Selection body formed for anti-graft commission
The selection committee to pick commissioners for the proposed
independent Anti-corruption Commission was formed on May 9. The move
follows growing pressure on the government from Bangladesh's development
partners on the issue. Under the framework of the commission act, the
proposed commission will have three commissioners, who will be picked
for a four-year term by the president from a six-member panel chosen
by the selection committee. The five-member selection committee will
have a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court as its chairman
and a judge of the High Court Division, the chairman of the Public Service
Commission, the comptroller and auditor general and the last retired
cabinet secretary as its members. The chief justice yesterday nominated
Appellate Division Judge MA Aziz and High Court Division Judge Nazrul
Islam Chowdhury for the selection committee. Now the committee, led
by Justice MA Aziz, will meet to make a panel of commissioners. The
act stipulates that people with 20 years of experience in law, education,
administration, judiciary or armed forces would be eligible for the
posts of commissioner. Law Minister Moudud Ahmed told The Daily Star
May 9 night that he is optimistic that the selection committee will
finalise the commissioner panel soon and that the commission will be
functional by the month-end. The Jatiya Sangsad on February 17 passed
the much-talked-about Anti-corruption Commission Bill, 2004, introduced
on July 10 last year, in an amended form, making way for institution
of an independent body to fight graft. - Daily Star, 10 May 2004
Policy
for welfare of women approved
The Cabinet of the Council of Ministers has approved the draft of National
Women Development Policy, aiming to establish women's rights and ensure
their security in all spheres of national life at the PM office Monday
night 10 May with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the chair. At the meeting,
the Cabinet was informed about the activities of the monitoring cell,
set up to check trafficking of women and children. The meeting decided
to impart necessary training to the members of law-enforcing agencies
to make their role in checking women and children trafficking more effective
and intensify campaign to raise public awareness in this regard. It
also endorsed a proposal to support WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control (FCTC) by Bangladesh in controlling tobacco. Another proposal
to formulate a law to discourage smoking and the use of tobacco-made
goods was also approved at the meeting. Besides, the meeting approved
the draft bill of Birth-Death Registration Act 2004. The cabinet was
also apprised of the progress of implementation of the decisions it
took earlier. - Bangladesh Observer, 13 May 2004
Court
okays use of recovered arms
The Metropolitan Sessions court of Chittagong has authorised the government
to use the huge arms and ammunition seized from Chittagong Urea Fertiliser
Ltd (CUFL) jetty and directed to specifically decide which of the forces
should be given those arms. Public Prosecutor (PP) on behalf of the
home ministry filed a petition seeking permission from the Court of
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) to use the seized arms and ammunition
by the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) or armed forces. The CMM's Court
referred the case to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's court. Metropolitan
Sessions Judge in his judgement asked the government to make final decision
in this connection. The judge also ordered the government to keep one
each from the 13 categories in the seizure list of the arms and ammunition
as evidence. The government was also asked to provide every three months
a detailed report on the use of the 'handed over' arms until the case
is disposed of. A total of 4,930 different types of sophisticated arms,
27,020 hand grenades, 840 rockets, 300 accessories of rocket launcher,
2,000 grenade launching tubes, 6,392 magazines and 11,40,520 rounds
of ammunition stuffed in 1,463 wooden boxes on 10 trucks were recovered
in the largest ever arms haul on 2nd April 2004 from the CUFL jetty
at Chittagong. - Law Desk.
Open
trial of US, British soldiers demanded
The War Crimes Fact Finding Committee (WCFFC) has demanded open trial
of US and British soldiers under international law for their involvement
in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. In a statement, the WCFFC also demanded
independent investigation to find out the nature of torture on Iraqi
prisoners to uphold the human rights. The statement said that the US
and the British governments have instigated their soldiers to torture
the Iraqi prisoners in violation of the Geneva Convention. The WCFFC
said all Iraqi prisoners including 4,400 inmates of Abu Ghraib prison
must get access to ICRC and other human rights watch. It also said that
the whole world is upset to see the wanton torture and horrendous crime
committed by the US and the British soldiers in Iraq.- Daily Star,
10 May.
Anti-tobacco
law okayed
The cabinet has approved the draft of Tobacco Control Law 2004,
seeking to ban smoking in open places and in public transport. The cabinet
meeting also endorsed ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control (FCTC). Bangladesh was the first country to sign the FCTC in
Geneva in 2003. The tobacco control law proposes restriction on the
sale, distribution and consumption and ban on advertisement of tobacco
products in public places and in print and electronic media. The draft
law, placed in the meeting by the health and family welfare ministry
after several reviews in the last two years, proposes Tk 1,000 in fines
or up to one-year-imprisonment for violating the law. - Prothom
Alo, 11 May.
416
women, children
trafficked out in 4 years
As many as 416 women and children were trafficked out of the
country during the last four years. A total of 505 cases were filed
accusing 1376 people in this connection. This was revealed report of
'committee to protect women and children' of police headquarters. The
report said as many 101 cases were filed against 319 people for trafficking
55 women and children in 2000. Fifty-three victims were rescued and
police arrested 116 people for their alleged involvement with the trafficking.
Of them, police gave final report on 23 cases as the charges brought
against accused were not proved and submitted charge sheet in 78 cases.
A total of 23 people were acquitted of the charges and 52 cases under
investigation. The report also said that 116 cases were filed against
328 people on charge of trafficking 136 women and children in 2001.
A total of 135 cases were filed against 400 people on charge of trafficking
110 women and children in 2002. In 2003 136 cases were filed against
298 people on charge of trafficking 103 women and children. In the first
three months of 2004 as many as 17 cases were filed on charge of trafficking
12 women and children. Police rescued eight victims and arrested 12
people in this connection. Police submitted charge sheet in 13 cases
and gave final report on two. Two people were acquitted of the charges
while six others under investigation, the report added. - Manovzamin,
11 May.
Election
tribunals formed
The Election Commission (EC) has constituted election tribunals
to settle disputes relating to the just concluded pourasabha polls.
The district magistrates of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban and
joint district judges of the respective districts have been appointed
tribunal chiefs. According to the election regulations, within 30 days
of the gazette notification, the candidates or their representatives
will file the dispute cases with the tribunals after depositing Tk 500
with any of the branches of Sonali Bank or government treasury in favour
of the respective returning officer to meet the expenses of the cases.-Daily
Star, 12 May.
