Nation this week
The Public Security Division of the Home Ministry issued a gazette lifting a ban on Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliate Islami Chhatra Shibir. According to the gazette, the government cancelled the notification issued on August 28, 2024 that banned Jamaat, as it did not find any specific information and evidence about Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir and other affiliates' involvement in terrorism and violence and the government also believes that the party has no involvement in terrorism activities.
On August 1, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification banning Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Chhatra Shibir, and all related organisations under anti-terrorism laws. The party has already been barred from running in the last three general elections, since losing its registration with the Election Commission in 2013. Jamaat-e-Islami appealed against that High Court ruling, but on November 19 of last year, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court dismissed that appeal.
Bangladesh is the world's most polluted country and the average person in Bangladesh lives 4.8 years less than they would if the air were as clean as the World Health Organization recommends, according to the latest Air Quality Life Index (AQLI). All of Bangladesh's 166.4 million people live in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds both the WHO guideline and 96.8 percent of the country's population live in regions that don't meet the country's own national standard of 35 µg/m³. Even in the least polluted district of Sylhet, particulate pollution is 6.7 times the WHO guideline.
In 2022, particulate pollution was 22 percent lower relative to 2021 -- a contrast to the increasing trend between 2015-2021. If the reduction in 2022 is sustained, an average Bangladeshi resident would live one year longer compared to what they would if they were exposed to the average pollution levels over the last decade.
The government formed a five-member inquiry commission to identify and find the people who were forcibly disappeared by various intelligence and law enforcement agencies between January 1, 2010, and August 5, 2024. The formation of the commission comes three weeks after the toppling of the previous government, which had persistently denied reports of enforced disappearance and maintained that the victims went into hiding willingly to embarrass the authorities.
Bangladesh currently has no laws criminalising enforced disappearance nor has it ratified the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The country has now tasked retired High Court judge Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury to lead the new commission that will investigate the circumstances under which people were forcibly disappeared by any law enforcement or intelligence agency. The commission will provide descriptions of the incidents of enforced disappearance to the authorities concerned and make recommendations, according to a gazette notification of the Cabinet Division.
The governor of Bangladesh Bank urged the public to refrain from acquiring properties belonging to S Alam Group, as the authorities are planning to sell the group's assets to repay depositors at multiple banks it controlled. Dr Ahsan Mansur made the call at a press conference on Wednesday, responding to a query regarding the group's reported attempts to sell its properties. The governor described the group's owner, Saiful Alam, as a world-beater in the field of stealing from banks. "I have no idea if anyone else in the world has looted banks in such a well-planned way," he said.
He warned that the bank's board might be changed again if it fails to fulfil its role effectively, adding that similar actions will be taken in other banks found with irregularities. He revealed the central bank hasn't sold a single dollar since he took over, downplaying the risk of reserves going down. Even the government's demands are being met from the interbank foreign exchange market.
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