zia ended her five-year term and handed over power to an interim government led by the president.

The alliance led by Hasina had threatened to boycott and disrupt the polls unless their demands for election reforms were met.

The president declared a state of emergency on Thursday, deferred the elections, and stepped aside as head of the caretaker government. A day later, he swore in Fakhruddin Ahmed, but retained the mostly ceremonial post of president .

Under the constitution, the president is in normally in charge of the Ministry of Defense, but the current troops' movement is being regulated under the Election Commission, now controlled by the interim leader Ahmed.

Police and other security agencies including a paramilitary force operate under the Interior Ministry, now also controlled by the interim leader.

The new interim government was welcomed by the business community, which had been fed up with disrupted commerce and transportation during the recent political protests.

"We hope that under the leadership of the new caretaker administration, dynamism will return to the export business and the country's image will be restored," Fazlul Huq, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said in a news release.

In a separate statement, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association leader Abdul Hai Sarker said he hoped that "the steps taken by the president were timely and bold enough to ease the volatile political situation and improve the overall trade and commercial situation."

Journalist Detained

(I AM A WITNESS TO DAILY HAPPENINGS, DRAMAS, CHAOS...and a few POSITIVE CHANGES in Bangladesh)

Saturday May 12, 2007

Bangladeshi journalist released after daylong interrogation, family says

By JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press Writer

Photo: RSF

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Bangladeshi authorities have released a journalist, detained hours earlier, who had written about alleged human rights abuses by the country's security forces, his wife said Saturday.

Tasneem Khalil, a journalist at Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper, was picked up early Friday from his residence in the capital by four men in plain clothes.

Khalil was released later Friday after being interrogated by intelligence officials, his wife Sharmin Afsana Suchi told The Associated Press.

"Yes, he has returned," Suchi said.

She declined to say whether he was tortured while he was detained.

A government spokesman could not be reached Saturday to comment on Khalil's detention or subsequent release.

Journalists in Bangladesh are often threatened, assaulted or even killed for writing about political violence, corruption or organized crime.

At least 11 journalists have been killed and dozens maimed in the South Asian nation since 1997, media rights groups say.

On Friday, Suchi said the men who took away her husband told her they were from the Joint Task Force, an army-led security force used by the military-backed government to fight corruption.

"The men said they were placing Khalil under arrest and taking him to an army camp in Dhaka," she said.

Zafar Sobhan, an assistant editor at the Daily Star, said Friday that Khalil was held without charge or warrant.

Khalil, 26, also works for New York-based Human Rights Watch and runs his own Web site. His colleagues said he recently posted articles on the site criticizing the army and the security forces for alleged human rights abuses.

The detention sparked off widespread concerns among international media and human rights watchdogs.

Human Rights Watch voiced its concern about Khalil while the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, in a statement on Friday said the detention is an indication of the fragile state of press freedom in Bangladesh.

"We're alarmed by the circumstances of his detention," Joel Simon, Executive Director of the CPJ, said in the statement.

Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since Jan. 11 when street violence over delayed national elections left more than 30 people dead.

According to Bangladeshi human rights groups, the military-backed government has used the emergency powers to arrest thousands of people. They say many of the detainees were picked up at night.

On the Net: www.tasneemkhalil.com.

Press Freedom

(I AM A WITNESS TO DAILY HAPPENINGS , DRAMAS, CHAOS....and a few positive CHANGES in Bangladesh).

Friday Jan 12 ,

Rights, media groups ask Bangladesh government to uphold press freedoms

By JULHAS ALAM

Associated Press Writer

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ International human rights and media freedom groups expressed concerns over Bangladesh's order to private broadcasters to suspend their news programs and to refrain from criticizing the government after it imposed a state of emergency.

Bangladesh's President Iajuddin Ahmed on Thursday declared the emergency and postponed elections scheduled for this month following violent protests led by a key political alliance that had also threatened to boycott the vote.

Also Thursday, the government imposed an indefinite overnight curfew on Dhaka, the capital, and 60 other towns and cities. Soldiers had already been deployed across the country for election duties and were in place to enforce the curfew.

Elections were originally scheduled for Jan. 22, and Ahmed, in a televised address to the nation late Thursday, did not say when the elections would be held.

Under the country's constitution, the state of emergency suspends the fundamental rights of citizens, including those to hold rallies and protests.

The Ministry of Information on Thursday ordered eight private television stations to suspend their own news programs and to instead relay news bulletins of the state-run Bangladesh Television while the state of emergency was in place.

But the order said members of the media with appropriate credentials would be allowed to move freely.

"The restriction will be effective until further order from the ministry," Khairul Alam Mukul, a news editor at the private NTV television center told The Associated Press.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch appealed to the government to uphold the country's press freedoms.

"We consider freedom of the press an essential part of any democracy, especially in times of crisis," it said in a statement received by The Associated Press on Friday.

Separately the New York-based press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists, emphasized the need for access to information.

"It's essential that at this very sensitive moment Bangladeshi citizens have unfettered access to information," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement. "We call on authorities to withdraw their restrictions on the media, to respect the right of journalists to report fully and freely, and to ensure citizens' rights to independent information."

Bangladeshi journalists opposed the censorship order.

"We want to categorically state that gagging the media is not the answer to solving the present political crisis," said Mahfuz Anam, editor of Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper.

The imposition of the state of emergency was the latest twist in a tumultuous few months marked by increasing strife between rival political camps that has left at least 34 people dead since October and repeatedly paralyzed the South Asian country.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia stepped down after completing her five-year term and handed over power to a caretaker government headed by Ahmed.

But Sheikh Hasina, the leader of a 19-party alliance, has been accusing the Election Commission and Ahmed of bias toward Zia, and has threatened to boycott and disrupt the election.

Bangladesh has a history of political violence and military rule.

Climate Change-Adaptation

Nov 27, 2007
Poor need to adapt to climate change, experts say

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press Writer

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ The poor must adapt to climate change using local knowledge, according to experts from around the world gathered at a conference in Bangladesh.

The experts exchanged information on how local people are coping with heat waves in the mountains of India, floods in Bangladesh and Nepal, droughts in Kenya, and soil poisoned by salt in Sri Lanka. Poor people are already being hurt by the earth's rising temperatures, the experts said, maintaining that adapting to climate change deserves just as much focus as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Global warming is a reality now," Ian Burton, a Toronto-based expert in climate change, told The Associated Press in an interview on the sidelines of the climate change conference in Dhaka. The conference started Saturday and ends Wednesday in Dhaka.

"Rich countries are responsible but poorer nations are bearing the brunt," he said, adding that adaptation at the community level is the answer to the problem.

The London-based International Institute for Environment and Development and the Dhaka-based Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies organized the conference to share experiences on local climate adaptation programs across the world.

The conference was being held more than three weeks after the United Nations-backed International Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body charged with assessing the evidence for and risk of global warming, declared it "very likely" that the globe's increasing temperature is a result of human activity.

Many poor countries where a large number of people live on less than US$1 a day are most vulnerable to the impact of global warming. Bangladesh, with a population of 144 million, is a good example how global warming impacts the very poor.

The country is a vast delta that is barely above the sea level, making it prone to flooding from waterways swollen by rain and melting snow from the Himalayas.

Bangladeshi climate change expert Atiq Rahman said if the sea rises by 30 centimeters (a foot), which some researchers say could happen over next few decades, up to 12 percent of the population living across the vast coast would be flooded out of their homes.

"Our poor people will suffer more, their future poverty will be much more severe," Rahman said.

Melting glaciers on the Himalayas are already causing floods along rivers in Bangladesh, he said.

The melting glacier water carries mud and sand, which is spread during the flooding, filling in some river beds and leading to drought in the north, he said.

Rising sea levels are one factor causing salty sea water to encroach on fresh water in the southwest, he said.

Saleemul Huq, head of the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development, told the AP that international policy-makers need to focus as much on adaptation to climate change as on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Vulnerable communities can't sit idle," Huq said.

He said poorer nations lack money, resources and technology to stand against the dangerous impacts of climate change. "It's important to rethink the whole thing and focus on adaptation," he said.

Bangladesh-Economy

Nov 14, 2007

Experts say Bangladesh can almost double per income to US$870 by 2016

By JULHAS ALAM=
Associated Press Writer

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Impoverished Bangladesh can almost double its per capita income by 2016 if the South Asian nation continues to improve its infrastructure and conduct policy reforms, an expert of the World Bank and a top businessman said Wednesday.

Bangladesh, a nation of 145 million people, has maintained annual growth of over 5 percent since 1990 and has potential to achieve a 7.5 percent growth in coming years, they said at a discussion in the nation's capital, Dhaka, quoting a report of the World Bank.

If the GDP growth increases to 7.5 percent a year the country can reach per capita income of $870 from the current $470 by 2016, they said.

"Achieving that target is not an easy job but this is very much possible for Bangladesh," said World Bank economist Sandeep Mahajan.

Mahajan said the country's manufacturing sector has a huge potential to grow and for that "there are some choices to be made."

He said further improvement of the country's physical infrastructure is one of the preconditions to achieve that target.

Continuous transition from the agriculture-based economy to manufacture-based economy could help the country achieve the goal, he said.

Also, he said, the government needs to pursue liberal tax policy so that private sector could implement more projects easily and the country could attract more foreign direct investment.

Mir Nasir Hossain, President of the trade apex body Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the private sector would be the prime force in achieving that target if they get better infrastructure.

"We mainly need an improved port facility," Hossain said.

"Uninterrupted power supply is another need of the time."

He said the country needs more export-oriented manufacturing sector other than the textile industry, which accounts for more than 75 percent of the total export earnings a year.

Bangladesh annually earns about $10 billion from textile exports, mainly to the United Sates and Europe.

Suicide-Blast

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/12/09/suicide_bomber_on_bike

Suicide bomber on bike kills six

Civilians targeted in Bangladesh

By Julhas Alam, Associated Press | December 9, 2005

NETROKONA, Bangladesh -- A suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up on a crowded street yesterday, killing six people and wounding dozens in the latest attack authorities blame on extremists who want to create an Islamic state in Bangladesh.

Among the wounded was another bomber who police said did not detonate his explosives.

The suicide blast occurred when hundreds of people had gathered on a narrow street in the northern town of Netrokona after police safely detonated another bomb found in a building.

There was no claim of responsibility, but officials blamed the attack on Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned Islamic group believed to be behind a wave of blasts that have killed 21 people in the past two weeks.

A police officer at the scene, Ali Hossain Faquir, said a handwritten leaflet warning police to follow Islamic law and stop protecting ''man-made" laws was found near the site, about 80 miles north of the capital, Dhaka.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who was visiting Saudi Arabia, expressed shock. ''The masterminds behind the conspiracy have to be silenced with all our might," the United News of Bangladesh quoted Zia as saying.

A home ministry spokesman, Khondakar Monirul Alam, said yesterday's bombing was the work of those who committed the earlier attacks, but he didn't name any groups. The previous attacks largely targeted government offices and courts, and Alam told reporters in Dhaka the attackers have ''adopted a new tactic, and targeted innocent people."

The suspected second bomber was under guard in a hospital.

A police explosives specialist said the device that was safely detonated was ''a small, not powerful bomb."

''It was probably used as a decoy to attract people," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the investigation.

© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company