Representatives of the Saarc member states in a two-day inter-governmental meeting that began yesterday have almost finalised the draft of ‘Saarc Charter of Democracy’, said Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes.

Emerging from the ongoing meeting at Hotel Sheraton in the city, Quayes said at a press briefing that they would come up with the complete outcome on the draft today.

“We’ve progressed much…we can say nearly 80 percent work is done. We hope we’ll be able to come up with the final outcome today,” he said.

Asked about the contents of the draft, Quayes declined to divulge anything. He said, “We’ve the responsibility of preparing a draft…it’ll go through two more processes once the draft is done. We’re working on it and all the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries are very sincere about the issue.”

Earlier, the two-day meeting tasked with finalising the draft of the ‘Saarc Charter of Democracy’ began at Hotel Sheraton in the morning.

Representatives including parliamentarians, high commissioners, high officials from the eight member countries–Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives–are attending the meeting. (more…)

July 8, Bangladesh (Tazakhobor.com): The High Court has ruled against punishment of people by issuing fatwa in local arbitrations upon writ petitions

Delivering the judgment upon three separate Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petition, the bench of justices Syed Mahmud Hossain and Gobinda Chandra Thakur gave the verdict on Thursday. In the verdict the court directed the authorities concerned to take punitive action against the people involved in enforcing fatwa. The court also said, anyone involved, present, taking part or assisting any such conviction or execution would come under purview of the offences under the penal code and be subject to punishment. The opinion enclosed with the copy of the judgment said that the persons found involved with ordering, executing or assisting such extra-legal punishment will face criminal proceedings.
The same bench on May 24 ordered the government to explain why extra-judicial punishment in the name of fatwa and Islamic Sharia law would not be declared illegal and inhuman.

(more…)

The High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh today issued a Rule on the Government asking it why a Home Ministry Circular which only allowed a ‘No Visa Required’ stamp to be endorsed on the passports of ‘foreign national wives and children’ of Bangladeshi nationals, but not on those of foreign national ‘husbands’ should not be declared gender discriminatory and unconstitutional.

The petitioner, a Bangladeshi/Australian dual national married to a US national, had challenged the Circular dated 19 Aug 2007 as being in violation of her fundamental rights to gender equality and to life, including family life, referring to the Constitution and to the state’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women.

“We are delighted that the Court has responded so promptly, and we hope that the Government will now deliver on its pledges and take early action to deal with a glaring example of gender discrimination written into the law,” said Sara Hossain, who represented the petitioner.

A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Mr. Justice Gobinda Chandra Thakur issued the Rule and passed the interim order.

The High Court yesterday issued a suo moto order directing the government to ensure that no woman is forced to wear borkha (veil) or religious attires at the educational institutions and offices across the country.

The court also ordered the government to ensure that the cultural activities and sports in the educational institutions are not restricted in any manner.

An HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain came up with the order following a news item published in a Bangla daily yesterday with the headline “Rani Bhabani Mahila College – Borka Na Porle Ashte Mana” meaning the students of Rani Bhabani Women’s College without veils are barred from entering the college.

The news item said the Principal of the college in Natore Mozammel Haque, who joined the college two months ago, has stopped any cultural activities and sports at the college and restricted the entrance of the students (female) without borkha or veil to the college. (more…)

Court directs ship-breakers to submit safety certificates before import

The Supreme Court yesterday directed Bangladesh Ship Breakers’ Association (BSBA) to execute the High Court order to get all scrap ships decontaminated at source and outside Bangladesh territory.

A full bench of the SC passed the order during hearing of an appeal filed by BSBA seeking a stay on the HC order. The BSBA sought to import toxic ships within the interim period until the government formulates guidelines for the ship-breaking yards.

The HC division in its order on May 11 directed BSBA to have pre-cleaning certificate of decontamination before importing vessels into Bangladesh for breaking.

“The order means the ship breakers would not be able to import toxic ships,” said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA). (more…)

The High Court on Monday directed the police to file criminal cases under Special Powers Act against the traders who are selling adulterated foods and increasing the prices of food items arbitrarily.

The court also directed the secretaries to the commerce, industries and health ministries to continue the mobile court crackdown on the sell of contaminated food across the country for the next two months.

The mobile courts are assigned to resist food adulteration and arbitrary increase of the food prices.

The higher court also directed the inspector general of police, director general of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner to provide sufficient forces to the mobile courts as per their requirements so that the drive can run smoothly. (more…)

The High Court on Monday directed the police to file criminal cases under Special Powers Act against the traders who are selling adulterated foods and increasing the prices of food items arbitrarily.

The court also directed the secretaries to the commerce, industries and health ministries to continue the mobile court crackdown on the sell of contaminated food across the country for the next two months.

The mobile courts are assigned to resist food adulteration and arbitrary increase of the food prices.

The higher court also directed the inspector general of police, director general of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner to provide sufficient forces to the mobile courts as per their requirements so that the drive can run smoothly. (more…)

Seven workers were injured when a fire broke out at a ship-breaking yard at Madambibir Hat under Sitakunda upazila in the district yesterday.

The accident occurred at ZN Enterprise when an oil-tank of a scrap ship caught fire while the workers were cutting it around 11:00am using a gas cutter.

Sparks coming from the gas cutter caused the fire, said the authorities of the ship-breaking yard.

The injured were Mohammad Saiful, 22, Nowab Ali, 27, Milon Mandal, 25, Belal, 20, Mohammad Rony, 24, Razzak, 40, and Shahidur Rahman, 24. (more…)

The government yesterday slapped an outright ban on indulging in physical punishment to the students at all educational institutions in the country.
An education ministry circular asked the district education officers and upazila secondary education officers to take action under the existing law along with departmental action against such misconduct.
The decision came against the backdrop of increasing number of such incidents recently.
It has been noticed that teachers of some educational institutions impose inhuman punishments on the students for various reasons including violation of discipline and negligence in study. Such news is often published in media, the circular signed by Education Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman said.
Teachers should help flourish physical and mental growth of the students and groom them up as worthy citizens, it said adding that students’ progress gets hampered due to physical punishment.

(more…)

Religious bigots vandalised and looted at least 10 houses of the Ahmadiyyas in Chandtara village of the district’s Ghatail upazila early yesterday.

Irate at the move to build an Ahmadiyya mosque in the area, they attacked the houses at around 2:00am and continued pillaging till 6:00am in the morning, local sources said.

Earlier on Saturday, 10 Ahmadiyyas were injured in an attack while returning from the foundation-laying ceremony of the mosque.

Abu Taher Akhand, a member of the Ahmadiyya community, told The Daily Star that paddy, furniture, livestock and household items worth around Tk 10 lakh were looted from his house.

“They made the attack after police left the village,” he said.

His family and dwellers of the other houses however managed to flee to safety, he added. (more…)