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The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on Saturday called upon engineers to play more effective role to strengthen the engineering and technological sectors and contribute to cost-effective and sustainable development.
   ‘In the changed global scenario, Bangladesh is faced with various challenges. The challenges may be political, social or technological,’ she told the inaugural ceremony of the three-day 49th national convention of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh at the IEB centre in Chittagong.
   Khaleda termed the engineers as ‘one of the performers of mainstream development’. ‘The positive roles and efforts of the engineers will no doubt make significant and far-reaching contributions to overall national development.’
   She appreciated the theme of the convention — ‘Engineering for Millennium Development Goals’ — and hoped that the convention would make valuable suggestions to the government to chalk out its plan and strategy for achieving the goals.
   Achievement of rapid economic growth is the main development objective of the government, she said. ‘I firmly believe, we shall be successful in our endeavour for development with the concerted and sincere efforts of all.’
   The IEB chairman, Dr Anwar Azim, and general secretary, ANH Akhtar Hossain, and the Chittagong IEB centre chairman, AKM Faizullah, and general secretary, Kazi Yakub Sirajuddowla, also spoke.
   Ministers, the political secretary to the prime minister, the Chittagong mayor, MPs and local elite were present at the function.
   About 3,000 engineers from across the country and delegates from engineer’s institutions of a number of foreign countries are participating in the convention.
   Sixteen papers including six memorial lectures on contemporary engineering and technological advancement will be presented in various seminars.
   The prime minister gave away the IEB Gold Medal 2004, IEB Best Centre Award 2004 and IEB Best Sub-Centre Award 2004.
   Dr Engineer Feroz Ahmed and Dr Engineer Golam Mohiuddin (posthumous) were awarded the IEB Gold Medal.
   Khaleda also conferred Associate Member of Institution of Engineers and Professional Engineering degrees on a number of engineers.

Seven policemen of the Kafrul police station, including the officer-in-charge, were sued for the death of a youth, Mohammad Sohel, who was allegedly killed in police firing on Roquiah Sarani in the Dhaka city on May 8.
   According to a petition filed by victim’s father Shamsul Haque Talukder with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court on Saturday, the policemen killed his son deliberately as they failed to realise bribe from him.
   The accused are officer-in-charge Jan-e-Alam, sub-inspectors Sagir Miah and Kamal Hossain, nayek Habibur Rahman, and constables Mohsin, Rokanuzzaman, and Monjurul.
   On behalf of the petitioner, Advocate Kamrul Hasan Khan Aslam submitted that four policemen — Habib, Mohsin, Rokan, and Monjur — stopped Sohel near the NAM conference centre on Roquiah Sarani on way to his Monipuripara residence at about 8:45pm and asked him to pay money. As he had rejected their proposal, the policemen threatened him with death which was witnessed by some people named as witnesses in the petition, he said. Later the policemen shot him to death at close range.
   To conceal the fact, other accused tried to malign the victim, saying that Sohel was a mugger, and died in ‘crossfire’, but the police failed to recover any firearm or other weapon from his possession, the complainant said.
   The petitioner pleaded for recording the petition as a regular criminal case and investigating it by a senior police officer of the Criminal Investigation Department.
   The court is likely to pass its order today, court sources said.

The Workers Party of Bangladesh on Saturday said results of the Chittagong City Corporation elections showed that the alliance government can be defeated if the progressive political forces are united.
   People are ready to unseat the alliance government and a national unity of the opposition can reflect the people’s desire, said a resolution of the party’s politburo meeting.
   The meeting at the party’s central office in the capital discussed the latest political situation and resolved that national unity of the opposition political parties could check the rise of fundamentalist and communal forces, said a news release.
   The politburo called upon the government to stop extra-judicial killings by the Rapid Action Battalion and other forces in the name of crossfire and demanded trial of the killing of its leader Shyamal Sarkar.
   The resolution demanded reforms in the caretaker system and the Election Commission and said participation of the opposition in the next general elections would be meaningless without the reforms.
   The Workers Party will participate in the victory procession for the re-election ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury as the mayor in Chittagong today. Politburo member Fazle Hossain Badsha will take part in the procession.
   Chaired by the party’s president, Rashed Khan Menon, the meeting was attended by the general secretary, Bimal Biswas, politburo members Haider Akbar Khan Rono, Anisur Rahman Mallik, Nurul Hasan, Badsha and others.

The Barisal Kotwali police failed to obtain any new information from two persons, arrested for making videos and taking still photographs of a staged incident of minority persecution in Barisal, on the second day of their three-day remand.
   A special team of the state-owned Bangladesh Television and high officials of different security agencies visited the spot and recorded statements of the witnesses, the accused and the investigators on Saturday.
   Advocates of the local branch of the Barisal Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum condemned the acts, demanded punishment for the ‘conspirators engaged in damaging the image of the country’ and transfer of the officer-in-charge of the Barisal Kotwali police for negligence of duty.
   Sources said the video footage and photographs had already been sent to Sumon Ghosh, nephew of Khokan Ghosh and Vishnu Ghosh, now living in France to help him get political asylum and shelter there.
   The police arrested Sanjay Ghosh, 28, and Mizanur Rahman Khokan, 29, both businessmen of the Chawk Bazar Road of the Barisal city on May 12, 19 days after taking the video footages and still photographs that created sensation among the local people and administration.
   The police and locals said the arrestees and their associates had been to the house of Ashok Ghosh, an advocate and uncle of Sanjay, in village Raipura under Chandpura union of Barisal Sadar upazila on April 22, 2005.
   There they staged sequences of minority tortures, activities of Islamic fundamentalists in the field adjacent to local community clinics and Buniadi High School and shot video clips and photos.
   These activities attracted the attention of the locals and they informed the matter to the police and the Barisal mayor.
   But the police failed to act in due time and went to the spot to investigate the matter on May 6, two weeks after the incident was informed. The police arrested Sanjay and Mizan after different security agencies investigated the incident and took them on remand for interrogation on May 12.
   Khokan Chandra Bepari, former union council member, Shahidul Islam, Delwar Hossain, Tapan Howladar, Khalil Howladar, local elites and businessmen and Bappi Khan, a student of class eight of Charmonai High School gave statements to the police and to the team of the Bangladesh Television.
   Witnesses said Sanjib, Niranjan, Palsh, Khokan, Mamu, Ashok and other associates of Sanjay and some local madrassah students, participated in the staged sequences of minority persecution.

The US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, Christina Rocca, left Dhaka Saturday morning for Washington.
   Rocca, who came to Dhaka Wednesday night as part of her routine tour to South Asia, had a series of talks with government and opposition leaders, civil society and businessmen.

Shree Lakshmi Kanta Bal, 91, former BNP lawmaker of Gopalganj 3, died of old age complications at BIRDEM Hospital in the capital at 6:00am on Saturday.
   His body was cremated in his family crematorium at Pithabari under Kotalipara in Gopalganj in the evening.
   He is survived by his wife, three sons and one daughter.

A Jhenaidah court on Sunday sentenced two persons to death and another to life imprisonment on charge of killing Rafiqul Islam, a master’s degree student of the Islamic University.
   The first additional district and sessions judge acquitted six accused in the case. Saiful Islam Patal and Liton Joardar, sentenced to death, are in hiding.
   Md Abdul Jabbar was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined with Tk 10,000, in default, to suffer one more year in prison.
   The acquitted are Haider Ali, Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Kabir Uddin Master, Majibar Rahman, and Tipul. Tipul was killed in ‘crossfire’ a year ago.
   Rafiq, who was an Islami Chhatra Shibir leader, was beaten to death by the convicted, activists of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal student wing Chhatra League.
   Rafiq was attacked in a boarding house in village Madandanga at Sailkupa on June 8, 2001.

Two hundred and sixty-two examinees were expelled for cheating on the second day of the Higher Secondary Certificate, Business Management, Alim, Fazil, and Kamil examinations under nine education boards on Saturday.
   According to the education ministry control room and the New Age correspondents, 155 examinees were expelled in the English 2nd paper exam under seven general education boards, 89 under technical education board, and 18 under madrassah education board.
   Under general education boards, 40 examinees were expelled in Dhaka, followed by 10 in Comilla, 18 in Jessore, 45 in Rajshahi, 13 in Chittagong, 5 in Sylhet, and 24 in Barisal.
   Our Patuakhali correspondent informed that Manzurul Islam, lecturer of Kalapara Women’s College and an invigilator of Kalapara Senior Madrassah centre, was physically assaulted by the agitated examinees. He was rescued by locals and sent home with police escort.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh has elected five secretaries from its central committee.
   The decision was made at the two-day central committee meeting of the party at its central office that ended on May 13.
   The secretaries are Azharul Islam, Ruhin Hossain Prince, Mahbub Alam, Sajjad Zahir and Ahsan Habib.
   Besides, the central committee has also elected three organisers. They are Chandan Siddhanta, Abid Hossain and Syed Ahmed. Moslem Uddin was elected national council member, a CPB press release said.

The Society for Sustainable Agriculture in Bangladesh on Saturday demanded that the government not submit any offer to liberalise service sectors by the May 31 deadline.
   The ‘request offer’ process is part of the ongoing negotiations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the WTO, which is likely to feature strongly at the next ministerial conference.
   According to insiders the developed countries are pressuring WTO members who have not yet submitted an offer to the initial requests. The society organised a human chain in Jhenaidah protesting against the bilateral process and the pressure to liberalise service sectors.
   Farmers and development activists participating in the programme put forward a memorandum to the prime minister with six points.

A government plea before the Supreme Court on Saturday failed to secure stay against a High Court order on independent inquiry into alleged extra-judicial killing of a detainee in Kushtia.
   Chamber Judge Amirul Kabir Chowdhury after a brief hearing referred the matter to full bench of the Appellate Division for hearing on May 18.
   On May 9, the High Court on a writ petition issued rule upon the government to explain why the extra-judicial killing should not be properly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.
   The court had directed the respondents to ensure independent inquiry into the killing to be conducted by the district magistrate of Kushtia and report within two weeks.
   The writ was filed challenging the legality of the extra-judicial killing of Enamul Islam Ena of Kushtia, a local leader of the Motor Workers Association, in the name of crossfire. The Detective Branch picked up Ena without any warrant on April 13 and he was killed on April 16.
   Additional attorney general Fida M Kamal moved the government petition.

The High Court on Saturday directed the police not to arrest or harass Redwan Chowdhury, an eight-year-old child of Swamibagh, Dhaka, in a criminal case filed by the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust.
   A bench of Justice SK Sinha and Justice Shamim Hasnin, however, rejected the anticipatory bail petition of his mother, Rawshan Ara, in the case.
   The trust, on February 28, filed a criminal case with the Sutrapur police station, accusing Rawshan Ara and her son Redwan of torturing and injuring Sumi, a 12-year-old domestic help, in their house.
   Sumi was later sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment by the trust.
   Both the accused on Saturday appeared before the court and prayed for anticipatory bail.
   The accused in her petition said the victim Sumi, used to bring Imran from school every day and on February 27, when Sumi went to the school, two unidentified women proposed her to work in their house and offered her a salary of Tk 400 per month to which she agreed.
   Those two women took Sumi with them to a house and forced her to complain that both Rawshan and her son had tortured her, but though initially she refused, later being threatened in various ways, she was compelled to complain against them to the police with the help of the trust, said the petition.
   Later, she was taken to the court, from where she was released and was sent to her village, where she disclosed the fact to her parents, the accused in her appeal said.
   Sumi’s parents again sent her back at their house to work, while both the parents said in affidavits that the allegations brought against the accused in the case filed by the trust was false, she said.
   The court observed that the trial court would examine the statement.

Five persons, including three officers of Palli Bidyut, were injured critically, when they were working at the power greed substation of Palli Bidyut at Chandana intersection under sadar upazila in Gazipur on Saturday.
   Four of the victims are Faisul Haque Jahangir, 40, and Kamruzzaman, 35, both assistant general manager (construction, distribution and services) of Palli Bidyut, assistant junior engineer of the department Abu Yusuf and Shree Ananta, 40.
   Sources said the sub-station was damaged badly as a nor’wester hit the sub-station Friday night.
   The authorities concerned, along with the officials, began their work since Saturday morning on the 33 KV electric line and circuit breaker.
   Suddenly, the officials got in touch with the electric line and a blaze burnt the five officials.

Two officials of the Indian High Commission visited the Comilla district jail to see for themselves nine Indian citizens who had been detained there for about two months.
   The first secretary of the High Commission, Neeraj Sinha, and assistant consular, ZK Mukherjee, also met deputy commissioner Mizanur Rahman and police super Aurangajeb Mahbub.