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The army chief, Lieutenant General Moeen U Ahmed, on Monday asserted that the country must build its own new democratic system with new leadership at all levels.
   ‘Bangladesh will have to construct its own brand of democracy, giving due recognition to its social, historical and cultural conditions with religion being one of several components of its national identity,’ said Moeen U Ahmed.
   Moeen made the statements while delivering keynote speech at a regional conference styled, The Challenging Interface of Democracy and Security, which was organised in the city by the International Political Science Association.
   ‘I believe…the aspiring democratic process…and the current transition period allow us an opportunity to develop a new
   concept and find a new sense of direction for future politics,’ he said. ‘And this needs rethinking so that we can re-invent a system of governance with new leadership at all levels’.
   General Moeen, attired in a cream coloured suit, also answered several questions from the audience.
   Defining his ‘own brand of democracy’, Moeen U Ahmed said that the country has ‘tried both the presidential and parliamentary forms of government. Now we should try to set up a balanced system giving more power to the president, ministers and other agencies to enable them carry out their tasks…Power must be balanced, not tilted towards any family and dynasty.’
   ‘We must identify and examine the pitfalls of our political democracy…The idea underlying the development of politics and democracy must take into account the needs of a particular country. We cannot copy others; we must invent our own style in the light of our social dynamics and economic potential,’ he asserted.
   ‘We do not want to go back to an elective democracy where corruption in society becomes all-pervasive, governance suffers in terms of insecurity and violation of rights, and where political criminalisation threatens the very survival and integrity of the state,’ he said.
   Terming the present government an interim government, he said the caretaker system of government was an ‘apolitical’ idea. ‘Though governance by a caretaker system is a very apolitical idea, we have to accept the reality in view of the poor governance and corrosive corruption that almost destroyed the fabric of our society.’
   Referring to the possible time needed for holding the next general elections, he said it would not be determined by time itself. ‘It will be determined by events, one after another, leading to the ultimate goal of holding a free and fair election.’
   He, however, evaded a question as to whether he was going to float a new party because of the failure of the two major parties.
   ‘I am not the right person to answer…Rather the people of Bangladesh will decide whether they need a new platform to lead them.’
   Professor Ataur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Political Science Association listed a number of security threats to the country, including internal destabilisation, division through destructive politics, hampering productive capacity through hartals and sieges and inciting violence and extremism. ‘It is important to take effective steps to protect the country from such threats.’
   President Iajuddin Ahmed, who inaugurated the conference, urged everyone to come forward with the utmost dedication, patriotism and honesty, keeping the national interest above every consideration, as the country needs rapid economic development along with increased democratisation.
   Later, Law and information adviser Mainul Hosein, university teachers Zillur Rahman Khan, Rukshana Kibria and Hasan Sohrawardy, columnists Sadek Khan and Harun ur Rashid, senior military officials Major General M Aminul Karim and Brigadier General ATM Amin and Nayyar Zaidi of Pakistan, Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hussain, among others, spoke at different sessions of the daylong conference. But none of the designated discussants touched upon the country’s current political situations.
   Bangladesh Political Science Association’s president Professor Ataur Rahman, CDRB’s chairman Dr Mizanur Rahman Shelley and former state minister Abul Hasan Chowdhury presided over different sessions.

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, on Monday said the country now needed to rethink the issue of political development in the changed scenario for meeting the aspirations of the people.
   ‘It is true that we should now rethink political development in terms of our new aspirations and needs,’ he said while opening a regional conference of the International Political Science Association at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
   The Bangladesh Political Science Association organised the conference titled ‘Rethinking political development: security, justice and leadership’ at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
   The chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Moeen U Ahmed and Bangladeshi political scientist and Rosebush Professor Emeritus of US University, Dr Zillur Rahman, read out the keynote papers.
   Bangladesh, the president said, should have to ensure security as well as to attain meaningful democracy so that the people of the country can achieve their desired goals.
   ‘The present government is carrying out a number of fundamental reforms to strengthen democracy and establish good governance and rule of law in the country,’ Iajuddin said.
   The nation would have to go a long way to achieve the desired goals, he said adding political development meant security and freedom of people in today’s complex world while the security of a state depends on both military and non-military aspects.
   ‘A nation, therefore, must find an integrated approach that can ensure its physical security as well as participative decision-making in a democratic process. Security and democracy are thus intricately connected with the concept of national sovereignty,’ he said.
   The president observed that a credible defence force is essential to resist external threats of different forms while on the other hand a nation must also ensure the security of its people through mitigating basic needs for sustainable development.
   ‘The safeguarding of national sovereignty is vital but the protection of people against famine, disasters and internal disorders is essential,’ the president said.
    ‘We wanted a country where poverty, discrimination, injustice, unfairness and deprivation should be eliminated. But we could not attain our dreams - the dreams of our millions even after thirty-six years of our Independence,’ he said.
   But with the passage of time, the president said, the nation had achieved some progress in the fields of micro-credit, empowerment of women, female education, telecommunications, rural infrastructure all over the country.

With economic connectivity, terrorism and social development figuring high on agenda, South Asian leaders are set to start a two-day summit in New Delhi today to give fresh fillip to implementation of the pledges made in the last two decades for the well-beings of the region’s 1.5 billion plus people.
   Chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed, who is the current chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, is scheduled to inaugurate the 14th summit of the forum at the Vigyan Bhawan in the Indian capital.
   The council of ministers, comprising foreign ministers of eight SAARC nations, meanwhile, set the agenda for their leaders to discuss at the two-day meeting. Cooperation in the fight against terrorism, establishment of a South Asian University, creation of a regional food bank and enhancement of economic activism are among the key issues to dominate the summit talks.
   The regional bloc, formed in 1985 with seven members, enlarged to an eight-member forum with joining of Afghanistan. Giving observer status to superpowers– United States, European Union, China, Japan and South Korea- has put this year’s summit in the global spotlight. The forum’s foreign ministers have already endorsed Iran’s appeal for being an observer.
   Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, Pakistan prime minister Shaukat Aziz, Bhutan prime minister Khandu Wangchuk, Nepal prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Maldives president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapakse and Afghan president Hamid Karzai, will speak at the
   inaugural session. Representatives from the observers are also scheduled to make their brief statements at the summit.
   China, Japan and South Korea will be represented by their foreign ministers, the US by its South Asian assistant secretary and the EU by a Delhi-based diplomat.
   In the run-up to the summit, regional foreign ministers short-listed the projects and agreements signed beforehand. They stressed the implementation process should be speeded up to reach the fruits of the pledged to the common people of the region.
   At the council of ministers meeting, the foreign ministers of eight member countries have finalized the agenda and issues to be discussed at the summit.
   Apart from common issues, each of the members has something special to pursue.
   India puts forward economic connectivity while Pakistan wants resolution of conflict, especially in the Kashmir valley, to make the regional forum truly functional.  Sri Lanka asks for greater cooperation
   for the anti-terrorism efforts, while Bangladesh will press for social development and economic emancipation at the meeting.
   Chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed arrived in New Delhi Monday afternoon.
   The authorities in New Delhi have tightened security in the capital, especially around the venue, as the heads of the government and state started arriving here.
   The venue, where the high-profile delegations will be staying in, has been declared a no-fly zone.
   Meanwhile, the SAARC car-rally that had flagged off from Bangladesh’s south-eastern Cox’s Bazar district reached New Delhi on Sunday. The rally, which will cover 8000 kilometers, was scheduled to leave for Sri Lanka on Monday.

India and Bangladesh have agreed to activate all the mechanisms to resolve the outstanding issues between the two next-door neighbours.
   The agreement came when chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed met Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh at the latter’s residence in New Delhi in the evening Monday.
   ‘The two leaders have discussed briefly all the outstanding matters between the two countries, and come up with positive note to apply all mechanisms to resolve the issues,’ acting foreign secretary Touhid Hossain told reporters after the meeting.
   Bangladesh has a number of contentions issues with Indian that include demarcation of 6.5 kilometres of land border, sharing of waters in common rivers, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers and end to border skirmishes.
   Fakhruddin is scheduled to hand over the SAARC chairmanship to Manmohan on the first day of the summit.
   During the meeting, the chief adviser apprised the Indian prime minister of the measures taken up by Bangladesh’s interim government to hold a free and fair election.
   The foreign secretary said that the Indian prime minister expressed his eagerness to see a democratic and prosperous Bangladesh.
   ‘Manmohan says it is important for India,’ the secretary said.
   The chief adviser invited Manmohan to visit Bangladesh at a convenient time.

Bangladesh will push social issues at the 14th SAARC summit and call on South Asian leaders to give the forum an institutional shape to enable common people to derive optimum benefit from it.
   ‘Our focus will be on making SAARC an institution from which common people, common men and women in South Asia should be able to derive benefit,’ foreign affairs adviser to the interim administration, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, told New Age in an interview ahead of the two-day 14th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation that begins in the Indian capital of New Delhi this morning.
   During the interview at his Maurya Sheraton hotel suit, the foreign affairs adviser said Bangladesh would also call for total political understanding among the member states to implement the agreements the South Asian leaders had inked.
   He said the third decade of the regional grouping had already been identified as the decade of implementation. He said that the SAARC had really come of age; it had matured despite arguments that the group had not achieved enough.
   ‘But our viewpoint is that in order to consolidate things you have to do it incrementally. You should make smaller things consolidated that move ahead. It is going to have to be the people’s SAARC,’ he added.
   On implementation of agreements, he said, ‘We should implement all the issues, all the agreements we have reached over the past years.
   He said for Bangladesh it was the development aspects of SAARC mandates, which were of crucial importance.
   ‘We would like to focus on such areas as poverty alleviation, spread of education, women empowerment, food security and health issues,’ the adviser said referring to the 22 South Asian goals, set by the SAARC.
   ‘We would very much like that the goals would be in the mainstream in the regional and national policies of the SAARC member states,’ he said adding that there should be total understanding in the political arena in the SAARC member countries.
   It would be Bangladesh’s endeavour not only to develop that kind of good relations with each of the member states, but also assist the member states in developing such relationship among themselves.
   Asked about funds for implementation of the social projects for development, the adviser said it was not that the fund alone could achieve the goal.
   ‘There will, of course, be the funding of which the social window will probably open up sooner than other windows. But obviously it is not sufficient for all the development goals.’
   He said funding must be mobilised by either from the member states themselves, or from international community, from international banks or from internal sources. He referred to the establishment of South Asian Development Fund, which the member states had already agreed on in principle.
   On connectivity, a major agenda of the 14th summit, Iftekhar said connectivity was a part of globalisation that was being witnessed everywhere.
   On the issue of a multi-modal transport system within South Asia about which Bangladesh had reservation to some extent, particularly on the issue of providing transit facilities to its neighbour, the foreign affairs adviser talked about both mental and intellectual connectivity and physical connectivity that were linked to the economic goals.
   ‘This is an area which we must approach in a way that all the constituents of SAARC benefit simultaneously. We all must agree in the end that it is important to be connected.’
   He said what the members were debating or discussing about, were in a friendly way as to how the implementation of the ideas could be of assistance in achieving the prime objectives.
   ‘Now, it is sadly natural for member states of a regional bloc which are geographically linked together to have certain different ideas, not necessarily contradictory, but different ideas as to how these can be best achieved…this is what we are doing and hope to be doing in the immediate future.’
   He said all the members of SAARC were committed to the concept and it was important for them to be connected with one another in multi-dimensional ways.
   On problems with big economics in the SAARC, Iftekhar pointed out that some member countries were bigger in size, population and resources. They are growing very rapidly.
   ‘As they grow, it is only natural for us to grow with them, and it is possible now within the SAARC framework, ‘ he said hoping that it would generate a kind of positive public mode that will help achieve the other multilateral and bilateral aspirations.
   On terrorism, the adviser said terrorism remained a major issue for the SAARC nations.
   ‘It is a very important problem, very crucial that we deal with this, and I would expect that the summit will reflect on that importance in its declaration’.
   He referred to a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart saying that Colombo attached a very high priority to this subject. The adviser expressed Bangladesh’s support to Sri Lanka’s fight against terrorism.
   ‘We might have succeeded in addressing it [terrorism] in a way that it dose not pose a threat to our society. However, we understand some of the countries of the region may have been less lucky with this…we understand this problem should be addressed multilaterally.’
   Bangladesh will certainly support any initiative in this regard, he said.
   Asked whether there would be a shift in the intra-SAARC relationships which until recently had seen the dominance of two big players—India and Pakistan, Iftekhar replied in the positive.
   He said someone cannot achieve things in a day. ‘You need time and the most complex thing about SAARC is that it comprises countries for whom it is an intellectual challenge whether to emphasise the commonalities or the distinctiveness.’
   He said, ‘In order to keep your people with you, you have to have that balance—the balance between commonalities and distinctiveness. This equilibrium is the essence of the success of SAARC...you should remain in balance in terms of mathematics and physics.’
   Asked how Bangladesh would derive benefit from the expanded SAARC, especially after the inclusion of Afghanistan in the regional bloc, the foreign affairs adviser referred to the historic relations between Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
   Bangladesh takes a lot of interest in Afghanistan. There has always been traditional relationship between the two peoples…we have historic relationship that is found in literature, he said adding that efforts were on to tap the Afghan market.
   ‘With Afghanistan we have maintained a friendly relationship in the international context,’ he said adding that both the countries were preparing for the upcoming meeting between the chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and Afghan president Karzai.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming’s 102 not out set the seal on a comprehensive nine wicket victory against Bangladesh in their World Cup Super Eight match on Monday as his side moved a step nearer the semi-finals.
   Together with Hamish Marshall, who made 50 not out, he shared an unbroken second wicket stand of 134 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
   Marshall’s six off Mohammad Ashraful saw New Zealand win with more than 20 overs to spare.
   Fleming’s 90-ball innings, which featured three sixes and 10 fours, was only his eighth century in 275 one-day internationals.
   Marshall faced 54 balls with one six and two fours.
   Victory left New Zealand, who carried forward two points for a win over fellow Group C qualifiers England, level at the top of the standings on six points with world champions Australia. The Black Caps’ second win in the Super Eights, after a seven-wicket defeat of hosts West Indies on Thursday, was set up by a fine bowling display that saw Bangladesh bundled out for 174.
   Jacob Oram (three for 30) made the initial breakthrough with two top order wickets and a run out before wrapping up the innings with nine balls to spare by bowling last man Syed Rasel for 10. Fellow all-rounder Scott Styris followed up with four for 43.
   However, tailender Mohammad Rafique struck two sixes in his unbeaten 30 and put on 34 for the tenth wicket with Rasel.
   Bangladesh, with opener Javed Omar replacing Shahriar Nafees following the 10-wicket defeat against world champions Australia, made steady progress.
   Javed, who’d shared a stand of 79 with Iqbal during Bangladesh’s two-wicket warm-up victory against New Zealand, showed his class by lofting left-arm quick James Franklin for four over mid-off. But an opening stand worth 55 ended in the 17th over.
   Teenage left-hander Tamim, on 29, tried to sweep Oram but over-balanced and was stumped by Brendon McCullum. Javed went soon afterwards for 22, cutting a ball from pace bowler Oram too close to him for the stroke and edging through to wicketkeeper McCullum. Aftab Ahmed and Sakib al Hasan rebuilt with a third-wicket partnership of 43 although the run-rate remained at under four an over. Aftab, looking to up the tempo on 27, tried to attack medium-pacer Styris but holed out Mark Gillespie at long-on.
   Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar was then run out for nine, going for a second by Oram’s direct hit from the point boundary.
   And 122 for four was transformed into 127 for five when Sakib (25) was beaten for pace by Shane Bond, who took an impressive two for 15 off 10 overs, and clean bowled. That became 127 for six when new batsman Mushfiqur Rahim went for a five-ball nought, superbly bowled by a full length Bond delivery that moved away late. Styris struck twice in three balls to remove Mashrafee bin Murtaza and Abdur Razzak but left-hander Rafique hit back by hoisting the medium-pacer high over long-on for six.
   Bangladesh next play South Africa in Guyana on Saturday.

Irrigation is likely to be adversely affected as the interim government has increased the prices of all major fuel oils, including diesel and kerosene, by 15-22 per cent with effect from Monday to ‘reduce losses’ of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.
   The price of diesel and kerosene have been increased by record Tk 7 per litre to Tk 40 from the existing price of Tk 33, while the prices of octane and petrol have been increased by Tk 9 to Tk 67 and Tk 65 per litre respectively.
   The immediate past BNP-Jamaat government hiked the prices of diesel and kerosene to Tk 33 from Tk 30, and that of octane to Tk 58 from Tk 45 and petrol Tk 56 from Tk 42, in June 2006. The price per litre of diesel and kerosene was Tk 15.50 and the price of octane was Tk 28 and petrol Tk 23 when it took office in October 2001.
   No government, political or non-political, increased the price of diesel and kerosene — which are considered to be the main fuels of poor people and farmers — by Tk 7 per litre at a time in the 26 previous price-hikes since independence.
   In recent times, successive governments increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by Tk 2-4 per litre at a time. Their prices are considered to be politically sensitive, so elected governments have always been reluctant to increase their price.
   ‘We are aware of the possible increase in agriculture and transport expenses because of the price-hike of fuel oils. We were at a point of no return and had to adjust fuel prices as the cumulative loss of the BPC exceeded Tk 14,000 crore,’ energy adviser Tapan Chowdury told reporters on Monday in defence of the large price-hike.
   He said that finance ministry would make some allocations in the next budget to provide the farmers with financial support to reduce the impact of the increased prices of fuel oil on the agriculture sector, but he could not confirm the amount of the allocation and how it would be disbursed to the farmers.
   The price-hike came at a time when the global lending agencies were pressing the government hard to increase the prices of fuel oils before loans, including the $200 million development support credit of the World Bank, were made available.
   The increase of diesel and kerosene prices will hit the farmers hard as the current irrigation season has two more months to be finished, and the rural poor will also be affected, economists told New Age on Monday.
   ‘Even if the government provides any subsidy to the farmers in the next budget, it will not help the farmers in this irrigation season, which has two more months left. The cereal production cost will certainly increase along with transportation cost,’ said Zaid Bakht, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
   Energy experts, however, felt that the government’s decision to increase fuel prices was right since it would enable the BPC to avoid future losses.
   ‘The prices of fuel oils should have been adjusted long ago. Because of the previous government’s failure to address the issue, the prices of fuel oils, especially of diesel, had to be increased by a huge margin at a time,’ Professor Nurul Islam, energy expert of the Institute of Appropriate Technology of the BUET, told New Age.
   Energy secretary AMM Nasir Uddin said that the energy division had proposed to the previous government that it should increase the price of diesel by Tk 10-12 per litre, but it refused and hiked the price by Tk 3 only.
   He claimed that even after the price-hikes of fuel oils the BPC would incur Tk 90 crore in losses in three remaining months of the current fiscal year. ‘The overall losses of the BPC, which stand at around Tk 200 crore per month, will be reduced substantially after the upward adjustment of the fuel prices,’ he said.
   Sources in the BPC said that it would still incur loss of Tk 1 for each litre of diesel and kerosene but would get a profit of around Tk 25 for each litre of octane and petrol.
   BPC imports around 18 lakh tonnes of diesel, 3-4 lakh tonnes of kerosene and 1.5 lakh tonnes of octane, and produces around 3.5 lakh tonnes of diesel, 1-2 lakh tonnes of kerosene and 1.5 lakh tonnes of petrol from crude oil at Eastern Refinery.
   They said current import cost of diesel and kerosene per litre, including the government tax, stands at around Tk 41 per litre. Import tax is around Tk 8 per litre. The import cost of octane and petrol including taxes is around Tk 40.
   They said that even if the government had reduced the import tax of 30 per cent by 15 per cent and hiked the diesel and kerosene prices by half the present amount, the corporation would have been in a profit-making position.
   Tapan claimed that the price of diesel was yet to be at par with the price in the international market.
   When he was asked if the government could reduce the import tax, he claimed that it would significantly reduce the revenue of the government.
   He dismissed the suggestion that fuel prices were hiked due to the pressure of the lending agencies.

The latest fuel price hike will further push up the inflation rate, upsetting the interim government’s initiative to arrest the rising commodity prices, economists cautioned.
   They said, in particular, the price rise in diesel and kerosene would hit hard the rural poor and farmers during the peak Boro season.
   ‘As the production and transportation costs will be higher, this price hike will also cause the inflation rate to rise,’ said Zaid Bakht, research director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies. In his estimation, ‘This will push the rate of inflation beyond 7 per cent.’
   Since 90 per cent users of kerosene are rural poor, the cost escalation for this price hike will be a serious burden on them, Zaid forecast.
   Economist Abu Ahmed, too, expressed concern over the possibility of rising inflation due to the fuel price hike. But, he said the government could not afford to continue with providing fuel subsidy for years because of the huge burden it put on the public exchequer.
   Both the economists said the government increased the fuel prices in line with the prescription of the multilateral lending agencies to gain their support ahead of formulating the next national budget.
   The energy adviser, Tapan Chowdhury, too, admitted that the increase in fuel prices would push the inflation up and it would have some negative impacts on other sectors. ‘I think the inflation will go up to 7 per cent from 5 to 6 per cent and definitely there will be [adverse] effects…,’ he told a press conference at the energy ministry while formally announcing the price hike.
   According to the Bangladesh Bank, the latest inflation rate in the country is just below 7 per cent.
   On the possibility of increased rate of inflation, the finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul islam, said it would not be ‘that much’. ‘First, we have to assess the share of fuel cost in the production costs of certain items,’ to ascertain how much their prices may rise as a result of the fuel price hike, he added.
   Zaid, however, maintained that the government would have done better if it reduced the import tax on fuel to help the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation minimise its losses. ‘Steps like by downsizing the Annual Development Programme could have also been taken to mitigate public sufferings,’ he said.
   Abu Ahmed put emphasis on curbing corruption and pilferage to reduce losses of the BPC.

Operators are planning to increase bus fares again following fuel price hike since Monday.
   The government increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by Tk 7 to Tk 40, octane by Tk 9 to Tk 67 and petrol by Tk 9 to Tk 65 per litre.
   The bus operators who have already started charging extra fares on different city routes said they are now waiting for the government’s nod to take increased fares.
   The energy adviser, Tapan Chowdhury, on Monday said that with the increase in fuel prices, maximum fare for diesel-run buses can be increased by Tk .07 per kilometre and that of trucks by Tk .23 per km.
   The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman, ABM Shahjahan, said they have yet to receive any gazette notification about the increase in the fare from the communications ministry.
   ‘If the ministry gives any directive, the committee of BRTA will make a recommendation on how much fare should be increased. The ministry later will approve it,’ the chairman said.
   Shafiqul Alam, a director of Bikalpa Paribahan, said they will certainly increase bus fare following fuel price hike. ‘We will increase fare after getting the approval of the government,’ he said.
   Bikalpa Paribahan increased bus fare by Tk 2 for Jatrabari-Science Lab and Tk 6 for Jatrabari-Mirpur 12 following fuel price hike in 2005.
   Bus conductors and passengers are often seen locking into scuffles as all the city service buses are now collecting excessive fares.
   In 2005, the government increased fares for 52-seat bus by Tk .08 per km and for minibus by Tk 0.83 per km, but the operators increased fares by Tk 2-Tk 5 on different routes across the country.
   Earlier, the fares for 52-seat bus and minibus were Tk 0.72 and Tk 0.75 per km respectively.
   Although the government adjusted bus fares in 2005, operators started realising fares much higher than the fixed rates following a consensus between the government and the transport associations. CNG-run buses had also increased fares more than the fixed rates. At present, passengers are apprehending to face the same situation as they believe that the authorities concerned fail to control bus fares.
   The BRTA chairman said, ‘If we get allegations of collecting extra fares from passengers, we send reports to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police to take action against them.’ About 4,000 buses, including 1500 CNG-run, ply the capital city and its peripheral areas, sources in bus owners said.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Sunday called upon the leaders and activists of the party to remain united.
   She was addressing a gathering of BNP men after offering prayers at the grave of former president and founder of the party Ziaur Rahman at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka.
   The immediate past prime minister arrived at the grave at about 5:40pm and stayed there for about 10 minutes. About 300 leaders and activists of the BNP and its front organisations also gathered there on the occasion of her visit.
   ‘How are you,’ Khaleda asked the assembled party men. As some of them wanted to know how she was, she said, ‘I am fine.’
   BNP standing committee member Abdul Matin Chowdhury, vice chairmen ASM Hannan Shah and Sarwari Rahman, advisers to the chairperson ZA Khan and AHM Mofazzal Karim, joint secretaries general Nazrul Islam Khan, Selima Rahman and Abdul Mannan, Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal general secretary Moazzem Hossain Alal, and former lawmakers Zahiruddin Swapan, Ilias Ali, Ali Newaz Mohammad Khaiyam and Abul Kalam Azad Siddique were present, among others.
   ‘I was asked to remain present at the grave only 15 minutes before her arrival,’ a former MP told New Age.
   Khaleda usually visits the grave of her husband Ziaur Rahman on the day of Eid-e-Miladunnabi every year, he said.
   She was also scheduled to visit the grave on March 26 but had to cancel the programme as the police restricted her movement on security ground.

Two more cases were filed in Natore and Rajshahi against 51 persons including two ministers and a lawmaker of the immediate past BNP-led alliance government on alleged charges of patronising militancy, extortion and torture.
   The three BNP leaders are—former post and telecommunications minister Barrister Aminul Haque, former state minister for land Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu and ex-lawmaker Nadim Mostafa.
   Meanwhile police arrested nine persons in Naldanga and Baghmara in this connection.
   One Muhidul Islam of village Nandipur (Darbespara) of Puthia upazila filed a case with Naldanga police station on Sunday evening while Ayub Ali of village Palashi of Baghmara filed another case with Baghmara police station, police sources said.
   Twenty-one persons including former state minister for land Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu and ex-lawmaker for Rajshahi-4 constituency Nadim Mostafa were charged with harbouring JMB militants and torturing political rivals.
   Others accused in the cases include Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai (hanged for killing two judges at Jhalakati), Shahadat Doctor, Quddus and Hafizul Islam. The police on Sunday night arrested two—Quddus and Hafizul Islam— from Kazipur village.
   Officer-in-charge of Naldanga police station Arman Hossain told newsmen that the arrested persons were sent to the court Monday afternoon.
   Naldanga police said, JMB operatives picked up Muhidul from his residence on April 13, 2004 and took him to Amtali high school a playground and tortured him.
   Later he was taken to the Peergachha torture cell of Bangla Bhai. As the camp was closed, the JMB men tortured Muhid at the residence of one Razzak.
   Ayub Ali, another torture victim of Bangla Bhai on Sunday night filed a case with Baghmara police against 30 persons including Barrister Aminul Haque, Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu, and Nadim Mostafa accusing them of patronising militancy.
   Others accused in the case include Killer Moshtaq, his brother Minhaj, their father Jalil Amin, Mamun, Abdur Rahim, Halim Mandal, Abul Mandal, Abul Kalam, Nazrul Dorji, Moksed Ali, Murshid Sonar, Siddik Sonar, Matlub Rahan, Mazhar Mandal and Sajibul.
   Baghmara police on Sunday night arrested Jalil Amin, Abdur Rahman, Halim Mandal, Abul Kalam, Nazrul Dorji and Mosaddek Ali from different villages of the area, officer-in-charge of Baghmara police
   station Mirza Golam Sarwar told newsmen adding that Killer Mostak, Murshid Sonar, Siddik Sonar, Matlub Rahman, Mazhar Mandal and Sajibul had already been arrested in connection with Tahirpur UP chairman Jahangir Alam murder case.
   In the case Ayub Ali of Baghmara mentioned that on the night of April 7, 2004, the JMB operatives came to his Palashi residence and threatened him because he had opposed militancy in the area.
   The militants led by Killer Mostak, his father and 27 others asked me pay illegal toll saying they needed money for eliminating Purbo Bangla Communist Party. They also said they had come at the instruction of Barrister Aminul Haque, Dulu and Nadim Mostafa. ‘As I declined to pay toll they picked me up and took me to Bangla Bhai’s camp and tortured me there’, Ayub said.
   ‘When I could not bear the torture I agreed to pay the money and they released me in the afternoon’, he said in the case.
   ‘Later on April 11, I paid Taka 80,000 to JMB operative Mamun Mohri.’
   Another case of extortion was filed against Nadim Mostafa with Puthia police station in Rajshahi on Monday.
   Alhaj Moksed Ali of village Bhallukgachhi filed the case, the police said.
   The complainant alleged that BNP leader Nadim Mostafa took Taka one lakh from him promising a job at Durgapur Degree College as a teacher.
   ‘Mostafa neither gave me the job nor refunded the money’, Moksed alleged.
   Earlier, on Friday night, a case was filed against 28 persons including Barrister Aminul Haque and Rajshahi district BNP general secretary Shis Muhammad for allegedly patronising militancy.
   After filing of the case, police raided different villages of Baghmara and arrested five persons on Saturday, police said adding that hunt was on for the rest of the accused.

The interim government is unable to initiate proceedings against those bureaucrats who took part in the ‘controversial Uttara meeting’ as the probe committee could not gather enough evidence and witnesses to prove their political partisanship.
   ‘The investigation committee did not get sufficient evidence and enough witnesses to prove the allegations of political partisanship against those civil servants,’ the establishment secretary, Abdus Salam Khan, told New Age at his office on Monday.
   All the 13 serving bureaucrats who attended the meeting were made OSDs on Saturday on the basis of the findings of the probe report, said the establishment secretary.
   ‘Everything is subject to proof here. We have gone as far as we could in this regard,’ he mentioned, adding that the ‘executive inquiry’ cannot accuse anybody.
   The official probe report confirmed that the three joint secretaries, four deputy secretaries and six senior assistant secretaries were present at the party hosted on November 24 night, 2006 by former energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman, which sparked off a lot of controversy. ‘The government officials were seen fleeing the meeting venue and trying to cover their faces, which is unbecoming of the civil servants,’ said a former cabinet secretary.
   ‘All the serving bureaucrats who participated in the
   Uttara meeting have been made officers on special duty on
   the basis of the probe committee’s recommendations. This is not punishment — it is a process. Legal action will be taken against them if the allegations against them are proved to be true,’ health adviser ASM Matiur Rahman, who is also a member of the advisory committee on administrative affairs, told reporters at his office on Monday.
   The high-powered committee, which was formed on November 27 to probe the political connections of serving bureaucrats, particularly those who attended the secret meeting at Uttara, submitted its report on December 18 to the establishment ministry.
   Headed by the then agriculture secretary, M Abdul Aziz, the probe body included former secretary to the youth and sports ministry Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and additional secretary to the law ministry Kazi M Habibul Awal.
   The committee interviewed a number of civil servants whose photographs and
   names were published in newspapers in connection with the Uttara meeting, but failed to gather evidence as no one came forward as a witness against
   the alleged political motive of the meeting, said official sources.
   The establishment ministry set the terms of reference of the probe body, asking it to investigate similar meetings of civil servants at Panda Garden in the tenure of the caretaker government in 2001, and Janatar Mancha, was set up by a certain political party in 1996, which some prominent bureaucrats joined.
   The establishment secretary, however, said that the committee did not have time to go into a detailed probe of the Panda Garden meeting, while the Janatar Mancha meeting was a sub judice matter.

Seventy-nine people were killed by law enforcers across the country in three months from January 1 to March 31, according to a report released by Odhikar, a human rights watchdog, on Monday.
   Of the 79 people, 46 were killed by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), 18 by the police, seven by the army, five by the army-led joint forces, two by navy and one by officers of the Department of Narcotics Control, the report said.
   Of the people killed in custody, seven were reportedly activists of the BNP, four of the Awami League, seven of the underground Biplobi Communist Party, one of New Biplobi Communist Party, three of Purbo Banglar Communist Party, four were operatives of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (Jana Juddho), four of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (Red Flag), four of Sarbahara Party, three were of Sromojibi Mukti Andolan, two of Gana Muktifouz, three of ‘Gangchil Bahini’, one of ‘Haji Bahini’ and one of ‘Masim Bahini’, the last three being bands of criminals.
   One of the persons killed was a freedom fighter, two were farmers, one was a police informant, one was an indigenous leader, two were alleged muggers, 17 were alleged criminals, one an alleged gambler, one alleged drug peddler, one under trial prisoner at Dhaka Central Jail, one a prisoner at Faridpur jail, one was a suspected gunrunner, two were bus drivers and three were alleged robbers. Identity of one person could not be known, the Odhikar report said.
   During the period, 27 persons died in jail custody and two RAB personnel were killed by criminals.
   A total of 1,26,968 people were arrested across the country during the period, the report said adding that the country’s 11central jails and 55 district jails can accommodate only 27,227 prisoners.
   The report also said that six journalists were injured, eight arrested, nine assaulted, 32 threatened. Ten cases were filed against journalists and a journalist’s house came under attack during the period.
   A total of 144 cases of women repression were reported during the period. Of them 43 women were killed for dowry, 15 were tortured and 4 committed suicide. A total of 59 women were raped, the report said adding that 12 women were killed after rape.
   During the period, 220 children became victims of human rights violations. Of them, 80 children were killed, 33 injured, nine were allegedly abducted, nine allegedly committed suicide, two were arrested, 26 went missing and 53 minor girls were raped–three of them killed after rape.
   The Odhikar report noted that slum demolition and eviction drive left thousands of poor people homeless and expressed concern that no steps were taken for their rehabilitation.
   Bangladesh Human Rights Commission, another human rights organisation, reported that in January-March period 64 people were killed by law enforcing agencies, 32 women were killed for dowry, 14 in mass beating, 14 women were killed after rape. Besides, one journalist and two maid servants were killed.
   According to another human rights organisation, Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights, 163 people were killed in social violence during the period. Indian border guards killed 12 Bangladeshis during the period, it said.
   The BSEHR also reported five incidents of fatwa violence during the period.

Nepal’s Maoists were under renewed pressure Monday to put an end to their violent practices, the day after five former rebels were sworn into the Himalayan nation’s new interim government.
   Although Sunday’s cabinet swearing-in ceremony was greeted as a much-needed boost for a fragile peace process, there were also reminders of the tough work ahead for the country to turn the page on a decade of civil war.
   ‘Nepal’s people and mainstream political parties will now be watching the Maoists behaviour very closely,’ said Lokraj Baral, a political science professor from Nepal’s Tribhuvan University.
   ‘The Maoists still need to improve their behaviour,’ he said, referring to ongoing complaints of kidnappings, beatings, intimidation and extortion by Maoist members.
   After fighting for ten years to impose a communist republic on the Hindu-majority kingdom in a war that left at least 13,000 people dead, the rebels signed up for peace in November last year.
   Their entry into government came after they registered their weapons and fighters under United Nations supervision. They also vowed that fighting was over and have pledged to roll back their parallel government structures.
   According to Ian Martin, the United Nation’s chief representative to Nepal’s peace process, ‘the challenges ahead cannot be overemphasised’ as the cabinet attempts to steer the country to elections that will decide on the future of the monarchy.
   The German presidency of the European Union welcomed the formation of a new interim government in Nepal including former Maoist rebels and urged it to promote peace and democracy.
   ‘The EU considers the promulgation of the interim constitution and the formation of the interim parliament and government as important milestones in the peace process in Nepal,’ the German presidency said in a statement on Sunday.
   The Maoists still feature on Washington’s list of foreign ‘terrorist’ organisations, and the US ambassador to Kathmandu warned mainstream political leaders last week that it was too early to allow them into government.
   The new government has pledged to hold nationwide elections on June 20 for a body that will rewrite Nepal’s constitution permanently and also decide the future, of any, for the throne.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, who is now on a private visit to the United States, is likely to return home on April 22 or 23.
   She left the country for the US on March 15, and was earlier scheduled to return home on April 16.
   Hasina, now in Florida, would stay a few days with her only daughter Saima Wazed Putul, who is expecting her third baby soon, AL presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim told the news agency.
   She will leave Florida for Washington on April 9 to attend two meetings with the expatriate Bangladeshis there.
   On way back home, Hasina will stay for a couple of days with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana in London and attend several meetings.
   Describing as propaganda against the Awami League the news that some top leaders would leave the party, Sheikh Selim quoted Hasina as saying that it was nothing but an attempt by a vested quarter to mislead the countrymen.
   ‘I don’t believe any leader of the Awami League will desert the party as everyone of them wants to remain with the Awami League till the last days of their life. There may be differences of opinion on various issues among the party leaders…this is natural for a big democratic party like the Awami League,’ he said quoting Hasina.
   He added that such propaganda was nothing new for the Awami League as some vested quarters had done this a number of times in the past.
   About the politics of dynasty, Selim, a close relative of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, said a few parties had began politics in the country after capturing the state power, but Sheikh Mujib, the founding president of the country, joined politics during the British rule in the sub-continent.
   ‘We, the Awami Leaguers, do politics for the people and will sacrifice anything for their welfare. But some politicians in the country do politics only for plundering public wealth,’ he said.

A Dhaka court on Monday remanded former BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed in police custody for three days in a case for cheating a real estate firm of Tk 30.66 lakh.
   Metropolitan magistrate Shafiq Anwar granted the remand after the police had produced Salahuddin before the court with a plea for a 10-day remand to interrogate him and learn his associates in the crime.
   Saiful Islam, deputy managing director of Amin Mohammad Foundation Limited, lodged the case in February with the Dhanmondi police, alleging that Salahuddin, when in power, took the money from him in exchange for a plot to build an apartment house in Satmasjid Road. But the BNP leader never kept his promise and misappropriated the money, Saiful added.
   In another development, the police have not taken former communications minister Nazmul Huda, BNP lawmaker Harun-ur-Rashid, ntv managing director Enayetur Rahman and one of his associate, Istiaq Sadek, in remand, though the Court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka granted the remands on March 29.

Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai in an interview published Sunday accused Pakistan’s intelligence agencies of sheltering fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
   Karzai said Omar, who has been on the run since being toppled by a US-led coalition some five years ago, is being harboured in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
   ‘We have solid, clear information indicating that,’ he told the New York Times.
   ‘And I’m sorry I cannot be silent about this, as much as our friends in Pakistan may not like my saying that,’ he said.
   Omar headed the 1996-2001 Taliban regime that sheltered al-Qaeda. His government was overthrown in a US-led invasion weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks when it failed to hand over al-Qaeda leaders wanted for the strikes.
   Karzai also blamed Islamabad for a resurgence of violence along their common border.
   ‘We have almost daily reports of suicide bombers coming from there,’ he told the newspaper.
   ‘If we have better cooperation from Pakistan, a great many of these cross-border crossings would stop.’ Pakistan and Afghanistan each have accused the other of allowing Taliban remnants to flourish within its borders since the group was overthrown.

Kuala Lumpur assured Dhaka that it would sympathetically consider its request of recruiting five lakh Bangladeshi nationals in various sectors of that fast growing nation.
   The assurance was made at a secretary-level meeting of the two countries held in the Malaysian capital on March 30.
   The secretary to the expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry, Md Abdul Matin Chowdhury, said, ‘I’ve requested my Malaysian counterpart, Dato Seri Aseh Bin Che Mat, secretary-general of the home affairs ministry, to recruit five lakh Bangladeshi nationals in his country. He assured me he would convey the request to the Malaysian cabinet.’
   Chowdhury told New Age that Bangladesh has requested Malaysia to recruit manpower in proportion to the population of the country that is supplying workers.
   ‘The main purpose of the meeting was to fine-tune the present recruitment system. And the Malaysian authority showed a very positive attitude towards us.’
   He said, in reply to a query, that the Malaysian government has approved recruitment of some 1,65,000 Bangladeshi workers.
   ‘We have also requested the Malaysian authorities to set aside a quota for the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd in the recruitment process, especially in the agriculture and plantation sectors, that is now solely operated by the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agency.’
   Explaining the recruitment process in that South-East Asian nation, the acting secretary said, ‘After the approval we provided 65,000 Bangladeshi workers’ fingerprints to Malaysia. Then they gave 44,000 calling visas for our workers.’
   ‘Already some 30,000 Bangladeshi workers have been sent there,’ he added.
   At the meeting Bangladesh urged Malaysia to expedite the process of issuing calling visas which is still far lower in number than the fingerprints provided.
   Bangladesh also requested Malaysia to ask the Malaysian authority, that enables undocumented Bangladeshis to return home smoothly, to make it easier to get exit permits.
   ‘The Malaysian authority admitted that some of its unscrupulous people are also responsible for flaws in the recruitment process,’ said an official of the ministry.

Tender for any public procurement or development work involving above Tk one crore will be scrapped if the advertisement is not posted on the website of central procurement technical unit, a government watchdog under the planning ministry.
   The similar provision has been made for appointing consulting firms involving above Tk 50 lakh, government sources said.
   The cabinet division and the planning ministry through separate directives asked the ministries, divisions and autonomous entities to strictly follow the provision to reduce the alleged gross irregularities in public procurement.
   The cabinet division in its directives categorically mentioned that any proposed purchase worth above Tk one crore must be certified by the planning ministry and advertised in the technical unit’s website if it is to get approval from the council committee on purchase.
    Motaher Hosasain, secretary of Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the planning ministry, issued a similar order.
    A 15-member committee, headed by AKM Fazlul Karim, director general, central procurement technical unit, has been formed to monitor and detect irregularities in the process of procurement by all government entities.
   Representatives from cabinet division, finance ministry, power agencies, roads and highways, and some other ministries have been included with the committee.
   Sources in the planning ministry said above 30 per cent government advertisements and expression of interests published in the newspapers for the purposes of procurement and appointing consulting firms intentionally avoid posting the same on the website.
   The public procurement regulations, 2003 and the public procurement act, 2006 made the advertisement in the website mandatory along with publishing the same in minimum two newspapers.
   ‘‘In more than 30 per cent cases, the procurement laws have been violated by government offices to award contracts to bidders of their choice,’ a high official in the planning commission told New Age.
   Roads and highways, power agencies and different corporations are among the government agencies, where tender irregularities take place the most, officials said.
   Tender advertisements in many cases appear in poorly circulated or underground newspapers to avoid wider response and award the works to selected bidders.
   World Bank has long been pressing the government for making the public procurement process transparent and flawless.
   Above 70 per cent of the government budget is spent on public procurement of goods and services, including expensive consulting firms, planning officials said. Posting the ads in the website would mini- mize the scopes for irregularities to a great extent, they believed.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is likely to pass its order today on the government’s petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court’s verdict that declared illegal the detention of a number of people under the Special Powers Act.
   Announcing the closure of the hearing on the petition on Monday, the full seven-member court of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin, fixed today for the order.
   Pleading for the government’s petition, attorney-general Fida M Kamal argued on Monday that the High Court delivered the verdict without considering the restriction imposed under Section 491(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Section stipulates that no habeas corpus writ will apply to a person detained under any law providing scope for preventive detention.
   Fida told the court that the detention orders were issued under the Special Powers Act 1974 — a law that has provisions for preventive detention.
   The restriction is a statutory provision and the court cannot ignore it, he argued, adding that filing a habeas corpus petition against such a detention order could not be the right of a detainee.
   Opposing the arguments of the detainees’ counsels by maintaining that there were several precedents of such verdicts against preventive detention, the attorney-general said, ‘The issue has never been settled by any court and the present cases offer a suitable opportunity to resolve the issue.’
   Opposing the attorney-general, former law minister Moudud Ahmed argued that the inherited powers of the High Court to examine whether the legal provisions had been meticulously followed in issuing a detention order, even under laws on preventive detention, and to issue certain orders and directions, could not be taken away under any circumstances.
   The state of emergency suspended the High Court’s writ power for enforcement of fundamental rights but not the habeas corpus writ power under Section 491 of the CrPC, he argued.
   ‘The habeas corpus writ petitions have been filed under the CrPC, not under the constitutional provisions on writs, and the petitions are not barred by the emergency provisions,’ argued Rafique-ul Huq
   The power of the High Court, given under the CrPC, to look into the legality of detention is much wider than the power given to it on the same matter under the constitution, and such power cannot be taken away by any law under any situation, he pled.
   M Amirul Islam argued that the limitation imposed by Section 491(3) could not restrict the High Court’s power to verify whether the legal provisions were followed properly in issuing an order of detention.
   Rokanuddin Mahmud and Abdul Baset Majumder also argued for the detainees.

A powerful undersea earthquake unleashed a tsunami that pounded into the western Solomon Islands early Monday, destroying entire villages and reportedly killing at least 15 people, officials said.
   The wall of water triggered by the 8.0-magnitude quake–which witnesses said was up to five metres high–swamped towns, flattened homes, and sparked panic among residents of the impoverished South Pacific state.
   Communications to the quake-hit area were patchy, making it difficult to assess the number of dead and injured and the damage, the prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, told CNN.
   The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a region wide warning immediately after the quake, stretching as far away as Japan, but later cancelled it.
   At least 15 people were killed in and around Gizo, the main town in Western Province and a popular tourist and diving spot 40 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre, the provincial leader said.
   The central government reported 12 deaths and the police at least four, but Sogavare warned the death toll would likely rise once rescue teams reached the area.
   ‘Most of the islands are low-lying, and the extent of the damage is yet to be known,’ the prime minister said, adding that a team from his office, the Red Cross and the police were headed to the area.
   In the capital Honiara, the head of the Solomons National Disaster Council, Fred Fakari, told journalists: ‘Some villages are completely wiped out.’
   The US Geological Survey reported a series of aftershocks measuring up to a magnitude
   of 6.7. Across the Pacific, governments from Australia to New Caledonia and the Northern Marianas evacuated schools and ordered coastal residents to move to higher ground, but no damage was immediately reported.
   Lokopio, the premier of Western Province, said there was a desperate need for emergency supplies in the Gizo area, where residents remained on a hill behind the town amid strong aftershocks.
   Lokopio said most of the government buildings and businesses in Gizo had been destroyed, along with houses in low-lying areas.
   The tsunami forced the temporary closure of the airport at Gizo. It later reopened, and aircraft were rushed to the area to distribute some limited emergency supplies and assess the damage.

Iran said on Monday all 15 British sailors it detained last month had confessed to illegally entering its waters, and broadcast new pictures of the servicemen apparently admitting to their error.
   ‘All evidence, including the GPS carried by the British military and also the frank confessions of all 15 British personnel shows that they have entered Iran’s territorial waters without permission,’ state television said.
   The detention of the 14 men and one woman has further poisoned relations between Iran and the West at time of mounting international impatience with the Islamic republic over its refusal to rein in its contested nuclear programme.
   During its report, state television also showed very brief images of all 15 of the sailors and marines talking to camera individually or in pairs. But the sound was not broadcast and it was not clear if this was their ‘confessions’.
   The ISNA news agency said that all 15 of the sailors had now given detailed confessions to camera of their entry into Iranian waters.
   ‘But due to some changes in the past two days regarding the controversial British policies, television will not air the details of these interviews,’ it said, without specifying what these changes were.
   Iran infuriated Britain, which insists the 15 were on a routine anti-smuggling patrol in Iraqi waters, by also broadcasting new images with sound of two of the detainees.
   ‘At about 10 o’clock in the morning, we were seized, apparently at this point here, from their maps, from the GPS they’ve shown us, which is inside Iranian territorial waters,’ said one of the men, captain Chris Air.
   ‘So far we have been treated very well by the people here. They have looked after us and given us enough food,’ said Air, dressed in military fatigues with his sleeves rolled up.
   As he spoke, Air pointed with a pen to pictures of their frigate and speedboats stuck on to the maps and an area with the handwritten legend ‘the point where the intruding boats were captured.’
   ‘The Iranians know our position. They know that stage-managed TV appearances aren’t going to affect that position. They know that we have strong international support,’ prime minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman said.
   On Sunday, about 200 Iranian students protested outside the British embassy to demand that the 15 sailors and marines be punished, exploding firecrackers and chanting ‘Death to Britain’.
   The US president, George W Bush, who has backed Britain in its attempts to free the naval personnel, has called the sailors and marines ‘hostages’ and urged their release.

Former state minister of the Awami League government, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, submitted his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday through his wife, Parvin Chowdhury.
   According to the statement, Maya owns a five-storey building at Wari, 45 decimals of land at Demra, 5 kathas of land at Uttara, 45 decimals of land at Joarsahara, 16.5 decimals of land in Gazipur, share of Tk 5 lakh in Chowdhury Garments, a two-storey house and 21 bighas of land in his home village, 15 bhoris of gold, a car that cost Tk 16,15,900, a pistol and a shotgun, and only Tk 7,500 in cash.
   His daughter Refat Sayeed owns 16 decimals of land in Gazipur and a plot of 3.33 kathas at Uttara.
   His wife Parvin Chowdhury owns a four-storey house on 5 kathas of land at Uttara, a 3,000 square-foot apartment in Mariam Tower, a plot of five kathas at Uttara, 28.53 decimals of land in Gazipur, a plot worth Tk 45,94,000 at Gulshan, two cars worth Tk 12 lakh, 135 bhoris of gold, furniture worth Tk 50,000, shares worth Tk 2 lakh in Chowdhury Garments, and Tk 39,49,000 in cash and in bank accounts.
   His son Sajedul Islam owns a 5-katha plot at Uttara, a 5-katha plot at Nikunja, a 5-katha plot at Gulshan, a 10-katha plot at Bashundhara, 28.53 decimals of land in Gazipur, a shop at Bashundhara City Complex, 40 bhoris of gold, shares worth Tk 1.5 lakh in Chowdhury Garments and an apartment in Mariam Tower.
   His other son, Rashedul Islam, owns 25.33 decimals of land in Gazipur, a shop at Bashundhara City Complex, shares worth Tk 1.5 lakh in Chowdhury Garments, and a flat and 10 kathas of land at Bashundhara.

US warplanes have violated Iranian airspace in the southwestern oil-rich province of Khuzestan, Al-Alam Arabic language news satellite channel quoted a local military chief as saying on Sunday.
   ‘Two US aircraft trespassed into Iranian airspace northwest of the southwestern port city of Abadan before flying southwest into Iraq,’ a local Revolutionary Guards commander in Abadan said.
   ‘The planes left white vapour trails, attracting the local people’s attention,’ he said, without elaborating on when the alleged incursion took place.
   The incident happened close to Iran’s border with Iraq, where the US and British military are deployed in force.
   The US is in a mounting diplomatic confrontation with Iran over its uranium enrichment and Western suspicions that Tehran is bent on developing nuclear weapons, a charge vehemently denied by Iran.
   Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff, but it has never ruled out a military option.

South Asian foreign ministers on Monday decided to issue SAARC stickers to 50 journalists from each of the member countries, expanding the categories of important persons entitled to travel in the region without visas.
   The government of each country would set the procedures of the stickers to be issued to journalists for visa-free travel in the region.
   The meeting, presided over by Indian external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, came up with the decision, adopted at the 13th summit in a bid to liberalise the visa regime to facilitate people-to people contacts.
   SAARC sticker now applies to limited categories of important persons like the members of parliament and cabinet ministers.
   Immigration officials at a meeting later would finalise the modalities how to make the SAARC sticker operational, Indian foreign secretary Shibshankar Menon told reporters after the meeting.
   The meeting also approved Iran’s application for SAARC observer status, raising the number of observers to six. Earlier, US, EU, Japan, China and South Korea were given the status and they are expected to be represented at the inaugural session of the 14th summit beginning today in the Indian capital.
   The meeting also had detailed discussion on making SAARC Development Fund operational.
   ‘They (the foreign ministers) came with fare conclusion how it would be made operational. The fund should start working with whatever amount has already been mobilised,’ the foreign secretary said.
   He said the meeting emphasised the $300 fund should work through certain windows—-poverty alleviation through social window and infrastructure and economic developments through other windows.
   The meeting hoped that the things would get final shape at the next council of ministers to be held sometime in November.
   ‘Now the council has given us the very clear direction on how to operationalise it. It is a big step forward,’ he added.

A fraud case was filed against former BNP lawmaker MAH Selim with Gulshan police Monday.
   A former army official filed the case alleging that Selim had misappropriated Tk 8 lakh through false documents.
   Taslima Khanom, duty officer of Gulshan police station told New Age, ‘Major (retd) Masud Pervez lodged the fraud case against Selim.’
   Sub-inspector Monowar Hossain has been assigned to investigate the case.
   The joint forces arrested MAH Selim from his Gulshan residence on March 8 on suspicion of corruption.

Yet another case for extortion of Tk 53 lakh was filed on Sunday against Giasuddin Al Mamun, a controversial businessman and a close associate of Tarique Rahman, the senior joint secretary general of BNP.
   Zahid Hossain, a construction businessman, lodged the case with the Dhanmondi police. Zahid alleged that he paid the sum in three cheques in 2004 to Mamun’s Banani office.
   Zahid also accused six others of assisting Mamun in the extortion, the investigation officer of the case, sub-inspector Amir Hossain, told New Age.
   With this, a total of five cases have so far been lodged against Mamun with Gulshan, Kafrul and Dhanmondi police stations. Of them, four are for extortion and one for possession of illegal arms. All the cases are under investigation.
   Mamun was arrested at his DOHS residence on March 26.