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Tension has mounted high as the country’s main political forces — the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the opposition Awami League — seem to have prepared themselves for major showdowns across the county today.
   The opposition parties, led by Awami League, are set to enforce a 36-hour countrywide shutdown to protest against the repeated grenade attacks on opposition rallies, killing of opposition leaders, unabated price spiralling of essential commodities and to demand the resignation of the four-party ruling alliance of the prime minister, Khaleda Zia.
   This is the seventh shutdown since a deadly grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Habiganj that killed former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria MP and four other opposition activists on January 27. The parties finalised the programme on February 8.
   Earlier the opposition had enforced a 60-hour hartal from January 29, a dawn-to-dusk hartal on February 3 and a 36-hour non-stop one on February 5-6 in support of their demands.
   The opposition leaders have already asked their fronts to be well prepared for whatever situation may arise, and to retaliate if the government represses them as it has done in previous shutdowns.
   The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, asked her party workers how long they would continue to be beaten up. ‘How long should we bury the corpses of our deputies, if there is no way for protest…We must go for retaliation,’ she told a political programme on Sunday, a day ahead of the two-day hartal.
   The police, in the meantime, have arrested as many as 700 opposition workers from the city, and Awami League leaders claimed that over 3,000 opposition workers were picked up across the country in the last two days.
   On the other hand, the ruling BNP is scheduled to stage rallies across the country to offset the ‘opposition-sponsored anarchy’ in the name of hartals.
   A leader of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday announced a crusade against what he called anarchy, referring to the hartals and other violence in the name of political programmes by ‘certain quarters’. Senior joint secretary of the BNP, Tarique Rahman, made the comment at a party meeting in Chittagong.
   Asked to comment on the ruling party’s ‘crusade against anarchy’, Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil told New Age, ‘It is nothing but the raving of a madman emboldened by power.’
   The BNP will hold rallies at all thanas in the capital and in all the upazilas today to tackle the Awami League’s ongoing oust-the-government programme ‘politically’.
   The BNP secretary-general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, on February 12 called upon the opposition leadership to defer the date of hartal, but the request was turned down by the AL general secretary, Abdul Jalil.
   ‘We are enforcing hartals for the people’s cause. There is no justification of deferring the strike, as the government has no right to stay in power,’ Jalil told New Age. He said the hartal would continue, and if the government repressed his party workers, they would either take shelter or fight in self-defence only.
   Meanwhile, the Awami League on Sunday campaigned in favour of the hartal in all the thanas of the city to invigorate the protest in the capital. Over one hundred opposition leaders and activists joined the pre-hartal campaign.
   Panic gripped the city dwellers as pre-hartal violence erupted, well before Sunday evening. In the noon, unidentified people set a bus on fire in downtown Motijheel, and reports reached us at night that two more vehicles were burnt in Shahbagh and Sabujbagh in the evening.
   ‘The Awami League will be blamed for violence, if it occurs during the hartal on February 14, as they have violated the democratic norm of not launching a programme that may coincide with the programme of a competing party,’ Mannan told a public rally on Saturday.
   But he told New Age on Sunday that he had asked the party leaders across the country to avoid confrontation with the opposition activists.
   In April 21 last year, a similar situation was about to be created, but people were relieved when the front organisations called off their ‘counter-offensive’ programmes against the opposition political parties.
   Then the Awami League planned to besiege Hawa Bhaban, an office of the BNP chairperson, while the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, BNP’s student front, planned for besiege Sudha Sadan, AL chief Sheikh Hasina’s private residence in Dhanmondi.
   The BNP also cancelled its scheduled public meeting at Paltan Maidan as well as at Gulshan.
   However, security forces will be kept at high alert in the capital. Some 9,000 forces, 1,000 more than that of the previous hartals, will be deployed to maintain order.

Several vehicles came under arson attack in the capital Sunday while the authorities have taken special security arrangements to check such attacks on running vehicles during the 36-hour countrywide hartal beginning this morning.
   Three people were injured in a petrol bomb attack on a Bangladesh Bank bus on the lane beside Eden Building at Arambagh at about 2:30pm. The vehicle caught in fire.
   The injured — bus-driver, Jahangir, his relative, Azibar, and helper, Selim — were taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where Azibar was undergoing treatment. The others were released after first-aid.
   Another minibus and a black taxi-cab also come under attack at Shahbagh and near the Kamalapur railway station in the evening. There was, however, no casualty.
   The police authorities have decided to deploy plainclothes policemen in the buses at different city routes to check arson attack on the running vehicles during the strike hours.
   Besides, more than 9,000 members of the police and Bangladesh Rifles will be deployed in the capital to maintain law and order during the shutdown.
   The police arrested more than 700 people from different places in the city on Sunday and Saturday. Most of them were shown arrested in different cases while the others under section 54 of the criminal procedure code and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Act, the police sources said.
   The Awami League and its allies called the general strike to protest against the killing of former finance minister, Shah AMS Kibria, and four others in a grenade attack on a party rally in Habiganj on January 27.
   However, the hartal was withdrawn for Monday in Shariatpur in memory of the chairman of Shariatpur municipality, Yakub Ali Howlader, who died Saturday, and in Bandarban to facilitate people joining a religious programme.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Sunday expressed deep concern at the confrontational politics the country now heading towards as it manifested in the demonstration programmes thrown by both the ruling and opposition parties on the same day today.
   The federation at an emergency governing body meeting chaired by its president, Abdul Awal Mintoo, called upon the political parties to show restraint and immediately sit for dialogue to resolve the pending issues shunning the path of hostilities.
   The main opposition Awami League called a 36-hour hartal on February 14-15 despite an earlier schedule of countrywide protest demonstration announced by the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
   ‘This kind of retaliatory programmes may result in unpleasant and confrontational situation in the political arena,’ the federation cautioned in a resolution circulated to the press.
   The federation has also convened a special meeting of all chambers and associations at the federation building on February 24 to decide on the business community’s course of action for resolving the current political standoff.
   ‘The business community is united to get rid of confrontation and all kinds of subversive activities in the greater national interest of marching the country forward to reach its cherished goal of development,’ said the federation’s press statement issued by its secretary MM Jahangir.
   In the federation meeting, the speakers pointed out the negative impacts of hartal on the country’s economic activities as well as trade and commerce.
   They said hartal disrupts the people’s day-to-day activities and damages the country’s image internationally discouraging both local and foreign investments.

Non-performing loans in the banking sector went down by Tk 1,600 crore to Tk 18,726 crore at the end of December 2004, according to the Bangladesh Bank.
   The amount was 17.63 per cent of the total disbursed loans in the banking sector.
   The total amount of defaulted loans was Tk 20,319 crore at the end of December 2003, which was 22.13 per cent of the total disbursed amount in the period, while the ratio was 28 per cent at the end of December 2002.
   ‘The classified loans have improved significantly due to recovery through several initiatives and monitoring of the Bangladesh Bank,’ the deputy governor of the central bank, Nazrul Huda, told newsmen, revealing the figures on Sunday.
   He said on net calculation basis, classified loans came down to below 10 per cent at the end of December, 2004, and it was 13.6 per cent a year ago.
   Huda said memorandums of understanding between the central and nationalised commercial banks have played a significant role in reducing the number of bad loans in these banks.
   Total worth of non-performing loans of the four nationalised commercial banks came down to Tk 10,568 crore from Tk 12,179 crore in a year.
   At the end of December 2004, some 25.3 per cent of the total disbursed loans was classified as non-performing; it was 29 per cent at the end of December 2003.
   Huda also said increasing practice of corporate governance has helped to reduce non-performing loans in the private commercial banks.
   About Tk 4,194 crore was the worth of classified loans in the private banks, which was 8.5 per cent of the total disbursement during the period under review.
   At the end of December 2003, private banks had Tk 4,851 crore as non-performing loans, which amounts to 12.4 per cent of the total disbursement.
   Huda also attributed the progress of recovery of defaulted loans to the money loan court and writing off of five-year-old bad loans by the banks.
   The non-performing loans in the development financial institutions, however, are still high.
   At the end of December 2004, about Tk 4,467 crore was the worth of non-performing loans in these banks. The share was 42.6 per cent of the total disbursement; it was 47.41 per cent at the end of December 2003.
   The non-performing loans in the foreign commercial banks were very negligible in worth — Tk 108.8 crore.
   The worth of classified loans in the banking sector dropped largely in last two quarters.
   At the end of June and September 2004, non-performing loans in the banking sector were 21.5 per cent and 20.85 per cent respectively.

The Forum to Protect Journalists, formed with the mission to ensure security and safety of newsmen, Sunday demanded of the government to take stern actions against the killers of journalists.
   The forum also cautioned that the hard-earned ‘freedom of the press’ would be jeopardised if actions are not taken against the perpetrators, who often issue threats against news media in public rallies.
   In a statement the organisation, an alliance of the leading editors of national dailies, also expressed concern at the fact that journalists were being killed at regular intervals, where the government remained ‘indifferent and unconcerned.’
   The forum observed that so far not a single incident of journalist killing had been properly investigated. Such indifference has boosted courage of the culprits and given the killers a sense of impunity, it said through the statement.
   If these are not stopped by stern measures of the government, it would be difficult to continue for the journalists to live with their profession.
   Listing incidents against the journalists the organisation expressed grave concern over the killing of journalists Manik Shaha, Humayun Kabir Balu, Sheikh Belaluddin and 14 journalists of the south-western region.
   The organisation noted that it would not be surprising if Khulna journalists were forced to think of quitting journalism.
   The statement said the forum would hold a rally in Dhaka to create pressures on the government for proper investigation and punishment of the killers of journalists.
   The rally will start from the Press Clubs across the country at 11:00am on February 19, inviting journalists and others concerned with the profession to take part in the rallies.
   Signatories to the statement are: Jugantor editor ABM Musa, New Age editor Enayet Ullah Khan,
   Janakantha editor Mohammad Atiqullah Khan Masud, Ittefaq acting editor Rahat Khan, News Today editor Reazuddin Ahmed, The Independent editor Mahbubul Alam, the Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, Dainik Ajker Kagaj editor Kazi Shahed Ahmed, Inquilab editor AMM Bahauddin, Sangbad editor Bazlur Rahman, Naya Digonta editor Alamgir Mohiuddin, Amar Desh editor Amnullah Kabir, The Financial Express editor Moazzem Hossain, Manavzamin chief editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, The Bangladesh Observer editor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Bangladesh Today editor Asafuddoula, The New Nation editor Golam Tahabbur, Dinkal editor Kazi Sirajuddin Ahmed, Sangram editor Abul Asad, Dainik Khabarpatra editor Gias Kamal Chowdhury, BanglaBazar editor Mohammad Zakaria Khan and Bhorer Kagaj acting editor Shyamal Dutta.

The country experienced a massive load-shedding of 776 megawatts on Sunday due to short supply of gas to the power generating plants. The severe power outage, by which the capital city is worst affected, continued for the fourth consecutive day.
   The power authorities were forced to shed 250MW of power in the capital alone on Sunday.
   The recurrent power outage hit almost all the city areas, including Mirpur, Dhanmondi, Tejgaon, Lalbagh, Moghbazar, Gulshan and Badda.
   Sources in the Power Development Board said a unit of the Siddhirganj power plant with a capacity to generate 50MW could generate around 30MW yesterday as it had restored its production after a few days of closure on the severe fall in gas supply.
   This shortfall also hit other gas-based power plants hard.
   The PDB set target at 3,453MW power generation on Sunday against its demand for 3,550MW, but only 2,676MW of electricity could be generated, which stood 300MW less than it was generated the previous day.
   According to the power board, gas supply to the plants came down to less than 500 million cubic feet on Saturday, although the Petrobangla had been supplying around 500mmcf gas for the last few days. The gas demand for the plants is around 650mmcf to 700mmcf.
   The country started facing acute power outage since Thursday.
   The load-shedding was over 650MW on Thursday, 510MW on Friday and 545MW on Saturday.
   Five units of Ghorashal and Ashuganj power plants remained closed on Sunday due to gas shortage, while all other plants suffered a setback.
   In total Ghorashal power plant generated only 300MW despite having a capacity of generating 750MW, Ashuganj generated 429 although it has a capacity to produce 529MW while Raojan produced only 200MW although it has a capacity to generate 360MW.
   The Siddhirganj plant that has a capacity to produce 200MW produced only 125MW, RPCL Mymensingh produced 120MW against its 180MW capacity, Westmont Baghabari produced 80MW, 10MW below its capacity, and Baghabari plant produced only150MW against its 172MW capacity.
   Chittagong underwent a load-shedding of 115MW, 100MW each in Khulna and Rajshahi, 70MW in Comilla, 40mw in Sylhet, 20mw in Barisal and 20mw in Rangpur.
   An official of the PDB hoped that the situation would be improved if the Petrobangla could supply gas at an enhanced rate that suits our requirement.
   ‘Petrobangla is yet to increase gas supply for the power generation plants,’ said the official.

A meeting of the tripartite techno-commercial working committee on the proposed gas pipeline from Myanmar to India through Bangladesh, scheduled to be held in Yangon today, has been deferred by at least a week.
   The director general of Myanmar’s energy ministry, Soe Myint, on Friday conveyed the message to the state minister for energy and mineral resources, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, after ‘Dhaka requested Yangon to defer the date’.
   ‘We are postponing the said meeting to 7 to 10 days later from February 14, depending on the convenience of the parties,’ said the letter Myint sent to Mosharraf.
   New Delhi, on the other hand, wanted the meeting to be held from February 17 to 18.
   ‘In the course of our communications to the parties concerned, we have come to know that the timing of the meeting appears not to be convenient for them,’ Myint said in his letter.
   A two-day tri-national meeting of energy ministries of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar, which ended on January 13 in Yangon, decided to form a six-member techno-commercial working committee to carry out a study on the proposed route of the pipeline and charges of pipeline, security and management.
   The committee, headed by Myint and represented by two members each from the three countries, was supposed to hold its first meeting in the second week of February to pave the way for signing a trilateral memorandum of understanding on the proposed gas pipeline in April.
   The January meeting also decided that Yangon would fix the date for the first meeting.
   Mosharraf told New Age on Sunday that Dhaka had requested Yangon to defer the date as Yangon fixed the date at the last moment. ‘We were not prepared for the meeting as the date was announced suddenly.’
   He said that Yangon would fix the new date soon after consultation with Delhi and Dhaka.
   Dhaka, Delhi and Yangon have already selected members for the meeting. The Petrobangla chairman, SR Osmani, and the Gas Transmission Company Limited managing director, Monjur Morshed Talukder, will represent Dhaka. India intends to take around six trillion cubic feet of gas from western Myanmar through Bangladesh by the proposed pipeline.

Sale of greeting cards and other gifts items has increased by 50 to 90 per cent in the gift shops prior to Valentine’s Day in the city, but the flower business will slump due to hartal, florists apprehend.
   It was almost impossible to enter the gift shops in the city on Saturday due to the rush of school, college and university students. Gift shops, especially Hallmark and Archies Gallery, were highly crowded.
   These two international gifts shops have offered special collections of gifts and cards before Valentine’s Day. Speaking and singings dolls which will utter sentences and sing songs of love are the special features of the collections of these gifts shops. These dolls will speak sentences like ‘I love you,’ ‘I miss you,’ and sing different love-songs.
   Prices of these dolls range from Tk 45 to Tk 600. Hallmark is giving five per cent discount as special offer for this special day. Prices of greeting cards, especially for Valentine’s Day, range from Tk 22 to Tk 275. Hallmark sells a special locket, a double one shaped like a divided heart, for couples, each part carrying different love messages. The lockets’ price is Tk 100.
   Salesmen of Archies Gallery at Hatirpool said that sales began increasing from February 1, and reached a peak on Saturday, due to Valentine’s Day. The prices of greeting cards in the Gallery’s shops range from Tk 60 to Tk 950, and of the gifts from Tk 80 to Tk 6,000. The items on sale include dolls, perfumes, jewellery, wrist watches, etc.
   The most wanted item for Valentine’s Day is flowers, and the florists expressed their resentment because hartal has prevented them from making the kind of profits that they made in the past years. Belayet Hossain, owner of Aparajita, a popular flower shop on Bailey Road, said that sales had increased by ten per cent in Basanta Festival and it would increase further on Valentine’s Day, but the profits would be far less than last year’s.
   Mohammad Nasiruddin, owner of Primrose, another flower shop on Bailey Road, said sale of flower has increased by 50 per cent with the approach of Valentine’s Day. The flower shops have started home delivery services and they receive orders through the internet. As a special offer for Valentine’s Day the shop will offer free home delivery if the order is worth Tk 350 to Tk 4,000.
   Lucky Ahmed, a regular shopper at Primrose, received a flower bouquet on Saturday from her valentine, which he had ordered from this flower shop earlier, and after receiving the gift Lucky ordered another bouquet, which her valentine will receive on Valentine’s Day. ‘When the card of the order giver and receiver matches, we deliver the flowers,’ said Nasiruddin. This trend started in Bangladesh about 12 years ago, he said.
   The florists of Bailey Road have started the home delivery service since 2000, and Valentine’s Day has increased the orders by 10 per cent. Sales of roses and orchids have increased due to Valentine’s Day, they told New Age.
   Shahana Zahid, a saleswoman of Skylark, a fast food shop on Bailey Road, said that sale of chocolates and cakes has increased due to Valentine’s Day. The sale was supposed to increase on February 14, but it will not be possible due to hartal, said the disheartened Shahana.

Nepal ordered more troops to patrol highways and warned against hoarding in an effort to break a Maoist blockade across the nation, the biggest challenge so far to King Gyanendra’s seizure of absolute power this month.
   Traffic was thin on the second day of the indefinite transport shutdown called by the Maoists to force the king to withdraw his decision to sack the government, impose a state of emergency and suspend civil liberties.
   The information and communications minister, Tanka Dhakal, said soldiers had stepped up patrols and set up pickets along the highways to bolster public confidence, shaken by nine years of conflict that has killed more than 11,000 people.
   ‘People are feeling a little more secure and more are coming out,’ he said, adding the government had offered to pay immediate compensation if any vehicle was attacked while defying the guerrilla ban. So far, there were no reports of violence.
   In New Delhi about 500 Nepalis carrying red banners gathered shouting ‘Down with Monarchy’ and ‘Long live the Republic’.
   ‘We are here to protest against the royal proclamation and the king’s assumption of power,’ organiser Laxman Pant said.
   Life in Kathmandu appeared unaffected, and there was no sign of panic buying in city markets despite the rebel blockade.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia Sunday said although the political arena is facing continuous programmes from the opposition parties, which hindrances peaceful atmosphere, the government is firm to protect democratic rights of all, including the opposition parties.
   She also called upon the main opposition to refrain from disrupting democratic process and violating human rights in the name of political movement and protests.
   Her call came when a 13-member delegation of Council for National Agenda, led by the former chief election commissioner, Justice Abdur Rauf, also chairman of the Council, called on her at the Prime Minister’s Office in the capital.
   The council members included retired judges, lawyers, professors, physicians, former ambassadors and secretaries, journalists and poets. During the exchange of views, the delegation members thanked her for urging the opposition to extend their cooperation for smooth running of administration. They suggested her to hold immediately a dialogue between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
   Khaleda Zia urged the intellectual community to play a positive role in creating awareness among the people for maintaining peaceful democratic atmosphere.
   The delegation members in their turn termed hartals destructive activities and called for enacting stringent laws to stop hartal or at least end the ‘rights’ of enforcing hartal through violent means.
   The people are opposed to hartal and want peace and will like to do their normal works, they said.
   At this stage, Khaleda Zia said her government does not want to curtail democratic rights but like to see continuity of healthy democratic environment and development.
   The government will ensure punishment to the killers of the former finance minister, Shah AMS Kibria through proper investigation, she iterated, saying foreign investigation teams have been invited to probe the killing.
   ‘But a particular political party demanded release of a person arrested for his alleged involvement in Kibria’s killing.’ They said such behaviour of the opposition were contrary to the democratic. She urged the opposition to refrain from such acts.
   The delegation also include Barrister Mainul Hossein, former advisor to the caretaker government and noted physician, MA Majed, former foreign secretary Tabarak Hossain, former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, professor Emajuddin Ahmed, former foreign secretary MR Osmany, former ambassadors MMRezaul Karim and Masum Ahmed Chowdhury, former secretary, Shah Abdul Hannan, journalist Sadek Khan, professor Mahmubullah and former vice-chancellor, M Anwar Hossain.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday launched a signature campaign demanding trial of the perpetrators of the grenade attacks on her party rallies and killing of senior party leaders, including Shah AMS Kibria.
   Inscribing her signature on a white canvas at her Dhanmondi office, Hasina, also the leader of the opposition in parliament, urged the people to wage a tough movement to overthrow the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government. She held the government responsible for the attacks.
   ‘People under the killers’ regime are frightened, despaired… a nightmarish situation prevails in the country… come forward and knock this government down immediately,’ she said launching the signature campaign ‘Rakter Akhhorey Shapather Swakkhar (signature of oath in letters of blood)’.
   Names of 10 party leaders and professionals, who died in unexplained attacks, were written in red letters on the white canvas. They are: Awami League leaders Kibria, Ivy Rahman, Ahsanullah Master MP, Manjurul Imam, Mamtaj Uddin, Amjad Hossain Master and Shamsul Islam Suruj, the Rajshahi University professor, Mohammad Yunus, and journalists Manik Saha and Humayun Kabir Balu.
   Hasina alleged that the government was getting more ferocious on the people. ‘They [the government] do not bother protecting the human rights. Extra-judicial killings by the law enforcers have surpassed all previous records beside the killings by the party activists’.
   Referring to repeated grenade attacks on Awami League rallies, Hasina said , the government was always trying to blame the Awami League for all the attacks ‘as if the Awami League has been committing suicide’. In fact, they are insincere to bring the criminals to justice, rather to protect them (criminals).
   She said her party workers are not even allowed to go to the roads for lodging protest. Police are being used to manhandle the opposition leaders – not to maintain law and order.
   ‘How long should we carry the corpses of our leaders? How long should we be attacked? …We must retaliate when we would have no means of protest,’ said Hasina asking her party leaders to make the 36-hour general strike, beginning this morning, a success.
   Senior AL leaders attended the function, signed the canvas and took oath to fight out the BNP-Jamaat alliance government.

The European Commission wants Bangladesh to achieve political stability to ensure a better atmosphere for business and investment and thereby harness development goals with home-grown strategies, said EC envoys in Dhaka on Sunday.
   They also believe that the poverty reduction strategy paper as a joint effort of lenders and the government of Bangladesh will provide strategies and vision to deal with critical issues the country is facing, keeping poverty alleviation at the top of the agenda.
   ‘There are things that we can influence and there are things that we cannot. We can only pray for more political stability as well as a better investment climate,’ the head of the EC delegation to Bangladesh, Esko Kentrschynskyj, told a press conference.
   The views came when the delegation opened a consultation on the future of the European Union’s development policy to receive inputs from stakeholders from around the world, including policy issues encompassing Bangladesh.
   ‘The commission in November last year took an initiative on future of development policy. And its aim is to table proposal in this regard by the first half of this year,’ Kentrschynskyj said.
   Views from participants of the debate on issues such as globalisation, trade negotiation, regional integration, governance, human rights, environment, food, health, migration and security will be accommodated in the consultation process which will continue online.
   However, before finalising the new development policy, the commission will continue to implement its ongoing programmes in Bangladesh under the country assistance strategies valid until 2006, the ambassador added.
   Bangladesh, which stands second in Asia in terms of running the commission-assisted programmes, is said to be one of the prime candidates for poverty reduction to be supported by the commission’s policy.
   ‘Poverty reduction has been moving slowly than what was expected,’ Anthony Goodwin, head of operation of the commission’s Dhaka mission, said, adding that the commission’s programmes in Bangladesh would be on conformity with the host government’s policy. ‘It’s very much a partnership.’
   Asked if the commission’s programmes would have any implications on the regional cooperation in SAARC after the postponement of its Dhaka summit, Kentrschynskyj said it would have no bearing on the emphasis laid on regional integration by the European Union, which itself is an economic grouping that enlarged membership to 25 countries.
   ‘We are not as active as we wanted in SAARC process,’ Anne Marchal, first secretary of the commission delegation, said. She mentioned that the commission provides technical assistance under a memorandum of understanding struck in 1996.

The European Commission on Sunday demanded investigation into killing of suspected criminals in crossfire so that people’s access to justice as individual human rights could be ensured.
   The head of delegation of the European Commission in Bangladesh, Esko Kentrschynskyj, expressed his concern and termed
   such killings, mostly by the Rapid Action Battalion, extra-judicial.
   ‘It’s a matter of great concern to us… When the number of crossfire incidences exceeds 200, one can question the authenticity of such claims,’ he told journalists.
   When asked about the commission’s estimation of the government’s measures after the killing of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria in the January 27 Habiganj grenade attack, the European diplomat expressed his confidence in the prime minister’s statement in this regard.
   According to an unofficial count, over 230 people, who were wanted by police in various criminal cases, have so far been killed in crossfire since introduction of the Rapid Action Battalion in order to curb crimes.
   ‘The government should take actions to investigate into the killings in the cross-fire incidents,’ Kentrschynskyj said, rejecting the explanations on crossfire in large numbers.
   Brushing aside such a criticism against the RAB operations and crossfire earlier, the law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister, Moudud Ahmed, has time and again said human rights of 14 crore people are more important than the human rights of the criminals, who were being killed in crossfire.
   Asked how the commission evaluated the ‘public satisfaction’ over the killing of the terrorists, who used to escape justice through lengthy judicial process, the EU envoy pointed out that it was a matter of human rights and everyone has the right to access to justice.
   ‘It (terrorists’ escaping justice system) is also an issue of governance and that has to be based on rule of law,’ Kentrschynskyj added.
   On a question on separation of judiciary, he said such step is essential for Bangladesh for improvement in governance and judicial system as well.

Three suspected criminals, including a top underground party leader, were killed in shootouts between their associates and the police and the Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka, Chittagong and Kushtia on Saturday and Sunday. In Dhaka, a RAB squad encircled the house of Firoz Alam Pintu, on Haricharan Roy Road near Mill Barrack under Sutrapur in the capital at about 10:30pm Saturday.
   But, Pintu and his associates opened fire on the battalion which the elite force returned. Hit by bullets, Pintu died on the spot, the police said. His associates got away, leaving Pintu and three firearms.
   Pintu, also a reported leader of the BNP’s labour front, Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, had been absconding. Criminal cases were filed against him with the Sutrapur thana.
   In Chittagong, Hossain Ahammad Munna alias Fayez Munna, an alleged criminal, was killed in a ‘shootout’ between the RAB and his associates at village Mirerkhil under Hathazari upazila early Sunday. Munna, 22, the second-in-command of Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed Gittu Nasirgroup, was shot dead when the RAB members went to recover arms along with him in the area at about 4:30am. The RAB men recovered five guns and 47 rounds of ammunitions from the spot.
   In Kushtia, Mohidul Islam Shamim alias Mohit Malitha, 42, reportedly the second-in-command of Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Jonojuddha), died in a shootout between the police and his associates at village Lalongar under Daulatpur upazila early Saturday.

Nearly three months have gone by since formation of the Anti-Corruption Commission on November 21 last year, but no progress has been made due mainly to the ongoing impasse in the commission.
   The anti-corruption watchdog body has also failed to prepare its organogram, recruit manpower and start functioning due to the crisis that cropped up right after its formation.
   Justice Sultan Hossain Khan, chairman of the three-member commission, admitted to the press that no progress has been made.
   ‘We could not make any progress so far,’ Sultan told reporters at his office on Sunday, but refrained from pointing out the reasons behind it.
   In reply to a question he said, ‘You know better why the commission could not make any progress.’
   Sultan also declined to comment on the controversy regarding his appointment as chairman of the commission. ‘There are noted lawyers in the country and it is better to talk to them about the matter.’
   Professor Moniruzzaman Miah, one of the two commissioners, also said no progress has been made. ‘At least, we should have completed the organogram by this time but we could not do so.’
   Asked about the reasons, he said that there had been delay in taking decisions. Miah claimed that there was nothing wrong with his personal relationship with Sultan.
   Miah submitted a draft organogram suggesting employment of 950 staffers to run the commission, while another commissioner, Maniruddin Ahmed, recommended 1,800 staffers. This has been the only progress made by the commission so far.
   Crisis crippled the commission soon after its formation as Miah took a tough stand against some decisions of Sultan, including the move to recruit manpower from the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption.
   Miah vetoed the move and remained firm in his decision to prepare an organogram before going for recruitment. He was also against any move like sending notices to the ministries about missing vehicles.
   Crisis in the commission deepened further on Wednesday after Justice Sultan seized the administrative and establishment-related power of Miah and later announced that he would not return the power to him.
   The chairman issued an order on February 5 to strip Miah of his power and responsibilities, saying that he himself would supervise and control all administrative and establishment-related work. The order enraged Miah who said he would quit if his power was not restored within a couple of days.
   The commission sat for a meeting on Wednesday in which Miah was supposed to regain his administrative and establishment-related responsibilities which the chairman had taken over ‘for a temporary period’.
   Meanwhile, Miah has become virtually inactive and the chairman and the other commissioner took some important decisions on Wednesday, ignoring his opinions.
   Although he has repeatedly said he would not compromise and tolerate any malpractice in the commission and might quit the body if his power was not restored, he is yet to go for such an extreme move.
   Justice Sultan, however, denied any tug of war with Miah and said a vested quarter was active to make the commission ‘dysfunctional’.
   The chairman also restricted access of the press to the commission. He even asked the commissioners not to talk to the press without his permission. A circular issued by the chairman says the commission would meet the journalists only on Sunday.
   In his reaction, Miah said alienating the media would be an unwise decision.

Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad agreed Saturday to maintain an informal truce but the leadership failed to secure their signature to a ceasefire announced with Israel earlier in the week.
   ‘Hamas is going to maintain its cooling down period,’ one of its leaders, Ismail Haniyah, said after the talks with the Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, in which he took part.
   Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi made similar comments after a later meeting with Abbas.
   The Palestinian leader had been seeking the two groups’ agreement to a mutual ceasefire with Israel which he announced at a breakthrough summit with the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, in Egypt on Tuesday.
   Abbas was reportedly furious when just two days after his talks in Egypt, Hamas rained mortar rounds and rockets on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
   He immediately sacked three senior security officials for failing to prevent the violence.
   Thursday’s violence prompted Israel to suspend negotiations on implementing agreements reached at Tuesday’s summit and underlined the scale of the challenge facing Abbas to rein in the militants.
   ‘We are in a serious and dangerous time,’ powerful former security minister, Mohammed Dahlan, told reporters in Gaza City before the talks with Hamas, adding that the armed factions had ‘serious responsibility on their shoulders’.
   Dahlan held talks with the Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, in Tel Aviv later Saturday to discuss security coordination.
   A similar meeting was due to take place Sunday between Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat and top Sharon adviser Dov Weisglass. Israel had postponed the talks following Thursday’s mortar attacks.
   ‘Israel has agreed to allow the return of all Palestinians deported to Gaza and Europe to return home,’ Erakat said, adding that the move had been agreed before Tuesday’s landmark Middle East peace summit which took place in Egypt.

The cabinet committee on madrassah education on Sunday asked the National University to finalise the curriculum and staff pattern of Fazil and Kamil madrassahs in order to make Fazil and Kamil degrees equivalent to bachelor and master’s degrees in general education.
   The committee, formed to amend the Islamic University Act 1980 and the Madrassah Education Ordinance 1978, had a meeting with the LGRD and cooperatives minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan.
   The education ministry put forward a proposal to the cabinet committee on education early 2002 to upgrade Fazil and Kamil degrees equivalent to bachelor and master’s degrees respectively.
   Fazil and Kamil degree holders are currently not eligible for appearing in the BCS or any other competitive examinations for government jobs as they are not recognised bachelor or master’s degree holders.
   Earlier, the NU in principle accepted the education ministry proposal to affiliate the Fazil and Kamil madrassahs, which are now run by the Madrassah Education Board.
   The new curriculum for both the Fazil and Kamil courses will have to be made consistent with the existing curriculum for degree and master’s courses in general education.
   Fazil honours course will have to be an integrated and multidisciplinary course and be allied to the integrated honours course of different universities, said sources in the meeting.

The capital’s commuters were stuck in traffic jams on Sunday due to a number of political programmes.
   There were also fewer public vehicles available in the city because of the programmes of both the opposition and ruling camp.
   The Awami League and 11-Party Alliance, along with JSD and NAP, on Sunday called a 36-hour general strike, beginning on Monday, while the BNP-led four-party alliance on Sunday called for demonstration programmes in every upazila.
   The traffic jam, according to quarters concerned, was due both to the political programmes as well as an increased number of commuters.
   In the evening passengers had to face a serious shortage of public transport and had to wait in queues at the bus stops for hours on end.
   A number of public vehicles went off the streets to avoid further untoward incidents
   after some buses were set on fire at Motijheel in the evening.
   Hundreds had to wait at bus stops in many areas including Purana Paltan, Press Club, Shahbagh and Farmgate.
   Ahmed Ali, a resident of Mirpur, said he had to wait for about one hour from 6:00pm for a bus to Mirpur.
   The Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, the labour front of the ruling BNP, organised a rally slating hartal, anarchy and ‘anti-democratic’ activities of the opposition at Shapla Square in Motijheel and brought out a procession at 3:00pm on Sunday.
   Hijbut Tehrir Bangaldesh staged a rally that blocked the road in front of the eastern gate of Baitul Mukarram Mosque from 11:00am to 12:30pm.
   The blockades consequently led to large traffic tailbacks.
   Some commuters said they had to face traffic jams at Motijheel, Paltan, Ittefaq crossing, Shahbagh, Press Club, Gulshan, Mohakhali and other areas as political parties brought out processions and staged rallies, blocking busy roads on Sunday afternoon.
   Khorshed Alam, a businessman, said it took him an extra half hour to go to Motijheel from Shahbagh at noon.
   Mozaffer Hossain, a Tongi-bound passenger, said his bus spent about 45 minutes between 2:15pm and 3:00pm to pass from Ittefaq crossing to Paltan, which usually takes 15 to 20 minutes, due to traffic jam.
   A commuter at Tejgaon industrial area said he had to spend one hour and a half to go from Gulshan Circle 1 to Shat Rasta crossing. ‘It usually takes half an hour.’

Iraq’s long-oppressed Shia majority swept to a resounding victory in the country’s first free elections in half a century, winning almost half the vote, according to final results released on Sunday.
   ‘Today marks the birth of a new Iraq and a free people,’ election commission official Farid Ayar told reporters.
   Iraq’s main Shia list, which had the blessing of the majority community’s spirtual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, won 48.1 per cent of the votes cast in the January 30 election, the electoral commission said.
   The result is calculated to give the list 132 seats in the new 275-member national assembly that will draw up a constitution for post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, making it much the largest faction but leaving it well short of a majority.
   The ticket grouping the two main Kurdish parties also made a strong showing, winning 25.7 per cent of the vote and an estimated 71 seats, as well as winning in the tinderbox oil rich city of Kirkuk.
   But interim prime minister Iyad Allawi’s list came a distant third with 13.8 per cent and 38 seats.
   Turnout was about 59 per cent, with a total of almost 8.5 million people voting in the first election since Saddam was toppled after the US-led invasion of March 2003.
   Sunday’s results are ‘final but uncertified’ and will only become definitive if no challenges are lodged over the next three days.

Dhaka is likely to soften its position on inclusion of a clause related to bribery and corruption as it enters into the third round of talks with Washington today on a trade and investment framework agreement, sources in the commerce ministry have told New Age.
   A senior US trade policy advisor for Asia and Pacific, Betsee E Steelman, arrived Sunday evening for the two-day talks, to be chaired by the joint commerce secretary, Elias Ahmad, the sources said.
   An inter-ministerial meeting on Thursday decided to oppose inclusion of bribery and corruption issues in the TIFA draft after commerce ministry officials and private-sector representatives had observed that the clause in the preamble would undermine Bangladesh’s image abroad.
   ‘The clause incorporated in the draft is meant for elimination of bribery and corruption in international trade and investment, and is not specific to Bangladesh,’ the commerce secretary, Siddiqur Rahman, told New Age on Sunday.
   Besides, he said, Dhaka and Washington are yet to reach a consensus on a number of issues included in the draft.
   However, the ministry sources said Dhaka would press Washington to replace ‘elimination of bribery and corruption’ with ‘prevention of malpractice’ in the TIFA draft.
   A chamber representative said inclusion of corruption and bribery indicates that the agreement would be bilateral, not multilateral. He, however, opposed inclusion of the new clause as it might undermine Bangladesh’s image.
   On the issue of forging a free trade agreement between Dhaka and Washington, the commerce secretary said steps would be undertaken towards an FTA once the agreement was signed.

The widow of the slain former finance minister, Shah AMS Kibria, Asma Kibria, on Sunday said her family members had been passing their days through utter insecurity as unknown persons continued threatening them over telephone.
   ‘The government did not take any measures for protection for my family, even after it failed to ensure security of my husband,’ Asma told a press conference at her Malamcha residence in Dhanmondi, demanding protection for the family members.
   Kibria with four others was killed in a grenade attack on an opposition rally in Habiganj on January 27.
   Asma said she had been receiving telephone threats from unknown callers. She called up the police by phone to seek protection from them but none attended the calls, Asma, a noted artist, alleged.
   Reza Kibria, the son of the slain Awami League advisor, said they cannot go out as a sense of insecurity prevails.

The journalists on Saturday brought out a silent procession in the Khulna city, protesting against the killing of Sheikh Belaluddin, the staff correspondent of Daily Sangram.
   The procession paraded the main roads of the city and met in a rally in front of the Khulna Press Club, where the press club general secretary, Farukh Ahmed, spoke.

The divers could not find out anybody feared drowned in the ferry capsize in the River Rupsha on the east side of the Rupsha Ferry jetty in the Khulna city till Sunday.
   The police said the local divers and the divers of Bangladesh Navy and Fire Brigade started working at about 12:00pm on Sunday. They could not work before that time because of strong current of the river and they stopped diving after the sunset, the police added.
   The divers could recover the smashed trawler, a bicycle and some slippers from the river. No body was found floating on the river across the nearby thanas, said the police.
   Around 22 people were feared drowned as the ferry trawler sank at around 11:00am on Saturday, when it just left the ghat and another ferry hit it.

The government on Sunday decided to start open market sale of rice from February 17, sources in the food and disaster management ministry said.
   The decision came during a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office between the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, and the food and disaster management minister, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf.
   ‘The open market sale will involve 11,800 dealers across the country,’ Chowdhury told New Age after the meeting. ‘A dealer will get a tonne [1,000 kilograms] of rice from the government at Tk 13.5 per kilogram and sell the rice at Tk 14.5 per kilogram.’
   A person can buy a maximum of 3-5kg of rice from the open market, he said.
   The decision to launch open market sale came amid increasing price of rice in all the 64 districts. Coarse rice sold at Tk 750-760 a maund (37.3242kg) on the wholesale market and Tk 18-19 a kilogram on the retail market at the end of last week.
   Earlier on Sunday, Chow-dhury told an inter-ministerial meeting on the food policy and monitoring unit at the secretariat conference room that the government would soon launch open market sale of rice and that he would announce the date and the buying and selling price after a meeting with the prime minister.
   About two lakh tonnes of rice will be needed for the open market sale that will run through March.
   Chowdhury said the current buffer stock of 5.5 lakh tonnes was enough for the open market sale initiative.
   The inter-ministerial meeting also reviewed food production, government stock and market prices.

The two traffic police sergeants, who bought release reportedly on Thursday, after being confined for more than 15 hours, were suspended on Sunday.
   The one-member probe committee, headed by the additional commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Faruk Ahmed, submitted its report on Saturday terming their reported abduction as false.
   The committee suggested for taking departmental action against the two policemen for tarnishing the image of the police force.
   The committee prepared the report after interrogating the two traffic sergeants and one of the sergeant’s three relatives.