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Bangladesh Rifles, as part of its efforts to stabilise essential food prices before Ramadan, has set maximum retail prices of non-packed palm and soybean oils at Tk 78 and Tk 80 per kilogram respectively.
   Price of a five-litre bottle of soybean oil has been fixed at Tk 390.
   Refiners and wholesalers agreed to make edible oils available to consumers at the prices fixed Sunday at a meeting brokered by Bangladesh Rifles’ trade cell that runs a number of fair price shops in Dhaka and some other towns.
   ‘From Tuesday taskforces coordinated by BDR will start visiting retail shops to see whether the agreed prices are implemented,’ Colonel MA Halim, a senior official of BDR told the meeting.
   He warned that retailers founding charging higher than the agreed prices would be taken to custody.
   This is for the second time in less than three months that border guards took initiative to stabilise edible oil prices, which gained Tk 8 per kg in a week and Tk 30 in a year.
   Earlier on May 30, the para-military force had set retail
   price of non-packed soybean oil at Tk 70.5 and 5-litre bottle at Tk 369.
   But retailers flouted the rates, which were agreed by millers and wholesalers that time also, and neither BDR nor any other authority took any action against anyone.
   The Sunday’s meeting reviewed the global price of edible oils and their supply to the local market as cooking oil prices continued to rise during the past few months and jumped by around Tk 8 per kilogram in the past week.
   Senior officials of BDR and leaders of Bangladesh Edible Oil Refiners Association, Maulvibzar Merchant Association and Edible Oil Wholesalers Association discussed the causes of the latest round of price hike at the meeting held at BDR headquarters in the city.
   Millers said disruptions in unloading of imported crude oils at the Chittagong due to inclement weather in the previous week and complications in customs assessments delayed deliveries, which might have impacted supply to and prices in local market.
   Fine grade palm and soybean oils sold at Tk 78 and Tk 86 per kg respectively on Sunday, against their week-ago prices of Tk 70 and Tk 78. The prices were Tk 70 and Tk 74 a month back.
   Millers pointed out that global market prices of crude soybean and palm oils had been on the rise for more than a year due to setback in production in major exporting countries. Import cost of per
   tonne crude soybean crossed $800 mark, double the year-ago rate.
   MA Rouf Chowdhury, president of the refiners’ association, argued that global edible oil market volatility more than offset the benefits of withdrawal of 17 per cent taxes and duties from imports.
   The BDR officials at the meeting asked millers and wholesalers about the latest international prices, local
   processing and distribution costs of edible oils, and told them to put suggestive prices for mill gate, wholesale and retail points.
   Refiners agreed to supply non-packed soybean at Tk 74 per kg to wholesalers, who would sell it at Tk 74.5 to retailers until Ramadan. Mill rate of refined palm oil has been fixed at Tk 72.5 and wholesale price at Tk 73 per kg.
   In view of the prices, justified retail prices of soybean
   should be within the range of Tk 78 and Tk 80 while that of fine-grade palm oil between Tk 76 and Tk 78, the meeting agreed.
   Colonel Halim showed his study revealing that from January to early August this year price of crude soybean increased by around 20 per cent or more than $120 per tonne.
   Bangladesh consumes more than 1.2 million tonnes of edible oils, mainly imported in crude form and refined and bottled locally.
   Palm oil is imported from Malaysia and Indonesia while soybean comes from Brazil, USA and Argentina.

The finance and commerce adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, on Sunday claimed success of the government in controlling the prices of essentials compared with the ones on the international market.
   He, however, held some businessmen responsible for making extra profit at some points as he found domestic prices irrational in comparison with the import prices.
   ‘The domestic price ratio to international price has marked a fall,’ Azizul Islam told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on inflation at the CIRDAP auditorium in the Dhaka city.
   The Bangladesh Bank governor, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, was, however, skeptical about how long the price could be contained through the short-term measures. ‘It cannot be contained for long without increasing production,’ he told the news agency after the meeting.
   The Policy Analysis Unit, an independent research wing of the Bangladesh Bank, organised the seminar titled ‘inflation in Bangladesh: the evidence and the policy alternatives’ with former finance minister M Syeduzzaman in the chair.
   Salehuddin gave address of welcome while Bangladesh Bank resident economic adviser Professor Syed M Ahsan presented the keynote paper.
   Economists, former bureaucrats, academics, researchers, representatives from development partners, bankers and trade body leaders were present at the seminar.
   The speakers stressed the need for increasing investment, production and supply of essential items, makeup of the shortfall through imports and providing financial assistance for farmers as well as bringing back confidence of the investors.
   They viewed that the contractionary monetary policy announced by the central bank was unlikely to help address the rising inflation. The IMF resident representative, Jonathon C Dunn, reiterated IMF’s policy suggestion to continue tight monetary policy.
   The adviser said the actions taken by the government, including the BDR intervention in the market, contributed a lot to keeping prices in check.
   When sought comments on his government’s failure in curbing inflation, he said, ‘It is one side of the view… one must consider the other side too. What could have been the situation in absence of the government actions?’
   Aziz brought in a reference of sugar price that went down despite increase in import duties and said it had happened because of its price fall on the international market.
   ‘We’ve not been successful in other cases as the world price is the most dominant factor,’ he explained, adding that the inflation aggravated further when growth in demand outstripped the growth in supply and depreciation of local currency against dollar.
   He said the government was trying to increase domestic supply through boosting production.
   The adviser further explained that the demand increased on per capita increase in money income – 11 per cent – in the last two fiscal years which was substantiated by increased inflow of wage earners remittance, private sector credit growth and there were some people who had come out of the poverty line.
   The adviser, however, expressed his concern for the poor who had been hit hard by the inflation and said, ‘Most probably the government would go beyond the safety net budget for the poor.’
   About the central bank’s cautious monetary policy that drew heavy criticism at the seminar, the adviser posed question why the commercial banks had such a huge liquidity. ‘Why has this (interest rate) spread remained so high for many years despite so many private banks?’
   He called upon the commercial banks to give a serious look at their interest rates and cut it at least for a temporary period. ‘I am also giving a serious look at the spread,’ he warned.
   Sources at the central bank said some 27 commercial banks maintained a spread of five to 10 per cent between the deposit and lending rates, making high profits and investment fund expensive.
   The adviser also instructed the central bank to look into the problem of excess liquidity in the banking system.

Importers of major food items on Sunday blasted the Bangladesh Bank for providing ‘wrong information’ on import of edibles and misleading the traders of essential goods.
   ‘The Bangladesh Bank has been giving wrong information on commodity imports, and is misleading the traders,’ claimed A Rouf Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Edible Oil Refiners Association.
   He was addressing a meeting on Sunday organised by the Bangladesh Rifles to find out the causes of the recent uptrend of the prices of edible oil as well as other essentials.
   Chowdhury alleged that the BB, in its regular data on import payments, was still showing that imports were increasing, taking into consideration only the amount of money spent for import. The volume of imports, which is most vital, is not shown in the central bank’s statistics.
   ‘In fact, due to the sharp rise of the prices of most food items in the global market, importers are procuring far lesser quantities of edibles though they are spending higher sums of money than before,’ argued Chowdhury, who is also a director of the FBCCI.
   He told the meeting that imports of certain food items have declined, over the year, by up to 23 per cent, which poses the serious threat of supply crisis, but the BB’s data tends to make countrymen feel that the import situation is okay.
   Shahabuddin Alam, managing director of the SA Group, told the meeting that import of edible oils, in the crude form, has declined by more than 1,20,000 tonnes by mid-August this year compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
   Businessmen feel that as Bangladesh depends on the import of many food items and commodities, regular dissemination of fresh import data showing the volumes imported may help not only the business community, but the concerned government departments, to assess the real supply situation and prepare effective plans for future.

The national implementation committee for administrative reorganisation (NICAR) on Sunday approved the organogram for the judicial magistracy with 655 posts of judicial magistrate, though the report submitted by the government to the Supreme Court showed that at least 890 magistrates would be required to deal with the pending cases.
   The approval was given at a meeting of the NICAR, held at the chief adviser’s office with Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair.
   The meeting approved the organogram that has 4,500 posts of judicial magistrate and supporting court staffers along with the necessary logistics for judicial magistracy in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court on separation of the judiciary from the executive arm of the state.
   The meeting also approved the revised organogram of the Anti-Corruption Commission, raising the workforce from 650 to 1,281.
   ‘The legal process for separating the judiciary from the executive has been completed through the NICAR’s approval of the manpower for judicial magistracy,’ law adviser Mainul Hosein, who attended the meeting, told reporters at his office.
   The organogram includes 600 posts of judicial magistrates and 55 posts of metropolitan judicial magistrates; the rest of the posts are for the Class II, Class III and Class IV employees.
   The law adviser, in reply to a query, said the magistrates and deputy commissioners would now be able to concentrate more on administrative work.
   ‘It is a wrong notion that the deputy commissioners will lose their power as they will have no work in the judiciary,’ he said. ‘Rather, they will have the opportunity to concentrate more on their administrative work.’ ‘The government has discharged its responsibility and separated the judiciary from the executive,’ said law secretary Kazi Habibul Awal.
   A government order to the effect will be issued just after the final nod from the finance ministry and the chief adviser, he told reporters. The government will have to inform the Supreme Court before August 27 of its compliance to the court’s three-point directive, issued on May 7, on separation of the judiciary.
   On May 7 the full court of the Appellate Division, taking the most crucial step in separating the judiciary from the executive, issued the fresh three-point directive to the government for the creation and sanctioning of a particular number of posts of judicial magistrates across the country along with the necessary manpower and logistical support, allotment of courtrooms and chambers, and the necessary budgetary allocations.
   The government, on being asked by the court, submitted a report to the Appellate Division on April 15. As many as 4,84,832 cases, as of February 28, are pending with the courts of magistrates across the country, and at least 890 magistrates are required to deal with them, said the report.
   According to the report, 1,12,772 cases, as of February 28, are pending with the courts of the metropolitan magistrates and at least 52 magistrates are needed to deal with them.

The Election Commission is planning to sit with the chief adviser sometime next week if there is no sign of relaxation of the ban on political activities by the end of this week, said inside sources.
   The EC had hoped that the ban on political activities would be relaxed from next month as the government was aware of the EC’s roadmap in which the period from September to November this year was scheduled for holding dialogues with the political parties.
   The commissioners will call on the chief adviser, probably the next week, and request him to make clear when the ban on political activities will be relaxed.
   ‘We will call on the chief adviser to learn the details of what is going to happen,’ chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda told New Age, but did not specify the exact date of the visit.
   The EC plans to start the process of dialogue by sending copies of the reforms proposal to the political parties from the last week of this month although there is still no sign of immediate relaxation of the ban imposed since the announcement of emergency on 11 January, according to election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain.
   He, however, hinted that the ban on political activities would be relaxed before the beginning of the dialogue.
   ‘The dialogue will take place from September to November. So wait; you will see a congenial atmosphere for dialogue,’ Sohul told New Age.
   The major political parties — the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party — have already declared that they would not sit for talks with the EC as long as the ban on politics remains in force.
   The EC made its proposal of electoral law reforms public on April 5 and since then it has been waiting for relaxation of the ban for finalising the reforms after holding dialogues with the parties.
   The CEC met the law adviser on April 4 and asked the government to relax the ban so that they could hold dialogues on the reforms agenda with the concerned parties.
   The government slapped a ban on outdoor political activities on January 11 after promulgation of the state of emergency, but it imposed a complete ban on political activities on March 8.
   The CEC, while announcing the election roadmap on July 16, had said that the government would give due importance to the EC’s roadmap and issue a statement soon in this regard to let people know the details. When asked if the government had dropped a hint about lifting the ban by September, Huda had said, ‘The commission does not work in a vacuum…We have discussed our plans with the government as the EC needs its help in implementing the roadmap.’

The National Board of Revenue is set to sack its 60 staffers, mostly customs inspectors, absorbed three to four years ago in the department, for faking documents and claiming to be employees of the war-time Mujibnagar government.
   A departmental investigation found that the documents submitted by them were either fake or tampered with, sources said.
   Investigation of the cases of another 118 former employees of Mujibnagar government, now working in the revenue board, will begin soon in accordance with a decision made in a recent board meeting of the NBR, chaired by its chairman Badiur Rahman.
   The documents the 60 staffers submitted, including their academic certificates, affidavits of age, proof of their services for the Mujibnagar government and approval of the establishment ministry, were either false or had been tampered with, a member of the probe committee said.
   The officials, whose jobs are on the line, had been absorbed in the revenue board between 2003 and 2004 without any verification of their papers, allegedly under political pressure or for bribe.
   ‘They will be sacked as their papers, including those claiming that they had served the 1971 Mujibnagar government, proved to be false,’ a committee member told New Age.
   The absorption order of the revenue board, however, mentioned that the officials would face disciplinary action if their certificates and other documents proved to be false.
   The probe committee, headed by Shamsul Kibria, first secretary, NBR, scrutinized the explanations given by the 60 staffers and rejected them all.
   ‘None of 60 succeeded in nullifying the findings of the investigation,’ Kibria told New Age.
   ‘The discharge letter against 60 Mujibnagari would be served shortly,’ a committee member told New Age.
   The revenue board will send the list of 60 to the Ramna police station with the request that a case should be filed against them for submitting false and concocted certificates of their employment under the Mujibnagar government, including forged official orders from the establishment ministry, the sources said.
   The request letter to police will be given after issuing the discharge order, they said.
   The committee is now scrutinising the documents of 118 employees of former Mujibnagar government, who submitted all relevant documents to the board including the verdict from the High Court in favour of their absorption, the sources said.
   The board on August 7, 2006 sacked 12 customs inspectors, as the documents they submitted justifying their service under the former Mujibnagar government, educational certificates and affidavits of age were false or had been tampered with, sources said.

The River Jamuna continued to swell on Sunday, flowing above danger mark at the Aricha point, posing a risk of flooding in Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Natore, Pabna and Kushtia.
   Flooding in Manikganj, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Chandpur, and at Dohar and Nawabganj in Dhaka is likely to deteriorate slightly, said the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre on Sunday.
   The Padma is likely to register a rise of 4cm at the Goalanda point and flow 40cm above danger mark today. The Meghna is likely to mark a fall, but keep flowing slightly above danger mark at the Bhairab Bazar point, the flood warning centre said.
   Small rivers surrounding Dhaka and Narayanganj are expected to fall in the next
   two days, causing slight improvement in flooding around the capital, especially in the east.
   The Met Office said rainfall is likely to decrease from today in the north.
   The Kobadak marked a fall of 16cm at the Jhikargacha point and flowed 35cm above danger mark Sunday morning.
   All the rivers in the South Eastern Hill Basin registered a fall on Sunday.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Sunday asked the expatriate leaders and activists of the party to work for immediate restoration of democratic order in Bangladesh.
   She said democracy was restored at the cost of the blood of hundreds of people and ‘the nation’s independence, sovereignty and democracy have to be protected at any cost.’
   ‘The BNP’s politics is based on the soil and people of Bangladesh and now the country is affected by floods. Crores of people are suffering due to floods and our duty at the moment is to stand by the people in distress,’ Khaleda told her supporters in New York in a teleconference.
   ‘International Council for Freeing Tarique’ organised the conference at a hotel at Queens in New York city demanding immediate release of Tarique Rahman.
   Khaleda asked the expatriates to pray for the flood victims and immediate recovery of the nation from the calamity.
   ‘The people in Bangladesh are passing through hard times. The floods, price hike of essential commodities and political repression have made their lives miserable,’ she said.
   Khaleda also thanked the overseas activists for mobilising public opinion demanding release of Tarique Rahman.

The police on Sunday filed a supplementary charge sheet naming three more witnesses in the Tk 2.99 crore ‘extortion’ case against former prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasian and her sister Sheikh Rehana.
   Obaidul Haque, officer-in-charge of Gulshan police station, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka which issued an order asking the prosecution to merge it with the first charge sheet.
   The OC, also investigation officer of the case, earlier on July 24, submitted the charge sheet to the CMM court naming the two sisters along with their cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, as the prime accused in the ‘extortion’ case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury on June 13.
   A total of 24 people, including two magistrates, two police personnel and manager of Southeast Bank, have been made prosecution witnesses in the first charge sheet.
   Azam’s close aide Hafiz Ahmed Khoka, along with two magistrates of the CMM court—ABM Abdul Fattah and Jahangir Alam—were named as witnesses in the supplementary charge sheet, the police said.
   ‘Hafiz was the key witnesses in the extortion case, as he was the bearer of the cheques issued by Azam to pay the money to Sheikh Selim at his Gulshan residence,’ the police added. Selim, an Awami League presidium member, is also detained in jail on the charge’.
   The court has set September 5 for hearing on the supplementary charge sheet.
   The army-led joint forces on July 16 arrested Hasina at her residence on charge of ‘extortion’ and a court sent her to a special jail at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on the same day.

The High Court on Sunday granted bail to former ministers Moudud Ahmed and Amanullah Aman, in two separate cases filed under Emergency Power Rules and the Special Powers Act.
   The court also issued separate rules on the government to explain why its sanction of applying the Emergency Power Rules in the liquor case against Moudud and the mugging case against Aman should not be declared illegal.
   The court gave the government eight weeks to explain the Moudud case and six weeks in the case of Aman.
   A High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury passed the orders after hearing two separate writ petitions filed by the detained BNP leaders.
   Though given bail, Moudud may not be released from jail as he is also facing a preventive detention under the Special Powers Act, said his counsel Mahabubuddin Khokon.
   On April 13, the army-led joint forces arrested Moudud Ahmed at his Gulshan residence and seized 16 bottles of foreign liquor and 32 cans of beer along with 220 saris allegedly of the government relief fund.
   Immediately after his arrest, sub-inspector Khabir of Gulshan police station filed a case under Section 25B of the Special Powers Act 1974, accusing Moudud of keeping foreign liquor for the purpose of selling the alcohol evading tax.
   The home ministry on April 26 sanctioned application of emergency rules in the liquor case and the police on May 25 pressed charges against Moudud.
   On June 18, metropolitan sessions judge AKM Enamul Haque framed charges against Moudud under Section 25B of the Special Powers Act for smuggling alcohol.
   The High Court on July 9 stayed the proceedings of the case after hearing a petition filed by Moudud for quashing the case. The court had also issued a rule on the government to explain why the case should not be quashed.
   Former state minister Aman, convicted earlier in a graft case, was sued on March 5 on charge of mugging Tk 13.5 thousand from a trader named Mohammad Swapan on January 14, 2005.
   Swapan’s mother Saharbanu, of a village under Keraniganj police station, lodged the case against Aman on March 5, when he was detained in jail.

Terming the new technology-based voter listing of 9 crore voters a big task, the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has said Bangladesh has the capacity and setup for holding free, fair and neutral general election in the targeted timeline.
   The Election Commission, he said, was carrying out the gigantic task of preparing the digitised voter list with photograph along with national ID card as per its announced roadmap for holding the parliamentary election by December 2008.
   The chief adviser made the remarks on Saturday when outgoing ambassador of the Netherlands in Dhaka Kees Beemsterboer made a farewell call on him at the CA’s Office.
   The ambassador informed that the Netherlands government appreciated the caretaker government’s performance, particularly its institutional reforms and anti-corruption drive aiming to hold a fair election in the country.
   Mentioning the background of the present government’s assumption of office in last January, the chief adviser said this government was being tested everyday and it was accountable to the people.
   The government and the Election Commission are on track to hold the general election in the targeted time, he said, according to the CA’s press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim, who was present at the meeting.
   Fakhruddin said the anti-corruption drive was going on aiming to build up a corruption-free society in the country.
   He recalled that the Netherlands was one of the first few countries, which recognised the independence of Bangladesh and since then bilateral relations are growing between the two countries.
   The Netherlands is an important destination of Bangladesh’s exports and Bangladesh is grateful that the Netherlands has identified it as one of its priority countries for long-term bilateral assistance, the chief adviser said.
   They also share a priority concern of water management with Bangladesh, he added.
   Fakhruddin hoped that the investors from the Netherlands would come up in a bigger way for investment in Bangladesh availing of the favourable investment atmosphere and incentives granted to the foreign investors.
   Ambassador Beemsterboer said the Netherlands was working closely with Bangladesh in water management and health sector.
   He hoped that the new government of his country, which assumes office next March would also work closely with Bangladesh in those areas.
   Appreciating the various socio-economic achievements of Bangladesh, the ambassador, who served here for last three years remarked that Bangladesh is now really on the road to progress and its aid dependency has come down.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Sunday permitted the Awami League to observe the 3rd anniversary of the August 21 grenade attacks on its rally on Bangabandhu Avenue, but on a very limited scale.
   The Awami League has announced a simple programme on August 21, which includes placing of flowers before the memorial plaque at the site of the carnage and observing two minutes’ silence. The programme also includes offering fateha at the grave of Ivy Rahman at Banani graveyard and a prayer session on August 24 at Zillur Rahman’s house. Ivy Rahman was one of the casualties of the grisly grenade attack.
   Acting general secretary of AL, Mukul Bose, told New Age that the DMP on Sunday allowed, in writing, the AL to observe its programme. He said the party had earlier sought permission to observe the day by staging a limited programme as the interim government had said it would not allow anything beyond placing of flowers at the site of the carnage.
   Twenty-four leaders and activists of the Awami League and its front organisations were killed, including the party’s women affairs secretary, Ivy Rahman, and over 200 were wounded in the grenade attack on August 21, 2004. The party’s president, Sheikh Hasina, escaped death by a hair’s breadth.
   The Workers Party of Bangladesh on Sunday termed the failure to hold the trial of those involved in the grenade attack as the state’s failure.
   The party’s politburo, in a press statement, said that the BNP-Jamaat government had failed to take action against the planners and the attackers.
   The WP’s leaders called upon the interim government to take measures for holding the trial.

Today the government is likely to lift a ban on extension of power transmission and distribution lines in areas under the Rural Electrification Board.
   The Power Division will today place a proposal to lift the ban, which was imposed immediately after the interim government took office, before the executive committee of the National Economic Committee, headed by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed.
   The government imposed the ban on expansion of electricity lines in rural areas because of alleged irregularities in installation of electric poles and wires during the tenure of the BNP-Jamaat government.
   The REB recently requested the division to lift the ban as much of the line installation work has remained half-done and it has not been able to use the fund meant for the work, said sources in the division.
   ‘Along with the government fund, the loans of the international lending agencies for installation of transmission lines have remained unutilised. So we want the government to lift the ban,’ said an official source.
   There have been allegations that the previous government expanded electricity lines because of political considerations and for benefiting a section of pole-producing businessmen without considering shortage of electricity.
   The interim government also imposed a ban on giving new connections to would-be consumers after it took office.
   The ban, however, was recently partially withdrawn as the REB is now allowing new connections to export-oriented industries and owners of irrigation pumps.
   The ECNEC will also decide on the fate of three more power projects, and extension of time for rehabilitating three Ashuganj power units and establishing a power infrastructure hub at Sirajganj.

The Pakistani government has decided to remove the bar on election of a third-time premier as part of a deal between president Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, the Press Trust of India reports on Sunday.
   The restriction was imposed by Musharraf through a presidential ordinance to keep Benazir and Nawaz Sharif away from power after accusing them of corruption. Subsequently, the ordinance was included in the constitution as sixth schedule through an amendment in 2004.
   The president himself is set to do away with the bar by granting written permission to parliament to amend the sixth schedule and in return Pakistan People’s Party will neither quit the assemblies at the time of the presidential poll to be held between September 15 and October 15 this year nor will boycott the same, ‘The News’ quoted unnamed sources as saying.
   ‘The PPP legislators will sit in the central and provincial legislatures at the time of the presidential poll but will abstain from participation in voting, meaning that they’ll neither oppose nor support Musharraf’s re-election as president for another five-year term,’ the sources said.
   Thus, the PPP would try to make the people of the Islamic nation believe that it did not vote in favour of Musharraf for his re-election in military uniform, according to the sources.
   Benazir warned Saturday that the threat of terrorism in north-western Pakistan’s lawless tribal zones would not go away while a military government is in power.
   ‘The root cause of the problem lies in the inability of the government of Pakistan to assert governmental authority and state authority in the tribal areas,’ Benazir told Canada’s CBC public television channel.
   ‘As long as we have a cabinet ... that needs the threat of terrorism to sustain a military dictatorship in Pakistan we’re never going to get rid of terrorism,’ she said of the leadership of president Musharraf.
   ‘The military is the problem,’ Benazir said. ‘True democracy will deal with the social and economic needs of the people of Pakistan.’
   She also called on the international community to support a transfer to a regular democratic government in Islamabad.

A number of question setters and moderators of SSC and HSC exams alleged that the head of educational institutions had a monopoly of the job by forming a syndicate of their own in the absence of specified guidelines.
   The seven general education boards, a madrassah board and a technical education board have for decades assigned the heads of educational institutions to recommend the names of their teachers for the preparation of question papers and moderation.
   More than 10 lakh students take the secondary school and higher secondary certificate examinations every year under the nine education boards.
   The question setters and moderators, involved in the job for decades, said the institution heads often stood in as candidates or pick up people from their circles, often involving people who have no good knowledge of textbooks, for such job when the boards asked for names.
   ‘The process of setting the questions and moderation is “quite secret” for which we cannot even lodge any complaints with higher authorities and such irregularities have continued,’ said a teacher, who has been moderating question papers for more than a decade.
   ‘A senior teacher of a renowned city school became moderator of at least four education boards in 2006 because of his good connection with the institution head although there is an oral directive that a teacher cannot be a moderator for boards more than one in a given year,’ he said.
   ‘The board authorities have no records of or any mechanism in place to monitor if any teacher is involved with the setting of questions for more boards than one in a given year,’ he said.
   ‘Some heads of institution do not care about the eligibilities of candidates, which often results in errors being spotted by the students in examinations halls,’ he said. ‘Students suffer because of wrong selection of moderators.’
   ‘I have submitted a set of questions for a 2008 examination at the request of an education board, but I would not be selected as moderator as I am not on good terms with the head of my institution,’ said another teacher of a renowned city school.
   ‘In some cases the headmaster/principal send their own name for the job and such heads or principals cannot choose the best questions as they usually remain detached from books and study,’ another teacher said adding that heads of the institutions have to be busy with administrative duties.
   Another teacher said some good teachers were there at some non-government institutions, but they were not asked to set or moderate question papers.
   The chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka M Monirul Islam told New Age that the absence of any specified guidelines on the setting of questions and moderation had created some problems.
   ‘I have asked the authorities concerned to select at least some teachers from non-government institutions for the jobs,’ he said. But he did not say anything about initiating any guidelines in this regard.
   The government in five years spent about Tk 25 crore on reforms in secondary school certificate examination system, but there was no initiative to prepare any guidelines for the selection of question-setters or moderators.
   The director of the reforms project, M Afzalur Rahman, said no chairman of any board had ever demanded any guidelines in this regard, ‘although such a guideline is badly needed.’

A special graft court on Sunday framed charges against former minister Mirza Abbas and ex-BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed, his wife and three sons in separate corruption cases.
   After framing the charges, the judge of Special Judge’s Court 3 of Dhaka, Shahed Nooruddin, fixed August 21 and August 23 for starting the trial of the cases against Salahuddin and Abbas respectively.
   Abbas was charged with concealing information about his assets of Tk 2.4 crore in income tax file and dodging tax of Tk 56 lakh.
   The charges are punishable with five years imprisonment for tax evasion and 3 years for concealing information.
   In addition, fine may be imposed and assets may be confiscated.
   Salahuddin was accused of concealing information about his assets of Tk 6.45 crore in wealth statements submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission and amassing wealth of Tk 8.68 crore which is beyond his known sources of income.
   His wife and three sons were also charged with similar offences as well as abetting him in committing the offences.
   The offences are punishable with 10 years imprisonment for amassing wealth beyond known sources of income and three years for concealing information in the wealth statements. Fine may also be imposed for both the offences and wealth, disproportionate to known sources of income, may also be confiscated.

The government on Sunday sought $150 million in ‘additional budget support’ from donors and lenders for post-flood rehabilitation.
   The officials concerned at an appraisal meeting with the Local Consultative Group requested the amount until the assessment of flood damage and resource requirement for rehabilitation programmes were made.
   ‘Donor supports are needed to achieve the growth and macroeconomic objectives,’ said the finance secretary, Mohammad Tareque, who assisted AB Mirza Azizul Islam in preparing the 2007–08 budget marked by an outlay of a huge deficit.
   He said additional resources would be required to overcome the economic shock of the flood that compelled the government to shift budgetary allocations at a percentage of 0.8 of gross domestic product for flood rehabilitation.
   ‘The damage and losses are yet to be clearly assessed in monetary terms,’ the Economic Relations Division secretary, Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, told the newsmen at a briefing after the meeting in the National Economic Council conference room.
   The Disaster Management Bureau under the food and disaster management ministry made a presentation on the initial damage caused by the flood and the finance ministry talked about flood implications on budget implementation.
   The World Bank at the first LCG meeting on August 8 estimated that the GDP growth would slow down by 0.2 per cent to 6.8 per cent from the projected 7 per cent this financial year.
   He said the government officials at the meeting apprised them of the initial assessment of the damage and losses, and the implications of flood on budget implementation and the economy.
   ‘Donor supports are needed to achieve the growth ad macroeconomic objectives,’ Tareque said.
   He said budgetary allocation amounting to about 0.8 per cent of GDP was shifted to flood rehabilitation while budget deficit would increase to keep momentum of the planned activities.
   It means more bank borrowing, fuelling the already high inflation further, slowing down the growth further because of reduced private sector investment, weakening of poverty reduction efforts and downsizing the ADP, which may affect development activities, he said.
   The finance secretary informed the donors that the food safety net budget was reallocated to meet the immediate relief requirements to the tune of Tk 21 billion and the maintenance budget also reallocated (about Tk 21 billion) to cater to the immediate post-flood rehabilitation priorities.
   Aminul Islam said, ‘We will have follow-up meetings with the donors to apprise them of specific requirements.’
   ‘We may come up with specific commitment for assistance when the government will complete its assessment of damage, losses and the needs,’ World Bank country director and LCG coordinator Xian Zhu told newsmen after the briefing.
   He said the donors were also assessing the flood damage on their own.
   As per the initial assessment of flood damage, he said the extent of damage would be half of the damage from 2004 flooding, with the worst-affected areas being agriculture, communications, education, health, rural infrastructure and embankments.

The army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, Sunday warned stern action if anyone indulged in looting relief, saying that gone are the days for plunder.
   ‘Don’t thrust your hands into fire knowingly. If you do, you will burn your fingers. For that you have only yourself to blame,’ he said during a meeting with district administration and civil-society members in Faridpur deputy commissioner’s conference room.
   He said the army would remain in the field all through the relief operation so that no irregularities could take place and everybody got their share.
   ‘Relief means theft — it was the perception of the past. But this doesn’t happen now for the first time. Stealing relief materials has already been stopped now as all are working together,’ Moeen told his audience.
   In criticism of the past rulers, the army chief lamented that the country were not to be in a state it has been put in. ‘Our per capita income could be over $1000, but, unfortunately, it did not happen.’
   He said, ‘Our motto is that no more people will die from hunger or lack of medicare.’ He urged all to come forward together and work to face natural disaster.
   ‘We all have to make a decision that we will not let anyone starve. We have to stand by the side of affected people,’ he told the meeting.
   ‘Don’t yield to adversities like natural disaster. You have to face it with fortitude. Water is now receding and we have to stand beside the affected people.’
   Referring to the allegation that the government has not enough preparation to face the floods, Gen Moeen said it was not right and ‘we discussed the matter earlier with the government’.
   Moeen said farmers must be given fertilisers and seeds so that they could produce better crops in the post-flood situation.
   Faridpur deputy commissioner Yahyea Bhuiyan, Faridpur in-charge of army Major Anisur Rahman and other top officials were present on the occasion.
   Earlier, the army chief visited affected people at the hospitals. He distributed fertilisers, seeds and clothes among the flood-affected people in some areas.
   The army chief earlier went to Kazipur upazila in the worst-hit district of Sirajganj and distributed relief materials among affected people on Meghai flood-control embankment in the morning.
   Speaking on the occasion, General Moeen said the people of Sirajganj faced the floods this year with great courage.
   He also said an arrangement had been made to construct a permanent embankment with a fund of Tk 250 crore to save the people of Sirajganj from river erosion and flooding.
   Senior officials of district administration and army personnel accompanied the army chief during his relief mission.

Thailand’s army-installed government declared victory Sunday in a referendum on a new constitution, and vowed to hold general elections by year’s end to restore democracy following last September’s coup.
   The prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, claimed victory just 30 minutes after polls closed, saying that a majority of Thai voters had approved the charter.
   ‘We consider that this constitution has been approved by the people, and by the end of August the constitution will be submitted to the king for endorsement,’ Surayud said on national television.
   With 87 per cent of ballots counted, the Election Commission reported that 58 per cent of voters had approved the charter.
   Turnout was estimated at 55 per cent, lower than in recent national polls when about 70 per cent of voters cast ballots, the commission said.
   Final results were expected to be officially announced this (Monday) afternoon.
   Sunday’s vote was the first test at the ballot box for the ruling junta, which ousted elected premier Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup last September.
   Surayud had touted the country’s first-ever referendum as a way to put the nation back on track after more than a year of turmoil. He pledged that approval of the charter meant general elections would be held by year’s end.
   ‘I reaffirm that the election will be held late this year. The exact date is still under consideration, but I believe the most suitable date is after the king’s birthday’ on December 5, he said.
   Critics say that any elections held under the charter will likely install a weak coalition government while returning real authority to traditional power centres in the military, the bureaucracy and the royal palace.
   All three institutions have played key roles in most of Thailand’s turbulent political history, which has seen 24 prime ministers and 18 coups over the last 75 years.
   Thaksin, who since the coup has lived in exile in Britain where he has bought the Manchester City football club, has called the draft ‘fruit from a poisoned tree.’
   His allies who led the campaign against the charter accepted their defeat, but said the referendum had failed to meet democratic standards.
   ‘Government officials have misled the people by telling them there would be no elections if the constitution did not pass. They restricted the freedom of expression of people in the areas under martial law,’ said Chaturon Chaisang.
   Half the country has been under martial law since the coup, while a new law threatened prison for anyone convicted of obstructing the referendum.
   Political analysts said Thais were less concerned with the content of the charter than with ensuring that the military keeps its promises.
   Opponents of the charter say it will trim the powers of elected leaders and roll back reforms included in the previous 1997 charter, which could set the stage for fragile coalition governments that would fall under the military’s sway.
   But voters said they hoped the ‘yes’ vote would end more than a year of political turmoil and restore confidence in the country’s wobbly economy.

The Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board has taken an initiative to sell the surplus bandwidth capacity of its undersea cable for maximum utilisation.
   The state-owned land phone operator, which owns the SEA-ME-WE-4 cable as a member of a 16-party consortium, has so far utilised only 15 per cent of the cable’s total capacity 14 gigabits because of the lack of a marketing drive.
   However, in response to a recent instruction by the post and telecommunications ministry, the BTTB has taken various steps to sell the surplus bandwidth to local as well as international telecom service providers.
   ‘We have written to 26 countries with which we have bilateral call traffic agreement and proposed to sell the surplus bandwidth to any of them who need it,’ said Monwar Hossain, project director of submarine cable project, on Sunday.
   He said that, apart from those countries, the BTTB has also written to several other ‘transit carriers’, proposing to sell them the surplus bandwidth through point-to-point connection for carrying international traffic.
   Seventy-three internet service providers have so far bought some of the cable’s capacity from the BTTB to provide internet service. BTTB spent around $66 million for acquiring the SEA-ME-WE-4 cable whose capacity was available to the national network following formal inauguration in May 2006 by Khaleda Zia, the then prime minister.
   Monwar, however, said that private entrepreneurs should come forward to set up more information technology-related business such as call centres and telemedicine centres for more utilisation of the huge capacity of the submarine cable.
   The project director also said that the BTTB was also discussing with international telecom service providers the possibility of acquiring another undersea cable for complementing its existing cable to ensure uninterrupted telecommunications service.
   He said five Indian companies — BSNL, Bharti, VSNL, MTLN and Reliance — had invited the BTTB to join their network by laying a land-based fibre optic cable.

Results of the Higher Secondary School Certificate examinations of 2007 under the seven education boards will be published on August 23.
   Besides, the results of Alim, Fazil and Kamil examinations under the Madrassah Education Board, HSC results of the Technical Education Board and Diploma-in-Business Studies/Diploma-in-Commerce under the Dhaka Education Board will also be published the same day.
   The examinees have been asked to collect results from their respective centres or institutions. They can also get their results on the website: www.educationboard.gov.bd A total of 5,41,817 candidates from 6,958 educational institutions appeared in this year’s HSC and its equivalent examinations, and other examinations, said education ministry sources.
   Out of the total, 4,40,248 appeared in the HSC examinations under seven education boards while 52,034 under the Madrassah Education Board and 49,535 under the Technical Education Board, they said.

Hospitals across the country continued to receive hundreds of patients with diarrhoea and respiratory problems, although no death was reported from flood-related diseases during the last 24 hours till Sunday morning.
   Drowning still remained major killer in the flooded areas claiming nine more lives and raising the flood-related death count to 564 since the deluge began from mid July, health officials said.
   Some 2,535 diarrhoea patients were admitted to government hospitals in different flood-affected districts and about 800 to the ICDDR,B in Dhaka during the last 24 hours till Sunday morning.
   Some 688 people contracted respiratory problems, 717 skin diseases, 257 eye diseases and 3,468 other problems mainly caused by contaminated flood water, said Afroza Akhtar, an official of the health directorate’s control room that compiles records from hospitals in the flooded districts.
   Record shows 501 people, mostly children, drowned in flood waters while snakebite claimed 36 lives, diarrhoea 15 and respiratory track infection 12.
   The control room recorded 60,939 diarrhoea patients between July 30 and August 19, 15,048 people with respiratory diseases, 15,009 skin diseases, 3669 eye diseases and 55,775 other health problems caused mainly by dirty flood water. Dr Shahadat Hossain, scientist and head of longer stay unit of ICDDR,B hospital in Dhaka told New Age on Sunday, ‘Fresh admission of diarrhoeal cases marked some declines, but there are many patients with chronic diarrhoea, which was not alone caused by flood-water.’