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Four suspected militants, including Chittagong division commander Javed Iqbal alias Mohammad of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, were placed on a fresh 10-day remand on Sunday.
   The police picked up eight more suspects from different parts of the country in three days.
   The police produced Mohammad, Monirul Islam, Rafiqul Islam alias Jabed alias Ruman, and Mashiur Rahman Milon in metropolitan magistrates court seeking a remand for 10 days.
   The police arrested Mohammad from Kattali in Chittagong on December 14, and the other three from different places based on the statement of Mohammad.
   The Rapid Action Battalion in Khulna picked up one Habibur Rahman alias Ismail, 22, from the Government BL College at Daulatpur Saturday night.
   The police said Habib, of Char Charshi of Jamalpur sadar, identified himself as a member of the second tier after majlish-e-shura, the highest policymaking body of Jamaatul Mujahideen.
   The police and the Rapid Action Battalion in Chapainawabganj rounded up three suspected JMB members on Friday and Saturday night.
   They were Nasirul Islam, 20, of Tikrampur, Abdul Karim, 29, of Pardilalpur, and Abu Hasan alias Mala, 33, of Dhobra at Shibganj.
   Two persons, including an imam, suspected of having links with the JMB, were picked up from a Tangail mosque at Bhawal Mirzapur in sadar upazila Friday night. They were Mahmudur Rahman, 34, imam of Abdullah bin Omar Jam-e-Masjid, and his relative, Nayem, 22.
   Mamhudur is from Darbesh Khathe in Cox’s Bazar and Nayem is from Tinkona Pukurpar in Mymensingh.
   The news agency BDNews said the police arrested two people in Narail suspecting them to be JMB members.
   One of them, Chanchal alias Selim, 30, was picked up from Laskarpur in sadar upazila early Saturday.
   Chanchal is believed to have been dealing with JMB funds. His younger brother Probal was arrested a year ago; but he was released in want of evidence against him. Probal had been absconding since the August 17 bomb blast. He along with seven others was named on the charge sheet of the August 17 blast case in Narail.
   The Rapid Action Battalion recovered a bomb-like object from behind the New Model Kindergarten School at Fatullah in Narayanganj that panicked the people of the locality.

Tension runs high in three hill districts over the observance of the founding anniversary of the United People’s Democratic Front that opposes the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Treaty.
   The front leaders said the administration and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, which signed the treaty, were making ploys to foil their programmes chalked out to mark the seventh founding anniversary of the front today.
   The front took various programmes in the district and upazila headquarters in Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati.
   Dipankar Chakma, president of the front’s student wing Pahari Chhatra Parishad, on Saturday alleged that military personnel at Laxmichari in Khagrachari had asked them not to arrange any programme.
   He also brought similar accusation against the PCJSS members at Kutukchari of Rangamati.
   PCJSS leader Robin, however, denied the allegation and termed the UPDF members ‘simply criminals sponsored by a ruling party lawmaker’. ‘They (UPDF members) have no base in the hills and people do not bother them.’
   The front was formed on December 26, 1998 after the signing of the CHT accord between the government and the PCJSS. The front rejected the treaty dubbing it a document of betrayal with the hill people.

The guideline for conducting seismic survey of the Bay of Bengal is likely to be placed before the weekly cabinet meeting today.
   Officials at the cabinet division said the energy and mineral resources’ proposal on the guideline is likely to be included in the agenda of the cabinet meeting.
   The energy and mineral resources adviser, Mahmudur Rahman, also hoped that the guideline would be placed on agenda for the today’s meeting.
   Cabinet’s approval on the guideline would allow Petrobangla to go for international tender to carry out seismic survey in the deep sea of the Bay.
   The seismic survey would pave the way for inviting the third round block bidding by Petrobangla for gas exploration.
   Based on the survey, Petrobangla would also re-allocate gas blocks in the sea, and the state-run Oil, Gas, and Mineral Corporation hoped to go for the third round of bidding by mid-June.
   In the first round of bidding in 1993-94, Petrobangla awarded 8 out of 23 gas blocks, and 4 blocks in the second round of bidding in 1997.

Traders and local residents at Mirpur in Dhaka rampaged through the area, vandalising six vehicles, after a businessman had been shot at in front of his residence in the area.
   The victim was Aftab Uddin, 45, general secretary of Mukta Bangla Bahumukhi Cooperatives Society Limited and director of the Mukta Bangla Shopping Complex.
   The victim’s family said two assailants in a motorbike shot at Aftab point-blank in the left ear, left arm and left thigh when he was waiting for a rickshaw in front of his house at about 11:30am.
   Neighbouring shopkeeper Mahbub and employee Atik took him to Suhrawardy Hospital. He was later sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he had a surgery at around 1:15pm.
   As a rumour of his death ran high in the area, the people and businessmen brought out a procession and damaged about six vehicles, suspending the traffic. The police charged at them with batons to tackle the situation.
   The agitators calmed down after the victim’s younger brother said Aftab had been alive and was under treatment in Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   Aftab’s younger brother Afroz said his brother had no rivalry with anybody. Another family member said anonymous caller had made a phone call Saturday night and threatened him with killing.

The Jatiya Party chairman, HM Ershad, on Sunday said his party could go for alliance with the BNP or the Awami League provided that he should be made president of the country.
   ‘The Jatiya Party will join the BNP or Awami League-led alliance if they accept my 12-point programme and agree to make me president,’
   Ershad said while exchanging views with newsmen at the
   circuit house here in the morning.
   ‘In a word, we will join an electoral alliance that agrees to extend maximum opportunities to me to establish the Jatiya Party, Ershad, the JP chief said.
   Ershad, who ruled the country for nearly nine years with iron hand, suffered six years in prison for corruption and faces about a dozen other cases.
   ‘I was subjected to repression, thrown me to prison and implicated in conspiratorial cases by the BNP and Awami League when they were in power,’ lamented the chairman of Jatiya Party.
   ‘Country’s judicial system is now at stake,’ noted the former president who had split the High Court to each divisional headquarters that was annulled after his fall 15 years ago. The existing judicial system is not suited to an independent country, he added.
   ‘Judges are now appointed on the basis of political affiliation. Litigants are deprived of fair justice… During my nine-year rule no judge was appointed on political consideration,’ he said and stressed that the judiciary should be separated from the executive.
   Ershad said the ruling alliance had to pay in the next general election if it failed to resist the Islamic militants and contain price hike of essentials.

The Chittagong Festival-2005 and traditional Mejban were held in the capital city on Sunday with grandeur and due festivity.
   The Chittagong Samity, Dhaka, organised the festival – the annual get-together of Chittagonians – at the Dhanmondi Women Sports Complex.
   Around 30,000 Chittagongians living in the capital city gathered at the complex and joined a lunch served with special beef menu. Alternative menu was available.
   The noted chef of the port city, Abul Miah, prepared the dishes with his 45 aides. Some 140 cows and 14 goats were slaughtered to entertain the guests.
   Four eminent personalities of Chittagong were awarded the Chittagong Samity Medal.
   The recipients are Professor Ashab Uddin Ahmed (posthumous) for social work, Dr Jafrullah Chowdhury for health care, actress Kobori Sarwar for acting and historian Prof Abdul Karim.
   A discussion session was held to mark the festival. Leaders of both the ruling party and the opposition hailing from Chittagong took part in the discussion.
   The fisheries and livestock minister, Abdullah-Al-Noman, convener of the Chittagong district unit of Muktijoddha Sangsad and former president of the Samity, Engineer Afsaruddin, left party leaders Moinuddin Khan Badal of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Dilip Barua of Sammyabadi Dal were present.

Despite the prime minister’s directive, the finance ministry is yet to disburse the remaining Tk 97 crore subsidy to the ministry of agriculture for importing fertiliser.
   The agriculture ministry’s bid to disburse the subsidy and continue fertiliser sales in the open market could not yield any result.
   On the other hand, the fertiliser importers have threatened to stop their sales at the current price in the open market if the problem is not solved by Monday, which may lead to increase in the prices of fertilisers including urea.
   The agriculture minister, MK Anwar, told the news agency that they are regularly communicating with the finance ministry for disbursement of the subsidy money, but there is hardly any response.
   ‘The finance ministry is to provide the money. If they do not disburse the money, we have nothing to do. They have to decide on the matter,’ the minister said.
   Referring to the threat from the importers, the agriculture minister said his ministry has nothing to do with it. ‘I can only give them the money when the finance ministry will give it to me. What they (businessmen) would do depends on them,’ he added. He, however, said his ministry is trying hard to resolve the problem.
   The Bangladesh Fertiliser Association president, Kafiluddin Ahmed said despite the failure of a meeting held on December 20 between them and the agriculture ministry, they will again sit. ‘We will discuss the issue of fertiliser price.’

At least 25 people were injured as activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of the ruling BNP, allegedly swooped on a bus in front of Jahangirnagar University on Sunday.
   Police and witnesses said a ‘Hanif Paribahan’ bus bound for Nandan Park at Ashulia came under attack when it reached the university point at about 10:30am.
   Some four passengers of the bus identifying themselves as JCD activists started beating the driver and helper of the vehicle alleging that they paid more than double the fixed fare, a witness said.
   On information by mobile phone, a group of JCD activists immediately joined the attack and ransacked the bus leaving at leasr 25 people, mostly passengers injured, he said.
   The injured were admitted to different local clinics.
   The police could not arrest anybody as the attackers ran into the JU campus before their arrival at the spot.
   The JCD JU unit general secretary, Nazmul Hasan Abhi, however, denied JCD’s involvement in the incident He said the attackers were not students.