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Noted citizens, intellectuals, artistes, and language movement heroes on Friday paid rich tributes to late folk musician, Abdul Latif, saying that he had never compromised his ideals and always worked for the cause of people’s interests.
   In a condolence meeting organised by the Sammilita Sanskritik Jote at the Central Shaheed Minar, they recalled that Latif had tried to awaken the people through the artistic means of songs during the nationalist movements.
   Latif, who died on February 26, was famous for his lyrics, compositions, and vocals rendering patriotic songs, including those on the language movement of 1952.
   The meeting was addressed, among others, by the Sammilita Nagarik Samaj president, Kamal Lohani, poet and language movement hero, Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury, Awami League joint secretary, Obaidul Kader, former Bangladesh Betar director general, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president, AAMS Arefin Siddique, Group Theatre Federation president, Mamunur Rashid, Professor Harun-or-Rashid, and Sanskritik Jote president, Nasir Uddin Yusuf Bachchu.
   Artistes Fakir Alamgir and Indramohan Rajbangshi, and Latif’s elder son Sirajul Salekin paid homage to the deceased artiste singing the songs composed by him.
   Kamal said braving threats from the government’s high-ups, Latif sang songs of the oppressed people. ‘He was never derailed from his ideals, and always worked for the sake of people’s interests.’
   Despite being a government official, he sang songs criticising the government’s role, Kamal added.
   Mahbubul said, ‘We need brave artistes like Latif who worked for the cause of people’s interests during the crises of the country.’
   Kader said the BNP-Jamaat alliance government had captured all achievements of the war of independence with indulgences in the anti-liberation forces. ‘The day might come when the people would be barred to go to Shaheed Minar on Ekushey February.’
   Nasir said, ‘The role played by Abdul Latif would encourage us to fight against the misrules.’

The Education Ministry will form a six-member committee to recommend a common study-plan for the secondary school teachers soon.
   The ministry took the decision in a meeting on February 26 with the education minister, M Osman Farruk in the chair, sources in the ministry said.
   Professor Dilara Hafiz, director general of the directorate of secondary and higher education, was named the chairman and senior assistant secretary (school) as member-secretary of the committee. Members of the committee are the director general of the National Academy of Educational Management and Chairman, National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Principal of the Teachers Training College, Dhaka, and a deputy secretary (secondary) of the education ministry.
   ‘To develop quality of education it is urgently needed to formulate a study plan for the teachers to teach properly in the class rooms and carry out the plan,’ a high official of the ministry said.
   The committee will be formed according to a declaration of the ministry in December 2004 in this regard, a ministry sources said.
   The committee will be given one month’s time to submit their recommendations,’ sources in the ministry said.
   The number of secondary and junior secondary schools across the country is around 16 thousand.

Speakers at a discussion on Friday called upon all concerned to treat the history of the War of Independence without distortions and the unwholesome insertions of partisan claims and counter-claims.
   The armed struggle of 1971 against Pakistan involved a succession of events over time, particularly the entire decade of the 1960s, which cannot be erased from the pages of history.
   While the enumeration of the events over time will go on and on, the proceedings of March, closest to the best of times in Bangladesh’s history of 3,000 years, were most critically relevant.
   The 2nd of March, when ASM Rab unfurled the Bangladesh flag, the 3rd of March when the declaration was read out by Shajahan Siraj in the company of ASM Rab, Abdul Quddus Makhan and Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui, the March 7 public address by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the March 27 call to arms by Ziaur Rahman, and above all the unity of the people and heroic sacrifice and endurance of the Bengalis in the war-front as also the ‘concentration camp’ of Bangladesh, are all the inseparable parts of the history of 1971.
   A packed auditorium of the Dhaka District Sports Association at Motijheel broke onto intermittent slogans as speaker after speaker addressed the meeting organised on the occasion of the ‘national flag hoisting day of Match 2’ by a faction Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal led by ASM Abdur Rab.
   Rab termed current politics as crass commerce for power, and adversarial, which he said, stood in the way of envisioning a new Bangladesh of 2005. ‘We need national consensus to overcome the crisis. The unity should be based on common minimum programmes of devolution of power or the people and a two-chamber house,’ he suggested.
   He said there was no greater politics other than that of the movement for independence that, in effect, started with the education movement of 1962. The students initiated the movement and materialised it through armed struggle in 1971.
   The New Age and Holiday editor, Enayetullah Khan, who addressed the discussion, said that there were some irreversible facts of history. The hoisting of the national flag was one of them.
   ‘Every man is an island, but when they got united to liberate their homeland in 1971, they earned a universe, so to speak,’ he said.
   He said independence is indivisible and singular, but politics is plural. Hence, while there cannot be two opinions about independence, politics will continue to go separate ways, he said.
   1971 still remained the sole point of reference for all political parties, except perhaps for one. ‘Liberation is no one’s monopoly and there is nothing called a political force favouring liberation. Politics may vary, but liberation does not,’ Enayetullah said.
   ‘We need to project our country positively across the world and only the youth force can do so,’ Mostafa Mohsin Mantu, organising secretary of the Gano Forum, told the discussion, urging the young generation to wage another war to liberate the country from political anarchy.
   The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal organised the discussion at the Dhaka District Krira Samity auditorium in Dhaka.
   Presided over by JSD president Noor Alam Ziku, the meeting was addressed among others by Abdul Malek Ratan, Bangla Bazar Patrika editor Zakaria Khan and editor of the Manavjamin Matiur Rahman Choudhury, among others.

Four minor boys were rescued by the police at Rajshahi on Friday.
   The police said the boys, identified as Sahin, 12, son of Safiuddin Jaman of Shaldighi, Sourav Hossain Tutul, 12, son of Abdur Razzak of village Shakun Khiola, Sourav Hossain Russel, 11 son of Amir Hossain and Saddam Ali, 13, of Birampur, all in Dinajpur, were rescued.

The law minister, Barrister Moudud Ahmed, on Friday ruled out the possibility of any amendment to the system of caretaker government as demanded by the opposition.
   Addressing a roundtable titled ‘reforms of the selection process of caretaker government: recent thoughts’ at the National Press Club, he said, ‘It is unrealistic and impossible to select the chief advisor of the caretaker government on consensus by all political parties.’
   Moudud criticised the opposition parties for demanding amendment to the caretaker government system to unstable the political situation.
   He, however, said formation of future caretaker government should be made as per the constitution or law.
   The Projonmo Academy organised the roundtable with advocate Joynul Abedin in the chair.
   The Awami League presidium member, Suranjit Sengupta, and the BJP presidium member, Golam Sarwar Milon, also took part in the meeting. Dr M Ataur Rahman of Dhaka University political science department read out the keynote paper.
   Suranjit said there were many flaws in the caretaker government system. ‘The last caretaker government had broken some laws and made amendments,’ he said.
   He stressed updating and changing some election laws to ensure free and credible elections.
   ‘If the Chief Election Commission doesn’t have its own secretariat, if its all secretaries are under the government and if it is dependent on the government, how could it work neutrally,’ the AL leader asked.
   Suranjit also blasted the government for polluting the judiciary and administration of the country. ‘The government has extended the retirement age of the Supreme Court judges for appointing their desired man as the chief advisor of the next caretaker government and return to power,’ he said.
   Moudud said if opposition parties did not accept the present caretaker system, they should revert to the old system and take part in the election under the party in power.
   ‘It will not be wise to change the system every five years, depending on defeat or win…,’ he said.
   Golam Sarwar Milon said there was no alternative to the caretaker government system for holding an impartial election. He, however, suggested that the Election Commission must be independent, transparent and accountable.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested four alleged extortionists from Purana Paltan area in the capital on Friday.
   The arrested are identified as Shah Alam, 48, Moazzem, 35, Sumon, 22, and Sujon, 25 of Purana Paltan area under the Motijheel police station.
   The Police said, a contingent of the battalion arrested the four at about 10:30am as their neighbour Sohrab Uddin, a contractor complained against them of demanding Tk 1.0 lakh as a toll.
   Later, the arrested were handed over to the Motijheel police station.
   A case was filed by Sohrab Uddin in this connection.