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Four different courts on Thursday jailed 116 people — including three former ministers, a ward commissioner, BNP leaders and workers — for long terms on different charges ranging from aiding Islamist militancy to corruption.
   This is the highest number of convictions in a day under the state of emergency.
   Former state minister and Awami League presidium member Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir was jailed for 13 years in a graft case.
   A Rajshahi court jailed former minister Aminul Haque, BNP leader Shish Mohammed and 23 others for 31 years and 6 months on charge of patronising militancy.
   A Natore court jailed former deputy minister M Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu, his elder brother Nurunnabi Talukdar and cousin Atikur Rahman Talukdar for 8 years, and 87 other leaders and activists of the BNP unit of Natore district, including 16 relatives of Dulu, for 7 years for looting and ransacking 30 houses and 18 shops of Ramsa Kazipur village and Amtoli Bazaar in Natore.
   A Dhaka court sentenced fugitive actor and BNP ward commissioner Monwar Hossain Dipjol to 17 years of rigorous imprisonment for possession of illegal firearms.
   After the verdicts were delivered the lawyers of all the convicts, excepting Aminul Huq, Dipjol and 46 others, told reporters that they would appeal against the convictions.
   Aminul Huq, Dipjol and 46 other convicts, however, will have no scope to appeal against conviction until they surrender.
   There were no lawyers to defend Aminul Huq and 17 others in the Rajshahi militancy case, 30 convicts in the Natore case, and Dipjol, as they are now fugitives. They were tried in absentia.
   Shahed Nooruddin, the judge of the Special Judge’s Court-3 of Dhaka, in the makeshift courtroom in the parliament’s MP Hostel, handed down the sentences in former state minister Mahiudin Khan Alamgir’s graft case.
   After examining the testimony of 37 prosecution witnesses and seven defence witnesses and the records, the court convicted Alamgir, who once was a powerful bureaucrat as well, on three charges.
   The court sentenced him to imprisonment for three years for concealing assets in his wealth statement which he submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   He was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years for amassing wealth amounting to Tk 3,27,88,465, which is disproportionate to his known sources of income.
   The court also ordered the confiscation of his properties and assets, which are disproportionate to his known sources of income.
   He was also fined Tk 10 lakh, to suffer one more year in jail if he does not pay up.
   The special graft courts since May, when they began functioning to try bigwig corruption suspects, have so far delivered verdicts in three cases on similar charges.
   The court jailed former state ministers Amanullah Aman and Mir Nasiruddin for 13 years — 3 years for concealing assets and 10 years for amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income.
   They were also fined and their properties and assets, which are disproportionate to their known sources of income, were confiscated. The second Additional District and Sessions Judges Court of Rajshahi sentenced former telecommunications minister Aminul Huq, BNP leader Shish Mohammed and 23 others to rigorous imprisonment for 31 years and 6 months for patronising Islamist militants.
   The judge, Rezaul Islam, handed down the sentences after interrogating the witnesses and examining the records.
   Aminul Huq, BNP’s Rajshahi district unit’s general secretary Shish Mohammed and 15 other accused were tried in absentia, while others were in the dock during pronouncement of the verdict in a crowded courtroom at noon.
   The other convicts include local union council chairmen Basaratullah and Rafiqul Islam, militant leaders Mostafizur Rahman alias Killer Moshtaque, Professor Lutfar Rahman, Abdus Sattar BSc, Siddique, Korban Ali, Akram, Amjad, Monayem, Abul Member and Montu.
   ‘When the judge pronounced the verdict, the convicts standing in the dock burst into tears,’ said an eyewitness account of the scene in the court, jam-packed both inside and outside.
   According to the prosecution, militant boss Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and his men kidnapped 43-year-old Fazlur Rahman, a farmer, from Hasanpur village of Bagmara on April 20 in 2004. They took him to the militant camp, which was set up in the house of a razakar (collaborator) in the War of Liberation, Ramzan Kaya, at Hamirkutsa in Bagmara.
   The complainant, Fazlur, said that he was subjected to gruesome torture for a ransom of Tk 2 lakh. He alleged that the accused worked in unison to plan and execute his abduction.
   According to him, before the abduction Aminul Huq and Shish Mohammad met the militant leaders, as they had done on many occasions, to plan the so-called vigilante operations.
   The victim, Fazlur Rahman, lodged the case with Bagmara police on March 30.
   Sub-inspector Mukhtar Hossain submitted the charge-sheet of the case on April 23.
   It was the first case against ex-BNP ministers and lawmakers, who were widely alleged to have backed the rise of Islamist militancy in the northern districts.
   The additional district magistrate of Natore, Rownok Mahmud, handed down the sentences against Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu, his elder brother Nurunnabi Talukdar, his cousin Atikur Rahman Talukdar and 87 other leaders and activists of the BNP unit of Natore district, including 16 relatives of Dulu.
   They were convicted and sentenced for looting and ransacking 30 houses and 18 shops in Ramsa Kazipur village and Amtoli Bazaar in Natore. The court also fined them Tk 10,000 each, in default to suffer one more year in jail.
   The court, however, acquitted five others, as their involvement in the case was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
   According to the prosecution, on February 7 and 10 in 2004, 30 houses of Ramsa Kazipur village and 18 shops of Amtoli Bazaar under Naldanga thana in Natore were looted and ransacked at Dulu’s instruction.
   After the change in the political situation, Mohammad Asaduzzaman, an inhabitant of Ramsa Kazipur village, lodged a case with Naldanga thana against 105 persons, including Dulu, on February 25 this year.
   Mohammad Arman Hossain, the then officer-in-charge of Naldanga thana, submitted two separate charge-sheets against 94 persons on May 3.
   A total of 28, out of 94 accused, including Dulu, his elder brother Nurunnabi Talukdar, cousin Atiqur Rahman Talukdar, Abidur Rahman Talukdar, Nazibur Rahman Talukdar, Rafiqul Islam Talukdar, nephew Helal, Belal, Dalim, Dollar, the son-in-law Rahim Newaz, two municipality commissioners, Nasim Khan and Sadrul Islam Dumbell were present on the dock during pronouncement of the verdict on Thursday.
   The judge of the Special Tribunal-7 of Dhaka, Nuruzzaman, sentenced film actor, Monwar Hossain Dipjol, in absentia to 17 years’ rigorous imprisonment for possessing illegal firearms.
   ‘The charge brought against Dipjol has been proved beyond doubt, so he is sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for possessing an illegal rifle and another term of seven years for possessing bullets,’ said the court in the verdict.
   The police seized a .22 bore rifle along with 317 bullets from his residence, prosecution said.
   The joint forces raided Dipjol’s residence in Mirpur on January 15 to arrest him, but could not find him. Apart from playing the role of villains in many films, he was also a BNP ward commissioner of the Dhaka City Corporation.
   Sub-inspector Helaluddin on March 26 submitted a charge-sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s after investigating the case filed by assistant sub-inspector Asaduzzaman with the Shah Ali police under the Arms Act.
   The case was transferred for trial to the Special Tribunal where Nuruzzaman announced the judgement after interrogating 10 of the 12 prosecution witnesses.

Bangladesh Bank wants the government to delegate the authority to the central bank to fix the salary and compensation for its staff and board members.
   It also wants a curb on the government’s absolute authority to fire governor, deputy governors and directors of the central bank.
   Salehuddin Ahmed, the governor, has recently sent the central bank’s wish list to the finance ministry recently, seeking more functional and policymaking autonomy, finance officials said.
   To get the things done, the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972, needs to be amended thoroughly, they said.
   As per the clause 82(2A) of the order, approval from the government is required to fix, increase or review the salary and compensation packages for the staffs of the central bank as well as remuneration for directors of the central bank board.
   ‘Responsibilities to fix the salary of BB staff and the remuneration of directors should be given to the Board of Bangladesh Bank,’ reads the central bank’s latest proposal.
   It referred to similar practices in many central banks including that of Indonesia and Malaysia.
   The number of bureaucrats in the seven-member board should be reduced to two from existing three to raise the number of directors from private sector to five from four, the proposal said.
   The central bank should be allowed to function with sufficient operational independence and its board should not be burdened with bureaucrats from the finance and other ministries of the government if the government wants it to function efficiently as an independent authority, it added.
   As per the provision of 15 (1A) of BB order, the government can remove the central bank governor, deputy governor or director whenever it wishes without citing any reason. Such absolute authority remains a psychological pressure on the central bank management to work independently as there are instances that top functionaries were shown the door during the period of immediate past BNP government simply because the then finance minister did not like them.
   Little argument with the finance minister over a monetary policy cost the deputy governor his job, while the reason behind the removal of a leading industrialist from the bank’s board could not be ascertained, central bank sources said.
   The proposal said governor, deputy governor and director could be removed only ‘if he or she (governor, deputy governor and director) becomes permanently incapable of performing his/her duties or subject to any of the disqualifications specified in clause (9) of Article 10 of the BB order.’
   The clause (9) says if he/she is a member of the legislature or a local government, employed in public service or holds any office for salary, and director or employee of any financial or business organisation, he/she will not be eligible for holding the office of governor, deputy governor or director.

Soaring prices are eating into the savings of fixed income group people and forcing them to spend more to meet their minimum needs, the finance adviser said Thursday.
   ‘If price goes up, fixed income group people buy less commodities or exhaust their savings to buy daily necessities,’ Mirza Azizul Islam said at the launch of a World Bank report that shows Bangladesh higher growth path.
   He regretted that he failed to convince a section of intellectuals that prices of essentials were increasing keeping pace with the rising consumption.
   ‘It indicates that the income of people has increased,’ he said.
   The World Bank report, titled ‘Bangladesh: Strategy for Sustained Growth,’ gives 61 tips to put Bangladesh on track to graduate from a low-income country now to a middle income one by 2016.
   ‘The government has already implemented many of the recommendations,’ Mirza Aziz said, adding that the report would help the government prepare its medium term vision for 2021.
   The country was on a higher growth trajectory and it could achieve 7.5 per cent growth, he said.
   Agreeing with the spirit of the report, the finance adviser said the government has taken steps to reform energy, financial and trade sectors. But he acknowledged the difficulties in going for further reforms.
   Whenever a government has achieved a certain reform target, it has found the next step harder, he said. The multilateral lending agency seems to have shifted its focus from corruption as none of the 61 recommendations has any mention of it, said Akbar Ali Khan, former adviser to the caretaker government.
   Criticising the report, which said unemployment rate of Bangladesh is only 4 per cent, he said the figure is even below the jobless rate in the OECD countries.
   In the last two years, remittance flow grew 300 times higher than the foreign aid inflow, but the report lacked any recommendation regarding it, the former finance secretary also pointed out.
   The per capita income doubled between 1975 and 2005, and now the country is waiting for ‘second doubling’, he said.
   MA Taslim, professor of economics of Dhaka University, said in the last three decades, crop yield doubled, but the real wage of farmers did not increase.
   He stressed the need for increased labour productivity.
   The former Tariff Commission chief said tariff rates should not be reduced unilaterally, it should be done through negotiations. He also referred to the row between the EU and USA over farm subsidy.
   The country’s industrial landscape did not change much in the last three decades, it just shifted its dependence on jute to readymade garment, he pointed out, hinting at the vulnerability of single product dependency.
   Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed said the country is exposed to three risks –imbalance, financial volatilities and inflation outlook— in the global arena.
   Associated Press journalist Farid Hossain said per capita income growth was never negative since 1990 and credit goes to political leadership.
   Rapid transition to middle income country would demand a consistent political commitment, said Zhu Xian, country director of World Bank.
   Sandeep Mahajan, lead author of the report, said to become a middle income country, Bangladesh needs to shift from agriculture to industry and service sectors, and integrate more into global market.
   The recommended policy measures include reversing the declining productivity growth trends in agriculture, enhancing export competitiveness, overcoming skill constraints, addressing pricing and governance issues in power generation and gas production.

The Awami League acting president, Zillur Rahman, on Thursday expressed his doubt if general elections would be held within the timeline announced by the Election Commission.
   ‘Our party president Sheikh Hasina earlier expressed her doubt whether the polls would be held in time. Now we have every reason to fear whether the elections will be held in due time as there has been little progress in preparation of the voters’ roll,’ he told reporters at his Gulshan residence.
   He said that the interim government had assumed power to hold a free, fair and credible election within a specific timeframe, but the Election Commission could not begin the voter registration process even after the passage of seven months which cast serious doubt on whether the polls would be held in due time.
   Zillur also said that Sheikh Hasina was not getting the treatment she deserved in jail as a top political leader and an honourable citizen and denounced the government for not allowing the relatives of the AL chief to meet her.
   ‘The authorities have not allowed the relatives of Sheikh Hasina to meet her even 10 days after her arrest though she is a state prisoner,’ he said.
   The party veteran said that there was specific provision in the jail code for allowing visitors to a prisoner even if the prisoner was an accused in a murder case but the relatives of Sheikh Hasina are still being deprived of their right to meet her.
   ‘The authorities are now saying that permission of the home ministry would be required for the visitor to meet Hasina. But as per the jail code, the jailer is the authority to allow visitors,’ Zillur pointed out and wanted to know why the AL president was discriminated against.
   He termed the attitude of the government towards the AL president as hostile and belligerent which, he said, had made it clear that the ‘false’ cases were lodged against her with ill motive.
   ‘We demand immediate withdrawal of the false cases filed against Sheikh Hasina and her release,’ said the acting AL president.
   He also condemned the police raid on the residence of Hasina and the seizure of her vehicle.
   ‘Bangladeshi expatriates gave the vehicle to the Awami League president as a gift. It is unfortunate that the law enforcers raided her house without notice and seized the vehicle,’ he said.
   Referring to the 13-year imprisonment handed to AL presidium member Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir on Thursday, Zillur also expressed his doubt whether Sheikh Hasina would get justice in the present circumstances.
   ‘Mohiuddin, an honest and wise man, has been given 13 years of imprisonment. So we have reason to fear whether Sheikh Hasina will get justice,’ Zillur said replying a query.
   He told another questioner that he disagreed with an adviser to the interim government who had claimed that Jamaat leaders might not have been involved in corruption.
   ‘It is absurd and incredible that all Jamaat men are angels and all of us are devils,’ said Zillur.
   He also disagreed with comments of the army chief made in an interview with a foreign news agency recently in which he [the army chief] had claimed that the present situation in the country was created by the major political parties—Awami League and BNP.
   ‘It is not the Awami League, but the BNP-Jamaat government which is responsible for the present situation as they wanted to capture state power through a one-sided election which led to the present crises.

Flood situation is likely to worsen after Saturday as rivers heights kept increasing on Thursday because of torrential rain, already flooding 30 districts, said a Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre bulletin said.
   The bulletin said the heights of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, Padma and Surma rivers might increase at several points during the period.
   The flash flood lapped at eight more northern districts as most major rivers flew above danger mark on Thursday. The heights of many other rivers touched danger mark.
   The flood affected more than 30,000 people in char areas in Sirajganj, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Bogra, Jamalpur, Sylhet and Brahmanbaria.
   The flood forecasting centre said places in Dhaka and six more districts —Manikganj, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur and Shariatpur — might be flooded any time soon.
   Seven major rivers — Teesta, Jamuna, Padma, Kobadak, Surma, Someswari and Gumti — overflowed their banks on Thursday, flowing above danger mark at eight points, the bulletin said.
   The major rivers swelled because of torrential rain, which has taken place for about a week, and the onrush of hill water.
   Many districts in the south-east, north-east, north-west and the middle have been flooded.
   More than 10 million people in 30 districts such as Chittagong, Bandarban, Khagrachari, Feni, Noakhali, Cox’s Bazar and Comilla in the Chittagong division, Sylhet and Sunamganj in the Sylhet division, Dhaka, Manikganj, Jamalpur, Netrakona, Tangail, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, and Shariatpur in the Dhaka division, and Pabna, Sirajganj, Bogra, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Chapainawabganj in the Rajshahi division have so far been affected.
   The government has claimed the situation is under control. Reports reaching from the affected districts said people in the districts were passing their nights under the open sky and going without food and drinking water.
   Heavy shower and overflowing of the Jamuna had disrupted the movement of ferries and river vessels in the Nagarbari–Paturia ferry channel on Thursday morning, the New Age correspondent in Pabna said.
   A large number of trucks carrying of mango, jackfruit and vegetables from the north remained stranded.
   The flash flood situation in Netrakona and Sunamganj is worsening, the flood warning bulletin said.
   The heights of the Teesta, Brahmaputra and Jamuna crossed danger mark at several points.
   The Teesta river height registered a sharp increase of 20cm and flew 5cm above danger level at the Dalia point in Nilphamari on Thursday, inundating fresh areas in seven upazilas of Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat.
   The Brahmaputra also marked a sharp rise of 35cm during the period and touched danger mark at 6:00am on Thursday at the Fulchari point in Gaibandha. The river height crossed danger mark at noon.
   The Jamuna river height registered a rise of 30cm during the period and flew 13cm above danger mark at the Sariakandi point in Bogra. The river flew above danger mark at all points in Bogra, Jamalpur and Sirajganj in the morning.
   Rivers in the Sylhet division kept swelling, submerging most low areas because of incessant rain that has continued since Tuesday night, said the correspondent in Sylhet.
   Seven upazilas in the region — Goainghat, Kanaighat and Companiganj in Sylhet and Doarabazar, Tahirpur, Shalla and Chhatak in Sunamganj — have been submerged.
   Road communications between Goainghat and the Sylhet district headquarters and between Doarabazar and the Sunamganj district headquarters have been snapped from early morning as the roads went under flood water.
   Several hundred houses and crops on vast tracts of land were also damaged. Poultry birds and animals were washed away. More than 1,800 handlooms have been shut down. Several thousand weavers have become jobless.
   Twenty villages in the Sirajganj district headquarters were inundated afresh as about 50 metres of the Khokshabari ring-dyke was washed away, the correspondent in Sirajganj said.
   Erosion of major rivers also took a serious turn at many points, hitting the flood control embankments.
   The correspondent in Bogra reported 15 villages at Dhunat had been flooded on the day.
   Vast areas of four upazilas in Munshiganj have been flooded. The affected upazilas are the district headquarters, Sirajdikhan, Sreenagar and Tongibari.

Nearly 60,000 residents of Tanguar Haor are in dire straits as the government has totally banned fishing without creating any alternative jobs or sources of income for them.
   The haor people, who harvest only a single crop a year and so are principally dependent on fishing, are being caught by lawmen and put in jail for fishing in the 100-square-km wetland.
   Failing to manage any food for their families in the rainy season, thousands of unemployed people are compelled to leave the haor villages to seek alternative work like serving as day-labourers for minimal wages for pedalling rickshaws for a pittance.
   During a visit to the haor last week, no trace of relief effort was found to help the poor people who have nothing to do but fish for five to six months from June to keep body and soul together.
   ‘Imposing a ban on fishing means thousands of haor people are left without any means of survival,’ said Nur Islam of Ramsingpur village, one of the 46 villages in the periphery of the haor.
   Since the authorities have become ruthless in arresting people, seizing their fishing nets and boats, he, sitting dolefully in his single-room hut, said not many dare nowadays to go fishing.
   ‘Though I have nothing to do, I have to somehow manage food for a four-member family,’ Nur Islam told New Age as hundreds of others approached this correspondent to tell him their miseries.
   Located in Sunamganj district in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh, the haor consists of 120 beels and a unique wetland ecosystem of national and international importance. It is called the ‘mother fishery’ of the country but decades of over-fishing by leaseholders has drastically reduced the number of fishes and damaged the ecosystem. To stop the loss of such a valuable natural heritage, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) declared it the country’s second Ramsar site after the Sundarbans in 2000.
   Towfiq, 20, was caught with a hassak, a teta and a boat by a patrol team while he, along with his younger brother Sukur and uncle Chandar, was fishing at night last week near Ratonjiri, their village.
   ‘What else could a poor man like me do without fishing at this time!’ bemoaned Towfiq, who is the chief bread-winner for his nine-member family.
   ‘My father was a fisherman and I am just carrying on the profession,’ he said, adding that they would earn Tk 200 to Tk 300 a day if they could fish. ‘With the money, we buy rice, wheat and other essential items.’
   The three were released after signing a bond that they would never fish in the haor. Towfiq said he would leave the haor to find an alternative job. ‘My family is dependent on my earning.’
   The deputy commissioner of Sunamganj, Saber Hossain, said the government and environmentalists want to restore Tanguar Haor’s status of being a sanctuary for fishes and birds, and thus fishing has been suspended for three years.
   When he was told that the majority of the Haor residents depend on fishing as they can do nothing else to feed their families, he said the IUCN was working out plans to provide them alternative sources of income.
   Tanguar Haor, which provides subsistence and livelihoods for about 100,000 people, was declared an ecologically critical area in 1999 due to overexploitation of natural resources. The government cancelled the leases of the haor after it was declared a Ramsar site. Recently the authorities, who seem to be least bothered about the fate of the poor people, have become Draconian and take ruthless action against anyone caught fishing.
   Some 40 Ansars and nine policemen, under the command of a magistrate, guard the haor. Four camps have been set up in Dolabari, Mendiata, Ramsingpur and Rangchi points of the wetland.
   Some magistrates and policemen said that stopping the poor from fishing was not possible for them with the so little manpower and without the required logistics. But gallons of petrol and thousands of takas are being spent each month on the plea of protecting haor.
   The haor people alleged that the police were allowing fishing in exchange of money.
   ‘Only a few, who have money, can avail themselves of the opportunity,’ said a fisherman of Mendiata village. The policemen at the village camp denied the allegation. Interestingly, no specific policy for protecting the haor seems to have been formulated. Some magistrates are allowing small-scale fishing while people angling for small fishes like with Koi, Taki, Meni and Kakka near their houses are being caught.
   The haor people are becoming desperate and are fishing secretly, taking advantage of insufficient patrols by the lawmen and their inadequate manpower. They fish at night, so the lawmen have started conducting frequent raids at night.
   For generations the haor people have lived on fishing half the year and the ban has put their backs to the wall. They have frequently urged the government to allow them to fish so that they can survive the lean months when agriculture is not possible.
   ‘We will catch fishes because it’s now our only way to survive,’ said Abdur Nur of Ramsingpur. Many haor people said the same thing.
   ‘Many have stopped fishing in fear and left their villages to find alternative sources of income, but we are not going to follow them. We have to fish even if we are arrested, harassed and jailed,’ said Gulernur, who has a six-member family.
   They poor villagers of the haor, located at the foothills of the Khasi-Jaintia hills, do not know how long the ban will remain. What they do know is that the further the ban is extended, the greater their hardship.
   The Bangladesh chapter of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been assigned by the government to coordinate a Tk 3.8 crore pilot project for the establishment of a co-management system for conservation, stabilisation and use of the natural resources of Tangaur Haor.
   Funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the 18-month project began from December 2006 to see what kind of steps will be appropriate to help the haor people to survive without fishing.
   A recent census of the IUCN in the haor revealed that the government’s decision has improved the overall ecological state. It said the number of resident birds, including the rare ones, is increasing there. But the government’s tough stance against fishing has increased human suffering.

Detained Awami League president Sheikh Hasina has been given time up to August 8 to submit her wealth statement to the Anti-corruption Commission.
   ‘The former prime minister has sent to us a petition through the jail authorities seeking extra time for seven more working days,’ ACC secretary Mokhlesur Rahman told the media Thursday.
   The commission on July 17 issued a notice to the jail authority asking for Hasina’s wealth reports within seven working days. She accepted a copy of the notice on July 19.
   The ACC official said she has been given the extra time to furnish her asset information in accordance with the Anti Corruption Commission Rules-2007.
   The joint forces arrested Hasina at her Sudha Sadan residence on July 16 and a court sent her to jail on the day in a Tk 3 crore extortion case.
   The Awami League chief has been kept in a make-shift sub-jail in the Jatiya Sangsad premises.

The army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, on Thursday called upon all to come forward to free country’s sporting arena from corruption, nepotism, politics and drugs.
   The army chief, also chairman of the National Sports Council, made the call while addressing a meeting with deputy commissioners, police supers and representatives of district sports associations of Tangail and five districts of the greater Mymensingh at Ghatail Shaheed Salahuddin Cantonment in the afternoon.
   General Commanding Officer of Ghatail Cantonment Major General AKM Mujahid Uddin, National Sports Council secretary Aminul Islam and senior army officers were present.
   Describing sports as part of education, General Moeen said, ‘One can become a good student by only studying, but he must take part in sports and cultural activities to become a real human being.’
   He noted that sportsmen represent the country abroad by carrying the national flag. ‘So, we have to give stress on improving quality of our sports,’ he said.
   Earlier in the morning, the army chief addressed the army personnel and officials at durbar hall in the cantonment.

Assailants, storming into a coaching centre at Kalabagan, shot dead a teacher in broad daylight on Thursday.
   The deceased was identified as Abul Bashar Badshah, 35, a mathematics teacher and also controller of examinations at the E Haque Coaching Centre.
   Locals said that three youths came in a motorbike to Lake Circus Road of Kalabagan at about 2:30pm, and two of them entered the coaching centre on the first floor of three-storey building while the other was sitting on the bike. They shot Badshah, who was sitting in the reception centre, and left the scene immediately. He died on the spot.
   Parul Begum, the landlady, told newsmen that she was sleeping but woke up on hearing gunshots. She saw the three youths going away on the motorbike. Badshah was conducting examinations on Thursday, due to which the other teachers did not turn up at the centre on that day. He was taking rest when he was killed, said the staff of the centre.
   After the incident the Dhanmondi police, members of Detective Branch and Rapid Action Battalion reached the spot and started questioning the staff of the coaching centre and other people. They also questioned the coaching centre’s owner, Emadul Haque.
   The police said that Badshah was earlier in charge of the Faridabad Coaching Centre where a quarrel took place between him and others. Badshah’s murder might be a sequel to the conflict. The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s morgue for autopsy.

The US president, George W Bush, has welcomed the roadmap to general elections in Bangladesh and praised the caretaker government’s commitment to hold the elections in 2008.
   He assured Bangladesh of the US government cooperation in holding the elections.
   Bush made the remarks on Wednesday when newly appointed the Bangladesh ambassador to the United States, M Humayun Kabir, presented his credentials at the White House in Washington, an official handout said in Dhaka on Thursday.
   The US president described Bangladesh as a role model among ‘moderate and tolerant Muslim nations,’ saying that the country has demonstrated its unflinching commitment to democracy by organising innumerable elections.
   Appreciating current reform programmes of the caretaker government, Bush said he supported the anti-graft drive and initiatives to realise tax.
   Receiving the letter of credence from the ambassador, the US president said both Bangladesh and the USA had strong faith in democratic values and were committed to working jointly for mutual economic development and combating terrorism.
   He assured cooperation as the ambassador sought duty- and quota-free access of Bangladesh products to the US market.
   Bush praised the Bangladesh government’s steps to build the country’s economy on a strong base as well as its efforts to alleviate poverty. He also assured the ambassador of continued US support to Bangladesh’s economic development.
   Humayun Kabir extended warm felicitations and wishes to Bush on behalf of the president, the chief adviser and the people of Bangladesh.

A delegation of the Volunteers of the American Community (Bangladeshi) USA Inc submitted a memorandum to the US State Department, apprising them of the violation of human rights and the current political situation in Bangladesh.
   They met a representative of the US deputy secretary of state, Richard Boucher, and submitted the memorandum.
   The organisation’s president, Abul Hashem Bulbul, said the military-backed interim administration was harassing the politicians who are not participating in the so-called reforms process and detaining and convicting them on false charges, giving them no scope to defend themselves.
   ‘The apolitical interim administration is mandated to hand over the power to an elected government but it seems that it is trying to stay in power for a longer term,’ he said, accusing two of the advisers of the government of maligning the politicians and ruining political institutions.
   The delegation demanded immediate announcement of the national election schedule and handing over power to an elected government so that the military cannot assume power. They also called for immediate release of all political activists.
   Copies of the memorandum were also sent to different heads of state and government through their missions in Washington DC, said a release.

Some 200 teachers at Rajshahi University observed a daylong work abstention on Thursday, demanding immediate release of the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina.
   The teachers under the banner of Progressive Teachers’ Society announced earlier that they would observe the programme on Thursday to press home their four-point demands, including release of Hasina.
   Other demands were lifting the ban on politics, holding general elections at the earliest possible time and freeing the educational institutions, including RU, from corruption.
   Campus sources said that classes at a good number of departments were not held but examinations held as usual.
   The attendance of students was very thin due to the work abstention by the teachers and incessant rain since the morning.
   According to the sources, 15 management teachers out of 20 abstained from work on Thursday. The management chair Professor Imran Ali told New Age that they could take few classes as well as examinations as per schedule.
   Tareq, a 2nd semester student of management department, said, they waited for long time in classroom for their class teacher but he didn’t come. ‘We were not aware of the teachers’ work abstention programme.’
   Pro-BNP and Jamaat teachers took classes and gave examinations as usual.
   A pro-BNP teacher said, ‘I had to take class at request of my students.’
   The sources also said the university authorities made a list of the teachers who observed work abstention, and asked the department chairmen to provide information in this regard.
   When contacted vice-chancellor Professor Altaf Hossain told newsman, ‘We have made a list of the teachers, who observed the work abstention, at the directives of the higher authorities.’
   Some agitating teachers alleged that intelligence officials over telephone wanted to know about the abstention and next course of agitation programme.
   When contacted, PTS convener Professor Abdus Sobhan said that they will announce next course of agitation programme soon, demanding immediate release of the AL chief Sheikh Hasina.

The formal trail of a case against former home minister Mohammad Nasim and his wife Laila Arzumand Banu will begin on August 1.
   Besides, the verdict in another case against detained CBA leader of Telegraph and Telephone Board Firoz Miah and his wife Rawshan Ara will be delivered on August 6.
   In both the cases, the four persons were charged with submitting false wealth statements to the Anti-Corruption Commission and amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income.
   A court of M Firoz Alam on Thursday fixed the date for beginning the formal trial of the case against Nasim and his wife after framing charges against them.
   The judge of special judge’s court 5 of Dhaka, M Ashraf Hossain, fixed the date for verdict in Firoz Miah’s case after concluding the hearing of arguments from both sides on the day.
   The court charged Nasim, also an Awami League leader, with concealing wealth of Tk 1,26,82,678 in the wealth statements he submitted to the ACC, and amassing wealth of Tk 1,60,77,649 which is disproportionate to his known sources of income.
   His wife, now on bail, was charged with abetting her husband in committing the offences.
   The couple pleaded not guilty and sought justice when the judge read out the charges to them in the dock.
   After brief hearing from both sides, the court earlier rejected the defence plea for discharging the case.
   ACC deputy director Akhter Hossain filed the case against the couple with Dhanmondi police station on March 21.
   The ACC also filed a case accusing Firoz Miah and his wife of concealing wealth in the wealth statements and amassing wealth worth Tk 1.34 crore which is disproportionate to their known sources of income.
   Firoz’s wife Rawshan Ara is being tried in absentia as she went into hiding.
   The offences are punishable with imprisonment for three years under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act for concealing assets and seven to ten years for amassing wealth disproportionate to known sources of income.
   In addition, fine may be imposed and the wealth disproportionate to known sources of income may be confiscated.
   Since the inception in May, the special graft courts have so far delivered verdicts in three cases on similar charges.
   The courts jailed former state ministers Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Amanullah Aman and Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin for 13 years — 3 years for concealing assets and 10 years for amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income.
   They were also fined and their assets disproportionate to their known sources of income confiscated.

A bus of the state-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation caught fire at Kamalapur in Dhaka on Thursday night.
   The fire service officials and the police said the bus, meant to run on the Dhaka-Narsingdi route, suddenly caught fire when it was parked on the road near the BRTC bus depot at about 9:30pm.
   It could not be established whether someone had set fire to the bus. Two fire engines put out the flames in half an hour. No casualty was reported.
   Two other buses earlier caught fire at Gulistan on two successive nights after the arrest of the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, early July 16. The law men and fire service officials said the buses caught fire because of mechanical faults. A taxicab was set on fire near the Jiban Bima Tower opposite the Bangabandhu National Stadium at day time on July 19.

The NGO Affairs Bureau on Thursday revoked its 17 July order asking non-government organisations to spend at least 50 per cent of foreign fund on visible development works such as construction and maintenance of roads, schools and culverts, and excavation and re-excavation of canals.
   The Bureau issued a notification cancelling the previous order following a meeting between the director general and a delegation of the non-governmental organisations on Wednesday.
   \The previous order was made with reference to the decision taken at the 11th review meeting of the activities of joint forces deployed in aid of civil administration and law enforcement under the state of emergency.
   The meeting of the joint forces had earlier decided to coordinate the activities of the NGOs and close down those whose programmes were not beneficial for the people.
   The meeting had also called for close supervision of the awareness building and training programmes, and keeping watch on the use of foreign funds by the NGOs registered with the bureau and the Social Welfare Directorate.

Thailand’s defence minister warned Thursday that the military-backed government could impose a state of emergency in Bangkok if more violence breaks out at anti-coup protests.
   General Boonrawd Somtas told the army-installed parliament that the government would not allow a repeat of clashes last Sunday between protesters and police, when more than 100 people were injured.
   ‘The government will not allow such violence to happen again,’ the minister said.
   ‘If police cannot control the situation, the army will invoke the law – like an emergency decree. The army always has forces standing by,’ he told the parliament.
   Boonrawd urged the protesters to remain peaceful, saying: ‘The government does not want to have to use strong measures.’
   The clashes broke out late Sunday when some 5,000 protesters tried to march from the Sanam Luang plaza in central Bangkok to the home of the top adviser of Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
   The police blocked the marchers, who began throwing stones and sticks. Riot police responded with teargas and batons to break up the crowd.
   Nine anti-coup protest leaders were detained, the police said.
   ‘They were charged with illegal assembly and inciting violence, which they all denied,’ said Bangkok deputy police chief Jet Mongkonhatti.
   The nine were held for further questioning at the Bangkok criminal court, where they had gone to hear the charges against them, he said.
   Four of the men detained were allies of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a bloodless coup last September, the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship protest group said in a statement.
   Another five were pro-democracy activists who had joined forces with Thaksin’s allies to call on the junta to step down and to campaign against a military-backed constitution set to go to a referendum on August 19, the statement said.
   The clashes broke out late Sunday when some 5,000 protesters tried to march from the Sanam Luang plaza in central Bangkok to the home of the top adviser of Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
   The police blocked the marchers, who began throwing stones and sticks. Riot police responded with teargas and batons to break up the crowd.
   The incident was the first violence since the coup, and came as the military is beginning campaigning to urge voters to adopt its constitution.

The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Thursday said the commission looked forward to the ‘end result’ of the ongoing process of reforms in the political parties hoping that an atmosphere for starting dialogues with the parties on electoral reforms would be created by September.
   ‘We talked to the chief adviser before announcing the electoral roadmap and we are hopeful that the atmosphere will be favourable by September to start the planned dialogue,’ the CEC said at a press briefing at the commission’s conference room.
   ‘We should have an end result [of the reform process] before they [the parties] can sit with us for dialogue,’ the CEC said. According to the electoral roadmap announced by the EC, the commission will hold dialogues with the political parties in September- November this year on electoral reforms.
   Asked whether the EC was confident that the situation, which was extremely fluid at the moment, would stabilise and the reforms of political parties process take a discernible shape by September when some top political leaders were behind bars, the CEC said, ‘The country cannot wait for [what happens to] any individuals. The country must move on… it is natural that the vacuum is filled automatically and through this process an atmosphere for beginning the dialogue will be created.’
   He, however, said the EC had nothing to do with reforms in political parties but was expecting an end result of the parties’ reform process. ‘It is not for the EC to see who are coming in and who are losing the leadership of the parties,’ Huda said.
   The CEC said there was no alternative to the political institutions though the country’s political process had derailed. ‘Though it is true that our political leaders have not performed up to what they should have done, there is no alternative to the political institutions in our country,’ he added.
   When asked if the government had dropped a hint about lifting the ban on political activities by September, Huda skipped a direct answer saying, ‘We talked to the government before announcing the roadmap. The present government is neutral, so it will lift the ban at a time it will feel appropriate.’ He said they the EC could not conduct the election alone as it needed support of and coordination with the government and the administrative wing.
   About preparation of voters’ roll, the CEC said they had planned to start the work in 10 different municipal and city corporation areas next month. He also said that the main task would start across the country in September.
   Expressing the EC’s determination to hold the national elections by December 2008, the Huda said that the commission had an alternative plan if something went wrong in voter registration with photographs in some areas.
   The CEC said parliamentary elections would be preceded by local government polls which would start in January next year ‘as both the chief adviser and LGED adviser want polls to those local government bodies where election has become overdue.’
   ‘We have heard that some local bodies have become inoperative as a number of their representatives have gone into hiding or been arrested. So we think it is the best time for polls so that good people are elected,’ the CEC said.
   The CEC admitted that some quarters, particularly the political activists, were still confused about the EC’s roadmap for holding the stalled 9th parliamentary elections by December 2008. He hoped that the doubts would be removed when the commission would embark on the field-level work of voter registration.

Bangladesh and Myanmar are all set to seal a deal to revive a cross-border highway that went into disuse decades ago.
   Myanmar’s construction minister Saw Tun arrives in Dhaka Thursday to sign the deal with his Bangladesh counterpart MA Matin on Friday.
   The proposed road link will connect Bangladesh with Myanmar, Thailand, China, Laos and some other East Asian nations.
   Chittagong was connected closely to Arakan, now the Rakhine state of Myanmar, for ages until the link was disrupted in early 1960s.
   According to the communications ministry officials, they are ready to sign the final deal.
   They said the construction of the 153-km-long road link will cost Tk 946 crore.
   In the first phase, 43km road will be built with 23km from Ramu to Gundom at the Bangladesh end and 20km from Taungbro to Bawli Bazar on the Myanmar side.
   Officials said Dhaka would bear the cost of Tk 274
   crore for the first-phase construction.
   The remaining 110km of the 153km road will be constructed later at a cost of Tk 770 crore.
   In April, during the visit of foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury to Yangon, the two countries agreed on the terms and conditions of the proposed road link.
   Experts have maintained that a road network from Kunming of China to Chittagong via Myanmar could be set up to boost trade and commerce and cultural interactions as well between the people of the region.

The government has decided to increase the tuition fees in the public sector medical colleges to Tk 1,000 per student a year from existing Tk 400 and hostel seat rent to Tk 500 from Tk 60.
   The new fees will come into effect from the upcoming session for MBBS and BDS courses, beginning in November.
   The decision was taken last week at a meeting, attended by health secretary, director general of heath services and principals of all public medical colleges.
   ‘The expenses for services and development projects for medical students have increased manifold since independence, but the fees remained the same as they were in the pre-independence period,’ reads the decision, justifying the fee hikes.
   The government also decided to bring major changes in the admission process in medical and dental colleges from the next academic session, professor Khandaker M Shefayet Ullah, director of medical education of the Directorate General of Health Services, said.
   According to the new admission rules, if a candidate answers wrong he or she will lose 0.25 per cent marks in the written test.
   Initially, five candidates will be short-listed for each seat.
   Candidates with higher grade point average in Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary Certificate examinations will be given priority for admission. GPA-4 in every exam has been made mandatory for applying for medical education.
   If two or more students have been found with same GPA, then marks in biology and physics will be the determining factors. If the levels become the same again, the candidate who lost one academic year will get priority, according to newly approved admission procedure of medical education.
   Applicants from hill tracts will require minimum GPA-3 in SSC and HSC examinations to qualify for medical education.
   Director of medical education Shefayet Ullah said the admission forms will be distributed shortly and the admission procedure be completed by October.
   Earlier, the health services authorities planned to take admission tests for MBBS and BDS courses in a same centre to stop irregularities in the written examination.
   But in the face of objections from the principals of the 15 public medical colleges (including the Armed Forces Medical College), the authorities decided to take the written examination at all medical college centres.
   There are 2120 seats in the public medical colleges in the country, including 40 reserved seats for freedom fighters’ children, 20 for indigenous students and 80 for foreign students (50 seats for SAARC countries and rest for other countries).

The Bangladesh Adivasi Forum and the Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolan have demanded that the government should officially observe International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on August 9 as announced by the United Nations.
   The forum’s general secretary Sanjib Drong placed an 11-point demand to the government at in a news briefing at the National Press Club on Thursday.
   Sanjib said the government should cancel the construction of eco-park at Madhupur and stop repression on indigenous people of the place. He also demanded constitutional recognition of the indigenous people.
   The Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolan general secretary, Mesbah Kamal, National Indigenous Council general secretary Rabindranath Saren and Dhaka University teacher Sourav Sikder attended the briefing.
   The leaders of the indigenous people said the government or non-government organisations should not take any development projects in the habitats of indigenous people without consent of the local residents.
   They also demanded that such people should be given the right to their languages and cultures.
   The organisations have worked out an eight-day programme, including cultural functions, seminars, exhibitions and exchange of views, beginning on August 3 to mark the day.
   Around 37 crore indigenous people in 70 countries are expected to observe the day around the world.
   The United Nations on December 23, 1994 decided to celebrate International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on August 9 every year. The day has been observed in Bangladesh for seven years.

Leading Indian economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen will be awarded Germany’s Meister Eckhart prize for his work on human development theory, the country’s Identity Foundation said on Thursday.
   Sen is being honoured with the prize for having enriched philosophical and cultural discourse with an economic perspective, the foundation said in a statement.
   ‘For Amartya Sen the development of man is linked to the extent to which people are free to allow their true identity to unfold,’ it said.
   ‘The unusual merging of economic and philosophical enquiry which graces his work leads to the acknowledgement that identity is not merely a personal question, which every individual should pose himself, but a worldwide quest.’
   Sen, 73, won the Nobel prize for economics in 1998.
   He has worked on welfare economics, famine, gender inequality, the underlying mechanisms of poverty and political liberalism.
   His books have been translated into 30 languages.
   Past winners of the Meister Eckhart prize, which is named after a 13th century German theologian and mystic, include US philosopher Richard Rorty and French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss.
   It comes with prize money of 50,000 euros (68,500 dollars).
   Sen will receive the prize in the western German city of Cologne at the end of November.

A Rajshahi court on Thursday pressed charges against Rajshahi mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu and seven others in an extortion case.
   The judge of additional district and sessions judge’s court Abu Saleh Sheikh Mohammad Zahirul Haque framed the charges, court sources said.
   The convener of the governing body of Evergreen Model School and College filed the case with the Rajpara police station on April 21.
   He accused the eight persons, including Minu, also a former BNP lawmaker, Rajshahi district BNP vice-president Nazrul Huda, former Rajshahi city BNP general secretary Shafiqul Haque Milon, of extorting Tk 4 lakh.
   Minu, Nazrul and five other accused are now in the custody while Milon is on the run.

Work on the registration of voters with photographs will begin in the Khulna City Corporation area on August 15.
   Related persons will be given training in the first week of August and after training, each of them will collect information on 200 eligible voters, sources in the district election office said.
   The authorised persons will submit information to their team leader, and after verification, the leader will submit information to the assistant registration officer.
   The registration officer, after verifying the information, will submit it to the thana election officer, the sources said.
   The thana election officer will verify the information in the presence of local ward commissioner and his nearest competitor in the past corporation election and then send it to data operators for data entry.
   The district election officer, Md Azizul Islam, told New Age that they had held several meetings to make the voters’ registration successful.

London Metropolitan University, the largest university in the British capital, has announced Dr Muhammad Shahidullah scholarship for outstanding Bangladeshi students.
   The scholarship, introduced in recognition of the renowned Bengali linguist and educationist, is designed to offer financial support for an excellent Bangladeshi graduate each year who wants to study for his master’s degree at London Metropolitan University.
   ‘This scholarship is part of a package of support we offer every year to a brilliant student from Bangladesh,’ Mark Bickerton, director of Student Recruitment and International Development of the university, said while addressing a press conference at Sonargaon Hotel on Thursday.
   ‘Under this scholarship we will be looking forward to Bangladeshi students who have shown outstanding academic performance and committed to education, social development and creativity following the path of Dr Muhammad Shahidullah,’ Bickerton said.
   In the past two years at London Metropolitan University, Bangladeshi students have achieved more first class degrees and merit scholarships than any other countries, he said.
   Last year, Bangladeshi students won 17 out of 120 merit scholarships, while Nigeria earned 11, China 9, the USA 7 and India 4, he said.
   The education promotion and marketing manager of British Council, Raiqah Walie-Khan, and the operations manager, Bangladesh Liaison Office of London Metropolitan University, KM Mazharul Islam Maruf, also spoke on the occasion.
   Murtaza Baseer, son of Dr Muhammad Shahidullah and eminent artist, was also present.
   ‘It is a great honour for my family that a British University has recognised the contribution of my father by introducing a scholarship,’ said Baseer.

Lieutenant general Deepak Kapoor, who took an active part in the 1971 operations in Bangladesh, was on Thursday named as the next Chief of Army Staff, Press Trust of India reports.
   Kapoor, an artillery officer who has the distinction of obtaining three masters degrees in military science, business administration and political science, will succeed general JJ Singh when he retires on September 30, an official announcement said.
   Kapoor also commanded the RAM, a reorganised infantry-cum-armour division, during Operation Parakram, the tense standoff with Pakistan in 2001-02.
   Kapoor also commanded troops engaged in anti-insurgency operations. Kapoor was also chief of staff of the Tezpur-based 4 Corps, which is engaged in anti-insurgency operations in Assam. On being promoted to the rank of corps commander, he took over the 33 Corps deployed on the Sino-Indian border.