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A Rajshahi court on Wednesday sentenced 10 students and an employee of Rajshahi University to three years’ rigorous imprisonment on charge of setting on fire a DGFI car on August 22 during campus protests and acquitted the two teachers and the public relations officer.
   The Rajshahi speedy trial tribunal judge, Ruhul Amin, also additional chief metropolitan magistrate, fined the convicts Tk 5,000 each. If they fail to pay the fines, they will need to serve three more months in jail.
   The convicts are the university unit Chhatra League general secretary Ayen Uddin, Chhatra League activists Dipayan Sarkar Deep, Mizanur Rahman Mithu, Sardar Ayaz, SM Fakrul Islam Raihan, Abu Sayem, Shamim Ahmed, Kazi Abdul Latif, Shakhawat Hossain and Aziz Bin Kamal, and Ataur Rahman, driver of a former vice-chancellor.
   Professor Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan Sajal and Professor Golam Sabbir Sattar Tapu of the geology and mining department and the deputy chief information officer of the university, Sadikul Islam, were acquitted of the charges. They were in the doc when the court gave the ruling.
   Of the convicts, only the driver was in the dock. The other convicts, who are in hiding, were tried in their absence.
   ‘Ataur’s family burst into tears in the crowded courtroom when the verdict was pronounced,’ said one present there.
   His counsels told New Age they would prefer an appeal against the verdict. The acquitted teachers and public relations officer were released from the Rajshahi central jail in the afternoon after the court order had reached the jail authorities.
   The same court on December 4 sentenced four Rajshahi University teachers — management department chair Moloy Kumar Bhowmick, and mass communications department assistant professors Dulal Chandra Biswas, Selim Reza Newton and Abdullah Al Mamun — to two years’ imprisonment each on charge of instigating the student protests on the campus in August 21–22 in violation of the Emergency Powers Rules after protests at Dhaka University.
   The four were freed on Monday on a presidential clemency.
   Moloy Kumar after Wednesday’s verdict told New Age, ‘I am happy at the acquittal of my two colleagues and the information officer, but unhappy at the conviction of my students and the driver.’ He said, ‘I hope they would be released soon.’
   ‘The verdict has proved that the case was a conspiracy. Truth has prevailed, but it took some time,’ said Professor Golam Sabbir Sattar.
   Professor Sarwar Jahan Sajal said, ‘I feel happy to have come out of detention. I will be happier when the students will be released.’
   Professor M Faridul Islam, student adviser at the university, said, ‘We hope the government will take measures for an immediate release of the students.’
   The deputy director of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence in Rajshahi, Major Shawkat Ali, filed the case with the Motihar police on August 23 and subinspector Mukhtar Hossain, also investigation officer of the case, pressed charges against the accused on September 1.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday framed charges against four senior teachers and 15 students of Dhaka University in another case filed by the police in connection the August 20-22 campus protests amid the state of emergency.
   Another speedy trial tribunal of Dhaka on Tuesday framed charges against the 15 on the same charges in the other case and posted for December 17 the beginning of the trial.
   The judge of a Dhaka speedy trial tribunal, M Habibur Rahman Siddiqui, also metropolitan magistrate, on Wednesday framed the charges after rejecting the appeal for acquittal made by the four detained teachers and a student, now in custody in the case.
   The court posted for December 19 the beginning of the trial of the case by recording the deposition of assistant subinspector Rezaul Karim Khan, who lodged the case with the Shahbagh police on August 23.
   The four teachers — Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president Sardrul Amin, its general secretary Anwar Hossain, social sciences dean Harun-Or-Rashid and applied physics and electronic department chair Neem Chandra Bhowmik —and one of the students accused, Moniruzzaman Sarder, were produced in court.
   The court indicted 14 other students in their absence as they went into hiding after the Shahbagh police had filed the charge sheets with the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court of Dhaka in two cases against 4 teachers and 15 students including them on September 9.
   They are all charged under Rule 3(4) of the Emergency Powers Rules for bringing out processions and staging demonstrations and under Rule 6(2) for making provocative remarks against the government.
   The offences, according to rules, are punishable with imprisonment varying between two to five years, or with fine, or both under each of the two rules.
   Anwar Hossain and Harun-Or-Rashid instigated the student protests and Neem Chandra Bhowmik and Sadrul Amin took part in the protests, the investigation officers claimed in the charge sheets.
   ‘As we and our students were not involved in such incidents, the allegations are false, fabricated and motivated,’ Anwar had told the court before the charges were framed.
   Referring to the incident of 1976 when he was tried and his elder brother, Colonel Taher, was hanged to death, Anwar said, ‘I expect justice from this independent court as it cannot be compared with the farcical court.’
   ‘All are aware of people’s reaction to the conviction of the four Rajshahi University teachers,’ said Anwar. ‘So the trial needs to be accepted to the people.’
   ‘About 400 DU teachers issued a statement on August 21 giving our position during the campus protests. Dhaka University teachers have always stood by their students and we have never incited our students to resort to any violence,’ he said.
   ‘During the 1990 uprising against the autocratic government, the university teachers, led by Professor Iajuddin Ahmed, who is now president, held protests on the streets amid an state of emergency and even curfew,’ said Anwar, who has been teaching at the university for 33 years.
   The lawyers of the defendants said none of the witnesses said the accused had incited the students. The law adviser’s assurance seems to have fallen flat as the detained teachers were now facing trial in court, they said.
   After the hearing, the families and fellows met the detained teachers on permission of the court.
   After talking with the detained teaches, former Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president AAMS Arefin Siddiqui told reporters, ‘We are waiting for the withdrawal of the cases and the authorities can withdraw the cases at any stage of cases.’
   During the conversation when Arefin Siddiqui, now acting social sciences dean, asked Professor Harun-Or-Rashid about the schedule of examinations, Harun said, ‘No examinations before the release of the teachers.’
   Harun also said, ‘Our families will accept whatever decision the teachers’ association makes regarding us. We will also accept the decisions.’

Family members of the Dhaka University teachers, detained for breaking the Emergency Powers Rules during the student uprising of August 20-22, on Wednesday rejected any proposal of seeking mercy from the state or filing any writ with the High Court to get bail.
   They said the teachers and students of the university demanded withdrawal of the cases but the government missed its opportunity to do so and instead framed charges, which implies that it wants to see this case through to the very end.
   ‘We have also decided to see this case through to the very end…Our family has decided not to submit any sort of application or mercy petition to the state. My father repeatedly told us to be strong and not to succumb to any sort of pressure, and also asked us to refrain from making any sort of petitions,’ said Sanjeeb Hossain, son of Professor Anwar Hossain.
   ‘We have also chosen to not go forward with a new proposal that we should file a writ with the High Court to seek bail and it will be granted and the teachers will be set free,’ he said. ‘We are no longer in a position to seek bail.’
   ‘We shall not be satisfied with anything short of the government withdrawing the cases filed against the teachers and students. We shall not submit a mercy petition, nor shall we file a writ seeking bail. We believe that the government will do the right thing,’ he said.
   ‘We should not forget that it was the government that promised in the state-run television to release all teachers and students within two weeks. It never made any proposal that we submit a mercy petition or file a writ with the High Court,’ he added.
   Ishtiaque Rashid, son of Professor Harun-or-Rashid, told New Age that their family has also decided not to submit any mercy petition to the state nor file any writ with higher court to seek bail.
   The members of the Awami League-backed teachers’ group, the Blue Panel, met the university’s vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, after the teachers were implicated in the charge-sheet.
   After the meeting a stalwart of the panel, AAMS Arefin Siddique, also former president of the Dhaka University Teachers Association, said they demand withdrawal of the cases filed against the teachers and students.
   ‘I cannot understand why charges are being framed against the teachers and students and at the same time talks are being held with the government for their release. The government has the authority to free the teachers at any time. The government assured us that the arrestees would be freed, and we gave it two weeks’ time to do so…There is no alternative to freeing them to ensure an appropriate academic atmosphere and save the educational institutions,’ he said.
   Vice-Chancellor SMA Faiz said the university authorities were trying to do everything possible to bring the teachers and students back to the campus and expect them to be freed shortly.

The High Court on Wednesday declared ‘illegal’ the appointment of Justice MA Aziz as chief election commissioner, thus preventing the government from allowing any favoured person to hold two constitutional offices concurrently.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Syed Ziaul Karim, in its verdict on a public interest litigation writ petition filed in 2005, said, ‘No person can hold two constitutional offices simultaneously.’
   The constitutional provisions do not allow any sitting judge of the Supreme Court to hold any other constitutional office, the court observed.
   The court also observed that no sitting judge of the Supreme Court should hold any other constitutional office or any other office of profit in the service of the state for the sake of independence and impartiality.
   In the verdict, the court also observed that the constitution should be amended, making provisions for not appointing any Supreme Court judge to any office for at least three years after his/her retirement. It also observed that the retired Supreme Court judges, appointed to any office, should be kept independent of any government influence.
   Aziz was appointed the chief election commissioner on May 23, 2005, when he was also a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
   Three Supreme Court lawyers — Ruhul Quddus Babu, Abdul Mannan Khan and Naznin Nahar Dipu — filed the writ petition on June 11, nineteen days after Aziz’s appointment as the chief election commissioner, challenging legality of his concurrent holding of two constitutional offices.
   A High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury on June 18, 2005 issued a rule on the government and Justice MA Aziz to explain why his holding of the chief election commissioner’s office while holding the office of a judge of the Supreme Court should not be declared illegal.
   During the hearing of the writ petition, the court sought legal aid from some eminent jurists — Kamal Hosain, TH Khan, Mahmudul Islam, M Amirul Islam and Shahdeen Malik — as amici curiae, and MI Faruqui moved the case for the petitioners.
   Justice Aziz resigned his position to prevent any further ‘undesirable situation’ on January 21. In the face of vigorous street agitation by the Awami League-led alliance, Aziz went on a 90-day leave on November 22, a week before the EC announced the election schedule.

The government on Wednesday sought a little over $1.8 billion from the international community in post-cyclone emergency aid for reconstruction and rehabilitation works as well as long-term prevention and adaptation measures.
   An amount of $457 million will be required for meeting immediate needs of restoration of infrastructures and livelihoods in the cyclone Sidr-affected areas and $1,353 million for measures such as massive plantation and construction of embankments and shelters in the coastal belt, Economic Resources Division officials said.
   The demand for the emergency assistance, which also includes $400 million in budget support, was placed at a meeting with Local Consultative Group, a forum of development partners, on Wednesday.
   ‘We have sought the amount in the light of the appeal made by the chief adviser. Now the development partners will make their own assessment and consider how to provide necessary assistance,’ ERD secretary Aminul Islam Bhuiyan said after the meeting at the NEC Bhaban.
   Assuring the government of long-term assistance, representatives of donor countries and lending agencies stressed the need for a ‘pragmatic and realistic’ approach to deal with the issues of natural calamities, meeting sources said.
   The government will focus on coordination among different ministries and also with the development partners to ensure quality of rehabilitation projects avoiding duplication, Bhuiyan said. There might be an umbrella project which would ‘encompass everything,’ he added.
   Planning secretary Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury coordinated the government side at the meeting.
   LCG coordinator and World Bank country director Xian Zhu told reporters that they would jointly provide Bangladesh with assistance not only to support rehabilitation programmes but also to fund projects to help overcome vulnerabilities.
   ‘We want to do it in a harmonised way. We need to discuss it and we will meet again,’ he said and pointed out that they would discuss specific projects among themselves and with the government.
   World Bank vice president for South Asia, Praful C Patel is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka today to visit Sidr-affected areas and discuss the global lender’s probable aid.
   Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed earlier sought from development partners some $1 billion for rehabilitation programmes — $150 million for plantation, $200 million for shelters, $100 for building and repairing schools and $300 million for roads.
   Till date, the government received pledges of foreign aid amounting to $220 million so far, excepting assurances from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, for post-cyclone rehabilitation programmes, acting secretary to the food and disaster management ministry Ayub Miah said.
   He admitted that the government was yet to prepare the final assessment of cyclone damages in monetary terms and such a report would be made available in the next few days.
   According to the disaster management ministry’s report, cyclone Sidr claimed 3,347 lives and affected more than 20 lakh families in 30 districts, 12 of which were affected badly. Over 870 people were reported to be missing since the November 15 night.
   The cyclone destroyed standing crops on 7.42 lakh acres of land fully and crops on 17.3 lakh acres partially, caused deaths of 17.78 lakh livestock and poultry birds, damaged 4,231 schools fully and 12,723 partially and uprooted 40.65 trees, apart from ravaging the world heritage site of Sundarban, according to the report, which is still being updated.

The government plans to give seeds and fertilisers free of cost to farmers cultivating less than five acres of land in 13 districts ravaged by the cyclone Sidr that smashed into the south coast on November 5.
   The finance ministry on Wednesday sanctioned Tk 36.28 crore for the purpose from a Tk 800 crore ‘block amount’ kept aside for emergency disaster responses. The agriculture ministry planned to reach out to the affected farmers through local administrations within 10 days, officials said.
   Each of the eligible farmers, who own or cultivate less than five acres in the worst-hit districts of Barguna, Bagerhat, Patuakhali and Pirozpur, will get seeds and fertilisers prescribed for three bighas of land. Those in the rest nine affected district will get the supports for one bigha each, agriculture ministry officials told New Age.
   The nine less-affected districts categorized by the agriculture ministry on the basis of field-level data are Barisal, Bhola, Jhalakati, Satkhira, Khulna, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Shariatpur and Faridpur.
   As per the plan, the highest allocation of Tk 7.64 crore will go to Bagerhat district, to be followed by Tk 4.73 crore for Barisal, Tk 4.43 crore for Khulna, Tk 4.38 crore for Pirozpur, Tk 4.15 crore for Bhola, Tk 2.57 crore for Shariatpur, Tk 1.98 crore for Jhalakati, Tk 1.67 crore for Shatkhira, Tk 1.48 crore for Faridpur, Tk 1.20 crore for Madaripur, Tk 37 lakh for Patuakhali and Tk 30 lakh for the farmers of Barguna.
   The allocations have been made on the basis of the number of affected farmers and extent of damages they suffered from the cyclone, officials said.
   The supports include seeds and fertilisers like urea, triple super phosphate and muriate of potash.
   ‘We have formulated the support plan taking into account the magnitude of loss in the cyclone-hit districts,’ a high official in the agriculture ministry said. ‘The finance ministry made the allocation as we asked for.’
   District and upazila administrations as well as local government representatives will be involved in the distribution process.
   Crops on above 20 lakh acres of land were completely or partially damaged by the cyclone that killed at least 3,500 people and levelled hundreds of villages in the 13 districts, agriculture ministry estimates suggest.

The government has initiated formulation of a law to streamline the country’s real estate business amid widespread allegations of encroachment on private and public lands and deception by a section of homebuilders.
   ‘We are working on the proposed Real Estate Act to streamline the real estate sector and bring an end to people’s sufferings,’ housing and public works secretary ASM Rashidul Hai told New Age.
   He said it would take a couple of months to frame the law which would allow the government to take stern actions against homebuilders or land developers found flouting rules and deceiving their clients.
   The law, if enacted and enforced, would contain malpractices and frauds in the real estate sector, he believed.
   Allegations of land grabbing, breach of contracts and failure in flat or plot handovers are rife against the real estate and housing companies, which are facing a slump since the crackdown against corruption and tax evasion was launched in January.
   Housing project approvals have also been made tougher after years of proliferation of real estate and housing companies. City planner Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakka is now more cautious than ever before about endorsing housing plans in the city and adjoining areas.
   The housing and public works ministry on Wednesday rejected two housing projects — Natun Dhara BDDL Housing Ltd and Green Model Town of Amin Mohammad Foundation — in the city for failing to comply with the land development guidelines.
   The high-powered committee on real estate development turned down the two much-advertised housing projects, one at Badda-Baridhara and the other at Sabujbagh-Demra areas, at a meeting with adviser Mainul Hosein in the chair.
   ‘Rajuk has already sued 23 real estate companies including Amin Mohammad Foundation and the BDDL Housing for developing lands for residential projects without approval of the ministry,’ said an official.
   Those who were deceived through purchasing plots in the unapproved projects could sue the real estate companies and demand compensation, he added.
   The existing guidelines stipulate that each real estate company should have at least 85 per cent of land of its own in the proposed area for any housing project. But these two companies have had less than 1-2 per cent of the required land in their possession, the housing secretary said.
   ‘Moreover, they must have demarcated 30 per cent of the total land for playground, parks, schools and other utility services. These two companies failed to comply with the guidelines for real estate projects,’ Rashidul Hai said.
   Both the developers had started advertising for selling plots in the two projects long ago.

Former Awami League chief whip in parliament Abul Hasanat Abdullah was on Wednesday sentenced to nine years in prison in a tax evasion case.
   AK Roy, judge of the Special Judge’s Court-2 of Dhaka, set up in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex to try high profile corruption suspects, also fined Abdullah Tk 40 lakh. If he fails to pay the fine, he will serve six more months in jail.
   The court also ordered confiscation of Abdullah’s wealth of Tk 1,65,39,636.
   The court handed him five years’ rigorous imprisonment for dodging Tk 37.45 lakh in tax concealing information about his wealth of Tk 1,65,39,636 and simple imprisonment for three years for giving false information in his tax returns and one year for not submitting tax returns for two tax years.
   The sentences will be executed after his surrender or arrest, as Abdullah is on the run.
   The court ordered concurrent execution of the sentences, meaning Abdullah would serve a maximum five years’ term in jail.
   Md Safiul Azam, a tax commissioner of the national board of revenue, filed the case on October 25.

The acting Awami League president, Zillur Rahman, on Wednesday renewed his call for release of the party president, Sheikh Hasina, before the December 16 Victory Day, to enable her to join the post-cyclone rehabilitation work.
   Accusing the government of failure in proper distribution of relief supplies in the affected areas, senior leaders of the organisation also demanded national coordination in the post-cyclone rehabilitation work.
   ‘The Awami League government successfully tackled the 1998 floods under the able leadership of Sheikh Hasina. Prices of essential commodities also remained stable at that time. We demand her immediate release to make the post-cyclone rehabilitation work a success,’ Zillur said while receiving educational materials from the leaders of the Chhatra League for the cyclone-affected students at the party chief’s Dhanmondi office.
   Chhatra League president Mahmud Hasan Ripon handed over 20 thousand exercise books and 20 thousand ballpoint pens to the acting AL president as part of its ‘education assistance programme for the cyclone-affected students’.
   Terming post-cyclone rehabilitation work a very tough task, the acting AL general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam, said participation of the political parties was essential for successful rehabilitation work.
   ‘Relief operation would be better if Sheikh Hasina were present in the affected areas. We demand her release before the Victory Day to enable her to join the relief work,’ Ashraf said.
   Addressing the programme, AL presidium member Matia Chowdhury said that the government had failed to reach relief supplies to remote coastal areas even three weeks after the cyclone, and so it could not be called a successful relief operation.
   ‘The disaster should be faced through national coordination,’ Matia said, adding that despite having adequate relief, the rehabilitation programmes would fail if there was no coordination.
   AL leaders Abdul Mannan, Yafiz Osman, Dipu Moni and senior leaders of BCL were present at the programme.

A top Lebanese army officer and his bodyguard were killed on Wednesday in a powerful car bomb that further destabilised the country as it grapples with a presidential vacuum.
   A military spokesman said Brigadier General Francois El-Hajj, head of army operations, was killed in the blast along with his bodyguard as their car drove through the suburb of Baabda, which houses the presidential palace, defence ministry and several embassies.
   The attack was the first of its kind against the Lebanese military, seen as a unifying force in a country mired in its worst political crisis since the end of a 1975-1990 civil war.
   Several officials said Hajj, 54, was targeted as he was tipped to replace army chief General Michel Sleiman, the frontrunner to become Lebanon’s next president but whose election has been blocked by a standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian camps.
   Lebanon has been without a president since November 23 when incumbent Emile Lahoud ended his term with rival parties unable to agree on a successor.
   There was one immediate claim of responsibility for the killing which followed a string of political assassinations over the past three years.
   An army spokesman said Wednesday’s blast involved a 35-kilogram bomb packed in a BMW car. The bomb detonated just after 7:00am (0500 GMT), as Hajj was heading to the nearby defence ministry.
   The general’s body and that of his bodyguard Khairallah Hedwan were hurled into a nearby ravine by the force of the explosion, which blew out the windows of nearby buildings and left several cars burning.
   The Red Cross said eight people were wounded in the blast, none of them seriously.
   Hajj gained prominence last summer during a fierce 15-week battle between the army and an al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist group at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
   Several officials said his assassination was linked to the current crisis over the presidency and possibly the battle at Nahr al-Bared camp.
   ‘My first reaction is that this is linked to Nahr al-Bared, that it is a revenge attack,’ said Butros Harb, an MP with the ruling Western-backed majority.
   ‘But I am not sure that this is not also a message to the army in order to destabilise it and remove the halo around it at a time when the commander in chief has been tipped to become president,’ he added.
   Hajj’s mother and other members of his family wept in his hometown of Rmaish, near the southern border with Israel, and said he would always be remembered as a hero.
   Officials from the Western-backed ruling majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition, as well as several countries, immediately denounced the killing as a callous act designed to destabilise Lebanon.
   ‘We strongly condemn the assassination of Brigadier General Francois Hajj,’ US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement.
   The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, whose country has spearheaded efforts to end the political standoff, said the killing was a ‘cowardly’ act.
   Syria, which has been implicated in a number of political assassinations in Lebanon but denies involvement, also condemned the attack and indirectly pointed a finger at Israel, an accusation echoed by Iran.
   On Tuesday a parliament session to elect Sleiman president was postponed for the eighth time, amid a tug-of-war between politicians over how to amend the constitution to allow him to take up the post.
   The political standoff has prompted fears of total chaos in a country which has witnessed the killing of eight anti-Syrian MPs and politicians over the past three years.
   Hajj, who is survived by his wife and three children, is to be buried on Friday.

The high-level segment of the UN Climate Change Conference began in Bali with 144 ministers after high-level government representatives along with six heads of state gathered here on Wednesday.
   The deliberations in Bali, also the 13th Conference of the 192 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, aim to draw a roadmap that launches negotiations with a view to striking an agreement by 2009 that will govern the climate change regime once the Kyoto Protocol is phased out by 2012.
   With over 11,000 people attending it, this largest UN climate change summit ever held is expected to deliver a sensible response to climate change that a large body of scientists believe is happening because of global warming due to the emission of greenhouse gases.
   The highest body dealing with the matter, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, has recommended in a number of its reports that the industrialised countries must reduce their emissions by 20 to 45 per cent from the 1990 levels before 2020 to prevent a global temperature rise of over 2 degrees Celsius. Such a rise, it is feared, will bring about an irreversible change in global climate and result in increased natural calamities including floods and cyclones.
   The UN’s Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, speaking at the opening of the high-level segment, told participants that the grim projections made by the scientists meant the ‘the time to act is now’.
   Ki-Moon called climate change the moral challenge of this generation and reminded the participants that the ‘the eyes of the world’ were on the negotiators meeting in Bali. ‘We cannot rob our children of their future.’
   The Australian prime minister, whose country has been one of the two highest polluters, signed the protocol. He said that among the first of his actions as the new premier was to sign the formal instrument for Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
   ‘I have done this because I believe that climate change is now one of the greatest moral and economic challenges of our time,’ he said.
   Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary to the UN Framework Convention, said it was time to translate the scientific recommendations into policies but stuck to his ‘market-based solutions’, saying, ‘Business is ready to move into the low-emissions era, but needs the appropriate policy framework from governments to do so.’
   Yvo de Boer said that to do this, the ministers would have to agree to launch formal negotiations at Bali, and concur on an ambitious agenda and set 2009 as the deadline for negotiations.
   Ban Ki-Moon said that developed countries needed to continue to take the lead in curbing emissions, while providing other developing countries and businesses enough incentives to take preventive action against climate change.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has called for transforming educational institutions into ‘centres of excellence’ instead of ‘centres of politics’ to elevate Bangladesh to a moderate-income country over the next decade.
   The head of caretaker government proposed incorporation of 3-point component in the strategy of national development for advancing the already attained progress and turning Bangladesh into a moderate-income-group country.
   He mooted the proposals while inaugurating the four-day 16th biennial conference of the Bangladesh Economic Association at the auditorium of the Institution of Engineering Bangladesh.
   The components include increased investment in education and human resources to sustain the export-led growth, to make educational institutions centres of excellence instead of centre of politics, development of infrastructure to support the domestic economic activity and export growth, development of electricity production and distribution, development of communications, roads, highways and ports.
   Bringing change in government-private activities of financial, agricultural, construction, production and other areas, and utilizing efficiency of public utility services for improvement of business environment are also suggested for the new development paradigm.
   ‘There is no alternative to partnership-oriented development to advance Bangladesh and the country will have to march forward through facing the existing challenges,’ the chief adviser told the meet of economists.
   He sought cooperation of the members of the economic society in finding out elements which can play the role of development agent for attaining equality and progress of the country.
   ‘Without having equality in all spheres of a politically conscious and densely populated country like Bangladesh all attainments will be faded away,’ he observed.
   He said the economists were skill in thought and judging how the country could be turned into a Bangladesh that has long been cherished.
   ‘It is possible to get creative and effective policy and advice from in-depth and dynamic talented persons who are capable of understanding internal and external opportunities, threats and challenges in this era of globalisation,’ Fakhruddin told the function.
   He said under the background of present crucial historical juncture the nation was passing through it was imperative to judge the combined stream of challenges.
   He noted that the present caretaker government, since its journey, has been working for holding a free, fair and neutral election by December 2008.
   ‘Some fundamental institutional bases and transparent and rightful rules and regulations are needed for any effective democracy, and the present government is carrying out efforts to strengthen institutional foundations,’ he said, about ongoing massive reforms.
   The theme of the BEA conference is ‘Participatory Development, External and Internal Challenges’.
   The BEA president, Kazi Kholiquzzaman, and its general secretary Professor Abul Barakat also spoke at the inaugural function. Economists, academics and distinguished personalities were present.
   The chief adviser distributed Bangladesh Economic Association Gold Medal Sammanona 2007 to seven recipients for their contribution to economy and people’s welfare.
   The recipients are Md Kaisar Hussain, Abul Hussam, AKM Munir, Sanat Kumar Saha, Md Sikandar Khan, Mohammad Yunus (posthumous) and Mahfuz Anam.

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha on Wednesday afternoon began preliminary work to launch a full-scale operation this morning to
   rescue the people trapped inside the Rangs Bhaban that had partly caved in n Saturday night.
   ‘Fire fighters and workers of Rajuk and three construction firms started working this afternoon to prepare for the rescue efforts,’ a Rajuk engineer supervising the propping up of the collapsed floors with iron pipes by the construction companies told newsmen on Wednesday.
   He said a full-scale operation to rescue the people trapped under the debris inside the building would begin on Thursday morning after taking clearance from BUET experts.
   Two associate professors of civil engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Raqib Ahsan and Syed Istiaq Ahmed, visited the spot again on Wednesday afternoon and directed the three construction companies — Amin Mohammad Foundation, Meer Akhter Foundation, and Eastern Housing — to place more steel supports at some places.
   The BUET teachers also suggested that they should start clearing the rubbish and others materials piled up on the floors.
   Rajuk sources said 120 workers from the construction companies and 50 Rajuk workers with the help of fire fighters would conduct the rescue operation beginning from Thursday morning. The rescuers will work in two shifts.
   The neighbours of the vulnerable high-rise started leaving their residences after getting warning letters from the Tejgaon police on Tuesday.
   Dhaka University teachers and students as well as citizens will form a human chain in front of the Aparajeyo Bangla on the university campus Thursday demanding punishment of the firm responsible for the incident, said a press release.
   The Democratic Left Alliance and Odhikar, a human rights watchdog, also demanded immediate punishment of the quarters responsible for the collapse and compensation for the victims.
   The chief co-ordinator of Hijbut Tahrir, Bangladesh, Mohiuddin Ahmed, demanded expulsion of the Rajuk chairman and chief engineer for neglecting their duties.
   The top floors of the 22-storey building on the city’s Bijoy Sarani caved in on Saturday night, leaving four people dead and 14 others trapped inside, who are feared to be dead.
   The building had been being demolished after the Supreme Court on August 3 ruled the construction of the floors beyond the sixth illegal.
   The government engaged a private firm, Six Star Corporation, to demolish the unauthorised floors.

The High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Rezina Naser, daughter-in-law of former finance minister Saifur Rahman.
   Rezina, wife of Saifur’s detained son Naser Rahman, was charged with corruption by the Anti-Corruption Commission for submitting false wealth statement.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed M Dastagir Hossain and Justice M Abdul Hafiz also stayed the proceedings of the corruption case against Naser and his wife.
   The ACC filed a case with Gulshan thana on May 27 against the couple, accusing them of amassing illegal assets worth more than Tk 6.23 crore.
   The charge sheet was submitted to the court on November 18 after completion of the investigation.
   Dhaka metropolitan magistrate M Azizul Haque sent Rezina to jail on her surrender to the court on December 2.
   The judge transferred the case to the Special Judge’s Court 1 of Dhaka for trial and set December 5 for the next hearing of the case.
   Awami League presidium member Kazi Zafarullah was sent to jail after he was produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
   Zafarullah, a former MP, was arrested in March in an extortion case. The High Court released him on Tuesday.
   But he was re-arrested at the jail gate on charge of making inflammatory statement against the government violating the emergency rules when his supporters assembled there to receive him, said the police report to the court.

Six Pakistan soldiers, fifteen militants were killed Wednesday in an ambush and firefight in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan, the military said.
   Local officials said the soldiers were en route from Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district, when suspected pro-Taliban militants attacked them.
   ‘First a bomb planted on the roadside exploded when the convoy was passing through the area. After that, militants hiding on both sides of the road fired rockets at them,’ a local official said.
   Troops then opened fire on the attackers and a firefight ensued.
   ‘Fifteen militants were killed and six soldiers embraced martyrdom,’ Pakistan military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.
   Earlier in the day militants struck twice at military convoys in the area, leaving six wounded.

The US Congress on Tuesday passed a bill ‘expressing sympathy to and pledging the support’ of the House of Representatives and the people of the United States for Sidr victims in southern Bangladesh.
   A spokesman of the ministry of foreign affairs in Dhaka on Wed-nesday said Congressman Steve Rothman of New Jersey intro-duced the bill on December 4.
   Co-sponsored by 29 Congressmen, the bill was approved by 388 votes in favour and none against.
   ‘The adoption of the bill can be viewed as recognition of healthy US-Bangladesh relations. I am deeply satisfied and the Bangladeshi nation is grateful to their friends in the US legislature’, the foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, said.
   It is reported that the bill was voted at this time, despite a very crowded calendar, and speaker Nancy Pelosi made a special intervention to make room for the adoption.

The International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced here Wednesday that Marion Jones, who admitted doping last month, had been stripped of her five Sydney Games medals.
   ‘We’ve disqualified Miss Jones from the 2000 Olympic Games and declared her ineligible from Beijing (2008 hosts),’ Rogge confirmed. He added that the IOC would redistribute the disgraced sprinter’s medals at a later date.
   The IOC’s move follows the two year ban imposed on Jones by the IAAF in November.

The World Bank vice-president for South Asia region, Praful C Patel, arrives in Dhaka today on a three-day visit to discuss the bank’s support strategy with the government.
   ‘Recovery from cyclone Sidr and longer-term disaster mitigation and adaptation systems are expected to top the agenda with the government of Bangladesh,’ said a statement in Dhaka Wednesday on the visit of the senior World Bank official.
   In the immediate aftermath of the November 15 cyclone, the World Bank announced it could make up to $250 million available to Bangladesh for needs ranging from recovery to longer-term disaster mitigation.
   Patel is scheduled to hold talks with senior government officials to discuss issues including quick disbursement of financial support to the budget by end-January next year, livelihood restoration support by April next year and financial support for a long-term disaster prevention and management programme.

The UK secretary of state for international development, Douglas Alexander, is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on December 18 on a two-day visit to review the British development cooperation with Bangladesh.
   His visit comes at a time when the country is reeling and trying hard to recuperate from the devastation wreaked by the November 15 cyclone Sidr.
   The British development minister is scheduled to hold talks on bilateral issues with the finance adviser, AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam, and foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, on December 19, Foreign Office sources said on Wednesday.
   One of them said, ‘The same day, Alexander will visit a cyclone-ravaged area in Barisal and inspect a development project run by the UK Department for International Development there.’

Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in heavy combat across their de facto borders in the north of the island where at least 36 combatants were killed, the defence ministry said Wednesday.
   Intense clashes along the Mannar and Vavuniya districts left 20 guerrillas and three soldiers killed on Tuesday, the ministry said adding that another 12 guerrillas and a soldier were killed further north in the Jaffna peninsula.