Bangladesh News and Discussions

icecoolben

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India should remain neutral but lean towards Burma in any war, India also has to seal the borders to prevent mass refugees coming from Bangladesh. The Burmese army is not small in numbers or capability, even Chinese have avoided border problems with them. This war will be more for the natural gas that is in the waters of Burma that is claimed by Bangladesh, if Bangladesh gives up this claim this could resolve with a war,especially with China and India backing Burma there is little to no chance of Bangladesh winning, but they maybe able to hold a defensive position but any territory gained by Burma will embolden them, the interesting thing is Pakistan has not commented their role in this while India has more or less made it clear with the Kapoor's visit to Burma.
india cannot and would not support burma, in the event of conflict. V have more interests in bangla than burma, especially since a pro-india pm, party is in power after such a long time. Further, myanmar's door to deal gas exports to india have been sealed more or less. In bangla a virgin market may open up, so our business interests too lie there. If bangla security forces get locked with myanmar, extremist would run free for lack of control and this has extreme consequences for indian security. So india would favor bangla both politically and militarily to be stronger and would help towards this end. India would finally have a chance to liberate bangladesh a second time from the ideological affinities to pakistan and china, and follow a pragmatic engagement with india knowing indian priorities.
 

Rage

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We would remain neutral.

Bangladesh and Burma are both equally important to India. Bangladesh has excellent relations in view of the present India-friendly government; and Burma is strategically important: geostrategically, in order to counter the Chinese influence in the region; and economically, in view of Burmese gas and energy imports.

Ofcourse, trade-wise, Bangladesh is far more important: export and imports between Bangladesh and India through the Tripura border alone were expected to reach Rs.1 billion in the current fiscal as compared to Rs.300 million in 2005; and total two-way trade approach $4 billion and is expected to double by 2011. Burma, on the other hand, is only beginning to approach a $1 billion bilateral trade with India now. Unofficial trade volumes between India and Bangladesh are estimated to be as much as 3/4 of official trade volumes, and alongwith the obvious cultural proximity, constitutes a compelling argument. On the other hand, Burma is India's gateway to South East Asia, is its second largest export market absorbing 25% of exports after Thailand, is beginning to extensively involve itself with the private sector in hydrocarbons and processing, and these, along with the proposed transit corridoor and gas pipeline, constitute important cases for neutrality.

Both governments are also complicit in emptying out camps inhabited by the ULFA rebels, and improving relations and mutual dependencies between Bangladesh and India and Burma and India means that India can, and will, seek to play a greater role in resolving conflicts between the two, rather than taking sides.
 

Rage

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Pls read my previous post in this same thread rage and refer me.

Nah b, yours is an equally valid point of view. I'm just stating mine. We can only speculate on foreign policy decisions based on known variables and a weighting of their gravity or significance. But even in plausible game-theory sequiturs, this weighting is purely subjective, although we may try to ascribe empirically, statistically and logically-inveigled 'weights' to each variable.

That is the beauty of the social sciences, there is never one absolute outcome.
 

leonblack08

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Breaking news!
3 Pak militants held in Dhaka

Star Online Report
Three Pakistani militants, who were plotting to attack US embassy and Indian High Commission in Dhaka, were arrested in the capital early Friday.

Detective Branch of Police, which arrested the militants in the capital, identified them as members of militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiyeba (LeT).

One of the arrestees is a student of Islamic Institute of Technology (IIT) in Gazipur, who was maintaining regular contact with his bosses in Pakistan regarding the attack on the US embassy, official sources said.

The arrests were made following information provided by LeT leaders who were arrested in Chittagong on November 5 in connection with a plot to attack the US embassy.

3 Pak militants held in Dhaka
 
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Bangladesh says India to agree Nepal railway

Bangladesh says India to agree Nepal railway | Top News | Reuters

Bangladesh says India to agree Nepal railway

DHAKA (Reuters) - India will allow Bangladesh to set up long-awaited railway links for transporting commercial goods to and from landlocked Nepal, officials said on Saturday.
"The agreement will be signed during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India," Foreign Secretary Mohammad Mijarul Quayesh told reporters after meeting his Indian counterpart, Nirupama Rao.

Hasina will go to India on a four-day visit from Dec. 18 to boost bilateral ties and resolve minor disputes over land and maritime boundaries.

The visit will be Hasina's first to India after returning to power with a landslide victory in parliamentary elections late last year.

The agreement would fulfil Bangladesh's long-held desire to set up railway links with Nepal which wants to use Bangladesh's Chittagong and Mongla ports for its external trade, another foreign ministry official said.

Rao, who took office in August, described her first visit to Bangladesh as "fruitful and constructive".

(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed)
 

icecoolben

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A turn around in relations regarding gas from myanmar and bangla access bhutan nepal

By december this year with the bangla presidents visit to new delhi, two issues are poised to be sorted out,
*bangla's access to land locked bhutan, nepal and india's access to north-eastern states via bangla posts.
domain-b.com : Sheikh Hasina's India visit may yield transit agreement

*tri-nation participation on a gas pipe-line from myanmar to india via bangla
domain-b.com : Dhaka to resume talks on tri-nation gas link with Myanmar, India
 

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Crackdown on Northeast Insurgents: Dhaka Prepares for Hasina’s India Visit


The Shaikh Hasina government in Bangladesh took a significant step towards improving bilateral relations with India when it arrested two top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) – ‘foreign secretary’ Sashadhar Choudhury and ‘finance secretary’ Chitraban Hazarika. Swinging into action, the government of India has succeeded in securing the custody of these leaders. This was an important development as past governments in Bangladesh had refused to accept that their territory was being used to launch terror attacks against India.

The report of the capture of the two senior ULFA leaders first became known from the outfit itself when its ‘military spokesperson’ Raju Baruah informed the media that Choudhury and Hazarika were picked up by Bangladeshi intelligence officials on November 1, 2009 from a house in Dhaka's Uttara area. ULFA thought that once this news became public ‘human rights organizations’ active both in Dhaka and Guwahati might help bail out its leaders. Subsequently, the outfit also called for a dawn-to-dusk general shutdown across Assam on November 9 to protest the detention of its leaders. ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa even alleged that the detention of Hazarika and Choudhury was part of the Indian government's "conspiracy" to neutralise the organisation's leaders.

Reports indicate that New Delhi and Dhaka may have reached a tacit understanding that Northeast rebels based in Bangladesh will be simply picked up and handed over to India. If this pattern is followed it will become a norm.

ULFA’s popularity has already reached its nadir in Assam. These arrests are a further setback. But the importance of these arrests should not be overestimated. Both arrested leaders have been out of action for a long time. Currently, they do not know much about the outfit or its finances. Of the 16 members of the ULFA’s Central Executive Committee, four are in a Guwahati jail – Vice-Chairman Pradip Gogoi, adviser Bhimkanta Buragohain, cultural secretary Pranati Deka and central publicity secretary Mithinga Daimari. Another leader Ramu Mech is on parole. The latest arrests add to this number.

ULFA in its present shape is singlehandedly controlled by Paresh Barua who has now reportedly left Bangladesh. He is unlikely to return to Bangladesh anytime soon as he is also named in the Chittagong arms seizure case. The smugglers arrested during the arms haul have alleged that Barua personally supervised the trafficking of weapons. ULFA Chairman Aravinda Rajkhowa has now moved to another location outside Dhaka. Both Barua and Rajkhowa have substantial business interests in Bangladesh.

Most ULFA leaders have Muslim aliases. At the time of their “detention,” Hazarika was living under the name of Ashfaqul Hossein, while Choudhury was known as Rafiqul Islam. They also have Bangladeshi voter identity cards and passports. Bangladeshi intelligence sleuths had seized these documents from Choudhary and Hazarika before handing them over to India.

Reports have also indicated that the families of Paresh Barua and Rajkhowa are under surveillance. Clearly the government has not gone all out against the ULFA or other Northeastern insurgents. It seems the top leaders are informed in time to move to other safe locations.

There are other top insurgent leaders still residing in Bangladesh. They are Ranjan Daimary of the pro-sovereignty faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), Biswamohan Debbarma of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and Ranjit Debbarma of the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF). Only the insignificant ones have so far been targeted and that too only to pacify New Delhi and prevent it from raising this issue during Hasina’s upcoming visit to India.

It is also possible that Bangladesh took this step to improve its own internal security. In October 2009, Bangladesh’s Home Minister Shamsul Haque Tuku was cited as saying that the government had directed the law enforcement agencies to crack down on ULFA bases following intelligence reports that the group was planning major strikes in Dhaka. In a subsequent development, Amal Das, a senior ULFA leader, was arrested by security forces in Dhaka. As the comfort level of Indian insurgent outfits based in Dhaka dips, it is likely that they might indulge in some terror activity even inside Bangladesh. In this context, the recent handover of ULFA leaders, despite the absence of a formal extradition, might bode well for the internal security situation in both countries. It is to be hoped that this practice will be sustained in the future and it will not end with the visit of Shaikh Hasina

Crackdown on Northeast Insurgents: Dhaka Prepares for Hasina?s India Visit | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
 

RPK

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ULFA Chairman detained in Bangladesh

Guwahati/New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) Chairman of outlawed ULFA Arabinda Rajkhowa has been detained in Bangladesh and efforts were on to get him deported to India, intelligence sources said today.

53-year-old Rajkhowa was picked up in Dhaka on Monday and was likely to be handed over to the Indian authorities along the Indo-Bangla border either in Tripura or in Assam soon, they said.

The detention was also confirmed by sources in the Union Home Ministry but they refused to elaborate any further.

The ULFA Chairman has reportedly been in favour of talks with the Central government.

Two other top ULFA leaders, self-styled Finance Secretary Chitrabon Hazarika and Foreign Secretary Sasha Choudhury had been arrested in Bangladesh in November last and handed over to Assam police in whose custody they are lodged at present.
 

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ULFA Chairman Rajkhowa held in Bangladesh, flown to Delhi

Top ULFA leader Arabinda Rajkhowa was on Wednesday pushed back by Bangladesh authorities into Tripura where he surrendered to security forces and flown to New Delhi.

Another top northeast insurgent leader of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura Biswa Mohan Deb Barma has also been detained by the authorities in Bangladesh.

Sources said Rajkhowa's wife Kaberi Kachari and their two sons were placed under house arrest in Dhaka.Rajkhowa (53), who was held in Dhaka on Monday, was pushed back by Bangladesh authorities at an undisclosed place in West Tripura district bordering Bangladesh, intelligence sources said in Agartala adding he surrendered there to Indian security forces and taken to New Delhi by a flight from the Tripura capital late this evening.

A couple of other persons were also taken to Delhi along with Rajkhowa who could be lower rung leaders of ULFA, said the sources. However, their identity could not be ascertained.

Asked about NLFT chief Biswa Mohan Deb Barma who had also been detained in Dhaka, the sources said he did not accompany Rajkhowa in the flight to Delhi.

Top government sources in New Delhi said Rajkhowa was picked up by sleuths of Bangladeshi security agencies and kept in a secured location in Dhaka while Deb Barma was detained in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.

National Security Advisor M K Narayanan said earlier in the day that if at all Rajkhowa is arrested, he would probably surrender first.

Sources said Rajkhowa's wife Kaberi Kachari and their two sons were placed under house arrest in Dhaka. The detention of Rajkhowa, charged with waging war against India, in Bangladesh and his handing over to India came as a major boost to cooperation with India on security front ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's official visit to New Delhi later this month.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said in Parliament that he was expecting a political statement from ULFA in the next few days and if it offers talks, the government will accept it provided the outfit abjures violence and gives up the demand
for sovereignty.

The ULFA chairman, who has been out of India for the last 17 years, is reportedly in favour of dialogue with the central
government while ULFA armed wing head Paresh Barua, who is believed to be in Malaysia, has been against any type of talks with the Indian government except on the issue of sovereignty.

Rajkhowa is among five people who founded the separatist group on April 7, 1979. Two other top ULFA leaders Chitrabon Hazarika and Sasha Choudhury were detained in Bangladesh last month and subsequently handed over to India.

The arrest of Rajkhowa assumes significance as it came ahead of Hasina's visit to India when India and Bangladesh are
expected to sign three treaties, including transfer of sentenced prisoners. The pacts were finalized during the
three-day meeting of Home Secretaries of the two countries which concluded in New Delhi on Wednesday.

ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia has been in a Bangladesh jail since 1998 and the treaty will facilitate his
handing over to India.

ULFA Chairman Rajkhowa held in Bangladesh, flown to Delhi- Hindustan Times
 

Rage

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Bangladesh, India eye stronger defence ties

Mon, Mar 15th, 2010 10:03 pm BdST

By bdnews24.com New Delhi correspondent


New Delhi, March 15 (bdnews24.com) – The Bangladesh and Indian army chiefs discussed greater defence cooperation during formal talks held in New Delhi on Monday.

Bangladesh army chief Gen. Md. Abdul Mubeen reached New Delhi on Sunday for a five-day tour at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Gen. Deepak Kapoor. It is Mubeen's first visit to India after taking over as army chief last year.

India's defence ministry officials termed the visit as "significant in the light of improving military cooperation between the two countries in consonance with India's growing relationship with Bangladesh".

Earlier in the day, Gen. Kapoor formally welcomed Gen. Mubeen during the Guard of Honour on the South Block Lawns in New Delhi. They later held talks.

A spokesman of the Indian defence ministry said the meeting between General Mubeen and General Kapoor focused on areas of future bilateral defence cooperation.

"Military-to-Military cooperation between Bangladesh and India encompasses exchange of high- and medium-level visits, availing of training courses in each other's institutions, witnessing of exercises by military observers from both sides, exchange of War Veterans and sharing experience in disaster management, sports and adventure activities," a press-release issued by the Ministry of Defence said.

During his stay in New Delhi, Gen. Mubeen will also meet the Indian defence minister AK Antony and National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon.

He is likely to visit important training establishments and field formations of the Indian Army. He will also travel to Jaipur, Ajmeer and Kolkata before returning to Dhaka.

Gen. Mubeen's visit to India comes just two months after chief of Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal P V Naik had travelled to Bangladesh on a goodwill visit in January this year.

Mubeen is accompanied by his wife and senior officials of the Bangladesh Army.


http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=155914&cid=2
 

Sridhar

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India Bangladesh resume talks on river waters after five year hiatus

20 March 2010


In a significant step forward on the Teesta waters sharing issue, India and Bangladesh have reached an understanding that will pave the way toward finalisation of an agreement on the issue within a year. The two sides exchanged draft documents during the two-day ministerial-level 37th Joint River Commission talks that concluded in New Delhi on Friday.
During the talks Bangladesh proposed a draft interim agreement, while the Indian side mooted a 'statement of principles' covering modalities and methodology for the sharing of the river's waters in the dry season. The two documents would now be reconciled at the official level talks.
The Joint River Commission is headed by Bangladesh water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen and India's water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Talks on the issue have been revived after a five year hiatus.
West Bengal water resources minister Naskar and Tripura water resources secretary also participated in the talks which covered sharing of waters of rivers Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, and Gumti which flow through Tripura, and Dharla and Dudkumar which flow through West Bengal.

Among the numerous topics that came up for discussion were embankment repair and bank protection, cooperation in areas of flood forecasting, warning arrangements, and flood management measures. Dredging of Ichhamati river, Tipaimukh dam project and river inter-linking project in India were also discussed.
Officials say, India has agreed to share flood projection data on continuous basis and to enhance the lead time to more than 57 hours to warn in advance of floods. India has also agreed to convene a trilateral meeting with Bangladesh and Nepal on the Farakka barrage issue.
Both sides expressed satisfaction at the bank protection and embankments repair works under progress at several sites in both India and Bangladesh even as they identified 22 new sites in Bangladesh and 12 new Indian sites for this.
They also expressed satisfaction at the ongoing dredging of Ichhamati river and Dhaka agreed to allow India to draw 1.82 cusec of water from Feni river for drinking water supply schemes.
The Bangladeshi delegation appreciated India's reassurance on the Tipaimukh project as also on the assurance of addressing Bangladesh's concerns over the proposed rivers linking project in India.
Bansal said, the two sides exchanged draft documents that mandated that the respective water resources secretaries would ''take up the issue from here''. He added that the next JRC would be held 'at the earliest.'
According to an official statement, the water resource secretaries of the two countries would examine the drafts presented by both sides ''towards an expeditious conclusion of an interim agreement on Teesta.''
http://www.domainb.com/economy/general/20100320_india_bangladesh_oneView.html
 

ajtr

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From Afghan to Arakans, militants converge on Dhaka

IANS | Dhaka

At least 15 foreign militant organisations were active or are still operating in Bangladesh since 1991 using the country as a safe haven or transit point to infiltrate India and other neighbouring countries, those nabbed have confessed.

The outfits who found access in Bangladesh are based in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Burma, using fake passports, engaging in militancy and funding their operations partly by printing fake Indian rupees and US dollars.

The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of “a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants’ activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training,” The Daily Star newspaper said quoting official sources.

Statements of several detained foreign and local militants have been recorded by different Bangladeshi intelligence and law-enforcement agencies dealing with militancy, the newspaper said on Tuesday.

Operatives of several groups used to visit Bangladesh from Pakistan and then India to commit their activities, while many from India also sneaked into Bangladesh and then visited Pakistan with fake Bangladeshi passports to get training in arms and explosives.

Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Hassan Mahmood Khandkar, said: “Now Bangladesh is no more a comfortable place for local or foreign militants as we constantly remain vigilant and go after militants upon instructions of the Government.”

Now some militant groups are generating funds by selling counterfeit Indian currencies in India. The counterfeit currencies, especially Indian rupees and US dollars, are mainly forged in Pakistan and carried to Bangladesh via Dubai.

Then a strong syndicate of militants and criminals supply the fake currencies in India. “We’ve detected at least three such gangs having around 50 members. One of the gangs is led by Bangladeshi citizen Majumder, one by Pakistani citizen Sarfaraz and the other by another Pakistani named Mohammad Danish,” says a top police official asking not to be identified.

Recently, an international money transfer has been detected through which some fund came from Pakistan to detained Pakistani national Rezwan. Operatives of different foreign militant groups started visiting Bangladesh and spreading their tentacles with the help of banned local militant group Huji after the end of the Afghan war against Soviet forces in 1991.
 

ajtr

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Bangladesh remembers 'Mujibnagar' era
Dhaka, April 17: Bangladesh Saturday observed the 40th anniversary of the inauguration of its provisional government, when its then green and golden flag was unfurled for the first time at a mango grove on the western border with India.


The spot, Baidyanathtala, was subsequently renamed Mujibnagar after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had by then been detained and whisked away to West Pakistan.

While Rahman, popularly called Sheikh Mujib, or with honorophic Bangabandhu (friend of Bengal) was declared the first president, acting President Syed Nazrul Islam unfurled the flag in the presence of Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed and other cabinet colleagues - Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed, Captain Mansoor Ali and A.H.M. Qamaruzzaman.

President Mohammed Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Mujib's elder daughter and political successor, sent out special messages on the occasion, being observed as Mujibnagar Day.

They said the Mujibnagar government after its formation on April 17, 1971 played a very significant role in conducting the War of Liberation and its contribution will remain ever remembered in the country's history.

Bangladesh became independent in December 1971 at the end of a freedom struggle that also entailed an armed conflict between India and Pakistan, in which Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrendered.

Released from a Pakistani prison, Mujib returned home to head the government, in which his Mujibnagar colleagues also served.

All of them, except Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed, were assassinated in 1975 in a military-led putsch. Ahmed became the president after the coup.
 

ajtr

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Challenge to IPCC's Bangladesh climate predictions
Published: 22/04/2010 at 02:50 PM
Online news: Asia

Scientists in Bangladesh posed a fresh challenge to the UN's top climate change panel Thursday, saying its doomsday forecasts for the country in the body's landmark 2007 report were overblown.


An Indian villager walks past her home in the cyclone-hit village of Kumirmari close to the Bay of Bengal coastline. Scientists in Bangladesh have posed a fresh challenge to the UN's top climate change panel, saying its doomsday forecasts for the country in the body's landmark 2007 report were overblown.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), already under fire for errors in the 2007 report, had said a one-metre (three-foot) rise in sea levels would flood 17 percent of Bangladesh and create 20 million refugees by 2050.

The claim helped create a widespread consensus that the low-lying country was on the "front line" of climate change, but a new study argues the IPCC ignored the role sediment plays in countering sea level rises.

IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri defended his organisation's Bangladesh predictions Thursday, warning that "on the basis of one study one cannot jump to conclusions."

"The IPCC looks at a range of publications before we take a balanced view on what's likely to happen," he told AFP by telephone.

But IPCC's prediction did not take into account the one billion tonnes of sediment carried by Himalayan rivers into Bangladesh every year, which are crucial in countering rises in sea levels, the study funded by the Asian Development Bank said.

"Sediments have been shaping Bangladesh's coast for thousands of years," said Maminul Haque Sarker, director of the Dhaka-based Center for Environment and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), who led research for the study.

Previous "studies on the effects of climate change in Bangladesh, including those quoted by the IPCC, did not consider the role of sediment in the growth and adjustment process of the country?s coast and rivers to the sea level rise," he told AFP.

Even if sea levels rise a maximum one metre in line with the IPCC's 2007 predictions, the new study indicates most of Bangladesh's coastline will remain intact, said Sarker.

"Based on the findings of the study, it appears that most of Bangladesh?s coastline, notably the Meghna estuary, which is one of the largest in the world, would rise at the same pace as the sea level growth," he said.

"The study shows that the inundation and flooding pattern of Bangladesh will change due to the sea level rise, but it will be less than what has been predicted," by the IPCC and others, he said.

CEGIS's past predictions of the number of people likely to be made homeless every year by the two main Himalayan rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, have proved to be 70 percent accurate, according to their own assessments.

The IPCC is made up of several thousand scientists tasked with vetting scientific knowledge on climate change and its impacts.

But its reputation was damaged by a warning in its seminal 2007 report that global warming could melt Himalayan glaciers by 2035, a claim that has been widely discredited and fuelled skepticism about climate change.

According to Pachauri, the glacier mistakes should not be allowed to detract from the fact that the IPCC's conclusions overall are "robust and they are reliable".

"One single error doesn't take anything away from the major findings of the report. The fact is that the glaciers are melting," he said.

"The science is evolving. In a number of parts of the world there isn't enough research, so we welcome this study."

Atiq Rahman, a Dhaka-based member of the panel, admitted to AFP that the panel's research on Bangladesh had "not taken into account the role the sediment plays in shaping Bangladesh's coast and estuaries."

"The next IPCC assessment will take it into account," he said, adding that climate change could still cause a lot of damage in Bangladesh if the "rate of sea-level rise is faster than the level of sedimentation."
 
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509 new outposts to be constructed along B'desh border

The Centre has decided to construct 509 new Border Outposts (BOPs) and complete the unfinished barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangla international borders, a top official said on Tuesday.

"Of the 509 new BOPs, 126 would be constructed along the Indo-Pak border and the rest 383 would be constructed along the Indo-Bangla border to strengthen border monitoring and border management", Secretary of Border Road Management, E A Ahmed told reporters.

Ahmed arrived in Agartala on Monday and visited Khanthlang, a remote hill top tribal hamlet in North Tripura district, bordering Chittagong Hill Tract of Bangladesh, and Akhaura checkpost. He held meetings with the Chief Secretary, S K Panda and other top officials at the Civil Secretariat.

Ahmed announced that the Akhaura checkpost would be upgraded as the fourth integrated checkpost of the country by extending the facilities of customs, proper security, cargo godowns and others required for entry and exit of citizens of India and Bangladesh.

Ahmed said construction of two such integrated check posts have started on the Indo-Pak and Indo-Nepal border and one more checkpost would be built on Indo-Nepal border and adding that the Akhaura checkpost would be the fourth integrated checkpost in the country.

He said construction work for Akhaura checkpost would start in July and would be completed by fourteen months. Ahmed said of the 856 km Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura, Fencing was completed in 650 km and the rest would be completed by 2012 and added flood lighting was done along 200 km and monetary sanction has been given for flood lighting for additional 518 km.

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/may/25/new-border-posts-along-banglades-border.htm
 

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B'desh bans Facebook over Prophet cartoons

After Pakistan, Bangladesh has now blocked social networking site Facebook for hosting pages featuring blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Mohammad and "obnoxious" images of the country's leaders.

No official announcement was made yet on the decision but the Daily Star newspaper quoted an unnamed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission official as saying that "part of the reason (of blocking the network) is the posting of some anti-religious and porn links by users across the globe".

"We have blocked all access to Facebook temporarily... It was done in line with a decision of government high-ups," the official said, adding some users had posted anti-Islamic content about Prophet Mohammad, which the government took seriously.

Earlier, the state-run BSS news agency yesterday said that the BTRC action came hours after elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion troops arrested a "cyber criminal" in the city on charges of posting "objectionable, disfigured and satirical photographs" of several government leaders using different accounts.

Leaders of several right-wing Islamic groups have demanded a ban on the networking website for posting of materials hurting Muslim religious sentiments.

Users suddenly were barred from logging into the network since 6.30 p.m. last evening while in a late-night development a group of Dhaka University students took to the streets to protest the government's decision.

The protesters dubbed the move radical and said the government should have blocked individual profiles rather than the entire site.

Pakistan has also banned Facebook over a page featuring a contest for "blasphemous" cartoons of Prophet.

According to a report, BTRC earlier directed internet data service handlers Mango Telecom and Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd to find a way to block antisocial contents posted by Facebookers.

But the two companies failed to fix the problem, which prompted the government to block the entire network.

"The access to Facebook will resume when the operators find a way to block such anti-social contents," the report said quoting an official.

In March last year, the government blocked the video sharing website YouTube for hosting a recorded conversation between the prime minister and army officers after the BDR carnage. More than 10 lakh people use the internet in Bangladesh.

Islam strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and the row sparked comparison with protests across the Muslim world over the publication of satirical cartoons of Mohammad in European newspapers in 2006.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bdesh-bans-facebook-over-prophet-cartoons/626967/0
 

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ngladesh-blaze-Report/articleshow/6009334.cms

61 dead, 100 injured in Bangladesh blaze: Report
4 Jun 2010, 0147 hrs IST,AGENCIES

DHAKA: At least 61 people were killed and over 100 injured when a fire tore through at least seven buildings in the centre of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, the fire department said Thursday.

The massive blaze raced through a row of multi-storey apartment buildings, trapping hundreds of residents in Kayettuli, one of Dhaka's most densely populated areas, fire department chief Abu Nayeem said.

"So far we have pulled 61 dead bodies out. But more are inside and the toll will rise," he told AFP, adding that the fire had been caused by an electrical fault and spread before fire fighters could access the area.

"At least seven building have been engulfed by the fire. There were shops selling chemicals on the ground floor, which were caught by the fire as it spread very quickly," he said.

"The temperature and fumes became unbearable because of the chemicals," he said, adding that a bakery with several large gas burners had also caught fire.

"We struggled to get inside due to the narrow stairways of the very old buildings, it is almost impossible for us to get fire-fighting equipment into the area," he said.

Hundreds of people were trapped in burning buildings for hours as rescue workers struggled to contain the blaze, their work hampered by the narrow lanes of the crowded residential area.

"It's a huge tragedy. We have called all Dhaka Medical College doctors from their homes to come and treat the patients," Health Minister A.H.M Ruhal Haque told AFP.

The hospital had been overwhelmed by fire victims, said Shahidul Bari, a specialist at the burns unit.

He said 12 bodies had been received at the morgue soon after the fire began. Another 100 people had been admitted with severe burns and smoke inhalation.

"Our unit is full and more patients are pouring in. It's a disaster of huge proportion," Bari said.

"Patients are being treated in the corridors and still more are coming in. We are sending the most critically ill to the hospital's emergency units," he said.

Fires due to short-circuits, substandard wiring and electrical faults are common in Bangladesh, where building regulations are rarely enforced.
 

nandu

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Bangladesh blaze death toll climbs to 108

Dhaka: Rescuers called off the search for survivors on Friday as the death toll from one of Bangladesh's worst fires rose to 108 after flames ripped through a packed neighbourhood of Dhaka, officials said.

The blaze raged for three hours, destroying a row of multi-storey apartment buildings and trapping hundreds of residents in Dhaka's densely-populated Kayettuli area, city police chief AKM Shahidul Haq said.

"At least 108 people have died including those who expired in hospitals. The toll may rise as quite a few are in critical condition," district administrator Muhibul Haque said.

The blaze has been put out and a search-and-rescue effort halted after firefighters scoured "every inch of the fire-hit buildings", Dhaka fire department chief Abu Nayeem said.

"A wedding party was on the roof of one building and we think this is why the number of casualties is so high," Nayeem said, adding that highly flammable stock, including chemicals, in a string of small shops had fuelled the blaze.

"At least 41 bodies have been pulled out from the wedding party building," he said.

One witness said: "The bride was spared from the fire as she had been at the local beauty salon."

Hundreds of people were trapped in burning buildings for hours as rescue workers struggled to contain the blaze, their work hampered by the narrow lanes of the crowded residential area.

Nayeem said the fire had been caused by an electrical fault and took grip before firefighters could access the area.

"At the same time, cooking for the wedding feast was going on at the ground floor staircase of the wedding party building, which fuelled the flames," he added.

"People joining the wedding party were trapped in the building and suffocated or burnt as they could not come out because the cooking spread the fire through the staircase."

At least seven buildings were engulfed, Nayeem said.

"The temperature and fumes became unbearable because of the chemicals," he said, adding that a bakery with several large gas burners and a string of small shops selling cheap, flammable plastic goods had also caught fire.

"We struggled to get inside due to the narrow stairways of the very old buildings, it is almost impossible for us to get firefighting equipment into the area," he said.

All off-duty medical personnel were called in to Dhaka Medical College, whose hospital was overwhelmed by the rush of victims, said Shahidul Bari, a specialist at the burns unit.

He said 12 bodies had been received at the morgue soon after the fire began. Another 100 people had been admitted with severe burns and smoke inhalation.

"Our unit is full and more patients are pouring in. It's a disaster of huge proportions," Bari said.

"Patients are being treated in the corridors and still more are coming in. We are sending the most critically ill to the hospital's emergency units," he said.

Fires due to short-circuits, substandard wiring and electrical faults are common in Bangladesh, where building regulations are rarely enforced.

http://www.zeenews.com/news631386.html
 

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Bangladesh lifts Facebook ban

(Reuters) - Bangladesh has lifted a ban on social networking site Facebook after it removed "objectionable" content about the Prophet Mohammad and the country's political leaders, the telecoms regulatory agency said on Sunday. Facebook was blocked last week after publication of caricatures of the Prophet that hurt the religious sentiments of the country's majority Muslim population.

"The ban on Facebook has been lifted late on Saturday after the authorities removed the objectionable contents from the sites," said a senior official of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

Facebook was barred by a court in Pakistan, also overwhelmingly Muslim, because of an online competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad, but was unblocked last week.

Hundreds of protesters marched through Dhaka demanding action against Facebook while users said the government should have blocked specific links instead of blocking the whole website.

A man was arrested in Dhaka for posting "obnoxious" images of the country's political leaders, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia.

Facebook has become hugely popular among Bangladeshis, especially educated young people.

The publication of cartoons of the Prophet in Danish newspapers in 2005 sparked deadly protests in Muslim countries. Around 50 people were killed in 2006 demonstrations over the cartoons.

Any representation of the Prophet Mohammad is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous by Muslims.
 

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