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The Khulna speedy trial tribunal on Wednesday sentenced three members of an ultra left outfit to rigorous imprisonment for life on two charges in connection with the killing journalist Sheikh Belaluddin.
   The tribunal judge, MA Salam Shikdar, convicted them on charge of planting in Belaluddin’s motorcycle and killing him in February 2005.
   The court ordered concurrent execution of the sentences and the convicts will need to serve the sentence for a single life term.
   The court also fined the convicts — Syed Iqbal Hossain Swadhin, Rafiqul Islam alias Hasan and Mirajul Islam — Tk 10,000 each. If they fail to pay the fines, they will need to serve rigorous imprisonment for two more years.
   The Khulna bureau chief of Bangla daily newspaper Sangram, Belaluddin, also president of the Khulna Metropolitan Journalists’ Union, became seriously injured on February 5, 2005 in a bomb explosion on the Khulna Press Club premises. He died in Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka on February 11, 2005.
   According to the prosecution, the convicts, also operatives of the Purbabangla Communist Party (ML–Janajuddha), planted a bomb in the motorbike of Belaluddin on February 5, 2005 at Khulna Press Club and when Belaluddin got on the motorbike, the bomb exploded, injuring him. He was taken to the CMH in Dhaka where he died on February 11, 2005.
   Subinspector Asaduzzaman Farazi of the Khulna police lodged two cases for planting the bomb and for killing Belaluddin.
   The investigation officer of the murder case, then Khulna police officer-in-charge Iqbal Hossain, filed the charge sheet on November 17, 2005 accusing six — Syed Iqbal Hossain Swadhin, Rafiqul Islam alias Hasan, Mirajul Islam, Ekhlasur Rahman, Shahabuddin Laskar alias Dhira and Yunus Mridha alias Gada Yunus.
   On September 16, 2006, the investigation of the explosion case, then Khulna police officer-in-charge M Abdul Hamid, filed the charge sheet accusing five persons. All the accused in the murder case but Gada Yunus were named on the charge sheet of the explosion case. The court acquitted Ekhlasur, Dhira and Gada Yunus of the charges.

About 200 boys and girls from a school in Dhaka on Wednesday made an appeal for the rehabilitation of their hundreds of unknown friends in the schools of the Sird-ravaged coastal districts.
   The children of School of Development Alternative at a news conference at the National Press Club said they had collected food, medicine, clothing and other essentials and deposited them with their teachers for distribution among the affected children.
   They also announced that they would hand over their textbooks, uniforms and other study materials with the distressed children, and urged the students of other schools, which were not affected by the cyclone, to give their new or used textbooks, uniform and other educational materials to the affected children.
   The primary-level students urged the newsmen to reach their appeal for help to the people of Bangladesh, the government and to the international community.
   They also demanded all out measures so that the affected children could continue their study without any further trouble.
   They urged the government to promote the children in the region to their next classes on the basis of their results in the first-term and second-term examinations as it would be very difficult for them to take preparations for the annual examinations.
   They also called upon the government to reconstruct the damaged educational institutions, rehabilitate the teachers, ensuring food, clothes, books, accommodation and medicare for the students.
   They also demanded that the children, who had lost their parents, should be ensured all necessary arrangements for their proper grow-up.
   Children have become the worst victims of the cyclone Sidr that ravaged the coastal districts on November 15, killing more than 4,000 people, injuring thousands and rendering tens of thousands of people homeless.
   It also caused a massive destruction on the property in the area.
   Cyclone Sidr took a huge toll on the educational institutions in the coastal districts.
   According to government estimate, more than 9,000 schools, colleges and madrassahs were damaged totally or partially by the cyclone.

A fire broke out at the office of Destiny Prognos Limited, a sister concern of Destiny Group, at Kakrail in the Dhaka city Wednesday afternoon destroying office equipment, documents and fixtures.
   Witnesses said the fire originated from electric short circuit at the Destiny office housed on third floor of the five-storey building at Kakrail at around 3:15pm and engulfed the entire office soon.
   Most of the office equipments, projects-related documents and fixtures were destroyed in the fire, they said. The loss is estimated at around Tk 50,000. No casualty was, however, reported in the incident.
   On information, three fire-fighting vehicles from different stations went to the spot and extinguished the blaze at around 4:15pm after more than one hour’s efforts.
   The fire also created panic among the employees of the other offices in the five-storey building.
   The building houses a car showroom on the ground floor, Pubali Bank’s Kakrail brance office on first floor and other offices of the Destiny Group.
   The Destiny Prognos provides health-related service for the people. A Destiny Group official told New Age, ‘Today is weekly holiday of Destiny Prognos so none of our officials were present during the fire.
   As the fire broke out, staff of all the offices in the building swarmed the central staircase, the only fire exit, and hustled down the stair, witnesses said.
   None of the fire-fighting equipment including hose pipes kept on every floor of the building was put to use, as the building authority allegedly had never arranged any fire fighting drill.
   Officials at the Fire Service and Civil Defence said the cause of fire and extent of damage was under investigation.

The police arrested a bullet-wounded youth and seized a revolver along with ammunition in his possession at Suhrawardy Udyan in the Dhaka city on Wednesday.
   Police sources said they challenged the youth, Russel, 28, while he was roaming suspiciously in front of a shop near the Shahbagh police control room at about 9:00am
   As Russel tried to flee by scaling the boundary wall of Shishu Park, the revolver he was carrying in his jacket miss-fired injuring him in the legs, the police said.
   He fell down from the wall and the police caught him along with the revolver and six bullets.
   He was admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital under police guard.
   Talking to reporters at the hospital, Russel said he was a fish trader and came to the capital to purchase fishes. Russel, a resident of Tongi in Gazipur, also claimed that some criminals shot at me and immediately fled the scene.

Admission tests for the first year honours courses at Dhaka University under 2007-2008 academic sessions will begin tomorrow.
   According to the schedule, admission test of ‘Ga’ unit under business studies faculty will be held on Friday, ‘Ka’ unit test under science faculty on December 7, ‘Kha’ unit test under arts and social science faculty on January 11 and ‘Gha’ unit under transferred group on January 4.
   .A total of 25,100 forms of ‘Ga’ unit were submitted with 30 applicants vying for one seat in the unit. Some 844 students will be admitted into various departments under the faculty.
   The university authorities have hung the seat plan of the admission test at the Business Studies Faculty and in front of the Arts Building.

Dhaka City Corporation on Wednesday sent relief materials worth about Tk 40 lakh for the cyclone-battered people of the country’s south-western districts.
   A total of 11 trucks with relief goods left Dhaka for the cyclone-hit districts, including, Bagerhat, Barisal and Barguna, a DCC press release said.
   The relief goods include rice, pulses, saris, lungis, blankets, sweaters, shirts, pants, jackets, pubjabis, flattened rice, molasses, biscuits, cooking oil, medicines, containers, water purification tablets, candles, utensils and shoes.
   Three teams, consisting ward commissioners of DCC and its officials, will first distribute relief materials among the Sidr-affected people at Galachipa, Patharghata and Sarankhola. Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka urged the affluent sections of the society to come in aid of the cyclone-hit people.

The Rapid Action Battalion nabbed an illegal arms trader in possession of five foreign revolvers at Chalibandar in the Sylhet city on Wednesday.
   RAB said a patrol team of RAB-9 had challenged Gias Uddin of Jakaganj upazila for his suspicious movement near a shopping centre at Chalibandar at about 7:00pm and seized the arms after searching his body.

People across the globe will not accept any conspiracy against the people of Palestine through the holding of a US-backed conference in Annapolis, speakers at a seminar said on Wednesday.
   The seminar was organised by Bangladesh Peace Council at the National Press Club in Dhaka on the eve of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The Zionist axis, blessed by the American imperialists, is trying to suppress the just struggle of the people of Palestine; but an independent Palestine will surely emerge with Jerusalem as the capital, they said, adding that the people of Bangladesh would always stand by the Palestinians as they had done in the past.
   Chaired by council chairman Ali Aksad, the seminar was addressed by Palestine envoy to Bangladesh, Shaher Mohammad, Egyptian envoy Faiz Nasser, Justice KM Subhan, Workers’ Party president Rashed Khan Menon, Communist Party general secretary Mujahidul Islam Seilm and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Huq Inu.

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky over the country having chances of light rain or drizzle at one or two places over Dhaka, Barisal and Chittagong divisions in the next 24 hours till 6:00pm today.
   The night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met Office said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Wednesday, 29.8 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Jessore and the lowest, 15.0 degrees Celsius, at Dinajpur and Mongla. The sun sets in the capital today at 5:10pm and rises tomorrow at 6:23am.

A Sylhet court had to issue warrants for arrest of 13 people, including seven police officials, an upazila nirbahi officer, a magistrate and two doctors, as their non-cooperation has been hampering the proceedings of the cases filed in connection with the grenade attack on the British high commissioner, Anwar Choudhury.
   Three persons were killed and 70 others, including the British envoy, were injured in the attack at Hazrat Shahjalal shrine in Sylhet on May 21, 2004. Sub-inspector Prodip Kumar Das filed two cases — one for making the attack and the other for the casualties — with the Sylhet Kotwali police the same day.
   The Sylhet divisional speedy trial tribunal, which is dealing with the murder case, issued on November 22 the warrants for arrests of 12 prosecution witnesses and the investigation officer of the cases as repeated summons had failed to bring them to the court for getting their depositions.
   Apart from the IO of both the cases, Munshi Atiqur Rahman, a senior assistant superintendent of police at the Criminal Investigation Department, the wanted witnesses include Baniachang UNO Nur-e-Alam Siddiquee, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Md Safique Anwer, two doctors of Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital — Kamrul Alam and Matiyar Rahman, police inspectors SA Newazi and Shafiqul Islam, and sub-inspectors Shah Alam, Abdul Awal Chowdhury, Yunus Miah and Sobiur Rahman.
   Earlier, warrants also had been issued for arrest of SI Prodip Kumar Das and eight witnesses in the cases.
   Munshi Atiqur Rahman on June 9, 2007 submitted the charge-sheets to a magistrate’s court at Sylhet Sadar, accusing four leaders and operatives of the banned Islamist militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. The accused are Mufti Abdul Hannan, his younger brother Mafizur Rahman Ovi alias Muhibulla, Shahif Shahedul Alam alias Bipul, and Delwar Hussain alias Ripon.
   The public prosecutors of both the cases are also facing trouble as they are unable to trace several witnesses as their addresses mentioned in the charge-sheets are wrong, tribunal sources said.
   Of the tribunals, which started hearing the cases on August 26, the divisional speedy trial tribunal so far has recorded the testimonies of 47 of the 57 witnesses and the arms and explosives affairs trial tribunal of only six of the 56 witnesses named in the charge-sheets.
   Atiqur Rahman told New Age by phone on Wednesday that he had not yet received the court order for his arrest, though he came to known of it from other sources. “I will appear before the tribunal when I get the order.”

The British government on Wednesday announced a fresh contribution of $4 million in emergency relief to the people in southern Bangladesh devastated by the cyclone Sidr.
   The British secretary of state for international development, Douglas Alexander, made the announcement of new aid, which will give a boost to livelihoods and provide essential items to the affected people, the British high commissioner in Dhaka, Anwar Choudhury, said while exchanging views with journalists on the destruction by the cyclone.
   ‘The United Kingdom is ready to do everything possible for the cyclone victims,’ the high commissioner said and added that his government would continue supporting the victims as much as possible.
   With the latest announcement, the British support for the cyclone victims reached $14 million (around Tk 96 crore) since the cyclone Sidr had ravaged the coastal districts of Bangladesh on November 15.
   The cyclone and cyclone-triggered tidal surge left a trail of destruction in Barisal and Khulna regions. It killed nearly 4,000 people, injured numerous others and rendered tens of thousands of people homeless.
   International donors extended their hands to cooperate Bangladesh’s interim administration to support the destitute.
   Unless emergency relief supply, it is all too likely that more people will die needlessly, said the British secretary.
   He added that with half a million of animals killed, crops in nearly two million acres of land and more than a million homes destroyed, the next challenge is to help people rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
   ‘The UK support is meeting the immediate and long-term needs as well,’ he said.
   The UK aid has so far provided clean water to 260,000 families, food to 70,000 families in the from of easy to cook and dry food, essential items, including jerry cans, cloths, mosquito nets, blankets and utensils, to 70,000 families and it has repaired shelters for 16,750 of the most vulnerable families.
   About Bangladesh’s request to the donors for giving half a million tonnes of food aid, the British high commissioner said they would shortly come up with formal announcement to this effect.
   ‘We are looking into the request and considering how fast we can make it possible.’
   Regarding channelling of the relief materials through non-governmental organisations, the high commissioner said, ‘We prefer the easiest and effective way for distribution of relief materials.’
   A press release issued by American Centre in Dhaka, meanwhile, said that a fresh shipment of US humanitarian relief support worth about $290,000 had arrived in Dhaka and it was being distributed among the people in the cyclone affected areas.
   The relief goods include four water purification treatment units (each with the capacity to fulfil the daily water requirement of 10,000 people), four 10,000-liter water storage units, 2,400 jerry cans; and 10,000 blankets, said the release.
   The US has so far provided more than $14.4 million dollars in emergency funds, commodities and transportation to assist relief efforts.
   In coordination with the Bangladesh government, the USS Kearsarge and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are providing humanitarian assistance and supporting the Bangladesh government in its assistance activities.

The 1st anniversary of death of Awami League leader and former Dhaka city mayor Mohammad Hanif was observed on Wednesday.
   To mark the day, the Dhaka city Awami League held a milad mahfil and a special prayer session at the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in the evening.
   AL presidium members Abdur Razzak and Tofail Ahmed and acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam were present on the occasion.

Mohammad Yasin Bishwas, father of Shahjahan Biswas, Manikganj district correspondent of New Age, died of old-age complications at his village home at Basta in the district Tuesday night. He was 90.
   He is survived by wife, four sons and two daughters. He was buried at the family graveyard today.
   Manikganj Press Club president AFM Nurtaz Alam Bahar, general secretary Golam Sarwar Sanu, Manikganj district unit president of the Banlgadesh Sangbadik Samity Rashedul Islam Khan and general secretary Biplob Chakrabarty expressed shock at the death Yasin Biswas.

The inspector general (Prisons), Brigadier General Zakir Hasan, has said investigation into the jailbreak attempt by five JMB militants was on.
   ‘Nothing could be said before completion of the investigation what exactly happened in the jail,’ Zakir told reporters during his visit to the district central jail on Wednesday.

The government is set to miss the deadline for turning the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board into a public limited company by November 30 as the posts and telecoms ministry is yet to complete the procedures in this regard.
   The council of advisers at a meeting on October 6, chaired by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, sent back a draft ordinance on transforming the board into a fully government-owned company, asking the ministry to revise it after taking the opinions of relevant ministries such as establishment, finance and law, particularly on manpower and the management of submarine cable issues.
   The council also asked the telecoms ministry to finish all the procedures in this regard by November 30.
   ‘We have yet to complete the procedures and it will take a month more to complete the procedures,’ said an official of the posts and telecommunications ministry.
   The board, which has around 11 lakh subscribers, will be renamed as the Bangladesh Telecom Company Limited with full financial autonomy.
   According to the ordinance draft, the proposed company will have a nine-member board with the telecoms secretary as its chairman and the company’s managing director as the member secretary.
   The restructuring of the telephone board is aimed at enhancing its operational and service-delivery efficiency and increasing the number of landline connections.
   The authorised capital of the Bangladesh Telecom Company Limited is Tk 3,000 crore comprising 30 crore shares of Tk 100 each.
   The board earns Tk 1,500 crore on an average a year, which it deposits with the exchequer.
   It gets an allocation under the annual development programme to bear its operational costs which, board officials say, involves a cumbersome bureaucratic process.

The National Board of Revenue will publish citizens’ charter within a couple of weeks to help taxpayers know about their rights to services to be provided by taxmen, NBR chairman Abdul Mazid said on Wednesday.
   ‘The citizens’ charter is meant to ensure better tax services for taxpayers as it will focus on major activities of tax department and specify timeframe for services to be offered by revenue department,’ Mazid told a discussion held at the conference room of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
   Taxpayers would also be apprised of detailed activities of revenue department and its countrywide offices through the proposed charter, he added.
   FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain chaired the discussion, which was addressed by a host of medium businessmen and entrepreneurs. NBR officials said the proposed charter would be published as a booklet and be distributed among taxpayers through its regional offices as well as help desk, set up recently at the NBR.
   The charter, first of its kind in the country, would give the people a thorough idea on the activities of the NBR and its tax, customs and VAT commissionarates, they added.
   ‘People will be apprised of their rights as the proposed charter will specify the timeframe for getting any required service like time limit of getting a TIN (taxpayers identification number) or getting vat within two days after the application,’ a NBR high official told New Age.
   ‘Taxpayers will be much aware of their rights through the charter which will facilitate both the taxpayers and taxmen.’
   At the discussion, Mazid vowed to establish a revenue system, based on knowledge and morality, with formulating proper regulations and containing the trends of tax evasion.
   The NBR chairman also turned down the plea for extending the time for submission of tax returns as the deadline is December 2.
   The FBCCI president said increases in import duty on raw materials and reductions in duty on finished items in the current budgetary measures put serious negative impacts on local industry.
   He urged the NBR chairman to bring back the earlier duty structures for both raw materials and finished items.
   Nasir proposed appointment of more than one pre-shipment inspection company in all five blocks for having options open to importers. He blamed customs officials for not imposing duty as per valuation certificates issued by the PSI companies.
   An expert of the revenue board, however, said the spate of undervaluation will be increased alarmingly, if more than one PSI company is appointed in a single block.

Indian citizen, 2 others get
12-year RI
A Sylhet court on Tuesday convicted three people, including an Indian national, and sentenced them to 12 years rigorous imprisonment each in an arms case. The court also fined the three — Mohammad Zia of Bichhonkandi and Mohammad Liakat Ali of Bhiorgul, and Suman Asamiz of Nayabazar of Meghalaya in India — Tk 10,000 each, in default, to suffer two years more RI. A team of RAB-5 raided the house of Zia on October 16, 2004 and arrested the three with two revolvers.
— UNB

MIST academic council meet held
The 26th meeting of the academic council of Military Institute of Science and Technology was held at the institute at Mirpur in Dhaka Wednesday. MIST commandant Major General Abdul Wadud chaired the meeting, attended by representatives and members from Dhaka University, BUET, ministries of education, defence and finance, Armed Forces Division, Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Air Headquarters and the concerned members of MIST. The meeting discussed subjects like withdrawal of students from different programmes, fees of academic calendar of 2007-2008, launching of aeronautical engineering programme, and took appropriate decisions, an ISPR press release said.
— BSS