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The judiciary becomes independent of the executive today with 218 judicial magistrates, 224 courtrooms, 1,043 staff members and four lakh criminal cases pending with the magistrate courts.
   The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, will inaugurate the Dhaka Judicial Magistracy and Dhaka Metropolitan Judicial Magistracy in a ceremony this morning at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre. The chief justice, M Ruhul Amin, will also address the occasion as special guest.
   Briefing newsmen at his office on Wednesday, the Supreme Court registrar, Ikteder Ahmed, said 218 magistrates — 202 from the judiciary and 16 from the administrative cadre service who opted in to judicial service — would start running the judicial magistracy.
   ‘Everything is set. Courtrooms, manpower and other logistic supports are in place,’ he said.
   Six hundred and fifty-five posts of judicial magistrates have been created to meet the demands of the courts in districts.
   The remaining 453 magistrates will be recruited in three months by the Judicial Service Commission, said Ikteder.
   Once the judicial magistracy starts functioning, 218 judicial magistrates will need to deal with more than four lakh criminal cases, now pending with the courts run by 635 magistrates across the country.
   According to the report submitted by the government to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, 4,84,832 cases, as of February 28, were pending with the courts of magistrates across the country and at least 890 magistrates were required to deal with them.
   The judiciary becomes separate from the executive following the 12-point directive issued by the Appellate Division on December 2, 1999 in its landmark judgement in the government appeal against the High Court verdict in Masdar Hossain’s case, popularly known as the separation of judiciary case.
   The court also ordered the government to report back on the compliance of the directives by May 31, 2000.
   All the subsequent governments took repeated extensions of the time limit to implement the directives, which are being implemented today.
   The Awami League government, however, implemented only one of the directives giving financial independence to the Supreme Court in 2001.
   The caretaker government in 2001 prepared sets of draft rules on judicial service and a draft ordinance to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to implement the directives. The legal instruments were, however, kept pending by the caretaker government at the request of then prime minister elect Khaleda Zia.
   The BNP-led alliance government on January 28, 2004 formed the Judicial Service Commission after framing the Judicial Service Commission Rules.
   The Supreme Court issued a rule on nine bureaucrats on November 29, 2004 to explain why they would not be punished for contempt of court for distorting its orders on the separation of judiciary.
   It also issued a rule on four top secretaries, including then principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, on April 3, 2006 to explain why they would not be prosecuted for contempt of court for their procrastination in implementing the directive.
   In the face of the contempt rule, the BNP government framed the Judicial Service (Pay Commission) Rules on May 28, 2006, and two sets of rules on judicial service on June 12, 2006.
   The court on January 10, 2007 declared the rules and the draft bill for the amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure contrary to its directives and ordered the government to make fresh rules and ordinance on the amendment to the code.
   The interim government accordingly framed fresh rules on January 16 and promulgated the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance on February 13.
   The full court meeting of the Supreme Court, attended by all the Supreme Court judges chaired by the chief justice, M Ruhul Amin, on September 27 decided that the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, which amended the Code of Criminal Procedure on February 11 in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court, will come into effect on November 1.
   The rules were given effect in keeping with the Supreme Court advice. The full-court reference (meeting) of the Supreme Court of May 10 decided to put in force the two sets of rules on the judicial service on July 1.
   Once the amended Code of Criminal Procedure comes into effect, the judicial service, including judicial magistracy, will come under the direct supervision and control of the Supreme Court.
   The president will need to exercise his duties regarding the appointment, posting, control and discipline of the service in consultation with the Supreme Court.
   According to the rules, from now on, the president will need to exercise his powers regarding appointment, promotion, posting and control and supervision of the judicial service, including judicial magistracy, in consultation with the Supreme Court.
   In the case of any difference of opinion between the president and the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court’s opinion will prevail, the rules said.
   According to the rules and the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, the country will have from today two sets of magistrates — judicial and executive — to deal with different functions.
   The country will also have separate criminal courts — courts of sessions and of magistrates — and all of them will be run by judicial officers.

The lower judiciary comes under the Supreme Court as the judiciary becomes independent of the executive today as a result of the 12-point directive of the Supreme Court.
   The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on December 2, 1999 detailed the directives for the separation of the judiciary in its judgement in the government appeal against the High Court
   verdict in the Masdar Hossain case.
   Masdar Hossain and 217 other judges of the lower judiciary filed a writ petition on November 19, 1995 seeking redress of their financial discrimination in relation to other services of the government.
   The case came to be known as the separation of the judiciary case as the High Court on May 7, 1997 delivered the verdict in the case directing the government to separate the judicial services from other services of the republic.
   The finance ministry preferred an appeal against the verdict and the Appellate Division on December 2 finally pronounced its judgement detailing the 12-point directive.
   The directives are:
   ‘It is declared that the judicial service is a service of the republic within the meaning of Article 152(1) of the constitution, but it is a functionally and structurally distinct and separate service from the civil executive and administrative services of the republic with which the judicial service cannot be placed on par on any account and that it cannot be amalgamated, abolished, replaced, mixed up and tied together with the civil executive and administrative services.
   ‘… the word “appointments” in Article 115 means that it is the president who under Article 115 can create and establish a judicial service and also a magistracy exercising judicial functions, make recruitment rules and all pre-appointment rules in that behalf, make rules regulating their suspension and dismissal but Article 115 does not contain any rule-making authority with regard to other terms and conditions of service and that Article 133 and Article 136 of the constitution and the Services (Reorganisation and Conditions) Act, 1975 have no application to the above matters in respect of the judicial service and magistrates exercising judicial functions.
   ‘…the creation of BCS (judicial) cadre along with other BCS executive and administrative cadres by Bangladesh Civil Service (Reorganisation) Order, 1980 with amendment of 1986 is ultra vires of the constitution. It is also declared that Bangladesh Civil Service Recruitment Rules, 1981 are inapplicable to the judicial service.
   ‘The appellant and the other respondents (government) to the writ petition are directed that necessary steps be taken forthwith for the president to make rules under Article 115 to implement its provisions, which is a constitutional mandate and not a mere enabling power. It is directed that the nomenclature of the judicial service shall follow the language of the constitution and shall be designated as the judicial service of Bangladesh or Bangladesh judicial service. They are further directed that either by legislation or by framing rules under Article 115 or by executive order having the force of rules a Judicial Services Commission be established forthwith with majority of members from the senior judiciary of the Supreme Court and the subordinate courts for recruitment to the judicial service on merit with the objective of achieving equality between men and women in the recruitment.
   ‘It is directed that under Article 133 law or rules or executive orders having the force of rules relating to posting, promotion, grant of leave, discipline (except suspension and removal), pay, allowances, pension (as a matter of right, not favour) and other terms and conditions of service, consistent with Articles 116 and 116A, as interpreted by us, be enacted or framed or made separately for the judicial service and magistrates exercising judicial functions keeping in view the constitutional status of the said service.
   ‘The impugned orders in the writ petition dated 28.2.94 and 2.11.95 are declared to be ultra vires of the constitution for the reasons stated in the judgment. The appellant and the other respondents to the writ petition are directed to establish a separate Judicial Pay Commission forthwith as a part of the rules to be framed under Article 115 to review the pay, allowances and other privileges of the judicial service which shall convene at stated intervals to keep the process of review a continued one. The pay etc, of the judicial service shall follow the recommendations of the commission.
   ‘… in exercising control and discipline of persons employed in the judicial service and magistrate exercising judicial functions under Article 116 the views and opinion of the Supreme Court shall have primacy over those of the executive.
   ‘The essential conditions of judicial independence in Article 116A, elaborated in the judgment, namely, (1) security of tenure, (2) security of salary and other benefits and pension and (3) institutional independence from the parliament and the executive shall be secured in the law or rules made under Article 133 or in the executive orders having the force of rules.
   ‘… the executive government shall not require the Supreme Court of Bangladesh to seek their approval to incur any expenditure or any item from the funds allocated to the Supreme Court in the annual budgets, provided the expenditure incurred falls within the limit of the sanctioned budgets, as more fully explained in the body of the judgment. Necessary administrative instructions and financial delegations to ensure compliance with this direction shall be issued by the government to all concerned including the appellant and other respondents to the writ petition by 31.5.2000.
   ‘… the members of the judicial service are within the jurisdiction of the administrative tribunal. The declaration of the High Court division to the opposite effect is set aside.
   ‘The declaration by the High Court Division that for separation of the subordinate judiciary from the executive no further constitutional amendment is necessary is set aside. If the parliament so wishes it can amend the constitution to make the separation more meaningful, pronounced, effective and complete.
   ‘… until the Judicial Pay Commission gives its first recommendation the salary of judges in the judicial service will continue to be governed by status gulp ante as on 8.1.94 vide paragraph 3 of the order of the same date and also by the further directions of the High Court division in respect of assistant judges and senior assistant judges. If pay increases are effected in respect of other services of the republic before the Judicial Pay Commission gives its first recommendation the members of the Judicial Pay Commission will get increases in pay etc commensurate with their special status in the constitution and in conformity with the pay etc that they are presently receiving.’

The Supreme Court will pass orders on November 15 on reports submitted by the finance, establishment, law, home, and public works secretaries on compliance of its earlier orders on separation of the judiciary and the contempt of court proceedings against 13 bureaucrats.
   The full court of all the seven judges of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin, set the date after the reports had been placed before it on Wednesday, a day ahead of the judiciary being separated from the executive today.
   Law secretary Kazi Habibul Awal, responding to a show-cause notice issued by the Supreme Court, sought exemption from the show-cause obligation, but said that the court might strike down, meaning invalidate, the office order issued by the ministry on October 24, requesting all district judges not to ask for manpower, courtrooms, vehicles, and other logistic support from the existing district magistrates’ courts.
   The Supreme Court on October 28 stayed the operation of the office order and asked the law secretary to explain by Tuesday why the order would not be declared illegal as it had violated the spirit of the separation of the judiciary.
   In its suo moto order on October 28, the court also asked the secretaries of the Cabinet Division and law, establishment, home, and public works ministries to arrange temporary accommodations for judicial magistrates in the courtrooms and chambers being used by the executive magistrates to discharge their judicial duties. The court asked them to report back on the progress and status of their compliance to the order by Tuesday.
   In their reports, the secretaries informed the court that 224 courtrooms along with chambers were ready for the use of the judicial magistrates and that the metropolitan magistrates of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi had been directed ‘to make over the case records, 38 courtrooms, 38 chambers, all other logistics and supports under their disposal to the newly appointed chief metropolitan judicial magistrates’.
   If necessary, the law ministry may go for renting houses to be used as courtrooms and chambers of the judicial magistrates, the secretaries stated in the reports, informing the court that initiatives had also been taken for construction of new court buildings and extension of some of the existing court buildings for the same purpose.
   They also reported to the court that 1,043 staff of different magistrate courts across the country had already opted for the judicial service.
   The court issued a rule on nine bureaucrats on November 29, 2004 to explain why they would not be punished for contempt of court for distorting its orders on separation of judiciary.
   It also issued rule on four top secretaries, including the then principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, to explain why they would not be prosecuted for contempt of court for their procrastination in implementing the 12-point directive it issued on December 2, 1999 for separating the judiciary from the executive wing of the state.
   The accused bureaucrats, however, will not need to appear before the court on November 15 as the court exempted them from the requirement.

The separation of the judiciary from the executive coming into effect today puts in service two sets of magistrates — judicial and executive.
   According to the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, judicial magistrates, who are judicial officers or executive magistrates opted in to the judicial service for the interim period, will run courts in the judicial magistracy.
   Executive magistrates, including deputy commissioners, stand stripped of judicial powers and functions from today as the amended Code
   of Criminal Procedure comes into effect, establishing a separate judicial magistracy as part of the judiciary separation.
   The executive magistrates, however, will not lose the executive powers and functions they now exercise.
   In addition, they will also have some judicial powers as the government on October 29 promulgated the Mobile Court Ordinance for mobile courts operation by executive magistrates.
   The ordinance, promulgated in the face of demand raised by the administration cadre officials before the separation of the judiciary, comes in to effect today along with the judiciary separation.
   According to the ordinance, the executive magistrates will have the power to conduct mobile court to ‘keep law and order and prevent crimes more effectively.’
   The mobile court will, however, have no power to give any sentence to any offender except for fine. If the offenders do not pay the fine, the mobile court will have the power to sentence them to simple imprisonment for not more than three months.
   According to the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, the executive magistrates will have 15-point ordinary powers and functions, including the power to command law enforcers to disperse any unlawful assembly, to arrest or direct the arrest of offenders, to endorse a warrant or order for the removal of an accused person arrested under warrant, to enable search by postal and telegraph authorities for documents and to detain them, to issue search warrants, to direct search of any place, to require security to keep peace or for good behaviour, to discharge sureties, to require civil or military force to be used to disperse unlawful assembly, to make orders as to local nuisance and to issue injunction as immediate measure in the case of public nuisance.
   Besides all of the powers and functions of an executive magistrate, a district magistrate will have 19-point additional powers and functions.
   They include the power to order Section 144, to require delivery of letters and telegrams, to issue search warrants for documents into the custody of postal or telegraph authorities, to require security for good behaviour in the case of sedition, to discharge persons bound to keep security to keep peace or to be of good behaviour, to cancel bonds for keeping peace, to order a person not to repeat public nuisance, to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended dangers, to make orders in possession cases, to depute an executive magistrate to make local inquiry, to hold inquests in the cases of suicide and unnatural deaths, to order preliminary inquiry by police officer in certain cases, to appoint public prosecutor in a particular case, to issue commission for examination of witness, to revise orders regarding forfeiture of bonds, to deal with and dispose of property regarding which an offence has been committed, and to compel the restoration of abducted female.

The separation of the judiciary from the executive coming into force today sets rolling two sets of criminal courts — courts of sessions and of magistrate — all run by judicial officers.
   The cases pending with the courts of district magistrates or additional district magistrates will be transferred to the court of the district and sessions judges and the cases pending with the court of the executive magistrates will be transferred to the court of the chief judicial magistrate of the district.
   According to the two sets of rules on the judicial service and the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, the courts of sessions and the courts of magistrates will be run by judicial officers. They will, however, include the existing magistrates, who will be absorbed in the judicial service.
   The judicial service will have two parts — judges and judicial magistrates. The posts of judges will be district and sessions judges, additional district and sessions judges, joint district and sessions judges, senior assistant judges and assistant judges.
   The posts of judicial magistrates will be chief metropolitan magistrates or chief judicial magistrates, additional chief metropolitan magistrates or additional chief judicial magistrates, senior judicial magistrates or metropolitan magistrates and judicial magistrates.
   The entry posts in the judicial service will be assistant judges and they will be appointed directly through the Judicial Service Commission. The judges will be promoted to the immediate higher posts of the service in accordance with the rules.
   Assistant judges will be posted as judicial magistrates, senior assistant judges as senior judicial magistrates or metropolitan magistrates, joint district and sessions judges as additional chief metropolitan magistrates or additional chief judicial magistrates and the additional district and sessions judges as chief metropolitan magistrates or chief judicial magistrates. The absorbed or deputed magistrates will also be posted as equivalent of judicial magistrates.
   According to the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, the sessions judges and the chief judicial magistrates will dispose of the cases transferred to them or transfer them to the court of additional sessions judges or judicial magistrates respectively.
   The appeals pending with any magistrate will be disposed of by the same magistrate as they were done before the amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to the amendment.
   Any proceedings or investigations pending with any judicial magistrate, in the case of an executive matter, will be transferred to the district magistrate. If any proceedings or investigation is pending with an executive magistrate, it will be transferred to the chief judicial magistrate.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has said his caretaker government will welcome if any aggrieved person moves legally for trial of the ‘war criminals’.
   He made the remark as the question came up during an exchange of views with editors of national dailies, news agencies and TV and radio channels at the Chief Adviser’s Office Wednesday afternoon.
   About lifting ban on indoor politics, Fakhruddin said the government would withdraw the prohibition outside Dhaka in phases before election to local bodies and the emergency would be lifted gradually ahead of the general election.
   The chief adviser once again categorically said the stalled general election would be held by December 2008 as per the roadmap of the Election Commission.
   About the arrested teachers and students of the Dhaka University, the chief adviser said the government was ‘respectful to teachers and students’.
   The chief adviser in his opening remarks described his government’s various steps and measures towards holding ‘a free, fair and credible election as well as establishing good governance in the country’.
   He thanked the journalist community for supporting the caretaker government in various ways in various times, particularly during the last floods.
   He further told the meet that the government was seriously working for introducing Right to Information Act and ensuring human rights.
   The government is also trying to introduce client charter on services in various utility service-providing organisations like RAJUK, DESA, WASA and TITAS for the delivery of ‘quick and smooth service’ to people.
   Prices of essentials, electricity and government’s various steps to address those were also discussed during the meeting.
   Those who spoke from the editors’ side are: Mahbubul Alam, Toab Khan, Bazlur Rahman, Ataus Samad, Abul Asad, Reazuddin Ahmed, Matiur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam, Moazzem Hossain, Abed Khan, Syed Kamaluddin, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Golam Sarwar, Rahat Khan, Amanullah Kabir, Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, Roushan Zaman, Nurul Kabir, Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Shawkat Mahmud, Shykh Seraj, Saiful Bari, Shyamol Dutta and Rafiqul Huq.
   The law and information adviser, Mainul Hosein, the cabinet secretary, the information secretary and CA’s press secretary and other high media officials were also present.

Khandaker Delwar Hossain, who was appointed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia as the party’s secretary general, renewed his claim on Wednesday that he led the mainstream BNP and denounced other factions as ‘illegitimate’.
   He reiterated his call to all BNP leaders and activists to remain united and not to be confused by the ‘so-called reformists’ and urged the Election Commission to invite him and other leaders of the party, who are loyal to Khaleda Zia, to sit in dialogue with it on electoral reforms.
   The ailing leader made the claim and the urge through Rizvi Ahmed, the BNP office secretary appointed by him, and former party lawmaker Akhteruzzaman, as he was not allowed by the authorities of BIRDEM Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment, to meet anyone.
   Rizvi met reporters at the house of a party activist and Akhteruzzaman at the National Press Club to make the statements on behalf of the ailing leader.
   According to eye accounts, no one was allowed to see Delwar at the hospital on Wednesday. Akhter, however, said he could manage to meet Delwar, who asked him to convey the message to the press.
   Rizvi said a certain quarter was trying to destroy the party and Khaleda Zia, but the activists across the country were united.
   ‘As part of the conspiracy, the party secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, and other leaders are being harassed continuously. His son was arrested Tuesday and no visitors excepting those selected by them are allowed to meet him at the hospital,’ Rizvi claimed.
   He said as per the instruction of that certain quarter, an official of BIRDEM Hospital on Tuesday evening barred him from meeting Delwar. ‘At one stage, Delwar came down from the 15th floor and the officials even misbehaved with him.’
   Referring to the comment of acting Awami League president Zillur Rahman, Rizvi said his observation was accurate and it proved that the urge for democracy was prevailing among all.
   On the other hand, M Hafizuddin Ahmed, designated by the October 29 meeting of the party’s standing committee as the acting secretary general, said he would take all possible means to keep the party united and contact the leaders who opposed the meeting and its resolutions.
   ‘The prime need of the time is to keep the party united. Our rival parties seem to be happy at the situation, and they are thinking the party will split. The standing committee has taken the responsibility of steering the party when its chairperson is detained; and BNP will not be divided,’ he told the media at his Banani residence.
   ‘The party will be able to concentrate on its welfare activities soon under the leadership of Khaleda Zia and Saifur Rahman,’ Hafiz said. ‘It is a matter of sorrow for us that Khaleda Zia, the most popular leader of Bangladesh, is behind bars. We will go for legal battle to free her.’
   Hafiz was shocked at the impression of the media that the party was split and there were two factions — pro-Khaleda and pro-reforms. ‘The party has not been divided by the decisions of the standing committee. Khaleda Zia is our leader. But some newspapers have given the impression that we are opposed to her,’ he said.
   Replying to a query on whether the consent of the party chairperson was taken to convene the standing committee meeting, he said, ‘The chairperson is detained. So, her consent could not be taken. But there is a thing called doctrine of necessity, and members of the standing committee held the meeting to meet the necessity.’
   On the appointment of the acting chairperson, Hafiz said the standing committee took the decision as per section 11 of the constitution of BNP.
   ‘No decision of the chairperson was challenged. The standing committee did not approve her order to expel some leaders as it thought she had taken the decision being uninformed about many things, which did not bring any good for the party,’ he said, adding, ‘If the expulsions were not done, such a situation would not have created.’
   Hafiz said he would take measures to open the party’s central office at Nayapaltan after consulting the leaders and activists.
   The New Age correspondent in Rajshahi wrote: The leaders of Rajshahi district BNP in a joint statement said that the appointment of the so-called acting chairperson and acting secretary general were illegal, and that the party was still united under the leadership of Khandaker Delwar Hossain.
   They also said the October 29 meeting was illegal and there was no provision in the party’s constitution to hold such a meeting without the chairperson.

The third round of bidding for blocks in the country’s offshore areas to look for oil and gas is unlikely to be held this year due to bureaucratic red tape, said sources in the Petrobangla and the energy division.
   If the government fails to hold the bidding this year, the exploration work in the Bay of Bengal, expected to start next winter, will be delayed by at least a year, they said.
   ‘Our initial aim was to hold the offshore block bidding in June but later we deferred it to October. But now it seems that we may not be able to invite tenders this year as we are yet to get clearance for the draft production sharing contract from the relevant ministries,’ said a source in the energy division.
   After getting clearance from the concerned ministries including the law ministry, the draft PSC will be sent to the council of advisers for approval.
   Petrobangla previously planned to complete the bidding process for 28 offshore blocks by April-May, 2008, so that some of the selected international oil companies could begin exploration in winter when the sea remains calm.
   ‘It will be unfortunate if we miss another winter as the country desperately needs to find new gas reserves. We have already missed two winters as the first plan for offshore block bidding was taken up in 2005,’ said a Petrobangla source.
   The energy division is now again preparing to send the draft of the model PSC to the law ministry for vetting after the latter sent back the amended draft last week with a suggestion that more consideration should be given to the ‘country’s interests’, said inside sources. The energy division will incorporate some suggestions of the finance ministry and National Board of Revenue in the draft PSC, and also seek the suggestions of the Bangladesh Banks.
   ‘Some of the finance ministry’s suggestions are not relevant, so we will clarify and explain our terms. If the ministry does not agree with us, the process will be delayed further,’ said a Petrobangla source.
   Officials of the energy division and Petrobangla on Tuesday apprised the newly appointed energy secretary, Mohammad Mohsin, of the bidding for offshore blocks.
   Mohsin asked the concerned officials to solicit and get the opinion of Bangladesh Bank by 10 days, and asked Petrobangla to submit a new time-bound work programme.
   Petrobangla officials hoped in the meeting that they would be able to hold the bidding by this year.
   Energy division officials, however, said that it might not be possible to hold the bidding this year as many things depended on other ministries.
   It will take two to three weeks to send the draft PSC to the law ministry after incorporating the opinions of the finance ministry, NBR and the Bangladesh Bank, said a source in the energy division.
   ‘We do not know when the law ministry will vet the draft after we submit it in the next two or three weeks. Even if the law ministry vets the draft by November, it will need the approval of the council of advisers,’ he said.

About 100 Buddhist monks marched Wednesday in central Myanmar for the first time since the junta’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests last month, witnesses said.
   The peaceful demonstration came as officials said UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari would arrive in Myanmar at the weekend for his second round of talks with the ruling generals amid ongoing international concern over September’s violence.
   The monks marched for about 30 minutes in the town of Pakokku, the scene of one of the most serious confrontations with the military as mass street rallies escalated towards their bloody conclusion, which left 13 people dead.
   On September 6, monks – enraged after troops in Pakokku fired warning shots and used batons to break up an anti-regime protest – took 20 security personnel hostage for several hours.
   Although the crisis was resolved, it marked a turning point in what would become Myanmar’s biggest anti-junta protests in 20 years as monks then took to the streets in droves to lead the rallies in this devoutly Buddhist country.
   Wednesday’s march in Pakokku was not openly political, with witnesses saying the monks refrained from shouting any slogans.
   Still, it showed ‘the sense of frustration and resentment has not disappeared’ following last month’s crackdown, which saw thousands of monks and pro-democracy activists detained, a Western diplomat in Yangon said.
   Hundreds remain in jail, according to diplomats, although the junta on Wednesday released seven people, including members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy.
   As the monks returned to the streets, a Western diplomat and an official said Gambari would return to Myanmar at the weekend for his second visit in a month, in a bid to put pressure on the junta to implement democratic reforms.
   The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said Tuesday that regional powers must push for sustained contact between Gambari and the junta if Myanmar is to gradually embrace democracy.
   A bill introduced Tuesday in the US Senate would tighten sanctions by imposing a travel ban on top generals and associates, and outlaw the import into the United States of gems and timber from Myanmar.

The Rapid Action Battalion has launched a massive hunt for Yaba peddler and ramp model Nikita and a director of Hotel Purbani, Joynal, after a massive haul of foreign and local currencies, gold ornaments, diamonds, firearms and foreign liquor from the latter’s Dhanmondi residence on Tuesday.
   The RAB is also hunting for another major Yaba peddler, Pushpita, elder sister of Jannatul Ferdous Nikita and also the former second wife of MNH Bulu, of the private satellite television channel Boishakhi. In a press briefing at RAB-3’s headquarters in Tikatuli on Wednesday, its commanding officer, Sultan Mohammad Khan Nurani, told newsmen, ‘It is not possible to earn such a huge quantity of foreign and local currencies in a legal manner.’
   ‘We have confirmed through our intelligence team that the amount was earned in illegal ways. We also came to know that students of some schools, colleges and universities used to visit the residence regularly, and it was a Yaba den,’ Nurani added.
   He also said that the suspected Yaba peddlers, Jannatul Ferdous Nikita, her sister Pushpita and director of Hotel Purbani Mahbubur Rahman Joynal, would be arrested very soon.
   As part of the massive manhunt the RAB has already sent their photos to the authorities of Zia International Airport, Benapole, Hili and other exits to prevent their escape.
   Nurani, however, did not mention the quantities of the seized foreign currencies, gold ornaments and diamonds to the newsmen.
   He said that the RAB has sought the help of the National Board of Revenue to figure out the actual amount of the foreign currencies, and two deputy directors of the NBR, Hossain Ahmed and Abdur Rafiq, and Superintendent Abdul Hakim have assisted the RAB team.
   Nurani also said that the RAB has taken the help of some jewellery specialists, including Amin Jewellers, to ascertain the value of the seized gold ornaments and diamonds.
   As part of the drive against the Yaba peddlers, RAB-3 members in a night raid seized a huge quantity of foreign and local currencies, gold ornaments, diamonds, four firearms along with several hundreds bullets and a large quantity of foreign liquor from the residence of Mahbubur Rahman Joynal, a director of Hotel Purbani, in Dhanmondi on Monday night.

Khandaker Akhter Hamid Paban, son of ailing BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, and three of his associates on Wednesday were remanded in the police custody for two days in connection with an arms case.
   Magistrate Hasan Sarwar granted the remand after the police produced Paban and three others — Anwar Hossain, Masud Ali alias Apu and Delwar Hossain Ratan — in the chief metropolitan magistrates’ court with a plea for seven-day remand each.
   Producing them in the court, the police said the Rapid Action Battalion on Tuesday night picked them up from Pallabi and Mohammadpur areas and seized a pistol, a revolver and four bullets from their possessions. The detainees were also injured in a fist-fight with RAB, the police said.
   Paban was a criminal listed with the Kotwali police station and the three were close aides to most wanted criminal Shahadat Hossain of Mirpur area, Quamruzzaman, sub-inspector of the Pallabi police station, told the court.
   ‘We need to grill them in the custody for the sake of investigation into the arms case filed by deputy assistant director of Rapid Action Battalion-4 Enayet Ali under the Emergency Powers Rules,’ he added.
   Opposing their remand in custody, defence lawyers argued that the case was ‘false and fabricated’.
   Echoing with their defence lawyers, the detainees also pleaded their innocence and claimed they had been victimised.
   Earlier Paban was arrested in June 2006 on charge of hijacking Toyota Premio car at Amin Court in Motijheel area, and in February 2005 on charge of vandalising a phone-fax shop at gunpoint in Old Town of Dhaka.
   In January, he secured bail from the High Court on the car hijacking case now pending with the court of chief metropolitan magistrate.
   The court of metropolitan magistrate SM Mainuddin Ahmed on Tuesday rejected his bail and issued a warrant for his arrest as he failed to appear before the court in the car hijacking case.

Bangladesh has slipped 15 places to 107 in 2007 from 92 in 2006 in the worldwide ranking in terms of competitive edge, according to Global Competitiveness Report 2007.
   Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of non-governmental think-tank, the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Wednesday launched the World Economic Forum report on a survey of competitiveness perceived by top executives of business organisations in 131 countries.
   Corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy, inadequate supply of infrastructure and policy instability have been blamed to have affected the country’s business environment, he said.
   The WEF assessed competitiveness in 125 countries in 2006.
   ‘Our ranking has also slid by six places to 98 if we exclude the new countries covered under GCR 2007,’ he added.
   The GCI 2007, which also includes Business Competitiveness Index, was based on 12 indicators such as institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability and, health and primary education.
   The survey found that Bangladesh ranked lower on all indicators. The country also slipped to 118 from 99 in the BCI ranking, according WEF.
   Bangladesh’s positions in other global business indices such as Doing Business Index 2007 and Corruption Perception Index 2007 also worsened.
   ‘It’s frustrating,’ he said.
   According to the GCI, Bangladesh appears among the bottom 10 countries when it comes to institutions, higher education and training and technological readiness.
   But it ranks relatively better in case of market size, financial market sophistication and labour market efficiency, the CPD executive director said.
   ‘It will be a mistake if we take a major decision based on these indicators. But keeping this information in mind will be a smart thing to do,’ he said. ‘It will give you indications as to where you have to hit.’
   The GCI 2007 for Bangladesh was prepared taking perception of 99 top executives of business firms with a capital of Tk 100 million. The CPD official, citing its Business Environment Survey, also said business environment shows poor performances.
   He put this down to a ‘very low’ level of public trust about financial honesty of politicians, government officials favouring well-connected firms and individuals, ineffective national parliament and wasteful public spending.

The police in primary investigations have found that Morshed Rana, arrested on Sunday by the Narsingdi Sadar police, was tortured to death in custody, an incident that has put the police department in an embarrassing situation.
   ‘Primary investigations indicate sub-inspectors Motiar Rahman and Akbar Hossain of Narsingdi Sadar model police station tortured Morshed in their custody, which led to his death,’ the additional inspector general of police, NBK Tripura, told New Age on Wednesday.
   Both the sub-inspectors, who had been closed to the police lines on Tuesday following the custodial death, were suspended Wednesday for torturing Morshed to death.
   The same day the superintendent of police of Narsingdi, Shahab Uddin Khan, sent a report to the police headquarters, holding the two officials responsible for the death.
   A three-member inquiry committee, headed by assistant police super Harun-or-Rashid, started investigation into the death on Tuesday morning. The two other members on the committee are court inspector Jashim Uddin and Raypura police station officer-in-charge Nazrul Islam.
   ‘We will show zero tolerance in this case,’ the additional IG said.
   Asked whether the officer-in-charge of the police station, S Alam, was also involved in the killing, Tripura assured that the OC too would not be spared if the investigation found his involvement in it.
   Sources in the police said the incident was taken seriously as it created serious resentment in the United Nations Development Programme which in association with the Department For International Development of the UK is implementing a reform programme for the Bangladesh Police.
   ‘The death in police custody is very embarrassing for us as it took place only three days after we had turned the police station into a model one,’ a senior police official told New Age.
   The victim’s family alleged that Morshed, an accused in several burglary cases, was picked up by the police for money and killed through inhuman torture. They said Morshed was in sound health, but the police, like in many other incidents of custodial death, tried to portray it as an unnatural death.
   ‘When I went to the police station hearing his arrest, I saw police beating him up. As I asked them what was his fault they threw me out of the station,’ Morshed’s brother Iqbal told New Age over telephone.
   Iqbal said he then went to a nearby army camp to inform the army about the incident. ‘When I returned to the police station, Morshed was no more there.’
   He admitted that his brother was a thief and there were several cases against him, adding, ‘but, my brother was not a top terror or a killer.’
   He said Morshed could be tried and jailed for his petty offences. ‘You cannot kill him for that.’
   Iqbal said he would file a case with a Narsingdi court on Thursday accusing the Narsingdi Sadar police for murdering his brother.
   NBK Tripura, who is also the national project director of the police reforms programme, said an unnatural death case filed with the Shahbagh police regarding Morshed’s death would turn into a murder case after getting the post-mortem report.
   ‘The autopsy has already been done and we are waiting for the report,’ he said.
   The inquest earlier found numerous marks of injuries in various parts of Morshed’s body.
   The custodial death is a big slap to the reforms programme, under which the infrastructure of the police station was improved and its personnel were trained before making it a model police station.
   ‘The incident took place just three days after we had made it a model police station,’ said a UNDP official, adding that they discussed safeguarding human rights and decent behaviour with citizens at the inaugural ceremony of the model station.

Cuba’s foreign minister on Tuesday warned that his country is prepared to defend itself if the United States tries to bring regime change by force, saying a conflict would jeopardise US stability.
   ‘We are not threatening and we never bluff,’ Felipe Perez Roque said in an interview with the agency. ‘We respect the United States, but we demand respect for ourselves, and we would defend our country from an attempt to have foreign aggression.’
   He claimed that president Bush’s recent major policy speech on Cuba, in which the president challenged the international community to help the people of the communist island shed Fidel Castro’s rule and become a free society, indicated the US might be prepared to use force.
   Perez Roque singled out a comment from Bush’s speech last week: ‘The operative word in our future dealings with Cuba is not stability. The operative word is freedom.’
   ‘If that’s the expression of the attempt to bring about a regime change by force in Cuba, that will clash with the resilience of the Cuban people, and the people are prepared,’ Perez Roque said.
   In Cuba, he said, more than 90 per cent of the 11.5 million people support ‘the genuine revolution’ that began in 1959 when Castro toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista.
   The only ‘freedom’ that Cubans can imagine Bush pursing, Perez Roque added.

A Spanish court Wednesday convicted 21 people of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, but acquitted a man accused of helping mastermind the al-Qaeda-inspired attack that claimed nearly 200 lives.
   The early morning bombings on four packed commuter trains on March 11, 2004 were the deadliest terror attacks in the West since the September 11, 2001 strikes against the US.
   The chief judge of the special anti-terrorist court, Javier Gomez Bermudez, pronounced two Moroccans – Jamal Zougam and Othman el-Gnaoui – and a Spaniard, Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras, guilty of murdering the 191 people killed in the blasts.
   They were sentenced to around 40,000 years in prison each, although under Spanish law the maximum they can spend behind bars is 40 years.
   In a surprise move, one of the alleged organisers of the attacks, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, also known as ‘Mohammed the Egyptian,’ was acquitted on all charges along with six other defendants.
   Ahmed was arrested in Italy in June 2004 and was charged with running a terrorist organisation.
   Two other alleged ringleaders received sentences of less than 20 years in prison for belonging to a terrorist organisation. A total of 28 defendants were on trial.
   Zougam was one of the first suspects to be arrested. The police were able to trace the SIM card of a mobile phone that was attached to one of the train bombs that did not explode to a shop run by the Moroccan.
   Trashorras and el-Gnaoui were respectively condemned for supplying and transporting the explosives.
   Gomez Bermudez read out the verdicts and sentences after three months of deliberations by his three-judge panel. The announcement was broadcast live on Spanish television.
   Lawyers for the accused now have five days to announce whether or not they intend to appeal the verdicts to Spain’s Supreme Court.
   The Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, welcomed the verdicts.
   Dozens of armed police wearing bullet-proof vests surrounded the court, located at the entrance to a park in the west of the capital, as a helicopter hovered overhead. An armoured car with a machine gun was also parked outside the building.
   During the four-month trial which wrapped up on July 2, all of the accused – 19 mostly North African Arabs living in Spain and nine Spaniards charged with providing the explosives used in the bombings – said they were innocent.
   The string of 10 bombs exploded on commuter trains on March 11, 2004, leaving bodies and limbs scattered on railway tracks. A total of 191 people from 13 countries were killed and 1,841 others injured.

Bangladesh needs innovation in agriculture and fisheries to ensure food security for its people in the face of increasing adverse impact caused by climate change, said the chairman of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year, Rajendra K Pachauri, on Wednesday in New Delhi.
   ‘Food security of the poorer countries will be threatened as climate change will reduce food production across the world…And Bangladesh needs innovation in agriculture and fisheries to ensure food security,’ said Pachauri at the concluding session of the three-day Asia Media Workshop on climate change and human development.
   The Indian environmentalist, praising Bangladesh for its capability to adapt to floods and cyclones, said that he is planning some measures that will help Bangladesh to adapt to the erratic behaviour of the climate. ‘Bangladesh, which is constantly facing floods, cyclones and sea-level rise, has become an emblem in facing adverse climatic behaviour…We must do whatever we can to inform the world what the country is facing.’
   The country also needs to make its voice louder to inform the international community of the severely adverse impact of climate change on it, he said.
   Pachauri urged his country, India, to emerge as a role model in the South Asian people’s struggle against climate change. ‘The South Asian countries should work together to face climate change, a politically neutral issue, as the poorest section of the people will be the worse hit…And India should emerge as a role model to face the crisis.’
   ‘We need leaders who will do what is good for us and good for the earth…But unfortunately we do not have any role model here,’ he said, frustration evident in his voice.
   He reiterated that the countries — including United States, India and China — which are major polluters of the atmosphere, must drastically decrease their emission levels. ‘Stability of human society will be disrupted if we allow the emission levels to increase.’
   The United Nations Development Programme organised the workshop in partnership with the Water and Sanitation Programme of the World Bank and the Swiss Development Corporation.
   Thirty journalists from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines participated in the workshop that began on October 29.
   The IPCC, a UN body comprising 3,000 atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, ice specialists, economists and other experts, is the world’s top scientific authority on global warming and its impact on the planet.
   The panel has been given the Nobel Peace Prize for its unrelenting effort to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about the manmade climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

US astronomers have discovered the biggest black hole orbiting a star 1.8 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, with a record-setting mass of 24 to 33 times that of our Sun, NASA said Tuesday.
   The massive newcomer beats the previous stellar-mass black hole discovered October 17 in the M33 galaxy that has 16 times the mass of our Sun, the US space agency said.
   Like the much larger, supermassive black holes found at galaxy centres, stellar-mass black holes have such powerful gravity fields that not even light can escape them.
   Astronomers estimate their mass by measuring their gas emissions and the gravitational effect on the stars they orbit.
   ‘We weren’t expecting to find a stellar-mass black hole this massive,’ says Andrea Prestwich of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
   Lead author of the discovery paper in the November 1 Astrophysical Journal Letters, Prestwich and his team found the new stellar-mass black hole using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
   ‘We now know that black holes that form from dying stars can be much larger than we had realised,’ he added.
   Prestwich’s team was able to measure the black hole’s mass because it has an orbiting companion: a hot, highly evolved star. The star is ejecting gas in the form of a wind.
   Some of this material spirals toward the black hole, heats up, and gives off powerful X-rays before crossing the point of no return.

Sri Lanka has imposed blanket censorship on war reporting, officials said Wednesday, a week after Tamil Tiger rebels carried out a devastating attack on the country’s air force.
   President Mahinda Rajapakse used tough emergency laws to ban the publication of any information on military operations as well as weapons procurement by government forces, according to a government notice obtained by AFP.
   However, the government was yet to name a ‘competent authority’ to carry out the actual censoring of reports, said a spokesman for the information and media ministry, adding that officials were studying the presidential order.
   The move follows last week’s rebel attack that virtually wiped out Sri Lanka’s fleet of spy planes.
   The Tamil Tigers used a group of 21 elite suicide bombers to smash the Anuradhapura base where 14 troopers were also killed.
   A notice on the ‘Prohibition on Publication and Transmission of Sensitive Military Information’ was issued by Rajapakse to prevent reports on military operations as well as plans to buy equipment for the military or police.
   Under the terms of the new regulations, editors could be jailed for up to five years for breaking the censorship, together with a fine not exceeding 50 dollars.
   The order said the restrictions were introduced with the ‘purpose of maintaining or protecting national security, territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.’
   Sri Lanka’s government had previously imposed similar rules from 1998 to 2001.

Tarique Rahman, detained elder son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, on Wednesday was shown arrested in a case filed by ACC for ill-gotten incomes and falsifying wealth statement.
   Metropolitan magistrate Mizanur Rahman issued the order after hearing a petition filed by Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director Towfiqul Alam.
   ACC on September 26 filed the case with Kafrul Police Station against Tarique, his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and mother-in-law Iqbal Mand Banu on charges of having illegitimate incomes of Tk 4.82 crore and hiding wealth worth Tk 4.23 crore from ACC.
   Zubaida Rahman and her mother were accused of abetting Tarique in the process.
   The joint forces on March 7 arrested Tarique, also accused in seven extortion cases, from his cantonment residence.

A boy playing with matches allegedly started one of the deadly fires that recently devastated southern California, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday, citing officials with the sheriff’s department.
   The Buckweed fire in northern Los Angeles county was first blamed on downed power lines, but Sheriff Department investigators later viewed it as suspected arson.
   Investigators interviewed a boy – they did not give a name or age, but described him as a ‘juvenile’ – who acknowledged his actions, the Times reported.
   The boy was allowed to stay with his family and the case was sent to the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office, the Times said.
   The devastating wildfires which erupted on October 21 were among the worst in Californian history, leaving seven people dead, destroying 2,000 homes and displacing 640,000 people as they tore through tinder-dry parks and forests.
   The Buckweed fire broke out October 21, forcing more than 15,000 people from their homes. Some 1,200 firefighters battled the blaze, which was contained on October 24, the Times reported.
   At the height of the crisis 23 fires were raging. But a lull in winds which fuelled the flames early last week combined with cooling temperatures allowed firefighters to gain the upper hand.
   The two remaining blazes, both in the San Diego area, are largely contained, according to the Times.

A bolstered United Nations-African Union force charged with bringing peace to Sudan’s ravaged Darfur region may be operational by early next year, the head of the mission said Wednesday.
   Rodolphe Adada made the announcement at the inauguration of the new force’s headquarters in Darfur’s main city of Al-Fasher, the day after the US president, George W Bush, told the United Nations to ‘get moving’ on its deployment.
   The headquarters opened three months to the day after the UN Security Council on July 31 approved the new force of over 26,000 troops and police, baptised UNAMID, to replace the current under-equipped AU deployment of 7,000.
   ‘This is a great day for UNAMID,’ Adada told journalists. ‘Three months ago when the Security Council voted Resolution 1769 it was an idea and today we are a reality. Now we can begin the real work.’
   The United Nations said earlier this month it had agreed with the African Union to accept troop contingents from 16 countries, mostly from Africa but also from Bangladesh, Jordan, Nepal, the Netherlands, Scandinavian countries and Thailand.
   Some troops have arrived already, but have been initially integrated into the The full force is not expected to be deployed until well into 2008.

The police arrested a convict, sentenced to death, in the case filed in connection with the killing of Buddhist monk Gyan Jyoti Barua, at Satkania in Chittagong early Wednesday.
   The arrested is Jahir Mia alias Juhur, 45, a resident of Uttar Hinguli at Raujan.
   The police said they had arrested Juhur, also wanted in five other criminal cases, at a house at Satkania at around 3:00am.
   The arrested was tried in his absence in the case filed in connection with the killing of Gyan Jyoti on April 21, 2002. He, along with five others, was sentenced to death by a district and sessions judge’s court on August 29, 2004, the police said.

The government is planning four new roads in the capital to ease traffic congestion, the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, said on Wednesday.
   The chief adviser doubted that his government would be able to launch a mass transit system before handing power over to an elected government in 2008.
   Speaking to editors at the Chief Adviser’s Office, Fakhruddin said a road would be constructed straight from Bijoy Sarani to Tejgaon once Rangs Bhaban was demolished.
   A flyover is planned for the stretch from Banani 11 to Gulshan to ease traffic jams in the area.
   A road from Zia Colony to Mirpur and another from Begunbari Hatirjheel to Bishwa Road will also be constructed.
   Officials said roads made up nearly 8 per cent of the capital’s total area.
   The figure should have been at least 25 per cent, they said.

Former chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority Commodore (retd) Julfikar Ali, who is the second accused
   in the GATCO case, surrendered to the Chief Metropo-litan Magistrate court in Dhaka on Wednesday, court sources said.
   BNP chairperson and former prime minister Khleda Zia is the principal accused in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission on charge of awarding container handling work to the GATCO through corruption.
   Investigation Officer of the case and deputy director of the ACC M Jahirul Huda said Julfikar, who was reportedly living abroad since the filing of the case by the ACC on September 4, 2007, voluntarily surrendered to the court and prayed for bail.
   Magistrate Mizanur Rahman rejected the bail prayer and sent him to jail, he said.

A research fellow of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology on Wednesday filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of economist Debapriya Bhattacharya’s appointment as Bangladesh’s ambassador in Geneva.
   The date of hearing on the writ is likely to be fixed next week, Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan, counsel of the petitioner Mostafa Minhaz, told reporters.
   ‘A person, who got married or promised to get married to a foreigner, cannot be assigned for any diplomatic job,’ the petitioner said, quoting rules for public servants.
   He also said that the writ petition was meant to stop an illegal appointment.
   The chief adviser, the foreign affairs adviser, the foreign secretary and the establishment secretary have been made opponents in the writ.
   Debapriya’s wife, Irina, is a Russian national.
   The government on October 20 appointed Debapriya as Bangladesh’s permanent representative based in Geneva.

The council of advisers at a meeting on Wednesday approved in principle the proposed amendment to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004 to make the antigraft watchdog more independent.
   The amendment will come into force after being vetted by the law ministry.
   The council also endorsed the proposed National Identity Card Ordinance, 2007 and the proposal to bring further amendments to the Islamic University Act, 1980 and Islamic University (Amendment) Act, 2006.
   Advisers and senior officials concerned were present at the meeting presided over by chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed at his office.
   ‘The Anti-Corruption Act will see some minor changes so that it can work as an autonomous body,’ an adviser told New Age after the meeting.
   The council approved in principle the proposal for introduction of national identity cards, said official sources.
   The council was also apprised of the proposal for easing land registration system and decreasing its costs. The meeting discussed overall situation of food stock, its supply and procurement.
   The Islamic University will conduct examinations of the madrasah students of three-year courses at the Fazil and Kamil levels, it was decided.