BNP alleges massive irregularities

The Bangladesh Nationalists Party (BNP) alleged widespread vote rigging irregularities and violation of electoral code of conduct in the yesterday’s upaziala elections across the country. The activists and supporters of ruling Awami League were involved in there malpractices, it alleged.

“Vote rigging and hijacking of ballot papers at several upazilas in the elections by the ruling party activists in at least 16 districts were the manifestation of blatant interference of ruling cadres in the polls,” said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, office secretary of BNP at a press briefing at the party chairperson’s office at Gulshan in the city.

He said the ruling party cadres intimidated many voters and polling agents of BNP to refrain them from exercising their franchise, he complained.

Polling agents of BNP in many areas were forced to leave the centres and the ruling party’s agents stuffed the ballot boxes and hijacked ballot papers, he mentioned.

“If our polling agents were not allowed to be present in the centres then how a free, fair and transparent elections could be held ?,” he asked.

Narrating the violence that marred the elections, the BNP office secretary of BNP said polling had to be postponed due to violence at a number of centres in Jhenaidah, Munshiganj, Narayanganj, Comilla, Sirajganj, Jessore, Noyakhali, Laxmipur, Barisal, Bogar, Magura, Feni, Thakurgong, Rajbari, Noakhali and Dhaka.

Written complains against atrocities by supporters of the AL candidates in many places were ignored by the local administration, he claimed.

Source: The New Nation

Ashraful terms upazila polls peaceful

Local Government and Cooperative Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday expressed his satisfaction over the law and order situation during the upazila polls across the country.

He said that the presence of voters at the polling centres would have been much higher if the political parties would participate in the upazila elections directly.

Ashraful was briefing the reporters at the party’s Dhanmondi office at the end of the upazila elections across the country.

He alleged that the Election Commission (EC) and the previous caretaker government tried to depoliticise the country by enacting an ordinance that called for holding upazila elections without political influence.” But the AL government will discuss the issue in the parliament to ensure participation of all the political parties directly in the upazila elections,” he said.

The minister thanked the army and the EC for the holding of the upazila elections in free and fair manner.

Ashraful made no comment on the allegation of the EC that the AL leaders and activists violated electoral code of conduct and captured different polling centres in the country.” AL has not participated in the polls directly. But there were candidates with our support,” he noted.

Asked whether any action would be taken against the persons who participated in the upazila elections as rival candidates ignoring the party’s directive, he said ” We requested the local leaders and activists to resolve the matter through negotiation.”

AL Organising Secretary Abdul Mannan MP and Shagufta Yasmin Amili MP, among others, were present on the occasion.

Source: The New Nation

45 of 122 ordinances to be placed in JS

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed yesterday said out of the total 122 ordinances promulgated by the immediate past caretaker government, 45 of them would be placed in the first phase during the first session of the Ninth parliament for enacting laws.

“The issue to make some ordinances laws will be decided through discussion in parliament. There will be no problem if some other ordinances are not enacted as laws in parliament,” he said replying to a question at the regular weekly briefing at his secretariat office.

As per the rule, the minister said, all these ordinances should be placed in the first session of parliament and those needed to be enacted as laws with consideration of Jatiya Sangsad will be placed in the house again as bills. “But parliament would consider everything,” he hoped.

Barrister Shafique Ahmed said the expert committee constituted earlier to scrutinise and examine these ordinances has already suggested recommendations in this regard putting them into three categories. The first category contains the ordinances especially related to election and financial issues, which should be enacted as laws at this moment. The second category ordinances should be discussed in parliament for take decision on them while the third category ordinances are not required to be enacted.

Replying to another question on his meeting with Chairman of the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) Justice Habibur Rahman Khan, the law minister said the TAC chief called on him to inform about success of the commission.

“A total of 452 persons were acquitted from allegations brought against them as they sought mercy from the commission and a total of Taka 34 crore was realised from them during its working period,” the minister said.

On another query, Barrister Shafique Ahmed said the ordinance on Truth and Accountability Commission is now pending in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

“It would not be wise to comment on this issue, which is pending in the Appellate Division,” he said adding that there is no effectiveness of the commission anymore as the tenure of the ordinance has already expired.

Speaking about the VIPs accused in various cases, he said the judiciary as well as the judges are totally independent and the laws will take their own courses. “We believe in the rule of law as the future of the democracy depends on it,” he said.

Emphasising the need for introducing proper trial management system to ensure easy and timely justice, the law minister said it would ensure the justice seekers less time in the process of disposing of their cases. “They will no more wait for years and spend money unnecessarily, if this system is introduced,” he said.

On curbing militancy and extremism, Barrister Shafique Ahmed said the Ministry of Home Affairs has already directed the law enforcing agencies to take proper measures in this regard. The law enforcers are active in this regard, he added.

Earlier, Election Commissioner Md Sohul Hossain called on the Law Minister.
Source: BSS

Thai military deny push back to sea

Relatives of illegal migrants who made ill-fated boat journeys from Bangladesh to Thailand say agents who arranged the trips are still trying to exploit them.

Family members contacted by telephone said the agents claimed the migrants were in jail in Thailand and wanted money to get them out.

The Thai military allegedly forced the migrants’ boats back into the sea and set them adrift. Hundreds were rescued off India and Indonesia but hundreds more are still missing. The Thai army has officially denied forcing any of them to return.

Telephone interviews with family members reveal that the agents promised the migrants jobs in Malaysia – Thailand, they said, was only a transit point.

The migrants are mostly Rohingya Muslims originally from the Arakan province of Burma. Over the past 20 years many have fled from there to southern Bangladesh to escape what they say is persecution from Burma’s military government.

While many have been repatriated from Bangladesh, thousands have remained and live in refugee camps in the far south-east of the country.

Most are cared for in camps run by the UN but there are also “unofficial” settlements – between the coastal town of Cox’s Bazar and the Naff river which serves as the border between Bangladesh and Burma – where conditions are especially tough. Shakila Khatun, a 25-year-old mother of three, lives in a UN camp at Nayapara near Cox’s Bazar. Many Rohingy

as live among the local population and not in any of the camps.

“My husband Ahmed left by one of these boats to Thailand in mid-December. We paid the dalal (agent) all we had and he promised my husband a good job in Malaysia. But now he is asking for more money to get Ahmed released from a Thai jail,” Shakila told the BBC over the telephone.

When it was brought to her notice that the Thais have not arrested anyone but have allegedly pushed all the Rohingyas back into the sea, Shakila started to weep.

“I have been asking the agent for my husband’s contact in Thailand, so that I can speak to him, but the agent would give me none,” she said.

Ms Khatun said the agent had threatened her with “dire consequences” if she disclosed his identity to the Bangladesh police.

“I was against this boat journey all the while, but my husband was desperate to make a good living. He paid the agent some cash advance at the end of the last boat season in April and the agent asked him to be ready for the journey in December,” she said.

When she was told that some of the boatpeople were rescued in India and Indonesia, while others possibly lost their lives, Ms Khatun said she feared the worst.

“Why is Ahmed not calling me if he is alive? We never fought in our married life,” she said.

Najib Ashraf’s son Karim was another man from the unofficial Rohingya settlement at Leda, near Cox’s Bazar, who joined Ahmed on the fateful boat journey.

“I think I have lost my son forever. He was the breadwinner for my entire family. So when the agent came to me for more money last week, promising to get Karim out of a Thai jail, I chased him away,” said 65-year old Najib.

“Karim was 35 and the father of two teenage daughters. He took this risky voyage to save for their dowry. No-one is now left in this world to support these two girls. I am an old man and I have no strength to work for his family.”

Khaleda Begum is a mother of five children at the Leda Rohingya settlement. Her husband, Anis Mohammed, was also on a boat.

She told the BBC that her family paid 35,000 taka ($512 – a fortune for poor refugees) to the agent.

“Now this agent wants another 30,000 Bangladesh taka ($439) to get Anis released. But we have no money left and can give him nothing,” said Ms Khaleda.

She told the BBC that the agent was denying media reports about the pushback of the boat people by the Thais.

“He says they are in jail and we will get them out,” Ms Khaleda said.

Khaleda said two of her neighbours lost four of their sons who had travelled in the same boat as her husband.

Bangkok-based human rights activists say more than 1,000 boat people, mostly Rohingyas and some poor Bangladeshis, have been intercepted by the Thai military and pushed back into the sea in boats without engines or enough food and water.

They say that Indian and Indonesian coastguards have rescued about 500 of them – the rest are missing, possibly drowned in the Andaman sea.

Source: BBC

Obama signs order to close Guantanamo

President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

“We intend to win this fight. We’re going to win it on our terms,” Obama said as he signed three executive orders and a presidential directive in the Oval Office. Obama explained each order before he put his pen to them, in some cases reading them in full, and occasionally solicited input from White House counsel Greg Craig to make sure he was describing them correctly.

With his action, Obama started changing how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans – and overhauling America’s image abroad, battered by accusations of the use of torture and the indefinite detention of suspects at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba.

“The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals,” the president said.

The centerpiece order would close the much-maligned Guantanamo facility within a year, a complicated process with many unanswered questions that was nonetheless a key campaign promise of Obama’s. The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.

“We are willing to observe core standards of conduct not just when it’s easy but also when it’s hard,” the president said.

In other actions, Obama:

_Created a task force that would have 30 days to recommend policies on handling terror suspects who are detained in the future. Specifically, the group would look at where those detainees should be housed since Guantanamo is closing.

_Required all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics. However, a Capitol Hill aide says that the administration also is planning a study of more aggressive interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual – which would create a significant loophole to Obama’s action Thursday.

_Directed the Justice Department to review the case of Qatar native Ali al-Marri, who is the only enemy combatant currently being held on U.S. soil. The review will look at whether al-Marri has the right to sue the government for his freedom, a right the Supreme Court already has given to Guantanamo detainees. The directive will ask the high court for a stay in al-Marri’s appeals case while the review is ongoing. The government says al-Marri is an al-Qaida sleeper agent.

An estimated 245 men are being held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, most of whom have been detained for years without being charged with a crime. Among the sticky issues the Obama administration has to resolve are where to put those detainees – whether back in their home countries or at other federal detention centers – and how to prosecute some of them for war crimes.

Source: AFP