Four counts of adverse media perception

Mohammad Babul Aker, an officer in charge of the Debiganj police station in the Panchagarh District, said two of the three men were involved with a banned militant group, Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, and the third with the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamic political party. The men have been charged with murder and weapons counts.

The priest, Joggeshwar Das, 50, was attacked by two men around while performing a prayer on his veranda in a village in northern Panchagarh, about 250 miles from the capital, Dhaka. They hurled a bomb and fired two rounds of bullets as they fled the home of Mr. Das to meet a third man who waited on a motorcycle. A Hindu devotee who had come to pray in the temple near the home was hit by a bullet, but his condition was not critical.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a message attributed to the group on Twitter, according to the SITE intelligence group, which monitors global terrorist organizations. It was not clear whether the suspects had any connection to ISIS. Social media accounts linked to the Islamic State have claimed responsibility for a number of recent attacks in Bangladesh, including the killing of two foreigners in September and October, and the shooting of a Roman Catholic missionary and a shooting at a Shiite mosque in November, which left one dead. Bangladesh’s government has reacted skeptically to claims from the Islamic State, instead placing blame for some of the attacks on groups affiliated with opposition parties.

Mr. Das established the temple 19 years ago on land that he had inherited from his father. Dr. Raziul Karim, who examined the body at a hospital in Panchagarh, confirmed that Mr. Das had been decapitated. Security agencies are investigating the motive for the killing. Witnesses said they saw two men between the ages of 25 and 30, one with his face covered by a scarf. “I am not sure whether we will get justice or not,” said Mr. Das’s brother.

On the second count, substantial progress has been made by the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) with Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a platform of European retailers, and Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety, a consortium of North American buyers, in listing of garment factories fulfilling conditions for labour safety and acceptable working conditions.

International Labour Organisations (ILO) has also reported improved labour conditions and effective inspection regime in Bangladesh obtained under its technical assistance. But the international news agency AFP has been quoted in press reports to suggest that garments manufactured in Bangladesh by “slave female labour” in oppressive conditions will be barred from entry in the US market after President Barack Obama, working together with the US Congress, finally signed a bill into law, technically an amendment to the 1930 Tariff Act, banning imports of items using slave labour.

The tightening of the US Tariff Act was in fact prompted by New York Times and Associated Press stories chronicling the lives of indentured migrants who are forced to fish for seafood that eventually finds its way to US markets, including shrimp sold in grocery stores like Walmart and Whole Foods and pet food sold by brands including Meow Mix. The practice is most prevalent off the shores of Thailand, and the US is the single biggest customer of Thai seafood.

The Tariff Act of 1930, which gave Customs and Border Protection the authority to seize shipments where forced labour was suspected and block further imports. If there was not sufficient supply to meet domestic demand, imports were allowed regardless of how they were produced. The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act signed by Obama on 24 February eliminated that language, allowing stiffer enforcement. Experts say, if the U.S. government works to really keep out goods made with forced labour, this change will have a profound ripple effect on supply chains worldwide.

US Labour Department list of more than 350 goods produced by child labour or forced labour provides a detailed breakdown that human rights groups plan to use as they petition the government to take action. These include peanuts from Turkey, gold from Ghana, carpets from India and fish and shrimp from Thailand. Bangladesh is not listed. Yet in media perception, Bangladesh-made garments have been included. It is unfortunate.

On the third count, veteran Indian journalist Kuldip Nayar’s article published in The Sunday Guardian on 11 February is evidence enough of the loss of goodwill progressively incurred by the ruling coterie. Nayar observed: “The problem with Hasina is that she has streaks of authoritarianism and does not tolerate other points of view. I saw how Indira Gandhi acquired these drawbacks and destroyed the institutions her father Jawaharlal Nehru had built so that the system would have checks and balances for correction from within. India has not yet been able to recover from the harm Indira Gandhi did to the polity.

The judiciary in Bangladesh was always considered above reproach. Lately, the judgments, particularly on the removal of Muhammad Yunus have made people wonder whether what they hear about the Indian judiciary being 15% corrupt may well be true about their own judiciary. ….. Sheikh Hasina’s undemocratic behaviour can wreak more havoc because forces of terrorism and fundamentalism are lurking on the side. They have already checked out the scenario and have found it favourable in the few hartals they have organised. Hasina is conscious that her popularity graph is going down. ….. Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman did away with the Opposition when he founded a one-party system and wanted only two newspapers in the country, just as the Pravda and Izvestia in the Soviet Union. But he was an icon who could sell anything to the people who adored him. Hasina, his daughter, neither has her father’s stature nor the sweep of support. She can only do harm to herself as well as the nation.”

On the fourth count, the most disturbing thing is that roadblocks and adverse conditions continue to exist for Bangladeshi wage-earners and manpower exporters in the Middle Eastern as well as in Southeast Asian markets on account of inept handling of these markets and cold, if not spoiled, relations with Gulf States and with ASEAN nations. Happily, signs of some improvement is seen in attempts to repair these relations driven by the need to mobilise external resources for development partnerships other than our traditional partners of the Aid to Bangladesh club led by World Bank.

For all the bravado of the ruling coterie, failure to mobilise external resources for the Padma Bridge project is putting a lot of strain on our domestic resources, dragging down implementation of consecutive Annual Development Programmes and thereby shrinking the countrywide spread of job opportunities. Lack of balanced and sound infrastructure development, combined with uncertainties provoked by regimental style of governance, if not apprehension of political unrest, is discouraging both domestic and foreign investment.

In that context, it is good news Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu has negotiated an investment deal with Saudi Arabia to boost bilateral investment and cooperation. It is also good news that the government is set to sign an agreement on implementing the floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU), popularly known as LNG terminal, having capacity to process 500mmcfd gas at Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar on April 1, 2016. The facility will certainly be a prop to our future fuel infrastructure and energy security.

Equally welcome news for infrastructure development is a report which says that Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan, Suhrab Hossain has taken an initiative to promote Karachi-Chittagong direct shipping line. He advised Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to take up this issue with the Pakistan government and suggested that direct shipping line could further economic relations and balance bilateral trade which is heavily tilted in favour of Pakistan. During fiscal year 2014-15, Pakistan exported goods worth $689 million to Bangladesh while its imports from Bangladesh were recorded at $54 million. Let us hope that the incumbent government for its own sake will take steps to balance foreign relations in the neighbourhood as well as in the community of nations, to be able to hold firm ground is the flux of the changing global order.

Source: Weekly Holiday