Dhaka: Rapid Action Battalion personnel detained Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal General Secretary Amirul Islam Khan Alim and seven members of the pro-BNP student body at Satgaon of Srimangal in Moulvibazar yesterday and later released seven of them.
Shahidul Islam Babul, senior vice-president of JCD, told The Daily Star that Rab-9 personnel picked up Alim while he was returning to Dhaka on a microbus after completing the JCD council at Habiganj district around 7:00pm.
"Rab personnel claimed that some local criminals were traveling with him in that microbus," Babul added. He said Rab later released all but Aminul Islam Mamun after a few hours.
The other people who were detained: Siddiqur Rahman Paplu, Sayeed Ahmed, Azahar Ali, Mohammad Fakhrul Islam, Abdul Malek, and Syed Zahid Bin Khayer. They were identified as leaders of JCD Sylhet region.
Aminul Islam Mamun was photographed during a factional clash of BNP in Sylhet town on May 6 with firearms in his hand. The photos were published in different dailies the next day, a Rab official said.
Aminul Islam Mamun was photographed during a factional clash of BNP in Sylhet town on May 6 with firearms in his hand. The photos were published in different dailies the next day, the official added.
Preferring not to be named, the Rab official told The Daily Star’s local correspondent that they stopped the microbus at a checkpoint in Satgaon and identified a criminal inside the vehicle.
The Rab team then picked up the JCD general secretary and seven others and took them to their Srimangal camp for interrogation, the official added.http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=147990
2. Mirpur erupts in protests: The Daily Star, July 24
Dhaka: Several thousand garment workers in the capital’s Mirpur clashed with police and demonstrated following the alleged murder of a female worker by some fellow staff yesterday.
During the hour-long clashes from around 2:00pm at Mirpur Section-1, police lobbed at least 30 rounds of teargas shells and charged batons on the agitating workers.
The demonstrators fought back with brickbats and bamboo sticks. They blocked the road and ransacked several vehicles.
In the face of the unrest, at least 15 factories in the area shut their production after lunchtime.
Officer-in-Charge Kazi Wazed Ali of Mirpur Police Station said the clash left five policemen, including him, injured. They picked up 11 persons from the scene.break.http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=147987
3. FDI in Bangladesh drops by 36pc
The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bangladesh has declined by 36 per cent and stood at $700 million last year compared to 20.11 per cent decline in South Asian countries and 14 per cent in terms of the least developed ones, according to the World Investment Report (WIR), 2010.
FDI inflows to developing and transition economies declined by 27 per cent to $548 billion in 2009 and FDI flows to developed countries suffered the worst decline of all regions, contracting by 44 per cent to $566 billion in the same year, the WIR added.
The WIR, compiled by the United Nations (UN) was been officially released on Thursday by Board of Investment (BoI) at its conference room. The BoI’s Executive Chairman SA Samad, Privatization Commission’s Chairman Mirza Jalil and Dr. M Ismail Hossain, Professor of Economics, Jahangirnagar University, among others, spoke on the occasion.
The BoI chief said the global economic downswing that led to the downward trend of global FDI is the major reason for the dismal FDI scenario in Bangladesh last year.
He, however, differed on the issue of crises of power, energy and gas which was said to discourage investment, particularly that of FDI, in the country now and in future.
"Not a single investor expressed concern to me for the dearth and crises of power, water and gas in the country," SA Samad told newsmen in reply to a question.
"The investors often express their dissatisfaction over the procedural complexities in investing here, which the BoI alone cannot solve as seven to eight government agencies are involved in the process of implementing any private investment, particularly FDI ", the BoI chief added.
Samad said the FDI in Bangladesh has never been impressive despite the fiscal incentives provided to foreign investors which is the most attractive in the world.
According to the UN statistics, Bangladesh received $700 million FDI in 2009 compared to $1.86 billion in 2008, India received $34.61 billion FDI in 2009 compared to $40.14 billion in 2008, Pakistan received $2.38 billion FDI in 2009 compared to $5.43 billion in 2008, Sri Lanka received $404 million FDI in 2009 compared to $752 million in 2008, Afghanistan received $185 million FDI in 2009 compared to $300 million in 2008.//www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=107017&date=2010-07-23
