Law
Week
BDR, BSF agree to step up coordinated patrols
India and Bangladesh agreed to increase coordinated patrols of their shared border and drew up a set of confidence-building measures to prevent an outbreak of tensions, a report said.
The two countries' border security forces also discussed India's contentious project to fence off the 4,095-kilometre (2,539-mile) border to stop illegal immigrants, a move opposed by Dhaka, the Press Trust of India news agency said. "We will have more coordinated patrolling," Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) chief Major General Jehangir Alam Choudhury said here at the end of the first day of talks with R.S. Mooshahary, head of India's Border Security Force (BSF). Ties between the two neighbours are usually friendly but relations are sometimes upset by skirmishes along their border. -The Daily Star, September 29.
Accused OC of Motijheel refuses to report to police lines
Rafiqul Islam, the closed officer-in-charge (OC) of the Motijheel Police Station accused in the murder of a college student, is refusing to report to the Rajarbagh Police Lines in violation of rule. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) yesterday asked him to immediately report to the police line. DMP Commissioner SM Mizanur Rahman yesterday issued the notice to the closed OC who is the prime suspect in the Mirpur Commerce College student Kamrul Islam Momin murder case. When asked whether the closed OC would be arrested for his link with the murder, the commissioner evaded a direct answer and said, "We do not make it public before arresting anyone." Police are reluctant to arrest the OC even after the killers had been threatening the family members to withdraw the OC's name from the first information report (FIR) that Kamrul's father Abdur Razzak filed with the Kafrul Police Station. Police have so far arrested 11 people, and one of them confessed to a magistrate of his involvement in the killing. -The Daily Star, September 29.
High profile Central Jail raid yields 10gm ganja
Five hundred security men, in an extensive search lasting over four hours, yesterday seized 10 grams of ganja-like substance at the Dhaka Central Jail, the largest prison house and a reputed den of drug peddling. Information of the raid was leaked out beforehand, sources said, alleging that jail guards were behind the act. Over 200 members from police, Rab and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) started operations at around 9:00am at the request of jail authorities, following allegations of various illegal activities, particularly drug peddling inside the jail, which houses over 12,000 prisoners. Although the jail authorities said it was a routine search, this was the first time that RAB has taken part in such an extensive operation in the Dhaka Central Jail. The -Daily Star, September 29.
Peeved Tuesday Group postpones meet on polls
The Tuesday Group, a club of foreign diplomats in Bangladesh, has decided to postpone its much-talked about conference on "electoral practices" in Dhaka, expressing disappointment over government's denial to permit it.
The grouping planned to hold a conference on "international best electoral practices" on January 22-23 next year, aiming to "promote international standards electoral practices in support of free and fair parliamentary elections in Bangladesh." The government, which does not recognise the Tuesday Group, declined to permit the holding of the conference, saying that such move will amount to interference in the internal affairs of the country. In a press release issued yesterday, Tuesday Group Chairman and Canadian High Commissioner to Dhaka David Sproule said, "The Tuesday Group wishes to express its disappointment with the government's decision not to welcome its international conference on the best electoral practices which was scheduled to take place in Dhaka on 22-23 January 2006."
It said the proposed conference--sponsored by virtually all Bangladesh's development partners and largely technical in nature--would have been an excellent opportunity to highlight and learn from positive electoral experiences in Bangladesh and elsewhere. - The Daily Star, September 29.
Public procurement law in the offing
The government is going to enact a public procurement act within a very short time to make the state procurement process transparent. Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman disclosed this on his arrival from the USA by British Airways at Zia International Airport (ZIA) at 5:30am yesterday. "Donors want to see our procurement process transparent…
if we can enact the act tomorrow, we will get Tk 3,000 crore aid right the day after tomorrow," he said. Talking to the reporters at the VIP lounge, the finance minister said the existing Public Procurement Regulation will be transformed into an act through tabling it in the parliament. He also apprised that the act would be passed as early as possible. "If our procurement process could not be made transparent, we would not get any financial support from the donors.
They always try to ensure the transparency in procurement wherever they provide the grants. Aid disbursement depends on transparency of the state procurement mechanism," the minister pointed out. He said Bangladesh could get a number of credit supports from IMF and WB by next eight weeks through strengthening the supervisory institutions. Saifur had left the country for USA on September 10 and returned home after attending the World Bank and the IMF annual meetings in Washington and UN World Summit in New York.-UNB, September 30.
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