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Seven Bangladesh TV channels banned Published: Saturday, 17 March, 2007, 09:44 AM Doha Time By Mizan Rahman DHAKA: The caretaker government in Bangladesh has clamped down on the booming electronic media business, proscribing seven private television channels for their alleged faulty inception. An official order shutting down the channels yesterday stated they were being broadcast without proper permission from the Ministry of Information. The TV channels are STV USA, Channel S, Ruposhi Bangla, Falgun Music, TV-5, Bijoy TV and My TV. Operation of any television channel comes under the publicity policy laid down in the Rules of Business 1996, the government order said. As per schedule-1 of the Rules of Business 1996, the publicity policy is under the authority of the Ministry of Information. "So, it is compulsory to take permission from the Ministry of Information before up-linking any local TV channel or down-linking any foreign one in case of starting its broadcast," the proscription notification stated. The closed TV channels were sponsored by prominent politicians and businessmen. Falgun Music was sponsored by the now-detained former communications minister Barrister Nazmul Huda, while the Bijoy TV belonged to detained Chittagong mayor A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury. Meanwhile, the head of Bangladesh's military-backed interim government has warned officials not to harass the poor while carrying out orders to root out corruption, a report said yesterday. "Maintain caution so that innocent persons or institutions are not subject to harassment. Particularly be careful about poor and hapless people," the private UNB news agency quoted caretaker chief Fakhruddin Ahmed as saying. Ahmed, whose government has spearheaded a massive anti-corruption campaign since it took office on January 12, was addressing officials in the southeastern town of Cox's Bazar. Caretaker government cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumdar urged officials to file cases "not against the poor... rather against those who grabbed land for greed, amassing property and maintaining a lavish life," the report added. Ahmed's government was installed a day after President Iajuddin Ahmed stepped down as head of the previous interim government, cancelled disputed elections and imposed emergency rule. The new interim government has pledged to clean up Bangladeshi politics before reinstating democracy and holding credible elections. The previous polls, which had been scheduled for January 22, were cancelled amid violent protests and opposition accusations of vote-rigging against the outgoing coalition government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). As part of its anti-corruption campaign, the interim government has detained at least 45 prominent figures on graft allegations and is investigating hundreds more. It has also embarked on a nationwide demolition programme targeting illegally-built structures. A leading commentator, Zafar Sobhan, alleged last month that BNP loyalists within the interim government had ordered a number of unauthorised slum clearances in an attempt to undermine support for the interim government.
