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The Chittagong Hill Tracts Repatriated Tribal Refugees Welfare Association and the local unit of four-party alliance have demanded immediate removal of the Khagrachari Hill District Council chairman for ‘misappropriating’ food grain worth about Tk 50 lakh.
   The association and the alliance alleged that the council chairman, Nakhsatra Lal Dev Barman, with the connivance of some council employees misappropriated the food grain allocated for the rehabilitation of the repatriated tribal refugees.
   The association in a Saturday complaint with the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs also demanded immediate recovery of the cost of the food grain and hand over it to the chairman of the Taskforce on Rehabilitation of the Repatriated Tribal Refugees.
   The association in the earlier also made the accusation to the CHT affairs ministry following which the ministry, in a letter signed by a senior assistant secretary, Aminul Islam, had asked Nakhsatra to explain his position.
   But Nakhsatra has not given any explanation even after five months he was issued the letter, sources in the ministry said on Sunday when contacted over telephone.
   The BNP-led four-party alliance on Saturday submitted a memorandum with a nine-point charter of demands, including removal of the KHDC chairman, to the prime minister through the district administration.
   Nakhsatra admitted receipt of the ministry letter. He, however, refuted the allegation made against him although a KHDC official acknowledged the embezzlement.
   ‘We (some employees of the council) have done all the things with the instruction of the chairman,’ the official said.

An enabling policy environment will easily raise aquaculture’s contribution to the GDP by more than 10 per cent. Aquaculture could also play a significant role in reducing poverty.
   Marking the national fisheries fortnight across the country — Jatiya Matshya Pakha-2005 — speakers at a seminar said such an opportunity should not be ignored and as the government should treat aquaculture at a par with other thrust industries to maximise its potential.
   They said production of fish is 2.1 million tonnes against a demand of 3.7 million. Aquaculture apparently contributes at least 43 per cent of the internal demand.
   Chaired by the secretary of the ministry of fisheries and livestock, Md Abdul Karim, the seminar — Policy Stakeholders’ Consultation on Dynamic Agribusiness Focused Aquaculture for Poverty Reduction — jointly organised by the fisheries ministry, World Fish Centre and Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation in the capital on Sunday.
   Abdullah Al-Noman, fisheries minister, attended as chief guest while secretary for finance, Siddiqur Rahman Chowdhury, central bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed and principal secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, attended as special guests.
   Aquaculture is still a sub-sector accounting for only 5 per cent of the GDP and much of the potential of the sub-sector remains unfulfilled. The area under aquaculture can be increased by two to three times with some government initiatives and a workable lease policy of the public wetlands.
   The yield, one of the lowest in the world, could be increased several fold with the introduction of new methods and advanced technologies.
   According to the policy working paper on dynamic agribusiness focused aquaculture for poverty reduction and economic growth, aquaculture is playing an important role in improving livelihoods of the rural poor. It could make a much greater contribution if supported by appropriate government policies, observed the paper.
   There are some barriers to entry and efficient operation of aquaculture enterprises that largely revolve around financial resource constraints such as shortage of capital, lack of knowledge, high interest rates, inappropriate loan repayment schedules and poor management of financial resources.
   Abdullah Al-Noman said integrated activities including an action plan and a policy is important for sustainable development of the sector.
   Micro credit for the rural poor, training facilities, improvement of research infrastructure, replication of good models of fish cultivation, productivity development, quality improvement, changing water body management policy and pro-poor technology are among the problems of the fisheries sector, he said.
   Mahmudul Karim, Reazul Karim Talukder, Mahfuzuddin Ahmed, MA Taslim and Hossain Zillur Rahman also spoke.

Several hundred teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions on Sunday held a rally at Muktangan in the capital to press home their demands for increase in house rent or a government initiative to provide residence facilities.
   Following the rally, the teachers and employees under the banner of National Front of Teachers and Employees brought out a procession. Each had a miniature house of wood, paper and straw in their hand signifying their demand.
   ‘The government provides only Tk 100 as house rent. It is farcical,’ said the front’s chief coordinator and convener, Quazi Faruque Ahmed. ‘The allowance was introduced in 1984, but has not been increased since.’
   The non-government educational institutes receive 90 per cent of the teachers’ salaries from the government exchequer with a house rent of Tk 100. Around five lakh teachers and employees are engaged in about 30,000 non-government educational institutes — post-primary school to master’s level.
   Chaired by Quazi Faruque, the rally was also addressed among others by the Awami League-backed front’s central leaders Sheikh Amanullah, M Azizul Islam, M Asadul Huq and M Arzu.
   They took out a procession at about 12:30pm and moved towards the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education on Topkhana Road but the police intercepted the procession at the Paltan crossing.
   The front is a combine of 11 organisations of non-government teachers and employees of schools and colleges that is pressing for an eight-point charter of demands.
   Apart from a hundred per cent government contribution to their salary, the teachers and employees also demand a 30 per cent dearness allowance.
   The other demands include immediate withdrawal of all circulars issued by the education ministry that go against the interests of teachers and employees, and implementation of recommendations of UNESCO and the International Labour Organisation related to the dignity of the teachers.

The High Court division of the Supreme Court stayed the removal order of the chairman of the Bandarban municipality, Mazibur Rahman Biplab, in a verdict issued Saturday on a writ petition.
   The High Court bench comprising Justices Abdul Matin and Mamunur Rahman of the Supreme Court issued the order Saturday and asked the government to show cause within four weeks on the removal of the municipal chairman.
   The LGRD and cooperatives ministry fired Biplab on allegation of corruption on August 7.

At least 30 students were injured in a clash between two groups of the university unit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal on the Islamic University campus on Sunday.
   The students fired some 30 rounds of bullets and ransacked the office the proctor. They pelted brick bats and chased each other.

Khondokar Mohammad Abul Khair, a retired UNDP official, has demanded judicial inquiry into the death of his eldest son Khondokar Iqbal Hossain Masum, who was killed in ‘crossfire’ between the detective branch and criminals on July 9.
   Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club on Sunday, Abul Khair said Masum was a first year student of management department at Jagannath University and he was never involved in any criminal activity.
   ‘There was no case or general diary lodged against Masum who always remain busy with his study, playing soccer and guitar’, he claimed and said even the people of their locality did not have any complaint against his eldest son.
   Blaming some officials of the No 4 team of the detective branch, Abul Khair alleged that the team, led by inspector Nurul Alam, picked up Masum when he had just come out after attending a family function at Mehedi Community Centre at Asad Gate under Mohammadpur on the night of July 8.
   The police inspector had a conversation with two men of Bhola over telephone for about 20 minutes before they picked up Masum on the night, he alleged.
   He said he had a conflict with a union parishad chairman Iqbal Hossain Likhon over the UP election in 1998 and filed three cases against him. He suspects the police might have been inspired by the UP chairman to kill Masum.
   Later, the detective branch claimed that they found Masum dead after a gunfight with a gang of criminals at Rayerbazar early July 9.
   They also branded Masum ‘criminal’, who had been accused in half a dozen murder cases but the Mohammadpur police denied the charges, Abul Khair told the newsmen.
   ‘I would have no complaint about the death of Masum if he was a criminal or he was killed by any criminal, but why did the law enforcers kill my innocent son’, he questioned.

The Pakistan high commissioner to Bangladesh, Rafiquzzaman Siddique, on Sunday assured that he would arrange for the treatment of Nasim Khan, a leader of stranded Pakistanis, when their delegation submitted a memorandum to him.
   The stranded Pakistanis demonstrated in the Dhaka city on Sunday demanding implementation of three treaties with provisions for their repatriation.
   They also demanded the highest civil award for their leader, M Nasim Khan, and prompt arrangement for his medical treatment. Nasim is undergoing treatment at the Islami Bank Community Hospital in Rangpur. His condition is stated to be critical.
   Hundreds of the stranded Pakistanis from different camps across the country under the banner of Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee gathered on Gaznabi road of Mohammadpur at 11:00am.
   As per the plan announced earlier, they marched towards the Pakistan high commission in Dhaka to lay siege to it.
   But the police intercepted them at the Shahjahan Road crossing. The marchers tried to break the barricade and there was tension for some time.
   The police brought the situation under control and the protesters sat on down on the street. A five-member team led by the committee’s president, Abdul Zabbar Khan, went to the high commission and submitted a memorandum.
   Addressing the gathering, they urged the governments who signed the treaties in 1973, 1988 and 1992 to take steps to implement them.
   The first treaty was signed among Bangladesh, India and Pakistan governments and the latter two between Bangladesh and Pakistan.
   They also urged the government to arrange for Nasim’s medical treatment.
   They accused the high commission in Dhaka of being ‘hostile towards the stranded Pakistanis’.
   The Pakistan envoy in Dhaka assured the leaders of the stranded Pakistanis that it would special medical treatment for Nasim as he received the memorandum.
   ‘The high commissioner told us to meet him on Tuesday again, to discuss the issue,’ said Iqbal Khan, the office secretary of the committee.
   Nasim joined numerous international conferences to solve the problem of the stranded Pakistanis languishing in 70 camps in 13 districts for more than three decades.
   A total of 2,50,000 stranded Pakistanis live in Bangladesh.

Three candidates will contest the by-election to the Faridpur-1 by-election on August 30 as three more aspirants withdrew their candidature on Sunday, the last date for withdrawal of candidature.
   Shah Mohammad Abu Zafar of the BNP-led four-party ruling alliance, Krishak Md Sadeq of Bangladesh Krishak Mukti Andolon and independent candidate Mufti Sharafat Hossain are in the race.
   Independent candidates AKM Jamaluddin, Nurul Abedin and Maulana Mujibur Rahman withdrew their candidature on Sunday.
   Earlier, Kazi Sirajul Islam of the four-party alliance withdrew his candidature on August 11 as the BNP high command decided to change the party candidate.
   The seat comprising Boalmari, Alfadanga and Madhukhali upazilas in Faridpur district fell vacant as Kazi Siraj, who was elected MP on the Awami League ticket in 2001, and joined the BNP in June.
   The Awami League is not contesting the by polls.

The government will set up three more police stations in Dhaka and Chittagong soon.
   The decision was made at a meeting of the National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reorganisation on Sunday, with the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, in the chair.
   The new police stations will be created dividing the existing Keraniganj and Savar thanas in Dhaka and Fatikchari thana in Chittagong, the cabinet secretary, Saadat Hussain, told newsmen after the meeting.
   The new thana to be constituted with a part of Fatikchari police station will be named Bhujpur police station.
   The name of the police station in the southern part of Keraniganj has been proposed as Subardha police station while the name of the new thana to be created dividing Savar police station as Dhamsona police station.
   The names of these two thanas would be fanalised after consultation with people’s representatives of those areas, Hussain said.

A youth, who went to Rajshahi from Dhaka, was killed by miscreants on Sunday.
   The police recovered his body from Hotel Gulshan in the town at around 8:00pm.
   The deceased was identified as Arif, 29, son of Abul Bashar of 79/7, East Rajabazar in the capital.
   The body bore several marks of injury. The motive behind the killing could not be known immediately.