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The Jatiya Oikya Mancha president, Dr Kamal Hossain, on Sunday demanded amendment to the caretaker government provision to make the voting system of the country ‘more transparent and accountable’.
   ‘The three general elections, held under the caretaker government since 1991, were more or less controversial. So it is time we should amend the provision,’ he told a press conference at the National Press Club.
   Kamal said the chief adviser of the caretaker government should be appointed through a consensus among political parties.
   How the political parties will reach a consensus, he replied, ‘Each of the political parties may prepare a list of persons having acceptance in the political arena.’
   ‘I do not believe that we can not sort out some of such persons if we try.’ When asked, how many political parties would take part in preparing the lists and to whom the lists to be submitted, Kamal remained silent.
   He also demanded strengthening of the election commission to hold the elections in free and fair manner. ‘There is no alternative to strengthen the election commission to hold the elections in a free and fair way.’
   In this regard, he suggested consultation among the political parties before appointment of the chief election commissioner and other members, which is due in 2005.
   The Oikya Mancha leader felt the Rapid Action Battalion operation is not only a ‘flagrant’ violation to the constitution but also of the minimum standard of a civilised state and the international human rights conventions.
   Terming the extrajudicial killing ‘a step of the government to earn unhealthy popularity,’ he said this must be stopped immediately.
   Kamal strongly condemned the killing of the Rajshahi University teacher, Professor Muhammad Yunus, and stressed on forging unity among the political parties to prevent violence.
   He also reminded the bomb blast incidents including the grenade attack on an Awami League rally and huge hauls of illegal arms.
   He regretted none of the incidents resulted in effective investigations. ‘The proper investigations into the incidents would help us prevent the recurrences of such crimes.’
   Kamal reiterated his demand for separation of the judiciary, effective parliament, and reopening of the closed
   industries and urged all political parties, particularly the ruling BNP, to hold talks among them to solve the problems.
   Party leaders Saifuddin Ahmed Manik, Abdur Rauf, Shamsuddoha, and Zahirul Islam, among others, attended the conference.

Robbers looted electronic goods, worth over Tk 8 lakh, from a Rangs-Toshiba showroom at Lalbagh in Old Town early Sunday.
   Quoting the manager, the Lalbagh police said more than 10 robbers entered the showroom on Haranath Ghosh Road at about 3:30am. They went to the place in a pickup van.
   They tied up two security guards — Jamal and Jayanta — and broke into the shop.
   They took away 15 colour television sets, five DVDs, one VCD and some cameras. The police picked up the two guards. They were interrogated at the police station till Sunday evening.
   The businessmen of the Lalbagh Fort crossing went out on demonstrations Sunday morning in protest against the snatching of Tk 5 lakh from a rice trader Saturday night, local people said.
   No untoward incident was reported.

Former president and chairman of a faction of the Jatiya Party, Hussein Muhammad Ershad, on Sunday said his party would not join any political alliance at the moment.
   ‘We have now engaged all our efforts to strengthen the party,’ he said at the central council session of the Noor Alam Ziku-led Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal at Mahanagar Natyamancha.
   The JSD adviser, ASM Abdur Rab, president of the Jatiya Krishak Sramik League, Abdul Kader Siddique, and the secretary general of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Abdul Mannan, earlier called upon Ershad to form a new political alliance to face the next general elections.
   Opposing the constitutional provision for the caretaker government, Ershad said it should be abolished. ‘The Election Commission should rather be strengthened for holding free, fair and neutral elections.’
   ‘The last three general elections conducted under caretaker governments were controversial. We want the provision be repealed,’ he said.
   He also demanded elections to upazila councils at the earliest possible time. ‘Do not linger the polls on ground that I introduced the system. It was a pro-people system.’
   Rab demanded introduction of bicameral parliamentary system and said it could be a solution to the nation as the present system went ‘dysfunctional’. ‘There is no alternative other than reforms in politics in this modern age.’
   He advocated decentralisation of the administration by introducing eight provinces and federal system of government.
   He also demanded amendment to the caretaker government provision.
   Kader Siddique termed the government ‘a democratic autocrat’ and said misdeeds of the government, in some cases, surpassed the records of military dictator Ershad.
   He, however, appreciated the leadership of Ershad and said he (Ershad) could still lead the nation successfully as a single political force.

Leaders of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance and the Bangladesh Economic Association have called for a unity of the pro-liberation forces to topple the ‘autocratic’ government and to establish the government of people.
   The call came from a meeting organised by the local unit of the 14-party alliance at Shaheb Bazar on Sunday demanding arrest and punishment of the killers of the Rajshahi University teacher, Professor Mohammad Yunus.
   Chaired by the AL Rajshahi city unit president, Mahbub Zaman Bhulu, the meeting was addressed, among others, by the AL general secretary, Abdul Jalil, the Workers Party president, Rashed Khan Menon, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) president, Hasanul Haque Inu, the Communist Party of Bangladesh president, Monjurul Ahsan Khan, and the BEA president, Kazi Kholiquzzaman, and general secretary Abul Barakat.
   Jalil said the government should be thrown out through united movement of the mass people as there was no alternative to such movement to unseat the government.
   The Rapid Action Battalion was killing people in ‘planned’ way but the crime bosses remained out of reach of the law enforcers, he added saying that the government should bring the crime bosses to book.
   Prices of essentials have gone up sharply causing immense sufferings to common people and production cost of crops has increased due to price hike of fuel.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested four young men from different parts of the Barisal city Saturday night and Sunday and recovered two homemade guns from their possession.
   The law enforcers arrested Shahidul Islam Sohan, Debashish and Shihabul Islam Momy from the Balur Math slum area on the Port Road as they were reportedly collecting toll from local people.
   The arrested are residents of Banglabazar of the city. Sohan is a nephew of Mahbub Alam Mehdi, the Barisal City Corporation ward commissioner and secretary of the city unit Juba Dal, who was killed in RAB shootout on October 25, 2004.
   Another young man, Palsah, was arrested from the Palashpur cluster village of the city and two country-made guns were recovered from the area. All the four were handed over to the police and later sent to jail.