BANGLADESH

The Bangladesh Restaurant Owners' Association on Saturday declared all restaurants smoke-free in a move to ensure clean environment for public health.

The announcement is seen as a 'boost' for the anti-tobacco campaign as they said the proposed hike in tobacco taxes in the proposed 2012-13 budget could not meet their demand of 'higher' tobacco taxation.

"Today we declare all of our restaurants smoke-free," Kamar Uddin Ahmed Khokon, President of the association announced at the National Press Club.

He said they would ensure that the decision was followed in all of around 55,000 restaurants in the country.

Anti-tobacco activists hailed the announcement, but they said there would be challenge to implement it as the existing 2005 tobacco control act did not include restaurants in its public place definition.

However, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan said he would issue an ordinance within a month in this regard.

"I can assure you that within a month restaurants will be declared public place through an ordinance," he said while speaking at the function.

With at least 43 percent adults consume tobacco, World Health Organisation estimates, 57,000 people die and more than 350,000 suffer due to tobacco related illness in Bangladesh.

Experts suggested the government to ensure smoke-free environment following the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) that Bangladesh ratified as study showed passive smoking also kills.

"When the government is not doing it, we are trying to do something," Restaurant Owners' Association President Khokon said as he believed smoke-free restaurants would also help their business.

"If customers are not allowed to smoke inside (restaurants), they will not stay for long time. We will get opportunity to serve more customers," he argued.

Secretary General of the association M Rezaul Karim Sarker Robin told bdnews24.com that they had already formulated a strategy with the help of Dhaka Ahsania Mission to implement the decision.

A 'smoke free' sign would be placed inside the restaurants while managers would be instructed to ensure it.

"Owners have been requested to visit and monitor their restaurants," Robin said.

Hailing the move, Coordinator of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in Bangladesh Taifur Rahman said if restaurants were identified as public place in the law the implementation would be easy.

"It has been proposed in the revised (draft) act," he added.

The Restaurant Owners' Association officials also believed that once identified as public place, they would be able to strictly enforce the decision.

Economists estimated the medical cost of tobacco consumption was twice the revenue the government earns from the industries.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith's hope for a 7.2 percent GDP growth and pegging the inflation rate at 7.2 percent in the new fiscal year will be very tough to achieve, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) observes.

The private research organisation made the observation while presenting its analysis of the budget for the 2012-2013 on Friday at a press briefing at the capital's BRAC Centre Inn.

CPD's Distinguished Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said, "Though the inflation rate on food is decreasing but inflation on a point-to-point basis is still over 9 percent while the average inflation rate is more than 10 percent."

"The budget indicates that the prices of fuel and power may be increased in future. Then the prices of food products will escalate the inflation rate. Then it will become very tough to curb the inflation," he said.

He said, "The measures needed to achieve the goal of this budget are not in clearly outlined in the Finance Minister's proposal. Administrative revolution is necessary to implement this budget."

About the proposed facility in the budget to whiten 'black money', Dr Bhattacharya said, "CPD has always been vocal against the facility. This system will discourage the real taxpayers."

The new budget proposes to expand the facility for whitening 'black money' with a 10 percent penalty without any bars on where that money has to be invested. The Finance Bill states that untaxed money will be allowed to be legalised in case of undisclosed income.

"The Finance Minister did not say anything about this issue in his budget speech. A change in the Finance Bill has provided the backdoor for the facility. We are still protesting the facility of whitening black money," Bhattacharya said.

The CPD also protested the budget's proposal to increase minimum income tax to Tk 3,000 from Tk 2,000.

Bhattacharya said, "We had suggested increasing the tax-free income level from Tk 180,000 to Tk 200,000 in the budget. But we are surprised that the Minister did not consider our suggestion. But increasing the minimum tax to Tk 3,000 was the real surprise."

"It's against social justice since inflation is going up gradually. This decision brings the people with lower income under income tax."

He, however, did not think the deficit of Tk 520 billion is too big a figure to be worried about. "In numbers, the deficit can look like a very big one. But it's not big considering that it is 5 percent of GDP."

"What we are actually worried about is the bank borrowing."

"The budget proposes to borrow Tk 338.84 billion from domestic sources, of which Tk 230 billion will be borrowed from banks. This may reduce the rate of loan flow to the private sector as well as hamper the investment sector," the former Executive Director said.

Foreign funding included, the proposed budget has a deficit of Tk 460.24 billion and the shortfall is Tk 520.68 billion excluding foreign funds.

To meet the shortfall, the government plans to borrow Tk 338.84 billion from domestic sources, including Tk 230 billion from banks. The government also plans to get Tk 74 billion from savings certificates.

"The Finance Minister earlier had said a portion of the subsidy of the current fiscal will be transferred to the next fiscal year's budget. But he did not say anything about it."

Bhattacharya said the budget also did not mention the total size of subsidy.

The CPD was critical of the drop in the budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector and increase in the power and energy sector. Bhattacharya maintained that equality should be followed in budgetary allocation for all the sectors.

"Discrimination should not be created between urban and rural areas."

He said the prices of urea and Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertilisers would have to be increased if subsidies were not increased in the farm sector. "As a result, the production costs will go up and prices of food products will also increase. Inflation will edge up as a rule."

The CPD Distinguished Fellow also expressed his concern over the implementation of Tk 550 billion ADP. "The expenditure of the current year has to be increased by one and a half times to execute the ADP."

About the proposal to impose a flat 1.20 percent tax at source on all kinds of exports from the upcoming fiscal abolishing the existing tax slabs of 0.60 percent and 0.70 percent, he said that a negative scenario was created in the export sector in the last few months.

"I think that it was not proper to raise the tax rate to a large extent at this moment."

He remarked that the funding for the social security programmes was not enough.

"Though many organisations like the Pay Commission, Regulatory Commission etc. were thought to be made effective in the next budget, it didn't come true. Non-implementation of the PPP is also regretful."

The economist said the government signed a loan agreement with the IMF just a year ahead of the next general election.

"For this reason, the government has to cut the amount of subsidies. On the other hand, it has to raise taxes. So, this budget can be called 'mysterious'."

Wasfia Nazreen, the second Bangladeshi woman to conquer world's tallest peak Mount Everest, has dedicated her feat to the women's rights activists of the country.

"This is not only my achievement. I could not have done it without the support of the people of my country," she told reporters after her plane landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital at 1:25pm on Saturday.

"I'm dedicating my victory to those associated with women's rights movement."

Following her arrival in the country, Wasfia visited and paid her respect to the martyred intellectuals of 1971 Liberation war at the memorial erected in their memory at the capital's Rayer Bazar.

On May 26, the 29-year-old mountaineer reached the 8,850-meter high (29,035 ft) summit of Mount Everest from the southern side at 6:26am (Nepal time) with Ngima Girmen Sherpa and Da Kusang Sherpa.

From the top of the world, she said she had dedicated the feat to the resilience of the women in Bangladesh.

Wasfia is the fourth Bangladeshi mountaineer to hoist Bangladesh's flag on the top of Everest just a week after Nishat Mazumder did it as the first Bangladeshi woman.

Asked whether she ever thought of retreating after facing fearsome obstacles on her journey to the peak of Everest, Wasfia told reporters, "I never thought of retreating. But yes, there were times when I thought I would die."

"An avalanche had totally covered Camp-3 just a while after we left the place for Camp-4. We would have died if we were still there," she said while sharing some of her experience.

Also one of the Sherpa had saved her life once as she slipped from the track, Wasfia added.

Expressing her feelings about the moment when she achieved the feat, Wasfia said, "It was 6:25am (Nepal time) and sun was rising when I set my foot on the peak. I could see the summit of the 8,481-metre high (27,825 ft) Mountain Makalu from there."

"I could look at it from top. It's plainly impossible to express the beauty in words."

Wasfia, a rights activist, writer and development practitioner, said she wants to promote the women freedom fighter who fought bravely for Bangladesh's independence in 1971.

"We have failed to give proper respect to them yet after 40 years of independence. I want to tell the world about them from the highest peaks of all the continents," she said.

As Bangladesh turned 40 last year, Wasfia ventured into climbing the seven summits, the highest mountains in each of the seven continents through the 'Bangladesh on Seven Summits' campaign in July 2011.

As part of this effort, last year she climbed the 5895-metre-high Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa in October and near-seven kilometre high Mount Aconcagua in Argentina in December, the second highest of the Seven summits.

She also called on the country's young generation to quit any practice of corruption and dirty political view in order to work for the betterment of the country.

Wasfia announced that she would open a mountaineering training centre for women in the country for practical training. "I hope the centre will be launched in 2013. Initially, 50 women will be included in the training programme."

She congratulated Nishat Mazumder, the first Bangladeshi women to conquer Mount Everest. "When she ascended to the Everest summit, I was at Camp-3. This is a matter of pride to have two Bangladeshi women to conquer Mount Everest in one week."

Nishat scaled Everest's summit on May 19 from the northern side of the mountain in Nepal with M A Mohit, the second Bangladeshi to have conquered the Everest.

Earlier on May 24, 2010 Musa Ibrahim became the first Bangladeshi to scale the summit.

Mohit is the first Bangladeshi to scale the mountain twice. He first scaled the mountain peak on May 21 last year.

The government has strongly protested two articles appearing recently in The Economist and expressed its doubts over the intention of the writers.

"We feel very sad to see a gradual deterioration of quality and objectivity in the articles appearing in your well-reputed magazine over the past few years, particularly with respect to Bangladesh," said a rejoinder of the foreign ministry issued on Saturday.

The London-based magazine published two articles - "Politics in Bangladesh: Banged about: The prime minister sets the country on a dangerous path" and "Bangladesh's toxic politics: Hello, Delhi: It is up to India to try to stop Sheikh Hasina ruining Bangladesh" – in its May 26 issue.

The rejoinder said the two articles not only reflected a high level of ignorance of the reporter(s) about today's Bangladesh but were also full of misinformation and inaccurate conclusions.

"The Economist, in these articles, also shows utter disrespect towards the people of Bangladesh as far as their capability and ingenuity to address national issues is concerned, and nakedly invites foreign intervention!"

One of the reports said Bangladesh had 170 million poor Muslim, reacting to which the foreign ministry rejoinder urged the weekly to check facts before publishing stories in the future.

"We urge your reporters to study the demographics of Bangladesh for future reporting," it said.

The rejoinder, quoting several well-known international personalities including US President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, said Bangladesh had made significant progress in the recent times.

President Obama has told Sheikh Hasina last year in New York: "…You and your government are doing an excellent job in empowering women and in countering terrorism."

The rejoinder stated that the articles on Bangladesh's domestic politics seemed to be favouring return of an undemocratic rule in the country.

"Accusing the government of murder and attack on activists and journalists — without providing a thread of proof — is a malicious act and a demonstration of truly poor journalism by The Economist," the foreign ministry protested.

Three students, all from Mirpur in Dhaka, drowned on Friday in the ditch of the Madhabkunda waterfall in Moulvibazar.

The deceased were identified as Shahriar Ahmed, a 10th grader of Mirpur Bangla School and College, 'Munna', a ninth grader of Baitul Mamur Madrasa and 'Ashik', an HSC examinee from the Mirpur Commerce College.

They drowned around 1pm and divers from Sylhet recovered the bodies around 5:45pm, Baralekha Police Station Sub-Inspector Masudur Rahman said.

They were in a team of eight students from several institutes in Mirpur. Seven of them went to take a bath in the ditch as another one was sick, Munna's classmate Omar Hannan Rifat, who was in the team, too, told 
Witnesses said the trio drowned as they crossed a danger line marked with a rope.

The BNP has announced to hold its June 11 rally in front of its party headquarters as the authorities were yet to approve a venue for the opposition's pre-announced programme.

The party's Standing Committee member Tariqul Islam announced the opposition decision at a press briefing on Saturday. He said that they have not yet got permission for a venue and use microphones for the rally from the police and other relevant authorities.

"We'd like to request the government to grant permission for the rally promptly," he said adding "otherwise, we are determined to hold the Jun 11 rally in front of our party headquarters at Naya Paltan."

Earlier from a Mar 12 rally in Dhaka, the BNP chief Khaleda Zia had given the government a 90-day ultimatum to restore the caretaker government system, which the Awami League-led coalition government annulled through the 15th amendment of the Constitution last year.

BNP chief had warned of announcing 'tougher agitation programmes from a rally in the capital on Jun 11 if her party's demands were not met by Jun 10.

The BNP chief is expected to announce fresh agitation programmes from Monday's rally. Khaleda had already held meetings with leaders of the 18-Party Alliance on Thursday and discussed the issue.

The BNP-led alliance had sought permission from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police on May 24 to hold the rally either at Paltan Grounds or Manik Mia Avenue or in front of the BNP headquarters at the Naya Paltan in the city.

The Jatiya Krira Parishad has already said that no rally can be held at the Paltan Grounds. There were no words regarding the other two venues the BNP has applied for.

Tariqul Islam, a former minister during the BNP-led government, on Saturday alleged that a delegation of the party, comprising of the Opposition Chief Whip in Parliament Zainul Abdin Farroque, MPs Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee and Abul Khair Bhuiyan, and Dhaka Metropolitan BNP unit Member Secretary Abdus Salam, could not meet the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner though they had waited for long on Thursday and Saturday.

"The officials there did not show least courtesy to the BNP delegation which is regrettable," he said.

The BNP leader alleged that the government was trying to thwart the rally. "BNP's rally will take place on Monday no matter whatever the obstacle is," Tariqul said.

He added that if there were any attempts to thwart the rally, the government would have to take the responsibility for 'unpleasant incidents'.

Tariqul also came down hard on police for not yet permitting to use microphones for the rally. He hoped that the number of people taking part in Monday's rally would be greater than the Mar 12 rally.

Terming Justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury an 'arrogant' man, senior jurist Barrister Rafique-ul Huq has said that 'Khoda' (God) has sent the High Court judge to trial.

"None can escape Khoda's justice, or else why our Justice Manik (Justice Chowdhury's nickname) is facing danger?" Huq told a programme in Dhaka on Saturday.

"Justice Manik drove steam roller over all of us. He was too arrogant. Khoda doesn't like an arrogant, swollen-headed man," he added.

Ruling MPs have been demanding removal of Justice Chowdhury since he censured parliament Speaker Abdul Hamid for his remarks criticising a verdict on the ownership of a piece of land. The speaker, however, is yet to react over the issue.

"The judiciary and the parliament are in a dispute over the issue," Rafique said and suggested settling the issue at the earliest. "Don't let it be an issue among the masses and in the media."

"So many appointments [of judges] in past few years have been politically influenced. It is difficult to get honest judgment from them. Such problems will end if qualified people are appointed," he said.

"Judges will have to grow beyond partisanship," he observed at the programme organised by the Reporters' Mukto Chinta Forum.

Barrister Rafique is the convenor of a citizen's rights organization, Nagarik Andolan. He has been in focus for his political comments on political issues.

Even though the senior 18-Party Alliance leaders including BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had secured bail in an arson attack case, chances of their release have remained uncertain as a chargesheet in a bomb explosion case has been submitted.

The Public Prosecutor involving the case has already sought a decision from a court to produce the alliance leaders in the Secretariat bomb explosion case. They will have to wait for their release until a decision regarding the petition comes.

BNP says the government has resorted to the tactic of "production warrant" to delay the release of the leaders despite securing bail from the High Court.

Production warrant is an order issued by a trial court to produce a person before the court in connection with criminal proceedings pending against the accused.

The new twist has come amid concerns that the country's politics could become more confrontational in the coming weeks as the government has refused to a June-10 deadline for restoring the caretaker government system.

BNP Chairperson Kahleda Zia is expected to announce fresh protest programmes from a rally planned for Monday in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters.

The defendants' lawyers have said they will move the court on Sunday to withdraw the petition filed by the Public Prosecutor.

A lawyer of the alliance leaders, Zoynal Abedin Mesbah, told bdnews24.com that he along with senior lawyers will go to the Dhaka Senior Special Tribunal and will seek an order to withdraw the petition seeking warrant to produce the accused in the court.

The lawyers representing the state, however, said the accused would have to file fresh bail prayers as their bail duration in the bomb explosion case has expired. They will have to stay behind bars if they fail to secure bail afresh.

Mesbah also said the accused would not get freedom until the petition is withdrawn.

A lawyer representing the state at a trial court, Abdullah Abu, told bdnews24.com that the alliance leaders had secured bail in the Secretariat bomb explosion case filed at Shahbagh Police Station until police submitted chargesheet in the case.

"They (alliance leaders) will have to seek bail anew as the chargesheet has been submitted," he said.

A High Court bench of Justices Salma Masud Chowdhury and F R M Nazmul Ahsan granted bail on Thursday to 30 leaders of the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance in a vehicle torching case during an opposition-sponsored countrywide shutdown on Apr 29.

Meanwhile, the Investigation Officer of the Secretariat bomb explosion case submitted chargesheet on May 31 against 29 leaders of the opposition alliance. A hearing is scheduled to take place on July 26.

On Apr 29, during the opposition-sponsored countrywide shutdown protesting against the 'forced disappearance' of one of BNP's Organising Secretaries, two crude bombs were hurled at the Secretariat and a vehicle was torched near the Prime Minister's Office.

Police filed two cases with Shahbagh and Tejgaon police over the incidents accusing 29 leaders of the alliance for the bomb explosion and 45 for the arson attack incident.

Ilias Ali, also the Sylhet unit BNP chief, has been missing since Apr 17.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has given 'verbal permission' allowing BNP to install a stage and hold Monday's rally in front of the party headquarters at Naya Paltan.

"Though belated, we have finally got verbal permission for Monday's rally and building the stage," the opposition Chief Whip in Parliament Zainul Abdin Farroque told reporters after a meeting with DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed on Sunday.

Farroque said the DMP Commissioner had assured them that a copy of the written permission would be sent to the BNP office within an hour.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia is expected to announce fresh agitation programmes from Monday's rally after a deadline for restoring the caretaker government system expired on Sunday.

"We sought police assistance to hold our rally peacefully," he said.

He vowed to make the rally a success.

A four-member BNP delegation, led by Farroque, joined the hour-long meeting at the DMP headquarters.

The other members of the delegation were BNP lawmakers Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee, Abul Khair Bhuiyan and Dhaka Metropolitan Unit Member Secretary Abdus Salam.

Farroque said they would begin installing the rally stage opposite to the BNP headquarters by Sunday noon.

On whether the rally permission had any conditions attached to it, he said, "We have been told anything like that."

"We also gave no condition."

The 18-Party Alliance rally is scheduled to commence at 2pm on Monday.