Syrian soldiers defect to Turkey

Dozens of Syrian soldiers defected overnight to Turkey, crossing the border with their families as tensions between the two countries soared three days after Syrian forces shot down a Turkish military plane.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said 33 soldiers defected, including a general and two colonels. But a Turkish government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said the group included three colonels and there was no general.
The two accounts could not immediately be reconciled.
Thousands of soldiers have abandoned the Syrian regime, but most are low-level conscripts. The rebel Free Syrian Army - which is based in Turkey - is made up largely of defectors.
Anadolu said a total of 224 people crossed into Turkey overnight, the latest blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. Activists say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011, and the death toll mounts every day.
There are widespread fears that the conflict could spark regional unrest - and those fears mounted Friday when Syrian forces shot a Turkish military plane out of the sky.
Syria insists that the Turkish plane violated its air space. But Turkey disagrees, saying that though the plane had unintentionally strayed into Syria's air space, it was inside international airspace when it was brought down.
In recent days, both sides appeared to be trying to calm tensions over the incident.
Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday his country has "no hostility" toward Turkey.
"We behaved in a defensive and sovereign way," Jihad Makdissi said in the Syrian capital. He said the search was still underway for two missing Turkish airmen who were on the plane.
Ankara has called a meeting of Nato's governing body today to discuss the incident. Allies can request such consultations if they feel their territorial integrity or security are threatened.

UN must strive to put an end to Rohingya persecution

AS THE office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees continues to implore Dhaka to open its borders to Rohingyas fleeing the sectarian strife in the western Rakhine state of Myanmar, in line with Bangladesh’s ‘long history of compassion and solidarity’, it is perhaps time to revisit the political roots of the unfolding humanitarian crisis. Regardless of the foreign minister’s insistence that the decision to not open the border to the fresh flux of Rohingya refugees is ‘logical and lawful’, which the UN agency’s acknowledgement that ‘Bangladesh has been bearing the brunt of the forced displacement caused by earlier crises in Myanmar’ tends to lend credence to, the government, as we have argued in these columns just the other day, cannot, and must not, look the other way while an increasing number of Rohingyas flee their burning homes.
That said, however, it needs to be pointed out that the UN and the international community must come out of what may be called its short-term crisis management mindset and bring the pressure to bear on the military junta in Myanmar so that Rohingyas are no longer subjected to persecution either by the state itself or forces that it patronises, directly or indirectly. According to the UN itself, as mentioned in a report front-paged in New Age on Saturday, describes Myanmar’s estimated 800,000 Rohingyas, whom the military junta considers to be foreigners and stripped citizenship of, as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. The international community has time and again decried gross human rights violation by the dictatorial regime in Myanmar. However, such criticisms and condemnations have hardly translated into any meaningful actions to make the country’s military junta to put an end to sustained repression on its people, especially pro-democracy political leaders and activists, and minority communities. Of course, there have been international sanctions on Myanmar but it is the people at large who have borne the brunt of such measures. Besides, the sanction was imposed on different ground.
Of late, the West, especially the US, has gone gaga over the recent by-election in Myanmar, taking it to be an evidence of the military regime’s willingness to bring about the much-needed political reforms, and actually started contemplating withdrawal of economic and other sanctions. The latest spate of violence against the Rohingyas, which, many suspect, may have been encouraged and abetted by the government, would perhaps put a damper on such enthusiasm. Here, it needs to be pointed out that the response of Aung Sung Suu Kyi, the pioneer of the pro-democracy movement, to the unfolding crisis has been rather disappointing. Now in Geneva, Suu Kyi rightly said ‘such communal strife will continue’ until the rule of law is established. However, the people must have expected strong condemnation of the military regime from the Nobel Peace Prize winning leader for persecuting the Rohingya community.
Be that as it may, the UN and the international community need to realise that, while extending support to the Rohingya refugees in immediate term is extremely important, it is even more important to ensure that their citizenship is restored and that they are not forced to flee their homes ever again.

Violence, again In Bangladesh

After a quiet Friday, the garment factory zone of Ashulia yesterday erupted in violence again as thousands of workers demanding pay hike clashed sporadically with law enforcers.
The entire industrial area turned into a battlefield since 8:00am leaving around 100 people, including 10 policemen, injured during the four-hour-long clash. Police fired rubber bullets, used teargas, water cannons of riot trucks and charged truncheons to disperse the agitating workers.
Traffic movement on Dhaka-Tangail highway and Ashulia-Baipail road had been suspended during that time as the workers set up barricades. They also vandalised at least 25 vehicles and several factories.
Meanwhile, workers of Sinha Garments at Kanchpur of Narayanganj staged demonstrations demanding pay hike and clashed with police which left over 50 people, including seven policemen, wounded. Vehicular movement on Dhaka-Sylhet highway had to be suspended for about five hours.
Even though Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on Thursday threatened to close all factories in Ashulia in the event of violence continuing, workers of several factories began to demonstrate at Zirabo of Ashulia around 8:00am yesterday. Their movement for pay hike had begun on Monday.
Workers of adjacent factories joined in and put barricades on Dhaka-Tangail highway and on Ashulia-Baipail road. The clashes began as police tried to remove the barricades.
The workers fought pitched battles with law-enforcers at Jamgora, Nishchintapur, Shimultola, Baipail, Zirabo, Narasinghapur, Ghoshbagh and nearby places.
Officer-in-Charge Badrul Alam Sheikh of Ashulia Police Station said they had to resort to firing 200 canisters of teargas and 300 non-lethal bullets and truncheon charge. They also used water cannons of riot trucks.
"The workers armed with sticks attacked law enforcers and also pelt us with brickbats leaving many of us injured," the OC said.
Sheikh Rafiqul Islam, additional superintendent of Dhaka District Police, said the owners closed all factories there to avert vandalism and protect their properties.
Sheikh Rafiqul Islam said, "The situation became normal and traffic movement was restored around 1:00pm when the workers left the area.”
Police sources said around 4,000 law enforcers from Industrial police, Dhaka District Police, Armed Police Battalion and Rapid Action Battalion had been deployed in the area.
Sarwar Alam, assistant deputy director (intelligence) of Industrial Police, said "Although many of the factories were opened in the morning, presence of the workers was small…"
Workers of some of the factories of Ha-Meem Group and Sharmin Group at Narasinghapur joined work in the morning as the factory authorities had assured them of meeting their demands. Several hundred police and Rab personnel stood guard so that agitating workers of other factories could not harm them.
Talking to The Daily Star many agitating workers said their demonstrations would continue until their demands were met.
Ashulia police on Friday filed a case against 10 local BNP leaders, including Dewan Moyeen Uddin Biplab, Yiarpur union parishad chairman and local BNP unit president, in connection with provoking the workers into violence.
Other nine are: Kamal Uddin Chowdhury, Sharif Chowdhury, Anwar Hossain Mridha, Mohammad Shafi, Ilias Shahi, Abdul Malek, Abdus Salam, Zillur Rahman Dewan and Anwar Hossain.
The Ashulia OC claimed, "Those people were accused in the case following information from our intelligence. We did not implicate them considering their political identities."
Meanwhile, our Narayanganj correspondent quoting workers of Sinha Garment in Kanchpur said the workers demonstrated to show solidarity with the workers of Ashulia.
However, Mohammad Mahbubul Alam, director of Industrial Police-4 (Adamjee zone) said the workers of Sinha were demanding pay hike for themselves for the last few days as well.
Officer-in-Charge Harun-or-Rashid of Sonargaon Police Station said they fired over 100 rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse the agitating workers when they tried to block the Dhaka-Sylhet highway around 10:00am.
Resisted, the workers clashed with the law enforcers but they later moved back into their factory and demonstrated there.