Month: August 2022

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said saving power and fuel oil does not mean that there had been looting in the sector.

“Rather, BNP plundered during their regime. We after coming to power stopped that indiscriminate looting and developed the country,” she said.

The prime minister said this while inaugurating a blood donation programme arranged by the Bangladesh Krishak League in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi-32. She joined the programme virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.

Krishak League arranged the programme and discussion as part of the month-long programme of Awami League and its associate organizations to mark the National Mourning Day commemorating the martyrdom of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Hasina slammed the BNP for staging hurricane lamp protest against government’s power saving measures.

“Hand them hurricane lamps instead, and show them the door,” she said.

The PM said that all countries across the globe have been gone for austerity in power and fuel oil in the wake of worldwide crisis due to Russia-Ukraine war as the entire world including the developed countries are in hardship.

“All have to keep that in their mind. When the developed countries are facing serious troubles, we have taken pre-cautionary measurers to avoid falling in any danger in the coming days,” she said.

“Keeping that in mind we are maintaining austerity,” she added.

She said that the present AL government upgraded the power sector with the capability of producing 24,000MW from only 3500MW.

“It was not possible if there were any looting here. When there is looting in any sector, it shrinks,” she said.

Hasina, also the ruling AL chief, said that those who reduced the electricity production from 4300MW to 3000MW were engaged in looting.

“And those who have been able to increase the production they utilise every penny for the betterment,” she added.

She said her government has taken all necessary measures keeping in mind the possible hardship due to Ukraine war so that the common people do not have to suffer.

She mentioned that the BNP and its allies destroyed the spirit and ideology of the nation on what Bangladesh emerged through huge sacrifice and long struggle under the leadership of Bangabandhu.

Pointing out misrules of the regimes after 1975, the prime minister said, Zia snatched the voting rights of the people forming a party by staying in the state power illegally and gave curfew democracy instead.

The people had no rights during the tenure of military dictator Zia and so was during the Ershad regime, she said.

The PM said BNP leaders should not talk about election as the BNP staged fake voting at Magura, Mirpur and in Dhaka-10 constituency in the past.

In her speech, the Awami League President highlighted long struggles and sacrifices of the Father of the Nation since 1948 for the cause of the rights of mother tongue and establish independent Bangladesh.

Talking about the August 15 massacre, Hasina, the eldest child of Bangabandhu, in an emotion-chocked voice said that her father, mother and brothers were killed by the Bangalees for whom her father sacrificed his whole life.

“I never find the answer of this question, how the Bangalees could do such kind of hypocrisy and dishonesty?” she wondered.

She mentioned that just before 1975 there were false propaganda against Bangabandhu and his family members, and Awami League leaders.

The prime minister said that her party had been able to restore democracy in the country through long movement and struggle.

“If real democracy prevails in a country then fate of the people changes totally. Today’s Bangladesh is the example of that,” she said.

She said the AL grew from the mass people and its leaders and activists are ready to sacrifice for the nation. So when this party comes to power and runs the government with ideology and policy then the country must develop, she added.

“The present Bangladesh is the great example of that,” she said.

She said that since assuming office in 2009 the government has been working tirelessly for improving the living standard of the people.

Hasina asked the Krishak League leaders and workers to continue to work following Bangabandhu’s ideology and build a hunger-and-poverty-free prosperous Bangladesh.

She mentioned that Bangabandhu was killed at a time when the nation was progressing fast towards socio-economic development under his dynamic leadership after the independence.

She thanked Krishak League for arranging the blood donation programme programme aimed at saving the life of the critical patients.

Awami League presidium member Matia Chowdhury, Presidium member and Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque, Joint Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Agriculture Secretary Faridunnanahar Laily, Organising Secretary Advocate Afzal Hossain and Office Secretary Barrister Biplob Barua also spoke at the programme.

Krishak League President Krishibid Samir Chanda presided over the function, while its General Secretary Umme Kulsum Smiriti, spoke, among others.

A minute of silence was observed in memory of the martyrs of August 15 massacre.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

The opening of Rampal power plant is there in the “wish list” as Bangladesh and India are taking preparations for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi first week of September.

“At an inter-ministerial meeting we will try to understand what we can do. But it’s (Rampal power plant) there in the wish list,” said Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen.

He made the remarks when his attention was drawn to a report carried on Sunday by an Indian media outlet speculating opening of the plant by the leaders of the two countries.

Hasina together with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi are expected to jointly inaugurate the 1320mw Maitree super thermal power Station during her visit to India in the first week of September, said The Hindustan Times on Sunday.

It is a joint partnership between India’s state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Bangladesh Power Development Board. The joint venture company is known as Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (BIFPC).

While PM Hasina is expected to visit India any time between September 5 and 7 and stay for two to three days, the visit has been accorded utmost importance by the Modi government as Dhaka happens to be one of India’s closest allies, read the report.

Earlier, PM Modi extended an invitation to PM Hasina to visit India in 2022 in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

At the seventh round of the Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting held in New Delhi on June 19, Bangladesh and India agreed to work closely together to further strengthen cooperation in the areas of common rivers and water resources management.

The two countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of IT and cyber security, renewable energy, agriculture and food security, sustainable trade, climate change and disaster management.

The two countries witnessed momentum in their relations last year with a series of engagements including high-level visits.

At the invitation of President Abdul Hamid, the then Indian President Ram Nath Kovind paid a State visit to Bangladesh from December 15 to 17 last year to attend the 50th Victory Day celebrations here as the guest of honour.

The Indian premier also had paid a landmark visit to Bangladesh on March 26 and 27 last year and those visits were of “historical significance” given the 50th anniversary of the shared sacrifices of the people of the two countries during Bangladesh’s struggle for Liberation in 1971.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Singapore early Monday, kicking off her Asian tour as questions swirled over a possible stop in Taiwan that has fueled tension with Beijing.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that Pelosi and her delegation landed in the city-state before dawn. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details to the media.

Pelosi will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and meet with a number of Cabinet Ministers, said a spokesperson for Singapore’s foreign ministry.

She is also expected to attend a cocktail reception with the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. There is no media access to her visit, which has been kept under tight wraps.

In a statement over the weekend, Pelosi said she will also visit Malaysia, South Korea and Japan to discuss trade, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, security and “democratic governance.”

She didn’t confirm news reports that she might visit Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing as its own territory. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against meddling in Beijing’s dealings with the island in a phone call last week with his American counterpart, Joe Biden.

Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step U.S. leaders say they don’t support. Pelosi, head of one of three branches of the U.S. government, would be the highest-ranking elected American official to visit Taiwan since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997.

The Biden administration has tried to assure Beijing there was no reason to “come to blows” and that if such a visit occurred, it would signal no change in U.S. policy.

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Taiwan and China split in 1949 after the communists won a civil war on the mainland. Both sides say they are one country but disagree over which government is entitled to national leadership. They have no official relations but are linked by billions of dollars of trade and investment.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but maintains informal relations with the island. Washington is obligated by federal law to see that Taiwan has the means to defend itself.

Washington’s “One China policy” says it takes no position on the status of the two sides but wants their dispute resolved peacefully. Beijing promotes an alternative “One China principle” that says they are one country and the Communist Party is its leader.

A visit to Taiwan would be a career capstone for Pelosi, who increasingly uses her position in Congress as a U.S. emissary on the global stage. She has long challenged China on human rights and wanted to visit Taiwan earlier this year.

Pelosi’s delegation includes U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Mark Takano, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs; Suzan DelBene, vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee; Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and chair of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform; and Andy Kim, a member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Monday filed a case against chairman of Lakshmipur Model Union of Chandpur Sadar Upazila and the owner of Shapla Media Production Company Salim Khan as the commission found illegal wealth of TK 34 crore and concealing the information of about Taka 67 lakh.

ACC Assistant Director and Investigation Officer Ataur Rahman filed the main case wirh Dhaka Co-ordinated Office-1 of ACC.

As the complaint against Salim Khan was initially proved, a notice of submission of assets statement was issued against him with the approval of the commission, the ACC Secretary said.

After verifying the asset statement submitted by him, evidence of concealment of information of assets of Tk 66 lakh 99 thousand. In addition, the investigation of the ACC found evidence of assets outside the known income of TK34 crore 53 lakh 81 thousand and the case has been approved against him under Section 26 (2) and 27 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004.

Earlier, on April 26, Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes banned Salim Khan from traveling abroad for 60 days in view of ACC’s application. Later the time is extended in view of reapplying.

On September 20, 2020, the ACC issued a notice to Salim Khan and his wife Shahanara Begum asking for an account of their assets as preliminary evidence of illegal assets was found during the investigation. After checking various documents including income tax statement of Salim Khan, his family expenditure account was found to be TK34 lakh 88 thousand 800 taka while his total income is 61 lakh 72 thousand taka including the salary and allowance received as the chairman of the union council.

A notice to file a statement of assets was issued after the ACC’s investigation found evidence of illegal assets,he added.

In addition, on April 6 of this year, an enforcement team led by ACC assistant director Rafi Nazmus Sa’dat conducted an operation by the enforcement team for verifying the allegations against Salim Khan.

During the operation, the ACC team made a spot inspection of the proposed land for Chandpur Science and Technology University at a distance of 800 meters from the Meghna River along the Chandpur-Haimchar road at Lakshmipur Mauza of Chandpur Sadar Upazila.

The education minister’s family has recently been accused of irregularities in the acquisition of land for the proposed Chandpur University of Science and Technology.

It is alleged that the education minister’s family members, relatives and his close friends bought and sold land in Lakshmipur Mauza of Sadar Upazila while his elder brother Dr. Jawadur Rahim Wadud 99 percent of one acre land in 6 deeds, his cousin Zahidul Islam 61 percent of one acre and Laxmipur UP chairman Salim Khan also bought 19 acres of land there.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

BNP Vice-Chairman Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed on Monday alleged that police attacked their party’s rally in Bhola and opened fire killing a Swechchasebak Dal leader to silence the dissenting voices.

“Swechchasebak Dal leader Abdur Rahim was shot dead by police forces in my district Bhola yesterday (Sunday) without any provocation. It amounts to homicide,” he said.

Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader alleged that police beat their party leaders and activists mercilessly and sprayed bullets on them when they were bringing out a procession after a meeting at their party office there.

“The attack was made to silence the dissenting voices. Such a killing has been carried out also to prevent the fearless people who are taking to the streets for the restoration of democracy and to create terror in their minds,” he observed.

Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Garment Sramik Dal arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club.

As part of BNP’s countrywide demonstration programme protesting the load shedding and mismanagement in the power sector, the leaders and activists of the party gathered in front of their district party office in Bhola on Sunday morning.

At one stage, police obstructed them when they tried to stage demonstrations at Kalinath Roy Bazar around 11:30 am, triggering a clash. Later, police fired bullets and lobbed teargas shells that left Abdur Rahim dead and many other leaders and activists of the party injured.

Hafiz warned that no government can stay in power long by resorting to repression and firing bullets at common people.

He alleged that the Awami League government is only busy making money and securing its power. “They are least bothered about suffering, life and death of people. That’s why they want to cling to power by firing on innocent people.”

The BNP leader said there is now no alternative to holding a credible election in the country under a non-party neutral government to overcome the political crisis.

Meanwhile, BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy alleged that police opened fire at their rally in Bhola at the behest of the government.

“The SP in Bhola would have been suspended while those who sprayed bullets would have been closed by the time had the government not instructed them to carry out the incident,” he said.

The BNP leader made the remarks while speaking at a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club arranged by the Jatiyatabadi Swechchasebak Dal protesting the killing of its leader Abdur Rahim in police firing.

He warned that their party will not sit idle if the government continues its repressive acts. “We’ll be more organised and take to the streets unitedly.”

Stating that police have no right to prevent people from exercising their constitutional rights to hold rallies and bring out processions, Gayeshwar said those who fired at the rally in Bhola would have to be accountable one day.

Source: United News of Bangladesh