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The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, exchanged views with the AL-backed Nagarik Committee leaders at a city community centre Monday morning.
   She told the views exchange meeting that the people of the country had never rejected Awami League in any election but the conspirators snatched the victory several times.
   ‘The conspirators also tried to snatch the result of Chittagong City Corporation mayoral election again but the people of Chittagong foiled the ill motive through a united movement,’ she said.
   Presided over by the Nagarik Committee convener, engineer Mahmudul Islam, the meeting was addressed, among others, by the mayor-elect, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Dr Abu Yusuf  Alam, Dr Bikiran Prasad Barua, Professor Zakir Hossain, National Awami Party leader Santos Chowdhury, Workers Party leader ATM Nizam Uddin, JSD leader Abul Kalam Azad and wife of the city mayor Hasina Mohiuddin.
   Appreciating the role of Nagarik Committee, Sheikh Hasina said that the activities of the committee over the CCC polls was a model to the AL leaders and the activists would get lesson how to save the public mandate from the grip of the evil forces.
   Mohiuddin in his speech blamed the government for what he said step motherly attitude towards the port city. He said due to such attitude the city dwellers had long been deprived of adequate development.
   Terming such an attitude illogical, he said through the CCC polls the city people took oath to realise their logical demands.
   Later, Hasina, also the leader of the opposition in parliament, attended the concluding session of the 49th convention of the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh at its Chittagong centre in the afternoon as chief guest.
   She urged the engineers to be united irrespective of their party affiliations and opinions for greater development of the country.
   ‘Our engineers played an important role in rebuilding the destroyed country during the post-liberation period and they have to work more to make a modern Bangladesh,’ Hasina said.
   Presided over by the IEB president, Dr Mohammad Anowarul Azim, the concluding session of the convention was addressed, among others, by the general secretary, Akhtar Hossain, and the honorary secretary, Kazi Sirajuddowla.
   Hasina said during the last Awami League regime the government allocated 72 bighas of land for the Engineering Staff College at Bogra and legalised the land of the main building of IEB in Dhaka.
   She assured the engineers that the AL would work for betterment of them if voted to power again.
   Hasina is scheduled to leave Chittagong for Cox’s Bazar on a three-day visit this morning.
   She will also address some rallies on her way to Cox’s Bazar, AL sources said.

Several hundred people under the banner of the Alliance against World Bank Immunity and the left parties on Monday held separate rallies at Muktangan in Dhaka, asking the government not to pass the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Act 2004 in Jatiya Sangsad.
   They also brought out separate processions.
   The speakers at the alliance rally said the bill seeking blanket immunity to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is a violation of basic rights and disgraceful for the people.
   They said the World Bank cannot be treated like a UN organisation. The bank is pressuring the government for the immunity and cashed in on the vulnerability of the government of loan facilities, they said.
   The national coordinator of the alliance, Aminur Rasul, said, ‘We have remittance of $3 billion. Why do we beg for foreign assistance of only $1.5 billion?’
   The speakers demanded that the government should make public the draft of the bill so that people can understand what is going on. They urged the people to stand united against the evil design.
   The left party leaders gave a warning that if the government passes the bill, the parties would initiate tougher movements, such as hartal. The Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary, Mujahidul Iskam Selim, said immunity to the Wold Bank is contrary to the constitution and a threat to sovereignty.
   The Left Democratic Front, a combine of eight left political parties, organised the protest rally.
   The combine coordinator, Zakir Hossain, who chaired the rally, said those who will be involved in the passage of the bill would be treated as traitors.
   Nurul Hasan, Ruhin Hossain Prince and Abu Hamed Shahabuddin also spoke.

The Kaptai-based Karnaphuli Hydro Station, the lone hydraulic plant in the country, has been operating with three of its five units despite drastic fall of the water level in lake water for the past few days.
   Sources in the station said the water level recorded at the Kaptai dam point was 70.24 MSL (mean sea level) on Saturday, which is risky for operation of any unit of the plant because a minimum of 76 MSL is required to make a unit operative.
   The recent drought-like situation has resulted in the fall in water reservation in the Kaptai Lake, the sources added.
   Usually, a minimum of 82 MSL is maintained during the month of May every year, which helps run the plant smoothly.
   The three units, each with a generation capacity of 50 megawatt, contributed 103 megawatt of power to the national gridline on Saturday, although the plant is supposed to generate at least 230MW through utilisation of full capacity of its five units.
   The plant resumed its production at the three units on May 11 midnight and restored supply to the national gridline in the early hours of May 12 after a 14-hour collapse.
   The three out of five units of the plant went out of operation from noon on May 11 following a technical fault developed in the national gridline that plunged the entire Chittagong and adjacent areas into darkness.
   ‘This was an unexpected technical fault caused by lack of combination between gridline voltages capacity and generating voltages,’ said Shafiqul Isiam, the KHS project manager.
   He added that they had to keep the three units out of operation because the gridline could not absorb the supply load.
   He also said two other units (unit No 4 and 5) of the plant remained out of operation due to mechanical faults.

The High Court on Monday issued a rule on the government to show cause within four weeks why the orders discharging 21 trainee sub-inspectors of police should not be declared illegal.
   A High Court bench passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by the discharged trainees.
   The petitioners were selected as outside cadets for training as sub-inspectors on November 20, 2003, and the training started at Sarda Police Academy on December 1, 2003.
   After being trained for 11 months and 16 days, they were discharged on October 16, 2004 due to allegations of violating discipline.
   The discharged trainees filed the writ petition, challenging the legality of the discharge notification issued by the Sarda Police Academy authorities.
   The court issued the rule on secretary to the ministry of home affairs, principal, vice-principal and superintendent of police of the Sarda Police Academy, and the inspector general of police.
   Amirul Islam with Nowroj Russel Chowdhury, Moyeen Firozee and Shamsul Hasan moved for the petitioners while deputy attorney general Adilur Rahman Khan appeared for the government.

Two suspected muggers were injured in ‘crossfire’ of the Rapid Action Battalion and the suspected accomplices of the two early Monday on the Dhaka City Flood Protection Embankment at Mohammadpur.
   The injured are Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 28, and Mohammad Nasim, 26, of Shekhertek of the area.
   They were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in the custody of the battalion.
   Contradictory versions of the incident were given by the battalion, and the injured.
   Saber Sharif, the commanding officer of RAB 4, told newsmen that the injured had been arrested Sunday evening at Mohammadpur in possession of a pistol and four rounds of bullets.
   Based on their statements, the battalion along with the arrested went to the area early Monday to recover arms and to arrest their associate, Akash, who is involved in illegal arms trade.
   As the battalion members reached the place, the associates of the arrested opened fire on them, who fired back, in which Nasim and Mizan was injured. Their associates managed to get away.
   The battalion recovered a shotgun and three cartridges of bullets from the place.
   He claimed that the arrested two were members of a gang used to roam the city streets in taxicabs and auto rickshaws mugging passersby and rickshaw passengers.
   On the other hand, Nasim said he is an employee of the Japan Garden City, a housing complex, and Mizan is owner of Sheba Medical Store at Mohammadpur.
   ‘A patrol team of RAB 4 stopped us at about 12:15am when we were returning home after closing my pharmacy,’ Mizan said.
   ‘They asked us about Akash, although we do not know him. When we refused to provide any information, they shot both of us in the legs from point blank,’ he alleged.
   A case was filed with the Mohammadpur police in this connection.

The foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, left Dhaka for Washington on Monday on a private trip when he is expected to meet the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley.
   Morshed will also attend the graduation ceremony of his third daughter who passed her masters from the Georgetown University.
   He is expected to return home on May 30.

Sixty-five examinees were expelled for adopting unfair means on the third day of the Higher Secondary Certificate, Business Management, and Alim examinations under nine education boards on Monday.
   According to the education ministry control room, 55 examinees were expelled in the Bangla first paper (compulsory) examination under seven general education boards, and 10 in the Adab examination for Alim students under madrassah education board.
   Under general education boards, 13 examinees were expelled in Dhaka, followed by three each in Comilla and Chittagong, seven in Jessore, 15 in Rajshahi, one in Sylhet, and 13 in Barisal.
   Besides, about two thousand students were absent from the examinations on the day.

Robbers looted Tk 1.75 lakh in cash and valuables from the house of a businessman at Mirpur in the Dhaka city early Monday.
   The police said the robbers entered the residence of Akteruzzaman at Ahmednagar Paikpara through kitchen grilles and confined the family members to a room.

Bangladesh needs a greater national alliance on the issue of proper share of water from the common rivers with India as well as a strong stand against the Indian river-linking project, said speakers at a seminar in Dhaka on Monday.
   Environmental journalists of print and electronic media addressed the seminar, organised by the Forum of Environmental Journalists of Bangladesh to mark the 29th anniversary of Farakka Long March Day.
   The speakers also observed that the Farakka problem is still a greater problem to the nation for which Maulana Bhasani organised the long march. The proposed river-linking project will bring disaster for Bangladesh, they said.
   The chairman of the FEJB and the Asia-Pacific Forum of Journalists, Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, the president of Maulana Bhasani Research Centre, Bashirul Huq, the FEJB vice-chairman, Anwar Hossain Manju, the News Today city editor, Badiul Alam, and Saiful Alam of the daily Jugantor, spoke.

World Telecommunications Day will be observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere today.
   This year’s theme of the day is ‘creating an equitable information society: time for action.’
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, and the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, issued separate messages on the occasion.
   The Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board will hold a seminar.

Two people were killed and two more injured by lightning in Comilla on Sunday.
   The deceased are Jahiruddin Dollamia, 70, of Donusara at Chouddagram, and Abul Hashem, 9, of the same village.
   Sources said both of them died on the spot when a thunderbolt struck their houses in the evening.

The minister for commerce, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, said families can play an important role in ridding society of drug abuses.
   He said this, speaking as chief guest at a roundtable on ‘drug-free Bangladesh and role of civil society and media.’
   The Jhalak Foundation organised the programme marking its 10th founding anniversary in the Dhaka city on Monday.
   Other speakers also urged citizens to play a role in building a drug-free Bangladesh.

A candlelight rally was held at Rajshahi University on Monday in memory of those who died from HIV/AIDS and wishing long life to those infected with the virus.
   Expressing solidarity with international programmes, the Centre for Communication and Development and its student wing, Bangladesh Advanced Students Alliance, organised the two-day programme.
   The marchers began the procession from the university central library in the afternoon holding banners, festoons, posters and ribbons.
   Hundreds of students, teachers and development workers joined in. The procession paraded the campus streets and ended near monument Sabash Bangladesh.

The Bagerhat police in the early hours of Monday nabbed two more suspects in connection with Saturday’s bomb attack on a circus show at the Bagerhat trade fair at the district stadium in the town.
   The arrestees are Badal, 30 and Tutul, 28 of Muniganj area under Bagerhat Sadar thana in the district.
   The other 4 persons arrested earlier have been taken on a three-day remand for interrogation.
   They have been identified as Munna Talukdar, 22, Mizan Mollah, 20, Al Amin, 20, and Mizanur Rahman, 20.
   Meanwhile, the district administration in a meeting at the office of the deputy commissioner on Monday morning with the DC in the chair decided to impose some regulations to continue the fair. The fair has been given a directive not to sell any ticket after 9:30 in the night.
   In another development, a reshuffle has been brought about in the district police administration through an inter-transfer in Bagerhat Sadar, Chitalmari and Mollarhat police stations and Bagerhat detective branch office.
   Bagerhat Sadar thana officer-in-charge Abdul Matin has been transferred as the OC of Bagerhat Detective Branch, Bagerhat DB OC Rafiqul Islam as the OC of Chitalmari thana, Chitalmari thana OC Md. Selim as the OC of Mollarhat thana and Mollarhat thana OC Abdus Samad as the OC of Bagerhat Sadar thana, according to the office of the police superintendent.
   The Bagerhat police superintendent, Mostafa Kamal, told New Age on Monday that the reshuffle had been made with a view to improving the district’s law and order situation.

At least five peasants died of heat stroke in Khoksa upazila in Kushtia.
   On Monday, Kamaluddin, 44, of Sripur, Hiruna Begum, 60, of Tinghoria and Kulsumara Begum, 52, of Vatshala, while working on the fields died due to excessive hot weather.
   A delayed report said Abdul Jalil Joardar, 45, of Enayetpur and Hatem Ali, 50, of Khanpur also died due to the heat earlier on Sunday.
   The local sources on Monday said the temperature reached to about 40 degree Celsius, but could not confirm as the meteorological office does not monitor the district’s temperature.

The arrested Bangladeshis in the Kenyan port city of Mombassa have any link with criminals or drug peddlers.
   ‘The Bangladesh high commissioner from Nairobi informed that most of the arrested are Bangladeshis and the Kenyan police did not find any proof of their link with criminals and drug peddlers,’ said a spokesman of the foreign ministry on Monday.
   Quoting the Bangladeshi envoy in Nairobi, Syeed Ahmed, the spokesman said the Bangladeshi nationals were in a hail and hearty condition and were getting food under police custody.
   The Kenyan police on Friday night arrested 69 people in the country’s port city of Mombassa and said they were confirmed that the arrested were all Bangladeshi nationals.

Leaders of journalists’ community have termed the new pay scale ‘positive one’ but reminded the government to form a complete 6th wage board for journalists and announce the dearness allowance immediately.
   President of one faction of the Bangladesh Federal Journalists Association Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury said everyone would of course be happy for the new pay scale.
   Referring to the formation of the new wage board for journalists, he said despite the government approved the formation of the 6th wage board in the cabinet much earlier, nothing had been done due to unknown reasons.