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The second summit of the South, an alliance of 132 developing nations, opened in Doha Wednesday with a call for the creation of a special development fund for countries of the South.
   ‘We propose that the summit approve the setting up of a fund for economic, social, health and educational development and to address the problems of hunger, poverty and humanitarian catastrophes,’ the emir of host country Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, told around 50 heads of state or government from the Group of 77 and China.
   Hamad said gas-rich Qatar would pay 20 million dollars toward ‘the South Fund for Development and Human Circumstances’, and he urged countries of both North and South to contribute to the proposed fund.
   The issues of South-South cooperation, South-North relations and the huge debt crisis of poor nations are high on the agenda of the two-day summit, which is expected to endorse the creation of the proposed development fund.
   Hamad also proposed the establishment of three free trade zones to promote exports from South nations to the rich North.
   ‘We propose a feasibility study to set up three free trade zones for [promoting] exports of countries of the South to countries of the North,’ with one zone in each of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Hamad said.
   The Qatari ruler called on wealthy nations to increase their Official Development Aid to meet the UN target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product.
   The levels of ODA by rich countries ‘are by far lower than the targeted percentage, which is required for the realization of the millennium development goals by 2015’, he said.
   Addressing the debt problem faced by poor nations will contribute to the success of international efforts for development, said Hamad, urging rich countries to alleviate the debt burden.
   External debt owed by developing countries grew from 100 billion dollars in 1973 to 1.7 trillion dollars in 1999 and 2.5 trillion dollars in 2003, according to the US-based International Institute for Economic Democracy.
   Hamad announced that Qatar would meet the ODA target from next year and will allocate 15 per cent of the aid to the least developed countries.
   Jamaican prime minister PJ Patterson, whose country heads the G77, told the opening session that total ODA was less than one-third of the 0.7 per cent target and that the pace of capital flight from developing nations has increased.
   ‘Since 1998, developing countries have become net transferers of capital flow to developed countries, with this estimated at 312 billion dollars in 2004,’ he said.
   Patterson called for boosting dialogue between North and South, saying the two blocs should meet together for a ‘common dialogue’.
   A vast majority of poor nations have not yet benefited from globalization, the Qatari emir said.
   ‘Though globalisation has opened new opportunities, its benefits have not yet covered the vast majority in the developing world, and in particular, LDCs,’ he said.
   Leaders who spoke during the opening session stressed that proposed reform in the United Nations should strengthen the organization, and warned against unilateralism.
   ‘We require no reminder of the dangers that unilateralism poses. We must be ever vigilant against manoeuvres that can weaken the system,’ said Malaysian prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chairs the Non-Aligned Movement.
   ‘Reform of the United Nations will be meaningful only if it truly reflects a concerted, collective effort to enhance the multilateral system,’ Badawi said.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on Wednesday urged the South to provide the least developed countries with duty-free market access, enhanced investment, infrastructure support and cooperation in IT sector.
   ‘Our cooperation can be best achieved through cooperation and partnership among ourselves.
   The South has tremendous unrealised potential in terms of both ideas and resources,’ she said while addressing the second South Summit in the Qatar capital in the evening.
   ‘The fundamental challenge for the South remains one of coping with globalisation. We had high hopes that globalisation would benefit developing countries by raising incomes and standards of living. Sadly, this has not happened. The stark fact is that with each passing day, the poor are becoming poorer.’
   To explain the situation, the prime minister referred to continuation of reverse transfer of resources, foreign direct investment for a select few and minimal share of the LDCs in world trade.
   ‘The mounting debt burden cripples development efforts,’ she said adding an international environment conducive to development, market access, capacity building, transparent international financing order and long-term predicable flow of financial resources to the South is yet to firm up.
   Khaleda termed trade ‘the most important pillar of globalisation’ and ‘principal engine of economic growth’, and said an open, rule-based and democratic trade regime is still a distant cry.
   ‘The LDCs accounted for only 2-3 per cent of world exports in the 1960s. Their share has since fallen steadily.’
   Removal of behind the border barriers, assistance to overcome supply-side capacity constraints on the LDCs, ‘Aid for Trade’ through vertical and horizontal diversification of products, and the strengthening of infrastructure will provide critical support for the LDCs, she added.
   The prime minister highlighted some of the achievements of Bangladesh in economic and social sectors, including sustained economic growth of over 5 per cent, improvement of per capita income, reduction of poverty, enhancement of food security and disaster management capacity, gradual improvement in human development index and health outcomes.
   ‘Despite these achievements, Bangladesh has to run, rather than stand still. We have to devise a new agenda by adjusting to the changing scenario, both domestic and external.’
   Bangladesh has to sustain growth to cater to its 63 million poor, one-third of whom are hardcore, Khaleda said. Halving this proportion is a huge task, she added.
   Bangladesh is faced with two serious constraints immediately — the long-term impact of quota withdrawal on the readymade garments sector and the rising oil prices, the prime minister said.
   ‘These are likely to severely affect our agriculture sector and export growth, the two motors of job creation.’
   In order to survive in a post-MFA world, Khaleda said, Bangladesh has to improve its competitiveness in terms of price, reducing marketing time and the cost of doing business.
   Increased financial support is needed in infrastructure and other areas, including improving Chittagong Port operations, power supply, administrative and regulatory systems, and consolidating linkage industries, she said.
   ‘At the same time, we have to offer higher oil prices through long-term contacts at stable prices and by increasing our own production of gas.’
   Referring to the UN Millennium Declaration 2000, the Bangladesh delegation leader said it continued a new Bill of Rights for the world’s poor with its clarion call to halve the proportion of the hardcore poor by 2015.
   ‘It represents moral obligation of the international community and a serious pursuit of global cooperation.’
   Unfortunately, the progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals has been uneven, she said, adding, their full realisation needed greater will and determination of all.
   ‘Forward steps in this regard require a much higher level of funding.’
   She, however, said the provision of adequate resources for the world’s poor could not be covered by overseas development assistance alone.
   Khaleda stressed the need for a new financial arrangement for the poor and said the feasibility of innovative financing such as the proposed international facility and global taxation for aid should be explored as also steps for regional funding.
   ‘The Paris High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in March 2005 made some important recommendations. These need to be followed up.’
   Speaking for worldwide mobility of workers, the prime minister said labourers are the only factor of production that is heavily restricted between borders.
   Cooperation and dialogue between sending and receiving states for movement of labourers could lead to mutual benefits as well as greater order and resolution of hosts of issues, including illegal migration, human rights abuses, sending of remittances and consular welfare.
   About South-South cooperation, Khaleda said, ‘Our group represents unity in diversity. This is strength if we can tap what is complementary in our economies.’
   Some forward moves have been made but much more is to be done, she said.
   The scope for doing so has been spelt out in a variety of sources — first, the action plans emerged from the summits in Marrakesh, Doha, Dubai and Havana; and secondly, the ideas emanated from a variety of recent meetings and reports ranging from the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta this year, the Shanghai Conference on Scaling-up Poverty Reduction in 2004, and the Report of the South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation in January in 2004.
   Referring to the unrealised potential of the South, the prime minister said, ‘The challenges are to combine them in ways through which we can prosper here now, and thereby create a world that is more equitable, balanced, just, humane and more secure for our future generation.’

Interpol experts will soon arrive in Dhaka to help local police investigate the deadly grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004.
   ‘We have invited Interpol and expect their experts to come very soon,’ the state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, told reporters after coming out of a law and order review meeting, held on Wednesday.
   Asked about the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said he knew nothing about them. ‘We have invited Interpol and don’t know whether the FBI will come. If the FBI comes we will welcome them.’
   Babar said the Rapid Action Battalion has extracted important information from the most-wanted criminal, Arman, who was arrested recently.
   He, however, did not make it clear whether the important information was on the grenade attack that left 23 persons killed and about 200 wounded.
   The officer of RAB-4, who arrested Arman from Keraniganj on June 3, claimed that they had got important information from him regarding the attack. He also claimed they have got some clues.
   ‘Interpol was invited for follow-up investigation after getting the clues,’ said a home ministry official.
   Some top officials of RAB and the Criminal Investigation Department told New Age that Arman had been misleading the interrogators. ‘You can’t believe everything Arman is telling the investigators,’ one of them said.
   Home ministry sources said a fax had been sent on Monday seeking the Interpol’s assistance, which helps the police force of a country but never involves itself in direct investigation.
   This will be the fourth visit of Interpol, since its agents visited Bangladesh thrice after
   August 21.
   Several agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation also came after the August 21 attack and the assassination of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria on January 27 in a grenade attack in Habiganj.
   The meeting discussed the country’s law and order situation and asked law enforcing agencies and others concerned to further improve the situation.
   Drives against drug peddling, dacoity on the highways and waterways and stealing of cars, and ensuring security of the shopping complexes came up for discussion in the meeting.
   Announcing an award for RAB-4 for arresting Arman, Babar asked them to arrest the other hardened criminals. ‘Awards will be given for the arrest of each top-ranking criminal.’

The National Board of Revenue on Wednesday refused outright to reduce the amount of value-added tax on SIM cards of Tk 1,200 each as proposed in the 2005-2006 budget, which sparked off countrywide criticism, particularly by consumers and mobile phone companies.
   ‘I don’t find enough reasons to reduce the proposed tax on SIM cards,’ the NBR chairman, Khairuzzaman Chowdhury, told the top executives of four private mobile companies when they met him to plead for reduction of tax on new connections.
   Instead, he suggested that all existing mobile operators should reduce the call charges of mobile phones and ensure better service to users.
   The meeting was held at the NBR conference room.
   GrameenPhone managing director Erik Aas, AkTel managing director Nasir bin Baharom, Banglalink chief executive officer Lars P Reichelt and CityCell vice-chairman Faisal Morshed Khan were present at the meeting.
   ‘The government has not imposed any extra tax on cell phone connections, it has rather diverted the tax on cell phone sets to new connections,’ said Khairuzzaman.
   Aas said the start-up cost for cell phone companies was lower in Bangladesh and they were giving connections to the poor. ‘As the initial cost of cell phone connection was lower here, many poor people could use cell phones and it was helping a lot to improve telecommunication in Bangladesh.’
   In response to an argument that the cell phone market would shrink in Bangladesh due to the fresh tax, Khairuzzaman said, ‘I don’t need expansion of a market which extracts money from the people who can hardly manage three square meals a day.’
   He criticised the cell phone companies for not giving proper service to their subscribers.
   ‘Look at India and Pakistan. They pay much more than what you are paying here for licence, although their call charges are much lower than yours. How can they do that?’ he asked.

Four private sector mobile phone operators on Wednesday reacted sharply to the comments made by the finance and planning minister, Saifur Rahman, at the parliament on Tuesday.
   Industry insiders said some comments and observations made by Saifur, who came down heavily on the private mobile phone operators for charging high call tariffs, were not based on fact and were misleading.
   ‘Mobile phone operators in Bangladesh charge four times higher call tariff in comparison with Indian mobile phone operators,’ Saifur said at the parliamentary session on the supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.
   He said the local mobile phone companies also receive higher subscription fees, ranging from Tk 500–700, but give only Tk 500 to the government every year. ‘They have incoming call charge which does not exist anywhere in the world and no mobile phone operator across the world charges for incoming calls.’
   He criticised the mobile operators’ demand for withdrawal of the Tk 1,200 tax on new connections, which has been proposed in the budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year.
   Sources in the mobile phone companies countered Saifur’s comment, saying in the beginning of this year, line rent of the most of post-paid packages of the four mobile operators came down to Tk 150 and Tk 350 for mobile to mobile and mobile to landline connectivity packages respectively, while the government is getting value-added tax on line rent every month.
   Regarding high call charge, the officials of the mobile phone operators said since the beginning of this year, connection fees have descended to as low as Tk 200, and call charges have been reduced by nearly 35 per cent.
   Regarding the charges on incoming calls, they argued that mobile phone operators are forced to impose incoming call charges on calls from the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board as it has so far refused to sign the internationally standard revenue-sharing agreement with the mobile operators.
   They said there is no incoming call charge between the private sector mobile phone operators and the new public switched telecom network operators, as all of them have standard revenue-sharing agreements with each other.
   ‘The mobile phone operators had earlier made a public announcement that if BTTB signs a revenue-sharing deal with the mobile operators, they will withdraw the incoming call charge,’ said a top executive of GrameenPhone.
   BTTB is also unable to provide enough inter-connection capacity to the mobile phone operators, which has left more than 90 per cent of the six million mobile phone subscribers without access to any BTTB land phone, they said.
   At the parliament, Saifur also raised questions about the premium given by the mobile operators to their shareholders. ‘They make profits of hundreds of crore takas, but how much do they give their shareholders as dividends?’
    The officials refuted the comment, saying that mobile companies every year re-invest their profits for extending capacity, coverage and network to connect more people at affordable prices.

The general discussion on the proposed budget for the next financial year had a lacklustre beginning in the parliament on Wednesday as almost all members spent their time gossiping.
   The day’s sitting began at 5:40pm, 10 minutes behind the schedule, with the speaker, Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar, in the chair.
   The discussion began with the deliberation of a Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker, Abdul Khaleque Mondol, and later two BNP members, Rustam Ali Farazi and Mozammel Haq, joined the discussion.
   The discussants, however, took ample time as the chair did not fix any time limit for their deliberation.
   Mondol spoke for about 35 minutes, Farazi for 70 minutes and Haq for 24 minutes. But only a few members showed interest in listening to the discussion.
   Jatiya Sangsad was so relaxed that many members talked over mobile and read newspapers.
   Lawmaker Ishrat Sultana Elen Bhutto posed for a colleague, elected from a Bogra constituency, before a camera-mobile owned by another lawmaker for a Brahmanbaria constituency.
   The state minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, Shahjahan Omar, was busy chatting with the minister for education, M Osman Farruk.
   Farazi blamed bureaucracy, saying, ‘Files do not move in the ministries.’ He urged the government to give hassle-free loans to farmers.
   ‘The government should introduce a system so that middle men and bankers cannot cause sufferings to the farmers,’ he said.
   Although some lawmakers, including the minister for law, Moudud Ahmed, expressed their annoyance, the speaker allowed Farazi to continue his speech for about 70 minutes.
   Moudud finally folded his hands urging the junior member, and the speaker too, to relieve the members present as Farazi did not stop.

A contractionary monetary policy, prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and pursued by the Bangladesh Bank, has not yet resulted in any tangible decline in the core inflation rate, which was 6.62 per cent in April, down by 0.1 percentage point from March, according to the latest official figures.
   The 12-month average inflation rate, however, increased to 6.24 per cent in April from 6.18 per cent in March.
   The 12-month point-to-point food inflation at the national level declined slightly to 8.02 per cent while non-food inflation increased marginally to 4.44 per cent in April.
   The price hike affected rural people more than it did urbanites as prices of both food and non-food commodities were higher in rural areas in April, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
   The inflation rate was 6.83 per cent in rural areas in April with food inflation at 8.26 per cent and non-food inflation at 4.37 per cent. It was 6.06 per cent in urban areas, down by 0.02 percentage point from March, with food inflation at 7.71 per cent and non-food inflation at 4.6 per cent.
   The Bangladesh Bank has pursued the prescribed contractionary monetary policy to reduce the supply of money to the economy by raising cash reserve requirements of commercial banks with the Bangladesh Bank to 4.5 per cent from 4 per cent since March 1.
   The Bangladesh bank, dictated again by the International Monetary Fund, in early April instructed the commercial banks to raise interest rates to contain the flow of money, aiming to contain the inflation rate.
   Economists have already warned that inflation cannot be contained by squeezing the credit flow. Rather it will hamper industrial activities and thus reduce the growth rate.
   Professor Abul Barkat of Dhaka University told a post-budget briefing recently that higher non-development expenditure and incremental borrowing by the government from banks for various unproductive election-centric expenses will further increase inflation.
   The president of the Bangladesh Economic Association, Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, asserted that if this trend continued, inflation would cross the double-digit mark in the next fiscal year.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday rejected a bail petition for Bidisha on the third charge brought against her for marrying HM Ershad without divorcing her first husband –– a British citizen.
   Rankled by the refusal for bail for the second time in the deception case, defence counsels shouted at the presiding magistrate in the courtroom and said they would serve legal notice to the magistrate for not allowing bail that Bidisha deserved.
   Bidisha, estranged wife of former president HM Ershad, earlier got bail on two charges ––one by Ershad for theft, ransacking house and embezzlement of money and the other by the state for passport forgery.
   Bidisha’s lawyer, Zahirul Islam, moved a fresh petition before the court of the court of the Dhaka district magistrate, Khan Mohammad Rezaunnabi, on Wednesday after a petition was declined on Tuesday.
   The magistrate refused the bail and followed the decision of the court that on Tuesday fixed June 18 for a full hearing on the charge of adultery.
   Ershad, also the chairman of a faction of the Jatiya Party, filed the case with a Dhaka magistrate court on June 5 against Bidisha for marrying him without divorcing her British husband Peter Stuart Whisson.
   On Wednesday, the defence lawyer said the ‘so called’ plaintiff of the case Ershad told journalists at the Zia International Airport on Tuesday that he did not file any case of adultery or relating to marriage against Bidisha.
   ‘No judge has the right to play with the life of a justice-seeker who is in jail in a very much critical condition,’ the lawyer said terming the section of the case as bailable.
   ‘Moreover, the justice-seeker is a woman and seriously ill in the prison cell,’ he said and added that the judge himself would be responsible if anything harmful happened to Bidisha.
   The magistrate rejected the petition saying that the petition would be heard in another court on June 18.
   The decision led to a chaotic situation inside the courtroom and the magistrate, at one stage, left the courtroom under police escort.
   Later, talking to the press, the lawyers said that they would send legal notice to the magistrates why they would not be charged under Bangladesh Penal Code for not granting bail to a seriously sick woman.

Marcus Trescothick insisted Wednesday that England would not get carried away by their 100-run Twenty20 win against Australia.
   Monday’s match at the Rose Bowl was the first time the teams had met in a season that culminates in the Ashes Tests, where England will be looking for a first series win against their oldest foes in nine attempts.
   The teams meet again in the triangular one-day series in Bristol on Sunday and the 29-year-old Somerset opening batsman was adamant that there was no question of complacency setting in.
   Trescothick, set to become only the tenth Englishman to appear in 100 one-day internationals when the hosts open the series against Bangladesh at The Oval on Thursday, told reporters at the ground: ‘The whole occasion for me at the Rose Bowl, not so much the great victory, was a fantastic day, one of my most enjoyable days in cricket.
   He stressed England would not be disregarding Bangladesh, who they twice beat by an innings in their 2-0 Test series win earlier this season. ‘It’s just a test of our team up to us to remain focused on the job in hand.’
   It is now five years since Trescothick made his one-day debut, also at The Oval, against Zimbabwe in July 2000, a month ahead of his first Test match appearance against West Indies at Old Trafford.
   Trescothick has appeared in 99 of England’s 103 one-day international since making his debut, missing just the four match series in Zimbabwe last year from which he was deliberately rested. ‘I never thought it would happen so quick. Now I don’t want to miss any games at all.’
   It was in 1999 that Trescothick played the innings that launched him on the way to an international career that has so far also included 61 Tests.
   Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, whose team are bottom of the world one-day rankings, said his side were hoping for more success than they had in the Test matches.
   ‘In the shorter version, the game can swing around a little bit and one of our objectives is to have it swing our way.’

The High Court on Wednesday acquitted an engineer-contractor, Kazi Mahbubuddin Ahmed, who had been awarded life imprisonment for killing wife.
   The metropolitan judge’s court had found him guilty of murdering his wife, Nilufar Rashid, in his North Bashabo residence on December 2, 1992 and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Tk 50,000. After more than 10
   years, the verdict was pronounced on September 27, 2003.
   A High Court bench of Justice AK Bardrul Huq and Justice Md Fazlur Rahman set aside the lower court’s verdict on Wednesday and ordered to free Kazi Mahbub.
   The state attorneys said they would file an appeal in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.
   Nilufar, daughter of a retired district judge and a law student, was brutally murdered fourteen years after she was married to Kazi Mahbubuddin.
   Kazi Mahbub obtained bail from the High Court on November 19, 2003. On February 20, 2004, the Appellate Division cancelled Mahbub’s bail and ordered him to surrender before the trial court within two weeks.
   But, he was absconding without surrendering before the court. He, however, surrendered before the lower court on April 19 this year.

The Standard Chartered Bank has signed an agreement to acquire the commercial banking business of the American Express Bank Limited in Bangladesh, said a press release of the bank on Wednesday.
   ‘The purchase depends on regulatory approval, and should be completed within the next few weeks,’ said the release, without giving any details of the deal.
   The news release carried quotes of the chief executives of the two foreign banks expressing their pleasure at the agreement — one seeing it as a means of further consolidation of his bank’s position in Bangladesh and the other calling it a strategic exit from local corporate banking.
   ‘The acquisition further consolidates our position as the oldest and largest foreign bank in Bangladesh…,’ said the Standard Chartered Bank chief executive officer, Osman Morad.
   ‘The agreement fits our strategic objective of exiting from local corporate banking and focussing on serving the correspondent banking needs of financial institutions in Bangladesh and around the world,’ said Qamar Hussain, chief executive officer of American Express.
   Both the CEOs assured the AmEx clients in Bangladesh of uninterrupted service.
   ‘….we look forward to serving American Express Bank’s customers with our wide range of products and services,’ said the StanChart CEO.
   His counterpart in AmEx echoed his sentiment, saying, ‘… we believe that our local commercial bank clients will be well served by a bank with the history and reputation of Standard Chartered Bank.’
   An executive of the Standard Chartered Bank’s Bangladesh operations said, ‘This is an agreement whose execution will depend on regulatory approval here.’
   The agreement was signed some time last week but no financial details were given.
   But the official said that financial deals will be settled on the basis of the accounts as of July 31, 2005.
   A few years back the Standard Chartered Bank acquired the Bangladesh operations of ANZ Grindlays and gradually integrated the clients of the acquired entity into its own system.
   The bank’s chief executive appeared upbeat with the acquisition deal that coincides with the British financial institution’s celebration of 100 years of presence here.
   ‘This year Standard Chartered proudly celebrates 100 years in Bangladesh, and this significant investment underscores our continued and increasing commitment to the country,’ said Morad.
   Listed with the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, the Standard Chartered PLC has operations in 50 countries in the Asia Pacific region, and employs 35,000 people. It is doing both consumer and wholesale banking.
   American Express Bank, the banking subsidiary of the American Express Company, provides services in 45 countries. It is a world leader in charge and credit cards, traveller’s cheques, business services and insurance.

The United Kingdom will change its fees for passports and visas and other chargeable services provided by the British consulates from July 1, 2005, said a British diplomat.
   Following a wide-ranging review of the costs, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office finalised the changes. The visa fees have been increased by 21 per cent.
   The British High Commission in Bangladesh will open its third consular office outside Dhaka, in Chittagong next month, said Jonathan Verney, the high commission’s visa operation manager, on Wednesday. Currently there are two such offices operating in Dhaka and Sylhet.
   He mentioned that the changes in visa fees would involve simplification and reduction of 14 categories to just four. ‘It will also reduce the time for visa issuance to 7-8 days.’
   According to the British government’s recent policy, fees for consular services should be set to recover the full costs involved, without any subsidies from the United Kingdom. ‘The fees are, therefore. calculated on the basis of full cost [staff, accommodation and overheads] proportionate to the average time taken to perform the service.’
   From July 1, the applicable fees for a six-month visa will increase from 36 pounds to 50, long-term visas for stays over six months (including student visa, work permit and working holiday visa) will increase to 85 pounds, settlement visas will remain unchanged at 260 pounds and long-term validity visit visas will be reduced from 150 pounds (19-year visa) and 88 pounds (five-year visa) to 85 pounds.

River currents strengthened by rising sea levels have devoured half of Bangladesh’s biggest island in 40 years, leaving half a million people homeless, researchers said Wednesday.
   From a size of 6,400 square kilometres (3,968 square miles) in 1965, Bhola island near the mouth of the Bay of Bengal is now only half its original size.
   If the erosion continues at the same rate, it will completely disappear over the next four decades, said Mohammad Shamsuddoha, who carried out the research for the Dhaka-based non-governmental organisation The Coast Trust.
   River erosion is a perennial problem in Bangladesh which is crisscrossed by a network of 230 rivers.
   But Shamsuddoha said rising sea levels were responsible for the erosion of coastal islands such as Bhola that were not previously vulnerable to the problem.
   ‘The erosion of Bhola island only started in the 1960s. Before that the size was stable and only a small amount of erosion took place on one side,’ he said.
   ‘But from the mid-1960s the erosion began and the rate has accelerated over the years,’ he said.
   The government estimates that six million people of the country’s 140-million population are displaced each year due to river erosion.
   The study, entitled ‘Climate Change, Disaster and the Bangladesh Coastline’, used satellite images and archive maps dating back to the 1950s to assess the loss of land.
   It concludes that rising sea levels caused the Bhola erosion by creating stronger currents in the rivers surrounding the island.
   ‘As a result (of the rise in sea levels), river currents have become fiercer at the mouth of the sea, continuously undercutting the land masses of the isles situated on estuaries,’ he said.
   Bhola, one of six southern islands, is home to 1.6 million people. It is bordered on one side by the Meghna river and on the other by the Tetulia river.
   Last year scientists in neighbouring India warned that the country’s coastal areas could see a rise in sea levels of about half to one metre (1.65 to 3.3 feet) by 2020.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday urged all to go for legal action if any organisation or individual demands money using the name or logo of the party ‘illegally’ in their visiting cards or pads.
   ‘If any person or organisation uses the party name or logo illegally in their visiting cards or pads, any citizen can go for legal action against them. The BNP would not take any responsibility for this,’ the BNP senior joint secretary general, Tarique Rahman, told journalists after a party meeting in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   Terming the individuals, who use party name or logo illegally in their visiting cards or pads, ‘trespassers’, Tarique said, ‘There are allegations that some individuals or organisations claiming themselves to be involved with BNP’s front organisations are “illegally” using visiting cards or pads inscribed with the party logo or office addresses.’
   The BNP secretary general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, also the minister for LGRD and cooperatives, presided over the meeting attended, among others, by its joint secretaries Abdullah Al Noman, Selima Rahman, Mirza Abbas, Harris Chowdhury and Goyeswar Chandra Roy.
   The ruling party, in a press release, categorically said that the BNP constitution recognises only 11 front organisations — the Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal, Jatiytabadi Sramik Dal, Jatiytabadi Krishak Dal, Jatiytabadi Muktijoddha Dal, Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal, Jatiytabadi Chhatra Dal, Jatiytabadi Samajik Sangskritik Dal, Jatiytabadi Sweschha Sebak Dal, Jatiyatabadi Tanti Dal, Jatiytabadi Matsyajibi Dal and the Jatiytabadi Ulema Dal.
   Besides, some professional bodies like the Doctors Association of Bangladesh, Engineers Association of Bangladesh, Agriculturists Association of Bangladesh, Diploma Engineers Association of Bangladesh, Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, Zia Parishad and the Zia Shishu Kishore Sangathan also are working in their respective fields in line with the BNP spirit.
   ‘But some organisations are claiming themselves as BNP-backed, which is not true,’ the press release said and warned that the party would take legal actions against those who will ‘illegally and unconstitutionally’ use the party name and address.
   The meeting also decided to hold conferences of its front organisations, meant for revamping the party on all fronts, across the country from September and assigned Tarique as convenor for holding the conferences.
   The committee will finalise the activities regarding the conferences.

At least 31 people were killed in two suicide bombings in Iraq on Wednesday, including 23 at an Iraqi army base canteen, as Iraqi forces rescued an Australian hostage held for almost six weeks.
   Elsewhere a US Marine and two Bulgarian soldiers were killed on Tuesday.
   A US Marine was killed in a roadside bomb during combat operations in the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah, west of the capital, the US military said Wednesday.
   At least 1,707 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
   Two Bulgarian soldiers died and another was seriously injured in a road accident in Iraq, the Bulgarian defence ministry said Wednesday.
   They were aboard an armoured car carrying out a reconnaissance mission Tuesday evening near the southern city of Diwaniyah when the vehicle slipped while crossing an embankment and rolled over into a canal, the ministry said in a statement.
   The two deaths bring to 12 the number of Bulgarian soldiers who have died in Iraq, including seven who were killed in attacks and one from American ‘friendly fire.’ Another two died in road accidents.
   Six Bulgarian civilians have also died in Iraq: three crew members of a helicopter that was shot down, two truck drivers who were decapitated by guerrillas, and a third truck driver.
   Twenty-three people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi army base canteen on Wednesday, shortly after Iraqi forces rescued an Australian hostage held for almost six weeks.

One hundred and fifteen Bangladeshi workers, who returned from Jordan after six months of unpaid work at a garment factory, went out on demonstrations at the Bureau of Manpower and Training at Kakrail in Dhaka on Wednesday demanding compensation.
   The workers submitted a memorandum to SM Wahiduzzaman, the director general of the bureau.
   The workers returned from Jordan in different groups on March 21, May 27, June 1 and June 5 after six months of ordeal at Al Shahed Apparels Textile in the Al Hasan Industrial Area of Ramta, Jordan.
   The group went to Jordan to work, through a local manpower agent, Golden View International, at Banani.
   Eighty-nine of them returned with the help of the Bangladesh embassy. The company sent back others earlier.
   Tapan Das, of Jurain alleged, ‘We paid Tk 1.2 lakh to Golden View after borrowing it from an association on an interest of Tk 5,000 a month. The association forced me to pay the full amount or threatened that it would keep counting the interest. But I could not pay them as I returned empty-handed.’
   Abdur Razzak of Satkhira, now staying in his friend’s house in the Dhaka city, told New Age, ‘Most of us managed the money by selling land or taking loans from relatives and money lenders. I took loans of Tk 80,000 from a money lender. The amount increased to Tk 1.40 lakh the payment of which is beyond my capacity.’
   Milon of Jessore said, ‘I did not even contact my family. They think I am still in Jordan as I sold 15 kathas of land and assured him to recover the land after working in Jordan.’
   Golden View director Rafiqul Islam claimed they have spent Tk 15 lakh and $7,500 on the return of the workers and their managing partner, Wahidul Islam, is in Jordan to arrange workers’ repatriation.
   ‘We will compensate them within two or three months, but they need to be patient as the government has held up our license and we cannot work. If the government provides us with a scope to work, we will compensate them as soon as possible,’ Rafiq said.

The Bengali community in the Chittagong Hill Tracts on Wednesday condemned Tuesday’s torture on their 18 leaders by the army and demanded punishment for those responsible.
   The Parbatya Chattagram Adi O Sthayee Bangalee Kalyan Parishad, a platform the Bengalis living in CHT region, held a rally and took out a procession in Rangamati district headquarters.
   The organisation earlier issued a press release on Tuesday night, claiming that the army men had tortured the 18 leaders after calling them to its regional headquarters in the town in the name of discussion.
   ‘On June 2, they asked our president, Yusuf Alam, and vice president, Zaker Hossain, to cancel a meeting scheduled for June 3 and threatened to kill them in crossfire, otherwise,’ it said.
   The organisation staged the rally in front of the Shilpakala Academy. Senior leaders of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti and Pahari Chhatra Parishad also addressed the rally.
   According to the BKP release, its president Yusuf Alam, vice president Mukhter Ahmad, Rangamati district unit president Farid Ahmed, secretary Azam Ali Azam, organizing secretary Mohammed Hanif, assistant organising secretaries Noor Hossain and Ayub, social welfare secretary Mahbub, office secretary Khorshed Alam, treasurer Yusuf Talukder, law secretary Nurul Amin, member Shukkur Talukder, Harun and Shamsu were among the leaders tortured by army.
   Azam was undergoing treatment at Rangamati Sadar Hospital till Wednesday evening.
   The army regional headquarters in Rangamati denied the allegations and accused the organisation of serving the purposes of the PCJSS.
   An army official said Azam was called for a particular case of abduction of a bus driver and he had given confessional statement on the June 12 abduction.

The south western monsoon winds that reached the Chittagong coast on Tuesday is now likely to spread over the country by Friday evening to set on a belated rainy season, Met Office sources said on Wednesday.
   As it moved on shore Tuesday after remaining stranded off the Chittagong coast for the past two weeks, its advance elements finally cut through the westerly low pressure which had kept it away for so long, leaving the country sizzling under a scorching heat wave since may 25.
   As the monsoon advances it would continue to probe the shores and influence the weather pattern also again on Wednesday, coinciding with the first day of Ashar, the Bangla month of rainy season, the sources said.

The private mobile phone operator, Banglalink, postponed its Mobile Mela, which was scheduled to start today, for unavoidable reason.
   The fare was scheduled to be inaugurated at 11:00am at Basundhara City today.
   The authorities said they would inform all concerned about the change immediately.

The Awami League took serious exception to the US ambassador’s remarks about Bangladesh’s domestic politics, as party general secretary, Abdul Jalil said it was tantamount to interference into internal affairs.
   ‘He should not poke nose into our affairs,’ Jalil told the news agency, when asked to comment on Harry K Thomas’s forewarning that people would look for alternative if major parties did not work together on issues of national interest.
   The AL leader said the US envoy kept mum, when the ruling party resorted to repression on the opposition, filed ‘false’ cases against the party leaders and activists, when the government failed to hold appropriate investigation of the grenade attacks and the opposition was not allowed to speak in parliament.
   On ‘alternative’ force, Jalil said he should not be concerned about that, as AL believed in the strength of the people who were the source of all power and they would only take the right decision considering the national interest.

A suspected leader of an underground party was killed in ‘crossfire’ between the police and an armed gang of people, believed to be his associates, at a village under Harinakundu upazila of Jhenaidah early Wednesday, raising the number of such incidents to 336 since June 2004.
   The police said they had arrested Yunus Ali, 30, a regional leader of the underground Purba Banglar Communist Party (Janajuddha) from his Ratidanga village residence Tuesday noon.
   Based on his statement, the police took him to Bhabanipur Gangpara early Wednesday to recover hidden arms.
   As soon as the police team reached the spot, accomplices of Yunus ambushed the team sparking a gunfight.
   Yunus was caught in ‘crossfire’ while trying to escape and died on the spot of multiple bullet wounds.
   The police recovered a gun with two bullets from the spot.

Sammilita Ainjibi Samanway Parishad, a coalition of pro-opposition lawyers, formed a human chain at the Supreme Court premises despite a High Court order banning lawyers’ movements and public campaigns.
   During the programme, in front of the Supreme Court Bar Association on the Supreme Court premises, the lawyers also chanted slogan ‘We do not accept the court’s decree of injunction on lawyers’ movement’.
   The High Court on May 23 slapped a ban on lawyers’ movements and public campaigns of any form on the High Court premises.
   The Parishad formed the human chain demanding separation and independence of judiciary, appointment of efficient, skilled, honest and experienced judges in the Supreme Court, protection of the image and dignity of the Supreme Court, judges and judiciary.