BANGLADESH

The telecom regulator says it has evidence that Grameenphone has violated 22 rules.

Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had a meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) representatives on Wednesday on how to recover Tk 8.87 billion that Grameenphone owed NBR, BTRC chairman Zia Ahmed said.

"Grameenphone's audit report shows it broke six rules, and we have evidence it broke 16 other rules," he said. However, he refused to reveal what these violations were, saying, "They'll be made public in time."

Ahmed brought up once again the allegation of one million additional SIMs, saying the revenue generated from the calls made on those SIMs was being evaded.

"The two government agencies will try to recover their money together."

"We have shown enough consideration," Ahmed said, "On Tuesday we sent another letter inviting them to talks."

GP was yet to reply to this letter, he added. In that letter, the telecoms regulator reminded the country's largest mobile-phone operator of the 21-day deadline ending on Oct 24 for a meeting.

Acknowledging the receipt of the letter, GP's chief communication officer Kazi Monirul Kabir told bdnews24.com on Tuesday, "We will let them know about our position on Wednesday."

In the letter, BTRC did not mention anything about GP's conditions including the withdrawal of the first letter.

GP was told to bring necessary documents on their objections to the audit.

Following a letter from BTRC on Oct 3 to pay up Tk 30.34 billion in dues, the leading telecom operator said the audit conducted by the regulator was erroneous.

The day after receiving the letter, GP in a news conference said the government told them to pay the money based on a wrong audit.

GP claimed that the audit firm engaged by BTRC did not follow national and international standards, despite their repeated objections.

BTRC on Oct 5 sent a letter to the company asking it to send a team on Oct 10 to discuss the audit and also to bring necessary documents on objections to the audit.

BTRC and GP officials sat on Monday where the operator requested the watchdog to withdraw their letter that asked to pay the dues, before they sit with necessary documents.

Police have detained nine activists of Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir from Dhaka's Pallabi area when they were holding a meeting on a boat.

Pallabi police chief K M Shahabuddin told , "The ICS activists were detained on Monday night when they were meeting on a boat near Mirpur embankment."

He, however, declined to elaborate what charges they were detained on.

Those detained are Habibur Rahman, 26, Ahmed Ismail, 24, Shahadat Hossain, 25, Abdus Salam, 24, 'Muhibullah', 22, Barkat Ullah, 24, Abdullah Al Masud, 21, Nurul Islam, 21, and Abbas Uddin, 26.

The police chief added that they had been produced before the court.

Shahabuddin said he would be able to elaborate on whether they were tied to the Sep 19 clash between Jamaat activists and police if the court granted police custody to question them.

On Sep 19, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing clashed with the police at Dhaka and Chittagong. In addition to attacking police personnel on that day, the activists also vandalised vehicles and property.

Many activists and leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami have been detained across the country since the Sep 19 incident, which police claim was pre-planned and aimed at creating anarchy.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Oli Ahmed has asked BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to organise sit-in programmes at 1,500 spots across the country simultaneously to remove the government from office.

"The government will be forced to quit by this sort of demonstration. The sit-in programmes will continue until the government steps down," Oli told a public meeting, also addressed by Khaleda, in Sylhet on Tuesday.

BNP-led four-party alliance organised the meeting at the city's Alia Madrasa ground after a road-march programme from Dhaka to Sylhet.

Oli said the government will be ousted by Khaleda's leadership soon.

LDP for the first time joined any public meeting organised by the four-party alliance. The party earlier announced to be with BNP in its move against the annulment of the caretaker government system.

Other LDP leaders, including Redwan Ahmed and Shahadat Hossain Selim, joined the march to Sylhet.

Oli mentioned BNP founder Ziaur Rahman's role during the Liberation War in Sylhet and said, "Sylhet was freed on Dec 14 under his leadership. [Khaleda] Zia started the programme to overthrow the government from Sylhet as she has a spiritual relationship with this city."

The opposition chief had begun her campaign for the ninth general elections from Sylhet in 2008.

BNP's ally Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) chairman Andalib Rahman Partha harshly criticised the government's alleged corruption in the power sector during his speech.

He also demanded avenging the politicians for their harassment during this government's tenure.

Partha said, "I put my demand before the opposition leader: if you come to power, shackle the digital ministers of this government just like it has harassed politicians and chained the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders."

Ruling Awami League's lack of a decision over Narayanganj City Corporation nominations has seen Shamim Osman and Selina Hayat Ivy centring the discussions, even on the last withdrawal date for contenders.

Multiple meetings regarding these two AL leaders, over the last week, failed to bring any results and it was said that the matter would be cleared up on Wednesday with an understanding that either Ivy or Osman would withdraw their nominations.

However, a lack of consensus between the two mayoral contenders will lead to both competing, which ruling party activists and supporters believe would hike the chances for BNP-backed contender Taimur Alam Khandker to secure the mayoral post.

Former parliamentarian Osman and mayor of the defunct Narayanganj municipality Ivy's competition have also centred Tuesday's talks about the polls.

Both the Awami League members went to Ganabhaban, the prime minister's official residence, on Monday evening to seek blessings from the party president Sheikh Hasina. They sat in separate meetings

"Having two party candidates will split the votes," joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif said after the meetings, "Winning the election will be difficult. So we've advised one of them to withdraw their candidacy."

However, despite the party's insistence, both candidates were adamant that they would win the vital Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) mayor polls, a source within the party said.

The two have held several meetings with top leaders amid warnings from the Election Commission about party interference in the city elections, which are stipulated to be 'non-partisan'.

"According to the electoral code of conduct, we cannot back any candidate. Wait until Oct 12," the joint general-secretary said.

The deadline for withdrawing nominations is 5pm on Wednesday. Candidates can withdraw their papers from Chashara Shahid Zia Hall. The polls will be held on Oct 30.

All eight nomination papers submitted for the mayorship were approved by the EC along with 311 nominations for contest for the post of Councillor and reserved seats.

Foreign minister Dipu Moni will call on secretary of state Hillary Clinton today (Wednesday).

The meeting will take place at 3pm Washington time, Bangladesh ambassador to the US Akramul Qader told bdnews24.com on Wednesday morning.

"It will be an open meeting as no specific agenda has been fixed," he said.

This will be the first foreign ministerial-level meeting between the two countries since the strife over removal of noble laureate Muhammad Yunus from his role as the Grameen Bank chief in the beginning of this year.

Washington expressed dissatisfaction over the move and US assistant secretary Robert Blake visited Dhaka to explain the US stance on the matter. However, Bangladesh remained firm on its stance and said that Yunus' removal was an internal matter of the country.

Earlier, Blake attended a dinner hosted by Bangladeshi Ambassador Qader in the honour of the Bangladeshi foreign minister at Bangladesh House on Tuesday night.

BANGABANDHU KILLER

The Bangladeshi envoy said he had handed over a letter to the US authorities to deport Bangabandhu killer Rashed Chowdhury.

On Oct 5, Dipu Moni sent two letters to Hillary Clinton and Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird through diplomatic channels to seek their help to deport two Bangabandhu killers.

Death sentence convicts Lt Col (retd) M Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury are in the US and Canada, respectively.

"We still don't know the immigration status of Rashed Chowdhury ... we requested the authorities to inform us on the issue," he said.

Qader said, "He (Rashed) is a killer and we must explore all possibilities to bring him back to Bangladesh."

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were brutally killed in Aug 1975 by some army officials. Out of the 12 convicts, five were hanged in 2010, one died and six are absconding.

Colonel (retd) Khandkar Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (retd) Shariful Haque Dalim, Abdul Mazed and Moslehuddin are absconding, while Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe.

Interpol has issued a warrant of arrest against the absconders.

The rest convicts – Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, Mohiuddin Ahmed and AKM Mohiuddin – were hanged on Jan 28 last year.

BANGLADESH WON T20

The health minister has suggested putting urban primary healthcare under the health department insisting that local government division, which oversees the service, could not ensure care for poor slum dwellers.

"Keep health under the health department… We've the expertise that they [local government division] don't," AFM Ruhal Haque said in a discussion on Tuesday.

He does not feel the local government ministry would 'disagree' with his idea.

The minister solicited suggestions to solve the issue, at the discussion in the capital on the draft National Urban Health Strategy 2011, first of its kind in Bangladesh.

But experts opposed the minister's idea saying local government bodies have a long history of giving primary healthcare within their jurisdiction and the 2009 local government ordinance also mandated that.

"Don't put all axes in one basket," health analyst Dr Muhammad Abdus Sabur told and that: "They (health ministry) cannot do their own task. How they will carry out responsibilities of others?"

"Better share the risks," he quipped and suggested coordination between the two ministries for the sake of public health.

To justify his idea, the health minister said: "When diarrhoea breaks out, nobody asks local government bodies. I can assure their (diarrhoea patients') treatment, but if you ask me to supply water, I cannot do it."

"Same way if you ask local government to manage diarrhoea, they would not be able."

Ruhal said there are many divisions and if they do the same work, problems would be created.

"I asked you to solve it," he told the participants comprising government officials of the two ministries, former secretaries, health experts, demographers and local government representatives.

Former health secretary and adviser to the caretaker government Dhiraj Kumar Nath told bdnews24.com that there was a need for a body that would coordinate between the two ministries (health and local government) in carrying out common responsibilities.

"By government rules, city corporations and municipalities see healthcare like family planning, reproductive health services and emergency care within their areas. You cannot ignore that," he said.

"But they (local government) should make their presence visible to the people," he said.

The government is formulating the urban health strategy as demographers predict equal number of urban and rural population within the next 20 years in the country with increasing trend of internal migration to make a living.

The Bangladesh Urban Health Survey 2008 and Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2007, however, showed growing disparity between the health conditions of the urban poor and the rich.

Infant mortality rate in urban slums is 63 per 1000 births while it is only 29 in non-slum areas. Nearly 80 percent deliveries are assisted by unskilled attendants in slums.

Child malnutrition is 55 percent in slums while it is 40 percent in non-slum areas.

"The strategy aims to see urban people, particularly the poor, healthier, happier and economically productive," said Dr AMM Shawkat Ali, an urban health expert of Asian Development Bank while presenting the key points of the draft strategy.

For universal healthcare coverage, the draft keeps provision for giving free health cards to the poor.

Local government division's secretary Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan hoped they would be able to place the strategy before cabinet by December.

The High Court has questioned whether the government had taken adequate steps to save the eight Bangladeshis executed in Saudi Arabia. It also asked the government to respond within four weeks.

The bench of justices Farid Ahmed and Sheikh Hassan Arif questioned the government's role on Wednesday in response to a petition filed by rights body, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

The foreign secretary, overseas employment secretary, director of the Middle East affairs section of the foreign ministry, ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the labour council have been asked to respond.

The court also asked why it should not order the government to extend assistance to expatriates when they need it in future.

Eight Bangladeshis were beheaded in public in Riyadh on Oct 7 after they confessed robbing a warehouse and killing the Egyptian security guard, Hussein Saeed Mohammed Abdulkhaleq, in April 2007.

The Saudi Arabian ambassador to Bangladesh on Monday explained that the execution was carried out in line with 'the law of Saudi Arabia' based on 'their confession of the crime'.

Both the Saudi government and the Bangladesh embassy in Saudi Arabia said they could not secure clemency for the convicts, as the law states that only the victim's family can pardon such crime, and the family declined to oblige.

But rights bodies across the world have severely criticised the incident, with Amnesty International pointing out that the confessions might have been made under duress.

The court also ordered formation of two committees to probe the role of the Bangladeshi embassy in Saudi Arabia. The foreign secretary and the overseas employment secretary will form these committees. Reports will have to be submitted within eight weeks.

The court also asked the Bangladeshi ambassador to Saudi Arabia to submit a report, through the Supreme Court registrar within two weeks, detailing the steps they had taken to save the executed Bangladeshis.

Asaduzzaman Siddique filed the petition on Tuesday on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh. Manzill Murshid argued for the petitioner on Wednesda

The complications arising over Padma bridge "will soon be resolved", finance minister says.

The World Bank, one of the main lenders of the $3 billion project, has suspended funding raising allegations about the tender process of the mega project.

The finance minister had an hour-long meeting with the lender's country head in this regard on Wednesday.

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told after his meeting with Ellen Goldstein: "We are taking a number of steps in this regard and problem I hope that problems will soon be resolved."

BREAKING NEWS
The National Board of Revenue has agreed to provide income tax rebate on stock market investment. Source tax on stock market brokerage commission will also be halved from the current 0.10 percent.

Capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman told reporters that the revenue board had agreed to provide the exemption.

SEC chief M Khairul Hossain's announcement comes in the face of fourth consecutive days of demonstrators by investors on Wednesday.

He also announced that the stockbrokers' commission would be halved to 0.05 percent from 0.10 percent.

Within half an hour into Wednesday's trade, the Dhaka index shed 141.75 points to stand at 5,151.56 around 11.24am. This is the lowest point since Jan 21, 2010 when the index plummeted to 5,095.21.

However, the agitation seemed to have lit up the charts with the index moving up, gaining 6.27 points to 5299.58 at around 12.30pm.

The capital market regulators have called an emergency meeting at 2pm.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's executive director Saifur Rahman told bdnews24.com on Wednesday that his chairman M Khairul Hossain would address the briefing.

He said the watchdog chief would brief the media about the current situation of the stock market.

The stock market has been consistently falling over the last few days. The latest downward spiral began last week and still appears to continue.

On Wednesday the index fell by 154 points within the first half hour of trade. On Tuesday the Dhaka stock market's general index had fallen over 225 points market a four percent drop. The Chittagong index fell by 387.31 points.

Sunday saw the Dhaka index fall by 194 point and Monday by 14 points. The bourse had fallen by just over three percent last week.

The main indices of the two bourses dropped around four percent on Tuesday, leading the investors to take to the streets.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange general index lost 225.53 points or 4.08 percent, closing at 5293.31, with prices of 249 issues falling, only eight rising and two remaining unchanged. The turnover was Tk 3.35 billion.

This is the second-biggest fall since May 25 this year when the benchmark index shed about 151 points or 2.78 percent to close at 5292.53 points.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) selective categories index (CSCX) lost 387.32 points or 3.89 percent to close at 9555.21 points.

Of the 187 issues changing hands, only five gained, 180 lost and two remained unchanged. The turnover was Tk 502 million.

Agitated investors blocked the streets and chanted slogans repeating demands for the resignation of the finance minister and the central bank governor.

The retail investors blocked the street in front of the DSE building when the general index shed 118.28 points in the first hour of trading. They formed a human chain under the banners of Bangladesh Share Investors' Forum and Capital Market Investors Unity Council.

The index hit 5272.22 points, the day's lowest, around 1:55pm. The investors were seen lying on the street protesting against the heavy fall. Traffic in the area became normal when they left the street around 3:30pm.

The Capital Market Investors Unity Council called a three-day token hunger strike from Wednesday protesting the continuous fall.

Meanwhile, Chittagong Investors' Forum staged a procession and a rally in front of the CSE building. The forum demanded that the brokerage houses and merchant banks stop forced sale of shares.

They called a sit-in programme on Wednesday and a human chain programme on Thursday.

Since the start for the week on Sunday, the DSE general index has lost 194.40 points or 3.39 percent to close at 5533.39 points.

Even though the general index posted some gains after around three hours of fall, it again lost 14.54 points or 0.26 percent to close at 5518.85 points on Monday.

The stock market has been on a low for almost a year now, and no measure by regulators, government or major investors seems to be able to prop the market up.

Spiralling fall in the last two-and-a-half months has shaved 1000 points off the DSE general index.

The index has been falling since January. It turned around once in July but has since faced a massive fall.

'NEW INVESTMENT NEEDED'

Asked about the slide, DSE senior vice president Ahsanul Islam told that the market would not recover until new money is pumped in.

He said Tk 40-50 billion is caught in the 'net of margin loan'. "Both borrowers and lenders are in an awful situation."

"The borrowers sell off shares in panic when they see the money in their portfolios fall every day. This impacts the market," he said.

The DSE official said the Bangladesh Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission should take immediately intervene to this end.

"The National Board of Revenue also has something to do. Several taxes have been imposed on stakeholders including in the mutual funds. These should be withdrawn," he added

Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim's dramatic six off the penultimate ball secured the Tigers a tense three-wicket win over West Indies on Tuesday.

It ended a miserable sequence of results for Bangladesh, who had previously beaten Zimbabwe and Kenya in this type of cricket in the last four years.

Needing 133 runs for victory in the lone Twenty20 international, Bangladesh scored 135-7 in 19.5 overs. Rahim remained unbeaten on 41 off 26 balls.

He featured in a match-winning stand of 35 runs for the seventh wicket with Nasir Hossain, who contributed 18.

The Tigers got off to decent start before Tamim Iqbal (11) fell in the third over.

Although Imrul Kayes (22), Shakib Al Hasan (0), Mohammad Ashraful (24) and Alok Kapali (2) came and went, it only drove Rahim to play his shots with gusto.

The turning point of the match came in the 19th over bowled by right-arm pacer Carlos Brathwaite. He was asked to defend 22 runs, but ended up conceding 14 runs.

Even the dismissal of Nasir Hossain, with three balls to go, failed to stem the Rahim's momentum. His captain's knock earning the player of the match award.

Abdur Razzak managed to squeeze a single, leaving Rahim two balls to find a boundary off Ravi Rampaul.

And the Bangladesh captain's eyes lit up seeing a length ball which the pint-sized Rahim duly dispatched over the deep midwicket boundary sending Mirpur into raptures.

It was only Bangladesh's fourth overall success in 17 T20 matches and second against West Indies.

Earlier, after Rahim won his first toss as the full-time Bangladesh captain, and chose to bowl on a slow Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium wicket West Indies struggled to make 132-8.

Marlon Samuels once again showed his prowess with a 42-ball 58, studded with two fours and four sixes.

Apart from Samuels, opener Lendl Simmons made 23, Adrian Barath 15 and Denesh Ramdin 10 were only batsmen to contribute for the tourists who would have fancied their chances after winning both warm-up games going into the lone T20 match.

Shakib Al Hasan, Abdur Razzak and Shafiul Islam grabbed two wickets each.

Naeem Islam and Rubel Hossain took one wicket each.

Both sides will now turn their attention to the three-match one-day series that kicks off on Thursday. All matches will be day-nighters.

With two chemo cycles over and feeling much better than before, writer Humayun Ahmed has already turned out almost 25 pages of a new book on his experiences in New York.

"It is not quite a novel or fiction. More of a biographical piece," Anyaprokash CEO Mazharul Islam told bdnews24.com on Tuesday.

The famous writer's publisher said this new book, with a title roughly translating to 'Bright sun on the New York sky' (New York-er akashe jhokjhoke rod), will have different chapters on Humayun's experiences during his treatment at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

One of the chapters of the book will have the same name as the title. "It's all about the things he has done and gone through," said the Anyaprokash chief executive.

Those include diverse topics like his chemo sessions and renting the house and setting up another home away from home. "He is going about in his typically humorous style of course."

However, it is still uncertain whether the book will be out before next February at the largest book fair of Bangladesh.

But chapters will be sent out to daily newspapers as and when they are complete, said Mazhar who has been living with the writer and his family at the same three-bedroom apartment in Jamaica, New York.

Humayun Ahmed was diagnosed with colon cancer during a routine check-up early September at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital. He flew to New York for treatment soon after returning home. Mazhar has been with him since then.

Bangladesh's T20 win over the West Indies was a source of joy for writer Humayun Ahmed who watched his favourite team on the internet.

"We found out that ESPN would not broadcast the match here, so we called up people found out that the Cricinfo website would show it live," said Mazhar.

The publisher said Humayun was almost obsessed with the Bangladesh cricket team. And everything else comes to a halt whenever the Tigers are taking to the field.

"He even stops shooting or whatever other work he has at hand. This one time in Switzerland where he was shooting a TV drama, we scoured around and finally located an Irish pub where we watched the match."

It is not that Humayun is particularly interested in cricket. It's the team that matters. "I doubt he would be that interested in the cricket World Cup final unless Bangladesh were in it," said Mazharul Islam.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia says they will not return home before ousting the government.

"You [government] have time…arrange elections under caretaker government if [you] want peace to prevail and democracy to stay. Don't linger things any more. Otherwise people will throw you out," she told a public meeting at the city's Alia Madrasa ground on Tuesday.

The meeting, organised by the BNP-led four-party alliance, was the concluding part of the opposition's road march to Sylhet.

Khaleda, in her one-hour speech that started at 4:35pm demanded restoration of the caretaker government through discussion.

She also demanded the Election Commission be reformed and spoke on issues like hike in prices of essentials, law and order situation, economy, war crimes trial and foreign policy.

The BNP chairperson said that "the opposition's victory is sure". She also exhorted countrymen to be ready for the next level of agitation.

"Come, let us rise to the occasion to ensure independence, democracy and safety of our mothers and sisters. Rise up, people of Bangladesh! We won't return home before ousting the government," she said.