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The BNP secretary general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, on Thursday rolled out a 13-point plan seeking major amendments to the national constitution to bring about sweeping reforms in all spheres including politics and administration.
   The major points of his plan include: striking a balance between the powers of the president and the prime minister, a ban on boycotting parliament sessions, making floor crossing by members of parliament difficult and prohibition on hartal or siege.
   He also gave an emphasis on changing the mindset of the politicians to improve political culture so that the country could get rid of the vicious cycle of politics of hatred and confrontation.
   ‘There should be more balance between the powers of the president and the prime minister,’
   Mannan Bhuiyan said at a press conference at his Gulshan residence Thursday afternoon. ‘According to the present constitutional provisions, the prime minister enjoys absolute power and the power of the president is negligible.’
   ‘The opposition, under any circumstances, will not be allowed to boycott parliament sessions,’ he said.
   Bhuiyan also proposed formation of the parliamentary standing committees in the second session of a new parliament, appointing their chairmen and members proportionate to lawmakers from the treasury and the opposition benches, ensuring their smooth functioning and considering their recommendations with due importance.
   He suggested that the post of public accounts committee chairman should be given to the opposition bench.
   The BNP secretary general proposed electing two deputy speakers, one from the treasury bench and another from the opposition.
    The opposition, in any circumstances, will not be allowed to boycott the parliament session and if any lawmaker remains absent for 30 consecutive days [instead of the present provision of 90 days] without the speaker’s permission, he or she will lose membership of the parliament, he said suggesting amendment to article 67(1)/Kha of the constitution.
   The opposition has to be allowed adequate time to express their opinion and for this the rules of procedure should be amended, he said.
   Mannan Bhuiyan also proposed provisions to make floor crossing for members of parliament difficult.
   He said that if a lawmaker resigned from the party he }was elected from, or joined another party or took oath as a minister without changing allegiance, he or she would lose the seat.
   ‘If a treasury bench member remains absent from the parliament sessions, votes against the budget bill, or does
   not cast vote, or votes for any impeachment motion against the government, or abstains in vote, or votes against any unanimous decision of the parliamentary party, he or she will also lose membership,’ he suggested.
   Bhuiyan also proposed reforms to ensure a constructive role for opposition parties to identify the government’s faults and avoid opposing the government just to oppose it.
   He suggested prohibition on protest programmes like hartal or siege which caused sufferings to the people. He also suggested strict measures against destructive activities during any political programmes or protests against government decisions.
   Bhuiyan underscored ensuring communal harmony and protecting the rights of all people irrespective of cast, creed, race and ethnicity.
   He called for striking a balance between the authorities of the president and the prime minister. ‘According to the present provision the prime minister enjoys absolute power,’ he said adding, ‘the president enjoys negligible power’.
   Bhuiyan called for a review of the government’s recruitment policy through the Public Service Commission.
   For administrative reforms he called for putting an end to any intervention in administration and ensuring the administration’s accountability. ‘Public servants should keep themselves from political involvement, and efficiency, merit and rules should be the yardstick of posting and promotion in administration,’ he said.
   Bhuiyan also proposed an attractive pay structure for public servants and proper training for them.
   On electoral reforms, Bhuiyan called for changing the present system of constituting the Election Commission and suggested making the commission secretariat an autonomous body separated from the executive.
   He also demanded budgetary allocation for the Election Commission, enhancing its manpower and giving it authority to formulate rules.
   Bhuiyan also called for ensuring autonomy of the judiciary and stopping all government intervention in it, and changing the recruitment system of the Ant-Corruption Commission and making the local government institutions stronger and independent.
   In a recommendation like that of the army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, the BNP secretary general called for formation of a national security council for ensuring national security, integrity, law and order, containing militancy, and securing energy, food and water resources.
   Demanding appointment of an ombudsman, he said no one was appointed to the post in past 36 years though the constitution had a provision for appointing an ombudsman.
   The BNP secretary general also announced a supplementary proposal in his first draft plan, announced on June 25, seeking amendment with retrospective effect to the party constitution to forbid a person from holding the office of the secretary general for more than two terms or six years.
   Asked how his plan could be implemented, he said that the government could take immediate measures to implement some of the proposals.
   ‘The government can form a national constitution commission to synchronise plans and ideas to amend the constitution…and draft proposals can be prepared to be placed in the next parliament,’ he said adding, ‘the parliament is the ultimate authority to amend the constitution.’
   Asked if they had informed Khaleda Zia about their
   plan for reforms, he said ‘We are taking primary preparations for the council…we will seek a date from the chairperson for the council…the council will be held on the date set by her.’
   He hoped that the chairperson would give permission for the national council.
   Asked if he wanted to hold the council amid restriction on political activities, he said,
   ‘We want complete withdrawal of restrictions on politics…but we will hold council if restrictions on indoor politics are relaxed.
   On June 25, Bhuiyan had proposed an amendment with retrospective effect to the party constitution that said the party chairperson could not hold office for more than two terms [each having three years] or six years.
   BNP standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman, vice-chairmen MK Anwar, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed and Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, and chairperson’s advisers Mofazzal Karim, ZA Khan and MA Hakim, and joint secretaries general Ashraf Hossain and Selima Rahman and a number of former party lawmakers were present at the press conference.
   Earlier, they held a discussion behind closed doors on the proposals

The textile and jute ministry has submitted a comprehensive plan to the chief adviser, proposing that 50 per cent of the workers in the state-run jute mills be laid off because of the huge fund crunch and mismanagement in that sector.
   An official in the ministry said that over 20,000 workers and employees would be terminated under a voluntary retirement scheme by December this year.
   ‘If the proposal is approved, the size of the workforce of the jute mills will be rationalised. We have prepared a comprehensive plan to make the state-run jute mills commercially viable,’ jute secretary Md Abdur Rashid Sarkar told New Age on Thursday.
   The plan and proposal will be discussed at a special meeting to be held at the Chief Adviser’s Office tomorrow.
   The textiles and jute adviser, Geeteara Safiya Choudhury, and finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam will attend the meeting, along with others, said a jute ministry official.
   The ministry has proposed that the jute mills should be made commercially viable or be sold to the private sector, he mentioned.
   At present, there are 22 jute mills under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation with over 43,000 workers and employees.
   The mills now owe Tk 136 crore to jute sellers as the finance ministry is not giving them any funds and they have been suffering from liquidity crisis for three years, said ministry sources.
   The jute secretary said the proposal would be sent to the cabinet, if necessary, for its approval. The proposal includes involvement of the finance ministry, commerce ministry and the Chief Adviser’s Office to bring about reforms and ensure smooth operation of the mills, which are now reeling under huge losses due to irregularities and mismanagement, said a senior official.
   The authorities on Wednesday sacked all the staff of state-owned People’s Jute Mills in Khulna. The government has decided to privatise four mills under BJMC — People’s Jute Mill, Karnaphuli Jute Mill and Forat Karnaphuli Carpet Factory in Chittagong and Qaumi Jute Mill in Sirajganj.
   The jute ministry has already sought Tk 382 crore from the finance ministry to terminate around 9,000 workers and employees of these mills through golden handshakes, said an official, adding that an additional sum of Tk 300 core will be required to run the rest of the mills.
   ‘Those who lose their jobs will get their dues and retirement benefits as per the rules. However, they will also have the opportunity to work on a daily basis in the remaining state-owned mills,’ said the jute secretary. The ministry, in its reform plan, has proposed production of diversified jute items, dedicated power supply, procurement of electricity generators to save loss of Tk 60 crore every year due to power-cut, and reduction in expenses.

The dissidents in the Awami League, pressing for inner-party reforms, are likely to review next week the responses to their proposals they have received from the grassroots level.
   ‘We will sit early next week again to review the response from grassroots level leaders to the reform proposals announced by our senior leaders,’ Professor Abdul Mannan, a former AL lawmaker who is actively involved in the reform process, told New Age on Thursday.
   Three senior AL leaders—Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta—recently unveiled their ‘personal’ reform agendas apparently aimed at establishing collective leadership in the party curbing what they called the party chief’s absolute authority.
   The proposals were sent to a section of grassroots level leaders and activists of the party seeking their opinion, on the basis of which the reformists would determine their next course of action.
   The reformists ruled out the possibility of convening a party council before withdrawal of the ban on political activities to approve the reform proposals.
   ‘We will not seek permission for holding an early council session. The reform proposals will be placed before the regular council after withdrawal of the ban on political activities,’ said Mannan replying a query whether they would seek permission from the government for holding an early council following an adviser’s assurance that the interim administration would consider such appeals.
   He also said that some points including formation of a national security council would be included in the reform proposals.
   Meanwhile, some dissidents have started backtracking from their stance following pressure from the leaders and activists in their respective constituencies, insiders said.
   Some dissident leaders, however, claimed that despite some frustration in the reformist camp, all of them were still with the process.
   ‘We are confused over the reform moves as the senior leaders announced the proposals through the media instead of placing it before the party working committee,’ a central AL leader, involved in the process, told New Age.
   The leader, also a former lawmaker for a Comilla constituency, who hosted a number of meetings of the dissidents at his residence over the past few weeks, said that the situation seemed frustrating [for the reformists] and he could not support any confrontation in the party.
   ‘Some [dissident] leaders may be a bit half-hearted these days but they are still with the process,’ another dissident leader told New Age, adding that an organising secretary was unhappy as he was not given importance when the drafts of reform proposals were prepared.
   He also said that since the [disappointed] leaders had not made any statements publicly, they were still with the process.
   ‘The leaders who joined the reform process have no scope to backtrack,’ he added.
   Talking to New Age, AL presidium member Matia Chowdhury, also one of the leading conformists who want any reform proposals to be placed in party forum, said that the leaders and activists across the country had rejected the reform moves initiated from outside.
   ‘The [dissident] leaders got negative response from the party activists in their constituencies to any reform moves outside the party forum which forced them to backtrack,’ Matia said.

Neither the police nor the local people could figure out what prompted nine of a family to commit suicide on the railway in the Mymensingh town on Wednesday.
   They could only identify three reasons — failure to establish their creed, seclusion for long and poverty — that might have pushed them to commit suicide.
   Local residents said the family of the late Anwar Hossain Fakir, a retired army subehdar, had been a mystery to them because of the way of living. They would not let anyone in the house and the neighbours were also unwilling to visit them.
   They said the Fakirs had gradually secluded themselves as people strongly objected to their creed, which ran counter to Islam and the Prophet.
   ‘When Anwar Hossain started preaching his creed at his house after his retirement, but nobody in the area liked it. The neighbours asked him to stop his activities,’ Sirajul Haq, a neighbour, told New Age on Thursday.
   People from faraway places used to visit Anwar and he used to talk against Islam and the Prophet and tried to convert them to his creed, he said.
   After the death of Anwar in 2000, local residents became angry when the family claimed that they had converted to Christianity, which was later found to be ‘false.’ Anwar was buried in Islamic rites, he said. Since then, the family had remained completely secluded and the neighbours and the relatives had been unaware of their living.
   A mason, Chan Miah, who was working on the other side of the house on the Kashar Jail Road on Thursday told New Age that he and his workers, who were then taking lunch, saw the nine sitting on the railway Wednesday afternoon.
   ‘We thought they would leave the place as others do at the sight of the train. We stood astonished to see the train ramming into the sitting figures. We rushed, but it had been all over by then. They were all dead in a while,’ he said. ‘I built their septic tank five years ago, but I did not find anything unusual with them.’
   Their relatives said the crisis in the family deepened with the death of Anwar on July 10, 2000. The issue of his burial created a commotion when the family wanted to bury him without namaz-e-janaza and with the body sitting in the grave, as he wished.
   The administration intervened and Anwar was buried in keeping with Islamic rites. The family had remained almost shut from the outside since then.
   Anwar’s eldest son, Golam Mohiuddin Mahin, a teacher of the Asian University, then took over the charge of the family. He was killed at Kalabagan in Dhaka in 2003 and it was a big blow dealt to the family, financially.
   The youngest son, Arif, had since then maintained the family of nine with his meagre earning from his job with a non-governmental organisation.
   ‘The notes in the diaries found in the house are against Muhammad and Islam,’ said the Mymensingh police superintendent, Rafiqul Islam, without giving any details.
   He said if the diaries had been made public before Wednesday’s incident, people would have killed them.
   ‘We do not belong to any religion. When who are we? We are Adam,’ was written in English in one of the four diaries found in the house. A note in another diary read, ‘We are the only family in the world that is totally independent and self-dependent and out of Muhammad’s rule.’
   The local people said the family members might have been mentally disoriented for which they behaved in an unusual way.
   Rafiqur Rahman Dulal, cousin of Hena, Anwar’s wife, told New Age that Hena did not even let her mother, Zayeda Khatun, now 85, in the house when she went there after Anwar’s death.
   All the family members — Hena Begum, 60, wife of the late Anwar Fakir, their youngest son Arif, 31, daughters Mobi, 40, Akhtari Begum, 34, Murshida Akhtar, 27, Rahat, 20, and Shabnam, 17, and Mobi’s daughter Mariam, 10, and her son, Moula, 8 — committed suicide.
   Witnesses said the elders in the family tied up the young ones with cloths such as lungi, sari and dopatta and then they all jumped on to the railway when a train from Jamalpur was passing by.
   All the nine were cut into pieces. They lay scattered, trailing along the railway for about three kilometres, up to the level crossing at Sankipara.
   The police collected the bodies for post-mortem examinations at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. But no one approached to receive the bodies till Thursday evening.
   People are still haunted by the incidents. No one could believe a family would ever meet its end in such a manner.
   The house was sealed off and policemen kept standing guard.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has urged the members of naval force to always remain alert to uphold the sovereignty of maritime territory, curb smuggling and piracy, and ensure security of sea route for movement of ship.
   He made the call while inaugurating the formal commissioning of frigate BNS Khalid Bin Walid at the naval jetty at Isa Khan Naval Base in Chittagong on Thursday morning.
   The chief adviser inaugurated the commissioning through the handing over of commissioning forman of the frigate to its commanding officer Captain Aminur Rahman.
   He also unveiled the name plaque of BNS Khalid Bin Walid.
   BNS Khalid Bin Walid is a modern warship of the Bangladesh Navy capable of fighting in all dimensions in the present and in the foreseeable future.
   A milestone in BNS field of maritime warfare, the frigate is a multipurpose combatant that can be effectively used for the anti-air, surface and anti-submarine warfare.
   The ship has the capability to launch organic helicopter to cover a large area of operation.
   In addition to her all dimensional combat roles, she is capable of performing all peacetime policing duties within the country’s maritime zones.
   Construction work of the frigate, with state-of-the-art technology, began on March 11, 1998 by Daewoo Shipyard of Republic of Korea.
   The frigate was first commissioned on June 20 in 2001 as BNS Bangabandhu in the Bangladesh Navy.
   Later, the ship was decommissioned for various warranty repair works and placed in reserved class-III as DW 2000-H frigate on February 13, 2002.
   The ship was being re-commissioned for the active service in the Bangladesh Navy as BNS Khalid Bin Walid. She is capable to counter three-dimensional threats.
   The primary role of this ship in the Bangladesh Navy will be surveillance of the country’s exclusive economic zone.
   She will also carry out various constabulary tasks in Bangladesh’s sea area against maritime terrorism, environmental pollution and smuggling, and can also be deployed for search and rescue operation.
   Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the chief adviser urged the rank and file of the naval force to keep up their efforts to further brighten the image of Bangladesh in the world forum through maintaining honesty, sincerity, discipline, efficiency and high standard of professionalism.
   Congratulating the officers and crew of BNS Kalid Bin Walid, Fakhruddin said he believed they would ensure best utilisation of the frigate and proper maintenance of equipment and device of the frigate, a valuable national wealth, by highest order of patriotism, skill and work efficiency as well as hard labour.
   He said after the country’s independence, the journey of naval force started from nearly zero position and now with the passage of time the naval force had turned into a professional and multi-dimensional force.
   The chief adviser said his government assumed the office in last January in the backdrop of an uncertain and unstable situation.
   Since then, as part of the armed forces, the naval force is making important contributions to various activities of the government in aid of civil administration, he said.
   He further said the naval contingent deployed in coastal areas and in nearby 11 upazilas has made immense contribution in improving law and order in these areas.
   The Navy is playing an important role in tackling natural calamity, curb smuggling in sea route, and in exploring and preserving sea resources, he added.
   The chief adviser said the members of naval force also earned reputation and fame through goodwill visits to different friendly countries, through bilateral and multi-lateral naval exercises and by participating in UN peacekeeping missions.
   He said after independence, the naval force had been carrying out tasks to gradually intensify the momentum of its institutionalisation and skill.
   The chief adviser said the present caretaker government was giving special importance in increasing the capacity of the armed forces alongside socioeconomic development of the country. ‘Today’s commissioning of this modern and multi-dimensional warship is a continuation of this.’
   The ship’s war weapons, combat management system, missile- launching system and other equipment are of world class, he said. ‘So, addition of this ship to our naval force is very significant in respect of technology and strategy.’
   Fakhruddin said this would undoubtedly keep far reaching contributions in increasing skill and dynamism of the naval force. The naval force plays important role in attaining economic prosperity by utilising sea resources and using sea route, he added.
   The chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam, also spoke on the occasion.
   Earlier, on his arrival, the chief adviser was received by the chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam, at the naval jetty at Isa Khan Base.

Law enforcers on Thursday conducted several drives to arrest Mahbuba Sultana, wife of the detained BNP leader Mosaddak Ali Falu, and to confiscate her property as she failed to appear in court in a case of tax evasion.
   A Motijheel police team started raiding her house at Dakshin Shajahanpur in Dhaka at around 11:00am with a warrant for her arrest. They prepared a list of the assets of the house during the raids.
   One of Mahbuba’s relatives told newsmen on Thursday that she had gone out of the house early morning to meet her lawyers.
   The Motijheel police officer-in-charge, Rezaul Haque, told New Age, ‘We received a court order Tuesday night and we conducted the raid to arrest her and to prepare a seizure list.’
   A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered attachment of her property in connection with the case of tax evasion filed
   by the National Board of Revenue.
   Metropolitan sessions judge Mohammad Azizul Haq passed the order and directed the Motijheel police to attach her property.
   The same court on July 5 issued a warrant for her arrest after deputy commissioner (taxes) Mohammad Masudur Rahman Masud had filed the case.
   The court also directed the Motijheel police officer-in-charge to carry out the warrant and to submit on July 12 a report on her arrest.
   The court also asked the police to submit a report on the confiscation to the court on July 16.
   In his complaint, Masud said Mahbuba had not paid income taxes of Tk 1.58 crore between 2001 and 2006.
   The army-led joint forces arrested Mosaddak Ali Falu, former lawmaker for the Dhaka 10 constituency, at his house at Gulshan on February 5. He is one of the top corruption suspects and accused in five graft cases.

The Power Division on Thursday fixed targets for five power agencies to reduce system losses by 0.5 to 3 per cent in one year.
   The division also set a provisional target that around 1,223 megawatt of power from new power plants would be added to the national grid, and contracts for power plants generating 1,025 MW would be signed by 2008 before this interim government leaves office.
   The Power Division is determined to complete signing of some agreements and complete some tender procedures to enable the next government to sign agreements by 2008 for new power plants so that 6,223 MW can be generated in the country.
   A Power Division meeting, chaired by its adviser Tapan Chowdhury, asked the Power Development Board to reduce its system loss — technical and non-technical (pilferage) — to 14.5 per cent from the existing 16.7 per cent and Rural Electrification Board to reduce it by 12 per cent from 12.78 per cent in one year.
   It also asked the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority to reduce its system loss from 21 per cent to 18 per cent, Dhaka Electric Supply Company from 13 per cent to 12.5 per cent and West Zone Power Distribution Company from 14.5 per cent to 13 per cent in one year, Tapan told reporters after the meeting.
   The convener of the taskforce on the power sector, Major General Abdul Wadud, was also present at the meeting, which was attended by the heads of all power agencies and high officials of the Power Division.
   The Power Division intends to add 1,223 MW of power to the national grid by 2008 — of which 100 MW will be added from the under-construction Fenchuganj power plant, 240 MW from Siddhirganj power plant, 220 MW from the recently approved 10 small independent power plants, 260 MW from seven rental power plants and 300 MW from newly planned rental power plants with generation capacities of 10-30 MW.
   It also wants to complete tender procedure and award contracts for power plants that will generate 1,025 MW of electricity, which include the 210 MW Khulna, another 150 MW Khulna, the 150 MW Sirajganj, the 150 MW Shikalbaha and the 360 MW Haripur power plants.
   The Power Division intends that the paper-work and tender procedures for power plants generating 6,223 MW will be completed by 2008. The major plants are three 450 MW independent power plants and government-funded 450 MW Bheramara plant.
   Most of these plants will come into operation by 2011-2012 if everything goes according to plan.
   The meeting asked the concerned officials to prepare a final action plan on setting up power plants that will be implemented by 2008. It, however, asked the officials not to consider the 450 MW Meghnaghat-II, 150 MW Chandpur and 90 MW Bheramara-II plants as their fate is uncertain and the government might have to cancel agreements with the selected bidders.
   The meeting asked the power agencies to modernise their billing systems by introducing more pre-paid meter and billing through SMS for giving better service to consumers.
   The PDB officials said that they had already given 8,000 consumers in Chittagong the opportunity to pay bills through the SMS service of Grameenphone and have set a target to increase the number of such consumers to 3 lakh.
   The REB officials said that they were in the process of introducing a similar service through Grameenphone.
   The adviser, however, asked the power agencies to include other mobile phone operators, including the state-run Teletalk, in this service.
   Regarding purchase of captive power, the meeting observed that apart from REB, other agencies had not show any interest in purchasing the surplus power of captive plants of private industries.
   When those agencies defended themselves by saying that the industries were not interested in selling captive power, the meeting asked them to provide a list of the industries that have surplus electricity but are not ready to sell it, so that action can be taken against them.

Nepal’s government scrapped payments to King Gyanendra and vowed to nationalise royal property in a budget presented to parliament on Thursday that deals a major blow to the embattled monarch.
   The king has been under pressure since fiercely-republican Maoists signed a peace deal with mainstream parties last year and entered Kathmandu’s corridors of power. The latest government move adds to signs that he may soon be removed.
   Finance minister Ram Sharan Mahat’s 2.6-billion-dollar budget for the Himalayan nation, one of the world’s poorest, contained no provisions for the royal palace.
   In last year’s budget, the annual royal household allowance had already been cut from 10.6 million dollars to three million dollars.
   Mahat also announced that royal properties – dozens of grand palaces and huge parks – would be seized ‘in the national interest.’
   He added that the ‘nationalisation of the properties of the royal palace will be implemented on a time-bound basis.’
   With former Maoist rebels in government and parliament, analysts said it was hardly surprising that the budget had pulled the financial plug on the palace.
   ‘The government has not allocated any money in this year’s budget for the king... the royal budget has been totally scrapped,’ said Prem Khanal, a senior business reporter at the English-language Kathmandu Post newspaper.
   ‘If any money had been allocated for the palace, it would have been unlikely to have been approved,’ he said.
   Gyanendra – who is known to have a large private income from business – came to the throne in 2001 in tragic and bizarre circumstances after an apparently drunk and drugged Crown Prince Dipendra killed most of his family, including the king and queen, and then himself.
   Although viewed by loyalists as the reincarnation of a Hindu deity, King Gyanendra – the brother of the slain king – lost public support in February 2005 when he sacked the government and assumed direct control of the nation.
   He claimed the government was corrupt and had failed to end the Maoists’ decade-long ‘People’s War.’
   A 14-month period of dictatorial rule ended in April last year after massive protests organised by sidelined political parties and Maoists rocked the country and left at least 19 people dead.
   Since the peace deal brought the Maoists into Kathmandu, the king has been stripped of his status as head of the army and head of state.
   Gyanendra’s fate is set to be decided after polls in November that will elect a body to rewrite Nepal’s constitution – and decide whether the 238-year-old monarchy should stay or go.

Awami League presidium member Matia Chowdhury on Thursday came down hard on law adviser Mainul Hosein, accusing him of being partisan and breaching oath.
   She also strongly protested against the restriction on the movement of party president Sheikh Hasina and demanded that the government should protect her [Hasina] democratic and constitutional rights to move freely.
   ‘Mainul has breached oath of office and lost neutrality as he has been preaching reforms to Awami League and BNP carefully avoiding any mention of Jamaat,’ Matia told reporters outside Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in the city’s Dhanmondi area.
   The senior party leader was stopped by security personnel from entering the museum where the AL chief was staying at that time.
   As an adviser to the interim government for the last six months, Mainul has given enough proof that he is loyal to a certain camp, Matia said.
   ‘Being an adviser to a non-party caretaker government, he [Mainul] cannot point an accusing finger at any political party’, she said.
   The AL leader lashed out at the government for restricting the movement of Sheikh Hasina and barring party leaders, activists and well-wishers from visiting the party chief.
   ‘I could not meet her in the last one month, but the government claims that it is upholding the constitutional rights of people’, Matia said, adding that the restriction should be lifted immediately and the government should allow at least a limited number of visitors inside Sudha Sadan.
   She rejected the explanation given by the inspector general of police that the restriction was imposed on grounds of security of the Awami League chief.
   ‘How Hasina’s security would be threatened if one or two leaders meet her at Sudha Sadan or at Bangabandhu Memorial Museum’, she asked adding that the IGP’s claims could not be accepted.
   Responding to a query, Matia said that cases had been filed against Sheikh Hasina with political intention as one case was filed when she criticised the delay in preparing voters’ roll while another was filed on her return from abroad when she spoke for the people and democracy.
   She, however, said that there would be no objection if any case was filed in a transparent way but bringing charges against someone in a planned way must be considered as politically motivated.
   Referring to the army chief’s comments denying the allegation of using the military agencies in splitting political parties, Matia said that the people were afraid of such activities as military rulers Ziaur Rahman and Ershad had used intelligence agencies in breaking and launching political parties in the past.

Farmers clashed with police in Rajshahi and encircled agriculture office in Bhola Thursday demanding smooth supply of fertiliser.
   Local administrations said at least 12 people were injured during a clash between farmers and the police in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi.
   Several hundred farmers surrounded the upazila agriculture office in the coastal island of Monpura under Bhola district demanding immediate supply of sufficient amounts of fertiliser.
   The government is responsible for smooth and timely supply of urea fertiliser, produced locally in state-owned fertiliser factories, through a network of selected dealers.
   Witnesses said farmers of Bidirbur of Godagari upazila were agitating for adequate supply of fertiliser in the morning. The police tried to disperse them, triggering the clash.
   News agency bdnews24.com reports, the police charged with batons to disperse the farmers. In retaliation the farmers threw brickbats at the police. At least 12 persons including two police constables were injured in the clash.
   Officer in charge of Godagari police station Mohiuddin claimed that the situation had quickly been brought under control.
   Our correspondent from Barisal reports, several hundred farmers surrounded the upazila agriculture office of Monpura under Bhola district Thursday morning.
   Police brought the situation under control in an hour and the officials assured the agitating farmers of immediate resumption of urea supply.
   Swapan Kumar Bose, Monpura upazila agricultural officer, said the crisis was created after the amount of fertiliser supplied by the factories failed to fulfil the demands of the local farmers.
   Only 18 tonnes of fertiliser were supplied against the demand for 50 tonnes in the month of June, and not a single tonne was supplied against the demand for 275 tonnes in July, he added.
   Belayet Hossain, deputy commissioner of Bhola district, said that after hearing of the fertiliser crisis and tense situation in the upazila, he ordered the concerned authorities on Thursday to send 25 tonnes of fertiliser to Monpura immediately.

The present interim caretaker government is a ‘constitutional irregularity’, but there is no illegality about it and it can be regularised, speaker Jamiruddin Sircar said on Thursday.
   ‘It cannot be said unconstitutional… Constitution does not say it… A country cannot run without a government… So the government that was functioning remains continuous (after January 11),’ the speaker, who is also continuing in his office for an
   extended period under the given situation, gave the rulings at a hurriedly called press conference at his Bailey Road residence.
   Asked how more days the caretaker government could continue, as it has already outlived its 90-day tenure, the speaker posed a counter-question: ‘Wouldn’t there be any government?’
   He noted that the constitution ‘will not cover the situation if there will not be the caretaker government’.
   Replying to a query as to how long the constitutional process would remain suspended, Sircar said that was not stated in the constitution either. ‘Constitution says it (present caretaker government) is not illegal.’
   ‘This is a hypothetical question,’ he quipped when asked if the present caretaker government could continue for an eternity.
   Sircar stated that Article 58 of the constitution says
   all about the caretaker government, and after that it has not been said whether it (caretaker government) would be illegal or not (in any particular situation).
   Replying to a query if the state of emergency couldcontinue so long in a democratic country, the speaker said there was no bar in the constitution.
   If there was a parliament then it would lap after 120 days, otherwise it could continue.
   Asked about the speculation over his tacit support and involvement with the
   BNP secretary general’s probable new political party, he said the thing couldn’t be said in this way.
   ‘As speaker, I should not disclose what is inside me.’
   About the ongoing reforms within different political parties, the speaker said there was no reason to have any objection of anyone regarding the reforms. ‘The main thing is how the reforms would be done… Reforms always done by council… If it (reforms) is done this way (through council), then it would have to be obeyed.’
   Asked about a strong
   speculation about his resignation as speaker and becoming BNP chairperson, Sircar
   said he didn’t have any such intention, as, if he resigned, the office of president would fall vacant if the president resigned any time.
   He declined to answer when asked if he would take over the president’s office when the president’s tenure would complete nest September.
   According to Article 50 of the constitution, the president’s term is of five years, the speaker told the journalists. But the president could continue until takeover by the next elected president.
   Sircar declined to comment about the ongoing political reforms, specially the ‘minus-two’ formula, as he said being speaker he could not comment according to the constitution and concerned laws.

Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion will probe into allegations of corruption against reformist politicians as well, its top official said.
   ‘If we get allegations of corruption against reformist politicians, we must go for investigation,’ ACC secretary Mokhles ur Rahman said at a press briefing held on Thursday at its headquarters.
   He was asked to comment on the anti-graft watchdog’s strategy about the politicians, who are allegedly trying to use reform campaigns as shields against legal proceedings.
   The commission decided Thursday to investigate charges of corruption against two ACC deputy directors, the secretary said.
   Earlier on June 4, the Internal Corruption Prevention Committee of the ACC started its first ever inquiry into allegations against one of its own officers, a deputy director of the ACC.
   Mokhles said that the commission would be manned on deputation until the ACC recruitment rules are endorsed.
   The commission has so far got anti-graft committees in 56 districts out of total 64 and at 363 upazilas out of total 480.
   The committees are yet to be approved, as the commission continues inquiries about the members of the proposed committees, said Mokhles.
   Their main function is to create awareness among people against corruption, he said.
   The commission has set up 4 zonal offices at four divisional headquarters and each of the offices will be headed by a director. Four majors of the army have been appointed directors for those offices, said the ACC secretary.
   According to him, the commission has received a total of 42,800 allegations since the January 11 changeover. It also got 7342 allegations before January 11.
   About 12,000 allegations have been sorted out 12000 for disposal, he said.
   He further informed that commissioner Abul Hasan Manjur Mannan and deputy director Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan would visit Hong Kong soon to observe the functioning of the Independent Commission Against Corruption over there.
   Mokhles said the Commission awarded five officials for their efficient activities in the chase against the suspected corrupt.

As troops cleared bodies and booby traps from Pakistan’s Red Mosque, the question arose: how could Islamic radicals build a fortress under the noses of intelligence agencies in the capital?
   At least 73 militants and nine soldiers died in two days of fierce room-to-room fighting at the complex in the heart of Islamabad, where insurgents had built bunkers and trenches to hold off the army commandos.
   Rebels used heavy weapons including rocket launchers and machine guns to combat government forces. A decapitated head indicated there had been a suicide attack during the raid and an unexploded suicide belt was also found.
   Many residents have asked how the radicals were able to amass this arsenal.
   ‘It looked like a real fortress,’ the deputy information minister, Tariq Azeem, said during a visit to the scene on Thursday, adding that an acrid burning smell permeated the mosque and an adjoining girls’ Islamic school.
   Officials have said that militants linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and the Taliban, including some foreign rebels, were among those who had been holed up in the compound.
   Yet the mosque is only about a mile away from foreign embassies and the residence of president Pervez Musharraf, who has led a bloody campaign against Islamic extremists in the wake of 9/11.
   ‘It was the biggest intelligence failure,’ said Munir Malik, the president of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association, who is representing the country’s chief justice in a fight against his suspension by Musharraf in March.
   ‘How come the intelligence agencies were not aware of the happenings in the mosque?’
   Mutahir Ahmed, a professor of international relations at Karachi University, said the failures were not just about the presence of weapons.
   ‘It’s also about the presence of pro-Taliban militants. The public has a right to ask these unanswered questions,’ Ahmed said.
   Pakistani authorities, however, defended their record.
   ‘The resistance was definitely unexpected but intelligence agencies were getting reports for some time that the cleric brothers were collecting arms and weapons,’ a senior security official said.
   ‘The intelligence services were a bit complacent because the two brothers had previously been cooperating. But the president himself pointed out the presence of heavy weaponry inside the mosque in his recent briefings to media.’
   Attention has inevitably focused on the known ties between the two brothers who ran the mosque – surviving Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was buried Thursday – and Pakistan’s shadowy intelligence agencies.
   Aziz was captured fleeing the complex in a burqa last week while Ghazi was shot dead after saying that he would rather die than surrender.
   In the run-up to the mosque raid there were conspiracy theories that Musharraf had egged on the brothers to play up tensions and remind his US allies of his supposed indispensability in the fight against militancy.
   Pakistan’s spy agencies have frequently been accused – not least by neighbouring Afghanistan – of links with militants and of using ‘jihadi’ fighters to further their foreign goals.
   There was also alarm at the involvement in final government negotiations with Ghazi of Fazlur Rehman Khalili, a well known jihadi leader from the feared Harkat-ul-Ansar, a group which has fought in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Bangladesh Bank will review key policy rates and instruments like liquidity ratio provisions of banks, while continuing its cautious and restrained monetary policy.
   The tight policy, being pursued for the last 18 months, will be integrated with the measures initiated by the government to address supply-side constraints, which are the main culprits for soaring inflation.
   Central bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed gave these broad hints while unfolding the monetary policy statement, fourth in a row, on Thursday.
   The policy guidelines, reviewed in every six months, projected 7 per cent gross domestic product growth in the current fiscal year, but saw prospects bleak for inflation coming down below 7 per cent level.
   Inflationary pressure is unlikely to ease in the near future due to supply-side problems in the domestic front, coupled with rise in prices of fuel, metals, food grains and other essential goods in the international markets, it said.
   The governor admitted that the cautious policy, practised for one year and a half, could not check several monetary aggregates like broad money and private sector credit from exceeding target levels.
   He felt that commercial banks need to reduce gap between deposit and lending rates, and enter into new areas like agriculture, small and medium enterprises and housing sectors.
   ‘The spread (gap between lending and deposit rates) is too high and we have repeatedly told the bankers to increase their efficiency to reduce the gap,’ he said.
   He said the central bank will create a Tk 300 crore housing refinancing scheme for banks to help low income group people buy apartments. The interest rate of housing loans under the scheme will be lower and repayment period as long as 20 years.
   Salehuddin assured that the private sector would receive policy support to attain economic growth.
   He stressed the need for coordination between fiscal and monetary policies.
   The central bank hinted some changes in the statutory liquidity ratio and cash reserve requirement of the banks. At present, banks are to maintain 18 per cent SLR, including five per cent as CRR.
   Broad money supply would be expanded at a rate of 14 per cent to support achievement of the highest sustainable output growth. Reserve money and broad money growth will be very much consistent with GDP growth, he said.
   Since government bond rates also influence inflationary trend, gap between rates of short-term and long-term treasury bonds should be reduced, the governor said. The gap is now 5 per cent.
   Regarding surplus liquidity of Tk 9517 crore, deputy governor Nazrul Huda said the amount is not as big as said given the total deposit of Tk 190,000 crore held by the country’s banking sector.

Stocks lost on Thursday as the central bank’s announcement of extending cautious policy weighed down the mood of institutional investors and made them extra cautious, market players said.
   Dhaka Stock Exchange’s general index lost 16.18 points or 0.73 per cent to close at 2204.13, while its blue chips index, DSE20, shed 3.18 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 1879.57.
   Chittagong Stock Exchange’s selective categories index lost 19.79 points or 0.55 per cent to close at 3557.95, while its blue chips index, CSE30, shed 35.29 points or 0.71 per cent to close at 4938.28.
   ‘Institutional investors became cautious after the BB’s monetary policy statement,’ said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of DSE.
   He said the market also witnessed some price corrections after a couple of days of rise.
   Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed on Thursday said the central bank will continue its cautious and restrained monetary policy in the July-December period of fiscal 2007-08.
   The central bank also will revisit key policy rates and policy instruments such as statutory liquidity ratio and cash reserve ratio for banks, he hinted. The announcements alarmed the institution investors, which are key players in the stock market, analysts and market operators said.
   Losers outnumbered the gainers on Thursday on both the bourses. Of the total 217 issues traded on the DSE, 117 declined, 82 advanced and 18 remained unchanged.
   Of the total 117 issues traded on the CSE, 75 declined, 30 advanced and 12 remained unchanged.
   Turnover at the DSE also fell to Tk 169.87 crore from the Wednesday’s Tk 195.62 crore. The CSE turnover, however, increased to Tk 26.32 crore from Tk 24 crore, BRAC Bank topped the turnover leaders at the DSE with a total transaction of Tk 16.98 crore.
   Other turnover leaders at the prime bourse were Dhaka Electric Supply Company, Power Grid Company Bangladesh, Summit Power, Aims 1st Mutual Fund, Grameen Mutual Fund One, Prime Bank and United Commercial Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank and AB Bank.

Thailand’s military-installed prime minister Surayud Chulanont Thursday cautioned junta leader general Sonthi Boonyaratglin against entering politics in upcoming elections.
   Sonthi, who seized power in a coup last September and installed Surayud as premier weeks later, has said he may run in general elections promised by the end of this year, depending on the political situation.
   Former general Surayud, speaking from southern Thailand, said it was a ‘personal matter’ if army chief Sonthi decided to stand, but warned that history was not on the side of the career soldier.
   ‘As Prasong (chairman of the Constitution Drafting Council) said, there is not any military man who was successful (in Thai politics),’ he told reporters, referring to comments made by Prasong Soonsiri earlier this week.
   Surayud, however, rejected accusations that Thailand’s military rulers were trying to cling to power as the country prepares to return to democracy.
   ‘There shouldn’t be any significant repercussions if he really decides to run,’ he said.
   Defence minister Boonrawd Somtas said in an interview on Monday that Sonthi wanted to run for parliament so that he can ‘sweep all the dirt’ left by toppled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but said Sonthi would not likely seek the premiership.
   Sonthi, 61, faces mandatory retirement from the military on September 30 and has shown no sign of trying to extend his tenure as head of the army. The military is currently considering who will replace him as leader of the junta.
   In an interview published in the Nation newspaper Thursday, Sonthi remained coy about his political future, but said he was cautious of those who advised him about embarking on a career in government.
   ‘I have to read between the lines the viewpoints supporting and opposing. Yet I listen to all of the opinions. I’ll try to figure out if both the supporters and the critics have any hidden agenda,’ he said.

Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan claimed his 59th five-wicket haul before rain wreaked havoc in the final cricket Test against Bangladesh here on Thursday.
   The world record-chasing bowler finished with 6-28 as Bangladesh were shot out for 131 in their first innings before lunch on the second day at the Asgiriya stadium.
   Heavy rain soon after Bangladesh were dismissed forced Sri Lanka to wait until an hour after tea to begin their reply and they managed to play only 8.4 overs before rain set in again.
   Sri Lanka were 30-0 when play was abandoned for the day with Michael Vandort on 25 and Upul Tharanga on four.
   The hosts, seeking a 3-0 clean sweep after winning the first two Tests, have been frustrated by the rain interruptions, which allowed just 29 overs on Wednesday and 28.3 overs on the second day.
   When play began 30 minutes late due to a wet outfield, the tourists lost their last six wickets for 33 runs as Muralitharan and seamer Sujeewa De Silva ran through the lower order.
   Muralitharan took his career tally to 694 wickets, leaving him just 14 away from equalling Australian Shane Warne’s world record of 708 wickets.
   The off-spinner, who still has unfinished business with Bangladesh in the second innings, could overtake the retired Warne when Sri Lanka play two Tests in Australia in November.
   But Muralitharan said he was not unduly concerned when the record came although the conditions here could delay the feat.
   “I am not sure how much we will be able to bowl in the second innings given the rain, but we will still press for victory if the weather holds,” the 35-year-old said.
   “The record will come as long as I play on. I am not sure it will happen in Australia since the wickets there are suited more to fast bowlers.
   “The important thing is to stay fit and hungry for wickets.”
   Muralitharan, who completed 100 wickets in 15 Tests in his home town of Kandy, now has an astonishing 70 wickets in eight matches against Bangladesh.
   The poor drainage and coverage system at the stadium that made it difficult for the ground staff to dry the muddy outfield in the brief breaks from rain disappointed Muralitharan.
   “The facilities at this stadium have to improve,” he said.
   Muralitharan, who had taken two wickets on the first day, earned his third in the innings with a brilliant return catch to dismiss Mashrafee bin Murtaza.
   As Mashrafee jabbed the ball high to short cover, Muralitharan ran to his left and dived full-length, claiming the catch with his outstretched left hand inches from the ground.
   Muralitharan took another return catch, this one a simple skier running to his left, to remove Mohammad Rafique and claim his 100th wicket in Kandy.
   The wily bowler had the last two batsmen, Shahadat Hossain and Syed Rasel, caught close to the wicket to leave Mushfiqur Rahim unbeaten on 11.

A new US intelligence report shows al-Qaeda is gaining strength and has established a safe haven in remote tribal areas of western Pakistan for training and plotting attacks, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
   The five-page report, entitled ‘al-Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West,’ will be the subject of a meeting at the White House on Thursday, the newspaper said, citing intelligence officials.
   It concludes the group has rebuilt itself despite extensive US efforts to destroy the network. The intelligence officials declined to discuss the report’s content in detail because it is classified, the paper said.
   The CIA’s deputy director for intelligence, John Kringen, told a congressional committee on Wednesday that al-Qaeda appears to be ‘fairly well-settled into the safe have in the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan.’
   When asked about the intelligence assessment, the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, said he could not discuss any classified report but reiterated concerns that al-Qaeda activity was expanding around the world.
   ‘We’re concerned about the increased scope. We saw a bombing in Algeria yesterday. We see bombings in North Africa and activities in Somalia and Pakistan. All of these things are creating heightened concern on our part as we move forward,’ Chertoff told CNN.

The Sri Lankan foreign minister is scheduled to visit Bangladesh on July 16 to hold bilateral talks and to receive the relic of Lord Buddha’s hair, kept in the Chittagong Buddhist temple, as a gift from Bangladesh.
   Dhaka will present Colombo with the relic in a gesture of goodwill and friendship.
   The Lankan foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, will arrive in Dhaka on a three-day visit. He will be accompanied by his cabinet colleagues.
   During his visit, Bogollagama will hold formal bilateral talks with the foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.
   The Sri Lankan mass media and information minister, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, cultural affairs minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, religious affairs and moral upliftment minister Pandu Bandaranaike, and highways minister TB Ekanayake will accompany Bogollagama.
   The Sri Lankan ministers are expected to make a joint call on the head of the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed.

BDR personnel fought a gun battle with an insurgent group of Myanmar in a forest at Naikhyangchhari under Bandarban early Thursday and recovered arms and ammunition.
   Sources at the Bangladesh Rifles said a BDR team led by Habilder Mohammad Dil raided a camp of insurgent group of Arakan army in Charaboniha forest area at about 3.30 am.
   Sensing their presence, the members of the Arakan insurgent group fire on the BDR members prompting them to retaliate, the sources said.
   After about half-an hour fight, the insurgent group left their camp and fled to the deep forest, the sources added.
   Later, the BDR destroyed the camp and recovered one Pakistani-made Sikandari long barrel gun, one round of m-16 rifles bullet, two rounds of AK-47 bullets and fourd rounds of 303 rifles bullets and some arms-making equipment.
   The Arakan insurgents abducted two employees of Danida, a non-government organization, in June. The army-led joint forces rescued them after 14 days of their abduction.

President Fidel Castro in his latest newspaper article Wednesday blamed the US dollar for the emergence of inequality and wasteful spending in Cuba since the adoption of the US currency to help ease economic hardships.
   The adoption of the greenback in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union – along with the convertible peso, which can be exchanged into dollars – has brought ‘some relief’ during the so-called ‘Special Period’ in Cuba’s economy, Castro wrote in state-run newspapers.
   However, the US currency ‘at times gives rise to irritating inequalities and privileges’ in a country that has prided itself in creating a model, egalitarian economic system based on Marxist principles.
   He especially criticised ‘those who, one way or another, receive convertible pesos or foreign currency and, at the same time, benefit from free social services, and food, medicine and other goods at cheap or subsidised prices.’
   Since the adoption of the dollar, a thriving tourist industry has grown around Cuba’s coastline, employing many Cubans whose access to dollars and foreign currencies make them better off than their fellow countrymen.
   Castro also railed against ‘those who consume gasoline willy-nilly,’ warning that Cubans still need to be thrifty and responsible.

The US president, George W Bush, signalled Thursday that he would veto any legislation requiring what he described as a hasty withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
   ‘I don’t think Congress ought to be running the war,’ he said at a press conference to defend his unpopular Iraq strategy after a White House report painted a bleak picture of the situation in the strife-torn country.
   ‘Trying to run a war through resolution is a prescription for failure,’ he said. ‘The idea of telling our military how to conduct operations, for example, or how to deal with troop strength, I don’t think it makes sense today, nor do I think it’s a good precedent for the future.’

Monjur Morshed, UNO of Nachole, was transferred to Satkhira on Thursday, eight days after Nachole incident.
   Sources in the district administration said that a fax message regarding to the transfer of the UNO reached the deputy commissioner’s office at noon.
   Deputy commissioner Mohammad Shahadat Hossain confirmed the transfer, saying that the UNO had been transferred to Ashashuni upazila in Satkhira.
   The transfer order came after several thousand farmers went on the rampage through few government offices at Nachole on July 4 as the UNO slapped an agriculture officer for requesting him to allocate fertiliser for two farmers, instead of three, in a slip.
   Apart from the UNO, two officers and a farmer were injured during the violence. Two probe committees were formed to investigate of the incident.