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The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, addressed the nation on Monday portraying a lot of successes of her government and admitting failures in certain areas, especially in curbing corruption, and intelligence and administrative failures in facing bomb blasts.
   In the speech aired on national television and radio channels marking the completion of her fourth year in power in the current stint, Khaleda sought unwavering support of the people in her efforts to make ‘politics nice and refined.’
   ‘Politics is the driving force for the present and the future of a nation. This politics is now being used to divide the nation, making the parliament stagnant. This politics also instigates terrorism and violence. But we must make this politics decent and refined for the sake of democracy, our present and future,’ she said.
   ‘So, dear countrymen, please exert the weight of public opinion by not bowing to political pressures so that politics becomes nice and refined. Let politics tread the path of logic instead of force.’
   Khaleda also expressed her determination to foil attempts of destabilising society, jeopardising democracy and making the constitution ineffective. ‘It is unfortunate that evil attempts are being made by some quarters to destabilise society, jeopardise democracy and make the constitution ineffective. We shall foil their attempts by the grace of Allah.’
   Khaleda, also leader of the house in parliament, urged the main opposition party, Awami League, to join the parliament and gave an assurance of considering its ‘logical’ proposals. ‘We shall not ignore any well-considered and logical proposals put forward by the opposition. For this, they need to return to the parliament. I urge them to do that once again.’
   The prime minister regretted failing to face bomb blasts across the country. ‘We could not be careful about the bombers who have emerged simultaneously at the same juncture. I express my regret for this administrative and intelligence failure.’
   Blaming the opposition for the ‘bombing culture,’ Khaleda said, ‘We took an initiative to bring the bombing culture and the bombing era to an end after assuming office. But we could not fully stop the bomb blasts resorted to by the opposition for making their programmes, including strikes, successful.’
   ‘These blasting of bombs centring on political programmes have encouraged others as well. Bombings and subversive attacks have returned in the cover of programmes intended to forcibly overthrow an elected government within a deadline, ignoring the established norms of democracy,’ she said. ‘We have faced and thwarted the conspiracy to unseat the government with the unwavering support of the people.’
   She said the bombers wanted to hide their intent and identity behind the masks of Islam. ‘But we could comprehend their aims quite clearly. Their aim is to tarnish the reputation of Bangladesh. Consequently, they are the country’s enemies. Their purpose is to scare the people of this country and to disrupt peace and social stability.’
   ‘These bombers have tried to prove true the propaganda of those people who have waged a campaign of disinformation and untruth against Bangladesh during the past few years. Consequently, we can understand where their roots lie, whatever clothing they may wear,’ the prime minister said. ‘We have, therefore, taken the initiative to tackle these bombers with a firm hand.’
   The prime minister said she would draw the attention of South Asian leaders during the forthcoming SAARC summit to making joint efforts in tackling terrorism. ‘We alone do not have the capacity to guard this extensive border constantly. For that reason, the movement of criminals and trafficking of explosives and other harmful substances through the extensive border is quite possible. Mutual understanding and cooperation need to be reinforced if this is to be curtailed,’ she said.
   Khaleda also admitted her government’s failure in curbing corruption. ‘We have not been so successful during the past four years compared with the successes achieved in curbing corruption during our tenure of 1991–96. The reason is: corruption proliferated at all levels.’
   She, however, said the government took an initiative to bring about transparency and accountability in government transactions, trade and commerce, and the newly constituted Anti-Corruption Commission.
   The prime minister blamed a section of newspapers and vested quarters for ‘spreading concocted tales in the shape of rumours or gossips with ulterior motives.’
   Describing the measures of her government in curbing crimes, Khaleda said, ‘It is true that we have not been successful in curbing injustice and crimes in all areas of society.’
   ‘I have remained resolute about establishing rule of law and ensuring the security of your lives, property and honour,’ she said.
   Khaleda said, with firm conviction, ‘I am discharging with honesty the responsibility you reposed on me based on your faith on the issue of eliminating corruption. I shall not allow anybody the opportunity to spoil this sacred trust you reposed on me.’
   About the price spiral of essential commodities, the prime minister said that the scope for government control over the market in a free-market economy has diminished manifold has pushed up the prices of many products, including fuel, edible oil and steel in the world market.
   She urged taking into cognizance the increase in purchasing power of the people while making comparisons of price levels.
   Describing the success stories, Khaleda said the government launched a social movement in enhancing the volume of traditional resources such as trees, fish, cattle and poultry, in planting trees, in primary and mass education, providing increased stipend for students, tackling unfair means in public examinations, arranging free education for girls up to 12th class, welfare programmes for teachers, women empowerment, taking several steps for child development, infrastructural development, making the capital free from black smokes and lead, banning polythene shopping bag, increasing health facilities, conducting drive against food adulteration, providing huge subsidy for agricultural development, ensuring fair price for farmers, increasing industrial production, attracting foreign investment, boosting export, appointing 80,000 youths in new posts, creating employment opportunity of 2.5 million jobs, and giving increased salary for government employees.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, on Monday accused Khaleda Zia of failure to implement election pledges, and blasted her four-party alliance government for the unabated price hike of essentials and rise of criminal activities over the past four years.
   Hasina, also the leader of the opposition in parliament, demanded immediate resignation of the BNP-Jamaat government, threatening to oust it from power through mass agitation in case it refuses to resign. ‘The government must resign immediately, or a united movement of people will force it to resign.’
   She was addressing civil society leaders at the Multipurpose Hall of the Diploma Engineers Institution at a meeting held to condemn the four years of ‘misrule’ by the incumbent government.
   Hasina displayed to the audience a chart of the prices of essential commodities, comparing the prices of essentials during her rule to the increase in the prices over the past four years.
   During her nearly 25-minute speech, she also announced a 16-point programme, including control of prices of essentials for the sake of the common people, which will be implemented if her party is voted back to power.
   Referring to the opposition’s proposals for reform of the caretaker government system and the Election Commission, Hasina claimed that the reforms in question are necessary for fair elections and good governance.
   Blasting the government for its failure in the last four years to fulfil its pre-election promises, she said the BNP-Jamaat axis has unleashed a reign of terror with the patronage of bigwigs of the government.
   Giving examples of the deteriorating law and order situation, she said that throughout the government’s four years in power the country has been torn by terrorism, violence and all kinds of crime and corruption.
   ‘How could the government say that the law and order situation of the country is good after 500 bombs were blasted on the same day?’ Hasina asked.
   Hasina alleged that BNP-Jamaat cadres were responsible for killing former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, Ahsanullah Master MP, AL leader Manjurul Imam and former MP Momtazuddin, BUET student Sony, Professor of Rajshahi University Mohammed Yunus, businessman Shamsul Haque and his son.
   She alleged that the government did not take any initiative to control the price hike of essentials. Even the ministers of the ruling coalition, in cahoots with dishonest businessmen, were behind the spiralling of the prices of essentials, she claimed.
   According to the leader of the opposition, price of IRRI rice marked a 100 per cent rise after this government came into power. She said price of lentil rose by 60 per cent, of soybean oil by 114 per cent, atta by 67 per cent, salt by 80 per cent, sugar by 50 per cent, powder milk by 100 per cent, onion by 167 per cent, green chilli by 400 per cent, egg by 64 per cent, ginger by 243 per cent, jira (cumin) by 194 per cent, beef by 71 per cent, mutton by 50 per cent, different types of fish by 90 per cent and vegetables by 40 per cent.
   The former prime minister told the audience that the price of per unit of electricity rose by 40 per cent from July 2001 to October 2005.
   She said the price of gas for a one-burner stove rose by 67 per cent and of two-burner stove by 21 per cent, kerosene by 113 per cent and petrol by 83 per cent.
   Hasina also pointed out that public transport fares rose by 90 per cent in the last four years due to price hike of fuels.
   ‘Price hike of fuels has dealt a severe blow to the country’s economy and has had a negative impact on the transportation and agricultural sectors,’ she said.
   She mentioned that inflation of the taka and the consequent devaluation has compounded the sufferings of the poor people, as most of their income has to be spent to buy food.
   The former prime minister also denounced the government’s failure to generate more employment, generate more electricity, curb corruption, separate the judiciary from the executive and make the parliament really functional with the participation of opposition lawmakers.
   The former prime minister, if she is voted back to power, announced a 16-point programme that includes keeping the prices of essential commodities within the reach of the common people; implementing the education policy adopted by the previous AL government; making education free of cost up to graduation level; ensuring education, health services and legal protection for the women and poor people; providing health services under specific policies and building up a people-oriented health sector; providing loans with low interest rate to finance rural industries, commerce and agriculture; proper coordination between government and NGOs for implementing the programme; ensuring adequate irrigation facilities and fertiliser for farmers and increasing subsidy for them; ensuring energy supply in the rural areas according to demand, etc.
   The 16- point programme also includes implementation of an employment plan by coordinating the public and private sectors for creating more jobs for the unemployed; arranging expanded overseas employment opportunities under a comprehensive plan; reducing involvement of the government in trade and commerce to which it will provide back-up support; separating the judiciary from the executive within the shortest possible time; making the Election Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, Public Service Commission and other commissions fully independent and equipped with proper budgets, manpower and necessary powers; bringing all the activities of lower courts and upper courts under a specific policy to ensure justice; raising a skilled and efficient police force; awarding exemplary punishment to bribe-takers and corrupt people by enacting stringent laws; bringing back people’s money which was siphoned out of the country; bringing the administration under e-governance to ensure accountability and transparency; enacting appropriate laws to ensure transparency and accountability of spending by the political parties and the contesting candidates; and promoting cooperation at regional and international levels to solve various problems.

The government claims that the law and order situation has improved during its reign even as Islamist militancy, custodial deaths and crimes against women and children have registered a marked rise in the past four years.
   Over twelve major bomb blasts in public places have killed more than 150 people in the four years of the BNP-led alliance rule, the most notable illustration of which was the chain of multiple bomb blasts by Islamist militants across the country on August 17.
   Although the government reportedly launched a massive manhunt for the militants and arrested more than 450 suspected militants in the wake of the August 17 blasts, the militants struck again on October 3, with bomb attacks in courts of law in three districts.
   In the past four years, one of the most disturbing law and order trends has been the death of people in custody of law enforcers, which rose sharply with the introduction of the anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion in June 2004. Over 400 people have been killed in RAB’s custody since its inception, say human rights groups.
   The incidence of rape-related deaths and suicides has also been on the rise. From 2002 till September 2005, there have been more than 4,000 reported cases of rape, which resulted in the deaths of more than 400 women, of which 43 were suicides.
   According to human rights organisations, more than 10 persons have been killed daily, on an average, in the period of October 1, 2001 to September 30 this year.
   There has also been a marked rise in the use of sophisticated weapons by the militants in the repeated attacks witnessed countrywide. Cultural functions, shrines and offices of the non-government organisations, throughout the country, have also faced bomb attacks in the past four years.
   At least 22 people were killed by grenades thrown on an Awami League rally in the capital on August 21, 2004. The British High Commissioner in Dhaka, Anwar Chowdhury, came under a bomb attack at the Hazrat Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet, also in the same year.
   In one of Dhaka’s most sensational murders of the last four years, assailants killed businessman Shamsul Haque and cut up his body into more than 200 parts, which they strewed along the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in 2004.
   In 2002, a girl student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Sabequnnahar Sony, was killed in crossfire between two factions of the BNP’s student front, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, on the BUET campus in the capital. The trial of the case has, however, been concluded.
   One of the most regrettable facets of the deteriorating law and order situation has been rape-related suicides. In February 2002, teenager Mahima, of Rajshahi, committed suicide after criminals raped her and took photographs of the incident which they threatened to publish if she alerted the police. Schoolgirl Trisha of Gaibandha drowned after being chased into a pond by eve-teasers in July the same year.
   The stigma associated with reporting rape in Bangladeshi culture implies that the figures are much higher in reality, asserted human rights groups.
   The government has also failed to complete the investigation of the sensational murder in 2003 when 11 members of a single family were burnt to death after assailants set fire to their house at a village in Banshkhali, Chittagong.
   During the alliance government’s reign, there have been more than one thousand reported cases of dowry-related torture of women and over 293 women and children have been victims of acid violence.
   Abduction for ransom also showed a rise throughout the country, particularly in the port city of Chittagong. A ruling BNP leader of that city, Jamaluddin, was kidnapped in 2003 and his whereabouts, or of his corpse, are still untraced. With the security forces reportedly unable to find out his whereabouts, the family members even paid a large ransom, but to no avail. Several other Chittagong businessmen secured their release from kidnappers after paying hefty ransoms.
   Accompanying the failure of the security forces has been the rising number of killings by lynch mobs throughout the country. Over 700 people have been killed in mob violence in the last four years, according to human rights groups.
   Journalists have also emerged as victims of a systematic regime of torture and killing during the tenure of this government. Over 700 newsmen have been reportedly tortured in the last four years. Some 11 journalists were killed, three of them bombed to death in Khulna in broad daylight attacks in the same period.

At least 150 members among the police, Rapid Action Battalion and army were arrested for crimes including robbery, extortion, rape and mugging in the past fours years of the BNP-led alliance rule — an embarrassment for a government that has repeatedly underlined its commitment to law and order.
   The crimes of the law enforcers, coupled with the 406 ‘crossfire’ killings in RAB custody, have further intensified public criticism of the government’s internal security strategy.
   Though the government has taken punitive action against 29,320 law enforcers over the last four years, they and their colleagues have drawn encouragement from the fact most of the punishments were negligible in nature. The government’s failure to reduce crime has been exposed by the fact that many law enforcers who are wanted for crimes still remain at large, according to police sources.
   The disturbing trend, laid bare by the figures of those law enforcers punished by the government, is that they include high-ranking police officials. The authorities had to force three additional inspector generals, eight deputy inspector generals, five additional deputy inspector generals, 37 superintendents of police and two assistant superintendents of police to go into retirement during its regime.
   A Speedy Trial Tribunal in August this year awarded five years’ rigorous imprisonment to a police sergeant, Zulfikar Ali, for snatching Tk 14 lakh from a businessman in Bijoynagar on June 27.
   Another Speedy Trial Tribunal in Dhaka on August 28 sentenced Rapid Action Battalion members sergeant Atiqur Rahman, sergeant Waliullah, assistant sub-inspector Rafiqul Islam and constable Khorshed Alam, and their informers Mofizur Rahman Babul and Masud Mridha, five years’ rigorous imprisonment for extorting money from a cattle trader at Kotbari in Gabtali on March 23.
   The convicts had extorted Tk 7.8 lakh from Ratan Miah, threatening him to kill in a staged ‘crossfire’ incident if he refused to pay them. This has confirmed suspicions that a great number of the people killed in ‘crossfire’ while in RAB custody since 2004, might not have resulted from encounters as claimed by the government.
   In another embarrassing incident for the home ministry, lawyers caught traffic sergeant Mahfuz when he, along with his brother, tried to abduct a businessman from the High Court’s premises on April 3 this year.
   Two policemen were beaten up by a mob during a mugging bid at Kotwali in old Dhaka, while a police constable was arrested for his suspected involvement in raping a teen-aged girl at a guest house in Gulshan area in April. Outside the capital, two policemen and a cook of the police barrack were also arrested on June 28 for their reported involvement in raping a teen-aged girl in Manikganj four days before.
   An army sergeant, Badrul Alam, along with his brother and another retired sergeant, were accused in a case filed with cantonment police station for their suspected involvement in snatching $8,500 from a money-exchange agent in the Dhaka cantonment on June 30 this year.
   A murder case was filed with Kafrul police station against the officer-in-charge of Motijheel police station, Rafiqul Islam, on September 13 and the police’s top brass suspended him on September 15 for his alleged link with the brutal killing of a third year student of Mirpur Commerce College. The High Court, on October 2, ordered him to surrender before the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s court within four weeks, but directed the police not to arrest him before the deadline.

A phobia of the Anti Corruption Commission has gripped the Chittagong Port and the Chittagong Customs House with the start of the commission’s operation at the two widely-known points of corruption, sources concerned said.
   They said most of the port and customs house employees got scared after a three-member team of the commission in its maiden drive on Sunday caught red-handed three customs staff while taking bribe.
   The three — customs official Neyamat Ali, noting clerk Samirul Huq and sepoy Moshiur Rahman — were later suspended by the customs house commissioner, Farid Uddin, customs sources said.
   The team members, led by deputy commissioner Abdur Rakib, in guise of business people, also visited the port and the customs house on Monday, sources in the port and the customs house said.
   They said most of the officials and employees at the port and the customs house, felt shaky to claim or take bribe.
   The business people were also quite hesitant in the underhand dealings, they added.
   Terming the ACC drive a very positive step, Farid told New Age that such a move by the anti-graft body had really left a very positive impact on the operational activities inside the customs house.
   ‘The corrupt officials and employees should be repentant while everybody should be conscious instead of becoming scared,’ he added saying that it would help streamlining the activities in the customs house.
   ‘We warned of action time and again against the irregularities if detected,’ he added.
   The sources said that the anti-graft team would be staying in the port city for some days to closely monitor the activities at the port and the customs house where the Transparency International-Bangladesh in an investigation found illegal transaction of about Tk 8,000 crore a year.
   Earlier, another team led by ACC commissioner Monir Uddin visited the port and customs house for the first time on September 29 since the formation of the commission about a year ago.
   The team announced to set up a permanent wing for the customs house and port to keep close watch and take action against irregularities and corruption there.
   They also met the port and customs officials and warned them of stringent action in case of any irregularity or corruption.

Between 30,000 and 40,000 people died in a massive earthquake that hit Pakistan at the weekend, UNICEF and a senior government official said.
   ‘We have been told by the government that 30,000 to 40,000 died,’ in the quake on Saturday, UNICEF spokeswoman Julia Spry Leverton told AFP in the capital Islamabad Monday.
   Leverton said children were especially vulnerable and accounted for around 50 per cent of the population in the affected areas in northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
   ‘Between 30,000 to 40,000 people have died in Pakistan, 60,000 plus are injured,’ a senior government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
   ‘It’s a very bad situation. We are getting reports of casualties from all the affected areas, even now at this very moment,’ the official added.
   Rescuers were struggling to reach the mountains of northeast Pakistan where thousands of cold and wet earthquake survivors spent a second night in the open.
   The roads leading into Pakistani-controlled Kashmir—the area worst affected by Saturday’s 7.6 magnitude quake—were blocked by landslides. Power and water supplies have been cut off, and hospitals destroyed.
   In many places people dug through the night Monday with their bare hands in an often futile attempt to reach friends and relatives trapped in the rubble, and anger started to build as help failed to arrive.
   The United Nations said more helicopters were needed urgently to bring rescue equipment and aid to stricken villages high in the Himalayas. ‘We are seeing enormous suffering and facing enormous challenges,’ Jan Egeland, UN coordinator of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, told AFP. ‘We’re talking about millions affected by this.’
   He said Pakistan had deployed its own substantial fleet of helicopters to search for survivors but the scale of the disaster required more choppers and small fixed-wing aircraft.
   The United States responded by offering eight military helicopters—five twin-rotor Chinooks and three Blackhawks based in neighbouring Afghanistan—and two C-130 aircraft loaded with tents, blankets and other relief supplies. Afghanistan also said it would send four military helicopters, medical teams and three tonnes of medicine.
   As international rescue teams with sniffer dogs and specialist equipment began arriving in Pakistan, the authorities confirmed over 42,000 people were injured.
   Earlier, the Pakistani military spokesman major general, Shaukat Sultan, said the death toll would continue to soar, and an official in Pakistani-held Kashmir said the eventual toll in that region alone would top 30,000. Pakistani officials said more than 11,000 people had been confirmed dead in the town of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
   ‘Muzaffarabad is devastated,’ said the local minister for works and communication, Tariq Farooq.
   Officials said the hospitals in Muzaffarabad had been hard hit, and the Pakistani military flew in special teams of surgeons and set up field hospitals in the town.
   ‘There’s a huge need for field hospitals, water, sanitation and for food,’ Gerhard Putman-Cramer, head of the UN’s Disaster Assessment and Coordination team, said.

The chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka Monday issued a warrant of arrest against Ataur Rahman Sunny, younger brother of Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the chief of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh responsible for the August 17 countrywide blasts.
   Sunny, also a Mujahideen leader, went in hiding after police raided a house at East Basabo last month and recovered large amounts of bomb-making materials following the blasts that rattled the entire country.
   The magistrate court endorsed the charge sheet filed by the police accusing Sunny and six other JMB members of possessing firearms and explosives.
   The chief metropolitan magistrate, Jalal Ahmed, referred the case to the metropolitan sessions judge court for initiating the trial.
   Earlier, the criminal investigation department of police brought the charge of possessing firearms and explosives against the seven persons, including Sunny, also the operational chief of the militant outfit. The CID on Sunday submitted the charge sheet of two cases, filed with the Sabujbagh police under the Explosive Act and the Arms Act.
   The joint team of police and the Rapid Action Battalion recovered two firearms, 700 capacitors used for making bombs, black masks, compact disks, Tk 2 lakh in cash, a map of Bangladesh, books on Jihad and diaries and arrested six persons from a flat of East Basabo which was rented by Sunny.
   Our staff correspondent in Khulna reported that the arrested militant Shahidullah alias Lokman on Monday made confessional statement in a court in Khulna saying that the August 17 bombing was carried out following a directive given by Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai.
   Shahidullah said he was on charge of exploding bombs in the court in Khulna. ‘I went to the court at about 10:30am and kept the explosive bag there and on the switch half-an-hour later,’ he told the magistrate, Atiqul Islam. Now on seven-day remand, Shahidullah said he used to visit Tableague Mosque where he met Suman who brought the bag of bombs from Satkhira and handed it to him promising of giving him Tk. 1000 .
   ‘I agreed to carry the bag for the money but was nabbed by Jhikargacha police,’ he told the magistrate. Shahidulah said after the bombings he had gone to Dhaka and went to a house at Dakkhin Goran from where he was arrested by police.
   Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh cadre Obaidullah Suman disclosed that the decision to carryout the August 17 bombing was taken at a meeting between Bangla Bhai, Shaikh Abdur Rahman and 40 other cadres in Jamalpur. He made his confessional statement before the court of Kishoreganj first class magistrate Shahnewaz Dilruba Khan.
   Suman said he had carried out the bomb attacks at Batrish bus stand in Kishoreganj town following the directives of Ayatullah, a top leader of JMB. He came in contact with Ayatullah in 2002 and started working for the Mujahideen. He also said Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai gave him the responsibility of the bomb attacks in Kishoreganj after taking the decision at the meeting in Jamalpur. Parag, a militant leader supplied him the bombs on August 17.
   Besides, four members of JMB from Jhenaidaha, Laxmipur and Chandpur were brought to the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) in Dhaka for interrogation about their link with the bombings.

The government on Monday endorsed some major changes in the century-old Code of Civil Procedure to introduce a centralised case filing system in every district bent on bringing a radical change in case management system.
   The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill approved by the cabinet also included mediation in appeal stage and restriction on adjournment of hearing of appeals in order to facilitate quick disposal of cases.
   The bill will now be placed in Jatiya Sangsad in its next session, the minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, Moudud Ahmed, told New Age.
   The cabinet, at its weekly meeting held on Monday with the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, in the chair, also approved in principle the Kabi Nazrul Islam University Bill, which proposes establishment of a new university at Trishal of Mymensingh.
   The meeting also approved the recommendations on service and training of the assistant commissioners after being appointed in district administrations.
   The cabinet, however, did not approve the draft of the integrated multimodal transport policy that proposed to set up unified metropolitan transport authorities in all major cities to further facilitate coordinated planning and implementation of urban transport programmes and projects and integrated management of urban transport system.
   The cabinet sent the draft policy to the ministry of law, justice and parliamentary affairs for further scrutiny, sources present at the meeting said.
   According to the CPC bill, if approved by the parliament, a judge will be in charge of the filing court in each district and will, upon classification by nature of the suits, distribute them among the courts. He or she will also monitor the cases, according to the draft bill.
   The register of the suits will be maintained in the office and the identification number of any case will be unchanged at any stage.
   Similar cases will be heard and disposed of by a single court simultaneously.
   The bill also proposes that there will be separate specialised courts to deal with the cases of specific subjects and types.
   The bill proposes the introduction of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, which have already been introduced in trial courts, in the appellate courts to make a way for settlement of cases outside courts at the appeal stage as well.
   The bill proposes that a party will have to pay costs for seeking any adjournment in an appeal after three such adjournments.
   According to the bill, an appeal may be directly restored without any deposition of witnesses, but in that case the party will have to pay costs.
   Moudud Ahmed, told New Age after the meeting that the amendment to the civil code would be made as a component of the legal and judicial reforms programme of the government in order to introduce ‘revolutionary’ changes in the civil justice delivery system.
   The amendment will ensure speedy disposal of the cases and will reduce expense and time, he said.
   The meeting, held at the Prime Minister’s Office, was attended by ministers and state ministers in charge of different ministries. The cabinet secretary and other secretaries concerned were also present.

Students of Dhaka University on Monday again took to the streets to protest against the Islami Chhatra Shibir’s attempt to reinstate itself in the university and begin Islamist activism.
   Several hundred activists of the opposition and left-leaning parties’ student fronts gathered at Modhu’s Canteen and held separate demonstrations against the attempted emergence of the Shibir.
   The processionists had a combative look, and chanted heated slogans against Shibir and the university authorities.
   The student leaders at the rallies threatened to launch a vigorous movement against the university authorities if Shibir was not banned officially.
   Students of the premier university will never allow the Shibir’s activities on the campus and will resist them uncompromisingly as their parent organisations had done in 1971, said the speakers.
   The Bangladesh Chhatra League and its six allies marched towards the vice-chancellor’s office and held a rally there.
   Speakers at the rally criticised the university authorities for their ‘suspicious silence’ over the activities of the Shibir and held them guilty of patronising the Shibir.
   Later, the leaders met the vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, and demanded that he impose an official ban on all kind of activities of Islami Chhatra Shibir at the university.
   The Progressive Students’ Alliance, a group of eight left-leaning student bodies, also demonstrated on the campus against Shibir’s activities.
   They also met the vice-chancellor and demanded re-activation of the Paribesh Parishad, an informal body, comprising representatives from the student organisations, formed in the late 1980s to maintain law and order on the campus.
   The vice-chancellor assured them that he would consider their demand. ‘The Dhaka University and the activities of Shibir did not go together,’ SMA Faiz was quoted to have said. But the student leaders insisted on ‘real action’ instead of ‘rhetoric’.
   The Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front also brought out processions against the Shibir’s activities.
   Meanwhile, the Islami Chhatra Shibir lodged two cases with Ramna police on Sunday night, accusing 29 leaders of the Bangladesh Chhatra League and Bangladesh Chhatra Union. The FIR also accused 20 more activists of the opposition student bodies.

The German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, relinquished his seven-year grip on power Monday at the head of Europe’s biggest economy in favour of a coalition government led by his conservative arch-rival Angela Merkel.
   Conservative leader Angela Merkel said on Monday she would be the next chancellor of Germany at the head of a coalition government uniting the country’s two biggest parties.
   ‘The Union will occupy the chancellery,’ Merkel said, in a reference to her Christian Democratic Union after striking a power-sharing deal with the Social Democrats of outgoing chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
   Schroeder’s Social Democrats said they had massively approved a deal with Merkel’s Christian Democrats that would allow her to become the country’s first female chancellor at the head of a left-right administration.
   She said the agreement would pave the way for formal coalition talks and would see her party take six ministries with the Social Democrats getting eight cabinet posts.
   ‘We have achieved something big, we have the basis for coalition talks,’ she said, adding that the new government would push ahead with reforms to revive the ailing German economy.
   ‘We want to work together for the people of this country.’
   Merkel said her leadership would ensure ‘good transatlantic relations’ linking Germany and the United States in a spirit of mutual ‘confidence,’ although it did not mean they would always agree.
   According to reports citing sources close to the SPD, the centre-left party will take the key ministries of foreign affairs, finance, labour and justice, as well as environment, aid and cooperation, health and transport.
   The CDU and its Bavarian sister CSU would also have eight cabinet posts—Merkel as chancellor, a minister of state at the chancellery, and the economy, interior, defence, agriculture, education and family ministries.
   CSU leader Edmund Stoiber, whose Bavaria is Germany’s richest state, would run the economy ministry with enlarged responsibility on European policy.
   Schroeder will not play a role in the country’s new coalition government under Merkel, sources in the SPD said.
   They said Schroeder informed the SPD leadership that he would not fill any post in the left-right government that Merkel will lead, despite appeals from within the party that he become vice-chancellor.

Robert J Aumann, an Israeli-US citizen, and American Thomas C Schelling on Monday won the 2005 Nobel Economics Prize for using game theory to explain conflict resolution, the Nobel jury said.
   Using game theory—interactive decision scenarios—the laureates focused on why some people and countries manage to cooperate, while others suffer from conflict.
   Their work has helped understand trade disputes, organised crime, political decisions and wage negotiations, as well as outright shooting wars.
   In economics and business, it became clear why initially competing firms would eventually collude to fix prices or why farmers would share pastures or irrigation systems.
   But they did not stop at economics, explaining phenomena from the audience’s choice of seats at a concert to racial and sexual discrimination.
   After Schelling and Aumann, seemingly irrational behaviour could suddenly be explained.
   ‘Their work has transformed the social sciences far beyond the boundaries of economics,’ said the jury, praising Schelling’s ability to introduce original ideas with a minimum of mathematical tools.
   Schelling, now 84 and professor emeritus at Maryland University, produced his main work during the Cold War which pitted the United States against the Soviet Union, using game theory methods to explain the era’s most vital issues, global security and the arms race.
   Having worked on the Marshall Plan—the US post-war aid programme for battle-ruined Europe—and at the White House in the 1950s, Schelling was well-placed to examine the rationale behind the superpowers’ nuclear stand-off.
   His seminal work ‘The Strategy of Conflict’ became a classic and has influenced generations of strategic thinkers, the jury said.
   ‘These insights have proven to be of great relevance for conflict resolution and efforts to avoid war,’ it said.
   Building on Schelling’s original ideas, Aumann then applied the tools of mathematical analysis to highlight the alternatives available to one’s own country and the opponent in times of conflict.
   Aumann, who is 75 and worked at the Centre for Rationality at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, went on to show that the choice for cooperation rather than war is more easily achieved in long-term relationships rather than single encounters.

The Indian Border Security Force shot dead two Bangladeshi citizens at Khanpur frontier early Sunday.
   The BSF members of Lalpur camp also took away the bodies of Rafiqul, son of Mohir Uddin, and Rafiqul, son of Kalam, of Mohabbatpur village in sadar upazila, local people said.
   They said BSF personnel opened shots on the two when they were roaming around the area inside Bangladesh territory at about 4:00am.
   The border guards of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Rifles, lodged a protest to BSF and demanded handover of the bodies.

A suspected ringleader of a gang of robbers was killed in a shootout between the Rapid Action Battalion and his accomplices at Araihazar in Narayanganj early Monday raising the death toll in crossfire to 407 since June, 2004.
   The deceased was identified as Rawshan, 45, who was accused in a dozen criminal cases, including robbery, murder, extortion, and abduction, said a press release issued by the RAB headquarters.
   A RAB-3 team arrested Rawshan from Nayapur Bazar under the Sonargaon police station on Sunday evening, and on the basis of his statement, they launched a drive near the Naikahon Bridge at about 3:15am to nab his accomplices and seize firearms.
   As soon as the team reached the spot with Rawshan, his accomplices opened fire on the RAB members who retaliated by firing resulting in a 20-minute gunfight.
   Rawshan was hit by bullets while trying to escape from the vehicle amid the shootout. The RAB members with the help of local people took him to a local clinic where doctors declared him dead.
   Other criminals, however, managed to flee. But the RAB members recovered a foreign-made 9mm pistol, a single-barrel gun, and six bullets from the spot.

Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, Muslim Aid Bangladesh and Rabitat Al-Alam Al-Islam have protested a report printed in New Age on September 2 headlined ‘Intel wings find Islamic NGOs funding militancy’ which was based on the investigation of intelligence agencies.
   In separate rejoinders, the non-governmental organisations claimed that they neither conduct any secret activity
   nor fund any Islamist extremists.
   Terming the report fabricated and concocted to tarnish the reputation of Heritage, the organisation claimed it has been running activities in Bangladesh with proper registration and has filed audit reports on a regular basis. It says it never had links to any terrorist outfits, let alone funding them.
   Muslim Aid Bangladesh said it does not have any link with any terrorist organisations and so the question of funding militancy does not arise at all.
   The organisation urged journalists to refrain from publishing false, baseless and purposeful news against it.
   Rabitat Al-Alam Al-Islam said the report of the so-called intelligence agencies was false, baseless and motivated. ‘We protested against the report as it has damaged the image of the institution.’

Two members of a Bangladeshi family — a 23-year-old woman and her aunt — were killed on Saturday night in a road accident in the USA.
   They met with death while returning to their house at Bay Shore in a car after a family get-together.
   The victims were identified as Farhana Ali and her aunt Hafeza Reza, 43.
   The driver of the family car, Mohammad Ali, 56, his wife, Shamsun Ali, 49, and his younger daughter, Farzana Ali also sustained injuries in the accident. They were admitted to hospital.
   The Bangladeshi family came to the USA in 2002 and are living in Bay Shore.