Main Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The law enforcing agencies investigating the August 17 series of blasts detained four more people at Zia International Airport on Wednesday.
   The four suspects, whose identities were not disclosed by the investigators on Wednesday, were offloaded from two flights as they were going outside the country, police sources said.
   One of suspects was going to Saudi Arabia by a Saudia flight while the rest were on their way to Malaysia by a Malaysian Airlines flight. The four were taken straight to the headquarters of an intelligence agency in the city for interrogation.
   Police sources said the four had been detained for suspected involvement in the countrywide bomb blasts on August 17.
   With 11 fresh arrests on Wednesday, the number of people detained rose to 165, the sources said.
   The police on August 22 detained a prominent Islamic scholar, Maulana Fariduddin Masuod, at ZIA as he was leaving the country for London. He is now on police remand.
   The airport police also arrested a former president of the Sylhet district unit of Ahle Hadith Andolan, Abdus Sabur Mithu, from the airport area on suspicion on Tuesday.
   The police produced him before the chief metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday and the metropolitan magistrate, Shafiq Anwar, ordered to send him to jail.
   Meanwhile, a home ministry official told newsmen on Wednesday that four suspects arrested earlier admitted to the members of the joint interrogation cell that they had been involved in the August 17 blasts.
   Two of them, Moniruzzaman Munna and Nasiruddin Dafadar, were from Satkhira while the others from Kushtia.
   The members of the joint interrogation cell continued interrogation with a hope that they might get more information leading to the disclosure of the clues behind the blasts, said the joint secretary (political), Mohammad Mohsin, of the home ministry while briefing newsmen on Wednesday.
   Four more suspected militants were arrested Tuesday night in connection with the blasts. Two of them were nabbed in Khulna while one each in Rajshahi and Dhaka.
   About the interrogation of the former Islamic Foundation director, the official said, Farid also gave important information about the source of his fund. ‘We came to know that he received huge foreign donations but the exact amount is yet to be known.’
   The agency people are now concentrated on the spending of the money Fariduddin received, he said.
   Admitting the presence of a US expert, James Dalton Telfar, in Dhaka, Mohsin said the government was yet to invite any foreign assistance regarding the August 17 blasts.
   Telfar has visited a number of spots and held meeting with the government officials since his arrival in the city two days ago, he said but declined to elaborate.
   Sources close to the investigators said the two men of Satkhira, Munna and Nasir, had reportedly told the JIC members that Shaikh Abdur Rahman, chief of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujaheedin, had held a meeting with the Satkhira activists two months ago.
   In Pabna, Mehedi Hasan, a leader of the Pabna district unit of Awami Juba League, arrested in connection with the August 17 blasts, was taken on a two-day police remand on Tuesday.
   The police claimed that Mehedi was arrested on the basis of intelligence report.
   In Nilphamari, Golam Mostafa, a regional commander of the Mujahideen, arrested from Jaldhaka upazila in Nilphamari for having links with August 17 attacks, was taken on a three-day fresh remand on Wednesday.
   Earlier, he was on a five-day remand and was quizzed until Tuesday.
   The police claimed that Mostafa’s father had admitted the link of his son with the banned Islamist outfit.
   The police picked up one in Bagerhat and three in Satkhira on Wednesday for quizzing.
   The detective branch of the Bagerhat police on Wednesday afternoon picked up Borkatullah Morshed, 30, of Ghunia village under Rani Shankail upazila in Thakurgaon from a ‘madrassah and orphanage’ of Kaldia area under Bagerhat Sadar upazila.
   Borkatullah works as the director of the ‘madrassah and orphanage’ of Kaldia with the help of a non-governmental organisation, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, reportedly run by the money from Kuwait.
   Md Mostofa Kamal, superintendent of police of Bagerhat, said they had picked him up just for quizzing regarding the blasts in Bagerhat.
   The Satkhira police nabbed 3 persons, Mahabubur Rahman Liton, 19, Mamunar Rashid, 18, and Alamgir Hossain, 20, from Alipur area under Satkhira sadar upazila early Wednesday.
   The Satkhira SP Abdur Rahim told New Age that they would be quizzed regarding the blasts.
   On the other hand, Anisur Rahman Khokon and Uzzal, who were arrested earlier and taken under 8-day remand for their suspected involvement in the series bomb blasts, were sent to the joint interrogation cell in Dhaka early Wednesday, the police said.
   The police in Rajshahi detained four people near the Indian diplomatic mission office there, but all four people were released as police did not find anything doubtful about the persons.

Hundreds of Indian truck drivers, helpers and labourers illegally stay inside Bangladesh territory near the land ports, posing a threat to national security, reveals a report of the Bangladesh Rifles.
   The report, recently submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, voiced serious concern as different types of firearms, explosives and illicit drugs are being smuggled into the country through these ‘intrusions’ of Indian trucks and citizens.
   ‘Indian spies in the guise of truck drivers and helpers could easily enter the country because of security lapses at the land ports. This kind of negative activism is very dangerous in the presently changing world situation,’ said the report, recommending immediate steps to tackle the problem.
   It also mentions that Indian nationals during their stay near land ports at night are getting involved in sexual activities in the adjoining areas, risking quick spread of HIV-AIDS.
   ‘The number of prostitutes in the areas adjacent to the ports has increased alarmingly and diseases like AIDS could break out at any time,’ said the Bangladesh Rifles in the report.
   The rate of spread of AIDS is the second fastest in India, surpassed only by South Africa, and it is more alarming in the case of truck drivers, helpers and labourers travelling through the frontier areas, according to the report.
   Some 1,500 to 2,000 Indian trucks are estimated to enter Bangladesh through 26 land ports on an average everyday for export-import activities. All the trucks cannot manage to unload their cargo after arrival for a number of reasons, resulting in overnight stays by several hundred of them inside the country.
   As per customs rules all trucks, while unloading goods, must stay within customs bonded areas, but most ports do not have such areas.
   ‘Rather, there is a lack of sufficient bonded warehouses and godowns within the customs bonded areas, and many Indian trucks stay near ports or even 4-5 kilometres deep in Bangladesh territory in government or private establishments,’ the report said.
   It further mentioned that most of these government and private godowns are surrounded by high walls and it is not possible to see from outside what is going on inside. ‘Actually, the customs authorities have no effective mechanism to control these Indian truck drivers, helpers and other persons entering Bangladesh in the trucks.’
   As the trucks remain out of sight of the port authorities, smugglers can easily import illegal goods with legal ones and transport them in the country at night. ‘Bangladesh Rifles regularly seize such illegal goods from the trucks but most of them remain untraced.’
   The report says the Indian nationals, taking advantage of the loopholes, smuggle diesel from the country through various border points. ‘Before and after unloading, the trucks fill up their oil tanks. In some cases, they take away fuel in polythene bags and jerry-cans with the help of godown owners.’
   As diesel price here is much lower than in India, the report mentions that lion’s share of the fuel is smuggled out of the country in this way.
   Bangladesh Rifles said that India always tries to push in Bangla-speaking Indian Muslims through the border, but the attempts are foiled due to strong vigilance of the paramilitary forces.
   ‘But the stay of a huge number of Indian trucks creates scope for them (Indians) to indirectly push such people into Bangladesh,’ the report says.
   ‘The truck drivers, helpers and others accompanying the trucks do not hand over their identity cards and documents to the customs authority. So it is not possible to know whether or not all these Indian people return to their country after unloading the goods.’
   The report mentioned that insufficient port facilities and lack of effective measures by the port authorities were not only having a negative impact on the country’s economy but were also weakening national security.
   To solve the problem, Bangladesh Rifles recommends controlling the movement of the Indian trucks in Bangladesh territory by setting aside certain zones for the trucks to unload their cargo.
   Specific measures should be taken to send back all the Indian trucks on the day of entering and if not, the truck drivers, helpers and workers must be sent back to Indian territory to check spread HIV-AIDS.
   ‘Measures should also be taken so that the Indian trucks can’t refuel inside Bangladesh,’ recommend Bangladesh Rifles.

Three hundred more job-seekers were deported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. They were sent home on three different flights after several days of stay in a deportation camp in Jeddah.
   They were deported as they did not have proper documents and were working illegally. The workers allegedly went to Saudi Arabia with travel and Omrah visas.
   A special operation by the Saudi authorities to identify and deport illegal workers has resulted in a series of deportations of Bangladeshi workers without proper documents in the last few months.
   Sources in the immigration department at Zia International Airport said that they are receiving deportees from Saudi Arabia everyday. The empty-handed workers returned by Air Emirates and Saudi Airlines.
   ‘It is not a new thing for us anymore. We are no longer surprised at receiving empty-handed workers everyday from Saudi Arabia since it has now become a common scene in the airport,’ said an immigration official.
   Certain quarters have expressed concern over the government’s inaction, as it has yet not taken any punitive action against the middlemen who have been cheating the poor people by luring them with promises of good jobs abroad.
   After the Security Service Immigration requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to take action in this regard, a special committee was formed to check the unauthorised migration of workers. The committee is headed by home affairs’ joint secretary (political) Mohammad Mohsin.
   The Special Branch of Police have recently tightened their system for releasing people who want to go abroad with education, travel and Omrah visas.
   ‘Everyday we detect around 10 forged visas. After identifying the forged passports we encouraged the visa holders to file cases against the fraudulent recruiters,’ said an official in the immigration department.
   ‘It is very easy to find the illegal job-seekers, especially when a person wants to go abroad for studying Computer Science but is not able to spell the word ‘computer’, or if someone is wishing to study MBA without having any higher secondary degree,’ said an Special Branch official.
   The Special Branch has also found out that some airlines are involved with the fraudulent recruiting agencies.
   The Special Branch has sent cautionary notices to Singapore Airlines this month as it was found to be involved with unauthorised recruiters. The Tanzanian consulate office in Dhaka also sent a letter to the Special Branch to tighten the immigration procedure as a number of Bangladeshis with forged visas have been found in Dar es Salaam recently.
   The Special Branch will soon send cautionary letters to Yemen Airlines which has sold air tickets to people without proper documents, said sources.

The Power Development Board incurs a loss of about Tk 1,300 crore on the account of purchasing power from private power plants, foreign exchange rate fluctuation and for subsidising the power tariff.
   The board could save around Tk 1,776 crore in six years till June 2004, if it had produced power instead of purchasing it from six independent power plants, revealed a PDB estimate, placed on Wednesday at a meeting of the advisory council of the Power Division.
   A number of members of the council suggested the power division to take up the matter with the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, who is also in charge of the power, energy and mineral resources ministry, and the finance minister, Saifur Rahman, in order for the contracts with the independent power producers to be reviewed.
   The state minister for power, Iqbal Hasan Mahmood, presided over the meeting attended by Awami League lawmaker Rahmat Ali, BNP lawmaker Abu Yusuf Md Khalilur Rahman, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Sayeeful Islam, secretaries of power and energy and mineral resources divisions, Nazrul Islam and AMM Nasir Uddin, and other high officials of different power agencies.
   The PDB estimate for the 2003-2004 fiscal shows that it has incurred a loss of around Tk 494.53 crore only for purchasing power from the six IPPs as the power tariff of IPPs is higher compared to the PDB power plants.
   Besides, it has incurred a loss of Tk 149 crore due to fluctuation of dollars as the PDB is contractually-bound to purchase power from the IPPs in dollars.
   The estimate also shows that the PDB has incurred a loss of Tk 530.56 crore in purchasing power from the Khulna power plant, Tk 427.85 crore from NEPC Haripur plant and Tk 273.26 crore from Baghabari power plant from 1998-99 to 2003-2004 fiscal.
   These are private-sector IPPs. The board has incurred a loss of Tk 317.59 crore in purchasing power from RPCL Mymensingh power plant and Tk 193.22 crore from AES Haripur power plant in 2000-2001 and 2003-2004 fiscal.
   The loss in purchasing power from Meghnaghat power plant is Tk 124.56 crore from 2002 to 2004.
   The estimate shows due to subsidised tariff rate for the consumers, it incurred a loss of Tk427.53 crore in 2003-04 fiscal while the loss for selling power to the Rural Electrification Board is Tk 234.46 crore. The board incurred a loss of Tk 15.36 crore in subsidies in power tariff for agriculture.
   The council meeting suggested that the multinational companies be urged to tag slogans like ‘be economical in using electricity’ in their products.
   ‘It is their [MNCs] social responsibility to encourage people not to waste electricity. They can use little tags to their products discouraging electricity misuse,’ Mahmood told the meeting.
   The meeting also suggested that the consumers should be encouraged to use fluorescent electric bulbs, which use up less electricity, to avert load shedding in the country.

Inflationary pressure on the economy grows by the day although inflation is still below the ceiling of 7.5 per cent fixed by the mid-term macroeconomic framework for the 2004-05 fiscal year.
   The annual rate of inflation has remained above six per cent since last September while monthly data reveal greater fluctuations, mostly dominated by food prices.
   With the country’s balance of payments under pressure, a move to restrict imports may further push the price index higher in the coming months. The onset of Ramadan in just over a month’s time also pose a similar threat.
   External factors like a sharp rise in international oil prices along with the price hike of commodities in the international market, and internal factors including absence of effective state intervention, have kept the inflation level high.
   Both the minister for finance and planning, M Saifur Rahman, and the Bangladesh Bank governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, have publicly acknowledged that the economy is under inflationary pressure.
   Elaborating the reasons, Saifur unilaterally held external factors responsible for the upswing. ‘Prices of fuel and consumer products in the international market have shot up, resulting in an inflation upswing,’ he told a group of lawmakers on August 8.
   The central bank governor, in an interview with New Age on August 6, said inflationary pressure would be checked through prudent application of monetary policy.
   He said without coordination between fiscal, monetary and trade policies, inflation cannot be contained.
   Right after the devastating flood of last year, inflation (point-to-point basis) jumped to 7.92 per cent in October along with food inflation of 10.46 per cent, putting the economy under heavy pressure. The situation, however, started to improve from November and in January the point-to-point inflation rate came down to 5.5 per cent while the annual rate stood at 6.06.
   But inflationary pressure went up from February and the annual rate stood at 6.34 per cent at the end of May, when food inflation was 7.74 per cent. Preliminary estimation of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics revealed that inflation touched 7.2 per cent in June.
   The annual rate of inflation was 5.83 per cent at the end of June 2004, but it was 5.64 per cent at the end of the same period in 2005 on a point-to-point basis.
   Economist Muzaffer Ahmad observed that the inflationary trend would continue further upwards hurting limited-income people mostly due to depreciation of the taka against the dollar and for the upcoming Ramadan.
   ‘As balance of payments is under pressure, move to restricting import flow will push the price level higher as many of the food and food-related items will become costlier,’ he said.
   Acknowledging the external factors pushing up inflation, he added that the government has no efficient mechanism to bridge the gap between demand and supply.
   The economist was also doubtful about whether official inflation data, prepared by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, actually reflected the real scenario.
   ‘Besides food, non-food items like education, housing and transport have become very expensive, but due to limited weight in the consumer price index, these price pressures are not reflected in the inflation rate,’ said Muzaffer.
   He pointed out that according to the conditions of the International Monetary Fund, the central bank would not be able to supply dollar to the foreign exchange market.
   The Asian Development Bank, in its latest update report, also termed food price hike the route cause of inflation.
   ‘Increased prices of imported goods caused by the higher international oil prices combined with the rise in import prices due to the taka’s depreciation has also fuelled inflationary pressure in the economy., the report stated.

At least eight people were killed and many others injured when two buses collided head-on at Srinagar upazila in Munshiganj on Wednesday.
   The police and local people said a Mawa-bound bus from Dhaka plunged into a roadside ditch at Kamarkhola after it collided with another bus at about 12:45 pm.
   Eight people died on the spot and many others sustained injuries, the police said.

Three human rights organisations on Wednesday served a legal notice to the government, seeking measures to stop all gas exploration activities by Niko Resources until compensation for two blow-outs is fully realised and the interests of the people are fully protected.
   The notice was served after blow-outs at the Chhatak (Tengratila) gas-field, operated by Niko under the ‘so-called’ joint venture agreement signed between Niko and Bapex on October 16, 2003, said a press release.
   The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, Ain O Salish Kendra and Odhikar served the notice upon secretaries of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, the ministries of law and environment, chairman of Petrobangla and managing director of Bapex, among others.
   The notice mentioned that the fire due to the blow-outs on January 7 and June 24 has been continuing unabated, causing serious and irreparable damage to the sub-surface gas reserves, infrastructure, soil of the area, assets of local people, forest and the local flora and fauna, adversely affecting the ecology.
   The notice claimed that the joint venture agreement with Niko was signed in violation of the constitution and national laws, policies, rules and regulations. The agreement is grossly undermining the national and public interest, and is a glaring example of abuse of power by a few identified office-holders that amounts to legally punishable criminal breach of trust and fraud.
   The notice asked the authorities to inform the human rights organisations of the measures they have taken within 48 hours, otherwise appropriate legal action under the law and constitution to protect public properties and public interest would be taken.

The private sector landline phone operators are likely to invest around Tk 3,000 crore in the next five years in the central zone (Dhaka multi-exchange area) after the opening up of the zone to private operators, according to industry insiders.
   The Bangladesh Telecommuni-cations Regulatory Commission is planning to open up the Dhaka zone after winning the legal battle with the UK-based WorldTel on Tuesday when the Appellate Division upheld an April 23 High Court verdict cancelling the four-year exclusive rights of WorldTel in Dhaka zone.
   Industry sources said that as the central zone is the most lucrative and commercially viable among the five zones segmented by the BTRC across thecountry, most of the PSTN operators that got licences for the four other zones have been eagerly waiting for licences to operate in the central zone.
   ‘The central zone could attract private sector investment of around Tk 3,000 crore,’ said Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, director (operations) of Bashundhara Communication and Network Ltd which obtained the first PSTN licence in the private sector under the open licensing system.
   Humayun said that since the demand is highest in the central zone, most of the 19 operators who obtained around 35 licences in four zones —- Southwest, Southeast, Northwest and Northeast — will compete fiercely to get a slice of the huge untapped zone.
   According to BTRC officials, there is a demand for around 25 lakh land-line phones in the central zone at present, and at east 10 companies could easily be given licences to operate in the zone because of the huge demand.
   The multi-exchange area covers Dhaka city, Jinjira, Savar, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Tongi, which account for, according to the commission, about 60 per cent of the total demand for telephones in Bangladesh.
   Humayun, however, said that despite the high demand in the central zone, only big companies with deep pockets will survive in the investment race as the profits will be made after two or three years of operation. Moreover, the profits may have to be re-invested for expansion of network and infrastructure.
   The private sector PSTN operators said that the government should give licences to the existing private operators instead of inviting new players into the zone.
   Jakaria Swapan, chief executive officer of RanksTel which is now operating in Chittagong, also said that the government should allow the existing PSTN operators into the central zone instead of crowding the zone with new operators.
   However, according to officials, though the BTRC had earlier fixed licence fee at Tk 5 crore under the open licensing system, it is now considering adoption of the auction system to award licences for the zone.
   But Humayun of Bashundhara argued that if the commission goes for the auction system, the local companies would not be able to compete with the foreign companies which have huge financial resources.
   Jakaria Swapan also observed that there should not be a separate rule for the central zone as the government had earlier provided PSTN licences under the open licensing system in other zones.
   Earlier, the commission had invited bids for private land-line operation on February 17 under the open licensing system in four zones.
   The central zone was kept out of the open licensing system as WorldTel, which obtained a licence in July 2001 from the government to provide 3,00,000 landlines in Dhaka city at an investment of about $300 million on a build-own-operate basis with four years’ exclusive rights, issued a legal notice to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in January 2004, preventing any move to open up the area to other operators.
   The WorldTel filed a writ in the High Court in August, 2004 after BTRC cancelled its exclusive rights in May the same year.
   The High Court rejected the writ on April 23 this year and its verdict was upheld by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The Chittagong unit Rapid Action Battalion located the grave of the abducted businessman Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury at Kanchannagar of Fatikchari in Chittagong, 35 miles off the city.
   The battalion members Wednesday evening left for the place to dig out the grave and recover the remains.
   Jamal Uddin’s family members and some newsmen also accompanied the battalion team.
   The battalion could locate the grave based on the statement of the arrested suspect Kala Mahbub, the officials said.
   The battalion commander, Colonel Kazi Emdadul Huq, told New Age that the team had located the place where Jamal Uddin had been buried after his killing by the abductors. Jamal Uddin’s eldest son, Chowdhury Forman Reza, said, ‘We are going to the place to identify the body. The battalion asked us to go with the team.’
   The battalion team also took Kala Mahbub to the place during a drive at Fatikchhari on Tuesday.
   Kala Mahbub was the bodyguard of the prime suspect, Kasem Chairman of Fatikchhari, who is still in hiding. Kala Mahbub was in prison after his arrest by the battalion in 2004.
   He was brought for interrogation by the battalion from the prison as another suspect, Shahid Chairman of Anowara, said that Kala Mahbub had killed Jamal Uddin. The battalion recently arrested Shahid Chairman at Patenga in Chittagong.
   Shahid initially made confusing statements on the killing. Kala Mahbub also first told the battalion that Jamal was alive and hostage at Khagrachari.
   During interrogation for the past two days, Kala Mahbub said Jamal had been killed and buried at Kanchannagar, the battalion officials said.
   Shahid chairman during interrogation by the battalion said Maruf Nizam, younger brother of the local law maker Sarwar Jamal Nizam, planned the abduction over a land-related dispute, the officials said.
   Jamal, also local leader of the ruling BNP, was abducted on July 24, 2003 from Chawkbazar in the city when he was on his way home at Chandgaon at night.

A Dhaka speedy trial tribunal on Wednesday sentenced police sergeant Zulfikar Ali to five years’ rigorous imprisonment on charge of robbing a businessman at Bijaynagar in Dhaka of Tk 14 lakh on June 27.
   The tribunal 6 magistrate Mir Ali Reza gave the ruling in the presence of the police sergeant. The court fined him Tk 10,000, in default to suffer three more months in jail.
   The court observed that the convict was to serve people and to keep discipline and ensure security at public places. But he abused the power of his uniform.
   The police sergeant stopped Azhar Ali, a money exchange agent, near the General Post Office and took away his bag that contained Tk 5,000 and 50,000 Saudi riyals as he was on his way home on Maneshwar Road at Jigatala at about 5:00pm.
   On Azhar’s oral complaint, a detective squad went to Gulistan where the sergeant left his motorcycle, sunglasses, papers and the key to the motorcycle.
   After examining the belongings, the detective team arrested Zulfikar from his residence; but the money could not be recovered.
   The investigation officer pressed charge accusing him on July 9 after filing a case under the Law and Order Infringing Offences (Speedy Trial) Act 2002 with the Paltan police.
   Twenty-four witnesses out of the 32 were cross-examined.

Terming the August 17 countrywide series of bomb blasts a threat to national security, a civic forum of litterateurs, journalists, teachers and former bureaucrats urged all political parties to reach a consensus and stand against violence.
   Addressing a roundtable in Dhaka on Wednesday, they also urged the government to convene a special session of Jatiya Sangsad immediately, inviting all opposition lawmakers to discuss the bomb blast issue and make a unanimous decision to stop violence. The Jatiya Nagarik Forum organised the roundtable, ‘the bomb blasts on August 17: our national security,’ at the National Press Club. Ruling BNP cultural front Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha general secretary Babul Ahmed moderated the discussion.
   Poet Al Mahmud, who was in chair, urged all the nationalist political forces to be united against the evil forces that had carried out the bomb blasts.
   Former chief election commissioner Abdur Rouf called on the government to find out the people responsible for the series of bomb attacks. Journalist Sadeq Khan blamed a section of newspapers for creating panic after the blasts. He called on the government to keep vigil against any plot against Bangladesh.
   Referring to media reports that India is lobbying for an international embargo on Bangladesh, he said Dhaka must make its position clear to New Delhi so that Bangladesh does not become victim of conspiracy of any kind.
    ‘A vested quarter is trying to prove that Bangladesh is a failed state and the extremist forces are abetting such conspiracies,’ Sadeq Khan said.
   Former brigadier general Sakhawat Hossain regretted that the issue of national security has been ignored in Bangladesh.
   He talked about the absence of any parliamentary committee on national security and called on the government to form such a committee.
   Chittagong University professor Mahub Ullah, poet Al Mujahidi, journalists Gias Kamal Chowdhury, Gaziul Hasan Khan, Abul Asad, Alamgir Mohiuddin, Ruhul Amin Gazi, and Abdul Hye Shikder, industrialist Abul Kasem Hayder, Jahangirnagar University teacher Tareq Shamsur Rahman, and lawyer AKM Badruddoza took part in the discussion.

Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission meeting scheduled for August 30-31 in Dhaka has been deferred, officials said.
   The Indian water resources minister, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, was to lead his country to the 36th JRC meet, which is now likely to be held next month.
   A competent source told the agency that the deferment was necessary as current session of Indian parliament was extended up to August 31, when the Indian cabinet ministers usually remain busy. The session was earlier supposed to be prorogued on August 26.
   Efforts are underway to hold the JRC meeting early next month,’ the source said.
   Because of the parliament session, the Indian energy and mineral resources minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, has also changed his schedule and is expected to visit Dhaka on September 5-6.

In separate incidents, two small planes wandered into restricted air space over the Idaho resort where the US president, George W Bush, is staying, but he was never in danger, the White House said on Tuesday.
   The planes committed a ‘minor violation of temporary flight restrictions’ put in place to protect the president, the White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said.
   ‘The president was never in any danger and the systems designed to protect him worked effectively,’ Duffy said.
   Duffy said the planes were directed to land; both pilots were questioned by local law enforcement and Secret Service agents and released.
   The White House spokesman said the matter was referred to the Federal Aviation Administration for any administrative action.
   The FAA would be responsible for any sanctions or license-revocation issues that might arise in connection with the incidents.
   In a break from his month-long Texas vacation, Bush is staying at Tamarack Resort in the Idaho Mountains 145 kilometres north of Boise. Bush, who has sought to counter anti-war protesters and sagging public opinion about the war in Iraq, is scheduled to deliver a speech and meet with a group of military families on Wednesday in Idaho. Bush went fishing for ‘a couple of hours,’ Duffy said.

Saddam Hussein met his lawyer and the chief judge investigating charges against him on Tuesday and confirmed that the rest of his legal team had been sacked.
   ‘The judge asked the president, Saddam Hussein, about his family’s statement that his legal team had been fired and he confirmed it,’ Khalil Dulaimi, the only lawyer authorised to represent the toppled Iraqi leader, said.
   Saddam’s family scrapped the international team of attorneys claiming to represent him and will pick a new set of heavyweight lawyers to defend him against war crimes charges, his family’s lawyer, Abdel Haq Alani, said this month.
   He said Saddam’s family had revoked any right of attorney previously issued to any lawyers to represent Saddam, and had chosen Dulaimi who attends Saddam’s court hearings as the ‘only authorised lawyer at this moment.’
   Alani said Saddam’s family had been irked by press statements from Arab and Western lawyers and propagandists who claimed to speak on behalf of the ousted leader, including high profile lawyers from France, Britain and the United States.
   More than 2,000 lawyers had volunteered for Saddam’s defence team, including the former US attorney general, Ramsey Clark, and a daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
   Accused of torturing and killing thousands of Iraqis, Saddam is expected to be put on trial for his life within two months.
   So far, he has been formally charged in only one case—the mass killing of Shia Muslims in the village of Dujail following a failed assassination attempt against him in 1982. If he found guilty, he faces the death penalty.
   The special tribunal trying Saddam released a photograph of him, Dulaimi and Ra’id Juhi, the young judge investigating accusations that Saddam committed crimes against humanity during three decades of rule.
   Dulaimi said he held four hours of talks with Saddam, who is in Iraqi legal custody but is in US physical custody on the outskirts of Baghdad. He did not elaborate.

The parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry on Wednesday recommended that the government should finalise the monthly payment orders for 36,000 teachers of different private schools, colleges, madrassahs and vocational institutes within the next two months.
   The committee also suggested that the government should continue the process of including MPOs for the teachers in their monthly salary receipts and that the process should be delegated to district education offices from the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education.
   The 23rd meeting of the committee was held in the morning with committee chairman Shamsul Alam Pramanik in the chair. Committee members Abu Yousuf Mohammad Khalilur Rahman, AKM Selim Reza Habib, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury and Abdul Gafur Bhuiyan were present and so was the education minister, M Osman Farruk.
   The committee suggested that candidates having two third classes should be eligible for appointments as teacher in the English department of the private colleges to fill up the huge number of vacant posts, said sources present in the meeting. Presently, those who have one third class are eligible for the post.
   The committee members also recommended that the number of MPOs should be increased to three from two for each subject in the degree colleges considering the number of students and that salary should be paid to the teachers on a specific date every month.
   They expressed their concern over various irregularities at the directorate and asked the director general to check the irregularities. It also suggested structural changes in the organogram of the directorate, asking the DG to submit recommendations in this regard, the sources said.
   The committee suggested changes in the structure of the managing committee of the private schools, colleges and madrassahs to check irregularities.
   ‘We have recommended the continuation of the MPO inclusion process through appointing all the teachers qualified by the National Teachers Registration Certifying Authority by October 31 to overcome the teachers’ crisis in the institutions,’ Pramanik told New Age after the meeting.
   If the government provides 75 per cent salary to 36,000 teachers, it will require Tk 203.56 crore in the current year while the amount would be Tk 207.46 crore if it provides 90 per cent, he said. ‘We have suggested the payment of 90 per cent, if possible; if not, the government may provide 75 per cent initially.’
   He also said the committee had decided to decentralise the MPO inclusion procedure to all the district education offices to provide relief to the teachers from harassment and procrastination, besides putting a check on the irregularities at the directorate.
   ‘Even the teachers themselves will be able to check whether or not the applications were submitted to the directorate properly through internet as the authorities were asked to open a website soon,’ he added.
   He also informed that though the committee suggested the inclusion of MPO for vacant posts in old colleges which are already getting the facility, there was still no possibility of including new institutions under the MPO soon. ‘The new institutions will be included after proper inspection but it will take time.’
   Pramanik also said a subcommittee, formed earlier to probe various irregularities in the directorate, had already submitted report; it will be discussed in the next meeting.
   The sub-committee was asked to prepare a report on the appointment of additional teachers, irregularities in appointment, violation of appointment procedure and politicisation and localisation in the appointments.

A Peruvian Boeing 737-200 went down in a storm near the Amazon jungle city of Pucallpa, killing at least 70 of the 100 people on board, the president, Alejandro Toledo, announced.
   Only about 20 or 30 of the 93 passengers and seven crew members survived the crash of the TANS Airlines flight from Lima, Toledo said.
   The transportation minister, Jose Ortiz, had previously said most of those aboard had survived.
   The aircraft was less than five kilometres from Pucallpa airport when it crashed near a road at 3:06pm, according to a control tower official.
   The official said a storm had broken out as the plane approached the airport.
   A Radio Programs of Peru reporter at the scene said he saw several dead bodies, and a survivor said he had seen more than 20 people injured, mostly with burns and fractures.
   The RPP reporter said he saw dead children, including babies, around the crash site. He also saw the body of a woman in a flight attendant’s uniform.
   Hospital official Bertha Garcia said the local hospital had received five bodies and 23 injured.
   Company spokesman, Jorge Belevan, told reporters, ‘Preliminary information shows that the accident was caused by a cross-wind at the moment of landing. Although the pilots are as skilled as they can be, unfortunately, the plane was lost.’
   One of the survivors, Tomas Ruiz, told RPP the plane appeared to be affected by the bad weather.
   ‘With 10 minutes remaining for us to land in Pucallpa we noticed that the plane was moving too much because of the weather.’
   Toledo said he had ordered all necessary assistance for survivors and rescue workers, and said investigation of the cause of the crash has already started.

A former teacher of Lalmatia Women’s College was found dead in her Dhanmondi residence early Wednesday with her throat slit.
   The police suspect that Kazi Shuhin Nahar, 51, sister of former cabinet secretary Kazi Shamsul Islam and former Bangladesh Medical Association secretary general Kazi Shahidul Islam, may have been killed by Shariful Islam, a domestic help.
   ‘We suspect that the domestic help may have had a hand in the killing as there is no sign of anyone breaking into the house,’ said sub-inspector Mushtaq Ahmed, who has been assigned to investigate the murder.
   The police are also not ruling out the possibility that Shuhin might have been killed as part of a plan to grab her property.
   Sharif, 18, who comes from Kishoreganj, has, meanwhile, gone missing since Tuesday night.
   People in the neighbourhood and security guards of the house told journalists that they had seen him leave with a bag.
   His departure raised suspicion among the tenants of the building — 69/C Dhanmondi Road 6/A — since they had not seen Shuhin in the past few days.
   They called her brother, Shahid, who went to the house with a squad from the Dhanmondi police station at about 2:45am and found her body in a pool of blood.

At least 20 persons, including the principal and teachers of Sherpur Polytechnic Institute, were injured in an attack allegedly by activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal on Wednesday.
   Witnesses said a group of about 20 JCD activists launched the attack over removal of a plaque inscribed with the name of whip Jahed Ali Chowdhury, minister in charge of Sherpur.
   The JCD men barged into the room of the principal of the institute at about 11:30am and asked him why the plaque of the whip had been removed.

Bangladesh and Myanmar on Wednesday concluded the final round of negotiations towards an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   Both countries agreed on such critical issues as dividend, interest, royalties, profit from capital and incomes of student that fall under the purview of the proposed agreement, likely to be signed sometime this year, sources in the National Board of Revenue told New Age.
   After a three-day talks that began on August 22, A S Jahir Muhammad, NBR member on income tax policy, and U Aye Ko, deputy director general of the Myanmar internal revenue department, initialled the draft agreement in the NBR conference room.
   According to the draft, dividend, interest and royalties deriving from investment in any of the countries will be taxable in the investing country only at a reduced rate.
   The income generating from students up to $2,000 a year will be tax free.
   The tax on income to be generated from air and ship freights will be halved from what it is now, sources said.
   ‘The initialled agreement will now be placed on Jatiya Sangsad and the law ministry before the final agreement is signed,’ Jahir told New Age. ‘We are expecting to sign the agreement in the last quarter of 2005, once formalities in both the countries are completed.’
   Bangladesh has so far signed 24 agreements on the avoidance of double taxation with countries such as the United States, Britain, India, Pakistan, Thailand and Japan.
   An increase in foreign investment is the sole reason for signing such agreements, NBR high officials said.
   The NBR chairman, Khairuzzaman Chowdhury, Apurba Kanti Das, first secretary (policy), Tahmid Hasnat Khan (second secretary), Motiur Rahman (second secretary) and Ranjit Kumar Das (second secretary) were also present at the signing ceremony.

Another suspected underground operative was killed in a gunfight with the police on the Kushtia-Meherpur highway under Mirpur upazila in Kushtia early Wednesday, raising the crossfire death toll to 378 since June 2004.
   An Alamdanga police squad arrested Abdur Rashid Sagar, 42, believed to be a regional commander of the underground Purba Banglar Communist Party (Janajuddha), at a village in Kushtia upazila headquarters on Tuesday. He was wanted in more than a dozen criminal cases, including eight murders, the police claimed.
   Based on his statement, a police team took Sagar to Mirpur upazila to track down his associates.
   As the team came closer to Sadarpur, a group of armed men opened fire, resulting in a shootout in which more than 50 rounds were exchanged.
   Half an hour later, after the gangsters had retreated, the police found Sagar critically wounded.
   He was taken to the Mirpur upazila health complex where on-duty doctors declared him dead.

A minor boy drowned and about 35,000 people rendered homeless on Tuesday afternoon as tidal surge coupled with heavy downpour flooded low lying areas in Chittagong.
   The local administration and Red Crescent officials said over 1,000 houses and huge crops had also been damaged in Sandwip, Anwara and Banshkali in the past three days.
   They said a 10-year boy drowned at Gohira in Anwara when his family was moving for a safe place.
   The head of Chittagong Red Crescent, Golam Rabbani, said the surge submerged huge areas of the three upazilas.
   Twenty thousand people were homeless in Sandwip, he said and added that most of their houses had gone under five to six feet water and the situation worsened with incessant rainfall here.
   New Age Khulna correspondent adds: A large tract of cropland and about 100 shrimp enclosures in 10 villages of Kayra submerged following a surge in river Kobadak on Wednesday morning.
   The village are Harinkhola, Khalpara, Madhyapara, Andharait, Gobra, Ghatakhali, Uratala, 2 No Kayra, 3 No Kayra and Madinabad.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday sentenced three Nepalese nationals, two women and a man, to life-term imprisonment for carrying drugs.
   An additional judge, Mohammad Nazrul Islam, of the metropolitan sessions judge court handed down the verdict.
   The convicts are Sunita Pun Sagor, Brindhu Maya Gurung and Lal Bahadur Tamang.
   They were indicted for carrying drugs at Zia International Airport in the Dhaka in May 2001.
   They were present at the court as the judge pronounced the verdict.
   The customs officials of the airport, after searching a bag of the women, recovered nine kilograms of cannabis worth of Tk 4.5 crore as they were going to Nepal on May 6, 2001.
   The other convict, Lal Bahadur Tamang, was arrested at Patgram of Lalmonirhat district when he tried to flee through a land check post after hearing the news of the arrest of the two women.

The Awami League and its front organisations on Wednesday observed the first anniversary of Ivy Rahman’s death.
   AL leaders and activists, including Sheikh Hasina, paid homage to Ivy, AL women affairs secretary and wife of AL presidium member Zillur Rahman, who died after being injured in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on a party rally in Dhaka.
   Zillur and other members of her family placed wreaths at her grave. AL general secretary Abdul Jalil and joint general secretary Obaidul Kader also placed wreaths. A prayer session was held at the Gulshan residence of Zillur where Hasina attended.