Indian made big in fraud

[idune]

To some nonsense , the essence of sense can only be realized when he looks at his own home before blaming others.

Fraud lawyer from Bangladesh

thanks for the article. I was actually looking for this one. Would you please post the link as well.

 

[indiatech]

Massive fraud by Brac Bank in Bangladesh

Believe it or not! One of the leading financial institutions in Bangladesh, named Brack Bank, which is owned by one of the largest NGOs [Non Government Organization] in the world, Brac, is into massive fraud thus swindling millions of Taka.



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR Log (Press Release) – Mar 18, 2009 – Believe it or not! One of the leading financial institutions in Bangladesh, named Brack Bank, which is owned by one of the largest NGOs [Non Government Organization] in the world, Brac, is into massive fraud thus swindling millions of Taka.

According to documented information, Brac Bank is drawing millions of Taka from the Customers accounts by creating secret lien facilities. Such case of massive fraud was discovered when a customer received a statement of his account, where he was surprised to see that the bank has created lien worth TK. 10 million [Almost US$ 150,000] and drew the amount in the name of the customer, even without notifying him. When the matter was brought to the attention of authorities of Brac Bank, they tried to justify such fraudulent actions saying, “It was done for the sake of customer’s safety”.

It is also learnt that, Brac Bank not only creates and withdraws money from the customer’s account secretly through clean fraud, it also levies all interests accrued from the amount of lien on the customer, which is not only unethical and illegal but goes beyond the minimum level of banker-customer trust.

It is learnt that such huge amounts of money drawn from the customer’s accounts secretly are passed by Brac Bank to a number of hidden businesses, which are operated by the mid-level management of the largest NGO named Brac.

While contacted, a source in Bangladesh Bank, on condition of anonymity told Weekly Blitz that, this was the first time they came to know about such massive fraud by any financial institution in Bangladesh.

“The matter should be properly investigated and necessary actions should be taken against Brac Bank”, said the source.

Bangladesh Bank sources further said, in previous time there had been massive fraud and swindling of public money by a number of financial institutions, but the latest case of Brac Bank is not only unique but surely goes even beyond imagination of bankers or customers in the world.

After discovery of such fraud by Brac Bank, many financial experts are opining that, keeping money with this financial institution remains at highest risk for the customers.

 

[indiatech]

Even religious pilgrims who save money entire life for the sacred Hajj are not spared in BANGLADESH.


Fraud travel agency cheats some 62 Hajj pilgrims - Bangladesh News 24 hours


Sun, Nov 22nd, 2009


Dhaka, Nov 22 (bdnews24.com)–Some Hajj pilgrims were cheated by travel agents, a day before they were scheduled to catch a flight for Saudi Arabia, but they could finally manage tickets through government intervention.

Angered by the incident, a Hajj official said: "Travel agency men cheating the pilgrims should be put under cross-fire," referring to killings without trial by law-enforcing agencies.

Legal action is being taken against private Al-Mobarakat Travel Agency for cheating 62 pilgrims, Hajj officer Bazlul Haque Biswas told bdnews24.com.

"The process of filing a criminal case against the agency and cancelling its aviation licence is underway," Biswas said.

The agency staff allegedly went into hiding after taking all the money from the pilgrims who were scheduled to fly for Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

RAB and police were on the lookout for the fraud travel agency staff, Biswas said.

More than 58,000 pilgrims already reached Mecca under government and private arrangements to perform the holy Hajj.

The Hajj flights to Saudi Arabia are scheduled to end on Monday.

The return Hajj flights are expected to start from Dec 2.

Some 8,216 pilgrims are performing Hajj under government management and the rest are making it under private arrangements through 250 agencies.

According to the ministry of religious affairs' website, 54,189 pilgrims have already reached Saudi Arabia since Oct 21 when the flights started.

Meanwhile, 20 Bangladeshi pilgrims have died in Saudi Arabia, available reports said.

bdnews24.com/mhc/su/ec/1327h

 

[idune]

World Bank 'uncovers India fraud'

Robert Zoellick said the World Bank would boost oversight of projects
The World Bank has said it has uncovered "serious incidents of fraud and corruption" in a review of five health projects it has backed in India.
The multi-million dollar projects, some of which date back to 1997, involve HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.

"The probe has revealed unacceptable indicators of fraud and corruption, said World Bank head Robert Zoellick.

India's government said it took the findings seriously and would punish anyone found guilty of wrongdoing.

The evidence of fraud was revealed in a newly released Detailed Implementation Review, begun by the World Bank in 2006.

That review was prompted by an investigation into a World Bank-backed reproductive and child health programme in 2005, which found evidence of corrupt practices by two pharmaceutical firms.

'Eradicate corruption'

The projects involved in the latest review included a $193.7m (£99m) programme to tackle HIV/Aids, a $124.8m tuberculosis scheme and a $114m malaria programme.

The World Bank has said it and the Indian government will cooperate to ensure the scrutiny and transparency of ongoing and future projects.

Mr Zoellick, who took over as World Bank president in July, said he appreciated the Indian government's "resolute commitment" to pursuing criminal wrongdoing.

He said: "These problems have to be fixed. I am committed to cleaning this up. I have spoken to Finance Minister [Palaniappan] Chidambaram and he feels the same way.

"The results of this World Bank Review show we must keep pressing to eradicate corruption from our projects. Fraud and corruption are not acceptable."

A statement from India's finance ministry said: "Necessary action under the relevant laws, rules and regulations would be taken against those suspected of wrongdoing and, if found guilty, they will be visited with exemplary punishment."

BBC NEWS | South Asia | World Bank 'uncovers India fraud'

 

[indiatech]

Indian trade hit by fraud in Bangladesh

Daily demurrage charges of Rs 500 were being levied on every truck


There has been a drop in Indian exports to Bangladesh by 30 per cent in 2004-05 owing to non-payment of Indian export bills by certain Bangladeshi banks and a demurrage racket rampant at the Petrapol Land Custom Station in India over the last few months, alleged S K Jain, eastern regional chairman of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) at a press meet here.

"Non-payment against irrevocable letter of credit (LoC) by various Bangladeshi Banks, including the Mutual Trust Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, National Bank Limited and others means Indian exporters have suffered a loss of almost Rs 100 crore", said Jain.

According to him, these banks, in connivance with some Bangladeshi traders, issued no-objection clearance certificate for exported goods without actually collecting the money from the traders for those goods.

The payment to Indian exporters was then delayed or withheld on the basis of minor flaws in the trade agreement documents, he said.

He said that the banks were selected by Bangladeshi traders.

Jain alleged that the Bangladeshi customs had a hand in this practice as it some times did not record the delivery of goods.

This removed evidence of goods entering Bangladesh, even though Bangladeshi traders had already got possession of the cargo, alleged Jain.

The traders hit the most by this malpractice were Indian exporters of food grains, and as a result, foodgrains exports had declined by about 80 per cent.

Other exporters of products like vegetables and spices were hit badly too. Jain said that FIEO had taken a delegation to Dhaka in July of 2005 and taken up the issue with Bangladeshi ministers of finance and commerce, members of the National Board of Revenue, the governor of Bangladesh Bank and members of chambers of commerce in Dhaka. However, he claimed that the scenario had not improved in any way.

A committee comprising governors of various banks in Bangladesh including the Bangladesh Bank was appointed by the government of Bangladesh in November 2005 to look into this issue. The committee had not filed its report yet, said Jain.

FIEO would now launch a campaign to get these defaulting banks blacklisted in India and simultaneously caution Indian traders against them through insertions in Indian dailies about the dealings and the status of these banks.

Members of FIEO said they were concerned by the fact that the waiting time at the Petrapol border for trucks carrying export cargo was going up.

Hefty demurrage charges were being levied on them for every day of delay.

Approximately Rs 4000 crore worth of transactions were done every year across the Petrapol border with Bangladesh

Trucks were being made to wait for 15 to 20 days at the border because of a lengthy clearance queue. Daily demurrage charges of Rs 500 were being levied on every truck.

At the end of the long wait, traders lost almost Rs 10,000 per truck just to get the goods into Bangladesh, claimed Jain.

This amounted to a 10 per cent increase in transaction cost for Indian traders who could not recover this money from their clients, complained FIEO members. Earlier, almost 600 trucks were allowed to cross the border into Bangladesh at Petrapol every day. However, over the last four months, this figure had declined to 200 per day.

FIEO alleged that Bongaon Municipal Corporation and some local goons had created this crisis. The goons were forcing exporters to cough up hefty sums as parking fees.

They were also exploiting the huge backlog of trucks parked inside and outside the CWC parking zone by handing out false serial numbers to parked trucks and giving them an option of jumping the queue by paying a bribe of Rs2000-3000, Jain alleged.

FIEO would meet the Indian home ministry officials and the foreign and commerce secretaries as also the the West Bengal home secretary on February 3 to discuss the issue.

According to FIEO members, exporters based in West Bengal were the worst hit by the Petrapol fiasco since Bangladeshi traders had the advantage of choosing the exchange port.

Jain said exporters from other Indian states were opting for alternate routes into Bangladesh and avoiding Petrapol altogether.

 

[idune]

Fake visa agents eating into H1B quota

Payal Goel / CNN-IBN

Published on Friday , June 29, 2007 at 03:24

New Delhi: Most IT professional in India aspire for a US job and dollar salaries. But working in US requires one to clear the stringent Visa requirements, one of which is to find an employer first, who is ready to take your case to the US consulate.

However, finding an employer in United States who is willing to hire an individual Indian IT worker and get into the legal work of obtaining a work permit for him is not an easy task.

So, there are numerous Visa agents and consultants in India that help these elusive H1B Visa seekers get the work permit/H1B Visa through fraudulent means. Newspapers and websites are filled with luring advertisements that claim to get an H1B Visa for a price tag.

CNN-IBN correspondent Payal Goel and Bikas Mishra posed as a H1B Visa seeker and headed to one such consultant. They were shocked to discover a range of services on offer.

?We will get you a fake employer who will file for your H1B Visa. We will show a proper company owned and operated by a US citizen that will apply for your work permit,? the Visa agent was caught saying on the hidden camera.

So what happens once I get there?

"Once these fake employers get an H1B Visa with a work permit, he will give you a NOC saying you can work with any other employer. Your job of landing up in US with a work permit is done,? said the agent.

Going by the proper procedure, even if you find an employer, individuals cannot petition for their H1B Visas. To get this 6-year long work permit to the US, an employer petitions for its foreign employee for a specific job.

But using the fraudulent route, the so-called visa consultants are able to get H1b Visas for their clients who practically do not yet have a job offer.

The US government too admits such frauds are rampant. Last year alone they found 2,000 Indian applications that were of dubious nature and hence the individuals were sent back for reconsideration.

?We have found that Hyderabad and Bangalore are centers of H1B visa fraud. It is extremely easy to just walk into someone who rather forthrightly tells you he can produce anything to appear to make you qualify an H1B Visa. In fact our employees conducted search operations and queried various agents office,? said Glen Keiser, Consular Section Chief, US Consulate, Bombay

Genuine IT companies with operations in the US are bearing the brunt of such frauds. Last year, companies like Wipro and Infosys applied for 20,000 H1B Visas each. However due to a cap of 65,000 on these visas, and many of it being taken by fraud applicants, these companies could manage only about 25% of their requirement.

 

[idune]

Edison man charged with immigration fraud

Man accused of creating fake jobs to get visas, green cards for immigrants

BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer


EDISON - A township man has been arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud for allegedly using his computer consulting company to provide work visas and green cards for immigrants who did not in fact do any work for his company. Also arrested were six of his alleged clients.

Nilesh Dasondi, of Hana Road in Edison, was arrested by federal authorities on June 10 at his home and was detained until his bail hearing on June 12 for allegedly lying to pretrial service officers.

Michael Drewniak, public affairs officer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, said U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Shipp set bail at $800,000, secured by equity in three properties Dasondi owns, including his primary residence, and was ordered under house confinement with electronic monitoring.

Reporters from Greater Media Newspapers were unsuccessful in their attempts to contact Dasondi.


The government has since seized four bank accounts, three in the name of Dasondi's company, Cygate Software and Consulting Inc., and one in the name of another company he controlled.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Dasondi and his clients, Dasondi submitted false and fraudulent paperwork to the U.S. government in order to obtain H-1B visas and green cards based on supposed employment with Cygate. In exchange, the clients, named in the complaint as Kishor Parikh, Devang Patel, Vimal Patel, Hetal Shah, Chetan Trivdei and Ajit Vyas, would give Dasondi monthly payments that eventually added up to tens of thousands of dollars each. Dasondi acted on behalf of the six clients at different times between 2002 and 2007. All told, Dasondi is accused of having collected a total of $503,000 from the six people.

After returning a portion of the money in the form of paychecks from Cygate, paying state and federal taxes and, for some, paying for health insurance, Dasondi was left with $349,000 for what the criminal complaint says was his own personal enrichment.

The criminal complaint also says that notations written on the checks and money orders submitted to Dasondi included notes such as "pay stubs + HI + H1-visa," "payroll," "paychecks + health insurance," "GC," and "for Green Card + Health Insurance."

Dasondi was known to be involved with township issues, being a second alternate member of the Zoning Board as well as being on the Edison Festival Association, which coordinates parades and fairs. He also ran for council in 2007, challenging both the incumbents and the Choi slate in the most recent Democratic primary, with running mates Bill Stephens, Anthony Russomanno and Richard Westover. After his defeat, he became a supporter of changing the township's system of council representation from an at-large to a wards system.

However, in previous years Dasondi had been a Choi supporter, according to Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) reports, having given $500 to Choi's campaign on Oct. 26, 2005, $1,000 on June 30, 2006, and $2,600 on Dec. 5, 2006.

Russomanno said that Dasondi should have his day in court, noting that people are innocent before proven guilty.

"What I know of Nilesh, he's a good, young man. That's all I'll say," said Russomanno.


Edison man charged with immigration fraud | ems.gmnews.com | Edison/Metuchen Sentinel

 

[indiatech]

How Bangladeshis are wiping out the Jummas from their traditional land and . Corruption and looting seems to be in the blood of Bangladeshi security forces.


The Bangladeshi Settlers (also known as BMI for Bangladeshi Muslim Infiltrators by the Jana Samhati Samiti publications) are land less Bengali speaking Muslims from the plain land districts of Bangladesh, majority are from Chittagong, Noakhali, Comilla, Sylhet districts.

The Bangladesh Government and the Military lured the poor Bangladeshi families with money and promise of empty land in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The real motive was to outnumber the Jummas in the CHT and evict them from their traditional land.


1. ABOLITION OF CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS ACT 1900

The abolition of special status in 1964 opened up the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) to outsiders. Bengali Muslim families started settling there in numbers large enough to alarm the Jummas, who felt that it was official government policy to outnumber them on their own land. Grounds for this fear could be seen in the industries like Kaptai hydroelectric power station, Chandraghona paper mill whose founding in the CHT coincided with the influx of Bengali Muslims who were given preferential employment.
2. SECRET MEETING

Eight years after the independence of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman presided at a secret, mid 1979 meeting during which it was decided to settle 30,000 Bangladeshi families during the following year. The importance of the meeting was emphasized by the attendance of Deputy Prime Minister Jamaluddin, Home Minister Mustafizur Rahman, the commissioner of the Chittagong division and the deputy commissioner of the CHT. A sum of Taka 60 million was allocated to the scheme, but the budget heading under which this state money was provided was not disclosed. As a result of the meeting, implementation committees, made up of government officers and leading Bangladeshi settlers, were formed at district and sub divisional levels. The district commissioner headed the district committee and sub divisional officers the sub divisional committees. The committees appointed agents from among the Bangladeshi settlers and assigned them to contact land less Bangladeshis willing to settle in the CHT. These were not hard to find and from February 1980 truckloads of poor Bangladeshi families poured into the CHT attracted by the government scheme to provide five acres of land, Taka 3,600 to each new settler family. According to USAID in July 1980, the government decided to resettle 100,000 Bangladeshis from the plains in the CHT in the first phase of this scheme.
3. GOVERNMENT SPONSORED MIGRATION

From the government's viewpoint the settlement plan was successful from the start. By 1980 the Feni valley which borders on Tripura contained about 18,000 Bangladeshi families and roughly 1,500 Jumma families. There are now even fewer Jumma people left and those who remain are eager to leave. Myani valley in the northern part of the CHT contains 40,000 indigenous people and about 10,000 Bangladeshis, a large number of whom arrived in the valley in 1980. In Chengi valley the Bangladeshi settlements received 1,500 families between 1978 and 1980. By the same date there were 1,000 Bangladeshi families at Kaptai and 5,000 families in Rangamati sub-division of which 3,500 families alone settled at Kalampati. In the southern part of the CHT, the Lama <i>thana</i> had about 3,000 Bangladeshi families and even more were settled at Nakyangchari. In Rangamati town, in 1980, the Jummas were accounted for about 30 per cent of the population. The Bangladesh Government initially denied its settlement program, however in May 1980 the government confirmed its policy towards the Chittagong Hill Tracts and started actively to encourage settlers to move there. A secret memorandum from the commissioner of the Chittagong Division to government officials in other districts stated that it was "the desire of the government that the concerned deputy commissioners will give top priority to this work and make the program a success". During 1980 some 25,000 Bangladeshi families were settled in the CHT. At the same time thousands of Jumma families, dispossessed by the Kaptai dam project in the early 1960s, were still attempting to get some kind of monetary or land compensation. Under the second phase of the plan each land less settler family received five acres of hill land or four acres of mixed land or 2.5 acres of wet rice land. They also received two initial grants of Taka 700 altogether, followed by Taka 200 per month for five months and 24 lb. of wheat per week for six months. In July 1982 a third phase of Bangladeshi settlement was authorized under which a further 250,000 Bangladeshis were transferred to the area.
4. DISPOSSESSION OF JUMMA LAND

The Bangladeshi settlers, with the connivance of the almost totally Bangladeshi administration, have been able to take over land and even whole villages. There is a severe population pressure on land in Bangladesh generally and Jumma land had been regarded as readily available. One excuse often given for allowing or encouraging this immigration is the relatively low population density in the CHT. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had noted that "the Chittagong Hill Tracts are relatively less crowded than the plains of Bangladesh. Because of this difference in population densities, there has for some time been a migration from the crowded plains to the hills". In 1967, a study commissioned by Dhaka, however concluded that "as far as its developed resources are concerned, the hill tracts is as constrained as the most thickly populated district... The emptiness of the hill tracts, therefore is a myth". Only 5 per cent of land outside forest reserves is suitable for intensive field cropping. In spite of the shortage of farming land in the tracts, the government has succeeded in attracting many thousands of land less Bangladeshis. To be land less in Bangladesh is to be absolutely poor and dependent. Jobs are seasonal, insecure, and pay is enough for subsistence only. An agricultural labourer receives about five Takas a day when he is working and is usually unemployed for about six months of the year. For the overwhelming majority of Bangladesh's rural population there is little hope to escape from constant poverty. The settlement plans offer an opportunity which no land less or poor Bangladeshi family can ignore. The land however unarable, and the money and food grants, however depleted by corrupt officials, can mean survival for six months or more for poor Bangladeshi peasants. The Bangladeshi peasants who move to the Chittagong Hill Tracts come principally from the plains districts of Chittagong, Noakhali, Sylhet and Comilla, and have no experience of hill slope cultivation. When they find they cannot make a living from the land they have been given they encroach on Jumma owned land. There were various ways in which the Jumma people have been, and still are being dispossessed of their lands. In many cases, Bangladeshi settlers move into an area and gradually encroach on the lands of their Jumma neighbours. A Chakma refugee from Panchari describes the initial process as follows:
" In 1980-81 the Bengalis moved in. The government gave them rations of rice etc. and sponsored them. The settlers moved into the hills, then they moved the Jummas by force with the help of the Bangladesh Army. The Deputy Commissioner would come over and say that this place was suitable for settlers so Jumma people must move and would receive money in compensation. But in reality they did not get money or resettlement. In 1980 the Jumma people had to move by order of the government".
Attacks on Jumma peoples' villages are the most common way to evict the inhabitants from their lands. A Tripura refugee in India from Bakmara Taindong Para near Matiranga described what happened to his village in 1981 when the settlers moved into his village:
"Muslims from different parts of Bangladesh were brought in by Bangladeshi authorities. Before that our village was populated only by Chakma, Tripura and Marma. With the assistance of the government these settlers were rehabilitated in our village and they continued to give us troubles..they finger at the Jummas and the army beats them and rob. They took all the food grain. Whenever we seek any justice from the army we don't get it. All villagers lived under great tension due to various incidents all around. Three days after an incident when six persons had been killed, just before getting dark, many settlers came to our village, shouting 'Allah Akbar' (Allah is Great). When they arrived we escaped so the settlers got the opportunity to set fire".
A Chakma refugee in Tripura told what happened to his village in 1986:
"I lost my land. Settlers came and captured my land. They burnt our houses first. They came with soldiers. This took place on 1st May 1986 at Kalanal, Panchari. My house was in a village with a temple. The whole village of 60 houses was burnt. After seeing this we ran through the jungles and eventually reached India, coming to Karbook camp."
The following interview refers to events which took place on 21 November 1990:
"Muslim settlers wanted to take us villagers to a cluster village (concentration camp), but we refused to go there. The villagers were beaten up by the Muslim settlers of which three families managed to escape, one of which is mine. These three families came to Kheddarachara for 'jhum' cultivation. We stayed there for one and a half years. The day before yesterday the Muslim settlers came to the same village and rounded up the households. The settlers were accompanied by Bangladeshi soldiers. I took shelter in a nearby latrine when the villagers were rounded up. Later I tried to leave the latrine to go somewhere else. The village had been surrounded. As I was trying to escape, the Muslim settlers shot me. It was a singled barreled shot gun. The incident took place in the early morning around 6 o'clock. After getting the bullet injury I ran away into a safe place. I don't know what happened to the other villagers. I ran away from the place for about half a mile. Then I fainted and lost consciousness. Two refugees went there to collect indigenous vegetables and brought me to the camp about 10 o'clock. I have been twice attacked to be taken to a cluster village, the second time I was shot."
Violence, intimidation and arson are the main methods used by the both the Bangladesh Army and the Bangladeshi settlers to force the hill people to leave their villages. Entire villages have been forced to flee from their lands.
5. SETTLEMENT IS A POLITICAL ACT

Landlessness is on the increase in Bangladesh in general. Land ownership has become increasingly concentrated and now 10 per cent of the population owns 50 per cent of available land. There has been no will on the part of any Bangladeshi government to assist land less labourers or marginal farmers anywhere in the country. Indeed organizations of land less people are often put down with the utmost brutality by hoodlums hired by local landlords, the police, the army, or by all three. The government's power rests with the middle and upper classes in the urban areas and with rich farmers. The Bangladeshi poor will seize any survival chance they are presented with. Illiterates have limited horizons and they are not fully aware that the government's scheme to settle them in the CHT is not essentially an attempt to improve their lot. It is a political act to nullify the question of Jumma peoples' rights of self determination by increasing the number of Bangladeshis in the CHT to majority.
6. SETTLERS USED AS CANNON FODDER

The Pakistani government instituted a settlement plan in the Feni valley bordering India because it distrusted the Jumma people living there. Bangladeshi governments have similarly used poor Bangladeshis against the Jumma people as cannon fodder. There seems to be a determination to destroy Jumma society and if necessary the Jumma people. Illiterate Bangladeshi peasants who, under this scheme move to the CHT, know nothing of the Jumma situation. All they know is that the government has given them land and is prepared to assist or at least to turn blind eye to encroachment on Jumma land.
7. GOVERNMENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT

The government argument is that settlement in the CHT is necessary because much of the land there is uncultivated and therefore in their view wasted. Furthermore Dhaka maintains that "it would be against the constitution to prevent any Bangladeshi from settling or buying land in any part of the country". This argument takes little account of the economic or political realities of the CHT, where little of the land is suitable for farming and where the traditional owners are coerced into giving up their property. As an example India could have used the same argument in the Muslim majority state of Kashmir, where most of the land like the CHT is empty. By settling people from overcrowded part of the country to Kashmir India could have altered the demographic profile of Kashmir from Muslim majority to Hindu majority state. But Indian constitution forbids settlement in areas like Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram etc, because of their distinct cultural, religious and ethnic background.
8. WIDER POLITICAL OBJECTIVE

A direct result of the settlement scheme works to wider political advantage of Dhaka. The conflict between the poor Bangladeshis and the Jumma people for a tiny proportion of the total land distracts attention from the general situation of landlessness in Bangladesh. In the CHT, this struggle has polarized the Bangladeshis and the Jumma people. The Bangladeshi settlers, in collaboration with the Bangladesh Army and Police harass the Jumma people. Civil suits taken out by Jumma people have increased substantially but, since the judiciary is manned mainly by the Bengali Muslim officials, they have been unsuccessful. Resulting from this, Jumma families have been forced to leave their homesteads and become land less.

 

[Skies]

Frauds are in everywhere.

 

[idune]

Indian Man sent to prison in worker visa fraud

By MATT WICKENHEISER, Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

FOREIGN LABOR
Read the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram's investigation of the foreign labor system. NEWARK, N.J. - An Indian national who processed hundreds of immigration applications through Maine and New Hampshire was sentenced Monday to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of filing a fraudulent immigration document.

Narendra V. Mandalapa was facing a sentence of up to 46 months, but U.S. District Court Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise said he reduced the time because Mandalapa has helped investigators identify other potential instances of immigration-related fraud.

Since his arrest in October 2005, Mandalapa has provided federal agencies with a list of "entities who are doing immigration fraud," as well as individuals doing the same, Debevoise said. Investigators have developed five promising investigations from the list, the judge said.
However, he described Mandalapa's activity as "a particularly egregious crime involving the exploitation of hundreds of aliens." The victims, he said, were "in vulnerable and exposed positions."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam S. Lurie noted that Mandalapa had forged immigration papers for more than 250 foreigners. "He caused all of those people to work and live illegally in the United States," Lurie said.

He declined to comment on the new investigations or to discuss whether they involved companies that had processed immigration applications through Maine.

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram published an investigation last September that detailed the activities of Mandalapa's company, Cybersoftec, and many other firms trying to bring foreign workers into the United States.

The newspaper found that dozens of high-tech staffing companies leased small spaces in Maine and other rural states in 2004 and early 2005 and filed immigration papers for thousands of foreigners who were supposed to work in the states. In many cases, the companies' connection to Maine was tenuous, and in several instances, landlords had never heard of the companies that called their buildings home on federal applications.

Cybersoftec claimed offices in Maine -- at 480 Congress St., Portland -- and in New Hampshire. It obtained more than 150 certifications in the two states for H1B visas in 2004 and 2005 through the U.S. Department of Labor. Cybersoftec also filed about 50 labor-certification applications for green cards in Maine, according to Maine Department of Labor records.

An H1B visa lets a skilled foreigner work into the United States temporarily; a green card lets a foreigner live and work here indefinitely. A federal grand jury indicted Mandalapa on May 5, 2006, on 29 counts of immigration fraud, money laundering and mail fraud related to his applications for green cards. He pleaded guilty to the one count as part of a plea bargain.

Mandalapa will be given credit for the 14 months he's spent in jail, according to his attorney, Bruno C. Bier, and so will spend about six months in prison. At that point, said Bier, he'll be sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for what are likely to be deportation proceedings.

However, Bier said, Mandalapa could be in custody for anywhere from 12 to 24 months because the Indian consulate doesn't process the necessary paperwork quickly, and the sentence he received Monday marks him as an aggravated felon.Bier had argued for even greater leniency for his client, in the hopes that a lesser formal sentence would mean less time waiting. Most of Mandalapa's family is in India.

None of the indictments filed against Mandalapa were for his activities in Maine, though state labor officials had informed federal authorities that they were suspicious of Cybersoftec. Lurie didn't comment on Debevoise's sentence. Bier called it fair.

"I think the tragedy is that (Mandalapa) had developed a very effective business plan and if he had gone through legal means, he would have made himself a lot of money and created a lot of jobs and not subjected himself to this incarceration," Bier said.
Cybersoftec did legitimately provide skilled information-technology workers to Fortune 500 companies, Bier said. But Mandalapa also broke the law, he said.

According to court records, the workers were willing to pay Mandalapa as much as $22,000 each for his efforts to help them get immigration paperwork. Records show that agents seized $5.7 million in assets from Mandalapa's bank and brokerage accounts, and at least $2.1 million came from fees paid by foreigners seeking fraudulent paperwork through Cybersoftec. Bier said Cybersoftec is no longer in business.

Staff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791-6316 or at:

Man sent to prison in worker visa fraud

 

[indiatech]

Some Massacres of Buddhist Jummas in the past decade by Fanatic Bangladeshi security forces and illegal muslim settlers.

hittipudi Chakma, 6 months, daughter of Manek Kumar Chakma was killed by the Bangladeshi settlers on 2 February 1992 at Malya massacre. Two bombs exploded on a passenger boat. The explosion killed a passenger and seriously injured the driver of the boat. The survivors swam ashore, but the armed Bangladeshi settlers were awaiting for them and attacked the Jumma passengers - men, women and children. About 30 Jummas were killed.



Since 1980, the Bangladesh military and the Bangladeshi settlers had committed 13 major massacres in the Chittgong Hill Tracts (hereafter CHT). Even then massacres were not new in the CHT by then. During the Bangladesh's liberation war against Pakistan, in 1971 the Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters of Bangladesh) perpetrated 3 massacres against the Jumma civilians in the CHT. But it was during the war against Shanti Bahini (the armed resistance of the Jumma people), the Bangladesh Army and the Bangladesh Government stepped up the frequency and intensity of mass murders against innocent civilians. These massacres are executed by systematic planning of the Bangladesh military, often in collaboration with the Bangladeshi settlers to uproot and wipe out the Jumma people from their land. These massacres include only the incidents where large number of people are killed in a single day at a single spot. Large number of People are also killed in military operations of extensive periods in wide areas, those are included in 'Reprisal Attacks' of 'Genocide' section.


Kaukhali Massacre, 25/03/1980:

There have been numerous attacks on the Jumma people by the settlers and the Bangladesh Army. But the massacre of Kaukhali Bazaar of Kalampati on 25th March 1980 stands out, because it was the first massacre in which indigenous people were killed in their hundreds. 300 Jummas were killed in this massacre and many more were injured.
On that they the Bangladesh military had asked the Jumma people to gather in the bazaar on the pretext holding a meeting for the reconstruction of a Buddhist Temple. Following the gathering the military suddenly encircled the area and opened fired on the unarmed Jumma civilians. The innocent Jumma people were completely caught by surprise. The Bangladesh military beforehand had informed and armed the Bangladeshi settlers for the massacres. The the Bangladeshi settlers assisted the Bangladesh Army by axing the injured men, women, and children, whom the military had hidden in the background for the massacre. Buddhist temples and religious images had been destroyed by the Bangladesh Army and the Bangladeshi settlers.
Thousands of Jummas took refuge in the Indian state of Tripura. Later on they were repatriated on an agreement between the Tripura government and the Bangladesh Army, and on the promise that things like that would not happen again.A parliamentary investigation team was formed by then Ziaur Rahman Government, but the report never saw the daylight. The military officers who engineered the killings not only were never punished, they were promoted in the ranks of the Bangladesh Army.

Banraibari-Beltali-Belchari Massacre, 26/06/1981:

The Bangladeshi settlers, under the protection of the Bangladesh army, invaded the Jumma area in the vicinity of Banraibari, Beltali and Belchari, murdered 500 Jumma men, women and children, and occupied their villages and farmlands. Thousands of Jumma people fled to the nearby forests and 5,000 of them managed to seek refuge in the Tripura State of India

Telafang-Ashalong-Gurangapara-Tabalchari-Barnala
Massacre, 19/09/1981:

The Bangladesh army and the Bangladeshi settlers made co-ordinated attacks on 35 Jumma villages including Telafang, Ashalong, Gurangapara, Tabalchari, Barnala etc. in the Feni valley of the CHT, plundered and burned the villages, and killed many thousand men, women and children. Thousands of Jumma people died as a direct and indirect result of these attacks.
The surviving villagers fled to the Indian State of Tripura and to the adjacent forests. Although the Bangladeshi regime had denied that these refugees were from the CHT, it was forced by the international community to repatriate them. These Jumma people were met at the border by hostile Bangladeshi officials and were given the equivalent of $18 and were left to their fate. Return to their native villages was impossible because their homes and possessions had been appropriated by the Bangladeshi settlers. Many of them died of starvation and of diseases.

Golakpatimachara-Machyachara-Tarabanchari
Massacre, June-August 1983:

On 26 June, 11,26,27 July and 9,10,11 August 1983, the Bangladesh armed forces and the Bangladeshi immigrants massacred the Jumma people of the villages of Golakpatimachara, Machyachara, Tarabanchari, Logang, Tarabanya, Maramachyachara, Jedamachyachara etc. Hundreds of houses were looted and burned, and 800 people were murdered. Most of the victims were old men, women and children. After clearing the area of the Jumma people the government settled Bangladeshi families there.

Bhusanchara Massacre, 31/05/1984:

In the early morning of 31 May 1984, the Shanti Bahini guerillas attacked the settlements of the Bangladeshi settlers at Gorosthan, Bhusanchara and Chota Harina of Barkal Upazilla (Sub District). About 100 Bangladeshi settlers were reported killed, their homes burned down in the attack. Three BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) camps in the locality were also simultaneously attacked so that the BDR personnel could not intervene. Bhusanchara was the village most severely affected. The attack was given extensive coverage in the Bangladesh news media and President Ershad visited the affected area on 5 June 1984. No publicity was given, however, to the reprisals taken against the Jumma population by the Bangladeshi security personnel immediately after the assaults on the Bangladeshi settlements.
Some of the Jumma people, apparently anticipating retaliatory raids, left their homes at once and sought to hide in the surrounding forests. Others remained in their villages. Later on 31 May and the following day, the Bangladesh Army personnel, from the 305th brigade of the 26th Bengal Regiment, and members of the 17th battalion of the Bangladesh Rifles, accompanied by the Bangladeshi settlers, attacked the Jumma villages in the area, principally Het Baria, Suguri Para, Gorosthan, Tarengya Ghat, Bhusanchara and Bhusan Bagh. A total of 400 Jumma people including children and women were killed. Many women were gang raped and later shot dead. Seven thousand Jummas crossed the border into the Indian state of Mizoram.
A Jumma villager from Het Baria gave the following account of his experience to the Amnesty International:
"My village falls in the Barkal rehabilitation zone where large number of Muslims have settled over the years. There is thus continuous tension between the two communities. In the summer of 1984 there were frequent clashes and the Muslims often used to threaten us saying that the army will come and teach us a lesson. The army came on May 31, accompanied by a large group of Muslims some of whom were armed. They destroyed our village, raped women and killed people. I saw two women getting raped and then killed by bayonets. One Aroti, who is my distant cousin, was also raped by several soldiers and her body was disfigured with bayonets. Several people, including children, were thrown into burning huts. I was among the people singled out for torture in public. Five or six of us were hung upside down on a tree and beaten. Perhaps I was given up for dead and thus survived. The memories of that day are still a nightmare for me. Even now I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat remembering the sight of the soldiers thrusting bayonets into private parts of our women. They were all screaming 'No Chakmas will be born in Bangladesh".

Panchari Massacre, 1/05/1986:

On April 29th, 1986, the Shanti Bahini (resistance of the Jummas) simultaneously attacked the BDR border outposts at Assalong, Chota Assalong and Taidong of Khagrachari District and followed it up with swoops on new settlements of the Bangladeshi settlers. Reprisals by the Bangladesh army, BDR, Ansars (Islamic Guard) and the Bangladeshi settlers, began immediately after 29 April.
On 1 May and the following days, law enforcement personnel, together with Bangladeshi settlers, entered a number of Jumma villages in the Panchari-Khagrachari area and arbitrarily killed the Jumma inhabitants. The villages included Golakpratimachara, Kalanal, Soto Karmapara, Shantipur, Mirjibil, Hetarachara (also known as Khedarachara Mukhpara), Pujgang, Laogang, Hathimuktipara, Sarveswarpara, Napidapara and Dewan Bazar. After entering the Jumma villages, The Bangladeshi security personnel ordered the inhabitants to assemble on open ground, men separate from women, away from the villagers' huts. While the villagers were held in this way their settlements were set on fire by the Bangladeshi settlers. The Bangladeshi security personnel then opened fire randomly on the groups of villagers who were assembled, killing hundreds of Jumma men, women and children
Part of this process was described to the Amnesty International by a woman from Mirjibil, about a mile from Panchari, who was witness to the killing of another woman, aged in her 70s:
"As soon as the raid on my village began, people (other villagers) began to shout asking everybody to leave the village. But before most people could gather their senses the soldiers and the Ansars had come. They were followed by several hundred Muslim settlers.... They immediately began to ransack the village."
"The soldiers asked the men and the women to stand separately.... One old woman, Phoidebi, had trouble getting up and joining the group outside. A soldier shot her at close range."

Matiranga Massacre, May 1986:

Following the Bangladesh military atrocities described above many people from the affected areas sought refuge in the forests away from their homes. A few hundred people from several different villages gathered during the first week of May between the villages of Sarveswarpara and Manudaspara, in the Matiranga area. One night, probably that of 1/2 May although the precise date is not known, while they were trying to reach the Indian border, they were ambushed by a detachment of Bangladeshi soldiers. The soldiers opened fire without warning and shot at them randomly, without provocation. Over 70 Jumma people were killed.

Comillatialla-Taindong Massacre, 18-19/05/1986:

After the Matiranga massacre a large group of Jumma people fleeing from their homes, numbering over 200, most of whom were of the Tripura nationality, were moving towards the Indian border at Silachari in southern Tripura in mid May. Their presence in the area appears, to had been known for some time to the Bangladeshi security personnel. They were eventually discovered, by the troops of the 31st battalion of the Banglaesh Rifles (BDR), who surrounded them and made them walk into a narrow valley between the villages of Comillatilla and Taidong. In the restricted space of this valley, the soldiers fired indiscriminately at the group, killing most of the people. Once the firing had ceased, a number of Bangladeshi settlers further attacked the group with machete to kill the injured men, women and children.
. The massacre was described to the Amnesty International by a survivor and refugee in India:
"I am chief of a large colony of Tripuri tribals and we used to live a little outside Matiranga. Around the end of April and early May, when the Shanti Bahini began raids on the BDR, army and Muslims, the soldiers began to come and bother us. We told them we were not even Chakmas and had thus nothing to do with the Shanti Bahini. But they harassed us."
"Later, on 8 May, they came in strength and began to burn our village. The officer-in-charge said you Hindus have no place in Bangladesh and asked us to run away. We decided to flee along with some Chakma families in our neighbourhood. But the soldiers did not even let us run away in peace. They chased us and we hid in the jungles in the day, making some progress by night."
"Last Sunday (18 May) we were approaching the border when a large group of soldiers caught us. The officer said that we would be treated nicely and settled back. He asked us to walk back. The soldiers were around us."
"They took us to a narrow valley between Taidong and Comillatilla and there suddenly we heard thousands of bullets and shrieks and screams of our people. At least 200 of our people, mainly Tripuris, died. I do not even have any trace of my family. I do not know whether my family members are still in hiding somewhere or if they got killed."
"As bullets rained from all sides the Muslims too descended on the valley, raping women and killing people with swords, spears and knives; we all ran for our lives in (the) direction of India."

Hirachar-Sarbotali-Khagrachari-Pablakhali
Massacres, 8,9,10 August, 1988:

The Bangladesh Army along with the aid of the Bangladeshi settlers killed hundreds of the Jumma people(actual number not known, figures based on the eye witness report) in the above areas. Many women were gang raped by the Bangladesh Army and the settlers.

Longadu Massacre, 4/05/1989:

Abdur Rashid, a Bangladeshi community leader was gunned down by an un-identified gunman. The Bangladesh authority and the Bangladeshi settlers suspect that he was gunned down by the Shanti Bahini, due to his involvement in the racially motivated crimes against the Jumma people, though Shanti Bahini denies the claims.In reprisal to Abdur Rashid's killing the Bangladesh Army, the Village Defense Party (armed group formed by the Bangladeshi settlers) and the settlers carried out this gruesome massacre. 40 Jumma people were killed, there dead bodies never returned to the relatives. Their houses were burnt down and Buddhist temples in the area were destroyed. Among the fallen victims were the wife, children and grand-children of the former chairman of the local council Mr. Anil Bikash Chakma. The Bangladesh Army had grabbed his land and settled the Bangladeshi settlers around his homestead. Mr. A.B. Chakma's friends and relatives had warned him of the potential danger of living so close to the Bangladeshi settlers. But he had no where else to go. On that day he was not in home, and that saved his life. Later on even after repeated appeal to the Bangladesh military authority, the dead bodies were never returned for Buddhist religous rites and cremation.

Malya Massacre, 2/02/1992:

On 2 February 1992 two bombs exploded on a passenger boat at Malya. The boat was on its way from Marishya to Rangamati. Malya is now inhabited by the Bengali settlers from the plain. The explosion killed one passenger and seriously injured the driver of the boat. The survivors swam ashore, but the armed Bengali settlers were waiting for them. The settlers attacked the Jumma passengers- men, women and children. About 30 of them were killed. Fourteen bodies were recovered, the others were lost in the water.Some representatives of the Jumma people were supposed to board the boat on their way to Rangamati and Dhaka to protest against recent army atrocities in the area: Captain Masiur Rahman of Bangladesh army had tortured a student Mr. Biswamuni Chakma and a Buddhist monk (the Rev. Bodhimitra Bhikkhu) and had treated some female students indecently. Moreover three Buddhist Viharas (monasteries) had been desecrated by the army. According to an eye-witness account, two members of the security forces boarded the boat at Dulachari carrying two kerosene tins. They disembarked at the next stop, leaving the tins. These exploded shortly afterwards. The Bangladesh media reported that the explosion was caused by the Shanti Bahini.

Logang Massacre, 10/04/1992:

On 10 April 1992 the biggest massacre in a single day, at single place, in the history of the CHT took place at Logang cluster village in Khagrachari District, perpetrated by the Bangladeshi security forces and the Bangladeshi settlers.
The military forces forcibly relocated some fifteen hundred Jumma families from the surrounding Jumma villages to the Logang cluster village, which is nothing but a concentration camp, and distributed their ancestral villages and farmlands to the Bangladeshi infiltrators free of cost. Then they hatched a plot to find an excuse to get rid of those Jumma prisoners. On 10 April, 1992, the military authorities sent two Bangladeshis, armed with machete, to rape some Jumma women who were grazing their cattle at their Logang cluster village. The Jumma women tried to defend themselves and at the same time they cried for help. A Jumma gentleman came to their rescue and asked the Bangladeshi rapists to leave the Jumma women alone. Instead of going away, the rapists attacked the Jumma gentleman and hacked him to death. During the attack, one of the rapists was also injured. After killing the Jumma gentleman, the rapists went straight to the camp of the Bangla Desh Rifles (BDR). The military authorities found the excuse they were looking for and used the injured rapist as a victim of the Shanti Bahini (SB) attack. On the pretext of searching out the SB, the military forces and the Bangladeshi settlers combinedly attacked the Logang cluster village immediately after the arrival of the two rapists at the BDR camp. They hacked many Jummas to death and shot dead those who tried to flee. Then the invaders forced the old people, women and children into their homes and burnt them alive by setting their homes on fire.
The exact number of the Jumma people killed at Logang will never be known, as many of the dead bodies had been removed by the military immediately after the massacre. According to several eye-witness reports the number must be well over 400. Some 800 houses were burnt down and more than 2000 people fled across the border to Tripura of India after the massacre.

Naniachar Massacre, 17/11/1993:

On 17 November 1993 at least 29 Jumma people were killed and more than a hundred wounded when Bangladeshi settlers, supported by the Bangladesh Army, attacked a peaceful rally of Jumma people in Naniarchar Bazzar. The rally was organized by the Greater Chittagong Hill Tracts Hill Students' Council, with the advance permission from the local authorities, and was part of a campaign against the use of the only waiting shed for motor-lauch passengers as an army check post. The reports about the massacre which the CHT Commission has received from various Bangladeshi and Jumma peoples' organizations and individuals all draw roughly the same picture of the cause of events. Naniarchar is surrounded on three sides by the Kaptai Lake, so people travel mostly by boat. People arriving and departing from Naniarchar are regularly questioned and harassed by the army personnel from the checkpoint. There was widespread resentment among the local residents against the army checkpost.On 17 November, soon after the students had held their meeting and rally, Bangladeshi settlers led by Union Council member Ahmed Miah held a counter demonstration, for which they had obtained permission on the same day. There were joined by a few hundred settlers from adjacent villages, led by Md. Ayub Hossain, president of Parbatya Gana Parishad (Hill Tracts Peoples' Council, an organization of the Bangladeshi settlers, not to be confused with the Hill Peoples' Council of the Jumma people), and Abdul Latif, chairman of Burighat Union Council. They arrived on boats, armed with iron rods, sticks and machete. Surprisingly, the settlers were not disarmed by the army personnel at the check post. Tension rose and at one point the settlers started attacking the Jumma people. Even the Jumma people who tried to escape by jumping into the lake were hacked to death. It was reported that the law enforcing agencies did not try very hard to stop the attack and observed impassively. Students defended themselves with firewood and sticks which they collected from tea shops. Then the settlers were already retreating, there was a whistle from the army camp and the army opened fire on the students.
Investigations:

Most of the massacres of the Jumma people, have never been investigated by the Bangladesh Government. After a few massacres the government did set up an investigation committee, but never to much effect. The report of the inquiry committee set up after the Logang massacre in April 1992 in which few hundred Jumma people were killed by the Bangladeshi security forces and the Bangladeshi settlers, was made public. However it largely projected the Bangladesh Army version of the event. The report of the Naniarchar Massacre in November 1993 has never been made public. Moreover, never have persons responsible for any massacre or other human rights violations been tried in court. At the most a few of the army officers have been transferred or given early retirement.

 

[idune]

Frauds are in everywhere.

I am posting indians committing frauds outside india or effecting others outside india. But indians posting domestic fraud committed in Bangladesh. This is not only relevant in this but also out of context.

 

[indiatech]

Genocide by fanatic/lunatic Bangladeshi Army against buddhist and hindu chakmas. Nazi style concentration camps, only a decade ago.

This Chakma man was shot on the left thigh by the Bangladesh Army in May of 1986. He and his family were heading to the Indian border to escape attacks from the Bangladeshi security forces. They were intercepted by the Bangladesh Army and shot at. This man together with his family took refuge in Tripura of India.

There have been massive and systematic human rights violations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), committed by the Bangladeshi security forces and the Bangladeshi settlers. The Jumma people have been murdered, crippled, raped, tortured, imprisoned and deprived of their homes and means of livelihood. They have been denied civil and political rights.

Netherlands based Organizing Committee for CHT Campaign reported 278 cases of Human Rights violations committed between July 1985 to December 1985. The human rights abuses include murders, torture, rape, arson, robbery, abduction, forcible conversion to Islam and electoral fraud. The policy of the Bangladesh government had been to destroy the local inhabitants in order to settle its Muslim co-religionist in their place. Torture of the CHT people is carried out by the Bangladesh armed forces everyday. It is so brutal and severe that many of the victims are crippled and most of them die prematurely. Most commonly, the Bangladesh military or paramilitary personnel enter Jumma villages in the early hours of the morning and take away a small number of able-bodied young men of the village or occasionally the village headman, to their camps. The arrests are undertaken without using any legal procedure such as the presentation of arrest warrants or bringing the arrested person before a magistrate within 24 hours, as the Criminal Procedure Code specifies for arrests by police officers. The Chittagong Hill Tracts had never been officially declared a "disturbed area" so that the provisions of the Disturbed Areas (Special Powers) Ordinance, 1962 - the 1980 Disturbed Areas Bill never had been enacted - had not been invoked. As a result no legal procedures were in force specifically providing for civilians to be arrested by military or paramilitary forces.

1. Military Induced Terror

Jumma villagers detained for questioning by the Bangladesh military and paramilitary personnel are regularly tortured. Such prisoners are generally kept in pits or trenches some seven or eight feet deep, dug within the perimeter of the army or BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) camps; Jumma villagers have often been compelled to dig these pits in the first instance. One of the two sides of the pit or trench is protected by a fence of bamboo stakes. Prisoners are held in groups of up to 15 or 20 at one time in these conditions. Several former prisoners said that soldiers sprinkled hot water over the pit or trench to increase their discomfort almost daily. Prisoners are then taken out singly from the pit for interrogation. The techniques of torture which former prisoners reported to be most frequently used during interrogation are: extensive beating, with rifle ***** and sticks, on all parts of the body; pouring very hot water into the nostrils and mouth; hanging the prisoner upside down, often from a tree, for long periods and poking him with a bayonet or stick; hanging the prisoner by the shoulders for long periods and then beating the soles of the feet; and burning with cigarettes. Over the years, many Jumma villagers died in custody as a result of the treatment they received. A middle-aged teacher from Laogang village, in the Panchari area, described his experiences to the Amnesty International thus:

"In the first week of December (1985) the army came to my village and said that it was looking for those who train and support Shanti Bahini boys. When they failed to find anyone they caught hold of me and took me trussed up and blindfolded to an army camp where I found that several Chakmas were already present. Immediately the troops and the officer in charge began to beat us up asking for the whereabouts of the Shanti Bahini people. Since we did not know anything we could give them no information. The soldiers then took us to a part of the army camp where a huge deep pit was already present. All the while they were kicking and abusing, spitting at us and shoving with rifle *****. We were all thrown into the pit and for several days soldiers came and threw boiling water at us whenever they felt like having a little fun because whenever that happened all of us tried to get under each other for cover. We were often dragged out individually and subjected to third degree treatment. Boiling water was poured into our nostrils and mouth. For several hours we were hung from the trees upside down and beaten with sticks. Once I was hung from the trees by my shoulders and beaten with cane on the bare soles of my feet. We were given food not more than once a day and were constantly threatened that we would not be allowed to go out alive. All this while I had no contact with my family. It is ridiculous even to suggest that I could have contacted a lawyer and tried for bail. I still have scars of burns from boiling water over my body."

This interview was conducted six months after the teacher's detention. Faint scars on his body were visible to the naked eye but could not be successfully photographed. Other accounts of treatment in army or BDR camps by villagers from other places are markedly consistent with the above account, as is illustrated by the experience of a villager from Rangapani, also in the Panchari area:

"I was arrested by the army who said that I knew about the activities of the Shanti Bahini boys, which was incorrect but they took me away to a military camp near Khagrachari where I was detained along with several other Chakmas in a deep pit. As a routine of almost every day soldiers came and sprinkled boiling water on the pit. We were given nothing to eat but watery dal (a lentil dish) and pasty rice. They took each one of us out individually for torture and questioning. Usually the torture meant severe beating with cane, rifle ***** and hanging the man upside down from a tree which made it easy for the soldiers to pour boiling water into his nostrils and mouth. This was done to me three times. Also one afternoon the officer came and poked various parts of my body with a cigarette. I still bear the burn marks on my right cheek".

"When they were unable to get anything out of me, they threatened me with electric shock. I was taken to a room where they had kept a bucket of water in which they had dipped two live wires tied to a razor blade. They stripped me and asked me to urinate in the bucket. They kept on beating me up but even though I tried I wasn't able to do it because of fear. They beat me up till I fell unconscious and threw me back in the pit. All the while we had no way of contacting a lawyer or court. My family had no way of contacting me as well, but they were able to contact (a member of the Panchari Union Parishad - council) who was able to secure my release."

Several former Jumma prisoners had also been threatened with the electric shock treatment. Another villager from the panchari area described the experience of his 27-year-old son during December 1985, when his son had been held for 23 days in Khagrachari cantonment:

"The torture basically was army men throwing hot water into their nostrils and mouth and mercilessly beating. When the army got no information from my son in spite of this, he was subjected to electric shock in the cantonment. The shocks were administered with as crude a device as two naked electric wires which the soldiers touched to different parts of the detainee's body, particularly on the tongue and spinal cord. Hy son was released after I pleaded with the Union Council which intervened."

This villager also stated that one of the people held with his son, Santoshmani Chakma, died as a result of torture. Mass tortures were also meted out to the Jumma villagers during searches for the Shanti Bahini guerillas and supporters, they are rounded up from their homes and a few of them, often the young men, are picked out and tortured in front of the assembled villagers. The methods of torture cited are the same as those reported to be used regularly on prisoners held in army or BDR camps. One such incident occurred at Monatek village, Mohalchari on 19 september 1984. Police personnel from the Armed Police Battalion (APB) based at Mohalchari are reported to have rounded up the villagers at around 10 pm on open ground near the village. Four men were then said to have been selected from among the assembled group and in front of all the others they were reportedly hung upside down, beaten and had water poured in their nostrils and mouth.

2. Concentration Camps

Torture also used when coercing the Jumma villagers to move from their homes into collective farms, or "cluster villages". The policy of establishing what were essentially collective farms began in 1964, to encourage tribal people to settle on permanent land plots rather than continue jhum (slash and burn) cultivation. Since around 1977, however, it appears that the settlements to which the Jumma people have been moved bear greater resemblance to "concentration camps", since army, BDR or police camps are also established alongside them. The relocation of the Jumma villagers has been presented by law enforcement personnel as being in the villagers' best interests although the implementation of this policy serve other purposes: through the close surveillance of the Jumma villagers, assistance and shelter to the Shanti Bahini can be prevented, while the land vacated by the Jumma villagers may then be used for resettling Bangladeshi settlers from other parts of the country. These "cluster villages" were established throughout the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In early 1986, an effort to intensify the formation of "cluster villages" in the northern parts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts was begun by the law enforcement personnel of Bangladesh. The area affected included villages in the Mohalchari-Nanyarchari-Khagrachari locality. A member of the Marma nationality described the experience of his village, Khularam Para, near Mohalchari:

"On 27 January (1986), about 50 armed men from Hajachara camp, commanded by a captain, raided my village and ordered people to move to a cluster village at Hobachari. The captain gave a speech and said that for our own safety, development and for destroying the Shanti Bahini it was necessary for us to move to larger villages. When we refused they took aside about 20 of my villagers and tortured them in full public view by burning them with cigarettes, beating them with rifle ***** and spitting on their faces....Later the village was burnt and everyone ran helter skelter".

Similar abuses were taking place in the Nanyarchari area, according to a villager from Dewan Chara:

"Since the beginning of this year the army and police had been visiting the villages in our area asking people to prepare to shift to a new cluster village. They said it was necessary for us to shift for our development and national security. But we all said no, because these cluster villages are like concentration camps where we have to remain constantly under the eye of the soldiers and where our women are not safe."

"In February, large-scale operations commenced in our region and on the fifth of the month a group of soldiers raided our village. The 0fficer-in-charge abused us and the soldiers who were firing in the air to scare us started to beat us up indiscriminately. After a while they took out about 15 of us and marched us to the Buddha Vihar (Temple). There we were tortured very badly for a long time. They poured hot water into our mouths and nostrils and burned some of us with cigarette *****. We were let off later in the evening when we promised to shift to the new village."

3. Restrictions on Movement, Buying and Selling

The Bangladesh military divides the CHT into three different zones: red, yellow and white. The red zones are the interior of the CHT, the white zones are the areas within two miles of the regional military headquarters where the army is in full control, while the yellow zones are the Bangladeshi settler areas. The following restrictions broadly cover the different zones: In the red zones the most restrictions are imposed on the Jumma people but not on the Bangladeshis. All the Jumma people have to carry an identity card and if they go shopping they have to carry a market pass. The market pass which is headed 'Bangladesh is in my heart" is a means of controlling the quantities of rice, kerosene, oil and other goods which they are allowed to buy. A family cannot buy more than four kilos of rice per person each week. This is checked at all the military posts along the road. People are asked where they come from, where they are going to and their bags are searched. If hill people want to sell some of their produce, such as rice, they have first to seek written permission from the army. A Chakma woman from Khagrachari District was arrested, tortured and sexually harrassed by the Bangaldeshi security forces for buying clothes in 1989.

"I went to the market and bought some clothes. All of a sudden a policeman came from behind and caught me. The police asked: 'Why did you buy the clothes?' I said: 'To wear.' Then he took me to jail and started beating me and giving me electric shocks. They kept me one and a half days, tying my hands. Then they transferred me to Khagrachari army camp. They tortured me at the army camp. The army soldiers assaulted me by touching my breasts etc. After five days I was released on the condition that I report there every month. The charge was that I bought clothes for the Shanti Bahini."

One Jumma youth in Dighinala Upazilla told the CHT Commission that his family wanted to sell rice so he could pay the fees for his studies. When the permission came they were allowed to sell only one maund of rice (about 40 kilos) which was not enough to pay for his studies. There is also a restriction on the quantity of medicines that a person may buy and in some places people need permission from the army before buying any medicines. In the south, people need permission to take goods from there to Bandarban. The reason behind these measures is the army's fear that people will give food and other necessities to the Shanti Bahini. In the yellow zones the Jumma people have to carry identity cards, but no market passes are needed. There is however, in these zones too, a restriction on how much medicine they are allowed to buy. In the white zones there are no specific restrictions, but only those which apply throughout the CHT as a whole. These include a prohibition on all movement outside of towns after the closing hours of the check posts and the need for written permission for long trips

 

[idune]

H1B visa scam hurts American college grads

 

[indiatech]

World Bank Debars NGOs for Fraud in Bangladesh


WASHINGTON, July 27, 2009&#8212; The World Bank today announced the debarment of two Bangladeshi non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their executive directors for having engaged in fraud in relation to a World Bank-financed project. The debarments, which resulted from investigations by the World Bank&#8217;s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), are part of the Bank&#8217;s broader anti-corruption agenda.

Organization of Rural Economic Development & Rehabilitation (OREDAR) and its former executive director, Rezaul Karim, are ineligible to be awarded contracts under any Bank Group-financed or Bank Group-executed projects or otherwise participate in the preparation or implementation of such projects for a period of two years. After one year, the debarment against OREDAR may end if it has instituted a compliance program acceptable to the World Bank.

The second non-governmental organization, Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development Organization (PARDO) and its executive director, Mrs. Shamima, have been debarred for three years.

The NGOs were among the hundreds of NGOs contracted to carry out educational programs for the Post-Literacy and Continuing Education for Human Development Project (PLCEHDP) in Bangladesh. Approximately 972,900 participants completed post-literacy and continuing education programs during the project, which ended in December 2007.

"NGOs continue to play a critical role in delivering social services to the most vulnerable people in Bangladesh. The government, NGOs, and the Bank will continue to work toward strengthening governance in the NGO community," said Robert Floyd, Acting Country Director for Bangladesh.

The debarments are the first to be announced following an in-depth INT investigation in Bangladesh. Both organizations forged documents in their proposals wrongly claiming they had the relevant experience to provide such programming. OREDAR and Mr. Karim received reduced debarments on account of their cooperation with investigators.

&#8220;When we talk about integrity in Bank operations, it must apply equally to all the entities that implement our projects, whether they are large corporations or small NGOs,&#8221; said Leonard McCarthy, Vice President for Integrity for the World Bank Group.

Since 1999 the World Bank Group has debarred 359 firms and individuals for their involvement in fraud and corruption in Bank Group-financed projects.