Law
week
Limit crossed
Fuelled by ideas and shaken by law and order slide, the then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar in 2002 sat with top police officials and proposed formation of a special force comprising members from different armed and security forces. Babar's worries, recall officials attending that meeting, were rising crime in the capital and southeastern region, and the police alone, he was quoted as saying, were "unable to contain it". The police were not much interested. The department had several identical proposals for a special police-only force shelved since 1996. But Babar was persistent. He sat with the armed forces' chiefs, who, to his dismay, also rejected the idea citing shortage of troops. -The Daily Star, November 25, 2010.
Let economy grow
Top business leaders may propose passing a law banning hartal to put an end to its detrimental effects on trade, business and other economic activities. Stressing that political unrest is greatly hampering investment and economic growth, the businessmen urged the political parties to find an alternative to hartal or 'similar destructive activities'. Political programmes like hartal virtually stand in the way of the country achieving its potential double-digit growth, they said at a discussion meeting organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the capital. “This (hartal) is even more unacceptable when the country is on track of vigorous economic growth in the coming days thanks to its startling rise in trade and export activities,” said FBCCI President AK Azad, who chaired the discussion. -The Daily Star, November 25, 2010.
23 BDR men jailed
A special court sentenced 23 border guards to different terms in jail for their involvement in 2009 BDR mutiny in Lalmonirhat. The court acquitted one of the 24 accused jawans of the district's 31 Rifles Battalion. A three-member panel handed down the 23 jawans prison terms ranging from four months to five years and fined Tk 100 each. The verdict was passed in presence of the defendants, reports our Lalmonirhat correspondent. Dinajpur Sector Commander Col Muhammad Saleh Ahmad headed the panel also comprising Lt Col Mahfuz Alam and Major Didar Al Latif. The two-day mutiny that had sparked at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Pilkhana on February 25, 2009 spread to different barracks across the country. -The Daily Star, November 24, 2010.
Soup up local government
Ruling Awami League Lawmaker AKM Mozammel Huq termed the Upazila Parishad Act a "black law" for allowing a lawmaker board have control over upazila parishads and chairmen. Huq, also the chief of the parliamentary standing body on land ministry, said amendment should be brought in the law to scrap the provision of empowering MPs as adviser to upazila parishads. He was speaking at a roundtable "Local Government Elections and Strengthening Democracy" organised by Shushashoner Jonney Nagorik (Shujan), a citizen rights organisation, at Jatiya Press Club. Prof Mozaffer Ahmad, president of Shujan, chaired the roundtable. -The Daily Star, November 24, 2010.
Evidence 'convincing'
The Anti-Corruption Commission has claimed to have found "convincing" evidence that former prime minister Khaleda Zia had shown fake sources of funds for establishing Zia Charitable Trust. Nearly Tk 2 crore spent on the establishment of the Trust came from unknown and fake sources, said a commission official referring to the findings of an ACC probe into corruption allegations against Khaleda. The probe did not find any involvement of Khaleda's sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko in the corruption. Meanwhile, another ACC investigation found lack of diligence on the part of the then prime minister Khaleda Zia in the allocation of Tk 100 crore for construction of the Bhairab bridge, said a source at the commission. -The Daily Star, November 23, 2010.
Mobile court jails youth
A mobile court convicted a young man for stalking a 13-year old girl and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment in the capital, but the trial gave rise to a controversy among local residents. The victim's father Faruque Hossain filed a general diary with Ramna Police Station on Sunday stating that Sakib Hossain Sajib, 20, kidnapped the girl and took her to his residence where he kept her captive, three days before Eid-ul-Azha. Ramna police arrested Sajib from his grocery shop adjacent to his residence in Gabtala of Moghbazar yesterday noon and then informed the mobile court which convened at the police station in the afternoon. -The Daily Star, November 23, 2010.
KL to regularise 3 lakh workers
Malaysia has started regularising three lakh undocumented Bangladeshi workers and will hire more on completion of their regularisation, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has said. The workers remained undocumented since they were employed through "underhand dealings" that involved some Bangladeshi private recruitment agencies, the minister told journalists at Shahjalal International Airport on his return home yesterday after a two-week visit to Mexico, Canada and Switzerland. "We have excellent bilateral relations with Malaysia. It is a gesture of goodwill that Malaysia is absorbing the undocumented workers in its economy," Mosharraf said. -The Daily Star, November 22, 2010.
CID seeks 90 more days for probe
The Criminal Investigation Department here sought 90 more days for further investigation into the sensational Chittagong arms haul case. Investigation Officer (IO) of the case Md Moniruzzaman, also a senior ASP of CID, submitted a petition to the court of Acting Metropolitan Sessions Judge Golam Haider through the Public Prosecutor (PP) Kamal Uddin seeking time extension. The court would hear the petition on November 25, said a source in the court. The IO moved the petition -- three days before the expiry of previously extended time. Earlier on September 26, a Chittagong court for the tenth time granted CID two more months and extended the time till November 24 for further investigation into the case. -The Daily Star, November 22, 2010.
Indian premier pledges action
India's premier defended himself against accusations of inaction in a 40-billion-dollar telecoms scandal as he promised anyone found guilty in the case would be punished. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is accused of failing to act on allegations that his telecoms minister acted improperly and he scandal has engulfed Singh, whose ruling Congress party's popularity partly rests on his "Mr Clean" image. "There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that if any wrong thing has been done by anybody he or she or will be brought to book," Singh told reporters in his first public declaration on the firestorm. -The Daily Star, November 21, 2010.
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