Bangladesh has voiced concern over special EU trade access to Pakistan saying the move would hurt its apparel exports to Euro zone.
The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has written a letter to the European Union office in Dhaka on November 4, asking them to either exclude eight major apparel items from the list of proposed GSP plus status to Pakistan because Bangladesh’s export of those eight items will be hampered due to such move.
Being a member of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Bangladesh enjoys the duty-free facility in EU in rules of origin (RoO) under the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). But, Pakistan, though a developing country, has been demanding GSP plus status at least for a few years, saying that the country was damaged by devastating floods this year.
"Firstly, we have demanded exclusion of eight products from the list of proposed GSP plus status to Pakistan and if the exclusion is not possible to set a capping or ceiling in export volume of those products so that Pakistan pay duty after a certain quantity," a top commerce ministry official said requesting anonymity.
Saiful Islam, president of Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) said any possible move to provide Pakistan duty free access to EU would hurt competitiveness of Bangladesh products in Europe. Pakistan has sought duty free access to Europe for 64 items including eight products that are exported from Bangladesh to Euro zone, he said at a programme at The Westin Dhaka, where visiting German State Secretary of Federal Office Martin Biesel spoke.
Islam said when compared to Bangladesh, Pakistan is well placed in clothing and textiles since it grows cotton. "It took us years to get market access and develop business relations. At this time, if Pakistan gets the opportunity, our competitive advantage will erode," said Islam, also managing director of Picard Bangladesh, a leading leather goods exporter.
Islam urged the EU states to consider Bangladesh’s plea in awarding the GSP plus status to Pakistan to help the country maintain growth, create jobs and cut poverty. By Refayet Ullah Mirdha And Sohel Parvez in the Daily Star, Nov 25.
2.Ready Made Garment exports to EU to get a boost
Bangladesh’s apparel exporters are on upbeat mood with European Union relaxing the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in textile trade for the least developed countries. Effective from January 1, 2011, EU will generally allow single-stage processing (manufactured from fabric) instead of only two-stage processing (manufactured from yarn). It means most apparel items from all LDCs will get duty-free access, no matter where the raw materials originate. A majority of Bangladesh’s woven garment exporters import fabrics from China. Zillul Hye Razi, trade adviser of EU trade delegation to Bangladesh, opines that the EU move provides opportunities for the local exporters to go for the higher end of the EU market using high quality imported fabric. (Refayet Ullah Mirdha report in The Daily Star, Nov 24)
3. Khaleda house eviction case: ‘Armed forces dragged into controversy’
Over a hundred ex-military officers have alleged that the armed forces are being dragged into controversy over the so called ‘eviction’ of opposition leader Khaleda Zia from her leasehold house in Dhaka cantonment. Led by former Army Chief Lt Gen Harun-ur-Rashid, the group of military veterans urged both the government and the opposition parties, “to cease from making the armed forces controversial concerning any political issue”.
A statement issued under the banner of ‘Ex-officers of Armed Forces’ has made a call for all political parties not to implicate the military in the issue of Khaleda’s house. General Harun said, “Army is a national institution. There’s no scope for standing it in favour or against any party.”
Calling upon all concerned to refrain from making any effort to make the military controversial, Harun-or-Rashid said, “The issue of Khaleda’s house in cantonment is a matter of the court; there is no scope for relating the armed forces to this matter.” Without naming the opposition BNP, he deplored that “a political party” is continuously blaming and delivering unwanted speeches against the ISPR, the military’s publicity outlet. “It’s not fair at all,” said General Harun. Describing ISPR as part of the armed forces, the former army chief said, “Creating controversy over the role of ISPR is tantamount to making the forces controversial before the nation.”
Major-General (retd) Amin Ahmed Chowdhury, Brig Gen (retd) Zia Ahmed and Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Rafiq ul Islam MP of the ruling Awami League and other signatories also spoke at the press conference. More than one hundred and fifty ex-officers from the army, the navy and the air force were present at the press conference, organised at Trust Auditorium in the city’s Mahakhali area.
A group of former officers of the armed forces, belonging to the opposition BNP camp, at a press conference on 15 November criticised the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement over the ‘eviction’ of BNP chairperson and former premier Khaleda Zia from her cantonment house.
Opposition leader Khaleda Zia moved out of the lease-cancelled Dhaka cantonment house on 13 November amidst high drama. On 13 October, the HC upheld the government notice that asked Khaleda to leave the cantonment residence within 30 days. Banglanews, Nov 25
4.Khaleda asks BNP leaders to hit the streets
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Nov 24 night directed her party leaders of Dhaka unit to be on the streets to make their protest programme, especially the hartal on November 30, a success. During an hour-long closed door meeting with the city unit leaders, Khaleda expressed displeasure at the lean participation of party leaders and workers on the day of her "eviction" from the disputed cantonment house.
"We have a lot of leaders, activists and supporters. What good are they if they are not available when needed?" a meeting source quoted Khaleda Zia as saying. "Madam directed us to make the program a success and we will do that by all means," said Hamidullah Khan, a BNP leader who contested in the last general elections under BNP banner and was defeated.
The leaders and ward councillors requested the chairperson to form the Dhaka city committee immediately considering the ongoing organisational crisis. BNP’s Dhaka unit has not had a committee since June 2008 although it is considered as the most important component of the party.
Meanwhile, BNP has also started to collect letters of resignation from its lawmakers as part of its strategy to mount pressure on the government, said party insiders, adding that the chairperson would use them when she feels the time is right. Report in the Daily Star, Nov 25
5.BNP MPS to resign, hints SQ CHY
Dhaka, Nov 25- The main opposition BNP’s top policy-maker Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury has hinted at the party MPs resigning from Parliament. Speaking at a press meet at his Dhanmondi residence on Thursday, Chowdhury said that "the parliament, whose opposition leader is forced out of her residence along with a national flag carrying vehicle, is in no way acceptable to the people." "The parliament is no longer a parliament. Rather it has turned into a publisher," Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury added, alluding to the government step to reprint the amended constitution.
BNP has 35 members in the 345 seat Parliament.. BNP-allies Jamaat-e-Islami holds two seats while Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) has one. The seventh session of Parliament is set to begin from Dec 5. The main opposition has been boycotting the parliament from the fourth session onwards.-bdnews24.com
6.Long term rice import deal with Vietnam on cards
Bangladesh wants to enter into a long term rice import deal with Vietnam, food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzaque told the Vietnam ambassador Nguyen Van, who met him in Dhaka on Nov 24.
Nguyen told the minister that a government delegation from Vietnam will come soon to Bangladesh to discuss the issue. He also invited the food minister to visit Vietnam to finalise the agreement. Razzaque wanted Vietnam to supply one lakh tonne of rice urgently for stabilising domestic price of rice. The envoy said he would the message to his government.
Razzaque said Bangladesh consume parboiled rice so it would be better if Vietnam considers exporting such type of rice. Nguyen said Vietnam usually exports non-parboiled rice but the country is setting up a mill to prepare parboiled rice. (Report in the Daily Star Nov 25)
7. Aid, investments top Hasina’s Japan agenda
Financing for Padma Bridge, and expansion of bilateral trade and investment will figure prominently during Prime Minister Hasina’s four-day visit to Tokyo beginning November 28.
“This is going to be a very important, timely and significant visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Her summit meeting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan will further strengthen bilateral relations,” said Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Tamotsu Shinotsuka
Sheikh Hasina, who is now visiting Russia, will reach Japan on Nov 28. This will be her second visit to Japan after 13 years.
Although Japan is the largest bilateral donor to Bangladesh and cumulative assistance amounted more than $ 8 billion, bigger than combined assistance from US and the UK, but bilateral trade and investment is not big. The total investment of Japan in Bangladesh registered with Board of Investment is US$ 1,207 million on a cumulative basis, which is the 6th largest foreign investing country while Japan’s investment in Bepza is US$171 million.
The Japanese envoy listed out several obstacles like shortage of electricity and gas, transportation, road infrastructure, traffic jam, deep seaport and complexity of rules for setting up industries. He said Bangladesh has the immense possibility to attract huge investment from Japan if the government can remove those obstacles. In this context, he said Japanese companies are diversifying their businesses and Bangladesh could be one of the possible destinations for them after China. (Report in the Daily Star, Nov 24)
8. Constitution reprint in Dec
Dhaka: Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said the government will reprint the country’s constitution by next month containing the four state principles of the original constitution. The ministry is now scrutinising the constitution in light of the Supreme Court (SC) judgment on the Fifth Amendment.
Speaking to reporters at his secretariat office, the minister pointed out that while the High Court (HC) had cancelled the Fifth Amendment, the SC has upheld the verdict with some modifications. The law ministry officials are scrutinising the constitution in a bid to reprint it, he said adding that the draft would be sent to the Bangladesh Government (BG) Press within the first week of December.
Shafique said he will discuss with Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haq a proposal for setting up a separate secretariat for the judiciary to make easier the transfer, promotion and appointment of the lower court judges. (Report in the Daily Star, Nov 24)
9. Dhaka University Unrest Quelled on Army direction, Par Panel told
Law enforcement agencies had swung into action during the student unrest in August, 2007 on instructions from the military and its intelligence agencies, not the home ministry, the then home secretary Abdul Karim told a parliamentary panel probing the case. "The state of emergency was in force on August 20, 2007 when untoward incidents happened on the Dhaka University campus and later in other educational institutions. The law enforcement agencies had to follow the directives of the military and its intelligence agencies," Karim, now principal secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, said in a written statement.
The parliamentary standing committee on education has set up a four-member sub-committee to probe the student unrest that rocked the nation during the caretaker government. “We have now decided to summon the army officials who had dealt with the unrest, to appear before us at the next meeting”, the chief of the sub-committee, Rashed Khan Menon told reporters.
According to Karim’s statement, a violent student protest broke out on the DU campus on August 20, 2007 over a brawl between an army man and a student at a soccer match on the university playground. The protest spread to other educational institutions and continued for several days resulting in the imposition of a curfew and shutdown of educational institutions in all major cities. The military-backed administration launched a crackdown on teachers and students. It detained and filed cases against some teachers and students of the Dhaka and Rajshahi universities. A Dhaka court on January 21, 2008 acquitted four DU teachers and 11 students of violation of the Emergency Power Rules in one of the two cases filed against them with links to the student unrest. In the face of a rising public demand, the then government freed four convicted RU teachers from Rajshahi Central Jail on December 10, 2007.
The then education secretary Momtajul Islam told the probe body that an army camp was set up on the DU campus without permission of the University Syndicate but the education ministry knew nothing about it. . By Shakhawat Liton in The Daily Star, Nov 25
10. CTG arms haul case: Probe gets 11th extension
A Chittagong court on Nov 24 granted the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) three more months to complete investigation into the sensational Chittagong arms haul cases. This is the 11th extension and it is for 90-days till February 22 next year. Sessions Judge Golam Sarwar passed the extension order after the Public Prosecutor Kamal Uddin said the Investigating Officer (IO) needs more time to ‘resolve some important matters and enquiries’
Investigating Officer Moniruzzaman told The Daily Star that they needed more time to verify the confessional statements given by some witnesses. Besides, several other important witnesses are yet to be quizzed, he added. They also needed to verify the information given by the former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, the IO said. Sources in the CID said Babar could be quizzed again. Earlier on October 3, Babar was arrested in the 10-truck arms haul made from the Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Limited (CUFL) jetty on April 1, 2004. Police and coastguards found submachine-guns, AK-47 rifles, submachine carbines, Chinese pistols, rocket shells and launchers, hand grenades and bullets stuffed in around 1,500 wooden boxes during unloading those from two vessels at the CUFL jetty. The investigation made a significant headway when prime accused Hafizur Rahman made a confessional statement on March 2 last year indicating involvement of NSI and DGFI officials in the incident. Report in The Daily Star, Nov 25
11.Rajshahi Univ teachers ‘guided’’ Tahrir men
Chittagong: The activists of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, who were arrested on November 15, said some teachers of Rajshahi University are now coordinating the activities of the banned Islamist outfit. Police said the Tahrir activists informed them during interrogation that some students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) and Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet) are also involved in reorganising their set-up. But police failed to get the names of those leaders, sources said.
Tahrir men used to prefer the Shibir-dominated areas including Chawk Bazar, Badurtala, Bayezid, Halishar and Sonaichhari under Sitakunda upazila in the district to carry out their activities. Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate HM Fazlul Bari sent Hamid ul Islam alias Tarek, Ibrahim alias Aslam, Zahid ul Islam alias Zahid and Muntasir Alam alias Rajib to jail.
Panchlaish police arrested Tarek, Aslam and Zahid while distributing leaflets and booklets in the city’s Nasirabad area on November 15. Police arrested Rajib as he came to negotiate for their release. Daily Sun, Nov 25
12.JMB Leader arrested
An anti-militancy unit of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested a leader of the banned Islamic militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from Kurigram district early Tuesday. Abul Kashem, 25, a close aide to the former JMB Chief Matin Mehedi, is a ‘Gayree Ehsar’– a part-time member– of the militant organization, said RAB officials. According to Rab-5 officials, he was nabbed while holding a secret meeting at a closed tea stall at C&B Ghat area His other accomplices however fled the scene.
Col Moinuddin Mahmud, Director of RAB-5, said Kashem escaped from being arrested when Matin Mehedi and three others of his cohorts were arrested from Hatir Par area of Kurigram with bomb making materials and jihadi books in April 2007. Kashem has been busy in reorganizing the militant outfit following Matin Mehedi’s arrest. (Report in The Daily Star, Nov 24)
13.BDR mutiny case: trial in Jamalpur, Rangpur, charges against 106
The Special Court-17 on Nov 24 read out the charges against 52 mutineers at 6 Rifles Battalion headquarters in Jamalpur. Kushtia Sector Commander Col Md Nazrul Islam Sarker heads the court which is holding trail battalion headquarters. At the beginning, Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) Md Azizul Islam of the battalion under Mymensingh sector brought allegations against 52 BDR rebels. The court took cognisance of the charges and ordered the arrest of eight of the 52 accused, who were in service until yesterday.
In Rangpur, the Special Court-13 began the trail of 54 mutineers of Rangpur Sector headquarters and 34 Rifles Battalion. Of the accused, 11 are from Rangpur Sector and 43 belong to 34 Rifles Battalion. The court is headed by Dinajpur Sector Commander Col Md Saleh Ahmad.
Our staff correspondent from Sylhet reported that two more accused yesterday admitted to their involvement in the mutiny at 21 Rifles Battalion under Sylhet sector. On Tuesday 37 out of 44 accused confessed to their involvement while five claimed innocence.
At Khagrachhari, the trial of the mutiny case filed against 42 members of Khagrachhari BDR sector began at Special Court-15, set up at the sector headquarters. Assistant Subedar Md Sirajul Islam of Khagrachhari BDR Sector, who filed the case against 42 BDR jawans after February 26, 2009, read out the charges. He alleged that the accused joined the mutiny at Khagrachhari BDR sector expressing solidarity with mutineers of BDR headquarters at Pilkhana in the capital. After hearing the charges, court chief Lt Col Zahedur Rahman, Chittagong sector commander, asked the authorities concerned to produce all the 42 accused in the court. Daily Star, Nov 25
14.BDR mutiny case: Charges pressed against 256 Pilkhana hospital guards
A BDR Special Court dealing with the February 2009 mutiny has pressed charges against 256 jawans of BDR hospital unit in Pilkhana. The charges include leaving the Darbar Hall defying the orders of the then director general (DG) Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, establishing control over the juniors at the BDR hospital, not informing the higher authorities about the mutiny, not taking steps to prevent the mutiny and collecting arms and ammunition from the armouries.
The three-member Special Court-10 headed by Col Khondokar Obaydul Ahsan completed reading out individual charges against the accused earlier in the day and asked if they were guilty. All the 256 accused present in the dock, however, pleaded not guilty. Further hearings have been adjourned to Feb 27 next year.
A total of 74 people including 57 army officers were killed during the carnage on February 25-26 last year in the force’s Pilkhana headquarters. Report in The daily Star, Nov 25
15.BDR mutiny case: Charges framed against 44 Sylhet mutineers
The special Court-14, set up at Sylhet sector headquarters, on Nov 23 framed charges against 44 mutineers of 21 Rifles Battalion. Of the accused, 37 admitted to their involvement in the mutiny while the rest claimed innocence. Comilla Sector Commander Col SM Farhad heads the court. The prosecutor has alleged that the BDR guards took control of the battalion headquarters on February 26 and set fire to some vehicles, including three personal vehicles of the officers.. They also blocked the road in front of the battalion headquarters and fired at least 200 blank shots.
At Kurigram, special court-13 headed by Dinajpur Sector Commander Col Md Saleh Ahmad and comprising Lt Col Mahfuz Alam and Major Didar Al Latif head the prosecution case against 50 mutineers of 27 Rifles Battalion under Rangpur sector. The proceedings lasted more than an hour from 9:45am. The court ordered all the accused to appoint their lawyers and adjourned the trial to January 3 next year. Report in The Daily Star, Nov 24
16.BDR mutiny case: Lalmonirhat: 23 guards sentenced
A Special Court has sentenced 23 BDR guards of Lalmonirhat area for their participation in the 2009 mutiny but acquitted one of their colleagues for want of sufficient evidence against him. The sentences range from four months to five years besides a fine. All the accused belong to t terms to 31-Rifles Battalion. Dinajpur Sector Commander Col Muhammad Saleh Ahmad headed the Court which also included 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 case statement said the guards revolted against their officers and took control of the battalion headquarters on February 26. They also vandalised the headquarters and fired at least 150 blank shots.
Another Special Court (Court-10) headed by Col Khondokar Obaydul Ahsan has taken up the case of 131 jawans of BDR hospital unit at Pilkhana. With this, the court at the Pilkhana Darbar Hall has so far completed reading out individual charges against 230, out of total 256 accused jawans of the unit.
Seventy-four people including 57 army officers were killed during the carnage on February 25-26 last year at the Pilkhana headquarters. Star Report in The Daily Star, Nov 24
