To tap growing demand for high-heeled accommodation.Bangladesh’s Unique Group, which owns Westin Dhaka, has signed a deal with Starwood Hotels and Resorts to set up two more five-star hotels in Dhaka and a third in Chittagong.
“Simultaneously, I have Starwood, one of the best hotel management companies in the world, with me, which gives me added confidence,” said Ali, also the managing director of Westin Dhaka

Two hotels to come up in downtown Dhaka are Le Meridien and The Westin Dhaka 2. The one in Chittagong will be the first five-star hotel in the port town. Construction will be completed by 2012.

Initially, the company plans to invest around Tk 2,000 crore for expansion, while Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide will be the managing company for all three hotels.At present, the local market for five-star hotels is increasing at a rate of 15 percent a year, and it will double in the next three years,” said Mohammad Noor Ali, managing director of Unique Group.

“So as an investor, I have to look to the future and plan on capturing the country’s hospitality business in the long run. And that is the main reason behind this expansion plan.”

Industry experts said Dhaka now has around 1,250 five-star rooms. The hotels reach full occupancy only in winter, and an average occupancy rate of around 75 percent can easily make the business profitable.
“Simultaneously, I have Starwood, one of the best hotel management companies in the world, with me, which gives me added confidence,” said Ali, also the managing director of Westin Dhaka.

In recent years, the hospitality sector in Bangladesh has boomed in the five-star hotel segment. Three new five-star hotels opened in Dhaka in the past four years, taking the number to five.

Industry experts said the capital city now has around 1,250 five-star rooms. The hotels reach full occupancy only in winter and an average occupancy rate of around 75 percent can easily make the business profitable, they added.

“One of the drivers of growth has been the increase in foreign business people visiting the country, as both the garments and telecom industries have taken off,” said Ali.

“Apart from that, the geographical location of these hotels will also exploit the proximity to airport and the garment belt in Ashulia-Savar, as well as the headquarters of the major mobile telecom operators,” he said. “The country’s diplomatic zone is also near our hotels.”

Ali is optimistic about profiting from the hotel in Chittagong, as the number of affluent visitors, including investors, top officials from banks and port, and shipping businessmen, are increasing fast in the region.

The company is conducting studies to assess demand for accommodation and the regular flow of guests to the port city. The room rent for the Westin in Chittagong will be slightly lower than in Dhaka, said the Unique Group chief.

The annual turnover of Westin Dhaka was Tk 106 crore, and the operating profit was around Tk 47 crore in 2008, which grew by 20 percent in 2009, Ali said.

The 235-room Westin has an average occupancy of 80 percent, while the hotel has gained a 25 percent share of the total market.

To develop Bangladesh as a global interest factor the Goverment initiating Deep sea port infrustucture Source :Bangladeshi Media report state that Government is contemplating the possibility of setting up very expensive deep sea LNG terminal at Chittagong offshore to meet existing and emerging energy crisis. A team comprising of local and foreign experts are set to visit prospective locations from 9 th March 2011. Whether or not LNG is the best possible option to meet Bangladesh energy demand now or in near future is a billion dollar question now. We are not aware whether government has exhausted all options before considering importing LNG as priority option.

Present energy crisis has emanated for not exploring our own petroleum resources foe several years. Bangladesh still has substantial unexploited gas resources both at onshore and offshore. It also has significant untapped coal resources. Appropriate exploitation of own gas resource and extraction of our own coal can still support our energy requirement for few decade. Experts will bear with us that exploring and exploiting own resources will be much cheaper than setting up LNG terminal and importing LNG. Our large neighbour India did not have very pleasant experience in LNG option. Do not know what kind of home work has been done by Bangladeshi policy makers before even thinking of investing 1400Crore taka to set up deep water LNG terminal. What made our policy makers for the present mad rush to LNG option? Wonder whether another group of opportunist is trying to take the nation for a ride.

LNG is the most sought after fuel for energy in countries which basically have very little or inadequate fuel resources of its own. Giant Asian economy like Japan, Korea, and China are now very aggressive buyer of LNG. Bangladesh to compete these aggressive buyers in LNG market will not be as easy as it appears to some policy makers. LNG terminals in deep water will not only need huge investment and will take several years to set up unless floating LNG terminals are set up. Location beside Shangu offshore platform will be ideal for floating LNG terminal but are we sure that Shangu will be completely depleted so soon. What happens if 3D seismic in Shangu south strikes some gas structure? If LNG terminal is set up in any other location expensive and time consuming offshore pipeline will require to be built. Bangladesh will need to enter long term LNG purchase contract with potential buyers or buy LNG from spot market. Bangladesh may need to arrange dedicated LNG bullets. These are one part of the game. Cost of LNG at this moment will not be less than US$10.00/MBtu

The price of energy – power, gas and coal in domestic market is among the lowest in the world .Unless the domestic energy price is significantly increased our economy can not digest the sudden increase of expensive LNG.

Experts know LNG bullets will need at least 12M draft to ply. Our Chittagong port channel has about 9M draft and Mongla 4.5 meter .So neither Chittagong nor Mongla port at this stage or in the nest two three years will be suitable for LNG terminals. If LNG terminal is set up at Kutubdia an expensive offshore pipeline will require to be constructed to transported gas to onshore gas distribution system. This activity itself will take at least 2 years. If we add costs of LNG Terminal with re-gasification facility at Kutubdia, offshore pipeline, and cost of LNG can Bangladesh economy absorb these costs now?

If Shangu really deplete and offshore platform and offshore pipeline is not required to transport gas from Magnama then only areas closer to Shangu offshore platform may be considered for floating LNG terminal. But in any case LNG for Chittagong may not be available in less than 3-4 years leaving apart costs and economics.

It will much better for Bangladesh to encourage Cairn- Santos complete exploration of Magnama and Hatiya and conclude PSC with Conoco Philips and Tullow. Ok Bangladesh can carry out feasibility study for LNG terminal now .But soon all parties will realise LNG for Bangladesh is not ideal option now or in near future.

Happy birth Day of the greatest Man of the World “MUHAMMAD”

LETS SPIRIT UP WITH MUHAMMAD IDEAL

Chittagong: Bangladesh today celebrating EID on the Birth Day of Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h .Today( 12 Rabi Awwa)Milad-un-Nabi  -27-02-2010 almost 20 lac muslim Muhammad lover enjoyed march on occasion of the birth day of Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h. The full chittagong waved with the wave of “Ya Nabi Salam Alaika”with a commitment of Josney Julush to be an ideal human,as Muhammad is considered as greatest Ideal.

The Hijri date 12 Rabi Awwal  (some say 09 Rabi Awwal) is one of twelve months in the Islamic calendar. This is the Islamic birth date of the holy Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. He was born in 570 C.E.. and since the Islamic calendar is 354 days long, the Hijri date is pushed back up to 11 days each year. Muslims celebrate this occasion by holding Milad-un-Nabi (translated: birth of the prophet) functions and gatherings throughout the month of Rabi Awwal. 

The main thrust of these Milad-un-Nabi gatherings is to remember, observe, discuss and celebrate the advent of the birth and teachings of the holy Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h. Chittagong is even home to an Josoney Julush which organizers have held every year from 1974. Speakers from all over the world have addressed large audiences here in Chittagong for this conference. .The ceremony centralised with the Great man Allama Sayed Mohammed Taher Shah(M.G.A).No alternative to making proper deputy of prophet to save religion’ made the observations came at the Eid-E-Miladunnabi.

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Various mosques and Muslim organizations will also hold their own celebrations at various times and places throughout the month. Those who cannot do it during this particular month may hold these functions during the next month or even later. 

The British historian and philosopher, Thomas Carlyle, (d. 1881) in his “Lectures on Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,” (1841) has this to say about Muhammad p.b.u.h., “The word of such a man is a voice direct from nature’s own heart. Men do and must listen to that or nothing else; all else is wind in comparison . . . They called him prophet, you say? Why, he stood there face to face with them, bare, not enshrined in any mystery; visibly sewing his own cloak; cobbling his own shoes, fighting, counselling; ordering in the midst of them, they must have seen what kind of man he was. Let him be called what you like! No emperor with his dignity was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own making. During three and twenty years of tough actual trial, I find something of a veritable hero necessary for that of itself.”

In the west, little is known about Prophet Muhammad’s p.b.u.h. teachings by the general population. It might surprise a non-Muslim reader to learn that throughout his impressive career, every detail of his life is known. His actions and sayings, known as Hadith or Traditions, were recorded in the minutest detail. 

More than fourteen hundred collections of his sayings are currently available, although the most widely used among the Sunnis are the six Sahih (correct, sound or authentic) collections. These collections are considered ‘authentic’ due to the very strict criteria used in compiling them. For instance, the narrator had to have heard the Prophet himself or herself; he or she would have to have had a good memory as well as possess good understanding and judgement; he or she would have to be an upright person known to have never told a lie, and so on. This is the first link in the chain. If the person related what they heard to another person, this would comprise a second link. Each link in the chain had the same exacting standards applied to it. If there was a break in the chain, or if the narrator had been known to have told a lie even once, or if the narrator was not considered to have been an upright person by his or her peers, then the saying would be considered unreliable and was not included in the ‘Sahih’ version.  (for more details esp. re.  compilation of Qur’an click here).

Many sayings (Hadith) were narrated by A’isha, one of the Prophet’s wives, who was known for her good memory and upright character. It is marvellous to consider the extent of the Hadith literature considering that Muhammad, p.b.u.h. was unlettered. Despite the fact that he could neither read nor write, his wise words have been carefully and accurately preserved for humankind from then until now and it is hoped for generations to come. 

Here is a sample of a few of the Prophet’s sayings derived from the Sahih collections. This will give the reader a flavour of his wisdom. It will also show how these jewels are similar to the words of Jesus Christ and many teachings in the Bible and the Torah. Whether of a religious, non-religious or secular persuasion, it is no wonder that great people of the world have admired Muhammad as a great reformer: 

The following is an excerpt from the book entitled “The Sayings of Muhammad” with a forward by Mahatma Ghandi by Allama Sir Abdullah al-Mamun al-Suhrawardi. Published by Charles Tuttle Co. Inc., Boston 1992.

The Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. said,

• He who knoweth his own self, knoweth God. 
• He will not enter hell who hath faith equal to a mustard seed in his heart, and he will not enter Paradise who hath a single grain of pride, equal to a mustard seed in his heart. 
• Muhammad, p.b.u.h. said: “That person will not enter Paradise who hath one atom of pride in his heart.”  And a man present said, “Verily, a man is fond of having good clothes and good shoes.”  Muhammad p.b.u.h. said, “God is Beauty and delighteth in the beautiful; but pride is holding man in contempt.”
• God’s kindness towards His creatures is more than that of a mother towards her babe. 
• Do not say that if people do good to us, we will do good to them, and if people oppress us, we will oppress them. Instead determine that if people do good to you, you will do good to them; and if they oppress you, you will not oppress them. 
• No man is a true believer unless he desireth for his brother that which he desireth for himself. 
• He who believeth in one God and the Hereafter, let him speak what is good or remain silent. 
• Riches are not from abundance of worldly goods, but from a contented mind. 
• Whoever suppresseth his anger, when he hath in his power to show it, God will give him a great reward. 
• The greatest crimes are to associate another with God, to vex your father and mother, to murder your own species, to commit suicide, and to swear a lie. 
• Whoso openeth unto himself the door of begging, God will open unto him the door of poverty. 
• A man asked, “Are there rewards for our doing good to animals and giving them water to drink?” Muhammad, p.b.u.h. said, “Verily there are heavenly rewards for any act of kindness to a live animal.”
• The best of alms is that which the right hand giveth and the left hand knoweth not of. 
• There are seven people whom God will draw under His own shadow, on the day when there will be no shadow; one of them will be a man who hath given alms and concealed it, so that his left hand knew not what his right hand did. 
• The best of almsgiving is that which springeth from the heart, and is uttered by the lips to soften the wounds of the injured. 
• All actions are judged by the motives prompting them. 
• The most excellent Jihad [trans.:striving] is that for the conquest of the self. [i.e., the carnal self or ego] 
• The exercise of religious duties will not atone for the fault of an abusive tongue. 
• Keep yourselves far from envy because it eateth up and taketh away good actions, like a fire eateth up and burneth wood. 
• God is gentle and loveth gentleness. 
• What is Paradise? Muhammad p.b.u.h. replied “It is what the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor ever occurred to the mind of man.”
• He is not a perfect man of fortitude who hath not fallen into misfortunes; and there is no physician but the experienced. 
• Every good act is charity; and verily it is a good act to meet your brother with an open countenance, and to pour water from your own water bag into his vessel. 
• Guard yourselves from six things, and I am your security for Paradise. When you speak, speak the truth; perform when you promise; discharge your trust; be chaste in thought and action; and withhold your hand from striking, from taking that which is unlawful, and bad. 
• Feed the hungry and visit the sick, and free the captive, if he be unjustly confined. Assist any person oppressed, whether Muslim or non-Muslim. 
• Speak to men according to their mental capacities, for if you speak all things to all men, some cannot understand you, and so fall into errors. Abuse no-one, and if a man abuse thee, and lay open a vice which he knoweth in thee, then do not disclose one which thou knowest in him. 
• Meekness and modesty are two branches of Iman [Faith]; and vain talking and embellishing are two branches of hypocrisy. 
• The world and all things in it are valuable; but the most valuable thing in the world is a virtuous woman. 
• Whoever doeth good to girls, it will be a curtain to him from hell-fire. 
• Whoever befriendeth three daughters, or three sisters, and teacheth them manners, and is affectionate to them, till they come of age, may God apportion Paradise for him. 
• Whoever hath a daughter, and doth not bury her alive, or scold her, or prefer his male children to her, may God bring him into Paradise. [Note: this refers to the practice of female infanticide which was common in those days. The Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. abolished this practice] 
• God enjoins you to treat women well, for they are your mothers, daughters and aunts. 
• Do not prevent women from coming to the mosque. 

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh — Bangladesh’s ship breaking yards ground to a halt Monday as some 30,000 workers protested a government decree aimed at improving environmental standards in the industry, police said.

Under a government order issued in late January said, ships heading for breaking yards must now be certified as toxic chemical-free before they are imported and scrapped.

“Ship breakers are demanding the order be reversed and 30,000 ship breaking workers are protesting with a massive rally in the centre of Chittagong,” said local police chief Monirul Islam, referring to Bangladesh’s second-largest city.

The order comes after a boom year for ship breakers, with the number of yards growing to around 100 from just 40 in early 2009 and turnover hitting a record 700 million dollars.

With no natural iron ore deposits, Bangladesh is dependent on recycled steel for its fast-growing economy. Some 45 percent of the world’s ship breaking happens on the southeastern Sitakundu coast.

“The government order is tantamount to a death sentence for the industry,” said Jafar Alam, head of the Bangladeshi ship-breakers association.

“Tens of thousands of workers will lose their jobs because of the order,” he said.

The industry employs an estimated 40,000 people.

Activists hailed the government’s order as the “biggest achievement in many years” in their battle to enforce environmental and work safety standards in the yards.

“Now the yards cannot import ships that contain deadly toxic waste like asbestos, mercury and PCPs,” said Mohammad Ali Shaheen, the local head of the rights group coalition, NGO Platform on Ship Breaking.

“It will ensure the safety of the workers who were made to clean up these pollutants with their bare hands. The government has proved that it’s stronger than the ship breakers and I hope it won’t back off from this stand.”

Last year, 26 people were killed at the ship breaking yards, a figure that charities call a huge underestimate, as it only counts on-site accidents and does not include workers who were laid off after being made ill by toxic chemicals.

Ships heading for Bangladesh routinely contain chemicals banned in many developed countries such as asbestos.
…
It is stated by the environment and forest ministry that government officials would examine the ships to issue cleaning certificates at this end. What we can understand is that the responsibility of whether a ship carries toxic substances would now critically and entirely, devolve on our officials. Of course, these would have to be examined at our end; by all means do it; but would it not have been a fail-safe mechanism if the pre-cleaning certificates were produced by the exporters to do an effective cross-checking with? We feel that the relaxation of the rule could spawn manipulation, and even corruption, even though the environment ministry seems determined not to allow intrusion of hazardous vessels in to our maritime territory .

As it is, a large number of ship breaking yards themselves have no clearance certificates; yet they are operating with impunity risking all sorts of hazard to 30,000 workers and posing economic risks to their dependents.

Clearly, government’s compliance with the High Court directives to formulate necessary ship-breaking laws in conformity with Bangladesh’s obligations under international conventions and her own environment conservation act and rules has been long overdue

Globalization Batters Bangladesh
Are the global problems of grinding poverty, illiteracy and hunger faced by a majority of the world’s population a mere accident of history? Is the enormous inequality and underdevelopment of the formerly colonized countries of Africa and Asia due solely to the crimes of conquest by European colonial powers 100 and 200 years ago?

Or does U.S. imperialism and modern finance capital in the drive to maximize profits bear the greatest responsibility for continuing and actually intensifying this historic inequality?

These are the questions that were discussed again and again during a visit to Bangladesh to attend the convention of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh as 2009 ended.

Following the party’s dynamic convention in Dhaka, the Socialist Party of Bangladesh made every effort to introduce the international delegates to as much of the struggle around the country as possible.

The SPB-arranged trip was accompanied by party General Secretary Khalequzzaman and several other party leaders from the capital, Dhaka, a densely populated city of 14 million, to Chittagong, the industrial port — a city of 4 million. The U.S. military continues to pressure Bangladesh to grant port facilities and landing rights at this strategic seaport on the Bay of Bengal.

After attending a rally of about 1,000 people in Chittagong, the international group traveled to the southernmost tip of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal, then to the border of Myanmar, and to an island off the southern tip, where the U.S. is also pressing for a base. Then it proceeded to the east of Dhaka to the tea and rubber plantations of the hills in the Syhlet district. Delegates had the unique opportunity to attend organizing meetings of tea and rubber workers and to meet with activists working to organize garment workers and rickshaw drivers.

The trip was an opportunity to see how the imperialist countries enforce the serious underdevelopment of Bangladesh despite the enormous resources and potential of the country. Delegates were also able to observe the organizing efforts of the party in major cities and rural areas.

Roads were often single lanes of blacktop clogged with old trucks, dangerously overcrowded buses and countless rickshaws. Bicycle rickshaws propelled by human labor provide most transport for people and materials even in the capital, where there are more than 1 million rickshaw drivers in motion almost round the clock. It is a brutal job with no security.

Lowest pay in the world

Lining the roads of Dhaka are thousands of garment sweatshops, easily identified by the rows of fluorescent lights glowing inside. In the near dark of early morning, millions of garment workers, primarily young women, rush to arrive on time for 12-hour work shifts. It is dark again as they leave.

The pay in Bangladesh for garment workers is the lowest in the world. Garment workers in India, Vietnam and Thailand now earn an average of $60 a month, a desperately low wage. But in the capitalist race to maximize profits on a global scale Bangladesh now has the largest garment industry in Asia — workers are paid only $20 per month with no benefits and no job security.

Large retail trading companies in the U.S. and Western Europe give most of the orders for Bangladeshi garment products. A handful of Western banks control the capital funds. The garment industry has been a main source of foreign exchange in Bangladesh for the last 25 years. Women garment workers are now trying to organize for higher pay and improved working conditions.

Chittagong’s ship-breaking yards

The ship-breaking yards of Chittagong service another industry that reflects a globalized market’s ruthless exploitation of low wages in Bangladesh. The shipping industry is the backbone of international trade. It is also the source of major environmental toxins.

The SPB arranged to get a few delegates into the internationally notorious yards, along with video cameras. There had been a deadly explosion in one of the yards the day before the international delegates arrived in Bangladesh. Security in all the yards was tight.

At high tide a spent vessel is driven onto the beach. It is then pulled apart by thousands of workers laboring with bare hands or using acetylene torch cutters to break huge carriers down into small pieces. Workers wear no helmets, gloves, goggles, restraining harnesses or even shoes.

This inferno of fumes and toxic chemicals creates hellish working conditions. Asbestos, lead, chromates, mercury, metal shards, radiation, noise, intense vibration, and welding and cutting fumes all mix together.

The industry is subject to no environmental laws and no health or safety requirements. No statistics are kept of accidents.

This toxic industry could not exist without the active complicity of the largest shipping conglomerates. Hundreds of ships from cargo vessels, bulk carriers, fish factories to super tankers ride at anchor in the sea waiting to be scrapped at over 70 ship-breaking yards.

Previously ships could be scrapped in two weeks in a modern shipyard using union labor in Britain, Japan, Germany, the U.S. or other countries where ships used to be built. In the last 25 years of the globalized labor market, all this has changed. Breaking up one ship now takes over six months on a beach with unskilled labor. This is now a cheaper way to recycle parts of an aging ship. Thousands of small shops, each selling a few recycled electronic or metal pieces of salvage, line the roads to the ship-breaking yards.

Ever since International Monetary Fund bankers denied credits and forced Bangladesh to shutter its steel plants, Bangladesh depends on ship breaking to meet its domestic steel requirements.

China once had a major ship-breaking industry. But as soon as China began enforcing environmental and safety laws, this dangerous industry became unprofitable there. In international shipping there is a race to find countries where no occupational health and safety standards are enforced and where wages are the lowest — a race to the bottom.

Tea and rubber workers organize

A major cash crop in Bangladesh, tea is bought and sold on the world market by a handful of large corporations. The tea pickers are mainly women and children. Men do the pruning, cutting and road work.

A high moment of the trip was attending a night meeting of hundreds of workers on an isolated tea plantation in the Syhlet district. Their very moving meeting was a vibrant mix of music, chants and talks of labor conditions. Based on their organizing, the workers at several plantations had finally won a 50 percent pay increase from $10 a month to $15 a month. They were determined to win their demands for schools for their children and basic health care.

Ratan Rajequzzaman, a leader of the Socialist Workers Front, explained in depth about both working conditions and organizing efforts.

British colonial plantation owners had imported tea workers from southern India more than 150 years ago. These workers have lived in both cultural and linguistic isolation ever since. They work under conditions of modern-day indentured slaves and depend totally on management for food and all basic necessities. These workers, who are victims of the greatest abuse and discrimination, seldom leave these extensive plantations.

Tea and rubber plantations are often combined, with tea bushes on one side of the road and rubber trees on the other. Tea plantations are idyllically called “tea gardens.” Picnicking in a tea garden is a popular tourist attraction for middle-class and returning Bangladesh immigrants. But picturesque photos of women bending and stooping to pluck tea leaves can hardly convey this backbreaking work or show that there is no protection from dangerous fertilizers and pesticides.

Archaic equipment for drying, shredding and bagging tea leaves exposes an industry that has changed little in decades. But now the old relations are being challenged with new energy.

Challenging the theft of resources

Along with its focus on labor organizing, the SPB has helped in organizing broad coalitions to challenge the grossly unequal contracts presented by such multinational oil corporations as Chevron, Shell and Conoco for development of Bangladesh’s gas, oil and coal resources. The oil giants are demanding contracts of between 6 and 21 percent royalties after exploration costs are met.

On Jan. 12, the final day of the visit, Michael Kramer, representing the International Action Center, was able to participate in human-chain demonstrations challenging these outrageous leases that were organized across the country by the National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas-Natural Resources. (The coalition has also opposed open-pit coal mining, which has resulted in destruction of wide areas of arable lands, water reservoirs and fish ponds.) The human chain was formed at 150 points along the cross-country line from Teknaf, the southernmost city, to Tentulia in the north.

Past challenges to unequal and secret leasing of national resources have led to important victories. A long march from Dhaka to Chittagong led to the cancellation of a 199-year lease of the country’s main seaport to a U.S. company.

In Bangladesh despite its enormous problems, made much worse by the global capitalist market, there are revolutionary forces who are confident that, with socialist planning and the creative involvement of the most oppressed and lowest paid workers in the world, the challenges to develop their rich resources are solvable in ways that will benefit the whole population.

Bangladesh police have detained at least 300 people in a countrywide crackdown on Islamist militants and activists for alleged involvement in recent campus violence that killed several students and injured dozens.

Police said on Friday that they held around 200 suspects after a swoop on Rajshahi University in the country’s north, where a student was killed on Monday.

The victim was shot and stabbed fatally by members of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami party, police said.

Clashes triggered by the killing led to a rampage in university dormitories and administrative offices which left dozens of students injured and forced authorities to suspend classes and examinations.

A few days earlier a student was killed at Dhaka University during an overnight clash between rival factions of a pro-government student group.

Another student was shot dead at Chittagong University on Thursday.

Police said they detained over 100s Shibir members at Dhaka and Chittagong for suspected involvement in the violence.
Chittagong
Chittagong police on Friday rounded up about 90 Shibir activists along with metropolitan Jamaat nayeb-e-amir Md Ahsanullah from a demonstration brought out to cliam the body of slain student AAM Mahiuddin.

Some unidentified attackers hacked Mahiuddin, a Chittagong University political science student, to death at the Sholoshahar rail station on Thursday evening.

Both Bangladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders claimed Mahiuddin to be their worker.

However, the family members of the victim refuted Shibir’s claim saying Mahiuddin had no connections with Jamaat-Shibir politics.

Witnesses said at around 11.30 am on Friday, more than 500 Shibir activists, led by former MP and Jamaat leader Shahjahan Chowdhury, brought out a demonstration parading towards the Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue to claim the body of Mahiuddin.

As the hospital authorities refused to comply with their demand, Shibir held an impromptu gathering in front of the morgue.

A chase and counter chase ensued between police and Shibir actvists as the demonstrators arrived at Jamal Khan intersection.

Chittagong metropolitan police additional commissioner Jalil Mondol told reporters that they arrested around 90 protestors for attacking the police personnel and creating disorder at the hospital.

At least 10 policemen including assistant police commissioner Jahangir Alam and Kotwoali thana police chief Mahiuddin Mahmud were injured in the clash, Mondol claimed.

He said, “They (Shibir activists) made chaos at the hospital demanding that the dead student was their worker. Later they brought out demonstration ignoring police order.”

Traffic on both the Kazir Dauri and Zamal Khan areas was brought to a standstill during the clash. The communication, however, resumed after about an hour and a half.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Chhatra league CU unit also took to the streets claiming the body to be theirs.

Family declines Shibir claim

Md Fazlul Qader, father of the deceased, told bdnews24.com that his family is loyal to Awami League. None of his family members are involved in Jamaat-Shibir politics.

“My son had no connection with Shibir. We are Awami League supporters. I want nobody to gain political advantage out of my son’s dead body.”

Fazlul said he worked as a store keeper of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation.

“I was dismissed from my job without any allegation in 2002 during the rule of BNP-led four-party alliance. I was reinstated by a High Court order six months ago.”

Provost Hossain Kabir of Alaol hall, to which Mahiuddin belonged, told bdnews24.com that Mahiuddin was an innocent boy and was never seen to be involved in Shibir politics.

Case Filed, Halls raided

Fazlul Qader filed a case Thursday night with the railway (GRP) police against a group of 6-7 unidentified assailants.

Meanwhile, police raided the CU halls but could not arrest anyone or recover any arms, said police officials
Rajshahi ,
Rajshahi city Jamaat Ameer Ataur Rahman and 10 other Shibir men were taken on a five-day remand yesterday in connection with three cases filed for February 9 RU violence.

The court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate granted the five-day remand while the police sought for 10 days.

Ataur Rahman has been shown remanded in Faruk Hossain killing case. BCL activist and Rajshahi University student Faruk was hacked to death during the RU rampage.

Police charged the Jamaat leader with ordering and provoking Shibir cadres to go berserk and perpetrate the murder.

With the 11, the number of arrestees in Rajshahi following the RU incident has reached 46.

Meanwhile, two injured BCL workers, Rahedul Islam Rahi and Ruhul Amin, earlier admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, lodged two more cases against some 90 Shibir leaders and activists with Motihar Police Station yesterday.

Rahi accused 34 Shibir men, including RU Shibir president Shamsul Alam Golap and general secretary Mobarak Hossain, and 25 other unknown persons. Ruhul accused 31 Shibir men.

The complainants said the accused persons had attacked them during the overnight clash between BCL and Shibir on RU campus.

Including these two cases, a total of five cases have been filed against 700 persons for their alleged involvement in the RU violence.

An unprecedented number of police and Rab members were deployed at different points of the city, especially the Shibir strongholds and mosques, to prevent Shibir from staging protest programmes.

Shibir men have fled the city locking up their messes at Meherchandi, Budpara, Binodpur and several other places. Police raided some of the dens last night.

Newly appointed chief justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim took oath of office on Monday.

Karim, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court Appellate Division, was given appointment to be the country’s 18th chief justice on February 4.

Justice Karim, who replaces Justice Md Tafazzul Islam, is due to go on retirement on September 30.

Justice Islam had been appointed chief justice superseding Karim.

He was born on September 30, 1943 in the family of Abdul Karim Shahitya Bisharad at Suchakradandi village under Patiya Police Station in Chittagong.

Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim, son of late Al-haj Ahmed Kabir and late Sunia Ara Begum, obtained LLB from the University of Dhaka (DU) in 1964.

He was enrolled as an Advocate of the District Court, Chittagong in 1965, in the High Court Division in 1970 and in the Appellate Division in 1979.

He was elected Secretary to the Supreme Court Bar Association in 1982 and a member of the Bangladesh Bar Council in 1992.

Currently, he is also Chairman of the Judicial Service Pay Commission and Member of the Delhi-based Asia Pacific Advisory Forum on “Judicial Education on Gender Equality Issue”.

He was Chairman of the Court Administration and Court Management Scheme of Capacity Building Project, Member of the Scheme for Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution under the aid programme of USIS.

He participated in the conferences on ‘Judicial Education on Gender Equality Issue” held in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal in 1998-2006.

He also participated in the SAARC Law Conference held in Dhaka, conference on Prison Reform in South East Asia held at Kathmandu of Nepal in 1996.

He visited different Courts and Institutions to observe case management, court administration and alternative dispute resolution in UK and USA in 2002.

Speech for Justice transparency
Bangladesh’s new chief justice, Mohammad Fazlul Karim, has said all judges should declare their assets in the interests of transparency.
“I think everyone should disclose their assets to ensure their transparency as superior judges (of the Supreme Court),” Justice Fazlul Karim said Sunday after being felicitated as chief justice.

“I can take an initiative to this effect if the government or concerned authority makes any move for submission of wealth statements,” said the judge, who recently assumed the highest judicial post, after being superseded twice in the past.

He has also argued that present salaries of judges were not adequate and they should be raised.

In reply to a query on the competence of the judges, the chief justice said that they worked amidst various problems.

“The judges’ salaries are not sufficient and appropriate for such a dignified post,” he pointed out, adding that he had sent a proposal to the government for pay hike.

French cement giant Lafarge’s $255 million cement plant in Bangladesh may run into rough weather, with the Supreme Court on Friday turning off the supply of raw material by temoprarily suspending mining operations in eco-sensitive forest areas of Meghalaya.

The order completely stopping mining in East Khasi Hill district till March 19 came with a sense of outrage from the Forest Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices S H Kapadia and Aftab Alam.

It took strong exception to tribal land being allegedly transferred in violation of rules to the French company’s subsidiary which mortgaged it to raise a loan of $153 million from a host of foreign banks.

Appearing for Shella Action Committee, a forum of villagers in Shella, senior advocate P S Narasimha pointed out that not only was the land, falling under Schedule VI of Constitution banning its transfer to non-tribals, illegally taken over in collusion with local officials, but the mining was started without the mandatory clearance from the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA).

Illegally depriving the scheduled tribes of their land, the same was mortgaged to a host of multi-lateral agencies and foreign banks — Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, Deustche Investetionaud Ent, European Investment Bank, The Arab Bangladesh Bank and the Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh, for obtaining a loan of $153 million, Narasimha said.

Amicus curiae Harish Salve and A D N Rao said not only was the eco-fragile area opened up without the mandatory forest clearance, the raw material was being sent to Bangladesh at cost price depriving India of huge revenue due from custons and other duties.

Additional solicitor general Harin Raval, appearing for MoEF, said that the ministry had clearly issued an order in May 2007 staying the mining operations, but the SC had allowed it to go on.

The Bench asked the French company to give details of its operation and the manner it started mining even as its counsel Mukul Rohtagi and Abhishek Manu Singhvi tried to soften the blow by offering to price the raw material at market price. But, the Bench sought a detailed response and posted the matter for further hearing on March 19. However, it allowed it to lift the already mined limestone from the site for export, but with prior intimation to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) about the quantity of the mineral.

Lafarge Umuiam Mining Pvt Ltd (LUMPL) was mining the limestone quarry area spread over 100 hectares near the Indo-Bangladesh border for supply of raw material to Lafarge Surma Cement Project at Chhatak in Sunamganj, Bangaldesh.

Lafarge and Spanish cement producer Cementos Mollins had set up the state-of-the-art fully integrated cement plant at Chhatak with a captive power plant of 300 MW. In 2001, the Bangladesh high commissioner and then Indian foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh had singed an agreement for uninterrupted supply of raw material to the plant from the mines in Meghalaya.

After this agreement, Lafarge had claimed to have obtained relevant clearances from MoEF, the state government, the autonomus hill council and the chief conservator of forest for limestone quarrying in East Khasi Hills.
French cement giant Lafarge’s $255 million cement plant in Bangladesh may run into rough weather, with the Supreme Court on Friday
turning off the supply of raw material by temoprarily suspending mining operations in eco-sensitive forest areas of Meghalaya.

The order completely stopping mining in East Khasi Hill district till March 19 came with a sense of outrage from the Forest Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices S H Kapadia and Aftab Alam.

It took strong exception to tribal land being allegedly transferred in violation of rules to the French company’s subsidiary which mortgaged it to raise a loan of $153 million from a host of foreign banks.

Appearing for Shella Action Committee, a forum of villagers in Shella, senior advocate P S Narasimha pointed out that not only was the land, falling under Schedule VI of Constitution banning its transfer to non-tribals, illegally taken over in collusion with local officials, but the mining was started without the mandatory clearance from the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA).

Illegally depriving the scheduled tribes of their land, the same was mortgaged to a host of multi-lateral agencies and foreign banks — Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, Deustche Investetionaud Ent, European Investment Bank, The Arab Bangladesh Bank and the Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh, for obtaining a loan of $153 million, Narasimha said.

Amicus curiae Harish Salve and A D N Rao said not only was the eco-fragile area opened up without the mandatory forest clearance, the raw material was being sent to Bangladesh at cost price depriving India of huge revenue due from custons and other duties.

Additional solicitor general Harin Raval, appearing for MoEF, said that the ministry had clearly issued an order in May 2007 staying the mining operations, but the SC had allowed it to go on.

The Bench asked the French company to give details of its operation and the manner it started mining even as its counsel Mukul Rohtagi and Abhishek Manu Singhvi tried to soften the blow by offering to price the raw material at market price. But, the Bench sought a detailed response and posted the matter for further hearing on March 19. However, it allowed it to lift the already mined limestone from the site for export, but with prior intimation to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) about the quantity of the mineral.

Lafarge Umuiam Mining Pvt Ltd (LUMPL) was mining the limestone quarry area spread over 100 hectares near the Indo-Bangladesh border for supply of raw material to Lafarge Surma Cement Project at Chhatak in Sunamganj, Bangaldesh.

Lafarge and Spanish cement producer Cementos Mollins had set up the state-of-the-art fully integrated cement plant at Chhatak with a captive power plant of 300 MW. In 2001, the Bangladesh high commissioner and then Indian foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh had singed an agreement for uninterrupted supply of raw material to the plant from the mines in Meghalaya.

After this agreement, Lafarge had claimed to have obtained relevant clearances from MoEF, the state government, the autonomus hill council and the chief conservator of forest for limestone quarrying in East Khasi Hills.
Lafarge worldwide
Lafarge headquarters are located in Paris, France. The Group, present in 79 countries, orients the development of its businesses towards fast-growing markets, notably in Asia and Middle-East.