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The cabinet on Monday approved, in principle, a bill that seeks amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, stripping the executive magistrates including the deputy commissioners of judicial powers and functions.
   The bill proposes provisions for establishment of a separate judicial and executive magistracy and separate criminal courts — courts of session and courts of magistrates — in correspondence with the separation of the judiciary from the executive arm of the state.
   The weekly regular meeting of the cabinet, held on Monday afternoon with the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, in the chair at her office, also approved a proposal for introducing ‘Personal Identification — Secure Comparison and Evaluation System’ for preserving information on the passengers passing through air, land, sea or other ports in the country.
   It is seen as a security measure against the prevailing terrorist concerns across the world.
   According to sources present, the proposal was made in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed between Bangladesh and the United States of America. The USA has agreed to extend its technical support for helping Bangladesh in introducing the system.
   Though approved in principle, the bill will be discussed in further detail in the next meeting of the cabinet, as it proposes changes in more than a hundred sections and schedules of the CrPC, and thus needs more detailed scrutiny, Moudud Ahmed, the law minister, told New Age after the meeting.
   He, however, said that the bill had been finalised by his ministry in accordance with the modifications made by the Supreme Court on January 26, 2003 to the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, prepared by the ministry and scrutinised by the cabinet committee on separation of the judiciary.
   The approval in principle came up after the government faced a threat of being proceeded for contempt of court charge for its constant procrastination in implementing the Supreme Court’s directives on separation of the judiciary.
   Informing the court of the move for the CrPC’s amendment, the government on February 1 moved a petition seeking further extension of time for the implementation of the directives, but the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court turned down the plea.
   Moudud, however, told New Age after the cabinet meeting that the government would not seek any more extension of time, and it would inform the court time to time of the progress in the implementation of the directives.
   He insisted that the amendments ‘will be a major development in the process of the separation of the judiciary from the executive’.
   According to the bill, there shall be separate judicial and executive magistrates. Executive magistrates, who will be appointed from the officials of the administrative cadre service of the government, will exercise executive functions only.
   Powers to command to disperse any unlawful assembly, to disperse such assembly by civil or military force, to order removal of nuisances and to impose section 144 of the CrPC, however, will be exercised by the executive magistrates, says the bill.
   To exercise functions of criminal justice, there shall be separate judicial magistrates and the officials of the Bangladesh judicial service will be fit to be appointed as judicial magistrates, the bill proposes.
   Any person arrested will have to be produced before the nearest judicial magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest, and the power to order any accused to be kept in police remand will be exercised only by the judicial magistrates, the bill says. Now such powers are being exercised by magistrates.

The government is actively considering the introduction of a different registration plate for the luxury cars members of Jatiya Sangsad import duty free amid reports that the facility is misused, said sources in the government.
   More than 200 lawmakers have either sold the cars they imported or used the facility to import vehicles for others in return for hefty commissions, according to a preliminary assessment of the National Board of Revenue.
   Two sitting members of Jatiya Sangsad imported the Lexus and Mercedes Benz that two past presidents of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association now use, according to the assessment, based on a field study by revenue officials.
   The revenue officials looked into information on imported luxury cars and their registration numbers and users, and cross-checked with the users’ wealth statement and lifestyle date, said sources in the revenue board.
   ‘None of the users has declared the vehicles in their statements as they are using the duty-free vehicles without any document related to their purchase,’ an NBR high official told New Age. ‘We have nothing to do in such cases.’
   The current government regulations require that lawmakers must use the vehicles they import duty free for at least four years before they can sell those.
   However, in most cases, the transaction takes place without any official document immediately after the vehicles are imported. In some cases, the members of parliament only sign the necessary documents before they take the commission for importing the cars, said sources in the NBR intelligence wing.
   The interested buyers open letters of credit for the lawmakers and complete other formalities related to the import, as they are also benefited in the process, the sources told New Age.
   Duties on import of vehicles range between 150 and 200 per cent of their value or about Tk 80 lakh or Tk 1 crore.
   ‘Both the lawmakers and the buyers are benefited, a customs commissioner told New Age.
   ‘A lawmaker can make at least Tk 50 lakh in profit or commission at the time he hands over the car to the interested party,’ he said. ‘The buyer, on the other hand, saves between Tk 30 lakh and Tk 50 lakh in duty he would have paid, if he had himself imported the car.’
   The trend of importing duty-free cars by lawmakers will decline, if the government introduces different registration plates, in red or yellow, for such cars, said the sources.
   Customs sources said 285 of the 300 sitting lawmakers of Jatiya Sangsad had so far used the facility to import vehicles duty free,
   The members who hold 45 reserved seats for women are not entitled to the benefit, as their tenure will last for less than two years.
   The current regulations stipulate that a lawmaker will be eligible for duty-free import of cars, only if he or she has at least two years left of his or her tenure in the parliament.
   ‘Businesspeople will also be discouraged in buying such vehicles if a different registration plate is introduced for such cars,’ said an official of the revenue board.
   Currently, only the registration plates of vehicles used by diplomats are different in colour so that they stand out among the rest.

The Tata Group on Monday proposed a package for the proposed $3-billion investment, seeking to pay $1 for every unit (1,000 cubic feet) of gas, as the government entered into the fifth and final round of talks with the Indian business conglomerate.
   ‘If the government agrees to Tata’s demand for guaranteed gas supply and fiscal incentives, the price of gas to be supplied will come down to $1 per unit,’ said a Petrobangla official, who was present at the talks.
   Meeting sources said Tata had come up with demands for guaranteed gas supply, tax holiday and other fiscal incentives.
   The resident director of Tata, Manzer Hossain, however, claimed that the group had made no offer in respect of gas price.
   ‘There was no offer on gas price from us. We highlighted the general international practices of fixing gas price at the meeting to set the pace for negotiations,’ he told New Age.
   Tata wants 1.54 trillion to 2.14 trillion cubic feet of gas with a guaranteed supply of 20 years for its fertiliser plant and 25 years for its steel plant.
   Petrobangla officials, present at the meeting, made no counter proposals.
   ‘We just listened to what Tata said and made no comments. We were surprised,’ said an official.
   Even local industries pay about $2 per unit of gas without any guaranteed supply, he said.
   The government has decided to ask Tata to buy gas at international rates that currently stands at $7-8 per unit and is planning to propose that the price will be reviewed at regular intervals corresponding with the international rates.
   The gas price issue will be discussed again when negotiations resume today, said sources.
   Tata officials want the whole of Barapukuria coalfield owned by Petrobangla and operated by a Chinese company, which is extracting coal in shaft method under a six-year contract. Tata has proposed open pit mining.
   Petrobangla officials said they would not give the coalfield to Tata but proposed that Tata could rather form a joint venture with Petrobangla for the field.
   Regarding open pit mining Petrobangla said a feasibility study was needed to determine whether the system would be effective.
   After the meeting, Alan Rosling, executive director of Tata Sons, told reporters that negotiations were continuing and hoped to make good progress.
   He said it would be known within a few weeks whether there would be an agreement or if the two sides would call it a day in a friendly manner.
   Earlier, the Tata team,
   led by Rosling, met the government’s negotiators, led by the communications secretary, Shafiqul Islam.

Apparent unwillingness and non-cooperative attitude of Yangon have thrown the future of the proposed road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar into uncertainty.
   Sources in the communications ministry have said despite repeated requests from the Bangladesh government since September last year to finalise a framework of agreement on the road link, the Myanmar government has not made any response as yet.
   Earlier, in September a three -member delegation led by the communications secretary Shafiqul Islam, went to Yangon to finalise the framework of the agreement to implement the first phase of the proposed road link. In the meeting Yangon agreed to sign the agreement after bringing some minor changes in the text.
   ‘Though Dhaka has already made the changes in the text accordingly and informed Yangon about the matter with a request to sign agreement, the latter has not made any response as yet,’ said a top official of the communications ministry.
   According to the framework of the agreement, Bangladesh and Myanmar will be responsible for planning, construction and maintenance of the road. Both countries will make land available, free of charge, for the proposed road as well as for camping facilities for construction personnel, equipment and supplies.
   Earlier in July, the proposed road link had suffered a big setback Yangon expressed its unwillingness to finalise the agreement citing its inability to finance the Myanmar portion of the road. It said the project was not on its priority list.
   In a letter early July, Yangon said it would not provide funds from its own resources or seek foreign funds to construct the Myanmar portion of the 153-km road, and also turned down Bangladesh’s proposal to persuade donor countries to finance the project.
   However, hopes for construction of the highway were revived as Yangon on August 14 asked Dhaka to send a team to finalise the framework of the agreement on the road link the draft of which was sent by Dhaka to Yangon in June.
   Following the invitation, Dhaka had sent the team.
   The proposed road will stretch from Taungbro to Kyauktaw in Myanmar via Ramu-Gundom to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, to be constructed in two phases at an estimated cost of Tk 933.46 crore.
   The Bangladesh government, according to the plan, will construct 43km stretch of the road in the first phase, 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, another 110km stretch from Bawli Bazar to Kyautaw in Myanmar will be constructed at an estimated cost of Tk 770.26 crore.
   The proposed road link is also considered necessary to establish road communications with Thailand and China and is in line with the government’s ‘look east’ policy.

The shipping department and the mercantile marine department have found out that surveyors issue fitness certificates to watercrafts from outstations without conducting any inspector or survey, said sources in the departments.
   The malpractice continues although the departments have already taken punitive action against some surveyors and started enquiry against some others, said the sources.
   Some surveyors have even put their own signatures in the certificates although the Inland Shipping Ordinance 1976 authorises only the director general and the chief engineer of the shipping department to make such endorsements.
   ‘Only the director general or the chief engineers is authorised to issue fitness certificates, said a top official of the department. ‘Surveyors can only conduct survey and are required to submit their reports to the relevant authorities.’
   The malpractice came to the fore when an inland surveyor at the Narayanganj office issued fitness certificates for 1,085 vessels in only two days in 2005, which meant the surveyor, who was on deputation from the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, had surveyed and issued certificates to five vessels every hour.
   He also issued fitness certificates and tokens (temporary plying permits and declarations) to the MV Asha Monica 2 (No 9478) on December 15 and the MV Israt (No 9300) on October 10 from Narayanganj although the two vessels were at the Chittagong port at the time of the certification.
   The Chittagong Port Authority fined both the vessels for such irregularities, said the sources.
   The surveyor also issued a fitness certificate for the MV Firoz-Farzana of the Dhaka registry whereas the surveyor of Dhaka declared it unfit because of its inordinate length.
   He put his own signature in the slot reserved for the director general of the department in the survey report for the MV Master Mostafiz.
   Some surveyors of the Dhaka, Khulna and Barisal offices of the mercantile marine department are also found to have conducted survey from outstations and faxed fitness certificates and tokens to vessels after underhand deals with the owners.
   In most cases, employees of the offices are issuing fitness certificates in the place of surveyors, said the sources.
   A departmental enquiry has found out that an employee of the Khulna office conducted the survey of the MV Trisha, which capsized in the Gabkhan channel recently.
   The employee, Abdul Wahab, issued a fake token (No 9300) for the vessel although it was not fit to ply, a major reason for the eventual tragedy, according to the enquiry report.
   Such fake certificates were issued for 106 vessels in 2005 from the Khulna office but the authorities are yet to take any action despite being informed, said a top official of the department.
   ‘Although the enquiry found the employees guilty of the malpractice, the engineer and the surveyor of the department only reprimanded them,’ he said. ‘However, the department has ordered the magistrate of the mercantile marine department to re-investigate the cases.’
   The director general of the department, AKM Shafiqullah, admitted that such irregularities were taken place but said no major action could be taken because of a shortage of surveyors.
   ‘One of the surveyors was suspended for a year and another was reprimanded and some other allegations are being investigated,’ he told New Age.
   ‘Only two surveyors are conducting the survey for the department now,’ he added. ‘If they are suspended or discharged, the entire survey operation will come to a halt.’
   The number of posts for surveyors has not been increased despite the strong lobbying by the department in the past five years, said Shafiqullah.

The Jatiya Sangsad on Monday did not hold a general discussion on the issue of the insulting and blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (SM) published in Denmark and some Western newspapers.
   The deputy speaker, Akhter Hamid Siddiqui, who made the decision on Sunday to hold a general discussion on the issue, neither included the issue in the order of the day prepared for Monday nor made any statement in the Sangsad.
   The deputy speaker made the decision following an unscheduled discussion on the issue as the PM’s parliamentary affairs adviser, Salauddin Quader Chowdhruy, told the parliamentarians on Sunday that he had discussed the issue with her and she had given her consent to holding a discussion and adopting a unanimous censure motion.
   Khaleda, however, differed with Chowdhury’s statement while informally discussing the issue with three senior ministers and the chief whip on Sunday in the Sangsad.
   ‘The deputy speaker probably backtracked from his position as the prime minister expressed unwillingness to hold a general discussion on the issue in the parliament,’ a key senior parliamentarian of the treasury bench told New Age on Monday afternoon.
   Siddiqui, however, told journalists on Monday, ‘The discussion will be held latter as more members are submitting notices on the issue.’
   ‘A decision of the leader of the house (Khaleda Zia) is also required in this regard,’ he said.
   The deputy leader of the opposition in parliament, Abdul Hamid, however, told journalists on Monday, ‘There is no need of holding a general discussion on the issue as the foreign minister has already made a statement in this regard in the parliament.’
   Hamid, however, said ‘The (deputy) speaker is free to hold a general discussion on any issue without any decision of the leader of the house.’
   The question of holding a general discussion was raised on Sunday as BNP lawmaker Nurul Islam Moni gave a notice on Sunday under section 147 of the Rules of Procedure to hold a general discussion on the disrespectful cartoons of the Prophet in some newspapers in Denmark and some Western countries.

Just over 250 of more than 4,500 detainees picked up during the ‘long march to Dhaka’ by the Awami League-led alliance of opposition political parties were released from the Dhaka Central Jail on Monday.
   Hundreds of people had gathered in front of the jail since early morning to receive their relatives, who were detained during police raids before the long march, but most of them went back angry and frustrated.
   Till 3:30 in the afternoon, the authorities released a handful of detainees from the central jail, which is learnt to be bursting at the seams. The crowd had waited on late into the evening before they came no more detainees would be released for the day.
   A number of people, who had come from places outside the capital city, decided to stay on in the hope that the jail authorities might release their relatives the next day.
   The jail authorities have received orders for the release of
   700 detainees and could set 251 free on Monday, sources said. The rest of the 700 will be released today.
   Meanwhile, lawyers, middlemen and police personnel have continued to fleece the relatives of the detainees in the name of securing bail.
   Rozina Begum paid Tk 600 to an assistant of a lawyer on Saturday for bailing out her husband Aslam, an employee of a shop in the city. She was told on Monday that the petition for bail had been moved and that she would have to pay Tk 2,000 more.
   She had waited in front of the jail since Monday morning with her five-month-old son and went back in the evening. Aslam was not released.
   ‘I could not pay the additional Tk 2,000 as I have no relatives in the city,’ said Rozina, who lives at Kamrangir Char, when talking to New Age.
   Jahan Ara Khatun had a similar tale to tell. Her son, Dween Islam, who owns a VCD rental shop in Old Town, was arrested Friday night as he came out of the shop.
   She went to the Shyampur police station on Saturday after she had come to know of the arrest.
   ‘As I went to the sub-inspector, a sub-inspector took Tk 3,000 for his release but still got on with a prayer for my son’s remand,’ she told New Age.
   Jahan Ara later sold her daughter’s gold chain for Tk 5,000 and moved a bail petition. His son was not released on Monday.
   Two bothers – Shahabuddin, 21, and Sohel, 20 – were arrested on their way back from the workplace on Friday morning. The police were not convinced of their identities although the management of the garment factory they work at sent a letter to them.
   Their father Lokman Hossain had come all the way from Mymensingh and been
   waiting at the jail gate since Sunday morning. He had no place to stay and no money to spend.
   Rentu Mia was one of the lucky ones to be released on Monday but he had no idea why the Khilkhet police had arrested him in the first place.
   ‘I told them over and over that I had not committed any crime but they still dragged to the police station and then dumped me into prison,’ he told New Age. ‘I have never been in politics. I am poor and that perhaps is my crime.’
   His brother borrowed Tk 3,000 from a neighbour and paid a lawyer to move for his bail.
   The police went for
   random arrests Thursday night, detaining servicemen, hawkers, street vendors and garment workers, and falsely implicated them for mugging, theft and burglary.
   They were crammed into the Dhaka Central Jail, which had already been overcrowded. Many detainees released Monday claimed that they had not been given any food to eat and that they had not enough space to lie down and sleep.
   Some of the detainees earlier told journalists quoting the police that they would not be released before February 5, the final day of the opposition’s long march to Dhaka.

The use of diamond has increased significantly in Bangladesh over the past couple of years.
   Expansion of the diamond cutting and polishing industry, coupled with high gold prices, has prompted an increased use of diamond, said people, who deal in precious stones.
   Upper-middle and middle-income people are increasingly drawn to diamond jewelleries, which were considered only a few years ago to be a luxury for the rich, they said.
   ‘The use of diamond has increased among the upper-middle and middle income groups in the past two years,’ said Saidul Alam Titu, chairman of Dia-Gold. ‘Increasing price of gold has also led buyers to turn to diamond and white gold ornaments.’
   A flourishing diamond cutting and polishing industry has made the stone available to a wider customer base, Titu said. ‘Some other businessmen like us also do the diamond cutting and polishing businesses.’
   Rich people have turned into diamond jewelleries from the use of gold, as it is trendy and prestigious all over the world, he added.
   One can buy a diamond-set ring or nose pin for the money he or she may spend on one tola (11.66 grams) of gold on the local market, which is Tk 14,100, said the manager of Carbon Craft, a diamond jewellery shop, at Rifles Square at Dhanmondi in the capital city.
   Businessmen import diamond ornaments from India, Hong Kong, Italy, Australia and Africa. Allegations are also there that diamonds are also smuggled in.
   The price of diamond depends on various features like carat weight, size, cut and polish, clearance and colour, said the Carbon Craft manager. A carat is a measurement unit equivalent to 200 milligrams or 0.2 grams.
   ‘Cut and polish is important features of diamond. There are different cuts of diamonds and in terms of colour, the whiter one is the most valuable,’ he said.
   Prices of diamond-set nose pin start from Tk 3,000, small pendent from Tk 15,000, ring from Tk 10,000 and earrings from Tk 20,000, he said.
   The middle-income customers usually go for nose pin, small pendent, ring and earrings, said Abdul Hayat, a sales representative of Apan Jewellers Limited.
   To avoid black market diamonds and be sure of quality, Hayat suggested buying diamond ornaments set with the laboratory test certificate copy.
   ‘The expensive diamond ornaments should be bought with the laboratory certificate copy of organisations like Gemmological Institute of America, American Gem Society, which ensure the quality of diamond and help to sell the diamond set anywhere in the world in accurate price,’ he said.

The Awami League initiated a consultation with its alliance partners on Monday on the mode of the proposals for reforms in the caretaker administration and strengthening the Election Commission to be placed after it [AL] returns to the parliament.
   ‘We will join the current session; but before that we have to consult with our partners, who do not have representatives in the House, about the mode of the reform proposals,’ the deputy leader of the opposition Abdul Hamid told journalists on Monday.
   ‘We have already initiated the consultation as we have to accommodate their views,’ he said.
   He said the Awami League Parliamentary Party would meet by February 12 to decide on how the party will place the reform proposals in the parliament.
   ‘We can place the reform proposals by either participating in discussion under sections 62, 68 and 147 of the Rules of Procedure or by placing it in the form of private members’ bills,’ he said.
   Hamid said they will demand extension of the current session of Jatiya Sangsad, scheduled to be concluded by February 16, by another 15 days.
   In Sunday’s opposition rally at Paltan Maidan ending a long-march to Dhaka , the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, said her party’s lawmakers would join the current session of the parliament. She, however, warned that the AL MPs would resign en masse if the reform proposals are not materialised.
   The Awami League, the main opposition in Jatiya Sangsad , has been boycotting the parliament since January 31, 2005. Hasina will lose her parliamentary seat if she does not join the House by February 13. Membership of other AL lawmakers is also at stake due to their absence from the House.
   According to the Constitution, a lawmaker would lose his/her seat if he/she remains absent from the House for 90 consecutive working days without the knowledge of speaker.

Security has been stepped up at the diplomatic enclave, particularly around the Danish embassy in the capital following publications of satiric caricatures of the prophet, Mohammad (sm), in a Danish newspaper sparking worldwide protests and attacks on Danish embassies in some countries.
   Sources in the police said additional police forces were deployed in and around the diplomatic zone on Monday to foil any attack or prevent untoward incidents centring the issue.
   Meanwhile, Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh, an Islamist organisation, announced Monday it would lay siege to the Danish embassy in Dhaka and Alliance Française to protest against the caricatures.
   ‘We will march up to the Danish Embassy from Baitul Mukarram mosque after juma on Friday while our women members will gather in front of Alliance Française at 10:30am the same day and form a human chain,’ said a press release of the organisation.
   The release says the group’s chief coordinator and spokesman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, announced the programmes at a press conference in the capital on Monday. In his written speech, Mohiuddin said, ‘The attack on the prophet is part of the west’s ongoing crusade against Islam.’
   ‘But the ruling alliance continues to bow down to the Danish and other European countries,’ he said. ‘Both the government and the opposition alliance have failed to properly answer to the publication of the cartoons.’
   He demanded of the government to immediately condemn the incident, withdraw Bangladesh ambassadors from those countries that published the cartoons and close the embassies of the ‘guilty’ nations and send back their ambassadors from Bangladesh.
   Danish Ambassador in Bangladesh, Niels Severin Munk, on Monday met with foreign minister M Morshed Khan at his office and regretted publication of the cartoons in a Danish daily, according UNB.
   At a briefing, the director general of external publicity, Zahirul Haque, told reporters that Morshed reiterated his statement in parliament on this matter.
   Morshed told Munk that the cartoons have deeply hurt the religious sentiment of the people and requested him to convey Bangladesh’s sentiments to the Danish government.
   Morshed also said the Danish government should take necessary steps to stop recurrence of such incidents. Morshed also requested Munk to convey his regrets in a formal manner.

Ministries with limited autonomy in making their budgets were directed to initiate the process of outlining their balance sheets today to be accommodated in the next national budget.
   The directive came from the finance ministry in a recent circular marking the start of budget-making process for the 2006-07 fiscal, said finance ministry officials concerned.
   At the same time, all ministries have started revising the budget of the current fiscal although a thorough half yearly revision has not been possible, said finance ministry officials.
   Four ministries that already enjoy budget-making autonomy and six more that are now under the process of being given the authority to prepare their own budgets under the mid-term budgetary framework have been asked to hold internal meetings before sitting with the finance ministry.
   The ministries of agriculture, education, social welfare, and women and children affairs have been already brought under the framework during the current fiscal, while six others — communications, fisheries and livestock,
   health and family welfare, local government, primary and mass education and water resources — are slated to get partial rights to outline their budget from the next fiscal.
   The finance ministry expects to start its consultations with all other ministries later this month to take stock of their demands and the government’s financial ability to meet them, said sources in the ministry. An announcement to this effect will be circulated shortly.
   A timetable for holding the consultations between the finance ministry and other ministries will be presented with the circular.

Hearing of Shah AMS Kibria murder case will begin at the Sylhet divisional speedy trail tribunal today, more than a year after the assassination of the former finance minister.
   The trial of the explosive case filed in this connection is yet to start as the High Court has not sent any order to the Sylhet speedy trial tribunal on the case. The High Court will hear on February 16 the writ petition filed by the plaintiff of the Kibria murder case seeking further investigation into the case, sources said.
   Meanwhile, preparation for the trial of the Kibria killing case has been completed and the charge-sheeted prime accused, vice-president of Habiganj district unit of the BNP, Abdul Quaiyum, was shifted to Sylhet Central Jail
   on Sunday morning from the Moulvibazar prison, the sources added.
   Earlier, six other charge-sheeted accused in the case were taken to Sylhet prison from Habiganj on Friday morning. They were, Jamir Ali, Joynal Abedin Jalal, Shahed Ali, Tajul Islam, Ayat Ali and Shelim Ahmed.
   Another accused, Zoynal Abedin Momin, remains in Sylhet prison for a long time, while two accused -- Muhibur Rahman and Kajal Miah -- are still at large, sources said.
   The former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria along with his nephew, Shah Manzurul Huda and 3 others were killed in a deadly grenade attack on Januray 27, 2005, when he was returning from a party rally at Baidyarbazar under sadar upazila in Habiganj.
   Advocate Abdul Majid Khan filed two separate cases including a case under the explosives act with the
   Habiganj Kotwali police station on January 28, 2005.
   Munshi Atiqur Rahman, senior ASP of the criminal investigation department, also the investigation officer in the Kibria murder case, submitted the charge sheet to the court on March 20, 2005.
   Plaintiff of the cases, Advocate Abdul Quaiyum, submitted a writ petition with the High Court for further investigation into the case after the charge sheet was submitted by the investigation officer.
   A bench of the High Court comprising justice Sharif Uddin Chakladar and justice AFM Asgar, dismissed the prayer and ordered the authority concerned to send the files of the case to the lower court, the sources added.
   The files of the Kibria murder case was sent to Sylhet divisional speedy trial tribunal from the Habiganj court on January 29 this year, following the directive of the High Court.

The Supreme Court Bar Association has once again demanded dismissal of divisional special judge of Dhaka, Md Rezaul Karim Chunnu, for his involvement in political activities.
   Secretary of the bar, M Enayetur Rahim on Monday sent a letter to the acting Chief Justice, Mohammad Ruhul Amin, seeking action against Chunnu for his being a ‘political show-off’.
   The SCBA took the move following newspaper reports that the sitting judge was involved in political activities and lobbying for getting ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party ticket from Kishoreganj sadar parliamentary constituency in the next general election. The reports evoked sharp reaction in the lawyers’ community.
   Enclosed with the letter were newspaper clippings covering political speeches and interviews given by Chunnu at his constituency as evidence of his partisan role, Enayet told reporters.
   He made a plea that measures should be taken against the judge for ‘upholding the image and dignity of the judiciary’.
   Earlier on August 3, 2006, the president of the SCBA, Mahbubey Alam, and its secretary, M Enayetur Rahim, had urged the Chief Justice and the Law Ministry to remove Chunnu from service for his alleged political activities.

Global protests over cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed escalated Monday, with five demonstrators killed in Afghanistan, Somalia and Lebanon and warning shots fired outside a US consulate in Indonesia.
   After a weekend that saw Denmark’s embassies torched in Lebanon and Syria, fury over the images continued to spread with protests held across Afghanistan as well as in Indian-held Kashmir, Indonesia, Lebanon, Iran and Thailand.
   The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, called for calm as the Arab world seethes over the cartoons which first appeared in a Danish daily and have been reprinted by several publications in Europe, Australia and Malaysia.
   Three Afghan protesters was shot and killed when police opened fire after demonstrators threw stones at them in a second day of demonstrations by more than 1,000 people in eastern Laghman province. Four others were injured.
   In the capital Kabul about 300 people marched on Denmark’s embassy where they torched a Danish flag and threw stones at the embassy, shouting ‘Death to Denmark, death to Norway, death to America, death to Bush.’
   In Somalia, a 14-year-old boy was shot dead and several others were injured after protesters attacked the police.
   In Lebanon, one person died and almost 50 people were wounded during rioting in the capital Beirut which saw the Danish consulate set ablaze, police said Monday.
   One of the demonstrators involved in torching the mission was found dead in the staircase of the building, which was attacked by crowds of protestors on Sunday amid fury over the cartoons which are seen as blasphemous by Muslims.
   In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Danish embassy, which was closed, calling for an apology from the Danish government over the offending images.
   Hundreds of Iranian demonstrators pelted the Austrian embassy in Tehran on Monday with stones, firecrackers and eggs, smashing several windows.
   In Turkey, a massive manhunt was under way after a Roman Catholic priest was shot dead at his church by a gunman shouting ‘God is great,’ a common rallying cry for Islamic militants. Authorities said police were investigating claims that the incident was connected to the caricatures.
   Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, banned from Britain for his radical views and now living in Lebanon, called for capital punishment for cartoonists who dare depict the Prophet Mohammed.
   Witnesses in Indian-administered Kashmir said much of the territory had ground to halt due to a general strike called to protest the cartoons. Groups of protestors took to the streets of Srinagar, the summer capital.
   In Thailand, some 200 people rallied peacefully outside the Danish embassy and demanded an apology for the cartoons, which included an image of Mohammed with a bomb-shaped turban.
   A junior editor of the Sarawak Tribune, a local newspaper in Malaysia, resigned for publishing the cartoons in Saturday’s edition.
   In Australia, which was drawn into the debate after a weekend newspaper printed one of the images, there were warnings that reproducing the cartoons would ‘only create more bin Ladens’.
   Denmark on Monday issued a list of 14 Muslim countries which travellers should avoid—Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Bangladeshi immigrants legally staying in Britain may have to go back home to seek visa extension if a tough new immigration law of the United Kingdom, now lying with the upper chamber, is unanimously endorsed by Parliament.
   The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill 2005 provides for rescinding the opportunity for the foreigners to have their visas extended staying in Britain.
   Recently, the bill has been laid in the House of Lords after discussion in the House of Commons– amid an outcry in different communities– amending a number of its clauses.
   Earlier, students, businessmen, other professionals or tourists could apply for extending visas from Britain after date expiry. In the event of delay in providing necessary papers and documents, the visa-seekers were given further opportunity to furnish those.
   But, under the new law, they would be sent back to their native lands if the necessary papers were not provided in time.
   The visa applicants also would have to submit appeals from their respective countries if the visa applications were cancelled. Previously they were allowed to appeal from Britain.
   Under the new act, the owners of restaurants and other workplaces would be fined 2,000 pounds for each illegal appointment. But, the owner side would get opportunity to file appeal with the district court.
   Meanwhile, the British authority asked the employers to ‘examine valid papers, passports and visas of the employees before giving appointment’.
   As per the new law, physicians, engineers and other professionals coming to Britain on ‘highly skilled worker’ visa can stay with their families and live here permanently after working five years.
   But, who would come on ‘unskilled worker’, student or short-stay visas will have to return to the country after expiry of the time.
   People having work permit have no chances to change their workplace– they have to go back home for applying for a new job.
   The new law ‘can create hassles’ for students, the protesters pointed out. Students are able to get their visas extended while staying in Britain. They can also appeal from here in case of cancellation of their visa-extension applications. But, the new law would deprive them.
   Experts see the new law as a ‘ploy to curtail foreign–employment opportunities’ in the UK—considered melting-spot of world’s various civilisations.
   On the other hand, workers, students and other professionals of the 14 other European Union countries are being employed here on a large scale as they have visa-free entry into Britain.

The government is set buy 12 dredgers to cope with the demand for dredging the rivers to deepen their channels and increase their navigability, said sources in the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.
   The Spanish government will provide $14.98 million for three dredgers, and a tender is under process for buying 9 more dredgers, said a high official of the water transport authority.
   The current dredging capacity of the authority is 26 lakh cubic metres per year, far short of the required 79 lakh cubic metres, he said.
   A financial contract was signed between Bangladesh and Spain in January to purchase three dredgers from Spain, said an official of the authority.
   Thirty per cent of the Spanish funds will be commercial credit and 70 per cent will be soft loans, he said.
   He said it would take 16 months after signing the agreement to have the dredgers ready for work.
   A tender to purchase nine more dredgers was floated in November 2005 asking for offers, and was opened on December 15.
   Three companies — a Bangladesh-USA joint venture, a Dutch and a UK-based company — participated in the bids, which are now under evaluation, said another official.
   The proposals of the companies might include soft loans, grants and credits and the government will choose the most advantageous offer. According to official sources the government is unlikely to purchase the dredgers from its own funds.
   Each of the 12 dredgers will add 6 lakh cubic metres of dredging capacity per year, raising the total capacity to 98 lakh cubic metres, he said.
   The official said the water transport authority has only seven dredgers at present. Two of them were purchased in 1972 and five in 1975.
   He said the economic longevity of the dredgers had expired long ago and the capacity of the dredgers had been reduced considerably. The capacity of each of the dredgers, which was 400-450 cubic metres in the beginning, is now only 200-250 cubic metres per hour.
   Over 18,000 km of river routes across the country have lost navigability due to continuous sedimentation and silt deposit since 1971, while another 2,200 km routes have become risky for vessels, said a top official of the authority.
   He said the total length of river routes stood at 24,000 km in 1971. But in 1984 it came down to 8,400 km during the monsoon and was only 5,200 km in the dry season.
   Currently the length has been reduced to 6,000 km during the monsoon and 3,800 km during the dry season, said the official.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday stayed for three months the High Court’s order delivered on February 2 granting bail to Haji Abdus Sobhan, one of the 44 accused in the case of the biggest-ever arms haul in Chittagong in April, 2004.
   The chamber judge of the Appellate Division, Amirul Kabir Chowdhury, passed the order after hearing a petition moved by the state that preferred leave to appeal against the High Court order.
   Additional attorney general, Abdur Rezak Khan, with deputy attorney general, Helaluddin Mollah, moved the petition for the state.
   In April 2004, police seized 10 truckloads of sophisticated weapons and huge quantities of ammunition from the jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertilizer.

Doctors in Pakistan vowed Monday not to prescribe medicines from firms based in some European countries where controversial cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed were published.
   The Pakistan Medical Association will boycott drugs from Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and France to protest the ‘blasphemous’ drawings, said Shahid Rao, the body’s general secretary for Punjab province.
   ‘We have taken a unanimous decision and it will be immediately implemented in Pakistan,’ Rao told AFP.
   ‘Doctors in the country are very motivated on this issue,’ he said. ‘We would use alternate medicines in future till a public apology comes from these countries.’
   Pharmacists have also vowed not to sell such medicines, Rao said.

The return Hajj flight of Bangladesh Biman was forced to land in Bangkok instead of Dhaka on Monday. On the other hand one British plane hovered for one hour over the sky before it had landed at Zia International Airport.
   Poor visibility due to dense fog on Monday caused this problem. Passengers on board the flights suffered a lot.
   Biman sources said the Boeing-747 of Jeddah-Dhaka route was scheduled to land at 7.30am. But the national flag career failed to land and flew back to Bangkok as the neighbouring two airports – Chittagong and Kolkata– were enveloped in mist.
   Later, at 1:00pm the aircraft with 576 passengers returned to Dhaka.
   The London-bound flight succeeded in flying at 9:00am after it had hovered for one hour in the air.

Four members of a family were critically injured as robbers set off bombs during a robbery at Mahishkundi village in Daulatpur upazila early Monday.
   The injured – Jhantu, 45, wife Shahnaz, 35, and their two sons Shamim, 12, and Selim, 8, – were admitted to General Hospital. The police said 10 to 12 dacoits swooped on the house of Jhantu at about 3:00am and looted cash and gold ornaments worth about Tk 2 lakh.
   The bandits set off three bombs as the family members tried to resist them from fleeing.
   A case has been filed in this connection.

Former minister and founder of the daily Inqilab, Maulana MA Mannan, died of old-age complications at his Banani residence in the capital city on Monday morning at the age of 71.
   Mannan is survived by his wife, four sons, and one daughter.
   His janaza will be held today after Asr prayers at Gausul Azam Complex in Mohakhali.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, and the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, expressed their shock at the death of Mannan.
   In his condolence message, the president said, ‘Apart from politics, Maulana Mannan remains memorable for publishing the daily Inqilab.’
   The prime minister in her condolence message said, ‘Maulana Mannan had been active in political arena of the country for a long time and played a remarkable role in publication of newspaper.’
   Both the president and the prime minister prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul, and expressed sympathy for the bereaved family.
   Born in March 1935 in an aristocratic family of Keroa village in Chandpur, Mannan started his political career in 1962 when he was elected a member of the then East Pakistan Provincial Law Assembly. Mannan was nominated as member of the Pakistan Advisory Council in 1965, and served the East Pakistan Muslim League as secretary general from 1965-1968. During the country’s war of independence in 1971, he collaborated with the occupation forces of Pakistan.
   Mannan also founded an organisation, Bangladesh Jamiaatul Modarresin, for the non-government madrassah teachers in 1978, and established the Bangla daily Inqilab in June, 1986.