CID, SB deny having detained Ilias Ali

Only two, out of 10 government agencies, responded on Sunday to a High Court order asking them to explain before April 29 why the ‘detenu’, M Ilias Ali, a former lawmaker, should not be brought before it to establish that he was not being held illegally, said a law officer. On April 19, the bench of Justice Farid Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif, after hearing a writ petition filed by Ilias’s wife Tahsina Rushdir Luna seeking its direction to find out her husband, asked the home secretary, inspector general of police, additional inspector generals of Criminal Investigation Department and Special Branch, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, Dhaka deputy commissioner, Rapid Action Battalion’s director-general, Detective Branch’s deputy commissioner and officers-in-charge of Gulshan and Banani police stations to answer the rule. The CID and the SB submitted separate reports to the government’s solicitor wing at the Attorney General’s office in the afternoon explaining that they had not arrested Ilias Ali, who remained missing since April 17. ‘The CID did not arrest Ilias Ali in any case on his way home at 1:30am on April 18 or torture him in a secret place,’ said additional inspector general of police (CID) Rownakul Hoque Chowdhury in reply to the allegations made in the writ petition. ‘The Special Branch or its representatives did not arrest the petitioner’s husband, even the matter is not in my knowledge,’ said additional inspector general of police (Special Branch) M Jabed Patwari, in his report. It said that since the SB had not detained Ilias Ali, the question of his being harassed by the agency did not arise. ‘The home secretary and the Rapid Action Battalion asked me to seek time, on their behalf, to submit their replies,’ the government law officer concerned, Motaher Hossain Sazu told New Age. He also said six other respondents were yet to file their replies although the High Court’s 10-day deadline to do so ended on Sunday. ‘I will submit the replies of the CID and SB to the bench concerned when the court resumes after the hartal is over,’ the law officer added. Home ministry’s joint secretary Shawkat Mostafa told New Age that the ministry had received the High Court order on April 24, and asked the police and the RAB to submit their replies. ‘We need time to prepare the replies,’ said the joint secretary. Ilias Ali, BNP’s organising secretary for Sylhet division, and his driver went missing on April 17. BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia alleged that the government agency and RAB picked up Ilias. But prime minister Sheikh Hasina dismissed the allegation saying that the BNP was staging a ‘drama’ over the Ilias issue. On April 18, police found Ilias’s car abandoned near his Banani residence in the capital and the BNP enforced dawn-to-dusk hartals for three consecutive days on April 22, 23 and 24 demanding that the party leader be returned immediately. After wrapping up their third day’s hartal on April 24, Khaleda Zia gave the government four days to find out the missing BNP leader and the deadline expired on Saturday. The main opposition is enforcing fresh two-day back-to-back shutdowns that began on Sunday after its ultimatum was over. The BNP also staged nationwide demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday to press home its demands for ‘returning’ Ilias Ali. 
 Source: New Age

BUET teachers think of alternative movement

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology teachers, on strike for 22nd consecutive days on Sunday, told New Age that they would not call off their protests seeking resignation of the vice-chancellor and the pro-vice-chancellor although they knew that students were suffering as no classes were being held. ‘The students will not face trouble as we can take make-up classes at the weekends or during holidays,’ The BUET Teachers’ Association general secretary, Md Ashraful Islam, said. He said, ‘We expect that the prime minister will meet our demands so that the students do not suffer.’ The striking teachers are discussing the campus situation with higher authorities. A number of teachers also said that they were thinking of ‘an alternative movement’ against the corruption in the university administration in view of sufferings of the students. But they would not call off their protests pushing for the resignation of the vice-chancellor SM Nazrul Islam and the pro-vice-chancellor Md Habibur Rahman because of their ‘involvement in corruption,’ the teachers said. ‘We have not yet decided our next course of action but have thought of an alternative way to push four our demands,’ one of the striking teachers said. He talked of the silent procession they held on the campus on Saturday as a way of protests. Asked about the sufferings of the students, the teachers said that the students were not suffering so much as their strike coincided with the general strike the opposition alliance was enforcing and because of public holidays. The vice-chancellor, meanwhile, told New Age that the teachers had alleged irregularities in administration. ‘But why should the students suffer?’ Asked about the allegations levelled against them the vice-chancellor said that the allegations were ‘illogical and baseless.’ ‘I have not committed any mistake. My resignation will, rather, be a mistake,’’ he added. 
Source: New Age

Appointment of BERC member: Imam places candidate on political grounds

Prime Minister’s adviser HT Imam recently asked the energy ministry to appoint a civil engineer as member of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission though he is not eligible for the position. In an official letter dated April 18, he told the state minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Mohammad Enamul Huq that the prime minister gave ‘her kind instruction’ to appoint Mohammad Shahadat Hossain as a member of the BERC. The PM’s adviser on public administration affairs attached three-page curriculum vitae of Mohammad Shahadat Hossain with his letter. He asked the state minister to place the matter before the prime minister in an official ‘summery’ on urgent basis. He gave a copy of the letter to the senior secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration. The PM is in charge of the energy ministry. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act 2003, amended in 2010, set the academic qualification of BERC member as graduation in Mine and Mineral Resources or electrical engineering or chemical engineering or mechanical engineering or petroleum engineering. According to the criterion set Master’s degree holders in geography, geology and mining, law, economics, accounting, business administration, management, finance, banking, marketing, public administration, chemistry, physics or applied physics are also eligible. Civil engineers are in no way eligible for the position. According to the BERC Act a candidate is required to have at least 15 years’ experience in any of the specified fields. Asked why he recommended a civil engineer for the position HT Imam told New Age on Sunday, ‘I forwarded the letter as I have received. The concerned authority would take the decision whether he is qualified or not.’ Imam said that the concerned authority was not bound to follow his recommendation. Shahadat took retirement after serving Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited for 26 years. He wrote in his CV that he took retirement as deputy general manager in February 2011. During his service, he mentioned, he took part in different training programmes related to gas transmission and distribution. Officials said that Shahadat does not in any way qualify for the position of member of BERC. They said that Shahadat’s ‘main qualification’ is his links. Shahadat also mentioned in his CV that he was the vice-president of Bangabandhu Prakoushali Parisad and always worked to organise engineers, who are followers of Bangabandhu in the Institution of Engineers of Bangladesh. He also mentioned that he met Sheikh Hasina several times after her home coming in 1981. Shahadat also mentioned in his CV that he actively took part n different political programmes of Awami League and its front organisations during his service life. BERC is a statutory body, not a political organisation, said officials. Asked whether a BERC member candidate needed political experience, HT Imam said that he was not aware of what Shahadat had attached with his CV. Short listing Shahadat’s name as a candidate member of BERC took e place at a time when the energy regulatory commission is facing allegations of taking politically motivated decisions. An Energy Division official said that a committee was working on the appointment of the energy commission members and prepared a short list among the applicants for the posts. 
Source: New Age

Students join striking teachers at Jahangirnagar University

Several hundred Jahangirnagar University students joined the movement of teachers who laid siege to the the vice-chancellor’s house for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday demanding his resignation. They rallied on the campus in protest at Saturday’s attack on the campus-based cultural activists and teachers by Chhatra League activists and burnt the vice-chancellor Shariff Enamul Kabir in effigy. The striking teachers, mostly belonging to opposition and left-leaning political parties, on Sunday vowed to continue with their sit-in until the vice-chancellor resigned. They were demanding the resignation of the vice-chancellor for his alleged corruption, recruitment of teachers on political grounds and patronisation of Chhatra League activists. The vice-chancellor, however, on Sunday told reporters that he would not step down. ‘There is no reason for me to resign.’ BCL activists backed by the vice-chancellor also brought out a procession on the campus. Sources said the BCL leaders forced general students to join the procession. Mehedi Hasan, a resident of Shaheed Salam Barkat Hall, said that Chhatra League activists had called general students to the common room of the hall and forced the students to join the procession. Activists of the Awami League-backed Chhatra League on Saturday night attacked the striking teachers and cultural activists. The teachers and students demanded exemplary punishment of the people who attacked them. Sangskritik Jote activists said that the police refused to record any case against Chhatra League activists who attacked on the cultural activists on Saturday in which at least 15 were injured. The Ashulia police officer-in-charge, Badrul Alam, said that some students had gone to the police station to file a case but the police did not record the case as the documents lacked some bits of information. The police recorded a general diary instead. The university authorities set up a three-member committee, headed by Pritilata Hall provost Lutfar Rahman, to investigate the attack, the registrar, Abu Bakar Siddique, said. The other two on the committee Ahmed Reza and deputy registrar Mohammad Ali. The committee has been asked to submit the report in seven working days. Cultural activists alleged that they had not stayed in the halls since Saturday night. ‘We have been forced to stay out of the halls in fear of attacks by Chhatra League activists as we are protesting at their activities that have led to the current campus situation,’ cultural activists Rahul Anzum said. Chhatra League activists, however, brushed aside the allegations and said that they had not asked anyone to leave the halls. The acting proctor Sukalyan Kumar Kundu assured the cultural activists of security in halls after discussing the matter with the provosts and Chhatra League activists. Police deployment on the campus has been reinforced to head off any trouble, the Ashulia police said. 
Source: New Age 

Sporadic clashes mark Bangladesh general strike

Sporadic clashes between pickets and police, attacks on vehicles, arrest of opposition activists and anti-hartal demonstrations by ruling party men marked the first day of the BNP-led alliance’s fresh back-to-back shutdowns in Bangladesh on Sunday. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led 18-party alliance enforced the nationwide dawn-to-dusk strike after its deadline to produce the missing BNP organising secretary, M Ilias Ali, was over on Saturday.