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The International Monetary Fund has set economic and financial agenda for the government of Bangladesh in advance for the next fiscal year, asking the latter to implement those to qualify for future assistance.
   The lending agency wants the government to agree to implement the policies and fiscal reforms spelt out in a recent document by November, finance and central bank officials said.
   In its latest move, the IMF asked the government to initiate budgetary exercises by further reducing the zero-tariff facility, tightening tax exemptions scheme and expanding value added tax.
   The government is asked to get these recommended budgetary measures for the next fiscal year endorsed by the Fund by May, 2008, one month before the next fiscal year begins.
   The wish list and conditions summarized in a document, styled ‘economic and financial policies for November 2007,’ have recently been submitted to the Bangladesh Bank and the finance ministry.
   Implementation of the conditions is linked to the future assistance from the Fund under its PRGF (poverty reduction growth facility) arrangement, sources said.
   ‘The attached draft document on economic policies more fully outlines the type of reforms that would be needed to support a request for a PRGF arrangement,’ reads a letter of Thomas Rumbaugh, IMF’s adviser for Asia and Pacific, written to finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam recently.
   ‘It is drafted to reflect policies to be agreed and implemented by November 2007, a possible date for finalising a PRGF request, as well as policy commitments through December 2008’, the letter further reads.
   According to the list, the IMF has asked the government to reach an agreement with the lending agency by May 2008 on the tax measures to be taken in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The government will have to get the Fund’s approval for new income tax law, reduction in number of zero-rated commodities, expansion of VAT to retail level and phasing out of remaining tax exemptions.
   The IMF’s latest script on the economic and financial policies will also require the government to rewrite the income tax legislation by February 2008 and assess the cost and efficiency of all income tax exemptions.
   Furthermore, it asked the government to enact a new VAT law with a modern invoice-credit based system, and separate excises from VAT.
   Officials at the finance ministry and National Board of Revenue expressed their reservations over the IMF’s suggestion for further reducing zero-tariff facility in the next budget.
   The government drastically reduced the same facility in the current budget amid widespread criticism from industrialists, chamber leaders and economists, they argued.
   ‘We should not go for further reduction in zero tariff facility and tightening tax exemption to appease the IMF,’ a member of the NBR told New Age.
   ‘The present government did the same thing in the current budget ignoring the reservation of revenue officials,’ he added.
   The budget for the current fiscal year withdrew zero-tariff facility from above 400 items, mostly raw materials and capital machinery at the insistence of the IMF at the last moment, sources said.
   Four per cent infrastructure development surcharge has been withdrawn from about 2600 items, of which more than 1600 are finished and luxury products, sources said.
   Industrialists and economists said the measures cost the local industry heavily and opened the floodgate for less important imports.
   Revenue officials said the government cannot withdraw all tax exemptions overnight, which could stall the growth of local industry.
   An NBR survey in March 2006 revealed that tax exemptions cost the government heavily.
   Tax relief enjoyed by corporations and big businesses cost the exchequer Tk 350 crore in foregone revenue during the 2004-05 fiscal year alone.
   These exemptions accounted for nearly 74 per cent of the total revenue forgone by the government in order to encourage and facilitate industry during the period.
   Currently, tax exemptions are offered to the corporate sector under about 18 categories and another 20 categories at individual level, tax officials said.
   Asked about the rationality of the IMF conditions and necessity for further PRGF arrangement, economist Anu Muhammed said no government with dignity can reach agreements with a multilateral lending agency on how to frame its budget and what fiscal measures would be taken.
    ‘It is humiliating and disgraceful, and the government should reject such diktats outright,’ he told New Age on Thursday.
   The economist also opposed any further deal with IMF for PRGF as he believed that there was no link of poverty reduction with the PRGF, which is designed to destroy the country’s industrial base and which has been rejected by many countries.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion will not file any case against former prime minister Khaleda Zia in connection with alleged irregularities in the Magurchhara gas field blow-out compensation and the Phulbari coal project as the commission has found Khalned not involved in the issues.
   ‘After a preliminary inquiry, the commission has not found any evidence and witnesses to prove the allegations of irregularities in Magurchhara and Phulbari issues against Khaleda Zia,’ said the commission secretary, Mokles ur Rahman, at a regular briefing on Thursday.
   ‘The inquiry against Khaleda in the issues will be suspended and no first information report will be filed as the allegations against her have no merit,’ he said.
   Mokles said the commission’s officer Farid Uddin Ahmed had conducted an inquiry into the allegations against Khaleda over the Magurchhara and Phulbari issues for more than a month and sought that the inquiry should be suspended.
   Successive governments, including the immediate past BNP-led government, have failed to realise Tk 3900 crore in compensation from the US company Chevron, a successor to Occidental, over the blow-out that took place in 1997 at the Magurchhara gas field in Moulvibazar.
   There have been allegations that the Phulbari coal field was awarded to the UK-based Asia Energy without following the required procedure.
   Replying to a query, Mokles said Chevron was paying 5 per cent of additional gas to Petrobangla from Magurchhara in compensation for the blow-out after it signed a supplementary agreement in 2005.
   Petrobangla officials said the supplementary agreement that provided Petrobangla with 5 per cent of additional gas was signed in 1998 to extend the original production sharing contract. The BNP-led government on July 1, 2002 asked Occidental to pay $685 million in compensation for the Magurchhara blow-out.
   As for Phulbari coal field, Mokles said the leasing of the Phulbari coal field was still under process. ‘As the leasing is still under process, there is no point in carrying out an inquiry.’
   The BNP government in 1994 gave an exploration licence to the Australian BHP for the Phulbari coal field in reported violation of some rules and the Awami League government allowed the BHP to hand over the licence to Asia Energy.
   There have been allegations that the Asia Energy was awarded the exploration licence by the government in such a way that it would need to provide the company with the mining licence.
   Replying to another query, Mokles said the commission was continuing with the inquiry into the allegations of irregularities against Khaleda and another former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in awarding Niko Resources two gas fields.

The Rapid Action Battalion in an overnight raid has busted a factory at Gulshan in Dhaka where Yaba tablet alternative ice-pills were produced. Two persons, including a nephew of industrialist Aziz Mohammad Bhai, have been arrested.
   The battalion also seized a huge quantity of Yaba (methamphetamine) tablets, ice-pills and machines and raw materials used in ice-pill production, equipment used in internet telephony, tellulars, and local and foreign currencies amounting to more than Tk 50 lakh from them.
   The battalion said this was for the first time the law men seized such a large volume of Yaba tablets, drugs of abuse, internet telephony equipment and cash in a single raid on a single place.
   The battalion’s director general Hasan Mahmud Khondokar feared that the use of the drug had spread all over the country.
   ‘Our drive against the drug will continue. We hope to stop its use in the country,’ he said, urging a united social movement against it.
   The battalion said it had arrested six of well-off families at Gulshan and Banani during its first drive against Yaba on October 18.
   The battalion personnel interrogated the six in their custody where the arrested admitted to having supply from Amin Huda, a resident of Gulshan.
   Two of the arrested, Mushfiqur Rahman Tamal and Altaf Akmal Kallol, also told newsmen at a briefing at the battalion headquarters on Thursday that they had received supply of the drug from Amin Huda. ‘I used to buy 8 to 10 tablets a day for Tk 300 to 350 each,’ said Kallol.
   Based on their statements, the battalion started raiding the office and house of Amin on Wednesday afternoon which continued till 9:00am Thursday.
   During the raid on two houses at Gulshan, the battalion also seized internet telephony equipment and a huge quantity of foreign liquor.
   The goods included 1.3 lakh Yaba tablets, 5,000 ice-pills, 150 packets of Yaba, a packet of Viagra, 139 bottles of foreign liquor, 132 bottles of Phensidyl (codeine) syrup, a passport, gold ornaments weighing 10.75 tolas, a pair of handcuffs, a laptop, 818 mobile SIMs, six computers, 159 tellulars, two channel boxes, a bottle of diethylethol, 2.5 litres each of toluene sulphur and orthophosphoric acid, Tk 46 lakh in Bangladesh currency, $1,900, HK $100, 450 euros, 2,500 Thai baht, 125 Indian rupee and three Saudi riyals.
   The battalion arrested Amin Huda, identified as a nephew of Aziz Mohammad Bhai, and his associate, Ahsanul Haque Hasan. Amin is believed to be one the main importers and suppliers of Yaba.
   ‘The World Health Organisation has banned the drug in 1970 across the globe, but its alternative was produced in Thailand and Myanmar. But as the Thai government launched a massive drive against it, the peddlers chose Bangladesh to be an alternative market to sell and market the drug,’ said the battalion’s operations director, Lieutenant Colonel Mohamad Yusuf.
   ‘We earlier thought that the drug was smuggled into Bangladesh, but we have now found it is produced here,’ he said.
   With the arrest of the two, the Department of Narcotics Control and the battalion have so far arrested 18 people, including two women, since October 18 in connection with Yaba use and its peddling.
   In the first drive, the battalion arrested six young men in possession of 30 tablets and 24 CDs with porn contents. A Porsche and a BMW, reportedly used for selling and carrying drugs, including Phensidyl (codeine) syrup, were also seized.
   The arrested are Dai Khan Beer alias Chiku, Mushfiqur Rahman Tamal, Sheikh Ahed Shafiq, Salman Rahim Zoardar, Altaf Akmal Kallol and Mahmud Al Juberee alias Shanon. They are now remanded in custody for three days.
   The battalion filed separate cases against Tamal and Shanon with the Gulshan police on Monday night on charge of making porn films and keeping them.
   The narcotics control department arrested Faisal Haq, a student of BBA at North South University, Mohammad Al Amin and Shubhankar Guha at the Nahar Plaza at Hatirpool on Saturday in possession of 20 Taba tablets. They were now in jail.
   The department in another drive arrested three people, including music video model Abu Shahed alias Shahed Biswas, at Siddheswari behind the Mouchak Market on Tuesday evening in possession of 50 Yaba tablets. Others arrested in the drive are Ismail Hossain, 30, and Kamruzzaman, 30. The three were sent to jail on Wednesday.
   The battalion on Wednesday arrested Mohammad Al Amin, 30, Anisur Rahman, 22, and Baby, 20, and Prema, 25, wives of two expatriate Bangladeshis, at the house of one Harun-or Rashid at Uttar Badda. Harun managed to escape arrest.
   The battalion seized 425 Yaba tablets, two Yaba cases, eight forged currency notes of Tk 500 denomination, a passport, three credit cards and Tk 770 in cash from them.

New Delhi will continue the process of deporting Bangladeshi terrorists, implicated in criminal cases and detained in Indian jails, chief of Indian Border Security Force said in Dhaka Thursday.
   ‘We will hand over 10 to 12 more Bangladeshi terrorists, who are implicated in cases in India,’ BSF director general Ashish Kumar Mitra told newsmen after a meeting with foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.
   Indian authorities handed over three notorious criminals to Dhaka earlier this month and the process would continue, he said.
   Replying to a query, Mitra said, ‘Both sides [BDR and BSF] have decided to complete 27 development works within 150 yards from the zero-line considering the interest of the local people along the common borders.’
   Iftekhar said border management is an important component of bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India.
   He hoped that the ongoing discussions between the two border forces — BDR and BSF — would result in agreements that would further cement ties between the two next-door neighbours.
   Earlier on the day, Bangladesh Rifles and Border Security Force of India began a five-day border conference to discuss a host of outstanding issues, including frequent killing of innocent Bangladeshis by Indian border guards.
   Mitra is leading his country’s 17-member delegation while BDR director general Major General Shakil Ahmed heading an 18-member home side.
   The conference will conclude on October 29 with signing of joint records of discussions.
   Among the issues placed on the table for discussion are killing, kidnapping and detaining of Bangladeshi nationals, smuggling of illegal arms and ammunitions, explosives, drugs and phensidyl, trespasses and push-in of Bengali-speaking Indian nationals.
   Besides, long-pending demarcation of land boundary, installation of border pillars at Berubari and Singpara-Khudipara in Panchagarh district, completion of survey at Muhurir Char, Doikhata and Lathitila, handover of surveyed land at Naogaon after constructing border pillars, construction of defence infrastructures, roads, barbed-wire fencing and installations within 150 yards of the zero point will also come up for discussion.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Thursday pressed charges against former Awami League state minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and his family, former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun and his wife.
   Towfiqul Islam, the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet against
   Maya, his wife Parveen Chowdhury, sons Rashedul Hossain Chowdhury and Sajedul Hossain Chowdhury and Sajed’s wife Subarna Chowdhury for amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income and concealing information in the wealth statements submitted to the ACC.
   ACC assistant director Tahsinul Haq submitted the charge sheet in a graft case against Mamun and his wife Yasmin Akhter.
   Mamun, a close friend of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman, amassed wealth of Tk 101,73,73,363 while his wife Tk 9,22,79,057 illegally between 2002 and 2006, the charge sheet stated.
   Pintu and two of his followers were indicted in two cases for misappropriating corrugated iron-sheets allocated for distribution among poor people in Hazaribagh-Lalbagh area, from where he was elected a lawmaker on BNP ticket, said Shafiqul Alam, investigation officer of the case, in the charge sheet.
   The police on March 19 seized 305 iron-sheets from a house at Rasulpur, and 16 more sheets on April 2 from the house of one Rupa Miah at Kamrangirchar on the south-western fringe of the capital, and lodged separate cases against Pintu and two of his associates, the IO added.
   Mamun and Pintu are in custody while the rest are on the run, the IO mentioned in the charge sheets.

The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on Iran’s military and three state-owned banks, sharply ratcheting up tensions over the Islamic state’s nuclear drive and alleged backing for terrorism.
   The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, said the sanctions cover Iran’s elite Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism and its Revolutionary Guards as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction.
   Some 22 Iranian government agencies, banks and individuals are being blacklisted as the United States steps up a drive to squeeze Iran out of the international banking system.
   ‘These actions will help to protect the international financial system from the illicit activities of the Iranian government,’ Rice told reporters. ‘They will provide a powerful deterrent to every international bank and company that thinks of doing business with the Iranian government.’
   The move is the latest by the US administration to step up pressure on Iran, which it accuses of fomenting global terrorism, supporting insurgents in Iraq and working to develop an atomic bomb.
   ‘What this means is that no US citizen or a private organisation will be allowed to engage in financial transactions with these persons and entities,’ Rice explained.
   The secretary of state told the US Congress on Wednesday that Iran constitutes ‘perhaps the single greatest challenge’ for US security. The president, George W Bush, suggested last week a nuclear-armed Iran could trigger ‘World War III.’
   Thursday’s announcement was likely to fuel speculation that the United States was readying possible military action against Iran for its nuclear programme.
   But a senior official, while expressing frustration with the UN Security Council’s slow pace on imposing new sanctions on Iran, said the US action complemented the diplomatic efforts.
   ‘You can’t give up on diplomacy. And this is part of the diplomacy, to try to use economic sanctions to persuade the Iranians that there’s going to be a heavy price to pay,’ the official told reporters.
   Officials said these would be the broadest sanctions imposed on Iran since the country’s Islamic revolution in 1979.
   It is also the first time the United States has directly sanctioned another country’s military.
   The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after the seizure of US diplomats in Tehran in 1979 and has imposed a range of sanctions on the Islamic republic since then, with limited effect on the regime.
   In September the US Senate labelled the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation – a step that some Democrats said had set the United States on a path to war with Iran.
   The Quds Force, the foreign operations branch of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, runs Tehran’s covert activities throughout the Middle East, though its existence has never been officially acknowledged.
   As part of the new sanctions, the United States is pressing its allies to help cut Iran off from the international financial system, and so prevent what Rice called its ‘ill-gotten gains’ being recycled through respectable banks.
   Another senior official said the administration had conducted ‘an extraordinary amount of outreach’ to European governments and banks with extensive commercial interests in Iran.

SAARC home ministers on Thursday decided on regular exchange of information to combat criminalities and push efforts for a convention for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
   Bangladesh iterated its determination in maintaining regional peace and security, combating criminality and countering terrorism in all forms and manifestations at the second SAARC home ministers’ meeting that ended in New Delhi on the day. The meeting was chaired by Indian’s home minister Shivraj Patil.
   The LGRD and cooperatives adviser, Anwarul Iqbal, who led the nine-member Bangladesh delegation to the meeting, said Bangladesh had taken a lead role at the 13th SAARC summit in November 2005 in deciding on holding the meetings of SAARC home ministers and home secretaries every year.
   He informed the meeting of the various measures Bangladesh was taking to counter terrorism, narcotic drugs and various related criminal acts.
   The meeting made a number of decisions on increased cooperation in addressing regional security challenges and approved the reports of the preceding 2nd meeting of SAARC home secretaries (October 24) and the 6th SAARC conference of police (October 23) which were attended by the home secretaries and the police chiefs from the region.
   The meeting decided that an expert group would meet in Islamabad in February to further develop an electronic network of police authorities across the SAARC countries, to strengthen the infrastructure of the two SAARC desks on narcotic drugs and terrorism located in Colombo, to ensure real-time sharing of information on terrorist acts and seizure of narcotics, to arrange for SAARC police chiefs to meet twice a year to expedite cooperation, such as in police investigation, training and other areas of mutual interest.
   During the meeting, the countries also discussed how to best undertake police training in investigation techniques and the facilities existing in different countries as well as the measures to combat synthetic drugs.
   All the SAARC countries also agreed to take measures in containing different forms of cyber crimes in the region.
   The meeting considered the proposal of having a SAARC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, on which the meeting recommended that the legal experts would meet in Colombo by April to further examine the convention draft.
   It was further decided that the 3rd meeting of SAARC home ministers and secretaries would be held in Pakistan towards the end of 2008 and the Maldives would host the 4th meeting in 2009.
   It was also decided that the 7th conference of SAARC police chiefs would be held in Pakistan in February.

The Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh on Thursday opposed the Election Commission plan for holding upazila polls before national elections and urged it to complete the voter listing by June to ensure holding of the stalled parliamentary polls by December 2008.
   ‘Preparation of voters’ list with photographs should be completed by next June with increased cooperation of the members of the armed forces. If voters’ roll is not prepared by June we have doubt over implementation of the Election Commission roadmap for holding national polls by December 2008,’ Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid said at a dialogue with the EC on electoral reforms.
   Mujahid said after the meeting that raising demands to ban religion-based politics was a violation of the constitution and claimed that ‘there is no anti-liberation element in the country.
   ‘Nobody has the rights to obstruct this constitutional and civil rights,’ Mujahid said when his attention was drawn to the demand of some political parties to ban religion-based and communal politics.
   Referring to another demand for banning anti-liberation forces and war criminals from doing politics, Mujahid claimed that ‘there is no war criminal in Bangladesh. Only 195 war criminals of the Pakistan Army were identified and the Awami League government had granted them amnesty through a treaty.’
   Asked what role the Jamaat played during the 1971 war of independence, he avoided a direct reply saying ‘you find that out.’
   Placing his party’s proposals for electoral reforms, Mujahid urged the EC to relax all the conditions proposed for registration for political parties particularly for next polls so that the election could be a participatory one.
   ‘The EC should adopt a more liberal policy offering the willing parties the opportunity to be registered at least for this time to contest the polls. The parties should be given at least one year for meeting the conditions for registration, for ensuring transparency in financial matters and the practice of intra-party democracy,’ the Jamaat leader said.
   He said that political parties should be given at least one year to reform themselves and allowed to run with the election symbols they had traditionally used.
   About one of the conditions for party registration that stipulates that at least 33 per cent of the office-bearers in party committees should be women, the Jamaat said women should have representation in all committees including central committee, but the political parties would decide how many women representatives should be there.
   The party suggested that the EC should drop its proposal for inclusion of a provision of ‘no vote’ on ballot paper to express voters’ lack of confidence in the contesting candidates in a constituency.
   ‘It would not be wise to introduce any new system in the balloting at least for now as it could create fresh problems and controversies in counting ballot paper. There is no time for examining any new idea about balloting… an elected government is what the country urgently needs,’ Mujahid said.
   The Jamaat, however, supported the EC proposal that political parties should have polled least 2 per cent of the votes cast in the last general election for getting registered but differed with the idea that the parties should have at least one elected parliament member since the independence of the country. It also opposed the proposal that the parties should have units at least in 32 district and upazila headquarters and a minimum 1,000 members in each district and 200 in an upazila unit.
   The party said it did not support the idea of introducing transparent ballot boxes.
   The Jamaat, which was a partner in the four-party coalition government led by the BNP, proposed that the EC should raise the ceiling of election expenditure to Tk 25 lakh.
   It supported the EC proposal that no party should have a student wing and front organisation overseas.
   The commission’s meeting with the Jamaat was the sixth in a series of dialogues with political parties before finalising the draft of its electoral reform proposals. The next dialogue will take place with the National Awami Party (Muzaffar) on October 28.
   The meeting was presided over by chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda. Election commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hussain were present. A 10-member delegation of the Jamaat, led it its general secretary, took part in the dialogue.

The interim government has initiated a move to bring home the remains of Bir Shreshtha Sipahi Hamidur Rahman from the Indian state of Tripura, where the national hero was buried during the country’s War of Liberation in the first week of December.
   The council of advisers is expected to select the site where the hero’s remains will be re-buried in commemoration of his sacrifice for the independence of the country.
   ‘A five-member team will go to India to bring home the remains of Bir Shreshtha Hamidur Rahman in the first week of December,’ the adviser to the liberation war affairs ministry, MA Matin, told reporters on Thursday at the secretariat after an inter-ministry meeting on the issue.
   He said the weekly meeting of the council of advisers on Saturday would decide as to where the remains of Hamidur would be re-buried to honour the national hero whose grave now remains neglected.
   The liberation war affairs ministry and the foreign affairs ministry have completed preparations to bring back the hero’s remains within quickest possible time, at least before December 16, the day of victory, said an official.
   ‘The remains of the national hero will be brought home before December 16, which will add more joy and happiness to the celebrations of Victory Day,’ said Matin, who is also in charge of the communications ministry. The five-member delegation includes representatives from the libation war ministry, the armed forces division and foreign affairs ministry, along with a freedom-fighter and Hamidur’s youngest brother.
   Hamidur’s brother Fazlur Rahman told New Age that his family is very happy to learn that the remains of his brother will be brought home, even though after a long time. He proposed that the government re-bury Hamidur either in the Jatiya Sangsad complex or at the National Mausoleum in Savar.
   The government already unveiled the commemorative plaque for Hamidur Rahman at Madhabpur near the BDR outpost in the border upazila of Kamalganj in Moulvibazar district on July 1, 2006.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the liberation war affairs ministry on July 13, 2006 instructed the government to take necessary measures to bring back the remains of Hamidur Rahman as early as possible.
   General secretary of the Muktijoddha Bir Shreshtha Smriti Parishad, Tushar Rahman, said the remains of the national hero should be re-buried in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban’s complex.
   Hamidur Rahman was killed in a combat with the Pakistani occupation forces in the bordering Ambasa area of Tripura on October 28, 1971, and his body was buried there.

A special task force will start work at the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company headquarters at Karwanbazar in Dhaka from Sunday as part of the latest cleansing drive in utility and autonomous agencies.
   Earlier this week army-led task forces set up offices at the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha, Dhaka City Corporation and National Housing Authority to free the agencies from corruption and irregularities, and make them more people-friendly and service-oriented.
   A team of the taskforce, led by a lieutenant colonel, on Thursday visited the Titas Gas Bhaban and held meetings with high officials of all departments, including managing director M Abdullah.
   They discussed irregularities in the organisation and ways to remove those to improve quality of services to clients.
   The team will prepare a list of corruption suspects of the organisation, which suffers huge revenue loss due to gas theft, fashionably called ‘system loss.’
   The team will start functioning from Sunday from a makeshift office on the first floor of the Titas Gas Bhaban. A ‘complaint box’ has been placed in the office.   
   Engineer M Abdullah, managing director of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, told newsmen, ‘We held a meeting with the taskforce and discussed issues like corruption and irregularities, and ways to make the organisation more service-oriented.’
   The taskforce sought cooperation from the Titas Gas staff to remove corruption and irregularities from the utility agency, he added.

A significant number of former lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, many of whom frequented Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan’s residence in recent times, on Thursday met the party secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, and extended their support to his leadership.
   Prominent leaders who met Delwar on the day included Manirul Huq Chowdhury, Abdul Momin Talukder, Kazi Rafiqul Islam, Nurul Kabir Shahin, Moazzem Hossain Alal and Shahjahan Chowdhury and 12 former women lawmakers.
   Welcoming them, Delwar said, ‘I believe you never lost your trust in the leadership of Khaleda Zia and now you are reiterating it which will help the party overcome the present tricky situation.’
   The BNP secretary general said there might be some differences over procedural issues but the party rank and file were united.
   ‘I seek your suggestions so that I can rightly run the party and free the detained party chairperson and other leaders. We are passing through bad times due to emergency but time will come when the emergency will have to be withdrawn,’ he said.
   He renewed his call for lifting the ban on political activities and reopening the party central office.
   ‘We do politics for the people and they are passing days in miseries. The farmers have not been rehabilitated after floods and they are not getting fertiliser,’ he alleged and expressed his fear that the fertiliser crisis would badly affect overall agricultural production.
   Delwar said price hike of essential commodities were causing great sufferings to the people and urged the government to take effective steps to control prices.
   Party vice-chairman MK Anwar and joint-secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan were present on the occasion.
   Asked if there was any formal move from the party to take back the expelled leaders, Delwar said, ‘Our constitution clearly describes how to join the party. It is not a matter of invitation. I will abide by the constitution and do whatever is needed to ensure the party’s unity.’
   He, however, said that permission of the chairperson would be required in some cases. ‘I have no authority to nullify the chairperson’s action,’ he said mentioning that Khaleda Zia had expelled the leaders when she was compelled to do so to keep the party united.
   Delwar said he was trying to meet the party chairperson in jail but the government was not allowing him to visit her. ‘They are allowing every Tom, Dick and Harry but I am unable to meet her although it is important to take decisions,’ he said.
   Asked whether the party would take action against any leader convicted of corruption or any other charges, Delwar said, ‘The party will take action against anyone convicted if the trial is done without outside interference and in a transparent way.’
   Delwar said he had arranged a temporary place to run the day-to-day affairs. ‘The Naya Paltan office is our central office and it should be opened immediately.’
   Followers of expelled party secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan also held a meeting at former lawmaker Abdul Alim’s DOHS residence in the afternoon and urged leaders and activists to forge unity under the leadership of Mannan Bhuiyan and press ahead with reform initiatives ignoring ‘provocative remarks’ of some quarters.
   The party’s national standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman chaired the meeting attended by some former lawmakers from Rajshahi division.
   ‘There is no alternative to unity in the BNP to ensure the party’s victory in the next elections. Some quarters are trying to mislead the party leaders by making provocative remarks…the leaders and activists should not be confused by such remarks,’ Mahbub said.

A blast tore through a security forces vehicle in restive northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing 30 people and wounding dozens more, a senior security official said.
   The attack in the scenic Swat valley in North West Frontier Province was the latest in a wave of strikes targeting the military since government troops stormed the al-Qaeda-linked Red Mosque in Islamabad in July.
   It also came just one day after Pakistan deployed more than 2,000 military troops to the area to bolster efforts to stem the rising violence, linked to pro-Taliban militants.
   The truck – carrying paramilitary soldiers and packed with ammunition – was travelling on a road outside the valley’s main city Mingora when the explosion occurred, the security official said.
   ‘Thirty people were killed in the explosion including 17 paramilitary soldiers. The damage was high because the truck was packed with ammunition,’ the official said.
   No one immediately claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack.
   Security sources said a suicide bomber had detonated his explosives near the truck, but the government said the vehicle’s cargo could have triggered the explosion.
   Most of the attacks in Pakistan since the Red Mosque raid have been suicide blasts that have killed about 400 people, including soldiers, according to an AFP tally.
   The Swat valley was once one of Pakistan’s premier tourist attractions, but the area in conservative North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan has become a stronghold of banned group Tahreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi.
   The group, led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, has close ties to pro-Taliban fighters who have been mounting attacks on government officials and security forces in the area.
   A doctor at a local hospital said 10 bodies had been brought in so far, along with 35 wounded.
   The truck caught fire immediately after the explosion in Nawakilli area on the outskirts of Mingora, and firefighters were struggling to contain the blaze, senior police officer Akbar Ali said.
   ‘The fire also engulfed at least 10 nearby shops,’ Ali said.
   The military said Wednesday that it had deployed the extra troops to the Swat valley in a bid to improve law and order in the troubled region. A local government official also warned Wednesday that 400 militants under Fazlullah’s command had been attacking local security forces. Local home secretary Badshah Gul Wazir told a news conference in the provincial capital Peshawar that the TNSM group was also trying to seize control of dozens of villages.

The Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board Thursday announced cut in call tariffs, line rent, and transfer fees for the board’s land phones effective from November 1, said a telephone board release on Thursday.
   The nationwide dialling charge has been halved to Tk 1.5 a minute on 30-second pulses; peak and off-peak hour billing has been withdrawn.
   The new system has also withdrawn the distance factor for call charges. Calls between upazilas of a district will now be treated as local calls.
   An NWD call within 100 kilometres is charged at Tk 3 a minute during peak and Tk 1.50 during off-peak hours. The rates are Tk 4.50 and Tk 3 for calls for a distance above 100 kilometres.
   The monthly line rent has been reduced to Tk 80 in Dhaka and Chittagong multi-exchange areas, Tk 70 in districts and Tk 50 in upazilas. The board now charges Tk 150 in line rent.
   Fee for the transfer of telephones has been reduced to Tk 1,000 in Dhaka and Chittagong multi-exchange areas, Tk 500 in district and Tk 300 in upazilas.
   Reconnection of a barred line will now cost Tk 1,000 in Dhaka and Chittagong Multi-exchange areas and Tk 500 in districts and upazilas.
   The new rate for the transfer and change in ownership is Tk 1,000 in Dhaka and Chittagong areas, Tk 500 in districts and Tk 300 in upazilas.
   Change in telephone number will now cost Tk 1,000.

The Awami League on Thursday sent a list of 21-member delegation to the Election Commission to participate in the dialogue with the commission on electoral reforms scheduled for November 4.
   Although the party’s acting president, Zillur Rahman, on Monday formed a 16-member committee as per the decision of the central working committee meeting, the number of delegates was increased to 21 on Wednesday.
   ‘We have sent a letter to the Election Commission seeking an increase in the number of our delegates and sent a list of 21 members,’ AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed, also head of the committee formed for participating in the dialogue, told reporters after a meeting at party chief’s Dhanmondi office on Thursday.
   The ALCWC on Monday decided to send a letter to the EC for increasing the number of its delegates from 10 stipulated by the EC and formed the 16-member committee.
   The committee included the names of Sahara Khatun, Abu Sayeed, Abdul Mannan Khan, Raziuddin Ahmed Razu and Hasan Mahmud in the list.
   The committee was formed with Tofail Ahmed as convener, Syed Ashraful Islam as member-secretary and Matia Chowdhury, Suranjit Sengupta, Abul Mal Abdul Muhit, Rahmat Ali, Mukul Bose, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Abdul Mannan, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Akhtaruzzaman, Sultan Mansur Ahmed, Abdur Rahman, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Abdul Latif Siddiqui and AKM Jahangir as members.
   The committee on Thursday reviewed the draft of electoral reform prepared by the EC and 31-point reform proposal announced by the AL-led alliance to prepare the final proposal for the dialogue.
   ‘Some points of the Election Commission’s draft are similar to the 31-point proposal of the AL-led alliance while some points, including registration process, are illogical and unrealistic that would be tough to follow by political parties,’ Tofail said.
   He said the meeting assigned Abdul Muhit to prepare a draft after reviewing the earlier proposals and he would submit it before the next meeting of the committee scheduled to be held on Sunday.
   The meeting also assigned Abu Sayeed to prepare a proposal regarding to registration process for political parties after reviewing such system in other countries of the world, Tofail said after the meeting.
   ‘The proposals will be prepared based on the 31-point reform proposal of the 14-party alliance and the component of the alliance will place an identical proposal before the commission,’ he said.
   The Election Commission on October 18 invited the AL to sit with them on November 4 as a part of its ongoing dialogue with political parties and requested the party to send a 10-member delegation.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, appointed as ambassador and permanent representative of Bangladesh to UN office in Geneva, has been served with a legal notice for cancelling the appointment since he had married a foreign national.
   Mohammad Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, issued the legal notice Thursday on behalf of Mustafa Minhaj, a research fellow of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. According to the notice, legal action would be taken against Debapriya, if he didn’t cancel his appointment or tender his resignation by October 29.
   As Debapriya had married a foreign national, he became ineligible for the post as per the public service ordinance of 1976, the notice said.
   ‘A public servant in diplomatic service shall not marry or promise to marry a foreign national or a public servant who contravenes the provision of .... shall notwithstanding anything contained in any other law or in the terms and conditions of his service, be liable to be removed from service,’ According to the Section 3(1) and (4) of the public servants (marriage with foreign nationals) ordinance of 1976.Debapriya was made ambassador in September.

The government on Thursday accepted the application for voluntary retirement of former National Board of Revenue chairman Badiur Rahman, who was made an officer on special duty on Tuesday.
   He was granted leave preparatory to retirement for a year effective on November 22, 2007.
   Badiur will be on full retirement with completion of the leave as he has already completed 25 years in service, according to a gazette notification issued by the establishment ministry.
   He was granted earned leave for a month on Tuesday as he preferred retirement to transfer as the food and disaster management secretary. Humiliated at and aggrieved by his transfer, Badiur Rahman decided to retire.
   He submitted two applications seeking voluntary retirement and leave for a month before the retirement after the issuance of his transfer order on October 18 of which he claimed to be unaware.
   ‘I do not accept it at all as neither the adviser [the finance adviser] nor the administration has showed the usual courtesy of discussing the transfer with me before issuing the order,’ Badiur, who worked for more than nine months as the revenue board chairman, told reporters on Monday, an hour before handing over the charge to his successor, Mohammed Abdul Majid.
   ‘I have failed to make my master happy, which resulted in the sudden transfer,’ he said at the time. Badiur, a much-talked-about secretary for his action against tax evaders and severely criticised for his careless remarks as the board chairman, admitted he had differences of opinion with the finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The Power Cell has received a total of 13 bids for setting up seven short-term rental power plants with a combined capacity of 260 MW, but no company has submitted any bid at all for a 50 MW plant.
   The Power Cell on Thursday opened 13 ‘requests for proposals’ of five foreign and joint-venture companies for setting up three gas-based 50 MW power plants at Ashuganj, Kumargaon and Shahjibazar, one 30 MW plant at Bhola, one 20 MW plant at Bogra, a 40 MW oil-based plant at Khulna and a 20 MW plant at Bheramara.
   No company submitted any bid for the 50 MW Fenchuganj power plant.
   ‘The cell will now evaluate the bids. As far as has been gathered by our primary look into the financial offers of the companies, the cell has received reasonable price offers for the short-term rental power plants,’ said a source in the Power Cell.
   These second-hand readymade power plants will be set up on an emergency basis by the selected bidders on build-own-operate basis for only three years to solve the nagging problem of power shortage.
   The short-term power plants’ price of electricity is usually higher than that of traditional power plants that are set up for over 15 years.
   On the other hand the oil-based power plants’ price of electricity is higher than that of the gas-based plants.
   Many power officials, however, oppose the idea of setting up short-term power plants because of the high electricity prices, while others support the idea as the current shortfall of electricity in the country is around 1,000 MW and it will need around 2 years to bring big power plants into production.
   The Power Cell received two bids for the Ashuganj power plant, one for Kumargaon, one for Shahjibazar, three for Bhola, three for Bogra, two for Khulna and one for Bhola.
   The Power Division, in a letter on October 9, requested the finance ministry to give the Power Development Board enough subsidy for purchasing high-cost electricity from these short-term rental power plants.
   The Power Division, in the letter, informed the ministry that it would later apprise the ministry of the amount of subsidy the PDB would need.
   Sources in the division said that after getting the Power Cell’s evaluation of the bids and the government’s approval of the selected bidders, it would seek the amount of subsidy needed by the PDB.
   The division is negotiating with the National Board of Revenue to fix an all-inclusive tax for PDB for setting up these rental power plants as any tax imposed on the selected companies would result in higher prices for power.

The future of opening up the Kuwaiti market for Bangladeshi workers still hangs in the balance as a delegation from Dhaka almost ignored the issue and emphasised the removal of the restriction on workers’ transfer of residency. Since there is restriction on residency transfer, the workers are not allowed to take up other jobs.
   Also, the fate of some 30,000 undocumented workers still remains bleak as most of them did not respond to the general amnesty declared by the Kuwaiti government, high officials of the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry told New Age on Thursday.
   Some Bangladeshi workers will shortly be able to change their jobs, though under the same sponsor, as the Kuwaiti government has decided to withdraw the restriction on transfer of residency.
   The decision was taken while a Bangladesh delegation, led by expatriates’ welfare secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury, hold meetings with the Kuwaiti officials recently.
   During the three-day tour, covering between October 22 and 24, the three-member delegation held talks with the officials there, including labour minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, for solving the problems of Bangladeshi workers employed there.
   Elaborating on the issue of residency transfer, an official of the ministry said that Bangladeshi domestic workers could be transferred to private sector companies and vice versa, as well as from one government sector to another.
   ‘Bangladeshi workers are now completely restricted from any transfer of residency,’ he added.
   An official, responding to a query, said that the ministry decided to concentrate on withdrawal of restriction on residency transfer rather than explore Kuwait’s labour market widely.
   ‘We did so because the request for opening up the labour market may make withdrawal of the transfer of residency uncertain,’ he argued.
   Touching on the issue of deporting undocumented Bangladeshis, he said that most of those people did not respond to the general amnesty of the Kuwaiti government and the local authority plans to declare the amnesty again in a couple of months.
   The delegation returned home on Thursday and apprised the foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, of the outcome of their Kuwait mission.
   The delegation also said that the Kuwaiti government would consider ratification of the Technical Cooperation Agreement on Manpower that was signed by Bangladesh and Kuwait in 2000.
   A joint committee of the two governments will be formed to address all contentious
   labour issues. Kuwait also expressed its interest in signing a memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh to ensure minimum salary for Bangladeshi workers.

Public confidence in the US government’s foreign policy is on the decline, and about half of Americans doubt they are being told the truth about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a poll released Wednesday said.
   The survey showed the public was losing faith in the US government’s efforts abroad and was sceptical that much could be done to improve the US position in the world.
   The results appeared in the Confidence in US Foreign Policy Index, a survey carried out by the policy group Public Agenda and the journal Foreign Affairs every six months.
   Since the survey was launched two years ago, ‘public attitudes have grown darker and more anxious in almost every area we’ve examined,’ said an introduction to the survey.
   While such a pessimistic outlook might be expected in a time of war, ‘we are reaching a point where the public seems to be questioning not just whether current policies are working, but whether the United States can have an effective foreign policy at all,’ it said.
   Sixty-five per cent said US relations with the rest of the world were heading down the ‘wrong track’ and a majority also believed the US image abroad was negative.
   The survey said attitudes on the Iraq war remain pessimistic but largely unchanged in the past six months, despite fierce debate between the White House and the Democratic-led Congress.
   Asked if the government was being truthful about the war in Iraq, 52 per cent said it was ‘not at all’ or ‘not very’ truthful. As for the war in Afghanistan, 48 per cent said Washington was ‘not at all’ or ‘not very’ truthful.
   Respondents gave the United States lower grades on meeting foreign policy goals, the survey said.
   Forty-one per cent of Americans gave the US government a high grade for ‘hunting down anti-American terrorists,’ compared to a majority of 54 per cent in 2005, the survey said.
   Asked if Washington gave the ‘war on terror’ the attention it deserves, 48 per cent gave the government high marks compared to 56 per cent in 2006 and 58 per cent in the summer of 2005.
   Only 33 per cent said the United States was doing its best to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, compared to 45 per cent in 2005.
   While a majority still said the United States had a well-supplied military and helped other countries when struck by natural disasters, the confidence level in those two categories also declined – which the authors called ‘troubling.’
   Sixty-nine per cent gave Washington a grade of A or B in helping other countries hit by natural disasters, down from 83 per cent in 2005.

The joint forces released Proshika chief Kazi Faruque Ahmed less than an hour after picking him up from his residence at Pallabi early Thursday.
   The forces also raided the houses of Jahanara Begum, former primary and mass education adviser to ex-premier Khaleda Zia and now a leader of Liberal Democratic Party, at Basundhara and former Awami League lawmaker AKM Rahmatullah at Gulshan Wednesday night.
   Raiding the house of Kazi Faruque, the forces took him to Proshika office at around 2:00am and released him at around 2:45am Thursday. His son, Kazi Rubayet Ahmed, who heads the IT wing of the non-governmental organisation, and its deputy directors Abu Sayeed and Sheikh Sayeed Ahmed accompanied him.
   Faruqe, who was not at home when the forces entered there, was called back home by his family at around 1:20am after being asked by the joint forces, Proshika official Tareque Masudur Rahman told reporters. They also searched the office of the NGO at Mirpur-2 for about half an hour.
   All the three have their names on the latest list of 35 corruption suspects and are among 11 people facing Anti-Corruption Commission investigation.

Three veteran US senators have urged Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf to ensure the safety of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after the deadly attack on her homecoming parade.
   In an unusual letter to the key US anti-terror ally, senators Joseph Biden, Joseph Lieberman and Patrick Leahy warned that the suicide bombings, which killed 139 people, reflected risks faced by all candidates in January’s elections.
   ‘We extend our condolences to you, to the victims’ families, and to all of the people of Pakistan,’ the senators wrote in the letter Wednesday.
   ‘We believe this devastating attack serves as a stark reminder of the need for effective security mechanisms for the protection of all candidates and their supporters (particularly, although not exclusively, Benazir and members of her party)...’
   The senators called on Musharraf to provide the level of security to Benazir offered to any former Pakistani prime minister.
   They suggested the use of government bomb-proof vehicles and jamming equipment to protect Benazir and other political leaders from roadside bombs.
   The senators also said they were ‘troubled’ by allegations ‘well founded or not’ of potential links between extremist forces and current or retired military or intelligence officials.
   ‘We urge you to ensure that any individual involved in past political action against Benazir and her supporters be excluded from any part of the former prime minister’s security detail.’
   The senators also urged Musharraf not to use security concerns as a rationale for imposing a ban on political rallies in Pakistan, and called for a full probe into the October 18 attack.
   Two suicide blasts ripped through Benazir’s homecoming parade in Karachi last week, killing 139 people and ruining her planned triumphant return to Pakistan after eight years in self-imposed exile.
   Benazir has been surrounded by heavily armed guards on each of her rare public outings in Karachi since the blasts, amid her claims that the security forces and government have been infiltrated by ‘militants and al-Qaeda.’
   Benazir also said Thursday she asked the government for permission to travel in a convoy of cars with tinted windows in the wake of last week’s devastating suicide blasts.
   Meanwhile, a new top police officer on Thursday took over the probe into last week’s suicide blasts targeting Benazir as 16 men were questioned about the attacks, officials said.
   The man who had been leading the investigation stepped down on Wednesday after Benazir accused him of bias and involvement in the torture of her husband while he was in police custody in 1999.

Myanmar’s detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met for the first time Thursday with a senior junta official appointed to work with the country’s main opposition party, state television reported.
   ‘Today relations manager Aung Kyi met with Aung San Suu Kyi at a state guesthouse,’ the report said, referring to Myanmar’s labour minister, named earlier this month to develop ties with the Nobel peace prize winner.
   The report said the pair met for a little over an hour, but did not give any details about the content of the talks.
   It showed some brief footage of the meeting, a rarity in a country where Aung San Suu Kyi has spent years out of the public’s sight. Earlier, the leader of the National League for Democracy was seen by residents being taken from her lakeside home, where she has been held under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.
   Aung San Suu Kyi last left her villa on October 2, when she met UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari at a military guesthouse in Yangon.
   Thursday marked her first meeting with Aung Kyi, who was appointed following a recommendation by Gambari that the junta name an official to develop ties with the opposition leader.
   It comes amid increasing diplomatic pressure ahead of Gambari’s expected second visit to Myanmar since the junta’s violent crackdown on peaceful anti-government protests in September, which left at least 13 people dead.
   Gambari, who is scheduled to arrive in the first week of November, will be followed by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur on human rights.
   ‘Quite clearly they (the junta) need to show that they are meeting with her and they are talking with her,’ one Thailand-based analyst said.
   ‘The regime is quite clearly feeling the pressure and needs to respond to it, but at this point it has to be very clear – a few token meetings are not good enough.’
   NLD officials said earlier in the day that they were unaware of any meeting between their leader and the government.
   Foreign diplomats had also said they had no confirmation of a meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi, but did say they were encouraged by her departure from her home.
   ‘It’s about time to start’ talks with the junta, said one western diplomat. ‘We want genuine dialogue.’
   Junta chief Than Shwe appointed Aung Kyi earlier this month amid an international outcry over the crackdown on demonstrators.

The foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, made a courtesy call on the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, at Bangabhaban on Thursday.
   During the meeting, he informed the president that the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the neighbouring countries as well as the friendly countries around the globe, especially the USA and the EU countries, had increased significantly.
   The foreign adviser also apprised the president about various issues relating to his ministries. Besides, the president’s upcoming visit to the USA came up for discussion during the meeting, a Bangabhaban press release said.
   The president gave a patient hearing to the foreign adviser and assured him of all cooperation. The military secretary to the president, Major General Mohd Aminul Karim, secretary Md Sirajul Islam and press secretary Abdul Awal Howlader were present on the occasion.

The Awami League on Thursday demanded reinvestigation of the extortion case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdury in which warrant was issued for arrest of Sheikh Rehana.
   ‘The investigation of the case was not done fairly. We demand that the case should be reinvestigated for the sake of justice and truth,’ the acting AL president, Zillur Rahman, told at a press briefing at his Gulshan residence in the afternoon. A court on Wednesday issued warrant for arrest of Rehana, younger sister of AL president Sheikh Hasina, and to attach her property.
   ‘Rehana comes from a political family…she is the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. But she was never involved either in politics or in government service…how she could be involved in extortion,’ Zillur wondered expressing his doubt about proper investigation of the case.
   He said it was stunning that Rehana was named in the charge sheet adding that she had been falsely made an accused in the case with a motive to tarnish the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s family. Referring to the writ filed with the High Court against the case, Zillur said that the case could not be prosecuted in the lower court until disposal of the writ.
   Dismissing Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mojahid’s claims that there was no war criminal in the country, the AL veteran said war criminals were still getting along.
   ‘Who killed 30 lakh people in the war of independence in 1971if there had been no war criminals,’ he asked. Zillur renewed his call for trial of the war criminals and urged the interim government to keep them out of the election process.
   He also demanded immediate steps for arresting the price hike of essentials and increasing supply of fertilisers to the farmers.
   AL central leaders Mohammad Rahmat Ali, Dipu Moni, Hasan Mahmud and Yafes Osman were present at the press briefing.

Bangladesh on Thursday strongly condemned the attack on Turkish troops by the rebels belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party.
   ‘Turkey is showing remarkable patience which could understandably run out if the aggression continues,’ said the foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, in a statement.
   The adviser said, ‘We are opposed to terrorism in all forms, and the attacks on the Turkish forces are totally unacceptable.’
   He said Turkey was a responsible international actor and Bangladesh values its relations with Turkey.

The Election Commission on Thursday started preparing the voters’ roll on the outskirts of Dhaka city, aiming to begin the work in the Dhaka City Corporation area in full swing from December 1.
   The commission kicked off the voters’ registration at Kamrangir Char, Uttar Khan and Dania.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, inaugurated the voters’ registration at a ceremony held on Jamia Nuria Islamia Madrassah premises at Kamrangir Char. Two commissioners Mohammad Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hussain initiated the task in Uttar Khan area.
   Chief of General Staff of Army Major General Sina Ibn Jamali inaugurated the task in Dania area under Shyampur police station which envisages registering 88,477 voters and preparing national ID cards.
   Apart from the army, the DCC, district administration and local public representatives are assisting the Election Commission to implement the project.

Malaysia might axe a visa programme that has enabled more than 40,000 foreigners to stay in the country illegally in the last year, a report said Thursday.
   Some 120,000 visitors have entered Malaysia under the programme, which began in September 2006 and allows visitors to apply for a one-month visa when they arrive, the home affairs minister, Mohammad Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, told The Star daily. But one-third of the visitors did not leave when their visa expired, he said.
   ‘There are a lot of problems arising from the VOA (visa-on-arrival) and I feel it is my duty to inform the cabinet of the repercussions of introducing the VOA,’ Mohammad Radzi told the paper after the regular weekly cabinet meeting.
   ‘Extending the facility will only spell more problems and will open the country to the risk of more illegal immigrants,’ he said.
   The expanded visa programme was offered to citizens from 24 countries that previously required a visa in advance to enter Malaysia – such as Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Nigeria.
   Most of the overstayers were Indians who had remained in Malaysia to work in restaurants and on plantations, the paper said, citing an immigration department report.
   Last December, Malaysia stopped issuing the visas to tourists arriving from the southern Indian city of Chennai after finding many were using the permit to overstay. The government will not make a hasty decision about the programme’s future, Mohammad Radzi said.
   Since a tourism campaign, ‘Visit Malaysia 2007,’ will end in two months, ‘the cabinet has agreed to wait till then before deciding on the next course of action,’ he said.
   The ‘Visit Malaysia’ campaign is aimed at attracting 20.1 million tourists in 2007 and to draw in receipts of some 44.5 billion ringgit (13.2 billion dollars).