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Middle-class farmers and fishermen in the cyclone-hit south suffer most as they feel shy to stand in queues for relief and nobody approaches them with any help.
   ‘I did not stand in a queue and hustle with others for relief and nobody came to me with any help,’ said 50-year-old Mohammad Motahar Hossain, busy repairing his damaged house at Janerpar of Khutakata in Bagerhat Wednesday afternoon.
   A few people were there in their houses as most went out to get some relief. A few families, who have farmland and ponds, were trying to gather scattered materials on Wednesday.
   Motahar was trying to remove trees uprooted by the cyclone from his five kathas of land. He had planted one hundred trees such as betel nuts and coconuts on the piece of land. More than 60 of the trees were uprooted by the cyclone, he said.
   ‘We need help for cultivation in fields and fish farming in ponds,’ Motahar said, pointing to his two ponds where he had farmed fish before the cyclone struck.
   ‘The fishes have been washed away or have died as saline water flooded the ponds. Trees uprooted into the ponds have also polluted the water,’ said Motahar, a middle-class farmer.
   Motahar said the local administration distributed vulnerable group feeding cards, but they felt embarrassed to stand in queues to get some. ‘It is embarrassing for us to hustle for relief and VGF cards in queues.’
   Union council member Monir Hossain approached such families four days after the cyclone and gave some such villagers Tk 100 each. The administration had not approached them and they had not walked down to stand in queues.
   The Sarankhola upazila nirbahi officer, Mohammad Shah Newaz Talukdar, said, ‘We cannot go door-to-door. They need to come to us or inform us through elected representatives.’
   The same is the situation with Nalbunia and Chararpar of the union where middle-class people were trying to start on their own, with loans from their relatives.
   ‘Most of our crops and all the fish farms have been damaged. We are surviving on loans and do not know how long we could continue,’ said Syeed of Pairaganj at Mirzaganj.
   They all feared the little amount of crop they would be able to recover from the fields would not support them into the next harvest season. They sought loans free of interest from the local administration to start afresh.
   Twenty-eight-year-old Khalil, a fisherman of Mendiabad at Mirzaganj, lost his small boat and nets to the cyclone. ‘I do not need relief. I need loans to buy nets to get down to fishing again.’
   Thirty-seven-year-old Sabur, of Golkhali, had farmed fish in his two ponds to earn his living, but all the fishes have been washed away. He too feels shy to stand in queues for relief and wants to start fish farming again.
   The Mirzaganj upazila nirbahi officer, Abdul Wadud, said they had provided some poor families with Tk 5,000 each to rebuilding their houses.
   He said middle-class farmers and fishermen should be helped so that they could get down to business; but he could not find any way out.
   ‘We might provide them with for two to three months, but the situation will not improve if the next crops are not cultivated properly,’ he said.
   He said non-governmental organizations should come forward to provide the affected with loans to rebuild their houses.

Children and women have been the worst victims of cyclone Sidr that hit Bangladesh on November 15, survivors and local administration said.
   Women and children mostly fell victims to the cyclone that killed more than 4,000 people, injured thousands and made millions homeless in the south.
   Official records say about 115 people — 58 were children and 45 women — were killed on that day in the villages of Mirzaganj, 22km off the district town.
   ‘I grew up playing in the River Paira and caught fish from it for my living. But I have never seen or heard of such an outrageous face of the river,’ said 38-year-old fisherman Mohammad Afzal of Golkhali at Mirzaganj in Patuakhali.
   His voice choked as he described the havoc wrought by the cyclone. ‘The river was unkind like anything.’
   ‘It swept away everything. I can get back the property I lost, if I try. But how can I live after losing my two children and my wife? The river snatched them away within minutes,’ he said as tears rolled down the cheeks.
   Of the survivors, children and women are most vulnerable as the supply of baby food and warm clothes remained inadequate, the residents said.
   Mother of four children, Majeda Begum, a resident of Hajikhali, a village on the west bank of the river, said they had received some goods such as rice, cooking pan and buckets. ‘But we need some baby food, warm clothes and blankets for the children.’
   Forty-year-old Nasima, of the same village, said they were somehow spending their days in makeshift houses. ‘But it has become difficult, especially for women, to relief themselves as toilets were also blown away and there were not enough materials around to rebuild them.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, KM Abdul Wadud, said women and children continue to suffer most. ‘We have distributed some baby food. But they need more.’
   He said the local administration informed the authorities concerned of the need for baby food, warms clothes and blankets.

Several hundred Sidr victims in Barguna staged a silent demonstration on Wednesday against not getting enough relief for survival.
   ‘The local government representatives are not giving us sufficient relief goods,’ was the main complaint of the more than 400 destitute people coming from Khajurtala village of Gaurichanna union under sadar upazila of the district.
   They demonstrated in front of the Barguna Press Club holding banners for hours and asking the authorities for adequate supply of relief materials to their localities.
   A Gaurichanna Union Parishad member, Manju Ara, also joined the protest, a correspondent in the southern district said. Manju also alleged that her people were not getting enough relief.
   The UP chairman, Abdullah Khan Bachchu, said he did not have adequate supply of relief materials for distribution.
   The demonstrators, who said they had received only 1.5 kilograms of rice per head since the cyclone, left the scene at around 1.00pm.
   But, when contacted, the deputy commissioner of the district, Altaf Hossain, said there was no scarcity of relief goods and everyone was getting relief goods that were adequate for one’s survival.
   ‘We sent more supplies to the worse affected areas than the less affected ones, which may have caused resentment among the residents of the latter localities,’ Altaf Hossain told New Age.
   He said there was no affected family which did not get relief. ‘Now our efforts are well coordinated. The naval forces are carrying relief goods to the islands in the Bay of Bengal while our people are taking them to remote villages.’
   Contrary to what Altaf claimed, an elderly resident of Barguna told New Age by phone that he had information that the supply of relief to many of the affected areas, like Raybhogh and Charakgachhia in Nali union, was still inadequate. He said nearly 1,000 homes and a market were completely washed away in Nali, but the survivors had received only 10kg rice per family in the last 13 days from the local UP chairman.
   He suggested giving special attention to these areas.
   In addition to that, many of the middle-class families, who lost their belongings to the cyclone, are in a dire condition. They can neither seek relief nor are they offered any.
   Meanwhile, the naval chief, Sarwar Jahan Nizam, visited the cyclone-torn Barguna and Patuakhali districts and distributed relief among the affected people at a few places there on Wednesday.
   Members of armed forces distributed safe drinking water in Patharghata upazila while a number of military teams provided medical support to the cyclone-affected people in the coastal belt.
   Our roving correspondent in Bagerhat wrote that a US Marine medical team treated around 80 people at Sarankhola upazila. A team member, surgical technician Trent Widener, said they would come back again if necessary to give medical services to the people who suffered multiple injuries during the cyclone.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, Shahnewaz Talukder, expressed the fear that more human corps might yet be lying undetected in remote areas of Sarankhola. He plans to conduct another round of search in paddy fields and areas adjoining Sundarban.
   Our Barisal correspondent adds: People in Andhar Manik, an isolated union of Mehendiganj upazila, received relief on Wednesday for the first time after almost two weeks since the cyclone.
   Meanwhile, the donor communities are considering a government request for sending food aid as the government sees a food shortage looming large after March.
   Cyclone Sidr has left a trail of destruction of life, property and infrastructure in 12 southern districts.
   According to official statistics, the November 15 cyclone killed 3,256 people and injured 39,756 others in a total of 30 affected districts, of which the 12 southern districts are the worst damaged ones. No less than 881 people are still missing.
   A total of 84,69,849 people of 1,92,108 families fell prey to the storm that swept over 200 upazilas and 1,867 unions and municipalities. It damaged the standing crops on 5,87,323 acres of lands completely and 14,71,163 acres in part.
   The storm and cyclone-triggered tidal waves killed 11,57,939 cattle and poultry birds.
   A total of 2,240 school buildings were raged to the
   ground and 11,490 more educational institutions damaged partially.
   According to the government report, 1,523 kilometres of roads were damaged completely and 4,048km in part, while 1,406km coastal embankments were ruined with 1,687 bridges or culverts damaged. As many as 4,100,000 trees were uprooted or damaged by the category 4 cyclone.

Relief reached Andhar Manik, a union surrounded by river at Mehendiganj in Barisal, two weeks after cyclone Sidr
   had struck Bangladesh on November 15.
   The union council chairman, Abdur Rahman, said no organisations, government or non-governmental, had reached the people of the union with any help for two weeks.
   Twenty-five blankets, 10 tonnes of rice under VGF scheme and nine more tonnes under general relief scheme reached the union on Wednesday.
   The union council chairman said they would distribute the goods among the cyclone survivors on Thursday.
   ‘No one in the union died. But many of us became injured and trees and other vegetations were destroyed,’ he said.
   Most of the aman paddy and winter crops, 725 houses, 98 banana and 75 betel leaf plantations, and 18 educational and religious institutions were fully damaged. Fish and poultry firms, and 440 domestic animals were killed. The extent of damage has stood at an estimated Tk 10 crore, he said.
   About 4,000 people are now living under the open sky as they could not rebuild their houses for want of building materials. Road communications and power supply were yet to be restored, he said.
   Barisal district relief and rehabilitation officer Abdul Huq said they have no data on the damage at Andhar Manik as the upazila administration did not send any report in this connection in two weeks, which has delayed relief operation in the area.

Cyclone Sidr that struck Bangladesh on November 15 damaged standing crops on 5.54 lakh hectares of land, causing a loss of aman rice of about 13 lakh tonnes in the south, according to the final official assessment.
   The assessment says livelihoods of 22.24 lakh farming families have been severely affected by the cyclone that hit 211 upazilas out of 227 in 30 districts.
   The estimated damage in terms of crops and livelihoods is on top of aman production loss estimated at 12 lakh tonnes caused by two floods earlier. The crop loss by the floods and the cyclone is equivalent to the quantity of average annual shortfall of food grains in recent years.
   Prepared by the Department of Agricultural Extension, the assessment report on losses caused by the Sidr was submitted to the agriculture ministry on Wednesday.
   An earlier preliminary assessment by the food and disaster management ministry said about 69 lakh people of 16 lakh families were affected and crops on about 4.62 lakh acres, equivalent to 1.87 lakh hectares, were completely damaged in the 30 districts.
   The DAE report said the cyclone fully damaged crops on 5,53,886 hectares of land and partially damaged crops on 15,12,878 hectares, out the total cropland of 26,31,601 hectares in the cyclone-hit districts.
   The report has identified Barguna, Bagerhat, Patuakhali and Pirojpur as the worst-hit regions, followed by Barisal, Bhola, Jhalakati, Sathkhira, Khulna, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Shariatpur and Faridpur. The damage was less severe in the remaining 17 districts in comparison with others.
   The aman production target in the four worst-hit districts was around 9,36,030 tonnes; the cyclone has badly damaged some 5,35,707 tonnes of aman in the districts, the report said.
   Crops on 5,28,455 hectares of land out of 5,49,642 hectares cultivated in the four districts have been badly damaged and about 8 lakh farm families have also been affected by the cyclone, according to the report.
   Regarding the devastation of aman crop in the four districts, IRRI liaison scientist for Bangladesh M A Hamid Miah said, ‘The government needs to take immediate steps like distribution of seeds of short-duration crops such as vegetables and pulses for immediate return for the farmers to minimise their losses of aman production.’
   The cyclone badly damaged crops on some 2,04,380 hectares out of 7,80,186 hectares of land in Barisal, Bhola, Jhalakati, Sathkhira, Khulna, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Sariatpur and Faridpur, the report said.
   The report said aman production of 5,55,997 tonnes out of targeted 12,67,134 tonnes was fully damaged in the districts. The number of affected farm families on the districts is 10,67,915.
   Crops on some 61,272 hectares out of 13,01,773 hectares in the remaining 17 districts have been damaged by the cyclone.
   The production loss of aman in the districts amounts to 2,03,611 tonnes and the number of affected farm families is 3,84,475.
   The less affected districts are Munshiganj, Narayanganj, Dhaka, Narsingdi, Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Moulvibazar, Noakhali, Chittagong, Jessore, Rajbari, Narail, Cox’s Bazar, Comilla, Feni, Kishoreganj and Manikganj.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday deferred till December 3 the hearing in the framing of charges against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim in the Tk 2.99 crore extortion case.
   The Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge, Azizul Haque, deferred the hearing, saying the next proceedings would take place in his makeshift courtroom on the Jatiya Sangsad complex.
   He said he had received the gazette notification on the special arrangement of the case proceedings.
   The government made the special arrangement for the convenience of producing Hasina, also the Awami League president, in the courtroom for the trial as she as been detained in a special jail on the complex since her arrest on July 16, said sources in the solicitor wing of the law ministry.
   As the counsels for the accused did not receive the copy of the order to shift the courtroom, the judge on Wednesday started proceedings at the metropolitan sessions judge’s court on Johnson Road in Old Town of Dhaka.
   The trial of the case will begin in the special court for safety reasons, the chief special public prosecutor, ABM Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan Mukul, told reporters, adding a gazette notification was served to the judge on Tuesday.
   Syed Shamim Ahsan Habib, Golam Kibria, M Borhan Uddin and M Shahidul Islam Sardar have been appointed special public prosecutors to assist the chief prosecutor.
   Azam J Chowdhury, managing director of the East Coast Trading, filed the case on June 13 with the Gulshan police, accusing Hasina, Rehana and Sheikh Selim, also a former minister, for taking Tk 2.99 crore in bribe from him for the award of the installation job of a power plant at Siddhirganj during the 1996–2001 rule of Hasina.
   Sheikh Selim on June 20 gave a statement in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court of Dhaka. The police on July 24 pressed charges against the three accused in the case.
   The High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, after hearing a writ petition on July 30, remanded Hasina on bail in the case and directed the government not to proceed further with the case under the Emergency Powers Rules.
   The High Court also issued a rule on the government to explain in two weeks why its action in giving approval for applying the Emergency Powers Rules to the extortion case would not be declared illegal.
   The government appealed against the High Court orders and the Appellate Division on August 2 stayed the orders.
   The Supreme Court also asked the High Court for an expeditious disposal of the writ petition, filed by Hasina challenging the placement of the case under the emergency rules. The writ petition is yet to be disposed of.
   The case was on November 18 transferred from the additional chief metropolitan magistrate’s court to the Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge’s court for trial.

The interim government cancelled the November 7 holiday as it approved holiday calendar for 2008 at a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
   Other regular holidays will remain unchanged, said meeting sources.
   November 7 was declared a national holiday in 1976 as National Revolution and Solidarity Day, marking the ‘soldiers-people uprising’ on this day in 1975.
   The Awami League government in 1996 cancelled the November 7 holiday amid a note of dissent given by a member of the then cabinet, ASM Abdur Rab, president of Jatiya Smajtantrik Dal, which played a key role in the ‘uprising.’
   The holiday, however, was restored by the BNP-Jammat government in 2001.
   The meeting, chaired by chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, also allocated an additional amount of Tk 50 crore for reconstruction of infrastructures in communications, power, telecommunications, health and local government sectors affected by the cyclone Sidr, according to official sources.
   The meeting was informed that the education ministry would quickly send Tk 2 lakh for buying textbooks for students of SSC and HSC examinees in the Sidr-hit northern districts. It was also decided that the worst-affected SSC and HSC candidates for 2008 examinations would be allowed to fill in forms without fees.
   Date of annual examinations will be fixed locally in consultation with the local administration.
   The primary scholarship examination, scheduled for mid-December, has been shifted to the middle of January. The meeting also decided to celebrate the Victory Day on December 16 on a limited scale.

An emotional Pervez Musharraf stepped down as Pakistan’s army chief Wednesday, bowing to global pressure to end eight years of military rule a day before he becomes a civilian president.
   In a moment many Pakistanis thought they would never see, Musharraf handed over the baton of command for the nuclear-armed military to his hand-picked heir, General Ashfaq Kiyani, at a farewell parade.
   Musharraf, a key US ally, will be sworn in for a second five-year term as president on Thursday as he seeks to quell international and domestic outrage over his November 3 imposition of a state of emergency.
   His resignation from the military was welcomed by the United States, Britain and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, but all said further steps were needed, including the end of emergency rule.
   Addressing hundreds of invited guests and dignitaries, Musharraf, wearing a green sash over his light khaki ceremonial dress and medals, praised the army as Pakistan’s ‘binding force.’
   ‘After remaining in uniform for 46 years I am saying goodbye to this army. This army is my life, this army is my passion. I have loved this army.’
   The 64-year-old former commando dabbed at his eyes behind his glasses at one point and lifted a handkerchief to his nose after his speech.
   Buglers announced Musharraf’s arrival at a stadium at army headquarters in Rawalpindi and then, to the tune of ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ an honour guard escorted him and former spy chief Kiyani to their position on a dais.
   Musharraf – who led a bloodless coup in 1999 and once described his uniform as his second skin – hailed the armed forces as the ‘saviour of Pakistan’. He also voiced full confidence in Kiyani.
   But without the army, the main source of his power, Musharraf faces a torrid time ahead of elections set for January 8, with growing calls for him to end emergency rule.
   In Washington, the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, hailed the Pakistani leader for ‘a good step, a good first step in president Musharraf carrying out his obligation, indeed his promise to take off his uniform.’
   ‘But the decision now needs to be taken to end the state of emergency to allow free and fair elections to take place,’ she told NBC television.
   At the White House, a spokeswoman, Cynthia Bergman, added: ‘This was an important move taken today by president Musharraf.’
   The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said it was an ‘important part of the process’ toward restoring democracy but urged Musharraf to follow up by ensuring free and fair elections were held as planned.
   The United States and other Western allies have largely seen emergency rule as an obstacle to Pakistan’s pursuit of al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
   In Karachi, Benazir said that Musharraf had met one of her key demands, but she warned: ‘We are not in a hurry to accept Pervez Musharraf as a civilian president.’
   The opposition insists Musharraf’s October 6 re-election as president was illegal, claiming he imposed emergency rule to purge the Supreme Court of hostile judges who threatened to overturn his victory.
   In a sign that Musharraf may respond to the clamour, Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum said the emergency would be lifted ‘very soon’, without specifying a date.
   Musharraf’s spokesman Rashid Qureshi said he would address the nation late Thursday after he takes the oath as president, but gave no more details.
   But Musharraf’s chances of lasting out the coming months depend partly on whether Benazir and another ex-premier, Nawaz Sharif, can build an alliance.
   Both are mulling a boycott of the polls, saying an election would be unfair if held under emergency rule, and any opposition coalition could leave Musharraf politically isolated.
   The pair have vowed never to serve under Musharraf in a future government, although the law currently bars them from serving a third term in any case.

The president, Pervez Musharraf, have finally made good on a pledge to quit as army chief, but many ordinary Pakistanis on Wednesday said it was time the coup-leader was jettisoned from politics altogether.
   Some feel Musharraf has shamed Pakistan in the international arena: Judges who threatened his re-election remain jailed, media curbs are in place, and he has yet to fully roll back emergency rule or restore the suspended constitution.
   ‘This man is a big cheater. He should be removed altogether. He should be kicked out,’ said Amjad Iqbal Butt, a government servant, as he ate chopped bananas sprinkled with spices at a roadside stall in the eastern city of Lahore.
   ‘This disease should have been eradicated from day one,’ he added. ‘Things will not change until he is totally removed.’
   Butt wants opposition leaders and former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, newly returned from exile, to boycott general elections due in early January in protest.
   In the restive North West Frontier Province, where the army is locked in fierce fighting with insurgents loyal to a pro-Taliban cleric, the message was the same.
   ‘The damage he has done to this country and the nation will not be compensated by merely taking off his uniform. It will be better for the country if he just leaves,’ said 18-year-old business administration student Zubair Ahmed, sipping from a cracked tea cup at a canteen in Peshawar.
   For others, however, Musharraf’s political manoeuvring is of little or no importance. They are more focused on price rises for daily staples that have made life even harder for the tens of millions of Pakistanis who live in poverty, despite strong economic growth under Musharraf.
   Some had kind words for Musharraf as he bid farewell to army colleagues as he handed over command to his chosen successor General Ashfaq Kayani, saying he had shown leadership by keeping his word and removing his uniform, and that his continued presence would help ensure stability. But the majority have had enough of a man who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

The European Commission ambassador in Dhaka, Stefan Frowein, on Wednesday said Bangladesh could face ‘real difficulty’ if the food stock, threatened with severe depletion due to the cyclone which flattened standing crops in the south, were not replenished by March.
   He, however, assured the country of all possible assistance to help it to prevent or mitigate the looming food deficit.
   The top EC envoy also suggested that Bangladesh should approach the World Food Programme (WFP) for getting enough food-grains to prevent delay in procurement.
   ‘The government is meeting the demand for food-grain from its own stock. It [food stock] might become extremely inadequate in March next year, but we will try to help Bangladesh so that it does not face big trouble due to shortage of food,’ said Frowein.
   He made this comment while addressing a gathering of members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association Bangladesh.
   Responding to a query on government’s appeal to development partners for food aid in the days ahead, the diplomat, who is of German origin, said that at present the country had a stock of 7.61 lakh tonnes, of which some is being used for Vulnerable Group Feeding and other programmes.
   ‘To build up a food stock of 10 lakh tonnes till March,’ he said, ‘the government needs to increase the stock through purchase and aid.’
   Touching upon the issue of food procurement from the international market, Frowein said that if the WFP is assigned to procure the needed quantity of food-grain, there would be far less delay than if the country itself tried to buy such a huge quantity from the international market.
   When he was asked about the appeal for channelling donors’ aid and assistance through the Bangladesh government, the envoy said it is easier for the European Union to disburse the money through its privileged international NGOs who have local partners and work in close cooperation with the government. When he was asked whether Bangladesh should be compensated for the damage caused by this cyclone by those developed nations responsible for climate change, Frowein, a PhD in environmental economics, opined that scientifically there may not be a direct link between climate change and the recent cyclone.
   However, he hastened to add that global warming is causing rise in the sea level of which Bangladesh and the Maldives will be first victims in Asia.
   Frolein said the EU would ensure Bangladesh’s participation in all discussions on climate change and its effects.
   In reply to a question on the withdrawal of the state of emergency to allow the press function freely, Frowein said, ‘We are not feeling fine with the state of emergency. But the state of emergency here is different from others and it has been managed in a pragmatic way.
   ‘The collaboration among civilians, the military and donors is an excellent example for the world,’ he observed. Referring to the withdrawal of the state of emergency, he said, ‘It is a decision to be taken by the government and the people.’
   ‘With a state of emergency in place you are working in challenging circumstances, and I am sure that every day you are faced with judgement calls as to how best to fulfil your role in scrutinising and reporting on events,’ he said.
   Frowein said the state of emergency in Bangladesh is being handled in a very pragmatic way and appreciated the 11-member caretaker government for running the country efficiently.
   On anti-corruption drive, he said the European Union has welcomed this initiative while emphasising the need for due process of law. The meeting was presided by DCAB president Anis Alamgir and was also addressed by its general secretary Raheed Ejaz.

US aeroplane maker Boeing Company Wednesday proposed selling eight new generation aircraft to Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited by 2017.
   A four-member Boeing team led by the company’s sales director Miguel Santos made the formal proposal at Biman’s board meeting held at the Balaka Bhaban in Dhaka, said sources.
   The team has been in Dhaka for negotiating the sales to Bangladesh’s national carrier, which has been facing serious fleet crisis.
   Boeing’s regional marketing director Keith Williamson and product specialist Elgin Anderson are also in the team that made a presentation before Biman’s board of directors elaborating on the offer.
   Deliveries of four Boeing 747 and four Boeing 777 planes will be possible by 2017 if agreements are signed by January 15 next year, said a senior Biman official said quoting the Boeing team as saying.
   Biman managing director and chief executive officer MA Momen, among others, was present at the meeting presided over by cabinet secretary and board chairman Ali Imam Majumder.
   If the Biman authorities agree on the offer package, Boeing Company will provide four Boeing aircraft on lease to cope with the crisis until the deliveries of the eight new generation aircraft complete by 2017, according to the official.
   The Boeing team elaborated on special features of the aircraft and said the new generation series aircraft would fit Biman’s market environment, said the official preferring anonymity.
   ‘It is a golden chance for Biman to procure new generation aircraft. We will not be able to survive in the global competition without Boeing,’ president of Bangladesh Airline Pilots’ Association SM Helal told New Age.
   He said Biman has no other alternative but to procure new generation aircraft to salvage the national carrier, which had to suspend flights to at least six international destinations due to fleet crisis and expensive maintenance of old DC 10 planes.
   Biman is now struggling to survive with three DC-10 and three Airbus out of a total of 12 aircraft in its fleet for 20 international routes. It flies two F-28 aircraft on four domestic routes.

The Election Commission has started preparatory work for delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies to reduce the huge difference in the number of voters between various constituencies. It intends to complete the delimitation process by June next year.
   The EC, at a meeting with thirty additional deputy commissioners on Wednesday, discussed the issue and asked the district administration to elicit the opinions of concerned local people and the political leaders in this regard.
   ‘We will try to reduce the huge gap in the number of voters between constituencies by delimiting them. It will not be difficult as we have the GIS (geographical information system), but we will take the opinion of many people, especially locally influential persons as well as political leaders,’ Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told reporters after the meeting.
   The election commissioners, led by Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda, and the ADCs attended the meeting held at the EC’s conference room.
   Sakhawat said that an expert on the delimitation process is likely to arrive from the United States on December 9 or 10 to advise the EC.
   He said that delimitation of constituencies would start in January 2008 and be completed by June, according to the election roadmap.
   The EC, in the light of previous experience, has to work for at least six months after starting the task of delimitation to settle the legal complications that might arise.
   The number of constituencies, according to the law, will remain unchanged at 300 after delimitation of the electoral areas which will involve making changes in the boundaries of the constituencies.
   Among the 300 parliamentary constituencies, Dhaka-5 has the highest number of voters and Dhaka-1 has the lowest. The number of voters in Dhaka-5 is 6,33,435 and in Dhaka-1 only 1,19,242.
   According to the existing voters’ list, 67 constituencies have less than two lakh voters each while 191 constituencies have over two lakh voters each. The number of voters in the remaining 42 constituencies ranges between three to six lakh plus.
   When he was asked whether the EC would delimit all the constituencies, Sakhawat said that that only those constituencies where the number of voters is too big or too small would be delimited.
   The last delimitation of parliamentary constituencies was completed in 1995 and the EC had to spend more than six months to dispose of the objections filed against delimitation in 335 cases.
   It was mostly political leaders who filed cases against delimitation.
   According to rule, the EC has to delimit the electoral constituencies only after publication of the latest census report. Delimitation will be based on geographical compactness of areas, administrative convenience and, as far as practicable, the distribution of population in the constituencies. The National Report of the latest population census, conducted in January 23-27, 2001, was published in last year.
   After the publication of the final report of the population census, the EC will ask the district administrations to prepare draft proposals for delimitation, and then make them public and invite the opinions of the local people. If anyone challenges the draft, the EC will hear his/her objection and conduct opinion polls to settle the dispute, according to the rule.
   Section-8 of the Delimitation of Constituencies Ordinance, 1976, says: ‘The territorial constituencies shall be delimited afresh upon completion of each census, for the purpose of general elections to parliament to be held following such census unless otherwise directed by the commission for reasons to be recorded in writing, before each general election.’
   While announcing the election roadmap on July 15, Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda presented a brief chart of inconsistencies in the number of voters in 10 constituencies and said the flaws should be corrected in line with the last census.

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Wednesday accused the Election Commission of losing its neutrality, which he said was clear from the statement the chief election commissioner made on Tuesday.
   He lambasted the CEC, ATM Shamsul Huda, for overstepping his authority by meddling in matters that are outside his constitution-stipulated responsibilities.
   ‘It’s not his job to decide the contents of the constitution of a party. If he wants to do that, he should step down and join any political party… He is saying what he is not supposed to say and doing things that he is not supposed to do,’ a visibly angered Delwar told newsmen at his Sher-e-Bangla Nagar apartment in reaction to Shamsul’s statement on registration of political parties.
   During a dialogue on electoral reforms with the Workers’ Party of Bangladesh on Tuesday, Shamsul Huda said many political parties, including the BNP, would need to change their constitutions to get registered with the commission.
   Delwar said, ‘He cannot make such a comment on the constitution of a political party while holding a constitutional position. This is nothing but unauthorised interference.’
   ‘They are busy in doing things except discharging their constitutional duties. It seems the Election Commission is involved in a scheme to keep the BNP led by Khaleda Zia out of the electoral process,’ he alleged.
   He also claimed that ‘the entire nation, and also the BNP, doubts whether the Election Commission will be able to hold a free and fair election.’
   ‘The BNP has definitely been practising democracy following this constitution for the past 29 years. All its decisions had been taken in line with the constitution and no body had raised any question about them during that span of time. It was the BNP which established the multi-party democracy and reinstituted the parliamentary form of government to facilitate more democratic practices,’ he said, brushing aside the CEC’s remark that the BNP constitution was undemocratic.
   After 1/11, a section of BNP leaders put forward a set of reform proposals, but the party activists and the people across the country clearly understood that the proposals were placed in a wrong place and now the so-called reformists are also realising that, Delwar said. ‘The party chairperson on several occasions said she preferred reforms but such things should be decided by the appropriate party forums.’
   ‘Reforms cannot be imposed on any party. They cannot be dictated either. And no reform can be brought about, keeping the party leader behind bars,’ he asserted.
   When asked what they would do if the BNP was not allowed to contest the polls, Delwar said, ‘The BNP is the largest political party in the country, with millions of leaders, activists and supporters. People will not accept any elections without it.’
   On the arrival of the two US Navy ships for carrying out relief operations in the Sidr-ravaged coastal districts, he said, ‘We have seen them to arrive but we don’t know how they have come. They had participated in such operations in the past and went back after completing the tasks. We expect this time, too, they will return after the operations are over, as they did in the past. It is the tradition and it is what we expect.’

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Wednesday further laid emphasis on well-coordinated relief and rehabilitation efforts to fulfil the real needs of the cyclone-affected people.
   He expressed the view while receiving donations from the representatives of different government organisations and private bodies and individuals at his office in the morning.
   The chief adviser said in many affected areas situations had improved but still many things to be done for overall improvement and to bring the people to normal life.
   He said the government
   had started immediate and long-term efforts primarily putting emphasis on ensuring safe drinking water and resolving housing problem of the victims.
   The chief adviser said during his visits to the severely hit areas he witnessed that water had been contaminated in many areas and works were underway in full swing to make safe water available to the people but he said the government wanted a permanent solution.
   He also said the government would sincerely consider the issue of increasing the number of shelter centres, reinforcement of embankments in coastal areas and reconstruction of the disrupted communication net work.
   Expressing gratitude to the donors for their outstanding support to the Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund to expedite the government efforts he said the money would immensely help the distressed people to overcome their miseries.
   Terming the affected people as courageous and resilience Fakhruddin said the government was going ahead for permanent solution to their problems along with fulfilling their immediate needs.
   In this connection he referred to the government decision to distribute about 2.6 million VGF cards among the distressed people saying that this will also expedite the on going relief activities.
   The Wednesday’s donors included different government organisations including the ministry of health and family welfare, Privatisation Commission, ERD, BEPZA, Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Shangstha and Chittagong Stock Exchange.
   The Secretary to the Chief Adviser’s Office, Kazi M Aminul Islam, and the press secretary to the chief adviser, Syed Fahim Munaim, were present.

More than 6,000 workers of five jute mills at Sitakunda observed work abstention for the second consecutive day on Wednesday to realise their demands, including payment of outstanding wages.
   The workers of Gul Ahmed Jute Mill, Hafiz Jute Mill, MM Jute Mill, Galfa Habib and RR Jute Mill — all run by Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation —went on the 9:00am-11:00am agitation also in demand of scrapping the move to lease out the mills.
   They are also demanding payment of provident fun, gratuity and other benefits of the workers, who have gone on retirement after 2001.
   The agitating labourers also held a rally and it was addressed by Tofazzel Hossain, Abul Kalam, Didarul Islam, Nazrul Islam, Mahabub Alam, Khurshed Alam, Mohammed Ullah, Salamat Ullah, Nur Nabi, Nurul Hoque and Borhan Uddin.
   The speakers told the rally that they had not been getting their wages for the past 11 weeks while the workers, who went on retirement after 2001, were yet to receive the benefits.
   The BJMC on Tuesday invited tenders from private-sector firms for running the jute mills.

The cabinet purchase committee on Wednesday approved the award of a Tk 574 crore turnkey contract for the installation of a 150MW power plant at Shikalbaha to a Chinese company.
   The committee, headed by the finance adviser, Mirza Azizul Islam, at a meeting at the Cabinet Division also approved a proposal for the import of 12 lakh tonnes of crude oil worth around Tk 7,335 crore from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for 2008.
   The Power Division placed before the committee a report on the re-evaluation of four bids for the Shikalbaha plant recommending again the award of the contract for Sino Hydropower Corporation of China.
   The Power Development Board’s tender evaluation committee, which co-opted two power experts in keeping with an earlier directive of the purchase committee, re-evaluated the four bids and recommended the award for Sino, the lowest bidder of the two technically responsive parties.
   Power Division officials told the meeting the refurbished tender evaluation committee had agreed with the recommendations of the earlier committee to award the contract to Sino.
   Amid allegations regarding bid evaluation, the purchase committee on October 16 asked the board to re-evaluate the bids after the division had placed a PDB proposal to award the turn-key contract to Sino.
   Power officials at Wednesday’s meeting answered queries made by the committee members regarding the allegations and the committee found the answers ‘satisfactory,’ sources attending the meeting said.
   Four Chinese companies took part in the tender processes and the power board tender committee found the bids of two companies technically responsive. Sino became the lowest bidder, quoting a price of around Tk 568 crore.
   One of the non-responsive bidders, Sanghai Electrical Company, however, quoted a price of Tk 469.67 crore for the contract.
   The power officials said Sanghai’s bid lacked ‘sufficient equipment’ including a ‘gas booster’ and if the equipment cost were included the cost of the plant installation would become more than what Sino offered.
   The committee also approved an Energy Division proposal for the import of 6 lakh tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia and 6 lakh tonnes more from the United Arab Emirates.
   The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation has been importing every year around 12 lakh to 14 lakh tonnes of crude oil from the two countries under state-to-state deals since 1979. It refines the oil at the Eastern Refinery to produce diesel, kerosene and petrol.
   The projected cost of the crude oil import is Tk 7,335 crore. The corporation fears crude oil price in 2008 might hover around $110 a barrel and could even hit $127. The present price hovers between $95 and $98.
   The import cost of fuel oils by the corporation, which also imports around 23 lakh tonnes of refined diesel, kerosene, octane and jet fuel every year, is likely to cross $3 billion next year because of soaring oil prices on the international market.
   The committee also approved the import of 12,500 tonnes of urea at a cost of $408 a tonne.

India said on Wednesday it would continue to host and protect a controversial Bangladeshi Muslim woman writer who has fled from city to city since her radical Islamist critics stoked violence last week.
   The fate of Taslima Nasreen, who had been in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata since 2003, has become a hot political issue for New Delhi with the Hindu nationalist opposition accusing the government of pandering to Muslim minorities by trying to get her out of the country.
   But the foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said historically, India had never refused shelter to those who had sought the country’s protection.
   ‘This civilisational heritage, which is now government policy, will continue, and India will provide shelter to Taslima,’ he told parliament.
   ‘While guests are in India, the union and state governments provide them protection,’ he said. ‘This will also apply in Taslima Nasreen’s case.’
   Authorities rushed award-winning Taslima, who criticises the use of religion as an oppressive force, from her home in Kolkata last week after protests against her by Muslim groups led to riots, forcing the army to be called in.
   The riots appeared to be the culmination of years of simmering anger at After the riots, the police moved her to a hotel in the western state of Rajasthan and then she was quickly sent to Delhi at the weekend under police protection.

The European Union is set to relax its rules of origin to allow the least developed countries like Bangladesh to export to European market products from third countries with 30 per cent value addition.
   The EU initiative comes amid criticisms that its rules of origin were too stringent.
   The ambassador and head of the delegation of the European Commission in Dhaka, Stefan Frowein, disclosed the EU move at a discussion organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association, Bangladesh at a Dhaka hotel on Wednesday.
   Elaborating on the proposed revision of the rules of origin, he said, ‘For the LDCs, a 30 per cent value addition has been proposed, with some minor exceptions for certain goods, including agricultural ones. In practice, this should mean that the rules of origin will allow in Bangladesh single-stage processing of garments — in other words manufacturing garments from fabric imported from any third country.’
   The EU envoy said value addition for the non-LDCs had been proposed at 50 per cent. The proposal now is being considered by the EU member states.
   Frowein also observed that Bangladesh’s export to European destination might come under threats, if the EU signed the proposed free trade agreements with India and the members of the Association of South East Asian Nations.
   On the issue of complying with the EU standards in case of Bangladesh’s frozen foods that account of 6 per cent of the country’s export to the European market, he said, ‘The EU does not want harmful, contaminated shrimps. I am pleased and relieved to say that Bangladesh has demonstrated an admirably cooperative attitude towards addressing this problem and that improvements are being made with the financial support of the European Commission which should ensure the future prosperity of this expanding export industry in its trade with the EU.’
   The EU ambassador said Bangladesh should put all its efforts to maximising its competitiveness in the global market and cultivate an image attractive to international businesses. ‘This means producing quality goods to international standards, enhancing productivity whilst providing decent working conditions, and getting those goods to market as swiftly and efficiently as possible.’
   The DCAB president, Anis Alamgir, chaired the programme, where its general secretary, Raheed Ejaz, delivered the address of welcome.

Fugitive former BNP lawmaker M Rashiduzzaman Millat was on Wednesday jailed for six years for evading taxes and hiding information on wealth in his tax return.
   M Ashraf Hossain, judge of the special judge’s court 5 of Dhaka, set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, also fined Millat Tk 22 lakh.
   If he fails to pay the fine, he needs to serve 15 more months in jail.
   Millat, former lawmaker for a Jamalpur constituency, was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years for hiding information on wealth in his tax return and for a year for evading taxes.
   The court ordered concurrent execution of the sentences after his surrender or arrest.
   The National Board of Revenue filed the case accusing Millat of concealing information on his wealth worth Tk 4.50 crore in the tax return and evading taxes of Tk 1 crore.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers killed 17 people in two bomb attacks in the capital Colombo Wednesday, the military said, a day after the group’s leader vowed the rebels would fight on for independence.
   A woman suicide bomber killed a minority Tamil minister’s aide in an attack on his office early on Wednesday. Hours later, a parcel bomb exploded near a shopping centre in a Colombo suburb, the latest in a series of attacks amid renewed civil war.
   ‘There are 16 dead bodies in the hospital and 37 people wounded,’ said military spokes-man Brigadier Udaya Nanayak-kara, referring to the second attack. ‘Both attacks were by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.’
   Local TV channels showed residents in the suburb of Nugegoda removing the dead and body parts from the scene. Fire engines rushed to the scene to bring an ensuing blaze under control.
   In the first attack, a female suicide bomber blew herself up near the office of Douglas Devananda, minister for social welfare and a former militant who vocally opposes the rebels, killing his personal secretary.
   The LTTE were not immediately available for comment on either attack.