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Tension prevails in the port city over the possibility of confrontation between the two major political camps as Awami League-led alliance resumes its blockade programme today and BNP-led combine vows to counter it on the streets.
   The AL-led 14-party combine leaders and activists, who kept city thoroughfares under control during the four days’ of blockade in the past week, are geared to make their third round of countrywide blockade a success.
   The BNP led 4-party alliance, on the other hand, has been preparing to take control of the streets to counter the 14-party programme and has already started to erect stage at the Alongker crossing in the city.
   Mohammed Moinur Rahman Chowhdury, commissioner of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said that they were trying to avert any possible face-off on the streets in consultation with both the political camps.
   ‘If we can not find out any solution through consultations by Sunday night, we will impose ban on holding programmes at the same venues to avert any untoward incident,’ the commissioner added.
   Meanwhile, the four-party alliance leaders at a rally at the city’s Kazirdewri crossing Sunday accused the Awami League of hatching conspiracy against the next general elections sensing its humiliating defeat.
   ‘Four-party alliance will again come to the state power, as we have implemented massive development programmes during our five-year tenure,’ said Abdullah Al Noman, BNP assistant general secretary and former minister.
   Noman said that the AL had destroyed the country’s economy during its previous rule. Now, he claimed, the economy achieved a vibrant position following various effective measures taken by the four-party alliance government during past five years.
   He called upon the leaders and activists of the alliance to remain alert against any conspiracy to foil the forthcoming elections.
   With Sayed Wahidul Alam in the chair, the rally was addressed, among others, former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh leader Maulana Shamsul Islam, Bangladesh Jatiya Party leader Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Islami Oikya Jot leader Abdur Rahman Chowdhury, BNP leaders Abu Sufian, FH Khan Fazu and Abul Hashem Bakker.

Mufti Abdul Hannan, the operative commander of the banned Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami, on Sunday night admitted to a court that he and his fellow militants had carried out the grenade attacks on the British high commissioner in Sylhet and Uddichi programme in Jessore as well planted bombs at Kotalipara in Gopalganj.
   ‘I masterminded all grenade attacks across the country excepting the August 21, 2004 gruesome attack on the AL rally, and three people financed the outfit for carrying out the attacks,’ he told a court of chief metropolitan magistrates in Dhaka.
   He named three financers as Yousuf-bin-Sharif of Chittagong, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman of Bhairab and Mufti Abdul Hye of Comilla. He also termed the three along with Moulana Saidur Rahman and Hafizur Rahman of Sylhet as his mentors. The founder of the Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami was killed in Afghan war several years ago.
   Hannan, with the assistance of Abdullah of Chittagong and Waliullah of Jessore, was present during the attacks on Uddichi programme in Jessore and Kotalipara of Gopalganj. He was earlier convicted of the murder attempt on Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, by planting bombs in Gopalgonj, he claimed, identifying himself as a grenade expert and also a supplier of more than 32 grenades abroad on different occasions.
   Earlier, Hannan was remanded in police custody for several occasions since September in connection with the explosions at Pahela Baishakh celebrations at Ramna Park in Dhaka in 2001. He was captured in September 2005.
   The police have so far arrested 17 persons including Hannan’s brother, Mohibullah, for Ramna carnage. One of them, Akbar Hossain, gave statement in magistrate’s court in 2001.
   All of them fought in the Afghan war, Akbar had told the court, adding that he and 11 others had planned the attack at a meeting in a mosque on Satmasjid Road in Dhaka a week before the explosions on the Pahela Baishakh celebrations.
   The case halted after the arrests were made in 2001 and each of them was released on bail.
   The Criminal Investigation Department on September 10 implicated Hannan in the sensation murder case filed with Ramna police, when two Harkatul activists, detained by Sylhet police, had admitted that the militants had carried out the attack on the British high commissioner, Anwar Choudhury, at the Shahjalal’s shrine in Sylhet on May 21, 2004.

The death toll from Wednesday’s launch capsize in the river Kirtankhola near the Barisal port rose to nine with the recovery of three more bodies on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
   The three victims were identified as Fatema Begum, 31, wife of Nurul Islam Khan, of Jangalia village under Mehendiganj upazila, her two-year old son Obaidul Huq and mother Maleka Begum, 60.
   A small launch, ML Mehedi-1, carrying more than 50 passengers capsized in the river after colliding with twin dredgers Kadam Rasul-3 and Al Kaed.
   At least 10 passengers went missing. Six bodies were recovered from inside the sunken launch after rescue vessel Hamza pulled out it on Thursday.

Cox’s Bazar District Bar Association and Save the Environment Movement on Sunday alleged that a section of unscrupulous employees of the forest department and Cox’s Bazar district administration were bulldozing some 20 hills and felling hundreds of valuable trees along the coastal area under sadar upazila in the district, endangering the environment.
   The lawyers and conservationists at a joint press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka said the unscrupulous government employees are in an ill move to grab a total of 51 acres hills land for a housing project although as per Forest Law of 1927 any sort of activities in reserved forest area that endanger the environment are prohibited.
   Advocate Momtaj Ali, president of Cox’s Bazar District Bar Association, said, ‘In last five years, different persons, who were close to the immediate past government, have grabbed all the plain land in Cox’s Bazar coastal areas in the name of long-term lease.’
   Now the remaining hills land are on the verge of illegal occupation, Momtaj added.
   Advocate Abdur Rouf, general secretary of the bar association, read out a statement at the conference, demanding immediate actions against the government employees and others involved in hill grabbing bid, and filing cases against those under environment laws and initiating departmental cases against the government employees involved.
   Otherwise, the district bar will move to higher court to stop such destructive activities, the statement said.
   Among others, SEM convenor Abu Naser Khan and Cox’s Bazar bar association assistant secretary AZM Moyeen Uddin were present at the conference.

Container handling at Chittagong Port was disrupted till afternoon on Saturday as the operation of the gantry cranes remained suspended because of a boycott by dock workers.
   The workers are refraining from gang booking for the container terminal. But they began work at other sites and the jetties after the withdrawal of the blockade programme Wednesday night, port sources said.
   The workers stopped working at the container terminal and demanded that a deal signed between the Chittagong Port Authority and private company, Saif Power Tech, to run four gantry cranes should be scrapped.
   The sources said the authorities had failed to resume gantry crane operation even after holding several talks with the port users and CBA leaders on Sunday.
   The workers held rallies and decried the agreement, saying they would not allow the private enterprise to run the cranes.
   They also threatened with bringing the port to a halt by intensifying their agitation programmes if the authorities tried to resume gantry crane operation with the help of the private company.

Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad has urged the caretaker government to immediately create congenial atmosphere for holding the forthcoming parliamentary elections in a free, fair and neutral manner.
   Expressing grave concern over the on-going political crisis, the Parishad made the call at an emergency meeting held at Dhakeswari Mandir in the city on Saturday.
   The Parishad leaders called upon the interim government to take necessary steps for freeing the nation from the anarchic situation, a Parishad press release said on Saturday.
   Chaired by the Parishad president, Chittaranjan Sarkar, the meeting was attended, among others, by Maj Gen (retd) CR Dutta Bir Uttam, Anil Chandra Nath, Prof Neem Chandra Bhowmik, journalist Swapan Kumar Saha, Sabitree Bhattachariya, Basudev Dhar and Joyanta Sen Dipu.
   Referring to the incidents of attacks on the minorities before and after the 2001 general election, they said such a situation is not at all conducive to holding a free and fair election.

Around 100 vehicles are falling victims to unwarranted requisition by police on an average daily, and the number grows to even more than 300 ahead of any major political programme, causing sufferings and financial losses to transport owners and workers.
   The city’s police and other law enforcing agencies traditionally suffer from shortage of transports they actually require to ensure smooth services to the people, and the situation worsens during political agitation when they need to stay on standby and ready for rushing for anywhere anytime, police argued.
   Fearing increased requisition, transport owners often avoid plying the city roads the day before any major political programme, transport sector people said.
   The transport owners claimed that the actual number of vehicles requisitioned by police is three to four times higher than officially required or recorded, and a section of traffic sergeants often try to blackmail them and take money from them to avoid requisition slips.
   And every time, transport owners and workers face enormous financial losses as there are no rules and regulations to compensate them during requisition period, they said.
   Dhaka Metropolitan Police Traffic Wing sources said that the administration has the right to requisition any vehicle whenever needed under State Acquisition of Tangible Property Act and under DMP Act.
   They said the traffic department requisitioned the vehicles for use by all law enforcing agencies while the existing laws allow all police stations in the city to take any private vehicles for their purposes.
   According to the demands of various law enforcing agencies, the transport department of DMP instructs the four traffic divisions and on-duty traffic sergeants to requisition vehicles and send those to Rajarbagh Police Line, from where those are distributed.
   Dhaka Metropolitan Police sources said that they need more than 100 vehicles everyday due to lack of own transportation and ahead of any political programme they need more than 300 to 350 vehicles a day.
   Baidya Nath, a spokesperson of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity told New Age that the police on November 10, 11, and 12 requisitioned more than 600 vehicles ahead of Awami League-led 14-party alliance’s countrywide blockade programme on November 13.
   ‘Most of the drivers do not want to drive the vehicles fearing the requisition trap ahead of political programme causing enormous sufferings to the city’s commuters,’ he added.
   Mohammad Halim Mollah, a transport owner who purchased his vehicle for Tk 20 lakh with bank loan and pays monthly downpayment of Tk 60,000, said, ‘Police requisitioned my vehicle on November 12, and I got it released after five days paying Tk 1,500 to a habildar of Rajarbagh police line.’
   ‘Due to requisition twice in a month, I failed to pay the bank instalment last month,’ he added.
   Abdul Jabbar, a driver of Panjeri Paribahan of the city told New Age, ‘The police could not even give us Tk 50 for meal everyday during requisition period. Sometimes we passed whole day without foods or took the money for meals from the owner.’
   Another owner, Mamunur Rashid, said, ‘Though police said that they requisitioned the vehicles for 72 hours, but they did not release it even after five or six days and we had to spend money to get our vehicles back.’
   Saiful Islam, general secretary of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity, said, ‘To get rid of unwarranted requisition, we earlier earned a High Court order, but the authority got it stayed filing a writ petition.’
   ‘Now we are preparing to file another petition to High Court seeking relief from the hazards,’ he added.
   M A Mannan, deputy commissioner traffic (south), told New Age, ‘The owners informed us about bribing of police sergeants to avoid requisition, but we are yet to receive any official complaint. If anyone is found guilty, he must be punished.’
   About the allegations that police constables and habildars even take money while returning the vehicles to the owners, he said, ‘We submit the release orders for vehicles and they (constables or habildars) might take the chance saying that they managed to release those.’
   The police official advised the owners not to give money to anyone while taking back their vehicles.

Senior officials from the British High Commission in Dhaka on Saturday night held a meeting with top leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, a newly floated political platform of dissidents of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
   ‘We had discussions on latest political situation,’ Oli Ahmed, the executive president of the LDP, told New Age. The meeting took place at the resident of LDP executive president.
   They wanted to know about LDP’s reservations about the Chief Election Commissioner, MA Aziz, said the LDP leader.
   The UK wants participation of all the parties in the upcoming general elections scheduled for January 2007.

Secretary general of the Bangladesh Jatiya Party and former lawmaker Saifur Rahman died of a heart attack immediately after attending a rally of the BNP-led alliance in the city in the afternoon. He was 50.
   He is survived by his wife, three sons and three daughters.
   Party sources said Saifur Rahman complained of chest pain while he was leading a procession after the rally at Muktangon. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he died after a while.
   Saifur Rahman was the founder secretary of the Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, youth front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
   BSS adds: The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, expressed deep shock at the death of Saifur Rahman.
   In a condolence message, Khaleda prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to the members of the bereaved family.
   She said the country has lost a potential politician following the death of Saifur Rahman.
   The Jatiya Party (Manju) chairman, Anwar Hossain Manju and secretary general Sheikh Shahidul Islam also expressed deep shock at the death of Saifur Rahman.

More than five crackers were exploded on the campus of the Patuakhali Science and Technology University at Dumki on Sunday.
   No damage or causalities were reported. But the explosions near the administrative building and the hall of residence panicked the people on the campus and around.
   The vice-chancellor, Abdul Latif Masum, was not available for comments and the Dumki police officer-in-charge, Md Faruk, said policemen were deployed outside the campus.

Five people were killed and 10 injured when a truck plunged into a canal at Rangunia
   upazila in the district Sunday morning.
   The dead were identified as Abdur Rahim, 30, Abdul Kader, 26, Mohammad Idris, 27, Mohammad Nasir, 25 and Nurul Islam, 29. All were day labourers and residents of Ranirhat area under the upazila.
   The police said the truck bound for Rangamati plunged into the Maghaichari canal at Ranirhat at around 7:25am as the driver lost control over the steering.
   The truck was carrying 15 labourers and five of them died on the spot.
   Four of the injured — Saiful, Nizam Uddin, Abul Hossain and Mohammad Kalam — were admitted to Chittagong
   Medical College Hospital while the rests were undergoing treatment at the local health complex.
   The police seized the mangled truck, but its driver managed to flee the scene.

The Nagorik Committee gave the president and chief adviser, Iajuddin Ahmed, a set of recommendations formulated in line with suggestions it received from 15 regional dialogues on election issues it organised in recent months.
   The committee delegation, led by former finance minister M Sayeduzzaman, demanded correction of the existing voters’ list discarding the fake voters from the roll and make mandatory the registration of all political parties, a Bangabhaban spokesperson said.
   It also proposed enactment of an ordinance for implementation of the recommendations, including formulation of an election disqualification commission, making public the accounts of property, income tax and bank loans of the candidates in 72 hours after filing nomination paper and settlement of dispute on election results by High Court in six months.
   The committee delegation comprised professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Mujibul Haque, Syed Monjur Elahi, Professor Jafar Iqbal and Debopriya Bhattacharya.
   The spokesperson said, the president told the civic group members that the interim government was giving ‘importance to opinions of all’ in staging a free and transparent election.
   He said the president told the delegation that constitutionally the main objective of the non-party government was to extend all necessary cooperation in staging the polls and ‘we are working to that end’.
   ‘Those who will get the people’s vote, they will form the next government,’ the spokesman said quoting the president as saying.
   Meanwhile, the president and chief adviser, during a meeting with the outgoing World Bank country director, reiterated his proposal for appointing two new commissioners in the Election Commission in view of the AL-led combine’s demand for EC reconstitution.
   ‘I have told those who are demanding reconstitution of the commission that, if they agree, I will appoint two more commissioners,’ the Bangabhaban spokesman quoted the president as telling Christine Wallich.
   The president apprised Wallich of his proposal when she made a farewell call on him at Bangabhaban in the afternoon.
   During her meeting with the president, Wallich expressed the hope that the Election Commission would take all steps to hold the elections in a fair manner.

Three suspected leaders of two underground parties were killed in shootouts between their accomplices and the Rapid Action Battalion in Rajshahi and Jessore early Sunday, raising the ‘crossfire’ death toll to 721 since June 2004.
   The dead were identified as Mohammad Sohel, 30 and Mohammad Pintu, 35, members of Purba Banglar Communist Party, and Rafiqul Islam Nannu, 32, a leader of Biplabi Communist Party.
   RAB sources said Sohel and Pintu were picked up from a hideout in Dhaka on Friday evening and taken to Rajshahi for interrogation on Saturday.
   Based on their statements, RAB took them to Kashiabari village at about 4:00am to arrest their accomplices. As the RAB members reached the spot, some of the accomplices opened fire on the law enforcers who retaliated by firing resulting in a gunfight.
   Both Sohel and Pintu died on the spot after being caught in the crossfire, the sources said adding that they were accused in the Noidighi six-murder and other criminal cases. In addition, Rafiq was killed in an encounter at Shubharara village under Abhaynagar upazila in Jessore.
   Tipped-off, a team of RAB went to the village where Rafiq and his accomplices were holding a meeting at around 2:30am. Sensing the presence of the elite force, they opened fire on the RAB members forcing them to fire back triggering a gunfight.
   One revolver, one pipe gun and three rounds of bullet were recovered from the scene. The police said Rafiq was accused in five cases including three murders.

The Election Commission on Sunday barred reporters from entering into a portion of the EC secretariat where the offices of the chief election commissioner and the secretary are situated.
   A number of reporters, both from electronic and print media, went to the EC secretariat to collect information about preparations for holding the next parliamentary election. But they were not allowed to enter the eastern portion of the secretariat building. A guard said authorities had instructed them not to allow any reporters in.
   The guard told the reporters that media people would visit western portion of the secretariat where the public relations officer of the commission would entertain them. The reporters, however, did not enter into the western part of the secretariat.
   Newsmen waited for long outside the EC building. At the end of the day the chief election commissioner left the office under tight security and crossed the gate in haste without responding to reporters.
   Last week the Election Commission restricted entry of newsmen to four working hours.

The government on Sunday described as unfounded and misleading certain allegations made in a resolution by the European Parliament about preparations for the general elections in Bangladesh.
   An official release said the government noted with dismay certain allegations casting doubts about the neutrality of preparations for the upcoming election.
   The release particularly mentioned the allegation that 13 million invalid names’ have been included in the voters’ register and said these allegations are unfounded and misleading, and might create impediments to holding of fair and impartial polls.
   The caretaker government expects the support and cooperation of friendly countries in holding of free and fair polls.