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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is taking preparations for the grand rally scheduled for February 2 in Chittagong, while the Bangladesh Awami League-led 14-party combine is preparing to make the long-march towards Dhaka on February 5 a success.
   The programmes of the major parties gave a momentum to the political activities of the port city.
   Both the camps launched massive drives to motivate people towards the upcoming programmes for mammoth showdown.
   The secretary general of BNP, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, held a preparatory meeting at a restaurant in the capital with the local leaders on Tuesday to make the grand rally an extraordinary one.
   Sayed Wahidul Alam, whip in the parliament and convener of the city unit BNP, said that they were expecting to amass 5 lakh people in the grand rally and that the committees of all upazilas and cities under eight districts in the division were working with that aim.
   All the ministers and members of parliament in the division from the party were also working in their respective constituencies in this regard, he added.
   Moreover, all the ward committees in the city and union committees in different upazilas were holding preparatory meetings to hold the grand rally successfully, BNP sources said.
   Jatiyatabadi Chatra Dal city unit held a meeting at Nasiman Bhaban Thursday evening as part of the preparations.
   The grand rally, to be held on the Outer Stadium premises in the city, is expected to be addressed by the prime minister, Khaleda Zia,.
   Meanwhile, the AL-led 14-party combine is also taking preparations to make the long march towards Dhaka a success.
   The combine held a daylong meeting at the Muslim Institute Auditorium on Thursday in which 1,000 representatives from Cox's Bazar, Bandarban,
   Rangamati, Khagrachari, Feni, Noakhali, Chandpur, Comilla and Chittagong took part.
   Different district and upazila committees of AL under the division were also holding meetings in this regard, AL sources said.
   MA Mannan, president of AL city unit, said that they were preparing to march en masse towards Dhaka and added that after the success of the
   long march they would organise a grand rally in the port city at the end of February.

At least 10 persons were injured, two of them critically, in a clash between two factions of the Chittagong city unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal at its office on Thursday.
   The clash took place during a meeting held at its Nasimon Bhaban office to discuss the preparations for the February 2 ‘grand rally’ of the BNP, witnesses said.
   The factions, led by the city unit president, Mosharraf Hossain Dipti, and general secretary, Ahmedul Alam Rasel, attacked each other with sticks at about 5:30pm leaving 10 of the two sides injured. Two of the injured were admitted to Chittagong Medical College and Hospital.

Over 500 employees under the Power Development Board in the Nawapara industrial area continued their indefinite strike on Thursday in protest against the handover of the Nawapara industrial area to Jessore Palli Bidyut Samity 2.
   They started the strike on January 24, demanding cancellation of the handover move.
   On Thursday, workers of the Power Development Board under the West Zone observed daylong strike in 21 districts. Class III and IV employees under the zone abstain from work in support of their demand.
   Jatiya Bidyut Sramik Karmachari Union enforced the strike in protest at the step taken by the Sales and Distribution Division 1 of the Jessore Power Development Board.
   The board handed over the industrial area to Jessore Palli Bidyut Samity 2 on January 22 as per an agreement signed on December 21 in 2002 between the authorities concerned.
   Nawapara now consumes eight megawatts of electricity per day. The PDB earns Tk 12 crore per year, of which Tk 5 crore profit is from the Nawapara industrial area and there is no system loss in the area.

The Rajshahi mayor, Mizanur Rahman Minu MP, on Wednesday expressed his sorrow to the Rajshahi University Teachers’ Association over harassment of teachers by the controversially recruited 546 employees.
   Minu also requested the teacher's body to withdraw their work abstention programme and not to announce fresh agitation programme.
   Meanwhile, investigation committee convener Professor Saidul Islam was thrown away from the committee before the investigation began where Professor Nurul Absar was taken on the committee on Thursday, confirmed the university public relation department.
   The news release mentioned, 'As Professor Saidul Islam expressed reluctance to carry out the investigation, Professor Nurul Abser was made chief of the team.' The mayor and Rajshahi Jamaat amir Ataur Rahman met in a meeting with the university teacher's body on Wednesday at the university's Juberry Building.
   Meanwhile, the junior and senior teachers of the university divided over continuing the teacher's agitation until punishment of the unruly employees was ensured.
   The junior teacher's vowed to continue their agitation while senior are against the agitation.
   The final decision over the knot will be made in the next meeting of the body. Meanwhile, teachers loyal to the opposition alliance kept mum over the current campus violence.
   The left leaning teachers alleged that the university authorities staged drama on January 21 to diver the issue of recruitment of relatives of the BNP and Jamaat leaders. The university vice-chancellor, Altaf Hossain, told newsmen, 'Change in the probe committee may come soon as some members of the committee are supporters of the employees.'

People from all walks of life, wearing blue dress, joined a wayside protest rally at Dhanmondi in Dhaka on Thursday demanding trial of the killers of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria.
   Apart from political activists, several hundred people including cultural activists joined the programme titled ‘Shantir Swapakkhe Neelima’.
   Kibria, a former finance minister of the Awami League government, with four others was killed in a grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Habiganj on January 27, 2005.
   Asma Kibria, the widow of the slain leader, has been observing the non-violent programme on every Thursday demanding trial of the killers of her husband.
   ‘I am on the street so that none in the future loses his or her near and dear one,’ Asma said adding that the united movement against the bombers would become successful.
   Reza Kibria, son of Kibria, said the success of the programme proved that people were united to protest against the killing. He said the non-violent programme would continue to press home for fair and neutral investigation, and bringing the killers to justice.
   ‘We want not only the trial of Kibria killing, but also all the political killings. We want to save the future generation from such unlawful killings,’ he said.
   The 11-Party Alliance also extended support to the programme, and its leaders and activists took part in the programme.
   The Gana Forum president and Jatiya Oikya Mancha convener, Dr Kamal Hossain, said the demand for trial of the killers of Kibria became a mass demand.
   The programme started from February 4 last year. Asma Kibria also launched a countrywide signature campaign in the last year demanding proper investigation into the Kibria killing case, and trial of the killers.

Three persons were killed and 35 injured in an accident on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Patiya-Lakshmipur under Daudkandi upazila on Thursday.
   The identity of the victims could not be known.
   Eyewitnesses and the police sourcess said the accident occurred at 1.30pm when a Dhaka-bound bus collided with a Ramganj-bound covered van.
   Three persons were killed on the spot and 35 others injured.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on Thursday urged all to come up with collective and coordinated efforts at local, national, regional and international levels to combat HIV/AIDS.
   Khaleda, also current chairperson of the SAARC, made the call while inaugurating the second sub-regional parliamentary seminar on HIV/AIDS in South Asia organised by the Parliamentarians for Global Action at Sonargaon Hotel.
   ‘We must also learn from our mistakes and successes, and critically review our past experiences to move forward in fighting the health menace,’ she told the seminar attended by members of PGA from both home and abroad, diplomats and representatives of international organisations.
   The prime minister said some important steps at regional level have been taken to fight HIV/AIDS in the SAARC region.
   In this regard, she mentioned that the South Asian leaders at the recently concluded 13th SAARC summit in Dhaka welcomed the preparation of a collective SAARC strategy to fight the disease.
   Khaleda said it is feared that AIDS epicentre is gradually shifting from Africa to Asia, and experiences also indicate that HIV/AIDS spares no race, class or religion. ‘No country can claim immunity from HIV epidemic.’
   Bangladesh has so far been fortunate to remain a low-prevalent country with regard to HIV/AIDS, Khaleda said.
   ‘We, however, must be constantly vigilant since there is no scope for complacence. Our religious and cultural values are no doubt a great deterrent against the spread of this disease. But our very geographical location makes us vulnerable,’ she observed.
   The two-day seminar was sponsored by Canadian CIDA, Norway government, UNAIDS, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNDP, United Nation development fund for women, UNFPA and WHO.
   The health minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, the PGA president, Ross Robertson MP, member of PGA international council, Zahiruddin Swapan and seminar coordinator and opposition chief whip vice-principal Abdus Shahid, among others, addressed the inaugural session.
   Dr Nafis Sadik, special envoy of the UN Secretary General for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, delivered the keynote speech.
   The prime minister said Bangladesh government had been sincere in combating HIV/AIDS from the very beginning and a National AIDS policy was now in place. She said a strategic plan for 2004-2010 had already been prepared and parliament had passed Safe Blood Transfusion Act in 2002.
   In her keynote speech, Dr Nafis said international help for combating HIV/AIDS was increasing but it would not provide all the elements needed to strengthen reproductive health networks nor external assistance can supply the all-important political will.
   She said the parliamentarians have a unique role to play in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the sub-region. ‘Successes in other countries show that the will to defeat HIV/AIDS comes from the country itself and most of all from its leaders.’
   Citing statistics, Dr Nafis said the 2004 UNAIDS report shows that 60 per cent of all new infections are now among women as marriage offers women no protection from HIV/AIDS.