Myanmar tightens security measures following unrest in western tourist site

Myanmar authorities have tightened security measures following unrest in Thandwe township, a famous tourist site in western coastal Rakhine state, over the last two days, official media reported Wednesday.

Curfew order has been extended from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time, starting Tuesday evening.

Swearing at a tri-cycle motorized vehicle parking outside a shop sparked the unrest, leaving some houses burnt down, according to the report.

The rioters also set fire to a refilling station on Monday night in Dwarawady Myothit area of Thandwe.

Similarly, some fire broke out at two other villages of Kyaukgyi and Mangyichaung in Thandwe, which was followed by eruption of fighting.

Shops were closed due to unstable situation and local authorities are taking measures to control the situation, the report added.

Exercise ‘can be as good as pills’

Exercise can be as good a medicine as pills for people with conditions such as heart disease, a study has found.

The work in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) looked at hundreds of trials involving nearly 340,000 patients to assess the merits of exercise and drugs in preventing death.

Physical activity rivalled some heart drugs and outperformed stroke medicine.

The findings suggest exercise should be added to prescriptions, say the researchers.

Experts stressed that patients should not ditch their drugs for exercise – rather, they should use both in tandem.

Prescriptions rise
Too few adults currently get enough exercise. Only a third of people in England do the recommended 2.5 hours or more of moderate-intensity activity, such as cycling or fast walking, every week.

In contrast, prescription drug rates continue to rise.

There were an average of 17.7 prescriptions for every person in England in 2010, compared with 11.2 in 2000.

For the study, scientists based at the London School of Economics, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine trawled medical literature to find any research that compared exercise with pills as a therapy.

They identified 305 trials to include in their analysis. These trials looked at managing conditions such as existing heart disease, stroke rehabilitation, heart failure and pre-diabetes.

When they studied the data as a whole, they found exercise and drugs were comparable in terms of death rates.

But there were two exceptions.

Drugs called diuretics were the clear winner for heart failure patients, while exercise was best for stroke patients in terms of life expectancy.

Amy Thompson, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said that although an active lifestyle brings many health benefits, there is not enough evidence to draw any firm conclusions about the merit of exercise above and beyond drugs.

“Medicines are an extremely important part of the treatment of many heart conditions and people on prescribed drugs should keep taking their vital meds. If you have a heart condition or have been told you’re at high risk of heart disease, talk to your doctor about the role that exercise can play in your treatment.”

Dr Peter Coleman of the Stroke Association said exercise alongside drugs had a vital role that merited more research.

“We would like to see more research into the long-term benefits of exercise for stroke patients.

“By taking important steps, such as regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and stopping smoking, people can significantly reduce their risk of stroke.”

“Moderate physical activity, for example, can reduce the risk of stroke by up to 27%.”

Death to SQ Chy

In the first-ever war crimes verdict against any BNP leader, a special tribunal yesterday sentenced Salauddin Quader Chowdhury to death for committing crimes against humanity and genocide during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
The BNP lawmaker was found guilty on nine of the 23 charges brought against him.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 awarded him death penalty on four charges — his involvement in two acts of genocide, the killing of Nutan Chandra Singha, and Awami League leader Mozaffar Ahmed and his son in Raozan of Chittagong.
Salauddin, 64, was also sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment each on three charges and five years’ each on two charges.
Pronouncing the verdict in the presence of Salauddin and his family members in a packed courtroom, ICT-1 Chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir said, “We are of the unanimous view that the accused deserves the highest punishment as provided under law for committing such gravest crimes that tremble the collective conscience of mankind.”
The tribunal, however, acquitted Salauddin on 14 other charges as the prosecution failed to prove his complicity in the crimes. The prosecution could not even produce any witness to establish six of the charges against him.
Salauddin is the only sitting member of parliament to have been convicted of war crimes and condemned to hang. Of the seven war crimes convicts including Salauddin, five are from Jamaat-e-Islami and one is a former Jamaat man.
The tribunal said the prosecution has successfully proved that the accused, in collaboration with the Pakistan army and Razakars, actively participated in the horrendous atrocities committed on unarmed civilians with the intent to destroy the Hindu community.
“Thereby, he committed offences of genocide and crimes against humanity,” said the three-member tribunal led by Justice Kabir.
Tribunal members Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Anwarul Haque read out parts of the summary of the 172-page verdict amid tight security on and around the court premises.

The judgment said the accfr503used, aided by the Pakistani army, committed genocide by his active participation in different places of Chittagong. He sought to wipe out the Hindus by launching large-scale systematic attacks and killed unarmed civilians, unleashing a reign of terror in the locality.
“As a result, millions of people were compelled to leave the country and took refuge in India during the War of Liberation of Bangladesh,” it added.
The tribunal found Salauddin’s conduct “disrespectful to the court”, and said, “His art of deliberation, actions and conduct as shown in the courtroom were not in conformity with rightness, decency and convention of good behaviour.”
Wearing a white punjabi and pyjamas, Salauddin, who enjoyed the status of a minister during the previous BNP-led government’s tenure, looked nonchalant in the courtroom.
He jibed, and even mocked, and chuckled at times, as the judges delivered the verdict.
Salauddin was later taken to Kashimpur Jail-1 and kept in a condemn cell of the prison, a jail official told The Daily Star last night.
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People across the country have expressed satisfaction over the verdict, while Salauddin’s family and defence lawyers said they would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
According to the law, a war crimes convict can file appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court within 30 days from the date of pronouncement of the verdict.
The convict’s lawyer Fakhrul Islam alleged that the verdict “was dictated by the law ministry”, saying it was available on the internet before the tribunal sat yesterday.
DEATH ON FOUR CHARGES
Nutan’s killing: Salauddin had led the Pakistani Army to Kundeshwari Oushadhalay at Gohira and raided the house of its owner Nutan Chandra Singha between 9:30am and 10:00am on April 13, 1971.
Nutan, who was performing rites in a prayer room, was dragged out of it by Salauddin and his followers.
Salauddin told the Pakistani army that his father instructed him to kill Nutan, and then the army personnel fired at Nutan, who fell on the ground, according to the charge.
While Nutan was groaning with pain, Salauddin shot him to confirm his death, and then left the place with the Pakistani army.
The tribunal said oral and documentary evidence have proved beyond reasonable doubt that accused Salauddin with the help of Pakistani army killed Nutan Chandra in a planned way.
Genocide in Sultanpur: Salauddin and his accomplices along with the Pakistani army attacked members of the Hindu community at Bonik Para of Sultanpur village in Raozan around 1:00pm on April 13, 1971, according to the fifth charge against the BNP leader.
Salauddin, his father and their accomplices, along with the Pakistani army, opened fire on Hindu people, and killed Nepal Chandra Dhar, Monindra Lal Dhar, Upendro Lal Dhar and Onil Barun Dhar.
“After assessing the evidence on record, we are inclined to hold that the prosecution has been able to prove this charge 5 beyond reasonable doubt that the accused with intent to destroy in whole or in part the members of Hindu community actively participated in the killing of unarmed civilians of village Sultanpur,” said the judgment.
Genocide at Unosattur Para: Salauddin along with his accomplices and the Pakistani army attacked the Hindu-inhabited Unosattur Para around 4:00pm on April 13, 1971, according to the sixth charge.
They brought the Hindu people near the pond behind Khitish Mohajan’s house, and then sprayed the unarmed people with bullets in Salauddin’s presence, leaving about 70 people dead.
The court said considering both oral and documentary evidence, it was proved that the accused and his accomplices attacked the Hindus at Unosattur Para and killed 60 to 70 unarmed Hindu people there.
Killing of Mozaffar and his son: On Salauddin’s instructions, the Pakistan army took Chittagong Awami League’s founder Sheikh Mozaffar Ahmed and his son Sheikh Alamgir to a nearby camp around 11:00am on April 17, 1971.
When Mozaffar’s relatives approached Salauddin’s father Fazlul Quader Chowdhury to have them released, Fazlul told them that Salauddin was dealing with the matter.
They contacted Fazlul several times but all to no avail. “The said victims did not return as they were subsequently killed,” said the court.
The evidence proved that the accused had direct complicity in abduction and murder of the duo, it added.
CONVICTION ON FIVE OTHER CHARGES
The three charges that got Salauddin 20 years’ imprisonment each are acts of genocide at Madhya Gohira Hindu Para, and acts of genocide, persecution and deportation at Jagotmallo Para, and the killing of Satish Chandra Palit in Raozan.
He was given five years’ imprisonment each on two other charges.
Salauddin was found guilty of abducting, confining and torturing Saleh Uddin (who later became vice-chancellor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology), and Nizamuddin Ahmed (who later became a journalist) at his father’s Goods Hill Torture Centre in Chittagong in 1971.
The tribunal acquitted Salauddin on eight charges that include genocide, race killing, murder, abduction, torture, deportation, confinement, looting, and acts of arson at different places in Chittagong.
The prosecution failed to produce witnesses to prove six other charges that include abduction, torture, confinement, murder and race killing in Chittagong.

Pakistan skipper-allrounder Mohammad Hafeez (center) celebrates dismissal of Australian opening batsman David Warner (unseen) with teammates during the Super Eight match of the ICC Twenty20 Cricket at the Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday

He executed father’s order to kill Nutan

“I have orders from my father to kill him,” these words from war crimes convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury spurred the Pakistani army to spray bullets all over Nutan Chandra Singha on April 13, 1971.
A few minutes later, Salauddin himself fired two to three bullets at Nutan Chandra, founder of Kundeshwari Oushadhalaya, to make sure that he was dead.
The victim was mostly hit on the left side of the face and chest.
Nutan’s popularity in the Hindu community had made him a particular target of Salauddin’s father Fazlul Quader Chowdhury’s wrath. The elder Chowdhury, who was a leader of (Convention) Muslim League, believed the Hindus of Raozan were responsible for his defeat in the general elections of 1970.
According to prosecution witnesses, Fazlul Quader was cross with Nutan also because he had given shelter to the families of 27 Chittagong University teachers, including that of Prof Anisuzzaman, in Kundeshwari Girls’ School when Bangladesh’s War of Liberation began.
Nutan came to Chittagong in 1942. He set up medicine (Kundeshwari Oushadhalaya) and soap factories in Chittagong and Kolkata. He settled in Chittagong permanently after the passport system had been introduced in 1952.
In 1960, he founded Kundeshwari Girls’ School in the realisation that earlier in life he had not been able to provide his daughter with an education. The school was later upgraded to a college.
Yesterday, International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury to death for the murder of Nutan Chandra.
The punishment was handed down based on the testimonies of two eyewitnesses and four hearsay witnesses, besides documentary evidence.
Gopal Chandra Das, former principal of Kundeshwari Girls’ College, witnessed the killing of Nutan Chandra from a window on the first floor of Kundeshwari Complex.
He had come to the complex on the morning of April 13, 1971 from his sister-in-law’s house at Jagotmollopara. On his way, he had heard gunshots. He informed Nutan of that and urged him to leave the place.
But Nutan refused to flee, saying, “If I must die, I will die on the soil of my country. I will not leave Kundeshwari. But if you want [Gopal and others], you can go.”
Sometime between 9:00am and 10:00am that day, Pakistani soldiers came to the Kundeshwari premises. Gopal at that time hid on the first floor of the complex.
“I saw an army officer, one or two soldiers and several Bangalees talking with Nutan. A few minutes later they left in their vehicles. I heard the sound of the engines,” said Gopal in his testimony.
He said the vehicles came back 10 minutes later and that he (Gopal) again hid on the first floor of the Kundeshwari Complex.
This time Salauddin Quader was there with the soldiers. They dragged Nutan out of the temple despite seeing that the man was praying. “Nutan was screaming at that time,” recalled Gopal.
According to the witness, Salauddin that very moment told his cohorts that he had orders from his father to kill Nutan.
The Pakistani soldiers then opened fire on Nutan. He was groaning in pain, said Gopal, adding, “I saw Salauddin Quader wielding a pistol or revolver and shot Nutan Chandra two to three times.”
He left the place making sure that Nutan was dead. Nutan’s body lay where it had fallen for three days.
Nutan’s son Prafulla Ranjan Singha, another prosecution witness, had fled to India a few days before the killing. Through his deposition he revealed why Salauddin’s father had been mad at the Hindu community of Raozan.
He said the religious minorities of Raozan could not cast votes due to rigging by Fazlul Quader, Salauddin’s father.
Prafulla also told the court what Fazlul had said when he went to Nutan’s house while electioneering for the 1970 general elections.
According to the witness, Fazlul had said, “As usual you will vote for me. Therefore, if you keep from going to the polling booth, I will understand I have got your vote.”
Prafulla said, “If anyone [of the minority community] cast his vote ignoring his [Fazlul’s] directive, he would be persecuted. Many people of Noapara area were tortured and their belongings were looted by the goons of the Muslim League.”
Repression on the religious minority in Raozan began after Fazlul lost the election.
Prafulla also regretted the fact that he could not be at his father’s funeral. “I am so unfortunate that I could not put the flames on the funeral pyre of my father,” he said.
Prafulla’s elder brother Satya Ranjan Singha filed a case with Raozan Police Station in January 1972 in connection with Nutan’s killing.
“All the accused were charge-sheeted,” said Prafulla, adding that Fazlul Quader Chowdhury had been sent to jail as an accused but the case did not see light after 1974.
Fazlul Quader died of cardiac arrest in prison in 1974.

Al Amin awaits Tigers call-up

Uncapped pacer Al Amin Hossain is set to be named in the national team when the selectors announce the final 14-member squad today for the first Test match against New Zealand that begins in Chittagong on October 9.
Sources also informed that Naeem Islam and Anamul Haque, who had missed out on the Test tour in Zimbabwe, are also returning to the side. Meanwhile, Marshall Ayub, who was a member of the Test squad for Sri Lanka but is yet to make his debut, is also being included.
On the other hand, Jahurul Islam and Ziaur Rahman, both of who played in the Test series against Zimbabwe, may be dropped from the side.
The decision to include Al Amin in the side was based on his recent performances on Bangladesh A’s tour of England and the Dhaka Premier League (DPL). He has so far taken 18 wickets in five matches in the premier league.
The other factor that may have played a positive part in Al Amin’s favour is that the other pacers in the side are nursing injuries. Robiul Islam, who suffered from a hamstring pull early last month, is still in the recovery process. Rubel Hossain has also been pulled out of his Wednesday’s DPL match due to a stiff muscle. Both the players however, are expected to be ready in time for the New Zealand series.
Bangladesh Cricket Board had earlier announced a 28-member preliminary squad for the series and was expected to announce the final squad after the three-day practice match scheduled to begin on October 4 in Chittagong. The board also announced a separate squad for the three-day match.
However, following a meeting between the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, which runs the Dhaka Premier League, and the BCB’s Cricket Operations Committee, the team management submitted the final squad yesterday evening for the board president’s approval.
It was learnt that one of the reasons behind choosing a 14-member side — much before the expected date of announcement — was to avoid affecting the ongoing Dhaka Premier League by taking away a huge group of players for the camp.
Thus, the squad for the three-day match is also expected to change and is expected to be formed with players who won’t be participating in the Dhaka League in those three days.

The central bank and the Banking Division of the finance ministry yesterday opposed the idea of setting up the proposed Palli Sanchay Bank; they instead suggested establishing a microcredit financial institution.
An inter-ministerial meeting made the recommendation to the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division, who had sent the proposal to establish the specialised bank for the rural poor along the lines of Grameen Bank.
The Cooperatives Division had also prepared a draft Palli Sanchay Bank Act 2013.
At yesterday’s meeting, officials of both the central bank and the Banking Division said it is not possible to formulate a law in the present tenure of the current government due to a time constraint.
However, the Cooperatives Division was told that they can set up a financial institution under the Microcredit Regulatory Authority, said officials who were present at the meeting.
The meeting was also told that already there exist some banks of the same kind such as Ansar VDP Bank, Probashi Kalyan Bank, and Karmasangsthan Bank, but they have failed to serve the purposes.
“The proposed bank will remain out of the control of Bangladesh Bank but will perform several banking activities that may create indiscipline in the financial sector,” the BB had earlier written to the Banking Division.
The proposed bank will emerge from the government’s “One House, One Farm” project, just like Grameen Bank was born in 1983.
As per the draft law, the specialised bank will enjoy exemption from value-added and income taxes, like Grameen Bank.
The bank will not be governed under the Banking Companies Act, meaning it would remain mostly out of bounds of the central bank. However, Palli Sanchay Bank’s managing director would be appointed by its board of directors, with permission from the BB.
The bank’s paid-up capital will be Tk 600 crore, 80 percent of which will be provided by the government through its “One House, One Farm” project.
The government will hold 50 percent of the bank’s ownership and the rest would go to the member cooperative societies of the project. However, the government will not take any dividends against its shares.
The activities of the specialised bank, in many aspects, would also resemble those of Grameen Bank. Like Grameen, it will collect deposits and lend to its members.
But Palli Sanchay Bank will conduct some general banking activities, including various types of foreign exchange related transactions, opening letters of credit, online banking, and introducing debit and credit cards.
The bank’s board of directors will consist of 17 members and the secretary of the Cooperatives Division will be its ex-officio chairman.
Seven directors will be selected from the shareholders, with the government appointing one from the civil society. The other positions of the board will be filled up by government officials.
The “One House, One Farm” is a project under the Annual Development Programme, the first phase of which started in 1997. The second phase of the project started after the present government assumed power.