Archive for November 14th, 2008
Friday, November 14th, 2008The High Court (HC) yesterday declared illegal and unconstitutional the Voluntary Disclosure of Information Ordinance-2008 through which the government formed the Truth and Accountability Commission for voluntary disclosure of corruption-accused.After long hearing for six days on a writ, the HC bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain delivered the verdict declaring illegal Tac and all its functions done so far.The HC bench observed that through formation of the commission, an alternative system bypassing the judiciary was set up which was against the Constitution.This system possessed scopes of exonerating the offenders without trial in the courts and interference ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008The Bimstec member countries yesterday accepted Bangladesh's offer to host a poverty alleviation centre in Dhaka and decided to put in place a joint mechanism to combat terrorism.They also vowed to step up cooperation to tackle the challenges posed by global financial meltdown and food and energy security.The call came in a joint declaration adopted at the daylong second summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) in the Indian capital.According to the declaration, the Bimstec members will hold the second ministerial conference on poverty alleviation in Nepal next year.It called for strengthening regional ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008Awami League (AL) yesterday said it is waiting on a formal proposal from the government for an agenda-based dialogue between its President Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.The same day Education Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said the caretaker administration is ready to do whatever is necessary for talks between the two leaders. He however did not elaborate on their plans.Meanwhile, speculation is rife that the former prime ministers might meet on November 21 at an Armed Forces Day function in Dhaka cantonment. Both the leaders have been invited to attend the programme at Senakunja.Talking to reporters at Hasina's Sudha ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked the caretaker government to hold the parliamentary election on the announced date without caring that a party has failed to prepare for the polls."The caretaker government must take initiatives to hold the election on schedule," Hasina said firmly in her first meeting in public since her release on June 11."There are always conspiracies against the Awami League whenever there are possibilities for it to come to power," she said while addressing the founding anniversary of her party's youth wing, Awami Jubo League, at the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh.In her 26-minute speech, Hasina ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008The greens are back and with it the beings, to the forest.Exactly a year ago, the terrible Sidr lashed the Sundarbans, leaving it battered and copper red. It looked more like a scene of disaster than a pristine forest. Hardly a tree was left that did not bear the brunt of the 250-km an hour wind.A year later, that scene is a fading memory, as our photographer Syed Zakir Hossain discovered. Green leaves have sprouted around, the birds are twittering, the deer and hogs and squirrels are quick footing around.This comeback is amazing and a great deal ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008Former adviser to caretaker government Syed Manzur Elahi hopes all parties will participate in the December 18 parliamentary elections saying the outcome of keeping off the polls will be terrible for the whole nation.“At grassroots level, there is a strong support for election which will be very tough to change. Any party would face serious consequences if it tries to boycott the election,” he said in an interview with The Daily Star.“I am not interested in who will come to power. But I want, at any cost, an elected government whose first task would be to address the economy,” Manzur ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) Chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan has said the commission would now refrain from carrying out any official task as the High Court (HC) yesterday declared illegal and unconstitutional the ordinance under which the commission was formed.The government constituted Tac to let the corrupt voluntarily confess to it their graft and seek mercy by depositing their ill-gotten wealth to the state exchequer."As I have heard the news on HC order, I will not hold hearing anymore. I will wait until a (final) judgment comes in this regard," Habibur Rahman said when contacted last night.Asked ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008Bangladesh Awami League (AL) yesterday urged the Election Commission to allow its alliance partners to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections with its symbol, boat, if they desire.A four-member AL delegation, led by its Office Secretary Abdul Mannan Khan, met EC Secretary M Humayun Kabir and handed over a letter conveying their request, UNB reports."The Election Commission should allow if any of our allies want to contest the election with the boat symbol," Mannan told reporters at the EC Secretariat after handing over the letter to the commission.He said as Awami League will contest the upcoming parliamentary election by forging ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008BNP yesterday suggested that the government defer the parliamentary elections since many hajj pilgrims will miss the polls.The government should consider the matter seriously as about 40 to 50 thousand pilgrims will be unable to vote on December 18, BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan told reporters after a closed-door meeting with party chief Khaleda Zia.He said it is not logical to deprive a large number of pilgrims of exercising their fundamental rights. "We ask the government to consider this issue."The BNP spokesman said if the elections are not deferred, aspirant candidates of the upcoming parliamentary ...
(read more) Friday, November 14th, 2008The new electoral alliance initiated by AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury and Dr Kamal Hossain stumbled at the very start as the leaders could not agree on a name for the combine.Disagreement among the parties over the proposed name 'Juktafront' may lead the Kader Siddiqui-led Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL) to quit the alliance in the event, sources said.That possibility made the leaders to postpone yesterday's launching programme at Imperial Hotel in the capital, said the sources.Bikalpadhara Bangladesh (BDB) President Badruddoza Chowdhury and Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain formed the combine on November 9, breaking away from the Awami League-led grand ...
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