<b>Hasina exiled, Zia continues to resist</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Uncertainty continues in Bangladesh's political arena as Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed's government and its military backers face continued resistance from former prime minister Khaleda Zia to be sent out to Jeddah as part of a "deal".
On Sunday evening, Khaleda was staunchly resisting intense persuasion from the authorities to go into exile.
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Next step, join Pakistan or send more refugee to India.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Hasten fencing on Bangla border </b>
Akhilesh Suman | New Delhi
... MP panel tells Govt to buy land, if necessary
A Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs has asked the Government to buy land falling within 150 yards of some areas of the Indo-Bangladesh Border to remove bottlenecks in completing fencing of the border.
The committee has also recommended that the Indian settlers in those areas should be fully rehabilitated and compensated.
Expressing concern over continued illegal migration from Bangladesh, the committee has also asked the Government to finish the border fencing at the earliest.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>In its recommendation, the committee headed by BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushma Swaraj expressed unhappiness over the slow work on fencing at phase-1 and phase-2 because of which work in the third phase was yet to begin. </span>
"The committee is very much concerned about the problems being faced by the people residing at the border areas," the committee mentioned.
The committee has proposed 'buying of land' in view of an agreement between the two countries that no defence structure could be raised within 150 yards of the international border on both the sides.
Raising fence within 150 yards has become a contentious issue since a lot of Indians reside in this area between the two countries.
These settlers are engaged in agriculture, fisheries, horticulture and other economic activities. If a fence is erected in that area, these people will be trapped between the two countries, and eventually face a lot of hardships.
Though the agreement is unsigned, India has been cautious not to put pressure on Bangladesh for fear of triggering tension.
"The committee recommends that the Government may hold discussions with Bangladesh in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs for a settlement of the problem," it says.
The committee is of the view that fencing is not a defence structure and so Bangladesh should not have any problem in allowing the fence to be erected nearer to the border within 150 yards according to the situation of the local habitat.
<b>According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 24-South Parganas, 24-North Parganas, West Dinazpur, North Dinazpur, Murshidabad, Malda and Kooch Behar districts will be worst affected if fencing is done at a distance of 150 yards covering the almost 300-km long border. </b>
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Start deporting illegal from India PERIOD.
<b>Hasina sues BA for £ 2 mn; plans return on Monday</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> BNP leader flays Zia's decision to grab party post</b>
PTI |Dhaka
A senior leader of Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has sharply criticised the former Premier for her "unilateral decision" to appoint her brother the Vice Chairman of the Party, further escalating a debate on political reforms curbing authoritarian power of the top leadership of major groups.
BNP leader and former Education Minister Osman Faruque on Friday questioned Zia's decision to appoint her younger brother Sayeed Eskandar as the Party's Vice Chairman "without consulting anybody."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Resolute Hasina lands in Dhaka</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sheikh Hasina, former Bangladesh Prime Minister, arrived at the Dhaka International airport this afternoon to face the toughest political battle in her life. In doing so, she also threw a formidable challenge to the military backed interim government which made all attempts to prevent her from entering the country.
She looked resolute and firm. âThey (the government) will make a mistake if they try to arrest me or place me under house arrest,â she said
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sorry if this has already been posted before but i ran into these recently
http://epw.org.in/epw/user/reportFeature...jsp?tid=57
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Student killed in Bangladesh border flare-up </b>
Pioneer News Service | Kolkata/ New Delhi
In a major flare-up along Indo-Bangladesh border, a school student was killed on Tuesday and five persons, including three Bangladeshis, were injured as Border Security Force and Bangladesh Rifles traded gunfire in West Bengal's Malda and South Dinajpur districts.
<b>A class VII student was injured in South Dinajpur district when the BDR fired on the BSF.</b> The student, identified as Pinku Roy, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.
However, sources said at least three BDR personnel and an Indian villager were killed in the fierce exchange of fire.
The BDR resorted to heavy firing along the South Dinajpur border which lasted for 15 minutes from 1pm, BSF sources said, adding the Indian border guards also returned the fire.
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<b> Bangladeshi scribe details torture</b>
Tasneem Khalil, a Bangladeshi journalist who worked for the Daily Star and CNN, who was picked up by Bangladeshi military intelligence in May 2007 and kept in detention for over 22 hours, has written about his ordeal in a Human Rights Watch report.
The agencies suspected that he was an Indian spy and was providing vital information on Bangladesh to India.
Khalil was kept in a detention centre operated by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and tortured during his 22-hour ordeal.
According to Khalil, armed men who claimed to belong to the 'joint forces' came to his apartment in central Dhaka. In front of his wife and child, they pressed a gun against his lips, blindfolded him and brought him to a waiting car.
He was taken to an interrogation center run by the DGFI, where he was held in a cell specially designed for torture.
Khalil was threatened with execution and repeatedly kicked and beaten with batons on the head, arms, abdomen and other parts of the body. He was forced to confess to -- and implicate friends and colleagues in -- anti-state and anti-military activities. He was also forced to confess to the smuggling of sensitive national security information to foreign organisations.
Khalil was also punished for his criticism of the security forces' role in extra judicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and other human rights abuses.
After his release, he spent a month in hiding before fleeing Bangladesh. He went to Sweden, where he was granted asylum, along with his family. Khalil spoke for the first time about his experiences and the same has been documented by a Human Rights Watch report.
The intelligence agencies also wanted to know how CNN was planning to cover the return of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, who had refused to go into exile. They inquired about his contacts with senior figures of the Awami League.
"They asked me to confess that I worked for the Awami League and that I knew of a plan by a senior Awami League figure to assassinate people, create mass unrest, engineer bomb blasts, and topple the current interim government. I told them I had read something along these lines on a pro-military online discussion board, widely believed to be run by DGFI," said Khalil in the report.
"At one point, another officer came in and everyone stood up to show him respect. I think he was one of the top brigadier generals. Still blindfolded, I was told to greet him by standing up. He then asked me to sit down. My head was facing downwards. He asked me to hold my head up, and said to me, 'You bloody look like a malaun [an anti-Hindu slur].'
He then asked me, 'Why did you go to the Indian High Commission? Who did you meet there? Speak the truth because I have all the information with me.'
I said I went there to get a long-term Indian visa and meet an official who could arrange it. They were pressing me to confess that I worked for the Indian intelligence. They started beating me again. The senior officer took a baton and kept ramming it hard under my navel and lower abdominal area. I was in severe pain. The beating and torture seemed to go on for an eternity. At some point it stopped.
Someone started reading from a Bengali translation of the Human Rights Watch report on extra judicial executions by the Rapid Action Battalion (an anti-crime and anti-terrorism elite force) that I had worked on. In the recommendation section, it was suggested that the United Nations end the participation of Bangladesh military personnel with a record of involvement in torture, in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
This touches a raw nerve, as the military's involvement in international peacekeeping is both a great source of pride and money for the army.These funds allow the military to buy the loyalty of many in its ranks. Anyone who touches this sacred cow is an enemy of the army," Khalil said.
In the report, Khalil recalls more details about the room in which he was held captive, as his blindfold was taken off after the ordeal. He saw that he was in a torture cell, a small room with no windows and a wooden door.
"The room was soundproofed with a wooden wall covered with small holes, like in an old recording studio. There were two closed circuit television cameras in the corners attached to the ceiling. There was a fan. I was sitting in front of a table and three batons were on the table, along with some stationery. Poking out of the end of these two were metal wires, which appeared to fill the plastic covers. The plastic and wire batons were a little shorter than the wooden one. I assume these were the batons they tortured me with," he stated.
Pioneer Book review, 15 feb 2008
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Dhaka's Islamic turn </b>
In the early days in Dhaka, Krishnan Srinivasan got the impression that New Delhi was not clear about what approach it should have towards Bangladesh; that holds true even today, notes Saradindu Mukherji
The Jamdani Revolution: Politics, Personalities and Civil Society in Bangladesh, 1989-1992
Author: Krishnan Srinivasan
Publisher: Har-Anand
Price: Rs 595Â
<b>Krishnan Srinivasan, a former Foreign Secretary, was India's High Commissioner in Dhaka.</b> Naturally he has a lot in his kitty. <b>He rightly suggests that during Partition, the majority of Muslims were more conscious of their Islamic identity than anything else. However, up to the 18th century they were reluctant converts on whom Islam sat very lightly till the Faraizis/Wahaabis compelled them to turn into full-fledged 'Believers' by abandoning their Hindu-Buddhist heritage.</b> He notes the "local indifference" to the Hindu-Buddhist past of Bangladesh -- its only authentic ancient cultural heritage". Nothing surprising, since the denial of the pre-Islamic past (jahiliya) is a must for the convert. <b>Subsequently, rapid Islamisation, petro-dollar and the failure of civil society have further strengthened this mindset.</b>
<b>Hence, the writer foresees the "possible exodus from Bangladesh of the 10 million or more Hindus", its political repercussions in India and how it was "preying on the minds of our Home Ministry".</b> <b>Of the 500 Bangladeshis illegally moving into West Bengal everyday, 25 per cent of them could be Hindus.</b> Srinivasan told the authorities in Dhaka that they must ensure that the minorities "had a secure future" there. Not many "progressive" politicians and buddhijibis in India, despite being refugees from eastern and western parts would say such things lest their 'secular' image was dented.
Srinivasan mentions the Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council and the unprecedented deprivation of the landed properties of Hindus through the draconian Vested Property Act. Though this has been scrapped, the hapless Hindus have not yet been restored their land. He met Maj Gen CR Dutta, the founder president of the HBCUC, without mentioning that he was the first and last Hindu commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army, senior to Gen Ershad, and should have been its Army Chief. This reviewer had met this General at Dhaka, decorated with the Bir Uttam award for his heroic role in the war of liberation. Similarly, he mentions Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi's visit to his ancestral village in Dinajpur without telling if he found any of his relatives or other Hindus there and the condition in which they survive.
On illegal migration of Muslims, Srinivasan wanted a "team of international correspondents taken to the places of self-evident migration along the West Bengal borders". <b>While accepted by officials, this was rejected by Jyoti Basu, because that would cause "communal disharmony". The fact, however, is that it would have exposed the complicity of Basu's Government in the demographic aggression. No wonder Basu is highly respected in the fundamentalist circles in Bangladesh.</b>
On Bangabhumi agitation for a homeland for the evicted Hindus from Bangladesh to be carved out of its western parts, <b>Srinivasan correctly attributes it to the frustrations of Hindu refugees and the "deprivations of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh", which numbered about 30 per cent in 1947 but have been reduced to 10 per cent. Exchange of population, as repeatedly demanded by the Muslim League in the 1940s, might still be the only answer to this ongoing tragedy.</b>
Srinivasan could have provided more details about the trauma and tragedy of the "beleaguered" Hindus and their systematic elimination. <b>He visited the Dhakeshwari temple (Dhaka itself is named after this), but does not mention why the hallowed Ramna Kali Bari (destroyed by the Pakistanis) could not be re-built by Sheikh Mujib. His impressions of desecrated Hindu temples and dilapidated Hindu homes/palaces might bring tears in many eyes.</b>
As for the disaster in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and the repatriation issue, Srinivasan has missed the total picture, especially when the oppression, torture, forced conversion, assault on their women, forced seizure of their land and the settlement of Bengali-speaking Muslims in the CHT, culminating in the exodus of the Jumma people to India is well-documented. He mentions them cursorily in the Appendix but not in the diary-part. He is unduly harsh on Shanti Bahini. He calls Upendra Lal Chakma a "rascal", but this gentleman whom this reviewer had met at Takumbari camp in Tripura was a genuine leader and a fearless campaigner for the Jumma people. In fact, he went over to Shanti Bahini only after the genocidal pogrom of the Jumma people after the Longadu massacre of May 1989.
Srinivasan completely overlooks the brutal role of the paramilitary forces and the village guards, which this reviewer had detailed in his Subjects, Citizens and Refugees: Tragedy in the Chittagong Hill Tracts 1947-1998 (Delhi, 2000). After all, they are a minority in the CHT now, having been 97 per cent in 1947.
<b>In bracketing the non-existent "Hindu fundamentalism" in India with Muslim fundamentalism and Hindu hardliners setting the Indian agenda towards Bangladesh, Srinivasan sounds superficial. </b>When 16 BSF jawans were mercilessly killed by the Bangladeshis, the BJP-led NDA Government far from taking any penal action dispatched the coal supplies the following day, and Brajesh Mishra did not utter a word for the persecuted Hindus of Bangladesh when he visited Dhaka following their pogrom in 2001. So much for the "Hindu hardliners"!
<b>The writer has interesting comments</b> on guests pounce on the food like hungry wolves in the Indian parties, Chandrashekhar having a "miserable bunch of Ministers", politically well-connected females holding sway in Delhi durbar, etc. Gen Ershad's Government making Islam the state religion to give the "nation a distinctive identity', its distrust of increased cultural contact with India to "emphasise their separate identity" and various facets of the public life in Bangladesh, including Gen Ershad's downfall have been well-sketched. On bilateral aspects like Tin Bigha, Farakka water, gas supply from Bangladesh and other issues, he has many details. He also points the uninhibited growth of Pakistani and other pan-Islamic anti-liberation forces in Bangladesh.
In the early days in Dhaka, the writer got the impression that New Delhi was not clear about what approach it should have towards Bangladesh. That holds true even today.
-- The reviewer is a Delhi University professor and an expert on Bangladesh
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> Bangladesh army chief on mission to boost ties with India</b>
Feb 24, 2008
Bangladesh's army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, left Dhaka on Sunday for a week-long visit to India aimed at reviving defence and political ties and boosting security co-operation.
Moeen is a key figure in Bangladesh politics, where an army-backed interim authority has ruled under a state of emergency since taking charge in January 2007 following months of political violence.
He was expected to meet the chiefs of the Indian army, navy and air force, as well as the president, prime minister and senior government leaders, Bangladeshi officials said.
"To re-establish defence ties between the two neighbouring countries will be a major focus during the visit," said Brigadier-General Mohammad Anisuzzaman Bhuiyan, director of training at Bangladesh's army headquarters.
India helped the former East Pakistan in its 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
But despite generally friendly relations, Indian and Bangladeshi border guards often exchange fire along their porous 4,000-km (2,500-mile) border that runs through rice fields, hills, jungles, marshes and rivers.
They accuse each other of targeting civilians on the frontier, which is known for rampant smuggling and illegal migration.
Moeen and his Indian counterpart would discuss steps to combat corruption and terrorism, and the possibility of joint operations against insurgent groups, other officials said.
Analysts say Bangladesh is also keen for India's political support as it pursues an anti-corruption drive and implements reforms ahead of a return to elected government.
The interim authority has pledged to hold a free and fair election before the end of this year.
Bangladesh's generals ruled the country for 15 years until December 1990, when a people's revolt ousted the last military ruler, Hossain Mohammad Ershad.
But Moeen has repeatedly said the army has no intention to take power again, only to assist the establishment of democratic government.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>India presents six horses to Bangladesh army</b>
http://www.indiasnews.net/story/331011
25th February, 2008
India Monday presented six horses valued at a little over Rs.35 million ($850,000) to the Bangladesh army as a token of goodwill and friendship.
The Indian Army chief, Gen. Deepak Kapoor, handed over the reigns of the two stallions and four mares to his Bangladesh counterpart Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed, who began a six-day visit to the country Monday.
The presentation of the horses followed a guard of honour for the visiting dignitary and his laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial to the unknown soldier at India Gate.
According to an official source, Ahmed's visit, the first ever by a Bangladeshi army chief, is 'an attempt to build bridges, to move forward in persuading Bangladesh to stop supporting anti-India insurgent groups that are operating from its soil'.
'In the last four or five years, there has been an engagement of a positive nature, but there have been no concrete achievements. We need to turn that around,' the source told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Even more worrisome than the anti-India groups are the operations of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) extremist group. India blames the HuJI that was established in 1992, with assistance from Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front, for two sets of blasts in Hyderabad last year.
'The activities of the ISI and the HuJI will also figure in the discussions with Ahmed,' the source said.
Apart from Kapoor, Ahmed will call on Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major.
Ahmed is also scheduled to visit the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun and other Army institutions during his visit to India.
Speaking about the horses, Lt. Gen. Narayan Mohanty, who heads the Indian Army's Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC), said they would be used for breeding and helping to improve the standard of equestrian sports in Bangladesh.
'Their offspring will be trained in show jumping and other equestrian sports,' Mohanty told reporters here.
The horses have been bred at the RVC's equine breeding farms at Hissar in Haryana and Babugarh in Uttar Pradesh, both an hour's drive from Delhi.
Each of the stallions is worth Rs.10 million, while each mare is valued at Rs.4 million.
Interestingly, one of the stallions - Valiant - is the fourth generation offspring of a horse named Sumrak that the then Soviet government presented to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The horses will be taken by truck to the Bangladesh border, where they will be handed over to the authorities there.
<b> BSF claims BDR silenced by proof</b>
Friday, March 14, 2008
<b>Shillong, March 13: For the first time, the Border Security Force (BSF) has handed over a list of 141 camps of Indian militants with their exact locations inside Bangladesh, 116 militants and 198 sympathisers to its Bangladesh counterpart BDR.
The list was handed over after a three-day meeting between the two forces, which ended on Thursday.</b>
After the meeting, BSF Inspector-General (Assam-Meghalaya, Cachar and Manipur Frontier) P K Mishra told reporters, âBDR was taken aback when we pointed out specific names, locations of militants and insurgent camps in Bangladesh and could not contradict our claims.â
The BSF claims have been made on the basis of information provided by surrendered chairman of the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) Julius Dorphang â who had taken refuge inside Bangladesh â and seven NSCN (I-M) cadres.
âWe have sought an outright assurance from BDR to trace these militants and launch a crackdown on the camps,â Mishra said.
<b>Mishra said the Bangladesh Army raid on September 13, 2007, in Balaghat that led to the arrest of an Assamese man and seizure of 32,000 rounds of ammunitions and a few kilogrammes of RDX was an instance of Indian militants using Bangladesh to smuggle arms and ammunitions into India.
âThough BDR admitted to the arrest, they failed to brief us on follow-up action,â he added.</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> 42,896 Bangladeshis infiltrated into Assam</b>
Thursday, March 13, 2008
GUWAHATI, MARCH 13: While the Congress-led regimes in Assam and at the Centre continued to maintain that infiltration from Bangladesh was not a big problem, its <b>official data, laid on the floor of the state Assembly on Wednesday, revealed that over 42,000 persons have been identified as âillegal migrantsâ in the state between 1985 and 2007.</b>
<b>However, what is more alarming is the official admittance that of the 42,896 illegal migrants identified during those 22 years, the Government could deport only 2,221 of them to where they had come from. The rest of themâ40,675 to be preciseâhave gone unnoticed.
âAltogether 42,896 persons have been identified as Bangladeshi infiltrators in the state since the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985 and till December 31, 2007,â Bhumidhar Barman, Minister for Implementation of Assam Accord said in the Assembly. He was replying to a question by Ramendra Narayan Kalita of the Asom Gana Parishad.
He said while 12,846 were identified and confirmed as Bangladeshi infiltrators by the tribunals established under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act â an Act that was struck down in 2005, the remaining 30,050 were identified under provisions of the Foreigners Act of 1946.
âIt has been possible, however, to actually deport only 2,221 of them,â the minister said, without citing any reasons thereof. While 1,547 of them were deported by serving expulsion orders on them, 667 were expelled by serving âQuit Indiaâ notices, Barman said.</b>
The Government, through replies in the Assembly in the past, had always maintained that most of the persons identified as âinfiltratorsâ actually disappeared from the places where they were during identification and mingled with the local population, thus making it impossible for the police to locate them.
Meanwhile, Barman on Wednesday also informed the Assembly that the deadline for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is intended at identifying Bangladeshi infiltrators in Assam, has been postponed till December, 2009.
The minister said while the state Government had completed the preliminary works for updating the NRC of 1951, but was yet to send its views to the Registrar General of India on the modalities for accomplishing the task.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b> Duty-free garment import from Bangladesh</b>
<i>Cabinet nod a gesture to Dhaka, which has huge trade deficit
Similar concession extended to Sri Lanka also</i>
<b>KOLKATA: The Union Cabinet has approved duty-free import of eight million pieces of garments annually from Bangladesh, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh.</b>
A similar gesture was extended to Sri Lanka also. However, in this case, import of six million pieces would be duty-free and a preferential duty levied on the remaining two million.
<b>Though garments come under the sensitive negative list as per the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) agreement, a special gesture was made to Bangladesh, which had a huge trade deficit with India, Mr. Ramesh said.</b>
Indian exports to Bangladesh in 2007-08 were estimated at $1.8 billion, while imports might be around $ 250 million.
âI have always felt the need to deepen the economic engagement between India and Bangladesh.â
The Centre recently allowed foreign direct investments through the FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) route in Bangladesh (on a case-by-case basis). The Minister favoured a similar treatment for Bangladeshi investors in India.
<b>Entrepreneurs from that country in the sectors of pharmaceuticals, food processing and textiles were keen on setting up units in the northeast.</b>
bangladeshis should not be given permission to setup such units NE. These fronts will be used for money laundering of the ulfa and other such terror outfits.
Pointing out that the trade imbalance could be corrected in the long-run if Indian companies set up units in Bangladesh, using that as a manufacturing base for exports back to India, Mr. Ramesh said that in the short-run steps such as duty-free garment exports would boost Bangladeshâs exports by $ 60 million-70 million annually.
<b>Now Economic terrorism from Bangladesh. Trying to ruin indian economy by printing & circulating fake Indian currency. Bangladeshi women who have been prevented from getting an education in their country due to islamic values now turning to prostitution to earn quick money.</b>
<b>16 illegal Bangladeshi migrants held in Bangalore</b>
Link
Mar 23, 2008
<b>Bangalore: Around 16 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants including four women, have been arrested on various charges by CCB sleuths on Saturday.
According to Gopal B Hosur, Joint Commi-ssioner (Crime), it was still too early to say whether the arrested Bangladeshis have any terror links but they had sneaked into the country through Mumbai six monthsâ back before landing in the City.
The prime accused, Sabu Shek alias Moham-med Unishek (18), was picked up from Belattur bus stand, Hoskote Road while he was trying to push counterfeit currency notes of Rs 1,000 denom-inations.
During interrogation, he confessed to have carried around 50 such notes and put into circulation 38 of them.
Disclosures
Based on Shekâs disclosures, others who were residing at Kadugodi, Belandur, Hoskote, Koth-anur and surrounding areas were arrested.
Some of them had taken up small-time jobs, while the women were into prostitution to make ends meet.
A few months back, Mumbai and Surat police had arrested several Bangladeshi nationals. One of them, Irfan, had revealed that hundreds of his compatriots had managed to gain entry into India through various means.
The Maharashtra police had alerted the City police about the possible stay of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Bangalore.
Saturdayâs catch was the result of the strict vigil maintained by the City police, Hosur said, adding that without public cooperation it would be difficult to identify illegal immigrants.
Landlords should be on the guard while renting out their premises. Likewise, citizens need to be careful while entrusting odd jobs to strangers as well, he added.</b>
The arrested are Mohammed Nassir (32), Mustaruban Begum (30), Mohammed Nassir alias Bakker Talukdar (30), Noor Mohammed Fakir (40), Babu Shek (18), Rizaul Shek (33), Ramzar Shek (22), Arshad Shek (27), Fatima Kom (19), Himarul Shek (27), Salma (26), Mohammed Piplu (25), Fatima Katum (18), Sujan (28) and Bukar Fagi (28).
[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Poor Bangladeshis told to eat potatoes as rice prices soar</span></b>[/center]
Thursday, April 03, 2008
DHAKA: The military chief of emergency-ruled Bangladesh told villagers on Thursday to eat potatoes to reduce spiralling demand for rice, which has seen prices double in a year, a report said.
âEating potato with rice will reduce its demand alongside fulfilling nutrition requirements,â General Moeen U Ahmed was quoted as saying by the private UNB agency.
Ahmed acknowledged that ordinary people were facing a crisis in food supplies due to shortages caused by floods last summer and last Novemberâs cyclone Sidr, which devastated the rice crop.
âWe are trying our best to overcome the crisis,â he added, speaking after a visit to a farmerâs market being run under the supervision of the Bangladesh army in the northwestern town of Bogra.
Rice prices are a key issue in impoverished Bangladesh, where a military-backed government has ruled the country since disputed elections were cancelled and an emergency imposed in January 2007. Unscrupulous businessmen are often accused of hiking prices by stockpiling food to create artificial shortages. <b>The government said on Monday it would import 400,000 tonnes of rice from India by the end of May to sell below cost on the open market in a bid to ease the price inflation.</b>
C <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo--> heers
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BDR mutiny over; 100 feared killed</b>
pioneer.com
Anisur Rahman | Dhaka
Mutinous Bangladesh Rifles men surrendered on Thursday night and freed all hostages ending their<b> two-day revolt during which they killed at least 50 Army personnel and others,</b> yielding to an ultimatum by the Government which despatched tanks to their headquarters here.
After the mutiny over a pay rise had spread beyond Dhaka to other cantonment areas in the country, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed demanded that the revolting soldiers of BDR, a paramilitary force deployed on border, should lay down their arms or face tough action.
Thereafter, tanks surrounded the BDR headquarters at Pilkhana area in the heart of Dhaka and also took positions near the residence of the Prime Minister.
Faced with the possibility of an Army operation, the mutinous soldiers laid down their arms and released hostages whose number was not immediately clear. Hasina has already promised amnesty to them.
A Brigadier-rank Deputy Director-General of BDR, which has a total strength of over 40,000, was among those killed by the rebels who also gunned down a large number of other military officers on deputation. Police said identities of at least two of <b>the dead, BDRâs DDG Brig Abdul Bari and Operations Director Col Anis, had been established.</b>
Officially, the death toll was put at 50 but other reports, not confirmed by authorities, put the figure at over 100. This is said to include families of some Army personnel.
In a brief televised address to the nation, Hasina told the mutineers, âDonât take the suicidal route. Donât compel me to take tough action.â
This was the first major challenge confronting Hasina who assumed office less than two months ago after a landslide victory in the December election that saw the end of the caretaker Governmentâs two-year Army-backed rule.
A dozen women inside the BDR headquarters were first set free by the mutineers, raising hopes of the revolt being contained.
In Dinajpur and Rangpur districts -- both sectoral headquarters of BDR -- soldiers came out of barracks and held demonstrations, but there was no report of violence.
The mutineers were demanding more pay, additional subsidised food and holidays and blamed the Army officers for not effectively putting up their case before the Government.
<b>As fresh firing erupted during the day, Army tanks were deployed outside the BDR headquarters. Preparations were in full gear for storming the premises when the rebels waved a white flag indicating their readiness to surrender</b>.
Witnesses said the Army troops issued a notice asking residents in the three-and-a-half-kilometre radius of the BDR headquarters to evacuate their houses, offices and shops, giving a one-hour deadline.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun had gone inside the BDR headquarters along with a Government delegation, including police chief Noor Mohammad, after midnight last night to oversee the surrender process.
A rebel preferring anonymity told the ATN Bangla television channel that 10 to 15 BDR soldiers and officers, who were serving the paramilitary force on deputation from Army, were killed during the revolt.
Earlier reports had said that bodies of 12 Army officers were recovered from inside the BDR headquarters.
However, the fate of BDR chief Maj-Gen Shakil Ahmed was not known. âWe could not establish any contact with him (Ahmed) yet,â Government negotiator Fazle Noor Taposh, an MP, told reporters outside the BDR headquarters emerging from the three-hour-long talks with the mutineers.
Taposh said the rebels were divided in several groups without having an âorganisedâ structure. âThey are of different opinions but we talked and listened to all of them.â
Red Cross ambulances carried nearly two dozen injured to different medical facilities from the BDR headquarters.
âThey (rebels) brought the injured people to the main entrance (of BDR headquarters) in their ambulances, from where we brought the wounded to hospitals outside,â a Red Cross worker told newsmen, adding that they were not allowed to go inside.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/02/kan...bangladesh.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>kanchan: what's cooking in bangladesh?</b>
feb 26th, 2009
http://www.dailypioneer.com/159114/Is-it-j...BDR-mutiny.html
what you lose at the ballot box, you gain back through covert activity. if what kanchan says is true, bangladesh is absolutely into fundamentalism.
incidentally, aren't conditions appalling for the indian army as well? are there chances that the indian army will mutiny?
Posted by nizhal yoddha at 2/26/2009 10:12:00 AM 0 comments<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Indian Army, at this stage difficult. But I am waiting something may happen in Paki Army.
As expected.
http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/02/ban...-isi-links.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Saturday, February 28, 2009
<b>Bangla Coup Attempt Had ISI Links</b>
The recent failed but brutal coup attempt in Bangladesh is showing signs of having been organized by Islamist hardliners assisted by Pakistan's ISI:
http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2009/02/2660
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090228/jsp/...ry_10604594.jsp
Even now, hundreds of bodies of dead officers are still being pulled from mass graves hastily dug by the coup plotters. There need to be some mass-hangings for these perpetrators, as their treason should not go unpunished.
Posted by san at 2/28/2009 10:28:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bangladesh, isi, jihad, pakistan, terrorism, war <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Move in the right direction.
[url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Bangladesh-vows-not-to-allow-anti-India-terror-gets-1-bn/H1-Article1-496358.aspx"]Bangladesh vows not to allow anti-India terror from its soil, gets $1 bn[/url]
Quote:Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, January 11, 2010
Bangladesh on Monday promised not to allow its territory to be used for terror against India as they signed three agreements to jointly combat the menace while India announced a one-billion dollar line of credit to that country.
The significant Line of Credit offered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina marked the highest one-time grant by India to any country.
India decided to give 250mw of power to Bangladesh from the central grid while they signed a power-sharing agreement.
New Delhi sought to address Dhaka's concerns with regard to non-tariff barriers by agreeing to remove these on more items and assured that India will not take any step on Meghalaya-based Tapaimukh dam which would hurt Bangladesh's interests.
At the wide-ranging talks in New Delhi between Singh and Hasina, the two sides reached a number of decisions to revive the traditional links of connectivity, which included Akhaura-Agartala railway line.
The discussions covered the entire gamut of bilateral ties, with particular focus on terrorism, security, connectivity, trade and investment, border-related issues and sharing of water and power resources.
During the discussions, Hasina told Singh that her government will not allow Bangladesh to be used for terrorism directed at India, an assurance aimed at addressing a major concern here about North East insurgents taking shelter there.
The two leaders discussed ways in which the countries could cooperate in checking the menace of terrorism.
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