Main Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, who shot to prominence with his infamous cleansing operation against underground, ultra-left elements in northern districts in 2004, was arrested Monday morning after a brief encounter with the Rapid Action Battalion at village Rampur under Muktagachha upazila in Mymensingh, some 120 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka.
   The arrest of Bangla Bhai, second-in-command of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, which is blamed for countrywide bombings in 2005, came four days after the surrender of Shaikh Abdur Rahman, his mentor and chief of the banned Islamist organisation, in Sylhet, nearly 200 kilometres northeast of Dhaka.
   Bangla Bhai and his associate Masud were seriously wounded when the tin-shed house they had taken shelter in was blown off in an explosion. Sergeant Rafique of the battalion was shot in the head during the encounter.
   The militant leader was flown to Dhaka by a Bangladesh Air Force helicopter after he had undergone a major surgery at the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital at noon. He is now under treatment at the Bangladesh Rifles hospital in the capital city.
   A joint squad of the ninth Rapid Action Battalion and the RAB intelligence wing cordoned off a house at Ram Krishna Mission Road in Mymensingh town early Monday, according to the battalion.
   Lieutenant Colonel Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, director of the intelligence wing, led the operation, which was carried out on the basis of the statement of a JMB operative, Amanullah Ripon. Ripon, who was arrested in Sylhet on Sunday night, had said during interrogation that Bangla Bhai was staying in the house.
   The RAB squad raided the house at about 4:45am and found Halima Khatun, wife of Bangla Bhai, and a child on the ground floor. Halima later told her interrogators that her husband was at Rampur, some 50 kilometres west of the Mymensingh town.
   The squad took Halima along as it rushed to the village, and had the village encircled with the help of the Bangladesh Rifles, the Armed Police Battalion and the local police.
   After a door-to-door search, the RAB squad zeroed in on a house, owned by one Chand Mia and surrounded by a bamboo fence. It cordoned off the house and asked Bangla Bhai to come out and surrender.
   As there was no response, Sergeant Rafique tried to peek through the door only to be shot in the head. He was later brought to Dhaka by a helicopter and admitted to the Combined Military Hospital.
   An explosion followed the gunshot, blowing off the roof of the room Bangla Bhai was in.
   ‘We asked him to come out,’ said Gulzar. ‘He did not respond for a few minutes before coming out. He had severe burn injuries in his left hand, face and other parts of the body.
   ‘We also arrested his associate Masud, who had also been wounded in the blast that reduced to house to rubble.’
   A sub-machine carbine along with a magazine, three pistols, 12 bullets, two machetes, a burnt cell phone set and a battery-circuit, and some splinters from the room were collected from house, he said.
   Bangla Bhai and Masud were first taken to Muktagachha Sadar Hospital by a rickshaw van and later shifted to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital by an ambulance.
   Hundreds of people from the village and surrounding places thronged both sides of the road to have a look at Bangla Bhai as he was being taken to Battola Bazar in a rickshaw van.
   Most of the people at Rampur and other villages under Dulla union supposedly belong to Ahle Hadith, an Islamic sect, revered Bangla Bhai as a spiritual leader and refused to give away the whereabouts of Bangla Bhai.
   ‘The police caught us by surprise as they cordoned off the village and we ran inside our homes when the shooting began,’ said Newaz Ali, father of Chand Mia, who was detained. ‘Soon I found the house of my son burning.’
   Local people believe that Bangla Bhai had been living in the village for several months and trying to reorganise his men since the government intensified its manhunt for militants after the series of bomb blasts in 2005.
   There were new faces in the village even after the arrest of Abdur Rahman in Sylhet four days back, they said.
   Bangla Bhai was shifted to the BDR hospital in the afternoon while Masud is undergoing treatment at the Mymensingh hospital.
   In Dhaka journalists were denied access to the BDR hospital as all the five gates of the BDR headquarters were put under heavy security guards.
   RAB officials said Bangla Bhai was out of danger after the surgery at the Mymensingh hospital but had been bleeding profusely when he was being shifted to Dhaka.
   Lawmen seized two homemade revolvers, six bullets, one bomb, 4 knives, 2 machetes and 2 rifle bullets stuffed in polythene bags after digging the mud floor of the house, a police official said on the spot.
   Most of the male residents of the village fled after the operation. Bangla Bhai had been staying in the village for over a year, said Azufa Khatun, a 50-year-old woman. ‘We saw him taking bath in the pond and offering prayers.’
   The government in September announced a bounty of Tk 50 lakh each for the arrest of Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai.

Siddiqul Islam alias Azizur Rahman alias Omar Ali Litu had earned the sobriquet ‘Bangla Bhai’ long before his emergence as a militant leader – for his efficiency as Bangla teacher at a coaching centre.
   Born to Nazir Hossain Pramanik alias Nadim Hossain alias Shamsher Ali of village Kannipara under Gabtali upazila in Bogra, nearly 160 kilometres northwest of the capital Dhaka, he was the youngest of three brothers.
   He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1995 from the Bogra Azizul Haque College, where he joined Islami Chhatra Shibir, student front of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a partner in the BNP-led four-party ruling alliance. In 1989 he graduated from the Tarafsartaj senior fazil madrassah.
   After receiving his master’s degree in Bangla from Rajshahi University, he took up teaching at a madrassah at Kannipara and also at the Bogra branch of Retina, a Shibir-run coaching centre for admission to universities, Bogra where he came to be known as Bangla Bhai.
   He came in touch with the JMB chief, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, in 2000 after he had come to Dhaka and continued teaching at Retina. Meanwhile, he had trained with the Taliban guerrillas and started militant activities for Harkat-ul-Jihad on his return from Afghanistan in 1992.
   Harkat-ul-Jihad had already established a strong network by then, thanks to the reluctance of the successive governments of the BNP and the Awami League to acknowledge the presence of militant elements in Bangladesh.
   He intensified activities in 1998 and expanded network to the poverty-prone northern districts. As the name Harkat-ul-Jihad stirred widespread controversy, the group changed its name first to Kital Bahinee and later to Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh. It also put together a strong explosives unit.
   The militants carried out their first major operation on September 16, 2002 at the Randhunibari police outpost at Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj, some 100 kilometres northwest of Dhaka. They looted a huge cache of arms and ammunition after killing four policemen.
   Bangla Bhai led the militants when they clashed with the police in 2002 after the lawmen had raided a house in a village under Khetlal upazila in Jaipurhat, nearly 200 kilometres northwest of Dhaka. The police managed to arrest more than 40 militants after the clash; however, they were all set free within a couple of months.
   He shot to prominence with his infamous cleansing operation against underground, ultra-left political activists, known as ‘Sarbahara’, at Bagmara in Rajshahi, Atrai and Raninagar in Naogaon, Nandigram and Adamdighi in Bogra, and Naldanga and Singra in Natore.
   He grouped his men under the banner of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and began the operation on April 1, 2004. Bangla Bhai and his men raided residences of suspected Sarbahara operatives, took them to his so-called concentration camp at Vetigram and Hamirkutsa at Bagmara and tortured them.
   More than a dozen were killed and their bodies dumped by the militants during the month-long operation. Several others sustained crippling wounds, as they were tortured.
   Meanwhile, Abdur Rahman, spiritual leader of both Jamaatul Mujahideen and Jagrata Muslim Janata, had shifted to Bagmara from Jamalpur. In a speech at a school at Bagmara in 2004, he declared Jagrata Muslim Janata as a front of Jamaatul Mujahideen.
   Allegations of patronage to the militants were levelled against the local administration and also quarters of the government, as Jagrata Muslim Janata continued its operation.
   Bangla Bhai led a huge procession in the Rajshahi city on May 23, 2004 and submitted a memorandum to the then Rajshahi police superintendent, Masud Miah, at his office. The militants carried lethal weapons, and even firearms, it was reported in the media.
   The so-called cleansing operation against Sarbahara drew attention at home and abroad when the militants tortured one Idris Ali to death and left his body hanging upside down from a tree.
   A number of ministers and government officials, however, continued to deny the existence of Bangla Bhai and said he was the creation of the media.
   As criticism grew at home and abroad, the prime minister ordered that Bangla Bhai, one of the seven members of the JMB majlish-e-shura, should be arrested immediately. He had gone underground since then.
   After the countrywide bombings on August 17, 2005, the government in September announced a bounty of Tk 50 lakh each for the arrest of Bangla Bhai and Abdur Rahman. Earlier it had banned both Jagrata Muslim Janata and Jamaatul Mujahideen.
   It also announced cash rewards for the capture of other members of the JMB majlish-e-shura (highest policymaking body).
   One hundred and eighty-seven countries were notified of the warrant of arrest against the top JMB leaders through the international police organisation Interpol.

Bangla Bhai, the self-styled vigilante leader and operations chief of an Islamist outfit Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, came into limelight for the horror he unleashed.
   His initial targets were, as he claimed, activists of the Purba Banglar Communist Party locally known as Sarbahara, mainly in Bagmara-Atrai-Raninagar-Naldanga belt in greater Rajshahi in April 2004.
   Bangla Bhai is also a member of a banned Islamist organisation Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh. In fact he is one of the top seven-member decision making body of the Mujahideen — Majlis-e-Shura.
   Bangla Bhai, however, was designated as commander of the anti-Sarbahara cleansing operation.
   Empowered by his party to launch a crackdown on Sarbaharas, he killed 41 in Raninagar and Atrai upazilas. Bangla Bhai’s followers also tortured 15 suspected outlaws to death and maimed dozens others since the inception of the cleansing operation.
   Bangla Bhai conducted his operations under the banner of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh until the brutal activities came to light.
   Shaikh Abdur Rahman, who heads the highest tier of the Mujahideen, moved from his Jamalpur home to Bagmara in Rajshahi and declared the Muslim Janata as a front of the Mujahideen in 2004 during a meeting.
   The Bangla Bhai group openly roamed around the countryside with firearms when they launched their vigilante activities.
   They wielded swords, sharp weapons, hammers and hockey sticks. After being exposed in the newspapers, the Muslim Janata kept a low profile while Bangla Bhai took cover.
   As his murders were widely condemned within and outside the country, prime minister Khaleda Zia herself issued an order on May 22, 2004 to arrest Bangla Bhai.
   She summoned the state minister for home, Lutfozaman Babar, and directed him to put the man behind bars.
   But the law enforcers seem to have been reluctant to arrest the man. Allegedly the police rather helped him flee and go underground as the pressure to arrest Bangla Bhai mounted.
   After the prime minister’s order, Bangla Bhai was seen on several occasions in different parts of the country. But Babar and the police continued to claim that despite their frantic search, Bangla Bhai could not be found.
   Khaleda in January 2005 issued a fresh order to arrest Bangla Bhai and the government on September 11, 2005 announced a bounty for Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai.
   The government also ascertained that the Mujahideen and its leaders, Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai, were responsible for simultaneous bomb blasts in 63 out of 64 districts in Bangladesh on August 17.
   The government repeatedly ordered the police to arrest Bangla Bhai, but only in vain. The police ‘failure’ was reportedly due to the support and endorsement Bangla Bhai enjoyed from ministers and ruling party lawmakers.
   The government banned the two militant Islamist outfits Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh in February 2005.
   Some government high-ups including the amir of Jamaat-e-Islami, Motiur Rahman Nizami, even denied his very existence, while Bangla Bhai, supported by the police, ran a reign of terror in Rajshahi, Naogaon and Natore districts for about three months.
   A week after the home ministry issued the order, several thousand activists of the Islamist outfit staged a massive show of defiance in Rajshahi town, brandishing bamboo poles and hockey sticks on May 23, 2004 under police escort.
   Bangla Bhai’s vigilantes, riding hundreds of motorbikes, three microbuses, 60 buses and half a dozen trucks, barged into the city, pledging to eliminate leftist outlaws.
   They also besieged the office of the deputy commissioner of Rajshahi for an hour, chanting slogans — ‘There is no Bangla Bhai. We are all Bangla Bhais.’
   In a memorandum submitted to the deputy commissioner, they outfit said all political parties and ministers and lawmakers supported them.
   Bangla Bhai, with several aliases — Siddiqul Islam, Omar Ali Litu and Azizur Rahman — has remained active underground for the last six years to establish a Taliban-like rule.
   Bangla Bhai joined the Mujahideen in 1995 quitting Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, a significant partner of the ruling four-party alliance government.
   He said, ‘I quit Shibir because Jamaat accepted female leadership although it said it considered female leadership sacrilege.’
   At a news briefing in Bagmara on May 4, 2004, Bangla Bhai said he had close communications with a deputy minister and the Rajshahi police superintendent Masud Miah. ‘I personally met them and they are happy with our work.’
   The government, however, terminated Masud Miah on February 1. Masud was axed on charge of patronising militancy and the activities of the banned outfit.

At least 225 cases have been filed with different police stations across the country against Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, the second-in-command of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, after the August 17, 2005, serial bomb blasts.
   Prior to the country-wide blasts, a few people dared to speak out against Bangla Bhai and his followers. Though Bangla Bhai’s Jagrata Muslim Janata militants killed dozens of innocent people, apparently with the help of the administration, in the name of Sarbahara cleansing operation at Bagmara, Atrai, Raninagar and Naldanga between April and May, 2004, there was no mention of their crimes in several cases filed with the local thanas at that time.
   Of the 225 cases, 154 were filed immediately after the cross-country terror bombings. Eighteen cases were filed in the capital city. The police have submitted charge sheets in 121 cases and trials have begun in 61 cases. Judgements have been delivered in four cases till date.
   Sources said, the JMB men slaughtered Osman Babu of Sargatipara of Naldanga on April 1, 2004 in Bagmara. But sub-inspector Serajul brought charge against 25 people including seven Sarbahara cadres in the case instead of implicating Bangla Bhai and his henchmen.
   On April 7, 2004, JMB cadres picked up Abu Taleb Bhutto from his Sanjuria residence in Bagmara and took him to Hamirkutsha JMB camp. After five days his dead body was found floating on a water body in Deepur. Police filed a murder case without implicating any one in this connection.
   On April 11, 2004, Bangla Bhai, Ataur Rahman Sunny and his followers picked up Golam Rabbani Mukul from his Tahirpur residence and tortured him to death in the presence of locals at an ‘Islamic conference’.
   His brother Golam Mostafa said after a week that when he had gone to Bagmara police station to file a case against 10 people including Bangla Bhai, the then officer-in-charge Ruhul Amin Siddique refused to record the case against Bangla Bhai.
   In most of the cases filed after the August 17 blasts, Bangla Bhai, Abdur Rahman, and his brother and the JMB military operations commander Ataur Rahman Sunny have been implicated along with other JMB operatives.
   Out of four verdicts related to recent bomb attacks by the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Bangla Bhai has been given one death sentence and one life term imprisonment in abesntia.

The arrest of Bangla Bhai, second-in-command of the banned Islamist organisation Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, was the talk of the town on Monday.
   Most people had their eyes to glued to television throughout the day since the news broke that the militant leader had been wounded during an encounter with security forces and arrested.
   Private television channels aired special bulletins while a number of newspapers brought out special issues on the operation at Muktagachha in Mymensingh. People were seen crowding shopping malls and sales centres of the electric and electronic appliances to watch news updates.
   Many officials were found in front of television sets in the auditorium of their government offices. Some even left for home to watch the news on ‘Bangla Bhai’s capture’. The private television channel Ntv broadcast special news bulletins on the operation through the day.
   Other private television channels, including Rtv, Channel i, Channel One and ATN Bangla, also ran special news bulletins. The Bangla daily Samakal published a two-page telegram with the banner heading – ‘Bangla Bhai captured at Muktagachha’ – on the front page. It was sold at Tk 2 each.
   Another widely circulated Bangla daily Naya Diganta published a four-page telegram. It sold 50,000 copies at Tk 3 each.
   The Bangla daily Bhorer Dak brought out a two-page bulletin and sold about 5,000 copies at Tk 2 each. At some city markets, televisions were placed at designated spots for customers. At the Karnaphuli Garden City Market, most of the shops were empty as salespeople joined customers to watch news on television. Passengers on public transports were also abuzz about Bangla Bhai.

The government will not let up in its drive against terrorism and Islamist militancy even after the arrest of the chief of the banned Islamist organisation Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, and his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, said the state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar on Monday.
   He dismissed the main opposition Awami League’s allegations that the government had staged a drama over the arrest of the two militant leaders and said people would judge the merit of the incidents.
   ‘It is, of course, a big achievement,’ Babar told a crowded news conference as he announced the arrest of Bangla Bhai. ‘We were resolute to catch them and they have no public support for their terrorist activities.’
   The home secretary, the inspector general of police, the director general of the Rapid Action Battalion and the director of RAB intelligence were present at the briefing in the conference room of the home ministry.
   When asked whether the government still believe Bangla Bhai was the ‘creation of the media’, Babar said the emergence of and terrorist activities by the militant leader were facts.
   ‘We addressed the issue as soon as it was brought to our attention,’ he said as he sought to justify the government’s position.
   Babar also reiterated the government’s position that no such militant activities will be allowed in Bangladesh.
   Militancy and terrorism are a worldwide problem, and but Bangladesh has set a precedent in combating both in such a short time, he claimed.
   Babar said there was no proof yet of a link between Jamaatul Mujahideen and any international terrorist organisation.
   ‘A major portion of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen’s organisational network has been broken and its ideology totally eroded,’ he said. ‘Some of its followers even wrote to us expressing their repentance for involvement with terrorist activities.’
   He, however, ruled out amnesty for the derailed youths ‘who have embraced the path of extremism’.
   In response to a question about the powerful quarters who according to arrested JMB leaders and activists had patronised the banned organisation, Babar said anyone having involvement with the militants would be arrested and punished. ‘But we cannot take action without adequately corroborated evidence.’

The central leaders of Awami League and 14-party alliances have termed the arrest of Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai as the latest episode in the drama being staged by the present government.
   According to the premeditated plan, the government from their political custodians had taken Bangla Bhai after Shaikh Abdur Rahman to the police and RAB custody, they further said.
   All most all the top leaders of 14-party alliance including Awami League were present at Barisal on Monday to attend the divisional rally.
   Abdul Jalil, general secretary of Awami League, said the government was staging the scene one after another of a chalked out drama.
   Both Bangla Bhai and Shaikh Abdur Rahman were the creations of present 4-party alliance government and they were now staging a drama one after another to misguide people, he further said.
   Tofael Ahmed, presidium member of Awami League said AL demanded arrest of Bangla Bhai when he was killing and torturing people in Rajshahi openly, but at that time the government completely denied his existence terming it as a media creation.
   Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon, said before each grand rally organised by the opposition 14-party alliances against the ruling alliance, a militant chief was arrested, which proves that the militant’s leaders had all along been in their custody and were being brought out one by one by the government.
   Hasanul Huq Inu, president of a Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction said the government had all along been aware of their location and presence and the arrests were part of a pre-planned drama.
   Later in a press statement, Inu termed the arrest of Bangla Bhai, as the victory of the people.
   The pressures from the opposition political parties and the international community compelled the alliance government to arrest him, Inu and general secretary Syed Zafar Sajjad, said, calling upon the government to take immediate steps to uproot the Islamist militant groups.
   Fazle Hassan Badsha, mayor candidate of Rajshahi City Corporation and politburo member of Workers Party said from Rajshahi he was the first to demand the arrest of Bangla Bhai, but government paid no heed to it, rather Bangla Bhai was given protection and care by the administration.
   He however said the arrests need not be viewed from a negative angle and it had become necessary to find out the forces in the back ground.
   Meanwhile the arrest of Bangla Bhai has prompted the demand of immediately arresting those who patronised him, by different political parties in Dhaka on Monday.
   The top leaders of these parties in separate press statements and protest rallies came up with the demand.
   The Communist Party of Bangladesh leaders demanded arrest of the responsible ministers, members of parliament and administrative officials those who patronised Bangla Bhai within 24 hours.
   If the government took the step earlier the lives many innocent who were killed by Bangla Bhai and his followers could have been saved, the party president, Monzurul Ahsan Khan, and general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, said.
   The CPB leaders claimed that Jamaat e Islami Bangladesh patronised the Islamist militant groups and hence they should also be tried.
   Ganamukti O Jatiya Sampad Rakkha Sammilita Andolan, a combine of 18 left leaning political parties and organisations from a rally at Muktangan in the capital called upon the people to make a united demand for the arrest of those who patronised Bangla Bhai.
   The rally that was followed by a procession was chaired by the combine leader, Abdullah Sarker, and addressed among others, by its leaders Saiful Huq and Hamidul Haque.
   The combine will also hold a rally on March 10 to press home their demand of arresting the responsible ministers, MPS and government officials.

Two major power grid lines in the city and northern districts tripped on Monday resulting in unprecedented power outages in the capital, north and south-western districts.
   Most parts of the capital plunged into darkness during the evening and frequent power outages continued throughout the day as the Ulan-Dhanmondi underground grid tripped at around 5:15am shutting down power at Dhanmondi, Karwanbazar and Ramna sub-stations.
   The Ulan-Dhanmondi line could not be restored till evening and the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority was supplying power to the sub-stations through alternative lines which were not enough to meet the demand.
   The Ishwardi-Natore grid line tripped at noon resulting in a closure of a 125MW unit of Barapukuria power plant, 45MW unit of a private power plant at Baghabari and Bheramara power plant, said officials of the Power Development Board.
   Power supply in the northern districts including Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur and Bogra and south-western districts including Khulna, Jessore and Kushtia was jeopardised immediately after the suspension of power supply from these plants.
   Although the Ishwardi-Natore grid was restored within about 10 minutes, the districts suffered from power shortage for hours as the plants needed about an hour to resume full production.
   The severe power shortage in the districts continued as the 110MW Khulna and 170MW Baghabari power plants have been inoperative for days.
   In the capital, almost all areas suffered from frequent power outages spanning between one to four hours as power was supplied to the Dhanmondi sub-station through Mirpur and Ulan-Kakrail grid line.
   The areas under Dhanmondi alone faced power shortage of 50MW.
   The overall power supply in the capital was around 1250MW against a demand of 1800MW.
   The power crisis aggravated in other parts as the 80MW Tongi power plant that tripped on Sunday remained out of operation on Monday.
   Officials of the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority said the city’s power situation might continue to worsen in the next two months as the underground lines would need that much time for repair.
   Chairman of the authority, Tawhidul Islam, however, said they were trying their best to mitigate the crisis supplying power through alternative lines.
   He said the grid line, which might have been torn apart, would be dug out on Monday night to detect the glitch.
   He said about a month and a half would be needed to repair any glitch as foreign experts who installed the line would have to come to the country.
   Tawhid said the areas under the Dhanmondi sub-station would face a shortage of 25MW.
   The alternative Ulan-Dhanmondi grid line, which used to supply 80MW power from Ulan to Dhanmondi, tripped a few months back.
   Tawhid said parts and machinery for the alternative line would arrive on April 4 and they would need another four weeks to repair the lines. ‘We will repair both the lines simultaneously,’ he said.
   Power Development Board officials hoped that the power situation in the northern and south-western districts would improve on Tuesday as the Khulna power plant came into operation Monday evening.

Files of Niko Resources, an international oil company, started to move on Monday, with a prime ministerial approval to drill Tengratila, a week after the company stopped supplying gas from its Feni gas field.
   The company suspended gas supply from Feni field last Monday over non-payment of gas bills, dispute over Feni gas price and to pressure the government to allow it to drill two production wells at Tengratila gas field.
   Energy and mineral resources adviser Mahmudur Rahman will hold a meeting today with Niko officials to discuss approval of the drilling proposal and about the compensation issue of the Tengratila blow-outs.
   Sources in the energy division said Petrobangla would hold a meeting with Niko today to settle the price issue.
   Petrobangla’s subsidiary, the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company, which is Niko’s joint venture partner, will also hold a joint management committee meeting with Niko to discuss different issues including the suspension of gas production from Feni.
   The Prime Minister’s Office recently sent back a proposal to drill wells at Tengratila that suffered two blow-outs last year, asking the division to incorporate Petrobangla’s comment.
   The division sent the proposal again to the Prime Minister’s Office late last month with Petrobangla’s comments that agreed to the proposal, although the company is yet to compensate for the loss of 8.89 billion cubic feet of gas and environmental damages worth Tk 84 crore for the two blasts at Tengratila.
   The company, in the mean time, suspended gas production from Feni to pressure the government to approve the proposal and fix a gas price for Feni field from where it had been supplying gas since November 2004.
   Petrobangla is yet to pay the full bills of gas for Feni as the gas price is yet to be fixed. Niko and Petrobangla have consistently differed on the price of gas from Feni.
   Niko has been demanding $2.35 per unit — 1000 cubic feet of gas — while Petrobangla has offered $1.75 per unit citing the reason that Niko was given a ready field and did not have to invest in developing it.
   Niko, however, proposed to sign an interim gas purchase and sales agreement with the price fixed at $1.75 per one unit pending appointment of an international arbitrator to fix the final price.
   Mahmud, at his meeting with Niko, is expected pressure the company to compensate for the Tengratila blow-outs.
   Petrobangla officials will discuss about the interim gas purchase and sales agreement proposed by Niko, said sources.

Bangla Bhai, one of the most-wanted Islamist militant leaders, chose the tiny remote village of Rampur of Dolla union for its isolated and strategic location.
   Surrounded by paddy fields, the village is only four kilometres away from the border of Tangail and Jamalpur districts, both strongholds of Bangla Bhai’s Islamist outfit, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh.
   Bangla Bhai, alias Siddiqul Islam, rightly guessed that it would be difficult to locate him there.
   Even the surrounding villages are far of and outsiders seldom visited Rampur for its location. Only 12 families lived in the village.
   Bangla Bhai managed to convince the locals with his charismatic personality and built a house at the village a year ago. Reportedly, he stayed there occasionally.
   He delegated his followers to choose a location for the hideout and built the house with the help of Chand Mia, a young cadre and resident of the village. Concrete pillars were used to erect straw walls, unique in the entire village, which essentially gave away Bangla Bhai’s presence. There were bamboo fences around the house preventing others from observing what went on inside.
   ‘We saw [Bangla Bhai] coming here and staying in the house occasionally but we were never allowed to go inside,’ said Sakhina Khatun, Bangla Bhai’s neighbour.
   ‘Even the children were not allowed inside,’ she said, adding, ‘The wife and children of Chand Mia were not allowed to come out either, to maintain secrecy.’
   No male villagers were found following the arrest of Bangla Bhai and Masud after a brief encounter with the Rapid Action Battalion early Monday.
   The women said they all fled in the morning. ‘I saw him for the last time on Friday when he bathed in the village pond and offered Juma prayers in front of his house,’ said Azufa Khatun.
   She said Bangla Bhai used to move on a bicycle. ‘A couple of his cadres always accompanied him.’
   The women told New Age that they never realised that the man was a notorious criminal and a fugitive. They said Chand Mia used to stay along with Bangla Bhai but was missing since Friday. They also said Bangla Bhai never spoke to the villagers.
   But the residents of nearby villagers who flocked to Rampur after the arrest of Bangla Bhai alleged that all the residents of Rampur were his followers. They said Bangla Bhai had recruited numerous cadres over the last two years.
   Despite bad road communications of the village, 50 kilometres from Mymensingh town, it would have been easy for Bangla Bhai to flee in any direction through the paddy fields. A joint squad of the battalion had to walk to the village to arrest Bangla Bhai and his associate, Masud.
   Sources said Bangla Bhai also stayed at a house on RK Mission Road in Mymensingh town from where his wife and daughter were arrested. He moved out of the house after the arrest of Shaikh Abdur Rahman, head of the banned Islamist outfit, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

The Rapid Action Battalion was confident that Bangla Bhai had taken refuge somewhere in Mymensingh on the basis of information provided by his associates, said Lieutenant Colonel Gulzar Uddin, chief of the RAB intelligence wing who headed the operation at Muktagachha in Mymensingh that led to the arrest of the militant leader.
   Bangla Bhai and other leaders of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh maintained a telecommunication silence since they had gone underground, he said.
   The militant leader did not provide a mobile phone to his wife Halima Khatun in the fear of being traced by security forces, Gulzar told New Age after a news conference at the home ministry on Monday. ‘She told me last night that her husband had met her more than a month ago.’
   Some other RAB officials, who were also involved with the Muktagachha operation, said Bangla Bhai’s associates had built the house their leader was captures from.
   ‘I saw a dark complexioned man, very stout and bearded and was sure that it was Bangle Bhai,’ Gulzar said.
   Asked how Bangla Bhai behaved when the battalion surrounded his house, he said, ‘Initially, he was very arrogant and trying to bully us. After the bomb blast, which injured both him and his associate, I guess, he broke down. I threatened to fire at him as he shot my soldier and he eventually surrendered.’
   The RAB official, who also led the Sylhet operation that led to the arrest of the JMB chief, said Shaikh Abdur Rahman had tried to intimidate us with ‘ideological messages’ but Bangla Bhai looked desperate the moment he had found himself besieged.
   Gulzar said he had become ‘sure’ of the presence of Bangla Bhai in Mymensingh when Abdur Rahman told intelligence agencies on Sunday that Bangla Bhai was ‘most probably in Mymensingh’.
   The hint made by Abdur Rahman was corroborated by the confession of another Mujahideen cadre Amanullah in Sylhet.
   The official also pointed out that all arrests were the outcome of long-term intelligence activities since August and the breakthrough started with the arrest of Mahmud last week.

Examinations of the Higher Secondary Certificate under seven general education boards across the country are likely to begin from May 14, sources in the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka said.
   The board chairman, Professor Harun-ur-Rashid Sidker, told New Age Monday that they had fixed the date and it would be sent to the ministry of education for final approval.
   Examinations under the Madrassah Education Board and the Technical Education Board will also begin on the same date.
   Examinations will also be held at five overseas centres at Doha in Qatar, Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Tripoli in Libya on the same date. English first paper (compulsory) examination is scheduled to be held on the first day.
   The board sources said more than four lakh examinees are likely to sit for the examinations under seven general education boards. The number of examines under other two boards has yet not been determined.

Hundreds of Maoist rebels raided a town in eastern Nepal, bombing government buildings and freeing dozens of prisoners from a local jail, officials said on Monday.
   At least eight people -- three Maoists, two civilians, two police officers and a soldier -- were killed in the overnight attack in Ilam, a tea-growing area bordering India, about 600 km east of Kathmandu, they said.
   The guerrillas, who specialise in hit-and-run attacks, drove into Ilam in buses and trucks, attacking government buildings and shooting at security posts, residents said.
   ‘The Maoists also stormed the local jail and freed more than 100 prisoners including some Maoists,’ a police officer said.
   He said the rebels, who are fighting to overthrow Nepal's constitutional monarchy, bombed or set fire to the district administration office building, the revenue office and the local municipal council office.
   More than a dozen security troops were wounded in the fighting. The rebels also set ablaze the home of the mayor who was elected in last month's municipal elections opposed by the Maoists, journalist Rohit Chandra Bhattarai said. He said the fighting continued until dawn when an army helicopter was seen and the rebels sped away in buses. ‘Many buildings in Ilam are burned out and riddled with bullet holes,’ said another resident.
   Meanwhile, Nepal's seven main political parties on Monday appealed to the Maoists to call off plans for a blockade of Kathmandu next week and a nationwide strike later, saying it would hurt ordinary people.
   The political parties, who have struck a loose alliance with the Maoists after King Gyanendra seized power last year, said they would start a new round of protests in April in their campaign for restoration of democracy.
   The Maoists have threatened an indefinite blockade of the hill-ringed capital from March 14 and a general strike next month to increase the pressure on the king.

Terming the arrest of Bangla Bhai another drama, the leader of the opposition in parliament Sheikh Hasina on Monday said the BNP-Jamaat alliance government had promoted militancy in their misguided efforts to cling to power.
   ‘The fall of this autocratic regime is imminent. People will pull them down for their misdeeds and failures,’ she said describing Khaleda Zia and Nizami as the patrons of militants.
   Hasina, also the Awami League president, was addressing a grand rally organised by the 14-party opposition combine at the city’s Bangabandhu Uddyan.
   Referring to the capture of Shaikh Rahman and Bangla Bhai, she said, ‘The arrest drama on Shaikh Rahman was staged on the day of our grand rally in Chattagong and today the government staged another drama of arresting Bangla Bhai on the day of our another grand rally here. But they need to keep in mind that the government would be toppled on the day of our next grand rally.’
   Hasina said the government had turned Bangladesh into a most corrupt country and a terrorist state through loot, plundering and terrorism during their last four years’ rule.
   ‘This alliance government has shelved the development projects taken by previous Awami League government. The government has done nothing for the welfare of the countrymen. They just raised the prices of essentials through a syndicate and ‘siphoning off money from Hawa Bhaban,’ she alleged.
   The AL chief said Khaleda-Nizami alliance government has little belief in Prophet Muhammad (SM), but they do believe in Moududism. ‘AL’s politics is for establishing people’s right to vote and rice, while the government led by Khaleda Zia believes in corruption, terrorism and repression,’ she added.
   Painting a gloomy picture of the alliance rule, Hasina criticized the government for killing 14 journalists and many opposition leaders and workers in last four years.
   She also took a swipe at BNP leaders Mujibor Rahman Sarwar, Zahir Uddin Swapon, Moazzem Hossain Alal, Shahidul Alam and Shahjahan Omor for repressing journalists and opposition activists.
   ‘When Awami League handed over power, the country had a food surplus of 26 lakh tonnes but the alliance government could not scale up the reserve by even one tonne,’ she said.
   She said the electricity generation was 4,400MW during her regime but this government failed to increase the power generation, instead it, created power crisis.
   Dr Kamal Hossain of Gano Forum, AL leaders Abdur Razzak MP, Tofail Ahmed, Abdul Jalil MP and Matia Chowdhury, Rashed Khan Menon of Workers Party and Hasanul Huq Inu of JSD, among others, addressed the rally.
   ‘Bangla Bhai and Shaiekh Abdur Rahman are creations of the present alliance government which is now staging drama to misguide the people,’ the AL general secretary, Abdul Jalil MP, told the rally.
   The Workers Party president, Rashed Khan Menon, said the way Bangla Bhai and Shaikh Rahman were arrested proves that the militant kingpins were in government shelter.
   The JSD president Hasanul Huq Inu, said the government had all along been was aware of their hideouts and their arrest was nothing but a preplanned drama.

The High Court on Monday declared legal the appointment of Justice Sultan Hossain Khan as the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   A High Court bench of Justice MA Matin and Justice ATM Fazle Kabir delivered the verdict discharging the rule issued earlier upon a public interest litigation writ filed by a lawyer of the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the appointment.
   The petitioner of the writ, Aminul Huq Helal, also a lawyer of the Supreme Court, told reporters after the judgement he would appeal the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the verdict shortly.
   In the judgement, the court observed that there was nothing illegal in appointing a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a former chief election commissioner as the chairman of the commission, as the office of the chairman of the commission was not the service of the republic.
   Relying on the arguments of the counsels of Justice Sultan, the court observed, ‘though the commission is a public office, the office of the chairman of the commission is not the service of the republic.’
   ‘According to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004, the commission is a statutory and independent body, as it enjoys financial independence and powers to make its rules and to investigate any allegation of corruption against any high office of the state and against individuals as well,’ the court said in its verdict.
   As the commission is a statutory and independent body, the chairmanship of the commission can not be considered as a service of the republic and no constitutional bar can be applicable on appointing a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a former chief election commissioner to the office, the court observed.
   The counsels for the petitioner had argued that after retirement from the office of a judge of the Supreme Court and that of the chief election commissioner, no person was eligible to be appointed to any office of the republic.
   The court also turned down their plea that the chairmanship of the commission was a service of the republic and it was not a quasi-judicial institution, in which any retired judge can be appointed.
   Justice Sultan, an octogenarian retired judge of the Supreme Court and also former chief election commissioner, was appointed the first chairman of the commission on November 2, 2004.
   A High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury issued a rule on the government and Justice Sultan on March 12, 2005 asking them to explain under what authority he was functioning as Chairman of the commission.
   The rule came in response to a public-interest-litigation writ petition filed by a Supreme Court lawyer, Aminul Haque Helal.

The foreign missions in Dhaka, including the USA, the United Kingdom and the European Union, on Monday hailed the arrest of the second-in-command of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai.
   A spokesman for the US embassy said, ‘Bringing to justice in a transparent and lawful manner all of the organisers, sponsors, and perpetrators of all acts of extremist and political violence remains the paramount goal for anybody concerned with the security and future of this country.’
   Welcoming the capture of Bangla Bhai as another important step-forward in the government’s response to the JMB campaign of terror, the USA hopes that the police investigation of the JMB continues to progress and that ‘it will shed light on whether any elements of the JMB were involved with other acts of high-profile violence in Bangladesh.’
   In the wake of the arrest of the high-profile extremist, the UK has applauded the continuing efforts of the Bangladesh government in taking action against extremists and terrorists.
   ‘This is excellent news for the people and friends of Bangladesh, who will be delighted and relieved at the arrest of Bangla Bhai,’ a spokesperson for the British high commission told the news agency.
   Asked about reported financing of the JMB chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman from the UK, the spokesperson said, ‘We are aware of the matter and monitoring it.’
   A spokesperson for the European Union said they ‘very warmly’ have welcome the arrest of Bangla Bhai describing it as a significant boost in Bangladesh’s efforts to combat terrorism.
   ‘We commend the effort of the security forces and others, which have led to this development and reiterate our continued solidarity with Bangladesh in the context of global efforts to combat terrorism,’ the spokesperson said adding that they will follow subsequent developments in respect to the interrogation and prosecution of Bangla Bhai.
   Talking to the news agency, the Indian high commissioner, Veena Sikri said, ‘We are very happy about the arrest of Bangla Bhai. Terrorism and extremism is a concern for both of us as we are neighbours.’
   The Norwegian ambassador, Aud Lise Norheim, said she was very happy to hear that Bangla Bhai was arrested.

Activist and Booker Prize winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy on Monday lashed out at the government for not helping hundreds of women whose farmer husbands committed suicide over failed crops.
   Roy joined dozens of women who have been living on the street in New Delhi less than a kilometre from the national parliament to draw attention to their plight.
   ‘There have been tens of thousands of suicides by farmers in the country, and the government wants to dispute what a suicide is, who a farmer is,’ Roy told reporters.
   The women want the government to write off bank loans their deceased husbands took and could not repay after a severe drought in 2001.
   Around 1,800 farmers are estimated to have killed themselves since 2001 in one district alone and thousands more have taken their lives in other parts of the country because of mounting debts and failing crops.
   More than two-thirds people live off agriculture in India, where the economy is growing at eight percent.
   ‘Growth is happening, but who has their greedy hands on it? The stock markets are booming, but less than one per cent Indians have shares in the market,’ she said.

At least 13 persons were killed and 30 others injured in a road accident on Dhaka-Thakurgaon highway at Naymile Bazar area under Shajahanpur upazila in Bogra early Monday.
   The police said a Thakurgaon bound passenger bus coming from Dhaka collided head on with another Dhaka bound bus at around 12:40am killing 13 passengers on the spot and leaving at least 40 others injured.
   Six of the dead were identified as Joynab, 21, wife of Abdur Razzak, her one year old boy, Gulshan Ara, 9, daughter of Khademul Islam, Abdus Salam, 13, son of Abdul Baset, Robeda Khatun, 35, wife of Baidul Haque and Jainul Abedin, 20, son Dariman Ali, all under Thakurgaon.
   The injured passengers were admitted to a local hospital.
   Few roadside shops were also damaged, the police said.
   A case was filed with the respective police station.

A BNP activist was killed and five others were injured in a bomb attack at Barabi Bazaar on the Meherpur-Chuadanga road on Monday night.
   The deceased was identified as Alauddin, 45, of village Kalaidanga. He was a power-pump mechanic.
   Witnesses said a gang of about four criminals threw a bomb targeting Alauddin when he along with few others gossiping at a corner of the bazaar at about 8:00pm.
   Alauddin died on the spot in the blast that also left five others injured, the sources said.

A young man was critically injured as a powerful bomb exploded at Fultola in Khulna city on Monday night.
   The police said the explosion took place at about 10:00pm leaving the victim, Mohammad Habib, 30, critically injured.
   The police on information reached the spot and the victim was admitted to Khulna Medical College Hospital.
   Reason behind the explosion could not be known immediately.

The condition of Mir Mohammed Nasir Uddin, a former state minister for civil aviation and tourism, who went into a coma after a Sunday road accident in Saudi Arabia, improved on Monday.
   Nasir’s wife, Dalia Najnin Nasir, and a sister, Shamsunnahar, died and his two daughters, Nusrat Jahan and Ishrat Jahan, were also injured in the accident that took place at about 9:00pm Bangladesh standard time.
   According to the family members, condition of Nasir started to improve since morning, but his elder daughter, Nusrat, did not regain her consciousness till evening.
   Doctors at King Fahad Hospital declared Nasir, also a former Chittagong mayor, and his younger daughter, Israt Jahan, out of danger, they added.
   Nasir, also the president of the dissolved city committee of the BNP, along with his family members met the accident when their car skidded of the road on way to Makkah from Madina.

The Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court on Monday recorded depositions of two witnesses to the country’s biggest-ever arms haul in the port on April 2, 2004.
   The judge, AKM Anwar Hossain also granted bail for three accused in the case, Saifuddin, Monir Ahmed and Firoz Ahmed and fixed April 18 as the next date of hearing.
   According to sources the court recorded depositions of two police constables, Yousuf and Mozammel, who were present during the arms recovery at the Chittagong port.
   Court sources quoted Yousuf as saying that on the day ( April 2, 2004) he had reached Chittagong urea fertiliser jetty with two police sergeants, Alauddin and Helal Uddin, at around 12:30 and found that five trucks were being loaded with boxes from two engine boats.
   On information, high officials of Chittagong metropolitan police had reached the spot and people engaged in handling the arms fled the scene sensing the presence of the police, sources quoted Yousuf as saying.
   Yousuf told the court that later the consignment of arms and ammunition had been taken to Dampara police line on ten trucks.
   According to the sources the other witness, Mozammel narrated the same story before the court in his deposition.
   Police submitted the charge sheet in the case implicating 43 persons and 31 of them were now on bail, four in jail while the rests were on the run.
   The police recovered some six hundred and ninety 7.62 MMT56 1 SMGs, six hundred 6.62 MMT-56-2 SMGs, one hundred and fifty 40 MM rocket launchers, eight hundred and forty 40 MM rockets, four hundred 9 MM semi-automatic spot rifles, 100 Tommy guns, 150 rocket launchers and 2000 grenades, 25,020 hand grenades, two thousand seven hundred and ninety-two 7.62 MMT 56-1 SMG magazines, two thousand four hundred 7.62 MMT-56-2 SMG magazines, eight hundred 9 -MM semi-automatic spot rifle magazines, 400 Tommy gun magazines, seven lakh 39 thousand six hundred and eighty 7.62 MM SMG bullets, four lakh 7.62 pistol bullets and one wireless set on April 2, 2004.

Masud Ali, arrested along with Bangla Bhai from a remote village in Mymensingh, said he wanted to establish Islam in Bangladesh even if it meant sacrificing his life.
   ‘We wanted to establish Islam and the rule of Quran so that countrymen could live in peace and prosperity,’ he said lying on an operation table in Mymen-singh Medical College Hospital.
   He said he had been was living in Mymensingh district but did not elaborate about his family or others.
   ‘I have been staying at the house along with Bangla Bhai since the arrest of Shaikh in Sylhet on Thursday,’ Masud said as he groaned from the pain of his injuries all over the body.
   ‘I guarded the house overnight and was asleep when Bangla Bhai asked awoke me,’ he said in an unwavering voice never hinting of a moral breakdown.
   ‘Get up and get ready… we have been surrounded by [police],’ Masud quoted Bangla Bhai. ‘I could not understand anything but woke up rubbing my eyes and heard whispers outside.’
   Masud said he had never seen Shaikh Abdur Rahman. ‘I came close to Bangla Bhai after the countrywide bomb blasts of August 17 and started working with him.’
   Replying to a question he said he wanted to die for Islam but could not say whether he attempted to commit suicide when lawmen encircled him and Bangla Bhai.
   Masud was bleeding profusely at the operation theatre. He gasped to say more but officials of the Rapid Action Battalion guarding the operation theatre did not allow him to speak further.

The British prime minister, Tony Blair, and his Pakistani counterpart Shaukat Aziz said growth and global trade were the way to ease Asian poverty.
   Blair said it was vital to break the ‘logjam’ at World Trade Organisation discussions aimed at achieving a global trade treaty.
   ‘We can’t afford to let the WTO talks fail,’ he insisted.
   The two-day ‘Asia 2015: Promoting Growth, Ending Poverty’ meeting gathered some 150 delegates from the worlds of politics, business and civil society.
   Thai deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai, Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda and Vietnamese planning minister Vo Hong Phuc were due to attend.
   Aziz reckoned the three key factors in reducing Asian poverty were ‘deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation’.
   He said: ‘When we speak of growth, change is the constant’, adding that ‘change is always painful, but we’ll have to endure it for the sake of our future’.
   Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), which organised the conference with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, said that around 650 million people in Asia still live on less than one dollar a day.
   ‘Though currently two out of three of the world’s poorest people live in Asia, by 2015 this could fall to one in three if current trends continue,’ DFID said in a statement.
   ‘With continued efforts, it is possible to eradicate poverty in Asia in the next generation.’