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Head lines
Kasuri for boosting ties
with Bangladesh The Bangladesh Observer
Visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister
and special envoy of the Pakistan Prime Minister Mian Khurshid Mahmud
Kasuri on Friday said friendly people of Bangladesh and Pakistan should
forget the bitter past and work together for building a prosperous future,
reports BSS.
Talking to journalists before his
departure at Zia International Airport after a three-day visit he also
said that Pakistan is interested to sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with
Bangladesh.
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan saw
the Pak Foreign Minister off at the airport. Director General of External
Publicity Wing of the Foreign Ministry Zahirul Haque and senior officials
were present.
Referring to next SAARC Summit he
said the Summit is very important for ensuring peace and stability in the
South East Asia. Pakistan has always been interested to organise the
Summit. "A warm reception would be accorded to the Indian delegation when
it would come to Pakistan to attend the Summit", he said
Morshed Khan said Bangladesh hoped
that all crisis between India and Pakistan should come to an end for the
sake of development of the whole South East Asian region. He said the next
SAARC summit would outline a strategy to eradicate poverty from this
region.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister said
Kasuri invited him to visit Pakistan next year to discuss bilateral
issues.
Later, Kasuri left Dhaka for
Kathmandu by a Bangladesh Biman flight
Call for evolving campaign network
against Indian river
linking plan
The
Bangladesh Observer
A roundtable of
experts and civil society representatives on Thursday called for
developing a campaign network at regional and international levels against
Indian plan to inter-link its river systems, endangering the lives of
millions of Bangladeshis, reports BSS.
They said since
the Indian leadership pledged to go ahead with the multi-billion dollar
project ignoring its effect on the lower riparian country, Bangladesh
should launch a well-networked campaign at national, regional and
international levels, involving experts from concerned fields under a
strong advocacy plan.
The roundtable,
organised by the Centre for National Agenda (CNA), suggested particular
involvement of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition in the
campaign for its effectiveness along with starting dialogues with New
Delhi to prevent it from implementing the plan.
The roundtable,
organised in collaboration with the daily Inqilab at the CIRDAP
auditorium, also underlined the need for associating environmentalists and
civil society leaders of India in the campaign to protect the life and
living of millions of people of Bangladesh as well as its ecology and
economy.
Chief Engineer
of Bangladesh Water Development Board ANH Akhtar Hossain presented the
keynote paper at the roundtable presided over by CNA chairman Justice
Abdur Rauf.
The roundtable
was joined, among others, by CNA executive president Barrister Moinul
Hosein, Privatization Board Chairman Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, BNP
chairperson's adviser Rezaul Karim, politician Anwar Zahid, Prof
Mahbubullah, geographer Prof MA Awal and Major General (Retd) Imamuzzaman.
Engineer ANH
Akhtar Hossain criticised the attitude of India's current leadership,
saying that the Indian Prime Minister on the national day of his country
vowed to go ahead with the project "on war footing".
But, he said,
father figure of Indian nation Mahatma Gandhi half a century ago had
correctly said, "fresh water available in India annually is sufficient for
both irrigation and drinking purposes. But the problem lies in wastage and
faulty distribution".
Engineer Akhtar,
however, said in the Ganges basin, India already conserved water of the
tributaries on its bank-line on the right and under the proposed plan it
now wanted to conserve water of the tributaries (originated in Nepal) on
the left.
"As a result of
which there will be no water available at Farakka," he said.
On the other
hand, he said, in the Brahmaputra basin, India was already diverting water
from the Teesta and the Mahananda rivers and its "next plan is to divert
water from the tributaries of the Brahmaputra, Manos, Sankos, Torsa to the
Ganges to be taken to the drought-prone regions of the country".
"Immediate
implication of this will be that northern districts of Panchagarh,
Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Kurigram will be
deprived of the perennial river flow and will go dry," Engineer Akhtar
said.
The water board
official, who called the Indian project as a "weapon of mass-destruction",
said though it became public in recent period, the available documents
showed that the concept of inter-basin water transfer originated in the
early 1950s when Dr LK Rao came up with the idea.
But, he said,
the Indian officials have been seriously working on it since 1980 when
their National Water Master Plan was formulated with the main focus on
inter-linking of rivers through canals.
Barrister Moinul
Hosein said nearly half of Bangladesh population would lose their income
while the country would be exposed to permanent famine due to the proposed
Indian project, which he said the neighbouring country undertook defying
all international laws and conventions.
Professor of
Geography of the Dhaka University MA Awal said India could have undertaken
desalination projects to treat seawater to be used for irrigation with the
huge money they planned to spend for inter-linking the rivers drying up
the lower riparian Bangladesh.
The roundtable
was organised a day after leading professionals urged the Indian Supreme
Court to review its recent order asking the New Delhi authorities to
inter-link its major rivers to divert waters to the country's
drought-prone regions eventually affecting the lower riparian Bangladesh. PM greets new Bhutanese Prime Minister The Bangladesh Observer
Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia has greeted new Bhutanese Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigmi Y
Thinley, reports UNB.
“It gives me
immense pleasure to convey you our heartiest congratulations on your
assumption of office of Prime Minister of Bhutan,” she said in a message
to Lyonpo Jigmi Y Thinley on Thursday.
Begum Zia said
Bangladesh highly values relation with Bhutan and looks forward to working
in close cooperation, according to a handout.
NGO presence in Cancun confce restricted The Bangladesh Observer
World Trade
Organisation (WTO) is allowing a limited number of NGO representatives to
join its fifth ministerial meet began in Cancun on Wednesday, angering the
civil society members, reports UNB.
WTO Director of
External Relations Alain Frank told NGOs that the WTO had decided to limit
the number of representatives an NGO could register and the number of the
registered representatives who will be permitted to enter the Convention
Centre.
WTO officials
took the decision on the plea of limited capacity in the Cancun Convention
centre compared to the huge number of NGO representatives registered
officially, an observer from Bangladesh told UNB on Thursday.
He said WTO was
expecting some 3000 delegates and similar number of people from the press
and NGO communities against the capacity of 5,000 of the centre, where the
ministerial meet being held.
“The
restriction on NGO access has angered the civil society,” said CPD
research fellow Dr Ananya Raihan, participating in the WTO ministerial as
observer from Bangladesh.
“WTO has not
yet learned how to deal with the idea when ministers make legally binding
agreements with serious implications for democracy that the public has the
right to listen, engage and react,” an NGO representative was quoted as
saying.
According to a
Geneva-based trade observer, Dr Ananya said, the restriction on NGO access
might have unforeseen consequences.
While NGOs
arrived in Cancun to promote the interests of the poor, Dr Ananya said, it
was a bit frustrating that there was a common position of NGOs on various
important issues. The NGOs participating in the meet are being dominated
by those of the US and EU.
Among the NGOs,
33 percent are form Europe, 33 per cent from the US and the rest form
other countries, he said adding, “virtually the NGO strategy to protest
the imbalance mechanisms of the WTO has been stolen by the NGOs from the
developed countries.”
He said various events were being organised by the NGOs on the sidelines of the WTO meet, but there is little representation from NGOs from the developing countries. Implementation of government regulation stressed OUR CORRESPONDENT, COX'S BAZAR, The Independent Sept 12 : Leaders of coastal fishermen community under the banner of Fisheries Management Organisations (FMOs) held rallies in all the eight upazilas of the district on September 6, supporting the government regulations regarding protection and development of marine resources. The speakers at the rallies called upon the coastal fishermen to be united under the banner of FMOs to preserve their interest for secured livelihood and cooperate in the implementation of the regulations enacted for the preservation of seas fishes. Later, the leaders submitted memoranda to the Nirbahi Officers of the eight upazilas demanding measures for the implementation of the government regulations. This is for the first time that the fishermen took to the streets in support of the government policies aimed at serving the interests of the fishermen community. Project Management Unit in Cox's Bazar and some of its service providers such as BCAS, CNRS. BASTOB and GMF facilitated in organising the rallies. It is to be noted that the Fisheries Department is implementing a project, funded by UNDP and executed by FAO in the eight upazilas of the district. At the project's intervention, the coastal fishermen have come under the self managed and operated village level organisations and formed Upazila and District Federations of VOs for an overall co-ordination of VO's activities. The fishermen of the entire district have formed six gear based organisations under FMO. The organisations are MSBN ESAN, Gill Net, Beach Seine, Lange Line and Fish Trap. A network committee has been formed at the district level to coordinate the activities of the six organisations. Anti-WTO protest rally in city Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star Hundreds of protesters yesterday mourned the suicide of a South Korean farmer at a demonstration in Dhaka against the world trade talks in Cancun and demanded punishment to the guilty.
Some left-leaning parties staged separate demonstrations against discriminations to poor nations at the meeting of World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministers in the Mexican resort. Photo: STAR "We want punishment to those responsible for the death of farmer Lee Kyang Hae," Shireen Akhter, president of Karmojibi Nari, told a rally at Shahbagh. "We will not allow the Cancun meet to succeed if it does not take the demands of poor nations into consideration," she said. Hae stabbed himself in the chest during the demonstrations in Cancun on Wednesday and later died in hospital. One of his friends said his suicide was an "act of sacrifice" to show his disgust at the WTO and its policies. Four left-leaning parties from a rally at Muktangan urged Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury not to sign any agreement at the Cancun meet that goes against the interest of the least developed countries (LDCs) including Bangladesh. They vowed to build up a tougher movement against the government if it inked any agreement at Cancun that would hamper Bangladesh's interest. The Jatiya Gano Front, Biplobi Oikya Front (BOF), Ganotantrik Majdur Party (GMP) and Ganosanghati Andolon orgaised the rally. Nazrul Islam, a coordinator of the left-leaning parties, said the developed countries were pressing the poor countries to withdraw farm subsidy, but the developed countries including the United States were heavily subsidising their agriculture sector. Terming the WTO 'an anti-poor organisation', he said it by no means served the interest of poor nations including Bangladesh. Moshrefa Mishu, convener of the BOF, said duty- and quota-free access would not serve the interest of the LDCs, rather the rich countries would control their markets. Pegging the WTO as 'an organisation of rich countries', Abdus Salam, politburo member of the GMP, said it always planned plunder of poor nations' wealth. "The government is interested in going by the suggestions of the US rather than considering the interest of the people," he added. The rally was presided over by Zonaed Saki, convenor of the four left-leaning parties. The demonstrators later brought out a procession that paraded through Gulistan and Paltan area. 'Implement Modhupur development project' Staff
Correspondent, Modhupur, The Daily
Star They said those who are opposing the project, want to destroy the peace in the area and do not want the development of Modhupur. The meeting was organised by a section of local Bangalee and indigenous people at Chuniya cottage premises of Dokhla forest range office recently. Rev Eugene E Homrich of St. Paul Church attended the meeting as chief guest while Michle Simsung, chairman of Bangladesh Tribal Welfare Association, Modhupur branch, was in the chair. Rev Eugene E Homrich said the wall was needed for their peace and protection. "The Garos are being educated now. They don't need to make protest against the government plan," he added. Rev Eugene E Homrich said as peace-loving citizens, we are to obey the law of the country. The speakers said the indigenous people would give all possible assistance to complete the construction of the wall. They urged the government to implement the project immediately and punish those who are opposing the project. The meeting was addressed by William Dajel and Helim Jatra, local tribal leaders, Md Zakir Hossain, chairman of Auronkhola UP, Md Yakub Ali, chairman of Shelkuri UP and Abdus Samad, commander of Muktijoddha Sangsad. It is recalled that a group of indigenous people earlier organised rally and staged demonstration against the implementation of the project. They said if the wall was constructed they would be imprisoned within it like the animals of the zoo. The Tk 10 crore ADB-funded project started in 2000 and was supposed to end within this fiscal year. The project included construction of 61,000 foot wall, 10 picnic spots, three cottages and two bird sanctuaries. Only some 18,000 foot wall has so far been constructed. The rest of the work has been stopped in the face of the protest. |
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Demonstrators
hold placards at a rally in Dhaka yesterday to mourn South Korean farmer
Lee Kyang Hae who knifed himself to death to protest the policies of World
Trade Organisation now holding talks at the Mexican resort of Cancun.