Joint Bangladesh and India census

14 July 2011 Last updated at 06:40 GMT By Ethirajan Anbarasan BBC News, Dhaka The India-Bangladesh border is not demarcated properly Bangladesh and India have begun their first-ever joint census of areas along their border to resolve some territorial anomalies.

Tens of thousands of Bangladeshis live in 51 enclaves in India while India has 100 areas within Bangladesh.

The residents of these enclaves are in effect stateless and lack access to public services.

Both countries are close to a deal to exchange the enclaves as part of long-standing boundary negotiations.

The census will be held over three days. It aims to find out the number of people living in the enclaves, who often have little access to schools, hospitals and other public services.

The enclaves are historical anomalies of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

Bangladesh Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told the BBC that India and Bangladesh had agreed to exchange the enclaves in 1974, "but it was not implemented".

Now, the two countries are inching towards a deal to exchange these enclaves as part of their efforts to resolve their long-standing boundary issues.

The question is - what will happen to the people?

The two governments say it is up to the residents to decide where they want to live.

The two countries hope to reach some sort of an agreement to exchange these enclaves during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka in September.

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Bangladesh ends 'caretaker' polls

30 June 2011 Last updated at 12:53 GMT The impending abolition of the caretaker system provoked strikes earlier in June The Bangladeshi parliament has overturned a 15-year-old requirement that general elections are overseen by non-partisan caretaker governments.

The system was introduced in the mid-1990s in an effort to end violence and fraud that often marred voting.

The opposition has denounced the move, arguing that it could allow incumbent administrations to rig future votes.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was highly critical of the last military-backed caretaker government of 2006-8.

She said that it was wrong that it stayed beyond its mandated three months and delayed voting by about two years.

Sheikh Hasina denied that the move is designed to allow her government to rig the next vote.

"This is a historic moment for democracy," she told parliament after the vote. "We can't allow unelected people to oversee national elections."

But opposition lawmakers vowed to protest against the move by a continuing series of general strikes and street protests which began earlier this month.

"This will not be good for the future of our democracy," said independent deputy Fazle Azim.

The 345-member legislature passed the amendment by 291 to one, in a vote boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Last month the Supreme Court ruled that the system of interim administrations was unconstitutional.

Under the arrangement, a caretaker authority of technocrats stayed in office for 90 days, mandated to organise the election and transfer power to the newly elected government within that timeframe.

The last caretaker government attempted to control corruption by sending hundreds of politicians - including Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia - to jail on charges of abusing power and illegally amassing wealth.

The pair were released before the December 2008 election, along with the scores of other politicians who were detained.

The next election is not due before the end of 2013.

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Bangladesh turtle racket exposed

27 June 2011 Last updated at 13:15 GMT By Anbarasan Ethirajan BBC News, Dhaka The size of the seizure has taken experts by surprise Officials in Bangladesh say they have seized more than 120kg (18st 5lb) of dried turtles from smugglers near the north-western border with India.

But the smugglers managed to escape after Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops gave chase in Dinajpur district.

"The dried turtles were being smuggled from India. This is the largest haul in the border region so far," BGB Lt Col Amirul Islam told the BBC.

Dried turtles can be used in soups and also in oriental medicine.

One kilogram of dried turtle costs around $140 (?88) on the international market.

Officials say there has been an increase in the smuggling of live animals and dried turtle through Bangladesh in recent months.

"I am quite surprised by the size of the seizure," said Richard Thomas, spokesman for the Traffic wildlife trade monitoring network.

"It raises the question, how many bags are getting through undetected?"

Mr Thomas said that if existing patterns served as a guideline, the dried turtles may have originated from north-eastern India to be sold in East Asia for medicinal uses.

Dried turtles are used in soups and in oriental medicine

According to Traffic, Asia's tortoises and freshwater turtles are being harvested in huge quantities to meet the demand for meat and traditional medicines, mostly in East Asia. The species are also in demand as pets.

Earlier this month, customs officials at Bangkok found hundreds of turtles, tortoises and gharial crocodiles packed in suitcases that came on a flight from Bangladesh.

In recent months, Bangladeshi officials also seized a number of protected wild animals within the country from individuals who were keeping them illegally.

"Bangladesh is becoming a transit point for illegal trafficking of wild animals from the region," Tapan Kumar Dey, conservator of forests with the Bangladesh Forestry Department, told the BBC.

"Traffickers are using our country's porous land borders with India to smuggle wild animals into Bangladesh and then transport them to South-East Asian countries," Mr Dey said.

Environmentalists say if the trafficking is not stopped then it could pose a threat to conservation efforts both in India and Bangladesh.

"The latest seizures illustrate that illegal trade is systematically wiping out Asia's freshwater turtles and tortoises," Mr Thomas said.

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Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the world's most densely populated countries, with its people crammed into a delta of rivers that empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Poverty is deep and widespread; almost half of the population live on less than one dollar a day. However, Bangladesh has reduced population growth and improved health and education.

The major employer is agriculture, but it is unable to meet the demand for jobs. Thus many Bangladeshis - in common with citizens from other countries in the region - seek work abroad, sometimes illegally. The country is trying to diversify its economy, with industrial development a priority. Overseas investors have pumped money into manufacturing and the energy sector.

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries

Onshore and offshore gas reserves hold out some chance of future prosperity. There has been a debate about whether the reserves should be kept for domestic use or exported. Some international energy companies are involved in the gas sector.

Formerly East Pakistan, Bangladesh came into being only in 1971, when the two parts of Pakistan split after a bitter war which drew in neighbouring India.

Bangladesh spent 15 years under military rule and, although democracy was restored in 1990, the political scene remains volatile.

Analysts say the antagonism between the Awami League, which governed until July 2001, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party reflects personal animosity between their leaders rather than substantial ideological differences.

Political tensions have spilled over into violence; hundreds of people have been killed in recent years. Attacks have targeted opposition rallies and public gatherings. Senior opposition figures have also been targeted.

Concern has grown about religious extremism in the traditionally moderate and tolerant country, which found apparent form in a string of bomb attacks in August 2005. The government, which long denied that it had a problem with militants, has outlawed two fringe Islamic organisations.

Bangladesh has been criticised for its human rights record, with particular concern about assaults on women and allegations that police use torture against those in custody.

The low-lying country is vulnerable to flooding and cyclones and it stands to be badly affected by predicted rises in sea levels.

Full name: People's Republic of Bangladesh Population: 164.4 million (UN, 2010) Capital and largest city: Dhaka Area: 143,998 sq km (55,598 sq miles) Major language: Bengali Major religions: Islam, Hinduism Life expectancy: 67 years (men), 69 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 taka = 100 paisa Main exports: Garments, fish, jute goods, leather products GNI per capita: US $590 (World Bank, 2009) Internet domain: .bd International dialling code: +880

President: Zillur Rahman

Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina Wajed

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed

Sheikh Hasina became Bangladesh's prime minister for the second time in January 2009.

In general elections in December 2008, her centre-left Awami League won a crushing victory over the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by her long-time political foe, Begum Khaleda Zia.

The Awami League-led alliance won more than 250 seats in the 300-seat parliament.

Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia - both former prime ministers - had been jailed for suspected corruption but were released to contest the vote.

The election marked a return to the usual two-party politics after the state of emergency imposed in January 2007, despite the army-backed caretaker government's attempts to break the mould and encourage a third political force.

Only a few months after her election, the new prime minister faced a serious crisis when hundreds hundreds of border guards mutinied in Dhaka. The mutineers killed 74 people, mainly army officers, before the government succeeded in suppressing the rebellion.

Rivalry

Politics in Bangladesh has long been dominated by the bitter rivalry between the two women.

Bangladeshi Nationalist Party leader Begum Khaleda Zia

Hasina was previously prime minister from 1996 to 2001, while Khaleda was in power between 1991 and 1996 and again from 2001 to October 2006, when she handed over power to a caretaker administration ahead of elections.

The hostility between the women stems in part from differences over who played a greater role in the country's independence struggle - Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, or Khaleda's husband, General Ziaur Rahman.

After independence from Pakistan in 1971, Mujib was named father of the nation in the country's 1972 constitution.

But when Khaleda assumed power in 1991 her party pushed the idea that her husband was an equally key player in the independence struggle.

Khaleda's government amended the constitution in 2004 to delete the reference that Mujib was the father of the nation.

In 2009, six months after an election victory by Sheikh Hasina, the High Court ruled that Mujib should be considered the man who proclaimed independence.

Khaleda and Hasina sank their differences when military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad was in power from 1982 to 1990. The two cooperated in the movement to oust Ershad.

But their alliance ended with Ershad's departure and they have been uncompromising rivals ever since on a range of issues.

Hasina accuses Khaleda's BNP and its Islamic allies with links to outlawed Islamist groups blamed for a series of bomb attacks in 2007. Khaleda says Hasina's statements amounted to treason.

Hasina escaped an assassination attempt in August 2004 when grenades exploded at a rally she was addressing. Twenty-three people were killed in the attack, which the Awami League said could be linked to parties in the ruling coalition.

The main broadcasters - Radio Bangladesh and Bangladesh Television (BTV) - are state-owned and government-friendly. There is little coverage of the political opposition, except in the run-up to general elections when a caretaker government takes control.

TV is the most-popular medium, especially in cities. BTV is the sole terrestrial TV channel. Popular satellite and cable channels include ATN, Channel i, NTV, RTV, Channel One, BanglaVision and Boishakhi.

Foreign, especially Indian, TV stations have large audiences in Dhaka and other cities.

State-run radio covers almost the entire country. BBC World Service programmes in English and Bengali are broadcast on 100 MHz FM in Dhaka.

Newspapers are diverse, outspoken and privately-owned. English-language titles appeal mainly to an educated urban readership.

The constitution guarantees press freedom, but journalists are prone to harassment from the police and political activists.

Media rights organisation Reporters Without Borders says draconian laws allow journalists to be imprisoned for "defamation" or "sedition". The security services keep journalists under surveillance, it added (country report, 2011).

There were 1.4 million internet users by March 2011 (Internetworldstats.com).

The press

Television

Radio

News agencies/internet

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Bangladesh force to save tigers

13 June 2011 Last updated at 06:07 GMT By Ethirajan Anbarasan BBC News, Dhaka Sundarbans is home to about 400 tigers Bangladesh is setting up a special force to save the critically endangered Royal Bengal Tiger and other animals.

The 300-member force will be deployed mostly around the Sundarbans mangrove forests, one of the last refuges of the tigers.

The decision came months after they seized three tiger skins and a large quantity of bones, the biggest haul of illegal tiger parts in decades.

The Sundarbans forests stretch between Bangladesh and India.

Around 400 tigers still live in the area.

Until now poaching has not been considered as the chief threat to the tiger population in Bangladesh.

But the arrest of a poacher with tiger skins and bones earlier this year raised fears that an organised poaching group was operating in the mangrove forests.

Officials admitted they did not have enough manpower, resources and training to counter the poachers, who they said were using increasingly sophisticated techniques to trap the tigers.

Minister of Environment and Forests Hasan Mahmud said that the setting up of the new wildlife force was long overdue.

"The forest department staff in Bangladesh need more training, because now the poachers are very sophisticated," he said.

"Their sophistication has been increased but the sophistication of the forest department has not been increased over the last couple of years. So, we have to train them and we have to equip them."

Most of the money to set up the new Wildlife Crime Control unit will come from the World Bank loan of $36m (?21.8m).

The new force will also tackle a growing trade in the illegal trafficking of wild animals.

Recently, officials seized a number of protected wild animals from people who were keeping them illegally.

Earlier this month, customs officers at Bangkok airport in Thailand found hundreds of freshwater turtles and crocodiles packed in suitcases on a flight from Bangladesh.

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