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The High Court on Wednesday asked the government to submit investigation reports on the February 23 fire at the KTS Textiles and Garments Limited in Chittagong, which killed 61 workers and injured more than a hundred.
   The court also asked the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and KTS to submit a report, detailing a complete account of compensations given so far to the victims and their families, and the basis of the computation of such compensations.
   The government, BGMEA and KTS were asked to submit the reports within two weeks and also to provide necessary medical treatment for the fire victims.
   The court passed the orders after hearing a public-interest-litigation writ petition, filed by the human rights watchdogs Ain-O-Salish Kendra, Odhikar, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Karmajibi Nari, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights, Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association, Bangladesh Centre for Sustainable Development, Nijera Kori and Ubinig.
   They sought remedy for inaction and omission on the part of the government in ensuring effective enforcement of applicable laws on workplace safety regarding prevention of deaths and injuries of garment workers from fire.
   The court issued a package of rules along with the interim orders asking the government to explain why it should not be directed to effectively investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for the deaths and injuries in the incident, and take steps for prevention of recurrence of such a tragedy.
   It asked the government to explain why they should not be directed to establish a national committee in compliance with the High Court edicts of May 31, 2001 on a similar writ petition, to monitor compliance by garment factories with the applicable laws on fire safety and to make recommendation to prevent any such incident, and to disseminate their reports in the press every six months.
   The government will also have to explain why it should not be directed to secure payment of adequate compensations to the workers injured in the fire and to the family of the deceased workers.
   It was also asked to explain why it should not be directed to inspect all garments factories operating in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chittagong to ensure compliance with fire safety measures. All the reports and the replies to the rules will have to be submitted before the court within two weeks.
   Kamal Hossain, who moved the petition along with Kamal Hossain with Tanjibul Alam, ZI Khan Panna and Arafat Amin, told the court that that 23 incidents of fire had taken place in garments factories over the past 15 years killing more than 375 garments workers and injuring over 2,000. Still, the government and factory owners have not become aware of safety for workers at workplace, he argued.
   An environment like the pre-industrial revolution in Europe is prevailing in the garment factories, due to the negligence of the government and the owners, he added.

The Rapid Action Battalion and other law-enforcement agencies are now on the hunt for two members of majlish-e-shura (highest policymaking body) of the banned Islamist organisation Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and the eldest son of its chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman.
   The intelligence wing of the battalion fears that the three might plan and carry out terrorist attacks in retaliation for the drive against militants that have resulted in the arrest of six top JMB leaders, including Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai.
   Salahuddin, commander of the Mymensingh and Sylhet, and Faruk Hossain alias Khaled Saifullah, commander of the Chittagong division, have so far escaped arrest, and so has Nabil Rahman, who is 16.
   Other members of Abdur Rahman’s family were arrested during the 32-hour operation in Sylhet, which began on February 28 and ended with the surrender of the militant leader.
   The government has already announced a bounty of Tk 10 lakh for each of the two JMB leaders and Tk 2 lakh for Nabil.
   Officials investigating militancy regard Salahuddin as the most dangerous among the fugitives.
   He masterminded the suicide attack in Netrakona on December 8 with the help of his associate Mujahidul Islam Suman, who was arrested in Mymensingh later on. Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai were completely in the dark about the attack.
   ‘We are very concerned about these persons because they have the capacity to unleash terrorist attacks,’ an official of the RAB intelligence wing told New Age Wednesday night. ‘They are still active and able to carry out the activities of the outfit.’
   Sources said different wings and squads of the battalion had been carrying out raids across the country to nab the three since the arrest of Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai.
   A thorough review of the profiles of the arrested militant leaders shows that Jamalpur, Bogra and Natore are the JMB strongholds, said the official.
   The lawmen are targeting the entire northern and southern region, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Cox’s Bazar, Gazipur, Jhalakati, Barisal, Patuakhali and Chandpur areas where the outfit supposedly has a well-established network, he said.
   Investigators say Nabil has bomb-making expertise and possess a good amount of explosives and explosive materials.
   Salauddin is very influential among Rohingya refugees and has good relations with different Myanmar insurgent groups, said an investigator. ‘He is a one of those trained in manufacturing deadly bombs.’
   On the basis of information extracted from Abdur Rahman, Hafez Mahmud, Ataur Rahman Sunny and Abdul Awal, the investigators believe Salauddin, Khaled Saifullah and Nabil may be hiding somewhere in Sylhet, Mymensingh or Gazipur.
   The battalion has already raided a number of dens of the outfit in the past one week to arrest the three.
   Sunny, military operations chief of the organisation, was arrested from the Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute in Dhaka on December 13, Abdul Awal in Thakurgaon on November 18 and Hafez Mahmud in Baitul Mukarram on February 28, Abdur Rahman in
   Sylhet on March 2 and Bangla Bhai in Muktagachha on March 6.
   The battalion also captured 11 persons from the Sylhet hideout of Abdur Rahman, including his wife, daughter and grandchildren.
   Investigators say they have got important information from them.
   They believe the patrons and financial source of the outfit at home and abroad would soon be known by interrogating the arrested leaders and their family members.

The ruling BNP appears to be in two minds over the courses of action to be taken to hold a dialogue with the opposition as has been offered by the prime minister for ensuring a free and fair election.
   On the other hand the opposition alliance led by the Awami League was waiting for a formal (written) proposal from the alliance government.
   Some senior BNP leaders insist that the government had nothing to do at the moment, but to wait for a response from the opposition over the prime minister Khaleda Zia’s proposal for constituting a committee to scrutinise the opposition’s demands.
   ‘How can we initiate a dialogue over their reform proposals as the Awami League is yet to ‘positively’ respond to our proposal for forming a committee for discussion,’ the health and family welfare minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, told New Age recently.
   The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on February 28 proposed in the parliament to form a committee to hold discussion among mainstream political parties for a free and fair election.
   Earlier, on February 12, the leader of the opposition in the parliament, Sheikh Hasina, placed a set of proposals in the parliament for reforms in the constitutional provisions guiding the interim non-party caretaker government and the electoral system.
   About the opposition leader’s demand for sending a formal and concrete proposal for discussion, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, also a policymaker of the alliance government, asked, ‘is there anything left to make it formal when the prime minister herself has made it clear in the parliament?’
   Some other BNP leaders, however, believe that the government should send a written proposal to convince the opposition as well as the people.
   ‘I will suggest the party high command, including the secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, to send a letter officially requesting the Awami League to name the members it intends to send to the committee,’ a senior minister and vice chairman of the ruling BNP, told New Age.
   ‘I see nothing wrong in sending a letter to the opposition as the prime minister has invited them to a dialogue,’ he said.
   It is still far from clear because the government is yet to decide on when the committee will be formed and how many members will be there, said a BNP vice chairman.
   A source close to the BNP secretary general told New Age on Wednesday the party high command was yet to take a final decision about forming the committee. ‘The BNP chairperson did not have discussion even with the party secretary general over the issue after she had placed the proposal for a committee having representatives from the two sides of the political divide,’ he said.
   Meanwhile foreign diplomats stationed in Dhaka at a meeting with the foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, on Tuesday urged the government to make further efforts to arrive at an understanding with the opposition to institutionalise democracy.
   Khan told the diplomats that the prime minister perhaps had already finalised the names of the members from the ruling alliance for the proposed committee.
   The committee could go into business as soon as the opposition nominates its representatives, he said.
   On the other hand, the leaders of the opposition alliance were waiting for a formal initiative the government side.
    ‘The prime minister should take the initiative if she is really serious about a meaningful dialogue between the two sides for holding a credible election,’ the Awami League general secretary, Abdul Jalil, told New Age recently.
   The Workers’ Party president, Rashed Khan Menon, echoed Jalil: ‘The government must put forth a specific proposal.’
   Some BNP leaders hinted that the government would form a committee with representatives from political parties, excluding the Awami League- led alliance, with the Jatiya Sangsad chief whip, Khandakar Delwar Hossain, as its convenor, if the opposition alliance declined to name its representatives for the committee to hold dialogue on electoral reforms.

A committee of experts has approved a draft Energy and Mineral Resources Division guideline for seismic survey in the Bay of Bengal for the collection of data on gas and hydrocarbons.
   The cabinet sent back the draft to the division in December asking for a review by experts.
   The six-member committee, headed by Wahidun Nabi, an additional secretary of the division, has recently submitted its recommendations, saying a survey in the Bay is needed for data acquisition to attract foreign investment in gas exploration.
   Professor Nurul Islam and Professor M Tamim of the Bangladesh University for Engineering and Technology, Professor Abdul Quayum Chowdhury of Dhaka University, Sheikh Abdur Rashid, a joint secretary of the division, and Rahman Morshed, a director of Petrobangla, are other members of the committee.
   The draft will soon be sent to the cabinet with the committee’s recommendations for approval, said sources in the division. If and when the cabinet approves the guideline, Petrobangla will float international tender for seismic survey in the Bay.
   The guidelines are for non-exclusive speculative seismic survey, to be conducted as part of preparations for the third round of gas-block bidding.
   The division proposed that bids should be invited from interested international oil companies, and the cost and risk of the survey should be borne by the selected bidder. The government and Petrobangla will have no liabilities.
   The selected bidder will sell the data it will obtain from the survey to other oil companies with permission from Petrobangla and/or the government.
   It is assumed that international oil companies will be interested since there are potential gas and oil reserves in the deep sea blocks and will participate in the third round of bidding.
   Petrobangla or the government will review and analyse the data on its own accord.
   The cabinet, however, felt that there were some inconsistencies in the draft, said sources present in the meeting that decided to send back the proposed guidelines for review.
   It observed that the draft guidelines did not specify what method the government should follow for inviting tenders and the criteria for evaluation of the bids. The guidelines should clarify these issues, said the cabinet.
   It observed that it is logical that there should be a provision in the guidelines that, along with the selected bidder, the data will also be in the possession of Petrobangla for later use.
   The cabinet pointed out that the guidelines did not specify how the price, at which the selected bidder will sell the data to other interested companies, would be fixed.
   If the bidder wants to sell the data at too high a price, some oil companies may not be interested and it will hamper gas and oil exploration activities, it said.
   Given the context, it is expected that the guidelines will have a provision that will cover the issue of fixing the highest price of the data, the cabinet said.
   One of the committee members told New Age that they had recommended the methodology of inviting tenders. ‘The guideline will act as a legal framework for offshore exploration as this is the first time Bangladesh is going for such non-exclusive survey,’ he said.
   He said the company to be selected for the survey would have to spend about $30-40 million. ‘It will take full risk and Petrobangla will not have to take any risk or invest any thing.’
   He said data acquisition was required to attract foreign investment for offshore gas exploration. ‘No one will come with big investment without knowing the presence of hydrocarbon in the Bay.’

Severe power outages continued on Wednesday while the government promised it would ‘try to ensure smooth supply’ to all centres during the Secondary School Certificate Examinations beginning today.
   The government pledge is highly unlikely to be fulfilled as there is a huge gap between demand and supply.
   The state minister for power, Iqbal Hasan Mahmood, told reporters on Wednesday they would enforce load management in different areas to supply smooth power to the examinations centres.
   Iqbal, at a meeting of the advisory council of the Power Division, said there was a gap between 1000MW and 1200MW between demand and supply.
   ‘Where will you enforce load management? SSC examinees are all over the countries. If there is a generation shortage, how will you supply power across all the areas?’ the first vice-president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber and Commerce and Industries, Dewan Sultan Ahmed, asked the minister at the meeting.
   Although the demand for power at daytime is 1400MW lower than the demand during the evening peak hours, it would be a hard task for the power officials to ensure supply to more than 1800 centres, where more than 10 lakh students will be taking exams for a month.
   Power outages have become a regular feature at daytime, especially in district towns because of tripping power units and grid lines.
   The countrywide power generation during the evening peak hours reaches about 3,300MW while the demand is for about 4,500MW.
   Mahmood requested the mall owners to close their shops after 7:00pm so that smooth supply could be ensured for SSC examinees.
   Power outages continued to hamper the preparations of the examinees especially in the evening.
   The power officials, at the advisory council meeting, showed that the entire Rajshahi region had suffered about 50 per cent shortfall during the peak hours for few days while the Rangpur region faced about 70 per cent.
   The demand for power in Greater Rajshahi was 521MW on March 6 while the supply was only 237MW and the demand in Greater Rangpur was 237MW while the supply was only 88MW.
   Power outages in the capital city continued in a severe form for the third consecutive day because of glitches in the Ullan-Dhanmondi underground line the repair of which will take about two months.
   The examinations centres under the Dhanmondi power substation area are bracing for power outages.
   The New Age correspondent in Khulna reported frequent outages in the city, making it difficult for examinees to be prepared for the exams. Patients and children have also been suffering.
   Power problems also caused water shortage and hampered industrial production. The prices of candles and lamps increased.
   Sources said only about 40MW of power has been provided a day in the city for few days while the demand is for about 100MW of electricity.
   City residents have been facing power outages six to eight times, each time for about an hour, a day for few days.
   Khulna district and city units of the Communist Party of Bangladesh brought out a procession carrying lanterns. The leaders and activists held a meeting in front o the party office to protest at frequent power outages.
   The correspondent in Jessore reported that hundreds of people staged a sit-in demonstration inside the compound of the office of the Power Development Board in the town in the afternoon.
   The residents of the town said they kept facing outages between 11:00pm and 4:00am every day.

International Women’s Day was observed in the capital and elsewhere in the country on Wednesday with the slogan ‘women in decision-making: meeting challenges, creating changes’.
   Different socio-cultural organisations, NGOs and women’s groups held rallies, seminar, discussion meeting, debate and cultural programme to mark the day.
   Students of Roquiyah Hall of Dhaka University brought out a procession which ended at the hall gate. The hall provost, Tajmeri SA Islam, led the rally.
   The Bangladesh Garment Sramik Federation held a discussion on ‘secure working place, fair wages for female workers in garments sector’ at its head office in the morning. The federation general secretary, Jahanara Begum, presided over the discussion.
   Nari Uddyog Kendra brought out a procession and held a rally at Muktangan. Mashuda Khatun Shefali led the rally.
   Shadhin Bangla Garment Sramik-Karmachary Federation held a rally at Muktangan where the federation president, Shamima Nasrin, and general scereatry Mir Abul Kalam Azad were present.
   Bangladesh Kishani Shabha held a conference at Muktangan. Arjuman Ara Begum presided over the conference.
   The Dhaka Ahsania Mission held a seminar at its head office. Coordinator of the Gender Cell of the mission Khadizun Nahar Shapna presided over the seminar.
   Leaders of Biplabi Nari Sangahati bought out a procession from Sarak Dip of Dhaka University.
   Banchte Shekho Nari, an NGO, held a meeting at Muktangan. The NGO president, Firoza Begum, presided over the meeting.
   Karmajibi Nari held a rally at Swaparjita Shadhinata of Dhaka University. The organisation’s president, Shirin Akhter, presided over the conference.
   The Bangladesh Development Partnership Centre, Nari O Manabadhikar Foundation and Bangladesh Coalition for Child Rights jointly bought out a procession.
   The Bangladesh National Garments Workers Employees’ League held a discussion
   meeting at its head office at Badda.
   The Bangladesh Society for Enforcement of Human Rights held a debate between male and female from different professionals. The organisation secretary general, Sigma Huda, presided over the debate on ‘male is the main obstacle to empowerment of women, not society’.
   The National Garment Workers and Employees’ Federation held a conference and held a rally at Muktangan. The federation vice-president, Nargis Akhter, presided over the conference.
   Jatiya Nribachan Parjabekkhan Parishad organised a seminar at its national secretariat.
   CARE Bangladesh, an American relief organisation, organised human chain, rallies, assembling at Shaheed Minar and other programmes to mark the day.
   Nari Jote and Nari Sramik Jote organised a discussion at Shaheed Colonel Taher Auditorium.

Lawmakers of the Awami League on Wednesday walked out of a meeting of the parliamentary committee on the establishment ministry as their demand for inclusion of the government’s policy on promotion, contractual appointment and officers on special duty in the agenda for the committee’s next meeting was turned down.
   The opposition lawmakers alleged that the chairman of the committee had rejected repeated demands for discussion on the issues over the past two years and warned that they would consider a permanent boycott of the committee’s meetings if those were not discussed at its nextmeeting.
   ‘We have requested him several times in the past two years but he has tactfully avoided the issues every time,’ said AKM Jahangir of the Awami League when talking to New Age after the meeting. ‘He said in every meeting that the issues would be discussed in the next.’
   If the issues are not included in the agenda for the next meeting, the AL lawmakers will permanently boycott the proceedings of the committee, he warned.
   The opposition chief whip, Abdus Shahid, accused the chairman of playing hooky with opposition members of the committee.
   ‘We told him to include the issues in the agenda for the next meeting at the beginning of today’s meeting,’ he told New Age. ‘He agreed but did not even include the issues in the agenda of the next two meetings.’
   Instead, he said, the chairman included the Bangladesh Institute of Administrative Management in the agenda for the next meeting and promotions of upazila education officers and their grades for the one thereafter.
   As the government’s tenure nears end, he wants to keep the issues off the agenda as long as possible, alleged Shahid.
   Meeting sources said the opposition lawmakers had drawn the attention of the committee to irregularities and partisan activities of the government in giving promotion and contractual appoints and making officers on special duty but members of the ruling party did not pay any heed.
   Sardar Sakhawat Hossain Bakul, chairman of the committee, denied the allegations of deceiving the opposition lawmakers.
   ‘I told them that the issue will be included in the next meeting but did not say it will be discussed in the immediate next meeting,’ he said when talking to New Age. ‘By next meeting I meant any meeting in future.’

Dhaka will get assistance from Washington in peaceful use of nuclear technology, especially as regards safety aspects and reduction of radiological threats, under a cooperation contract, said officials of the science, and information and communications technology.
   The contract has been signed in pursuit of various sections of the ‘agreement on science and technology cooperation’ between the governments of Bangladesh and the United States.
   It is motivated by perceived threats of illegal access to radioactive materials, stealth and their use in conjunction with conventional detonations to cause social chaos, injuries and economic losses that can extend to inordinate proportions.
   Washington feels that radioactive materials may be used as a weapon in a third country and as such, international organisations as well as developed and developing countries need to take appropriate measures that will help reduce various
   radiological threats.
   Against such a backdrop, the US Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory signed the contract with the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission at a function at the science and ICT ministry on Wednesday. Bangladesh is the first country to enter into this new generation agreement with the US.
   The two organisations have jointly identified a number of actions aimed at strengthening physical security of a number of radiation facilities in the country.
   The US Department of Energy will provide funds and necessary support to help the atomic energy commission
   to implement the department-initiated programme on radiological threat reduction worldwide. It is now operational in 30 countries.
   If and when commissioned, the programme, according to officials, is expected to improve physical security of various radiation facilities and source and ensure peaceful uses of nuclear technology in Bangladesh.
   In South Asia that falls under the ambit of two nuclear powers — India and Pakistan — Bangladesh is the first country to have signed nuclear non-proliferation treaty and comprehensive test ban treaty.
   Bangladesh commits itself to the peaceful uses of nuclear technology for the welfare of the people in striking contract to some other countries in this region.
   Daniel M Rutherford, senior contracts specialist of America’s national security directorate, and CS Karim, the atomic energy commission, initialled the contract on behalf of the respective sides.

The Secondary School Certificate and its equivalent Dakhil and Vocational examinations under the nine educational boards begin today.
   This year, 789,669 examinees — 418,930 male and 370,739 female — will appear at the SSC examinations at 892 centres under the seven general educational boards, sources in the boards said.
   Of them, 203,030 have been registered from the science group, 346,723 from humanities and 239,916 from the business studies group.
   The number of examinees under the Dhaka Education Board is 224,141 while it is 217,919 under Rajshahi, 90,622 under Comilla, 107,478 under Jessore, 61,763 under Chittagong, 56,638 under Barisal, and 31,108 under the Sylhet Education Board.
   The examinations will be held at 231 centres under the Dhaka Board, 196 under Rajshahi, 129 under Comilla, 106 under Jessore, 115 under Chittagong, 62 under Barisal and 53 centres under the Sylhet Board.
   As many as 162,735 examinees have been registered for the Dakhil examinations to be held at 457 centres under the Madrassah Education Board.
   The number of examinees for vocational examinations under the Technical Education Board is 48,160, and the examinations will be held at 507 centres.
   The examinations will also be held at seven overseas centres at Doha in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Tripoli in Libya and in Bahrain.
   The education minister, M Osman Farruk, told journalists that all the preparations for holding the SSC examination ‘in a free and fair manner’ had been completed.
   ‘There is no centre vulnerable to cheating this year,’ the minister said and hoped that the results this year would be better this year.
   He said 22 inspections teams, led by 22 magistrates, would work in Dhaka under the deputy commissioner of Dhaka, and two vigilance teams, led by UNO and district administration, supervise the examination procedures. Besides, 30 vigilance teams have been formed by the education ministry to inspect different examination centres.
   The education minister and state minister will visit some examination centres without prior notice to watch the real picture of examination halls.
   Meanwhile, the Teachers Employees’ United Alliance, a combine of seven organisations of teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions, in a statement demanded that the government should take all preparations to hold the examinations free from unfairmeans. The alliance’s top leaders Professor M Shariful Islam and M Mazharul Hannan are among the signatories of the statement.

Bangladesh spurned a promising start to be dismissed for 234 runs in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka that began at the Bogra Shaheed Chandu Stadium on Wednesday.
   However, they hit back reducing the visitors to 25-2 by stumps on the first day with Syed Rasel removing opener Michael Vandort for a duck and Shahadat Hossain seeing off night watchman Malinga Bandara. Upul Tharanga was batting on 12 with Thilan Samaraweera 7 not out.
   Earlier, Muttiah Muralitharan ruled the day with 5-79, which took his world record tally of five-wicket hauls to 50. It also took him closer to another great milestone -- 600 wickets. The Sri Lankan spin wizard needs two more to join Australia’s Shane Warne who currently has 659.
   Muralitharan began his quest for the magical 600 by removing openers Javed Omar and Nafees Iqbal both lbw before lunch after the pair had added 52 runs, which is incidentally Bangladesh's highest partnership against the islanders in 13 innings.
   Bangladesh, who went for lunch on 94-2, then lost Shahriar Nafees shortly afterwards before skipper Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Ashraful made a desperate attempt to put the team back on track.
   Bashar reached his 22nd Test half-century flicking Malinga Bandara towards square-leg. But the Sri Lankan leg-spinner hit back with his next ball dislodging the bails of Mohammad Ashraful, who made only 24. It also ended their 51-run stand for the fourth wicket.
   His downfall brought local boy Mushfiqur Rahim to the crease but the youngster only lasted 18 balls before Muralitharan had him leg before for two. The same bowler ended the defiance of Bashar on 69 when he was caught by Tharanga at silly mid-off but TV replays showed the ball might have touched his pad. The Bangladesh skipper played 120 balls but more importantly stayed 172 minutes at the crease to hit seven boundaries.
   After out-of-form Khaled Mashud departed on 12 nicking a catch behind the stumps. Mohammad Rafique gave Bangladesh's innings some respectability with a gritty 32. But Muralitharan had again a role in dismissing the left-hander as he took a catch off Dilhara Fernando.

The task force is expected to begin interrogation of dreaded militant kingpin, Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, shortly as his condition is improving at the Bangladesh Rifles hospital where he has been undergoing treatment following his capture on Monday.
   He will be produced in the court soon for remand and quizzing by the task force for interrogation (TFI), a combine of different intelligence agencies and the Rapid Action Battalion.
   ‘After interrogating him separately, we’ll question him face to face Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the chief of the militant outfit JMB, to verify and crosscheck their respective statements,’ a source close to the task force said.
   Police said the two militant kingpins would be implicated in as many as 18 cases filed with different police stations in connection with the August 17 bombings in Dhaka.
   They hoped the two top militants would be produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate court on March 13 to seek police remand for them.
   ‘We will submit prayers showing Rahman and Bangla Bhai arrested and seeking remand for them in connection with Dhaka blasts cases’, a police officer told New Age on Wednesday.
   ‘The two may be placed on four months’ fresh remand and they will be questioned by the members of the task force alternately and we’re expecting a prolonged investigation into the cases,’ he said.
   Although police have so far submitted charge sheets in three cases relating to the August 17 bombings in the capital, neither Rahman nor Bangla Bhai was implicated.
   Bangla Bhai was operated upon twice on Monday night for multiple burn and splinter injuries, but he is improving steadily at the intensive care unit,’ a doctor attending him told New Age.
   Seeking anonymity, the doctors said, ‘he was affected by flash burn which will take six to seven days to recover.’
   Bangla Bhai was captured after a brief encounter with a RAB squad at village Rampur under Muktagachha upazila of Mymensingh district on Monday, four days after Rahman along with his family members surrendered to lawmen in Sylhet on March 2.
   Rahman was placed on a 10-day remand and is now being interrogated by the task force at the RAB-1 headquarters.
   Meanwhile, some investigation officers of the Dhaka bombing cases expressed their frustration at not being allowed to be present during Rahman’s interrogation by the task force.
   ‘It’s essential for the IOs to question the accused to complete investigation and prepare the charge sheets of the cases, but we’re not allowed to do so,’ one of the IOs said at the metropolitan magistrate court, Dhaka.

Australia on Wednesday offered software and technical support, and training for intelligence agencies in Bangladesh to enhance their capability to track down terror financing.
   The offer came from the Australian federal minister for immigration, and multicultural and indigenous affairs, Amanda Vanstone, during a meeting with the state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, at the home ministry.
   The two ministers inked a memorandum of understanding on manpower exchange and visa service, home ministry officials said.
   Every year one hundred graduate-level students from Bangladesh will have the opportunity to spend three months in Australia for skills development under the agreement. Australian students will have similar opportunities in Bangladesh.
   The ‘terrorist financing software’ will help lawmen to identify fund of such terrorists groups as Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, the ministry officials said.
   Babar explained to Vanstone the steps his government has taken to curb terrorism and fight Islamist militancy and highlighted the arrest of two top-most militant leaders, said sources present in the meeting.
   The Australian minister expressed her satisfaction over the anti-terrorism measures and offered Bangladesh to provide software that will help to detect terrorist financing networks.
   Australia will also provide training to 200 immigration personnel to improve their skills, she said.
   She also assured that steps had been taken to ease the visa procedure for dependents of Bangladeshi immigrants in Australia.
   The Australian High Commissioner, Douglas Foskett, the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Australia, Ashraf-Ud-Daula, the home secretary, and the inspector general of police attended the meeting.
   ‘It is important that there are a whole range of ways to fight terrorism and one important way is to track the money of the terrorists,’ Vanstone was quoted by the private news agency United News of Bangladesh as telling reporters after a meeting with the foreign minister, M Morshed Khan.
   ‘One way we can attack the enemy is to attack their financial sources,’ she said.
   She said she had told Babar that ‘we are working with the officials in Bangladesh to see what assistance we can provide in terms of building intelligence skills in Bangladesh for tracking money’.
   Vanstone also said she had pointed out to him that intelligence agencies use the software, which is very well developed and effective.
   ‘But the first task, of course, is developing intelligence skills to track financial movement… this is right in the context of war against terrorism,’ she said.
   About the training of Bangladesh immigration officials, she said, ‘We do have some cooperative arrangements and we are happy with that. We look forward to continue with them.’
   About the possibility of easing visa regime for Bangladesh citizens, she said it is not needed since a lot of skilled migrants are going to Australia and the number has increased fivefold in the past 2-3 years.
   Morshed said Bangladesh and Australia have several protocols and memorandums of understanding, including one to fight terrorism through capacity building and facilitation.
   Bangladesh has already enacted the Money Laundering Act and signed as many as 12 UN anti-terrorism conventions, including one relating to tracking down the funding of any kind of terrorism, he said.
   ‘We have choked the funding of terrorists under these laws and conventions and through our vigilance,’ claimed Morshed.

US-led coalition forces and Iraq’s authorities may be violating international law by arbitrarily detaining thousands of people, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan said in a report published Tuesday.
   The report, which studied the situation in Iraq over the last three months, said Iraq’s prison system remains a major concern and lamented that an investigation into allegations of torture in Iraqi interior ministry jails had not yet been made public as promised.
   Annan’s criticism of Multinational Forces and the Iraqi authorities in responding to violence was among the strongest he has made, although many of his claims were not new. He said the detainment of thousands of Iraqis ‘constitutes de facto arbitrary detention.’
   ‘The extent of such practices is not consistent with provisions of international law governing internment on imperative reasons of security,’ the report said.
   While Annan praised Iraq’s December elections, he also noted a rise in sectarian strife and said attacks against places of worship were higher than ever. Baghdad’s Forensic Institute alone received 787 bodies, 479 of which had gunshot wounds, since early December.
   ‘Repeated bombings against civilians, mosques and more recently against churches are creating fear, animosity and feelings of revenge,’ Annan wrote.
   Annan also demanded that Iraqi and coalition forces release the results of an investigation into allegations of torture at an interior ministry detention centre in Baghdad’s Jadiriyah district. He said the results were supposed to have been published at the end of November.
   The results of a separate inquiry into detention conditions in Iraq have also not been published, he said.
   The US Mission to the United Nations refused comment on the report.
   But a human rights report by the State Department, planned for release Wednesday, was expected to address some of those claims, including allegations of abuses by Iraqi authorities in their prisons.
   Among other human rights concerns, the United Nations is also investigating allegations against coalition forces and Iraqi authorities of ‘restrictions of freedom of movement, excessive use of force, mistreatment and theft during raids of private homes, evictions and demolitions of houses.’
   Annan repeated his strong concern about a February 22 bombing that destroyed the golden dome atop a Shiite shrine in the mainly Sunni city of Samarra. The attack set off two weeks of sectarian revenge attacks, mainly targeting Sunni mosques, clerics and neighbourhoods.

The Niko Resources resumed production from the Feni Gas Field on Wednesday bowing to the 24-hour ultimatum the government had given on Tuesday.
   The government asked the Canadian company to resume production by Wednesday evening or threatened to take over the filed through the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company. Niko suspended the production since Monday.
   The Niko country manager, Brian J Adolph, told New Age that they had resumed production at 4:15pm as the company felt that it was better to compromise other than going to confrontation with the government.
   He, however, warned that they would suspend production again if any purchase and sales agreement for Feni gas could not be reached soon.
   ‘A window has been opened through discussion, but we will not wait for a long time to close it. However, we hope to reach an agreement by the next few days,’ he said.
   Brian earlier met the energy and mineral resources adviser, Mahmudur Rahman, in the morning and told him that they would start production in the afternoon.
   ‘We had good discussions with the energy and mineral resources adviser and reached an understanding. On the basis of the understanding, we will work towards a gas purchase and sales agreement in next three days,’ he said after the meeting.
   Mahmud said they would deploy a Bapex official at the field so that such incident (suspension of gas supply) never happens again. ‘An operator can not suspend gas supply from any field. This is against the interest of the country.’
   The adviser earlier issued the 24-hour ultimatum to Niko that stopped gas supply from the field over non-payment of gas bills, dispute over gas pricing and non-approval of its proposal to drill two production wells at the Tengratila (Chhatak) Gas Field.
   He said he would convene a meeting on Sunday with officials of Petrobangla, Bapex and Niko to discuss the gas bills and GPSA issues.
   On Tuesday, Niko and Petrobangla reportedly reached a consensus on preparing a GPSA soon in stead of signing any interim GPSA, but the
   clause where the gas price is supposed to be written will remain vacant.
   They failed to reach consensus on gas price as Niko has been demanding $2.35 for 1000 cubic feet or 1 unit of gas while Petrobangla offers $1.75 for one unit.
   Petrobangla also dismissed a Niko offer to appoint an international arbitrator to fix the gas price, saying that such appointment is not practiced in the gas sector.
   A gas price fixing committee, headed by an additional secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, and comprising officials of Petrobangla and Niko, would sit again to fix the gas price.
   The committee fixed gas price would be included in the GPSA later.

A local leader of the 4-party ruling coalition partner, Bangladesh Jatiya Party, was killed in a bomb attack near the Eastern Jute Mills gate in the Khulna city Wednesday night.
   The victim, Bachchu Chowdhury, 40, vice-president of BJP Khanjahan Ali thana unit, was standing in front of his medicine shop when unidentified assailants hurled two bombs on him.
   Both the legs of the victim were blown up in the blast, locals and the police said.
   The locals took him to Khulna Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.
   At the news of his death, agitated local people blocked the Khulna-Jessore Highway, snapping traffic on the road.
   A tense situation has been prevailing in the locality.
   Earlier, a young man, Beg Mohammad Faruk, also sustained wounds in a bomb attack in the same area Monday night.

South Korea placed its plea for becoming an observer of the South Asian regional forum SAARC that has now been expanded with Afghanistan co-opted as its new member and China and Japan as observers.
   The ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Seong Ung, formally handed over the request letter in this regard to the foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, at his office on Wednesday.
   The foreign minister noted with satisfaction that a number of countries has expressed their interest to be associated with the SAARC, especially following the signing of the SAFTA agreement.
   ‘Bangladesh would be supportive of the South Korean request and advise the SAARC Secretariat to process the request,’ Morshed said.
   He informed the ambassador that SAARC countries were now finalising the terms and conditions for new membership and observer status. The South Korean envoy appreciated the views expressed by the foreign minister. He also reiterated the invitation of the Korean foreign minister to the Bangladeshi counterpart to visit Korea at his convenience.

The parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of shipping on Wednesday apprehended irregularities in the process for procurement of a vessel by the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation at a cost of Tk 130 crore.
   The committee at a meeting accused the ministry of initiating the process for purchasing the ship having a capacity of 700 TEUs (Twenty Equivalent Units) to 750 TEUs containers without consent of the committee, meeting sources said.
   It also suspected irregularities in the project as the authority had thrice changed the terms and conditions of the tender and asked the ministry to submit a detailed report on the process in the next meeting of the committee scheduled for March 23.
   Most of the committee members termed ‘illogical’ the plan for procuring a new ship for the BSC saying that it was undertaken with an intention of corruption when the government had to sell a number of vessels because of huge losses, sources said.
   They said that although the committee in a meeting on November 10, 2005 had decided to discuss the issue before the start of the procurement process, the ministry hastily invited tender in this regard.
   ‘The ministry also decided to build the ship in a local shipyard which raised question about its quality,’ the Awami League lawmaker Talukdar Abdul Khaleque told New Age adding that it would push up the cost of the vessel.
   According to the latest tender, 90 percent of the total money would be paid against bank guarantee before the handover of the ship, although the previous tender had mentioned that the payment would be made after the ship was pressed into service, he said adding that ‘the ministry fixed up the deadline for depositing schedules on January 5, which was later shifted to February 23 and again to March 9.’
   ‘The dubious procurement process has made us suspect that the project involves corruption and we’ve asked the ministry to submit a detailed report on the process,’ committee chairman Golam Mohammad Siraj told journalists after the meeting.
   The shipping minister, Akbar Hossain, however, denied the allegation of irregularities or corruption in the purchase of the ship.
   ‘The tender process is yet to begin, so there no question of irregularities’, the minister told journalists.
   He said that if there was corruption in the project, the Anti-Corruption Commission would probe the matter.
   The committee also detected huge irregularities in the Tk 12 crore for retrenchment of 1,300 employees of the Mongla Port and accused the ministry of its failure to check corruption in this regard.
   The minister admitted to the irregularities in the golden handshake programme and informed the committee that the authority had suspended eight employees of the Mongla Port Authority after allegations against them were proved in this regard, sources said.
   The committee members also expressed resentment at the slow progress in the construction work of the New Mooring container terminal at Chittagong port as only 50 percent of work had been completed in the last 30 months although it was scheduled to go into operation in August 13 this year.
   The committee also recommended the Tk 68 crore project for dredging of the river Pashur which was still waiting for approval of the ECNEC.

People in Satkhira, Chuadanga, Jhenidah and Jessore took out demonstrations on Wednesday demanding adequate fertiliser and fuel and uninterrupted supply of electricity.
   Farmers in Satkhira put a blockade at Nalta Bazar on the Satkhira-Munshiganj Highway demanding fertiliser while Bangladesh Krishak Sangram Samiti and Bangabandhu Sainik League brought out processions in the district headquarters demanding fuel, fertiliser and electricity.
   United News of Bangladesh reported that more than a hundred vehicles remained stranded as over a thousand of farmers of Kaliganj upazila laid the siege on the highway for about two hours from 10:00am.
   According to the local people, the farmers, who went to Nalta Bazar in the morning to collect fertiliser, turned agitated as they were told that four of them would be given one sack of fertiliser although it was earlier announced that each of them would be provided with one sack of fertiliser.
   The farmers then put barricade, which was withdrawn after the authorities had assured them of providing fertiliser as per their requirement by Thursday.
   The Sangram Samiti brought out the procession from Shaheed Abdur Razzak Park at about 10:30am. The Bangabandhu Sainik League brought out procession from the same venue later.
   They also held separate rallies in front of the local Power Development Board office protesting frequent load shedding.
   The Samiti later submitted a memorandum, through the deputy commissioner, to the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, demanding uninterrupted supply of electricity, fertiliser and diesel.
   Another report from Chuadanga adds that farmers put blocked on a road in Damurhuda upazila at about noon demanding fertiliser.
   Informed, the Rapid Action Battalion and the police went to the spot and brought the situation under control.
   New Age Jhenidah correspondent adds: Several hundred of farmers laid a siege on the Jhenidah-Jessore Highway for about an hour in the morning demanding immediate supply of fertiliser as per their requirement.
   New Age Jessore correspondent reported a sit-in in front of the PDB office at Chashara in the town to protest at frequent power outages. Hundreds of people who joined the sit-in also brought out a procession demanding smooth power supply.

Bangladesh should go for electronic-government procurements to ensure transparency and eliminate corruption, the World Bank country director, Christine I Wallich, said on Wednesday.
   ‘Procurement reform is clearly a crucial building block in improving governance and public sector management and accountability in Bangladesh,’ she told a workshop on planning for transition to electronic-government procurement in the auditorium of the National Economic Council.
   ‘Poor public procurement practice lends itself to corruption and wastes scarce public funds,’ she added.
   Anwarul Kabir Talukdar, state minister for finance and planning, Subhash Chandra Saha, secretary of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division under the planning ministry, and Fazlul Karim, director general of the central procurement technical unit, also spoke.
   Representatives from government, semi-government, private sector and civil society attended the workshop.
   ‘It is now well-documented that corruption in public procurement also affects economic growth and worsens the investment climate, skewing public investment and spending to those areas where the opportunities for Personal gain are highest, and away from those that the economy needs most,’ said Wallich.
   Corruption in public procurement causes erosion of public confidence in government and its leadership, which is generally driven to benefit individual demeaning the national interest, she added.
   The public sector accounts for nearly a quarter of the gross domestic product and the budget, and state-owned enterprises procure about $3 billion worth of goods and services annually, she said.
   Wallich said electronic procurement could generate substantial cost savings, freeing up resources for important areas such as infrastructure and social services.
   The benefits of e-procurement will also go from bidders to the nation and its citizens as a whole, she asserted.
   Officials in the Planning Commission told New Age that the Procurement Act 2005, placed in Jatiya Sangsad in its last session and likely to be approved in its next session, has the provision e-procurement.
   Both private sector and government officials will be given adequate training at the cost of the bank before the system is put in place, they said. Internet access will be made available at all government to make the proposed system effective.

A deputy director general level three day border conference between the Bangladesh Rifles and the Indian Border Security Forces ended in the Khulna city Wednesday.
   Aiming to keep border peace, combat border tense and crime, both the security agencies came to an understanding to collaborate together, the BDR sources said.
   The nine-member delegation of the BDR was led by deputy director general Brigadier General SM Golam Rabbani and the 14-member delegation of the BSF was headed by north Bengal frontier inspector general SR Tewary and south Bengal frontier inspector general Somesh Goyal.
   Both the security agency management reached at a decision on stopping firing on innocent citizens, check intrusion of unauthorised people, illegal fire arms, ammunitions, drug element, smuggling, abduction, bid of push in, plantation of tea inside 150 yard of international boundary and regular carry out of flag meetings.
   The BDR sources said Indian authorities informed the Bangladeshi delegates of trial of Bangladeshi national killers and stopping fruitier firing.

The Morelganj police in Bagerhat arrested eight suspected pirates, including their leader, from the remote village of Shrenikhali in the early hours of Wednesday.
   The arrested pirates Fazlur Rahman, 45, Emdadul Haque, 30, Kaosar, 29, Monir Haolader, 26, Abdul Haque Akond, 25 and Abdur Razzak Haolader, 27, are of village Harinpala under Vandaria upazila in Pirojpur, while Sakhaoat Hossain, 43 and Abdul Kalam, 45, are of village Shrinikhali under Morelganj upazila.
   The police said on secret information they raided the house in the village and arrested the suspected pirates, when they were preparing for a robbery.

The post and telecommunications ministry has requested the Economic Relations Division to negotiate with the Japan Bank of International Cooperation to reduce the consultant fees for a project to develop interconnection facilities among the telecom operators.
   The ministry sources said the ministry on Monday sent a letter to the ERD stating that consultants fees, which is around 22 per cent of the total loan amount, is very high for the project to be implemented by the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board.
   ‘The ministry has requested the ERD to negotiate with the JBIC, the funding agency of the project, to reduce the consultant fees,’ said an official of the ministry.
   The Economic Relations Division, in a wrap-up meeting on October 3, signed the memorandum of discussion with the JBIC mission to develop interconnection facilities in Dhaka, Chittagong and some other cities, including Comilla, Kushtia, Mymensingh, Barisal, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Bogra under the ‘Telecommunications Network Development Project’ at a cost of Tk 634 crore.
   The JBIC will provide around Tk 447 crore (3,040 million Yen) while the Bangladesh government will provide the rest Tk 187 crore for the project. A total of 25 consultants, including eight foreign ones, will be appointed for the project at a cost of Tk 39 crore (661 million Yen).
   The ministry sources, however, said earlier the ministry agreed with the Draft Aid Memoir but after analysing the draft loan agreement, it felt that the consultant fees were very high against the total loan amount.
   The BTTB had submitted the proposal to the JBIC in 2003 through the ERD for funding the interconnection project.
   The Dhaka office of the JBIC conducted a feasibility study to assess the need for interconnection between the operators, said BTTB officials.
   The bank, however, imposed certain conditions, including restructuring of the BTTB for financing the project.
   Around 90 per cent of about more than 10 million mobile phone users do not have BTTB interconnectivity while four private-sector public-switched telecom networks are providing connections to the rest mobile phone users.
   BTTB officials said lack of interconnection is hindering the growth of the telecom sector, and if implemented, the telecommunications network development project would help to solve the problem.

The election to the executive committee of the Rajshahi University Teachers Association will be held today.
   Two panels– one called ‘White panel’ backed by the BNP-Jamaat alliance and another ‘Yellow panel’ backed by the Awami League and leaf-leaning parties–will contest the RUTA poll.
   Prof Jillur Rahman of Applied Chemistry department will vie for the post of president from White panel while Prof Khairul Alam of Applied Mathematics will fight for the post from Yellow panel.
   Prof Mahbubul Hasan of Zoology department from the White panel will contest for the post of general secretary against Prof Abul Kashem of History department from the Yellow panel.
   Both the panels have nominated ten candidates apart from the vice-president, joint-secretary and treasurer.
   The poll will start at 8.30am at Jubery Bhaban and will end at 1:00pm.
   Both the panels launched electoral campaign over the killing of two teachers of the university– Prof Eunus and Dr S Taher.

The United States has urged Bangladesh to continue to address the threat of extremism and reassured that Washington would work closely with Dhaka on fighting the war against terrorism.
   The state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, at a daily press briefing in Washington Tuesday appreciated the capture of Bangla Bhai as an important step forward in Bangladesh’s response to the recent bombing campaign.
   ‘While we note—we do note that Siddiqul Islam, otherwise known as Bangla Bhai, was arrested. We believe that this is an important step forward in Bangladesh’s response to the recent bombing campaign and that we encourage Bangladesh to continue to address the threat of extremism,’ he told a correspondent.
   McCormack said, ‘We’ll work closely with the Bangladeshi government on fighting the war against terrorism.’
   Asked about more US assistance in counterintelligence measures in Bangladesh, he said ‘We have a good partner in Bangladesh in fighting the war against terrorism and we look forward to working together to address the common threat of terrorism that we all face.’

The Bangladesh Bank governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, on Wednesday said the central bank would form a financial intelligence unit under the proposed revised Anti-Money Laundering Act to check terrorist funding.
   ‘Investigation and prosecution will be faster and more effective under the proposed intelligence unit,’ Salehuddin told reporters on the proposed AML Act at his office.
   However, the central bank governor said mere detection and seizure of accounts of alleged terrorists would not be enough to stop the terrorist financing and activities.
   He said the existing AML laws have loopholes and as a result the central bank cannot detect terrorist financing and take action accordingly.
   ‘Amendments have been brought under the revised act to make it an effective one,’ Salehuddin said, adding formation of the financial intelligence unit is one of the amendments.
   Stern action would be taken against banks and officials if there was found responsible for any irregularities or suppression of information, he said.
   He said the revised AML Act has been prepared in line with similar laws in the USA, Pakistan and Malaysia.
   ‘Some of the banks do not tell us about the suspicious transactions despite repeated requests,’ he said: ‘We have already warned those banks.’

The Kotwali police on Wednesday arrested four persons from Shapla Square at Motijheel in Dhaka allegedly for extorting money from the people in guise of policemen.
   The police said Kamal Hossain, Sayeed, Zahid and Babul for a long time were engaged in the act of taking away cash and valuables from their targeted persons threatening the victims of implicating in cases relating to possessing of fake currency notes or being involved with Islamist activities.
   At the time of arrested, Kamal was wearing a police uniform, while the other three were in plainclothes.
   The police also seized a three wheeler used by them.