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The High Court on Monday declared illegal the fifth amendment to the constitution made by martial law proclamations.
   A High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Huq and Justice ATM Fazley Kabir also declared illegal and void the martial law proclamations, including the Martial Law Regulation 7 of 1977 that deals with abandoned property, and all actions done under the martial law between August 1975 and April 1979.
   The court delivered the judgement upon hearing a writ petition filed over the dispute over an abandoned property, Moon Cinema, in Dhaka.
   The court, however, ‘condoned’ the works done for social development, actions those are past and closed, the orders cancelling the fourth amendment to the constitution and other acts that are not unconstitutional.
   According to the verdict, those matters will not be deemed illegal or void under the declaration the court has made.
   The court also observed that usurpation of the state power through martial law proclamations, particularly by Khondoker Moshtaque Ahmed, Justice Abu Sadaat Mohammad Sayem and major general Ziaur Rahman was unconstitutional.
   Proclaiming martial law is unconstitutional and those who have proclaimed martial law so far are liable to sedition charges, the court said in its 22-point observation.
   ‘Taking over the powers of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh with effect from the morning of August 15, 1975 by Khondoker Moshtaque Ahmed, the usurper, placing Bangladesh under Martial Law and his (Moshtaque) assumption of the office of the President of Bangladesh by Proclamation of August 20, 1975 were, in clear violation of the Constitution and as such illegal without lawful authority, and without jurisdiction,’ the court observed. ‘Consequently, all his subsequent actions as the President of Bangladesh were illegitimate and void.’
   The judgement also observed that ‘…by taking over the office of the President of Bangladesh and such entering into the office on November 6, 1975 by Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem and his assumption of the powers of Chief Martial Law Administrator and appointment of Deputy Martial Law Administrator and the proclamation on November 8, 1975 were all in violation of the Constitution, and consequently all such functions, actions as President or CMLA were illegal.
   ‘The handing over of office of Martial Law authority to Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman, by Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem by third proclamation on November 29, 1976, enabling Ziaur Rahman to exercise all powers of the CMLA, being beyond the ambit of the Constitution was illegal, without lawful authority and without jurisdiction and consequently all his subsequent functions and actions as CMLA were illegal.’
   The court also referred to the takeover of the presidency by General Zia on April 21, 1977, and observed that it was also ‘beyond the ambit of the Constitution and as such illegal.’
   About the referendum of 1977 on General Zia’s presidency during the martial law, the court termed it was ‘unknown to the Constitution’.
   The judges said ‘the violation of the Constitution was a grave legal wrong and remains so for all time to come. It cannot be legitimised.’
   The court, however, observed that due to the necessity of the state, ‘such a legal wrong can be condoned in certain circumstances’ invoking the Doctrine of Necessity.
   Although the constitution provides for proclamation of emergency in the state, the proclamation of emergency made after August 15, 1975 was unconstitutional and no one had the jurisdiction for making such proclamation without prior counter signature of the prime minister, said the court.
   The court also directed the government to return Moon Cinema of Dhaka to the writ petitioner, Maksud Alam, within two months.
   Maksud filed the writ petition challenging the validity of a martial regulation, incorporated in the fifth amendment to the constitution and the seventh martial law regulation on abandoned property, under which Moon Cinema was taken over by the government.
   The parliament adopted the fifth amendment to constitution ratifying all martial law actions taken since August 15, 1975 to 1979.
   The government, in 1972, declared the then Moon Cinema at Wizeghat in Dhaka as an abandoned property and gave it to the Muktijoddah Kalyan Trust.
   Maksud filed a writ petition for the restoration of his ownership to the land. The High Court in 1977 ordered the government to give back the property to the petitioner.
   The government, however, did not give the property back to the petitioner stating that as per the Martial Law Regulation of 1977 the judgement was annulled.
   In 1994, he filed another writ petition but the High Court rejected it.
   Maksud filed the present writ petition in 2000 challenging the validity of the martial law regulation.
   The High Court subsequently issued a rule on the government to show cause as to why the fifth amendment to the constitution would not be declared unconstitutional and void.
   MI Faruqui with Ruhul Quddus Babu moved the writ petition, when the rule was issued.
   The case, however, was eventually moved by Azmalul Hossain and Siddiqur Rahman, while additional attorney general Fida M Kamal appeared for the government.
   When asked, the attorney general, AJ Mohammad Ali, told New Age that he was unable to make any comment on the judgement before going through its text.
   The government, however, will prefer an appeal against the judgement to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

A chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday night stayed the judgement of a High Court division bench that declared earlier the fifth amendment to the constitution illegal.
   Pursuant to an application for stay in a civil miscellaneous petition for leave to appeal filed by the attorney general, AJ Mohammad Ali, the chamber judge, Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury, stayed the operation of the High Court judgement in question.
   The chamber judge said that the stay order will be continued until Wednesday, when the matter will be heard by the full bench of the Appellate Division.
   The chamber judge's decision came at 11:30 pm.

The High Court on Monday declared illegal the fifth amendment to the constitution made by martial law proclamations.
   A High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Huq and Justice ATM Fazley Kabir also declared illegal and void the martial law proclamations, including the Martial Law Regulation 7 of 1977 that deals with abandoned property, and all actions done under the martial law between August 1975 and April 1979.
   The court delivered the judgement upon hearing a writ petition filed over the dispute over an abandoned property, Moon Cinema, in Dhaka.
   The court, however, ‘condoned’ the works done for social development, actions those are past and closed, the orders cancelling the fourth amendment to the constitution and other acts that are not unconstitutional.
   According to the verdict, those matters will not be deemed illegal or void under the declaration the court has made.
   The court also observed that usurpation of the state power through martial law proclamations, particularly by Khondoker Moshtaque Ahmed, Justice Abu Sadaat Mohammad Sayem and major general Ziaur Rahman was unconstitutional.
   Proclaiming martial law is unconstitutional and those who have proclaimed martial law so far are liable to sedition charges, the court said in its 22-point observation.
   ‘Taking over the powers of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh with effect from the morning of August 15, 1975 by Khondoker Moshtaque Ahmed, the usurper, placing Bangladesh under Martial Law and his (Moshtaque) assumption of the office of the President of Bangladesh by Proclamation of August 20, 1975 were, in clear violation of the Constitution and as such illegal without lawful authority, and without jurisdiction,’ the court observed. ‘Consequently, all his subsequent actions as the President of Bangladesh were illegitimate and void.’
   The judgement also observed that ‘…by taking over the office of the President of Bangladesh and such entering into the office on November 6, 1975 by Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem and his assumption of the powers of Chief Martial Law Administrator and appointment of Deputy Martial Law Administrator and the proclamation on November 8, 1975 were all in violation of the Constitution, and consequently all such functions, actions as President or CMLA were illegal.
   ‘The handing over of office of Martial Law authority to Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman, by Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem by third proclamation on November 29, 1976, enabling Ziaur Rahman to exercise all powers of the CMLA, being beyond the ambit of the Constitution was illegal, without lawful authority and without jurisdiction and consequently all his subsequent functions and actions as CMLA were illegal.’
   The court also referred to the takeover of the presidency by General Zia on April 21, 1977, and observed that it was also ‘beyond the ambit of the Constitution and as such illegal.’
   About the referendum of 1977 on General Zia’s presidency during the martial law, the court termed it was ‘unknown to the Constitution’.
   The judges said ‘the violation of the Constitution was a grave legal wrong and remains so for all time to come. It cannot be legitimised.’
   The court, however, observed that due to the necessity of the state, ‘such a legal wrong can be condoned in certain circumstances’ invoking the Doctrine of Necessity.
   Although the constitution provides for proclamation of emergency in the state, the proclamation of emergency made after August 15, 1975 was unconstitutional and no one had the jurisdiction for making such proclamation without prior counter signature of the prime minister, said the court.
   The court also directed the government to return Moon Cinema of Dhaka to the writ petitioner, Maksud Alam, within two months.
   Maksud filed the writ petition challenging the validity of a martial regulation, incorporated in the fifth amendment to the constitution and the seventh martial law regulation on abandoned property, under which Moon Cinema was taken over by the government.
   The parliament adopted the fifth amendment to constitution ratifying all martial law actions taken since August 15, 1975 to 1979.
   The government, in 1972, declared the then Moon Cinema at Wizeghat in Dhaka as an abandoned property and gave it to the Muktijoddah Kalyan Trust.
   Maksud filed a writ petition for the restoration of his ownership to the land. The High Court in 1977 ordered the government to give back the property to the petitioner.
   The government, however, did not give the property back to the petitioner stating that as per the Martial Law Regulation of 1977 the judgement was annulled.
   In 1994, he filed another writ petition but the High Court rejected it.
   Maksud filed the present writ petition in 2000 challenging the validity of the martial law regulation.
   The High Court subsequently issued a rule on the government to show cause as to why the fifth amendment to the constitution would not be declared unconstitutional and void.
   MI Faruqui with Ruhul Quddus Babu moved the writ petition, when the rule was issued.
   The case, however, was eventually moved by Azmalul Hossain and Siddiqur Rahman, while additional attorney general Fida M Kamal appeared for the government.
   When asked, the attorney general, AJ Mohammad Ali, told New Age that he was unable to make any comment on the judgement before going through its text.
   The government, however, will prefer an appeal against the judgement to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

The World Bank country director, Christine Wallich, on Monday said election campaign expense in Bangladesh is among the highest in the world, fuelling corruption and hindering infrastructure development.
   The finance minister, M Saifur Rahman, and the state minister for power, Iqbal Hassan Mahmood, however, refuted her and termed her observation ‘sweeping comments on a poor country’.
   They were speaking in the inaugural session of an international workshop on ‘Infrastructure Financing in Bangladesh’ at the Dhaka Sheraton hotel, jointly organised by the Bangladesh Bank and the Board of Investment with the assistance of the World Bank.
   ‘Current problems of infrastructure governance lie outside the infrastructure sectors themselves and lie in Bangladesh’s system of corruption,’ said Wallich, while delivering her speech as special guest.
   Terming election financing one of the major sources of corruption, she quoted some ‘apocryphal’ figures saying $3.3 billion, which is about five per cent of the GDP, were spent by the parties in the last elections.
   ‘If true, this amounts to $21 per capita paid by each and every Bangladeshi, or to put it another way, it is a 5.3 per cent tax on the average income of all Bangladeshis,’ she said.
   Saifur, chief guest of the session, who was not present at the time of Wallich’s speech, also ruled out her observation when newsmen approached him for comments after the formal closure of the session. ‘I don’t agree with her, and such comments are nothing new from the World Bank.
   He pointed out that the election expenditures in the West are much higher than those in the poorer countries like Bangladesh. ‘As we are a poor country, they always blame us for corruption, but what is happening in rich countries like the US?’ he said adding that the government is fighting against corruption.
   Wallich said political parties in Bangladesh do not maintain any audited accounts and depend on funding from routine corruption in the sectors like power.
   ‘In the absence of other party financing mechanisms, corrupt public procurement as well as the patronage system in all sectors and ministries are used to raise vast resources to fill the parties’ election coffers,’ she insinuated.
   She was of the view that without improving the system of election financing, governance reforms in the infrastructure sector would be an uphill task.
   Wallich urged the Election Commission to ensure rigorous and relentless implementation of the High Court’s judgment on asset and income disclosure by the candidates.
   She referred to the High Court’s ‘historic judgment’ in May that all candidates must disclose their incomes, assets and liabilities, the assets and liabilities of family members, their bank loans and repayment status and sources of income, and criminal records, if any.
   She was of the view that such restriction would reduce ‘pressure to use infrastructure as a cash cow or golden goose for party or candidate’, and infrastructure development would be expedited.
   As an example of corruption in the power sector, she mentioned that over the past six years some 15 power plants have been publicly tendered but only three were awarded. ‘The procurement process followed was questionable and opaque and not in the interest of Bangladesh, but purely for personal interest.’
   She also said the rest of the planned power plants were tendered again and again, but without any result.
   Iqbal differed with Wallich’s comment, saying within the existing guideline there is no other way but to re-tender unless certain criteria are fulfilled. ‘The independent power plants are a drain on the economy as we have to pay them in costly foreign exchange.’
   He also said poverty and corruption go together and it will be difficult to curb corruption without reducing poverty through sustainable development. ‘Which country of the world, including the United States, doesn’t have corruption?’ he questioned.
   Earlier, the BoI executive chairman, Mahmudur Rahman, and the Bangladesh Bank governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, delivered the welcome addresses.
   The World Bank vice-president, Cesere Calari, delivered the keynote speech.
   In the two-day workshop the policy-makers, regulators of and operators in the port, power and telecom sectors, along with bankers and foreign experts, will discuss the experiences of other countries.

Influential quarters, including cabinet ministers and an adviser to the prime minister, are allegedly lobbying the authorities to protect those behind the abduction of businessman Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, law enforcement sources have claimed. Pressure from some local ministers and the adviser are also being felt by law enforcers on the ground, who are being told not to arrest Maruf Nizam, younger brother of ruling party lawmaker Sarwar Jamal Nizam, who was named as the ‘mastermind’ of Jamal’s abduction in the confessional statements of the two prime suspects arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion — Shahid chairman and Kala Mahbub, the sources added.
   The investigation officer Jamal’s the case, however, told New Age that no pressure has come from up top in this regard.
   When asked why the ‘mastermind’ was not being arrested despite being named in the confessional statements of the prime suspects, the investigation officer declined to comment.
   The sources claimed Maruf is widely known as a kingpin among smugglers of the Anwara coast but has escaped any action despite his alleged links with both the Jamal abduction case and the country’s biggest-ever arms cache of 10 trucks full hauled from the CUFL jetty on April 2, 2004.
   The sources claimed to have knowledge of a meeting in Bangkok related to the arms haul that Maruf attended just days before the shipment of the arms consignment bound for Chittagong.
   Maruf could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts. The sources claimed that he has gone into hiding after his name was mentioned in the confessional statements.
   Jamaluddin’s family has also alleged that the investigators are ‘playing a high-stake game’ to avert the arrest of Maruf.
   ‘We think the investigators and law enforcers are playing politics here. Otherwise why is Maruf Nizam not being arrested and questioned despite our demand and the confessional statements of the arrested suspects,’ said Forman Reza Chowdhury Liton, Jamal’s eldest son. ‘If the mastermind is not arrested, the investigators will try to divert the case in course of time,’ Liton added.
   Meanwhile, the Chittagong unit of RAB on Sunday night arrested another prime suspect, Shafiul Alam alias Shafi who hails from Raozan.
   Shafi is accused of being an armed cadre of the local MP and was an activist of the now defunct National Democratic Party of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

Kala Mahbub, who located the grave of the abducted businessman Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, gave a statement in metropolitan magistrates court in Chittagong on Monday. The Rapid Action Battalion in Chittagong, meanwhile, arrested Shafiqul Alam, another accused in the abduction case, in Comilla late Sunday.
   In Chittagong, the Criminal Investigation Department produced Mahbub in the court of Akram Hossain at about 2:00pm. His statement was recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedures at 4:45pm.
   Mahbub earlier on Wednesday told newsmen that Jamal was killed as Maruf Nizam, brother of the ruling party lawmaker for the Anowara constituency, Sarwar Jamal Nizam, had offered them Tk 1 crore for the job.
   The battalion arrested Mahbub, bodyguard of Kashem Chairman, prime accused in the case, on November 1, 2003 in Fatikchari. During a five-day remand in the joint interrogation cell after his arrest, Mahbub said Jamal had been alive.
   Shahid Chairman, another accused, after his arrest on August 13, admitted killing Jamal; and Mahbub located the grave at Kanchannagar in Fatikchari on August 24.
   In Comilla, the battalion team raided Razapur near the Comilla Export Processing Zone at abut 9:30pm and arrested Shafique, 35, a resident of Uttar Sarta at Raujan. Shafique is also proprietor of Heaps Wear, a ready-made garment shop, at Amin Centre at Lalkhan Bazar in Chittagong.
   His arrest tallied the total figure of the arrested to four; others are Shahid Chairman, Kala Mahbub and driver Sobhan, who are now in police custody.
   Amar Das died reportedly from a heart attack in custody after his arrest by the Detective Branch and Mazhar Master was killed in an encounter with the police.
   Kashem Chairman along with Nazim, Ishaque, Yunus Babu, Ali, Lamba Mahbub, Sulatn, Osman and Helal are in hiding.
   Shafique on Monday admitted, to newsmen at the RAB 7 headquarters, being involved in the abduction.
   He said they took up abduction as a business after they had come in touch with Kashem, Shahid and Amar Das four years ago.
   He admitted being involved in two more cases, the abduction of Haji Monir, a businessman at Chaktai, and of Mostafizur Rahman, a Bangladesh Road Transport Authority clerk.
   He said he had received Tk 2 lakh as his share of the ransom realised from Monir’s family and Tk 1 lakh from the money realised from Moztafizur’s family.
   He said on the day Jamal was abducted, Helal, another accused now in hiding, Amar Dash and Sobhan, who drove Jamal in his microbus from Chandgaon after abduction, picked him up at the Lalkhan Bazar crossing and headed towards Bahaddarhat.
   Shafique said four more — Ishaque, Yunus Babu, Ali and Nazim — joined them at Bahaddarhat.
   According to his statement, Shahid led the team in a motorcycle and after picking Jamal up, they took him to Fatikchari.
   Shafique said three, including Kala Mahbub, received Jamal from them in a rubber garden at Rangamatiya of Fatikchari. Jamal then met Kashem in his residence, Shafique said.
   He said they had a plan to realise Tk 50 lakh from Jamal’s family and Kashem said they would let Jamal go after settling the matter in two or three days.
   As the money paid by Jamal’s family did not reach them, they did not let Jamal Uddin go; and the situation worsened amid repeated hunts by the police, Bangladesh Rifles and the army, Shafique said.
   He said after 24 to 25 days, Shahid informed him of a plan to kill Jamal. Quoting Shahid, he said they decided to kill Jamal as the brother of Sarwar Jamal made a higher offer for it.
   Shafique told journalists that after he had received the news of killing of Jamal, he went to India and got back home after a month.
   ‘Then I went to Dubai and returned a month ago because of a visa problem. I was in hiding at one of my friends’ in Comilla before my arrest,’ he said.
   The battalion produced Shafique in the court of Muksudur Rahman, seeking him to be placed on a remand for 10 days. The court granted a five-day remand. The Criminal Investigation Department produced Shahid Chairman, after his 15-day remand, in the same court with a prayer for a fresh seven-day remand. The curt granted five days.

The police on Monday arrested an Indian national, believed to be a member of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh, from Satkhira, suspecting his involvement in the August 17 wave of blasts across the country. In Dhaka, former Islamic Foundation director Maulana Farid Uddin Masuod, who was arrested at Zia International Airport on August 22, was again placed on an eight-day remand on Monday.
   In Satkhira, the Indian, Giasuddin, aged about 35, reportedly confessed to his involvement in planning and planting the bombs in the district. He said he himself had set bombs at the Khulna Road junction.
   Around 400 small bombs went off almost simultaneously on August 17 killing three people and injuring 150 others.
   ‘The materials of bombs were smuggled from outside the country through the borders of Satkhira and Chapainawabganj,’ the police said quoting Giasuddin.
   The police will seek remand for him on Tuesday and would send him to the joint interrogation cell in Dhaka for questioning.
   Giasuddin, son of Omar Ali of Nityanandakati village under Swarupnagar police station in North 24 Pargana district of West Bengal, was involved in extremist activities after passing the higher secondary examinations in 1990.
   Being haunted by the police, he trespassed into Bangladesh and took shelter at an Ahle Hadith mosque at Kadamtala in Satkhira town and became a member of the Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh.
   The police arrested Giasuddin upon the statement of two other suspects, Nasiruddin Dafadar and Moniruzzaman Munna who reportedly confessed to the members of the joint interrogation cell in Dhaka.
   After the end of a five-day remand on Sunday, the detective police produced Masuod before the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate in Dhaka on Monday and sought for a 10-day remand.
   The police submitted to the court that Masuod had collected huge amount of money through his organisation Islahul Muslimeen and provided the money to the perpetrators of the blasts.
   ‘There was a co-relation between the countrywide bomb blasts and his London visit on August 22,’ the police said.
   ‘Masuod have to be interrogated intensively about the sources of his money and why he had withdrawn huge money from his bank accounts before the blasts, we have to verify the matter,’ the police told the court.
   Opposing the remand, the defence lawyer Syed Rezaur Rahman moved a bail prayer for Masuod. Masuod denied the police claims and said, ‘I believe in Allah and the truth will be unearthed one day.’
   He also said he is a freedom fighter and he loves Bangladesh.
   The metropolitan magistrate, Quamrunnahar, rejected the bail petition and granted 8-day police remand for further questing.
   In Khulna, the three persons, arrested in connection with the blasts, were brought back to the city from the JIC in Dhaka after the end of their 12-day remand.
   The Khulna chief metropolitan magistrate court rejected their bail prayers and sent them to jail custody.
   The arrested were Ahle Hadith Khulna district general secretary, Golam Muktadir Babu, Islami Shashantantra Andolan activist, Hafez Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, and Jamaat-e-Islami activist Mujibur Rahman.
   In Naogaon, the police arrested suspected activists of Jamaatul Mujaheedin, Abul Kalam Azad and Abdul Majid Master, from Manda on Monday.
   In Panchagarh, two more suspected militants, Badiuzzaman and Khalilur Rahman Pradhan alias Khalil Pradhan, were nabbed on Sunday night for their alleged links with countrywide blasts.
   In Bandarban, mysterious handbills have been circulated in Naikhongchhari of the district in the name of Bangladesh Islam Rakkha Parishad.
   The leaflets were sent by post to different local offices, important places, eminent persons and some local businessmen.

The government ordered the police to arrest the chief of Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh, Mohammad Abdur Rahman, and his operational commander, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, at any cost.
   Though all the previous orders to arrest the two top militant leaders went futile, sources in the home ministry and intelligence agencies said this time the government would not spare anyone for the failure.
   Meanwhile, the government asked the law enforcers across the country to prepare profiles of selected madrassah teachers to verify whether or not they have link to any Islamic outfit.
   Some top police officials admitted to New Age Monday night that they had received the order and already started preparing the profiles.
   ‘We are trying to scrutinise all those who are involved in the attack, not madrassah teachers, particularly,’ said Mohammad Mohsin, joint secretary (political) of the home ministry, at a regular briefing.
   The sources said the government had also asked the intelligence agencies to find out the mid-level leaders of Jamaatul Mujaheedin,
   believed to have supplied bombs to the field-level workers. But the investigators said they were struggling to trace the sources of bombs.
   ‘We have got some names from those confessed during interrogation but most of those are code names,’ said an official involved in interrogation of the arrested suspects.
   Mohsin said the police had arrested Mohammad Nasir, believed to be the main man behind bomb attacks in the hilly districts on August 17, and he would be brought to Dhaka for interrogation by the joint interrogation cell.
   He claimed that substantial headway in the investigation of countrywide bombings had been made but refused to give any detail for the interest of investigation.
   Mohsin said the police till Sunday had arrested 169 suspects in connection with the bombings. Of them, 41 were questioned by the joint interrogation cell.
   About the arrival of US Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to help probe the bombing, he said he had no idea about it. He, however, said the home ministry was still examining whether or not the FBI would be invited.

A speedy trial tribunal in Dhaka on Monday sentenced four members of the Rapid Action Battalion and two others to five years’ rigorous imprisonment for robbing a cattle trader of Tk 7.8 lakh in the capital on March 23.
   The magistrate of the tribunal, Towfiqul Alam, also fined them Tk 5,000 each, in default of which, they have to spend 30 more days in jail.
   The convicts are sergeant Atiqur Rahman, sergeant Waliullah, assistant sub-inspector Rafiqul Islam and constable Khorshed Alam and their informers Mofizur Rahman Babul and Masud Mridha. Masud was tried in absentia. The convicts, led by Atiq, on March 23 went to the house of Ratan Miah at Kotbari in Gabtali area and took away the money kept in an almirah threatening him to kill in ‘crossfire’.
   While decamping, the local people, responding to Ratan’s cry for help, caught Atiq. Others managed to flee.
   A joint team of Rab and police later arrested Waliullah, Rafiq, Khorshed and Mofiz and recovered Tk 245,500 from Waliullah and Tk 10,000 from Khorshed.
   The investigation officer, AKM Nahidul Islam of RAB-1, submitted charge-sheet against the six on April 27 after Ratan had filed a case with the Mirpur police on March 24.

The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said on Sunday he would not sign a death sentence for Saddam Hussein if the former leader was convicted and said he would resign if the sentence was passed.
   Talabani, who opposes the death penalty on principle, said he expected the former leader to be convicted but it was not clear if he might let a deputy sign a death sentence on his behalf.
   ‘When the death sentence is given to me, I will not sign it on principle ... and if it does pass, I will relieve myself of my post,’ he told Al Arabiya television.
   ‘I think a sentence will be passed on Saddam Hussein before my term ends,’ said Talabani.
   So far, he has been formally charged in only one case — the mass killing of Shi’ite Muslims in the village of Dujail following a failed assassination attempt against him in 1982. If found guilty, he faces the death penalty.
   This month Talabani gave authority to his deputy to sign death sentences on his behalf for three men convicted of murder, paving the way for the first state-endorsed executions since Saddam’s fall in 2003 after nearly 25 years in power.

The by-election to the Faridpur-1 parliamentary constituency will be held today without the participation of any major opposition political party.
   The local people said it would be a two-way contest between the ruling alliance candidate, Shah Mohammad Abu Zafar, and independent candidate Mufti Sharafat Hossain, as the opposition Awami League decided to support Sharafat at the eleventh hour.
   The other candidate in the race is Krishak Mohammad Sadeq of Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Mukti Andolon.
   The Election Commission has completed all the preparations to make the election free and fair and deployed huge contingents of police, army and paramilitary troops.
   The government has declared a public holiday in the constituency today.
   The district administration officials said they had deployed 4,000 police, four platoons of the paramilitary BDR, three platoons of army and adequate number of ansars to maintain law and order at the polling centres and adjacent areas.
   The commission earlier declared 73 polling centres, out of 146, vulnerable and took tight security measures.
   ‘Though we spotted 73 centres as vulnerable but now we’ve decided to take extra security measures in all the centres after the August 17 blasts,’ the returning officer and deputy commissioner of Faridpur, Nasir Uddin, told New Age.
   He also said that in addition to 146 magistrates in all the centres, the authority would also deploy 65 magistrates to conduct mobile courts during the election hours from 8:00am to 4:00pm.
   A total of 3,22,298 voters under Alfaganga, Boalmari and Madhukhali upazilas of the constituency are expected to cast votes to elect their representative for the eighth parliament.
   Though the election lost its attraction because of the absence of the opposition, it got a momentum at the eleventh hour as the Awami League supported Sharafat. Moreover, a rift surfaced in the ruling BNP, causing further tension for Zafar.
   Local sources said the general secretary of the Faridpur district Awami League, Hasibul Hasan Lavlu, on Sunday night visited the constituency and instructed his party men to work for Sharafat.
   ‘We cannot allow a BNP candidate in a seat where usually we win,’ Lavlu told New Age.
   The ruling party insiders feared that the party’s last moment decision of expelling Khandakar Nasir, a former BNP lawmaker, on Sunday on charge of working against Zafar might make the situation worse.
   Nasir belongs to the group led by Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf and his people would not cast vote for Zafar, who belongs to the group led by Obaidur Rahman.
   The ruling party faction loyal to Zafar was still optimistic though they admitted that there would be a neck-and-neck fight.
   ‘The presence of voters might be low but our candidate will win at a margin of ten thousand votes,’ the president of the Alfadanga Upazila BNP, Faridur Rahman, told New Age.
   The Faridpur-1 constituency fell vacant after Kazi Sirajul Islam, elected in the 1996 and 2001 general elections on Awami League nomination, had lost his membership for resigning from his party. He joined the BNP on June 4.
   The BNP first selected Siraj as its candidate, but later on August 10 decided to field Zafar.

Ruling party lawmakers of a parliamentary standing committee on Monday enquired after the contractual implications from the adviser and the officials of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division and wanted to know whether the ‘harmful’ joint venture agreement with the Canadian Niko Resources could be scrapped.
   The company is responsible for two blow-outs at the Tengratila gas field which burnt three billion cubic feet of gas.
   The members of the committee on power, energy and mineral resources ministry observed that there were faults and loose ends in the Niko’s agreement with the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company.
   The energy and mineral resources adviser, Mahmudur Rahman, however, said the government’s main target at this moment was to seal off the two exploded wells and realise compensation for the gas and environmental losses at Tengratila.
   Mahmud and the energy secretary, AMM Nasir Uddin, opined that if the agreement was scrapped and the company was let go, it would be hard to seal off the exploded wells and stop the leakage, and also to realise compensation.
   Mahmud, who attended the meeting on a special invitation, gave an account of the first and the second blow-outs at Tengratila and what the government was doing in this regard.
   Replying to a question by the lawmakers, the adviser took recourse to the excuse that the agreement with Niko was initiated and processed by the previous Awami League government.
   ‘The present government had to sign the agreement as a continuation of the activities of the previous government,’ he claimed.
   The ruling party lawmakers then blasted the AL government for initiating and processing the agreement with Niko.
   Two AL lawmakers of the committee were not present at the meeting, presided over by committee chairman Md. Shahidul Islam. Among others, Md Nazim Uddin Alam, M Elias Ali and Md Habibul Islam Habib were present.
   The committee members suggested the disclosure of the names of the officials and political leaders who initiated the ‘damaging deal’ with Niko.
   The meeting was informed that a three-member committee had been formed following the prime minister’s instruction for examining all aspects of the Niko deal. The committee would submit its report in the next committee meeting.
   The meeting was told that the damaged gas field would be sealed off by October 15 and a formal letter demanding compensation for the damages would be sent to Niko by October 31.

The import of motor vehicles registered 54 per cent growth in the just concluded 2004-05 fiscal year.
   According to commerce ministry statistics, motor vehicles of different categories worth around $177.7 million were imported in the 2004-05 fiscal year. The import of vehicles was worth around $76.04 million in the 2003-04 fiscal year.
   The statistics showed that import of vehicles in the motor car category rose by 25.54 per cent to $15.32 million in 2004-05 from $12.71 million in the 2003-04 fiscal year.
   However, the import of mini-buses declined by 39.84 per cent in the same period to $4.79 million from $7.96 million, while import of trucks rose by 15.57 per cent to $15.95 million from $13.80 million in the same period.
   According to the transport sector experts, the import of mini-buses fell as the government has been discouraging route permits for mini-buses while encouraging import of big buses for carrying more passengers.
   Bus import increased by 19.89 per cent to $11.57 million from $9.47 million, while the motor cycle import rose by 16.58 per cent to $26.19 million from 22.46 million in the same period
   In other categories of vehicles, import rose by 360.77 per cent to $43.99 million from $9.55 million in the same period.
   However, the most interesting fact, according to the statistics, is the rise in import of vehicles in the ‘others’ (sic) category which saw a 360.77 per cent growth in the 2004-05 fiscal year.
   Motor vehicles in the ‘others’ category include three-wheelers, oil and milk lorries, ice cream vans, garbage cleaning trucks and non-traditional vehicles.
   The ‘others’ category motor vehicles, worth $ 43.99 million, were imported in the last fiscal year and accounted for almost 45.63 per cent of the total import. The import of the same category of vehicles was worth only $ 9.55 million in the 2003-04 fiscal year.
   The dramatic rise of the import of such vehicles has been attributed by a commerce ministry official to special tariff concessions.
   But a section of officials of the Customs Department and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, in connivance with some dishonest businessmen, have been abusing the special tariff concessions and importing other kinds of vehicles in that category, or declaring that vehicles belonging to the ‘others’ category will be used for personal purposes, said an official.
   However, they later sold those vehicles in the open market.
   The commerce ministry last June asked the National Board of Revenue and BRTA to explain their position in this regard.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha has allegedly finalised the distribution of 335 plots of a rehabilitation project among ‘not-at-all affected people’ amid pressure from the housing and public works ministry.
   Sources said a Rajuk board meeting on Monday finalised a list of 441 people to get plots in the Badda Punarbasan Prakalpa, which would be published in newspapers within a day or two.
   ‘Only 106 of them are more or less affected and none of the remaining 335 people is affected at all,’ said a source. ‘Most of them never had any land in the areas for which the plots are being given.’
   Rajuk in late 1980s decided
   to distribute plots among the people who had been affected due to the acquisition of lands in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara areas in the 1960s and 1970s.
   As per the decision, applications were invited in two phases — in late 1980s and in late 1990s — and 800 plots were allocated in 1980s.
   The meeting also finalised the distribution of the plots at an ‘extremely low rate’, the sources said.
   The price of per katha has been fixed at Tk 60,000 against the market price of between Tk 10 and 15 lakh, they added.
   The sources said the board was against distribution of plots among the non-affected people but had to bow down to the ministry.
   The housing and public works secretary, Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury, denied the allegations.
   ‘It is the business of Rajuk and it will decide who gets the plots. We approved a plot allotment rule in July and Rajuk is distributing the plots based on the guideline.’
   About the lower rate of the plots, he said, ‘It is natural that the prices of the plots will be lower than the market rate as it is a rehabilitation project’.
   A top-ranking Rajuk official also claimed that ‘there were no irregularities in finalising the list’.

Ahead of the World Summit 2005 at the UN, leaders of a large number of local non-government and civil society organisations demanded that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should be supervised by the United Nations so that the millennium development goals can be achieved.
   Under the guidance of the World Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank, and because of their various conditionalities, Bangladesh cannot achieve the goals, they said.
   The ‘Campaign for Good Governance’, an umbrella organisation of 700 local NGOs and civil society organisations from all parts of the country, at a press briefing on Monday at the National Press Club, said because those banks insist on market-based economies and declare that the market will solve all the problems, the poor people’s suffering will increase day by day, as it is doing at present.
   Head of ‘Social Justice’, Aminur Rasul Babul, read out a statement which pointed out that the current rate of poverty alleviation in the country is 0 to one per cent, and at this rate it would take 80 to 100 years to reduce poverty.
   He said the banks are pressuring the government to privatise essential services like education, health, water, electricity to make them profitable businesses.
   The banks have offered the government loans to reduce the difference between the tuition fees of public and private universities, according to the statement of the NGO leaders.
   ‘These are basic needs of people and can’t be converted into commodities sold for profit,’ said Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, secretary of the National Council.
   He said only through a human rights and fair trade approach can the millennium goals be achieved in Bangladesh.
   The speakers at the briefing criticised the government for not being transparent about its reform proposals that will be submitted to the summit, and demanded that the prime minister inform the nation of the proposals before her journey to the UN.
   They criticised the UN’s present structure and decision-making process which, according to them, has become elitist.
   ‘The UN should not be a club of the heads of government, rather it should be an institution of people,’ said Rezaul Karim.
   The organisations also demanded that the developed countries keep their commitment of helping under-developed countries with 0.7 per cent of their gross national incomes, and cancel all debts unconditionally. They also said that the UN should be democratised and the membership of the Security Council should be increased.
   The World Summit 2005, to be held at the UN from September 14 to 16, will be the largest gathering of world leaders in history.
   Heads of government and state will attempt to forge a common agenda on international development, security and human rights.
   The millennium development goals — the world’s common goals for international development — are at the top of an ambitious agenda for achieving global peace and security.

Three more sites are likely to be added to the already-approved programme for the installation of 23 small power plants of 10-50MW across the country by the Power Division.
   The addition and incorporation of the new sites at Sirajganj (50MW), Sirajganj (20MW) and Kishoreganj (10MW) are likely to be approved at a meeting of the committee formed at the Prime Minister’s Office on September 1, says a source.
   The division on Monday asked the Power Development Board to add the three sites to the private sector-led undertaking on build-own-operate basis. The sites fall under the constituencies of three powerful lawmakers of the ruling BNP from greater Sylhet, Kishoreganj and Sirajganj.
   The government took an initiative in July to set up 23 small power plants on build-operate-own contractual terms following its adoption of the policy for small power plants by the private sector.
   Under the policy private entrepreneurs would be able to set up small power plants and government agencies would purchase power from the plants.
   The government earlier fixed the 23 sites at Inhanagar Bandar and Baroaulia in Chittagong, Feni, Choumuhani, Habiganj, Rajshahi, Comilla (South), Tangail, Pabna, Narsingdi, Gazipur, Bogra, Barisal, Mongla, Thakurgaon, Cox’s Bazar, Dinajpur, Sirajganj, Bhola, Khulna, Rupganj and Dhaka.
   The Energy Regulatory Commission has already started distributing forms for the plants, which would add around 430MW power to the national grid by August next year.
   ‘Influential entrepreneurs of the areas, close to the lawmakers, would ultimately get the job of setting up of the plants,’ said a source.
   A high official of the division, however, claimed that there was no political reason for incorporating the plants; rather the plants would be set up to meet the power demand of the areas.
   Despite repeated attempts, the state minister for power, Iqbal Hassan Mahmood, could not be contacted on Monday.

Another suspected underground operator was killed in ‘crossfire’ between the police and criminals at a village under Goalunda upazila in Rajbari early Monday, raising the ‘crossfire’ death toll to 380 since June 2004.
   The deceased, identified as Lokman Hossain Lal alias Mintoo, was chief of the underground Sarbahara Party and wanted in more than a dozen criminal cases, including nine for murders, the police claimed.

A Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judges Court on Monday acquitted all the 35 accused from the charge of killing a police constable at the Noor Mosque in the city’s Mohammadpur area in February 2001.
   Second additional judge Mohammad Rabiul Hasan acquitted them, all followers of Islami Oikya Jote leader Shaikhul Hadith Azizul Haq, as the prosecution had failed to prove the charge.
   ‘The accused were victimised as their organisation had called the shutdown on the day,’ the judgement said.
   The judge also observed that those who had given confessional statements about the involvement of Shaikhul Hadith were compelled to do so in police torture.
   Police constable Badshah Miah was dragged inside the mosque from the road when a clash erupted between the police and pickets during the countrywide shutdown called by Olema-e-Mashayekh on February 2, 2001 protesting against a High Court’s order against fatwa.

The security forces recovered one AK-47 rifle, 15 rounds of bullet, and few documents from the dense forest at Bangaltali in Baghaichari upazila on Monday morning.
   They raided a den of the criminals and recovered the sophisticated firearm along with the bullets, but the criminals managed to escape sensing the presence of the law enforcers, sources said.
   Earlier on Saturday morning, the Bangladesh Rifles personnel recovered 32 German-made pistols, 5,000 rounds of bullet, and 64 magazines from the dense forest at Palangjhiree in Naikhyangchari upazila of Bandarban.
   The joint forces comprising the army and the BDR recovered 219 heavy arms, including AK-47 and M-16, from the forests in Naikhyangchari upazila alone in the last ten months.
   They also arrested 13 tribal criminals and recovered 29,727 rounds of bullets, 45 high-powered walkie-talkies, seven binoculars, three telescopes, 234 magazines, and huge explosives from different areas during the period.
   A few groups of miscreants of Myanmar have been carrying out criminal activities and gunrunning in collaboration with their local outfits, sources in the joint forces said.
   Out of the arms, smuggled into the country, an Israeli-made sub-machinegun, and 7.62 and 56 rifles are now selling between Tk 1 lakh and Tk 1.5 lakh in Naikhyangchari while the prices of AK-47, M-16 and G-3 range between Tk 1.5 lakh and Tk 2 lakh, and that of a pistol between Tk 50,000 and Tk 80,000.

Several thousand Awami League leaders and activists on Monday marched through a number of city thoroughfares demanding immediate execution of the High Court verdict in the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case.
   The city unit of the main opposition party organised the procession as part of its month-long mourning programmes to mark the 30th anniversary of Mujib’s assassination. The procession started from the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh and ended at the Russel Square in Dhanmondi area after marching through Shahbagh, Elephant Road, Science Laboratory and Kalabagan amid tight security.
   The mourners, wearing black badges and carrying banners and posters of Mujib and the AL president, Sheikh Hasina, chanted anti-government slogans.
   The police barred a motorcade of the Pallabi thana Awami League on Bijoy Sarani. The opposition activists then got off the vehicles and reached the IEB on foot.
   A rally was held before the procession on the road in front of the IEB halting traffic.