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Everyone, including the ministers and secretaries, will have to produce their identity cards from now on, according to the stringent new security system which has been designed to check subversive acts and ensure foolproof security at the secretariat, the country’s administrative hub.
   The ministers, secretaries and other dignitaries have been asked to cooperate with the security personnel when they are stopped and checked at the entrances or anywhere inside the secretariat for security’s sake.
   The directive was issued after a high-profile meeting on Monday with LGRD and cooperatives minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, in the chair.
   State minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, all the secretaries and inspector general of police attended the special meeting, convened in the wake of the countrywide bombings and threats to bomb the secretariat.
   A number of proposals on security came up at the meeting which instructed all the private and government bodies to be security-conscious and initiate their own security mechanisms.
   The meeting asked all the citizens to stop reacting angrily while being checked, and to cooperate fully with the security men.
   ‘For security reasons, many top officials, even ministers and secretaries, are checked throughout the world, but in Bangladesh the sentiment is different,’ Bhuiyan told journalists after emerging from the two-hour meeting.
   ‘Many of us think I am a top official or I am a minister so why should I be checked too,’ he said. ‘We have discussed it and asked all to extend their cooperation.’
   He regretted that many lifts did not work while many places inside the secretariat remained dark. He asked the concerned authorities to do something about it.
   Bhuiyan, also secretary-general of the BNP, said that every vehicle would be checked at the entrances and the ministers and secretaries should cooperate for the sake of security.
   He said ministers and secretaries usually do not have time to work due to the excessive number of visitors to the secretariat. ‘This practice must be controlled, and anyone entering the secretariat must have a pass which has to be submitted at the gate while leaving.’
   ‘Those who work in the secretariat must have identity cards, and both the employee of the secretariat who has helped a visitor to enter without pass and the visitor will be punished,’ he added.
   The meeting requested the countrymen to be aware of their own security. ‘Security-consciousness has to be developed. Each individual must come under the security mechanism and egotistic reaction to checks must be shed at every level, beginning from the ministers,’ said a source.
   The meeting decided that every letter and parcel will be kept in a room and handed over to the concerned officials only after being scanned properly. ‘In the present context it is not possible to ensure security by deploying enough policemen; it is security-consciousness at the individual level which can ensure safety,’ the source added.
   Scanners were set up at the secretariat’s entrances on Sunday where each bag and parcel will be checked in the wake of the threats of bombing the secretariat. Dog squads will be deployed at the secretariat. It will also come under full closed-circuit TV monitoring.
   The ministries located outside the secretariat will also come under the same security system, said meeting sources.

The judges of the subordinate courts across the country were yet to get security even when they continued to receive death threats until Sunday.
   In the wake of militant attack on the judges and courts, the Bangladesh Judicial Service Association, the organisation of the judges of subordinate courts, will hold its representatives conference to discuss the issues at the Dhaka judges court complex today.
   Sammilita Ainjibi Samanway Parishad, a coalition of pro-opposition lawyers, formed human chains between 4:00pm and 5:00pm on Sunday at all the bar premises across the country in protest at the killing of two judges in Jhalakati on November 14.
   The leaders of the coordination council demanded foolproof security for the judges, litigants and courts.
   Another judge in Jhalakati received a death threat on Sunday, reports news agency BDNews.
   A senior assistant judge, MA Awal, received a letter on Sunday by post, which said he had misused his power for which he was threatened with death.
   The letter has the name of Md Badsha Mia, 14 College Road, Rajshahi as the sender.
   November 14 was mentioned as the date of writing the letter and it was registered from the Bangladesh Secretariat Post Office in Dhaka.
   MA Awal informed the district and sessions judge of Jhalakati of the matter. The deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police were also informed of it.
   According to sources in the Bangladesh Judicial Service Association, almost all the judges were yet to get security.
   Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs told New Age on Sunday that the ministry had still been working for security arrangement for the judges.
   The law minister, Moudud Ahmed, told New Age on Sunday, ‘The government will provide the highest possible security for the judges across the country and the home ministry is working on the arrangement.’
   According to him, only the district and sessions judges and judges of equivalent ranks will get house guards.
   ‘It is not possible to provide house guards for all the judges across the country at this moment, and the rest of the judges will be provided with security during their travel between courts and houses,’ he said.

The Awami League-led opposition on Sunday alleged that the government was out to foil their planned grand rally on Tuesday, while the government rejected the allegation and claimed that it was all for co-operating the opposition to peacefully hold the meeting.
   Abdul Jalil, head of the liaison committee of the opposition alliance at a news briefing alleged that the government had already launched a ‘crackdown’ on their activists across the country.
   Jalil, also general secretary of the Awami League, asked the opposition supporters to build up resistance wherever they face any obstruction.
   Senior leader of the opposition parties at a briefing on Sunday warned the government that the country would be forced into a standstill if the government prevented people from coming to Dhaka to join the rally.
   Jalil accused the government of plotting to foil the rally. He claimed that about 4,000 leader and activists had been arrested and implicated in false cases across the country.
   Jalil, however, named only one of the arrested. The arrested was identified as Majibur Rahman, general secretary of the Sramik League in North Bengal.
   Jalil accused the government of conspiring to foil the rally by using administration and the police.
   ‘The government has engaged law enforcers to raid the houses of opposition leaders and activists and hotels where they will stay in Dhaka. They are threatening people not to join the rally,’ Jalil alleged.
   The law enforcers, however, claimed they had information that a section had been trying to create a chaotic situation centring the opposition rally, and the police had been conducting ‘regular drives’ to prevent any untoward incidents.
   The state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, on Sunday said the government would ensure foolproof security measures in Dhaka before the rally.
   ‘The security net will ensure peaceful holding of the opposition rally,’ Babar said, coming out of a meeting of the security committee on the just-concluded SAARC Summit. ‘It is a very important meeting of the Awami League and we are taking extra measure so that the meeting can be held peacefully.’
   Asked about crackdown on the opposition, he said ‘The arrest of those who try to create anarchy is a routine work.’ He said the government was committed to preventing any disorder and sabotage, and ensuring security of life and property of the masses.
   The government has decided to deploy 6,000 security personnel, which include member of the Rapid Action Battalion, during the rally, the police said.
   The Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, SM Mizanur Rahman, on Sunday imposed a restriction on carrying wooden stick and other metals, which might be harmful for the people in the city during the rally.
   ‘No one would be allowed to carry destructive metals while joining the rally,’ the commissioner said in a release.
   Jalil warned that the government would have to shoulder the responsibility of any consequence arising out of any attempt to foil the rally.
   All the activists of the opposition alliance of nine components of the 11-Party Alliance, a Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction and the National Awami Party are determined to make the rally successful, Jalil said.
   Intelligence sources said the ward level leaders and workers of the ruling parties had been asked to stop the opposition activists from attending the rally.
   The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, also leader of opposition in parliament, will give a fresh ultimatum for the government at the rally and demand that the government should take action against militants and initiate reforms in the caretaker government system.
   She is likely to set a deadline, December 16, for the demands to be met.

Jatiya Sangsad in its first sitting of the 19th session on Sunday adopted an obituary reference on the death of New Age editor and weekly Holiday editor-in-chief, Enayetullah Khan, and five others.
   Others were former Indian president KR Narayanan, former member of the legislative assembly Syed Sirajul Islam, senior subjudges Sohel Ahmed and Jagannath Pandey and journalist Gautam Das of the daily Samakal.
   The Jatiya Sangsad speaker, Jamir Uddin Sircar, moved the obituary reference, which was adopted unanimously.
   Enayetullah Khan died on November 10 in Toronto General Hospital in Canada. The two judges were killed in bomb blasts in Jhalakati on November 14. Gautam Das was killed in his Faridpur office on November 17.
   The parliament also expressed shock and sorrow at the loss of lives in a terrible earthquake at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan and Sri Nagar in India, air crash in Nigeria, railway disaster in Hyderabad and series of bomb attacks in New Delhi in India, and bomb explosions in a five-star hotel in Amman, Jordan.
   A one-minute silence was observed as a mark of respect to the departed souls. The parliament also prayed for the peace of the departed souls and expressed sympathy with the members of the bereaved families.

Condolences on the death of New Age editor and weekly Holiday editor-in-chief Enayetullah Khan kept pouring in till Sunday. Enayetullah Khan died at a Toronto hospital in Canada on November 10.
   Different organisations, professional bodies and eminent personalities in separate meetings and messages expressed their deep shocks at the death of Enayetullah Khan and prayed for salvation of his departed soul.
   The authorities and officials of the Dhaka Community Hospital sent a condolence card expressing their deep shock.
   Mirza Ali Behrouze Ispahani of the Ispahani Group termed the late editor as one of the finest persons and said it would take a long time to fill up the vacuum created with the death of Enayetullah Khan.
   The Bangladesh ICT Journalists Forum acting president, MA Haque Anu, said in addition to play the role of a great warrior of pen, Enayetullah Khan had contributed a lot in the war of liberation.
   Terming the death as an irreparable loss to the country, the managing director and chief executive officer of Mercantile Bank Limited, Shah Mohammad Nurul Alam, said, ’We remember his noble works, generosity, professionalism, dynamism and dedication in the media world,’
   The managing director of Mirpur Ceramic Works Ltd., Asif Ariff Tabani, said Khan was respected by all not only for his journalistic brilliance but also for the outstanding contribution he had made as a diplomat.
   The Pragati Life Insurance managing director, Shefaque Ahmed, recalled his contribution in journalism with due respect.
   The editor of the monthly Dhansiri, Shahed Mizanur Rahman, and executive editor, Jubair Al-Mahmud, said Enayetullah Khan had groomed up a good number of journalists and would remain alive in the filed of journalism for a long.
   Nadira Azad and KB Al Azad of Shatabdi, a business house, expressed their deep shock at the death of Enayetullah Khan and prayed for salvation of his departed soul.
   Ganashasthaya Kendra held a condolence meeting where the speakers had urged the countrymen to build up their creative mentality by gathering knowledge from the writings of Enayetullah Khan.
   Forty-two officials of the Kendra also sent a massage expressing their deep shock at the death of Enayetullah Khan.

The state minister for housing and public works, Alamgir Kabir, on Sunday assaulted Tapan Biswas, staff reporter of the Daily Janakantha, in his secretariat office when the reporter went there for professional purpose.
   The state minister, however, rejected the allegation.
   The reporter alleged that Alamgir detained him inside his office for about one-and-a-half hour, caught the collar of his shirt and hurled abusive words.
   He said he went to the state minister and asked him about monga (a near-famine situation) in his parliamentary constituency area (Atrai-Raninagar).
   The reporter said that the minister asked him as to why he (reporter) went to the minister’s office to know things that when he (minister) had already told a recent press conference. ‘When I told him that I had come to know some corruption charges against him and wanted to know about his newly appointed APS, he suddenly got furious and asked me to leave the room,’ Tapan alleged in a written statement.
   ‘As I got up and was leaving the room, he caught my collar and started hurling abusive words,’ ‘His officials snatched my cell phone and confined me in the room,’ he further alleged.
   Hearing the news, a number of reporters covering secretariat beat rushed to the office of the state minister to protest at the incident and to rescue him, he said.
   The state minister, however, denied the allegation.
   In a written statement, he claimed that the reporter entered his room without permission and asked him offensive questions about the ‘so-called’ monga.
   ‘At one stage, he became agitated and termed me an incompetent minister of a corrupt, failed government in presence of a number of senior government officials. It made me astonished at his lack of professionalism.
   ‘We showed restraint and there was no such incident as to create hue and cry and make it an issue,’ Alamgir said in the statement.
   Terming Tapan’s claim of being assaulted as false and fabricated, he called upon civil society and journalist community not to be misled by it.
   However, the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity staged demonstration in the city condemning the assault. At a rally in front of the National Press Club, they blasted the state minister and demanded his immediate removal from the ministry.
   They urged all the members of the DRU to boycott the ministry until the demand was met. It also declared him persona-non-grata at the unity.
   The DRU top leaders also chanted slogans, terming Alamgir Kabir ‘godfather’ of Bangla Bhai.
   The road in front of the National Press Club remained closed for about 10 minutes during the agitation of the reporters.
   Meanwhile, a large number of BNP leaders and lawmakers were heard discussing about the incident in the parliament lobby in the afternoon, while many of them expressed annoyance over the state minister concerned. Alamgir Kabir went to Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the afternoon but did not attend the session apparently to avoid the party leaders.
   The Bangladesh Awami Shwechchhashebak League and the Communist Party of Bangladesh condemned and protest at the assault on journalist.

A day after the abortive raid to arrest the most wanted militant kingpin, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the Rapid Action Battalion detained a woman on charge of concealing information on Abdur Rahman, the chief of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh.
   The woman, landlady of the house where Abdur Rahman had lived for the past three months, was handed over to the Khilgaon police on Sunday.
   The battalion said Abdur Rahman had lived on the first-floor apartment of the house, owned by Nurjahan Begum, in Block K at Banashree, Rampura.
   Nurjahan did not inform the law-enforces of the matter although the government issued a warrant of arrest against him after the August 17 countrywide blasts.
   Three persons were killed and more than 150 were injured in the blasts. The government also offered a bounty of Tk 5,000,000 for his arrest and sought people’s cooperation. ‘But the landlady ignored the government appeal and the legal notice as well,’ one of the battalion officials said.
   Tipped off by JMB leader, Abdul Awal, son-in-law of Abdur Rahman, a battalion squad raided the Banashree house early Saturday, but failed to arrest him as he, along with other family members, left the house just before the raid.
   Awal was arrested from a Dinajpur-bound bus in Thakurgaon Friday afternoon and was placed on a 10-day remand in Thakurgaon on Saturday. He was taken to Dhaka for interrogation at the joint interrogation cell on Sunday.
   Awal reportedly told the investigators that he had rented the Banashree house in August for Abdur Rahman.
   The Panchagarh police, with the battalion, arrested three members of the JMB suicide squad in possession of explosive and other materials early Saturday. They were placed on a seven-day remand in Panchagarh on Sunday.
   The police in Natore detained a man resembling Abdur Rahman from the court premises on Sunday.
   The police detained the man, who claimed himself as Abu Bakar Mandal of Jamira at Puthia in Rajshahi, at the instruction of the additional district magistrate.
   Abu Bakar claimed that he had gone to Natore court for the release of his brother, Shafiqul Islam, sent to jail in a drug case.
   The police found an identity card from Abu Bakar, issued by a transport workers’ union. The police were trying to establish his identity.
   The law enforcers arrested 13 more, including two couples and a child, in Pabna, Jessore and Sherpur on Sunday.
   The nine detained, including four women, reportedly told the police that they had been to Santhia and Bhangura in Pabna to preach religion.
   The police said that they had stayed in the house in the guise of hawkers for a couple of months.
   The police in Sherpur said the arrested JMB activist, Sujan Sarkar, had admitted being involved in the August 17 blasts. The police seized some magazines, audio and videocassettes and some papers of the outfit.
   The police in Jessore arrested three JMB activists — Shahabuddin, Mahmudul Hasan and Mahibullah — from a club at Bharatbhaina, Keshabpur, early Sunday for their suspected involvement in the bomb attack on two Jhalakati judges on November 14.
   The police said the three had taken shelter at the place after the killing of the judges. They were placed on a three-day remand on Sunday.
   MA Awal, a senior assistant judge in Jhalakathi, who survived the November 14 bomb attack, was threatened in a letter on Sunday.
   The sender asked the judge to correct his mistakes; he should, otherwise, always keep a shroud with him.
   The letter has the name of Mohammad Badshah Miah, 14 College Road, Rajshahi as the sender.
   November 14 was mentioned as the date of writing the letter and it was registered from the Bangladesh Secretariat Post Office in Dhaka.
   Awal informed the district judge, deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police of it.
   In Chittagong, unidentified callers, passing off as JMB members, on Sunday threatened to blow up Chittagong railway station.
   The station manager, Shafi Uddin, received the phone call at about 12:25pm. The people at the reservation counter and the Subarna Express counter later received similar calls. The station manager filed a general diary with the General Railway Police in this regard.
   The Chittagogn GRP officer-in-charge, Shahidul Alam, said they had beefed up security after the incident.
   The police in Sylhet arrested 12 activists of the Khelafat-e-Majlish Saturday midnight from the judges court area for pulling out the bills of from the walls that urged the people to provide the police with information on Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai.
   The arrested included two sons of Maulana Habibur Rahman, principal of the Kazirbazar Madrassah in Chittagong, and Yousuf Bin Habib, 20, Tarek Bin Habib, 15, and some students of the madrassah.
   The arrested were sent to court Sunday afternoon after showing them arrested.

The World Bank’s country director, Christine I Wallich, has said Bangladesh is not an aid-dependent country as external assistance now accounts for less than five per cent of the GDP.
   Due to dwindling share of external resources, development partners cannot influence the government, she said.
   ‘The government should be accountable to people, not to us or any other donor,’ Wallich said at a business audience on Sunday in response to remarks that the government seems to be more accountable to lenders than to the people.
   ‘We are trying to raise the people’s awareness to make the government accountable to them,’ Wallich told the discussion meeting on the World Bank’s role in the private sector organised by the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries.
   Business leader Manzur Ahmed said in the absence of an effective parliament, the government was made accountable to the donors on different issues in the poverty reduction strategy review meetings.
   Former deputy prime minister, M Jamaluddin, stressed that the government should reduce its size, while the loss-making state-owned enterprises should be either privatised or shut down.
   But Wallich said the size of the government in Bangladesh is small and can not be reduced further.
   ‘The most important thing is making the government functional and developing the capacity of public service delivery,’ she said.
   Wallich said there are several reasons like corruption and inefficiency for the losses of the state-owned enterprises.
   She said Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation has been incurring huge losses due to oil price hike in the global market in response to which fuel prices were not adjusted locally.
   ‘But the private sector always demands that the government should not increase prices of energy and utilities,’ she added.
   Wallich said that, as a development partner, the World Bank like everyone also believes in free and fair election.
   ‘The assets and incomes of the candidate should make public,’ she added.
   ‘But it is not our issue as we have to concentrate on development agendas,’ she said in response to a question raised by Awami League leader Faruk Khan MP.
   Wallich also praised significant achievements of Bangladesh in different areas of the social sector like primary education and gender disparity reduction.
   She, however, stressed the need for reduction of corruption in different sectors as well as continuation of reforms in the power and financial sectors.
   Chamber president AK Azad delivered the introductory address in the discussion meeting.

The Armed Forces Day will be observed today with due solemnity and enthusiasm.
   On this day in 1971, the Bangladesh Armed Forces comprising Army, Navy and Air Force, came into being and launched an all-out attack on the occupation forces.
   The president and supreme commander of the Armed Forces, Iajuddin Ahmed, and the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, who is also the defence minister, gave separate messages on the occasion. The day’s programme will begin with munajat after Fajr prayers in all mosques at army garrisons, naval bases and establishments as well as air force bases throughout the country seeking divine blessings for the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation and development and progress of the armed forces.
   The president and the prime minister will place wreaths at Shikha Anirban at Dhaka Cantonment in the morning to pay homage to the members of the Armed Forces who had embraced martyrdom in the War of Liberation in 1971.
   The chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Moeen U Ahmed, the chief of the naval staff, Rear Admiral M Hasan Ali Khan, and the chief of the air staff, Air Vice-Marshal Fakhrul Azam, will also place wreaths at Shikha Anirban on behalf of their respective services.
   The chiefs of staff of the three services will make courtesy call on the president at the Bangabhaban. They will also make a courtesy call on the prime minister at the Armed Forces Division at Dhaka Cantonment.
   The prime minister will also host a reception and meet the family members of the Bir Shrestho and other gallantry ward winning freedom fighters at the Armed Forces Division at Dhaka Cantonment.
   Army, Navy and Air Force headquarters will also accord receptions to the members of the shaheed families, award winners and freedom fighters who retired from their respective services.
   In the evening, the prime minister will host a reception at Sena Kunja at Dhaka Cantonment to commemorate the day.
   Evening receptions will also be held at Savar, Bogra, Chittagong, Ghatail, Comilla, Jessore, Rangpur and Rajendrapur cantonments.
   Bangladesh Navy ships will remain open to visitors from 2:00pm to 4-30pm in Dhaka (Sadarghat), Narayanganj, Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Mongla.
   A special ‘Anirban’ programme illustrating the significance of the day has been arranged on Bangladesh Television. The programme will be telecast by the BTV. Bangladesh Betar will also broadcast a special ‘Durbar’ programme.

The government may look for other countries including India from which to import fuel if the negotiation between Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation over fixing the premium rate on fuels fails to reach an agreement.
   The KPC, which is virtually the only supplier of fuel to Bangladesh, has demanded increase in the premium rate — profit and other charges — by around 70 to 75 cents for each barrel of petroleum products for the January-June, 2006 period.
   As the government is not willing to raise the rate of premium, which was increased by around 20 cent in the July-December period last year, the state-owned BPC and KPC failed last week to reach an understanding on the premium rate.
   Currently BPC pays KPC $4.20 as premium for each barrel of diesel in addition to the price of each barrel of diesel in the international market. It pays premium of $4.80 for each barrel of kerosene and jet fuel and $6.80 for each dollar of octane.
   The three-day meeting between the BPC and KPC ended on Thursday night when both the parties failed to reach an agreement on the premium rate of around 16-18 lakh tonnes of fuel that the BPC will import in the first half of 2006.
   Bangladesh imports around 34-35 lakh tonnes of fuel from Kuwait and around 2 lakh tonnes from the state-run Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) in a year under a two-year agreement signed in October 2004.
   The agreement says that both the parties will hold discussion meetings to review the premium rate every six months.
   BPC officials on Thursday told KPC that the premium rate might be increased by 10 cents to 15 cents per barrel, which was rejected by the Kuwaiti side.
   An official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, however, said that it was not the end of the negotiation. ‘Last year they (Kuwait) asked BPC to increase the premium by 75 cents but finally they agreed to an increase of 20 cents,’ he said.
   He said that the negotiation would continue. ‘If the negotiation collapses we will look for other countries for importing fuels,’ he said.
   Energy and mineral resources adviser, Mahmudur Rahman, told New Age on Sunday, ‘I feel that KPC should not ask for an increase in the premium rate as oil prices in the international market are dropping rapidly.’
   He said that BPC is not worried at this moment about fuel as it has enough in stock and has opened letters of credit for fuel import, which will last for at least three months more.
   ‘We will definitely find a source of fuels by the next one to two months if we cannot reach an agreement with the KPC,’ he said.
   Mahmud will go to Chittagong today where he will discuss the premium issue with the BPC officials.
   The adviser is also scheduled to meet visiting officials of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, which wants to increase fuel export to Bangladesh.
   The officials of IOCL on Sunday placed four proposals before BPC, including supplying diesel for the northern region of the country through Mongla Port from Kolkata Port.
   The other proposals by the IOCL are modernisation of Eastern Refinery Limited, which is the country’s lone oil refining company, setting up floating oil depots at Sandwip channel to ensure fuel supply through waterways and setting up a specialised jetty at Mongla Port.
   BPC officials said that though the transportation of fuel from India is easier and cheaper, the quality of the fuel is lower compared to that of the KPC as the quantity of sulphur is much higher in Indian fuel.
   The BPC at present pays IOCL $3.9 as premium for each barrel of diesel. BPC signed a two-year deal earlier this year for importing 2 lakh tonnes of diesel each year.

Some treasury and opposition bench members in Jatiya Sagnsad on Sunday blamed the speaker, Jamir Uddin Sircar, for violating the rules of procedure.
   The speaker’s initiating an ‘informal thanksgiving motion’ and allowing a minister to speak on unscheduled issue before the question hour created a bad precedent, they said.
   At the beginning of the day’s proceedings at about 4:30pm, Jamir Uddin, presiding at the sitting, congratulated the prime minister for the successful holding of the SAARC Summit and her being elected SAARC chairperson for the second term.
   The finance minister, M Saifur Rahman, praised the prime minister for injecting ‘a new life in SAARC.’
   Jatiya Party lawmakers Raushan Ershad, Anwar Hossain Manju and Golam Habib Dulal also congratulated the prime minister.
   Abdul Kader Siddiq of the Krishak Sramik Janata League said that the rules of procedure were violated by the ‘informal thanksgiving motion.’
   The deputy leader of opposition in parliament, Abdul Hamid, at a briefing in his office, said Jamir Uddin had violated the rules of procedure by allowing a minister to speak on an unscheduled issue before the question hour.
   On a point of order, KM Obaidur Rahman of the ruling BNP, said it was a violation of practice. BNP lawmaker Mashiur Rahman said the speaker could not dictate a lawmaker to pilot a thanksgiving motion.
   The law minister, Moudud Ahmed, and the state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, gave statements on the killing of two judges in Jhalakati.
   A bill proposing tough penalty against dishonest abstraction and consumption of electricity was placed.
   The state minister for power, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, piloted the bill, Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2005.
   The business advisory committee earlier at a meeting before the resumption of the session on Sunday decided to continue the session for five working days.

Ministers from the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations will meet on Monday to discuss a proposed news agency to counter what officials called ‘discriminatory and distorted’ Western reporting.
   The possibility of setting up a Kuala Lumpur-based NAM News Network (NNN) to be run by Malaysia’s national Bernama news agency will top the agenda for the two-day ministerial meeting of NAM information ministers.
   The NNN, to be operational by 2007, would be an Internet-based news outlet, using contributions from agencies and selected newspapers of member countries, according to a draft document discussed by senior officials at the weekend.
   ‘While developing countries have been complaining in the past of Western media domination, the NNN is a platform for us to muster our strength and present our perspective to the world,’ the draft said.
   ‘There is no way that news agencies in the developing world can ever compete with their Western counterparts, let alone to effectively counter negative reports about their countries on their own.’
   The NNN would help counter ‘the dissemination of discriminatory and distorted information of events taking place in developing countries’ by the Western media, said the document, which was distributed to the press.
   Information ministry secretary general Siti Balkish Mohamed Shariff pledged Malaysia’s commitment to the future agency, saying: ‘We are willing to steer it, pay for it and make sure that it lasts.’
   The Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, will open the conference on Monday, which will bring together delegates from over 80 member states including Afghanistan, Indonesia, Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe.
   Security will be tight with more than 250 police deployed for the event.
   Malaysia is the current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, a grouping of more than 100 mainly developing nations formed during the Cold War as an alternative to the Western and Eastern power blocs.
   In recent years the grouping has turned its attention to social issues as it struggles to maintain its relevance in the modern world.

The prices of gold and gold ornaments in domestic market increase up to Tk 12,885 a tola (11.66gm) from today with international prices going up, traders said.
   The Bangladesh Jewellery Association decided on the latest increase on Thursday to be effective from today.
   The price of the 21-carat gold, known as guinea gold, has been re-fixed at Tk 1,054 a gram, which earlier sold for Tk 1,012. The price of the 22-carat gold has been re-fixed at Tk 1,105, which was Tk 1,060.
   The latest increase pushed the price of guinea gold to Tk 12,290 a tola, which was previously Tk 11,800 and that of the 22-carat gold to Tk 12,885, from Tk 12,360.
   In September 2003, guinea gold sold for Tk 8,800 a tola and in October 2004, it sold for Tk 9,700 a tola.
   ‘Bangladesh market has nothing to do with it. Gold prices increased abnormally on the international market and we have been compelled to increase the prices,’ said GC Malakar, the association’s vice-president.
   Malakar said gold price reached $488 an ounce on the international market on Friday against $460 a couple of weeks ago.
   Record shows that in September 2002, gold sold for $320 an ounce on the international market. Jewellers in Bangladesh depend of recycled gold and gold brought by expatriates under baggage rule, market sources said
   Gold prices in Bangladesh increase when the prices increase on the international market, they said.
   The association said Bangla-desh had more than 10,000 jewellery shops, but 1,200 of them in Dhaka share the major portion of sales. The association executives estimated that about 5,000 tolas (62.5 kilograms) of gold and gold ornaments were traded in Bangladesh every day in a market worth more than Tk 6 crore at present.

Bangladesh would have a better investment climate and many more industries if the opposition had refrained from ‘destructive demonstration programmes on irrational issues’.
   The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, made the statement at a function of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre on Sunday, which was attended by the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, as chief guest.
   ‘We have very sound policies on business and investment and investors are coming despite political unrest…What they (opposition) are doing with hartal and siege programmes is just suicidal for the investment climate,’ Saifur told the audience at the conferment ceremony of the chamber’s business awards.
   The finance minister called upon the business community and the civil society to take a strong stand against hartal and other activities that hamper business and slow down growth of industrialisation.
   The commerce minister, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, also castigated the opposition for criticising the government in handling monga (famine-like situation) in the north and for the planned ‘grand rally’ of 25 lakh people, which he termed ‘mockery’. The prime minister, however, asked him not to speak further.
   Khaleda Zia advised the trade leaders to develop long-term vision for development. ‘I promise the government’s cooperation if you come up with full-fledged proposals in this regard,’ she said, appreciating the Dhaka chamber-initiated development outlook, titled Vision-2021.
   In response to the chamber’s demand for separate ministry for small and medium enterprise sector, the prime minister assured that the government would soon frame a comprehensive policy on SMEs in line with the recommendations made by the relevant task force and the panel.
   Saifur Rahman advised the entrepreneurs to take innovative ventures and make their products more competitive.
   The industries minister, Motiur Rahman Nizami, mentioned that the government had signed an agreement of $50 million with the Asian Development Bank for development of the small and medium enterprises.
   The president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mir Nasir Hossain, the president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sayeeful Islam and the senior vice president of the Dhaka chamber, Manzur-Ur-Rahman Ruskin, also addressed the audience.

Agitation over the leak of question papers of the preliminary test of the 27th Bangladesh Civil Service examinations continued at Dhaka University on Sunday.
   Student organisations and general students demanded the cancellation of the ‘farcical examination’ and removal of the chairman and officials of the Public Service Commission.
   The students took to the streets. Along with the student organisations, many general students spontaneously joined the processions.

The Public Service Commission on Sunday denied the allegation regarding question paper leakage of the preliminary test of the 27th Bangladesh Civil Service examination held on Friday.
   The commission after a meeting Sunday issued clarification, saying that the allegation was totally baseless, ill-motivated and aimed to confuse the 1,37,000 examinees and the entire nation.
   ‘It was targeted to tarnish the image of PSC.’ It clearly announces that the question papers were not leaked out and it strongly believes that the clarification of the commission will end everyone’s confusion.
   ‘No complaint was lodged from any quarters regarding the question paper leakage,’ it added.

Transport workers have called for an indefinite strike in 16 northern districts from today demanding immediate release of their leaders.
   Twenty-eight workers’ associations of the districts at a meeting held in Bogra on Sunday announced the strike programme.
   Abdul Hamid Mitul, organising secretary of Sramik Federation of northern region, told the news agency that they would go for strike demanding release of Mujibur Rahman, vice-president of the Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Federation.
   Mujibur was arrested in Dinajpur early Sunday. A half-day hartal was enforced in Dinajpur on the day protesting at the arrest, he said.

The Sylhet police on Sunday submitted a charge-sheet against five persons in connection with the case of a bomb attack on the Sylhet divisional speedy trial tribunal judge at the city’s Kumarpara on October 17.
   The accused are Aktaruzzzaman alias Akter, an alleged member of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Maulana Saif Uddin and Maulana Jamal Uddin, imams of the Bhangatikar and Bankalapara mosques, Habibur Rahman, a madrassah student, and Obayedullah alias Obayed, a resident of Matlab upazila in Chandpur.
   One of the accused, Akter, was caught by locals while he was trying to flee after hurling a bomb on the judge, Biplab Goswami, who narrowly escaped the attack.
   Based on his statement, the police later picked up four other suspects.

A policeman was injured after miscreants hurled a bomb on him at the Picture Palace Crossing in the Khulna city Sunday at around 7:00 pm.
   He was identified as traffic constable Monirul Islam. He was taken to Khulna General Hospital.
   The police said the bombers hurled the bomb while three policemen were on duty there. The bomb exploded creating big bang and shook the area, they added.
   Panic gripped the area and shopkeepers shut down their shops while local people began to run for cover. Police could not arrest anyone one in this connection.

A train derailed near Amirganj station in Narsingdi Sunday morning disrupting train communications between Dhaka and four districts – Chittagong and Sylhet, Kishoreganj and Noakhali – for about eight hours.
   Railway sources said five compartments of the commuter train ‘Titas’ from Akhaura, derailed at about 7:00am. Some 25 passengers received minor injuries in the accident, the sources said.
   The train service on the routes resumed at about 3:00pm after a relief train removed the derailed compartments from the tracks.
   Noakhali-bound inter-city Upa-kul, Kishoreganj-bound Egaro-sindhur, Sylhet-bound Parabat, Chittagong-bound Mahanagar, Dhaka-bound Surma Mail from Sylhet, Dhaka-bound Egaro-sindhur from Kishoreganj and Dhaka-bound Subarna Express from Chittagong remained stranded at different stations for about eight hours due to the derailment.