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The much-awaited dialogue on electoral reforms between the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the opposition Awami League got under way at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Thursday with people’s hope soaring that a consensus would be reached to end the present political impasse.
   In the first round of the parley, the Awami League placed a set of 31-point proposals for reforms in the electoral system, both in the provisions guiding the interim non-party caretaker government to hold national polls and the electoral laws, for ensuring that the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for next January, are free and fair.
   The BNP secretary general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, and his Awami League counterpart Abdul Jalil held the one-on-one parley to weigh the proposals.
   At the onset of the talks, Jalil formally handed over the 31-point reform proposals to Bhuiyan, who sought explanation of different points, and the AL leader gave instant replies.
   ‘The Awami League general secretary formally handed over a set of proposals to me…I sought explanation of the proposals…and he replied,’ Bhuiyan told a joint press briefing after adjourning the first round of the talks.
   Jalil endorsed his counterpart’s statement.
   The two secretaries said they had a long discussion in a congenial atmosphere.
   The leaders said they would fall back on their respective party forums for consultation before sitting across the table again at 11:00 am today.
   Jalil said that he would brief the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, on the development of the dialogue.
   The major demands of the opposition are:
   —the president will appoint persons acceptable to political parties as the chief adviser and advisers to the caretaker government;
   —the chief adviser and advisers would not be members of any political party and affiliated organisations;
   —during the tenure of the caretaker government, the president would act in all matters of state on the advice of the chief adviser;
   —during its term, the caretaker government, in place of the president, would run the defence ministry to avoid any controversies;
   —a ban will have to be imposed on ‘religion-based politics’ and on the use of religion in seeking votes. A ban will have to be imposed on electioneering at places of religion, including mosques, temples and churches.
   The reform proposals regarding the Election Commission include the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners in consultation with political parties.
   —the commission will have a separate secretariat, manpower and budget, free from the influence of the executive;
   —the electoral roll will be prepared maintaining full transparency;
   —transparent ballot boxes with serial numbers will have to be used to prevent vote rigging;
   —the candidates must make public declaration of their assets and those of their dependants to protect the electoral process from destructive impact of black money;
   —a new voters’ roll of the permanent residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts will have to be prepared.
   The closed-door meeting, which was scheduled for 11:30 am, began at 11:45 pm after a 15-minute photo session at a parliament committee room, and continued for one hour and 10 minutes.
   Earlier, Bhuiyan entered the room flanked by his party colleagues at 11:28 am, and Jalil accompanied by AL leaders entered at 11:30 am.
   Hundreds of journalists and political activists swarmed to the parliament complex to hear the outcome of the meeting.
   In the afternoon, Jalil informed a meeting of the opposition alliance about his discussion with Mannan Bhuiyan. The meeting of the opposition was chaired by the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina.
   Later, at a separate press briefing held at the Awami League’s Dhanmondi office, Jalil said he had handed over a set of 31-point reform proposal to Bhuiyan.
   ‘The [opposition] alliance leaders evaluated the development at a meeting and they asked me to sit with the BNP secretary general tomorrow [Friday] accordingly,’ he added.
   Bhuiyan also held a consultation on the demands of the opposition with a group of senior BNP leaders at his residence late Thursday evening.
   Bhuiyan and Jalil on Monday hinted that the dialogue would be prolonged and continue for several days as they would have to weigh the proposals to bring electoral reforms for making next general elections scheduled for January, 2007, acceptable to all parties.

The two major parties, ruling BNP and opposition Awami League, took 447 days to sit across the table to discuss the reform proposals announced by the opposition on July 15, 2005, to free the next parliamentary elections from any evil influence.
   On July 15, 2005, the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina at a press briefing announced a set of proposals, formulated by the opposition combine, for bringing about electoral reforms.
   On February 12, the leader of the opposition and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, formally placed a 31-point proposal in the Jatiya Sangsad for reforms in the constitutional provisions guiding the interim non-party caretaker administration and electoral system.
   On February 28, the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, in her valedictory speech to the winter session of the parliament, proposed formation of a committee to hold discussion with the opposition over the latter’s proposals.
   Subsequently, the two sides exchanged eight letters in six weeks since March 20 without any outcome.
   On March 20, the BNP secretary general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, sent a letter to the AL general secretary, Abdul Jalil, formally requesting for names of the members of the opposition delegation for the proposed discussion.
   On March 22, Jalil requested Bhuiyan to provide an outline for formation of the committee.
   On March 31, Bhuiyan proposed a 10-member committee with five policy-makers from each side.
   On April 6, the AL suggested formation of a two-party committee, comprising members of only the BNP and the AL, apparently to keep Islamic parties out.
   On April 12, the BNP asserted that the AL should not dictate the formation of the four-party alliance delegation.
   On April 16, the AL proposed a five-member panel naming the party presidium members Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Kazi Zafrullah and Abdul Jalil as members.
   On April 28, the BNP named the health and family welfare minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, and the chief whip of the parliament, Khandakar Delwar Hossain, both national standing committee members of the ruling party, to represent it in the delegation. The other members of the committee that the BNP proposed were Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, the chairman of a faction of the IOJ, Fazlul Haque Aminee, and the secretary general of a faction of the Bangladesh Jatiya Party, Mohammad Saifur Rahman.
   On May 8, the AL refused to have dialogue with the delegation the ruling alliance named ignoring its [AL] request to keep ‘anti-liberation forces’ out of the process.
   On July 13, the FBCCI formally requested the two secretaries to hold a one-on-one meeting to end the stand-off.
   On September 5 and 13, Bhuiyan made phone calls to Jalil inviting him to a dialogue.
   On September 13, at a party rally in Brahmanbaria, Khaleda Zia called on the AL to participate in a secretary general-level dialogue to resolve the issue before the ruling alliance handed over power to the caretaker administration.
   On September 14 and 27, the US ambassador, Patricia A Butenis met Abdul Jalil and Sheikh Hasina to advise them to sit across the table with the government to resolve the issue of electoral reforms.
   Between September 26 and 27, an FBCCI delegation shuttled between Bhuiyan and Jalil to persuade them to start a dialogue.
   On September 29, Bhuiyan made a formal offer to Jalil to hold a secretary-general-level dialogue to discuss the reforms agenda. But, the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a major partner in the ruling four-party alliance, expressed its displeasure at the move for a two-party dialogue between the AL and the BNP.
   On September 30, Jalil responded positively to Bhuiyan’s call for dialogue.
   On October 1, the two leaders agreed to sit for talks on October 3 [Tuesday]. The state guesthouse Padma was primarily set as venue, yet the time was undecided.
   In the afternoon on October 2, the BNP secretary general announced after a meeting of the four-party ruling coalition that he would take the final decision, during the talks, after having a series of consultations in the party and alliance forums.
   In the evening on October 2, the dialogue process took a complicated turn when the AL wanted to initiate the talks at the residence of the US ambassador in Dhaka and the BNP expressed its reluctance to accept the venue.
   At around noon on October 3, the BNP declined to hold dialogue at a foreign ambassador’s residence.
   In the afternoon on October 3, the AL proposed to hold the dialogue at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
   On October 4, the two sides finally agreed to hold the much-awaited parley at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on October 5 [Thursday].

The European Union, the United States and the UK on Thursday welcomed the much-awaited dialogue between the ruling BNP and the main opposition Awami League on electoral reforms.
   The German ambassador, Frank Meyke, who chairs the presidency of European Union for Finland, said the EU had welcomed the dialogue and hoped it would lead to a successful conclusion.
   ‘We hope both the parties will take up the joint responsibility and they would successfully prepare the way for free and fair elections,’ Meyke told the news agency.
   Welcoming the start of the dialogue, a spokesman for the US embassy said the US would continue to support a negotiated resolution of any obstacles to broad participation in the forthcoming election in Bangladesh.
   ‘Dialogue will reduce
   tensions and strengthenprospects for a successful, peaceful, fair election,’ the spokesman said.
   He further said, ‘As we have stated on many occasions, the US does not favour any party or candidate in the election but supports a peaceful, fair, free electoral process.’ The British high commissioner, Anwar Choudhury, expressed the hope that both the parties would be able to find a way to resolve differences over the next elections.
   ‘We are very pleased that the dialogue is taking place; the national parliament house is the right place for such talks — it is the symbol of democracy and unity,’ he said in his instant reaction to the press.
   The UK envoy said, ‘We are also very pleased to hear that the dialogue will continue for a few days until a consensus is reached. Our good wishes go to both the parties in their search to find a forward.’

The tripartite wage commission has finalised the apparel workers’ pay structure, setting the minimum wage at Tk 1,662.5 a month, which is closer to what owners’ insisted but much lower than the amount demanded by workers’ groups.
   The commission in its 26th meeting on Thursday agreed on the one-stage minimum pay, revising its September 12 proposal of three-phase increase.
   The gross salary of Tk 1,662.5, as agreed on Thursday, includes Tk 1,125 as basic wage, 30 per cent of the basic as house rent, and Tk 200 as medical allowance for the grade-7 or entry level workers.
   The amount, though lower than that in previous draft in real term, got seal of approval from both the workers’ and owners’ representatives in the commission under a backstage negotiation based on recommendations on and reactions to the September 12 draft, commission sources said.
   ‘The commission reached a consensus on minimum wage structure for seven grades of garment workers on the basis of analysis of demands of workers and capacity of owners,’ Anwarul Haque, chairman of the commission, told journalists after the meeting Thursday.
   It proposed Tk 1,851 the minimum gross salary for Grade 6 workers, Tk 2,046 for Grade 5, Tk 2,250 for Grade 4, Tk 2,449 for Grade 3, Tk 3,840 for Grade 2 and Tk 5,140 for Grade 1.
   The commission kept apprentice worker’s allowance unchanged at Tk 1,200.
   On September 12, the commission drafted a three-tier minimum wages proposing Tk 1,604 as gross salary for grade 7 worker for the first year, Tk 1,890 for the second year and Tk 2,117.50 for the third year.
   The proposed three-phase gross salary for Grade I workers was Tk 5,400, Tk 5,725 and Tk 6,050 respectively.
   Then both the workers and owners rejected the previous offer, terming it unacceptable and unaffordable. Worker rights groups kept the city streets busy almost every other day since then, denouncing the offer and demanding Tk 3,000 as monthly minimum wage.
   Owners’ forum, on the other hand, continued to express their inability to implement even the previous proposal.
   The Tuesday’s meeting of the commission also ended inconclusive due to rigid stance of both the parties. But the situation changed dramatically with both the parties agreeing on a revised pay structure on Thursday.
   The commission chairman said they received more than 400 observations and recommendations from owners and workers on the September 12 draft, and the final draft tried to reflect those views.
   The revised wage proposal would be forwarded to the labour ministry on Sunday and the ministry might take few more days to complete procedures.
   Nazma Akter, workers’ representative in the commission, who had stayed away from signing the September 12 draft terming it too meagre, however, endorsed the Thursday’s revised draft on pay structure. ‘Many trade unions recommended during the past few days that minimum wage should be set at between Tk 1,650 and Tk 1,800. This is why I signed the revised proposal.’
   Annisul Huq, former BGMEA chief and owners’ representative in the commission, had also declined to sign the September 12 draft, complaining that the draft was prepared unilaterally and impossible for owners to implement.
   ‘The wages we agreed today is the result of united efforts and negotiations between the owners and workers organisations,’ Huq said after Thursday’s meeting, adding the proposed minimum pay was close to the amount recommended by at least 40 labour groups during the past four days.
   The commission chairman, Anwarul Haque, did not give the names or number of labour groups which sent proposals, but said, ‘Recommendations of few organisations on minimum wage ranged between Tk 1,650 and Tk 1,850.’
   Severe unrest in the country’s apparel industry forced the government to form the wage commission in June and
   give it a three-month time to suggest a new pay scale for apparel industry workers, whose minimum pay remained unchanged at Tk 930 fixed 12 years back.

Different labour organisations on Thursday rejected the tripartite commission’s revised wage proposal, terming it ‘illogical and unrealistic.’
   The labour leaders said the garment owners had managed some ‘lapdog’ originations and rights leaders to give the final draft a consensus look.
   ‘The final draft on minimum wage is unrealistic in respect of workers’ needs,’ said Mosherefa Mishu, president of the Garment Workers Unity Forum and convenor of the Garment Shramik Sangram Parishad - a combine of 11 labour organisations in garment sector.
   The labour leader, who was arrested during the garment labour outburst in May, argued, ‘If depreciation of taka against dollar is taken into consideration, the minimum gross salary of a Grade- 7 worker should be at least Tk 2,300 against Tk 930 fixed in 1994.’
   Mishu said the garment owners managed some ‘pocket labour organisations,’ which worked against the interests of workers’ and helped the commission to make the ‘so-called consensus’ wage proposal.
   The leftist student leader-turned labour rights campaigner said that her Parishad already called a daylong strike in garment factories on October 10 demanding Tk 3,000 as minimum pay for an RMG worker.
   Shafiuddin Ahmed, a leader of Shramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) — the national umbrella organisation of labour organisations, said, ‘Workers will not accept these minimum wages’
   He declined to pinpoint the labour organisations which recommended lower wage to the commission, but said, ‘The commission or owners always bypassed the SKOP in negotiating the minimum wages.’ The apex trade union body represented the apparel workers in the June tripartite agreement on RMG worker’s wages and facilities, he added.

People vandalised power offices and blocked highways in some parts of the country on Thursday, protesting against the prolonged outages. Power generation remained almost at the same low level with no sign of improvement.
   The power starved people ransacked a power office in Khulna and blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Sylhet, demanding smooth supply of power.
   Power generation in the evening peak hours was 2,980 MW against the demand of 5,000 MW, forcing the authorities to shed more than 2,000 MW. The capital got 1,350 MW in the evening peak hours against the demand of 1,800 MW.
   Our Khulna correspondent said the angry people on Thursday morning ransacked an office of the Power Development Board at Jamira under Phultala upazila in protest against the frequent power outages throughout the day.
   Local people and police sources said that more than one hundred people gathered around the office at around 11:30am and chanted slogans demanding smooth power supply. At one stage the mob became furious and started to throw brickbats at the office, smashing the doors and window panes. Additional policemen were deployed at the trouble spot to control the situation. No one was reportedly hurt during the incident.
   The local thana unit of Juba League and Chhattra League, the youth and student fronts of the Awami League, also jointly arranged a protest rally in front of the office at around 10:30am.
   Our Sylhet correspondent said the agitated people of the Dakshin Surma area in the city held a rally at Kadamtali point on Thursday noon, blocking the Dhaka-Sylhet highway for more than one hour, protesting against the frequent power outages.
   They submitted a memorandum addressing prime minister Khaleda Zia, demanding her intervention to ensure smooth power supply in the district.
   They also gave five days’ ultimatum to the government to ensure smooth power supply, and threatened that otherwise they would go for tougher movement.
   At the rally, the participants said they would declare the next agitation programme on 11 October if the concerned authority failed to fulfil their demand for uninterrupted power supply by that time.
   In another incident, the enraged city-dwellers attacked the power supply office on Jail Road on Wednesday night at about 11:00pm during load-shedding and vandalised the furniture and equipments of the office in protest against frequent power outages. The angry mob also set fire to a motorbike that was parked in front of the power supply office, said eyewitnesses.
   Admitting that the power situation is worsening, Shakhawat Ullah, general manager of the Palli Bidyut Samiti, Sylhet-1, said they provide all the electricity to their consumers that they get from the PDB.

The owners of the country’s steel and re-rolling mills on Thursday warned that they would shut down their units and stop paying electricity bills if power supply to their industries was drastically cut.
   Leaders of the Bangladesh Steel Mill Owners Association and Bangladesh Re-rolling Mills Association took the decisions at a joint general meeting in the city.
   ‘We will shut down our units and stop paying electricity bills immediately if the government cuts power supply to our mills,’ Ali Hossain, president of the re-rolling mills association, who presided over the meeting, told New Age.
   The tough decision from steel and re-rolling mill owners came after the power secretary on Wednesday announced that the government would cut power supply to steel mills by 15 hours a day particularly from 8 am to 11 pm. ‘Steel and re-rolling units require continuous power supply for at least 18 hours to complete a cycle of production, so we cannot afford a drastic cut in power supply,’ said Bashirullah, joint secretary of steel mills association.
   He said, for the convenience of the countrymen facing severe load shedding, they had voluntarily proposed that they would not to run their units from 5pm to 8pm.
   No power for 15 hours would just paralyse production in the sector and lead to a crisis for rods and other steel products.
   The FBCCI vice-president, Mohammad Ali, attended the meeting in which at least 100 steel mill owners vowed to go for tough action programme against the government’s plan to drastically cut power supply to their units.

The pilots and other staff of Biman Bangladesh Airlines have given a fresh ultimatum to the government to fulfil their 3-point set of demands including modernisation of the Biman’s fleet and removal of corrupt directors by October 10.
   The convener of Bangladesh Biman Combined Action Council, Captain SM Helal, gave the five-day ultimatum to the government after a council meeting at the Biman headquarters on Thursday to push for modernisation of Biman’s fleet, bringing aeroplanes on lease to operate flights for an interim period, and curbing corruption in the national flag carrier.
   The state minister for civil aviation and tourism, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, is expected to sit in a meeting on October 8 with the council leaders to resolve the crisis, said a source in Biman.
   Briefing the media after the meeting, Helal, also the president of Bangladesh Airline Pilots’ Association, alleged that the government in collusion with some vested quarters was pushing Biman to the brink of ultimate destruction.
   He said, ‘If our demands, meant to save Biman from closure, are not met by October 10, we will announce an elaborate action programme the following day.’ He also mentioned that Biman had received only Tk 150 crore as a bail-out fund, which was too inadequate to face its huge fund crunch.
   ‘We need at least Tk 550 crore to pay the outstanding bills of various stations abroad and allowances of the pilots and other employees,’ the BAPA president said.
   He said the government should take measures by October 10 to remove the corrupt and inefficient directors of Biman, and also to downsize the number of top officials of its administration to salvage the airlines, which has been incurring huge losses for long.
   Talking to New Age, the managing director of Biman, MA Momen, did admit the fact that Biman was reeling under serious fund crisis.
   ‘We have already taken some cost-cutting measures to overcome the crisis and more steps are underway to improve the situation,’ he said, adding that Biman’s manpower should be rationalised to make the airlines commercially viable.
   The council, which was formed early September, demanding adequate supply of fund for smooth operation of the airlines, is a combine of 10 trade unions of Biman, including BAPA, the Flight Engineers’ and Navigators’ Association, and Biman Employees’ Union.
   Earlier on September 3, the council, which had threatened to halt the ground operations at all the airports on September 7, causing a total suspension of air services to and from Bangladesh on the day, withdrew their strike as the government pledged to provide adequate funds for Biman.
   In the face of agitation by Biman employees, the ministry of finance later released a block allocation of Tk 150 crore to face the liquidity crisis.
   But the council leaders termed the allocation inadequate for ‘salvaging the national airlines, which was facing a deficit of around Tk 1,500 crore’.

Malaysia has once again banned workers from Bangladesh, just two months after lifting an earlier ban, an immigration official said Thursday.
   ‘For the time being we have decided to ban Bangladeshi workers again because we suspect they are entering the country without following the
   system set by the government,’ immigration department enforcement director Ishak Mohamed said.
   Ishak said Malaysian companies had been given the green light to bring 22,000 workers here, but none had arrived yet because the government feared unscrupulous Bangladeshi labour agents were attempting to ‘beat the system’.
   To prevent private agents from profiteering, Malaysia has set up an official recruiting agent–Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira Malaysia) – to handle the import of workers from Bangladesh.
   Under the system, Malaysian companies hiring Bangladeshi workers have to pay 1,200 dollars per worker to the Malaysian agent, which covers the processing fees involved to bring them here.
   ‘But to beat this system the agents in Bangladesh rather deal directly with the employers here to mark up the price, which is in violation of the government’s system,’ Ishak said.
   He said the ban would only be lifted once the recruitment problem was solved.
   ‘We will wait until the 22,000 workers reach here by following the government’s procedure, only then will the government lift the ban again,’ he said.
   Malaysia in August lifted a ban on hiring foreign labourers from Bangladesh which had been in place since 1996.
   Malaysia relies on foreign workers to power its construction and agriculture sectors, and they represent some 2.6 million of the country’s 10.5 million workforce.

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (the capital’s development authority) on Thursday announced the names of 5,950 plot winners of the Uttara third phase.
   A total of 5,950 names of different categories, including affected people, has been announced and will be published in different dailies today, said a high official of the Rajuk.
   Exactly 3,850 plots have been given to people belonging to nine categories: ministers, state ministers, deputy ministers, lawmakers and people of similar status, judges, freedom fighters, journalists, civil servants, service holders of autonomous organisations, service persons, artistes, litterateurs and sports personalities. The rest of the 2,100 plots has been allotted to the affected persons whose land was acquired by Rajuk for the Uttara third phase.
   Twenty per cent of the total plots have been allotted by Rajuk officials to people of their own choice. Previously they could dispose of 10 per cent of the plots at their own discretion, said a high official of Rajuk.
   The total number of plots which were allotted in three phases is 9,848.
   Rajuk on April 2, 2005 named the winners of 1,136 plots in three categories — private jobholders, businesspersons, industrialists and others.
   The winners were reportedly chosen by using a computerised lottery system. Rajuk earlier, during the Awami League’s tenure, had allotted 2,762 plots.
   Rajuk invited applications for the Uttara third phase in 1997 and selected 2,762 applicants in 2001.
   Later, a probe committee which was formed after the BNP-led four-party ruling alliance took over, identified about 580 faulty applications. But the applicants later managed to get clearance eventually.
   The plots of Rajuk under the third phase on 2,099.56 acres of land are located in the west side of Uttara sector-12 and north of Mirpur in the flood protection embankment’s area.
   The land development work has been going on since 2003 and about 30 per cent of the work has been competed so far, said an official of Rajuk.
   Partial infrastructure development will also start soon, he said.
   Rajuk initiated the Uttara first phase in 1966 and completed it in 1992 and work in the Uttara second phase started in 1992 and was completed in June 1998.
   About 6,000 plots of different sizes on 950 acres of land were allocated in the Uttara first phase and 5,315 residential plots on 438 acres in the Uttara second phase.

Thailand’s military-backed government Thursday shrugged off US pressure to lift martial law, while China welcomed the nation’s new premier in what could signal a rivalry for influence on the regime.
   The new prime minister, retired army chief general Surayud Chulanont, told reporters that Thailand would remain under martial law at least until his cabinet is named next week.
   ‘I have to consult with the cabinet, so I cannot say anything yet,’ he said.
   The United States has urged the coup leaders to make ‘a quick return’ to democracy, and has suspended 24 million dollars in military aid, jolting years of close links between US forces and Thailand.
   The US stance contrasts sharply with China’s response. In a letter released Thursday, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao offered China’s ‘warm congratulations and best wishes’ to Surayud.
   ‘I am willing to work closely with your excellency for the constant progress of Sino-Thai relations,’ he said.
   From the beginning, China has brushed off the September 19 coup that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an internal affair.
   Analysts here said that could signal Beijing’s desire to win influence in Bangkok at a time when the United States and other western countries are pressing for speedy elections and the restoration of civil liberties.
   ‘It’s understandable that China wants to show that they have key role in Asia,’ said Chayachoke Chulasiriwongs, a political science professor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn university.
   ‘While the US, Great Britain and Europe are not happy with the coup, China thinks they will get trade benefits from Thailand, while the coup leaders can be happy that at least one powerful country is backing them,’ he said.
   Meanwhile Surayud, who was sworn in on Sunday, said that he expected to meet his promise to name a cabinet within one week of taking office.
   Two prominent financial experts–central bank chief Pridiyathorn Devakula and Bangkok Bank executive chairman Kosit Panpiemras–have already agreed to join the cabinet.
   The leading candidate to run the foreign ministry appeared to be Nit Piboonsongkram, a former ambassador to the United States who led Thai negotiators in free trade talks with Washington.
   Surayud is also reportedly considering naming a former classmate, retired chief of staff general Boonrod Somthat, as defence minister.
   The choice of cabinet ministers took added importance after the junta named Surayud as prime minister after promising the post would go to a civilian.
   The generals have insisted that retired officers are civilians, and Surayud said he would use the same logic in making his cabinet appointments.
   ‘If there are any military (people in cabinet), they would be retired. They are soldiers at heart, but no longer in service,’ he said.
   Surayud’s government faces enormous expectations from the Thai public, especially in Bangkok, where the coup was largely welcomed for removing a government seen as overrun by corruption.
   The junta said it seized power to restore democratic institutions that Thaksin had undermined, and has vowed to hold elections in October 2007.

Women are at more risk of violence from their partners than from any other source, according to a study published on Friday by the UN’s World Health Organisation.
   Researchers interviewed more than 24,000 women aged 15-49 at 15 locations in 10 countries–Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia, Thailand and Tanzania.
   ‘Intimate partner violence’ by a husband, boyfriend or live-in partner was common, they found.
   In 13 of the 15 locations, more than a quarter of the women reported having been victims of physical or sexual violence, or both, from a partner at some point in their lives.
   In all but one site, women were at far greater risk of violence by a partner than from other perpetrators.
   The safest place in relative terms was in the Japanese city of Yokohama, where 15 per cent of women reported violence.
   The most dangerous was in Butajira, a rural district in Ethiopia, where the rate was 71 per cent of women interviewed.
   Much of the violence, especially in Ethiopia, Peru, provincial Thailand and rural Tanzania was rated as severe–being kicked or beaten up, choked, hit with an object or threatened with knife, gun or other weapon.
   There was also a close connection between physical or sexual assault. In most sites, between 30 and 56 per cent of women who had ever experienced any violence reported both types of violence.

The International Khatme Nabuwat Movement Bangladesh sticks to its plan to capture the Ahmadiyya mosque at Purba Nakhalpara in Dhaka today.
   The fanatics on September 29 announced the programme, after failing to take over the Ahmadiyya mosque in the face of police action and a blockade by the local people.
   The Ahmadiyyas, who pray in the mosque, appear apprehensive as the attackers have announced to capture the mosque after the Friday congregational prayer after the government failed to declare the Ahmadiyyas ‘non-Muslims’ in the current session of the parliament.
   The khatib of the Rahim Metal mosque, Mahamudul Hasan Mamotazi, also amir of the organisation, has announced the plan to capture the Ahmadiyya mosque at any cost.
   The khatib also reportedly invited Islamic leaders from across the country to help in the occupation of the mosque, which he said is a ‘religious’ duty.
   He said the Hathazari Madrassah principal, Chormonai pir and most presidents and secretaries of the reputed mosques and madrassahs would participate in the programme.
   Rafiq Ahmed, 47, an Ahmadiyya, demanded that the government should arrange for the security of the mosque and the members of his community.
   Talking with New Age, local ward commissioner Mojibur Rahman said the administration had taken all possible security measures and the local influential people were trying to contain the situation.
   More than 100 people, including policemen, were injured in the clash between the police and the zealots on November 21, 2003 when the fanatics tried to occupy the mosque.
   The zealots vandalised half a dozen motor vehicles and set fire to two motorbikes of the police.
   The police could not, however, make arrest anyone in connection with the vandalism.

Security at Nepal’s only international airport has been tightened after an intelligence tip-off that a flight to India could be hijacked, officials said Thursday.
   ‘Security has been kept on high alert for the last five days after we got Indian intelligence reports that a flight from Kathmandu could be hijacked,’ Loknath Gautam, security chief at Tribhuvan International Airport, told the agency.
   Passenger screening has been tightened and more security officials deployed in the airport, the security official said.
   ‘We are strictly monitoring India-bound flights and Indian carriers,’ Gautam said.
   The security official declined to disclose details about who had threatened to hijack a plane.
   In 1999, an Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked by Islamic militants from the restive Kashmir region.
   The plane was flown from Kathmandu to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.
   The Indian government freed three Kashmiri Islamic militants in exchange for the hostages, ending the hijacking.

Pakistani bomb disposal experts defused two rockets found pointing towards president Pervez Musharraf’s residence in Islamabad on Thursday, hours after a blast in a park near his army home.
   The Russian-made rockets were fixed to launchers and hidden in bushes at a construction site, security officials said, about half a kilometre from the presidency building and from parliament.
   A mobile phone was linked by wires to both launchers, apparently as a remote triggering device, they said.
   ‘They were apparently pointing towards the presidency,’ one security official said. ‘Luckily some labourers working at a construction site saw the rockets and reported it to police.’
   The police cordoned off the area and security forces detained 80 people working at the building site for questioning, officials said.
   Later Musharraf arrived by helicopter at an Islamabad conference hall to give a speech–shortly after three heavily guarded but empty motorcades had driven up in an apparent decoy security measure.
   Musharraf, who has survived two assassination attempts, did not comment on the rocket find.
   The fact that the 107 mm calibre rockets were made in Russia indicated they had come via Afghanistan, which borders on ex-Soviet Central Asia, and possibly implicates extremist Taliban rebels, security sources said.
   The rockets were discovered about 12 hours after an explosion in a public park near general Musharraf’s army residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which adjoins Islamabad, late Wednesday.
   Chief military spokesman major general Shaukat Sultan said the blast ‘had nothing to do with the president or army house’.
   Sultan, who is also Musharraf’s press secretary, said some explosive material was found at the blast site and that police were investigating. The police said they sent another bomb disposal team and search parties to the site.
   One security official earlier said the blast in Ayub Park was caused by a rocket but senior authorities later denied this. Officials also rejected reports that a large quantity of unexploded material was found.
   Security had been beefed up after the blast, Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz said.
   Musharraf, a key ally in the United States’ ‘war on terror’, seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and has survived two murder attempts in Rawalpindi, both in December 2003.
   In the first, suspected Islamic militants blew up a bridge as his motorcade passed but Musharraf was saved when electronic jamming equipment in his car delayed the blast.
   The second attempt on Christmas Day was a suicide attack linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network that left 14 people dead.
   In 2004 Pakistani authorities said they had busted a plot to fire rockets at Musharraf from the hills overlooking Islamabad during a national day parade.

Former national captain Khaled Mahmud found himself all at sea when he came to India to manage the national side for the first time after the end of an illustrious playing career.
   Mahmud, whose managerial baptisim came a couple of months back in Pakistan with the national cricket academy, is facing a busy time to keep everything within his control.
   His most difficult problem was trying to manage a local SIM card for the players, who were anxious to communicate with their families back home.
   The Bangladesh cricket team arrived in Chandigarh on October 3 but it took three days for the manager to get a SIM for captain Habibul Bashar.
   ‘We are passing a nice time with the media and fans giving us a lot of attention. But when it comes to getting a mobile number things become really difficult,’ said Mahmud.
   Barring the problem, Mahmud however has no complaints against the local organisers, who according to the Bangladesh manger, complied with a number of request made by him.
   ‘As this is an ICC event the locals have very little to do. Still, they are trying to help us. For example I can tell you about change of our practice timing today (Thursday),’ he said,
   ‘We were supposed come for practice in the morning, but I requested to them to shift it to the evening. All of our qualifying matches are day-night, but we did not have enough practice under lights. So, it was very necessary for us,’ added Mahmud, who looked animated despite facing some difficulties. The reason for Mahmud to become so vibrant lies in his past experience at the Mohali Stadium, the venue for Bangladesh’s first Champions Trophy against Sri Lanka.
   ‘This is the stadium where I got my first international wicket. It was way back in 1998 when we played against India in the Coca-Cola tri-nation tournament. I get rid of the then Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin to take my first wicket,’ boasted Mahmud.
   Another reason for him to sound so happy was being able to bowl in the nets of the Bangladesh cricket team. ‘I took the ball first time today after retiring from international cricket in February. It makes me feel good,’ he said.
    ‘I must say playing for the national cricket team and managing the side is very different. But I am enjoying my current job in the same way I used to enjoy my playing career,’ said Mahmud.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on Thursday said the people’s welfare could not be done by the opposition as they didn’t have any patriotism and faith in democracy.
   Lashing at the ‘duplicity’ of their stance, she said her party had urged the opposition to sit for dialogue, but they did not want to join discussion showing various pretexts in the name of dialogue.
   ‘Rather they (AL) wanted to hold discussion at a foreigner’s residence, she observed on note of surprise as to what kind of patriotism they possess.
   ‘So, people had taken correct decision in the 2001 general election by voting the BNP-led alliance to power by two-thirds majority while they (AL) got only 58 seats,’ Khaleda, also chairperson of the ruling BNP, told a public meeting organised at Samad Smriti Maidan by the local chapter of the four-party alliance.
   The prime minister again said the next general election would be held in 2007 and the trend of democracy and development would continue in the country.
   She noted that the coming general election was very important for the country.
   She urged people to take part in the election to vote for the BNP and its alliance candidates to take the country towards self-reliance in all sectors.
   Khaleda said people did not want to support and vote to power those (AL) who want to turn Bangladesh into a ‘vassal state’, create market of aliens, who cannot protect dignity of the country, destroy public property and resort to chaotic and anarchic activities.
   ‘The people have witnessed twice their rule marked with the plundering of public wealth, corruption, famines, and the reign of terror and godfathers,’ she said.
   The prime minister said the opposition had gone mad sensing that they had no chance in the future because of the massive development in all sectors across the country done by the BNP and alliance government in the last five years.
   She alleged that the opposition had taken the path of indiscipline and anarchy to halt country’s forward-march towards self-reliance in all sectors.
   Listing her government’s various pragmatic policies and schemes in various fields, particularly in education, she reiterated that girl’s education would be free up to degree level from intermediate level now if the BNP and alliance formed the next government.
   She said tiffin would be provided to primary school students in poor areas of the country if her party and allies came to power for the next term.
   Chaired local BJP lawmaker Md Kazi Alauddin, the meeting was also addressed, among others, by the communications minister, Nazmul Huda, the PM’s political secretary, Harris Chowdhury, Habibul Islam Habib MP and Shahidul Alam.
   Earlier, the prime minister laid the foundation stone of Jessore Science and Technology University at Ambottala on 35 acres of land.
   In Kaliganj of Satkhira, she inaugurated the newly constructed Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah bridge over Kakshialy river and Kaliganj-Ashashuni approach road.
   The prime minister also distributed documents of land to some land-less people under a rehabilitation project undertaken for them.

The World Bank has hailed the achievements the government so far made in public expenditure management, in line with the global lender’s specific recommendations.
   In a recent policy note, the bank proposed establishment of an advisory panel comprising of practitioners, academics and researches who work on public expenditure policies to give the government necessary policy advice towards improving the public expenditure management.
   Improvements are noticed in the areas of fiscal management, human developments and defence spending, says the note.
   It highlighted Bangladesh’s success in restoring macro-fiscal balances since 2001, declining fiscal deficit steadily by 1.9 percentage point of GDP during FY02-04 and reducing domestic financing of the deficit by 1 percentage point. The consolidated public sector deficit also improved significantly, the policy note said.
   ‘These improvements were achieved through a combination of revenue mobilisation, expenditure reduction and reform of SOEs, which in turn contributed to the reduction of direct budget subsidies and contingent liabilities,’ reads the policy note.
   It appreciated the government for its shift of resources from agriculture and infrastructure towards social sectors including education, health and social safety net programme.
   It praised the government for minimum defense outlay compared to other South Asian countries.
   ‘Bangladesh has avoided excessive reliance on domestic and foreign borrowing. Defense outlays, represented 1.9 per cent of GDP in FY 04, considerably lower than those in the rest of South Asia,’ the multilateral lending agency pointed out.
   The note said progress has been made in the preparation of budget reports and consolidated accounts of the government’s system. Separation of the accounting and auditing functions in the Ministry of Finance is another achievement, it added.
   Recommending measures, the policy note of the multilateral lending agency said the government has to develop an understanding through systematic dialogue with the stakeholders and line ministries at the time it formulates budget and public policies.
   ‘At present, the budget is viewed more as an accounting rather than a policy making exercise,’ the WB opined.
   Besides, it recommended integrating poverty reduction strategy into the budget policy formulation, building capacity in the line ministries, increasing tax collection, eliminating customs corruption, formulating energy pricing policy and framing infrastructure regulation to enable local and foreign investors to invest in ports and other infrastructures to give a boost to the country’s trade and industry.

The law ministry has cleared a proposal of the communications ministry for signing a UN-sponsored trans-Asian railway network agreement.
   The route will span about 81,000 kilometres through 32 Asia-Pacific countries.
   The ministry in its opinion sent to the communications ministry last week said the government could sign the inter-governmental railway network agreement as there was no legal bar to it.
   Initiated by the UN Economic and Social Commission for the Asia and the Pacific in 1960, the agreement would be ready for signing at the UNESCAP ministerial conference on transport to be held in Busan, South Korea, on November 6-11.
   The aim of the railway link is to facilitate growing trade, commerce and tourism in the region.
   The communications ministry in September sent the draft of the agreement to the law ministry for its opinion before sending it to the cabinet for approval.
   The officials said that the proposal would be sent to the cabinet next week for approval.
   ‘We hope the cabinet will give a clear indication of signing the agreement before the end of the tenure of the present government,’ said a top official of the communications ministry on Thursday.
   The communications ministry said the three options proposed by the UNESCAP for trans-Asian railway routes positively reflected the interest of Bangladesh.
   The three routes proposed by the UNESCAP are—Route 1 Gede (West Bengal, India)-Darsana-Ishwardi- Jamuna Bridge-Joydevpur-Tongi-Akhaura-Chittagong-Dohazari-Gundum (Myanmar border station). The link would have two sub-routes. Sub-route 1 includes Tongi-Dhaka and Sub-route 2 includes Akhaura-Kulaura to Shahbazpur (Mahisasan, India).
   Route 2 will enter Bangladesh through Singabad (West Bengal, India) – Rohanpur-Rajshahi-Abdulpur-Ishwardi and then follow the rest of the route and sub-routes of Route 1.
   Route 3 will enter Bangladesh through Radhikapur (West Bengal, India) – Birol-Dinajpur-Parbatipur-Abdulpur-Ishwardi and then follow the rest of the route and sub-routes of Route 1.
   The Bangladesh Railway in its opinion said all the proposed routes had reflected the interest of Bangladesh duly and we could choose any of the three links.
   The Bangladesh Railway, however, said the government should examine the pros and cons of the agreement and consult experts before signing it.
   Some officials of the communications ministry are doubtful whether Bangladesh will be able to sign the agreement as the present government hands over power to the caretaker administration by the end of this month.
   ‘It is not clear whether the caretaker government can sign this agreement even if the present cabinet approves the deal,’ said a top official of the communications ministry.
   Earlier, Bangladesh refused to ratify another UN-sponsored Asian Highway project agreement, the deadline for which was over on December 31, last year, because of its ‘reservation’ about the proposed route AH1 as both the entry and exit points of the route would fall in India, which the alliance government feared would eventually turn out to be a ‘transit route for India.’
   The government had preferred route AH41 as Asian Highway route in its territory the entry point of which would be in India and the exit point in Myanmar. But the route AH41 was shown as a sub-regional route in Asian Highway map.

Javaid Iqbal’s lawyers say the Pakistani cable repairman was snatched in the post-September 11 dragnet and held for over a year at a Brooklyn detention centre, where guards beat him mercilessly.
   Iqbal, like hundreds of Muslims or Arabs detained in the days after the attacks but never charged, sued the US government, saying that he was held and abused for no legitimate reason.
   His case was heard on Wednesday by a federal appeals court in Manhattan.
   The court’s three-judge panel will decide to overturn or let stand a lower court’s ruling that allows Iqbal’s lawyers to seek information from former US attorney general John Ashcroft, FBI director Robert Mueller, former Bureau of Prisons head Kathleen Hawk Sawyer and Metropolitan Detention Centre officials to find out what they knew about the alleged abuse.
   Gregory G Garre, a US department of justice lawyer representing Ashcroft and Mueller, said the chaos surrounding September 11 made it unclear what the law was and that Iqbal’s complaint does not properly show his clients’ involvement.
   Alex Reinert, Iqbal’s lawyer, said the suit was to remedy abuse. ‘The government can’t be allowed to reflexively target people on the basis of race, religion and national origin even in times of chaos,’ the lawyer said.
   Federal authorities detained 762 non-citizens–almost all Muslims or Arabs–in the weeks after the attacks as part of a sweeping counterterrorism effort.
   The US government in February paid $300,000 to settle with Iqbal’s co-plaintiff and fellow detainee Ehab Elmaghraby, an Egyptian, although it did not admit wrongdoing.
   Elmaghraby, who owned a restaurant in Manhattan, also said he was abused in the high security unit of the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.
   Aside from repeated body-cavity searches and beatings while shackled, Elmaghraby said guards stuck a flashlight into his anus.

The Prime Minister Office on Thursday awarded the state-run Rupali Bank to Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud responding to his willingness to purchase a 67 per cent shares at $330 million.
   ‘We have issued a letter of intent to the buyer Thursday,’ Enam Ahmed Chaudhury, chairman of the Privatisation Commission told the news agency, referring to the PMOs approval to the bid of Saudi Prince.
   Over one month ago, the commission recommended the proposal of the Prince to the PMO with recommendation for awarding the bank to him as his bid, for the purchase of 67 per cent shares of the bank, appeared to be the highest.
   ‘Now the handing over process of the bank will start through the sales and purchase agreement,’ he said.
   The process will begin from Sunday. ‘All the documents are more or less ready,’ he said expecting that paper works could be finished in a week.
   The cabinet, in September 13, approved the application of the Prince.
   The commission on August 27 announced that Saudi Prince was the highest bidder for the bank out of two technically fit bidders.
   The Saudi Prince offered $330 million for the 67 per cent shares of the bank while his nearest and fit bidder, Domestic Investors Consortium, offered $100 million.
   This offer came following an international tender floated by the PC earlier. The government initiated to divest the Rupali Bank to meet donor’s prescription.
   However, the divestment processes had been halted on various occasions due to legal complications.
   Referring to the deadline of August 31 as fixed by the government to meet donor’s pre-condition, Chaudhury earlier said: ‘We have met the deadline in spite of all the difficulties.’
   The Rupali Bank, the smallest of the four nationalised commercial banks, has only 6.42 per cent private shares. Government holds the remaining shares.
   The total asset of the bank stood at $1.07 billion in December 2005. It has 493 branches, over 25.25 lakh deposit accounts and 5,731 staff members.

A top Israeli general who is about to retire has been fired for calling on prime minister Ehud Olmert and army chief Dan Halutz to resign over the Lebanon war, military sources said Thursday.
   ‘You have made statements inadmissible for a military member by making political criticisms, notably against the government and its head,’ Halutz wrote in a dismissal letter to general Yiftah Ron Tal, commander of ground troops who is on leave ahead of a planned retirement.
   In statements to the press earlier this week, Ron Tal said: ‘From a military point of view, the war ended in failure and the chief of staff and prime minister should take responsibility’ and resign.
   Ron Tal also denounced the lack of preparedness for the war that failed to achieve its main objectives–freeing two soldiers seized by Hezbollah in July and preventing the Shia militant group from firing rockets into Israel–despite 34 days of intensive Lebanon bombardment.
   Halutz issued the dismissal letter after summoning Ron Tal for an ‘explanation’ on Wednesday over the remarks.
   According to army radio, Ron Tal met two weeks ago with Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the major right-wing opposition party Likud, for which he may soon announce his support.
   Israel’s offensive on Lebanon began on July 12 and ended under a UN-brokered truce on August 14.
   Ron Tal’s statements were the latest in a string of attacks levelled at the Israeli leadership over the war.

At least seven were injured in an attack on Belaish Sarbajanin Durga Mandir (temple) at Rampal in Bagerhat by some local miscreants Wednesday night.
   The injured, who were treated in local clinics, are Tapan Goldar, Tanmay Biswas, Ashish Dhali, Bipradas, Pranesh Roy, Kamalesh Mandal and Nirmol Roy of the village.
   The local people and the police said about 12 to 15 local miscreants, led by Lavlu, Babu Munshi and Raju, attacked the temple at about 8:00pm and began to vandalise the idols.
   As the worshippers tried to resist them, the attackers began to beat them when at least seven worshippers became injured, they said. The miscreants smashed three idols, they said.
    The police said the temple committee president Devid Mandal, filed a case accusing nine named and 10 to 12 unnamed miscreants. No one was arrested in this connection till Thursday evening.
   Subinspector Abdul Baten said the police visited the spot and more policemen were deployed to avoid further trouble.

Shooters, players and the Combined Sports Family formed on Thursday a human chain and demanded exemplary punishment for the policemen involved in the merciless attack on the national shooters.
   The human chain at Muktangan condemned the action brandishing it as a black chapter in the sports history of Bangladesh and feared that if it went unpunished, similar acts would be committed. They also condemned the role of the Bangladesh Shooting Federation president and accused him of taking a stance against the shooters.
   Former national shooter and Commonwealth Games gold winner Atiqur Rahman, Abdul Gaffar, SAF Games gold medal winner Qazi Shahana Parvin, and Sharmin Akhter spoke for the shooters.
   The whole 22-member national football team joined the programme amid great applause. Former star footballer Badal Roy, Sheikh Mohammad Aslam along with the members of the Sonali Otit Club were also present.
   Former cricket board general secretaries Raisuddin Ahmed and Amnul Huq Moni, and former chief national selector Aliul Islam expressed their solidarity with the movement.
   The shooting federation, meanwhile, failed to file any case against the police on Thursday because of the unavailability of the medical report of the injured Asif Hossain Khan and others.
   There was, however, a rumour that a certain quarter of the federation along with the police is working against the federation’s intentions.
   Elsewhere, Before the Club Cup hockey final both Abahani and Mahammaden observed one-minute silence.

Miscreants set fire to the office of the transport administrator at the Islamic University in Kushtia early Thursday. Furniture and other objects worth about Tk 1 lakh were burnt.
   The proctor, Professor Alinoor Rahman, called in the Ansars members to extinguish the fire.
   The acting vice-chancellor, Professor Anwarul Karim, blamed the security guards of the administrative building for negligence to their duties.
   He said the authorities had filed a general diary with the police station at the university and arranged for tightened security measures to avoid further trouble.