Bangladesh
OIC Secretary General hospitalised; visit deferred
The scheduled visit of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha has been deferred as he is hospitalised.
“He’s hospitalised. Therefore, the visit can’t take place at this time,” a senior official at the ministry of foreign affairs told UNB on Friday night.
Read: Recent ICJ ruling dismissing Myanmar's objections to bring momentum for effective int'l action: OIC
The OIC Secretary General was scheduled to arrive at 10:50am on Saturday. Taha was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at 3:30pm on Saturday.
Taha was elected the new Secretary General for a five-year term starting from 17 November 2021.
A national of the Republic of Chad, Taha took his oath of office on being elected Secretary General of the OIC at the forty-seventh session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held on November 27-28, 2020 in Niamey, capital of the Republic of Niger.
MoU on Kushiyara river's water sharing to be signed in Sept: Dhaka
State Minister for Water Resources Zahid Farooque on Friday said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on interim water sharing of Kushiyara river will be signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India scheduled for September first week.
He said the agreed draft of the MoU has been sent to the Indian Cabinet to complete the procedures before the signing.
“We firmly believe that the MoU will be signed when our Prime Minister will be visiting India,” the State Minister told reporters at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after returning from New Delhi.
He led the Bangladesh delegation at the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday. The JRC meeting was held after a pause of 12 years.
Zahid informed that India has agreed to provide 153 cusec water of Kushiyara river to Bangladesh.
Responding to a question, the State Minister said the agreement on the Teesta water sharing remained prepared but its signing is getting delayed due to the objection of the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
“We kept them under pressure. We firmly believe that we will soon see a solution to that end,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s repeated call for concluding the long-pending Teesta water sharing deal.
At the 38th ministerial level JRC meeting, the two countries discussed “issues related to water-sharing treaties” of various rivers, including Teesta and Ganga.
Both sides at the meeting also welcomed finalization of the design and location of water intake point on the Feni River to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura as per the October 2019 Bangladesh-India MoU on this subject.
One of the important areas of cooperation, where India has been assisting Bangladesh, is sharing of real time flood data.
India has recently extended the period of flood data sharing beyond 15 October to help Bangladesh address unforeseen flood events.
Read: Dhaka, Delhi finalise text of MoU on interim water sharing of Kushiyara river
Bangladesh and India share 54 rivers, of which seven rivers have been identified earlier for developing the framework of water sharing agreements on priority.
During the meeting, it has been agreed to widen this area of ongoing cooperation by including eight more rivers for data exchange.
The matter will be further discussed at the technical level committee of JRC.
The discussions during the JRC meeting were held on a number of ongoing bilateral issues of mutual interest including river water sharing of common rivers, sharing of flood data, addressing river pollution, conducting joint studies on sedimentation management, river bank protection works etc.
The JRC meeting was preceded by water resources secretary-level interaction on Tuesday.
The Joint Rivers Commission of Bangladesh and India was constituted in 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of mutual interest on common transboundary rivers.
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Kerry to visit Greece, Indonesia, Vietnam
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will travel to Athens, Greece, August 28-29 to meet with government counterparts on efforts to reduce global emissions, decarbonize ocean-based shipping, and continue the momentum of the Our Ocean Conferences.
From August 30-September 1, Secretary Kerry will travel to Bali, Indonesia to attend the G20 Climate and Environment Ministerial Meeting, where he will meet with government counterparts to further enhance cooperation on the climate crisis and highlight the positive climate impact of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Read: Act now on climate front, listen to countries like Bangladesh: Bachelet
Kerry will then travel to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, September 2-4, and Hanoi, Vietnam, September 4-6 to meet with government officials, civil society representatives, and business leaders to build consensus on key actions to address the climate crisis and accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.
This trip will also be an opportunity to engage in discussions on climate cooperation ahead of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP27) to be hosted in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt November 6-18, 2022, according to the US Department of State.
Momen seeks united efforts to deal with anti-govt propaganda
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Friday alleged that a vested group got engaged in spreading propaganda against the government in many ways to undermine its pro-people initiatives and sought united efforts to deal with that propaganda upholding the truth.
He said they (who are spreading propaganda) are trying to bring trouble for the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by creating confusion among the people.
Foreign minister Momen urged the Jubo League and Chhatra League leaders to deal with that propaganda by showing that people in Bangladesh are doing well compared to other countries amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
He was speaking at an event organised by Sylhet District and Metropolitan Chhatra League marking National Mourning Day.
Read:Momen retreats into full 'blame the media' mode
Stock of urea fertilizer sufficient: Industries Minister
Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun on Friday said Bangladesh meets the demand for urea with local production besides importing it from other countries.
“Now Bangladesh has enough stock of urea fertilizer,” he said, replying to a question from journalists at Tungipara in Gopalganj.
Earlier, a team led by the Industries Minister and State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Majumder paid homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman placing wreaths at his mausoleum in Tungipara, said a PID handout here.
Read: Urea fertilizer price to readjusted in line with global market rate: Minister
Nurul Majid said the prices of cement and rod have increased. The government has been making efforts to ease the sufferings of the people. In the next few months, the situation will be improved largely, he added.
Later, the industries minister joined a function arranged to unveil the plaque of a buffer godown for fertilizer, which is being constructed by Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) at Ghonapara in Gopalganj Sadar upazila.
Addressing the function, he said the country has a demand for at least 25 lakh metric tons of urea fertilizer. But it needs to meet 60pc-70pc of this demand by importing urea from foreign countries.
Majid said the imported fertilizers are supplied to the rural farmers through 25 buffer godowns of BADC, which are located in different districts.
He said the Gopalganj fertilizer godown with the capacity of 10,000 metric tons is being implemented at the cost of some 34 crore. The physical progress of the warehouse is 40 percent.
The minister directed the project authority to complete the project soon.
PM to meet owners Saturday as tea workers continue strike for better pay
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hold talks with tea estate owners Saturday as the workers at the country’s 167 tea plantations continued their indefinite strike for the 18th day Friday for raising their wages to Tk 300 from Tk 120.
The workers abstained from work today, but they did not stage any demonstrations, said Deorachra Tea Garden Panchayat Committee President Subod Kurmi.
Besides, there will be Panchayat committee meetings in 92 plantations of Moulvibazar district on Friday night to discuss the further steps to press for the pay hike.
Read: Tea garden workers continue strike in Sylhet
Meanwhile, PM Hasina is scheduled to meet with representatives from tea plantation workers and owners sides at Ganabhaban on Saturday afternoon, confirmed PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim.
The movement started on August 9, when workers from tea gardens across the country abstained from work for two hours, demanding Tk 300 as daily wages. As their demand was not met, they decided to go on a full-scale strike from August 13.
After holding meetings with tea garden owners and other stakeholders in the past two weeks, the tea workers’ union agreed to the resumption of work from Monday and got Tk 120 as wages for the time being, but that was rejected by the general workers.
The ongoing strike is the continuation of the previously declared movement by the tea garden workers.
Two workers die falling off high rise in capital
Two construction workers died after falling from an under-construction building in Agargaon area of the city on Friday.The deceased were identified as Shahadat Hossain,22, and Md Rokon,32, of Kazipur upazila in Sirajganj district.The accident happened at the 14-storey building at West Agargaon around 2:45 pm.Kabir Hossain, a fellow worker of the victims, said the construction work was going on in different floors of the building.
Read: Two siblings drown in BagerhatThe duo was working standing on a scaffold to build a wall of the building. They accidentally fell to the safety shelf on the second floor after the rope of the scaffold snapped, leaving them critically injured.They were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared them dead around 4:45 pm, Kabir said.Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH Police Outpost said, the bodies were kept in the hospital morgue for autopsies.
Int'l community urged to intensify pressure on Myanmar military to stop violence against its people
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has urged the international community to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people of Myanmar.
She also urged the international community to insist on prompt restoration of civilian rule, and accountability for violations committed by security forces.
"We continue to document gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law on a daily basis, including repression against protesters and attacks against civilians that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes," said Bachelet during a press conference in Geneva on Thursday.
Read: I can understand PM Hasina’s pains: Bachelet
August 25 marked five years since more than 700,000 Rohingya women, children and men were forced to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh – and Myanmar’s human rights catastrophe continues to worsen, with the military (the Tatmadaw) maintaining military operations in Kayah and Kayin in the southeast; Chin state in the northwest; and Sagaing and Magway regions in the Bamar heartland.
The use of air power and artillery against villages and residential areas has intensified, she said.
"Recent spikes in violence in Rakhine State also seemed to indicate that the last fairly stable area of the country may not avoid a resurgence of armed conflict," said the UN rights chief.
She said Rohingya communities have frequently been caught between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army fighters or have been targeted directly in operations.
Recent ICJ ruling dismissing Myanmar's objections to bring momentum for effective int'l action: OIC
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has said the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to dismiss the preliminary objections of Myanmar would contribute to mobilizing the necessary momentum for effective international action.
The organization, collective voice of the Muslim world, said the ICJ ruling would also provide more support for the Rohingya people and contribute to finding a final solution to their constant affliction.
The OIC General Secretariat called on the international community to stand firm with the Rohingya people in their plight.
Read: Rohingya Crisis: Japan for considering third-country resettlement in parallel to repatriation
On 25 August 2017, Myanmar’s military started carrying out violent operations against the Rohingya population in Northern Rakhine State, which resulted in grave crimes under international law and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.
Five years later, Rohingyas in Rakhine State still lack freedom of movement and other basic rights such as access to adequate food, healthcare and education, said the OIC.
"This anniversary is a reminder that the crimes committed against Rohingya call for accountability," it said.
The OIC paid tribute to the government and people of Bangladesh for their relentless efforts to provide protection, hospitality, and necessary assistance to Rohingya refugees who have been living in Bangladesh for the past five years.
It appreciated the international support, including by OIC Member States, for the cause of these Refugees.
The OIC General Secretariat reiterated the OIC’s firm support for the Rohingya people.
It called on the international community to stand firm with them in their plight, and to redouble efforts to protect their fundamental human rights, including their right to full citizenship, and to ensure favourable conditions for the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return of all Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons to their homeland.
Two siblings drown in Bagerhat
Two siblings drowned in a pond in Sarankhola upazila of Bagerhat on Friday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Ruby Akhtar,7, and Rafia Akhtar,4, daughters of Abdur Rahim Talukdar of Nalbunia village in the upazila, said M Ekram Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sarankhola police station.
The two kids went missing when they were taking bath in the pond, said the OC.
Read:Over 14,000 children die in Bangladesh due to drowning every year
Later their family members, along with local people, searched for them. Around 2:30 pm, they rescued the girls and took them to Upazila Health Complex where doctors pronounced them dead.
“Two cases of unnatural death have been filed in this regard,” said the officer.
According to WHO and UNICEF, each year, over 14,000 children in Bangladesh die due to drowning.
Although largely unrecognised, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children under the age of five in the country.