Bangladesh mutineers defy warning

Gun battles have again erupted on the streets of Dhaka as the Bangladeshi army advances on the headquarters of mutinying paramilitary forces.

The paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) had reportedly accepted an offer of amnesty from the prime minister and agreed to lay down arms earlier on Thursday.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the prime minister, called on the mutineers to surrender or face a harsh response.

“Lay down your guns immediately and go back to barracks. Do not force me to take tough actions or push my patience beyond tolerable limits,” she said in an emergency address to the nation.

Among the demands of the BDR, the country’s border security force, is higher wages.

The mutiny, which began on Wednesday, has left a reported 50 people dead and appears to have spread to dozens of BDR barracks across the country.

Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dhaka, said: “There are 46 barracks across the country, and there are 50,000 paramilitary soldiers. As we understand from our military sources here, there is sporadic fighting in most of these barracks.

“Fighting in these barracks is a huge security issue for the Bangladeshi forces and is being taken very, very seriously by the army.”

Compound surrounded

In Dhaka, about 12,000 soldiers were reported to be surrounding the BDR compound, while heavy artillery was positioned outside, our correspondent said.

Cellphone providers shut down mobile phone networks across the country on Thursday, an official said.

The government had issued an ultimatum to the BDR soldiers to surrender their arms by 2pm (8:00GMT) on Thursday, but the deadline passed with no surrender.

The director-general of the BDR was killed, along with his wife, at the headquarters on Wednesday.

BDR officers are also reported to be abandoning their posts for fear of attack.

It was not clear why an earlier amnesty deal broke down.

Mohammad Qamrul Islam, the state minister for law and parliamentary affairs, had said the guards were surrendering their arms after he emerged from the headquarters early on Thursday.

“We talked to the BDR troops and they said some 50 officers have been killed,” he said, but added that he had not confirmed the deaths.

“We heard that the casualties were kept at a hospital inside the compound.”

Hospital doctors confirmed that three bystanders were killed and about 20 people injured in the 20-hour mutiny.

Fifty women and children, who had been stranded at the BDR headquarters because of the fighting, were also freed early on Thursday.

Inequality complaints

The guards say they are upset with their superiors for not raising longstanding demands for equal pay and working conditions as army soldiers during Hasina’s visit the previous day.

Kailash Budhwar, a London-based South Asia analyst, told Al Jazeera that the mutiny was “most unexpected”.

“And it happened from a unit that was supposed to be most disciplined … a paramilitary force who guard the border,” Budhwar said.

“This certainly brings to memory the dark days when there was turmoil and anti-social takeover, and there are other undercurrents in Bangladesh who might take advantage of the situation.”

Source: Al Jazeera

Total discovers gas in sea off Bangladesh

French oil firm Total SA (TOTF.PA) has discovered natural gas in an offshore field about 420 kilometres (263 miles) southeast from Dhaka, a Bangladesh official said on Wednesday.

“We have had confirmation from the firm about the presence of natural gas in two blocks which also covered an island in the sea,” said Mohammad Muqtadir Ali, a director at the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation or Petrobangla.

“It is a great relief for us as the country at present is facing up to 250 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas shortages a day,” Muqtadir told Reuters.

The firm said that both oil and gas might be there and was satisfied with the data they acquired through seismic survey, the official said.

The European oil giant Total spent nearly $20 million to conduct the three dimensional survey in those structures in the sea near the Myanmar border covering 18,367 square kilometres.

“If the acquired data matches the commercial viability, it will be one of the biggest natural gas discoveries (in the region) and if everything goes smoothly then production will be started by early 2012,” Muqtadir said.

Total, the operator of these two blocks holds a 30 percent share while Irish oil company Tullow (TLW.L) owns 32 percent shares followed by Thai energy firm PTTEP with 30 percent. US companies Oakland and Rexwood hold the remaining shares.

Blocks 17 and 18 are close to Myanmar’s gas blocks where that country discovered around 6.0 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.

Bangladesh with more than 13 tcf of gas reserves is currently producing about 1,800 mmcf of gas per day against the demand of more than 2,050 mmcfd.

Source: reuters

Bangladesh mutiny: West Bengal under red alert

CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya held an emergency meeting with state chief secretary and home secretary after the outbreak of mutiny in Bangladesh. BSF sounded a red alert along the 2,216-km international border between West Bengal and Bangladesh.

After the news of mutiny was telecast, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya held an emergency meeting with state chief secretary and home secretary in the Writers’ Building (Mahakaran), the ministerial hub of West Bengal.

Heavy gunfire in Bangladesh capital

A fierce gun battle has broken out inside the headquarters of Bangladesh’s border security force in the capital Dhaka, police say.

“There has been a huge exchange of gunfire at BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) headquarters complex this morning. We have heard mortar fire,” Nabojit Khisa, a local police chief, said on Wednesday

“The gunfire is still going on. We are not allowed to enter,” he added, declining to comment on speculation that the cause of the fighting was a mutiny within the force.

The Bangladesh Rifles are headquartered in the Bangladeshi capital’s Pilkhana area.

Gun battle in Bangladesh capital

A gun battle has broken out inside the headquarters of the Bangladesh border guards in the capital, Dhaka, police and TV reports say.

There are no reports of any casualties yet in the gunfight at the Bangladesh Rifle headquarters, officials say.

“There has been a huge exchange of gunfire at the headquarters. We have heard mortar fire,” local police chief Nabojit Khisa told the AFP news agency.

Mr Khisa said police were not being “allowed to enter” the complex.

The Bangladesh Rifles headquarters is located in the Pilkhana area of Dhaka.

Source: BBC online

BNP prefers multilateral transit facilities

BNP has said it is for expanding multilateral regional transit facilities under SAARC, rather than going for a bilateral transit treaty with India.

“It might prove suicidal for Bangladesh to actually afford India corridor passage in the name of bilateral transit,” secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said on Friday.

“On the other hand, if we try to establish an expanded multi-national transit network to be enjoyed by our neighbouring countries, looping in China, Myanmar, Iran and central Asia, it should benefit all the countries involved economically, through enhanced trade and commerce.”

Delwar briefed reporters at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office in the morning on his party’s position on the Bangladesh-India transit and the renewal of goods transportation treaty with India.

BNP’s policymaking standing committee at a meeting chaired by party chief Khaleda Zia discussed the issues Thursday night.

Delwar warned, “If India is allowed corridor facilities under the guise of ‘transit’, Bangladesh will lose India as a market for her commodities, increasing the already yawning trade deficit further.”

“We are terribly apprehensive about the government not sharing with the public the details of the envisaged transit treaty it plans to execute with India.”

Delwar alleged the recently renewed freight-carrying deal with India had been executed on March 28, 1972.

Therefore, the commerce minister’s claim that ‘the agreement was executed during former president Ziaur Rahman’s regime’ is not true, he said.

“No new trade deal was executed during Zia’s tenure. It was all renewals of the 1972 agreement, article 5 of which was never implemented as it concerned the much-debated ‘transit’ issue.”

Delwar termed untrue the government’s allegation that ‘the BNP government in 1993 had given India transit facilities under SAPTA’.

“SAPTA is a multidimensional cooperation treaty, a component of the SAARC structure. The corridor pact under the guise of transit is out-and-out a bilateral issue to be settled,” he explained.

Elaborating BNP’s stance against ‘transit’, the BNP secretary general said, “The proposed transit treaty will jeopardise our sovereignty, national security and economic backbone, creating myriad socio-political problems.”

“The north-east Indian rebels may carry out target-practice exercises within Bangladesh territories in case they take the Indian goods carriers plying our highways and railways to be actually transporting arms and ammunition to quell rebellions in the east.”

Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a BNP standing committee member, presented the 1972 Bangladesh-India Trade Treaty.

“The said treaty was signed by the Bangladesh commerce minister MR Siddiqui and his Indian counterpart LN Mishra. The treaty had since been renewed as required, leaving its article 5 concerning ‘transit’ aside,” he said.

“But the present commerce minister hid truth and lied in the public saying that the treaty was signed during BNP’s rule.”

Former BNP lawmakers Fazlul Haque Milan, Shireen Sultana, Habibul Islam Habib and others were present at the briefing.

Source: BdNews

Hasina moves to Jamuna from Sudha Sadan

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her family moved into the state guest house Jamuna at 12:15pm Friday, her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said.

Hasina is scheduled to meet B. League champions Abahani Limited footballers and officials at Jamuna at 4pm, Azad told bdnews24.com in the morning.

Hasina is going to put up at the state guest house for the first time as prime minister. She had gone up to live at Gano Bhaban straight after being sworn in as the head of government in 1996.

“Hasina wanted to shift to Gano Bhaban this time too, but it was not possible as the official prime minister’s residence had remained unused for the last seven years, rendering the facility unlivable,” said Azad.

“The prime minister will be staying at Jamuna until Gano Bhaban is renovated and readied for her use.”

Before her personal effects were transferred to Jamuna, Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana and daughter Saima Wazed Putul visited the state quarters to see if it was suitable for the premier’s use.

Hasina had last shifted to Sudha Sadan before the 2001 election and has since been staying there.

Source: Bd News

S Asian Task Force should be under SAARC framework

Speakers at a discussion yesterday said the proposed South Asia Task Force should be formed in a comprehensive manner and within the framework of SAARC.

They said an extensive discussion in parliament and weighing up of public opinion are important before finalising any deal on forming the said Anti Terrorism Task Force in South Asia (ATFSA).

They also said that if the proposed task force was formed bilaterally with India and without consultations with other SAARC countries then it might bring threat to the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh.

They also called upon the government not to reach accord on transit with India hurriedly and evaluate the issue thoroughly.

Their observation came at a round table on “Task Force in South Asia: Bangladesh Security” organised by the Sato Nagorik at the CIRDAP auditorium.

Dr Mahbub Ullah, department of Economics, Dhaka University (DU) presented a keynote paper in the discussion, which was moderated by former energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman.

Prof Emajuddin Ahmed, former vice chancellor of DU was in the chair while former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Md Abdur Rouf addressed the roundtable as chief guest.

The function was also addressed, among others, by Prof Md Khalilur Rahman, department of Bio- Chemistry, DU, Dr Sadrul Amin, former president of Dhaka University Teachers Association, Shah Abdul Hannan, former secretary, Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Editor of the New Nation, Maj Gen (Retd) Fazle Elahi Akbar, Masood Aziz, ndc, former Ambassador, Poet Abdul Hai Sikder, Prof Razia Akter Banu, department of Political Science, DU, Dr Sheikh Toufiq, North South University, Engineer S M Fazle Ali, Advocate Khurshid Alam Babu and Shamsul Huq Jewel.

Mahmudur Rahman said India wants corridor in the guise of transit from Bangladesh to transfer goods and military hardware to seven sisters in the northeast to curb militancy. He said a section of people are now vocal for giving transit to India for their pretty interest.

Mentioning all previous bilateral accords with India that have not been implemented properly, Dr Mahbub Ullah suggested settling all existing problems including proper share of Ganges water, reducing huge trade imbalance by allowing more Bangladesh products to India, demarcation of unsettled boundaries and transfer of South Talpatti island to Bangladesh before reaching any deal with India to form task force.

Citing the issue of South Asia Task Force as sensitive, Justice Abdur Rouf urged the government not to ignore the public opinion before striking any deal with India on important national issues.

Source: The New Nation

Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009

A three-day long Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009 began yesterday at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city.

It has been organized by Maker Communication.

Citycell is the title sponsor for this year’s fair. Acer, Asus, Hasee, and Toshiba are the four co-sponsors of while Intel is the technology sponsor, Radio Foorti is the radio partner and bdjobs.com is the online partner.

Lt Col (Retd) Faruq Khan, Minister, Ministry of Commerce, was present as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony.

Michael Seymour, Chief Executive Officer of Citycell attended the program as special guest.

Advocate Md Qamrul Islam, State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and Mostafa Jabbar, President, Bangladesh Computer Samity were also present as special guests.

Speaking on the occasion, Michael Seymour said “It is my pleasure to be here today at the inauguration ceremony of the Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009. In this day and age, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that information is power. When we started the first cellular operations of South Asia, our objective was to empower our customers with access to information through instant mobile communication. After almost one and a half decade of operations, our goal has not changed. As a logical evolution to voice communications, we have extended the horizon of our services by making internet available to people all over Bangladesh through our Zoom™ wireless internet service. We all know how mobiles have revolutionized telecommunications in Bangladesh. Laptops and mobile phones are similar in many ways. They are personal, they are mobile & convenient, and they offer more privacy and security. We see a clear synergy in bringing Zoom together with laptops, because a simple laptop can now be converted into a portable powerhouse of information and communication by simply connecting to the worldwide web through our Zoom service. While PC penetration has increased over the last decade, there has been significant growth in the past 2 years alone, spurred by the advent of affordable laptops and the favorable tax environment. Moreover, this was followed by the reduction in the domestic bandwidth lease cost. We look forward to such public initiatives to ensure a business environment conducive to sustainable public-private ventures that develop the ICT sector as a whole. Only then will we be able to spread the benefits of a knowledge-based society to the people of Bangladesh. We all dream of a Bangladesh which is economically robust and integrated by a knowledge-based society. This dream leads to the concept of Digital Bangladesh. Citycell is proud to be a part of this dream by helping to bridge the digital divide: We already have the infrastructure in place to spread internet to more than 500 thanas though our nationwide network.

We are hopeful that by truly harnessing the power of internet and ICT-based services, we can go a long way in achieving great results in mass communication, health, agriculture, commerce, education and good governance. We pledge our support for education and community development through data connectivity and the access to internet that will generate a win-win situation for the government, the business community and the people of Bangladesh. I congratulate the organizers, sponsors, partners and participants of this event and I wish the Zoom™ Laptop Fair 2009 every success.

Customers will avail special offers of Zoom™ at Citycell’s pavilion No.1 by showing the proof of purchase of any laptop from the fair.

These include attractive start-up prices for Zoom™ connections bundled with devices, together with exclusive monthly data plans and voice tariff for these packages.

Specific Zoom™-enabled handsets, USB Modems or PCMCIA Data Cards will also be available at unbeatable discounted prices.

Visitors will be able to enjoy free internet browsing using Zoom™ at the Pavilion. Other features of Zoom™ service will be displayed at the Pavilion using innovative touch-screen computers.

World renowned brands like HP, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Hasee, Gigabyte, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, Great Wall, BenQ, Apple are participating in this fair and bringing brand new laptops with attractive prices on the occasion of the fair.

The fair will be open for visitors everyday from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. There will be 10 pavilions and 06 stalls in the fair.

The entry fee will be Tk. 20 but only students (up to regular post graduate) can avail free entry by showing their ID card.

Participating organizations and Maker Communication will also jointly arrange raffle draw, quiz program etc.

ACC to be reconstituted: Anti-graft drive used to curb politics: Hasina

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told parliament that the Anticorruption Commission will be “reconstituted” to ensure its own accountability.

During her weekly question-answer session, the PM said the anti-graft drive during the caretaker government’s two-year tenure became an “anti-politician drive”, and the ACC was itself tainted by allegations of corruption.

Hasina also said past military interventions in Bangladesh had led to the spread of corruption in the country.

“The Anticorruption Commission will have to work to eliminate corruption. But they must have transparency and accountability in their activities,” said Hasina, replying to a supplementary question.

“I think the ACC needs to be reconstituted and its transparency must be guaranteed,” she said.

The PM, who herself was jailed for 11 months from 2007-2008 on graft charges brought by the ACC, said the Commission itself during the caretaker regime was said to be involved in corrupt practices.

“During the caretaker government’s tenure we heard many stories. Some people were arrested on corruption charges, but later released in exchange for money,” said Hasina.

She said people had hailed the ACC’s anti-graft drive, “but it came under suspicion when it was aimed at elimination of politicians”.

“Their anti-corruption drive was called into question when they became involved in forming a new political party, executing the so called minus two, minus one formulas,” the two-time prime minister said.

But, Hasina also had some positive words for the caretaker government’s anti-corruption drive.

“During the caretaker government, people began to realise that none could escape from trial for their corrupt practices. They could be tried at any time,” said Hasina.

The prime minister said she would examine the ACC’s recommendations on elimination of corruption and accept those that were “acceptable”.

“We will discard the unreasonable.”

“If necessary we will add more,” she said.

She said public awareness was necessary to free the country from corruption besides legal measures.

Sheikh Hasina also attributed corruption to past military interventions.

“Those in uniform have imposed military rule to nurture corruption.”

“You can easily get an idea of this by comparing the level of corruption before 15 Aug. 1975 and after military rule,” Hasina reasoned her comment.

She said military regimes coupled with vote rigging proliferated corruption in the country.

“Unelected governments have no accountability. Violations of the Constitution lead to spread of corruption in society.”

“They did not need to answer to the people. So, corruption gripped society,” said the PM whose father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and other family member were assassinated on Aug. 15 1975.

Replying to another question, Hasina said IT education would be made mandatory at SSC and primary levels by 2013 and 2021 respectively.

She also said her government had plans to set up one technical school and a technical college in each Upazila.

Source: BdNews