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President Iajuddin Ahmed on Sunday night promulgated an ordinance, with immediate effect, allowing the intelligence and law enforcing officials to tap the telephonic conversions of any individual, which is currently an offence under the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001.
   ‘The president has signed the ordinance today,’ Mokleshur Rahman Chowdhury, the press secretary of the president, told New Age Sunday evening.
   Earlier, the regular cabinet meeting on December 5 with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the chair approved the bill seeking amendment to the act to allow phone-tapping by intelligence and law enforcing officials.
   The posts and telecommunications ministry placed the amendment proposal as it feels that due to the wide availability of mobile phones, the criminals are using them to facilitate criminal activities, thus posing a threat to the national security and the law and order situation of the country.
   However, phone calls can only be tapped after taking the permission of the chief executive of the home ministry (in this case the minister).
   Officials said that the ordinance allowing phone-tapping by intelligence and law enforcing officials will enable the government to produce evidence in the court to punish the arrested criminals, which is not presently possible.
   According to section 71 (b) of the telecommunications act, phone-tapping is an offence and punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or with a fine not exceeding Tk 50,000 or both. The intelligence and law enforcing agencies’ officials also fall under the purview of the act.
   The proposed amendment also includes a new section 97 (a) in the act, which says that the telecom service providers must cooperate with the officials who are assigned to tap or record the telephonic conversation for the interest of national security.
   The proposed amendment also says that the service providers will allow the concerned officials to use their infrastructure free of cost for doing the job.
   It also includes deletion of a provision to give compensation to the telecom service providers in case of suspension of their service by any government order.
   Section 97 (2) of the existing act said that if the president declares an emergency, the government may suspend any licence or certificate or permit issued under this act, or suspend any particular activity of, or a particular service
   provided by, an operator, but the government shall pay compensation for the suspended service.
   The proposed amendment said that if the president declares an emergency or if the government feels that the state’s security and law and order situation are in danger, it can suspend or amend any licence or certificate or permit issued under this act, or suspend any particular activity of, or a particular service provided by, an operator, and it will not have to pay any compensation for doing so.
   The telecom ministry proposed the amendment as it was not clear in the act whether the government could stop the operation of mobile phone service if there is no declaration of emergency.

The police Sunday evening recovered 300 kilograms of explosives and arrested a suspected suicide bomber of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh from a house in Cox’s Bazar.
   The Bangladesh Rifles in another drive detained a man and seized four bombs with a dozen of detonators on the Sylhet border Sunday night.
   The police in Cox’s Bazar arrested Delwar Hossain, 18, from a house at about 6:30pm.
   Delwar, a resident of Sitakunda in Chittagong, had lived in the house at Puratan Pan Bazar of Nurpur, for three months passing him off as a mosquito net trader.
   The intelligence people kept watch on him and rented a house near the place. The police Sunday afternoon encircled the house immediately after Delwar had returned. The deputy commissioner, Habibur Rahman, and the superintendent of police, Golam Rasul, went to the place and the police detained Delwar.
   The police searched the room and seized the explosives, detonators, batteries, electric wires and five live cylinder bombs.
   The police said at least 300 bombs could be made with the explosives seized from the place.
   Based on his statement, the police arrested two of his associates, Habibur Rahman, 18, of Dinajpur and Abdullah, 18, of Cox’s Bazar from another place in the town.
   The three were being interrogated by police officials till 10:30pm.
   The Bangladesh Rifles, meanwhile, seized four powerful bombs with a dozen of detonators from a Kanaighat border point.
   The BDR officials said a team had challenged a group of men when they were entering the Bangladesh territory near the Lubachhara outpost at about 8:15pm.
   All the men managed to get away; the Bangladeshi border guards could detain one, Safar Ali.
   The border guards also recovered a bag containing the bombs, each weighing 110 grams, the detonators and six fuses.
   Safar Ali was being questioned by the Bangladesh Rifles officials.

The Jaipurhat district administration on Sunday asked the all the cinemas to keep closed or arrange their security for viewers on their own amid recent bombings.
   ‘It will no be possible to deploy policemen at all the cinemas as the forces will remain busy for the Victory Day programmes,’ said the deputy commissioner, Mujibul Hossain.
   ‘We have reports that a group of suicide bombers entered the district town. They may strike any time,’ he said.
   The administration fears the suicide squad of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen might also blow up important installations and non-government organisations on or before Victory Day.
   The administration tightened security and deployed police forces in the town. The Bangladesh Rifles and the Rapid Action Battalion personnel also were looking into security of the town.
   The Kushtia district administration has, meanwhile, asked the underage boys to remain indoors after sunset.
   The administration made the announcement on PA system on Sunday, but did not explain the reason. No officials could be reached for comments on the issue.
   The local people think the decision was made as the militant outfit had been recruiting underage boys into its bomb squad.
   A number of underage boys have been reportedly engaged in militancy after the August 17 countrywide series of blasts; some such boys have been arrested by the law enforcers.
   Threats to blow up important installations in the name of Jamaatul Mujahideen continued.
   The Islamic University economics department postponed its course exams scheduled for December 17 in such an event.
   The public administration department on Saturday received a letter in the name of the JMB which asked to stop all exams. The controller of examinations, Mohammad Ali, also received such a letter.
   The Dinajpur Government College principal received such a letter which threatened to blow up the institution if he failed, in three days, to help
   in the release of Tarique
   Ahmed, a student of the college, who is now detained in jail in connection with the August 17 blasts.
   The owner of the Kalpana Cinema in Moulvibazar also received such a letter which asked not to screen any films; the cinema would be blown up otherwise.
   The law enforcers on Sunday recovered bombs and bomb-like objects in different places across the country.
   The Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka recovered three crackers, packed in an earthen pot, left abandoned near the Dhalpur water treatment plant.
   Three more bombs, including one weighing a kilogram, were recovered from Narsingdi and Narayanganj.
   Panic gripped the residents in Khulna, Sirajganj and Moulvibazar after the recovery of bomb-like objects.
   The law enforcers detained 25 more people, including one who joined the Afghan war, from across the country for their suspected involvement in militancy. The law enforcers also seized documents and leaflets from their possession.
   The immigration police in Satkhira detained two suspected JMB members when they were crossing the Bhomra land port with fake passports.
   The police in Sylhet arrested Nurul Haque, who joined the Afghan war, in possession of 400 leaflets, at Kanaighat.

A number of Jamaatul Mujahideen militants, arrested from different areas in recent days, reportedly told the police they had plans to make a large-scale explosion in Rajshahi.
   The Detective Branch officials said Nazrul Islam, arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion Friday night, of Jamaatul Mujahideen and his elder brother, Ibrahim, had taken part in killing operations with Bangla Bhai at Bagmara in April 2004.
   Ibrahim was lynched at Sreepur on January 22 when he went there to kill the union council chairman, Makbul Hossain Mridha.
   The battalion arrested Nazrul, a resident of north Bagmara, from a house at Upashahar in Rajshahi. His photograph was published in newspapers the next morning and the people of Bagmara identified him. The police in Thakurgaon arrested one Shahjahan, a suspected member of Jamaatul Mujahideen, who took part in the August 17 bombings in Rajshahi. The Boalia police in Rajshahi took him in their custody for interrogation on Sunday.
   Nazrul was in the operation but he managed to get away. His neighbours in the village said he used to hold secret meetings in his house. Local people were not allowed to attend the meetings.
   Two more militancy suspects, Hasan Ali alias Ikhwan and Newton alias Pintu, were arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion from Puthia in Rajshahi on Friday.
   The Puthia police placed them on a five-day remand. The police said the two had rented a house at Gondagohali of Puthia.
   They reportedly told the police they had plans to carry out blasts in the city in a day or two.
   The Boalia police subinspector, also investigation officer of the August 17 bomb blast case, said, ‘We sought more time to file charge sheet in the case. We hope to file the charge sheet by end-December.’

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, today starts ‘national dialogue', the government claimed endeavour to unitedly resist the emergence of Islamist militants, with major opposition parties rejecting it.
   The Bangladesh Krishak-Srmaik-Janata League, one of the small political parties representing in parliament, will be the first among the political parties and professional bodies to sit at the Prime Minister’s Office at 3:00pm.
   The prime minister will also talk to the leaders of the Bangladesh Medical Association, a platform of physicians, on the day. The Krishak-Srmaik-Janata League president, Abdul Kader Siddiq, told New Age Sunday night that his party would attend the meeting.
   The meeting over, the party will hold a press conference, he added.
   Although the main opposition Awami League rejected the dialogue proposal, the Ershad-led Jaitya Party, the second largest opposition party in parliament, responded positively. The schedule of the JP-PM dialogue, however, was not confirmed yet.
   The Awami League, which is also leading a 14-party opposition combine, turned down the prime minister’s offer saying that a section in the government has been backing the militants. The small components in the alliance also followed the AL.
   The 11-Party Alliance, nine components of which are in the AL-led alliance, at a meeting Sunday night refused the dialogue proposal. Amid the recent spate of bombing across the country, the government had invited 25 political parties and 10 professional bodies for the dialogue to reach a consensus and find out ways to rein in militancy.
   In less than a month, 23 people were killed and scores others injured in suicide bomb attacks reportedly by the activists of a banned Islamist outfit, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh. Khaleda talked about the issue with business bodies on December 4, and the PMO termed that the national dialogue has however begun on that day.

The issue of the trial of war criminals and collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces in the war of independence in 1971 was revived in 1992 with the trial of Golam Azam, then amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, in a people’s court (gana adalat) although the Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order was repealed in 1975.
   Golam Azam, who was disqualified to be a Bangladesh citizen on April 18, 1973 along with 38 others for war crimes, returned to Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1978 and was appointed the leader of Jamaat in December 1991.
   His return and appointment as the Jamaat amir stirred widespread resentment and condemnation, and led to the formation of the Committee for Elimination of Killers and Collaborators of 1971, widely known as the Nirmul Committee, and the Committee for Implementation of the Spirit of the Liberation War in January 1992.
   The committees had one primary objective: to try Golam Azam in a people’s court on the charge of war crimes. On February 11, 1992, a coordination committee comprising members and component organisations of both the committees was formed. Besides those two committees, the National Coordination Committee for Restoration of the Spirit of the Liberation War and Elimination of Killers and Collaborators of 1971 also included 53 political parties and socio-cultural organisations. Political parties including the Awami League, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, both the factions of Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Samyabadi Dal and Sramik Krishok Samajbadi Dal, and socio-cultural organisations including Muktijoddha Sangsad and Sammilito Sangskritik Jote were active parts of the national coordination committee.
   The national coordination committee organised the people’s court on March 26, 1992. The court found Golam Azam guilty of war crimes, including collaborating with Pakistani occupation forces during the war of independence, and sentenced him to death. As it did not have the authority to execute the sentence, the people’s court asked the government for execution of the sentence through an appropriate legal process.
   On February 19, 1993, the coordination committee instituted the National People’s Enquiry Commission to investigate charges of war crimes against Abbas Ali Khan, Matiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, Kamaruzzaman, Maulana Mannan, Anwar Zahid, Muhammad Ayenuddin, Abdul Alim and others. The commission made its report public at a rally on March 26, 1995, on the second anniversary of the people’s court, and charged them all with war crimes. At the rally, the coordination committee urged the government to set up a special tribunal and try the war criminals under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973.
   The government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had enacted the law on July 19, 1973. Four days earlier, on July 15, 1973, the constitution was amended for the first time. The first amendment provided constitutional coverage for the act so that it would not be deemed unconstitutional because of inconsistency with the constitution. The government also appointed Supreme Court lawyers Sabita Ranjan Pal and Sirajul Haque as chief prosecutors, and Aminul Huq and Mahmudul Islam, both of whom later became attorney general, Ismail Uddin Sarkar, later a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, and Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, who was later made an additional attorney general, as special prosecutors. Nurul Islam, then deputy inspector general of police, was made the chief investigator of the cases under the act. The appointments were made in April 1972 when the act was in the process of being enacted.
   No tribunal has been formed so far nor any cases filed nor any investigation launched under the international crimes act — not even after the Awami League came to power in June 1996. The party, which was a major player in the coordination committee and which virtually made the movement against the anti-liberation collaborators launched by the committee its own, did not take any initiative to try the war criminals by a special tribunal during its five-year tenure.
   Professor Farida Banu filed a case on September 24, 1997 against Chowdhury Mainuddin and Ashrafuzzaman, supposedly members of Al-Badr, for the killing of her brother Professor Giasuddin on December 14, 1971. The private initiative opened a new chapter in the move for trials of anti-liberation collaborators. The case, however, got lost in the law ministry during the tenure of the government of Sheikh Hasina on the question of the formation of a tribunal under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973.
   The Criminal Investigation Department had, meanwhile, done intensive investigations on the basis of the case papers. It talked to the families of the martyred teachers and students of Dhaka University and other educational institutions. The investigators also watched the British Channel 4 programme, War Crimes File, in the hope of getting more leads on the case.
   The CID eventually named 40 persons as witnesses. According to the witnesses, Mainuddin, a journalist of the then Pakistan Observer, and Ashrafuzzaman, a student of Dhaka University, picked up eight university teachers on December 14. The investigation officer of the case, senior assistant superintendent Munshi Atiqur Rahman, told New Age on December 3, 2005, ‘We did a primary investigation and sent a file with our observations to the home ministry. The file was sent to the law ministry and I don’t know what happened to it later.’
   In the file, the department recommended the formation of a tribunal and investigation of the case under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act as the late Sirajul Haque, who was appointed the chief prosecutor in the case against the collaborators in 1972, observed that the case should be conducted under the act and that such a case would not be effective under existing criminal laws, recalled Munshi Atiq.
   The home ministry sent the file to the law ministry for its opinion in January 2000. It never came back as the Awami League government did not care much about the case in the remaining 18 months of its tenure. The then law minister Abdul Matin Khasru neither confirmed nor denied seeing the file. He told New Age he ‘could not recall’ any such matter.
   The incumbent law minister, Moudud Ahmed, who was a member of the Buddhijibi Nidhan Tathyanushandhan Committee, told New Age on December 5 that he was not aware of the file. The solicitor wing and the opinion wing of the ministry could not trace any such file.
   Home ministry officials also said they knew nothing about the issue.

Tension is running high in Khulna city as the local unit of the International Khatme Nabuat Movement Bangladesh besieged a corner of the Ahmadiyya Mosque Complex at Nirala in Khulna city in the late afternoon on Sunday, demanding that the Ahmadiyyas be declared non-Muslim. They also tried to re-attach the signboard of Upasanalaya of Quadianis at the mosque complex.
   The siege began after unidentified persons pulled down the signboard, reading 'This is the upasanalaya of Quadianis, so no Muslim should enter here thinking it to be a mosque', from the Ahmaddiya Mosque Complex in the early hours of Friday, said the locals of the area.
    The Khatme Nabuat had hoisted the signboard eight months back, said the Ahmadiyya members.
   The local Khatme Nabuat leaders, while addressing the rally, blamed Ahmadiyyas for pulling down the signboard and threatened that they would confine the Ahmadiyyas to their residences if they do not re-attach the signboard.
   Chaired by Khulna city 24 no ward unit of IKNMB president, Lutfar Rahman, the siege-cum-rally was addressed by the unit’s joint secretary Sheikh Shahidul Islam, Maolana Emdadul Haque and a number of local leaders.
   Sheikh Shahidul Islam said that if any Muslim fought against the Ahmadiyyas, he would be a 'shaheed’ (martyr), and threatened that the Muslims would expel the Ahmadiyyas from the country if they were not declared non-Muslim.
   'They (Ahmadiyyas) will not come out of their residences from tomorrow, and we will beat them with bamboo
   sticks wherever we find
   them,' Shahidul declared, adding that they would demolish the abodes of the Ahmadiyyas.
   'Declare the Ahmaddiyas non-Muslims or we will resist them,' said Khulna city 24 no ward unit of Khatme Nabuat’s president Lutfar Rahman, while addressing the rally as the chairperson.
   The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat’s residential secretary Omar Farukh, while talking to New Age, expressed the fear that they would not be able to come out of their houses, adding that Khatme Nabuat members are verbally abusing them and trying to stop them from shopping.
   M Akbar Ali, the deputy commissioner of Khulna Metropolitan Police, told New Age that they have deployed a number of police inside and outside the Ahmadiyya
   Mosque Complex at Nirala. ‘We are sincere about ensuring the security of the Ahmadiyyas,’ he added.

The High Court on Sunday issued another rule on the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain within three weeks why the formation of the commission should not be declared illegal.
   A High Court bench also asked them to explain the legality of the appointment of a member of the commission, Maniruddin Ahmed, who was also made a respondent to the case.
   The court passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by an advocate of the Supreme Court, Md Sayedur Rahman Khan.
   Pleading for the petitioner, his counsel, MK Rahman, told the court that the commission was formed on November 21, 2004 in violation of two major provisions of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004.
   According to the act, the president has to appoint three members of the commission from a list of six persons recommended by a selection committee.
   The list of six persons recommended by the selection committee for the appointments, Rahman said, had not included Maniruddin Ahmed.
   The act also says that only a person having at least 20 years’ experience either in the field of law, justice, education, administration and disciplined forces will be competent for appointment as a member of the commission.
   Referring to the legal provision, the counsel argued that Maniruddin had never worked in any of those fields.
   Maniruddin, a chartered accountant, had worked for only 12 years as the chairman of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, Bangladesh Sugar and Chemical Industries Corporation and as the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the counsel.
   Maniruddin Ahmed was appointed a member of the commission though he was not competent and suitable for the appointment, nor had he been recommended by the selection committee, he contended.
   This is, however, not the first rule issued by the High Court regarding the formation of the commission.
   Earlier on April 16, 2005, the High Court issued a rule on the government and the commission to show cause within eight weeks as to why the formation of the commission and the appointments of the chairman, other commissioners and the secretary of the commission would not be declared illegal.
   The earlier rule was issued upon a writ petition filed by Tariqul Islam, the headmaster of Bholahat School of Chapainawabganj.
   In the earlier writ, the petitioner claimed that inclusion of two judges of the Supreme Court in the selection committee for nomination of the anti-graft body commissioners had affected the functioning of the Supreme Court, including the Appellate Division.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on Sunday said strategy of national defence would have to be updated on the latest technology and changing warfare techniques alongside making it pro-people as Bangladesh’s major strength was its people and national commitment.
   ‘In the present world, planning and execution of warfare is undergoing revolutionary and epoch-making changes with the rapid development of technologies. We, therefore, have to groom our military leaders and defence forces in line with those changes,’ she told a graduation certificate-awarding ceremony.
   The prime minister, also in charge of defence ministry, said defence and national security in today’s world depended on overall national prowess and capacity. The PM was distributing certificates of the National Defence Course-2005 and Armed Forces War Course-2005 at the auditorium of National Defence College at the city’s Mirpur Cantonment.
   A total of 26 trainees attended 11-month-long NDC-2005 of which 13 officers from Bangladesh Armed Forces, nine joint secretaries from civil service and two DIGs from police service along with two overseas members from Nepal and Sri Lanka. While 18 officers from Bangladesh Armed Forces participated in AFWC-2005.

The visiting UK minister on Sunday reiterated Britain’s support for Bangladesh’s development efforts as Dhaka and London signed two agreements on funding projects for rural electrification and facilitation of sending remittances from abroad.
   Hilary Benn, the secretary of state for international development, also wanted to know what measures the government had taken to tackle suicide attacks when he held talks with the finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, before the signing the ceremony.
   Saifur, a senior leader of the BNP, once again expressed frustration at the refusal of the main opposition party to join the national political dialogue, and welcomed the ‘positive gesture’ by professional bodies which had raised their voices against the Islamist militants. ‘Terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon and citizens of all countries are affected by it,’ he added.
   Benn, an influential member of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party cabinet, told reporters that the projects would help Bangladesh, specially the remittance earners.
   Bangladesh will receive Tk 653.6 crore under a memorandum on three-year remittance and payments partnership programme and another letter of exchange on the rural electrification development programme.
   The remittance project is expected to benefit 4.5 million people dependent on around 900,000 expatriate workers. Some 10 million people in 1.35 million households and businesses will be benefited by the rural electrification programme.
   The foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, the UK high commissioner were present on the occasion. The secretary of the Economic Relations Division, Mohammad Ismail Zabiullah, and the country director of the British department for international development, David Wood, signed the agreements on behalf of the two countries.

Six local leaders of the Awami League and its front organisations were injured when a group of people reportedly belonging to the ruling party attacked their procession at Atpara in the district during the hartal hours on Sunday.
   The injured — Atpara upazila Awami League president Sultan Ahmed, Juba League leader Jahangir Alam, Krishak League president Abdul Hannan, Chhatra League convener Rokanuzzaman, and leaders Mozammel Hossain and Al-Mamun — were admitted to Netrakona Sadar Hospital.
   The Awami League-led opposition alliance called the dawn-to-dusk general strike in the district protesting against Thursday’s suicide bomb attack near the Udichi Shilpi Goshthi office in the town that left eight people killed and 45 others injured.
   The police also picked up a leader of Chhatra League, Ajay Chakrabarti, from the town on charge of picketing.
   All shops and business establishments were closed during the hartal period. On the other hand, the presence of the employees at the government offices was thin. All modes of vehicles went off on the roads excepting few rickshaws.
   The Awami League and its allies brought out separate processions in favour of the hartal. They held rallies at different points in the town where the leaders condemned the suicide bomb attack.

Visiting media tycoon Ted Turner, who is also the chairman of the United Nations Foundation, observed on Sunday that the people seem to have been working hard to increase their incomes and improve their lot.
   He also said the people of Bangladesh have lots of potential.
   Turner made the observations while visiting a micro-credit programme of Grameen Bank in Manikganj, a district adjacent to the capital city.
   The world is observing the micro-finance programme of Grameen Bank, said Turner, owner of CNN and Cartoon Network and chairman of Turner Enterprise. ‘We have just started visiting Bangladesh and the UN Foundation has provided $7 million in the last six years and will decide on any further measures.’
   Accompanied by his board members Ted Turner, went to Shingair in Manikganj on Sunday morning and heard the rural women, who were once destitute but had bettered their lot by taking loans from Grameen Bank, relate their experiences.
   Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway, Nafis Sadik from Pakistan, former executive director of UNFPA, and member of the foundation, Timothy E Wirth, president of UN Foundation and founder of Grameen Bank, Dr Mohammad Yunus, accompanied the delegation.
   The borrowers of micro-credit, beggars’ loans, education loans and the Palli phone ladies talked of their sufferings before taking loans and their present prosperity, relatively speaking.
   The successful micro-credit borrowers from Grameen Bank talked of the rise in their status in their families and in society.
   The women have not only empowered themselves but have also empowered their husbands and their children.
   More women are getting educated, the custom of early marriages has been almost eradicated, and gender equality has almost been achieved, said the micro-credit borrowers. By taking education loan the borrowers are ensuring their children’s education. Many of the borrowers’ children are studying in different colleges and universities of the country.
   The visitors later visited one Roksana’s house who, after taking loan, established a bio-gas plant at her house at Joymontop village, and is now doing quite well. One Maran Chandra Sarkar, a lame beggar, told the visitors of the improvement in his life after taking Tk 1,000 as beggars’ loan. He has bought a cell phone whose service he sells to the villagers. He has been doing this business for one and a half year, and makes a profit of Tk 15 to 16 hundred every month.
   The visitors were entertained by a folk fair and a cultural programme in which the village children performed.

The WG Petroleum LLC, a US-based company, will invest $2.50 billion in Bangladesh for development of the country’s gas and refinery industries.
   To this effect, a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the multinational WG Petroleum and Madina Gas Company of Bangladesh recently.
   Under the deal, the US company will invest in gas projects in Sylhet and refinery units in Chittagong, said an official announcement.
   A delegation of the WG Petroleum, led by its president William Gast, spoke of the company’s plan when they met the industries minister, Matiur Rahman Nizami, at the latter’s office on Sunday.
   During the meeting, they discussed various aspects of the joint venture, country’s overall investment situation and supports given by the government for foreign investors.
   ‘The Bangladesh government is determined to protect the interests of the foreign entrepreneurs,’ he told the executives of the US company.
   Terming Bangladesh a ‘moderate democratic country’, Nizami said the government would give all logistic support to them in facilitating their investment here.
   William Gast said, ‘There exists an investment-friendly environment in Bangladesh and this is why entrepreneurs from different countries, including the USA, have shown interest in investing here.’
   Appreciating the country’s various development programmes in education, agriculture and women empowerment, the company president sought overall cooperation of the minister in making their investment.
   The technical adviser to WG Petroleum in Bangladesh, MI Bhuiyan, MA Jobbar Mollah and representative of Madina Gas Company, Zillur Rahim, were present.

The 125th anniversary of birth of populist leader Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani will be observed today with due respect.
   Different socio-cultural and political organisations have drawn up programmes on the occasion.
   The National Awami Party (Bhasani) will hold a commemoration meeting on the life and political career of the leader of the oppressed at the VIP Lounge of the National Press Club at 2:00pm.
   Former Chief Justice Habibur Rahman, also former chief adviser of the caretaker government, will attend the meeting as chief guest while language hero Abdul Matin, Comrade Mehedi, freedom fighter Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, Bhasani NAP secretary general Abul Kalam Azad as special guests.
   Former minister Rafiqul Islam Mia, also executive chairman of Bhasani NAP, will chair the meeting.
   Born in Sirajganj on December 12, 1880, Bhasani joined the Muslim League in 1930. He was elected president of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League in 1949.
   Bhasani was also the elected president of the East Pakistan National Awami Party in 1957. He died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on November 17 in 1976, and was buried in Santosh in Tangail on November 18 with State honour.

The first hajj flight of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines left Dhaka for Jeddah with 272 pilgrims on Sunday.
   The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, formally inaugurated the hajj flight at Zia International Airport at 11:30am.
   Biman will operate 86 dedicated flights to carry around 35,000 pilgrims, 2,621 of them ballotee, the state minister for civil aviation and tourism, Fakrul Islam Alamgir, told a press briefing at the Biman Head Office.
   Biman will also carry pilgrims in its regular flights between Dhaka and Jeddah alongside the foreign airlines, which will carry 10 to 12 thousand hajj passengers in their scheduled flights, he added.
   The hajj flights will be operated till January 4 and the return flights will begin on January 13 and continue till February 7.
   The government earlier fixed the airfare at $950 for each of the ballotee pilgrims, who perform hajj in government management, and at $1050 for each of the non-ballottee pilgrims.
   The state minister said a 576-seater Boeing-747-300 aircraft chartered by Biman is ready to fly while another 387-seater chartered airbus 330-300 is expected to arrive by Monday.
   Biman had earlier decided to charter three aircrafts and signed separate agreements with the COARS Air of France and Bismillah Airlines, a local privately-owned airlines. Bismillah Airlines, however, has failed to bring the aircraft in Dhaka.
   Vowing to take action against the Bismillah Airlines as per the rule, Fakrul said Biman was trying to charter another aircraft to carry the pilgrims.

Britain’s Prince Charles has been interviewed by police investigating the death of his ex-wife Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997, The Sunday Times newspaper said.
   The British weekly said heir-to-the-throne Charles was quizzed last week about the events leading up to her death.
   Lord John Stevens, the former commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police, saw the prince at his Clarence House residence in central London.
   Stevens has been investigating speculation that the princess of Wales’ death was not the result of a straightforward car accident.
   The probe was ordered nearly two years ago by the royal coroner, Michael Burgess,
   amid continuing conspiracy theories.
   Diana married Charles in 1981 and the pair separated 11 years later.
   Diana, 36, her lover Dodi al-Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul were killed when they crashed in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997.
   A two-year French investigation blamed Paul for losing control of the car because he was high on drink and prescription drugs and driving too fast.

Afghanistan made SAFF Championship history when the war-ravaged nation recorded its first-ever victory in the regional football tournament here on Sunday.
   At the People’s Sports Complex Stadium, the spirited Afghans surprised Sri Lanka 2-1 with two first half goals by Hafizullha Qadami and Abdul Maroof Gullestani. Karunaratne netted a consolation goal for Sri Lanka in the 85th minute.
   The result consigned the Sri Lankans to the wooden spoon.
   Qadami put Afghanistan in front with probably the goal of the tournament.

At least two persons were injured when a private car gas cylinder exploded at Chandona Chowdhuribari beside the Dhaka-Mymenshingh Highway under sadar upazila in Gazipur on Sunday.
   The injured were identified as Munna, 35, and Faruk Hossain, 25. The car blew up into pieces.
   Md Shoib, owner of the filling station, told New Age that the accident took place as the private car was using Oxygen cylinder instead of CNG cylinder.
   The Oxygen cylinder could not bear the high pressure of CNG, he added.

The chartered Boeing-747 of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines stumbled on the first day of the hajj flight.
   The Sunday evening hajj flight of the Corsair was cancelled as the Saudi government did not give permission for its landing.
   Biman sources said the Boeing-747 flight was supposed to take off with 500 pilgrims at 3:00pm. But as the Saudi government did not give the permission for the aircraft’s landing at Jeddah airport its take off schedule was re-fixed at 7:30pm.