Saleem Samad

United States softens on threats to relations with Bangladesh

2012-02-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni in Washington DC

SALEEM SAMAD

It now appears that the United States government has softened in exerting diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh soon after the authorities forcibly removed Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus from the micro-finance institution he founded 30 years ago.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was irked last March and threatened that the bilateral relations with Bangladesh would jeopardize if authorities continue to harass Prof. Yunus, a popular advocate of social business concept.

Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert O. Blake in Bangladesh capital on Thursday told reporters that with Bangladesh and U.S has developed strong cooperation on counter-terrorism and security issues.

The visiting official emphasized the importance of Bangladesh’s finding an eminently qualified successor to Dr. Yunus as managing director of Grameen Bank, which has credit of empowering 10 million disadvantaged rural women. The Islamist squarely blamed the micro-finance bank for voting against the mullahs in last parliament election.

Blake reiterated U.S. policy against extra-constitutional means to overthrown a democratic government. In a recent botched military coup hatched by mid-level radical Muslim army officers in last January, the U.S. immediately condemned the conspiracy and firmly stood beside Sheikh Hasina’s government in establishing secularism and democracy. The overwhelming majority of Bangladesh 150 million people are Sunni Muslims, followed by 10 million minority Hindu population.

The senior U.S. official hopes that the ruling Awami League and mainstream opposition Bangladesh Nationalists Party would rise above narrow partisanship and will work together to agree for a mechanism in holding free, fair, credible and participatory election, schedule in end 2013.

He urged Bangladesh authority to ensure continued space for free media and vigorous non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The vibrant civil society representatives expressed their fear to Blake that the draft NGO law would curtail their mandate for empowerment of the rural poor, he told at a press briefing on Thursday.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow, is an award winning investigative reporter based in Bangladesh. He specializes on Islamic extremism, forced migration, good governance, press freedom and elective democracy. He was detained, tortured in 2002 and later expelled in 2004 for whistle-blowing of the safe sanctuaries of the Jihadist leaders in Bangladesh who fled during Anglo-US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Ending his life in exile from Canada he has recently returned home after six years. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Australian energy firm struck gas reserve in Bangladesh offshore Australian energy firm struck gas reserve in Bangladesh offshore

2012-02-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

AN AUSTRALIAN energy corporation has struck huge gas reserves in off shore Bay of Bengal, which is commercially viable.

The president of Santos Bangladesh John Chambers briefed journos on Wednesday that they are confident to start supplying gas from the reserve from the first week of April.

John Chambers, said that the Aussie company will be able to quantify Sangu-11's reserves in the next couple of weeks when necessary assessments are completed.

From the new well in shallow water block 37.2 miles from the Bangladesh coast, at least 25-30 million cubic feet of gas per day will be available for Chittagong's energy starved industrial customers within March – April, the official added.

For the second time, commercially viable gas reserves have been found in offshore Bangladesh, following the previous discovery by the U.K's Cairn Energy in 1996. Cairn, the previous operator of the Sangu field, found gas in the same block.

Unlike other energy giants globally, Santos has agreements to sell gas from its well to private consumers at market price, the Santos official said. The Aussie company has already received expressions of interest from over a dozen large privately owned companies in Chittagong to buy gas at market price due to a growing gas shortage in the country.

The energy crunch has forced Petrobangla, state energy regulatory agency to suspend new gas connections to industries since July 2009, squeezing industrial growth. Gas rationing is widespread and CNG filling stations are closed four hours a day. Bangladesh economy is entirely dependent on gas and electricity for production of the huge export industries.

Earlier, energy activists have been protesting the government ink a deal with Santos and other American energy giants for allowing them to sell gas privately, which they term is anti-nationalism, said its leader Professor Anu Mohammad of a state university.

Heart throb’s suicide pact on Valentines Day

2012-02-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

A LOVE pair in a suicide pact dies on Valentine Day with a hope they would be united in eternity, on Tuesday.

Saud Sheikh, 17, and Mitu Mollah, 16, from a village Kathibazaar in Gopalganj in southern Bangladesh decided to give away their lives, after stiff opposition from both their families against their bondage.

Demoralized and frustrated by the attitude of their parents, the teens were driven to end their life.

Both are school students of standard ten, were in love, said the village leader Mejbah Uddin Chowdhury.

Shiekh had an affair with Mollah for a long time, but Saud’s family refused to accept the affair, a ridiculed as fairytales. The parent transferred Shiekh to the capital Dhaka. In the meantime Mollah’s family forced her to marry a groom whom he never met, said the village leader Chowdhury.

Police said, Shiekh returned to the village a day before the incident. The lovers tied a knot in their hands with a scarf and jumped from a mobile phone tower. They died instantaneously, Gopalganj police officer Sarojit Biswas said.

Bangladesh TV journalist couple brutally murdered

2012-02-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Journalists from the broadcasting and print media take part in a human chain demanding arrests of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Nahar Runi killers. Photo: Shafin Ahmed/Demotix

SALEEM SAMAD

A YOUNG Journalist couple was cruelly murdered by unknown assailants in their apartment in the small hours in the weekend in the capital Dhaka, sparking widespread protest prompting authorities to issue orders for an investigation.

The couple’s five year-old son Megh informed her grandmother at 7:00 am on Saturday that two assailants killed his parents and he was locked inside a room. Police found Sagar Sarowar, news editor of private Maasranga TV both his hands and feet tied and his wife Meheren Runi, special correspondent of private ATN Bangla TV channel lying dead in a pool of blood.

Police security has been deployed to protect the only child who had survived the gruesome murder of his parents.

Sarowar returned to Bangladesh in 2011 after a few years stint with Deutsche Welle in Germany as a broadcaster.

The motive of the killing is unknown and police have yet to determine whether it is related to their work.

Chief Coroner at a state hospital said after the autopsy, Sarowar and Runi were hacked to death and had bore scores of stab wounds in their bodies.

Police detectives and intelligence agencies jointly launched a massive man-hunt ever in the history of Bangladesh and is desperately looking for clues.

Detectives and anti-crime agencies after two days is yet to make any progress in resolving the mystery of the most talked about murder story of the popular television journalists.

The police chief Hassan Mahmood Khandaker on Monday was evasive when crime reporters asked him barrages of questions regarding the progress of the investigation and whether the suspects have been nabbed. He, however, said there was significant progress and would not disclose any information for the sake of investigation.

Earlier the grieved journo leaders at a rally in front of the National Press Club on Sunday has set a 24 hours deadline, otherwise they threatened to boycott press coverage of the Home Affairs minister Sahara Khatoon.

Bangladesh is among the worst nations in the world in combating deadly anti-press violence. Bangladesh ranks 11th on New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Impunity Index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country's population. Twelve journalists have been murdered in reprisal for their work in Bangladesh since 1992.

Air pollution in Bangladesh capital kills thousands

2012-02-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

Nauseating air pollution in the Bangladesh capital annually kills thousands of urban poor and millions more suffer from respiratory diseases, a burden on inadequate health budget.

Authorities in Bangladesh assume if air pollution in its overcrowded capital could be reduced by only 20 to 80 percent, an estimated 1,200 to 3,500 lives annually could be saved.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) claims that another 80 to 230 million cases of respiratory diseases could be averted each year.

The recently completed Country Environment Assessment, conducted jointly by the government and the World Bank identified air pollution as the leading cause of mortality and morbidity related environmental issues.

Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE), a project of the government with the support of the Bank to reduce the capital Dhaka’s smog (smoke and fog) squarely blames scores of brick industries at the fringe of the city and clogging of limited road by large number of vehicles for 16 hours during weekdays.

The study says if the air pollution is reduced, it would also save $170 to 500 million in healthcare costs and simultaneously increase the productivity of city dwellers.

Traffic congestion in the capital and smoke from brick kilns are the main reasons for air pollution in Dhaka city, according to the World Bank and the Bangladesh government.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests says that vehicles in Dhaka move 14kmph on an average, which is very slow and causes them to burn more fuel and contribute to air pollution. They say the average speed could come down to 4kmph by 2025 if things do not improve.

The urban environment experts recommends for immediate introduction of energy efficient technology for a pro-green brick industry and rapid mass transit in Dhaka metropolis to ease traffic gridlocks through out the day.

An independent newspaper Daily Star on Friday quoting an official of the Department of Environment (DoE) said the density of airborne particulate matter is around 250 micrograms per cubic metre in Dhaka, which is five times the acceptable level.

The air consists of common pollutants, sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ground-level ozone (O3), volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulphide (H2S), sulphates and nitrates, the DoE official said.

Additional air pollutants of concern include toxic metals (lead, mercury, manganese, arsenic and nickel), benzene, formaldehyde, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), dioxins, and other persistent organic compounds, he add.

In another study Environmental Performance Index 2012, undertaken by the U.S. universities of Yale and Columbia, found Dhaka to be the 31st most polluted city out of 132 cities across the world.

Indian border guard chief remark outrage Bangladesh

2012-02-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH GOVERNMENT, as well as the rights groups are outraged after the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) chief said that it is not possible to stop border firing completely.

The BSF director general U.K. Bansal told the BBC on Tuesday that it is not possible to stop border firing completely and his Bangladesh counterpart Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) chief Maj.Gen. Anwar Hossain disagrees and said on Thursday that killing at the border under any circumstances is not acceptable.

The remark is contrary to Indian government’s agreed policy and continues to maintain a shoot-at-sight policy for any Bangladeshi illegally crossing the international divide, foreign minister Dipu Moni told reporters on Thursday.

Last July, the Indian home affairs minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the Indian guards will no longer shoot people crossing the porous border from Bangladesh. Instead the guards will use rubber bullets after warnings.

Two days after the anger is still being raged, two more Bangladeshi citizens on Thursday have been shot and wounded by BSF at Satkhira in south-east, lieutenant colonel Abu Bashir confirmed with the private wire service bdnews24.com.

Bangladesh Human Rights Commission chief Prof. Mizanur Rahman on Wednesday threatened to raise the issue at the United Nations Human Rights Council, unless BSF stops killing and torture of innocent Bangladeshis.

In December 2010, New York based Human Rights Watch in a report described the Indian border guards as "Trigger Happy" force and documented hundreds of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment by the BSF.

In January 18, 2012, Indian news channel NDTV showed a disturbing video of what appears to be a group of BSF guards in uniform beating up a young Bangladeshi man ruthlessly near the Bangladesh border after he allegedly refused to give them a bribe. BSF top officers acknowledged that this incident took place and the perpetrators were fired.

The rights groups Odikhar and Ain Shalish Kendra (ASK) documents the killings on the border have denounced the border killings as extrajudicial murders.

The NGO’s stated that it is one of the most dangerous international borders, where an estimated 350 Bangladeshis and 165 Indians have been killed by Indian forces since 2006, since India began to fence the borders.

India in the east, shares 2,544 miles of porous and soft border with Bangladesh and have constructed walls with barbed wire, roughly 70 percent border with Bangladesh to stop illegal border crossing. The rest of the border is running across the delta's shifting rivers, which are unfenceable, but patrolled.

Livestock, food stuffs, gun-running and drug trade are regularly brought from India into Bangladesh. Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh cross into India to find jobs.

However, Gen. Anwar said on Thursday that the incident of killing at the border is on the decline in the last two months.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow, is an award winning investigative reporter based in Bangladesh. He specializes on Islamic terrorism, forced migration, good governance, press freedom and elective democracy. Ending his life in exile from Canada he has recently returned home. He was detained, tortured in 2002 and later expelled in 2004 for whistle-blowing of the safe sanctuary in Bangladesh of the Jihadist leaders who fled during Anglo-US invasion of Afghanistan. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh: Coup bid against Sheikh Hasina foiledBangladesh: Coup bid against Sheikh Hasina foiled

2012-02-09T03:11:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

In late December last year, a secret letter went from New Delhi to Dhaka. It was delivered directly to Sheikh Hasina, 65, the prime minister of Bangladesh. It warned her that Islamist radicals embedded within the Bangladesh Army were planning a coup. Hasina had reason to fear coups. On the night of August 15, 1975, her father, Bangladesh's first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her mother and three brothers were massacred by officers of the Bangladesh Army. Hasina and her sister would have been dead as well, but were abroad on a tour of Europe.

Along with the letter, India had worked out a contingency plan to evacuate the prime minister, her cabinet and key figures of her Awami League party in the event of a coup. There was a military plan as well. Indian helicopter gunships would be launched from two airbases in West Bengal and Tripura into Dhaka to provide air cover for the operation. Landing zones and evacuation sites were identified in and around the capital for the air corridor.

All through December, Bangladesh's spy agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), which reports directly to Hasina, quietly went to work. It was headed by Major General Sheikh Mamun Khaled, whom Hasina had personally chosen. They tapped phone communications, smss and emails of suspects in the conspiracy. Social networking sites were monitored. A series of arrests was made from December-end to January.

Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), who is anti-India by conviction and hates Hasina with a rare passion, alleged at a public rally in Chittagong that army officers were becoming victims of "sudden disappearance". The army's media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR), warned Khaleda to refrain from making any statements. The army was worried that public discourse might soon include details of the impending coup.

The coup attempt began innocuously. Posts on a Facebook group, 'Soldiers Forum', instigated soldiers to work against the government. Major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haq, a graduate of the military academy who was training at the Military Institute of Science and Technology, Dhaka, was identified as the mastermind. He used a mobile phone with a UK number to share details of the conspiracy with 11 other army officers. On his Facebook account, he bragged that "mid-level officers of Bangladesh Army are bringing changes soon". On January 8, the banned fanatical organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) distributed provocative leaflets based on his post.

Major Zia regularly updated his Facebook account with "information" on arrests of army officers by "anti-terrorism agents", including those of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). His messages spread to blogs and were even picked up by a pro-BNP newspaper, Amar Desh. The DGFI and other security agencies kept the suspected plotters under surveillance. They discovered that the likely date of the coup was January 10 or 11. One by one, the plotters were picked up and are now detained in military headquarters, Dhaka.

On January 19, the army unveiled the plot. In its first ever press conference, held at the Army Officers' Club in Dhaka, ISPR spokesperson Brigadier General Muhammad Masud Razzaq took questions, didn't reveal specifics, but talked about the threat to Hasina's "pro-secular and democratically elected government". Brigadier Razzaq claimed between 14 and 16 former and active mid-level radical Muslim officers were behind the conspiracy to topple the government and install an Islamist regime. Two retired officers, Lt Col Ehsan Yousuf and Major Zakir, were arrested on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government and they "admitted their role in the plot". Major General Mohammad Kamruzzaman, commander of the Comilla-based 33rd Infantry Division, was removed from his command and detained in Dhaka. Another brigadier, Tariqul Alam, commander of 71st Brigade of 9th Division, and Major General Shabbir Ahmad, commander of the Rangpur-based 66 Division, are under surveillance. Eleven other officers from Dhaka and other cantonments across the country have been confined in the capital.

Bangladesh Army chief General Mohammad Mainul Islam says the major general and some religious bigots had planned to indoctrinate pious officers. "They had targeted the deeply religious officers, who they felt would be amenable because they were pious, to execute their conspiracy to overthrow the democratically elected government," he says.

On January 21, Hasina said, "I would like to thank the Bangladesh Army. Had they not unearthed the conspiracy in time, a great disaster could have taken place. The army saved the patriotic forces and the country as well by throttling the conspiracy to topple the democratic government." She accused arch-rival Khaleda of plotting to overthrow her government. The BNP dismissed this as well as allegations that self-exiled BNP leader Tarique Rahman, Khaleda's son, was involved in the aborted coup attempt.

The Bangladesh Army says Major Zia, the alleged coup mastermind, evaded arrest. His whereabouts are unknown. Yet, it was the resurfacing of an underground Islamist organisation that caused concern. The Bangladesh Army linked the conspirators to the Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Tahrir, an international Sunni pan-Islamist political organisation, advocates an Islamic Caliphate governed by Shariah law. Founded in 1953 in Jerusalem, it has spread to more than 40 countries, and is also active in Pakistan.

The Hasina government had banned the Tahrir in October 2009. Agencies such as the Rapid Action Battalion, National Security Intelligence and Detective Branch repeatedly claimed they had succeeded in containing them. They based these claims on the detention of key figures such as Towfiq Elahi, a teacher of a prominent private university, and Dr Golam Haider Rasul, 45, who practises at Dhaka's United Hospital, besides hundreds of others. Tahrir leader Maulana Mamunur Rashid, principal of a Dhaka madrassa, remains a fugitive.

Nearly 500 Tahrir members were detained mostly for organising rallies and distributing leaflets. Police officers now admit their inability to curb the well-funded organisation merely through arrests. "It's tough because families of the detained activists get money from their global network," says Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan, director of the Intelligence Wing of the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion. Most of the detained militants released on bail rejoin the outfit. The outfit has resurfaced more aggressively after its ban.

Besides the men in uniform, the Hizb ut-Tahrir has spread its invisible tentacles among the social elite, government professionals, academics and politicians. "They have a new approach to radicalism, the cuckoo's eggs in the crow's nest (trying to covertly embed themselves in society)," says Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, a political scientist in Dhaka University.

Since their 1975 putsch that killed Mujib, the Father of the Nation, the military in Bangladesh has overthrown the civilian government four times. The army has killed two elected presidents and coerced three other presidents into declaring military-backed emergency. The last coup was in January 2007 and since then, attempts have been made to keep the military in the barracks.

The Supreme Court has been a key force. A landmark judgment by a full bench headed by former chief justice Mohammad Tafazzul Islam on July 28, 2010, declared three military regimes between August 15, 1975, and February 1979 as illegal. The new constitution, adopted by Parliament in November 2011, has restored equality of religions. But as UK-based terror analyst Chris Blackburn says, "The recent coup plot shows that extremism in South Asia has many forms. There has always been a trend within the ranks of the military to push the importance of religion in binding a country together. There are certainly officers who see themselves as guardians of both state and religion. But I still think it is too early right now to speculate on Hizb ut-Tahrir's role in the attempted coup. They are an extremist group."

Hasina has been under threat since she swept to power in early 2009. More than 1,000 paramilitary border guards of Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed Border Guards Bangladesh, revolted against the military's hegemony over their institution. It was symptomatic of the unrest in the armed forces. India helped even then. Sources in the prime minister's office said that as soon as the mutiny broke out, India kept its special forces 50 Parachute Independent Brigade on standby to fly into Dhaka in case of an emergency. New Delhi's support for Hasina is clear. In her third stint as prime minister, Bangladesh has ceased to become a safe haven for militant groups operating in India.

The military has moved in swiftly to initiate a court of inquiry against the rogue officers. The military brass, meanwhile, reassured the president of its secular credentials and their support. "There is no room for religious zealots in the Bangladesh Army," army chief General Islam told a seminar in Dhaka a week after the botched coup. The civilian government can only hope that it is true.

First published in India Today, New Delhi, January 28, 2012

Grave robbers shock relatives in Bangladesh

2012-02-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

Robbers stole 23 human skeletons from graveyards at a village in Gazipur, north of the Bangladesh capital, leaving scores of relatives in shock.

Zaher Ali was found crying beside his elder brother’s grave following the bizarre discovery. “My brother died nearly six months ago. Miscreants stole his skeleton from the grave,” was speaking to reporters in tears.

The relatives are in pain and agony that they would never be able to pay respect to their near and dear ones. Like other religions, graves are sacrilegious for the Muslims and desecration of a grave is attributed as a sin.

Umar Ali, chairman of the graveyard supervisory committee of the village Gojarichala said he found 23 graves were exhumed to the spot and the skeletons are missing.

The committee chairman said there are about 280-300 graves at the graveyard and grave robbers have stolen these skeletons in the last few days. He believes that the thieves robbed the skeletons in the darkness of the night.

Abdul Baten, police chief of Gazipur on Tuesday rushed to the place of occurrence after locals reported the heist. He said police has been deployed and will take necessary measures in this regard.

The rapacious thieves steal human skeletons for a lucrative underground market which is abroad. Nobody could however provide accurate information on the final destination of the bones.

Pakistan textile industry relocating to Bangladesh

2012-01-31T23:33:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

PAKISTAN EXPORT oriented textile industry are relocating their business to Bangladesh for a slice of preferential trade agreements with United States and European Union as poor country.

Pakistan Textile Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin on Tuesday confirmed that the textile industry in Pakistan is gradually shifting to Bangladesh to seek more profit, while the industry leaders argue that there relocation was because of electricity and gas outages prevailing in Pakistan.

Bangladesh authority has given the Pakistan textile producers special area in export processing zones to enable to establish their business. Energy starved Bangladesh is also making all efforts to improve augmentation of power and gas supplies for its crucial export industries.

The industries located in the textile hub of southern Punjab in Pakistan had effected the jobs of 60,000 workers and nearly 200,000 families of indirect employments. The authorities nor the industry owners have any plan to compensate the job loss.

Shahabuddin, a senior politician of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party said that Bangladesh textile receives special privileges from E.U. and U.S. Both E.U. and U.S. are major market destination for textile companies. To increase their market share, the industry is shifting to Bangladesh, he said.

According to the minister, more than 40% of the textile industry and around 200,000 power looms have been shifted to Bangladesh in the last five years, causing employment problems.

Defending the electricity crisis, the senior politician said that it is not the only problem in Pakistan, other Asian countries are also facing this predicament. He claimed that electricity shortage would be minimized soon and power tariffs would be brought down according to the demand in the country, to encourage investment climate in Pakistan.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes on Islamic terrorism, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile from Canada after return of democracy. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

India plans war games with U.S, Russia Bangladesh

2012-01-31T18:13:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

INDIA ARMY will hold war games with top global powers, including United States, Russia, France, Bangladesh and Singapore to learn from India its experience of counter terrorism and urban warfare operations.

Indian Army will hold around 15 war exercises this year with friendly foreign countries, Indian private news channel NDTV reported on Sunday quoting army officials.

In its immediate neighbourhood, Indian Army will conduct these joint training exercises with Bangladesh and Singapore too. Earlier, India and Bangladesh had two limited scale war games in 2009 and 2001.

The war game will kick-off with Singapore army in March, when the two sides will field their mechanised forces in the training engagement.

The for anti-terrorism drills and urban warfare is going to be an important part of all of these war games, an officials said. The schedule with other countries will be finalized soon.

The army troopers will also engage the American mechanised forces in the deserts of Rajasthan in the exercise which will see the U.S. fielding its tanks there.

Earlier in 2009, the U.S. had participated in exercise with the Indian Army, when it had taken its Stryker infantry armoured vehicles outside of its operational area to a foreign land.

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is an award winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He specializes on Islamic terrorism, forced migration, good governance and elective democracy. He has recently returned from exile from Canada after return of democracy. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Despite protests, India, Bangladesh agrees to generate power

2012-01-31T03:46:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

IN MAJOR breakthrough India have agreed to help

Bangladesh

to generate coal-fired power station and pens another deal to generate additional power by private companies.

The state owned Power Development Board (PDB) on Sunday penned an agreement with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of

India

to build a 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant at Bagerhat, near the southern coast.

The environmentalists and senior citizens have protested against the construction of coal-fired power plant, which they argue would jeopardize the fragile mangrove forest. It is feared to drown at the time of sea-level rise caused from global warming, environment advocate Rizwana Hasan lamented.

However environmentalists say the proposed site for the power plant is too close to world heritage Sundarbans. They argue that discharge from the power plant, like sulphur dioxide and fly ash, will have disastrous consequences for the fauna and flora of the mangrove swamps.

Environmentalists and senior citizens have protested against construction of the coal-fired plant, which they argue would jeopardize a fragile mangrove forest. It is feared to drown at the time of sea-level rise caused from global warming, lamented environment advocate Rizwana Hasan in a joint statement with senior citizens.

ASM Alamgir Kabir, chairman of PDB, and Arup Roy Choudhury, chairman and managing director of the New Delhi-based company, signed the deal to install two units of the plant with 660 MW generation capacity each.

The PDB chief said the plant would use supercritical pressure technology that offers high efficiency and less coal consumption in order to keep the emission level as low as possible.

Bangladesh

energy starved nation of 150 million has gradually developed hundreds of export industries, which has caused hiccups due to acute power shortage. The traditional natural gas based power generation faced setback due to gas shortage.

The country's present power production is slightly more than 5,000 MW against a daily demand of 7,000 MW.

The deal would cost $1.5 billion and it will start supplying electricity to the national grid by 2016. The coal imported from India, Australian Indonesia and

South Africa

will be shipped to its location more than 12 miles north of the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, the plant will be the country's largest power plant.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh and

India

are working together to draw the contours of the proposed South Asia Power Grid. India and

Bangladesh

were preparing the draft concept papers for the proposed regional power trading regime.

Bangladesh unveils cyber watchdog to check crimes

2012-01-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

Campaign: Free Internet

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH IN the wake of last week use of social media by key conspirators botched Islamic coup, the authority unveiled on Friday a new cyber watchdog.

Bangladesh Computer Security Incident Response Team (BD-CSIPT) began its operation with an objective to secure the country's information and communication traffic.

The abortive coup by Islamic radicals planned to overthrow the democratically elected pro-secular government led by Shiekh Hasina. The conspirators used social medial like Facebook and blogs to ventilate their Islamic agenda with their disgruntled collaborators in the army and used smart phones to stay connected.

Maj. Gen. (retd.) Zia Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission told state-run BSS news agency that the BD-CSIRT is mainly assigned to identify the sites and persons or institutions who will engage in operating harmful activities against the state, society, political and religious beliefs using the mobile phone, website and different social networking sites.

Apart from monitoring and control of cyber-crimes, it will take punitive measures against the offenders, and in some cases it will take action directly.

The cyber watchdog will also ensure the security of value-added services like e-banking, e-ticketing and similar others, which require strong security system.

Ahmed Swapan, a media activist advocating for privacy rights in a mixed reaction, regarding the objectives of the government’s decision. He said that in the name of cyber surveillance, it would be detrimental and if the authority exercise cyber-censorship, unnecessary interference and harassment of the users.

Bangladesh security agency smash coup conspiracy

2012-01-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH SECURITY agencies have unearthed a conspiracy to overthrow the anti-Islamist government of Shiekh Hasina.

In a rare press conference hurriedly organized by the Bangladesh Army’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) at it’s headquarter in the capital Dhaka on Thursday, said that they do not rule out any possibility of international links and foreign involvement in the foiled coup plot.

The statement read out by Brigadier General Muhammad Masud Razzaq claimed that some 14 – 16 former and in-service radical Muslim mid-level officers were involved in the conspiracy to topple a democratic government and install a hardliner Islamist regime.

Brig. Gen. Razzaq said retired Lieutenant Colonel Ehsan Yusuf and Major Zakir were placed under arrest on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government and that they "admitted their role in the plot".

However, the mastermind of the coup Major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Huq (a.k.a. Major Zia) remains a fugitive. The renegade officer has links to banned Islamist terror network Hizb ut-Tahrir, the spokesperson claimed.

The conspiracy came into surface on Dec. 26 and intelligence and security agencies kept the suspects of the coup plotters under surveillance and found that the fugitive officer maintained contacts with other disgruntled army officers by mobile phones, emails and social media Facebook.

Finally on January 10 – 11, Maj, Zia contacted the collaborators through mobile phones. The renegades wanted to know details of the execution of coup d’état and the suspected mastermind repeatedly urged to execute the plan, which flopped.

The spokesperson did not deny of any foreign country or international network’s involvement in the conspiracy. He said nothing can be dismissed, but quickly said to wait for the inquiry report.

Brig. Gen. Razzaq said after the probe, tough measures would be taken against the renegades. The suspects are being hunted and asked them to surrender.

Hasina’s father, Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, the pro-independence hero was assassinated in a military putsch in 1975, when her family members were also killed. Meanwhile, the security of the prime minister has been beefed up.

The news broke at the time when the pro-independence government after 40 years have began the trial of Islamist leaders for crime against humanity during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Hours after the army had gone public about a bid to topple the Sheikh Hasina led coalition government, a senior minister Syed Ashraful Islam and general secretary of ruling Awami League said public representatives must continue to call the shots and that the rule of law must be upheld.

Ban on bureaucrats rocks bourse in Bangladesh

2012-01-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

THOUSANDS OF SMALL investors took to the streets after the bourse dipped once again to 4695.57 points, losing 168.72 points or 3.46 percent, at close of trading on Wednesday.

As the index tumbled inside, on the outside the Dhaka Stock Exchange building protesting retail stocks investors blocked traffic in the Motijheel, commercial hub of the city. Riot police with bullet-proof vest and tear-gas shells stood guard to protect the agitators becoming violent, said senior police officer Krishna Roy.

Share prices dropped sharply on Wednesday even after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman clarified that no decision was taken in Monday's cabinet meeting to stop public servants from investing in the capital market.

Hours after issuing a notification asking the bureaucrats to refrain from making investment in the capital market, the government on Wednesday withdrew the order.

The raucous began over the government’s official notification which bans the bureaucrats from investing in the capital market. The notification says that public servants cannot make any speculative investment or engage in a business that creates a conflict of interest.

Fearing massive fall in share prices following the banning of bureaucrats from investing their money in the capital market, the authorities on Tuesday based on the media report on “banning government employees from investing their money in the capital market”.

At a press briefing Musharraf M Hussain, chief executive officer of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, said they suspended the trading to protect interests of both the capital market and the capital investors.

Rights group protest abduction, secret killings in Bangladesh

2012-01-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

International rights groups are seeking answers from the Bangladesh authorities for ongoing abductions, disappearances and secret killings.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in their report released last week expressed alarm of increasing numbers of professionals including lawyers, university students, small businessmen and pro-opposition political activists are being abducted by plain clothed armed men from the streets, business offices and homes. Often the victims’ bodies with their hands tied or blindfolded are dumped on lonely roadsides.

Government continuously denied any knowledge of any abductions or disappearances. The failure of the authorities to probe by independent investigators into complaints of abductions, disappearances and secret killings, AHRC laments.

National rights organizations Odhikar, in its annual human rights report found alarming rise of disappearances, deaths in custody and attacks on journalists in 2011. Another rights group Ain-O-Salish Kendra, did not hesitate to express similar concern of disappearances and secret killings.

Top ranking officials of law enforcing and security forces instead blamed the “criminal gangs” or the “opposition political parties” for the abductions and secret killings.

An independent newspaper Daily Star in its Tuesday editorial, fears that the government’s denial may breed impunity. In spite of the government's denial, the newspaper writes that some of the cases are plainly indefensible. If deterrent measures are not taken, the government may be condoning a dangerous culture of impunity, completely opposed to the values of democracy and civil liberties.

Bangladesh, as a member of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations and also a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has an obligation to protect its own citizens in the country.

The international rights group AHRC advised that the government should halt the law-enforcing agencies arrests of suspects without a warrants, which will generate a believe among general people that the police and other law enforcing agencies does not arrest or abduct in plainclothes.

Islamist rampage in Bangladesh capital protesting jailing of war crimes suspect

2012-01-12T16:22:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

Islamists on Thursday in Bangladesh rampage in the capital’s downtown and clashed with riot police protesting imprisonment of the high profile war crimes suspect and also demanded abolition of war crimes trial.

A day after the Jamaat-e-Islami linchpin Ghulam Azam was send behind bars, the activist’s organized series of street protests in the capital and elsewhere in the upcountry. The International Crimes Tribunal, set up to try war crimes suspects has rejected Azam’s bail plea on Wednesday.

Jamaat-e-Islami linchpin Ghulam Azam has been indicted on 62 counts of crimes against humanity during the war of independence of Bangladesh in 1971.

The Islamist activists clashed with riot police in bullet-proof jackets in the city center. The irate activists vandalized a police vehicle, attacked police officers and snatched police weapons.

Police to quell the violence lobbed tear-gas shells and baton charged the activists. Several arrests were made.

Police officer Anwar Hossain told journalists that the situation is under control in the evening and confirmed that the pistol loaded with bullets has not been recovered.

The Islamist party a strategic partner of main opposition has demanded to scrap the war crimes trial, which they say is witch-hunting the opposition leaders who are arch political rivals of the ruling party. The government always denied such accusation of the opposition and explained that it was longstanding electoral promise to try war criminals committed 40 years ago.

Bangladesh tribunal reject bail of high profile war crimes suspect, send to prison

2012-01-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

Photo: Activists rally demanding trial of war criminals

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH HIGH profile crimes suspect has been send to prison on Wednesday after the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in capital Dhaka rejected the bail petition.

Amidst tight security, the prime suspect was driven in a prison van to central prison in old city.

Within hours after the arrest of former Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam from the court premise, the ailing suspect was send to the prison cell of a specialized government hospital for treatment in the afternoon.

Police source could not confirm if Azam had any health-related complaints.

Earlier in the day, Azam who has been indicted on 62 counts appeared before the tribunal in compliance with its order on Monday last for hearing of his bail petition, which was rejected.

His counsel Barrister Abdur Razzaq said in his petition that the bail plea was made solely on compassionate and humanitarian grounds, that his client was almost 90 and suffered from a number of old-age ailments.

The tribunal set Feb.15 for hearing of charges against him for his alleged involvement in crime against humanity during the bloody war of independence of Bangladesh in 1971.

The court room was filled to the brim as the Jamaat guru's hearing began amid palpable tension.

Chief prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo said this man headed the Jamaat-e-Islami, "which mobilized its forces from one corner of the country to another."

Azam has been blamed for being the linchpin for raising Al-Badar, fanatic Islamic militants responsible for kidnap, disappearance and execution of pro-independence professionals and intellectuals, mostly teachers, doctors, journalists and engineers.

The pro-independence government set up the ICT to try crimes against humanity of dreaded Islamic militants from among his party’s youth members, the lead prosecutor said. The militants on the behest of the marauding Pakistan army caused genocide of an estimated 3 millions, rape of 420 thousand women and the atrocities forced 10 million to flee to neighboring India.

Bangladesh army takes offence of opposition leader’s remark

2012-01-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

THE BANGLADESH armed force has taken serious offence of main opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia’s statement at a public rally in Chittagong in the south.

The military press wing Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday in strongly guarded termed the remarks of the opposition leader regarding army official were ‘provocative, irresponsible, false and unexpected’.

On Monday, Zia said at a rally that the government was eliminating opposition leaders and activists not only through repression but also through abductions and secret killings. "Not only this, even army personnel are being abducted," the former prime minister had alleged.

It also said the nation does not expect such a provocative speech from an opposition leader.

The reaction issued to the press, interprets her remarks as an attempt to tarnish the image of the armed forces in a bid to create anarchy.

The ISPR press release also said the army is run through a specific military law. “Measure is taken as per the law if it is violated,” it added. There is no scope of spreading speculation here, it added.

On the other hand, the prime minister Shiekh Hasina on Tuesday scoffed off opposition leader’s call to step aside and hold an election. She instead urged the opposition leader to join parliament, which her party is boycotting for more than two years.

Bangladesh war crimes court ask top Islamist leader to appear or face arrest

2012-01-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

THE INTERNATIONAL Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday asked Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party former chief Golam Azam to appear before the court on January 11 or face arrest.

Justice Nizamul Haque Nasim issued an order after accepting formal charges against Azam who is blamed for crime against humanity during the bloody war of independence of Bangladesh in 1971.

The tribunal judge warned failure to present the suspect, who was formerly chief of Islamist party on the specific date would issue warrant of arrest.

The prosecution submitted formal charges accusing Azam for his involvement on 62 counts including waging war against the people of Bangladesh. He has also been charged for being the henchman of the marauding Pakistan army for recruiting Muslim youths to form the death squad, who kidnapped and executed hundreds pro-independence professionals and intellectuals.

Bangladesh, formerly eastern province of Pakistan remained 2,000 miles away in between India. The nation revolted against Islamic Pakistan against refusal of political and civil liberties and established a secular country.

Defense counsel Abdur Razzaq pleased that the case against Golam Azam be dismissed. The tribunal ruled that the petition was not tenable since there was no provision of hearing the defense or the prosecution before charges was taken into cognizance.

Meanwhile, the prosecution indicted six other suspects who are Sunni Muslims for crime against humanity perpetrated during the 1971 war against Pakistan.

Bangladesh opposition deadline for the government to quit

2012-01-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH MAIN opposition on Monday has set March 12 as deadline for the ruling alliance government to quit or they people would pull them down.

Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at a public rally after the end of her 132 miles road march from the capital Dhaka to Chittagong in the south said that the ruling Awami League government’s time is up.

Opposition Bangladesh Nationalists Party’s objective of the road march was to drum up support for its demand to restore a caretaker government system for holding credible national election. The government, last year scrapped the neutral transition government from the constitution, allowing the elected government to oversee the election to the parliament.

At a cheering crowd, the former prime minister and BNP chief Zia urged prime minister Shiekh Hasina, “Your popularity has come down to zero level. Without resisting our future program, quit power and test your popularity by giving elections under a non-party caretaker government.”

Khaleda twice elected as prime minister insisted that the next general elections must be held under a non-party caretaker authority and said, “It is not possible to hold impartial elections under Awami League and we won’t allow any election without the caretaker government.”

The opposition leader announced a million people march to the capital on March 12 to realize their demand for restoration of care-taker government. The tenure of the present government will end in December of 2013.

Some three thousand vehicles joined the road march, which clogged the main commercial highway from the industrial area in the central to the port city Chittagong. Millions of bus passengers plying between small towns were stranded in the highway, the embedded journalists described.

Praising past three heads of caretaker governments were honest and held a free, fair and credible elections. However, she dubbed the last military backed caretaker government as illegal and unconstitutional.

Bangladesh teacher awarded imprisonment for Facebook status

2012-01-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

BANGLADESH FOR the first time has given a verdict on Wednesday to a university teacher for his status wishing death of prime minister Shiekh Hasina.

The High Court sentenced Jahangirnagar University’s fugitive teacher Muhammad Ruhul Amin Khandaker to six months for contempt of court, after the accused failed to appear on court summons.

The court will soon deliver the verdict on the primary case, wishing death to Hasina in social media, which Khandakar wrote on Aug. 13 in the Facebook status.

Bangladesh has 2,251,340 ranking 56th position globally.

Bangladesh, last May was the second South Asian nation after Pakistan to block the popular social media Facebook for blasphemy inviting people to draw images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

The court ordered the university authority to take steps against the fugitive teacher according to the university rules.

The police chief has been asked to arrest him, Hossain said. The court also ordered the foreign ministry to bring back the teacher from Australia, where he is study leave.

Human rights lawyer Dr Shahdin Malik said Bangladesh does not have specific laws to punish Facebook users. Therefore, it would be difficult to charge a user for security threats or blasphemy.

Bangladesh police breaks energy activist’s demos

2011-12-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

Saleem Samad

Police in riot gears in the capital Dhaka broke up a demonstration by energy activists on Thursday midday demanding postponement of contracts with foreign companies for power generation and coal exploration.

Police charged batons and fired tear gas shells to disperse the demonstrators who tried to lay siege to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource to press for termination of Phulbari Coal Project contract with GCM Resources, a London-based resource exploration and development company.

Activists’ spokesperson Prof. Anu Mohammad said at least 35 people of the network National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports were injured as police clubbed the activists marching towards the Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources.

Among the injured includes Engr. Sheikh Mohammad Shahidullah and Prof. Rehnuma Khanam of the committee.

Earlier, police barricaded the entrance with barbed wire fences to hold back the angry activists.

The energy activist's network of leftists, professional and civil society members after holding a rally in front of National Press Club at the city centre marched towards the Bangladesh Secretariat, where most of the ministries are housed.

Spontaneously the network announced that it would observe countrywide rallies on Jan. 2 in protest of Thursday’s police action.

Bangladesh is in the midst of a severe and worsening energy crisis. Less than half of the country’s 150 million people have access to electricity and those that do have access suffer from frequent power cuts.

Lack of available power is a barrier to the development of industry and also impedes agricultural production.

Presently the country’s power generation is based on natural gas. Therefore coal fired power stations proposed by India could reduce the power shortage significantly.

South Asian plagued by corruption of police, politicians, public officials

2011-12-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

THE SOUTH Asian regularly have to pay bribes daily when dealing with their public institutions, whether to speed up paperwork, avoid harassment with the police, or access basic services.

International watchdog Transparency International on Thursday stated that police was perceived to be the most corrupt institution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and the second most corrupt institution in India.

Public perceptions of corruption released by Berlin based global corruption watchdog across all six of the South Asian countries– Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – found corruption levels to be highest in political parties and the police, followed closely by the parliament and public officials.

In Bangladesh the most common reason for giving bribe to police was to receive a service and also to avoid problems with the authorities.

However, government leaders were named as the most trusted to fight corruption in Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the media was the most trusted institution in India and Nepal.

The Transparency International study between 2010 and 2011 more than 7500 people were interviewed in six South Asian countries on their views of corruption levels in their countries and also to determine their governments’ efforts to fight corruption.

These results demonstrate an important difference in how corruption is perceived in the countries of South Asia. In Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, people were most likely to pay bribes to the police.

Surprisingly the religious bodies were perceived to be the least corrupt institution, the study said.

Bangladesh, Russia's Gazprom to drill onshore gas wells

2011-12-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

ENERGY STARVED Bangladesh has jointly decided on a plan with Gazprom to prepare gas sector strategic master plan for exploration, installation of gas compressors and expanding gas distribution network.

Bangladesh on Wednesday approved a plan by Gazprom, the Russain based world biggest producer and exporter of natural gas to drill 10 onshore wells in the country, state energy exploration agency Petrobangla’s Chairman Hussain Monsur said.

Gazprom will be the first foreign company to partner with Petrobangla in exploration without a production-sharing contract, the official added.

Gazprom in late October offered to drill 10 onshore gas wells in Bangladesh on a turnkey basis at a total cost of $193.55 million, with drilling to be completed within 18 months of approval being granted, Vice-President of Gazprom Ivan Guleb told journalists.

The government recently passed a new law to ensure the quick implementation of power and energy projects that bypasses the tender process. It gives it the authority to bypass any laws that impede the execution of power projects and prevents decisions and deals inked under the new law from being challenged in court.

The shortfall has forced Petrobangla to suspended new gas connections to industries since July 2009, squeezing industrial growth. Gas rationing is widespread and CNG filling stations are closed four hours a day.

On the other hand, leaked United States diplomatic cables said the Kremlin's ambition of turning Gazprom, the world's biggest gas company, into a global energy titan is undermined by Soviet-style thinking, poor management and corruption.

The diplomatic cables from U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Beyrle paint Russia's biggest company as a confused and corrupt like its predecessor, the Soviet Ministry of Gas.

Courting danger: Recounting ordeal in DGFI custody

2011-12-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

SALEEM SAMAD

It was a late-night call. The caller told me in rustic English that they were coming to pick us up from the hotel. I had been commissioned by Channel 4 to help its crew working on the Unreported World programme. During our investigation in November 2002, we came to know that some terrorists were hiding in Dhaka. We wanted to interview them. The call was from one of their commanders. After an hour, a van arrived at the hotel.

We were blindfolded and driven around Dhaka to make us lose our sense of direction. Finally, we were taken into a building where we saw half a dozen men with AK-47s. We were asked to wait for the commander. After some time, a tall and broad-shouldered Arab fighter came to meet us. He refused to be photographed or interviewed and said he had kept his promise to meet us.

We were again blindfolded and then left in the middle of the city. On November 25, Zaiba and Bruno, two Channel 4 staffers who were with me, were arrested. I wasn’t with them that day. It was then that I realised that we were being followed by the military intelligence sleuths. A friend in the security establishment told me that we had committed a big mistake. He said the place where the terrorists hid was in fact a safe house of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the man we met was an al Qaeda commander. I couldn’t believe that the terrorists were protected by the agency which was supposed to arrest them. The news left me shocked and frightened. I knew we went too close to the story. We had blown a cover of the DGFI. By that time, DGFI men had surrounded my home.

I called my brother and said I would stay at a friend’s place. The intelligence agencies had tapped his phone and they heard our conversation. That night they raided my friend’s place and arrested me. I was brutally tortured for days. My interrogators wanted to know how much we knew about their safe houses and covert operations. Then, after 50 days in custody, I was released on January 18, 2003. I thought my ordeal was over. Hardly did I know that I would be forced to leave my country. After my release, a friend in the government told me that there was a plan to assassinate me. To save my life, I fled to Canada, where I got asylum.

First published in The Week, December 3, 2011