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The government has identified the Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami as a terrorist organisation and banned its activities on Monday.
   ‘Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam is a self-proclaimed terrorist organisation and its activities are very sensitive,’ said a press note, adding Bangladesh has always taken a strong stance against terrorism and has already banned several terrorist outfits.
   ‘The Bangladesh government, on the basis of information received, has banned the activities of Harkat,’ added the press note, signed by joint secretary (political) of the home ministry, Mohammad Mohsin.
   The home ministry announced the ban two months after another Islamist outfit, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, allegedly carried out the near-simultaneous chain-bombing across the country on August 17. Earlier, on February 23, the government banned two more Islamist outfits — Jamaatul Mujahideen and Jagrata Muslim Janata —for ‘creating anarchy and engaging in subversive activities’.
   Police said Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam was banned after it planted 76 kg of explosives at the Sheikh Lutfor Rahman Ideal College in Kotalipara, Gopalganj, on 21 July 2000, aiming to assassinate Hasina, who was to address a rally there the next day. The previous Awami League government also banned the outfit in 2000, after it reportedly planted a bomb at the venue of a public meeting, which the then prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was scheduled to address. The ban hardly proved effective as the organisation was carrying out its activities in clandestine.
   The AL government issued a warrant of arrest against Harkat leader Mufti Abdul Hannan after unearthing a huge amount of explosives and firearms from his soap factory in Kotalipara.
   Four cases have been filed against Hannan, who took part in the war in Afghanistan against Soviet invaders. He was sentenced to life-term imprisonment in an arms case in 2003.
   He was successful in eluding the police reportedly due to sympathy of some influential politicians in the alliance government.
   Harkat was launched in 1980 as part of the Pakistan-based jihad network of fighters against the then Soviet Union who were deployed in Afghanistan. Several hundred youths, including Hannan, fought in the war.
   To establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh, they started secret activities in the country after returning in 1988, and formed the Bangladesh chapter of the outfit led by the Afghan warrior, Moulana Abdur Rahman Faruki.
   The outfit came to the light at a press conference in the National Press Club on April 30, 1992. The United States banned it on May 21, 2002 for its involvement in terrorist activities.
   Harkat was blamed for being behind the attempted murder of poet Shamsur Rahman in early 1999. Harkat came to the limelight once again after the Rapid Action Battalion arrested its leader, Hannan, with huge amount of cash and bomb-making materials from Badda area on October 1.
   Hannan reportedly confessed to planting bombs at Hasina’s meeting venue in Kotalipara, but denied involvement in the August 17 chain-bombing.

The banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh has reportedly threatened to blow up important installations in some district headquarters if the government does not stop arresting and harassing its activists.
   About 400 suspected activists of the outfit were arrested after the August 17 countrywide series of blasts, in which three were killed and more than 150 injured. In a letter to daily newspapers in Kushtia on Monday, the outfit asked the district administration not to arrest or harass its activists.
   ‘The administration will never be able to find our stronghold in the district and if our activities are obstructed, the entire district will face the consequence,’ the letter read.
   ‘We will blow up the important installations including courts, police stations, police lines, municipality, banks, press club, duck bungalow, district council and markets,’ it said.
   ‘It is not a threat. It is the declaration of a jihad as the JMB activists are ready to sacrifice their lives for the enforcement of Islamic law in the country.’
   The people who do not support the jihad are enemies of Islam and they must be punished, said the letter issued by the outfit’s Kushtia unit chief commander.
   Acknowledging the receipt of the letter a few days ago, the police superintendent, Masud-ul Hasan, said they had taken adequate measures in this regard.
   A similar letter was also sent to the office of the deputy commissioner of Feni on Monday.
   Such threats in the recent past at places including Pabna, Naogaon, Mymensingh and Bogra proved to be hoaxes.
   In Jessore, panic gripped the collectorate office on Monday when an unidentified telephone call to the office said that a bomb had been planted in the court premises. The employees went out of the building fearing blasts.
   But the deputy commissioner’s office denied happening of any such incident. The police patrolled the collectorate area as part of routine duties.
   In Rajshahi, the police filed a charge sheet to court on Monday accusing two militants in connection with the recovery of a huge amount of bomb-making materials from the house of a Jamaat-e Islami leader at Tanore on September 15.
   The accused, Abul Kashem Tufan, the Chapainawabganj district commander, and Shahidullah, a leader of another banned outfit Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh led by Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, are now in jail.
   The accused two admitted being involved in the August 17 blasts in Chapainawabganj. The police investigation report said the accused were involved in subversive activities.
   The police arrested the two from the house of Obaidullah, Baitul Maal secretary of Jamaat’s Tanore unit, on September 15 in possession of a huge amount of bomb-making materials, explosive, electrical devices, detonators and jihadi books. Obaidullah was not named on the charge sheet.
   In their hunt for the militants, the detective police Sunday night arrested a JMB activist, Mohammad Nurullah, from a house at Darmapu in the Comilla town for his suspected involvement in the August 17 blasts.
   Nurullah reportedly said that Bangla Bhai and JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman had provided them with training in the operation of arms such as AK-47 and bomb-making in three mosques in Comilla and in the forest at Sitakunda in Chittagong.
   The police also seized some books on jihad and leaflets from his possession.
   The Rapid Action Battalion arrested a JMB activist, Abu Taleb, from the Technical School and College in Gopalganj Monday afternoon for his suspected in the blasts.
   The battalion officials said Taleb had been named by another JMB activist, Anis, who earlier made his statement in court.
   In Chittagong, a metropolitan magistrate court on Monday ordered eight suspected militants to be placed on a five-day remand for further interrogation as intelligence agents reportedly found them to be linked with the October 3 bomb blasts in Chittagong courts.
   The police told the court that the eight suspects had been involved in carrying explosive and supplying money for the blasts at two courts on October 3.
   The suspects placed on remand are Haji Abul Kalam, Abu Taher, Mohammad Ishaq, Osman, Nurul Islam, Ashraful Alam, Noor Mohammand and Saiful Islam.
   The police on Friday arrested 25 Rohingyas for suspected militancy from Aziz Chamber in Chittagong. Seventeen of them were sent to jail and eight were placed on remand.
   The police alleged that the eight, believed to be traders, had been maintaining links with the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation for long.

Unprecedented security measures have been planned for the peaceful holding of the twice-postponed 13th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Dhaka on November 12 and 13.
   Officials in the home ministry said that foolproof security would be ensured for the heads of government and state of the seven-nation forum and the delegates accompanying them.
   They said the near-simultaneous bombings in the country on August 17 and October 3 have forced the government to take extra precautionary measures for the safety and the security of the dignitaries attending the summit.
   The country’s border will be sealed off to stop intrusion of terrorists and criminals from other countries, and ceaseless vigilance will be maintained at the exit- and entry-points around the capital to stop intrusion of local criminals.
   Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are already active in the capital to arrest or flush out persons who could pose threats to the delegates and peaceful holding of the summit.
   The city’s residential hotels, motels, guest houses, slums and other potential hide-outs of questionable people will be inspected or raided regularly.
   ‘The intelligence agencies have already spotted the possible hide-outs and have started carrying out frequent raids,’ an intelligence official, who is closely watching the city’s slums dubbed the dens of the criminals, told New Age.
   Officials said the tightest ever security measures will be taken at the summit’s venue, China Bangladesh Friendship Conference Centre, the Prime Minister’s Office and the two five-star hotels where the heads of state will stay during the summit.
   Law enforcers will keep vigilant eyes on, and closely guard, foreign delegates who will stay in different hotels, motels and guest houses in the city. Steps will be taken so that criminals cannot go near them.
   ‘We want to check even crimes like burglary or snatching during the summit and thus measures will be taken accordingly,’ said a top home ministry official, who is in the SAARC security committee.
   The government has prepared a list of criminals who could be security hazards during the summit, and law enforcers have launched a drive in and out the capital to nab them. Most wanted criminals and the leaders of Islamist extremist outfits and ultra-leftist groups like Sarbahara are at the top of the list.
   The Dhaka Metropolitan Police have also prepared a list of teenaged criminals who are under close watch.
   Border security guards have been asked to stop the country’s fugitives and any terrorists of SAARC nations from entering Bangladesh before the end of the summit.
   As there are links between local criminals and other criminals of South Asia, according to an intelligence report, law enforcement and intelligence agencies will be extra vigilant.
   Terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, Maoists and ULFA may have joined hands with local criminal groups like the outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party and Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh to carry out subversive activities during the summit.
   In the previous meeting of the SAARC security committee held on September 7, law enforcers were asked to watch the citizens of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives before and during the summit to prevent any attack on them.
   ‘Police are also inquiring about the foreigners who are staying illegally in the country,’ said a top official of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. He claimed that the security blanket will be so strong that the listed criminals won’t be able to enter the capital.
   Law enforcers have been carrying out special operations in the capital and adjacent areas. The Rapid Action Battalion will use helicopters to watch the city and dog squads will patrol the capital to ensure foolproof security during the summit.
   To tackle any terrorist activity, 33 agencies engaged at the Zia International Airport have already started working together to ensure coordinated operations before the arrival of the delegates.
   Today’s meeting will discuss the measures to be taken for the safety and security of the SAARC leaders and to check any subversive activities while they are in Dhaka.
   ‘The October 3 bombing especially, carried out in spite of the highest alert and tight security, has forced the government to think again of the security measures. Fresh initiatives regarding security might come up for discussion in today’s meeting,’ a home ministry official told New Age.

The government assured the visiting security experts of India and the Maldives and representatives of the SAARC nations that it would take security measures compatible with the changed global order for a peaceful holding of the 13th summit in Dhaka in November. ‘We’ll take up every possible security measure compatible with the changed global order,’ the foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, told reporters, after senior officials had briefed the advance teams of the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation on the government measures for the summit, slated to be held during November 12–13. The summit was postponed twice earlier.
   The advance teams of India and the Maldives arrived in Dhaka Monday morning to weigh up the present security situation in the capital city and the measures the government has been taking to ensure a smooth holding of the summit.
   The chief protocol officer, Sk Md Monirul Islam, at a meeting briefed the senior officials of the member nations on the preparedness, security, protocol and media arrangements for the summit.
   The Indian and Maldivian teams came against a backdrop of bombings by the Islamists on August 17 and October 3 that killed five people and hurt more than 200, sending a wave of panic.
   They will report back to their respective governments on the situation, on which the next course of action of the governments would depend. The refusal of the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, to attend the summit on security grounds partially caused the second-time postponement in February.
   The six-member Indian team, headed by the director special protection group, BV Wanchoo, and the two-member Maldivian team, headed by Abdullah Hamid, are likely to visit the venue of the summit, hotels, motels and other facility arrangements for the SAARC dignitaries during the summit. The foreign ministry officials said the representatives of the SAARC members were happy about the government preparedness for the summit.
   ‘We discussed in details the protocol, security and media arrangements for the summit. The representatives of the member nations expressed their satisfaction about all the aspects of the preparedness,’ said foreign ministry spokesman Zaharul Haq after the review meeting. The meeting was attended, among others, the Sri Lanka high commissioner and Nepal’s ambassador in Dhaka, political counsellor of the Pakistan mission, the deputy high commissioner of India.

The price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has been increased by Tk 100 to Tk 150 per cylinder in many places across the country in the month of Ramadan, forcing consumers to buy gas cylinders at an exorbitant rate.
   Officials of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and the private LPG producers claimed that its price has increased due to supply shortage and price hike of gas in the international market.
   LPG is mostly imported from abroad. Currently, the total demand for LPG in the country is around 2.5 lakh tonnes, of which the private sector meets up to 70 to 80 per cent.
   The government-owned LPG Ltd imports only around 18,000 tonnes per year.
   Mustan Azim, area manager of Bashundhara LP Gas Ltd, said the demand for LPG has increased and the supply is not adequate due to gas crisis and hike of petroleum prices in the international market.
   However, RN Jahangir, general manager (marketing) of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, declined to comment on the issue.
   Our Jessore correspondent reports that the price of LPG has gone beyond the reach of the city dwellers and people of adjacent areas since Friday.
   The retailers of LPG of various brands suddenly raised the price and are selling per cylinder of LPG at Tk 710 or more.
   Worried at such a situation, the district administration held a meeting with the LPG dealers on Sunday morning.
   Additional district magistrate Belayet Hossain chaired the meeting, and Jessore Chamber of Commerce’s president, Shahidul Islam Milon, and president of the Fuel Distributors Association, Mujibar Rahman, were present at the meeting which fixed the price of per cylinder of LPG gas at Tk 680.
   However, the dealers continued selling LPG at Tk 710 or more till Sunday afternoon.
   Our Rajshahi correspondent also reports that severe LPG shortage in the district has resulted in an increase of the price per cylinder by Tk 130 twice in the last 17 days.
   The price of cylinders provided by the government companies and private companies in the district has also spiralled.
   The government gas cylinder supply agents are hoarding gas cylinders and selling them in the back market at high prices.
   They have created an artificial crisis of gas on the plea of not getting an adequate number of gas cylinders from the government.
   A number of gas dealers in Rajshahi on Sunday said that due to the huge demand for gas, they have the capacity to meet only 10 per cent of the demand as they do not have enough stock right now.
   ‘We are not sure when and how many cylinders of gas we will be given,’ said the manager of Joti filling station in Rajshahi.
   On Saturday and Sunday the Rajshahi retailers sold per cylinder of Bashundhara’s LPG at Tk 670 to 675, Jamuna at Tk 660 to 570, Kleanheat at Tk 660 to 670 and BPC at Tk 660. The government dealers’ current price for a cylinder of BPC gas was Tk 495.
   It is learnt that, aiming at abnormal profits in the month of Ramadan, a section of unscrupulous LPG traders have hoarded a huge amount of gas in the city.
   Our Rajbari correspondent adds: Prices of LPG cylinders have increased by Tk 150 to Tk 200 per cylinder in the district.
   A cylinder of Jamuna Gas is selling at Tk 750 to Tk 780 against the previous price of Tk 580, and Kleanheat at Tk 630 against the former price of Tk 560.
   Some dealers, when contacted, said the price hike is due to short supply of cylinders.
   But sources claimed that, with the beginning of Ramadan, the dealers have formed a cartel and are charging prices at their own sweet will.
   One dealer told New Age that some unscrupulous dealers are selling cylinders in the black market after lifting their quotas on the one hand, and are claiming that they do not have enough gas stock on the other.

The BNP-led alliance government’s reported achievement in ridding public examinations of cheating and adoption of other unfair means has been dimmed by repeated leakage of question papers of civil service examinations, creating a state of uncertainty in candidates for public sector jobs.
   Regrettably, only those teachers who are loyal to the ruling coalition have been appointed vice-chancellors and syndicate members of public universities, continuing the previous regime’s reported policy of politicising public institutions.
   Allegations also have it that the BNP-led government has in the last four years appointed hundreds of activists of its student wing and that of its alliance partner, Jamaat-e-Islami, as teachers of public universities.
   The government, giving more proof of politicisation of the education sector, has approved thirty-eight new private universities without adequate scrutiny.
   In the name of reform, however, the government had formed an education commission headed by former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, Professor Maniruzzaman Miah. But almost all the recommendations of the commission — included in the National Education Commission Report 2003 — are gathering dust.
   The government has decided to radically overhaul the secondary education system, and established a central agency to recruit teachers in the non-government educational institutions — from the post-primary to the graduate level.
   The alliance government has decided to adopt a uni-track curriculum for secondary level education, instead of the current multi-track one, from the academic session of 2006. It has decided to discontinue the existing humanities, science and commerce curricula of classes 9 and 10. Under the new curriculum every student will be taught all the subjects for acquiring an adequate amount of basic knowledge.
   The Secondary School Certificate examination of 2008 will be held according to the uni-track curriculum.
   Besides, the government has decided to introduce a new School-Based Assessment system for students of classes six to nine from the next academic year. However, the education commission’s report suggested that it should be introduced in phases to see if it works.
   As per the School-Based Assessment system, 30 per cent of a student’s marks in classes between six and nine will depend on non-academic criteria such as leadership abilities, behaviour and skill in extra-curricular activities, as assessed by the teachers.
   Maniruzzaman Miah — who headed the National Education Commission — told New Age that he has not been consulted nor invited to attend meetings on the SBA system after he submitted his report in March 2004.
   Moreover, according to government’s decision taken early this year, students, who will be in class IX in January 2006, will follow a new system in the Secondary School Certificate examinations in 2008.
   According to the new system, students will have to answer ‘structured’ questions instead of essay-type ones. A structured question is a question which will ask for several items of information on a single topic. The questions will be prepared according to the uni-track curriculum.
   Besides, the preparation and printing of textbooks for the secondary level will be done by the private sector from the next academic year.
   Some writers have already been trained in the new system so that they can prepare the right sort of textbooks.
   The opposition political parties including Awami League have criticised the changes in secondary education, terming them ‘nothing but farce’ as all discriminatory modes of education will remain effective and only the marking system will have been changed.
   The Awami League said the government’s decision to abolish division of departments into science, arts and commerce at the secondary level has surprised all quarters as it was taken suddenly, without any discussion with the quarters concerned — teachers, guardians, educationists or students.
   However, the minister for education, M Osman Farruk, is optimistic about the effect of the changes.
   Advisor of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Professor Jahan Ara Begum, has been made inactive for more than one year after numerous allegations of corruption and nepotism were raised against her.
   The government has increased the number of primary scholarships from 18,000 to 45,000, and junior scholarships from around 3,000 to 15,000.

At least three labourers were killed and 20 others injured in an explosion at a ship breaking yard at Kadamrasul in Sitakunda coast, 180 kilometres southwest off Dhaka, on Monday.
   The explosion in a gas operated cutter took place at about 8:00am when a scarp oil tanker was being dismantled in the privately owned Six Star Ship Breaking Yard, the police said.
   They said the tanker, imported from India about three months back, had instantly caught fire, leaving Shamim, 20, Kanchan, 40, and Habi Miah, 25, dead and 20 others injured. Fire fighters brought the fire under control.
   The police recovered the bodies and sent the injured to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital and local clinics. Condition of five of the injured was stated critical.
   More than 100 labourers were in work when the explosion occurred with a big bang, said the police and witnesses adding that manual operation of the cutter might be the reason for the explosion while dismantling of the tanker without making it gas free the reason for the fire.
   The yard authorities and unhurt labourers fled the scene after the accident. The police cordoned the yard after the accident.
   Risks of accidents always remain there if the scrap ship and oil tankers, which mostly carry rusts and poisonous gas, are not cleaned properly and made gas free before dismantling, sources concerned said.
   There are over 30 ship breaking yards in Sitakunda coast.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is likely to hold an emergency meeting today with the finance minister, state minister for power and energy and the mineral resource adviser to discuss the ongoing gas and power crisis, especially the gas rationing issue.
   The high-powered five-member committee on Monday at a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office, chaired by the principal secretary to the PMO, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, drafted a chart of gas rationing and suggested closure of the Tongi power plant and Palash fertiliser plant till December. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division and Power Division, however, are virtually at loggerheads over the closure of Tongi power plants as many lawmakers of the BNP feel it will be unwise to close down the only ‘success’ of the present government in the power sector. The Tongi plant is the only power plant set up by the present government.
   The PM summoned state minister for power Iqbal Hasan Mahmood to her office to discuss the ongoing power crisis. Mahmood reportedly requested her not to close down the Tongi plant.
   Energy and mineral resources adviser Mahmudur Rahman, on the other hand, told a delegation of business leaders on the same day that the plant needed to be closed down at any cost to save the entire gas system.
   Sources in the government said that the PM will discuss today the suggestions of the committee on gas rationing and power crisis with finance minister Saifur Rahman, Mahmood and Mahmud.
   They, however, could not confirm whether the meeting would be held today. ‘Indications are there that the PM will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow. However, we will know for sure tomorrow morning,’ said a highly placed source in the government.
   ‘At any cost we will not be able to supply gas to the Tongi plant. The entire gas system will collapse if gas continues to be supplied to that plant. The plant has to be closed down for two months to save hundreds of industries in the Tongi-Savar belt,’ said Mahmud.
   Titas Gas Company has suspended gas supply to the Tongi plant on Thursday as per the directive of the Energy Division, and Mahmud said that they would not resume gas supply to the plant before two months.
   He claimed that after suspension of gas to the Tongi plant, gas shortage in the industrial belt has been mitigated by 90 per cent. ‘If gas supply to Palash could be stopped, the rest 10 per cent would also be mitigated.’
   Mahmood told reporters, ‘I don’t know why they have suspended gas supply to the power plant. Ask them the reason.’
   The high-powered committee also suggested reducing gas supply to the Jamuna and Ghorashal fertiliser factories by half in the evening peak hours, from 5:00 pm to 11:00pm.
   The meeting discussed reducing gas supply to the Karnaphuli fertiliser plant, but backtracked as there would be legal complications.
   A highly placed source in the government, however, said that if the Tongi power plant and Palash fertiliser plant were closed down, gas supply to Jamuna and Ghorasal need not be reduced.
   ‘The suggestion for reducing gas supply to the Jamuna and Ghorashal plants might not be heeded,’ he said.
   Power Division officials, however, feel that gas supply to the fertiliser plants instead of power plants should be reduced as the government can import fertiliser, not power. Many BNP leaders also feel that closure of the Tongi plant would be politically suicidal as the Awami League, which has repeatedly blamed the present government for failing to produce enough power, would gain an advantage and strengthen its anti-government campaign.
   ‘To save the government’s face, Mahmood should again request the PM not to close down the power plant,’ said one of the leaders. The committee also suggested that no new gas connections should be given to the industries which are not export-oriented till December.
   The Energy Division is expecting that around 45 million cubic feet of gas per day will be added to the national grid by December, which will ease gas shortage of about 100 mmcf per day at present.
   The committee also suggested stopping power supply to the re-rolling and steel mills, brick-fields, salt and lime factories in the evening peak hours till December.
   It also asked the authorities concerned to reduce system loss in the gas sector to 10 per cent from 16 per cent, and that of the power sector to 15 per cent from 20 per cent, by December.
   The committee recommended formation of a committee of energy experts, headed by the director of the Institute of Appropriate Technology of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, to scrutinise the suggestions of the committee.
   ‘However, if the PM approves the suggestions we will go for immediate implementation,’ said a committee member.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry has expressed concerns over the prevailing shortfall in power and gas supplies to industrial units across the country.
   A federation delegation, led by its president Mir Nasir Hossain, conveyed the businesspeople’s worries to the energy adviser, Mahmudur Rahman, on Monday and requested him to ensure smooth supply of gas to industries. They said the readymade garments and composite knitting units in Gazipur and Savar areas are the most sufferers from gas crisis.
   Atiqul Islam, a leader of Bangladesh Garments Manufactures and Exporters Association, said garments manufacturers are having their orders cancelled as they are failing to maintain production and export schedules due to gas crisis.
   Mahmudur Rahman told the business leaders that the gas crisis would be resolved when Tongi power and Palash fertiliser plants, both run by gas, will be closed.
   He said a robust 22 per cent growth in the industrial sector has led to such a crisis in gas and power supplies. He assured the FBCCI leaders that the private sector industries would not be affected by the planned rationing in gas supply.
   The energy adviser said that the government would initiate both short and long-term action plans to resolve the gas crisis.
   The FBCCI president said it would be totally unwise if the government decides to go for gas rationing for the private enterprises.
   The Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh president, Akhtaruzzaman Manju, the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association president, Fazlul Haque, and the BGMEA vice president, Shahidul Islam, were among the delegation members.

The Bush administration this week is expected to begin laying out in more detail its plans to change US and international rules so India can acquire restricted nuclear materials under a controversial deal some say undermines non-proliferation standards.
   India improved its chances of having new rules approved when it voted with the United States and key European states last month to threaten Iran with referral to the UN Security Council for its nuclear activities.
   But some members of the US Congress remain deeply concerned that the US-India deal, agreed in Washington on July 18, is too permissive and will advance, not stem, the spread of nuclear weapons.
   There also are doubts about whether India, which has a burgeoning strategic relationship with Tehran, ultimately will vote to send Iran’s case to the Security Council, where sanctions could be imposed.
   Several experts and congressional sources said New Delhi has not made a commitment on that issue, which could come before the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors next month.
   US officials are expected to present ideas for international rule changes when the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which seeks to control nuclear exports, meets in Vienna, beginning on Monday, US officials and experts said.
   On Tuesday, the undersecretary of state, Nicholas Burns, lead negotiator on the India nuclear deal, will speak on US-India relations to the Asia Society in New York. He later travels to New Delhi for further negotiations with Indian officials.
   For nearly 30 years the United States led the global fight to deny India’s access to nuclear technology because it developed nuclear weapons and tested them.
   India’s programme lies outside the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which recognises only five nuclear weapons states—the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France—and requires other states to forsake such arms.
   But on July 18, president George W Bush announced a new partnership and commitment to ‘work to achieve full energy cooperation with India,’ whose importance as an economic and geo-political counterweight to China is growing.
   The deal was a defacto acceptance of India’s nuclear status and a promise to support India’s acquisition of many banned items, including much-needed nuclear fuel.
   But it first requires approval by the NSG and the US Congress, which permit nuclear exports to non-nuclear weapon states only if facilities are under ‘full-scope safeguards,’ including international monitoring of facilities. India does not meet those standards.
   Experts and congressional sources said the administration seems inclined to ask the NSG for a specific exception for India.
   But some countries would prefer a broad exception with criteria that other states could also aspire to meet, a European diplomat said.
   Pakistan, which like India tested a nuclear weapon in 1998, has asked for similar treatment. The United States opposes this but experts predict China will use an India exception to justify new nuclear cooperation with Pakistan.
   A European diplomat said most European governments expect ‘a way will be found to accommodate India’ but this week’s NSG meeting is unlikely to take a firm decision.
   NSG decision-making usually is by consensus and while Britain, France and Russia are open to nuclear ties with India, some wonder how China will vote.
   In Congress, there is broad support for better ties with India. But some lawmakers are considering tougher demands on India—like a cut-off of fissile material production—as a condition of the nuclear deal going forward.
   Congressional committees are planning at least two more hearings on the US-India deal in the next few weeks.
   The United States and key European allies say Iran’s nuclear programmes are aimed at producing weapons but Tehran insists it only wants to make peaceful energy.
   The NSG meeting this week is also expected to discuss Iran.

India’s Tata Group and the government of Bangladesh are yet to hammer out at least four issues for agreements on commissioning the Indian conglomerate’s $3-billion investment proposal in four ventures.
   The two sides, at a coordination meeting on Monday, decided to continue the ongoing third-round talks for another week, making schedule for holding series of meetings to discuss and work out the pending issues. This round was due to be concluded in a day or two, according to the earlier schedule.
   Sources in the government informed New Age that gas security for the Tata projects, pricing of gas to be supplied to the Tata enterprises, purchase of electricity from the planned Tata power plant and awarding ‘readymade’ coalmine in Barapukuria to Tata are the four pending issues that would dominate the forthcoming negotiations.
   ‘What I can tell you keeping trust in the negotiation process is that we are making progress and we have addressed some issues. Still, we have to settle 4-5 issues during the talks,’ Alan Roseling, executive director of the group’s mother company, Tata Sons Limited, said.
   The communications secretary, Shafiqul Islam, who heads the committee, said more talks would be held before an overall review of the progress of the talks.
   Sources said the extension of the current-round talks indicated that they were determined to make progress in negotiations.
   Asked if the contentious issues of fiscal incentives would affect the talks, a key figure in the government expressed optimism that both the sides would be able to reach an agreement on the issues after detailed discussions. ‘We see Tata, too, has toned down.’
   A Tata official said they had not asked for ‘sun or moon,’ rather than demanding those already available in line with Bangladesh laws ‘plus special package for a huge and complex investment initiative’ as the finance and planning minister recently hinted at.
   Roseling, however, termed the Bangladesh side a ‘tough negotiator’ while the Tata side tried to maximise its benefits.
   He pointed out that the infrastructures in Bangladesh, which has ‘under-investment,’ needed to be built up making them suitable for the transport of raw materials and finished goods across the border at least six times a day as a result of the planned investment.

The government is planning to file compensation claim against Canadian Niko Resources by this month for Tengratila gas field blow-outs.
   The energy division on Sunday asked the Petrobangla to appoint a panel of lawyers shortly to suggest it on lodging the compensation claim for January 7 and June 24 blow-outs.
   Officials of the division said that the damage claim, though not yet fixed, would be between Tk 200 crore and Tk 300 crore.
   The Petrobangla would seek opinion from the lawyers’ panel before determining the amount of compensation claim, which will include the cost of gas burnt, damages caused to environment and property of local people, and compensation for people evacuated from the site as per the reports of the six inquiry committees.
   The energy officials said Tk 34-40 crore might be claimed for the loss of three billion cubic feet of gas and Tk 76 crore for environmental damage while over Tk 100 crore for other issues including compensation to the local people.
   ‘The compensation claim would include a clause that Niko will have to pay further compensation if it is found in future that the gas loss is more than that of the estimate of the inquiry reports,’ the energy adviser, Mahmudur Rahman, told New Age on Monday.
   A probe committee said that the gas loss in the reservoir would be 6-52 bcf. Actual loss could be assessed when the field goes into production.
   He said Petrobangla was asked to appoint a panel of lawyers to take opinion so that no legal complexities arise in realising compensation from the company.
   ‘After getting the opinion of the lawyers, Petrobangla will lodge the compensation claim by this month as declared earlier,’ he said.

The police started hunts for a man who accompanied Iqbal bin Yakub, the Chittagong unit president of Fazlul Haq Amini led Islami Oikya Jote, for the three days before his death Saturday night.
   Iqbal, who went to Dhaka from Chittagong Thursday and left Dhaka Saturday afternoon along with the man, was recovered in an unconscious state from near the Gani Bakery in the Chittagogn city midnight Saturday.
   Doctors declared him dead after taken to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
   ‘If we can find out the man who accompanied Iqbal during his tour of Dhaka and his return to Chittagong, we will be able to make headway in our probe,’ the investigation officer of the case, Ahsan Ullah, said on Monday.
   ‘We are trying to seize the videotape from the Green Line coach in which the IOJ leader accompanied by the man travelled Saturday,’ he said.
   The police was also investigating whether Iqbal’s killing was a sequel to any business dispute.
   The victim’s younger brother, Asraf bin Yakub, on Monday filed a case with the Kotwali police.

The Election Commission on Sunday received Tk 60 crore, out of a total of Tk 146.29 crore as proposed by the commission, to prepare a fresh voters’ roll.
   The commission on August 13 sent the proposed budget to the finance ministry seeking its approval, but more than two months after the proposal, the ministry sanctioned the first instalment.
   ‘We have got Tk 60 crore as the first instalment of our proposed budget. Delay in the allocation will not create any negative impact on the preparation of the voters’ roll as work in this regard is going on as usual,’ SM Zakaria, secretary to the Election Commission Secretariat, told New Age.
   Sources in the commission secretariat said the pace of work on making the roll would be geared up as it receives the money. The earlier stalled because of the delay in fund allocation.
   The commission, however, completed the table work for the roll. It also constituted the district coordination committees and appointed 6,400 assistant registration officers.

The assistant and deputy attorneys general have resented the introduction of attendance register for them.
   The system was introduced on Monday under which the deputy and assistant attorneys general have to sign the attendance register, preserved at the offices of the attorney general and two additional attorneys general, with their arrival at the office every morning.
   They also have to register the time of their arrival and departure.
   According to the notification, a deputy or assistant attorney general will be allowed to enjoy casual leave for 20 days in a year. No casual leave, however, will be granted for more than 10 consecutive days.
   The notification also barred the law officers to leave Dhaka without approval of the authorities during their casual leave.
   ‘No law officer will be allowed to go abroad during his/her casual leave,’ the notification said.

The Supreme Court resumed its regular judicial functions on Monday after a 45-day annual vacation amid the traditional get-together, boycotted by the Supreme Court Bar Association.
   The association boycotted the get-together of the judges and the lawyers protesting at the presence of Justice Faisal Mahmud Fayezee whom it blames for tampering with his LLB certificate.
   The lawyers, except those belong to the pro-government forums, are also boycotting the court of Fayezee.
   The get-together is held every year on the opening day after the annual vacation and all judges and lawyers of the Supreme Court attend the programme and meet and greet each other.
   The association also boycotted the get-together in 2004, protesting against the appointment of 19 additional judges of the Supreme Court, including Fayezee, who, according to the association, were appointed on political considerations.
   The association president, Mahbubey Alam, told reporters at a press briefing that the association would continue its programme of boycotting Justice Fayezee’s court until the question regarding his LLB certificate scam is resolved.
   ‘The government keeps the matter unresolved to implement its blueprint for destroying the country’s highest judiciary,’ he said.

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh today expands its open market sale programme in the Dhaka city with 100 more lentil and sugar outlets.
   The TCB, which started selling lentil, onion, chick pea and sugar in four main cities from October 5, expands the programme to intervene soaring prices of essential commodities, TCB sources said.
   They said the extended programme will be conducted by 100 dealers of the food and disaster management ministry and one would be allowed to take maximum five kilograms of lentil and sugar at Tk 42 and Tk 34 respectively. Each of the dealers will be given a maximum of 500 tonnes lentil and 200 tonnes sugar a day, they added.
   ‘The government took the decision considering the sufferings of the low income group people caused by high prices of essential commodities during Ramadan,’ a TCB senior official said adding that the programme would continue until further notice.
   In the Dhaka city, the corporation sell commodities in 10 mobile trucks.
   On October 13, 14 and 15, the corporation sold their commodities in 10 more mobile trucks.
   A TCB high official said, ‘We bought lentil, onion and sugar at Tk 46.10, Tk 29 and Tk 35 and sell it at Tk 42, Tk 22 and Tk 34 respectively’.
   The TCB, however, is conducting the programme without any guideline that is creating problems in some cases and the expansion programme will also be run without guideline, sources concerned said.

The High Court on Monday granted interim anticipatory bail for four weeks to Abdul Hamid Dablu and Akhter Hamid Paban, sons of the chief whip Khandokar Delwar Hossain, in four extortion cases.
   The HC bench of Justice SK Sinha and Justice Farid Ahmed said it would watch them during this period to see the causes behind the allegations against the sons of such a political family. Three owners of shopping-cum-commercial complex Motalib Plaza, MA Dalim, MA Sayeed and MA Salim, and Moktar Hossain Palash, a director of Good Luck Real Estate Ltd, filed the cases against the siblings.