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More than half of the political parties, including all the components of the ruling alliance, which attended the dialogue on the electoral roll, held by the Election Commission, have opted for preparing a fresh voters’ list rather than updating the existing one.
   The Election Commission on Thursday ended its three-day-long dialogue on the electoral roll in the absence of the Awami League and its allies in the opposition camp.
   One hundred and fourteen parties were invited to give their views, but about 50 parties, including Awami League and its allies, did not turn up.
   Among the political parties that attended the dialogue, 30 parties including all the four components of the ruling alliance suggested that a fresh voters’ roll be made, and 23 parties suggested revision of the existing voters’ roll. Only one party refrained from giving its opinion.
   At the end of the dialogue, the chief election commissioner, MA Aziz, said the commission would evaluate all the views of the parties that had attended the dialogue. The CEC said that he would talk to other concerned people personally and would decide to either revise the current voters’ list or make a fresh one within the shortest possible time.
   When asked about the absence of the main opposition party and its allies, the CEC said the doors of the commission would remain open. ‘It is an ongoing process.’
   ‘The Awami League is not only a major party but also the oldest party, so I hope they will come...I am always an optimist,’ said Aziz.
   During the dialogue, most of the representatives of unfamiliar parties apparently failed to make any distinction between the revision of the existing voters’ roll and the preparation of a new roll.
   Partners of the BNP-led four party coalition government participated in the dialogue on last day in separate sessions.
   Expressing BNP’s opinion, the party’s vice president and agriculture minister, MK Anwar, said a correct voters’ list is a precondition for holding a free and fair election.
   ‘The present voters’ list, which was prepared six or seven years ago, has lost its validity and accuracy and has also become outdated,’ he said.
   The BNP leader said that if the existing flawed voters’ list is updated, the false voters will remain in the list. So the next general election will not be fair.’
   Anwar felt that the EC has full legal authority to prepare a fresh voters’ list. He said that BNP would do everything possible for holding next parliamentary election in a free and fair manner.
   Asked whether inviting such a huge number of political parties to the dialogue had turned it into a farce, the BNP leader said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’
   Anwar said the EC had two options — to take a decision on the issue by itself or to discuss the issue with all political parties. ‘They chose the latter option and it was appropriate. If they had only invited the major political parties and left out the others it would not have been fair.’
   Anwar urged the people not to be misled by the statements of some politicians who had termed the dialogue a farce.
   Among others, fisheries and livestock minister Abdullah Al-Noman, post and telecommunications minister Barrister Aminul Haque and political secretary to the prime minister Haris Chowdhury took part in the dialogue.
   Jamaat-e-Islami, the second biggest component of the ruling alliance, opted for a fresh voters’ list and introduction of voters’ ID cards, but did not insist that the EC make the measures mandatory for the next general election.
   Among others, Jamaat leaders Abdus Sobhan MP, Makbul Ahmed, Mohammad Quamaruzzaman and ATM Azharul Islam were present at the dialogue.
   Saifur Rahman, secretary-general of Bangladesh Jatiya Party, was also in favour of a fresh voters’ list.
   The Election Commission witnessed a hot debate between the CEC and a leader of Islami Oikya Jote (Ijharul) over the voters’ list issue.
   Misbaur Rahman Chowdhury, secretary-general of the IOJ (Ijharul), started delivering a speech on various issues instead of giving his party’s opinion on the voters’ list.
    Misbaur, a snake-charmer who turned into a politician, said that people want a proper voters’ list that will effectively stop casting of fake votes.
   Then the CEC began pressing the IOJ leader to shorten his speech since many others had to express their opinions.

The chief election commissioner, MA Aziz, on Thursday sought the cooperation of the government to ensure the commission’s authority to cancel the candidature of an errant contender in a general election and the power, as enjoyed by the High Court, to punish any person for contempt or electoral law violation.
   Besides, he also sought cooperation for ensuring financial independence of the commission and making the commission’s secretariat independent.
   The CEC made the call to the government for cooperation when four ministers and the political advisor to the prime minister sat for a dialogue, sponsored by the commission, on the electoral roll.
   ‘We want to reinstate two articles as these are necessary to empower the commission to do its job: financial independence of the commission and an independent secretariat for it,’ said MA Aziz.
   Aziz told reporters that he would place a proposal to the government requesting revival of article 91(D) and 93(B) of the Representation of the People’s Order, 1972. ‘We want the rules restored for the effective empowerment of the Election Commission.’
   The commission, earlier, got such power after promulgating an ordinance amending the Representation of the People’s Order 1972, just prior to the general election in 2001, and again lost the power as the then president, Shahabuddin Ahmad, in another ordinance repealed it in August during the regime of the Caretaker Government following pressure from the major political parties, mainly from the BNP and the Awami League.
   MK Anwar, in response to the demand, assured the commission that the government would examine the proposal. If the proposal is in the interest of the people then his party will also raise the same demand, said Anwar.

The clearing and forwarding agents in Bangladesh on Thursday started an indefinite strike at the Benapole land port, already crippled by a strike by Indian truckers.
   The clearing and forwarding agents began the strike to press home its 12-point demand.
   Meanwhile, the truckers continued their strike at Petrapole for the eighth consecutive day, demanding the release of four trucks seized by the Benapole customs.
   However, the C&F Agents Association, Export-Import Association, Transport Owners Association and Employees’ Union in Bangladesh held a rally on the port premises and demanded immediate implementation of its demands.
   A customs official, however, said the authorities will sit with the Bangladeshi strikers on Saturday.
   Terming demands of both the strikers either in Bangladesh or India illegal, and he said demands are raised to hold the authorities hostage.
   Businessmen at Benapole said importers are not showing much interest in using the land port after suffering a huge loss caused by repeated strikes in India and Bangladesh. They said the port users had enforced strikes for 30 days this year.

Internecine conflict in the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party surfaced as old guards of the party and young aspirants for leadership locked in fighting almost everywhere in the country.
   ‘Infighting in the party is so acute that we (party leaders) are contesting with us in many ways — young vs old, ministers vs MPs, and MPs vs non-MPs — simply for making money,’ a senior minister, also a vice chairman of the party, told New Age Wednesday evening.
   At some places, conflict among the party leaders was so serious that the party central committee had to suspend political activities there.
   In the face of bickering between senior party and the finance minister, M Saifur Rahman MP, and the Sylhet district BNP convener, Ilias Ali MP, the party chairperson and prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on Wednesday had to put off political activities of BNP Sylhet district unit.
   The local leaders were holding rallies and processions in different districts, including Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Brahmanbaira, Chittagong and Khulna, regularly either demanding expulsion of some ministers and local MPs or dissolving local committees.
   ‘The party failed to mend the breaches between the old and new generation leaders that emerged during the last general elections and it reached to its peak during the formation of the cabinet,’ said the minister, also a lawmaker from a western district.
   He continued, ‘The rift continued last three and a half years as a group of young leaders have been trying to grab ‘everything’ even by influencing or interfering the government or the party since the party returned to power in October, 2001.’
   Some senior ministers and MPs have been leading the old leaders of the party, and the some loyalists to Hawa Bhaban, an informal power centre, have been leading the young groups.
   ‘The conflict between the old and the young is stemming from ‘personal gains’, not from political ideology, or not for betterment of the party,’ a BNP whip in the parliament told New Age on Thursday.
   The unwarranted influence by the groups often made the work of the ministries difficult, a senior minister said.
   The rifts between the senior leaders, from the grass roots to the central committee, and young party fellows have surfaced during formation of local units of the party since early 2004.
   In many cases, the senior leaders, who have been in the party since its inception or Khaleda Zia’s joining in the party after Zia’s assassination, were not consulted during ongoing restructuring process of BNP and its front organisations across the country.
   The housing and works minister, Mirza Abbas, who is in the party since its inception in 1978, questioned the newcomers’ role at a party function last year.
   ‘Many of us have been fighting against the Awami League for the past 27 years,’ said Abbas, also a joint secretary general of the party, said a discussion meeting organised in observance of the National Revolution and Solidarity Day on November 7, 2004, held at Mahanagar Natyamancha in Dhaka.
   ‘But now it seems that we need to be careful … we welcome new faces; but we’ll not allow them to force us out,’ Abbas warned in presence of a group of party stalwarts.
   Resentment also surfaced among the grassroots leaders, as many ministers and most of the lawmakers have protested at not holding the Upazila Parishad elections and forming district councils, which, they thought, could accommodate some 528 local leaders.
   ‘The decision of holding Upazila Parishad elections, taken during the BNP’s divisional conferences two and a half years ago, is yet to be implemented,’ a party policymaker said.
   Discontent also prevailed among senior ministers as they did not have any scope to speak on various issues at party forums.
   Meanwhile, ministers are not usually allowed to speak on any issue beyond the agenda at the cabinet meetings.
   Khaleda, however, said, at the consultation meetings held at the Prime Minister’s Office in 2004, she was not worried about ‘conflicts among leaders’ of her party. ‘It is the field-level workers who will ensure victory for the party during the next general elections as they did in 2001.’
   She also asked the young leaders to takeover key posts in the grassroots committees keeping aged leaders as ‘advisers’.
   Some party stalwarts fear that infighting would be intensified further as soon as the party would be in the process of electing candidates for the next general elections timed for January 2007 as a host of young aspirants and their affluent-sponsors would seek nomination.
   ‘We should retire from politics as we are ineligible to match with the recent feuds,’ a member of the prime minister’s kitchen cabinet, also a key policymaker of the party, told New Age recently.
   The BNP secretary general and LGRD and cooperatives minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, however, told New Age, ‘Dispute is not unusual in a large party like BNP.’

The police arrested a ward commissioner of the Sylhet City Corporation and BNP leader from his Chowkidekhi area’s residence on Thursday morning on the charge of mugging and extortion.
   The arrested, Farhad Chowdhury Shamim, is the commissioner of ward 6.
   Traffic movement on Sylhet Airport Road remained suspended for about one hour due to a clash between police and angry protesters, who brought out a procession following the arrest.
   The police and locals said about 100 police personnel raided Shamim’s residence at about 4:00am Thursday.
   The police took Shamim, his wife Nadira Farhad, two sons, Galib, 9 and Mahsi, 6, to the Kotwali station, said sources.
   The police said they arrested Shamim on charge of mugging and extortion.
   The Kotwali police released Nadira and her two sons from custody on Thursday noon.
   The family members of Shamim believe that he was arrested due to a recent political conflict of the BNP’s Sylhet chapter.

The government on Thursday promoted 21 additional secretaries to secretaries.
   Md Hedayetul Islam Chowdhury, the additional secretary in-charge of the rural development and cooperatives division of the LGRD and cooperatives ministry, was made secretary to the same division.
   Ehsan Shamim, the additional secretary in-charge of the cultural affairs ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   Rafiqul Islam, the additional secretary in-charge of the religious affairs ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   Abdul Alim Khan, the additional secretary in-charge of the land ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   Abdul Aziz, the additional secretary in-charge of the education ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, the additional secretary in-charge of the environment and forest ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   AMM Nasiruddin, the additional secretary in-charge of the energy and mineral resources division, was
   made secretary to the same division.
   Haider Ali, the additional secretary in-charge of the women and children affairs ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   Mahbubur Rahman, the additional secretary in-charge of the information ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   Abdur Rashid Sarkar, the additional secretary in-charge of the textile and jute ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   Abdul Karim, the additional secretary in-charge of the fisheries and livestock ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   SM Zahirul Islam, the additional secretary in-charge of the water resources ministry, was made secretary to the same ministry.
   AKM Zafarullah, a member-in-charge of the planning commission, was made a member of the commission.
   Seven additional secretaries or equivalent to the post, who were promoted to secretary, were made officers on special duty.
   They are Moniruzzaman Khan of the establishment ministry, Anti Corruption Commission secretary Ataur Rahman, Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation chairman Mamtajul Islam, Department of Narcotics Control director general Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Handloom Board chairman Abdus Salam, Bangladesh Institute of Administration Management director general Motiur Rahman and Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre director general Niranjan Mondal.
   They will be posted to secretary or equivalent posts soon.

Landslides and building collapses caused by the heaviest rain ever recorded in India left around 786 people feared dead in western India and brought the financial capital Mumbai to a near-standstill on Thursday, officials and police said.
   Weather officials predicted more heavy rain on the way for the city of 15 million, where schools, banks and stock markets were closed and public transport barely operating.
   Aerial pictures of Mumbai showed large parts of the city marooned in debris-laden water.
   Long queues of cars, trucks and other vehicles were stranded on highways.
   The city’s weather bureau said Mumbai received 944.2 millimeters (37.1 inches) of rainfall in a 24-hour period ending mid-morning Wednesday, the most rainfall ever recorded in a single day in India and beating a record which has stood since July 1910.
   However, the main airport reopened early afternoon after being closed since Tuesday due to waterlogged runways.
   Aside from allowing the resumption of commercial flights, the reopening had allowed the air force to start flying in relief materials, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said. Suburban trains — the lifeline of the city — were also limping back to normal, a railway official said, but inter-city lines had yet to be restored.
   A total of 786 people have died in heavy monsoon rains that have lashed western India since Monday, a senior police officer said Thursday.
   BM Kulkarni, who heads Maharasthra state’s emergency control room, told AFP that 273 people had died in Mumbai, India’s main commercial hub, while at least 513 people had died in other parts of the state.
   He said the death toll rose sharply after more than 160 deaths by drowning were reported in Mumbai.
   But the heaviest casualties occurred in a remote village in Raighad district of the rain-lashed state, where at least 100 people from 20 families were feared killed by a landslide, PTI said.
   It said the area had been hit Thursday with yet more heavy rain.
   Tonnes of mud flattened houses in Jui village, 170 kilometers (105 miles) south of Mumbai, on Monday but news of the tragedy reached authorities only three days later, the report said.
   Soldiers had reached the village of rice farmers and were supervising rescue and relief operations but ‘it is difficult to remove the debris without machines,’ said an officer.
   ‘Even then it would take days ... and the chances of rescuing people alive is remote,’ an army official told PTI.
   The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and three cabinet ministers arrived in Mumbai mid-afternoon and immediately left in a helicopter for a survey of the rain-ravaged areas. The premier, who pledged federal government help to recover from the deluge, was due to address a media conference after the tour.
   Authorities were air-dropping food and water to stranded residents of Mumbai and Raighad, the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak said.

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday proposed to form joint surveillance team to watch and ward off corruption from the police department, as part of the watchdog’s war against corruption.
   In its second day’s campaign, the ACC members at a meeting with the police high-ups also proposed the formation of a committee of elders with representation from the Commission, police and professional groups like university teachers and editors to review activities of the police every three months.
   The bailout measures for the law-enforcing agency were proposed during a meeting between a delegation of the ACC led by its member Prof Maniruzzaman Mia and a police team led IGP MA Abdul Quayyum at the Police Headquarters.
   After the meeting, Maniruzzaman Mia told reporters that they mainly discussed how to initiate preventive measures against corruption in the police force, and improve its image and service to meet public expectations from them.
   ‘We’ve made certain suggestions at the meeting, but it would require formulation of a modality under the existing laws through more discussions,’ said the academic who has taken up his latest assignment as an anti-corruption commissioner.
   Asked about the function of the proposed surveillance team to be composed of officials from the ACC and the police department, Maniruzzaman said on tip-off the team would conduct on-the-spot operation against any corruption by the cops.
   He said various problems, including lack of logistic supports to the police, came up for discussion during the meeting.
   He said there are frequent complaints that police stations do not want to register general diary or FIR (first information report) from people and, on occasion, ask for money for doing that.
   The Commission men inquired if it is possible to hang the list of GD or FIR registered with each police station. But they were apprised by the police that under the law they forward these matters to the court only.
   Maniruzzaman noted with surprise that the police don’t have any funds for carrying dead bodies to their destinations or even for buying paper and pencil to record GD and FIR, which sometimes compels them to take money from the aggrieved persons.
   In reply to a question, he said the question of salary of the police and the process of their appointment did not figure at the meeting as these matters lie with the government.
   He, however, said they asked the police department to stop the cops from allegedly taking bribe openly on the streets from transport drivers and hawkers.

The Irish Republican Army on Thursday ordered all its militants to end their armed campaign and adopt exclusively peaceful means to end British rule in Northern Ireland, the paramilitary group said in a historic statement.
   The announcement is an unprecedented step by the Roman Catholic group which has fought for 30 years to unite Northern Ireland, which is mostly Protestant, with the Irish Republic.
   ‘The leadership of the IRA has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign,’ starting at 4:00pm (1500 GMT) Thursday, the statement said.
   ‘All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All volunteers (militants) have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means,’ it said.
   ‘Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever,’ the statement said.
   It added that ‘all volunteers are compelled to fully comply with these orders.’
   But the statement said the organisation would not disband as leading Protestants demand.
   It comes after the movement suffered major blows to its credibility in recent months, over its alleged involvement in a massive bank heist in Belfast and the murder of an Irish Catholic man earlier this year.
   The announcement also comes amid worldwide revulsion at the wave of terrorist bombings by Islamic extremists, especially in the United States where the IRA has enjoyed significant support over the years.
   The British prime minister, Tony Blair, welcomed Thursday’s IRA statement to end its armed campaign as a ‘step of unparalleled magnitude’ in the recent history of Northern Ireland.
   During a brief statement in London, Blair said ‘this may be the day when finally after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaces war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland.’
   In April, Gerry Adams, the leader of the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein, made a direct appeal to the Roman Catholic paramilitary group to embrace purely political and democratic activity.
   The IRA has held secret consultations with its membership over the future of the movement for many months.
   Martin McGuinness, the chief negotiator for Sinn Fein, traveled to Washington on Wednesday to brief ‘friends of the peace process’ in the US Congress and in New York about recent moves for a lasting settlement.
   On Tuesday Irish justice Minister Michael McDowell said Adams, McGuinness and convicted gun runner Martin Ferris - now a member of the Irish parliament - had left the ruling ‘military council’ of the IRA.
   The Sinn Fein trio have previously denied that they are on the ruling body of the underground military organisation, which is responsible for dozens of bombings around Britain over the decades.
   It declared a ceasefire before the 1998 Good Friday peace deal that largely ended the violence and paved the way for a Protestant-Catholic power-sharing assembly in Belfast.
   But that deal was suspended more than two years ago amid allegations of IRA espionage, and hopes of a new political settlement were dashed in December when Sinn Fein refused to allow photographic documentation of IRA disarmament.
   Even if the IRA lays downs its arms for good, Northern Ireland could still be bogged down by bickering between Catholics and Protestants.
   Protestant factions in Northern Ireland, particularly the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by veteran hardliner Ian Paisley, are adamant that there can be no lasting settlement unless the IRA ends all paramilitary and criminal activity.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh has called upon the seven of its partners in the 11-party alliance, who have recently joined the Awami League led forum, to return to the original fold to build up the promised democratic political stream alternative to the ones led by BNP and AL.
   The CPB made the call at a press conference held at the CPB central office in Dhaka on Thursday.
   ‘The 11-party was formed primarily to consolidate and strengthen the truly democratic forces to build a political stream as opposed to the bipartisan political divide led by BNP and Awami League,’ said the general secretary of the CPB, Mujahidul Islam Selim.
   ‘But some of our partners have recently joined a forum led by Awami League, abandoning the spirit of the 11-Party alliance. We urge them to come back to the original fold for the sake of people’s interests.’
   The CPB also announced a month-long agitation programmes to press home its 11-point charter of demands and for what it said bringing an end to the ‘misrule’.
   The July 30 to August 31 programmes — holding of rallies, processions and demonstrations to realise its demands, including controlling the price of essential commodities, saving industries and employees and national resources like oil and gas, and combating crime and corruption.
   Referring to joint movement with the Awami League-led opposition alliance, Selim said movement from same platform was not so important; movements from different corners would cripple the BNP-led alliance government.
   ‘The autocratic Ershad regime fell in the face of parallel movement of the 15-party and 7-party alliances in 1990,’ he said and added that his party would continue anti-government movement simultaneously with other opposition parties and alliances.
   Besides, the CPB will work to strengthen the left democratic forces and continue its regular participation in the programmes of the Left Democratic Front, a combine of the leftist political parties, he said.
   The party president, Monzurul Ahsan Khan, said the country was engulfed in serious crisis for which the imperialist-capitalist, looters and communal militant groups were responsible.
   ‘It is unfortunate that some opposition political parties are not much interested to organise all out movement against the government, they are rather interested to implement the imperialist design or to bring in change in power with the help of foreign forces,’ he said.
   The CPB central leaders Shahidullah Chowdhury, Jasim Uddin Mandol, MM Akash, Morshed Ali and Ruhin Hossain Prince were also present.

The Canadian high commissioner, David Sproule, on Thursday said the issue of caretaker government is not an agenda for the ‘Conference on International Best Practices for the Conduct of Free and Fair Parliamentary Elections being organised by the Tuesday Group scheduled in late 2005 or early 2006.
   As its starting point the conference will take Bangladesh’s success in holding three successive elections, which the Tuesday
   Group said, were deemed to have been largely free and fair, and draw from this experience.
   ‘Indeed, agenda topics to be discussed are technical in their nature and do not include discussion of any reform issues currently being proposed,’ said Sproule in a press statement released Thursday.
   ‘Let me say as an organiser of the conference that my Tuesday Group colleagues’ comments on caretaker government reforms have been strictly limited to urging the sponsors of the reforms and the government to meet and discuss the issue in parliament or elsewhere,’ he added, referring to recent news articles, as he though ‘there may be some confusion about the conference’.
   ‘None of our members has commented on the merits of the legal or constitutional reforms being proposed and the caretaker system is simply not an agenda item for the Elections Conference,’ said Sproule.
   The Tuesday Group, with the assistance of the Asia Foundation and the National Democratic Institute took the initiative to facilitate, ‘a free and fair outcome at the next parliamentary elections in Bangladesh’.
   The group consists of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States as well as the ambassador of the European Commission and the United Nations Resident Coordinator.

Factories and restaurants charged with selling adulterated and contaminated food in recent weeks claim that they are victims of arbitrary fines and media harassment.
   Restaurant managers say magistrates leading the mobile court teams are using arbitrary judgment rather than scientific testing procedures to determine the quality of food.
   They also allege that members of the media — accompanying the mobile court teams — have harassed their staff and customers at the risk of trespass.
   ‘There was not a single food or nutrition specialist, nor any instrument to examine the presence of chemicals or verify the quality of [our] food,’ the management of the city restaurant Sajna claimed.
   Sajna was raided by a mobile court team on July 24 and fined Tk 40,000 on charges of selling stale and adulterated food and using cooking sauces without BSTI seals of approval.
   Wimpy — a member of an international fast food chain — is reportedly seeking legal counsel in a bid to sue the government over the raid on their Gulshan eatery on Tuesday.
   ‘The magistrate fined us Tk 10,000 for a loaf of bread we had set aside for rejection — and we produced the rejection slip to prove this,’ said Taufiq, an official at the eatery.
   These raids were part of a month-long drive by two mobile court teams in the city, which have fined over 20 establishments under similar charges.
   Many restaurant owners echo the claims of Sajna and Wimpy claims. Restaurant owners also allege that they are being coerced into paying the fines, with threats of up to six-year jail-time if they raise objections against the magistrates’ decision.
   ‘No magistrate no matter how qualified and experienced can declare a sauce or food item unfit for eating without conducting tests,’ a restaurant-owner in Karwan Bazar told New Age.
   Rokonuddowla, one of the magistrates of the CMM court who have led the mobile court teams, told New Age in response to the allegations, ‘I have seen the adulteration with my own eyes. They [the restaurants] have legal recourse if they deem my conduct inappropriate.’
   ‘Up to 50 people, some of them reporters, stormed into our restaurant and started going through our cabinets and stores,’ alleged the owner of a Gulshan eatery. ‘They harassed our customers and made some leave, telling them that our food is contaminated.’
   Members of the mobile court teams have admitted that the magistrates in question have made arrests based on the recommendations of non-official people accompanying the mobile court teams.
   ‘Some of the sauces that were claimed to be contaminated are produced by internationally recognised brands such as Heinz and Kikkoman,’ a management staff of Sajna alleged. ‘That they did not have BSTI seals is the responsibility of the importers — since we buy it from the local markets.’
   BSTI officials claim that anyone caught selling or distributing processed food products without a BSTI seal can be culpable according to existing laws.

India’s former deputy premier Lal Krishna Advani and seven Hindu leaders were charged in court Thursday with inciting a mob to tear down a mosque, an act which sparked nationwide religious riots that left at least 2,000 dead.
   In the charges, a special judicial magistrate said Advani and the others had made ‘exciting and provocative speeches’ which instigated a mob to destroy the Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. The holy site is claimed by both Hindus and Muslims. The eight who appeared in court in this northern Indian town included two former federal ministers and top leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council). They all pleaded not guilty.
   Advani, 77, and the others were bailed for 10,000 rupees ($230) to appear again on August 30.
   Hundreds of supporters shouted pro-Hindu slogans outside the court in support of Advani, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gained nationwide prominence after the mosque demolition.
   After the court appearance, Advani said he would continue to campaign for the temple to be built.
   ‘I can assure that none of us are going to sit quietly till a magnificent temple is built at god Ram’s birthplace,’ Advani said.
   ‘Building the Ram Temple is not only a concern of Hindus, it is a question of national pride,’ he said.
   This was the second time Advani has been charged with inciting the Babri mosque demolition. In 2003, when Advani was deputy prime minister and home minister, the charges were dismissed. But a higher court earlier this month ordered a new trial.
   Advani’s party led two successive coalition governments from 1998 to 2004 before losing an election to the current Congress-led coalition. Congress has criticised the BJP for inciting communal tensions, including deadly riots between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.
   Hindus claim the 16th century mosque was built by a Muslim invader king after he demolished a temple at the birthplace of the Hindu deity, Ram. They want to build a temple over the site of the demolished mosque, which Muslim leaders oppose.
   Advani came under attack from his party’s right-wing allies last month after he praised Pakistan’s founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah during a visit to Islamabad—a reversal of earlier statements that had been unabashedly anti-Islamic and anti-Pakistan.

The World Bank has prepared a comprehensive assistance strategy to identify and prioritise reforms and investments in major water-related sectors, ranging from water supply and sanitation, agriculture, fisheries and water resources management to inland water transport.
   As the delta of three major rivers and as a lower riparian country, said the bank, Bangladesh suffers from excess of water and flooding in summer, shortage of water in winter, and poor water quality virtually throughout the year.
   ‘The burden of these extremes is ever more acute with increasing population density, industrial wastes and other forms of water pollution,’ reads an information note of the multilateral lending agency. ‘Bangladesh’s water resources are precious — and precarious.’
   It cautions the country that all public services and infrastructure will be under severe pressure, and the system that provides safe and reliable water supply for Dhaka’s inhabitants and industrial and commercial users will be most seriously affected.
   ‘Urban water supply in Dhaka is [in a] precarious [situation], as rivers are becoming increasingly polluted due to a growing population that discharges ever more domestic and industrial waste,’ mentions the information note.
   Huge investments are needed in system rehabilitation, replacement and improvement, and for extending Dhaka’s water supply systems to raise service coverage levels, says the bank, adding that safe water and sanitation in other cities and towns are also growing challenges.
   Also, it adds, major investments in flood management, erosion and drainage are required, and the effectiveness of existing infrastructure needs to be examined.
   The Water Resources Assistance Strategy for Bangladesh, drawing on an extensive consultation process with the government, experts and civil society, has recently been prepared by the World Bank and is being discussed with the government.
   The lending agency claims that the water resources assistance strategy highlights the priority reforms and investments needed to sustain Bangladesh’s economic prosperity and families’ livelihoods.
   It has identified ‘water-related sectors’ as urban water resources and pollution management, water supply and sanitation, fisheries, irrigation, inland water transport and water resources management.
   According to the note, the strategy aims to sharpen the focus of the government and other interested parties on the country’s water sector and ensure their keen engagement in water development and management efforts. The entire process will be under the umbrella of Poverty Reduction Strategy and the National Water Management Plan, it said.
   The bank’s engagements will include development and management of infrastructure for irrigation, flood management and droughts, water quality and water protection.
   It will also highlight the political economy of water management and reform, including incentives and policy reforms to encourage sustainable use of resources.
   Underlining the need for coordination and partnership between the government and lenders, the bank opined that focussed studies should help identify appropriate infrastructure development, and facilitate better information sharing amongst neighbouring countries.
   The bank’s note has further pointed out that pollution of Bangladesh’s rivers and ponds is also affecting pisciculture, at a time when demand for fish is rapidly increasing. ‘Therefore particular emphasis needs to be placed on community-managed fisheries, bil and wetland rehabilitation, in addition to the overall water quality management of the rivers.’
   In addition, the bank stressed the importance of irrigation needs for water that are also growing with expanded grain production, requiring an increase in irrigated crop areas.
   Referring to the decline in inland water transport in Bangladesh due to siltation, declining flows of rivers and deteriorating water management infrastructure, the bank advocates promotion of improved communication services, navigation aids and landing facilities, in conformity with an integrated transport policy incorporating inland waterways into the national transport network.

The Bangladesh Telecommu-nications Regulatory Commission wants to amend the Interconnection Regulations 2004 to make the regulations more effective and up-to-date in order to solve the interconnectivity problem which is now a big concern for the telecom sector in the country.
   ‘We will amend some provisions of the regulations and include some new provisions to get rid of the lapses in the existing regulations,’ said a top official of the commission.
   ‘The changes will be made in consultation with the stakeholders and experts in the field,’ he added.
   Commission officials said that the regulatory body feels it necessary to amend the regulations because of the dispute that arose between the private mobile phone operators and the state-owned Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd after the former revealed their reluctance to sign the interconnection agreement with Teletalk, ignoring the consumers’ interest.
   However, four operators finally signed interconnection deals with Teletalk after the intervention of the regulatory commission.
   The officials said that as several private sector public switched telecom network operators are going to invest in the telecom sector, the regulatory amendments are necessary as the new operators are often suffering non-cooperation by the dominant operators.
   Interconnection means the linking of different telecommunication networks in order to enable the users of one network to communicate with the users of another network or to avail themselves of the service of the other network.
   The BTRC Interconnection Regulation 2004 came into effect on June 16 last year to ensure a uniform, neutral and transparent interconnection arrangement between the telecommunication operators.
   The aim of the regulations is to encourage orderly development of the telecommunication systems, prevent discrimination in the provision of services, ensure fair competition, encourage the introduction of new services and promote and safeguard the interests of consumers by ensuring reliable and fairly priced modern services with reasonable accessibility.

The Awami League general secretary, Abdul Jalil, on Thursday criticised the president, the prime minister, the law minister and the state minister for home for the presidential amnesty to Mohiuddin Ahmed Jintu, a former Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader who was sentenced to death by a martial law court in a double murder case 23 years ago.
   ‘The government has undermined democracy, human rights and rule of law by granting clemency to Jintu,’ he said when addressing a Juba League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.
   The rally, organised to protest against the presidential order, was presided over by the Juba League president, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, and addressed by the AL joint secretary, Obaidul Quader, and the Juba League general secretary, Mirza Azam.
   The government is killing people with the Rapid Action Battalion, Cobra and Cheetah without trial in the name of ‘crossfire’ on one hand and granting amnesty to convicted murderers on partisan consideration on the other, Jalil alleged.
   The government completed the procedure leading to the clemency order within 12 days of Jintu’s arrival in the country and sent him abroad, claimed Jalil. ‘It is a proof of the government’s partisan mentality and disrespect to rule of law.’
   The rally over, leaders and activists of the Awami League and its youth front tried to march towards Bangabhaban as scheduled and but failed in the face of resistance from the police.
   The police had put barricades on both ends of Bangabandhu Avenue and did not allow the agitating AL and Juba League to break through.

Participants at a conference on Thursday were divided over some basic propositions of food sovereignty, genetic modification of food in particular.
   The conference on impact of globalisation on agriculture, food and trade security was organised by the International Food Security Network Bangladesh at the CIRDAP auditorium.
   The UBINIG executive director, Farida Akhtar, in her keynote paper on golden rice and genetically modified food, said genetic modification was ‘unethical’ and threatened food sovereignty.
   She said genetic modification was merely a means to commercialise agriculture by large multinational companies and only a handful of companies controlled the entire world market for genetically modified food and seeds.
   Mausumi Mahapatro of the Action Aid Bangladesh, who briefed about the background of the network, said members of the network believed in the spirit of food sovereignty although it was called ‘food security network’.
   ‘We have always been in food deficiency and genetically modified crops certainly contributed towards attaining near sufficiency on that front,’ said Ghulam Habib Dulal, a Jatiya Party lawmaker.
   Abdur Razzaque, an Awami League lawmaker, was also of the opinion that genetic modification of food did not necessarily mean it would be bad for human health as when applied correctly, it could, in fact, better the lives of people.
   Alauddin Ahmed, another lawmaker, said green revolution was indeed a boon for Bangladesh.
   The food and disaster management minister, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf, recognised the need for further discussion.
   Arup Rahee, executive director of Lokoj, presented another keynote paper on food aid and trade in Bangladesh.
   Those attended the conference were the representatives from the Action Aid, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, Coastal Development Partnership, Sabalamby Unnayan Samiti, Lokoj, People’s Empowerment Trust and UBINIG.

NASA grounded the space shuttle fleet after a chunk of insulation foam broke off the Discovery fuel tank on lift-off, as the Discovery crew prepared Thursday to dock with the International Space Station.
   NASA’s decision came after astronauts on Wednesday inspected the exterior of the Discovery for damage after the large piece of foam fell off during its landmark launch a day earlier, images reminiscent of the 2003 Columbia disaster.
   However, the space agency stressed that it believes the Discovery was not damaged in the incident.
   ‘We didn’t expect this to happen and it did ... for us it’s a setback ... and until this is closed we won’t be ready to fly,’ said Bill Parsons, space shuttle programme manager.
   ‘The fact is it didn’t cause any damage to the orbiter that we’re aware of at this time. It didn’t impact the orbiter at all,’ Parsons said.
   Despite the healthy assessment, Parsons said future flights have been put on hold until the problem is corrected.
   ‘We are going to go and carry out a thorough evaluation and then we’ll determine when it’s safe to fly,’ he said.
   As Columbia’s disintegration was blamed on a piece of insulation foam that fell off, NASA is extremely sensitive to any alert over rogue debris.
   The space shuttle Discovery on Thursday successfully docked with the International Space Station and the seven crew moved onto the space station.
   The docking came two days after Discovery blasted off amid new safety concerns after debris was seen falling off during the first launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
   The seven crew joined up with the two experts on the ISS, the American John Phillips and Russia Sergei Krikalev.
   The Discovery crew will stay on the ISS for a week and deliver 12 tonnes of supplies for the space station.

At least nine people were killed and up to 40 injured in an explosion on a long-distance passenger train in northern India on Thursday, a senior police officer said.
   The blast took place around 5:30pm on the Shramjeevi Express near Jaunpur, 190 kilometres east of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh state, the state police chief, Yashpal Singh, said.
   He said of the eight-10 of the injured were ‘very serious’.
   ‘It seems like a big blast which needs (a) proper investigation,’ Singh said, adding that forensic and bomb disposal teams had been dispatched to the site more than 600 kilometres from national capital New Delhi.
   A railway ministry statement said the blast took place near the toilet of a general category coach.

Three Chinese and a Canadian were released early Thursday about 14 hours after the police had picked them up at Kakrail in the capital for distributing a book on religion.
   The four foreigners were handed over to the custody of another Canadian, Dasai Tai Fu, who has been residing in the Baridhara DOHS area, from the Paltan police station at about 2:45am Thursday.
   But the police seized 350 copies of the book, Soja Path, written in Bangla.
   The three Chinese, Wang Ligyan, Tong Kwok Shun and Lan Kinye, and the Canadian, Danq Shing Vencent, arrived in Dhaka from Hong Kong on July 18 and have been staying at the residence of Tai Fu.
   The Special Branch of the police picked them up as they were distributing the book among pedestrians free of cost in front of the Scout Bhaban at Kakrail at about 1:00pm Wednesday.
   They were taken to the Paltan police station where the police interrogated them for hours.
   Later, Tai Fu came to the police station at about 9:00pm with their passports and had them released at about 2:45am Thursday.

A Biman airbus, bound for Chittagong from Abu Dhabi, was forced to land at the New Delhi airport Thursday following a mechanical glitch, said Biman officials.
   The flight (BG-028), with more than 200 passengers on board, was scheduled to touch down at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong at 9:00am, added the officials.
   The officials said the passengers were evacuated and the aircraft would be repaired at the New Delhi airport.
   The stranded passengers will be brought to Dhaka on another international flight and then sent to Chittagong on a domestic flight, they added.
   On July 1 a DC-10 aircraft of Biman made a belly landing at the Chittagong airport after two of its rear wheels broke off and one of its engines caught fire.

The Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury Rescue Committee staged a rally at Paschim Maderbari in the Chittagong city, demanding arrest of ruling party lawmaker Sarwar Jamal Nizam and immediate rescue of the abducted businessman.
   Participants in the rally accused Nizam and his brother Maruf Jamal of masterminding the abduction and giving protection to prime suspects in the abduction Kashem Chairman and Shahid Chairman.
   The police will come to know of Jamal’s fate if they arrest Nizam.

A crane diver was killed trying to salvage a derailed freight train as the rescue juggernaut also derailed on the busy Dhaka-Chittagong route near the Lalmai rail-station Thursday.
   The victim was Sirajul Islam, 45. The police said a crane from Laksam went to salvage the Dhaka-bound train. Five boggies had skidded off the rails due to ‘faulty rail tracks’ Thursday noon.
   After the derailment, all trains on the Dhaka-Chittagong route came to a halt.

A three-year old child died and at least eight persons were feared drowned in a trawler capsize in the river Bhairab near Suparipatti in the Bagerhat town on Thursday.
   The dead was identified as Jannatul Ferdous. One Razzaq, 20, was admitted to Bagerhat Sadar Hospital.
   The police said the trawler left the Suparipatti jetty at about 1:30pm and turned turtle in
   the river soon after leaving the jetty.