United News of Bangladesh

Law enforcers have recovered 715 arms looted in recent times from police stations, police lines, police outposts and other places, till Saturday. Police headquarters shared this information in a message this afternoon. Moreover, a total of 18,512 rounds of bullets, 1.118 tear gas shells, seventy sound grenades have been recovered till date, it reads. A large number of arms and ammunition were looted from the police stations and other protected zones after attacking law enforcers before and after August 5. Members of the Bangladesh Army have also been working to recover the looted arms across the country.

Energy experts, economists and officials of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) want scrapping of Speedy Supply of Power and Energy Special Act 2010, renegotiation with private plant operators to reset the power tariff and reducing the capacity charges to survive the country's power sector. They made the suggestions just before assuming office of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry by the newly appointed advisor of the interim government. Former power secretary Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan has been appointed as advisor of the interim government with responsibility of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges and the Ministry of Railway.   Politically appointed 62 directors including Power Cell GD removed from power and energy entities' boards The suggestions of the experts came against the backdrop of the critical juncture of the country’s power sector where the BPDB has been incurring a loss of over Tk 45,000 crore annually in buying electricity at higher cost while its pending outstanding bills with private companies is Tk 45,000 crore. It also has an annual burden of a whopping Tk 37,093 crore in capacity charge payments under the contracts with private power producers. Centre for Policy Dialogue’s research director and economist Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem said the interim government should first focus on bringing a major reform in the country’s power and energy sector. “As part of the reform, it has to scrap first the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy Special Act 2010 to remove all discrimination and ensure transparency and competition in the procurement process,” Dr Moazzem said. He said the next step should be renegotiation with the private power producers to re-fix their tariffs, especially with those companies where the government has long term power purchase agreements and has passed a critical minimum period. Energy experts, stakeholders urge interim govt to restore BERC's authority over power and energy pricing The third step, the CPD director said, should be cancellation of the letter of intents (LOI) with those companies which were selected on an unsolicited basis to sign contracts for power purchase. Echoing the idea of reforms in the power and energy sector Dr M Shamsul Alam, senior vice president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), and also energy expert, said the government has to reconstitute the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) and return the tariff fixing authority to it. Side by side, the government entities in the power and energy sector also should be restructured to bring good leadership, he said. He also said that the government should not take any move to increase the power and energy prices and immediately sit with the stakeholders in the sector to get their suggestions. The BPDB officials are also negotiating with the private power companies on reducing power tariff and capacity charges. If the capacity charge is renegotiated and brought down to 50 percent, the government can save Tk 18-20,000 crore annually, said one top official, based on the amount paid last year. They also said annulment of the existing Speedy Supply of Power and Energy Special Act 2010 will bring accountability and transparency in the power sector.

The interim government on Saturday appointed journalist Mahbub Morshed as the Managing Director and Chief Editor of the state-run national news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) for two years. The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification on Saturday in this regard. According to the notification, other terms of this appointment will be determined by the approved contract. The order will be effective soon in public interest, reads the notification. Earlier, the current government gave contractual appointments to five secretaries in ministries and the President's Office.

The contractual appointments of Bangla Academy Director General Professor Dr Md Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari and Director General of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Liaquat Ali Lucky have been cancelled. The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification on Saturday in this regard. Besides, the contractual appointments of Abul Kalam Azad, Managing Director and Chief Editor of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), Jatiya Grantha Kendro director Minar Monsur and first secretary (Press) at the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in India's Kolkata Ranjan Sen, have also been scrapped. The order will be effective soon in public interest, read notification. Earlier, the interim government gave contractual appointments to five secretaries in ministries and the President's Office.

Five retired additional secretaries have been brought back and appointed secretaries on a contractual basis. The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification on Saturday in this regard. They have been appointed on contract for a period of two years from the date of joining subject to severance of working relationship with other institutions and organisations, said the notification. Dr. Sheikh Abdur Rashid has been made Secretary of Secondary and Higher Education Department while Md Ehchanul Haque has been made Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Department. Besides, Dr. Mohammad Abdul Momen has been appointed as Secretary of Public Security Department of Home Ministry, Dr. Nasimul Gani as Secretary of Public Department of President's Office and MA Akmal Hossain Azad as Secretary of Railway Ministry. The interim government that took over after the fall of the Awami League government recently canceled the contractual appointments of the secretaries of these ministries and transferred some to other ministries, according to the notification.

Journalists at all levels have called for extensive reforms in various aspects of media ownership and management to ensure journalism free from the influence of powerful classes.  They expressed these views at an opinion-sharing meeting organised under the banner of "Media Reform Initiative" at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) on Saturday afternoon. The meeting was conducted by journalists Ariful Sajjad and Ahmed Faiz. During the meeting, journalists agreed on the need to establish a non-partisan platform for a free, independent, and robust media. At the meeting, journalists were of the opinion that prioritizing corporate owners' interests and sycophantic journalism have harmed the rights of professional media workers while positioning the media against the public. To address this crisis, they demanded a transformation of the media's collective character to make it more people-oriented. Author and researcher Altaf Parvez said that the media cannot escape responsibility for recent state-led atrocities. Therefore, there is a need for intense self-criticism. He mentioned that the journalism sector needs three types of reformation: first, against corporate industry; second, against party-based journalist unions and press clubs; third, against personal greed and bias. Senior journalist Khairuzzaman Kamal described his experience, saying that the biggest crisis in journalism is corporate ownership. Without changing this system, achieving economic freedom for media workers and creating a people-friendly media will be difficult. He emphasized the need to form a strong organization of professional journalists outside political affiliations. Another senior journalist, Selim Samad, said that strong measures need to be taken against the arbitrary termination of journalists' jobs. Senior journalist Bahram Khan mentioned that the media, as the fourth pillar of the state, must do whatever is necessary. Unprofessional, sycophantic journalism must be discarded, and extensive reforms in the media are needed. TRT World's Bangladesh representative Kamruzzaman Bablu said that many senior journalists have sold out to power and personal interests, making any expectation of change from them unrealistic. There is a need for substantial changes in the corrupt system to make journalism an attractive profession for future generations. Additional statements were made by Shahnaz Sharmin of Ekattor Television, Moinul Haque of New Age, Mahbub Saikat of My TV, Junayed Shishir of Kalbela, journalist Mizanur Rahman Kabir, Hossain Shahadat of News 24, and Ashraful Islam Rana of The Business Post. At the event, journalists presented a 13-point demand for extensive reforms in the media. The demands are: -Ensure justice for journalists killed during student and public movements. -Provide compensation for injured and deceased media workers and affected media outlets during student and public movements. All closed media outlets should be reopened immediately.Investigate and bring to justice media owners and executives who have turned the media into a political tool. -Establish a unified wage board for media workers. Implement the 9th Wage Board immediately. -Investigate and take action against those who claimed state benefits by implementing the 8th Wage Board but did not actually implement it. -Distribute dividends according to labor laws. -Immediately halt any undemocratic tendencies in media ownership. -End all forms of intimidation of media workers. Permanently stop government and special agency directives and control in news management, reporting, and journalist organization elections. -Form a high-level commission to reform media management and related issues. -Abolish all clauses of repressive laws against media and freedom of expression.Withdraw all cases filed against media workers under ICT, Digital Security, and Cyber Security laws. -Ensure justice for the murder of journalist couple Sagar-Runi and all other killings and assaults.Prosecute those involved in the abduction, torture, and harassment of journalists.Ensure that all media can act as a voice for the people.

An unidentified man died after being hit by a train at the level crossing in Dhaka’s Moghbazar  on Saturday. The incident happened around 8:00 am when the man, about 40 years old, was hit by the train bound for Kamalapur Railway Station while crossing the railline. Passersby rescued him and took him to Moghbazar Insaf Al Baraka Hospital. However, due to the severity of his injuries, he was later transferred to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where he was pronounced dead at 9:00 am, Mohammad Jahed Hasan, one of the pedestrians who took the man to the hospital, said. Inspector Bachchu Mia, in charge of the DMCH Police Outpost, confirmed the matter. The incident has been reported to the Dhaka Railway Police Station, he added.

Interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus will brief the diplomats stationed in Dhaka on Sunday, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. The briefing will begin at 11am at a hotel in Dhaka, he said. Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam will brief the media after the diplomatic briefing. The international community has already extended their support to Prof Yunus-led interim government, expressing hope that the country will return to the desired path of fulfilling democratic aspirations through a fair and participatory political process. Assuring the safety and security of diplomats, the interim government sought the international community’s support as they embark on charting a new future for Bangladesh. “We believe that all our friends and partners in the international community would continue to stand by the interim government and our people as we embark on charting a new future for Bangladesh,” Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain told diplomats in Dhaka during a briefing at state guesthouse Padma on August 12. He said they can assure that the safety and security of the diplomatic and consular premises and persons will remain one of their core priorities. “We also remain sensitized to the need to ensure protection of all foreign citizens residing in our territory,” Hossain said. He said the government has taken quick and decisive measures to restore law and order and bring back normalcy.

The first failure of the interim government is that it didn’t take any visible steps to stand by the injured people and deceased of the movement that toppled the previous government. Hasnat Abdullah, one of the coordinators of the anti-discrimination students movement, said this on Friday evening while visiting hospitals to see the injured. The coordinators visited hospitals on Friday evening as a part of a scheduled program of "Resistance Week" named ‘Stand With Injured’. Abdul Kader, Rifat Rashid were present among the coordinators of the movement. Hasnat Abdullah said, “As part of our resistance week, today our program was ‘stand with injured’. we have visited Dhanmondi Medical College, Mugda Medical college, Dhaka Medical College, Mitford Medical College and Sheikh Hasina Burn Unit to see our fellows. Our coordinators also visited other Hospitals.” “Visiting the hospitals, I realized that the members of law enforcement agencies fired lethal bullets aiming to kill people. It requires intensive investigation,” Hasnat said. “The condition of most of the patients are not good. They must need better treatment. The first failure of the interim government is that they couldn’t even prepare a complete list of the injured and deceased. Most of the injured require international standard treatment. The government should ensure this at the first move. We are condemning the government's health department for this,” he said, demanding better treatment for the injured fellows. Regarding their activities and visits to hospitals, Hasnat said, “we neither have any political authority nor any legal authority to control the people. What we are doing here is nothing but voluntary work. The students who are working on the streets and managing traffic signals are also doing voluntary work. The government should take quick and visible steps to ensure better treatment for the injured as we came to know that there are many injured people who were only earning money for their family.” Abdul Kader, another coordinator, said, “we came to know that some so called coordinators are doing wrong deeds using the banner of Anti-Discrimination Students Movement. We are boldly saying that if any coordinators do anything wrong, we will take steps against them immediately." Again, there are fake coordinators too who are using the name to gain personal interest. You all have to be aware of them, he added.  

Female students of different universities in Bangladesh have formed a human chain at Dhaka University protesting the rape of a intern doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital. The protesters also demanded justice for the victim Moumita and also sought Mamata Banerjee's resignation as chief minister of West Bengal from the Human chain. The human chain was formed at the premises of Raju Monument of the Dhaka University around 4 pm on Friday and later marched toward Sahid Minar under the banner titled "Raise your voice, women". At the rally, the students said that after the rape incident, all kinds of evidence were destroyed by the medical college. Out of 4,500 rape cases, only four or five cases have been tried. Our demand to the authority is we want justice for women, we want law and its enforcement. Aleya Tahmim, a student of the Department of Anthropology of Dhaka University, said, "it is an irony that we are criticizing India standing in Bangladesh today. In India, at least there is partial independence on the part of the judiciary. But for the last fifteen years, there has been no such independence of the police or judiciary in our country. The previous ruling government gave shelter to the rapists rather than prosecuting them, she added. While speaking, Lamisha Jamal, a student of Jahangirnagar University said, "The incidents of rape are so high in our country that it is difficult to remember those all together. Following the rape case at Sylhet MC College, she said, “I saw the news about the incident which were very confusing. Different media presented news differently rather than presenting the info objectively. None of the reports were well written by marking the rapists. Why is this happening? Out of more than 4,500 cases filed, even five victims do not get justice properly. At the end of the program, they displayed placards with slogans such as 'Kolkata to Bangladesh, we want justice', 'Justice for RG Kar, justice for Moumita', 'Rapist is punished only one, there is no word without death penalty', 'Question when independence, Waddedar across Bangla' etc. and marched to Sahid Minar.