No condition on $2b Indian loan: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said no condition was imposed on US$ 2 billion Line of Credit (LoC) to be provided as loans to Bangladesh by India, saying that Bangladesh is accepting the money to use independently.

"There is no condition in accepting $2 billion LoC from India. We can spend the amount in the projects and sectors at our will...we don't receive anything on conditions," she said. "We are an independent country and we are accepting the money by maintaining friendly relations and keeping an opportunity for working independently," she added.

The premier made the comments while responding to a supplementary from independent lawmaker Rustam Ali Farazi during question-answer session in the parliament.

Quoting from a Planning Ministry report that Bangladesh economy has secured the 44th position on global rating, jumping 14 steps ahead as per the current prices of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Leader of the House said the government would spend the money to further speed up this uplift.

The Planning Ministry prepared the report "Bangladesh is moving ahead, the latest position of Bangladesh in the global economic arena" based on the information of the World Development Indicators database, World Bank, April 2015 and the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO), April 2015.

"We would spend the money to achieve our GDP target, alleviate poverty and take the country to the path of rapid development. Keeping this in mind, Bangladesh would be upgraded to become a middle income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041," Sheikh Hasina said.

BANGLADESH V INDIA, ONLY TEST, FATULLAH

India on top after day 1

Shikhar Dhawan of India scored his third century of his career during the first day of the sole Test match against Bangladesh at Fatullah. Photo: STAR

Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay took India to a commanding position after the rain-curtailed first day of the Test match against Bangladesh at Fatullah stadium today.

When bad light stopped play, only 56 overs were bowled during the entire day when Indian batters made the most of the batting conditions.

Dhawan was playing his natural game and took on the hapless bowlers from ball one.

Bangladesh vs India Test Match

India: 239/0 (56.0 over)

India won the toss and elected to bat

 

He remained unbeaten on 150 from 158 balls, and struck 21 boundaries with his usual flair and force. He peppered the off-side with some cracking shots of spinners during his brilliant knock.

Dhawan could have missed out on his third century of his career had Shuvagata Hom held on to a catch early in the first session.

Murali Vijay played second fiddle to Dhawan most of the day, and chose to be cautious when his partner was blazing away.

He started slowly, but began to open his arms after reaching his fifty. He was unbeaten on 89 runs having played 178 balls.

Vijay’s fluency was evident in all the eight fours he struck, including a massive six straight down the ground.

He reached his 11th fifty of his Test career, and looks good for a big score tomorrow.

Bangladesh bowlers looked innocuous on the benign pitch at Fatullah and failed to trouble the Indian openers with a probing line and length.

They bowled on both sides of the wicket, and got punished repeatedly by the opposing batters.

The lone pacer Mohammad Shahid gave away 52 runs in 12 overs while Taijul Islam and Shuvagata Hom bowled 25 overs between themselves for 102 runs.

Rain after 23 overs of play stopped proceedings of the sole Test match between Bangladesh and India.

India were off to a splendid start with Bangladesh bowlers unable to bowl to a plan.

As Bangladesh played only the single fast bowler, the overhead conditions ideal for swing bowling went begging.

The spinners were unable to extract sufficient turn and bounce to trouble the Indian openers.

Although the pitch had a tinge of green to it, India captain Virat Kohli didn’t hesitate to bat first after winning the toss.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das (Wicketkeeper), Shuvagata Hom, Jubair Hossain, Taijul Islam and Mohammad Shahid.

India: Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron.

CRITICISING DAVID BERGMAN‘S PENALTY Zafrullah guilty of contempt, punished

Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury, who was found guilty of contempt for criticising an ICT punishment on David Bergman and imprisoned on the dock for an hour on June 10, 2015, comes out and tells media that he will appeal against the verdict. Photo: Palash Khan

Star Online Report

A war crimes tribunal today found Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury guilty of contempt and imprisoned him at court for an hour for criticising punishment of Bangladesh-based UK journalist David Bergman.

International Crimes Tribunal-2 held on dock under police vigilance and fined him Tk 5,000 – in default of which he will have to serve a month in prison.

Twenty-two others, who were facing the same charge, were exonerated. The court said they had committed the contempt for the first time.

This was Zafrullah’s second time contempt, the court said adding that he should have been given “significant punishment” but was considered because of his age.

The Gonoshasthaya founder, who stood on the docks from roughly around 12:50pm to 1:50pm, later told journalists that he will appeal against the verdict.

Those exonerated others are: Masud Khan, Afsan Chowdhury, Ziaur Rahman, Hana Shams Ahmed, Anu Muhammad, Anusheh Anadil, Muktasree Chakma Sathi, Lubna Marium, Farida Akhter, Shireen Huq, Ali Ahmed Ziauddin, Rahnuma Ahmed, Shahdul Alam, CR Abrar, Bina D'Costa, Mahmud Rahman, Zarina Nahar Kabir, Leesa Gazi, Shabnam Nadiya, Nasrin Siraj Annie, Tibra Ali and Delwar Hussain.

On December 2, 2014, the tribunal found Bergman, editor (special reports) of New Age, guilty of contempt of court for two of his blog posts of January 2013 on the verdict of Abul Kalam Azad, also known as Bachchu Razakar. 

He was sentenced to imprisonment "till rising of the court" that day and fined Tk 5,000. 

On December 20 last year, the daily Prothom Alo ran a report titled "50 people express concern over Bergman's punishment", which stated that the order would restrict freedom of expression.

One signatory, Khusi Kabir, later withdrew her name. The tribunal cleared 26 citizens of the charge as they apologised unconditionally.  

Last month, the ICT-2 gave six more days to the remaining 23 eminent persons to respond to the tribunal why they should not be punished for contempt.

The three-member tribunal asked them to place their replies before the tribunal by April 29. It also asked 15 of them who are living in the country to appear before it on the day.