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Cops sue BNP men for arson
FROM PAGE 1
This newspaper obtained copies of statements of six cases. In three of them, police made identical claims that the attacks were carried out by the BNP, its affiliates and 20-party alliance leaders and activists at the behest of their central leaders to foil Thursday’s by-polls and destablise law and order.
Ishraq Hossain, the defeated BNP candidate in south city mayoral election, has been made the prime accused in a case filed with Motijheel police station.
BNP’s SM Jahangir, who was defeated by the Awami League candidate in Thursday by-polls by a huge margin, was mentioned as the mastermind behind the torching of a bus and explosion of two crude bombs in Bhatara area.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday, however, alleged that the buses were torched by government agents. Speaking at a briefing, he claimed that the arson attacks were carried out to malign his party.
Walid Hossain, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s media and public relations division, said two cases were filed with Motijheel, Shahbagh and Paltan police stations each while one case each with Bangshal, Bhatara and Kalabagan police stations.
The cases were lodged in the last two days, he said.
Seventy-nine people were named as accused in the two cases filed with Shahbagh police station, 76 in the two with the Paltan station, 87 in the two cases with Motijheel police, 56 in the case with Bangshal police, 49 in the case with Kalabagan police and 95 in the case filed with Bhatara police station.
The nine buses, including three government-owned ones, were set on fire in different parts of the city between 12:07pm and 4:30pm on Thursday.
After the arson attacks, police arrested 21 accused -- nine accused in the two cases with Paltan police, two in the two cases with Motijheel police, six in the two cases with Shahbagh police, two in the case with Kalabagan and two accused in the case with Bangshal police station.
After police placed the accused before two Dhaka courts with remand prayers, the courts placed them on remand for different days.
In one of the cases filed with Motijheel police station, Sub-inspector Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan mentioned that 42 accused, including Ishraq Hossain, and many unidentified leaders and activists of the BNP, its affiliates and 20-party alliance torched a bus of Agrani Bank to foil the Dhaka-18 by-polls and kill a staffer of the vehicle. The named accused included two private secretaries to Ishraq and 38 leaders of different units of BNP and its front organisations.
In the other case filed with the same police station, the allegation was identical. All the 45 named accused in the case was leaders of the BNP, the Jubo Dal, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and the Swechhasebak Dal.
In the case filed with Bangshal police, Taijuddin, BNP ward-32 unit president, was named as the prime accused among 56 accused. Other accused include Yakub Sarkar, general secretary of BNP’s ward-35 unit, Mamun Hossain, general secretary of Bangshal Thana Jubo Dal, Faruk Ahmed, vice-president of Bangshal Thana Jubo Dal and Mohammad Rashed, general secretary of Bangshal Thana Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
In the case filed with Bhatara police station, SI Eskandar Ali Sardar mentioned that Jubo Dal activists took position on the road near Coca Cola intersection and brought out a procession at the directive of SM Jahangir to destablise law and order and public safety and foil the Dhaka-18 by-polls. Almost all the 95 accused in the case are leaders and activists of the BNP and its front organisations.
‘CALL RECORDS BEING ANALYSED’
Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Head of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Unit Monirul Islam yesterday said experts were analysing call records related to the arson attacks.
“We have received a call record relating to buses set on fire in several places in the capital yesterday. The call record is being analysed,” he told journalists at Bangladesh Crime Reporters Association office, BSS reported.
He said the call records would serve as important evidence to investigate the cases, adding, “There is a similarity between the call record and the fire incidents.”

G20 strikes historic debt pact to help poorer states hit by Covid
Reuters, Paris/Tokyo/Washington
G20 countries have agreed for the first time on a common framework for restructuring government debt, in anticipation of the coronavirus crisis leaving some poorer nations struggling to pay and in need of relief.
With the Covid-19 pandemic straining the finances of some developing countries, G20 finance ministers said yesterday that more help was needed than a current temporary debt freeze, which will be extended until June 30, 2021.
Major creditors, including China, will be expected to follow the joint guidelines agreed by the G20, which lays out how debt deemed to be unsustainable can be reduced or rescheduled.
Non-governmental groups said the accord should have gone further by including middle-income countries and forcing private investors to accept cancellations.
The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated problems for the poorest countries, 50% of which are now in or at risk of debt distress and in an early sign of its impact, Zambia is on the brink of becoming Africa’s first COVID-era sovereign default.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last week said African states alone faced a financing gap of $345 billion through 2023 to deal with the pandemic and its economic impact.
“I count on everyone’s constructive spirit to ensure swift and cooperative implementation of the common framework, with several countries already asking for debt treatments, in particular in Africa,” French Finance Bruno Le Maire told his G20 counterparts during an online meeting.
China, which accounted for 63% of overall debt owed to G20 countries in 2019, has been reluctant to acknowledge the need for outright cancellation or reduction of debts.
Under the new framework, creditor countries will negotiate together with a debtor country, which will be expected to seek the same treatment terms from private sector creditors.
The scheme borrows heavily from the rules established by Paris Club, an informal grouping of mostly rich country governments established in 1956, that until now was the only joint forum for negotiating debt restructurings.
The G20 finance ministers said in a joint statement that the new framework aims “to facilitate timely and orderly debt treatment” for countries eligible for the debt payment freeze put in place in April, but which only included private sector creditors on a voluntary basis.
“From now on all interested parties must ensure to implement the common framework. Debt transparency is extremely important,” Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters after a G20 conference call, describing the agreement as “historical”.
The new framework also goes further by requiring all public creditors to participate, after China was criticised by G20 partners for not including debt owed to its state-owned banks.
Wary about debt write-offs, Beijing has defined the state-owned China Development Bank as a private institution, resisting calls for full participation in debt relief.
While China signed on to the framework, it remained unclear how it would implement the measures, one source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters.
Tim Jones, head of Policy at Jubilee Debt Campaign, said in a statement that the G20 announcement allowed for, but discouraged outright debt cancellation, and did not create a mechanism to compel private sector participation.
“This announcement falls far short of what is needed to tackle the wave of debt crises in poorer countries,” he said.
“With many countries facing debt crises and Zambia today on the verge of default, the G20 need to stop kicking the can down the road,” he added.
Eric LeCompte, a United Nations adviser on debt and executive director of Jubilee USA Network, said inclusion of private sector creditors was a significant step, but criticised the G20 for failing to include middle-income countries.
“Unfortunately, middle-income countries that will see some of the highest poverty increases due to the crisis, are excluded from this process, LeCompte said.
The Paris Club, which is organised by the French Finance Ministry, and G20 countries had already agreed last month to extend this year’s debt freeze under which they deferred $5 billion in debt servicing to help the world’s poorest countries.
G20 leaders are expected to endorse the common framework at a virtual summit meeting next week.