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The fifth round of the secretary-level dialogue between the ruling BNP and rival Awami League did not make any substantial progress on Monday in resolving their differences over former chief justice, KM Hasan leading the next caretaker government.
   The negotiators, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan of the BNP and his AL counterpart Abdul Jalil, however, decided to continue informal parleys until resuming the next formal round on October 23.
   The two secretaries had reached consensus on some issues other than former chief justice, KM Hasan as the next chief of the caretaker administration, sources in two parties said.
   The AL does not want Justice Hasan to head the non-party caretaker government, although the constitutional provisions say that the immediate past chief justice, that is Hasan in the present case, would be the chief of the caretaker administration. The AL-led opposition combine finds Hasan a ‘BNP loyalist’.
   During the talks on Monday, Jalil suggested that the two parties could make a joint request to Justice Hasan to remain outside of the electoral process, a competent source said.
   But Bhuiyan regretted the suggestion, saying that the BNP would not take any formal move to restrain Hasan from discharging his constitutional responsibilities.
   ‘We would try to find alternative options should he [Hasan] willingly decline to take the charge,’ Bhuiyan was quoted as telling Jalil.
   After the nearly 40-minute meeting in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, both Bhuiyan and Jalil, however, claimed that they had reached some consensus, but it would need final approval from the respective heads of the parties—Khaleda Zia of the BNP and Sheikh Hasina of the AL.
   ‘You all know that our two top leaders are out of the country. Decisions on our consensus so far reached through dialogue should be made in presence of them…We are hopeful of bringing an end to the dialogue after their return,’ Jalil said at the press briefing.
   ‘For reaching a final consensus, we need the decisions of the parties and the leaders. They are out of the country and we will have to hold meetings with our respective parties too,’ said Bhuiyan.
   They indicated that the October 23 parley would be the last meeting as the incumbent government would have to hand over power to the caretaker administration any day after Eid vacation stretching from October 24 to 27.
   Asked if the dialogue would end on October 23, Jalil said: ‘We would wrap up the discussion on October 23 according to the decisions of the BNP chairperson and the Awami League president.’
   ‘We will try,’ Bhuiyan replied to the same question.
   Prior to the meeting, Jalil told reporters that there was no lack of efforts on their part.
   ‘The matter is not in the hands of Mannan Bhuiyan and Jalil…It is not even the matter of the two leaders,’ he said sitting beside Bhuiyan. ‘It is the matter of the two parties and the two alliances.’
   ‘I and Mr Bhuiyan are trying to reach a common formula to get rid of the political standoff,’ he said.
   After the meeting, Jalil briefed senior AL leaders at its Dhanmondi office where the leaders expressed disappointment over the delay ‘on the excuse of absence of the party chiefs and accused the BNP of wasting time intentionally’.
   ‘They [BNP] are trying our patience through the illogical delay so that they could shift the blame on the AL should the talks break down,’ an AL secretary present at the meeting told New Age. ‘But we are not going to give them [BNP] the chance. We will wait until the end.’
   On the other hand, the finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman on Monday said that failure in the ongoing talks to resolve the political crisis would be disastrous to the country.
   ‘We have to find a solution…A give-and-take understanding could resolve the crisis for the sake of democracy,’ he told reporters at his planning commission after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.
   The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, is expected to return home on October 21 from Saudi Arabia. The leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, is scheduled to come back home from the US on October 22.
   The two-party talks on reforms to the provisions of the electoral process started on October 5 to break the political standoff before the upcoming general elections scheduled for January, 2007.

The more the government-opposition dialogue is prolonged the more will the country proceed towards confrontation, said Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday.
   Terming the leaders of both the ruling BNP and the main opposition Awami League sincere and talented he hoped that they would not allow any untoward fate to befall the nation.
   Yunus made the remarks when a delegation of AL-led opposition alliance visited him at his residence in the evening to congratulate him for his outstanding achievement of winning the Nobel peace prize.
   ‘People of the country are now passing their days in fear of any untoward crisis and eagerly awaiting an amicable solution to the existing political crisis,’ he observed, adding that both the major political parties should settle the issues through unbroken talks as early as possible.
   Yunus emphasised holding a free and fair election, and also urged the opposition leaders to participate in the upcoming general polls.
   The opposition leaders congratulated Yunus by presenting him bouquets and appreciated his endeavours that uplifted Bangladesh’s image across the globe as indicated in the glorious Nobel prize.
   ‘The achievement is a historical event for the nation and we feel proud of the country’s great success,’ AL general secretary Abdul Jalil remarked, adding, ‘the opposition alliance along with the crores of our people also share the success with you.’
   The alliance leaders lauded the activities of the microcredit guru, which successfully bettered the fate of crores of the poor and thereby made a positive impact on the national economy.
   They also hoped the
   example of his great achievement would also encourage
   the people to quest for such glory in various sectors, brightening the country’s image to the world.
   Led by the alliance coordinator, Jalil, Tofail Ahmed, Rashed Khan Menon, Matia Chowdhury, Nurul Islam, Dilip Barua, and Pankaj Bhattachariya were among the other members of the delegation.

The alliance government is planning to give some officers another round of promotions to the level of secretary within a week, according to sources in the establishment ministry.
   The establishment ministry has sent a list of 10 additional secretaries for promotion to secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office for approval, said a source. Six additional secretaries in different ministries are on the promotion list.
   Earlier, the establishment ministry had sent the names of 16 additional secretaries to the Anti-Corruption Commission for clearance to give them promotion, said sources.
   The secretary-in-charge of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Syed Shujauddin Ahmed, has been made secretary in the President’s quota and appointed on contract for one year. His contractual appointment to the rank of additional secretary has been cancelled, according to a gazette notification issued on Monday.
   Earlier, on Sunday, a total of 332 officers were promoted to the level of deputy secretary, apparently to prevent any movement by aggrieved officials at the fag end of the alliance government’s tenure. All the newly promoted deputy secretaries were made officers on special duty at the Ministry of Establishment.
   Some 72 additional deputy commissioners of different districts, newly promoted to the rank of deputy secretary, were asked to remain in situ (in their old positions) until further orders, said a gazette notification issued on Monday.
   The services of sixty-four newly promoted deputy secretaries, who were appointed on deputation in their earlier positions, were put at the disposal of the Ministry of Establishment, according to another official order issued on the day.
   Moreover, the pay structure of 208 assistant secretaries was upgraded to senior scale as per the national pay scale 2005. An official order to this effect was also issued on Monday.

Foreign direct investment into Bangladesh in 2005 marked 50 per cent rise to $692 million, a UN agency says in its World Investment Report 2006, which elevated the country’s position to 116th from 119th the previous year among 200 economies.
   Bangladesh stood second after Pakistan in South Asia and 5th among least developed countries in attracting foreign direct investment. Among the LDCs, Bangladesh ranked 9th in 2004 and 18th in 2001, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
   countries in attracting foreign direct investment. Among the LDCs, Bangladesh ranked 9th in 2004 and 18th in 2001, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
   The UNCTAD ranking was based on data valid until April 2006 while the Bangladesh Bank’s latest FDI figure at $845 million showed 84 per cent increase in 2005.
   Released on Monday in Dhaka as elsewhere in the world, the investment report revealed that Bangladesh had surpassed India, which declined to 119th in 2005 from 112th position the year before, for the first time in the 16th of such ranking by the UN body since 1991.
   The investment inflow into least developed countries and South Asia — the two groupings of which Bangladesh is a part of — increased 11 per cent and 34 per cent respectively during the period.
   Projecting multi-billion dollars of foreign investment inflow from 2008 on, the executive chairman of the Board of Investment, Mahmudur Rahman, at the report launching ceremony urged his successor to cash in on global appreciation of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus to tide over the chronic image crisis and encourage more investment inflow.
   ‘We must immediately address corruption, political and labour unrests to create a good national image… Infrastructures such as port and power should simultaneously be streamlined to attract foreign investment,’ he said.
   The UN resident coordinator, Renata Lok Dessallien, listed privatisation of infrastructures, solution to the power sector problem, transparency at all levels, enhancing competence of labourers, reducing higher transaction costs, addressing law and order problems and labour unrest and building a positive image of the country as preconditions for attracting more investment.
   ‘We are interested in responsible FDI for the development of the people of Bangladesh,’ Renata said emphasising the importance of human development compared to anything else.
   In reply to a question on risks of profit repatriation, Mahmud expressed his conviction that most of the foreign investments into Bangladesh are in responsible sectors but suggested that telecommunications companies should immediately get themselves listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange to prove their increased level of commitment to the customers and people in general in the host country.
   Asked how controversies leading to hostilities against foreign investment could be avoided, Mahmud, also the government’s energy adviser, insisted on transparency on everyone’s part in dealing with proposals of investment so that the people are not confused and misguided.
   Despite certain protectionist trends in developed countries, global investment grew 29 per cent to $916 billion in 2005 on top of 27 per cent rise in 2004, said the World Investment Report subtitled ‘FDI from Developing and Transition Economies: Implications for Development’.
   Dwelling on the theme, the investment board chief added that his agency targeted investors from India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East to get out of the traditional approach of eyeing developed Western countries.
   Presenting the report, professor of economics of Jahangirnagar University M Ismail Hossain mentioned that the top sources of investment from the countries and territories of the said category are Hong Kong, China, Virginia Island, Russian Federation, Taiwan, Singapore, Mexico and Columbia.
   Nine of the 20 economies with largest FDI inflows were ‘developing countries or transition economies’. The largest recipient country was the United Kingdom followed by the United States and China.
   Foreign direct investment into Southeast and South Asia, including Oceania, reached a new high of $165 billion in 2005, a 19 per cent increase over 2004. ‘With continued high economic growth, the region has become more attractive to market-seeking FDI,’ the report read, also terming the region a hot-spot for trans-national corporation investments in financial services and high technology industries.
   UN executive Kazi Ali Reza and BoI director Mamdood Hossain Alamgir also spoke at the report launching ceremony at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday said that Bangladesh owns the Nobel Peace Prize and it is the poor people of the country who deserve hearty congratulations for achieving the prize.
   ‘I got the world’s highest honour because of you. Because of the hard work of poor women who fought to change their lives. The 67 lakh poor women who helped Grameen Bank to grow and flourish are the real winners of the prize,’ said Dr Yunus while speaking at a civic reception in the capital.
   People from all strata of life including former heads of state, economists, educationists, bankers, politicians, civil society leaders, journalists, businessmen and micro-credit recipients on Monday greeted the first ever Nobel laureate of the country in a mass reception.
   The Nagarik Samaj organised the reception at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre. Among the eminent personalities who attended the reception were former president Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed and former chief advisor to the caretaker government Habibur Rahman.
   Dr Yunus said that after winning the prestigious award, Bangladesh has emerged as a new nation and this nation cannot remain behind other nations. He called on the people to forget all differences and unite in the effort to improve the condition of the people of the nation.
   ‘We are unbeatable. The Bangladesh of before October 13 and the Bangladesh after October 13 are different nations, and the difference is like that between the earth and sky. We won’t allow the nation to step down from such a position,’ he told the audience.
   ‘We are now a Nobel-winning nation. No longer are we a country of small people,’ said Yunus. ‘We have shown the world that we can do something, and now we are now ready to do big things.’
   He said though the people are frustrated over the institutional limitations in the country, we have been able to build an institution that has won the Nobel Prize.
   ‘I have seen an unprecedented example of the unity of the Bengalis — whether in the country or abroad — in celebrating the winning of the Nobel Prize. We must use this joy to pave the way to a poverty-free future,’ he said.
   Yunus expressed the hope that Bangladesh would now be able to draw global attention and ‘most of the countries will follow us as a model.’
   ‘The Nobel prize has proved that we are really a great nation,’ he said. ‘It is a great pride for Bangladesh as a country and every Bengali shares the joy.’
   After he spoke, people lined up to present him with bouquets of flowers and hug him. Hundreds of people greeted Yunus with flowers on Monday when he arrived at the centre.
   Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud delivered the welcoming speech and Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman chaired the meeting.

The foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, on Monday broadsided India for what he said was its ‘big brotherly attitude’ towards ‘India-locked’ Bangladesh.
   ‘We are neither land-locked nor water-locked, but we are India-locked,’ the foreign minister said while inaugurating the State Bank of India Visa Application Centre, Chittagong at Khulshi in the city.
   The foreign minister set aside the written speech prepared by his ministry and voiced his views on the relationship with India that in some ways differed to what the acting high commissioner of India in Bangladesh Sarbajit Chakravarti said.
   ‘There are some mutual actions that develop mistrust in mutual relationship,’ said Morshed, whose earlier remarks made in presence of outgoing high commissioner Veena Sikri in Dhaka also kicked up debates.
   The minister said many contentious issues had yet to be resolved. Allegations of cross-border migration on both sides and trade imbalance sometimes pour cold water on the warm relationship between the two nations.
   ‘Interacting with the neighbour time and again for resolving outstanding issues is a precondition for prosperity... we have to live with our close-door neighbour,’ he said.
   Morshed congratulated Muhammad Yunus for winning the Nobel prize and said, ‘He is now our passport to prosperity.’
   The acting Indian envoy said nearly 60,000 visas were issued in one year after the Visa Application Centre was opened in Dhaka in 2005.
   The visa applicants will apply online with passport tracking facility, he said.
   The assistant high commissioner of India in Chittagong, Subrata Bhattacharjee, and DB Rath, chief executive of the State Bank of India, also spoke.

The government has allegedly been actively considering some big housing projects of several real estate companies who are implementing the projects illegally by filling up low-lying areas and flood flow zones.
   The government has even already approved such a project, Bashundhara-Baridhara project of the East West Property Development (pvt) Limited, despite the fact that the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha filed several cases and general diaries with the police only the other day against the project on charge of violating the Wetland Protection Act 2000 and the Rules for Land Development for Private Housing Projects 2004.
   The Rajuk even requested the home affairs ministry on September 17 to take steps against a number of projects such as Basundhara of the East West Property Development Limited. But a high-powered committee, headed by the housing minister Mirza Abbas, approved the 1,247.30-acre Basundhara-Baridhara project on September 25.
   Rajuk sources said the project was located on the ‘special planning zones for flood flow and water retention’ in the Rajuk master plan. The plan earmarks 14 such special planning zones.
   However, the committee is learnt to have been in the process of giving approval to some more projects that Rajuk earlier filed cases against, and are still pending with the court.
   As regards Basundhara-Baridhara project, the Rajuk earlier filed at least two cases against the East West Property Development Limited on charge of violating laws in developing the project. But the cases were eventually abandoned on technical grounds, which is visible in police report submitted to the court.
   In one of the two cases filed with Badda police in 2002, Rajuk accused the Basundhara group of illegally filling lands, but they did not mention the name of any person of the group in the case.
   Subsequently, the a sub-inspector of Badda police, Abdul Gafur, stated in his investigation report to the court, on November 28, 2002, that the developer was indeed filling up low-lying land violating clause 5 and 8 of the wetland protection act 2000. But police could not take any effective step, as the Rajuk did not bring any allegation against any person of the company in the case.
   Notably, the Rajuk accused the ‘managing director’ of the ‘Bashundhara Group of companies without mentioning the name of the managing director.
   Syeda Rizwana Hasan, programmes director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) said on Saturday that although Rajuk had filed cases against the project for violation of laws and rules concerned, the Rajuk officials concerned seemed to have chosen deliberately not to supervise the cases properly. ‘This suggests the existence of an unholy nexus between Rajuk, the real estate developers and the law enforcing agencies’.
   However, Rajuk filed a general diary against the same company for the Basundhara project on the same charge on July 3, 2006.
   The BELA is preparing to serve legal notices to the government shortly against the reported move for approval of the projects that have violated the law and the rule. The organisation is also preparing to issue notice against the Bashundhara River View project of the company at Keraniganj, Rizwana told New Age.
   Notably, the company is now illegally filling land for the project, which is located in ‘flood flow zone’ in Keraniganj in the first place. Moreover, the company has been advertising the plots of the project, although it is yet to apply for Rajuk approval for the project, Rajuk sources confirmed.
   The Rules for Land Development for Private Housing Projects 2004 requires the real estate companies to get approval of their project within six months from the date of the rule taking effect. The rule took effect on February 26, 2004.
   Rajuk filed a case against the East West Property Development with the Keraniganj police on July 23, 2003, on charge of implementing the River View project without any approval and violating the Land Development Rules for Private Residential Projects 2004 and Section 36 of the Wetland Protection Act 2000.
   The Rajuk sources said its secretary had sent a letter to the home secretary on September 17 seeking action against nine projects which included the two projects of Bashundhara.
   The nine projects that the Rajuk filed several cases or general diaries against, but awaiting approval of the committee, include Basundhara River View Prakalpa of the East West Property Development Private Limited at Hasnabad, Ainata and Bashundhara-Baridhara project of the same company, Amin Mohammad Land Project at Manda mauza and Amin Mohammad Land Ashuliya Project at Khagan and Uttar Dattapara; Jamuna Builders Limited project at Jowarsahara, Dakkhin Khan and Barwa mauza; Uttaran Abasik Prakalpa of the Mission Energy and Properties Limited at Ashuliya and Dhar mauza; New Heaven Medical Centre at Gram-Bhatuliya-Dhar mauza; Tamanna River View Prakalpa of Baitul Aman Bahumukhi Samabay Samity Limited at Goran-Chatbari mauza, and Basumati Project of Heerajheel Property Development Private Limited at Jowarsahara.
   However, when contacted on Thursday, the housing and public works minister, Mirza Abbas, evaded most of the queries over the violation of laws and rules by certain real estate companies. He just said that the committee would give approval in the light of laws and rules concerned.
   As regards the approval of the Bashundhara-Baridhara project, against which the Rajuk has still a general diary lodged with the police station concerned, the minister said that the committee had given the approval ‘conditionally, as the company agreed to leave spaces for playground and garbage dumping and to dig a lake at the project site’.
   When contacted on Saturday, the executive director of East West Property Development, Samsuddin Ahmed, refused to say anything about the projects in question.

Sri Lanka suffered its worst ever suicide attack on Monday when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a truck packed with explosives next to a convoy of sailors, killing at least 103 people and wounding 150 more.
   The government said the ‘barbaric’ act, which coincided with increased international efforts to restore a 2002 truce,
    meant the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was not interested in negotiations scheduled to take place next week in Switzerland.
   The bombing occurred about 170 kilometres northeast of Colombo at a transit point for security personnel coming to and from the front line of the drawn-out conflict in the restive northeastern district of Trincomalee.
   ‘Suicide bombers drove a truck packed with explosives into the area where there were about 15 buses,’ a police official in nearby Sigiriya town told AFP by telephone. ‘We have two helicopters to evacuate the wounded’.
   Doctors said that 98 bodies were at the nearby Dambulla hospital while four more people died while being taken by road to a hospital in the major town of Kurunegala.
   ‘This barbaric attack on unarmed sailors shows that the Tigers are not worried about international opinion,’ said government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also the minister of policy planning.
   ‘We are keen on negotiations, but the Tigers are not.’
   The military moved to carry out retaliatory air strikes against the Tigers, but an Israeli-built Kfir war plane crashed shortly after take off from a military base here, officials said.
   There was no immediate comment from the Tamil Tigers, who last week fiercely resisted a major military onslaught, killing at least 133 soldiers and wounding 500 in two hours of fighting, according to government figures.
   Top Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi Monday met with president Mahinda Rajapakse and former chief peace negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva.
   Akashi was also expected to meet top LTTE leaders during his six-day visit, although a sit-down exchange with the Tiger’s reclusive commander Velupillai Prabhakaran was unlikely, Japanese officials said.
   Norway, the main peace broker in Sri Lanka, was planning to send special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer on Tuesday to work out details for the October 28-29 talks in Switzerland.
   The US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher, was also expected to meet Thursday with government ministers and civil leaders.

The central bank refrained from recommending loan waiver of 15 indebted frozen food exporting firms, but favoured relaxed rules to facilitate them to refund the principal amount and interest totaling about Tk 217.41 crore.
   Bangladesh Bank came up with the suggestions after assessing the financial health of the 15 companies following a request from the finance ministry.
   Earlier, the companies appealed to the finance ministry seeking waiver of principal and interest, sources said.
   ‘The companies are victim of the situation. They are not willful defaulters,’ a deputy general manager of the central bank told New Age.
   However, the central banker said, most of the companies still have financial abilities to refund the bank loans, if conditions for repayment are relaxed taking into consideration the hurdles they are facing to run export business.
   According to the report, the 15 companies together owe Rupali Bank Tk 38.51 crore, NCCBL Tk 2.77 crore, Prime Bank Tk 15.37 crore, National Bank Tk 48.80 crore, Sonali Bank Tk 17.92 crore, AB Bank Tk 19.71 crore, Pubali Bank Tk 9.39 crore, UCBL Tk 8.05 crore, City Bank Tk 10.14 crore, IFIC Bank Tk 1.22 crore and Premier Bank Tk 45.53 crore.
   The defaulting companies are Bionic Sea Food Export, Sigma Sea Foods, Delta Fish, Southern Foods, Minhar Sea Foods, Chowdhury & Company, Friends Trading Company, Sagar Foods, Orion Fishing, Cop Commercial, Lockpur Fish Processing Company, Southern Foods, Rupsha Fish and Allied Industries and Jewel Fish Products.
   The central bank report said the business establishments faced crises due to natural disaster, price slump in international markets and also due to fraudulence practices by some of importing companies.
   However, the report said Orion Fishing has no ability to refund the bank loans due to non-repatriation of export receipts.
   The Friends Trading has wound up its business and Sagar Foods has no outlet as written on its documents as its factory address in Chittagong.
   All the remaining companies have ability to refund the bank loans as they are in full operations now, the report noted.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, has requested the King of Saudi Arabia to provide fuel oils to Bangladesh on 365 days’ credit for maintaining uninterrupted development and production in various sectors.
   The prime minister, now in Makkah, made the request to King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz during a banquet hosted by the Saudi monarch at his Safa Palace in the holy city on Sunday, according to a message received in Dhaka on Monday.
   During the dinner discussion, Khaleda pointed out to King Abdullah an abnormal increase in oil prices on the world market and its negative impacts on Bangladesh’s effort towards development.
   ‘Such oil price rises are creating over-limit pressure on Bangladesh’s rising economic growth and foreign exchange reserve,’ the prime minister told the leader of the oil-rich Arabian nation.
   Khaleda said continuous supply of fuel oil was very urgent for maintaining development and production in various sectors in Bangladesh.
   The prime minister noted that Saudi Arab always stood beside Bangladesh as a brotherly Muslim country during its urgent need.
   She told the King that role of Bangladesh in repaying loans is better compared to any other country in the world and Bangladesh would uphold the tradition in case of repaying foreign loan of Saudi Arabia.
   The Saudi King listened to the prime minister’s speech with deep interest and assured all necessary steps to intensify and deepen the existing friendly relations between the two countries.
   Khaleda observed that in this respect the positive response from the King would not only be helpful to Bangladesh in overcoming the crisis rather it would further strengthen the strong excellent relations between the two brotherly countries.
   Informing the King about liberal and attractive foreign investment scope in Bangladesh, the prime minister requested King Abdullah to encourage Saudi businessmen and industrialists to invest in Bangladesh. She said investors as well as both the countries would benefit from investing in export-processing zones.
   She expressed gratitude to Abdullah for recruiting a large number of
   Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia and mentioned that these working forces have been contributing to economic development of the two countries.
   Khaleda said Bangladesh was capable of supplying skilled manpower to implement various development projects in Saudi Arabia.
   She urged King Abduallah to recruit physicians, engineers, health workers and nurses and other professionals as well as skilled and semi-skilled construction workers from Bangladesh.
   The prime minister renewed her invitation to the King to visit Bangladesh, saying that the 14 crore people of the country have been waiting to welcome the new Saudi King.

Bangladesh’s foreign policy has become ‘lifeless’ during the five-year tenure of the BNP-led alliance government, said the main opposition Awami League on Monday.
   The ruling alliance only built a bad image of the country, thanks to its poor governance, unabated corruption, and repressive measures throughout the past five years, Faruq Ahmed Choudhury, member of the AL board of advisers, told a press conference.
   He lambasted Khaleda Zia’s ‘look east’ policy, which her government adopted immediately after assumption of office in 2001, alleging it had failed to produce any positive outcome for Bangladesh.
   ‘Diplomacy has no specific direction. The foreign policy of any country is determined by its important national issues,’ Faruq, a former career diplomat, said, adding a policy for the benefit of certain quarters never brings good results for the nation.
   Asked whether the Awami League would continue the ‘look east’ policy, if voted to power, Faruq replied in the negative.
   The press conference held at a city hotel was attended, among others, by AL general secretary Abdul Jalil and international affairs secretary Syed Abul Hossain, and former diplomat Muhammad Zamir.
   Faruq, a former foreign secretary, said the 4-party government failed to retain the good relations that the previous AL government had established with the next-door neighbours, countries in the west and elsewhere.
   In this connection he pointed out that the sharing of water of cross-boundary rivers, exchange of enclaves and lands in adverse possessions, border disputes, and other issues with India remained still unsettled.
   He also said that the huge trade gap existing between India and Bangladesh was not in favour of Bangladesh, but the government took hardly any initiative to rectify the situation.
   ‘One of the means to do that is to invite investments from India, so that goods produced by these investments can be exported to India,’ he opined and said the government should have taken a definite decision about the Tata investment offer. ‘But it has failed to do that.’
   Asked about Awami League’s stance on Tata’s $3 billion investment proposal, Faruq Choudhury said the party would take quick decision on the proposal if voted to power.
   To resolve the Indo-Bangla boundary disputes, he said his party would attach top priority to materialising the 1974 land boundary agreement and expediting the process of exchanging of enclaves.
   On Myanmar front, the former foreign secretary said Bangladesh needed to resolve a number of unsettled matters, including demarcation of maritime boundary, with Myanmar.
   ‘Awami League will give priority to this significant agenda and work so that countries adjacent to the Bay of Bengal can make fair arrangement for ownership of marine resources,’ he announced.
   Faruq also criticised the government for allowing establishment of a Taiwanese business office in Bangladesh during its tenure that irked China. He said it had weakened Bangladesh’s relations with China.
   The relations with the United Sates, European Union countries, Canada, and Australia also have fallen into undesirable conditions, he claimed, arguing, ‘Deterioration of human rights situation and the rise of religious fundamentalism have created an image crisis, impeding our good relations with those counties.’

The United States launched a diplomatic push Monday to enforce new UN sanctions on North Korea and shore up China and South Korea’s determination to punish Pyongyang for its declared nuclear test.
   Less than 48 hours after the Security Council voted unanimously to impose the sanctions, US diplomats were facing reservations from key Asian nations worried that tough action could provoke the unpredictable North’s regime.
   Meanwhile, a new poll in South Korea found more people blamed the United States than North Korea for the test, underlining doubts that the harsh US stance was effective in influencing the North’s behaviour.
   The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, was headed to China, Japan and South Korea later in the week while Christopher Hill, the lead US negotiator on the North, arrived in Tokyo on Monday to discuss the Council resolution.
   ‘We want to talk about implementing the resolution,’ said Hill, who was to go to South Korea on Tuesday.
   ‘We want to talk about other measures we can take to work together to make sure North Korea is not able to get the technology nor the financing to continue these programmes,’ he said.
   The Council unanimously passed Saturday’s resolution, which calls on the North to give up all weapons of mass destruction and allows nations to stop cargo going in and out of North Korea to prevent any weapons trafficking.
   The measure also bars heavy conventional weapons and luxury goods from being sent to North Korea, calls for a freeze in any funds connected with the North’s WMD programmes, and urges it to return to disarmament talks.
   China also showed signs Monday of clamping down on trade across its border with North Korea in line with UN sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s apparent nuclear test, a senior US official said.

The acute power crisis continued across the country on Monday because of huge gap between supply and demand, as generation remained static.
   According to sources at the Power Development Board the countrywide power generation during evening peak hours on the day was recorded at about 3,134 megawatts against the demand for about 5,000 megawatts, forcing the power agencies to shed a load of about 1,800 MW. Dhaka received a supply of about 1,300 MW in evening peak hours against the demand for 1,800 MW forcing the agencies to cause outages in areas including Mirpur, Demra, Sutrapur, Islambagh, Lalbagh, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Shahjahanpur, Khilgaon, Mohakhali, Rampura and Basabo.
   The city dwellers experienced frequent power outages on Monday. Patients in different hospitals are suffering due to power outage which is also greatly hampering production in mills and factories.
   Sohel Islam of Islambagh said production in his plastic factory remained stopped for about 10 hours every day over the last one month due to load shedding.
   Power officials said the situation would not improve soon as 18 power units remained out of order for weeks because of repair or overhaul.

A Malaysian home ministry delegation on Monday questioned ‘overactive attitude’ of private recruiters and stressed that the government agencies should play a key role in making the recruitment process transparent.
   Sources in the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment said the five-member team, headed by a deputy secretary, Raja Azhar, made the observations during a meeting with the secretary of the ministry.
   The ministry is also hesitant in issuing clearance to recruiting agencies for sending workers to Malaysia because of a temporary ban imposed by Malaysian immigration authorities, the sources added.
   The official team has been in Dhaka to discuss with the government over the confusions arising out from imposition of the fresh ban, which virtually stalled the process of resumption of manpower export to
   the Southeast Asian job hot
   spot after a pause of nearly a decade.
    A huge delegation of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, led by its president MAH Salim, met the state minister for overseas employment, Lutfor Rahman Khan Azad, and discussed on how to clear confusions surrounding manpower export.
   However, the state minister was learnt to have blamed the recruiting agencies for charging much higher amount than the one fixed by the ministry at Tk 84,000 for sending an unskilled Bangladeshi worker to the Southeast Asian country.
   Because of the complicacies in the process of collecting biometric finger prints of the jobseekers, the Malaysian authorities kept suspended issuance of what is called ‘calling visa’, causing uncertainty to resumption of manpower export to Malaysia for about a decade.
   Export of manpower to Malaysia was supposed to restart on October 10 and the Malaysian authorities gave a maximum permissible limit of 26,000 workers to be sent by October 20 before the temporary ban comes into effect.
   BAIRA leaders expressed the hope that they would be able to reach a solution through negotiations with the Malaysian delegation which is scheduled to spend their last day in Dhaka today.

The Indian police Monday arrested two suspected Islamic militants armed with explosives as they stepped off a train in New Delhi, amid tight security in the capital ahead of a major Hindu holiday.
   The two men were identified as members of the pro-Pakistan militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for market attacks here a year ago and the July train bombings in Mumbai, said deputy commissioner of Delhi police Alok Kumar.
   Kumar said the Bangladeshi nationals, Mohammed Aslam Gir and Abdul Razzaq, were carrying 1.5 kilograms of RDX high-grade explosive — the type used in a string of previous attacks in India.
   ‘They boarded the train in Jammu (the winter capital of Indian Kashmir) and were arrested when they got off in Delhi early this morning,’ Kumar said.
   ‘We made the arrest based on an intelligence tip-off. We are in the process of interrogating them and then we will get more details.’
   Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of several groups battling Indian rule in Kashmir, was blamed for the October 29, 2005 triple bomb attacks in New Delhi, just ahead of the Diwali festival. Those attacks killed 66 and injured at least 200 others.
   The group was also blamed for the July 11 commuter train attacks in Mumbai this year that killed 186 people and injured 800.
   A Delhi police spokesman said security was beefed up in the capital ahead of Diwali, with extra officers stationed at sensitive locations and more patrols throughout the city.
   ‘We have an increase in security around this time of the year, especially at places where we expect crowds of people–in markets, shopping malls and cinema halls,’ the spokesman said. ‘This is just a precautionary measure.’
   However, Lashkar spokesman Abdullah Gaznavi said in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital, that two ‘were not at all part of the group’.

Lecturers and staff at British universities will be asked to spy on ‘Asian-looking’ and Muslim students they suspect of supporting terrorist acts and involvement in Islamic extremism, The Guardian reported on Monday.
   Citing a document drawn up by the British education ministry, the newspaper said universities had been warned of talent-spotting by terrorists on campuses across the country, and of students being ‘groomed’ for extremism.
   The 18-page document, which also acknowledges ‘concerns about police targeting certain sections of the student population’, has apparently been sent to official bodies for consultation within the last month.
   It identifies Muslim students from ‘segregated’ backgrounds as more likely to support extremist stances than their counterparts who are ‘integrated into wider society’.
   The Guardian also said that the document encourages universities to proactively report students to the special branches of local police forces that deal with matters to do with national security.
   The report also suggests universities make checks on external speakers invited to give lectures by their student Islamic societies, which it says can often be ‘more radical speakers or preachers’.
   Students indicated strong opposition to the apparent measures, with Gemma Tumelty, the president of the National Union of Students, being quoted as saying: ‘They are going to treat everyone Muslim with suspicion on the basis of their faith. It’s bearing on the side of McCarthyism,’ the 1950s-era Communist witch hunts by US Congressmen.

The president Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused Washington of waging ‘a dirty war’ to keep his country from winning a seat on the UN Security Council.
   The United States is supporting Guatemala in an effort to stop Chavez from winning a seat on council – a platform to voice opposition to what he calls Washington’s ‘imperialist’ policies. The US has said that Chavez, whose government maintains friendly ties with North Korea and Iran, would be a disruptive force on the 15-member council.
   Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has warned that Washington could attempt to drag out Monday’s vote for days, weeks or even years if neither candidate garners the required two-thirds majority to win a seat on the council.
   ‘Go forth with the bayonet! Venezuela is going the Security Council,’ said Chavez, encouraging Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations, Francisco Arias Cardenas, on the eve of the vote.
   Both Venezuela and Guatemala say they have a majority of votes in the 192-member General Assembly. If neither side is able to muster the two-thirds majority, however, the 33-nation Latin American group might decide to put up another candidate.
   The vote for the rotating seat, one of 10 on council, is a secret ballot, and countries aren’t obliged to make known their preference, though much of the Caribbean and South America have voiced support for Venezuela. The 53 countries in the African group are expected to tilt toward Venezuela, while Asia’s 54 nations are said to be split.
   Guatemala allegedly has the support of Colombia, most of Central America, and Europe.
   Chile will abstain Monday in the vote for the non-permanent seat, presidential spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber said Sunday night. He said president Michelle Bachelet decided not to support either Venezuela or Guatemala.
   The 10 non-permanent seats on the council are filled by the regional groups for two-year stretches. The other five are occupied by the veto-wielding permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.1

Global foreign direct investment rose by 29 per cent in 2005 to $916 billion as investors from emerging markets burst onto the scene as rivals for western multinationals, the UN trade and development agency said in a report Monday.
   ‘The emergence of these multinationals from the South marks a deep shift in the world economy,’ said Anne Miroux, one of the authors of the ‘World Investment Report 2006’.
   ‘It’s an additional sign of a transfer of economic power to developing regions, especially Asia,’ she told journalists. It was the second consecutive year of net growth in FDI worldwide.
   Overall cross-border mergers and acquisitions reached close to their 1999 boom levels, growing by 88 per cent last year to $716 million as recovering stock prices encouraged big companies to undertake ‘mega-deals’ worth more than 1.0 billion dollars, the report said.
   There were 141 such deals in 2005, more than twice as many as a year earlier, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) added.
   They were worth nearly half ($454 billion) of the global total of FDI inflows.
   ‘The trend is for growth and the estimates for 2006 confirm this growth,’ said Miroux.
   The investment patterns were marked by the emergence of companies based in Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Brazil and China as major sources of investment abroad, the report said.
   Hong Kong appeared in the top ten of the table of leading national sources of FDI, while mainland China was a ‘remarkable’ 17th place in 2005, Miroux said.
   Developing nations invested 117 billion dollars abroad, mainly within their regions.
   The developing nations’ overall share of cross-border mergers has increased from four per cent in 1987 to 13 per cent in 2005, according to
   UNCTAD.
   Miroux highlighted recent big individual corporate bids, such as Indian group Mittal Steel’s takeover of European giant Arcelor for 25 billion euros (31 billion dollars), Dubai Port World’s 6.9-billion-dollar takeover of British group P and O, or state-owned Chinese oil group CNOOC unsucesful bid for US oil firm UNOCAL.
   ‘We were not used to seeing big companies from the South buying some of the industrialised economies’ flagships,’ she explained.
   ‘One of the messages of this report is that multinationals from the South are here to stay, it’s a lasting reality that both companies in the North and political leaders need to take into account,’ Miroux added.
   Although industrialised economies are still predominant as sources and destinations for investment, developing countries showed high FDI growth rates.
   West Asia and Africa recorded ‘unprecedented’ investment inflows to record levels of 34 billion dollars and 31 billion dollars, the report said.
   Flows into South and East Asia also achieved a new high of 164 billion dollars in 2005, an annual increase of 19 per cent.
   Investment flows into industrialised nations, which attract 59 per cent of FDI, rose by 37 per cent over 2004 to 542 billion dollars, the report found.
   Britain, the United States and China (72 billion dollars) were the largest recipents, according to UNCTAD.
   FDI into Britain tripled to 165 billion dollars, largely due to the 74 billion dollar technical merger of the Dutch and British parts of the oil giant Shell.
   FDI flows into the United States—where British companies remain the largest investors—fell by 19 per cent to 99 billion dollars.
   Inflows into the European Union nearly doubled to 422 billion dollars, most of it due to rising cross-border investment within the 25-nation bloc.
   The EU’s 15 ‘old’ members accounted for 388 billion of that amount, partly due to the British surge.
   The ten new members attracted 19 per cent more FDI, reaching a record 34 billion dollars.

Minister for works, Mirza Abbas, and his brother, Mirza Khokan, were among six people accused of killing an Awami League activist in Shahjahanpur on September 28.
   One Mustafizur Rahman filed the case with the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on Monday, accusing Mirza Abbas, Mirza Khokan, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (Dhaka South) president Majnu, its general secretary Habibur Rashid and two others, Nayan and Sohag, of killing Sohag Sarker, labour secretary of the Ward No 34 unit of Awami League.
   Accepting the complaint, metropolitan magistrate Mizanur Rahman ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate the incident and take legal action accordingly.
   According to the prosecution, Sohag Sarkar had protested against the tearing down of the posters of Awami League leader Saber Hossain Chowdhury by BNP activists, which enraged Mirza Abbas who ordered his musclemen to kill Sohag.
   Ward Commissioner Mirza Khokan and others called Sohag out of his Shahjahanpur railway colony residence on September 28. They took him to the local Muktijoddha Sangsad office and brutally hacked him to death in broad daylight.

A case was filed in Gournadi upazila magistrate court in Barisal on Monday against the ruling BNP lawmaker, Jahiruddin Swapan and his 17 associates accusing them of hijacking a microbus and burning copies of a daily newspaper.
   Belayet Hossain Bablu, Barisal correspondent of daily Jugantor, lodged the case as complainant.
   In the case it was stated that the activists of the BNP had hijacked a microbus carrying copies of daily Jugantor from Barisal-Dhaka highway following publication of a report on the corruption of lawmaker Jahiruddin Swapan on October 11.
   As the Gournadi police station refused to register the case that day, it was filed in the magistrate court.
   Abdullah Al Mamun, the magistrate, received the case and ordered the officer-in-charge of Gournadi police station to take necessary actions after investigation.

Ousted leader Saddam Hussein has urged the Iraqi people to be ‘just’ in the insurgency against US-led troops, in a letter from his US-run prison sent through his lawyers.
   ‘Resistance against the invaders is a right and a duty ... but I urge the brothers in the noble resistance and the great Iraqi people to be just and fair,’ Saddam said in the letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP by his Iraqi lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi.
   ‘I also urge you to forgive those who lost their way ... and keep the door of forgiveness open until the last minute that precedes the hour of liberation,’ Saddam wrote from prison.
   ‘Do not forget that your goal is to liberate your country from the invaders and their followers and is not a settling of accounts outside this goal,’ Saddam said.
   ‘Remember that after each war there is peace, after each division there is unity,’ he said, adding that ‘victory against the occupation forces is certain’.
   Saddam insisted on the unity of the Iraqi people.
   ‘We are a united and undivided people ... made up of Arabs, Kurds and various religions and communities,’ he said.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming led from the front as the Black Caps snatched a dramatic 87-run victory over South Africa in the Champions Trophy here on Monday.
   New Zealand, bowled out for 195 after being given first strike in the day-night international, fought back to dismiss the powerful Proteas for 108 in the most absorbing match of the tournament so far.
   Man-of-the-match Fleming held New Zealand’s crumbling innings together with a defiant 89, inspiring his team-mates to make a spectacular comeback in the second session on a dusty wicket at the Brabourne stadium.
   Seamer Kyle Mills, who opened the bowling in the absence of injured pace spearhead Shane Bond, grabbed three wickets with his first 19 deliveries to reduce South Africa to 25-3 by the eighth over.
   The lanky Jacob Oram then ripped through the middle-order as the Proteas plunged to 71-6, 42 of those runs coming from captain Graeme Smith.
   Off-spinner Jeetan Patel provided the finishing touches with 3-11 from 3.1 overs as New Zealand made a perfect start in group B that also includes Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
   Left-handed Fleming, who opened the innings, remained rock-solid even as wickets tumbled around him, before he was ninth out in the 44th over close to his 10th one-day century.
   South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis marked his 31st birthday with 3-28 off seven overs. Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson picked up 2-34.
   Veteran seamer Shaun Pollock became the fifth bowler to claim 350 one-day wickets when he bowled Lou Vincent for 17 to end an opening stand of 27.

A Juba League leader was shot dead by assailants at Baroghop under Kutubdia upazila in the district on Sunday night.
   The police and witnesses said the assailants opened fire on Ershadul Habib Rubel, 27, vice-president of the Juba League Kutubdia Upazila unit, at about 8:00pm while he was returning home by a rickshaw from a local bazaar.