Users of Bangladesh mobile service warned

Concerned over the use of Bangladeshi mobile service in border areas, Union Minister Gurudas Kamat today said stringent action would be taken against those found using the services.

“It is a matter of concern. Security agencies are monitoring the situation. Stringent action will be taken if anyone is caught,” Kamat, the Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, told reporters here.

“We are making efforts to ensure that towers are set up to the borders. We are committed to provide proper connectivity to the last point of the border,” he said after a meeting with BSNL officials of the Northeastern region here.

“As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, it (BSNL) is ensuring that the services reach every common man,” he said.

Most people use the services of Bangla Grameen Mobile Company Ltd in border areas because of poor service by BSNL.

Bangladesh moves up economic liberty index

Bangladesh has made significant strides in the Index of Economic Freedom world rankings, making its economy the 137th freest in the world.

In the ranking, the country’s overall score was 51.1, which is 3.6 points higher than that of the last year, according to the report jointly prepared by USA-based think tank Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.

In the Asia-Pacific region Bangladesh has been ranked 29th out of 41 countries.

“The gains reflect Bangladesh’s improvements in trade freedom and investment freedom,” according to the report.

In the index, the country for the first time graduated itself from the ‘Repressed’ category to the category of ‘Mostly Unfree’ countries.

Praising the country’s performance in last five years, the report said, “Bangladesh has enjoyed impressive economic growth of around 6 percent per year over the past five years driven mainly by its limited but growing services and industrial sectors.”

It, however, said, “Structural and institutional weaknesses remain serious impediments to sustaining such high economic growth rates.”

It said Bangladesh’s economy remains overly dependent on agriculture, which accounts for almost 20 percent of GDP and employs more than half of the labour force.

It also said the heavily politicised weak regulatory regime of the country often tends to crowd out private investment while corruption, coupled with onerous bureaucracy, is still perceived as pervasive.

This year the ranking covered 183 countries measuring 10 components of economic freedom. Score in each category ranged from 0 to 100.

The components were business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, freedom from corruption and labour freedom.

In the component business freedom Bangladesh scored 59.4 out of 100. The report said in Bangladesh it requires 44 days on average to start a business while the world average is 35 days. However, obtaining a business license requires less than the world average of 18 procedures.

Bangladesh’s score was 58 in trade freedom component. Import and export restrictions, numerous border taxes and fees, burdensome import licencing rules, export subsidies, government monopolies, inefficient and corrupt customs administration, among others, add to the cost of trade in the country, said the report.

Twenty points were deducted from Bangladesh’s trade freedom score to account for non-tariff barriers.

In the monetary freedom component where the country scored 66.6, a total of 15 points were deducted from this component to adjust for price-control measures that distort domestic prices for petroleum products, some pharmaceuticals, and goods produced in state-owned enterprises.

About the financial freedom the report said Bangladesh has made modest progress in recent years in its banking sector adding that the sector is underdeveloped and provides a limited range of banking services.

Bangladesh’s state-owned commercial banks, which account for more than 30 percent of total banking system assets, undermine the sector’s efficiency, it said. Bangladesh scored 20 in the financial freedom component.

In the global context Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia are the top three scorers in the index while North Korea, Zimbabwe and Cuba were top from the bottom.

In South Asian context Bangladesh’s position was only above Maldives whose rank is 148th. Bhutan’s position was the 103rd, Pakistan’s 117th, Sri Lanka’s 120th, India’s 124th, and Nepal’s 130th.

Though Afghanistan was covered in the index, it was not given any score.

Polythene returns

Polythene bags, banned eight years ago, are again being sold in large numbers in the markets across Dhaka.

Most businessmen in the capital’s New Market are selling their products in plastic bags, though the production of polythene with a thickness of less than 100 microns was banned on 1 Jan, 2002, except in relation to 14 sectors including those involving certain, foods, medicine, cement and fertiliser.

Polythene bags were also being openly sold in Begum Bazar, Chawk Bazar, and Chawk Mogaltuli Bazar markets.

The businessmen justified using them by saying that the alternatives – jute or net bags -were costly and there was limited supply.

Abdur Rahim, a fish-seller in the capital’s Palashi Bazar who uses polythene bags, said each jute bag costs Tk 8 and begins to decompose after some days, while the net bags found in the markets are not suitable for carrying products like fish or meat.

Polythene traders in Begumganj area said the wholesale prices of polythene bags, are Tk 45-Tk 90 per thousand, depending on their sizes.

Consumers said they were using polythene bags as there are some products that could not be carried without it.

Sukumar Bishwas, director-in-charge of the Dhaka Division of the Department of Environment, told bdnews24.com that there are many factories illegally producing polythene in the Mirpur, Lalbagh, and Debidasghat areas in Dhaka.

He said that mobile courts, almost every week, go to the areas where the illegal factories are located, and that in the previous year, 31 cases have so far been filed against such factories. Several businessmen have been fined.

However, one owner, on condition of anonymity, said that every week he has to bribe higher authorities with a lot money to keep his production operational.

“Polythene bags are smuggled from India. What is the problem then if we produce them in our country?” he asked.

The raw materials to make plastic bags are also easily on hand in old Dhaka, the factory owner said.

Businessmen said, it was very easy to ‘manage’ the customs officers and others to bring in these raw materials. This is why polythene bags are so easily available in Dhaka, they said.

Haji Asmat Ali, a trader of Islambag area, told bdnews24.com that raw materials are also produced by melting old polythene bags.

The maximum punishment for manufacturing or being otherwise involved in the distribution of plastic bags is a fine of Tk 5,000. A sentence of six months’ imprisonment can be imposed if the fine is not paid, Bishwas said.

Abu Naser Khan, chairman of Paribesh Bachao Andolan (Save the Environment Movement) told bdnews24.com that polythene bags are seriously polluting our environment. Biodiversity is facing grave danger.

Polythene bags are also responsible for disrupting the water drainage system in Dhaka, Naser said.

He said police and the department of environment should take stern actions as they are well aware of the illegal polythene factories.

FBCCI demands tax cuts

The country’s apex business association demanded that people earning less than Tk 2 lakh per year should be exempted from paying tax.

At present, those earning more than Tk 1.65 lakh per year are required to pay tax.

Annisul Huq, president of the FBCCI made this recommendation whilst setting out his organisation’s proposals in a pre-budget discussion held on Saturday.

Whilst this proposal was supported by other businessmen during the open discussion, former caretaker government advisor AB Mirza Azizul Islam disagreed.

Azizul Islam said that the limit, at which tax should first be paid, should be fixed in line with the national per capita income.

Comparing Bangladesh to India, the limit in Bangladesh should be Tk 1.25 lakh he said.

“And even if it is raised, it must not be over Tk 1.75 lakh.”

FBCCI also suggested a cut in corporate tax as it was “the highest in the world” and said that lowering it would raise revenue collection.

In his presentation, Annisul Huq proposed 25 percent tax for listed companies, 30 percent for non-listed ones and 40 percent for banks, financial institutions and mobile phone operators.

On this issue Azizul Islam agreed that there should be a cut in corporate tax as it was “high”.

“However, it should be reduced gradually.”

He proposed a reduction between 2 and 2.5 percent for the next year.

The former finance advisor, however, was sceptical about the proposed rates for banks and financial institutions.

“The spread is still too high. Whenever, the lending rate is lowered the banks also slash their deposit rates.” he said.

He said that banks should still have their taxes lowered.

Finance minister AMA Muhith, agreed with his predecessor on banks and financial institutions, but noted that “their gains from the stock market are not taxed either.”

Muhith called for views on imposing tax on capital gains from the stock market, a provision which the government is considering for inclusion in the next budget.

On overall corporate taxes, Muhith felt that they were “not that high”.

The trade body also asked for a restructuring of import duties to favour local industries.

Many of the FBCCI recommendations involved measures that would protect local industries from foreign competition and foster further industrialisation.

Huq said that a reduction in import duties and raw materials along with higher duties on imports of finished goods would foster domestic industrial growth.

On this issue, Azizul Islam also felt the import tax structure should be revised.

“The current structure is aligned with the one formulated during the early ’90s when we were in the spirit of trade liberalisation,” he added.

Finance minister AMA Muhith, however, did not make any comments on income tax and import tariffs saying it was “tough to comment at this moment”.

“Our aim, however, is liberalisation and everything would be considered accordingly.”

Measures to widen the tax net, simplification of income tax procedures, VAT reforms and setting up a National Tax Tribunal also came up in FBCCI’s recommendations.

Responding to the issues, Muhith promised that a tax tribunal would be formed within this fiscal year.

He also said that reforms in VAT and duty would be completed by the next fiscal year.

“There will be no Income Tax Ordinance in the next fiscal year,” added Muhith indicating that a full-fledged law would be formulated.

On simplification of income tax return, Muhith said the current four-page income tax return form might be reduced to two pages to make it easier for people to file.

The FBCCI discussion also stressed power and energy issue along with the necessity of increased focus on railway and waterways development, and population control measures.

It also insisted on urgent measures to ease the traffic congestion of Dhaka. Annisul Huq said in his presentation that traffic congestion caused a loss of $1.84 million every day.

“Annually it stands at about $670 million per year.”

Bangla Bhai driver sent to jail

The driver of former JMB chief Bangla Bhai has been arrested and sent to jail.

Baghmara police chief Harunur Rashid said that Shaihudul was arrested on Saturday in relation to a case where he and a number of other cadres of Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai, chief of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, is alleged to have inflicted violence on Jhikra upazila parishad member Ramzan Alim and demanded Tk 50,000.

Ramzan Ali had filed the case in 2006 but as Shahidul had not appeared, the court had issued a warrant for his arrest.

Following his arrest, Shahidul was sent to jail by order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Rajshahi.

Shahidul Islam has a number of other cases against him – for which he is currently on bail.

Benazir murder could have been prevented: UN

Pakistani authorities could have prevented the 2007 murder of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto and deliberately failed to properly investigate her death, a UN-appointed independent panel said.

“Ms Bhutto’s assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken,” said a report out Thursday by a three-member panel headed by Chile’s UN ambassador Heraldo Munoz.

The panel, tasked with establishing the circumstances of the killing, said it believed the Pakistani police’s failure to effectively probe the slaying “was deliberate.”

The report also said the investigation was severely hampered by intelligence agencies and other officials who impeded “an unfettered search for the truth.”

The charismatic, Oxford-educated Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed on December 27, 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad.

Her death threw the world’s only nuclear-armed Islamic nation into chaos, sparking violence and months of political turmoil that ended in September 2008 when her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, claimed the presidency.

The Munoz-led panel said in its 65-page report that the federal government, the government of Punjab and the Rawalpindi district police were responsible for Bhutto’s security the day of her assassination.

“None of these entities took the necessary measures to respond to the extraordinary, fresh, urgent security risks that they knew she faced,” it added.

It noted that the Pakistani government failed to provide Bhutto with the same stringent and specific security measures it ordered on October 22, 2007 for two other former prime ministers belonging to the main political party supporting then-president Pervez Musharraf.

“This discriminatory treatment is profoundly troubling given the devastating attempt on her life only three days earlier and the specific threats against her which were being tracked” by Pakistani intelligence.

The report said the subsequent Pakistani probe “lacked direction, was ineffective and suffered from a lack of commitment to identify and bring all of the perpetrators to justice.”

It added that it was up to Pakistani authorities to carry out a “serious, credible criminal investigation that determines who conceived, ordered and executed this heinous crimet and brings those responsible to justice.”

Munoz told reporters that the UN probe, which began last July, was not a criminal investigation.

He said his panel conducted more than 250 interviews, meeting Pakistani officials and private citizens, foreign citizens with knowledge of the events, and members of Britain’s Scotland Yard who probed some aspects of the killing.

Bhutto’s supporters cast doubt on an initial Pakistani probe into her death, questioning whether she was killed by a gunshot or the blast and criticizing authorities for hosing down the scene of the attack within minutes.

According to Scotland Yard’s inquiry, Bhutto died from the force of a suicide bomb and not gunfire.

The UN report, which was requested by Zardari’s political party, was turned over to UN chief Ban Ki-moon earlier Thursday.

The panel-which also included Indonesian former attorney general Marzuki Darusman and Peter Fitzgerald, an Irish ex-police official-urged Pakistani authorities to make sure that further investigation into the Bhutto assassination “is fully empowered and resourced and is conducted expeditiously and comprehensively, at all levels, without hindrance.”

The UN report was unveiled following a two-week delay requested by Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who wanted input from former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Saudi Arabia included.

In Islamabad, a spokesman for president Zardari said Friday that the government will give its reaction after studying the report.

“We are reading the report and a detailed reaction would be given after it,” Farhatullah Babar told AFP.

State television quoted Babar as saying the government “is not oblivious to its duties and it is investigating the murder of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.”

Retired Lieutenant General Hamid Nawaz, interior minister when Bhutto was assassinated, refused to comment.

“I cannot comment on the UN report because the matter is sub-judice,” Nawaz told AFP.

CM for strengthening Pak-Bangladesh ties

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has said the core of democracy is public service and solution to their problems therefore we must tend to this side by making our democratic institutions strong.
The chief minister was talking to a 10-member Bangladeshi media delegation, which called on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif here Friday. The CM talking to the delegation said that people of Bangladesh and Pakistan have a common past and collective efforts are needed to cement bilateral relations and exchange of delegations is of vital importance in this regard.
The chief minister said in order to promote economic and trade relations, Pakistan and Bangladesh can launch joint ventures for mutual benefit. He said intelligentsia of both the countries should also find out ways and means for further strengthening of relations between both the countries. He said democracy aimed at public service, therefore, in addition to strengthening the democratic institutions, measures should also be taken for the solution of people’s problems.
He said Pakistan is facing the challenge of terrorism but the whole nation is united to root out this menace from the country.
He said peace will be restored in the country and it will embark on the road to progress and prosperity. He also expressed best wishes for the progress and development of Bangladeshi people. The chief minister also answered the queries of Bangladeshi journalists.
media delegation calls on Governor
A Bangladeshi media delegation called on Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer at the Governor House on Thursday. They discussed the similarities in the politics of the two countries, ways to alleviate the current power crisis in Pakistan and Bangladesh’s exemplary position as a completely democratic nation.

Fight Indian pressure: Dhaka Jamaat leader

Calling India ‘big-brother,’ right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) chief Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami Friday called for opposition unity to fight external ‘pressures’ on the Sheikh Hasina government.

These ‘pressures’ had led to the government agreeing to India using the Chittagong and Mongla ports, he told a party gathering, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reported.

Nizami also blamed India for pressuring the government for its move to hold ‘war circles’ trial of those who had killed unarmed civilians in the run-up to the 1971 freedom movement.

He asked why Hasina had not held such a trial during her earlier tenure (1996-2001).

Nizami and several top brass of the Jamaat are said to figure in the list of the accused.

JeI, the country’s biggest Islamist party, is ideologically opposed to India and calls it ‘enemy number one’. It had opposed the independence of Bangladesh.

Banned in the years following the independence in 1971, it was brought back to the political mainstream by military-led government generals Ziaur Rahman and H.M. Ershad.

His call was aimed at main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by two-term prime minister Khaleda Zia, that has distanced itself since the debacle in the December 2008 parliamentary elections, political analysts said.

BNP and Jamaat were allies and shared power during 2001-06.

Nizami criticized the International War Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, under which the government is moving to hold the trial.

‘The act under which the trial of war crimes will be held is the blackest law in history. The trial of the war crimes under the act will be a great blunder. So far, not a single case has been tried under the act.’

He said both the moves – to impose a ban on Islamic parties and trial of the war crimes – are targeted to remove Jamaat from the political arena, Star Online said.

Nizami alleged that the government’s ‘fascist tendency’ indicated that it is going ahead to implement the one-party rule in the country in phases.

Bangladesh navy to purchase survey ship from UK

Bangladesh has almost finalized a deal with the UK to buy an ocean survey ship for Tk 55 crore [one crore is 10 million] against the background of disputes over oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal with India and Myanmar [Burma].

Officials of the finance ministry told the New Age last week that the Bangladesh Navy had sought Tk 55 crore, equivalent to five million pounds, to buy a hydrographic survey vessel from the Royal Navy of the UK, and they are dealing with the matter on a priority basis.

Bangladesh, an impoverished country which can meet only two- thirds of the demand for gas and electricity, needs to enhance the number of surveys and exploration activities in the Bay for its energy security.

Besides, Bangladesh needs sufficient data to establish its claim on the country’s maritime boundary it is sandwiched between India and Myanmar in the upper part of the Bay which is thought to have considerable deposits of hydrocarbon.

Bangladesh registered its objections with the United Nations to the claims of India and Myanmar in 2009 as it had disputes over territorial waters in the Bay with both the countries in two areas – natural prolongation of the continental shelf and the baseline.

At present, the country is carrying out a seismic survey in the Bay under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Seas at a cost of more then Tk 50 crore.

The survey is being implanted by the foreign affairs ministry which is dealing with the case against India in the UN tribunal. Dhaka has already estimated that it would require Tk 80 crore to finance the legal battle against India in the UN in the next eight years.

The purchase of the hydrographic survey vessel is a part of the government’s mega-plan for making the Bangladesh Navy a ‘three- dimensional’ force which can operate underwater, on the surface and in the air.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week, while adressing the officers and sailors at the Naval Headquarters, revealed that two more frigates would be added to the Navy soon.

Initiatives have taken to buy a hydrographic survey ship from the UK and to equip two large patrol boats with missiles made by China, she said, adding that agreements for the purchase of two helicopters and the same number of offshore patrol boats from the UK were in the final stage.

Mujibnagar Day observed

The government is observing the historic Mujibnagar Day on Saturday with many programmes.

The Bangladesh government was formed in Kushtia’s Meherpur area on this day in 1971 with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman named as the president, Syed Nazrul Islam as the vice president and acting president and Tajuddin Ahmed as the prime minister.

The government is for the first time holding programmes in Meherpur, as well as in Dhaka, to make the day.

Parliament deputy leader and Awami League presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, finance minister AMA Muhith and other central leaders laid floral tributes at the graves of three national leaders Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed and M Mansur Ali in Dhaka’s Banani in the morning.

In Meherpur, local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam, son of Syed Nazrul Islam, the state minister for liberation war affairs ABM Tajul Islam and other central and local leaders laid tributes at the Mujibnagar mausoleum at around 10am.

A meeting will be held beside the mausoleum later in the day with Syed Ashraf as the chief guest.

The Awami League has also organised a discussion in Dhaka’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina and AL chief Sheikh Hasina will be the chief guest there.