Appointment of judges: Law Minister must resign: SCBA

BNP Vice-Chairman Barrister Nazmul Huda demanded resignation of Law Minister for appointing two controversial lawyers as judges of the High Court.

Barrister Huda made the demand at a meeting organised by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in protest of appointment of the two judges at the High

Court (HC) Division of the Supreme Court.

While, SCBA chalked out the three-day programme of hoisting black flag at the HC premises from today (Wednesday).

Presided over by SCBA president Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, the protest meeting was addressed, among others, by its general secretary Badruddoza Badal, Barrister Rafiqul Islam Miah, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Adv Nitai Roy.

Barrister Huda alleged that Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed during his own presidential tenure of SCBA had taken a decision to appoint judges to the HC after consulting with its president.

But, now he (Shafiq) himself has routed his own pledge. So, he shall have to resign, Huda said.

The government recently appointed 17 lawyers including the two reportedly controversial lawyers, Adv Ruhul Quddus Babu and Adv Khasruzzaman, as additional judges of the HC.

If the two judges were administered oath, then the SCBA would not welcome them.

Earlier, SCBA president Khandaker Mahbub had demanded cancellation of appointment of the judges alleging that one of them was prime accused in a murder case and the other was involved in vandalising the HC Bhaban.

Huda strongly condemned the threats of arresting the lawyers given by Justice Imman Ali during hearing on a writ petition challenging a government notice to evacuate Begum Khaleda Zia from her cantonment house.

He alleged that Justice Imman Ali, a Justice of the HC Division, had behaved in a way that may attract the Prime Minister’s sight for being appointed as Justice of the Appellate Division of the SC.

“If he (Justice Imman Ali) is appointed as Justice of the Appellate Division, then all lawyers will protest it”, Huda warned.

Meanwhile, in an emergency meeting of SCBA chaired by its president Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, SCBA apprehended that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia may be deprived from justice in her writ petition regarding cantonment house as the government wanted to held its hearing hurriedly though thousands of cases have remained pending at the HC.

Condemning threats given by Justice Imman Ali to the lawyers, SCBA expected that the Justice would show justice-like attitude in future.

Chief Justice was urged not to administer oath of the two judges from the emergency meeting.

US says “good news” Kyrgyzstan to keep base deal

The United States on Monday welcomed statements from Kyrgyzstan’s interim government that it will abide by agreements covering a US air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan.

But a US military official said the Manas transit centre would not be used as a hub for sending troops into Afghanistan in the near term, citing the need to free it up for possible humanitarian aid or other logistical purposes.

Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said the assurances, given by interim leader Roza Otunbayeva to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday, would allow the two countries to discuss arrangements for the facility.

“It is very good news that Ms. Otunbayeva said that they will continue to abide by those agreements and of course the United States is prepared to talk at any time with her and members of the provisional government about these arrangements,” Blake told a news briefing.

He spoke before leaving for Kyrgyzstan for meetings with Otunbayeva and others. He will be the highest US diplomat to go there since President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled the capital and Otunbayeva claimed power after a crackdown on opposition protesters led to violence that killed at least 82 people.

Blake said the United States was not formally recognizing the self-proclaimed government, comprised of Bakiyev opponents, but did not consider it to have taken power in a coup and offered strong suggestions of support.

“My main goal will be to hear from the Kyrgyz administration about their assessment of the law and order situation, the steps that they plan to take during their six-month interim administration to organize democratic elections and a return to democracy, and how we might be able to help them to restore democracy and economic growth,” Blake said.

He said many victims in last week’s violence were killed by supporters of Bakiyev.

Blake said there were no plans to meet with Bakiyev, who has been seeking to muster support in southern Kyrgyzstan, but stressed the dispute must be resolved constitutionally.

NO COMMENT ON RUSSIA’S ROLE

Blake would not comment on speculation that Russia, which has bristled at the US military presence in Kyrgyzstan, may have had a hand in driving Bakiyev from power.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was quick to call Otunbayeva last week, essentially recognizing her government, and Russian officials harshly criticized Bakiyev.

After receiving a Russian pledge of more than $2 billion in assistance, Bakiyev last year said Kyrgyzstan would evict US forces from the base, which opened in 2001. He later reversed course and agreed to keep the base open at a higher price.

The transit centre is now used by the United States under a five-year agreement that expires in July 2014 and is based on a year-by-year renewable lease, a Pentagon official said.

After last week’s upheaval, members of Otunbayeva’s government had suggested the lease would be shortened.

Blake welcomed Otunbayeva’s vow to honour the agreement but cautioned, “We’re sort of in a limbo period right now because we’re between governments.”

Kyrgyzstan would have to give six months notice if it wanted to evict US forces from Manas.

The US Embassy said refuelling operations continued as usual and the transit of troops, halted due to the upheaval, had resumed.

But an official at the US military’s Central Command said Manas would not be used as a hub for sending troops into Afghanistan in the near term, and that passenger traffic will instead head through alternate routes.

The official said there were hundreds of military personnel at Manas awaiting flights to return to the United States.

The official added the decision to re-route passenger traffic was made to “enable us to support any humanitarian assistance or logistical efforts (as) necessary while minimizing the potential for delays to our personnel.”

Past decisions to restrict such flights have been attributed to security concerns.

Obama, China discuss Iran at nuclear summit

US President Barack Obama’s drive for tougher sanctions on Iran gained momentum on Monday in talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao that also focused on their countries’ fractious economic relationship.

Obama stressed to Hu the need to act urgently against Iran’s nuclear program, and Hu agreed that Beijing would help craft a UN resolution, a US official said afterward.

Their 90-minute encounter came at the start of an unprecedented two-day summit of nearly 50 countries that Obama has called to highlight the global threat of nuclear terrorism and to agree an action plan to prevent weapons-grade atomic material from falling into the hands of terrorists.

Ukraine provided the first example by agreeing to give up its highly enriched uranium.

Iran’s nuclear program, which the West fears is a cover to build an atomic bomb, is not on the agenda of the summit, but the presence of so many world leaders in one place gave Obama an opportunity to again make his case for fresh sanctions to be imposed on Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

China has close economic ties with Iran and has so far been reluctant to agree to tougher sanctions. U.S. and Chinese officials who briefed reporters after the Hu-Obama talks described a positive, constructive atmosphere on Iran.

Hu told Obama that China and the United States shared the same overall goal on reining in Iran’s nuclear program, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.

Ma’s comments confirmed China’s recent decision to join discussions with world powers on Iran but they did not indicate a new willingness to embrace harsher sanctions, such as ones that would target the Islamic Republic’s energy sector.

Ma also repeated China’s standard call for “dialogue and negotiations” with Iran.

Hu’s agreement to attend the summit was perceived as a positive sign in Washington after US-Chinese relations were strained by Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, China’s Internet censorship, and US pressure over China’s currency.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Larry Summers attended the meeting with Hu, in which Obama also raised US concerns about China’s currency, the yuan, and urged the country to move to a more market-oriented exchange rate, a US official said.

Hu told Obama economic and trade frictions between the two countries should be resolved through consultations “on an equal footing,” Ma said.

Washington has been pressing Beijing to lift the value of the yuan, and many US lawmakers say that by deliberately holding down its currency China is giving its firms an unfair export subsidy that costs jobs in many countries.

The United States recently delayed a decision on whether to declare China a currency manipulator, a move that would have potentially jeopardized Hu’s attendance at the summit. US officials have denied any link between Hu’s visit and the decision.

IRAN DISMISSES SUMMIT

Iran dismissed the US summit and said it would not be swayed by any decisions made there. “World summits being organized these days are intended to humiliate human beings,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Tehran.

Obama spent Monday holding a series of meetings with foreign leaders before the serious business of the summit gets under way on Tuesday, when delegations representing 47 nations will gather to discuss how to combat nuclear terrorism.

The summit in Washington’s downtown convention centre, which was surrounded by a heavy security cordon of troops and police and high fences, is the culmination of a hectic period of nuclear diplomacy for Obama.

Last week he signed a new treaty to cut US and Russian nuclear arsenals and unilaterally announced the United States would limit its use of nuclear weapons, a plan that came under heavy fire from his conservative critics.

The summit — the biggest US-hosted assembly of world leaders in six decades — will be a test of Obama’s ability to rally global action on his nuclear agenda.

It had its first tangible outcome when Ukraine announced it would give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium by 2012, most of it this year. Kiev has enough nuclear material for several weapons. It will convert its civil nuclear program to operate on low-enriched uranium.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to return a “significant quantity” of Canada’s spent nuclear fuel to the United States, the original supplier, by 2018.

A draft final communique shows leaders will pledge to work toward safeguarding all “vulnerable nuclear material” within four years and take steps to crack down on nuclear smuggling.

The list of leaders in attendance ranged from heads of state of traditional nuclear powers like Russia and France to nuclear-armed foes like India and neighbouring Pakistan.

Iran president urges U.N. probe on Afghanistan, Iraq

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on UN chief Ban Ki-moon to set up an inquiry into the aims of Western military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, in a letter released on Monday.

The letter charged that US and NATO methods of dealing with terrorism in the region had failed and said it was up to Ban, as UN Secretary-General, to launch a probe whose results would be presented to the 192-nation UN General Assembly.

US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003 to end the rule of Saddam Hussein, later becoming embroiled in a war against al Qaeda and other insurgents. In Afghanistan, there are nearly 120,000 foreign troops working under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to fight Taliban forces.

Ahmadinejad said that as a result of the Western presence “a few million people” had been killed, wounded or displaced, illicit opium poppy cultivation had increased “and the peoples of our region continue to live under the shadow of threat.”

“We have emphasized time and again that settlement of problems in our region does not need wide-scale military expeditions or actions,” said Ahmadinejad, whose country borders Afghanistan to the east and Iraq to the west.

“Excellency, you are at least expected to appoint an independent fact-finding team which is trusted by the countries of the region, to launch a comprehensive investigation into the main intentions of NATO military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, the methods used, and the outcome of their presence and engagement,” he told Ban.

Iranian media reports quoted Ahmadinejad’s letter as also calling for an investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, saying they had been used as a pretext for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But the text of the letter distributed to media in New York by Iran’s UN mission contained no such call. UN spokesman Farhan Haq said Ban was studying the letter.

“NUCLEAR THREAT”

It was not immediately clear what had prompted the letter, which began by offering Ban good wishes for the March 21 Nowruz festival, celebrated in Iran and neighbouring countries.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that Tehran would complain to the United Nations about what it saw as a threat by US President Barack Obama to attack it with nuclear weapons.

Obama made clear last week that Iran and North Korea, both involved in nuclear disputes with the West, were excluded from new limits on the use of US atomic weapons.

Ahmadinejad’s letter to Ban did not refer to the nuclear issue, but it was raised in a statement to a General Assembly committee on Monday by Iran’s UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee, who branded the new U.S. policy as “state terrorism.”

“Can the US new nuclear strategy which authorizes the use of nuclear bombs against other countries, including Iran, be named other than ’state terrorism’ in its truest sense?” asked Khazaee, accusing Washington of “nuclear blackmail.”

It was unclear whether Khazaee’s remarks, part of a statement on international terrorism to the committee, amounted to the complaint mentioned by the foreign ministry.

Both Khazaee’s statement and Ahmadinejad’s letter dealt at length with Iran’s arrest in February of Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of a Sunni Muslim rebel group in mainly Shi’ite Iran, repeating allegations that NATO countries had supported him.

The United States and Britain, as well as Pakistan, have denied previous charges by Iran that they backed Rigi’s group, known as Jundollah (God’s soldiers).

Ahmadinejad, who said he was attaching to his letter a video on Rigi’s “crimes,” said he expected Ban to condemn them, “restore” the rights of the Iranian people, “impeach” those who had supported Rigi and condemn the backing “given by NATO members for terrorism in the region.”

No hand in Chhatra League, says AL

A delegation of the ruling Awami League has denied that the party is contravening the law through involvement in activities of its former student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, in reply to queries by the Election Commission.

The delegation, comprising deputy office secretary Mrinal Kanti Sen, working committee member Aminul Islam and member of the election managing committee Reazul Kabir Kawser, met the chief election commission on Monday following a letter asking for clarification on the present relationship between the party and the student body.

Mrinal, after the meeting, told reporters that they came to answer the letter. The senior party members told the EC the Chhatra League is operating independently.

The EC’s letter, issued on Mar 18, asked for clarification regarding newspaper reports that three party leaders were deployed to “look after” the activities of BCL, in violation of the Representation of the People Order and the AL’s constitution.

Awami League leaders, including the prime minister, and the AL general secretary have also been regularly issuing policy directives and making statements meant for their different ‘associate organisations’ although the party claims “no involvement” with them in line with EC requirements and the law.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Apr 3 reportedly said in Sylhet that the Awami League wanted to see “genuine students become members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League”.

Last week, Syed Ashraful Islam, the AL general secretary and ruling party spokesperson, as well as a member of Hasina’s cabinet, warned unruly cadres of Awami League’s associated student and youth bodies of “dire consequences” for extortion and tender manipulation.

Referring to recently reported untoward incidents involving the Juba League and Chhatra League’s factional fights, Ashraf said that “hooliganism in the name of student politics will not be tolerated”.

On Feb 9 this year, Ashraf, according to media reports, cautioned his party men saying that Islami Chhatra Shibir members had “infiltrated the top ranks of the pro-ruling party Bangladesh Chhatra League”.

QUESTION OF ‘ASSOCIATES’

A question also lingers over the ruling party’s constitution with regard to “associate organisations”.

According to RPO, amended ahead of the last general election in 2008, a party must have several specific provisions in its constitution in order to secure registration of the Election Commission.

The law, under article 90B, clause b3, states that every party must “prohibit formation of any organisation or body as its affiliated or associated body consisting of the teachers or students of any educational institution or the employees or labourers of any financial, commercial or industrial institution or establishment or the members of any other profession”.

The ruling Awami League in its written reply to the EC’s queries has stated: “The Awami League has been conducting party activities in line with Section 25 (1) of the party constitution.”

That section of Awami League’s constitution, according to Awami League’s website on Monday, stated that the “Bangladesh Awami League Executive Committee shall decide the policies of Associate Organizations of the Bangladesh Awami League”.

The section goes on to mention the names of ‘associate organisations,’ which include professional and students bodies — for instance Bangladesh Krishak League, Jatiyo Sramik League, Bangladesh Chhatra League, Awami Ainjibee Parishad, and Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad.

However, this part of the party’s constitution has since been amended on the EC’s suggestion, adding that the associate organisations will have “independent constitutions”

Despite the still apparent inconsistencies between the party constitution and the RPO, the EC has accepted the AL’s amended and ratified constitution.

EC EYE ON ‘STUDENT WINGS’ SPARKS GRIEVANCES

Meanwhile, leaders of three major parties have claimed that the Election Commission is “exercising unwanted authority” on party activities, while the commission says that it is only working to assist parties to comply with the law.

Grievances surfaced among the leaders as the commission sent its letters last month seeking explanations from the three parties regarding their involvement with their respective “student wings”.

The commission issued letters to opposition parties BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, as well as ruling Awami League, asking them to clarify their stand on their student organisations, which parties have been required to “disassociate”.

Senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sen Gupta, asked by bdnews24.com what view the ruling party had of the matter, said on Mar 27, “There should be an explanation regarding the limit of the Election Commission’s powers.”

“The letter issued by the Election Commission should be sent back. Who has assigned them to talk about party affairs?” Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a senior figure of the opposition BNP, said in a recent TV interview.

Also criticising the EC’s queries over student associations, Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general, M Kamaruzzaman, told bdnews24.com, “It’s too much on the part of EC. It is showing unwanted authority.”

PM backs wider powers for upazila chairmen

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has assured upazila chairmen that they will have responsibility for development activities and the maintenance of law and order in their upazila.

Hasina, however, warned them not to indulge in criminal activities, “Otherwise none will be spared.”

She said the government would immediately distribute responsibilities among the MPs, upazila chairmen, vice chairmen and upazila nirbahi officers (UNO).

“We will fix the activities in a regulation within a few days.”

At the meeting, the upazila chairmen expressed their grievances to the prime minister.

Bodiuzzaman Badsha, a chairman of Sherpur’s Nalitabari upazila, alleged that MPs showed a patronising attitude towards them.

Upazila chairmen have had no work for the last 14 months, he said.

Harun-or-Rashid, another chairman of Patuakhali’s Dumki upazila alleged that the chairmen did not get appropriate respect from the UNOs.

In response, the prime minister asked the upazila chairmen to work for people instead of complaining.

She also asked them to make plans for the development of their upazilas.

Hasina handed each upazila chairman a laptop which could connect to the internet.

Local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam, who also attended the programme, said that the upazila parishad system will find success through concerted effort.

“All should work together to ensure that the upazila parishad forms part of a strong local government sector,” he said.

Writ hearing on eviction notice against Khaleda: HC threat to call police evokes rowdism

The High Court yesterday experienced a rowdy scene with members of the bar shouting, beating desks, using abusive languages, and even giving threats to each other.

The unruly situation was created at the courtroom centering on the hearing on the writ petition filed by BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia challenging a government notice to evacuate her cantonment residence.

Hearing on the writ petition was scheduled to be held at a High Court (HC) bench comprising Justice Md Imman Ali and Justice Obaidul Hasan yesterday. The court adjourned the hearing till Tuesday.

It also directed Khaleda Zia’s counsel to appeal for adjournment of the hearing of the petition by the date.

The court, at one stage, being angered with unruly behavior of the lawyers in the courtroom threatened to call in police and hand them over.

The lawyers present strongly protested the bench’s remarks and demanded its withdrawal and apology for the same.

Supreme Court Bar Association (SBCA) president Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said, “We never expected such attitude from the court what Justice Imman Ali showed in the court.”

Protesting the remarks Khandaker Mahbub said, “He (The Justice) threatened the lawyers of calling police. Then I said that we and thousands of lawyers are ready to be arrested.” The HC has no instance of giving such threats to the lawyers to hand them over to the police, he said.

First, Barrister Moudud Ahmed prayed for time for hearing on the writ petition saying that “Begum Khaleda Zia is busy in public affairs. So, we could not talk to her regarding the case”.

Pointing finger at the lawyers in the courtroom, the judge said why there are so many lawyers in the room? Why did you bring them here? Then Moudud posed a counter question why did Attorney General bring so many lawyers into the courtroom?

When the court asked Barrister Nazmul Huda whether English courtrooms faced similar experience, Huda said this court is different from English Courts because it don’t have proper environment to sit. The lawyers present supported him.

SCBA president Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said, “We are not lawyers of the English Bar” then a Justice of the bench said, “I didn’t ask you, but Huda”.

Later, Attorney General placed his arguments before the court on the writ petition filed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The government is ready for the hearing, he said.

The court rejecting the time prayer of Moudud asked him to place his arguments before the court. But Moudud said I cannot join the hearing without talking to my client about it.

The court again asked him to place his arguments. Then Moudud said, “Why there is so much urgency in holding the hearing?” If verdict is given arbitrarily without holding hearing, then it would not be rational, he added.

When the court again asked Moudud to start the hearing, then all lawyers present at the courtroom simultaneously protested saying ‘No, No’.

At this stage, a judge of the bench said that if they behaved like this, then he would call police to arrest them.

Then, all the lawyers shouted and said that let the police to come. SCBA president Khandaker Mahbub said not only a lawyer but also thousand of lawyers are ready to be arrested. If you (Court) can, arrest them, he said.

At that time, some lawyers from back benches said that the judges were proving not impartial.

Barrister Fakhrul Islam said that it was not an English Bar. Your remarks insulted the lawyers. You have breached behavioral norms and other lawyers shouted in his support.

When Barrister Moudud uttered ’sorry’ for the lawyers’ behavior, SCBA president said, “No”, the court first have to withdraw its speech. The court said “Is it court’s environment?”

Attorney General (AG) alleged that lawyers of Khaleda Zia followed strategy to delay hearing on the petition.

Later, as Adv Mahbub Uddin Khokon stood up to say something before the court, the AG objected and Khokon complained against AG of dictating the court.

Khokon also alleged that some 13 days were spent to refer the petition to another bench after it was sent to Chief Justice for a decision. The petition was referred to this bench after some benches were reformed with junior judges, he said.

Adv Sanaullah Miah said, “I am the president of 14 thousand lawyers. The court has to withdraw the speech.”

Later, Moudud and the SCBA president calmed the lawyers.

The court told Moudud, “Please, save us. Save the image of the High Court”.

The pro-BNP lawyers later chanted slogan in the court premises. The lawyers of Khaleda Zia apprehended that they would not get justice from the court.

SCBA president said the lawyers were aggrieved in the incidents. They would convene a general meeting of the lawyers in protest of the incident and go to the Supreme Judicial Council.

An HC bench of Justices Syed Mahmud Hossain and ATM Fazle Kabir, earlier on March 18 this year, sent the petition to Chief Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim for a decision as Khaleda expressed “no-confidence” in that bench.

The Chief Justice then referred the petition to the bench of justices Md Imman Ali and Obaidul Hasan for hearing.

The HC on May 27 last year stayed on eviction notice for three months. The notive had asked Khaleda to hand over the house to the military estate officer by June 30 of the same year. The HC had issued a rule upon the government to explain as why the notice should not be declared illegal.

PM sends greetings card to Khaleda

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has sent greetings of the Bengali new year to the opposition leader Khaleda Zia.

The prime minister’s protocol officer Proloy Kumar Joarder on Sunday handed a greetings card to Saleh Ahmed, personal secretary to the BNP chairperson’s office.

Ahmed said Khaleda Zia would reciprocate soon.

Police prevent Ctg Jamaat meeting

The police refused to allow the Jamaat–e-Islami to hold ea public meeting in Chittagong on Sunday

It also was prevented from holding a meeting at its own party offices.

Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed was scheduled to attend a public meeting in the port city’s Safa Arcade Community Centre at 3pm.

Jamaat said they were prevented from holding the meeting even after they had taken permission from the authorities.

Kotwali police chief Mohiuddin Mahmud told bdnews24.com that the police had not been informed that Jamaat leader Mojaheed was attending the public meeting.

“We didn’t allow them to hold the meeting so the situation does not become unstable,” he said.

The Jamaat leaders attempted to hold another meeting in the party’s metropolitan office, which is located 50 yards away from the meeting venue, but the police also stopped that meeting taking place as well. About 200 Jamaat leaders and activists had gathered there.

Police personnel were deployed in front of the community centre after the Muktijoddha-Chhatra-Janata announced that they would prevent Mojaheed from attending the meeting, Mahmud said.

MR Azim, organiser of Muktijoddha-Chhatra-Janata, earlier had announced that his organisation would not allow Mojaheed, an alleged war criminal, to attend any meeting in Chittagong. He was also prevented from holding a meeting at the centre.

Jamaat MP Hamidur Rahman Azad told reporters that it would not be good for the country if the Jammat were not allowed to hold meetings.

He said the Jamaat had previously faced obstruction in holding meetings in some other places, but they were at least able to hold meetings in their party offices.

This time they were not even allowed to do that, he said.

Mojaheed faced obstruction in a number of cities including Chapainawabganj, Bogra and Satkhira since the government formed war crime tribunals to prosecute those accused of committing crimes in 1971.

There are allegations of war crimes against a number of Jamaat leaders.

18 killed in Bangkok protest clashes

Eighteen people were killed and more than 800 wounded in Bangkok’s worst political violence in 18 years between troops and “red shirt” protesters demanding that the government step down and call an early election.

The death toll given on Sunday by Erawan Medical Centre rose during the night although the fighting, some of it in well-known tourist areas, had ended after the security forces pulled back late on Saturday and urged the “red shirts” to do the same.

The city of 15 million appeared calm early on Sunday after what the Nation daily newspaper headlined “our darkest hour”.

“Yesterday’s bloodbath is a wake-up call to halt the slide towards anarchy,” it said in a front-page commentary.

Thai troops had fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators, who fought back with guns, grenades and petrol bombs near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok’s old quarter, a base for the month-old protest. Four soldiers were among those killed.

Hundreds of protesters also forced their way into government offices in two northern cities, raising the risk of a larger uprising against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his 16-month-old, military-backed government.

Washington urged both sides to show restraint.

“We deplore this outbreak of political violence in Thailand, our long-term friend and ally, and urge good faith negotiations by the parties to resolve outstanding issues through peaceful means,” White House spokesman Mike Hammer said.

The Thai government said it had appointed a senior prime ministerial aide to make contact with “red shirt” leaders to try to find a way to halt the confrontations.

The “red shirts” — supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006 — have demanded that Abhisit dissolve parliament and leave the country.

In a televised statement, Abhisit expressed regret to the families of the victims and said the army was only allowed to use live bullets “firing into the air and in self-defence”.

Among those killed was Reuters TV cameraman Hiro Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national who had worked for Thomson Reuters in Tokyo for more than 15 years and had arrived in Bangkok on Thursday to cover the protests.

“I am dreadfully saddened to have lost our colleague Hiro Muramoto in the Bangkok clashes,” said David Schlesinger, Reuters Editor-in-Chief.

“Journalism can be a terribly dangerous profession as those who try to tell the world the story thrust themselves in the centre of the action. The entire Reuters family will mourn this tragedy.”

After hours of violence on Saturday, army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said troops would pull back in the old quarter as the riot spread to Khao San Road, an area popular with back-packing tourists.

Khao San Road resembled a war zone, a Reuters photographer said. Shop windows were shattered, cars smashed and many people lay wounded on the street.

“If this continues, if the army responds to the red shirts, violence will expand,” Sansern said after announcing troops were withdrawing from the area.

He said soldiers had been pelted with petrol bombs and M79 grenades, and that some of the protesters were armed with guns. A red shirt leader later called on supporters to pull back to the main protest sites.

BARRICADED SHOPPING DISTRICT

Troops mounted two major offensives on protesters in the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road area. Both times they fired rubber bullets and tear gas but failed to clear the area.

An afternoon offensive ended in a standoff with many wounded. After dark, troops opened fire again with rubber bullets about 500 metres (1,600 feet) away at an intersection leading to Khao San Road. Some fired live rounds. Helicopters dropped tear gas.

Tens of thousands had remained in Bangkok’s main shopping district, a stretch of upscale department stores and five-star hotels held for a week by the mostly rural and working-class red shirts who say they have been marginalised in a country with one of Asia’s widest disparities between rich and poor.

The red shirts used taxis and pick-up trucks to barricade themselves in that area.
The violence comes a year after about 10,000 pro-Thaksin supporters rioted in Bangkok. The latest protests involved more than five times as many protesters spread across several areas of the city.

The protesters say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. Thaksin’s allies would be well-placed to win fresh elections.

The “red shirts” have shown they have support among Bangkok’s poor but have angered the middle classes, many of whom regard them as misguided slaves to Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon who fled into exile to avoid a jail term for corruption.

The government declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on April 7 after red shirts broke into the grounds of parliament, forcing some officials to flee by helicopter.