Haque Specialized Group's News

The two-day annual election to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) ended on Thursday, reports UNB.  Some 3,928 lawyers out of the total 5,081 cast their votes on Wednesday and Thursday to elect the 14-member new executive committee of the apex court bar for the 2017-18 tenure. Meanwhile, the vote counting is set to begin at 9:00 pm on Thursday, said AY Moshiuzzaman, convener of the election conducting subcommittee.....

Published at: 2017-03-24 00:00:04

The Japanese government has extended grant assistance worth US$ 60,291 to improve audio-visual equipments of Bangladesh National Zoo for facilitating educational exhibition on biodiversity and wild animal conservation. A contract on the grant, given under a scheme titled Grant Assistance for Cultural Grassroots, was signed at Embassy of Japan in the capital on Thursday. Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masato Watanabe and Curator of Bangladesh National Zoo Dr. S. M. Nazrul Islam signed the deal on behalf of their respective sides. According to a Japanese Embassy press release, the grant will contribute towards diversification of education on biology of wild animals and environment in Bangladesh through improvement of audio-visual equipments in the zoo, including signboards and speaker system. The Japanese government extended the grant after a study on further strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the fields of biodiversity and wild animal conservation to improve preservation of endangered Royal Bengal Tigers in Bangladesh National Zoo. Ambassador Watanabe expressed that as the prime ministers of Japan and Bangladesh underlined, mutual understanding between the people of the two countries should be deepened further in various fields. Expressing gratitude, S. M. Nazrul Islam said the audio-visual equipments in the zoo are likely to facilitate students and researchers with various types of education in the fields of biology of wild animals and environment.     smunima@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-03-24 00:00:04

BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Thursday the proposed defence treaty with India may jeopardise Bangladesh's future as a free country, report agencies. "We are already deprived of our rights, our freedom of expression and political and economic rights. Now, what we call 'geographical freedom' will also be at stake (if Bangladesh and India agree to a defence deal)," he told a preparatory meeting to make the Independence Day rally a success at Nayapaltan central office on Thursday. Mentioning Hasina's upcoming India tour, he said: "People are in dark over the visit. They do not know what deals she would be signing during the visit." "We, who have fought for the nation's independence, are anxious over speculations in newspapers," Fakhrul said. The BNP leader urged Hasina to solve various pending issues over sharing of river waters between India and Bangladesh. "Our main problem with India lies in river water sharing. It needs to be solved. The Teesta deal is still due." Fakhrul came down hard on the ruling party chief for not making any move to implement the Ganges water sharing treaty and pacts over 54 other rivers." He further said: "Our water resource minister says that he is sceptical over the Teesta deal. Then which deal would be signed?" Fakhrul warned that people will not accept any deal that goes against the country's interests and its independence and sovereignty. "BNP also won't compromise with anybody on the question of the country's existence." Describing water problem with India as the main concern for Bangladesh, Fakhrul urged the Prime Minister to make strong efforts for resolving it and sign the Teesta water sharing deal during her tour. About the recent militant incidents, he said the government is playing a mysterious game over the issue to make its political game and suppress its opponents. Fakhrul said the government must take steps for forging a national unity to eliminate the militants with united efforts. Accusing the Prime Minister of carrying out unilateral election campaign across the country using state machinery, he demanded the government ensure equal scope for all parties for conducting campaign for their respective parties. BNP will bring out a peaceful rally from Nayapaltan at 2:99 pm on March 26, Fakhrul said convening everyone to participate.....

Published at: 2017-03-24 00:00:04

NEW DELHI, Mar 23: India and Bangladesh are expected to sign a civilian nuclear deal during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India from April 7-10. This will lead to trilateral cooperation with Russia, which is building a nuclear power plant in Rooppur in Bangladesh, according to a report by economictimes.indiatimes.com. The proposed deal, which will be India's second such pact in the neighbourhood after the one with Sri Lanka, marks the first time India is joining hands with any nuclear power for cooperation with a third country. Bangladesh wants to gain experience from the Russian nuclear power plant (NPP) in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, officials said. "Training in complicated technology is very essential. Training of specialists from Bangladesh at Kudankulam NPP in India will be economically beneficial and language-wise acceptable," a Bangladesh government official told ET from Dhaka on condition of anonymity. Russia has been a steadfast supporter of India's position on Bangladesh ever since the 1971 war and has strong ties with the Awami League government led by Hasina. In 2014, India and Russia had signed the 'Strategic Vision for Strengthening Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy', which envisaged that the two sides would also explore opportunities for sourcing materials, equipment and services from Indian industry for construction of Russiandesigned nuclear power plants in third countries. Russia and Bangladesh had in 2010 signed a pact for peaceful use of atomic energy. The construction of Rooppur NPP, 160 km from Dhaka, on the eastern bank of Ganga river, is being done in accordance with the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in construction of a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, Alexey Pimenov, CEO of ROSATOM South Asia told ET. Hasina and the general director of ROSATOM State Atomic Energy Corporation, Sergey Kirienko, laid the first stone in the foundation of the future Rooppur NPP in 2013. Meanwhile, another report by www.defenseworld.net adds, Russia's Su-30SM jets made by Irkut Corp are on the procurement radar of Bangladesh which has put out a request for information (RFI) to buy eight multi-role fighter jets with an option of four more planes for its air force. "We are seeking information about the Su-30 and other planes", Md Humayun Kabir, Defence Advisor in the Bangladesh High Commission, Kuala Lumpur told Defenseworld.net after his meeting with Irkut Corp executives at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aviation (LIMA) exhibition Wednesday.....

Published at: 2017-03-24 00:00:04

State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will now import 2,200 tonnes of diesel every month from India's Numaligarh refinery through railway to meet demand of the fuel in the northern region of the country, said officials. It will take at least two years to build a cross-border pipeline for transportation of Indian diesel to Bangladesh.   The BPC will take delivery of the diesel to Parbatipur inside Bangladesh, which would be transported by 50 wagons of Indian Railway, BPC director for operations and planning Sayed Mohammad Mozammel Haque told the FE Thursday. Top officials of the BPC and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) agreed last week on the issue during a meeting in India. The BPC and the BPCL also agreed on premium rate at US$ 5.50 per barrel to Mean of Platts Arab Gulf (MoPAG) diesel assessment on cost and freight (CFR) basis meaning that the price would be above US$ 5.50 per barrel from international price of diesel. Bangladesh earlier had imported similar quantity of diesel through railway from the Numaligarh refinery, owned by Indian state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) occasionally as a 'friendship gesture', he said. Premium rate was $ 7.0 per barrel to MoPAG diesel assessment on CFR basis during the previous imports. But from now on, the BPC would import 2,200 tonnes of diesel every month for 15 years, said the official. Currently, the state-run oil corporation has been importing gasoil from international market at a premium rate of around $2.50 per barrel to the the MoPAG diesel assessments on CFR basis, he said. Although the premium rate is higher, India's diesel consignment will save the costs the BPC will have incurred to transport diesel to Parbitupur from Chittagong port, said officials. Separately, India's BPCL will construct a 130-kilometre cross-country pipeline to export diesel to Bangladesh to the tune of 1.0 million tonne per year for 15 years, said officials. But it will take at least a couple of years to build the pipeline, he added. The pipeline will touch Panchagarh, Nilphamari and Dinajpur inside Bangladesh to reach Parbatipur oil storage tanks. Of the total 130 km, the length of pipeline inside Bangladesh will be 125 km and in India it would be around five km, said officials. The BPC currently imports around 3.5 million tonnes of diesel annually to meet local demand.     Azizjst@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-03-24 00:00:04