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Lack of inter-wing coordination in different Bangladesh missions abroad has apparently been frustrating the government’s efforts to tap the country’s business potential under its ‘economic diplomacy’ theory, said a foreign ministry report.
   ‘The wings, very often, fail to defend the country’s interest as a result of their intermittent and isolated efforts,’ the report, recently submitted to a parliamentary standing committee, revealed.
   The report added that the missions are being held responsible for the failures of the wings, which are practically not accountable to the missions.
   Disappointed with the result of ‘economic diplomacy’, which the government initiated in the early 1990s, the policymakers are now thinking of making the wings’ work coordinated and target-oriented.
   Bangladesh has been pursuing the ‘economic diplomacy’ concept to tap opportunities in trade, commerce and economics in the changing global order.
   And to tap the opportunities, the country runs consular, labour, trade, economic and press wings at 34 out of a total of 58 Bangladesh missions abroad, side by side with their diplomatic wings.
   But the wings in the Bangladesh missions have hardly served the purpose, unlike the missions of the other Asian nations which have boosted the business of their countries.
   Dhaka considers Washington, New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Tokyo, Geneva, Beijing, Ottawa, Rome, Riyadh, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Los Angeles as economically and commercially important for Bangladesh.
   It maintains trade and economic wings in at least 18 of the stations to promote the country’s exports and facilitate more business.
   The country maintains consular and labour wings in Kuala Lumpur, Rome, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bandar Seri Begawan, Madrid, Singapore and the Middle Eastern stations to look after the interests of the expatriated workers.
   For defence and strategic reasons, the country considers New Delhi, Islamabad, London, Washington, Beijing, Ottawa, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Myanmar, Kathmandu, Thimpu, Pretoria, Agartala, Male, Ankara and Hanoi geographically and politically important stations. The country maintains military wings in 14 missions and press wings in five missions among these stations.
   The foreign ministry found that the wings’ tasks are not harmonised, resulting in repeated failures to make optimum use of the manpower posted in the stations.
   The ministry’s report says the officials of none of the wings are accountable to the missions’ chiefs. They hardly bother to report to the ambassadors or high commissioners about their activities as they directly report to the respective ministries, which assigned them the work.
   In the light of practices followed by the other Asian countries, the foreign ministry in its report proposed to stop compartmentalisation and make the process coordinated.
   ‘All the officials working for any mission must come under the mission chiefs’ administrative control,’ said the report.
   It would help make the officials more accountable, added the report, referring to the practices in the other neighbouring countries.
   According to Indonesian practice, the officials of the economic and commerce wings are directly supervised by the mission chiefs. They even need to obtain prior permission from the missions’ chiefs for reporting to their own ministries.
   Similar practices are being followed by the governments of India, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan (excepting the defence wing), the Philippines and Singapore.

No election to three district councils in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is in sight, thanks to a persistent difference of opinions between the law ministry and the election commission on the legality of formulating a set of rules to prepare separate voters’ lists for the region.
   Elections to the three hill district councils have remained pending since 1994.
   The difference surfaced afresh recently when the law ministry, in a note to the Chittagong Hill Tract affairs ministry, suggested carrying on with the task to prepare ‘separate’ voters’ rolls for the hill district councils’ election, and the CHT affairs ministry forwarded the note to the commission.
   The election commissioners, at a meeting last month, dismissed the law ministry’s suggestion, arguing that the present election rules, formulated in line with the constitution, do not permit separate voters’ lists for any particular geographical area or population.
   The EC found the law ministry’s note inconsistent with the constitutional provision, under which the country is supposed to have a single voters’ list irrespective of religion, race, caste and sex of the citizens.
   The note, however, suggested that the CHT ministry obtain the opinions of the attorney general in this regard, and the CHT ministry has already referred the issue to the Attorney General’s office.
   ‘We have sent the law ministry’s suggestion to the attorney general, seeking his opinion whether or not the ministry should go ahead with its plan to prepare separate voters’ rolls for the long-pending district council polls,’ Mohsina Yesmin, an official of the ministry, told New Age.
   The law ministry, in a draft rule prepared by the CHT affairs ministry, observed that separate voters’ lists could be prepared, keeping in mind ‘special conditions’ for being voters and land disputes regarding permanent non-tribal residents.
   The draft rule prepared by the CHT affairs ministry, and approved by the law ministry is, in fact, consistent with the provisions of the CHT agreement, signed between the government of Sheikh Hasina and Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity of Santu Larma in 1997.
   A controversial provision of the treaty said non-tribal residents of the hill districts, having no lands and specific addresses, would not be considered eligible to be enlisted as voters for the district council polls.
   The provision created a lot of controversy during the signing of the treaty in 1997, particularly with the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which was in the opposition at that time, strongly opposing the idea of ‘depriving the landless poor’, who have been living in the region for years, of the voting rights.
   Meanwhile, the issue came up for discussion at the commission earlier in February this year, while two commissioners observed at that time that the idea of a separate voters’ list for a any particular region was inconsistent with the Constitution. Subsequently, the commission referred it to its legal adviser, Abdul Quddus Chowdhury.
   ‘I do not agree with the opinion of the law ministry. The opinions of the two election commissioners are acceptable to me,’ Quddus commented in a file that the chief election commissioner, MA Syed, had sent to him for opinion.
   Quddus also suggested amendments to the existing laws to prevent controversies and ambiguity.
   Notably, article 121 of the constitution, dealing with the voters’ roll, says: ‘There shall be one electoral roll for each constituency for the purpose of elections to parliament, and no special electoral roll shall be prepared so as to classify electors according to religion, race, caste or sex.’
   Referring to the Electoral Roles Ordinance 1982, and the treaty signed by the national committee for hill tracts affairs, the election commissioners who opposed the suggestion of the law ministry also observed that there was no provision permitting a separate voters’ list for elections to the chairmanship and the membership for the hill district councils.
   They commissioners also termed it ‘illegal and contradictory to the constitution’ to prepare a voters’ list from which non-tribal persons have been excluded.
   ‘If we prepare a separate voters’ list, defying the constitution and the ordinances, there is a possibility of facing the court, which would delay the holding the long overdue polls,’ said MM Munsef Ali, an election commissioner. ‘It will be lawful only to prepare a voters’ list in line with the constitution and other electoral orders.’
   Safiur Rahman, the other commissioner, said, ‘It is not expected in anyway that we put the Election Commission under question about a politically sensitive issue.’
   Opposing the law ministry’s note, election commissioner Mohammad Ali said the note had also overlooked the relevant section of the CHT treaty which contradicts the constitution and electoral rules.
   Nowhere in the Electoral Rolls Ordinances 1982, and the subsequent amendments made in May1998, December 1998, and September 2000, is it mentioned that preparation of a separate voters’ list for the three hill districts is permissible, he argued.
   Referring to section 17 and 18 of the Hill Tracts Local Government Parishad Ordinance, he said that there was no need for a new voters’ list.
   Elections to the three hill district councils have remained pending since 1994. The last elections to the three hill districts were held on June 25, 1989, with the voters’ list that was prepared for the general elections.
   Stopgap bodies were formed, after the 21-member elected councils had run their full term in 1994, due to legal problems. The government has extended tenures of the interim councils four times.
   The CHT ministry took an initiative to solve the problems by making some changes in the electoral rules, and sent a draft of the changed rules to the Election Commission in 2002.
   The ministry first sent the draft to the prime minister’s office for approval. Her office directed the ministry to ask the opinion of the Election Commission in 2002.
   Then the CHT minister sent it to the Election Commission, but the EC, without making any comment, requested the ministry to obtain the opinion of the law ministry.

Prices of different kinds of paper increased by up to 45 per cent in the last couple of months affecting publishers and printing houses, industry sources said.
   The prices of newsprint, art card, art paper, offset paper and other categories of paper, consumed in large quantities by different industries, have increased significantly.
   Price hike in the international market, the dollar factor, tight import procedure and increased prices of raw materials are reasons behind the price hike, said Akram Hossain, general secretary of the Bangladesh Paper Merchant Association.
   A pack of 100-piece art card of 22-inch by 28-inch size rose to Tk 1,100 from Tk 750 a month ago.
   Art card is used to produce greetings cards, book covers and other fancy packing.
   Fine quality imported Swedish newsprint per ream (500 pieces) of double demy size rose to between Tk 600 and Tk 620 against Tk 520 to Tk 530 a month back.
   Locally produced newsprint of the same size rose to between Tk 480 and Tk 490 from Tk 450 to Tk 460 a month ago.
   Prices of imported rolled newsprint used by newspaper publishers rose to Tk 54,000 to Tk 55,000 per tonne from Tk 44,000 to Tk 46,000 two months back.
   Newspaper publishers get duty-free facility for importing newsprint while other commercial imports are subject to about 30 per cent duty and taxes.
   The Newspapers Owners’ Association of Bangladesh on Tuesday expressed concern over the increasing price of paper. The association said the increasing cost is adversely affecting the industry.
   The country consumes more than 100,000 tonnes of newsprint a year, and nearly half of these are imported.
   Imported offset paper of double demy size per ream sold at Tk 1,700 to Tk 1,720, up from Tk 1600 to Tk 1620 a month back.
   The consumption of offset paper is estimated at 30,000 tonnes a year. Out of these, Chittagong-based TK Paper produces 5,000 to 6,000 tonnes per year and the rest is imported.

The Privatisation Commission is yet to work out the modality to disinvest the state-owned Rupali Bank, as the available methods are hardly suitable for its selling out process.
   Commission officials told New Age on Sunday that they would sit on Tuesday with the members of a working committee on restructuring of the nationalised commercial banks to discuss how to go ahead with the privatisation of the bank.
   ‘We have just taken over the responsibility for privatisation of the Rupali Bank, and the working group, led by Bangladesh Bank’s deputy governor, Nazrul Huda, will brief us on the methods of privatisation that can be applicable for the bank,’ said the commission’s chairman, Enam Ahmed Chowdhury.
   The commission has ‘no interest’ in the affair as both the Rupali Bank and the Ministry of Finance are interested parties, he explained.
   The finance ministry, through a letter on March 22, involved the commission in the bank’s disinvestment process. The letter also upheld the prominence of the commission’s status in handling the privatisation process.
   Under ‘Enterprise Growth and Bank Modernisation Project’ financed by the World Bank, the working group will brief the commission on the possible options in the light of recommendations made by the bank’s foreign consultant, GBRW Limited. Its appointment was endorsed by the cabinet committee on purchase on February 16, 2004.
   An expert of the commission said the commission has now two options: offloading shares of the bank through the stock market or making blocks of shares to give its future shareholders certain advantages to have management control.
   Asked if any international tender would be invited, he said such a move would require an amendment to the existing rules as the bank has been a public limited company since 1986. The expert, however, outright rejected the speculations of issuing right shares during the privatisation in spite of the powerful lobbying from within the bank for doing so.
   An information memorandum on the bank, prepared by the consulting firm, will be finalised soon on the basis of a report to be made by the Bangladesh Bank’s governor, and a memo will be submitted to the government for taking further steps, the finance ministry in its letter informed the commission.
   The memo will recommend recapitalisation of the bank, transfer of portfolio of non-performing loans, funding of the pension deficit, reduction and rationalisation of loss-making branches, and a freeze on new lending to a large domestic companies and state-owned enterprises.
   Bringing the bank to the point of sale by December in 2004 was a precondition for the government’s access to the International Monetary Fund’s loan package under the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility. The multilateral lending agency has not released the fourth chunk of the PRGF loan, amounting to $70 million, for the government’s failure to meet the deadline.

India is considering buying American F-16 fighter jets for its air force, a news report said Sunday, just days after New Delhi protested a US decision to sell the same aircraft to India’s neighbouring archrival, Pakistan.
   India’s air force now depends mainly on aging Russian planes.
   American fighter aircraft and weapons’ manufacturers have submitted proposals to India; the Press Trust of India news agency quoted the defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee, as saying in the eastern city of Kolkata.
   ‘If the military aircraft and other weapons needed for our national interest are available from the United States, we will certainly consider them,’ Mukherjee said.
   His statement Saturday came a day after US officials announced the sale of F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan and signalled that India could move ahead with its own weapon buys. The two nuclear-armed neighbour countries have been rivals for decades, and have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.
   India expressed ‘great disappointment’ over the US decision to sell fighter aircraft to Pakistan, and said doing so would tilt the military balance in the
   region and could harm India-Pakistan peace talks that began last year.
   The United States has sold a variety of weaponry to India since lifting a ban on arms sales three years ago that had been imposed after an Indian nuclear test. Last year, in a move seen as a coup for India, the administration gave the go-ahead for Lockheed Martin to give India information for prospective sales of F-16s.
   India’s aging fleet of MiG-21 fighter jets — dating back to the 1960s — is the backbone of its fighter inventory, which also includes other MiG aircraft. Its 1,500-plane air force also has French Mirage and Anglo-French Jaguar planes.
   On Saturday, Mukherjee said ‘cooperation in economic and other areas between the United States and India has increased manifold, but so far there has been no defence agreement between the two countries.’
   The Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, is scheduled to visit India next month to discuss disputes between the two countries.

The government has decided to amend the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1983 and add provisions of imprisonment and fine for offenders to ensure safety on the roads by preventing road accidents and establishing discipline in the transport sector.
   The decision was taken at a meeting on ‘Formulation of the proposed and new amended Motor Vehicle Ordinance’ on Sunday at the conference room of the communications ministry with communications minister Barrister Nazmul Huda in the chair.
   The meeting reviewed the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1983 and incorporated some proposals for formulating an updated law to deal with the violators of traffic rules.
   In the proposed amendments, the meeting recommended that any person involved in issuing fake licences and assisting others to make fake ones, and their users, will be imprisoned for a minimum term of two months besides having to pay a fine of around Tk 1, 000.
   According to ministry officials, unskilled drivers are mainly responsible for road accidents, and almost 90 per cent of the driving licences in the country are fake.
   Around 4,000 people die a year in Bangladesh in road accidents, which cause loss of Tk 5,000 crore each year, said an official of the ministry of communications.
   The major reasons for road accidents are over-speeding, overloading and overtaking, ignorance of road-craft, lax enforcement of traffic laws and unskilled drivers, said the officials.
   However, the proposed amendments will keep provisions to ensure accountability of the officials and employees of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and policemen of the Traffic Department.
   The meeting also recommended punishment of drivers, helpers, conductors of the buses and others who misbehave with the passengers.

An Awami League lawmaker from Nilphamari constituency, Dr Hamida Banu Shobha, has lodged a case against some of her party activists with the Domar Thana on Friday.
   The filing of the case has created resentment in the members of the party and its front organisations.
   Halim Haider Apu, a Juba League leader, filed the case on behalf of Shobha against some AL activists for vandalising a dais made for a party meeting and hurling abusive words at Shobha.
   According to the first information report, Dr Hamida Banu Shobha went to Dukduki Barogachha village of Domar upazila to attend a workers’ meeting of the party on 22 March. A group of agitated party activists, led by Abul Kalam Azad, general secretary of the Sona Roy Union of the Awami League, and Farhad Aziz, sports secretary of the district unit of Chhatra League, went on a rampage with sticks, foiling the meeting breaking up the dais. The agitated activists also abused Shobha verbally.
   When contacted, Shobha told newsmen over the telephone that she did not like ‘anarchy-mongers’ and they should be punished.
   Syed Mahmud, the general secretary of Juba League in Nilphamari district, said that it was natural that ‘there would be misunderstanding among us but it should be settled within our party’.
   He further said, ‘We should not misbehave with our leader and at the same time the leader should not take any tough action like filing any case against us.’

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday upheld the High Court verdict that quashed a graft case against Mohammad Nasim, a former home minister, and Safiur Rahman, a former home secretary and now an election commissioner.
   A three-member full bench of the division, headed by Justice Fazlul Karim, delivered the verdict rejecting a government petition for leave to appeal against the High Court verdict.
   Nasim and Safiur now stand acquitted from corrupt charge over the tender scam that involved import of ten lakh passport books in 1999.
   The High Court on July 18, 2004 quashed the proceedings of the case in the trial court in which Nasim, Safiur, and others were accused of tender scam.
   The additional attorney general, Abdur Rezak Khan, moved the case for the government and Amirul Islam appeared for Nasim and Safiur.
   The Bureau of Anti–Corruption filed the case with the Ramna police station in December 2001 accusing them of misappropriating Tk 81.40 lakh through tender bungling in awarding work for preparing the passport books.

Easter Sunday was observed across the country with prayers for peace and prosperity for the nation.
   The Christians believe Jesus took all the sins with him on the day of his death and resurrected on the third day after his death for the salvation of mankind. The day of his resurrection is celebrated as Easter Day.
   Easter Sunday is considered by the Christian community as the last day of the holiest week. It is preceded by 40 days of spiritual preparation, which included fasting, praying, charity and penance, excepting the Fridays, when they used to take vegetarian foods only.
   The Christians in Bangladesh, two-thirds of them catholic and the rest protestants, celebrated the day with the rising of the sun.
   The sunrise is considered the symbol of resurrection of Jesus, said Father Mintu Lawrence Palma of the Holy Rosary Church on Sunday.
   The Dhaka Pastors Fellowship organised a congregation for the Protestants at the South Plaza of the parliament premises on Sunday morning for the prayer at sunrise, where the congregation took part in prayers, songs, welcome speech, and prayer for lord’s oracle.
   Meanwhile, the Catholics in thousands regularly congregated for prayer at the Holy Rosary Church, in Dhaka, said Palma.
   The last supper and the prayer for sacrament were observed on Thursday, while prayer sessions by the Christian marked the crucifixion day of Friday and Saturday was observed as the salvation day.

The BNP lawmaker from Narsingdi-1, Shamsuddin Ahmed Ishaq, died on Sunday.
   President of the Narsingdi district unit of the BNP and a four-time parliament member, Ishaq died at the Comfort Hospital in the city at 2:45pm. He was 73.
   The president, the prime minister, the speaker and the deputy speaker, in separate condolence messages, expressed deep sorrow at the death of Ishaq.
   A first namaz-e-janaza of the late lawmaker will be held at the South Plaza of the Sangsad Bhaban at 10:00am today and a second one at the BNP central office premises at 11:00am.
   Later, the body will be taken to Narsingdi for burial, party and family sources said.
   Medical sources said Ishaq was suffering from diabetes, kidney and liver diseases for some time.
   Ishaq, who also held the posts of Narsingdi Municipality vice-chairman and chairman, is survived by three wives, six sons, four daughters and a host of relatives and admirers.
   New Age’s Narsingdi correspondent reported that a pal
   of gloom descended in Narsingdi district as soon as the news of Ishaq’s death reached there.
   Local leaders of different political and socio-cultural organisations, including the BNP and the Awami League, expressed their deep shock at his death.
   Ishaq was also the editor and publisher of the weekly Arshite Mukh, published from Narsingdi.
   In a message of condolence, the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, recalled Ishaq’s ‘long experience in politics and contribution as a lawmaker’.
   He prayed for salvation of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to the bereaved
   family.
   The prime minister and the leader of the house, Khaleda Zia, paid her last respect at the MP Hostel premises on Sunday.
   The prime minister placed floral wreath on Ishaq’s body and offered prayer for salvation of the departed soul.
   The speaker, Jamiruddin Sircar, the deputy speaker, Akhter Hamid Siddiqui, and the prime minister’s political secretary, Harris Chowdhury, were present.

Seven more tribesmen were allegedly abducted from four villages of the trouble-torn Naniarchar upazila of the district Saturday night by the armed activists loyal to the Parbatya Chattogram Janosanghati Samity. It is for the second time such an incident took place in the area in a week.
   A band of armed activists, numbering 25 to 30, led by Progyan Khisha and Purnango Chakma, kidnapped Nirzan Chakma, 40, Saratjoti Chakma, 24, of village Borkulpara, Fulkumar Karbari, 52, Bikash Chakma, 30, of village Chekkyoapara, and Kalabo Chakma, 30, and Nanda Kumar Chakma, 25, of village Marachengi and Suryamani Chakama, 60, of village Rangipara in Naniarchar upazila of the district.
   A press release issued by the United Peoples Democratic Front said the abductors demanded Tk 10 lakh as ransom.
   The member of the Front district unit, Milton Chakma, demanded immediate arrest of criminals.
   Earlier on March 23, eight tribesmen, loyal to the Parbatya Chattagram Janosanghati Samity, who were kidnapped from Kullabari in Naniarchar, were released last Friday.
   Also a former Union Parishad chairman, Biro Chakma, loyal to the Front, was gunned down at Kutubchhari bazar in Sadar Upazila of the district allegedly by the armed cadres of the Samity on March 25.

The just-concluded expert committee meeting of the South Asian Free Trade Area has proposed a framework for the member countries to reach an initial understanding on rules of origin and compensation package for the least developed countries within the bloc to recoup customs losses.
   The committee, at the March 22-24 meeting in Male, also called for the member countries to come up with inputs on the two contentious issues by taking ‘considered views’ from the respective governments, said sources in the Ministry of Commerce.
   Such proposals from all the SAARC members will be discussed at the next round of the expert committee meeting scheduled for April 17-19 in Kathmandu.
   The Male meet, the seventh of its kind, also fixed the tentative date for the subsequent meeting (9th) on May 22-24.
   The Bangladesh delegation that took part in the meeting stuck to its position as an LDC, the sources said.
   The participants exchanged the sensitive lists of their products and also discussed the issue of technical assistance for the group’s LDCs, including Nepal and Bhutan.
   Referring to the proposed framework on the rules of origin, the ministry sources said the value addition for the LDCs and the developing countries of the forum had been proposed at 30 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.
   Also, the compensation package for customs losses to be incurred by the LDCs will take shape if the governments, especially of the forum’s developing countries, agree upon it. Their decisions will be conveyed formally during the upcoming meeting.
   SAFTA is scheduled to come into force from January 2006.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, said Sunday that Bangladesh would soon become self-reliant if the current pace of development activities and
   foreign investment inflow
   continues.
   Bangladesh, which has achieved independence through a bloody war, cannot remain dependent on others and must become self-reliant, she said when exchanging views with freedom fighters at the International Conference Centre in the capital.
   Those who are involved in the politics of destruction and are propagating against the country abroad are actually opposing independence, she said and urged the freedom fighters to identify ‘the opponents of independence’ and put up resistance against them.
   The function was addressed also by the LGRD and Cooperatives minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, the state minister for liberation war affairs, Rezaul Karim, the political secretary to the prime minister, Harris Chowdhury, Bangladesh Muktijoddah Sangsad Central Command Council chairman Kabir Ahmed Khan and secretary general Shah Alam Chowdhury, and the liberation war affairs secretary, Taj Mohammad.
   Bangladesh is now attracting investment from India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the United States and many other countries, Khaleda claimed. ‘The economy is growing and economists are asking other developing countries to follow to our model.’
   In an oblique reference to the Awami League, she said the ‘sole claimant of the War of Independence,’ is now damaging public property and undermining the country’s interest abroad through propaganda and urged all, including freedom fighters, to foil the evil design.
   The four-party alliance requires continuity of its government to carry out development and protect the independence, Khaleda said. ‘The government will bring about a lot of changes in terms of development and progress if the BNP-led alliance returns to power through the next election.’
   Extending her greetings to freedom fighters and their families on the occasion of Independence Day, Khaleda paid tributes to the martyrs of the war.
   The freedom fighters criticised those, who are trying to call Bangladesh ‘a failed state’ and make it dysfunctional through intrigues.
   They vowed to foil all intrigues against independence and sovereignty and any attempts to make Bangladesh a ‘dysfunctional and failed state’ and lauded the government for its initiatives for their welfare.
   Khaleda said her government had formed the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs as per her election commitment.
   She said a genuine list of freedom fighters would be prepared soon and after that they would be provided with identity cards from the government.
   She also gave a brief resume of the steps undertaken by her government for the welfare of the freedom fighters.

The committee for fixing the price of gas from the field in Feni failed again on Sunday to come to a consensus.
   The field is operated by Niko Resources, a Canadian company.
   The government again offered $2.1 to Niko for one unit of gas (1,000 cubic feet) in the 9th meeting of the committee, headed by the additional secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Ehsanul-ul Fattah.
   Two Niko representatives in the committee, however, remained unyielding on their demand for $2.35 per unit of gas.
   The Canadian operator started production of about 25 million cubic feet of gas a day in November, 2004. The total production from the field is about 45 million cubic feet per day now as it has increased production per day from February, 2005.
   The price of gas is yet to be fixed as Niko has been demanding $2.35 per unit, although the government has raised its earlier offer of $2 by 10 cents.
   Petrobangla, the state-run oil, gas and mineral corporation, has so far paid $2 million to Niko as a lump sum after the company threatened on March 8 that it would stop supplying gas from Feni unless it was paid a partial amount of the pending payment for the gas it had already supplied since November, 2004.
   Sources in the committee said it would hold a meeting next week to come to a consensus on the price.
   The state minister for energy and mineral resources, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, told reporters that they would consider appointing a mediator for fixing the price if the committee fails to reach a consensus in two more meetings.
   Officials of the Energy Division, however, said the price would not be raised from $2.10 as the government would incur a loss of about $2.5 million even if the price per unit is raised by 5 cents only.
   The total reserve of the field is about 76 billion cubic feet and the Petrobangla subsidiary, Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company, will get about 30 to 40 per cent share of the gas.

A professor of archaeology at the Jahangirnagar University has stirred a controversy with misleading claims about and unauthorised excavation at an archaeological site.
   Professor Sufi Mustafizur Rahman, who led the excavation of an 18 by 16 metre area at Owari-Bateshwar in Belabo upazila of Narsingdi, claimed in April 2004 that the excavation had led to the discovery of a road, a citadel and a raft of artefacts that dated back to 450BC.
   Sufi told the media that his findings indicated to the oldest civilisation to have been discovered so far, and would redefine the history of eastern India and substantiate the theory of the Brahmaputra civilisation.
   While his claims have sparked a debate among historians and archaeologists who maintain that such a conclusion is premature at this stage of excavation and examination, his go-it-alone approach has enraged the Department of Archaeology under the cultural affairs ministry.
   Excavation of any archaeological site has to be done with the permission of and in collaboration with the government, a senior official of the department said.
   The official claimed that Sufi had dug the site without obtaining approval from and involving the department. ‘He did not even hand over materials he had dug out from the site or submit any report to the department about his findings.’
   The department has already asked the vice chancellor of the Jahangirnagar University to take necessary action so that Sufi hands over the materials and submits a report on the excavation, the official said. ‘Non-compliance with the archaeological rule is a punishable offence.’
   Sufi, however, insisted that he had secured permission from the authorities for excavation of the archaeological site.
   He admitted that he had neither submitted any report nor handed over the archaeological finds to the department.
   ‘As the excavation was completed in April 2004, the Department of Archaeology asked me to submit the report and the materials within a month,’ he said. ‘The work is time consuming so I could not submit the report but will in the course of time.’
   Sufi also claimed that about 99 per cent of the materials dug out of the site was pottery and that the Department of Archaeology did not preserve ancient pottery at all.
   He said he would soon submit his reply to the university and the also the department.
   The controversy over his discovery has, meanwhile, raged on.
   Mozammel Haque, a professor of archaeology at the university, said the site could not be a road as it started from a ditch and stretched very little. ‘A road must have starting and finishing points that are not visible.’
   He also has reservation about Sufi’s claim that the road could be part of an ancient city. ‘It is not possible to pinpoint the time period without carbon dating, an examination which is sensitive as well as expensive.’
   Quamrul Ahsan, also a professor of archaeology of the same university, was of the view that based on current findings of the excavation it was not possible to reach a conclusion Sufi had arrived at.
   He said there had been several excavations at the site before and the latest was not ‘in accordance with the guidelines set by the government’.
   ‘It is too early to say the site is part of an ancient civilisation,’ Quamrul concluded. ‘It took many years to validate the Indus valley as the oldest civilisation in the India.’
   Sufi claimed that his observation about the site had been blown out of proportion by the media. ‘I have never said the site is part of an ancient city. It was publicised by the media, not me.’
   He said the site could be a road or a point of entry to a citadel around which administrative and trade activities might have had taken place.
   Sufi claimed that the carbon dating had validated the site to have belonged to 450BC, 80 years of so earlier than the start of the civilisation at Mahastangarh.

Nine resident students of Tongbhanga Dakhil Madrassah in Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat have allegedly been raped by a teacher.
   According to a delayed report reaching from the remote village, one of the victims filed a case against the teacher, Maulana Nazmul Haq, with the Hatibandha police on March 21. Nazmul has gone into hiding since then.
   The complainant told the police that 13 resident students were living in two rooms of boarding adjacent to the madrassah. The caretaker of the boarding and Nazmul, who lived in the third room, used to abuse the girls sexually.
   An incident of abortion to a resident student early this month was widely known and finally rolled to the police.
   Assistant Sub-inspector Zakir Hossain, who investigated the incident, said the victim, a student of Class IX, was a poor orphan. Nazmul delayed filing the case against him by pledging to marry the girl, he said.
   Zakir said there were allegations of rape of nine students, but the investigation revealed four students were raped. Two of them including the complainant were forced for abortion, he said.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, Joytirmoy Barman, also the president of managing committee of the madrassah, said Nazmul has been suspended following the allegation.

Agitated drivers of the Public Service Commission Sunday reportedly manhandled a member who beat up his official driver.
   The news of the beating one of their fellows angered the drivers who instantly entered the commission’s premises, chanted slogans, and at one stage some of them assaulted Professor Hasanuzzaman, a member of PSC, sources said.
   The Deputy Commissioner (DC-West) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Mazharul Haq, told BDNEWS that Hasanuzzaman had beaten up his car driver mercilessly, which triggered outrage in other drivers of the commission.
   The DC-West also said no GD or case had been filed in this connection. ‘The authorities told the police that the commission would itself take steps to resolve the matter.’
   After the incident, an emergency meeting of the commission was held with its chairman to resolve the matter, said a source in the commission.

The tele-communications between Chittagong and rest of the world remained snapped from early Sunday when burglars cut off optical fibre at Barobkundu under Sitakundu in the district.
   Carrier department of the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board sources said the thieves stole the cable at the Barobkundu point, some 30 kilometers off the port city, at around 12:30am.

The International Monitory Fund has enquired about the gas export policy of Bangladesh.
   In a letter to the energy and mineral resources ministry, the IMF has recently sought to know about Bangladesh’s policy on gas export, the state minister, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, told New Age Sunday night.
   ‘I asked officials of the Energy and Mineral Resource Division to reply to the lending agency that Bangladesh does not have any gas export policy as it is not interested in exporting gas,’ he said.
   Mosharraf said he had received the IMF letter before his four-day visit to Sylhet, Comilla and his constituency in Mymensingh.
   ‘I think the officials have replied to the IMF in the meantime,’ he said, adding that he would enquire about the reply on Monday.
   Lenders and the government’s development partners have long been pressurising the government to take initiative to export gas, especially to neighbouring India.

The Supreme Court declared ‘without jurisdiction’ a High Court order dismissing an election case filed by Saber Hossain Chowdhury demanding cancellation of result of election to Dhaka-6 held on October 1, 2001.
   A full bench of the Appellate Division comprising Justice Fazlul Karim, Justice MA Aziz and Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury, on March 23, ordered the High Court bench to hear and dispose the case.
   Saber welcomed the order of the Supreme Court.
   `Two different voter lists were used in the election violating the constitution. It took a long time in delivering the judgment, but I am optimistic that I will get justice,’ he told the news agency.
   A candidate in the election for the seat, Saber, filed the appeal petition on April 30, 2002 against the High Court order, which had dismissed the election case filed by him.
   He alleged in the petition that Mirza Md Abbas had taken the election result in his favour by applying fraudulence practice, power abuse and treating the election officials.
   Subrata Chowdhury, assisted by Aftab Hossain, moved for petitioner, Saber, before the court while Khandakar Mahbubuddin Ahmed and Mahbubur Rahman argued for Abbas.

The government on Sunday terminated contract of AKM Masud, director general of power cell, research and planning unit of the power division.
   The one year contract of Masud was supposed to end by mid-May but his contract was terminated over ‘some thorny issues’ with the Prime Minister’s office, sources in the establishment ministry said.
   They, however, could not immediately confirm the issues which angered the PMO but said office started to move his termination file on Thursday.
   Masud, former divisional chief of the planning commission, took his retirement from regular job in May last year.