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The country’s RMG sector has experienced at least 72 incidents of labour unrest, over demand for payment of dues, in the past six months from January 1 to June 30, reveals a report of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies.
   The incidents left at least 988 workers injured in police actions while 45 workers were arrested and more than 10,000 were sued and at least 78 workers were sacked over participation in demonstrations, said the BILS report, published on Tuesday.
   According to the report, 41 of the incidents took place in connection with the demand for payment of their dues.
   In 13 cases, the workers took to streets to protest at the killing or torture on their colleagues. Among others, declaration of lay-off or closure, and termination and curtailment of leave or holiday were the causes of demonstrations and unrest.
   Of the incidents, 13 occurred in January, three in February, seven in March, twenty-two in April, eleven in May and sixteen occurred in June, the report disclosed.
   The apparel sector experienced a severe labour unrest in the beginning of this year. In the first week of January, thousands of workers in Mirpur and Pallibi areas took to streets to protest at the killing of a worker inside a factory. Workers from most of the factories around joined them in the demonstration.
   According to the report, eight incidents of unrest occurred in Mirpur zone during the period while 16 incidents took place in Savar-Ashulia area including the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, 19 incidents in Gazipur-Kaliakoir area, 12 in Narayanganj-Fatullah area, three in Rampura-Banani area, six in Chittagong and four others occurred in Comilla, Narsingdi, Demra and Tejgaon areas.
   In Mirpur, the major factories were Out Wear, Out Right, Outfit, ABM Garments, OPEX Garments, SQ Sweaters, Atlantic Garments, Protik Garments, Vertex Garments and Yng Ming.
   In Savar-Ashulia area, the factories were Universe Knit, Panna Textile, Marks Garments, Squire Textiles, Experience, Xevian Sweater, Texlita, Future Garments, Softex Garments, AKH Group, Dhaka Daising, GB Garments, Taj Future Design, Medler Apparels, Pacroco Ltd, Shed Fashion Ltd, P & O Attires, Miraj Knitwear, MGM Knit, Han and Juts, Shed Fashion, and Hollywood Fashion.
   In Gazipur, the factories were Joang Global, Jahanara Spinning Mills, FS Sweater, Ashraf Textile, Cotton Club, Mondol Garments, Needle Wef Garments, Tanvir Fashion, Al Amin Fabrics, Apex Weaving, Kuliarchar Sweater Factory, Amra Appeals, Seal Textile, Rose Knitting Factory, Pendora Sweater Factory, Ureka Apparels, Protik Sweater and La Novotex Garments.
   In Narayanganj, the factories were Metro Garments, Liberty and Mishu Wear Garments, Jaya Group, Knit Cotton Composite, Micro Fibre, Pacific Sweater, Fuji Garments, NS Creations, Joya Garments, Western Garments, Sonargaon Garments, Camen Garments, and Time Sweater Factory.
   In Rampura-Banani area, the factories were Unicorn New Appeals, Mast Sweater, and Expo Garments.
   In Chittagong, the factories were Premium Style Garments, Chowdhury Apparels, Azim Group, Orchid Sweater, BPL Fashion and 40 other factories, the BILS documentation said.

The Khulna city corporation mayor-elect, Talukder Abdul Khaleque on Tuesday vowed to rid off the organisation from all sorts of corruption.
   In his initial reaction, immediately after the declaration of his victory by returning officer at about 6:15pm on Tuesday at Khulna divisional election office, Khaleque said he would make conservancy department stronger and take effective measures for managing the garbage.
   The mayor-elect also assured supply of safe water for the city dwellers.
   He thanked the voters and supporters for his victory and sought assistance from all quarters to perform his responsibilities.
   Admitting that the roads of the corporation were in bad shape, Khaleque assured to repair those gradually.
   ‘I will work with all the newly elected corporation councillors to make a better Khulna city,’ he asserted.
   Replying to newsmen, Khaleque said that he would not tolerate any favouritism and act neutrally coming out of party politics.
   ‘I shall quit from the post of Khulna City Awami League president if law does not permit to maintain both at a time,’ he said.
   Khaleque, nominee of AL led 14 party alliance, was elected KCC mayor securing 1,57,812 votes against his nearest competitor, Khulna BNP leader and KCC acting mayor, Moniruzzaman Moni, who bagged 1,31,976 votes.
   Four other candidates including Khulna CPB’s former president advocate Firoz Ahmed, Khulna City AL member advocate Enayet Ali, SM Moslem Uddin Ahmod and Tayebur Rahman bagged 14223 votes, 3077 votes, 1027 votes and 589 votes respectively.
   Moniruzzaman Moni, in a statement, greeted the mayor-elect Khaleque and the corporation councillors.

Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday emphasised the need for undertaking policy at the state, institution and personal levels to foster sustained development of Bio-informatics in Bangladesh as a prime mover of economic indices.
   They also said Bangladesh identified Biotechnology as one of the keys for its growth, economic prosperity and devoted major resources to harness this technology.
   They made the observations while addressing a seminar on ‘Bio-informatics: Prospects and Opportunies for Bangladesh’ organised by Bangladesh Academic of Sciences at conference hall of Dhaka University Centre of Excellence Building.
   DU vice-chancellor Professor SMA Faiz attended the seminar as chief guest while VC of BRAC University Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury and Pro-VC of DU Professor AFM Yusuf Haider as special guests. President of BAS Professor Shamsher Ali presided over the seminar while its secretary Professor Naiyyum Choudhury gave vote of thanks.
   Dr Hasan Jamil of Wayne State University of USA, Dr Abdur Rahamn Sikder of University of California, USA and Professor Animesh Ray of Keck Graduate Institute of USA presented three key notes papers in the seminar.

Fifty-three employees of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board staged hunger strike at Nagar Bhaban in the Dhaka city on Tuesday, demanding their due salaries of 25 months and regularisation of their jobs.
   The strike was withdrawn following assurance from the communication ministry after 5:00pm, employees said. The employees said they were absorbed in the DTCB in 2001 and got salaries up to June 2006. The jobs of DTCB officials and other employees were regularised but the jobs of the 53 have remained uncertain since 2006.
   ‘We continued our service and obeyed the orders of the higher authorities but we are not getting our salaries for the past 25 months,’ said a striking driver, Shahidul Islam. The employees alleged that their jobs were not regularised on various pretext.
   Later, the employees submitted a memorandum to the DTCB chairman, who is also the mayor of Dhaka city, on July 14 but the authorities were yet to make any decision regarding the matter, Shahidul Islam.
   On Tuesday, the employees staged hunger strike unto death on the 12th floor of Nagar Bhaban from 9:00am but senior officials of the communication ministry reached the spot in the afternoon and assured them that their problem will be addressed soon.
   ‘We have postponed our programme for two weeks and it will resume again if the problems are not addressed by then,’ Shahidul added.

Cellular phone sets and cash worth around Tk 2.5 lakh were stolen from a cell phone sales centre at Shantinagar in Dhaka early Tuesday.
   Burglars entered the Depto Tele World housed on the third floor of the Concord Twin Tower Shopping Complex in the city without breaking any lock and took away 50 cell phone sets and Tk 8,000, said Zahirul Islam Shawpan, owner of the shop. He and his employees came to know about the incident when they opened the shop Tuesday morning. They closed the shop at about 9:10pm the previous day, he said.
   The police picked up Hazrat Ali, 52, Nurul Haque, 50, and Manowar Mia, 25 for interrogation.

Security and financial analysts on Tuesday said lapses in and coordination among agencies concerned are major obstacles in preventing terror financing.
   They made the observation in a two-day international workshop that began in the Dhaka city to review the money flow situation in terror links.
   ‘Money in the hand of terrorists is the money that kills innocent people,’ retired major general Muniruzzaman of Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies said opening the workshop being attended by representatives of global security watchdogs, research groups, banks, government departments and security agencies including police and army.
   ‘A clear concept was needed to fight the menace as money is the lifeline of the terrorist outfits,’ Muniruzzaman obsedved.
   The Bangladesh Centre For Terrorism Research, the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research and the WORLD-CHECK, a global databank on terrorism suspects, have jointly organised the workshop titled ‘Countering the Financing of Terrorism’.
   Director of he Counter Terrorism Bureau Brigadier General ATM Amin said two counter terrorism organisations and elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion in security side, and intelligence units of Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue were tasked to keep a vigil against terror financing in the country.
   But, he said, a serious ‘lack of coordination’ between the financial intelligence units and the security agencies remained a major problem in monitoring the money flow for the terror acts. Bangladesh crucially needed to introduce digital accounting system to sharpen the vigil, he added.
   Amin said when a criminal activity generates substantial profits the individual or group involved must find a way to hide the funds without drawing attention from others.
   ‘Criminals do this by disguising the sources, changing forms or moving the funds to a place where they are less likely to draw attention even on a small scale,’ he said. On the other hand, he said, when a minimum $5,000 is required for a very small act of terrorism, the process of recruiting, training and sustaining sleeper operations over years requires significant amounts.
   The scale of the problem, he said as faced by Bangladesh, occurs outside the normal range of economic statistics.
   According to the estimate of International Monetary Fund, the aggregate size of money laundering in the world could be between two to five per cent of world’s gross domestic product.
   Singapore-based ICPVTR chief Rohan Gunaratna and Arabinda Acharya of the same research group in another paper said different terrorist networks with varied structures and financial sources, it is important to understand how terrorists commit crime to help counter- terrorism agencies to respond them.
   Some of the global terrorist outfits, they said, were state-sponsored while some operate as quasi-states deriving finance from drug trade or by other linkages, while rests were decentralised, widely dispersed, they said.
   ‘Fifteen such groups raise money from their domestic supporters, as well as from diasporas across the globe,’ Rohan said.
   The paper said many of the donors were unaware about the use of their money as a major source of terrorist funding in recent years. As a result, the money from charitable organisations and even the global corporate entities like shell companies and offshore trusts are being abused.
   In many offshore centres such as Antigua, the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Labuan Malta, Mauritius and Vanuatu, there are minimal regulations on international business companies and trust arrangements. ‘This helps the promoters mask their true identities and the value, nature and location of their assets, creating opportunities for criminal money laundering and financing of terrorist activities,’ he said.
   The first day of the workshop also witnessed a presentation on the case study on the 2005 London Bombings by Sujoyini Mandal of ICPVTR.

The president Professor Iajuddin Ahmed Tuesday urged the leaders of Bangladesh Scouts to put in their best efforts to increase the number of scouts, particularly the girl guides, for strengthening the scouts movement in the country.
   He also called for ensuring the quality of scouting to extend quality services for the common people and play positive role to guide the youths in the right path.
   The president made the call when a delegation of Bangladesh Scouts, led by its newly elected president and education secretary Mohammad Momtazul Islam, met with him at Bangabhaban.
   The delegation sought the president’s cooperation and guidance in implementing various programmes of the scouts and to further strengthen the movement.
   They apprised Iajuddin of different activities of Bangladesh Scouts and its leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region.
   The president, who is the chief scout of the country, welcomed the newly elected office bearers and national commissioners and lauded Bangladesh Scouts for its post-Sidr rehabilitation programme.
   The president’s office secretary Md Sirajul Islam, president’s military secretary Major General Mohammad Ruhul Amin and president’s press secretary Abdul Awal Howlader were present.

The regular mobile court of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority on Tuesday filed nine cases against and realised Tk 44,500 from different motor vehicles in fines in Dhaka for taking excess fare and not having proper documents.
   The court also seized seven buses, including five CNG-run buses for taking excess fare and two for not having proper documents. The court also seized a CNG-run auto-rickshaw for taking passenger on contract and a human hauler for not having legal papers. The court, led by BRTA executive magistrate (deputy secretary) Abdur Rashid, filed the cases during a drive at Mohammadpur. The seized buses and vehicles were one each of Megacity, Rajacity, Midway Paribahan, Shotabdi Paribahan, ATCL and two buses of route No-12 plying between Chittagong Road and Mohammadpur.
   Besides, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the BRTA during their special drive conducted at four points in the capital against unfit vehicles and drivers filed 43 cases against unfit vehicles and drivers. The special DMP and BRTA team comprised BRTA inspectors, technical assistants, traffic sergeants and constables.
   The drive started on August 1 and will continue up to August 14, BRTA officials said.

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at a few places over all the six divisions— Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet — with moderately heavy falls at places during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   The day temperature may slightly fall over the country, it said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Monday, 34.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Rajshahi and the lowest, 24.1 degrees Celsius, in Sylhet.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:38pm and rises tomorrow at 5:31am. The Met office predicted a little change in the outlook for subsequent two days and increased rainfall activity in the end period of the extended outlook for another five days.

The High Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentences of nine ultra-left outfit operatives in the murder case of five leaders of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, including its president Kazi Aref Ahmed, in Kushtia in 1999.
   The High Court bench of Justice AKM Fazlur Rahman and Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, however, acquitted 14 others.
   Of the 14 people, one was sentenced to death and others to life imprisonment by the trial court on August 30, 2004.
   The High Court delivered the judgment after hearing the death reference and appeal against the trial court verdict in the murder case.
   The additional district and sessions judge of Kushtia, Fazlur Rahman, earlier sentenced 10 of the accused to death and 13 to life imprisonment. The court acquitted only of the accused, Mahtab, of the charges.
   An armed gang killed the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president, Aref, also a freedom fighter, along with four of his local unit colleagues when he was addressing a rally against political violence at Kalidaspur of Daulatpur in Kushtia on February 16, 1999.
   The High Court upheld the sentences of death to Ilias Hossain, Baker, Mannan Mollah, Anwar, Rashedul Islam Jhantu, Jahan, Jalal, Safyat Hossain and Rawshan Ali. The court acquitted Shair Uddin, who was sentenced to death by the trial court.
   The trial court sentenced 13 of the accused — Rofat, Asgar Joardar, Faraj Ali, Feroz, Tashir, Garesh Sardar, Mohit, Nazrul, Lablu, Laltu, Oliar Rahman, Akubbar, and Tikka — to life imprisonment, but the High Court acquitted them of the charges.
   Subsinsector Humayun Kabir lodged the case with the Daulatpur police station on February 16, 1999 against unnamed people. The Criminal Investigation Department pressed charges in the case against 28 people.
   Former BNP lawmaker Reza Ahmed Bachchu Mollah and Daulatpur unit Juba Dal organising secretary Hablu Mollah were named in the charge sheet.
   The High Court had, however, quashed the case against Bachchu Mollah and the government had withdrawn the charges against Hablu Mollah before the trial. Kachhi and Nurul, also accused in the case, died during the trial.
   Binoy Kumar Bose appeared for the state and Jaman Akhter Bulbul and Mansurul Haque Chowdhury defended the accused in the High Court.

The election of Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran to the post of Sylhet city mayor has given rise to questions about the objectives of the January 11, 2007, changeover that led to the arrest of many corruption suspects, including Kamran, a key adviser admitted on Tuesday.
   Hossain Zillur Rahman, however, insisted that it was the responsibility of the political parties to nominate clean candidates to meet public expectations for bringing changes in the quality of politics and steering democracy forward.
   ‘It [election of detained Kamran] definitely has given rise to some questions’, the commerce and education adviser, who is an active negotiator with political parties, told reporters when asked if the election of Kamran, now under trial on corruption charges, had called into question the whole objective of the January 11, 2007 takeover by the present government and its subsequent anti-corruption drives.
   Terming Monday’s voting in four city corporations and nine municipalities an achievement that boosted the people’s confidence, Hossain Zillur said the tasks ahead for the interim government was not very easy as it wanted to hold parliamentary elections by involving all the parties and by taking into cognizance their aspirations and grievances.
   ‘Yesterday’s election was not also an answer to all questions. At the same time, we witnessed a revolution of aspiration of the electorates’, he observed while addressing a roundtable on ‘Bangladesh in the 21st Century’ organised by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute as a follow-up of a recent conference styled ‘Harvard Conference’ on Bangladesh in the US.
   Raunaq Jahan, a professor of political science at Columbia University in the US, pointed out that the issue of reforms had become confusing after the January 11, 2007 changeover, especially when the army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, emphasised Bangladesh’s ‘own brand of democracy’.
   She said it was difficult to eliminate influence of money on elections even in the US and added that Bangladesh could significantly reduce the influence of muscle.
   The charge d’ affaires of the US embassy in Dhaka, Geeta Pasi, lauded the initiative of the Harvard Conference which had made a number of recommendations on democracy, development and foreign policy.
   Abul Hassan Chowdhury, former state minister for foreign affairs, said such initiatives might be lost in the policy negligence unless politicians were indoctrinated with the outcomes of such intellectual exercise.
   Dwelling on foreign policy issues, former foreign secretary Farooq Sobhan stressed the need for increased interactions with India for resolution of the pending issues. ‘Each of us in South Asia is facing the problem of terrorism,’ he said referring to the need for a common stance on the issue.

The Bangladesh Rifles seized a truck loaded with Indian fertiliser at Nabharan in Sharsha upazila of Jessore early Tuesday.
   The BDR sources said a contingent of the BDR had seized the truck loaded with Indian potassium sulphate, lying abandoned at Nabharan at around 12:30am. Sensing the presence of the BDR, the driver and helper of the truck got away. None was arrested in this connection.
   Lieutenant Colonel Badrul Huda, commanding officer, Jessore BDR, told journalists that the fertiliser consignment had come from India.

The 24th anniversary of death of former chief of Bangladesh Navy Mahbub Ali Khan will be observed today, a press release of his family said.
   Different organisations and group of individuals have chalked out elaborate programmes to day. The deceased was the father-in-law of BNP joint secretary general Tarique Rahman.
   Bangladesh Navy will hold prayer sessions at all its naval base in Dhaka, Chittagong, Kaptai, Mongla and Khulna to seek the divine blessings for his departed soul, said the press release signed by Shahina Khan Zaman and Zubaida Khan Rahman.
   Voluntary organisation Suravi would hold prayer sessions and discussion meetings across the country on Wednesday. Special discussion and prayer sessions will be held in Bogra and Jamalpur.
   Besides, a special munajat will be offered in the Holy city of Mecca and Zedda in KSA, London, the USA and in Malaysia.

The High Court on Tuesday asked the Bangla-language weekly Saptahik Shirsho Kagoj’s editor and its reporter of the news-item ‘Justice whitens black money’, to submit by July 13 a report in affidavit disclosing source of the news.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Abu Tariq issued the order during the hearing on a contempt of court proceedings case against Saptahik Shirsho Kagoj.
   The report ‘A judge whitens black money’ published by the Bangla-language weekly on January 7 is at the centre of the case.
   Following publication of the report, Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Shahidul Islam of the High Court on January 10 issued a suo moto contempt of court rule against 18 people including the weekly’s editor Md Ekramul Haque, chief reporter Imtiaz Ahmed and reporter Nasrin Akhter.
   Later, the chief justice transferred the rule to the bench led by Justice Khairul Haque for disposal.

The Rapid Action Battalion seized a light machine gun and six rifles in an abandoned condition from the Nasirabad Housing Society in Chittagong on Tuesday.
   The battalion members said local people found the LMG, rifles, 10 magazines, a barrel and 299 bullets of LMG while digging out earth adjacent to the residence of Barrister Helal Uddin at about 1:05pm.
   They said on receiving the message they went to the spot and seized the arms and ammunitions, adding, the arms and ammunitions had gone out of order.
   The RAB officials suspected the consignment had been kept under the earth during the war of independence in 1971.

Visiting European Union parliament member Nirj Deva paid a courtesy call on the chief of army staff, General Moeen U Ahmed, at the Army Headquarters on Tuesday.
   ‘He spent some time with the army chief and discussed matters of bilateral issues,’ said an ISPR release.

The Detective Branch of police arrested three members of ‘aggyan’ (dope) party from Lalbagh in the city Tuesday afternoon.
   DB sources said the plainclothes police caught Asadul Islam, 30, Jashim, 30, and Kabir, 30, when they were running away along with a rickshaw after making its puller unconscious by feeding him sedative items at Nazimuddin road of Lalbagh at about 4:00pm. In another drive on Monday night, DB police arrested two people — Faruk Hossain Tutul, 30, and Bhashani, 32, — along with 33 rounds of bullet when they were passing Tantibazar area in the city by a motorbike. Separate cases were filed.

Two alleged muggers were arrested with two firearms at west Rampura in Dhaka Monday night.
   Tipped-off, a team of the Rapid Action Battalion in plain clothes raided a house on Palashbagh road and arrested Palash Khan, 21, and Anik Chowdhury, 19, at about 9:00pm. Two pistols with bullets were seized from them. The battalion sources said Palash and Anik admitted that they used to mug on the streets at gunpoint.

Rickshaw puller found dead in city
Twenty-three-year-old rickshaw puller Anisur Rahman, a resident of a slum on Kuril Biswa Road at Khilkhet in Dhaka, was found dead at Tejgaon in the city on Tuesday. The police said they recovered the body from in front of the Essential Drugs Company Limited on Satrasta Crossing at about 7:30am. There were marks of injuries on the head and other parts of the body, the police said expressing doubt whether it was a murder or an accidental death. The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.
— New Age

Workshop on UNESCO programme
A workshop on prospects of UNESCO coupon programme in Bangladesh will be held at the BANBEIS conference hall at Palashy-Nillkhet in Dhaka on August 11. The workshop aims to disseminate information on the prospects and procedure of the use of UNESCO coupons. Shantha Rotnasingam, chief of coupons programme of UNESCO headquarters and Mahmudul Hassan, secretary of the Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO, and Malama Meleisea, director and UNESCO representative in Bangladesh, will attend the workshop.
— BSS