Bangladesh: Duty on newsprint import cut to 5pc

The National Board of Revenue on Monday reduced customs duty to 5 per cent from the existing 10 per cent on import of newsprint for newspaper industry, officials said. 

They said that the new duty structure came into effect on Monday as the statutory regulatory order was issued on the day.

The SRO will be made public as soon as it returns from government printing press, they added. 

Officials said that the revenue board reduced the customs duty to facilitate the newspaper industry amid an increase of production cost as the government declared 8th wage board award for journalist and press workers. 

Earlier in September, the information ministry and cabinet committee formed to review the recommendations of the 8th Wage Board recommended that the duty on import of newsprint for newspaper industry be reduced, saying that duty reduction would help the sector in implementing the new wage board award. 

In last week of October, finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith approved the NBR’s proposal for reduction of customs duty for newsprint import. 

In the budget for 2013-14 financial year, the government increased duty on newsprint import to 10 per cent from 3 per cent that the industry enjoyed in previous years. 

Currently, newspaper and periodical owners have to pay a total of 30 per cent duties including 10 per cent import duty, 15 per cent value-added tax and 5 per cent advance income tax for imported newsprint for the industry.

After reduction of customs duty, they will have to pay around 25 per cent taxes as other taxes will be as usual. 

The existing 2 per cent customs duty on import of printing plates, an important raw material for newspaper industry, will continue.  (source) 

French ambassador calls on Bangladesh parliament speaker

The French ambassador to Bangladesh, Michel Trinquier, called on Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury at the latter’s office in Dhaka on Monday.

They discussed various matters regarding parliamentary proceedings and expansion of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, an official handout said. (source) 

Bangladesh High Court questions collection of high rate tolls from Mayor Hanif flyover users

The High Court on Sunday asked the government to explain in seven days the legality of collecting toll on high rate from vehicle users of newly constructed Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover in the capital.

The HC also asked the authorities to file an explanation as to why they should not be directed to take action against Orion Infrastructure Limited for collection of toll on creased rate and beyond the agreement on the toll.

The court sought another explanation from the government as to why they should not be directed to stop collection of tolls from the flyover on high rate.

A bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain issued the orders after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by three Supreme Court lawyers, Satya Ranjan Mandol, M Shaiful Alam and Md Ruhul Quddus Patwary, challenging the legality of collecting the toll on high rate.

The court also asked the Dhaka South City Corporation to submit copy of agreement between the corporation and the Orion Group over the rate of tolls.

The court directed government attorneys to communicate the order to the authorities.

Secretaries to the communications, local government and co-operatives ministries, Dhaka South City Corporation’s secretary and the chief executive officer, Dhaka deputy commissioner and Orion Infrastructure Limited were made as respondents in the petition.

The writ petition was filed following various newspaper reports that Orion Group, the operator of the Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover, was arbitrarily charging vehicles almost double the approved rate reasoning that the contract allowed them to revise the tariff every five years.

Because of the higher toll rate many vehicles were avoiding the flyover and crowding the roads below. The purpose of the 10-km flyover was thus losing the point, said the writ petitioners. (source)

Bangladesh: Panic continues in Barisal

Panic still grippes the people at Char Aicha of Charkawa union under Barisal Sadar upazila following attack on religious minorities after the killing of a college student.

At least 16 houses and 2 temples of Hindus were set on fire in the attack on Saturday following the death of college student Parvez Gazi in a clash between some Hindu youths and several others from Charaicha village on Thursday night over a badminton match on the Kalikhola Matri Government Primary School ground.

Most of the locals of the affected areas left their houses fearing harassment after the police arrested 25 people in connection with the incidents. The arrestees were sent to jail.

Barisal Bandar police station officer-in-charge Rezaul Islam said that no case was lodged in connection with the killing or the arson attack.

Students formed a human chain in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall demanding arrest of the culprits and killers of college student Parvez Gazi, They also cautioned the police not to harass any innocent people.

Local union parishad chairman Manirul Islam Chhobi said that the overall situation was still tensed although political leaders including lawmaker Mojibor Rahman Sarwar visited the spot and consoled affected family members on Sunday.

Sadar upazila chairman Azizul Huq Akkas, also the upazila BNP president, said that they were trying to convince the minority people to return home.

Barisal Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner (south) ATM Mujahidul Islam said that they assured the locals of safety. 

The police opened a makeshift police camp in the area.

The deputy commissioner in Barisal, Shohidul Islam, said that the administration already started relief operation with distributing cash, food grains and construction materials. (source)

Bangladesh: Nizami’s defence granted 2 days for placing closing arguments

The International Crimes Tribunal–1 on Sunday allowed two days – Sunday and Monday – for closing arguments by the defence of detained Jamaat chief and war crimes accused Matiur Rahman Nizami.

The tribunal allowed the time disposing of a defence plea seeking review the tribunal’s November 13 order that closed the defence summing up of the case and put the verdict on CAV (curia advisary vult, a Latin legal term meaning court awaits verdict).

The tribunal disposed of the defence petition upholding its November 13 order keeping the judgement on CAV.

On November 13, the tribunal closed the defence case as no senior defence lawyers appeared before the tribunal for the fourth consecutive day. 

On the following day on November 14, Nizami filed an application seeking review of the November 13 order.

Moving the petition, Nizami’s chief defence counsel Abdur Razzak submitted that they were not able to turn up before the tribunal on the four days due to 84-hour countrywide nonstop hartal from November 10 to November 13. 

He referred to the adjournments in the appeal hearings of the condemned Jamaat leaders – Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court due to hartal and submitted that they could not appear before the tribunal for justified reasons.

‘Your lordships can and perhaps in this trial should review the order. You have asked us to submit arguments in written but it cannot be a substitute for the oral one,’ he submitted.

Terming the November 13 order as an unusual one, the chief defence counsel submitted that the tribunal had accommodated the defence on many occasions earlier.

Prosecutor Mir Iqbal Hossain, on the other hand, vehemently opposed the petition and submitted that the tribunal’s November 13 order was justified and logical and that the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 did not permit to review the order.

After hearing both the sides, the tribunal asked the defence to start placing arguments once again and a senior defence lawyer Mizanul Islam began placing his arguments defending Nizami at around 12.30 pm.

His arguments resumes today. (source)

Bangladesh: Election Commission to meet president Nov 19

The Election Commission is scheduled for Tuesday to call on the president, Abdul Hamid, to talk about the issues related to the 10th general election.

The president’s office, Bangabhaban, made the schedule following a letter sent by the commission on November 14 seeking an appointment with the president, a commission official said.

Election commissioner Shah Nawaz told New Age that Bangabhaban fixed the date for the meeting. 

‘We are yet to come to know the exact time of the meeting,’ he said, adding that the commission was yet to get any letter from Bangabhaban.

He, however, said that the meeting would be held on any day this week.

‘We will apprise the president of our preparations and will seek his cooperation to fulfil our requirements,’ Shah Nawaz said.

Replying to a query, the election commissioner said, ‘We will sit soon to decide when the schedule for the 10th national election to be announced.’

Asked whether the commission would request the president to take initiatives to ensure the participation of all political parties in the polls, Shah Nawaz said that the commission’s functions were defined by the constitution and it would not engage in any activities going beyond the constitutional provisions. 

According to the constitution, the 10th national elections need to be held by January 24, 2014.

Election commissioners and officials hinted that the commission might announce the election schedule either at the end of this month or in the first week of December the polling day might be fixed in the second week of January 2014. (source)

Bangladesh: Dhaka court defer Adil-Elan hearing

A Dhaka court has deferred hearing to frame charges against human rights group Odhikar’s secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and director Nasiruddin Elan.

They are booked in a case of allegedly spreading distorted information about police’s May 5 anti-Hifazat drive.

Dhaka’s Cyber Crimes Tribunal Judge KM Shamsul Alam has set November 24 as the new date for the hearing that was scheduled for Sunday.

But since Elan could not be produced before the court the judge deferred the hearing.

Adil was, however, was present in the court.

The two have been accused of distorting facts, presenting false evidence against the drive by the security forces, doctoring photos with the help of Photoshop, and passing off someone alive as dead.

A report by rights group Odhikar claimed 61 people had been killed in the drive by police and security forces at Motijheel’s Shapla Chattar, where Hifazat-e Islam supporters were on an indefinite sit-in on May 5. (source)

Bangladesh: 70 apperal factories closed following unrest in Savar, Gazipur

At least 70 apparel factories in Savar and Gazipur was declared closed for Sunday following clashes between workers and the law enforcers that left 75 injured.

The clashes erupted at Ashulia of Savar and Konabari and Kashimpur in Gazipur when the police tried to disperse workers in the areas who took to the street demanding minimum Tk 8,000 as the minimum monthly wage and immediate reopening of closed factories, said witnesses.

A factory of Standard Group and at least 30 shops in the adjacent area of the factory in Gazipur were set on fire.

The workers continued with protests pressing for Tk 8,000 as minimum monthly wage, while apparel factory owners, after a meeting with prime minister Sheikh Hasina on November 13, accepted the award of the Minimum Wage Board fixing Tk 5,300 as the minimum wage for apparel workers.

In Savar, workers of different apparel factories in Jamgara, Jirabo, Kathgara and other areas of Ashulia blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway. 

They clashed with the police who tried to disperse them. At least 50 people were injured.  

Later, the authorities of some 50 factories including Rose Dresses Limited owned by Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Atikul Islam, was suspended their production for the day.

Ashulia Industrial police-1 chief Abdus Sattar said some workers came down on the Dhaka-Tangail highway and attacked vehicles before the police drove them off.

New Age correspondent in Gazipur reported that at least 25 people were injured in clashes between the police and sweater factory worker at Konbari and Kashimpur.

The agitated worker set fire to a factory of Standard Group and at least 30 shops of a market in adjacent area of the factory pressing for immediate reopening of the factory and wage hike.

Witnesses said workers Standard Group and others factories clashed with the police. They also ransacked some vehicles and factories and set fire to logs and burned tyres to block the Kashipmpur–Konabari road. 

The police fired rubber bullets and teargas shells to disperse the workers, triggering a clash that left 25 people injured, said assistant superintendent of Gazipur industrial police ASM Samsur Rahman.

The authorities closed 20 factories for the day apprehending further trouble. (source)

Bangladesh: Woman found dead at Dhaka's Uttara

The police recovered the body of a young woman from a drain at Uttara in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon.

The body of the unidentified woman, aged about 20, was found in a drain of road 2 in Uttara sector 4 at 1:00pm.

Uttara West police sub-inspector Jakir Hossain said that on information, the police recovered the body.

The SI said that the woman was strangled and stabbed at different parts of her body.

The police suspects that she might have been killed over dispute in love affairs.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examinations. (source)

Bangladesh: BNP to take out black-flag processions Nov 18

The BNP-led opposition alliance will take of black-flag processions across the country today in protest against Sunday’s cabinet meeting attended by the ministers who had already ‘resigned’.

‘Holding cabinet meetings of ministers who had resigned is a clear violation of the constitution’, BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told a news conference at the party’s central office at Naya Paltan. 

He said the opposition alliance will take out the processions in the capital as well as  divisional cities and district towns across  the country in protest against the government’s unconstitutional act.

Rizvi, however, did not spell out the time or the venue from where the procession would out in the capital.

The cabinet meeting chaired by the prime minister was held on Sunday, a day before the normal schedule in the Secretariat.

On November 11, all the ministers handed in their resignation letters to prime minister Sheik Hsaina to pave the way for a small poll-time cabinet. 

The ministers continued their functions from the next day prompting a huge outcry against what the protesters called unconstitutionality.

Rizvi also protested against the police cordon put in place around the BNP central office by the government for several days back.

He said that confined by the police he was unable to come out of the BNP office.

The police on duty, both in uniforms and plainclothes, obstruct BNP leaders, activists and journalists from entering the party office, he said.

Rizvi asked the government to withdraw the police cordon around the party office. (source)

Bangladesh: Youth wounded while making bomb at Jessore's Benapole

A young man was injured while making crude bombs at Bahadurpur under Benapole port police station in Jessore at around 10:00am on Sunday.

The injured Uzzal Hossain, 25, was taken to a private clinic at Benapole under police custody, said Quayum Ali Sarder, officer-in-charge of Benapole port police station. 

The OC told the newsmen that the youth injured his leg while making crude bombs at his Bahadurpur residence.

‘He is undergoing treatments under the police custody’, he added. 

A case was filed with the police station in this regard. (source)

Bangladesh: Yusuf trial prosecution witness says it’s not her affidavit

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Sunday summoned two Bagarhat judge court lawyers and asked them to appear before it ‘without fail’ on December 4 to clarify an affidavit  prosecution witness Achhiya Khatun denied she had signed.

The two summoned lawyers are Sheikh Abdul Wadud and Shamima Akhter, also a notary public.

Wadud identified Achhiya while she  alleged signed affidavit before Shamima on September 30, 2010.

Yusuf was in the dock.

The seventh prosecution witness Achhiya, 70, is from Sonatala village under Sarankhola in Bagerhat district.

Her testimony on Sunday echoed what her son Abdul Malek Fakir, 56, had told the tribunal in tears as the sixth prosecution witness. 

Malek said that Yusuf was among the Razakar Bahini men who tortured and killed his father on June 9, 1971.

Replying to a query from the tribunal, Achhiya said that being unlettered she cannot read or write. 

She also said that she can only sign her name with great difficulty.

During cross-examination by Yusuf’s  lawyer Mizanur Rahman, Achhiya said that her husband was killed on a Thursday in the Bangla month of Bhadra during the Liberation War.

She said that she had filed a case with a Bagerhat court accusing Yusuf and his accomplices for killing her husband.

At this point, Mizan showed her a document and wanted to know whether the photograph and the signature in the affidavit were hers.

The tribunal, at this point, saw the affidavit, read it and asked the witness to answer the defence lawyer’s question.

She replied that it was her photograph but it was not her signature. 

‘I do not know what is an affidavit, I did not sign it either,’ she said.

The presiding judge, Justice Obaidul Hassan then asked the defence lawyer how the original copy of the affidavit signed by another person came to his possession.

‘I should keep as I am its beneficiary,’ Mizan replied.

The tribunal then asked how the affidavit  on a pending matter could go to his possession.

It said that the affidavit should have been in the possession of the person who is supposed to have signed it.

‘My lord, it should be in my possession as it is in my favour,’ Mizan replied.

‘Does it mean that you got it done?’ the tribunal asked.

‘No, my lord,’ Mizan replied. 

The content of the affidavit could not be known.

As Achhiya’s cross-examination ended, the tribunal passed the order summoning the two lawyers.

‘It appears that on 30.09.2010 an affidavit was sworn in by Achhiya Khatun who was identified by Sheikh Abdul Wadud, an advocate of Bagerhat Judge’s Court. The affidavit was sworn before Shamima Akhter, notary Public of Bangladesh,’ said the  order.

Since the witness in the witness stand on oath, denied having signed the affidavit it is necessary to ascertain the fact, it said.

Notary public Shamima Akhter and Sheikh Abdul Wadud, ‘are hereby asked to appear before the tribunal on December 4 without fail,’ said the order. 

The hearing resumes today. (source)

Bangladesh: Deer poaching during Rashmela in Sundarban, 27 arrested

Despite various preventive measures taken by the forest department and the law enforcement agencies, a good number of deer was killed by the poachers at different points of Sundarban during the Rashmela in Dublar Char area celebrated November 15-17.

In a drive on Friday midnight, a special team of West Forest Department of Sundarban arrested 27 poachers from Patkusta and Kalirchar area under Nalian Forest Station in Dakop upazila. They also seized 15 kgs of venison along with 2 trawlers from their possession.

Assistant Forest Conservator of West Forest Department in Sundarban Md Towfiqul Islam told the news agency, on receipt of a secret information, forest guards conducted a drive in the area and arrested the poachers who sneaked into Sundarban in the guise of pilgrims to attend the Rash Mela allegedly ‘managing’ a section of the forest personnel.

They are alleged to have entered the forest about a week before the commencement of the Rashmela, he said adding that the arrested were sent to the jail on Saturday while the venison was distributed among the destitute.

A case was filed with Dakop Police Station in this connection on Saturday.

Sources said, some poachers who moved to the forest in mechanised trawlers and boats carried necessary implements such as knives, axes, machetes, saws and plastic cords were used to make the traps to catch the deer live and kill them. Allegations are there that the poachers also destroyed a number of trees at the locations where the poachers were active.

The three day-long ‘Rashmela’, a traditional fair and Rash Purnima Snan (Sea bath) of the Hindu community, began from November 15 at Dublarchar in Sundarban. Rashmela is one of the main festivals of the members of Hindu community in the country.

Hundreds of people from far flung areas of the adjoining districts of Sundarban gathered at Dublarchar to attend the fair.

Earlier, West Zone Forest Department of Sundarban has been selected eight routes for the Rashmela pilgrims and viewers.  Additional forces of the law enforcement agencies including Border Guard of Bangladesh, Coast Guard and police were also deployed and set up check posts on all routes for the safety of pilgrims and viewers. (source)