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Although India and Bangladesh have in principle agreed on the Joydevpur-Sealdah passenger train service, the date for commissioning the route has not yet been fixed.
   ‘We have in principle decided on the launch of the service, but the date has not been fixed,’ said the foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury on Sunday when his attention was called to Indian media reports which said the service would begin on April 14.
   The officials of the communications and the foreign affairs ministry, however, hinted that the countries were working for a trial run by April 14.
   Replying to a question on the renewal of the train service agreement with India, he said, ‘We will renew the agreement.’
   The train service agreement signed in 2001 was scheduled to be renewed every three years. Sources in the ministries said the countries need to renew the agreement before the operation of the Joydevpur-Sealdah train service. The agreement expired in 2004.
   A source in the communications ministry said two subgroups were formed to address logistics issues of the passenger train service.
   He also said the committees would decide on the fare, mode of ticketing, immigration systems and the number of coaches.
   The subgroups were formed in a senior railway official meeting of the countries in Dhaka during March 6-8.
   Referring to the meeting, the communications ministry said according to the decision, each country would run the train for six months each.
   A goods train service is now in operation between the countries.

Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), a non-governmental organisation working with the disabled, urged the Election Commission to take special steps for identifying the disabled voters and provide them with voter ID cards.
   A three-member delegation of the organisation led by its founder, Valerie A Taylor, met the chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, at the EC conference room on Sunday and put forward a set of proposals so that physically and mentally challenged people can franchise their voting rights.
   The proposals include special ballot boxes allowing disabled voters to cast vote by mail or in person at the offices of the returning officers, level access to polling stations and other premises used during an election combined with transfer certificates to allow voting at a different polling station, accessibility training and awareness sessions for returning officers, assistance to voters with disabilities on election day including interpreters and transfer certificates and electoral laws in favour of the disabled.
   The delegation also suggested introducing not only voter ID cards but also national ID cards of different colours denoting the categories of the people with disability such as red cards for mentally retarded, white for visually impaired, yellow for deaf and dumb, green or blue for physically challenged persons.
   ‘We put forward the proposals identifying the number of shortcomings that prevails in the existing electoral process. For many people with disability, guaranteed access to the electoral process does not exist to date,’ said Valerie.
   The delegation proposed providing some facilities including separate queues for disabled voters and setting up access ramps for the physically disabled at the polling stations as well as allowing them to come there by vehicles and introducing tactile ballot papers for the visually impaired ones.

Speakers at a seminar have appreciated the interim government for its seriousness about addressing the country’s pervasive financial corruption, but stressed that citizens should be involved effectively to lead the fight towards sustainable success.
   The seminar, styled ‘UN convention against corruption – implications for Bangladesh,’ was jointly organised Sunday by Academy for Educational Development and Bangladesh Human Rights Advocacy Programme.
   Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and its two other members— Abul Hasan Manjur Mannan and Habibur Rahman — also attended the seminar at the Lake Shore hotel at Gulshan in Dhaka.
   In his introductory remarks, Manjur Mannan said erosion of morality, particularly among politicians, contributed to the pervasive corruption.
   He affirmed the commission’s total commitment to root out corruption from the country.
   Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International, Bangladesh, detailed various aspects of the UN anti-corruption convention, adopted in 2003 and endorsed by Bangladesh in 2007.
   Any country, willing to combat corruption, would need to take a comprehensive strategy, backed by strong political will of the government.
   All the state institutions concerned have to be engaged in the process, which must combine national initiatives with international efforts, he said in his keynote speech.
   He said sustained efforts are necessary to contain corruption.
   Women’s Chamber of Commerce president Selima Ahmad pointed out that a level playing field for fair competition among private sector entrepreneurs was missing in Bangladesh due to the culture of bribing.
   ‘How can an entrepreneur run a business honestly, if she or he is forced to bribe for obtaining a trade licence in the first place?’ Selima asked.
   New Age editor Nurul Kabir said the presence of all the three anti-corruption commissioners at the seminar gives a strong proof of their individual sincerity. ‘But individual sincerity is not the only component for the success in the struggle against financial corruption,’ he said.
   An unholy alliance among big businesses, top bureaucrats and influential politicians is responsible for unbridled corruption, the editor pointed out.
   Involvement of the people, who are active in a vibrant democratic political system, is a pre-condition for sustaining the success of the fight against the nexus of corruption.
   Hamidur Rashid, a foreign ministry official, explained the national and international perspectives of the adoption of UN convention and Bangladesh’s endorsement of it.
   Jatiya Party leader GM Quader, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association Salma Ali, ambassador Waliur Rahman, Susan Ward of AED, Todd Sorenson of USAID and Manzoor Hasan of BRAC University also took part in the discussion.
   Bdnews24.com reports, ACC chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury said the commission was yet to make a separate list of corrupt businesspeople.
   ‘We are yet to make such a list. Fighting corruption is a massive task. We want to go slow,’ Chowdhury told reporters on the sidelines of the seminar. ‘But we will definitely move on.’

Muktijoddha Birshertha Smriti Parishad on Sunday called upon the interim government to bring the remains of Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman from India.
   They also called upon the government to shift the remains of Birshreshtha Ruhul Amin to the Jatiya Sangsad premises from Khulna and build a complete Birshretha Smriti Complex on the Sangsad premises. The immediate-past government had finalised a decision to bring the remains of Hamidur from Indian state of Tripura, where the national hero was buried during the county’s war of independence in 1971, the Parishad leaders said at a press conference at the National Press Club.
   The organisation general secretary, Tushar Rehaman, in a written speech at the press
   conference also called upon the government to implement their 14-point demands, including action against the corrupts and ban on religion-based politics.
   The leaders welcomed the anti-crime drives of the government and wanted that the government would continue it for holding a free and fair election. The Parishad president, Amin Ahmed Chowdhury, Golam Rabbani, Harun- or-Rashed and family members of the national heroes were present at the press conference.

Some 16 teachers were expelled for helping examinees in adopting unfair means in the mathematics examination on Sunday, the fifth day of the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent Dakhil and Vocational examinations under nine education boards.
   Education ministry control room sources said 13 teachers were expelled from exam centres under Madrassah Education Board, two under Rajshahi Board and one under Comilla Board.
   Besides, 240 examinees were expelled for cheating in the examination.
   Of them, 100 were expelled from centres under Madrassah Education Board, 50 under Technical Education Board, 28 under Rajshahi, 12 each under Dhaka and Jessore, 13 under Comilla, 11 under Barisal, 5 under Chittagong and 2 under Sylhet Board.
   As many as 3,000 examinees had been absent from the examination on the day, the sources said.
   A total of 1,029,885 students had registered for sitting for the examinations this year under the nine education boards.
   The number of examinees under the Dhaka Education Board is 230,043 while 212,199 under Rajshahi, 90,066 under Comilla, 117,609 under Jessore, 62,107 under Chittagong, 51,673 under Barisal and 32,376 under Sylhet Education Board.
   The examinations are being held at 232 centres under the Dhaka Board, 198 under Rajshahi, 130 under Comilla, 114 under Jessore, 115 under Chittagong, 63 under Barisal and 54 centres under Sylhet Board.
   Some 169,387 students had also registered for sitting for Dakhil examinations at 467 centres under Madrassah Education Board.
   The number of examinees for vocational examinations under the Technical Education Board is 64,425 and the examinations are being held at 535 centres.

Mohammad Mahbubul Alam, deputy director general of the Bangladesh Television, have been sent to forced retirement.
   The information ministry issued an official order to this effect on Sunday. Earlier, Alam was made an officer on special duty.
   On the other hand, Jamil Osman, an officer on special duty (additional secretary), has been posted to the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation as managing director, according to the establishment ministry gazette notification issued on the day.

A Bangladeshi cattle trader was killed and another injured when members of the Border Security Force of India opened fire on them in Hizaldi border area under Kolaroa upazila here Sunday morning.
   The deceased was identified as Nawsher Ali, 22, of Boyerdanga village while the injured as Kalu Majid, 28, of Hizaldi village.

Former Islami Oikya Jote lawmaker Fazlul Huq Amini and five of his associates were on Sunday remanded on bail in a criminal case after they surrendered in the Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge court and sought bail.
   The judge, Mohammad Mominullah, accepted their bail on a bond of Tk 30,000 for each of them.
   Maulana Sanaullah, who rented a shop owned by Amini at the Bara Katra Madrassah at Lalbagh, filed the case, accusing Amini,
   now chairman of a faction of the Islami Oikya Jote, and others on charge of looting Tk 1 lakh from his shop on June 5, 2005.
   Sanaullah lodged the case against the six on February 19, 2007 and the Lalbagh police are investigating the case.
   Amini, along with his associates, on March 1 appeared in the High Court seeking bail in the case, but the court directed them to surrender in the lower court in three weeks.

The country’s human rights index 2006 deteriorated significantly due to the abuse of power by ruling partymen, rise of militancy, extra-judicial killings, garment sector workers’ unrest, political confrontations and eviction of slum dwellers, said a report released on Sunday.
   Ain-O-Salish Kendra published the ‘Human Rights in Bangladesh in 2006: A summery report’.
   Placing the report at the Dhaka Reporters Unity, the ASK executive director, Sultana Kamal, also put forward a set of recommendations, including independent and impartial investigations into the incidents to overcome the situation.
   ‘A total of 359 alleged extrajudicial killings occurred by the law enforcing agencies through crossfire, encounter and shooting on demonstrators while 70 persons died in jail custody during the period,’ Sultana, also a former adviser to the caretaker government, said quoting the report.
   A total of 1,254 cases of violence against women, including 741 rapes, were recorded during the year 2006, the report said.
   The director, advocacy and research unit of ASK, Faustina Pereira, placed the report, which says that four journalists were killed, 114 threatened and six were arrested by the BNP-led alliance men, law enforcers and criminals during the year. ‘The figure was all-time high in the country.’
   The report said human rights were violated through bomb and grenade explosions by Islamists militants, Ahmadiyyah issue, non-implementation of the proposed minimum wages for garments workers and eviction of the slum dwellers.

The 11-Party Alliance, a combine of left and democratic political parties, wants the Election Commission to declare a timeframe for holding the stalled 9th parliamentary polls.
   Their demand came at a meeting with the chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, at the Election Commission Secretariat on Sunday.
   ‘We have requested the Election Commission to announce a timeframe for the next polls and a roadmap detailing how the commission would move forward towards holding of the election after preparing a voters’ roll with photographs,’ the Worker Party president, Rashed Khan Menon, told reporters emerging from the meeting.
   Asked whether the 11-Party Alliance proposed any timeframe for holding the elections, he said, ‘We did not propose any timeframe, but we hope that the commission will immediately announce a timeframe and start work to prepare the voters’ list.’
   He said they had emphasised immediate step to prepare the voters’ roll with photographs. ‘Primarily, the EC can prepare the voters’ list with photographs and then go for voters ID cards in phases for certain areas.’
   Menon said the commission had assured them that they (EC) might be able to fix a timeframe calculating the time requires for the preparation of the voters’ roll.
   ‘Following the reconstitution of the commission, we have come here to share our proposal for electoral reforms placed earlier to make the elections free from black money and muscle power,’ he said and hoped that the commission would sit with the political parties before bringing reforms to the electoral laws.
   Election commissioners Muhhammed Sohul Hussain and Sakhawat Hussain also attended the hour-long meeting.
   The 11-Party delegation includes Ganatantri Party president Nurul Islam, Gana Azadi League president Abdus Samad and Workers Party general secretary Bimal Biswas and Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua.

The finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, said on Sunday that the government would make the Bangladesh Railway a company by 2009.
   In this regard, he said, the government had signed agreements with the Asian Development Bank and World Bank.
   The adviser at a roundtable discussion also mentioned that the government had taken steps to privatise three Nationalised Commercial Banks and the law ministry was reviewing the issues to be implemented soon.
   The Bangladesh Enterprise Institute organised the discussion on ‘role and responsibilities of independent directors’ at its conference room in the capital. It was addressed, among others, by former governor of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Farashuddin, and former chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Haroon-ur-Rashid. The representatives from various ministries, regulatory bodies and NCBs also attended the roundtable.
   Speakers underscored the need for enhancing efficiency of the members serving on the boards of state-owned enterprises as well as private enterprises which have representation on the boards.
   Dr Farashuddin said Bangladesh’s private sector is dominated by first generation entrepreneurs and concept of corporatisation is yet to reach maturity.
   Farooq Sobhan said that all the board members should receive training on corporate governance like the board members in developed countries.
   Haroon acknowledged that the role of an independent director is a challenging one and underlined the need for training on issues and concepts of corporate governance.
   Mueen Afzal, the chairman of pay and pension committee in Pakistan, presented a keynote paper at the discussion meeting moderated by the BEI chairman Farook Sobhan.
   ‘The fundamental motivation for corporate governance is the separation of ownership and control. Corporate governance seeks to address the problems that may arise because of the conflicting interests of the management and owners,’ Mueen Afzal said, adding that having an independent director on the board helps establish a system of internal and external checks and balances on corporate behaviour.