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Law Week
Niko solely blamed for blowout
An energy ministry probe committee has solely blamed the operation failure of Niko Resources for the second blowout in the Chatak gas field at Tengratila in June. The Canadian explorer was also found guilty of operational failure in another investigation after the first blowout at the same multi-million-dollar gas field on January 7. The seven-member committee, headed by Dr Anwarul Azim, submitted an 11-page report to Energy Advisor Mahmudur Rahman yesterday, winding up its nearly two month long investigation. Azim, vice-chancellor of the Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology (DUET), told journalists that several committee members had suggested scrapping the joint venture agreement between well operator Niko and state-run Bapex. "But the report did not incorporate the suggestion as it was not under the terms of reference (TOR) of the committee," he said. As per international practice and the unsolicited contract with Niko, the Canadian operator is to be held solely responsible for the disaster.
"Neither Petrobangla nor Bapex can be blamed for anything in this regard," a committee member told The Daily Star.
However, Energy Adviser Mahmudur Rahman told the press the government will discuss with legal experts before taking action against Niko when it receives investigation reports from two other committees--one is assessing the loss in gas reserves and the other is determining the environmental damage. -The Daily Star, August 14.
Shrine bombing
SP show-caused, OC suspended for laxity Brahmanbaria Superintendent of Police (SP) ATM Tareque was show-caused and the Akhaura Police Station officer in-charge (OC) was suspended for negligence in duty and failure to safeguard the devotees at Kharampur shrine from the midnight bombing spree.
Sources said the Brahmanbaria Deputy Commissioner (DC) M Sayedur Rahman and the Akhaura Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mezbah Uddin Chawdhury too will face departmental actions for letting the carnage take place, as the Cabinet Division has already been instructed to do that. Meanwhile, 24 hours into the serial bombing that saw one man killed and some 50 others including a policeman wounded, the police are yet to find the motive for the atrocity or any clue to the identities of the attackers.
Four magistrates, six police officials and 112 constables were supposed to be on duty at the shrine of Hazrat Shah Sayed Ahmed Gesu Daras, popularly known as Kolla Shahid, to ensure security of the more than 100,000 devotees gathered there to celebrate the annual weeklong Urs. -Prothom Alo, August 14.
Blast at Ahmadiyya house injures woman
A powerful bomb blew off the wrist of a middle-aged Ahmadiyya woman at Brahmanbaria yesterday, 52 days into a series bomb explosions in the same area. Police recovered two unexploded bombs planted inside and out of the house of the injured, Hosne Ara Hosena, 55, at Bhadughar. Top officials of local police said they are quite certain that the people behind June 24 bomb blasts at Kandipara and Bhadughar were behind the latest attack.
Leaders of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Bangladesh blamed law enforcement agencies for their reluctance to arrest the members of the anti-Ahmadiyya Khatme Nabuwat.
They said the laxity encouraged the zealots to carry out repeated attacks on the Ahmadiyyas in Brahmanbaria, country's first Ahmadiyya base 80 kilometres off Dhaka. Members of the anti-Ahmadiyya group are carrying out a hate campaign for long to drive out the minor Islamic sect members from the eastern district. Hosena, now being treated at Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital, had survived another attack when the anti-Ahmadiyya neighbours swooped on her house on October 29 last year. -The Daily Star, August 16.
Tough laws on the cards for errant builders A cabinet committee yesterday approved an amendment of the 1952 building code incorporating stringent punishment for unsafe construction and other irregularities by the constructors or the building owners. The amendment will be approved in parliament within the next three months, sources said after a meeting of the committee chaired by Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman. The Cabinet Committee on Public Administration Reforms and Good Governance also decided to make the National Housing Authority a proper regulatory authority. The Regulatory Authority will ensure that the builders and building owners use safe and appropriate materials.
After the meeting, Housing and Public Works Minister Mirza Abbas told journalists, "Under the amended code, violators will be punished with jail and fine to various degrees." Various housing specialists from within the government and Buet (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) and other agencies worked out this amendment, he added.
Saifur Rahman said, "The new code will address a wide spectrum of issues. For instance, many builders do not leave adequate space for access roads. Some construct 10-storey buildings without approval whereas the ceiling is six-storey. Many use residential buildings for commercial purpose." -The Daily Star, August 16.
ACC asked to revive 5,050 graft cases
The government asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to revive the 5,050 on trial corruption cases using public prosecutors (PPs) as an interim measure. These cases filed by the now-defunct Bureau of AntiCorruption (Bac) have been gathering dust since the ACC was formed in November last year as there is no clear provision in the ACC Act that allows the commission to deal with such cases. The ACC chairman received a letter from the Cabinet Division that says the ACC will move these cases through the PPs till forming its own prosecution unit. "The former Bac officials who have been attached to the ACC at the district level will assist the public prosecutors in conducting the cases," the letter suggests.
"In case the ACC needs to appoint non-government lawyer to conduct a special case, it can do so obtaining permission from the government," the Cabinet Division said. The Cabinet Division had earlier took a different stance on incorporating the former Bac officials into the commission. It had asked the ACC to refrain from attaching them until they are screened and selected by the commission. -The Daily Star, August 17.
459 blasts in 63 districts in 30 minutes
In an unprecedented scale of terror attacks, a banned Islamist militant group simultaneously blasted at least 459 time bombs in 63 of 64 districts across the country. The 30-minute mayhem in the morning killed one in Chapainawabganj and injured over 100. Another boy was killed in a blast at Savar. Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, the banned militant group, claimed responsibility for the blasts through leaflets that left the countrymen in shock.
Panic gripped the country at the extent of the network of the terrorists who meticulously calculated the timing of the bombings between 11:00am and 11:30am, targeting government establishments, mainly the offices of the local district administrations and courts.
Only two hours after Prime Minister Khaleda Zia departed for China on a five-day official tour, a time bomb went off on the stairs inside Zia International Airport, showing a gaping hole in the security system. Three madrasa students and an imam of a mosque were picked up from the airport premises. In the leaflets, in Bangla and Arabic, found with the bomb devices, Jama'atul, which was banned on February 23 this year, said: "It is time to implement Islamic law in Bangladesh. There is no future with man-made law." -The Daily Star, August 18.