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BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday demanded immediate release of her detained political rival Awami League president Sheikh Hasina for the sake of removing the scope for social unrest and political instability.
   ‘I call upon the government to release her [Hasina] immediately if there is any legal avenue left to try the case filed against her keeping her free,’ Khaleda Zia, also a former prime minister, was quoted to have said in a press statement signed by Maruf Kamal Khan, former deputy press secretary of the former prime minister. ‘Her release would largely remove the scope for mutual mistrusts, social unrest and political instability’.
   Deploring the treatment given to Hasina at the court premises, Khaleda said, ‘I am deeply shocked at the indecent and disgraceful situation she had faced at the court premises as a party chief, daughter of a national leader, a former prime minister, an elderly woman, and above all an honoured citizen of the country.’
   ‘I think the sentiment of the conscious citizens has been hurt at this and the image of the government has also been tarnished at home and abroad. Had the government been more cautious and conscious, such situation could be avoided, I believe,’ read the statement.
   Khaleda also urged to the government to uphold Hasina’s right to defend herself and getting adequate legal aid.
   ‘An accused person is not necessarily a criminal, so it is the duty of the administration and the government to ensure his or her due honour and dignity,’ the statement reminded the government.
   Observing that legal actions can be taken against all for wilfully violating the laws and indulging in activities harmful to the country and society, Khaleda said, ‘As human beings, none of us is above faults and mistakes, while those discharging greater responsibilities in a problems ridden countries like ours stand a greater chance for making mistakes’.
   In this regard Khaleda reminded that ‘none should undermine the success of the politicians, although there are failures in different sectors’.
   While the peace-loving people do not want recurrence of the situations that made inevitable the promulgation of the state of emergency, ‘a prolonged state of emergency would not produce any positive result for the nation’, she observed.
   ‘We will have to move forward towards a sustainable democracy by ensuring stability at this critical juncture of the nation,’ she said, stressing the need for a national consensus shunning malice and divisions.
   ‘Today, I feel that opportunity and prospect (of consensus) have been created to a great extent. To achieve this, all will have to show wisdom, farsightedness and tolerance,’ she added.
   ‘I was hurt when Sheikh Hasina on several occasions had made illogical, non-political and indecent remarks against me and my family, going beyond the political arena of my party and government in the past,’ said Khaleda. ‘But I now similarly saddened to see her being victim of undesirable gestures’.

The jute ministry on Wednesday unveiled a slew of measures, including injection of fresh funds, massive job cuts and closure of some state-owned jute mills for, what adviser Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury called, revival of the jute sector.
   As per the strategy, the government will infuse Tk 200 crore into Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation by this month to help mills buy raw jute and axe 8,000 workers of different mills by next December. A part of the fund will be spent for paying off 6,000 workers of four mills, which will be shut down by August.
   ‘I declared Jihad (crusade) for the jute sector revival… We have worked hard to map out the strategy and we hope, the jute sector will be able to regain its golden days,’ Geeteara, adviser for jute and textiles ministry, said at a briefing at her ministry. Jute and textiles secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar and BJMC chairman Ataharul Islam were present, among others.
   As part of the wholesale reforms programme, four mills — People’s Jute Mills in Khulna, Karnaphuli Jute Mills and Forat-Karnaphuli Carpet Factory in Chittagong and Qaomi Jute Mills in Sirajganj — out of 22 mills under the corporation will just be disinvested since probability of their viable operation is considered to be zero, jute officials said. Two more mills have already been handed over to private operators.
   The adviser described jute sector’s ailment as serious as gangrene. ‘We have to cut a portion of physique in order to save the life,’ she said, justifying harsh measures such as job cut and closure of mills.
   She expressed determination to run the remaining 18 mills in the public sector by making them ‘as efficient as possible, as transparent as possible’.
   The adviser predicted that it would take three years to turn the mills into profitable enterprises as a result of reforms which would cover administration, mill management as well as financial and marketing aspects.
   BJMC is also trying to draw Tk 138 crore bank loan and mobilise another fund of about Tk 1200 crore by selling its 120 acres of land now under the possession of different jute mils.
   Asked how the government will run public sector mills despite lenders’ prescription for downsizing the public sector and unwillingness of the finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul, to fund jute mills, Geeteara said she had been able to convince the adviser and also the chief adviser to sympathetically address the problems.
   ‘We have not seen any interference from the World Bank and IMF. As Bangladeshis, we have responsibility to (do something for) the people and industry,’ Geeteara emphatically said ruling out the possibility of further degradation of state-owned mills.
   The corporation will further retrench 50 per cent of its workforce in phases under manpower rationalisation programme which suits the prescriptions given by international lenders. After retrenchment of 14,000 workers, the size of employment at the corporation-run mills will stand at around 37,000.
   Asked about measures against corrupt people responsible for sending the mills in the red over the decades, the adviser mentioned that action had already been taken against some and more people would be punished after thoroughly scanning the allegations of corruption.
   The corporation has identified delay in disbursement of money to purchase jute, power outage, pay-hike, labour unrest and unproductive workforce as reasons behind the losses incurred by state-owned mills. Its accumulated losses amounted to Tk 4,770 crore in 2006.
   A taskforce comprising officials of the jute ministry, BJMC and the finance ministry has already been formed to oversee the operation of the mills, especially their monetary status, from time to time.
   This year, the corporation is expected to buy 55 lakh tonnes of raw jute.

Bangladesh’s women capped a remarkable week of cricket in Malaysia by emerging unbeaten champions in their first international competition, the ACC Tournament on Wednesday. They outclassed Nepal by eight wickets in the final at the Johar Cricket Academy.
   Nepal had won the toss and elected to bat first, but once thunder rumbled intermittently and the moment lightning was seen, the umpires suspended play at the end of the 12th over with the side struggling on 12-3.
   Heavy rainfall meant play was held up for more than four hours. When play resumed, the match was scheduled for 18-overs-a-side. In the remaining six overs, Nepal added 14 runs to finally finish on 26-7.
   Champa Chakma, Salma Khatun and Shamima Akther claimed two wickets each while Tithy Rani Sarkar claimed the other wicket.
   Bangladesh reached the target for the loss of only two wickets in just 9.4 overs to clinch the coveted trophy. Captain Tajkia Akther and Panna Gosh were the two players to be dismissed after making two and four respectively.
   Bangladesh captain Tajkia Akther (2) fell in the first over and Panna Gosh (4) followed her soon after. But Chamely Khatun with an unbeaten 17 and Salma Khatun (unbeaten on one) successfully guided the team to 27-2 in 9.4 overs.
   Panna Gosh, the opening bowler and top-order batswoman, who took three fine catches in the final was adjudged player-of-the-tournament.
   ‘It’s a victory for the whole nation and the cricket system,’ captain Tajkia told reporters after the match.
   The triumphant team will return home today at 12:00 noon by a Thai Airways flight. The Bangladesh Cricket Board plans to accord them a warm reception at the Zia International Airport.
   ‘This is a tremendous success for our women cricketers. They did not play in any international tournament previously and also had a very short preparation. Still they managed to win the trophy, which was beyond our expectations. I congratulate the team,’ said Rafiqul Islam, the acting general-secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
   Bangladesh had defeated UAE (10 wickets), Singapore (10 wickets), China (86 runs), Hong Kong (59 runs) on way to reaching the final. In the process, they bowled UAE out for only nine runs, which is a world record in any standard of international cricket.

Awami League and its front organisations continued demonstrations across the country for the third day on Wednesday against the arrest of the party chief Sheikh Hasina and in demand of her immediate release.
   In Rangpur, the demonstrators called a half-day shutdown in the northern town for Thursday defying the ban on political activities during the state of emergency.
   In Dhaka, Juba League, the youth front of the party, brought out a procession in the morning on Bangabandhu Avenue demanding release of Hasina. The demonstrators, however, left the street immediately after getting the information that law enforcers were approaching.
   The Juba League leaders said they also staged a demonstration at Sobhanbagh in the city.
   In Rangpur, the call for half-day hartal came from a procession of leaders, activists and supporters of Awami League and its wings brought out at around 4:00pm.
   The procession distributed among the people a leaflet announcing the general strike and urging everyone to observe it.
   ‘A deep-rooted conspiracy against the democracy has been hatched in the name of reforms. Arrest of Sheikh Hasina is a part of that conspiracy. Let us unite and frustrate it,’ the leaflet reads.
   The procession, while marching from Zahaz Company point to Shahi Mosque, chanted slogans condemning the arrest and demanding immediate release of the former prime minister.
   In Gopalganj, the hometown of Sheikh Hasina, the students of Manikhar Hazi Khorshed Saptapalli High School staged a demonstration at about 10:30am demanding release of Hasina. They paraded up to Manikhar Bridge under Sadar upazila, from where the police dispersed them.
   The shopkeepers kept their shutters down at Kashiani.
   A tense situation has been prevailing in the district.
   The army-led joint forces, on the other hand, stepped up their activities and have been patrolling the main points in the district.
   In the coastal district headquarters of Patuakhali, Juba League activists brought out a procession at about 8:00am. Starting from the party’s district unit office, the procession marched up to the court area.
   The protesters were chanting slogans protesting various government moves and demanding that the AL chief be set free.
   The demonstrators later dispersed as they got the signal that the police were coming.

Both the reformists and conformists in the Awami League appear to be trying to narrow the gap that developed over the implementation of the government-orchestrated reforms agenda after the arrest of the party chief, Sheikh Hasina.
   Two senior party leaders Abdur Razzak and Tofail Ahmed, who earlier voiced in-party reforms, met the party’s acting president Zillur Rahman Wednesday night and vowed to ‘keep the party united at this critical moment.’
   ‘They [Razzak and Tofail] came to me and suggested eliminating the misunderstanding that has developed in the past weeks,’ Zillur told New Age on Wednesday. He said any attempt to divide the party would be thwarted.
   During the informal meeting at the house of Zillur, they also discussed the latest political situation and matters related to a legal battle to free Hasina, arrested on extortion charge on Monday.
   ‘We went to our acting president in an attempt to eliminate the misunderstanding inside the party,’ Tofail told New Age.
   There is no option but to keep the party united at this moment, said the presidium member.
   ‘The Awami League is now passing through a crucial time and we need to work together… We are now united,’ Tofail said.

Three detained police officials of Fatullah thana were each jailed for seven years, and two employees of the Abul Khair Group for one year each, on Wednesday for receiving and giving bribes to cover up the company’s attempt to sell rotten wheat.
   Shamsunnahar, judge of the Special Judge’s Court 4 of Dhaka, delivered the verdict in the makeshift courtroom in the parliament’s MP Hostel.
   The court convicted the suspended officer-in-charge of Fatullah thana, Ashraful Islam, and two sub-inspectors, Miraj Al Mahmud and Enamul Haque, for taking Tk 14.80 lakh in bribe from two employees of the Abul Khair Group — Mustafizur Rahman and Zakir Hossain — for covering up the company’s attempt to sell rotten wheat, which was seized by the police.
   The court sentenced each of the police officers to rigorous imprisonment for seven years and fined each of them one lakh takas, and the one who does not pay will have to suffer one more month in jail.
   The court sentenced production manager of Abul Khair Group, Mustafizur Rahman, and assistant manager Zakir Hossain to rigorous imprisonment for one year and fined each of them Tk 10,000, non-payment of which will force them to serve one more month in jail.
   After examining the testimonies of seventeen prosecution witnesses and records, the court found them guilty of criminal offence and handed down the verdict of imprisonment.
   According to the prosecution, the army-led joint forces on January 30 caught the accused policemen red-handed with the Tk 14.80 lakh they had taken from the officials of the Abul Khair Group as bribe after making a shady deal to hush up the rotten wheat scam.
   In its judgement, the court asked the authorities concerned to confiscate the bribe money and deposit it in the national exchequer.
   The rotten wheat was earlier unloaded from five cargo vessels at Fatullah Ghat for storing in the godowns near Narayanganj.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission’s prosecutor, Sheikh Golam Hafiz, assisted by Harun-or-Rashid, conducted the case, while Nazrul Islam, Syed Razaur Rahman, Tanjibul Alam and Mizanur Rahman Mollah appeared for the accused.
   The defence counsels told reporters after the verdict was delivered that they would appeal to the High Court against the judgement.
   As the wheat, seized by the police due to the allegation of being unwholesome, has already been released after it was not deemed to be rotten, the prosecution’s case cannot be proved, said Tanjibul Alam, who appeared for the officials of the Abul Khair Group.
   ‘We hope that we get justice when we appeal to the High Court,’ he said.
   The makeshift special courts, set up at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban to try high-profile corruption suspects, have so far disposed of six cases within two and half months since they started functioning on May 6.
   Those convicted by the special courts are former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Harris Chowdhury, controversial businessman and Tarique Rahman’s close friend Giasuddin Al Mamun, former state minister Amanullah Aman and his wife Sabera Aman, former state minister Mir Nasiruddin and his son Mir Helaluddin and former BNP lawmaker Ali Asgar Lobi.

Non-governmental organisations will need to spend at least 50 per cent of foreign funds on visible development works such as building and maintenance of roads, schools and culverts and excavation and re-excavation of canals, a notification of the NGO Affairs Bureau has said referring to a letter of the army headquarters.
   The notification issued on Tuesday mentioned the decisions made at the 11th review meeting on the activities of the joint forces deployed in aid of civil administration and law enforcement under the state of emergency.
   It said the joint forces meeting had also decided to close down the non-governmental organisations whose programmes are not beneficial for the people.
   The notification, referring to the letter of the army headquarters dated July 9, also said the meeting had further decided to coordinate the activities of the NGOs in Bangladesh.
   It called for close supervision of the awareness building and training programmes and accountability of the use of foreign funds by the NGOs registered with the bureau and the social welfare directorate.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Wednesday asked 20 people, including the two former premiers and Awami League’s general secretary Abdul Jalil, to submit their wealth reports within seven working days. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Wednesday personally received the notice issued by the ACC, asking her to submit her wealth statement.
   Khaleda received the notice at noon in her Mainul Road residence in Dhaka Cantonment, and the notice also reached Hasina, now detained in a makeshift jail in Sher-e-Banglanagar, the same day, said sources close to the two former premiers.
   Khaleda’s lawyer, Ahmed Azam Khan, told newsmen that she would try to prepare the statement within seven working days, and if she failed she might ask for seven days more as per the rules.
   Sheikh Hasina’s special assistant, Dr Hasan Mahmud, told New Age that he was informed that the notice had reached Hasina in the sub-jail.
   The ACC’s secretary, Mokhlesur Rahman, told reporters on Wednesday that the notice, issued to Sheikh Haisna, was handed over to the inspector-general of prisons on Tuesday night.
   He said that the ACC on Wednesday began to send the notices to 20 people, asking for their wealth statements.
   The ACC has also approved charge-sheets in five more graft cases against bigwig corruption suspects, including Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Harris Chowdhury, former lawmaker Harunur Rashid and managing director of private television channel ETV Enayetur Rahman Bappi, and they will be submitted to the court in a day or two.
   The 20 corruption suspects, notified by the ACC, include Awami League’s general secretary Abdul Jalil, Rajshahi city’s mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu, Sylhet city’s mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran, former state minister Redwan Ahmed, former Jamaat lawmakers Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher and Gazi Nazrul Islam, former Awami League lawmaker Muhibur Rahman Manik, former BNP lawmakers Shahidul Islam and Nadeem Mostafa and former independent lawmaker Hemayetullah Awranga.
   The list also includes former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujub Medical University MA Hadi, business tycoon Abdul Awal Mintoo and former chief engineer of the Department of Roads and Highways Faizur Rahman.
   Chairman of Teknaf municipality Abdur Rahim Bodi and chairman of Keraniganj union parishad Nazimuddin were also asked to submit their wealth statements.
   The list also includes former minister Sajeda Chowdhury’s son Shahadat Akbar Chowdhury, former AL lawmaker Kamal Majumder’s son Jewel, former BNP chief whip Khondakar Delwar Hossain’s son Aktar Hamid Paban, former state minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya’s son Dipu Chowdhury and former BNP lawmaker Sarwar Jamal Nizam’s brother Maruf Nizam. The ACC, in its ongoing drive against high-profile corruption suspects, has so far notified 216 bigwigs to submit their wealth statements and 154 of them have done so.
   It has so far filed 34 cases against the notified people for concealing information of their actual wealth. The notified people will have to submit their wealth reports within seven working days.
   According to the Anti-Corruption Commission Rules, they will have the scope to seek extension of the time by seven more working days.
   They will have to submit statements in the prescribed forms, giving detailed information of their movable and immovable properties. They will also have to list their liabilities.
   If they fail to submit wealth reports within the stipulated time or give false statements concealing any of their assets, the offence will be punishable with three years’ imprisonment or with fine or both in accordance with the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004.
   The army-led anti-graft task forces on Wednesday interrogated controversial businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun’s brother-in-law, Enayetur Rahman Jewel, and an official of Mamun’s company, Giasuddin Al Quaiyum, near the gate of the Dhaka Central Jail, said sources in the taskforce.

The Power Division has requested six private companies, selected for the installation of 10 small independent power plants, to go into operation by the next summer.
   The power secretary, M Fouzul Kabir Khan, made the request on Tuesday at a meeting with the representatives of the companies to make the plants, with a combined capacity of about 220MW, operational so that power shortage could be addressed in the next summer.
   The private company representatives have not assured the division that they would make the plants operational by summer, but said they would try subject to the availability of funds, supply of gas and assurance of the right of way.
   In keeping with the tender specifications of the plants, the companies are supposed to start production within 15 months after the signing of the power purchase agreements.
   The Power Development Board is likely to sign the agreements with the companies by August 11. The plants are supposed go to into production in October 2008 on normal schedule.
   ‘We have requested the companies to make the plants operational by the next summer. They have told us that they would try. Some of the plants, if not all, may start production by summer,’ Fouzul told New Age on Wednesday.
   The Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation will set up two 30MW plants at Jangalia in Comilla and at Rupganj in Narayanganj, Summit Power Limited a 30MW plant at Mauna in Gazipur and a 10MW plant at Ullapara in Sirajganj, Asian Entec Power Corporation three 20MW plants in Feni, Tangail and Narsingdi, Regent Textile a 20MW plant at Barabkunda in Chittagong, Energypac-Confidence Power Venture a 10MW plant at Habiganj, and the Saiham Power a 10MW plant at Mahipal in Feni.
   The Summit Group chairman, Muhammad Aziz Khan, told New Age on Wednesday, ‘We will put four power plants into service within 15 months. The government requested us to make them operational earlier than the schedule. We are sincerely trying so that the plants could start production at the earliest.’
   He said a lot such as civil work and the import of generator and transformers needed to be completed. ‘We have contacted some European companies for the import of equipment. But civil works would be delayed because of the rains.’
   The company representatives at the Tuesday meeting wanted an assurance that the respective power agencies would ensure the right of way for power transmission network, timely installation of gas supply network and government help in arranging funds for the projects.
   Fouzul assured them that the power agencies would ensure the right of way and the government would help the companies to arrange funds through the Infrastructure Development Company Limited and other agencies.
   Petrobangla representatives gave an assurance of gas supply subject to the selection of proper sites. A 10MW plant is likely to consume around 3.2 million cubic feet of gas a day, 20MW plant 6.14mmcfd and 30MW plant 9.2mmcfd.
   A committee on gas supply was formed involving the officials of Petrobangla and the Power Development Board, and company representatives.

The interim government is going to establish Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the father of the nation and add the title Bangabandhu before his name in the school textbooks from the next academic year, said officials concerned.
   The National Curriculum and Textbook Board has also inserted the name of Ziaur Rahman in the textbooks for declaring independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujib on March 27, 1971.
   ‘The history of war has already been inserted in textbooks as described in the “Documents of the Bangladesh War of Independence” edited by Hasan Hafizur Rahman and published in 1982,’ the board’s chairman, Yousuf Farooq, told New Age on Wednesday.
   ‘All the civics and history, social sciences and Bangla textbooks for Class III to Class IX will be changed. The students will get the corrected textbooks in January 2008,’ said the board chairman.
   The textbook board, which is under the education ministry, looks after the renewal or modification and development of curricula, and the production and distribution of primary, secondary and higher secondary textbooks.
   The successive governments, especially after the early 1990s, started distorting the history of the War of Liberation in the textbooks meant for Class III to Class X. The BNP-Jamaat alliance government started effecting major changes in 19 textbooks after November 2001.
   Meanwhile, another move is on to frame the photographs of six national leaders to be hung in important offices of the government, describing all of them as founding fathers of Bangladesh, a reformist political leader told New Age. ‘The aim is to end controversies once and for all.’
   The six are Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque, Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, General MAG Osmani and Ziaur Rahman.

Rescuers had little hope of finding survivors as they picked through the rubble of a fiery plane crash Wednesday that left more than 200 people dead in what would be Brazil’s deadliest air disaster.
   Sao Paulo state governor Jose Serra said none of the 186 people aboard Tam Airlines Flight 3054 could have survived the crash, with temperatures in the inferno reaching 1,000 degrees centigrade.
   Rescuers spoke of some 25 further fatalities on the ground.
   Tam, Brazil’s largest airline, said the Airbus 320 careened off the runway after landing in driving rain, skidded across a crowded avenue, slammed into the company’s three-story offices and exploded in flames.
   ‘The plane accelerated when it reached the end of the runway and tried to take off again to avoid the avenue, but it crashed into the building and exploded,’ salesman Junior Matos said after witnessing the disaster.
   The flight from the southern city of Porto Alegre was landing at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport.
   The airport – the busiest in Brazil – is notorious for its short and often slippery runway, and its proximity to the nearby city centre.
   Brazil’s airport administrator Infraeroo said that some resurfacing work had been done on the main runway, which was closed from May 14 to June 29, and that more construction aimed at improving water drainoff was scheduled in September.
   Prior to the construction work, the runway was typically closed during rainy conditions.
   Early Wednesday, 56 bodies had been retrieved from the burning site, while another two people died after being taken to hospital.
   Sixteen of the confirmed fatalities were on the ground when the plane crashed into the office building.
   ‘There’s 200 killed over there,’ Manuel Antonio da Silva Araujo, a colonel in Sao Paulo’s fire department said, according to the online edition of the Folha de Sao Paulo daily.
   ‘I saw about 25 charred bodies around the plane, and a dead couple inside a car,’ said Douglas Ferrari, a doctor who helped firefighters in their rescue efforts.
   ‘It was horrible,’ he said, adding that many people had jumped out of the wi-ndows of the low-rise office building.
   The avenue across which the plane skidded was ‘packed with people’ at the time, a street vendor said.
   Only the tail end of the aircraft remained visible from outside the building.
   At Porto Alegre’s airport, anxious relatives and friends waited for news of their loved ones, many wailing and crying.
   President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared three days of national mourning.
   Sao Paulo’s attorney general Rodrigo Pinho said authorities would lead a thorough investigation ‘to determine the cause and to identify who was responsible.’
   Rescue workers managed to recover one of the plane’s black box data recorders, local media reported, but it was unclear if the device was sufficiently intact.
   Meanwhile, four European investigators and five Airbus experts were dispatched to Sao Paulo to help investigate the crash, the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis said.

The dissidents in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party are now pressuring the conformists to join the band for party democratisation.
   ‘We are pressured to join the move of keeping party chairperson Khaleda Zia out of the political frame,’ a young, former BNP lawmaker, known as a conformist, told New Age on Wednesday.
   ‘They [dissidents] are also trying to persuade grassroots councillors across the country,’ he said.
   A central executive committee secretary of the party said, ‘Some former lawmakers and senior activists in the dissident group are offering us [conformists] either nomination for the next elections or chairmanship of district councils.’
   ‘The upazila- and municipality-level councillors are offered chairmanship of local government bodies,’ he said.
   ‘I was offered chairmanship of the council of my home district,’ he claimed. ‘But I rejected the offer.’
   Some district leaders, who met secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan Wednesday, told New Age that local former lawmakers were tempting them in joining the reformists. ‘Some us have been threatened that we [conformists] would be arrested as there are criminal cases against us,’ a district BNP president said.
   District leaders from Bogra, Sylhet, Sirajganj, Madaripur, Faridpur, Noakhali and Sunamganj met Bhuiyan at his house at Gulshan.
   ‘They [dissidents] are trying to create a panic saying that Khaleda Zia and her younger son, Arafat Rahman, could be arrested any time,’ he said.
   Senior dissident leaders, however, said they had no time think about who would be arrested. They said they were busy making preparation for a council session.
   A few dissident leaders visited Bhuiyan and most of them tried to avoid the media. Some of them who faced the press felt embarrassed when they were asked if they feared Khaleda could be arrested any time.
   Ashraf Hossain, a joint secretary general, asked back: ‘Why could she be arrested and how could you know that?’
   ZA Khan, an adviser to the chairperson, said, ‘We have no time to spend on thinking who would be arrested. We have so many jobs to do.’
   Both Hossain and Khan said the preparation for a council session was going on. But they did not disclose any specific schedule for the council session.
   ‘It might be held before August or even after August,’ said Ashraf Hossain. ZA Khan made a similar comment.
   Ashraf expressed his reservations about Khaleda’s labelling them as a conspirator. ‘We have still confidence in her. It is not right on her part to brand us as conspirators. Such remarks will harm the party’s unity. It is against the party’s unity.’
   As for Khaleda’s comment on the requisition council of 1981 that supported the military ruler, Ashraf said, ‘I was involved in politics at the time and I did not join any initiatives against the party. The situation now is not what it was then.’
   ZA Khan said it was Khaleda’s personal opinion. ‘People can have their own opinion. We are working for party democratisation, not for any split. Each of the party activists wants to see the party united.’
   Bhuiyan announced a 15-point plan for party democratisation on June 25 and a revised 14-point proposal for reforms of the state affairs on July 12.
   The plan suggests that a person should not discharge duty either as party chairperson or secretary general for more than two terms [each of three years] or six years.

A teenaged girl was found dead in her flat at Moghbazar in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   Her family said Sadia Naushin Papiya, 16, who passed the SSC exams this year from Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, was found unconscious in her room on the fourth floor of a six-storey building at Peyarabagh at noon.
   Her mother, Shamsunnahar, said she had been out to take her younger son from the school at about 11:00am. Papiya was alone at home.
   When she returned home at about 12:30pm, she found the door of the flat open and Papiya seated unconscious against a bed rail. A scarf was fastened around the neck.
   She was taken to Rushmono Hospital and then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where she was declared dead. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination.
   Morgue employees said the body had black marks on the left of the neck.
   Shamsunnahar suspected that goons might have sneaked into the flat and strangled Papiya. The police said they were investigating the cause of the death.
   Daughter of Sultan Faruk, a member of the Bangladesh Rifles now posted outside Dhaka, Papiya obtained GPA 5 in the SSC examinations.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called on the Bangladesh government to respect the ‘full range of human rights’ — including the right to a fair trial and rights relating to detention — of Sigma Huda, a United Nations independent expert who is facing a charge of corruption.
   Sigma Huda, spouse of former communications minister Nazmul Huda, was appointed by the United Nations as a special rapporteur on human trafficking in April 2004.
   The government, in response, said in a statement that her case is sub judice and due process of law will be observed during the proceedings.
   Referring to the ‘1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations’, Ban Ki Moon said, ‘It [the convention] states that special rapporteurs enjoy the privileges and immunities necessary for the independent exercise of their functions as experts on mission.’
   The UN’s secretary-general made this comment in a statement issued by his deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe.
   The statement of the UN chief executive was communicated to the Bangladesh government on Wednesday.
   He said that the convention stipulates that states ‘must alert the secretary-general if they wished to initiate legal proceedings against these experts’.
   ‘Regrettably, the government of Bangladesh did not do so in this case,’ Ban added.
   He said that after requesting for, and receiving, information from Bangladesh on the nature of the charges brought against Huda and their links to her functions as a special rapporteur, he concluded that she is not being tried on charges related to her work as a UN independent expert.
   ‘Therefore, no immunity under the convention is applicable in the present case,’ he said.
   Ban said that the UN is firmly committed to help countries in thwarting corruption, but urged the Bangladesh government to act consistently with its international human rights obligations in conducting the trial against Sigma Huda.

The central bank has announced a Tk 300 crore refinancing scheme for housing for three years to help middle-class people buy homes, governor Salehuddin Ahmed said on Wednesday.
   Service-holders or businessmen, whose incomes are less than Tk 30,000 a month, can apply for maximum Tk 15 lakh loans to buy an apartment of a maximum size of 1250 square feet in six divisional cities along with Tongi, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Savar, he said at a press conference at Bangladesh Bank conference room.
   Borrowers would be given 20-year time for repayment with one year grace period and interest rate would be 10 per cent.
   The loans will be channelled through banks and other financial institutions.
   ‘Real estate sector is very important as it employs huge workforce as well as involves big linkage industries like cement, paint and transportation,’ he said.
   Monthly instalment will be quite reasonable and close to the amount a borrower spends on house rent, the governor said.
   He admitted that the loan amount available under the scheme will not be enough to buy an apartment of 1250 square feet size. ‘Borrowers will have to give Tk 10-15 lakh as equity.’
   M Aminuzzaman, managing director of National Bank, said bankers will promote the product as it is good for the people and economy.
   ‘Low income group will have an opportunity to buy apartments and at the same time sluggish real estate sector will get a boost from such a financial product,’ he said.
   The bankers would be interested to give loans at 10 per cent rate if they get refinancing from the central bank at 5 per cent rate, he added.
   The central bank should monitor whether the banks comply with the central bank’s regulations while giving home loans, the banker added.
   The central bank will give 75 per cent of total loan and 25 per cent will be provided by respective financial institutions.
   Financial institutions will be liable for loan recovery and the central bank will not take any responsibility of default loans.

The relatives and members on the Sudha Sadan staff on Wednesday failed to meet the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, now detained in a sub-jail in Dhaka.
   They waited for three hours to meet Hasina, also a former prime minister, at the gate of the sub-jail on the Jatiya Sangsad complex.
   The visitors said that they had gone to meet Hasina after the deputy inspector general (prisons) on Tuesday assured them that they could meet her in the sub-jail on Wednesday.
   Fatema Selim, wife of the detained former Awami League lawmaker Sheikh Selim, told newsmen that deputy inspector general (prisons) had told them over telephone that they could meet her.
   Hasina’s special assistant Hasan Mahmud told New Age, ‘We, along with some of Hasina’s relatives, went to meet her after talking with DIG (prisons) Shamsul Haider Siddiqui at about 12:30pm.’
   ‘Siddiqui told us that we could meet her on permission from higher authorities. But we were not let in after three hours’ wait,’ Hasan said.
   He alleged that the government should allow her lawyers and legal supports as she was a political detainee, but the government had not allowed her any legal support two days after of her arrest made Monday morning.
   Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told newsmen, ‘We did not allow them to meet Sheikh Hasina as higher authorities did not give permission on security grounds.’
   ‘She is quite well in the sub-jail and we are informing her relatives of her condition regularly. Physician Suraiya Bulbul is examining her and a well-equipped ambulance has been kept standby for her,’ Siddiqui said.
   Hasina’s cousin Sheikh Sultana Razia Rekha, also sister of Sheikh Selim, Fatema Selim, wife of Sheikh Selim and sister-in-law of Hasina, Professor Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash and Fazle Noor Taposh, two sons of Sheikh Moni and also nephews of Sheikh Hasina, Shamsur Rahman Tutul, distant relative of Hasina, Shammi Akhter, adopted daughter of Hasina, Hasan Mahmud and Khaled Mahmud, personal assistant to Hasina, went to the sub-jail.
   They offered to give Hasina some food and clothes. The jail authorities received only the dry food and clothes.
   The joint forces arrested Hasina at Sudha Sadan Monday morning. She was sent to jail after the court rejected her bail petition in an extortion case filed with the Gulshan police on June 13.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday remanded the controversial businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun in the custody of anti-corruption taskforces for seven days for interrogation about a graft case.
   The prosecution produced him before the court of chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka with a prayer for remanding him in their custody for 15 days. But, the magistrate, Jagannath Das Khokan, granted a seven-day remand.
   Sayed Tahsinul Huq, assistant director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, submitted the remand prayer to the court, saying that they needed to question Mamun about his illegally amassed wealth.
   The taskforces found Mamun and his wife Shahina Yasmeen owned assets worth Tk 62.21 crore which were well beyond their known sources of income. ACC assistant director Mohammad Ibrahim sued the couple on May 8 on charge of possessing the unaccounted for wealth.
   Mamun, a close aide to Tarique Rahman and also his businessman partner is now detained at Narsingdi jail.
   He was convicted in two out of 13 cases filed so far against him after his arrest on March 26.
   Mamun, one of the top corruption suspects, was earlier remanded in police custody for 49 days. His wife, however, secured ad-interim bail from the High Court.

The government has started taking action against the garment factory owners who are yet to implement the minimum wages of workers and ensure other facilities according to the tripartite agreement between the government, owners and workers.
   The chief adviser’s office has expressed concern over the situation and a letter from the authorities concerned will soon be sent to the garment factory owners’ associations seeking explanation for the non-compliance, sources said.
   But the Inspectorate of Factories has already started filing cases against the defaulting garment industries, officials said.
   ‘The chief adviser has expressed annoyance as garment owners have not implemented the minimum wages agreed upon last October,’ a member of the national taskforce on social compliance for the readymade garment industry told New Age on Wednesday.
   The office of the CA has asked the labour ministry to notify the associations of garment factory owners to list the factories which have not implemented the minimum wages,’ said the official who heads an important cell of the government which monitors compliances.
   ‘The garment owners’ associations will also be asked to show specific causes why some units have not implemented the minimum wages,’ the official said.
   According to the source, the CA has also been irked as the labour department has failed to enforce a holistic implementation of the minimum wages and other facilities, including due payment of overtime bill, maternity leaves, and appointment letters, as was stipulated in the 10-point tripartite agreement.
   The labour adviser, Anowarul Iqbal, on Wednesday told journalists that his ministry would convene a meeting of leaders of garment owners to hear their positions in this regard.
   At the ‘national tripartite meeting on social compliance in the RMG sector,’ organised by the International Labour Organisation at Hotel Purbani, the adviser said various monitoring teams had found that more than 50 per cent of the garment factories were not socially compliant.
   Meanwhile, the office of the Chief Inspector of Factories has sued owners of several garment factories in the past few days.
   ‘Our inspectors in different areas have lodged at least 15 cases against owners of garment houses who have failed to pay the minimum wages and provide other facilities to workers as per the agreement,’ the chief factory inspector, AFM Serajuddun, told New Age.
   Factories of various sizes have been sued for abusing labour rights, he said, adding the complete details of the cases would reach his office within a day or two.
   The vital government office responsible for monitoring the labour rights has for long been blamed for its failure to enforce laws against garment owners. But its bosses argue they are unable to monitor efficiently due to lack of necessary manpower and logistics.
   The interim government on May 13 warned garment factory owners that the government would sue the owners and shut down the factories that would fail to offer the minimum wages by June 30.
   But, on the government-set deadline, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association admitted that 419 garment factories in Dhaka and Chittagong were yet to implement the minimum wage structure.
   The 10-point tripartite agreement was inked on June 4, 2006 following a violent labour unrest in the garment sector in May last year.
   The agreement stipulated forming a tripartite wage commission, which would have three months to recommend a new minimum pay scale for the apparel workers. The minimum wage in the sector had remained unchanged at Tk 930 for 12 years.
   The wage commission on October 5 recommended a new pay structure for garment workers, raising the minimum wage to Tk 1,662.50.
   The government validated the proposed pay structure through a gazette notification on October 22.
   Intelligence reports in May this year told the government that garment factories were facing the risk of further labour unrest because of their non-compliance with the agreement.
   Deprived of wages, garment workers are often forced to take to the streets, reports say, while the government worries much for the apparel sector as it contributes more than $9 billion to the national economy.

A brains trust of elder statesmen such as ex-US president Jimmy Carter and former UN chief Kofi Annan was launched by Nelson Mandela Wednesday with a call to bring hope to a conflict-ridden world.
   The group known as The Elders was officially unveiled in Johannesburg by former South African president Mandela as he celebrated his 89th birthday at an event featuring fellow Nobel prize winner Desmond Tutu and Virgin boss Richard Branson.
   ‘This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever action needs to be taken,’ Mandela said at the launch.
   ‘Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair.’
   The anti-apartheid icon, who was the first black leader of South Africa, said the group could offer wisdom and independent thinking as they had left politics.
   ‘They don’t have careers to build, elections to win and constituencies to please,’ he said. ‘I am confident that the Elders can become a real role model.
   ‘I wish them well and hope that they succeed in bringing light to some of the darkness that affects our world.’
   Other founding members of the group include former Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing, former Irish president Mary Robinson and Bangladeshi Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
   Mandela will not be involved in the day-to-day running but hopes that his association will boost its reputation.
   Jimmy Carter, out of office for more than a quarter of a century, said the group would not simply be straws in the wind of public opinion.
   ‘Almost impervious to the consequences of outside criticism, the group will conduct unrestrained analyses of important and complex issues,’ said Carter.
   Tutu, awarded the Nobel prize for his advocacy of non-violence in the struggle against apartheid, said members of the new think tank would echo the role of elders in traditional societies.
   ‘In traditional society it was the elders of the village who resolved issues within societies and gave advice. Today we don’t have elders to lead and inspire,’ said the former archbishop of Cape Town.
   Branson, a major contributor to the 18-million-dollar start-up budget, said the new venture could help stem the tide of human misery.
   ‘This group of Elders will bring hope and wisdom back into the world, to play a role in bringing us together to stop unnecessary human suffering and to celebrate the wonderful world that we are so privileged to be part of,’ said the British tycoon.

A hair relic of the Buddha was ceremonially handed over to a Sri Lankan delegation at the Chittagong monastery amid religious solemnity Wednesday afternoon.
   The Lankan delegation reached Dhaka on Monday to receive a few strands of the lock of hair believed to have been come from Gautama the Buddha.
   The Buddhist leader in Bangladesh, Sangharaj Dharmasen Mohathero, first handed over the hair relic enshrined in a golden-coloured metallic container to the foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, who presented the relic to the Lankan foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama.
   Several thousands Buddhists thronged at the monastery braving intermittent rainfall to attend the ceremony.
   The Sri Lankans reciprocated the gesture of goodwill and friendship by presenting
   the Chittagong Buddhist Temple with a footprint of the Buddha.
   Iftekhar, addressing the ceremony, said the gift of the hair relic would help to promote friendship between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. ‘The gift of the hair relic carries a message of peace and tranquillity.’
   ‘It is a momentous occasion for the governments and the Buddhists of both the countries,’ he said. ‘Bangladesh
   feels honoured in sharing the relic.’
   As for footprint presented by the Lankan delegation, Iftekhar said, ‘It will not only remain in the monastery, it will also remain in our heart.’
   Bogollagama said. ‘It is indeed a historic event to receive the hair relic of the Buddha from here. We express our gratitude to the government and the Buddhists of Bangladesh for this.’
   ‘The gesture took the relation between the two countries to a great height,’ he said.
   Chaired by Sangharaj Dharmasen Mohathero, the ceremony was also addressed by religious affairs adviser Matiur Rahman, Lankan religious leader Udaygama Sri Buddha Rakkit Tero, Bangladesh Buddhist Association president Ajit Ranjan Barua and its general secretary Adarsha Kumar Barua.
   The Bangladesh Buddhist Association president, Ajit Ranjan Barua, earlier said the hair of the Buddha, who lived more than 2,550 years ago in Nepal and India, was brought to Bangladesh in the 1930s by a Tibetan monk, according to online Sri Lankan media reports.
   Several strands of the hair, enshrined in the Buddhist monastery in Chittagong, were earlier donated to Thailand and Japan.
   The online edition of the Lankan Daily Mirror reported that the relic would be kept at Senanayake Aramaya of Madampe in Sri Lanka, where previously brought hair relics of the Buddha from Chittagong in 1960 have also been enshrined.
   The newspaper said the hair relic would be displayed at Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo for three days before being taken to Madampe.

The government has approved Tk 213.16 crore in the first phase for implementation of a voluntary retirement scheme of Biman Bangladesh Airlines for its employees under a restructuring programme before turning it into a public limited company.
   The finance ministry approved the disbursement of the money on Tuesday, which was 70 per cent of the total amount of Tk 304.50 crore that Biman originally sought for implementation of the voluntary retirement scheme under which 1,877 officials and employees will lose their jobs.
   However, the finance ministry, in the approval order signed by a senior assistant secretary of the budget wing, said the approved money would be considered to be a loan from the government to Biman with 5 per cent interest rate. Biman has to repay the money by 15 years.
   The government has also tagged some conditions, including formation of a high-powered committee by the civil aviation and tourism ministry to monitor disbursement of the money and conducting of an audit by a qualified chartered accountants’ firm of the money to be spent for the retirement scheme.
   ‘The rest of the money for the voluntary retirement scheme will be released after implementation of the conditions of the finance ministry,’ said the order.
   Biman is expected to be a government-owned public limited company, and will be renamed Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd, with full financial autonomy by the end of July.
   On Saturday the council of advisers also approved the Memorandum and Articles of Association of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd as per the Company Act of 1994 to transform Bangladesh Biman Corporation into a public limited company.
   The government had earlier decided to halve the number of 6,883 jobs as prescribed in the organogram to save Biman from continually making losses and to make it commercially viable as a public limited company.
   Biman incurred a loss of about Tk 536 crore in financial year 2006-07, mainly because of increased fuel cost, high maintenance cost of its ageing aircraft, pilferage, and flight operation on unprofitable routes.
   Its 13-plane fleet for 25 international and six domestic routes is comprised of five ageing DC-10s, four old Airbus-310s, and four old Fokker-28s.

The government is expected to direct the school authorities soon to suspend classes to check any further spread of the suspected mass hysteria that has already struck down at least 282 students across the country, a health ministry high official said Wednesday.
   The health and family welfare adviser, ASM Matiur Rahman, on Monday already asked the authorities of the schools affected by the syndrome to suspend all classes. He will hold a press briefing on ‘mass psychogenic illness or mass hysteria’ at the ministry’s conference room today at noon.
   Since July 9 to Wednesday, more than 100 students of Adiabad Islamia Multipurpose High School in Narsingdi, 36 of Hataba Adarsha High School in Narayanganj, 35 of Bahimaly High School in Natore, 25 of Amnura Government Primary School in Chapainawabganj, 19 of Bagerhat Government High School in Bagerhat, 11 of Gonapara Model High School in Manikganj, nine of Moutala High School in Satkhira, six of Kanipur High School in Faridpur, six of Shafipur Malek Chowdhury Memorial Girls’ High School in Gazipur, and around 35 students in Savar have fallen prey to the disease.
   All of them suffered convulsion and asphyxia in classrooms and became unconscious at one stage.
   On Wednesday, 17 students from different parts of the country were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with the same syndrome. DMCH physicians suspect the wide media coverage may have boosted the hysterical trend among young students.
   In their opinion, the print and electronic media reports only fuel the panic among the guardians and teachers, and so such publicity must stop.
   ‘It is mass hysteria. There is no need to panic. Guardians and teachers should be able to manage it with proper care of their wards,’ the DMCH principal, Professor MA Faiz, told New Age on Wednesday.
   Mass hysteria is a situation in which a large group of people exhibit similar physical or emotional symptoms, such as anxiety or extreme excitement. It is also called collective hysteria or collective obsessive behaviour.
   At present, around 30 students suffering from the illness are undergoing treatment at various hospitals.
   The team from Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research with the assistance of Institute of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh has completed its investigation into the phenomenon and writing the report on the findings on Wednesday.
   The team members, however, refused to share the probe findings with the media.
   United News of Bangladesh adds: Sixty-eight more students of three schools in Narayanganj, Gazipur, and Bagerhat districts fell unconscious on Wednesday.
   In Narayanganj, 36 students and two teachers of Adarsha High School of Mithabo village in Rupganj upazila fainted with convulsion one after another from 8:30am to 12noon. The sick students and teachers were sent to Rupganj Upazila Health Centre and local clinics.
   Later, one of the teachers, Nasreen Jahan, and 15 students were moved to the DMCH in critical condition. The school was closed soon after the incident as it triggered panic among the local people.
   The deputy commissioner of the district, Khairul Kabir, visited the spot.
   In Gazipur, 11 students of different classes at Malek Chowdhury Memorial Girls’ High School in Kaliakoir upazila fell unconscious in the morning. Of them, six were admitted to Kaliakoir Upazila Health Complex while the rest were released after providing them with first aid. The authorities closed the school for the next three days.
   In Bagerhat, 19 students of different classes of Bagerhat Government High School fainted Wednesday noon. They were admitted to Bagerhat Sadar Hospital and later one of them was moved to Khulna for treatment in a better hospital.
   A three-member medical team has been formed for providing proper treatment to the ailing students.
   Some 43 students fell unconscious in Magura, Bagerhat, Satkhira and Manikganj districts on Tuesday.

Several hundred students of People’s Jute Mills School at Khalishpur industrial belt in the Khulna city formed a human chain on the school premises Wednesday morning demanding reopening of the mill.
   They also demanded that the government should immediately reinstate the sacked workers and employees of the jute mill so that they can continue their study.
   The students carrying placards and festoons gathered on the school premises and observed the human chain programme for an hour from 10:00am.
   The placards read, ‘We want to continue our study’, ‘Reopen the mill soon’ and ‘Pay all dues to the mill workers and employees immediately’.
   The students also made the demands at a press conference Tuesday morning. Earlier on Monday, they urged the chief adviser to the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, to reinstate the sacked workers on humanitarian grounds.

The health condition of the Awami League general secretary, Abdul Jalil, now under treatment in Lab Aid Hospital in detention, is unstable, said his physician, Professor Motiur Rahman, on Wednesday.
   Jalil was admitted to the hospital on Sunday after his health condition had deteriorated.
   ‘The condition of Abdul Jalil, suffering from various chronic diseases, has deteriorated. His condition is now unstable,’ Motiur told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
   The physician said Jalil felt pain in the chest because of high blood pressure. ‘He [Jalil] is suffering from various diseases such as heart and kidney complications.’
   ‘His health condition worsened because of stress,’ the physician said, adding that the ratio of haemoglobin in his blood has declined.
   Motiur said he would leave for Japan on a seven-day visit early Thursday and another physician, Professor Barun Chawkrabarty, would supervise Jalil’s treatment in his absence.
   The jail authorities have shifted Jalil to Lab Aid Hospital on an appeal of Jalil’s wife, Rehana Jalil. He has since then been under the supervision of Motiur, who also treated him earlier.
   Jalil’s wife appealed on July 15 that he should be sent to Singapore for treatment, but the government did not allow it, Jalil’s family said.
   ‘We cannot say anything whether Jalil would be sent abroad as it depends on the government,’ deputy inspector general (prisons) Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told New Age on Wednesday.
   Jalil was picked up from his office at the Mercantile Bank at Motijheel on May 28. He was sent to jail under the Special Powers Act.

Muggers took away valuables of NM Harun, the contributing editor of New Age, who was in an auto-rickshaw, at the Science Laboratory point in Dhaka Wednesday night.
   According to Harun, two muggers with knives stopped the auto-rickshaw and snatched his mobile phone at around 8:30pm when he was on his way home on the Dhaka University campus from Dhanmondi.
   He got his finger cut in the incident. No case was filed till filing 10:00pm.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested four operatives of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh in possession of 15 grenade covers and 4.5 kilograms of explosives at Satuta under Bajitpur in Kishoreganj Tuesday night.
   The arrested are Maulana Din Islam, 45, imam of Satuta Jam-e-Masjid, Abdul Hannan, 28, Mohammad Harun, 30 and Abul Hossain, 32 of Satuta.
   The battalion said one of its teams conducted a raid on the house of Din Islam at about 11:30pm and arrested him in possession with some documents.
   The team interrogated him at the battalion camp. Based on his statement, the team raided the houses of Harun, Hannan, and Hossain and arrested them.
   The team seized 15 covers of grenade from the house of Hannan and 4.5 kilograms of explosives from Hossain’s house.
   The arrested were later handed over to the Bajitpur police. A case was filed in this connection.