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The Dhaka Electric Supply Authority officials and employees are involved in widespread corruption and the authorities provide substandard services to its subscribers, said a performance audit report on Monday.
   The special audit exposed that over 40 per cent of the subscribers pay “mandatory” bribes to the officials for electric connections and maintenance and the remaining 60 per cent are subjected to harassment by the officials or employees.
   A five-member team of the Audit Directorate audited the agency records for the period between April 18, 2001 and September 30, 2001.
   The team found that the agency had not bothered to check the subscribers’ electric meters and had continued issuing “bogus” bills.
   In most cases, the meter readers contract their task out to two or more “designated” meter readers in their areas.
   Such fabricated bills accounted for 74 per cent of the total bills issued for the subscribers, the report said.
   The audit officials submitted the performance audit report at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee at Jatiya Sangsad on Monday.
   The report suggested formation of a subscribers’ association to protect their right and reintroduction of meter cards.
   It also recommended introduction of a one-stop service centre at different commercial units to look into subscribers’ complaints. Reviewing the report, the committee meeting presided at by its chairman, Harun-al-Rashid, expressed his disappointment. The committee will come up with its recommendations at its next meeting.
   In the case of new connections, the auditors found the most of them were installed after a delay of more than four months although the procedures allow only a month’s time for the installation of new connections.
   Once installed, the officials kept the subscribers waiting up to a year for account numbers for the connections.
   The audit team found that the meters had not been monitored regularly and at least 50 per cent of the bills did not match the meters.
   Although the bills are supposed to reach the subscribers 30 days before payment, the bills practically reached one or two days before.
   In any dispute resolution, the agency always wasted time by being slow, adding to subscribers’ sufferings, the report said.
   The auditors, during their visit to the DESA units, found that no registers were maintained in distributing meter books, and the books were distributed without any signature of the readers concerned.
   The committee meeting was attended by its members Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain, Mostafizur Rahman, Shawkot Ali, Manjur Kader, Abdul Ghani, Shamsul Amin Pramanik, HSK Sadeq, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Sultan Mohammad Babu, Chowdhury Akmal Ibne Yusuf and Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher

The government is in two minds over withdrawal of import restrictions on 13 major fabric items from January 1 in compliance with its commitment to the World Trade Organisation after sharp differences of opinion among officials and textile mill owners surfaced at an inter-ministerial meeting on Monday.
   The meeting at the Ministry of Commerce, presided over by the commerce secretary, Aminur Rahman, ended without a consensus as representatives from the Ministry of Textile and Jute, and the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association opposed withdrawal of the fabric import restrictions.
   Representative from the National Board of Revenue and the Bangladesh Bank were also present at the meeting.
   “We do not agree to the government’s plan for withdrawal of the restrictions as it is suicidal and will hit the local textile industry hard,” the BTMA general secretary, Toufiq Hasan, told New Age after the meeting.
   Toufiq, a former director general of the Export Promotion Bureau’s textile cell, said he had suggested at the meeting that the government should enhance import duty and impose supplementary duty on the fabric items if the withdrawal became inevitable.
   An industrial economist of the textile ministry, Maqbul Ahmed, shared Toufiq’s opinion, taking into account the viability of the local textile sector, especially beyond 2005, said sources present at the meeting.
   In 2000 the commerce ministry committed to the WTO panel on balance of payment restrictions on 13 fabric items that Bangladesh will withdraw the import restrictions on January 1, 2005.
   The items, covered by a number of HS codes, include woven fabric of silk, grey cloth, indigo denim, combat cloth, drill, mesh fabric, silk waste, silk noil, twine, yarn waste, jute fibre, pile and terry fabric and knitted or crocheted fabric.
   The government also pledged to withdraw restriction on chicks, eggs, cartoons and common salt from 2009. According to the import policy 2003-2004 all four items are conditional importable.
   Besides the commitment to the WTO, the government has also been under unrelenting pressure from the World Bank to withdraw the restriction.
   In September 2003, the commerce minister, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, assured the bank and other multilateral lending agencies that restriction would be withdrawn within the stipulated timeframe.
   Under the current import policy, some 60 kinds of items fall under the import restriction.
   Apart from fabrics, some 10 items including pork and product prepared from pork are restricted on religious ground, while artificial mustard oil, ethanol, old vehicles and opium are restricted on health and environment grounds.
   India has, meanwhile, termed the restrictions non-tariff barriers for its products, sources in the commerce ministry said.
   Experts believe it would be difficult for Bangladesh to backtrack on its commitment to the WTO in view of the aspects of global trade liberalisation.
   They said it would be wise for the government to impose high tariff like supplementary duty, value-added tax, advance income tax and other duties on the fabric items, if and when the restrictions were withdrawn in 2005.

Five people, three identified as alleged members of extremist groups, were killed in the “crossfire” of the police and the Rapid Action Battalion with their “associates” in Dhaka and three south-western districts on Monday.
   One Moazzem Hossain Ripon was killed in a fight with the battalion in Barisal, some 277 kilometres south off Dhaka.
   One Rezaul Islam, also known as Kana Rezaul, died in an “encounter” with the battalion at Rampal in Bagerhat, some 360 kilometres south-west off the capital.
   The latest figure of death either in the custody of or in an “encounter” with the battalion now stands at 72 since its operation in June.
   Kamal alias Pichchi Kamal alias Kana Kamal, 22, and Milon, 23 — who are reportedly wanted in criminal cases filed with the police — were killed in a “shootout” of Cheetah of Detective Branch and a muggers’ gang on Roquiah Sarani at Karful in Dhaka early Monday.
   A suspected underground party member, Rabiul Islam, was killed and two police constables were injured in a police “encounter” at Kotchandpur in Jhenaidah, some 228 kilometres west off Dhaka, at about 3:00am.
   In the capital, Kamal and Milon stabbed a Cheetah sub-inspector, Mominur Rahman, in the right hand when he was walking on the footpath near Lions Eye Hospital at about 2:00am and took away his mobile phone, the police said. Momunir had two others with him.
   Kamal and Milon began shooting when they realised that they had mugged a policeman.
   The police fired back, injuring two of the muggers; others managed to get away by climbing the wall of the National Parade Ground.
   The injured muggers and the policemen were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where Kamal was declared dead. Milon died after his admission to hospital at about 5:00am.
   The police said Kamal was wanted in about a dozen of criminal cases, including murder cases. Milon was wanted in six cases, the police said.
   Kamal was also charged with the murder of Nazma Begum, killed in a post-wedding reception at the Kazi Community Centre at Kazipara, Kafrul, in July 2003, the police said.
   Two revolvers with four bullets and two machetes were recovered from their possession.
   The New Age correspondent in Khulna reported that Rezaul Islam, 30, a suspected member of an underground party, of Ronsen at Rampal in Bagerhat, was killed in a “gunfight” of the police and the battalion with his associates at about 1:30am.
   The police said the battalion and the Rampal police raided a shrimp depot at about 1:15am to arrest some underground party men.
   When the law enforcers cordoned the depot, the people inside began shooting and the law enforcers fired back in which Rezaul was killed and a policeman was injured, the police claimed.
   Rezaul’s other associates managed to get away, the police said. They recovered a pistol, a shutter gun and four bullets.
   The police sent the body to the Bagerhat Sadar Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination.
   Rezaul was reported to be an upazila leader of the Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Janajudha), and accused in at least six murder cases, including that of the Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Abu Bakr, the police said.
   The correspondent in Barisal said Moazzem, 40, reported to be a leader of Sarbahara, was killed in the in a “shootout” of the battalion at Banaripara upazila at about 5:30am.
   Moazzem, whom the police claim to be accused in more than a dozen of criminal cases, including six murders, was arrested at the NAM Quarters opposite Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in Dhaka by the Unit 4 battalion Sunday afternoon. He was leading the gang after death of his leader, Parimal, who died in a recent shootout with the police in Pirojpur.
   Based on his statement, the Rapid Action Battalion 4, with the help of Unit 6 stationed in Barisal, moved took Moazzem to his village home at Banaripara early Monday.
   As the battalion reached village Malanga, Moazzem’s his associates began shooting. The battalion fired back. Moazzem was killed in the crossfire, the battalion claimed.
   One light gun with 6 rounds of ammunition and a revolver with 4 bullets were recovered.
   The police and the battalion claimed that Moazzem was a regional leader of the Sarbahara Kamrul Group and was on the prowl in Barisal, Pirojpur, Jhalakati and Gopalganj.
   He was accused in more than a dozen of cases, including that of the explosion at Baniachang Church in Gopalganj, looting of arms of on-duty Ansars members in a launch on the Dhaka–Poisarhat route.
   The correspondent in Jhenaidah reported that Rabiul, 30, was killed and two police constables were injured in an “encounter” at Hajidanga, Kotchandpur, at about 3:00am.
   The police said Rabiul, an “armed cadre” of the Purba Banglar Communist Party, was arrested in possession of three bombs at the Post Office crossing in the town on Sunday.
   Based on his statement, the police took him to Hajidanga to recover more firearms.
   As the law enforcers reached the place, his associates began shooting. The police fired back. Rabiul was killed in the crossfire when he was trying to get away, the police said.
   His associates left the place, abandoning a pipe gun and three bullets.
   Constables Jahangir and MZ Hasan were injured.

Shahudul Huq, held in contempt of the court, was removed from the position of the inspector general of police on Monday.
   The High Court ruled that Shahudul should be fined with Tk 2,000 or he should be in jail for a month on non-payment. Shahudul was appointed the police inspector general on a contractual basis and his contact was extended up to March 2005.
   The Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled the extension at a meeting on Sunday, sources in the ministry told New Age on Monday.
   The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on December 7 dismissed an appeal of Shahudul against the High Court verdict.
   The verdict of the four-member bench ends Shahudul’s tenure as stipulated by Section 3 of the law related to the dismissal of public servants on conviction.
   According to the law, “… a public servant shall, on his conviction of criminal offence specified in the schedule, stand dismissed from service on the date of delivery of the judgement or order convicting him.”
   The schedule of the law says a public servant will lose his job for committing an “offence under any law punishable with death, transportation, or imprisonment for a term exceeding six months, or with fine exceeding Tk 1,000, or with both.”
   Shahudul, who left for New York the previous day, returned on Tuesday and reached his residence in an ordinary police car sent from the police headquarters, said sources in the police.
   The Appellate Division on February 7 stayed the execution of the verdict and the government retained him as the inspector general of police on a one-year contract after his service tenure had expired in March.
   A High Court Division bench of MA Matin and Syed Refat Ahmed on January 27 sentenced Shahudul to payment of Tk 2,000 in fine or imprisonment of a month on non-payment.
   The court gave the verdict on a suo moto rule issued on June 30, 2003, also fining three traffic policemen and acquitting two others of the contempt charge.
   The suo moto rule was issued on Shahudul on November 11, 2003 for his written comments in reply to certain queries about the contempt case against the traffic policemen.
   The policemen were served with a suo moto rule on June 30, 2003 for not showing respect to a sitting judge of the High Court at Farmgate, on his way to court in a flagged car, on June 23.
   The policemen stopped the judge’s car to let through a police car, which was far behind, resulting in traffic congestion.
   In his reply to the High Court, Shahudul claimed that the judge had himself become “liable to be prosecuted under the criminal law on the charges of wrongful confinement, abetment, prejudicial act, obstructing public servant in discharging public functions and threatening a public servant” by issuing the rule.

The nation observes the 34th Martyred Intellectuals’ Day today, paying homage to the great sons of the soil who made supreme sacrifice at the fag end of the war of independence.
   On this day in 1971, the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators —Rajakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams — sensing their defeat, kidnapped and killed intellectuals of the country to cripple the nation intellectually.
   Academicians, doctors, engineers, journalists and leading personalities were picked up from their residences in the city and were killed at Rayerbazar and other places.
   The government, political parties, and socio-cultural and other organisations through various programmes recall the tragedy of December 14 that took place just two days before the country’s victory after the nine-month war.
   The Bangladesh Betar, Bangladesh Television and the private TV channels will broadcast special programmes while newspapers will bring out special supplements.
   The day’s programmes start in the morning through the hoisting of black flags and keeping the national flag half-mast. The mourners will place wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard at Mirpur and at the Rayerbazar killing field and pray for the departed souls.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, prime minister, Khaleda Zia, and the leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, gave separate messages paying rich tribute to the martyrs.
   Terming the killing of intellectuals by the occupation forces as a black chapter in history, Iajuddin said the barbaric killings were conducted just before the independence under a far-reaching plan to make the nation brainless.
   “The sacrifice of the intellectuals would be meaningful if we all remain active in flourishing education, science and wisdom for building a self-reliant and self-respecting nation,” he said.
   Khaleda termed December 14 as a painful day in the national life and said on this day the occupation forces selectively annihilated the talented sons of the soil to cripple the nation intellectually.
   “Killing of intellectuals in 1971 was aimed at creating a vacuum in the field of development and progress in education, culture, knowledge and science,” she said and called upon all to work unitedly for the welfare of people and the country to show respect to the martyred intellectuals.
   She also conveyed sympathy to the members of the bereaved family and prayed for peace of the departed souls.
   Haisna said the defeated forces of the war of independence wanted to retaliate by killing the great sons of the soil.
   “The defeated forces are still active against Bangladesh and the Bengali nation,” she said urging the countrymen to launch a united movement against them for safeguarding the country as well as the flag.
   Political parties and socio-cultural and other organisations have chalked out various programmes, including discussions and placing wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard at Mirpur and at the Rayerbazar killing filed.
   Students, teachers and employees of the University of Dhaka will bring out a procession from the Aparajeyo Bangla at 7:00am and place floral wreaths at the graveyard in front of university’s central mosque, mausoleum at the Jagannath Hall and at Mirpur intellectuals’ graveyard.
   A discussion will also be held at the Teachers-Students Centre with the vice- chancellor, SMA Faiz, in the chair.
   The ruling BNP will place wreaths at the Mirpur intellectuals’ graveyard in the morning and hold a discussion at the BCIC auditorium at Dilkhusa at 4:00pm. The Awami League will place flowers at the Mirpur graveyard and Rayerbazar killing ground and at the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
   The AL leaders will also meet the family members of the martyred intellectuals’ at 3:00pm. The party will hold a discussion, followed by a cultural function, in front of the Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi in the afternoon.
   Bikalpadhara Bangladesh will place wreaths at the Mirpur memorial at 8:30am and hold a discussion at 2:00pm at the Zila Krira Sangstha auditorium at Motijheel.
   The Left Democratic Front and Communist Party of Bangladesh will place wreaths at the intellectuals’ graveyard at Mirpur at 8:00am.
   The Bangla Academy will place wreaths at the Mirpur intellectual graveyard at 7:00am and hold a discussion at 11:00am at its seminar room.
   The Bangladesh Silpakala Academy will organise a discussion at its training building at 10:30am.

The cabinet on Monday approved in principle a bill proposing provisions to establish the office of the tax ombudsman to investigate harassment of taxpayers and corruption committed by any revenue officials.
   The weekly regular meeting of the cabinet, held Monday night at the Prime Minister’s office with the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, in the chair, however, recommended a number of
   changes in the bill, said sources present.
   The meeting also approved the proposal for signing a cultural protocol with Spain and reviewed the report for 2003 and 2004 on the implementation of the decisions taken by the cabinet.
   The law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister, Moudud Ahmed, told New Age after the meeting that the law ministry would further scrutinise the bill and incorporate the recommendations of the cabinet before placing it for the cabinet’s final approval.
   According to the Office of Tax Ombudsman Bill, a tax ombudsman will not be able to contest any national or local election and will also be barred from any political activities as well as from getting any lucrative government posting within the next two years after his four-year tenure ends.
   He/she will also be disqualified for any extension or re-appointment, the bill says.
   The appointee will be a Bangladeshi with the highest degree of honesty, who will be neutral and will act independently.
   The original bill, moved by the finance ministry, proposed that the president would have the absolute power to appoint and dismiss the tax ombudsman. The cabinet recommended that the tax ombudsman should be removed in the manner or on the grounds a judge of the Supreme Court is removed.
   According to the original bill, the tax ombudsman will investigate any case of harassment or corruption by a tax official or revenue employee only when a written complaint is made either by any individual or on the basis of reference from Jatiya Sangsad or if asked by the president or the prime minister.
   The cabinet also recommended amendment to the provision empowering the tax ombudsman to conduct the investigation suo moto, sources said.
   According to the bill, the ombudsman will have the authority to constitute a permanent advisory committee and appoint a number of inspectors to conduct investigations. He/she will be allowed to establish any regional offices of the tax ombudsman across the country.
   The decision to appoint a tax ombudsman was taken after allegations of corruption were made against customs and tax officials by multilateral lending agencies and local business leaders.
   The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, in his budget speech for 2004-2005, announced the appointment of a tax ombudsman to help curb harassment of tax-payers and corruption by revenue officials.
   In the sub-continent, Pakistan established an office of tax ombudsman in 2000.
   The bill says the ombudsman will have the authority to initiate investigation against any tax or customs officials and enter their offices and seize relevant documents.
   The ombudsman will also be authorised to seize any article, book of accounts or any other document, and scrutinise any document or make an inventory for detection of tax evasion, proposes the bill.
   The ombudsman will recommend, to the chairman of the national bureau of revenue, the kind of punishment, compensation or any other measures for any malpractice by the tax administration. The revenue board will be given 30 days to execute the recommendations, the bill said.
   Any beleaguered tax official will be allowed to clarify his or her position before the tax ombudsman makes any recommendation against him/her.
   A recent World Bank report, titled ‘Bangladesh Development Policy Review: Impressive Achievements but Continuing Challenges’, points out that the government lost about Tk 1,500 crore in revenue in the previous fiscal year because of widespread corruption by customs officials.
   “Corruption in customs is a source of substantial leakage of revenue, often through collusion between importers and customs personnel. Estimates of such leakage have been 20-25 per cent of the collected revenue,” says the report.
   The meeting was attended by the ministers and state minister in charge of different ministries. The principal secretary to the prime minister, the cabinet secretary and the secretaries concerned were also present.

Japan and the United Kingdom came up with a joint approach to development financing that will focus on combating corruption and ensuring accountability of decision-makers in Bangladesh.
   “It’s a government agenda and we will support it jointly,” the UK Department for International Development permanent secretary, Suma Chakrabarti, told newsmen at a Sonargaon Hotel briefing on Monday.
   He said they (Japan and the United Kingdom) would design the action plan for Bangladesh after going through the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, finalisation of which is due in January.
   The British high commissioner in Dhaka, Anwar Choudhury, at the briefing said, “The United Kingdom and Japan will continue their assistance in six sectors — private sector development, road and bridges, health, primary education, arsenic mitigation, climate change and disaster management.”
   “We will continue to support the bilateral programmes identified separately,” he said.
   “The UK annual assistance has already increased to 130 million pounds because of the flood assistance,” Anwar said, adding that the annual assistance of 100 million pound was likely to increase subject to a review in London on the basis of the PRSP to help Bangladesh to progress towards Millennium Development Goals.
   The Economic Cooperation Bureau deputy director of the Japanese foreign ministry, Kazuo Kodama, said, “Japan, being the largest bilateral donor, will continue its existing programmes individually in Bangladesh alongside the joint development assistance.”
   He hoped that the Bangladesh government would finalise the PRSP after consultation with all the stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society.
   Kodama and Chakrabarti said the poverty reduction paper, important on Bangladesh’s development agenda, should be finalised from a bipartisan approach.
   Asked what prompted them to go for the joint collaboration, both the officials said they have an approach similar to the one in Vietnam’s transport sector that proved worthy.
   The success in Vietnam encouraged them to take the same approach in Bangladesh for an effective impact on the country’s development.
   The Japanese ambassador in Dhaka, Matsushiro Horiguchi, said, “The joint collaboration will have an effective impact on Bangladesh’s development initiatives by complementing each other.”
   The UK department country chief, David Wood, said the joint collaboration is “not a change in direction, but a way of deepening the collaboration” with Bangladesh.

The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, on Monday said “reform is more difficult than revolution”.
   “We are facing difficulties in generating employment, compared with retrenchment emerging out of reforms,” he claimed to have told a joint team of the UK Department for International Development and the government of Japan, now in Dhaka on an appraisal mission.
   While briefing journalists at the planning ministry, Saifur said he had apprised the joint team of the government’s intention to continue with the ongoing reforms.
   “The reform is also our own agenda,” he said as the delegation insisted on further improvement of governance, law and order, corruption and reforms.
   Saifur claimed that the government’s steps had led to improvement of law and order. “Trade and business are gaining momentum with the improvement of people’s safety and security.”
   The team met the minister to exchange views on a new aid policy, under which the DFID and the Japanese government would provide future assistance.
   They expressed their intention to align their future support to the government’s poverty-reduction strategy to be finalised by January 2005.

Another writ petition was filed on Monday challenging the Jatiya Sangsad (Reserved Seats for Women) Election Act 2004 the parliament passed on November 29.
   The petition is likely to be moved before the High Court
   bench of Justice MA Matin and Justice AFM Abdur Rahman today, counsel of the petitioners, Asaduzzaman told New Age on Monday.
   Sigma Huda, Farida Akhter, Tasneem Siddiqui, Alina Khan, Salma Ali and eight others, representing 13 women and human rights organisations, filed the writ petition.
   Two other writ petitions, filed in June and July challenging the constitutional provision for the reserved seats, are yet to be disposed of.
   A High Court bench of Justice MA Matin and Justice Tarik-ul-Hakim on June 21 issued a rule nisi on the government and the Jatiya Sangsad to explain the constitutionality of the provision, made by the 14th amendment to the Constitution.
   The same bench issued similar rule on July 21 after hearing other writ petition.

Remarks of the ruling BNP leaders on Saturday’s cross-country human chain programme have proved that people expressed no-confidence in the prime minister, said the leaders of the Awami League on Monday.
   “… Rejection of the prime minister means the rejection of the government,” AL general secretary Abdul Jalil told a rally organised as part of the protest day programmes of the AL and its allies.
    “According to Mannan Bhuiyan’s statement, people of the prime minister’s locality Feni rejected her by forming the no-confidence human chain. And rejection of the prime minister means the rejection of the government,” Jalil said.
   Mannan, secretary general of the ruling BNP and also the minister for LGRD and cooperatives, in the statement after Saturday’s programme was over, said the programme was unsuccessful and people, excepting of Feni, had rejected the opposition programme.
   The main opposition party held the rally on the Bangabandhu Avenue. The 11-Party Alliance and a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, allies of AL, also held rallies at the Muktangan and at Zero Point in the city respectively.
   The Awami League and its allies also organised rallies in the district and the upazila headquarters in protest against Saturday’s attacks on the opposition workers during the human chain programme that left over 200 people injured. The Awami League, nine components of the 11-Party Alliance, a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and National Awami League — organised the Teknaf to Tentulia human chain programme.
   Jalil warned the ruling party of dire consequence for any attempt to foil the December 30 programme — “mass no-confidence” human chain from Sundarban to Sunamganj.
   Addressing the rally, the Awami League leaders called upon the people to make the December 30 programme a success.
   They also vowed to continue their movement to dislodge the BNP-led alliance government.
   Presided over by city AL president Mohammad Hanif, the rally was addressed, among others, by Zillur Rahman, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, Abdul Mannan, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Omar Ali.
   The leaders of nine components of the 11-Party Alliance alleged that the BNP-Jamaat alliance government had barred the peaceful human chain programme of the opposition parties.
   If the government continues the process, the opposition parties would enforce tougher movement, they told the rally chaired by the chief of the Ganotantri Party, Azizul Islam Khan.
   The presidium member of the Gano Forum, Pankaj Bhattacharia, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Mujahidul Islam Selim, general secretary of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bimal Biswas, chief of the Ganoazadi League, Abdus Samad, and the chief of the Samyabadi Dal, Dilip Barua.

Badiaa Aref Ezzat, the Iraqi lawyer of former deputy premier Tareq Aziz, said Saddam and 11 top officials of his toppled regime had been on hunger strike since Friday to protest ill-treatment in their secret American detention centre.
   Meanwhile, a French lawyer representing Saddam Hussein also asked Monday for the International Red Cross to look into reports that the jailed former Iraqi leader has begun a hunger strike.
   Emmanuel Ludot, a lawyer in eastern French city of Reims, said it was not immediately clear whether Saddam, who is currently in the United States and Iraqi custody, might have stopped eating to protest his detention.
   But, the United States military said Sunday Saddam Hussein was not on a hunger strike
   “This absolutely does not involve Saddam,” said Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for detention operations in Iraq.
   But Johnson acknowledged that some of Saddam’s top aides are refusing meals in the secret the United States detention centre.

A suicide car bomber killed 13 people Monday next to the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad housing the interim government and the United States embassy, and eight US Marines died in combat in western Iraq.
   The Marines were killed Sunday in separate incidents in Anbar province, a vast region in western Iraq comprising the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the military said on Monday.
   The deaths equalled the highest number of Marines killed in a single day since a car bomb killed eight outside Fallujah on October 30, which was the deadliest attack against the US military in nearly six months.
   In Baghdad, a vehicle waiting in line to enter the Green Zone at its western Harthiyah gate exploded as it drove toward the checkpoint, Iraqi police said.
   Hospital officials said that 13 people were killed and 15 wounded in the suicide blast. The US military said there were no injuries among its troops.

The World Bank has identified seven major problems in higher education in Bangladesh and put forth some recommendations to the government as preconditions for consideration of its request for financial and technical support to develop the sector.
   A four-member bank delegation, led by the country director, Christine I Wallich, on Monday met the education minister, M Osman Farruk, and submitted the recommendations and a draft of the terms of references of a 10-year strategic plan for developing the higher education sector.
   A three-member World Bank mission identified the problems after reviewing and analysing the present status of public and private higher educational institutes between December 3 and 11.
   The analysis and review of the mission followed a recent education ministry request for assistance in developing the strategic plan.
   The bank mission has detected a downslide in the overall quality of education in public and private universities, especially in some newly-established private universities, and the colleges under the National University.
   The bank found the governance arrangements fuelling politicistion of academic decision-making and operations in some universities and colleges.
   Quality of education deteriorated for the lack of transparency in recruitment, training and skill development activities, the bank mission observed.
   Inefficiency in English of many staff and students causes teachers and students to be deprived of knowledge of literature and electronic resources in their disciplines, the mission said.
   Low government funding and very high percentage of the allocation in salaries, inadequate funds for equipment, computers, books and journals and building maintenance, also affects the quality of education, the mission found out.
   Absence of a national strategy for research in universities and limited access of students to internet and international academics due to limitations of the ICT infrastructure is also causing quality deterioration.
   The bank team has also suggested a draft of terms of reference for a strategic planning exercise to advise the government on the strategic direction for next ten years to 2015.
   The report will recommend guidelines for governance and management of the sector, including revisions to the existing legal framework, proposals for strengthening quality and relevance of bylaws of educational boards, role of university research in meeting economic and social development with proposals for strengthening the sector’s capacity in the area, policies for encouraging and increasing in the problem of income for institutions from non-public sources and mechanisms for promoting and strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the system.
   The bank has also recommended formation of a ten-member strategic planning committee, to be constituted by the education minister.
   Hena Mukherjee, Scherezad J Monami Latiff and John Fielden were on the World Bank delegation that met Osman.

India needed only 29 minutes on the fourth day to wrap up the Bangladesh tail for a win by an innings and 140 runs in the first Test at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
   Left-arm speedster Irfan Pathan added one to his overnight tally of five wickets, removing Tapash Baishya, and his new-ball partner Zaheer Khan sent back Manjarul Islam as the hosts’ second innings folded at 202.
   Pathan, who was adjudged man of the match for his match-winning figures of 11 for 106, had Tapash caught by Sachin Tendulkar at mid-wicket after the Bangladesh No 10 had added 12 to his overnight score of 17.
   Manjarul, not out on exactly 50 overnight, had scored 19 more on the fourth morning before he mistimed a pull of Zaheer and was caught by Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps. His dogged spanned over 116 balls and featured as many as 12 shots across the ropes.
   The easy victory aside, the tourists had a number of reasons to be satisfied with their performance.
   Sachin Tendulkar, who polished off his highest score in Test cricket, in the process essentially sealing the fate of the match, equalled compatriot Sunil Gavaskar’s world record of 34 centuries.
   Tendulkar, who scored an unbeaten 248, also got himself in the record book for sharing the highest-ever partnership for the 11th wicket with Zaheer.
   Zaheer also made his way into the record book for his 75, the highest ever by an No 11 batsman.
   Anil Kumble had, meanwhile, eclipsed Kapil Dev as the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket for his country.
   The hosts had some silver linings as well, with Mohammad Ashraful, Nafees Iqbal and Manjarul each scoring a fifty, and speedster Mashrafee Bin Mortuza bowling with venom on his comeback from a 14-month layoff because of injury.
   The second Test will start on December 17 at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.

The Central Veterinary Hospital fails to serve its purpose while Bangladesh incurs a loss of at least Tk 73 crore a year for lack of veterinary treatment, caused by lack of diagnosis, the chief veterinarian said.
   The hospital, since its inception in 1920, has been plagued with lack of proper human resources and lack of required equipment.
   Located in Old Town in Dhaka, the hospital has no veterinary surgeon, no specialist, no supply of medicine and no equipment for diagnosis and surgery.
   The hospital has 48 members on its staff, including 16 veterinary surgeons. The hospital needs to attend 350 to 400 animals every day. And there are no surgeon and no specialist.
   The hospital is in need of postgraduate trainers for animals and specialists for animal fattening, pets, infertility, said the chief, Musaddique Hossain.
   It lacks in minimum equipment for surgery. The operation theatre has not tables. There are no machines for anaesthesia, ultra-sonogram and sterilisation.
   There are no radiology and pathology devices to diagnose the disease of the animals. “Man speaks up his problem, but animals do not. So we badly need these machines,” he said.
   The hospital cannot diagnose diseases of 10 to 12 types for lack of such machines. A 50 per cent of the animals die as their diseases are not diagnosed and proper medicines are not administered, he said.
   The yearly supply of medicines gets used up in a month, the hospital officials said. The government spends between Tk 3 and Tk 4 lakh on medicine, they said.
   The hospital runs on a budget of Tk 50 lakh a year and in addition to the central hospital, there are 460 centres in each of the upazilas across the country.

A new organisation of professionals, Peshajibi Samannaya Parishad, was launched on Monday for “establishing their rights and transparency in the administration”.
   “Professionals are facing serious problems during the present regime and their careers, in most cases, are at risks,” the convenor of the new organisation, Rokonuddin Mahmud, told a news conference at the National Press Club.
   Kamrul Ahsan Khan, a former organising secretary of the Bangladesh Medical Association, has been made member-secretary of the 26-member convening committee.
   The committee, comprising six co-convenors and joint convenors, has been constituted with those leading different professional bodies backed by the Bangladesh Awami League.
   They are the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president, Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, the convenor of Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad, Professor Rashid-e-Mahbub, the joint-convenor of the Sammilita Ainjibi Samannaya Parishad, Shafiq Ahmed, the president of a faction of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, the Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad president, Professor AFM Ruhul Haq, and former director general of the Directorate of Livestock Krishibid Abdur Razzak Mia.
   The committee will hold a national conference on March 26 in Dhaka after constituting all district and regional committees.
   The new organisation set its three-point manifesto for achieving a non-communal and democratic society and for establishing a transparent public administration.
   “We will continue our struggle to establish an accountable public administration, secular education for women’s empowerment, and to separate the judiciary from the administrative body of the government,” Rokon said.
   “We will also strive for securing rights of professionals and for ensuring basic rights of the people,” he added saying the organisation would be non-political.
   He, however, criticised the present government for, what he said, its partisan role, corruption, interference on judiciary and extrajudicial killings by the Rapid Action Battalion.
   “The government has destroyed the public administration by its partisan activities. It has created a disorderly situation in the administration through frequent transfers of the officials and sending them as officers on special duty without any proper reason.”
   The government has violated article 59 of the constitution by making the local government dysfunctional and also violated human rights through the extrajudicial killings by the RAB, he said and termed the RAB killing “barbarous and a clear defiance to the norms of civilised world.”

Two pathways, not one, connect the main language areas of the human brain, according to a new study, which also confirms the involvement of an additional brain area involved in the process.
   The discoveries could force a shift in a long-standing model of human language, and may shed light on the origins of speech in humans.
   “Broca’s” area, in the left hemisphere’s frontal region, has long been associated with language production and “Wernicke’s” area, in the left temporal lobe, with comprehension. The two are directly connected by a cable of nerve fibres.
   For over one hundred years, neurologists have used patients with brain lesions anywhere in the two hubs or along the route between them to illustrate how important these areas are to language. But there were always lingering questions about whether this was the whole story.
   Now Marco Catani at Kings College London, United Kingdom, and colleagues have discovered that in addition to the known connection, there appears to be an indirect but parallel neural connection between Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Geschwind’s territory
   They found the pathway by scanning 11 right-handed male subjects using a technique known as diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging, which can detect nerve fibre connections in the brain.
   The new pathway also connects Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas via a third area in the temporal lobe, which has now been named Geschwind’s territory, after the American neurologist who argued for its role in human language back in the 1960s. In the absence of today’s sophisticated brain imaging, he was unable to clinch the case.
   Geschwind’s territory is particularly interesting because it matures relatively late, between the ages of five and seven, around the time people develop reading and writing skills, says Catani.
   The finding underscores how important it is to understand how brain areas communicate with each other, not just which areas process what, says Catani. In fact, the general wiring of these pathways also exists in monkeys, he says: “The difference lies in the way we strengthened and rearranged these connections.”

Classes were not held and administrative offices remained closed at the Chittagong Medical College on Monday, on the first day of the indefinite strike called by the Islami Chhatra Shibir.
   Shibir called the strike on campus from Monday to press home its three-point demand including cancellation of the date of the students’ union election and exemplary punishment to the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal men responsible for Friday’s attack.

The High Court Monday issued rule asking the government to explain why the notification for striping former Air Chief Jamaluddin Ahmed of his rank of Air Marshal should not be declared illegal.
   Issuing the rule, a division bench comprising Justice MA Matin and Justice AFM Abdur Rahman, stayed the operation of the notification.
   A gazette notification, approved by the president and published on October 17, declared the promotion of Jamaluddin Ahmed to the rank of air marshal void as there was no such post in the organogram of Bangladesh Air Force.
   The past Awami League government in June 2001 had elevated Jamaluddin to the rank of air marshal from air vice-marshal four days ahead of his retirement.
   The court orders came upon a writ filed by Jamaluddin challenging the legality of the October 17 notification that “snatched away” his rank as air marshal.

The High Court Monday issued rule asking the respondents, including RAB high-ups, to explain why they should not be directed not to arrest or harass AJM Nasir Uddin of Chittagong without due process of law.
   The Rapid Action Battalion director general and its Chittagong commanding officer have been made respondents, along with the home secretary, inspector general of police and four others, in the show-cause.

The High Court Monday declared illegal the termination of 138 officials, including four executive engineers, of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation.
   A High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice ATM Fazley Kabir passed the judgement following the writ petitions filed by the corporation officials.
   The government terminated 525 diploma engineers from their jobs on July 24, 2003.
   Of the terminated officials, 138 filed 16 writ petitions challenging the termination, and a High Court bench in August, 2003 issued a rule nisi on the government to show cause as to why the termination would not be declared illegal.
   M Badruddoza moved the case for the petitioners and additional attorney general, Fida M Kamal, appeared for the government.

The dawn-to-dusk hartal, called by 14-party alliances, was observed peacefully in the district on Monday.
   The Awami League and its 13 allies called the hartal in protest against Saturday’s attack on their “mass no-confidence” human chain programme, allegedly by the ruling BNP miscreants that left over 100 people injured.
   Vehicles were off the roads while movement of rickshaws was almost usual. Shops and business establishments remained closed while attendance in government and non-government offices was thin.
   Although all educational institutions were open, students attendance was almost nil. All examinations in the secondary schools, scheduled for Monday, however, have been rescheduled.
   There was no picketing of the pro-hartal activists during the hartal hours. Activists of ruling BNP and its front organisations brought out several anti-hartal processions.

The National Board of Revenue on Monday announced names of four pre-shipment inspection agencies after technical evaluation of their bids, sources in the board have told New Age.
   The four — Intertake Testing Services, Bureau Veritas, SGS and Cotecna — have been short-listed from eight companies.
   The decision came at a meeting of the NBR tender evaluation committee, presided over by the convener, ATM Sarwar Hossain, member (customs) of the board. Other members of the committee from the Ministry of Commerce, the Internal Resources Division and the private sector were present.
   The financial offers of the qualified PSI companies would be opened within a week, the sources said.
   “We have found four companies okay on technical evaluation as per the conditions outlined in the tender document in terms of their required experience and reputation in their respective areas,” said an NBR high-up.
   The tenure of existing three PSI companies will be over on December 31, 2004 and appointment should be over by then, the sources added.

A three-day International Conference on Regional Cooperation on Trans-boundary Rivers: Impact of the Indian River Linking Project will be held in Dhaka on December 17-19.
   The Bangladesh Economic Association, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, Bangladesh Geographical Society and the Bangladesh Geological Society have organised the conference.
   About 500 river experts and environmentalists including 70 from abroad are likely to take part in the conference. Foreign experts will be coming from the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and Nepal. Non-resident Bangladeshis will also join the conference.
   Briefing the newsmen Monday Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, chairman of the organising committee, said the conference would enable the experts, specialists, activists and policy makers to have an intellectual exercise on the India’s river linking project.

A networked gaming contest, the first-ever in Bangladesh, was organised by Sparkle AGP on the second day of the BCS Computer Show at the Bhasani Novo Theatre on Monday.
   Two seminars on skill-based IT education for underprivileged youths and bridging the digital divide, and the launching of a new portal ‘deshimobile.com’ were also held.
   Different companies came up with new products, services and discount offers. Ten software exporting companies are also showcasing their products and services on the 2nd floor.
   Organisers said some seven thousand visitors visited the show on Monday.
   There will be a multimedia and programming contest at 11:00am and laser show at 6:30pm on Tuesday.