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Ataur Rahman Sunny alias Hasan, brother of the chief of the banned Islamist outfit, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, engineered the August 17 blasts in the capital.
   Sunny had also designed the leaflets found in the sites of the blasts across the country.
   This was disclosed by AHM Shamim, the information technology expert of the outfit, in his confession given in the chief metropolitan magistrate court on Sunday.
   Eight more activists of the Jamaatul Mujahideen gave their confessional statements before courts in Dhaka, Jaipurhat and Natore on Sunday.
   Besides, the police arrested a Mujahideen militant in Jaipurhat on the day.
   In the capital, the police produced Shamim, arrested from Habiganj on September 7, before the court of the metropolitan magistrate, Jahangir Alam, where his statement was recorded in the evening.
   Shamim, also son of a former district amir of Jamaat-e Islami of Habiganj, Saidur Rahman, stated that he was introduced to Sunny when he visited a house in Khilgaon along with two others, Shafiq and Minhaz, in January.
   Sunny inspired him to join the Mujahideen as he often visited the house of Kashem, another member of the outfit, to repair his computer.
   ‘Sunny trained me in arms with drawings of small arms on paper,’ he said.
   ‘On August 16, Sunny called me to repair his computer at his Basabo residence. Sunny brought a bag and a laptop computer and asked me to type up a document,’ he said and added that two others, Yasir and Akram, also typed the documents.
   Sunny then asked him to e-mail three documents in Arabic, English and Bangla.
   As per his order, Shamim went to a cyber café beside Lab Aid in Dhanmondi on August 17 at about 1:00pm and e-mailed the documents.
   Shamim also said Sunny was the one who had designed the leaflets kept with the bombs. Sunny had also communicated with other members of the outfit through emails before August 17.
   Later, he went to his house in Habiganj via Gazipur, said Shamim.
   A woman, Aleya Ferdousi Shammi, arrested from a house at Dakkhin Goran on September 8 with a large amount of bomb-making materials, also made her confessional statement before the same magistrate court in the evening.
   Another militant, Faysal Ahmed, a student of class VIII, in his statement before the court of metropolitan magistrate, Nani Gopal Biswas, said he became a member of the banned outfit in 2000.
   The Mujahideen chief, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, and his younger brother Sunny briefed the Mujahideen members on Jihad at Kalihati, Tangail after the Eid-ul Azha.
   On August 14, Faysal came to Dhaka along with another militant Saiful and stayed at a Khilgaon mosque-cum-madrassah for some time. They went to the Tip-top Mosque at Kakrail where they were briefed about the bomb attack.
   Faysal was given Tk 600 at the mosque and the bombs were also distributed among Mujahideen activists from there.
   On August 17, he carried a paper bag, containing the bomb, and planted it on the footpath at the northeast end of the Razarbagh police lines and it exploded shortly after 11:00am.
   Later, he met with the leader, Uzzal, and went to his village home from where the police arrested him.
   In Natore, four Mujahideen members, arrested from a house at Mirpara in the town after an encounter with the police on September 17, confessed to the court of first class magistrate Arif Pasha.
   The four, Hafizul Islam Hafiz, Delwar Hossain Mithu, Abdul Matin and Shihab, stated that they received arms training at the Mujahideen camp at Hamirkutsa in Bagmara, Rajshahi. They said they received training on bombs at a rented flat at Mirpara, Natore from where they were arrested.
   Abdus Samad alias Awal, the son-in-law of Shaikh Abdur Rahman, had provided them training and he is the commander of three districts, they stated.
   In Jaipurhat, two siblings, Jahangir Alam alias Liton and Rabiul Islam, made their confessional statements before the first magistrate court.
   They stated that they held a secret meeting at the house of Mujahideen commander Ziaur Rahman Zia, on August 16, where Zia, the district commander, was also present.
   As per the decision, they planted bombs at Panchur More and the bus stand in the town, they stated.
   Another activist, Rezwanul Bari Rezwan, was picked up from a truck while trying to escape on Sunday morning. He was arrested for suspected links with the countrywide bomb blasts of August 17.
   The police arrested him based on the confession of another Mujahideen member Azizul Bari Mintu, arrested on September 9.
   In Khulna, a court ordered the police to send a militant, Lokman alias Shahidullah, to Khulna for interrogation. Lokman is being interrogated by the detective police in Dhaka.

The home ministry has taken various measures throughout the country to maintain order and to check crime during Ramadan, which will coincide with Durga Puja, and Eid-ul-Fitr.
   Security will be beefed up across the country during the festival, but the capital will be the focal point as some special steps have been taken to maintain discipline and check crime, especially snatching and extortion.
   The home ministry and the office of the inspector general of police have already set up two control rooms to monitor the crime situation round the clock during the festivals.
   The police department has identified 533 spots that are especially vulnerable to crime in the capital. About 41 temporary police camps and 76 checkpoints will be set up in Dhaka city to strengthen vigilance.
   The state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, at a high-level meeting on Sunday issued firm instructions to all the police wings and intelligence agencies to remain watchful and beef up security measures.
   He said 70 teams of police would patrol the capital round the clock and other teams would be on patrol from 3-30am to 7-30am during the Ramadan. Moreover, 400 more community police will also be active to ensure safety and security of the city dwellers.
   Meeting sources said the authorities have pinpointed 40 places which were mainly responsible for traffic congestion in the capital. ‘The RAB will be engaged in easing traffic jams along with the traffic police,’ said a home ministry official who attended the meeting.
   He said mobile teams of the law enforcers in uniforms and plainclothes would perform their duty round the clock in every district, not only in the capital. The meeting, presided over by Babar, discussed details of the security system in the capital and the country during the festivals and the upcoming SAARC summit in November.
   RAB will set up 10 camps and 13 checkpoints and will work as the strike force during the festivals in the city. It will also ensure security in every district.

The draft cable television network policy, which contains no provisions on downlinking of satellite television programmes, will be placed before the cabinet on Monday for its approval, said official sources.
   Though the policy proposes restrictions on outward remittance of money by way of ‘royalty payments’ to foreign channels, and frequent increase of fees by distributors, cable or feed operators without prior permission from the government, the drainage of a huge amount of foreign currency to India will continue by way of payments for downlinking the satellite television programmes.
   Currently, the country has no system of downlinking the satellite television programmes, and three pay-channel distributing companies controlled by two individuals procure the programmes from India that downlinks them.
   The omission of provisions for directly downlinking satellite TV programmes will benefit only the two individuals mentioned above and harm the country’s economy.
   A sub-article of the 16-article policy says that any pay-channel may be imported in accordance with the existing import policy.
   According to the policy, the government will have the authority to issue licence only for running multi-channel multi-point distribution services to transmit audio-video signals through telecommunication devices.
   Though most of the countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia directly downlink the satellite television signals, the new draft policy is silent on the issue, keeping open the system of drainage of foreign currency of several hundred crore takas for import of downlink satellite television programmes, and also endangering the country’s air-sovereignty.
   Moreover, the policy proposes use of the decoder, a device to screen out obscene programmes, for every viewer.
   The device will cost Tk 2,500 and will have to be imported from India, said sources.
   According to sources, if any private or government organisation downlinks the satellite television programmes, no decoder will be needed to screen out obscene programmes, as in that case the downlinking organisation may screen out them.
   The draft policy, however, reportedly aims to preserve the history, heritage, culture and values of the country, to stop airing of obscene programmes and to ensure that the operators and distributors duly pay revenue.
   The draft policy proposes provisions for penalty for airing programmes contrary to the history, heritage, culture and values of the country. The equipment of a television channel can be impounded for such offences, the draft policy says.
   The policy will also be strictly against the airing of obscene programmes and horror shows, and aims to make the cable television network adhere to the policies of the Bangladesh Censor Board.
   The cable networks will not be allowed to broadcast pornography and programmes with sexual content, says the draft policy.
   The policy says no money will be transferred to foreign countries for payment of royalty without the knowledge and permission of the Ministry of Information.
   It will make it compulsory for cable operators to obtain a licence from the information ministry and also register with the Bangladesh Bank before making any overseas payments.
   According to the draft policy, licences for distribution and operation of cable television and related commercial activities will be issued for a term of one year only. An applicant will have to maintain complete transparency in business competence, technical expertise and overseas money transfer in order to get licences renewed.

The High Court on Sunday ordered the government not to arrest or harass, without due process of law, the Ekushey Television chairman, Abdus Salam. Television chairman, Abdus Salam.
   A vacation bench of the High Court comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Dastgir Husain and Justice Nirmalendu Dhar also issued a rule on the government to show cause as to why a direction would not be given not to arrest Salam without due process of law.
   The court passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by Salam.
   Pleading for the petitioner, Hasan Fayez Siddiqui told the court that Salam got the license on April 12 to resume operation of ETV.
   ‘Some influential and interested persons in the government are pressing Salam to sell shares of ETV to them’, he argued.
   Salam, also the managing director of ETV, is apprehending that if shares are not sold to them, he can be arrested and harassed at any time, contended the counsel.
   The television channel, which was closed down by a court order on August 29, 2002, was the first television channel in the private sector with both satellite and terrestrial facilities to beam programmes.
   After a prolonged legal battle, the channel got back its license and is likely to come into operation shortly. Salam, an expatriate Bangladeshi, now owns the lion’s shares of the channel.
   The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the ETV case for ten days upon a prayer by the ETV authorities.
   Praying for the adjournment, ETV’s counsel told the court that it would file an application to the information ministry seeking ‘no objection’ of the ministry for ETV’s telecast.
   A four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by the chief justice, Syed JR Mudassir Husain, allowed the prayer and asked the counsels for ETV to inform the results of the application before hearing.
   Kamal Hossain with Tanzib-ul-Alam moved the case for ETV and additional attorney general AJ Mohammad Ali and TH Khan appeared for the government.
   The government, on August 29, 2002, banned the broadcasting of Ekushey Television, the first private terrestrial television channel of the country, following an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court that upheld the High Court judgement declaring the licence of ETV void for fraudulence in the process of issuing the licence.
   The television authorities then applied for a fresh license to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, but have not received a response yet.

The government on Sunday formed a three-member committee to probe into the alleged illegal installation of 19-kilometre gas pipelines by Niko, using Titas Gas Company’s pipes, from Tengratila to Doarabazar in Sunamganj.
   The committee, headed by a Petrobangla director (operation), was asked to submit its report by three days.
   Niko allegedly installed the pipelines in the gas distribution area under the jurisdiction of the Jalalabad Gas Transmission Company Ltd while Tengratila gas-field was burning in the period from March to June.
   It could not be known why Niko installed such distribution lines hurriedly.
   Niko reportedly borrowed the 16-inch diameter pipes for the 19-km pipelines from Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company. The pipes were purchased for the Asian Development Bank-funded Dhaka Clean Fuel Project, which was adversely affected by this illegal act.
   Sources in the Energy and Mineral Resources Division said the ADB warned the government two or three days back that it would freeze the funds for the clean fuel project if it was found that Niko had taken the project’s pipes.
   Sources in Petrobangla claimed the then state minister, Mosharraf Hossain, forced Titas to give the pipes to Niko.
   The company, to take the pipes, obtained no permission from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Explosives Directorate, Petrobangla, the JGTCL or even the Joint Management Committee comprising Bapex and Niko officials.
   There is no gas purchase-sales agreement against this pipeline. There is also no instance of any private oil company attempting to set up infrastructure to sell gas to any consumer outside the government since Petrobangla holds the right to refuse to purchase gas from any party.
   Energy and mineral resources adviser, Mahmudur Rahman, told New Age on Sunday that action would be taken if the inquiry found that Niko had installed any pipeline illegally.
   Within only one month of the laying of this pipeline, Niko’s faulty drilling of a relief well caused the second blow-out at Tengratila gas-field on June 24. This relief well was being drilled to seal the well that had exploded on January 7. Government investigators, who found Niko’s drilling plan faulty, also blamed delayed drilling of the relief well for the explosion.

The Niko Resources is procrastinating over paying compensations to 113 families and 100 shopkeepers at Tengratila and its adjacent areas affected by the two blow-outs — one on January 7 and another on June 24.
   The company agreed to give Tk 10,000 per month to each family until assessment of damages caused by the blowouts, and Tk 10,000 to Tk 20,000 per month to each shopkeeper as temporary allowance.
   Although Niko paid the compensations for July, it has not paid the compensations for August despite frequent requests by the affected families and shopkeepers, said sources.
   The 113 families of villages Tengra and Ajabpur who left their homes following the blowouts live in rented houses in Sunamganj and Sylhet.
   Later, according to an understanding between the officials concerned and businessmen, Niko evicted 100 shopkeepers at Tengrabazar from their establishments to avoid any accident.
   The information officer of Niko, Abu Sayeed, told New Age that Niko could not pay the compensations due to a High Court order freezing the company’s funds. ‘Only the salaries of the officials and employees are drawn from the account,’ he said.
   But one of the lawyers dealing with the case filed by the non-governmental organisation, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, Ain O Salish Kendra, and Odhikar, Rezwana Ahmed said it was not true as the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s order following a writ petition filed by Niko allowing it money transaction. ‘But Niko cannot transfer its money out of the country,’ she added.
   According to the sources, Niko paid compensations of Tk 5,000 each to 616 affected families enlisted by the company at Tengra, Ajabpur, Shantipur, Khaiyajuri, and Girishnagar following a directive of the Niko president, Qasim Sharif.
   But the authorities concerned later decided to compensate only 165 families forcing the other affected villagers to initiate a movement, said the sources.
   The affected villagers including those excluded from the list demanded that the government should not allow the company to run its activities.
   The drilling work of the new relief well, however, has remained suspended since Wednesday as cracks developed after reaching a depth of 530 metres. The Niko engineers are trying to fill up the cracks pouring cement.
   An official said the drilling work was stopped due to excessive pressure of the gas at the relief well area and it would be resumed once the situation comes under control.

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, on Sunday blamed institutional weaknesses, lack of governance, corruption and inefficiency for the increasing cost of doing business in Bangladesh.
   ‘These are the issues that impede desired results in poverty alleviation programmes despite all efforts,’ he told the launching ceremony of vision-2021 initiated by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
   Underlining the need for consensus on all economic issues, the president urged everyone irrespective of political affiliation to refrain from programmes and activities that damage the country’s image abroad and adversely impacts trade and investment climate.
    ‘We have to continue efforts to fight corruption and establish the rule of law,’ Iajuddin said and urged the private sector to cooperate with the government to improve governance.
   He also emphasised the need for carrying out a baseline survey identifying weaknesses in development and for taking up an integrated approach covering all sectors — social, educational, cultural, security and foreign policy.
   Dwelling on the subject, the Dhaka chamber president, Sayeeful Islam, proposed formation of an all-party national committee headed by the prime minister, also involving business leaders, non-governmental organisations and the intelligentsia to prepare and implement the vision-2021.
   Aimed at achieving $1,000 per capita income by 2021, the vision encompasses an ideal, investment-friendly country with middle-income status, attractive tourist destination, strong private sector linked to the outside world, agro-based industrialisation, healthy educated and skilled human resources, sound ecology and so on, he detailed.
   Addressing the function as special guest, the science minister, Abdul Moyeen Khan, described the chamber’s per capita income target as ‘extremely modest’. He felt that it should have been $5,000 per capita by 2021.
   Moyeen, earlier in charge of the planning ministry, who had initiated a 15-year perspective participatory plan in 1995, believes that the country’s current per capita income estimated at $445 is far less than the real one, which is approximately $1,000 if the informal sector is considered.
   The commerce minister, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, the commerce advisor, Barkat Ullah Bulu, Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam and Dhaka chamber’s senior vice president Manzur-Ur-Rahman Ruskin also addressed the function at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.
   Mahfuz blamed the country’s leadership at all levels for making Bangladesh a poor country and a ‘country of insanity’. ‘We in Bangladesh are poor by choice,’ he said pointing out that corruption and wastage of national resources are responsible for the plight.
   He also criticised the political leadership, especially the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, for not speaking to each other and criticised the culture of boycott and hartal. ‘Please, restore political sanity,’ he urged.
   Moyeen Khan countered him, saying that talking terms at the top level is not required if regular interactions at other levels are there and if people are a part of democratic exercise. ‘We discuss issues when we sit together,’ he said.
   Moyeen explained that a democratic decision is taken by the majority with the consent of the minority. ‘If that system is adopted, politics of confrontation must go,’ he said.

Infighting in the Dhaka University unit of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the ruling BNP, has intensified after the announcement of the full hall unit committees.
   After a delay of almost a year after the announcement of the top positions of the hall committees, the full-fledged committees were announced two months ago.
   Mid-level leaders of the university unit told New Age that a blind eye to the misdeeds some of the leaders was behind the friction. A member of the university committee of the Chhatra Dal said these leaders did not do much except participate in processions now and then and fight against each other.
   All the senior leaders of the university and the central committee of the organisation have kept silent on the issue.
   After announcement of the committees, the factions began to establish supremacy at the halls of residence. Five senior teachers of the university were manhandled over factional feuds at Jagannath Hall on Saturday.
   The feuds continue at a number of residence halls and have thus far injured 50 activists including the latest one at Jasimuddin Hall that left at least 25 injured on Saturday night, said party insiders.
   The midnight clash also damaged at least 50 rooms. Every single windowpane of these rooms was broken. The hall provost, Mahbubur Rahman, said he has asked the university’s engineering section to make necessary repairs.
   He said a probe body was formed to investigate the incident headed by the senior-most house tutor, Nasir Uddin Munshi. ‘Actions against the responsible persons will be taken as per the committee’s report,’ said Mahbub. The committee has been given 48 hours to submit its report.
   At least 25 activists of the Jasimuddin Hall unit of Chhatra Dal were injured and some 50 rooms ransacked on Saturday night which erupted over possession of a seat between two factions of the hall unit Chhatra Dal.
   The clash erupted at about 11:30pm and the police brought the situation under control after an hour. Both the feuding groups used clubs, iron rods and knives, said witnesses.
   The Ramna police said they had picked up 11 students from the hall but failed to provide their identities. All of them were released Sunday afternoon.
   Hall inmates said the clash occurred between two factions — one led by hall unit president Ripon and another by the organising secretary Monir — over possession of a seat in room 425.
   At one stage Monir was attacked in his room and immediately afterwards his supporters retaliated. They indiscriminately ransacked rooms of the northern block of the hall.
   The Dhaka University unit of Chhatra Dal had an emergency meeting to discuss the issue on Sunday and expelled nine of its leaders and activists for their involvement in Saturday’s incidents at Jasimuddin and Jagannath halls.
   The expelled are Sayeed Ahmed Sayeed, Delwar Hossain, Jafar Ahmed, Abdullah Al Mamun, Mehedi Hasan Romel, Ahmed Kutubuddin Kutub and Mainul Hossain of Jasimuddin Hall, and Kirit Majumdar and Sagar Bishwas of Jagannath Hall.
   The Jasimuddin Hall unit organising secretary, Moniruzzaman Monir, has been suspended till further notice and MA Tuhin and Helal Uddin Helal, joint secretaries of the hall unit, were issued show-cause notices.
   The police was deployed as tension mounted at the halls after the clash.
   The provosts’ committee of the university is likely sit within a day or two to streamline irregularities at the halls of residence, said sources in the proctorial body.

A Dhaka University student sustained bullet wound in front of Shahidullah Hall Sunday night.
   Rehan Dastagir James, a masters’ student of the soil water and environment department, was attacked in front of the hall gate at around 8:50pm. The attackers went to the hall in a car and opened fire on him, sources at the hall said.
   He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   Campus sources said the attack was a continuation of a brawl between students of the soil water and environment department and some Chhatra Dal activists of Haji Muhsin Hall unit that took place at the Teachers Students Centre.
   The brawl erupted when the Muhsin Hall students tried to enter a freshers’ reception of the soil science department. They were barred by the department students.
   After the brawl, the Muhsin Hall students roamed around the campus in search of soil science students and caught hold of James in front of the hall, the sources said.
   The victim resides at Mirpur in the Dhaka city and is attached to Shahidullah Hall.

Dhaka will ask New Delhi not to give training or shelter to Bangladeshi criminals hiding in India as the top officials of the border forces of the two neighbours meet in the Indian capital today.
   Bangladesh Rifles sources said a list of about 700 Bangladeshi criminals who have taken shelter in India and their whereabouts would be handed over to the Indian Border Security Forces during the six-day direct general level meeting of the border guards of the two countries.
   The issues of unprovoked firing and continuous killings of innocent Bangladeshis by the Indian BSF will also be a burning issue at the meeting besides the issues of intrusion of Indian nationals and border guards into Bangladesh territory, the effort to push-in Bangla-speaking Indian nationals to Bangladesh and violation of Bangladesh airspace by Indian choppers.
   The director general of the Bangladesh Rifles, Major General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, who will lead a 19-member delegation in the meeting said that they would hand over a specific list of about 700 Bangladeshi criminals.
   ‘We will also give them the name of the places where the criminals are hiding,’ the Bangladesh Rifles chief told BBC Radio Bangla Service. He complained that India had been giving training to the criminals and sending them to Bangladesh for unleashing crime.
   ‘Not only Bangladeshi criminals, Indian criminals are also coming in,’ he told the radio service, adding that he would ask India not to train Bangladeshi criminals and send them back to Bangladesh.
   The BDR DG also alleged that arms, explosives and drugs were being sent to Bangladesh which would also be brought to the notice of the Indian authorities.
   The issues of fencing the border, building of structures by India within 150 yards of international border, anti-Bangladesh propaganda by the BSF and Indian media will to be raised in the meeting.
   It is a regular meeting between the border guards of Bangladesh and Indian to discuss the border issues and to improve relation between the two neighbours by minimising deputes. The last meeting was held in Dhaka in April 2004.
   ‘Bangladesh always raised the issues and the Indian side also assured us of stopping such practices but the assurance went in vein,’ regretted a top BDR official.
   Pointing to the deputy director general level meeting between the border forces of the two countries, he said that four Bangladeshis had been killed by Indians hours before the meeting ended in Shiliguri on August 9.
   The BSF and Indian citizens killed 406 Bangladeshis in the frontier areas since January 1, 2000, says a report of Odhikar, a human rights group based in Dhaka.
   Three hundred and twenty-eight of them were shot dead by the BSF alone, the report added.

Political relations between Bangladesh and India remain far below the potential for lack of adequate discussions and dialogue between the neighbours, said the Indian high commissioner, Veena Sikri, here on Sunday.
   ‘The two countries need more discussion and dialogue. The government-level interaction has to be supplemented and complemented more and more by the civil societies and private-sector dialogues,’ she said, replying to a question at the monthly luncheon of foreign investors at Hotel Sheraton.
   The Indian envoy also blamed media for picking up one sentence–out of context–that hinders improving the Indo-Bangla ties.
   She apprised the meeting that India’s relations with other neighbours, once having gone through difficult situation, were now much better than ever before.
   In her address to the foreign investors, Sikri said there was a broad consensus across the spectrum of political parties, business community and public opinion in India that supports a deeper, mutually beneficial, cooperative relationship with Bangladesh and other neighbours.
   ‘What we need now is sustained dialogue and continuous engagement to evolve mutually beneficial, win-win solutions on all issues,’ the diplomat told her foreign business audience.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday alleged that the chief election commissioner and the secretary to the Election Commission are the masterminds of election rigging for BNP.
   ‘The BNP-led alliance government has taken all-out preparations for election engineering. The CEC and the secretary to the EC secretariat are the headmasters not masters of election engineering. No election will be possible under this CEC,’ Hasina said.
   Hasina, also leader of the opposition in parliament, was addressing a gathering when former additional secretary, Abdul Mannan, and Jatiya Party leader of Manikganj, Abdul Quader, went to the Awami League’s Dhanmondi office.
   Both of them, along with several hundred activists, joined the Awami League and presented bouquets of flowers to Hasina.
   She said that the government has finalised the plan to doctor the results of the next general elections and appointed party leaders as upazila election officers for the purpose. Referring to the election held on February 15, 1996, she warned that this time the consequences will be more dreadful. ‘The ruling alliance will face dire consequences if people’s right to vote is snatched away,’ she added.
   Hasina claimed the she had information that the BNP-Jamaat leaders had already prepared the new voters’ list. ‘BNP and Shibir cadres prepared the voters’ list from which they omitted the names of the pro-AL voters and minority communities,’ she said.
   She demanded immediate resignation of the chief election commissioner, saying, ‘The chief election commissioner has proved his partisanship and lack of neutrality.’
   She also demanded immediate cancellation of the appointments of JCD and Shibir activists to the posts of upazila election officers.
   Hasina also demanded big transparent ballot boxes for each booth, and said the government must meet the demand for reform of the caretaker government and election commission.
   The former prime minister asked the party leaders to make the countrymen aware of the need for the reforms and of their voting rights.
   Accusing the government of protecting the interests of businessmen by permitting the abnormal price hikes of essential commodities, she said the prime minister herself and her son were involved in various businesses.

The government on Sunday turned down the Tuesday Group’s move to hold an international conference here on Bangladesh’s next general elections, saying the move is tantamount to “interference into domestic politics and would be counter-productive.’
   The Tuesday Group, a club of ambassadors and high commissioners of 14 countries — mostly from Europe and America — and representatives of two international organisations want to hold a conference on ‘International Electoral Best Practices’ towards the end of this year or early next year to discuss the possible technical assistance to the Election Commission.
   The government cleared its stance when the Canadian high commissioner, David Sproule, and Norwegian ambassador, Aud Lise Nordheim, met foreign affairs adviser Reaz Rahman at his office and raised the matter.
   ‘We asked them how a sovereign, elected government could allow it. It is counter-productive, it is interference in domestic politics, it seems that it is taking sides and no government can allow it,’ said Reaz after the meeting.
   He said Bangladesh already has a good record of ensuring three free and fair elections in the past, which were acclaimed at home and abroad.
   The envoys tried to reassure that the Tuesday Group had no intention whatsoever, to interfere in internal politics. They have made the plan with good intentions to provide ‘technical support’ to the Election Commission to make the election free, fair and credible.
   Reaz retorted that a high-level international conference on election would suggest that the government does not want free and fair elections, which is not true.
   Referring to prime minister Khaleda Zia’s statement in parliament, he said Khaleda repeatedly assured that the next elections would be free and fair and foreign election observers would be allowed to monitor the election.
   When it was pointed out that the Tuesday Group had held a similar election conference in Pakistan, Reaz said democracy in Pakistan cannot be compared with democracy in Bangladesh.

Israeli aircraft blasted suspected Palestinian weapons facilities in Gaza on Sunday and authorities arrested hundreds of militants in the West Bank, launching an offensive against the Islamic group Hamas after it bombarded Israeli towns with rockets.
   The prime minister, Ariel Sharon, warned Sunday ‘all means’ would be used to end attacks on Israel.
   Security officials said the military was preparing for possible artillery attacks and a ground invasion unless the Palestinian Authority or Hamas itself halts the rocket attacks.
   The army fired several artillery rounds into empty fields in northern Gaza in preparation for a possible attack, the military said. The firing was intended as a drill to determine possible coordinates for a future attack and there were no immediate reports of injuries.
   The new offensive dubbed ‘Operation First Rain’ dashed hopes that Israel’s recently completed Gaza withdrawal would help restart peace talks and left a seven-month-old cease-fire teetering on the brink of collapse.
   The fighting also turned up already intense pressure on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to confront militants, and weakened the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, as he parries a challenge to his leadership.
   The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, called Abbas Saturday evening and urged him to preserve the truce and stop further deterioration.
   A group of senior Israeli cabinet officials, led by Sharon, approved the military operation at an emergency meeting late Saturday after Hamas militants fired nearly 40 rockets from Gaza at southern Israeli towns. The rocket barrage, which injured six Israelis, was the Islamic group’s first major attack since Israel concluded its Gaza pullout two weeks ago.
   ‘There shall be no restrictions on the use of all means to hit the terrorists and the terror organisations, their equipment and their hideouts,’ Sharon said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
   The no-holds-barred fight against terror will apply to Gaza and the West Bank.
   ‘The order is unequivocal. We do not mean a one-off operation. We mean ongoing activity whose aim is to hit the terrorists,’ Sharon said.
   Israeli military officials said the attacks were aimed at any armed group but would be focused on Hamas, the largest militant organisation.
   The latest cycle of violence began Friday afternoon with an explosion at a Hamas rally in Gaza’s crowded Jebaliya refugee camp, in which at least 15 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded.
   Hamas blamed Israel for that blast, and said its rocket attacks on Israeli towns were meant as retaliation. Israel has denied involvement, and the Palestinian Authority held the Islamic militants responsible, saying weapons were mishandled.

Though the Myanmar government officially invited Bangladesh to send a team to finalise the draft framework of an agreement of the proposed Dhaka-Yangon road link, it said it would not bear the local hospitality cost of the team, said sources in the communications ministry.
   A three-member delegation led by the communications secretary, Shafiqul Islam, is now in Myanmar on a three-day visit to finalise the framework of the agreement.
   Additional secretary (bilateral) of the foreign ministry and additional chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, Idris Miah, are the two other members of the team.
   In a letter dated August 14, Myanmar asked Bangladesh to send a team to finalise the framework of the agreement, but the letter also expressed its inability to bear the local hospitality cost of the delegation, which is usually borne by the host country.
   However, due to persuasion by the ambassador of Bangladesh in Myanmar, Yangon finally agreed to foot the local hospitality bill only for the team leader of the delegation.
   Communications ministry sources said that initially the ministry was astonished at receiving such a ‘discourteous’ invitation, but decided to send the team as Bangladesh is desperately trying to establish road communications with Thailand and China, and to strengthen the government’s ‘look east’
   policy.
   According to the framework, Bangladesh and Myanmar will be responsible for planning, constructing and maintaining the road. Both countries will make land available, free of charge, for the road as well as for camping facilities for construction personnel, equipment and supplies.
   Officials said if Myanmar agrees to the draft agreement, Bangladesh will sign it after getting approval from the cabinet.
   Earlier, in May, Dhaka sent the draft of the agreement to Myanmar for consideration.
   The proposed road will stretch from Taungbro to Kyauktaw in Myanmar via Ramu-Gundom to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, and will be constructed in two phases at the estimated cost of Tk 33.46 crore.
   The Bangladesh government, according to the plan, will construct the 43km road in the first phase, out of which 20km will be in Bangladesh and 23km in Myanmar, at a cost of Tk 163.49 crore.
   Of the total sum, Tk 94 crore will be spent for building the 23km road from Taungbro to Bawli Bazar inside Myanmar along with two bridges and 90 culverts.
   Later, in the second phase, the 110km road from Bawli Bazar to Kyautaw in Myanmar will be constructed at an estimated cost of Tk 770.26 crore.

A huge area of land worth about Tk 10,000 crore, owned by the WAQF, has been occupied by land-grabbers all over the country for a long time.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Religious Affairs in a meeting disclosed that more than one lakh acres of land, out of the total 1.22 lakh acres owned by the WAQF, are still in the hands of land-grabbers. The committee accused the government of not taking effective measures to recover the land.
   The committee members also sought immediate government intervention to free the land from the illegal occupiers, and suggested that the money which would be earned from the recovered land should be used for poverty reduction.
   The 25th meeting of the committee, held on Sunday morning, also recommended that the government realise the Zakat money through the office of the Prime Minister from this year instead of the Ministry of the Religious Affairs, said meeting sources.
   Sources said that the committee members expressed their dissatisfaction as the government didn’t take necessary measures to recover the WAQF land despite repeated appeals.
   ‘We requested the government several times to take effective measures to recover the land, but the government didn’t pay any heed to our requests,’ one of the committee members, Awami League’s Shahjahan Khan, told New Age after the meeting. He also said that the government didn’t even cooperate with the parliamentary sub-committee formed earlier to enact policy in this regard.
   The committee members also observed that if the land could be recovered it could play an important role in poverty alleviation.
   The meeting also put emphasis on formation of a separate ministry on WAQF estate affairs, like other Muslim-predominant countries.
   Chairman Dilwar Hossain Saidee told New Age that the committee recommended the collection of Zakat through the Prime Minister’s Office from the next Ramadan.
   The Ministry of Religious Affairs collected only Tk 27 lakh of Zakat money through the offices of the deputy commissioners and the deputy directors of the Islamic Foundation, a sum which is negligible, said meeting sources.
   The committee members also expressed deep concern over reducing the number of ballotee Hajj pilgrims in the recent period and held the mismanagement of the government responsible for it.
   It recommended that the government provide Nurani Qur’an learning in each union of every upazila of the country, initially under a pilot project.

A suspected leader of a faction of underground Purba Banglar Communist Party was killed in crossfire between the police and his accomplices at Charmile in the district early Sunday.
   With the death of Asadul, the second-in-command of Jalil group of ML-Janajuddha faction, the crossfire death toll since June 2004 rose to 398.
   The police said Asadul, also accused in a number murder and other criminal cases, was arrested from his Anjangachhi house under Mirpur police area on Saturday.
   A police team to recover arms as per his statement took Asadul to Charmile where his accomplices opened shots at the law enforcers at about 2:30am Sunday prompting them to retaliate.
   Asadul fell in the line of crossfire as he tried to flee at one stage of the encounter.

The government on Sunday withdrew three top Jamuna Oil Company officials, including managing director, following incident of diesel spillage from the company oil installation in Chittagong.
   The company MD, Ahmed Jamal Khan Chowdhury, manager (marketing) and manager (installation) were withdrawn in the evening. Names of two officials could not be known immediately.
   Sources in the energy and mineral resources division said energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman summoned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation chairman Sheikh Khurshed Alam and asked him to withdraw the officials from its subsidiary.
   Mahmud told New Age that the officials were withdrawn following two incidents of irregularities, including diesel spillage, in the company.
   According to an official estimate, diesel worth around Tk 50 lakh fell into the River Karnaphuli overflowing a company tanker while diesel was being taken through a distribution pipe from the Eastern Refinery in Chittagong.
   A total of 11 officials and employees of Jamuna and ERL were punished for the incident.
   Earlier, in another incident the authorities found diesel worth around Tk 5 crore misappropriated in Rangpur.
   ‘These two incidents prompted the government to with- draw the top officials,’ Mahmud said.