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MUJIB MURDER CASE
Supreme Court upholds death sentences
Sadeq Khan
The special bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court that heard the appeal of the convicts on the death row, all rebellious army officers who failed to escape the dragnet of the prosecutors in the case of assassination of the founder-president of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has given its verdict. The appeal has been dismissed and the death sentences confirmed by the High Court have been endorsed by the appellate bench. The absconders who fled the country and are sheltered abroad will now have to elude a more determined extradition drive...[ FULL STORY ]
ALLOWING DUTY-FREE CAR IMPORT BY MPS
An attempt to raise old ghost of corruption
Faisal Rahim
Speaker Advocate Abdul Hamid last week suggested that since the salary of the government officials were increased under a new pay scale, the salary of the country's lawmakers and perhaps other elected functionaries should also rise. He said if anybody tabled a bill in the House to this effect, he would help pass it to the benefit of everybody.
He further said the old practice of allowing duty-free import of cars might be revived to the benefit of all lawmakers. He admitted the fact that lawmakers in the past misused the privilege by importing luxury cars and selling them to any third party for gaining financial benefits. He said he would take care this time that nobody imported BMW or Mercedes cars and lawmakers would not be allowed to transfer these vehicles to others until seven years after import of the cars...[ FULL STORY ]
MILITARY VIS-A-VIS SOVEREIGNTY
Nation's defence should be strengthened
M. Shahidul Islam
Governance is all about making the best of choices, some of which could be horrid and unpalatable. And any decision made not guided by facts and circumstances may haunt the decision makers in coming days.
As the governance is becoming more clogged and stymied by the day, many feel that some of those who are helping the government to make decisions are actually saboteurs from within.
Because of the delay in holding the trial of the BDR massacre of February 25-26, which has again been deferred last week, the armed forces of the nation are apparently being deprived of fundamental rights accorded to them by the nation's Constitution and the other relevant statutes that are designed to treat all citizens as equal...[ FULL STORY ]
12 TO DIE FOR KILLING MUJIB
Jubilant party men hail verdict
Special Correspondent
In the much awaited final verdict, the Supreme Court (S.C.) on Thursday upheld High Court (H.C.) verdict rejecting appeals of five men convicted of killing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members 34 years ago on August 15, 1975.
The final judgment has cleared the way for hanging of all the 12 former army officers convicted of the 1975 assassination, seven of whom are fugitives. The five convicts - Syed Faruk Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan -- are already in prison.
The five-member bench comprising Justice Mohammed Tafazzal Islam, Justice Md. Abdul Aziz, Justice B K Das, Justice Md. Muzammel Hossain and Justice S K Sinha delivered the verdict rejecting the appeals filed by five convicts against their death sentences in this case...[ FULL STORY ]
Sino-Indian rivalry fuels Nepal's turmoil
Peter Lee
Massive torchlight parades, clashes between the police and demonstrators, vows to bring the Nepalese government to its knees, a tottering United Nations peace process, and barely concealed great-power sparring between China and India. Clearly, Nepal is in crisis.
Last week, a branch of Nepal's Maoists declared the autonomy of the Nepalese state of Kirat, a move that might lead to the total collapse of the Nepalese peace process and the return of the Maoists to insurgency against the central government:
The agitating Unified Maoists' Party has declared the Autonomous State on Nov 9. The Maoist Party politburo member and the coordinator of Kirat State Uprising Committee, Gopal Kirati, amid the presence of hundreds of Maoist cadres, had made the declaration in Diktel of Khotang District. [1]So far, Western media have reported remotely and somewhat uncomprehendingly on the massive demonstrations in Kathmandu led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with a marked lack of interest. This perhaps reflects the shared desire of the Indian, Chinese and Western governments not to inflame the situation with excessive attention and rhetoric. The CPN-M has vowed to bring 300,000 activists to the capital to shut down the government...[ FULL STORY ]
WHY USA IS IN AFGHANISTAN
Could it make Obama a one-term President?
Mumtaz Iqbal
God alone knows. And he's not telling
One thing's for sure. Washington doesn't really know.
A telling piece of evidence is the ongoing prolonged examination by America's national security establishment to US top soldier in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal's request for more GIs-up to another 40,000 perhaps even more-made on 30 August 2009.
This suggests, not a lack of clarity, but all too clear an appreciation of the difficulty of defining with some certainty the strategic objective of this troop escalation, and indeed raises the question of why the US is in Afghanistan in the first place...[ FULL STORY ]
LETTER TO P.M.
The cabinet may meet in Sunderbans or at Bay of Bengal
Syed Tanveer Hussain
Hon'ble Prime Minister,
I wish to suggest that your last pre-Copenhagen cabinet meeting be held aboard a boat in the Sunderbans or on a ship in the Bay of Bengal. This will go a long way to show the world the importance that Bangladesh attaches to save the world's largest mangrove forest. The Maldives cabinet recently held a cabinet meeting under water...[ FULL STORY ]
Airfreight malpractice generates Tk 50 lakh black money daily
Holiday Aviation Correspondent
A routine notice posted by the Thai International Airways last week to all their cargo agents around the world is learnt to have generated wide controversy and even panic amongst the concerned airfreight and cargo agents engaged at Dhaka's Zia International Airport.
The notice said: "Please be informed that in case any of our station i.e. at transit or destination and/or at the origin cross check your shipment weight/ dimensions and find any irregularity, the agent involved will be liable for disciplinary action taken against them by the management of Thai Airways with immediate effect...[ FULL STORY ]
India backed Shanti Bahini in CHT
Subhra Kanti Gupta in Kolkata
Indira Gandhi was voted out of power in 1977, just when India's external intelligence organisation, RAW, was preparing to substantially step up its backing for the Shanti Bahini, says Subir Bhaumik in his just-released book "Troubled Periphery: Crisis of India's Northeast", reports bdnews24.com.
Bhaumik, a journalist and academic researcher for the last three decades, has provided graphic details of the RAW's involvement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Burma's Kachin Hills in his latest book. But he makes it clear the "orders came right from the top" and were not operations generated by the agency...[ FULL STORY ]
BUET V.C. LAMENTS
Political interference hinders development
Abdur Rahman Khan
Bangladesh is being deprived of the services of its talented engineers most whom go abroad to avail themselves of better opportunities.
"We select the best students for admission in the undergraduate course which is highly competitive. We groom them at par with global standard. But it is unfortunate that the country do not get their services after completion of education," said Professor AMM Safiullah, Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
The university can keep only a few top scorers as teachers while almost 60 per cent among the graduates migrate to foreign lands for higher education, research programme, fellowship and better job opportunities, said Professor Safiullah...[ FULL STORY ]
HUGE MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUND
Biman squandering millions of dollars
Shahabuddin Ahmad
A close look at the fleet planning requirement for the operation of Hajj flights in 2009-2010 reveals gross lack of justification for procurement of wide-bodied aircraft. The acquisition shows not only panic but reckless decision by the Board of Directors of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd.
The marketing and planning department of Biman recommended procurement of only one Boeing 747 aircraft on ACMI (Aircraft Maintenance and Insurance) basis for the operation of Hajj flights. Accordingly a RFP (Request for Proposal) was published in different newspapers and international flight magazines on March 17, 2009. Four bidders submitted proposals but these were not accepted as all the aircraft offered were over-aged according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) requirement. However, CAAB subsequently issued a waiver to consider the aircraft with maximum age limit of 25 years. On receipt of this waiver an RFP was published in June 2009 and in response Biman received eight offers on July 9, 2009.
The Techno Financial Sub-committee found only two of the eight offers responsive as per the RFP. The Biman Board apprehending, that one 747 would not be able to carry all Hajjis due to possible delay in the procurement of 777 aircraft, decided to procure two Boeing 747 -- one from the Orient Thai Airlines (first lowest) and another from KABO Airlines. The apprehension of delay by the Biman Board was a subjective consideration having high covert motive, analysts say. The local agents of both these companies were retired Air Force officers closely related to hierarchy of the Biman Board and the Biman management. The decision for procurement of 747 aircraft was taken by the Board on July 7, 2009...[ FULL STORY ]
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