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A string of landslides triggered by torrential rains buried hillside localities leaving at least 86 people, including two policemen, dead and 100 others injured in the port city and its surroundings on Monday, administration officials said.
   Army rescue teams searched for bodies and survivors all day as scores of people are believed to have been trapped in their hillside thatched and mud houses near Chittagong cantonment, the divisional commissioner of Chittagong, Mokhlesur Rahman said.
   ‘The death toll may rise further as rescue operation is continuing’, he said.
   Intermittent rains, however, forced suspension of the rescue operation in the evening.
   Unconfirmed sources put the death toll at 90.
   The chief adviser to the interim administration, Fakhruddin Ahmed, expressed shock at the loss of lives in landslides caused by downpour in Chittagong. He directed the authorities concerned to take quick measures for rescuing survivors and carrying out relief and rehabilitation operation and ferry the victims to shelters, if necessary. Thirty-five bodies were recovered from the hilly surroundings of the cantonment where rescue operations continued until rain stopped the search at about 6:30pm, officials and army sources said.
   Most of the victims were asleep when large chunks of earth rolled down the hillocks and buried thatched houses during overnight rain, officials said.
   The rest were killed in Pahartali, Devarpar, Kusumbag, Nasirabad and Chittagong university areas, police and administration sources said adding that the dead included children and women.
   Acting mayor of Chittagong city corporation Monjurul Alam told New Age that torrential rains and tidal surge flooded one-third of the port city area affecting one million residents.
   ‘The downpour has caused severe water-logging in most of the low-lying areas as rain water could not pass to the river Karnaphuli due to tidal surge,’ the mayor said adding, ‘we have asked local ward commissioners to do the needful for the marooned people’.
   Met office said 267 mm rainfall was recorded in the port city in the past 24 hours ending at 6 pm on Monday.
   There may be more rains here in the next few days, the forecasts said.
   The dead included a naik of armed police battalion named Paritosh Barua, 37, and four members of his family who were asleep when mudslide buried their house in Nasirabad area near Tara Gate early Monday, the police said.
   A police sub-inspector, Golam Moula, 38, was electrocuted in flood water at Pahartoli as he started for his duty from his residence at 9:00am, police said.
   The early monsoon rains wreaked havoc on the port city clogging entire drainage systems and paralysing life and businesses.
   Chittagong sea port and airport became almost inoperative due to rains, port and airport sources said.
   No flights operated to and from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong Monday, airport officials said.
   A plane carrying communications adviser MA Matin returned to Dhaka as it failed to land at Chittagong airport in inclement weather in the evening.
   Cargo handling was almost suspended at Chittagong port though a few ships arrived at or left the port on the day, port officials said.
   Most of the townspeople stayed indoors all day, businesses remained shut and attendance at government and private offices was thin. Academic institutions suspended classes in the city due to inclement weather.
   The worst affected areas of the city included Bakalia, Bahaddarhat, Chandgao, Nasirabad, Hamjarbag, Bibirhat, Khulshi, Pahartali, Halishahar and Agrabad, police and locals said.
   Power supply was suspended in most areas of the city fearing accidents, PDB sources said.

Landslides and water-logging in Chittagong city on Monday caused the turnover at the port city’s bourse to plummet.
   The Chittagong Stock Exchange’s turnover plunge to Tk 10.42 crore from Sunday’s Tk 35.06 crore.
   ‘Investors’ turnout was very thin due to the landslides and water-logging in the port city,’ AB Siddique, chief executive officer of the CSE, told New Age on Monday.
   Over 70 people were reportedly killed and many other injured in the rain-triggered landslides in the Chittagong city on Monday, said police and witnesses.
   Siddique said only a few brokers could log into the trading system at the scheduled time.
   ‘A number of banks also faced difficulties in opening their offices at the scheduled time due to the inclement weather and water-logging,’ said the CSE’s chief executive.
   The CSE’s all share price index lost 70.21 points or 1.45 per cent to close at 4778.24 on Monday, while its blue chips index, CSE30, shed 69.60 points or 1.53 per cent to close at 4472.75.
   Of the total 78 issues traded on the CSE, 54 declined, 17 advanced and seven remained unchanged.
   Meanwhile, turnover in the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Monday further dropped to Tk 109.68 crore from Sunday’s Tk 116.13 crore.
   The DSE’s turnover was Tk 140.01 crore and CSE’s turnover was Tk 22.96 crore last Thursday.
   ‘The turnover declined because of the low turnout of investors,’ said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, CEO of the DSE.
   The DSE’s all share price index lost 19.23 points or 1.17 per cent to close at 1626.71, while its blue chips index, CSE30, shed 19.40 points or 1.07 per cent to close at 1786.34.
   Of the total 191 issues traded on the DSE, 107 declined, 63 advanced and 21 remained unchanged.

The heavy to moderate rainfall, which has been continuing nearly all over country since Friday, disrupted normal life and caused flash-floods in a number of districts including Moulvibazar and Habiganj.
   There was 30 millimetres of rain in Dhaka in the last 12 hours till 6:00pm, and several places in the capital were temporarily flooded.
   River erosion in some districts took a serious turn in many districts, especially in Kurigram and Chandpur.
   Met office sources said moderate to heavy rain and thunder showers are likely to occur in most places across the country with a chance of very heavy rain accompanied by gusty/squally winds, with speed ranging from 30-50 kph or more, at a few places in the first half of the period from June 11 to June 30.
   Rainfall is likely to decrease slightly in the second half of the period.
   The Flood Forecasting and Storm Warning Centre in its regular bulletin said that the possibility of continuation of the present very active monsoon system over the north-east part of the country and Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura for the next 3 to 5 days is very high. As a result, there may be more flash-floods in the region and the weather is likely to deteriorate further.
   The bulletin also mentioned that one of the major river systems (Brahmaputra-Jamuna) will continue rising for next couple of days though it is presently flowing 2.15 metres below danger level at Bahadurabad.
   The maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla were advised to hoist cautionary signal number three while all the river ports were advised to hoist cautionary signal 2.
   All fishing boats and trawlers in the Bay of Bengal have been advised to keep close to the coast and proceed with caution till further notice.
   The low-lying areas of the costal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barisal, Chandpur, Barguna, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and the offshore islands and chars are likely to be inundated by tidal water, said a Met official.
   Our Noakhali correspondent said the heavy downpour since early Monday paralyzed life in eight upazilas in Noakhali district, and most parts of Hatiya were submerged by water that was about 5 feet high. As a result hundreds of hectares of crops were submerged, M Harun-or-Rashid, upazila agricultural officer, told the New Age on Monday noon.
   There was prolonged water-logging in most of the areas in Maijdee town like Master Para, Govt Flat road, Judge Court Road, Lakshminarayanpur Road, Circuit House Road, Housing Street and Noakhali University College Road.
   When contacted, the acting chairman of Noakhali Municipality, M Delwar Hosain, told New Age that nearly 16 kilometres of roads will be water-logged if the concerned authority does not act immediately. Besides, small areas in Chatkhil, Senbagh, Begumganj and Companiganj upazilas went under water and Boro paddy and other crops were damaged in some places, said a source.
   Our Moulavibazar correspondent said that about 130 villages of Kulaura and Kamalganj upazilas in Moulvibazar district have been flooded due to heavy rainfall and onrush of water from Tripura in India.
   Embankment of the rivers Monu and Dholai were washed away at 10 spots. The water level of the Monu and Dholai rivers is increasing steadily. The Dholai river is flowing about 2 centimetres above the danger mark and the river Monu is flowing 0.35 centimetres above the danger level till 6 pm Monday.
   The embankment of the Dholai river was washed away at Uzirpur, Kunagaon, Ghuramara, Islampur, Bhanugachha, Bada Karimpur, Sreepur, Narayanpur and Bhandariya in Kamalganj upazila on Monday, resulting in the inundation of about 100 villages.
   The embankment of river Monu was damaged near Kotar Kuna under Kulaura upazila. About 30 villages of Hazipur and Tilagaon unions of Kulaura upazila and Rahimpur and Patanusher unions of Kamalganj upazila were flooded due to the damaged embankment. Approximately 50 thousand people of the two upazilas were affected by this flood.
   Bhanugachha bazaar, the main market of the Kamalganj upazila, is now under three feet of water. Adampur-Kamalganj and Kamalganj-Moulvibazar road communication has been snapped due to the flooding by water from the rising Dholai river.
   News Agency UNB added that in Sherpur, low-lying areas of 15 unions of Sreebardi, Jhenaigati, Nokla and Nolitabari upazilas were inundated due to heavy rain and onrush of water from the hills, virtually marooning over 10,000 people.
   More than 300 houses went under water, and the Jhenaigati-Sreebardi road communication was snapped by water flowing four feet above the ground-level.
   In Habiganj, 10 unions of three upazilas underwent flash-floods caused by rise of the water level in Khowai river.
   Various embankments, including the town-protection embankment, are at risk. The Khowai was flowing 240 centimetres above the danger level.
   Water Development Board sources said the water level in the Khowai crossed the danger level due to the onrush of water from hills from beyond the border in Tripura.
   Local sources said a number of breaches developed in the embankment through which the gushing river waters were entering Mohanpur, Dattapur, Jadabpur and Kataria villages of Baniachang upazila.
   In Bogra, low-lying areas were inundated and other areas were water-logged due to incessant rain for the last three days.
   Local Met office sources said that, so far, 350mm of rain has been recorded. Over 1,000 earthen houses and crops on large tracts of land were damaged and many well stocked ponds lost fishes because of flooding.
   UNB Kurigram correspondent adds that water level in 15 rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Dharala, Teesta and Dudkumar, has risen due to heavy rain, aggravating erosion in various areas.
   Sources said about 1.5 km of the embankment in Putimari and Kajaldanga in Chilmari upazila was damaged and over 200 families became homeless due to erosion by the Brahmapurta.
   UNB Chandpur correspondent adds that erosion by the Meghna has taken a serious turn in Haimchar upazila due to rise of water level in the river following heavy downpour for the last four days.
   The worst affected places are Char Bhairabi, Nilkomol, Daku Bari, West Char, Krishnapur and adjacent areas.
   A large number of dwellings were engulfed by the river due to erosion, rendering 500 families homeless. The affected families have taken shelter on the Chandpur irrigation project embankment.

The government has initiated process to impose safeguard duty, first of its kind in the country, on import of certain goods, which are believed to be dumped to destroy the local industry, official sources said.
   National Board of Revenue has drafted a rule in this respect, which will come into effect from July 1, they added.
   The rule, styled ‘external duty (identification of safeguard duty and taxation) rules, 2007’ has already been vetted by the law ministry.
   If approved, this will be the country’s first anti-dumping or safeguard measure against unwanted imports to protect local industry.
   Protecting the local industry is the prime objective of the rule officials said.
   According to the draft rule, a safeguard authority will be formed with Bangladesh Tariff Commission chairman as its head.
   The tariff commission chief will identify the products which would face safeguard measure and examine whether excess import of certain products from certain countries really hurts the interest of local industries.
   Local industries, which feel affected by cheaper import of unwanted goods, will have to lodge complaints to the safeguard authority seeking protection. The complaints must be substantiated with detail proofs of which products are harming the local industries and how, the draft elaborated.
   The safeguard body chief would then recommend the level of safeguard tax to be imposed on import of the particular products.
   The rules said the authority may recommend an interim tax on the imported products on the basis of a preliminary investigation.
   But the representatives of exporters will be given chance to justify their positions and prove that their prices are not lower than local manufacturing prices, or their export volumes do not exceed the allowable limit, revenue officials said, detailing the draft rule.
   The duty would be product-specific and its tenure would be one year or more, the draft said.
   However, the World Trade Organisation has to be informed about imposition of such duty, if there any, with detailed explanation, the rules said further.
   The government would repay the duty amounts to the importers if the allegations were found false, according to the policy.
   Bangladesh’s lead acid battery was the first to face anti-dumping duty in India and the issue was later raised to World Trade Organisation’s dispute settlement body.
   Local business leaders then called for framing such a rule to help local industry stay competitive in the face of surging import of low-priced products.
   Former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury initiated the process of formulating such a rule, but could not complete the process as he had to resign abruptly.

The Election Commission has sent a proposal to the government to separate its secretariat from the Prime Minister’s Office (now Chief Adviser’s Office) for ensuring its financial and administrative independence.
   It was suggested that the EC’s secretariat be made independent by amending the rules of business so that the EC would enjoy financial independence and be empowered to recruit its own manpower.
   ‘We have sent the proposal to the Chief Adviser’s Office to separate the secretariat by promulgating an ordinance by amending the rules of business as amendments to the Constitution cannot be made now as there is no parliament,’ Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told reporters on Monday. The EC submitted the proposal to the Chief Adviser’s Office on Thursday.
   Sohul said that the EC is hopeful of a positive response to its proposal as the caretaker government also wants to separate the secretariat from the PMO.
   ‘The EC will not have to depend on the government for funds if the proposal is implemented,’ he said, adding that the government would sanction block allocation as per the requirement of the EC while formulating the budget.
   Sohul said that the EC would send its financial report only to the parliament and the prime minister would place the report.
   According to the proposal, the EC will be able to take the necessary decisions without consulting the government or asking its approval, and the EC will able to extend its reach to the upazila level and appoint the officials of its own choice.
   Sohul said that earlier they had found that constitutional amendment was required for making the EC secretariat independent, but amendments to the Constitution cannot be made now as there is no parliament and the country is going through a state of emergency. Later, the EC, after consultation with some Constitution experts, found a way to free the secretariat from government control by changing the rules of business through the promulgation of an ordinance.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Monday notified 9 more corruption suspects, asking them to submit their wealth statements within seven working days.
   The ACC, after carrying out inquiries, believes that the suspects own assets disproportionate to their legitimate sources of income, said the notices issued on Monday.
   The notices asked the suspects to submit their statements detailing the bank accounts and assets possessed by them and their family members within seven working days from the time of receiving the notice.
   The notified people include former lawmaker of Chandpur Nurul Huda, deputy secretary of the information ministry Faisal Alam, civil surgeon of Chandpur Abdul Mannan, chief engineer of Sylhet City Corporation Saiful Islam, secretary of the Chandpur unit of Jubadal Dulal Patwary, and central bargaining agent leaders of Zia Fertilizer Factory Gausur Rahman, Mujibur Rahman, Mozammel Haque and Farid Uddin.
   They will have to submit the statements in accordance with a three-section prescribed form attached to the notices.
   In the form they will have to provide information including location of their immovable properties, holding numbers, measurements, value, date of purchase and sources of the money used to buy the properties. The information will have to be detailed separately for movable and immovable properties.
   They will also have to list their liabilities.
   They will have to submit the statements within seven working days from the time of receiving the notices in accordance with Rule 17 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Rules 2007.
   According to the Rule, they will also have the scope to seek extension of the time limit by another week before the expiry of the stipulated seven days.
   According to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004, anyone of the notified people who fails to submit his statement within the stipulated time or submits a false statement will be punishable with imprisonment for three years or fine or with both.

MA Matin, adviser to the communications ministry, said on Monday that the former chiefs of government would not be able to avoid the responsibility for corruption and theft of thousands of crores of takas in their respective regimes.
   ‘The task forces are scrutinising and analysing information on corruption extracted from the leaders of both the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party through interrogation…The chiefs of the previous governments cannot avoid the responsibility for such widespread and rampant corruption,’ said Matin, who is also chairman of the national coordination committee against corruption and serious crimes, in response to queries by reporters at the secretariat.
   He said that AL leaders Abdul Jalil and Obaidul Kader and BNP leader Lutfozzaman Babar, during the interrogation by task forces, had given information on the huge amount of bribes taken by the top political leaders.
   Matin, also responsible for the civil aviation and tourism ministries, was talking to reporters after a meeting at the secretariat.
   He, however, said the top political leaders were apparently not surprised at the information on corruption given by their fellow politicians in remand because they have always been aware of it. ‘The top politicians have not even reacted or expressed any opinion after the reports implicating them in wholesale corruption was published in the newspapers.’
   ‘The primary information on corruption is being examined. Legal action will definitely be taken against the top leaders if the allegations of corruption are proved,’ Matin said.

The fate of the much-talked-about Rangs Bhaban which is situated on Bijoy Sarani is likely to be determined by the High Court tomorrow.
   The hearing of the case of the 22-storey building — ‘illegally constructed on a proposed road’ — is scheduled to be held in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
   The housing and public works ministry and the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha have made all the necessary preparations for fighting the legal battle against the owners of the building, according to official sources.
   The authorities concerned are reportedly ready to demolish the high-rise on the proposed road either by the traditional method (using heavyweight hammers) or blasting dynamite just after the court delivers the verdict in their favour.
   The council of advisers at a meeting in April approved the public works ministry’s decision to demolish Rangs Bhaban and asked the authorities to find suitable ways and means to demolish the building. The ministry took the decision as per the recommendations of the probe committee which found out that the building was constructed illegally on waqf land and land belonging to the Roads and Highways Department.
   The interim government has already included a Tk 118 crore project in the annual development budget to extend the Bijoy Sarani up to Tejgaon, which will require the demolition of a number of structures, including Rangs Bhaban, that have been constructed on the proposed road, said sources.
   ‘We will have to raze around 63 buildings and structures, most of which are tin-sheds, to implement the project. Around 50 per cent of these structures, including Rangs Bhaban, have been illegally constructed. We are now waiting for the court’s verdict before launching the demolition drive,’ a senior official of the housing and public works ministry told New Age.
   The government on February 27 formed a four-member committee, headed by Ayesha Begum, joint secretary of the Public Works Department, to investigate Rangs Bhaban.
   The committee, which submitted the report on March 11, found that the building was illegally constructed on the waqf land and land owned by the Roads and Highways Department.
   The report also found out that Rangs Bhaban was built in violation of the civil aviation rules and the High Court’s order.
   Rangs Bhaban’s owners had submitted for approval the original plan for a 10-storey shopping-cum-office complex on the eastern side of Airport Road on Bijoy Sarani to Rajuk on December 5, 1988.
   Rajuk approved the plan on July 6, 1989 without the permission of the Civil Aviation Authority, said a Rajuk official.

Water Supply and Sewerage Authority will start operation of 28 pumps at Janapad to remove clogged water during heavy rainfall in the city, an official said.
   The utility agency will also undertake a project to improve the city’s drainage system with World Bank finance. The project is now being studied.
   Zahurul Alam, superintending engineer of WASA, said they initiated the installation of 25 pumps, each of 5 cusec capacity, and 3 booster pumps with a capacity of 25 cusec, at Janapad at Kamalapur last month.
   ‘We started operating six pumps, including 2 booster pumps, Sunday evening, which helped us drain out the city’s stagnant water in the shortest possible time,’ he said.
   Officials have been asked to complete the installation work in two days so that all the 28 pumps can start working at a time. Then the WASA’s drainage capacity will be strengthened significantly, he said.
   Some canals, reclaimed from encroachers during recent drives, were partly re-excavated and those would be able to drain out stagnant rainwater from many parts of the area, the WASA engineer said.
   The drive against illegal encroachment of surface drains and excavation programme would continue, he said.
   World Bank consultants have been carrying out a feasibility study on redesigning of the city’s drainage system, officials said.
    They will prepare a drainage map and assess the project cost.
    Under the project, a permanent pumping station with a capacity of removing 36 cubic metre per second will be set up at Janapad and another one with a capacity of 26 cubic metre per second at Rampura.
   Seven canals will be developed in the first phase. The works will include construction of walkways and planting trees on both sides of the canals.
    Development of 12 canals will come under the second phase of the project.
   World Bank is expected to finance about ninety per cent money of the project cost, officials said, detailing the area of the planned project.
    Most of the city’s 43 canals have been filled over the years due to lack of authorities’ attention, exposing the city to severe water-logging during monsoon, said experts.
   Savar, Ashulia and areas on the eastern fringe of the city are continuously being filled up in the name of city development.
   Box culverts, which were constructed at different places, have also remained clogged for lack of proper cleaning activities, they said.
   They blamed poor maintenance of storm sewerage lines and surface drains by both WASA and Dhaka City Corporation for the city’s nagging water-logging problem.

Shrugging off stagnation in the $3 billion investment move by India’s Tata Group, yet another Indian-origin company Global Oil and Energy Limited considers an investment of $2.9 billion in Bangladesh’s energy sector.
   The company, based in the United Kingdom, on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Board of Investment for studying the investment options ranging from gas and coal exploration to setting up petrochemical plant.
   ‘We are comparable with Tata’s investment move… We have hereby signed MoU and see the prospect of making investment after carrying out feasibility studies,’ the company’s managing director, Vinod K Mittal, told reporters after the signing ceremony at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
   Global Oil and Energy Limited is an offshore investment arm of India’s Ispat Industries, the Mittals’ original family business founded by Mohan Mittal— father of Vinod and London-based steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal.
   Vinod Mittal said his company was primarily focussed on exploration of gas and coal and would work with the investment board on how to commission projects. ‘The estimated amount may change in course of time whenever we make feasibility study,’ he said.
   Officials said the company hopes to begin the feasibility study within three months targeting two major sectors — oil and gas exploration and coalmine development — apart from its interests in investing in petrochemicals, power generation and infrastructure development.
   The proposed $2.9 billion investment package, as mentioned in the MoU, includes $300 million investment in coalmine development involving, $100 million in oil exploration and production, $500 million in electricity generation, $1.5 billion in petrochemicals and $500 million in NGL/LNG production.
   The investment proposal made by India’s industrial giant Tata Group remained stalled even after finalisation of the negotiation and evaluation on a revised proposal on critical issues. The immediate-past political government left the deal undecided and the current interim government also seemed to be shy about resuming the talks with Tata authorities.
   Asked how the investment board would go ahead with a new multi-billion dollar investment move given the state of Tata’s proposed investment, the board’s acting executive chairman, Nazrul Islam, said the proposal made by the Mittal family was not as complex as that of Tata. ‘So, we will be able to move ahead with our current capacity to handle it,’ he added.
   He claimed that the atmosphere in the country at present was investment-friendly.

The finance ministry has approved allocation of Tk 90 crore for the Bangladesh Rifles to import the necessary commodities to check the prices of essential items in the month of Ramadan.
   ‘We have approved the money for BDR to enable them to import essential items,’ said finance advisor Mirza Azizul Islam on Monday.
   According to BDR sources, they will import three essential items — cooking oil, pulse and gram — to keep their prices from being manipulated by profiteers. They will also sell the imported items throughout the country.
   The finance adviser said the BDR was allowed to import the essential commodities especially to keep the prices of certain commodities, the demand for which usually rises in the month of Ramadan, under control.
   Mirza Aziz in his budget speech on June 7 said the interim government would import a number of essential commodities to increase their supply in the market and rein in the soaring inflation.
   In his speech he said that import duty on a number of essential commodities, including rice and wheat, had already been withdrawn, and the Bangladesh Bank, upon consultation with the finance ministry, had asked commercial banks to provide credit facilities on softer terms to new importers.
   The ‘dal-bhat’ (rice-lentil) programme under implementation by the Bangladesh Rifles to mitigate the sufferings of general consumers will be further strengthened, he said.

China has expressed deep concern over the developments in Bangladesh and hoped that peace, stability and development of the country be safeguarded in people’s interests.
   ‘As the friendly close neighbour of Bangladesh, China is very much concerned about the developments of Bangladesh situation,’ said new Chinese ambassador Zheng Qingdian, who sees a lot of potential of this country to develop.
   In an interview with the news agency on Monday, he said, ‘We sincerely hope that the peace, stability and development of the country could be safeguarded to protect the interests of its people.’
   Qingdian, who took up his ambassadorial assignment two months ago, said they appreciated the government’s strong determination to develop economy and improve people’s lifestyle.
   ‘Bangladesh has a large potential market with huge population and low-price skilled labour,’ he said, adding that the Chinese government would always encourage its companies in trade and investment in Bangladesh.
   Asked if China would consider more trade facilities for Bangladesh to reduce an about $2 billion trade deficit, the ambassador observed that the Chinese government took the issue of trade imbalance with Bangladesh seriously and had made substantial effort to solve the problem.
   ‘We have taken combined measures to expand imports from Bangladesh, including sending purchasing missions to Bangladesh and providing government subsidies,’ he said.
   Qingdian mentioned that his country has granted tariff-free access to 84 items and preferential tariff treatment to 156 other items of Bangladesh commodities within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement.
   ‘More tariff-reduction plans are under process, and we will do that. Besides, we will encourage more Chinese enterprises to come to invest in Bangladesh.’
   The ambassador said the Chinese vice-minister for commerce would be visiting Dhaka next month to discuss trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
   Replying to a question, he said the Chinese companies have already made a lot of investment in power, textile, telecommunications as well as many private sectors in Bangladesh.
   ‘The rising manufacturing industries in Bangladesh are attracting Chinese investors. And the Chinese government is keen to see such investment to be mutually beneficial to both Bangladesh and Chinese people.’
   On the planned highway link between Teknaf and Kunming through Myanmar, he said China in principle supported the proposal for building the tri-nation highway. He welcomed the recently signed Bangladesh-Myanmar MoU on the project.
   About Dhaka-Beijing military cooperation, Qingdian said the relations between the armed forces of the two countries had been ‘always perfect’. ‘We have exchanged defence delegations from time to time, and cooperation in every project is going well.’

The results of the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent dakhil and vocational examinations of 2007 under the nine education boards will be published today.
   The results will be available with all the institutions after 5:00pm, Professor Monirul Islam, chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka told New Age on Monday.
   The results of seven general education boards and the Madrassah Education Board will also be available on http :// www.educationboard.gov.bd, but not with the education boards or newspaper offices. The technical board exams results will be available on http ://results.bteb.gov.bd.
   The results could be collected through SMS to mobile phone numbers 3333 and 2777.
   This year, 796,073 examinees, 414,812 male and 381,261 female, registered for the exams at 906 centres under the seven boards of general education.
   The Madrassah Education Board had 169,387 examinees at 467 centres for the dakhil examinations. The number of examinees for vocational examinations under the Technical Education Board was 64,425. A large number of examinees, however, did not take the exams.
   The examinations began on March 8 and ended in the first week of April 2007.

The US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, Richard Boucher, has said the present caretaker government in Bangladesh has the prime responsibility to hold an early election without dragging the process too long.
   Talking to a group of visiting reporters in Washington DC on an East-West Centre programme recently, he said there were a lot of political problems in Bangladesh and the present government had vowed to clean them up, and get back to an election, according to a state department release issued on June 9.
   ‘But the only purpose — the chief, the only goal this government can have is to have an election. And their duty to the world and the people of Bangladesh is to lay out a timeline of how they’re going to hold elections, the steps they’re going to take to get there, and to have an election in a timely manner. And that’s what we’re looking for,’ Boucher said.
   He said, ‘So we’ve certainly said we understand there’s much to do to hold a free and fair election in Bangladesh. But you can’t drag out this process too long. You have to set a time period and you have to set a timetable that says here are the steps we’re going to take to get to an election, because that’s the only duty a caretaker government has.’
   Boucher said, ‘It (caretaker government) has no legitimacy other than moving it back to an election, and that’s what we expect.’
   The US assistant secretary further said, ‘We are interested in stability in Bangladesh. We’re interested in having a good partner in Bangladesh.’
   He said, ‘Washington is interested in the two things we’ve always worked on in Bangladesh: one is promoting democracy and the other is helping them fight terrorism.’
   ‘I’d say the third one is developing the nation. Bangladesh has done pretty well economically in the past few years, but they’ve had a lot of political trouble and political turmoil.’
   Boucher said this government in Bangladesh was a caretaker government.. ‘It’s important to remember that because the role of the caretaker government is to hold an election, is to get to an election, a fair and free election that gives the people of Bangladesh a choice.’
   ‘We expect Bangladesh to return to a democracy through elections in a clear manner,’ he noted.

The New York Times called Monday for the US government to begin to sever its ties to Pakistan’s leader general Pervez Musharraf as he faces the biggest protests of his eight years in power.
   ‘Pakistan seems to be rapidly approaching a critical turning point, with a choice between intensified repression and instability or an orderly transition back to democratic rule,’ the influential daily wrote in an editorial.
   ‘Were Washington now to begin distancing itself from the general, it would greatly encourage civic-minded Pakistanis to step up the pressure for free national elections.’
   Musharraf has faced relentless street protests since he suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on March 9 over claims of nepotism and corruption.
   His government insists that Chaudhry was removed because of nepotism, but opponents allege he was suspended because the judge could pose a threat to Musharraf’s re-election later this year.
   ‘If general Pervez Musharraf were the democratic leader he indignantly insists he is, he would not be so busy threatening independent news outlets, arresting hundreds of opposition politicians and berating parliamentary leaders and ministers from his own party for insufficient loyalty to his arbitrary and widely unpopular policies,’ the Time wrote.
   The daily added that the George W Bush administration ‘has put itself in the
   embarrassing position of propping up the Muslim world’s most powerful military dictator as an essential ally in its half-baked campaign to promote democracy throughout the Muslim world.
   ‘Washington needs to disentangle America, quickly, from the general’s damaging embrace,’ the daily wrote.
   As Musharraf clamps down on the media and tightens his grip on the levers of government, the United States should promote ‘the earliest possible democratic elections’ in Pakistan, the Times said.

Pakistan’s top judge won the first round of his legal battle with the president, Pervez Musharraf, Monday, but the government hit back by threatening new misconduct charges against him.
   The Supreme Court formally allowed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to contest his suspension by military ruler Musharraf on March 9 — a challenge that government lawyers have argued against strenuously.
   Chaudhry has fought his ouster both in the courts and also in the streets, leading rallies and sparking an opposition movement that presents key US ally Musharraf with the biggest crisis of his eight years in power.
   The Supreme Court in May suspended an inquiry by a panel of judges into the charges against the chief justice, after he alleged that it was biased and that he should not be suspended during the process.
   The court has been listening to legal arguments for the past month about whether to admit some two dozen petitions including Chaudhry’s. The others have been filed by lawyers.
   ‘We will right now only hear and decide the petition of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,’ presiding judge Khalilur Rehman Ramday said.
   ‘In a sense it is a victory for us that they have started hearing
   the petition. We were 99.9 percent sure that they would
   not reject it,’ Tariq Mahmood, senior counsel for the chief justice, said.
   Chaudhry denies charges that he got a senior police job for his son and that he used official cars and helicopters that he was not entitled to.
   Critics allege that Musharraf wants to sideline the chief justice to eliminate legal obstacles to his re-election as president-in-uniform, most likely in September.
   The constitution says he should quit as army chief this year.
   The law minister, Wasi Zafar, however said that the government would file a second set of allegations against Chaudhry, because the judge’s lawyers had politicised the issue instead of going through the courts.
   ‘It has become the duty and constitutional obligation of the government to file a fresh reference (complaint),’ Zafar said. ‘Total responsibility for the second reference against the chief justice lies with his lawyers.’
   The minister said in a statement the new charges would include ‘acts and events’ after March 9.
   Chaudhry has held several rallies since then and the government has blamed him for fuelling the situation — especially after pro- and anti-Musharraf supporters clashed in Karachi on May 12, leaving more than 40 people dead.

The Power Division formed a five-member committee on Monday to find out ways to reduce the so-called ‘system loss’ of different power agencies by stopping the theft of electricity.
   The committee, headed by Monjurul Ahsan, superintendent of Dhaka Electric Supply Authority, was formed as a part of the government’s special effort to stop power pilferage, said sources in the division.
   Other members of the committee have been taken from the Dhaka Electric Supply Company, Power Development Board, Rural Electrification Board and West Zone Power Distribution Company.
   ‘The committee has been asked to find a solution to the long-standing problem in power sector — electricity theft — and prepare recommendations for the government on what should be done,’ said a source.
   As per the official record of the Power Division, the overall system loss of the power sector was around 20.77 per cent till March. ‘The system loss might have diminished slightly in the last two months because of the ongoing drive against illegal connections and power theft,’ said another source.
   The technical loss [loss in transmission] accounted for 10 per cent but rest of the system loss is because of power theft, said informed sources.
   The power agencies have lost hundreds of crores of takas in over a decade because of power pilferage in the name of system loss.
   There is no trace of around Tk 2,000 crore in the accounts of DESA because of system loss and power pilferage since its inception in 1991.
   The current system loss of DESA is around 19 per cent, of PDB around 20 per cent and of DESCO 13.50 per cent.
   Power experts say that the system loss in power agencies can be reduced to around 10 per cent.

Prince Harry’s army career has taken a new turn with the third in line to the throne swapping a combat role for a desk job as a staff officer, media reported on Monday.
   Prince Harry has been sent the British Army’s battle-training facility at Suffield in Canada, his first posting since the decision was taken to from being deployed in Iraq with his troops from The Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry.
   Newspaper reports over the weekend suggested that Prince Harry was being given extra training on Scimitars, a reconnaissance vehicle used by his unit, as a prelude to sending him covertly to Afghanistan.
   However, The Times has learnt that Prince Harry’s time in Canada, based at the British Army Training Unit Suffield in Alberta is more to do with office work than preparing for an armoured role in Afghanistan.
   For combat troops, the dangers are as great in southern Afghanistan as they are in Iraq.
   Following the death of a soldier from the Grenadier Guards in Helmand province on Saturday, the number of members of the British Armed Forces who have died since November 2001 has risen to 60.
   The 60th person soldier to die was identified on Sunday as Guardsman Neil Downes, 20 from Manchester, who joined the Army in 2004.

Three US soldiers were killed in a bridge collapse caused by a bomb blast near Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, bringing the total US military death toll in Iraq to more than 3,500.
   ‘Three coalition force soldiers were killed and six were wounded when the checkpoint they were manning was struck by a suicide car bomb south of Baghdad near Mahmudiyah June 10,’ the military said in a statement on Monday.
   An interpreter was also wounded in the attack, which destroyed part of a highway overpass, it said.
   The deaths bring to 28 the number of US troops killed in Iraq so far this month and the overall death toll to at least 3,501 since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
   The military said an engineering unit was being dispatched with bulldozers and other heavy equipment to clear the highway, which was partially blocked by debris from the overpass in Mahmudiyah.
   Last month, three US soldiers were snatched during an insurgent ambush on a small American unit manning a temporary observation post near Mahmudiyah, during which four US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed.
   An al-Qaeda front group said a week ago that it had killed the three soldiers, whose capture triggered a massive search operation by American and Iraqi forces in the area south of Baghdad known as the ‘Triangle of Death.’

The army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, on Monday said the country had been riddled with corruption and there had been extensive looting, which prompted the current purge.
   Plunder is being resisted with the cooperation of people to take the country forward, he told his audience in the Sylhet city.
   ‘The country was riddled with corruption…There had been extensive looting. It can be seen in everyday newspapers. With people’s help looting is being resisted,’ he told the opening ceremony of Trust Bank’s corporate branch in the city’s Chouhatta area.
   ‘With your cooperation, the country has moved one step forward. And, in future, the country will have to be taken further ahead with the cooperation of all,’ added General Moeen, whose troops are playing the pivotal role in the caretaker government’s ongoing campaign against corruption.
   Regarding the voter-identity cards, he said the preparation of voter IDs began on June 10 and a citizen would be benefited in his civic life by using his or her ID.
   ‘During the preparation of voter ID, a person is to supply all the information. As a result, the government will not face big trouble to know about any voter,’ the army chief told the function.
   ‘Any government office will get the information of any voter at any time. At this, a voter can easily get his passport. The passport authorities will be able to issue passport easily by collecting information through the voter-ID number of the person concerned.’
   About the bank, Moeen, who is also chairman of the bank, said as this bank belonged to army welfare, many people air suspicion about it and think this bank could be different from other banks. ‘This is a mere suspicion. Trust Bank works like other commercial banks.’
   Giving details of the services and facilities provided by the bank, he said the bank’s profit was used in the welfare of the helpless people of the country. ‘Therefore, it is the responsibility of all to take the bank forward.’

A junior army officer on Monday dragged a man out of his apartment and tortured him, the victim’s wife alleged.
   Meher Afroz told the news agency that her husband Mahbub Alam Liton, a businessman and a resident of 69 Green Road in Dhaka, was taken away by a man who identified himself as Captain Shibly of the Army Engineering Corps.
   The captain was accompanied by another plainclothes officer and six others in uniform when he knocked at the door at 7:00am, she said.
   Liton, 35, was left with injuries at 8:30am at the gate of Concept Tower, where he and his wife own an apartment, Meher Afroz alleged in a written complaint to a local army camp.
   Liton was taken to Samorita Hospital. An attending doctor told the news agency that he had suffered injuries in the chest and hip.
   Afroz tried, in vain, to lodge a complaint with the Dhanmondi police.
   She said the police had refused to register the complaint, an allegation the Dhanmondi police officer-in-chief denied.
   ‘It is not true we refused to register the allegations. It is just that Meher Afroz went to the army camp to file her complaints,’ police inspector Monwar Hossain told the news agency.
   Meher Afroz later took her complaint to the Science Lab army camp, but it was not clear whether the army officers registered the charges.
   An officer of the Science Laboratory military camp said an investigation had begun into the incident.
   ‘It is inhuman. They (army officers) beat my husband and left him back with injuries,’ she told the news agency over phone.
   In her written complaint, Meher Afroz identified Captain Shibly as son of Roksana Begum, owner of Flat 13D of the building.

Nepal’s interim government has declined to promulgate a special Act sought by human rights groups and international bodies aimed at facilitating the rehabilitation of the victims of the decade-long Maoist insurgency in the Himalayan nation.
   ‘Since the government promulgated a national policy on displaced people last year, there is no need to promulgate an Act in this regard,’ the prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, said, adding that the ‘government wants to implement the policy to address the problems of the conflict victims.’
   Replying to writ petitions against the PM’s Office, the Home Ministry and Parliament, the prime minister, Koirala, said the Supreme Court in an affidavit that the ‘government has no plan to promulgate a separate Act in this regard’ as it has adopted programmes to rehabilitate the conflict victims to their homes.
   The prime minister, however, said the government is doing homework to form a Truth Commission and a Commission for Reconstruction of the State as per the peace agreement.Bhoj Raj Timalsena, coordinator of the National Struggle Committee of the Victims of Maoist Atrocities, had filed the writ petitions.
   The government identified 18,924 people of 6,923 families so far as internally displaced people. However, the victims association claims the number of the victims is around 200,000.

Global military spending rose 3.5 per cent last year to $1.2 trillion as US costs for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan mounted, a European research body said on Monday in an annual study.
   The United States spent $529 billion, slightly less than the entire GDP of the Netherlands, on military operations in 2006, up 5 per cent over the previous year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in its latest year book.
   ‘Taking both immediate and long-term factors into account, the overall past and future costs until year 2016 to the USA for the war in Iraq have been estimated at $2,267 billion,’ it said.
   Military spending in China, which is modernising its People’s Liberation Army, climbed to an estimated $49.5 billion last year from $44.3 billion in 2005.
   ‘China’s military expenditure continued to increase rapidly, for the first time surpassing that of Japan and hence making China the biggest military spender in Asia and the fourth biggest in the world,’ the institute said.
   The institute, which conducts independent research on international security, armaments and disarmament, said Japan cut military expenditure in 2006 for a fifth year running and was focusing its military budget primarily on missile defence.
   China and Japan, Britain and France accounted for about 4 to 5 per cent each of global military expenditure last year, SIPRI said. The five biggest spenders’ share of global military expenses was nearly two-thirds of the total.
   The United States and Russia were the largest arms suppliers in 2002 through 2006, each accounting for about 30 per cent of global shipments, while deliveries from EU members made up another 20 per cent, the institute said.
   ‘Almost 50 per cent more conventional weapons, by volume, were transferred internationally in 2006 than in 2002, according to data gathered by SIPRI,’ it added.
   China and India remained the largest arms importers in the world, while five Middle Eastern countries figured among the top ten importers of arms globally.
   ‘While much media attention was given to arms deliveries to Iran, mainly from Russia, deliveries from the USA and European countries to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were significantly larger,’ the institute said.

Most of the officials and employees of Rajuk on Monday submitted the numbers of their bank accounts and some other items of information to the five taskforce teams who are investigating corruption in Rajuk.
   The joint forces, who began investigating corruption in Rajuk from June 3, asked the numbers of the officers’ and employees’ bank accounts, information about the cars in their possession, Tax Identification Numbers and current and permanent addresses on Sunday.
   The five groups of the joint forces, headed by five army majors, started investigation in Rajuk on June 3, said sources.
   The five groups will investigate the corruption of five sections of the Rajuk — estate, town planning, engineering, accounts and plan approval.
   Most of the employees and officials of Rajuk have become visibly nervous and anxious after the taskforces started their probe.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s presidium member and organising secretary, Mahi B Chowdhury, on Monday resigned from both the executive posts on ‘ideological grounds’.
   He submitted his resignation letter in the morning to the party’s president, Professor AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, and gave a number of reasons for his resignation, including the need for ensuring intra-party democracy.
   Describing his role in forming Bikalpadhara Bangladesh and then the LDP, he said in his resignation letter, ‘The LDP was formed with the goal of promoting healthy politics, but this has not been achieved in the last eight months for various reasons.’
   Mahi frankly admitted that he had not acquired his posts of presidium member and organising secretary in a democratic manner as expected by the people.
   ‘As my posts of presidium member and organising secretary of the national executive committee were not elected but nominated posts, and as an environment has been created in the country in favour of democratic culture, I feel embarrassed while holding these posts to speak of democracy in the party.’
   He also added, ‘All the positions in the LDP are still nominated, not elected.’
   He expressed the hope that senior members of the presidium and the national executive committee would follow suit ‘to set an example for us and all political parties of the country.’
   He said he has stepped down from both the posts on his own decision. But he is determined to discharge his duty as a general member of the party.
   ‘I am ready to work after being elected to any post in a democratic manner as per the decision of grassroots-level leaders and workers,’ he added.
   His step came in the wake of political reforms launched under the rule of the present caretaker government, as the past political culture was tainted by ‘dynasticism’, which created a crisis in the country.
   Mahi’s resignation indicates that the crisis in the LDP has deepened.

The British prime minister, Tony Blair, has made his movie debut in a short film about climate change awareness, which is directed by Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, the Press Trust of India reports on Monday.
   The 54-year-old outgoing premier plays a ‘carbon crusader’ in the film, titled ‘Global Cool’ that also stars blond beauty Sienna Miller.
   The film was premiered at the International Indian Film Academy awards ceremony at Yorkshire.
   Blair said he has been preparing for the role for more than a decade and he felt great to be a part of the film.
   ‘I’ve been preparing for this role for the last ten years. So It was great to be part of ‘Global Cool’. But remember, I was only one of a billion people saving the planet in this movie — and they are all stars,’ Blair said.

The police arrested the Rajshahi mayor, Mizanur Rahman Minu, at his office on Monday, about 17 hours after his release on bail by the district and sessions judge’s court on Sunday.
   Minu, also a former BNP lawmaker, was picked up from his Nagar Bhaban office at about 11:00am under Section 16 (2) of Emergency Powers Rules and taken to the Boalia police station, the police said.
   After interrogation, the police produced him before the court of metropolitan magistrate, Rabiul Islam, who ordered to send him to Rajshahi central jail.
   Minu along with two BNP leaders was sent to jail after they surrendered to the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on June 6 in connection with an extortion case.
   They all were released on bail Sunday evening following an order issued by the district and sessions judge Abu Bakar Siddique.
   After the release, Minu reportedly went into hiding and the army-led joint forces were on the hunt for him. The forces raided his two houses and other areas in the city on Sunday night.

Dhaka Central Jail authorities are yet to receive the High Court ruling to follow the lower court’s decision of giving extended facilities to imprisoned BNP leader Tarique Rahman.
   High Court asked the jail authorities to comply with the March 12 lower court order to give Tarique treatment as per social status and in line with the jail code. Lawyers appealed for division status for the ex-prime minister’s son in jail.
   But the jail authorities insisted that Tarique’s status did not match with the criteria specified in the jail code for division facilities. Supreme Court lawyer Nasimuddin Ahmed Ashim filed a petition on June 5 seeking division for Tarique.
   High Court in an order on June 7 asked the jail authorities to follow the lower court order.
   But the order has not yet reached the jail authorities, officials claimed. ‘We have learnt that the High Court order was released this morning, but we are yet to get it,’ said major Shamsul Haider Chowdhury, deputy inspector general of prison.
   About Tarique’s present status in prison, the senior jail official told New Age that excepting extra security, Tarique Rahman was being treated like an ordinary prisoner in Dhaka Central Jail.
   Tarique was arrested from his mother’s cantonment residence on March 7 and is now facing several extortion charges.