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WB keen to join Bangladesh's development process

Human Rights Report:
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim at a programme marking the 'International Day for the Eradication of Poverty' at Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Monday. -BSS Photo
Lauding the achievement of Bangladesh in poverty alleviation, the World Bank (WB) has expressed its eagerness to join the development process of the country. It also pledged to continue to stand by Bangladesh in the future and extend its assistance.
The WB has advised Bangladesh to ensure quality education and healthcare services and to improve the system of governance as well as strengthening the drive against corruption for sustainable development.
The WB expressed the views at a programme at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on the occasion of the 'International Day for the Eradication of Poverty' on Monday.
The government and the World Bank jointly arranged the programme.At the programme, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the appreciation from a body like the WB for poverty reduction will give further impetus to the efforts to attain the goal.
She also expressed the hope that the WB, one of our development partners, will play a stronger role in our development endeavour.

BHRC Human Rights Report on October 2016
Total 254 persons killed in October, 2016

Human Rights Report:
The documentation section of Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) furnished this human rights survey report on the basis of daily newspapers and information received from its district, sub-district and municipal branches. As per survey it appears that 254 peoples were killed in October, 2016 in all over the country. It proves that the law and order situation is not satisfactory. Bangladesh Human Rights Commissions extremely anxious about this situation. In the month of October, 2016 average 8.19 people were killed in each day.
The Law enforcing agencies and related Govt. departments should be more responsible so that percentage of killing may be brought down to zero level. To institutionalize the democracy and to build human rights based society the rule of law and order must be established everywhere. Through enforcing rule of law only such violation against human rights can be minimized.
It appears from documentation division of BHRC:
Total 254 person killed October, 2016
Political killing 6, Killing for dowry 11 killing by family violence 26, Killed due to social discrepancy 57, Killed by Law enforcing authority 22, Killed due to doctor negligence 11, Assassination 7, Mysterious death 95, Killed due to BSF 5, Women & Chilled killed due to rape 5, Kill due to abduction 9.
Killed by several accidents:
Killed by road accident 169, Suicide 32.
Besides victims of torture:
Rape 52, Torture for Dowry 13, Sexual Harassment 11, Acid throwing 4.

Ties with China elevated to strategic partnership
Shawkat Ali Khan

Human Rights Report:
The long-standing Bangla-desh-China ties steered into a new era of strategic partnership of cooperation as the two nations signed 27 agreements, including loan and investment deals in the infrastructure sector worth billions on Friday, the first day of a two-day historic visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Speaking highly of the friendship between Bangladesh and China, the Chinese President said his government attaches great importance to bilateral relations and is ready to join hands to lift their ties and practical cooperation to a higher level.
Both countries also agreed to advance the China's 'one-belt and one-road initiative' together and establish and carry out 'institutional cooperation' in areas of maritime cooperation and counterterrorism.
President Xi Jinping landed in Dhaka in the morning marking the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Bangladesh in 30 years. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina welcomed the Chinese President at the PMO at about 3:00pm. Prior to the signing of deals, both the leaders had a tête-à-tête for several minutes.
"We agreed to elevate the relations between China and Bangladesh from a closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation to a strategic partnership of cooperation and to enhance high level exchanges and strategic communication so that our bilateral relations continue to move ahead at a higher level," President Xi Jinping said.
Terming the bilateral meeting as fruitful one, both leaders opined that the deals, inked between the two countries, took the bilateral relations to a new horizon.
At the signing ceremony, Sheikh Hasina said she had very fruitful discussions with President Xi on bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest.
"We reached consensus on cooperation in key areas, such as, trade and investment, infrastructure, industry, power and energy, information and communication technology and agriculture," Hasina said.
The 63-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping termed Bangladesh and China 'good neighbours, good friends and good partners.'
"China, Bangladesh relationship is now at a new historical starting point and heading toward a promising future," Xi said.
He said China would 'continue to do its best' to provide capital, technological and human resources support and carry out 'more cooperation' on big projects with Bangladesh to support its economical and social development.
"We agreed to designate the year of 2017 as year of exchange and friendship between China and Bangladesh during which colorful events will be held to carry forward our traditional friendship," President Xi continued.
The agreements and MoUs of cooperation will cover the areas of trade and investment, blue economy, BCIM-EC, roads and bridges, railways, power, maritime, ICT, industrial production, capacity building and skill development.

Threatening MP: Tangail schoolboy acquitted; UNO, OC withdrawn

Human Rights Report:
Human Rights Report:
The High Court on Tuesday declared a mobile court verdict which sentenced Sabbir Shikder, a school student of Tangail, two years' jail last month for threatening Awami League MP Anupam Shahjahan as illegal.
The HC also directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Tangail to launch a judicial inquiry on the basis of the statement given by Sabbir before it on September 27.
The HC also directed the secretaries of establishment and home ministry and inspector general of police to withdraw Sakhipur Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, also an executive magistrate, and officer-in-charge (OC) of Sakhipur Police Station Mohammad Maksudul Alam and place them outside Dhaka division "for fair investigation".
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das delivered the verdict after hearing lawyers from both sides.
The ninth-grader, who was sentenced by the mobile court reportedly under the Information and Communication Technology Act for threatening Awami League MP Anupam Shahjahan, appeared before the HC on September 27 following its suo moto rule.
The HC on September 20 issued the suo moto rule and asked the UNO and the OC to appear before it on September 27 and explain why a schoolboy was sentenced to two years in jail under the ICT act over alleged threats made to a lawmaker via Facebook.
The HC also granted Sabbir, a student of Protima Bonki Public High School, bail and asked him to appear before it on September 27with relevant documents to ascertain his age.
 

Woman screams in pain during caning in Indonesia as crowd cheers
 

Human Rights Report:
A young woman screamed in pain as she was caned on Monday in front of a jeering crowd in Indonesia's Aceh, the latest person to be punished for breaking the province's strict Islamic laws.
Aceh is the only province in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country that imposes sharia law. People can face floggings for a range of offences -- from gambling, to drinking alcohol, to gay sex.
The woman was among 13 people -- seven men and six women aged between 21 and 30 -- who were caned on Monday at a mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, as a baying crowd cheered the spectacle.
Six couples were found guilty of breaking Islamic laws that ban intimacy, such as touching, hugging and kissing, between unmarried people.
A man was caned for a less serious offence described as spending time with a member of the opposite sex in a hidden location in a fashion that could lead to adultery.
One 22-year-old woman due to be flogged was given a temporary reprieve as she was pregnant -- but Aceh Deputy Mayor Zainal Arifin pledged: "The punishment will be handed down after she gives birth."
The official added that he hoped the canings would serve as a deterrent: "We hope there are no more people in Banda Aceh who break the law in future."
More and more people are being caned in Aceh, with a particular increase in recent times in the number of women being flogged.
Aceh, on Sumatra island, began implementing sharia law after being granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government in Jakarta to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.
Islamic laws have been strengthened since the province struck a peace deal with the central government in 2005.
More than 90 percent of Indonesians describe themselves as Muslim, but the vast majority practise a moderate form of the faith.
 

Do political parties need internal democracy In Bangladesh?
Afsan Chowdhury

This question is regularly asked but never taken seriously by anyone particularly political parties. Why political parties do well or do not may have little or nothing to do with internal democracy or whatever that actually means. All the research that has been done to explore political poverty or prosperity also says the same. But at the end of the day, while politics and parties have continued on rather merrily, the research have all been forgotten. It should be a sobering lesson about the need for internal democracy in parties, perhaps even democracy itself as we seem to know it.
It’s difficult for a historian to detect democracy as an objective in our politics. Since we moved through two nationalist movements – anti-British and anti-Pakistani — the political imagination has always been influenced by the national meta objective which is formation of a new state. Before 1947, the Muslim League was not run on very democratic lines because the main objective was to lead a state creating movement for Pakistan. Jinnah’s rage was against the politically unreliable Fazlul Huq of Bengal, a man who according to him was constantly upsetting the cart in the crucial theatre of vote delivering Bengal. It was not about upholding the spirit of internal democracy. He was very happy to kick Huq out not once but twice out of his party and alliance. Huq went on to serve his increasingly fading constituency – East Bengal peasantry- outside ML because the Pakistan cause came first to Jinnah and the party.
When in 1947 “states of Pakistan” as resolved in 1940 was changed into just “state” of Pakistan, Jinnah insisted it was the original resolution. When Abul Hashem of Bengal’s challenge was proven right, Jinnah held a new vote and “states” were changed to “state” in violation of the original resolution right in the 1940 meeting. It was not democratic but meant to serve the cause.
In the period from 1949 to 1971, the AL broke up several times, the biggest split being in 1957 when the Left under Bhashani left though it never became a zone of political influence ever. The main AL went on ahead and its splinters all fell by the side. AL went on to 1969, 1970 elections and 1971 war to produce Bangladesh.
While in Mujibnagar, the government was often threatened by splits but the risk of such shenanigans in a foreign land was too high particularly with Indira Gandhi not ready to tolerate such activities. However, it made the Indians uneasy and such trends were one of the reasons why India helped form the BLF/Mujib Bahini under its direct command, away from the several factions within the Mujibnagar government. Subsequently, after 1971, the AL Left under Sirajul Alam Khan left to form JSD which had a short life that ended in 1975. The August killings increasingly now appear to be produced by multiple forces within the army, all looking for power. But most of them thought they were doing the right thing in the name of ‘democracy” inspired by the political role they played in 1971.
Many of these veteran officers of 1971 wanted to change the army into something new and “progressive” which in effect was exercising their democratic rights if you will born out of the participation process in a political war. But democracy and army don’t go together. Armies are driven by a chain of command and discipline. But then again, as many veterans now say, they were no longer conventional after their role in 1971.
 

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The health issue . . .
Enayetullah Khan
 

The healthcare sector in Bangladesh has long been a matter of discussion. There is no denying that we have achieved remarkable success in various indexes of healthcare services, keeping pace with the overall development taking place in every other sector. The number of medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies has increased significantly and we may take pride in the fact that some of these institutions provide world-class healthcare facilities. We have, by and large, attained self-sufficiency in medicine production. Several companies even export pharmaceutical products to various countries all over the world. But this does not show the real picture of the entire healthcare scene in the country. In fact, if we take a close look at the whole gamut of the country’s healthcare situation, both in private and public sectors, a rather abysmal picture will unfurl before us.
Along with a few quality institutions, the bulk of which are in the capital, there has been a mushroom growth of private clinics and diagnostic centres across the country. Many of these hospitals and diagnostic centres have been established without taking approval from the appropriate state authorities and the quality of healthcare they provide is very much substandard. What they think about only is making money by exploiting the helpless patients. Hospitals in the public sector, which are the only option for the majority poor people of the country since they cannot afford the high expenses of private hospitals, too do not often provide the desired services. A large-scale involvement of the doctors of the public hospitals with private clinics and personal practice place a big question mark over their professionalism and professional ethics. Besides, there is an unabated presence of non-hospital staff and agents of private hospitals in the public hospitals, which make the healthcare situation there rather deplorable.
It is clear the entire healthcare sector in the country is in a quandary and public health is in peril. The recent reports of a baby being declared dead in Faridpur, who later was found to be alive, and the death of a person after being treated with unauthorised medicine by a non-hospital staff in Dhaka Medical College Hospital denote the whole situation. In short, a serious deterioration of services offered by medical institutions across the country is taking place steadily.

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