Archive for April 6th, 2007
Friday, April 6th, 2007Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said the Election Commission (EC) will not think about holding any elections either to parliament or local government bodies in next one and a half years."During this time, we will simultaneously prepare a voter list with photographs and national identity cards. Once the massive task is done, we will think about holding elections. But now we cannot give any timeline when the elections are likely to be held," the CEC told a press briefing.When the electoral roll is prepared, there would be a lot of other tasks to be done. The ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007Hearings on the bail petitions of cases filed under various acts were not held in Dhaka courts in the last 10 days following a second amendment to the emergency power rules curbing bail right.The March 21 amendment suspended bails under the Arms Act, Foreign Regulation Act and Explosive Substances Act.The amendment added Penal Code to the three acts and renamed Foreign Regulation Act as Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.Following this amendment, bails in cases under all the 511sections of Penal Code, which include cases for petty crimes for which maximum punishment is one month's jail, are suspended.Most of the ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007Now that Chief of Army Staff (CAS) Lt Gen Moeen U Ahmed has decided to go public on political issues, he must be ready, willing and open to public debate on them including criticism of his views, if any. To start with, should a sitting CAS speak in public and in presence of the President on the political future of a country? Such speech making will naturally raise questions as to whether or not the army chief or his institution plans to get involved in the country's politics? When such comments touch even the structure of the future government and ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday told US Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher that for a credible election it is necessary to have the electoral reforms, including the anti-corruption drive to eliminate influence of money and muscle in election.The US assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs, who called on Fakhruddin in New Delhi yesterday, asked the chief adviser when the elections might be held. He also reiterated Washington's full support to the ongoing reforms in Bangladesh.Fakhruddin said the reform process is fully transparent and the government is fully accountable under the gaze of a "free media".He apprised Boucher ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007The Election Commission (EC) yesterday formally unveiled a set of proposals for electoral reforms that include making public the statements to be submitted by the parliamentary election candidates. All sorts of documents to be furnished with the nomination papers will be posted on the EC website. If anyone is found to have concealed facts, the commission will recommend cancellation of their membership in parliament.Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda at a press briefing announced the draft proposals and said those would be finalised after a series of dialogues with the political parties and civil society members, and inter-ministerial ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007Little Durjoy can now say 'amma' (mother). Uttering this simple word by this twenty-eight-month-old boy could be considered a miracle since acid was poured down his throat when he was only 49 days of age!Though his speech is still blurry, he can pronounce a few other words too.Success story of this young boy was presented yesterday by Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) at its seminar room in the capital where Durjoy along with his parents appeared before journalists after his return from Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.This time, less external deformity caused by acid burn was visible on ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007Despite having various administrative limitations, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is going to start enquiry against 34 more high profile corruption suspects including BNP Senior Joint Secretary General and former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman.The 34 are from the second government list of 50 high profile corruption suspects published in the media in the second week of March, said ACC Commissioner Habibur Rahman.Meanwhile, the commission's activities are being hampered because of shortage of manpower. The ACC commissioner said they could not yet file cases against 11 persons from its first list of 50 corruption suspects due to the shortage ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007The Ministry of Finance yesterday instructed three nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) -- Sonali, Janata and Agrani -- to complete all formalities to corporatise by May 31, 2007.The ministry in a letter yesterday asked the banks to submit application for registration as public limited company to the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies & Firms by April 22 after finalisation of the prescribed Memorandum and Articles of Association (MAA).As per the timeline set by the finance ministry, the registrar of Joint Stock Companies & Firms will complete registration of the three public limited companies by May 15, 2007.Following the registration the government ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007Finance and Planning Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said the view of the World Bank (WB) that reducing banks' credit will help rein in potential inflationary pressure is not right."We have to decide it by considering two factors--if excess aggregated demand has been created and, at the same time, if supply has been affected," Mirza Aziz told reporters at his secretariat office.He said many people think that inflation takes place only due to the increased supply of currency. "But inflation is a price--it is an aggregate price in which demand and supply are involved," Aziz said."Now, if reducing banks' credit ...
(read more) Friday, April 6th, 2007A Dhaka court yesterday adjourned the proceedings of the Tk 1 crore extortion case against BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman till April 17, following a time petition by the defence lawyers.Metropolitan Magistrate Abdur Rouf Khan passed the order after defence lawyers filed a petition seeking stay of the processing of the case.In yesterday's petition, defence lawyer ABM Sharfuddin Khan Mukul told the court that they had earlier submitted a petition with the High Court (HC) on April 4, seeking quashment of the case.As the quashment petition is on the list of hearing, the proceedings of the extortion case ...
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