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The recurrent flood, influenced by downpour and water from the upstream, pounded a colossal damage on standing crops at a time when farmers were struggling to recover from the August flood losses.
   Crops on 4.68 lakh hectares out of nearly 21 lakh hectares in 25 districts were swamped in a week.
   A Department of Agriculture Extension report released on Wednesday said standing crops such as transplanted aman saplings and seedbeds, vegetables, aus, broadcast aman and other crops on 4,67,584 hectares out of 20,75,772 hectares in 174 upazilas in the districts have been affected by the flash flood, the second in a month.
   The report showed that transplanted aman seedbeds on 3,788 hectares out of 40,165 hectares, transplanted aman seedlings on 4,55,753 hectares out of 19,89,467 hectares and vegetables on 5,370 hectares out of 24,084 hectares were submerged.
   Aus on 1475 hectares out of 16,977 hectares, broadcast aman on 52 hectares out of 100 hectares and other crops on 1146 hectares out of 4,979 hectares of land also have been inundated as downpour between September 6 and 11 and overflowing rivers triggered fresh deluge in many districts, the report said.
   The worst affected district is Sylhet, while Kurigram, Chittagong, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Noakhali, Feni and Gaibandha districts also witnessed significant crop damage.
   The affected upazilas of the district are Sylhet sadar, Dakshin Surma, Goainghat, Balaganj, Zakiganj, Companyganj, Bishwanath, Fenchuganj, Golapganj, Jaintapur, Kanaighat and Bianibazar.
   Transplanted aman seedlings, seedbeds and vegetables on 62,166 hectares of land out of total 1,37,622 hectares in these upazilas were inundated.
   Crops on 40,354 hectares of land in Sherpur, 28,695 hectares in Gaibandha, 5,700 hectares in Rangpur, 992 hectares in Nilphamari, 43,903 hectares in Kurigram, 13,807 hectares in Comilla, 12,210 hectares in Mymensingh and 13,923 hectares in Sirajganj districts were submerged, said the report.
   Crops on 41,540 hectares of land in Jamalpur, 7017 hectares in Khagrachari, 2466 hectares in Rangamati, 16,385 hectares in Moulvibazar, 10,730 hectares in Sunamganj, 10,115 hectares in Lalmonirhat, 33028 hectares in Noakhali and 36,449 hectares in Feni were damaged by the recent wave of flooding that engulfed few districts afresh and hit many others twice in a month.
   In addition, latest bout of flooding also swamped crops on some 13,672 hectares in Bogra, 12,008 hectares in Netrakona, 55,250 hectares in Chittagong, 574 hectares in Jaipurhat, 705 hectares in Habiganj, 2,585 hectares in Cox’s Bazar, 1683 hectares in Brahmanbaria and 105 hectares in Rajbari districts.
   The department is yet to assess the extent of crop damage in the flooded districts as the fields are still under water, said a high official of the Department of Agriculture Extension.
   IRRI liaison scientist for Bangladesh, MA Hamid Miah told New Age, ‘The government has to initiate vigorous drive for early rabi crop to mitigate the sufferings of the poor farmers.’
   Miah, a former director general of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, suggested that the government should take up steps to distribute seeds of early harvested cucurbits vegetables like bottle gourd, sweet gourd, cucumber and okra to help the affected farmers recoup some losses as well as ensure vegetables supply to the market.
   Agriculture secretary M Abdul Aziz told New Age on Wednesday that the government would spend Tk 30 crore to support farmers to go for massive cultivation of boro paddy and rabi crop to make up for the flood losses.

More than Tk 10,000 invested in transplanted aman cultivation by Abdur Rashid, an elderly sharecropper of Dhupakandi of Solonga, Sirgajganj, was totally lost. The deluge that hit the northern district on the Jamuna for the second time in a month washed away the standing aman paddy on nine bighas, or three acres, of land he leased from other villagers.
   ‘What can I do now for a living? Nothing can be cultivated during the remaining part of this season,’ a visibly frustrated Rashid told New Age on Wednesday while describing the plight awaiting his nine-member family. He said he managed the money for aman cultivation by borrowing Tk 4,000 from a local [cooperative] society and selling paddy from his family’s food stock.
   The second flooding has damaged standing crops and seedbeds on about three lakh acres of land in the northern districts, according to initial estimate by the agriculture extension department. The department under the agriculture ministry is yet to assess the loss and determine the number of affected farmers. The earlier floods, in August, damaged standing crops on slightly more than three lakh acres of land in 14 northern districts.
   Young Afzal, his three brothers, and 10 others of Joydev Purbapara at Gangachara in Rangpur, lost what they called a cooperative scheme worth Tk 64,000 they had undertaken for rice cultivation on three acres of land and fish farming in three ponds connected to the rice fields. The overflow of water from the Teesta damaged crops in the entire area.
   ‘Our dream is lost. We took up the fishery project for the first time and became losers,’ Afzal said, pointing to the field that looked devastated. Farmers in their area are yet to see any government officials coming to them with help. Women, too, are awaiting employment opportunities. Afzal’s neighbour Shefali is one of the rare recipients of micro-credit from a non-governmental organisation. She borrowed Tk 7,000 to buy a cow.
   After losing his standing crops, including rice and jute, to the onslaught of flood water, Ramzan Ali of Rashidpur at Solonga, has resigned to his fate. ‘There is no work in this area. We live on God’s grace,’ he said, when asked how he ran his family.
   At a roadside nursery near the Hatikumrul crossing of the northern highway, Yakub Ali was waiting for a week to sell 65 pons [a pon equals 80 bundles] of rice seedlings, but there was no buyer because of the flooding in the surrounding areas. About 50 traders collected seedlings from the relatively higher land of Bogra and kept them there.
   ‘I could not anticipate that the flood would visit us again. I lost Tk 8,000 during the first flooding, recovered the loss later, and now have incurred a huge loss again,’ lamented Yakub, a trader in perishable goods.
   The second wave of flooding has also resulted in the miscarriage of a government plan to assist the flood-affected farmers by providing them with fertilisers and seedlings.
   As for plan for next cultivation, farmers of the region in general said they would not be able to cultivate rice this season. They will now have to wait for cultivating rabi crops and winter vegetables.
   However, a common concern they have about farming in the coming season is availability of fertiliser because of what they termed the complicated distribution system.
   Earlier, small traders would draw fertilisers from the dealers and sell them directly to farmers. But, to check smuggling, the government has recently introduced a regulation making it mandatory to show documents of land under cultivation for purchasing fertilisers from authorised dealers only — a process, which the common farmers find cumbersome.
   ‘It is difficult to buy fertiliser by standing in a queue and producing land documents. Besides, the dealers cannot supply us with the required quantity of fertilisers,’ Baran Chandra Das of Hatikomrul, Sirajganj, said. ‘The system virtually denies the sharecroppers the opportunity to buy fertilisers as they have no paper on land ownership,’ Baran pointed out.
   Habibur Rahman, an elderly farmer of Atkunia of Mithapukur, Rangpur, said, ‘The government introduces a system whimsically, which goes against us. [It seems] the officials have no idea how they can really help the farmers get established as the real backbone of the nation.’
   On access to financing from specialised banks, farmers said some of them had bad experience in the past. ‘Dalals [brokers] charged 200 taka in bribe for every thousand of taka we borrowed. So, nowadays we do not go to the banks,’ said Enamul Huq of Soran in Mithapukur.

Forty-year-old Harun Hawladar, who once lived happily on a large piece of ancestral land that was gradually devoured by the mighty Meghna, has been forced, like many of his fellow villagers, to do odd jobs to survive.
   Harun’s large farmland and his relatively prosperous days is now only a memory, and he does not want to talk about it as he now earns bread for his 3-member family by selling ice in the local Katakhali Bazaar (fish market), and has been doing so for the last five years.
   ‘We used to grow various crops round the year on our land and employed 20 day labourers, but now I have to sell ice to make a living,’ lamented Harun, who has lost all his property. His village Bajarti of Gajipur union under Haimchar upazila in Chandpur is now somewhere in the middle of the Meghna.
   Like Harun, nearly 45,000 families have been rendered destitute by the continuous erosion of the Meghna in the last 30 years, but have failed to get any share of the land in new shoals that rose years later at the same spot on the river.
   A septuagenarian, Sattar Hawladar, who lost all his land at Ishanbala about 40 years ago, has just built a hut to live on a shoal that emerged 20 years ago where his land once existed. He, like all others, is unable to claim his lost land because the locally influential persons have forcefully occupied the newly emerged shoals.
   Sattar, the founder of the Monipur Mulambari Government Primary School in Nilkamal union at Haimchar of Chandpur and once a prosperous farmer who used to employ at least 50 labourers on his land everyday, can now hardly earn a square meal.
   ‘Although the shoal emerged 20 years ago, I failed to get back my land because I could not give Tk 2,000 for each 3.75 decimal plot of land to the influential occupiers at Ishanbala,’ said Sattar.
   About 45,000 families have lost their property and become destitute in Haimchar upazila in the last 30 years, said Mohamad Mukhtar Ahmed, upazila nirbahi officer of Haimchar.
   He said that this year about 1,000 structures have been completely washed away and nearly 2,200 structures partially eroded due to the land-swallowing Meghna.
   Among the devoured structures are the century old Charbhairabi Bazaar, two cinema halls and the upazila health complex, said Mazharul Islam Shafiq, a resident of Haimchar.
   The health complex was built at the cost of Tk 45 lakh, but was eroded before its inauguration, he said.
   About 1,500 families in Char Bhairabi union have lost all their property in the last three months.
   Many people were forced to take up menial work after their lands and properties were devoured by the Meghna and are now barely surviving.
   Many of the affected people are afraid of returning to their land after the shoals emerged as they remain under water for a particular period every year.
   ‘I found my eroded land on the shoal but I could not return as it remains under water for 3 to 4 months a year,’ said Kartik who had a large store at Haimchar Bazaar and now sells betel leaves on the footpaths of Telirmor. Those who use the land have to build huts on stilts when the water submerges the shoal, he added.
   Out of six unions in Haimchar upazila, the Sadar, Nilkamal and Gajipur unions were completely eroded and a large portion of Charvairabi union was also washed away by the Meghna, said the UNO Mukhtar.
   Haimchar College, Puran Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad in Char Bhairabi are at high risk of erosion, he added.
   Besides these structures many others, including Nilkamal River Police outpost at Nilkamal, Babur Char Ashrayan Prakalpa at Charbhairabi union where about 40 families took shelter, Haji Akram Khan High School at Raghunathpur and the Jam E Masjid in Chandpur upazila are also threatened.
   The Asrayan Prakalpa near Bahariabazaar, where about 160 families who lost their lands to erosion were rehabilitated five years, is also at risk of the erosion.
   It is imperative to take effective measures to protect the Asrayan Prakalpa and other structures from erosion, said Kadir Bepari who took shelter there about five years ago after the Meghna washed away all his property at Baira.
   Abdul Baten Niyazi, headmaster of Haji Akram Khan High School on the bank of river Dakatia, a tributary of the Meghna, said the education of about 500 students of the school has become uncertain as the entire area of Uttar Raghunathpur is being threatened by erosion.
   Like the Meghna, all Bangladesh’s rivers carry a huge volume of water exceeded only by the Amazon in South America and the Congo in Africa. The annual floods from such a river system have never been contained. A third of the country is inundated every year, and up to two thirds in some years.
   ‘Water Development Board has not maintained the embankments well,’ said Selim Khan, a businessman of Puran Bazar, examining the reasons for chronic river erosion.
   Selim, who has been living here for the last 51 years, said the river is never dredged properly in the middle and the depth of the river at the banks becomes very deep, which causes the erosion.
   He alleged that the private dredgers lift sands in an unplanned manner and suggested that there should be a guideline for dredging.
   Water board officials said river dredging is very costly and it becomes even harder for the river Meghna whose flow of silt is very high.

The flood situation in the central part of the country deteriorated further on Friday and may continue to do so in the next two days, a Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre bulletin said.
   The frontier upazila of Baghaichhari in Khagrachhari district was experiencing a devastating downpour-triggered flood that inundated all the local government offices and the headquarters of the 9th Rifles Battalion, causing immense suffering to the people. Road communication between Baghaichhari and the rest of the country has remained suspended for a week.
   People have taken shelter either at the top of a few double-storey buildings in the upazila headquarters or atop hillocks. Acute scarcity of food and drinking water prevail in the flood-hit areas, while relief is yet to reach the upazila, locals said.
   The flood situation in country’s north, north-east, and south-east areas however started to improve, with the rivers in the regions beginning to recede, the FFWC bulletin said.
   The River Padma experienced a rise on Friday, flowing 103 centimetres above its flood level at Goalanda and may continue to swell, but at a slower rate, during the next two days.
   The Meghna too recorded a rise, flowing 20cm above the red mark at Bhairab Bazar on Friday, and is likely to continue rising in next couple of days.
   The Jamuna also swelled on Friday, flowing 96cm above the danger level at Sirajganj point, but may start receding today, the forecast said.
   All the rivers surrounding the capital marked rise on the day but were flowing below the danger levels.
   An executive engineer at the Bangladesh Water Development Board told New Age that the capital might not experience flood now as the water level in the upper catchments of the rivers has already begun to come down.
   The situation in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Netrakona, Sherpur, Comilla, Feni, Noakhali, and Lakshipur districts has also started improving, BWDB officials said.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has dismissed the notion that the country is placed under a dual rule and said he does not perceive any political role of the armed forces.
   ‘I don’t feel existence of dual rule… the army is assisting the civil government and playing an important role in curbing corruption, improving law and order, distributing flood relief. I don’t see the reflection of their political role through these activities,’ he said in an interview with BBC (Bangla Service) broadcast on Friday.
   Replying to a question, the chief adviser said the reasons that had called for promulgation of the state of emergency have not all disappeared, but assured that the emergency would be lifted at an appropriate time.
   On the formation of National Security Council, he said the government is pondering the matter as such institution exists in neighbouring countries, but no final decision has yet been arrived at.
   Asked if the government or its agencies are engaged in changing leadership of major parties or splitting the parties through reform process, Fakhruddin refuted the allegation saying that it is internal affairs of the parties to decide about their leadership and running their parties.
   He said lifting of the ban on indoor politics has created an atmosphere for political parties to sit with the Election Commission for discussing reforms of election rules and regulations.
   Asked whether the ban on indoor politics was relaxed soon after the arrest of Khaleda Zia in a bid to expedite the reform process to remove both Hasina and Khaleda from their party leadership, the chief adviser said he didn’t think there was any element of truth in it.
   He said the government had been contemplating the lifting of ban on indoor politics and
   it was done at an appro-
   priate time to allow parties to discuss their own party reforms as well as cooperate with the Election Commission in reforming election rules and regulations.
   Asked about the conditions imposed after lifting the ban on indoor politics, he said these were not conditions, but some explanations or parameters to give a clear idea about the indoor politics so those who would practice it would not face any confusion.
   He mentioned that Awami League already held a meeting at its party office and they had faced no problem.
   Asked why the state of emergency is not being relaxed after eight months of its promulgation, the chief adviser said it was imposed against an extraordinary background. The government is moving ahead with a certain mission to hold a free, fair and democratic election acceptable to all.
   Asked whether reforms are not possible by relaxing the emergency, he said the question is whether the emergency is creating any problems to general people.
   He asserted that the emergency is not causing any problem for general people, for the media in transmitting news or for national economy.
   He admitted that due to emergency some fundamental rights might be denied,
   but this is a temporary measure for long-term welfare of the nation.
   This temporary arrangement, he said, would continue for some time more as the government was conducting the twin tasks of holding a national election and curbing corruption, which have been accepted by the people.
   Asked whether he thinks evil forces or public grievances were behind the last month’s student unrest on Dhaka University campus, the chief adviser said the DU problem was resolved, but the one-man judicial commission that has been constituted to find out how and why this unrest had spread out.
   The government is waiting for the report of the inquiry commission, he added.

Several hundred garment workers, angered by rumoured killing of a fellow, clashed with the police, damaged vehicles and put barricade on highway Friday leaving 50 people, including a police official, injured at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone at Savar.
   Angry workers forced an entry into the protected zone, breaking security cordon, and damaged more than 10 factories inside. They vandalised at least 20 vehicles and blocked the Nabinagar–Kaliakair Road snapping traffic to and from the capital for about three hours, witnesses and the police said.
   The authorities of 71 factories located in the DEPZ announced general holiday on Friday fearing further spread of unrest, but some factories continued operation in full swing, said officials at the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority that regulates the EPZs.
   Two workers were arrested from the scene.
   Witnesses, the police and EPZ sources said, workers of the Featherlite Limited, located in the new zone of DEPZ, were maddened by the rumour that one of their colleagues, Helal, was missing and murdered Thursday.
   The workers of the factory, owned by the family of detained former state minister of power Iqbal Hasan Mahmood, joined their duties Thursday morning after a week of agitation, but they found Helal, one of their key spokesmen, did not join them at the lunch hour Thursday.
   As they inquired about Helal, the personnel department officials answered rudely, workers complained.
   ‘Helal was packed up and sent outside the factory,’ the workers quoted human resources official Kabir Hossain as saying.
   Enraged by this, they instantly attacked Kabir and severely injured him. They also attacked some other officials of the factory and ransacked their office rooms.
   As a rumour quickly spread among the workers that Helal was killed, fellow workers went on a rampage and damaged some furniture and windowpanes of the factory Thursday night.
   Later, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control at around 10:30pm.
   On Friday morning, the workers gathered in front of the main gate of the New DEPZ zone and kept the main gate under lock and key.
   At one stage, several hundred angry workers marched towards the Old Zone breaking the security cordon and pelted stones at a number of factories including A-1, Well Form, Hopeloon, Leni Fashion, Actor, Dong Bang and Day logs.
   As police tried to intercept them, a series of clashes broke out. Workers fought pitched battles with law enforcers.
   The police charged batons and fired 40 rounds of teargas canisters while workers countered the assault by throwing stones. At least 50 people were injured and assistant superintendent of police Motiur Rahman was one of them.
   Passengers, especially women and children, screamed for help as some workers threw stones at the passing vehicles on Nabinagar-Kailakoir and Tongi-Ashulia connecting roads, suspending traffics for more than three hours.
   The police, Rapid Action Battalion and army personnel rushed to the scene and brought the situation under control at around 12:00 pm.
   The police arrested Ilias of Featherlite limited and Monir Hossain of Dong Bang in connection with the clashes.
   BEPZA official Ahsan Kabir told newsmen, ‘The incident took place over a rumour and 71 factories declared general holiday on Friday.’ All the factories would resume production today, he said on Friday.
   BEPZA chairman Brigadier General Ashraf Abdullah Yusuf told New Age, ‘Such kind of incident is really painful as it took place over a rumour, but the situation is now under control.’
   He requested all the concerned of the DEPZ to exercise restraints considering the interest of the country as well as smooth operation of factories in the exclusive zones.
   Huge contingent of army, police, BDR and RAB personnel were deployed in and outside the EPZ.
   EPZ sources said Featherlite Limited workers had been agitating for a week demanding payment of their dues in arrears and shifting of wage date to the 10th of every month.
   The authority of the factory made partial payment of the wages on September 10 and offered to pay the rest on September 20.
   But workers rejected the offer and started work abstention from Wednesday, adding fresh demand of paying Tk 500 more as transport allowance along with Eid bonus.
   They, however, joined their duties Thursday morning after the BEPZA brokered a negotiation between the workers and the factory management.
   Earlier on June 3, 2006, DEPZ factories were forced to suspend production in the wake of violent workers’ commotion which left at least 100 people injured.

The Election Commission has prepared a new draft of an ordinance for electoral laws proposing stringent provisions including cancellation of membership of an elected lawmaker if found to have concealed facts in nomination papers.
   If an elected parliament member is found to have concealed any of the required information in the nomination papers, his or her membership will be cancelled and the candidate polling the second highest votes will be declared elected, the commission has proposed in the draft of the Representation of People Ordinance, 2007.
   Once promulgated by the president, the ordinance will replace the Representation of People Order, 1972.
   According to sources in the commission, the EC will finalise the draft ordinance after conclusion of its ongoing dialogues with political parties on electoral reforms and then it will be sent to the president for promulgation.
   The EC has incorporated a number of new provisions in the fresh draft for electoral laws, including the ones that make it mandatory to submit an eight-point personal information along with the nomination papers and election expenditure in a prescribed form.
   The new proposals suggested a single day poll schedule or a staggered election. According to the existing laws, parliamentary elections have to be held across the country on the same day.
   The EC, which on April 5 unveiled a draft of some proposals for reforming the existing electoral laws through amendment of the Representation of the People Order, 1972, has come up with new ideas over and over again.
   The newly inserted provisions proposed that the commission should have the authority to punish a person for contempt as enjoyed by the High Court.
   The draft ordinance says that an appeal against the conviction given by the EC for contempt may be made before the Appellate Division with the latter’s prior permission, while the constitution stipulates: ‘An appeal against the judgement…of the High Court shall lie as of right where the High Court division has imposed punishment on a person for contempt of the division.’
   The draft ordinance says that no one, unless registering his/her name in the voters’ roll, would be eligible for contesting the polls, while the constitution does not put such condition.
   The draft proposed an option of casting ‘no confidence votes’ for the voters with a provision for holding fresh polls to a constituency if half or more of the votes cast turn out to be ‘no confidence votes’.
   The EC also proposes it mandatory for parliamentary polls candidates to submit an eight-point personal information along with nomination papers.
   The information include academic qualifications along with certificate/s, whether he or she is accused in any criminal case or has any previous criminal records, profession, source of income, description of assets and liabilities and dependents of the candidate, amount of loans taken by the candidate for his/her company or dependents from any bank or financial institution, and whether he/she was a lawmaker and the role he/she played individually or collectively in keeping the commitments made to the people before the election.
   If anyone is found to have concealed facts in any of the documents, his/her parliament membership will be cancelled and the candidate receiving the second highest votes in the polls will be declared elected to the vacant seat.
   If no such competent candidate is available for the seat, the provision stipulates, the EC will arrange a by-election to the constituency.
   The new draft also includes the commission’s initial proposals for mandatory registration of political parties, barring loan and utility bill defaulters from contesting elections and barring government and foreign-funded NGO officials from contesting polls within three years of retirement or resignation, forbidding a candidate to contest polls for more than three constituencies and disposal of election-related cases within six months.
   On multiple candidature of a single candidate in general elections, the commission proposes introduction of a ceiling of three seats.
   The proposed condition for registration of political parties with the EC is: an existing political party will be eligible for registration if at least one member of it has been elected a member of parliament in an election since the independence of the country or if the party has polled at least two per cent of the total votes cast in the immediate past general elections. The EC also proposed that women should constitute at least 33 per cent of office-bearers of the central committee and other committees of a registered political party.
   The registered parties will have to hold their council sessions regularly in accordance with respective party constitutions, conduct regular audit of the party funds by professional audit firms.

India defeated Pakistan in a bowl-out after the arch-rivals played a heart-stopping tie during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup on Friday.
   With Pakistan needing one run to overtake India’s 141-9, Misbah-ul Haq was run out off the last ball of the innings to leave his team on 141-7.
   In the bowl-out, Pakistan’s Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi failed to hit the stumps at the other end.
   Indian bowlers Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa hit the wicket each time to give their team a 3-0 win.
   Both Pakistan and India qualified for the Super Eights round after ousting Scotland from the race.
   A sell-out crowd at the Kingsmead watched a slugfest between the two teams that swung from one corner to the other before the match ended with the scores level.
   Pakistan appeared on course to victory when they restricted India to 141-9 after captain Shoaib Malik had won the toss and elected to field in overcast conditions.
   But India hit back to reduce Pakistan to 103-6 in the 18th over, leaving the batting side needing a challenging 39 to win off the remaining 14 balls in the low-scoring match.
   The seventh-wicket pair of Yasir Arafat and Misbah swung the game Pakistan’s way by adding 38 off the next 13 balls, but failed to complete the crucial winning run.
   Misbah, who made 53 off 35 balls, patted the last ball from Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and ran but failed to beat the throw from the infield to the bowler, who broke the wickets.
   Left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan, returning to the Indian team after nine months, took 2-20 in his four overs.
   For Pakistan, seamer Mohammad Asif returned the second-best figures in Twenty20 cricket to restrict India to 141-9 in the first session.
   Asif used the overcast conditions to wreck India’s top order with 4-18, second behind New Zealander Mark Gillespie’s 4-7 against Kenya earlier in the week.
   India were reduced to 36-4 before Uthappa retreived the innings with 50 off 39 balls.
   Indian skipper Mahendra Dhoni hit 33 and Irfan Pathan made 20 to boost the total amid three frustrating stoppages as light showers swept the ground.
   Asif struck with his third delivery when he put out his right hand and grasped a return catch as Gautam Gambhir drove uppishly.
   In his next over, Asif bowled Sehwag, who made five on his return to international cricket after being dropped for the recent England tour.
   Yuvraj Singh holed out in the deep in Asif’s third over and the seamer met another success in his fourth and final over when he forced Dinesh Karthick to edge a rising ball on to his stumps.
   Uthappa fell soon after reaching his half-century when he was caught behind to give debutant left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir his first international wicket.
   Afridi clean bowled Pathan and Harbhajan Singh towards the end to restrict India’s total.

The followers of the expelled BNP secretary general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, have called a meeting of the party’s national standing committee, national executive committee and former lawmakers for today with his opponents raising question about the source of funding.
   The meeting will be held at a convention centre near Bhuiyan’s Gulshan house to be followed by iftar where they would determine their next course of action as Bhuiyan is set to leave for Singapore for a health check-up.
   The party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser, ASM Hannan Shah, on Friday said he expected an intervention in the matter by the Anti-Corruption Commission. ‘He [Bhuiyan] cannot afford such a party at a hotel. The Anti-Corruption Commission should take action in accordance with the people’s expectation.’
   ‘If someone holds a programme under the BNP’s banner, leaders and activists from all tiers should be invited. If invited properly, many are eager to join the programme including me,’ he said adding that Bhuiyan had no authority to call any such meeting as he had been expelled from the party.
   Hannan accused Bhuiyan of being singularly responsible for the expulsion of former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury from the party.
   ‘The expulsion of B Chowdhury was the result of Bhuiyan’s blueprint. He did not want to see any senior party leader standing in his way,’ Hannan told reporters at his DOHS residence.
   ‘I heard that Mannan had met B Chowdhury recently. He [Bhuiyan] is a cardiac patient and B Chowdhury is a specialist in the field. I do not know whether he went there for medical advice or to get rid of the awkward situation he is facing,’ Hannan quipped.
   About the rumours that Badruddoza may return to the party, Hannan said, ‘If anyone wishes to join or come back to the party, he will be scrutinised.’ He said he would neither confirm nor deny if he had any contact with B Chowdhury.
   Badruddoza’s party, the Liberal Democratic Party, will sit in a meeting on Sunday to decide on the invitations from both groups of the BNP to join them.
   Hannan said dialogues with the Election Commission would be held if the party decided. ‘But before making a decision, we will seek the party chairperson’s instruction,’ he said.
   Hannan also claimed himself to be the chief coordinator of the party in addition to his responsibility as the party chairperson’s adviser.
   When approached, Mannan Bhuiyan declined to make any political comments as it was the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
   ‘The month of Ramadan is the month of self-purification. All should seek mercy of Allah
   for their deeds and supplicate for the progress of the nation.’ Bhuiyan said on his way to a mosque to say Jumma prayers.

Already guaranteed a place in the Super Eights, Bangladesh will take on hosts South Africa today in their last group match of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.
   The match at the Newlands stadium in Cape Town will begin under lights at 10 pm (Bangladesh Standard Time). ESPN will televise the match live from the stadium.
   The Bangladesh players, bubbling with confidence after a fantastic six-wicket win over West Indies in the first group match, arrived in Cape Town from Johannesburg on Friday morning following a two-hour flight.
   The team was staying at Southern Sun Newlands Hotel which is just about a five-minute drive to Newlands and sits at the foot of the famous Table Mountain, visible from every corner of this lush city, said TigerCricket.com, the official website of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. The squad was scheduled to train at the Belville Cricket Club in the afternoon. The eleven for the match was to be announced after the practice. However, any change from the side that played against West Indies was not expected.
   Though the match has no value in the context of the tournament, the Tigers can expect little leniency from the hosts, who are eager to avenge their defeat in the World Cup. It will be their first meeting since Bangladesh’s famous victory in Guyana in April, which saw the Tigers reach the Super Eights defying all the odds in the Caribbean.

Australia bounced back from the embarrassment of defeat against Zimbabwe to crush England by eight wickets in a Twenty20 World Cup match at Newlands on Friday.
   Needing a win to advance past the group stage Australia produced an emphatic performance, bowling out England for 135 and then racing to victory in 14.5 overs.
   ‘We showed a lot of character,’ said Australian captain Ricky Ponting. ‘We were excellent today. We bowled well, the fielding was sharp and we showed more intensity.’
   Ponting laughed off pre-match comments by England’s Kevin Pietersen that England had a chance to humiliate Australia by knocking them out of the tournament.
   Left-arm pace bowlers Nathan Bracken and Mitch Johnson took three wickets each as Australia kept a tight clamp on the England batsmen.
   Australian opening batsmen Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden were in dominant form after their failure in the five-wicket loss to Zimbabwe.
   The pair shared a stroke-filled opening stand of 78 in 8.1 overs before Gilchrist was caught at long-on off leg-spinner Chris Schofield. Gilchrist made 45 off 27 balls while Hayden went on to make an unbeaten 67 off 43 balls.
   The result meant that Australia topped the group, with England also going through to the Super Eights stage on net run rate ahead of Zimbabwe. All three teams won one match.
   England captain Paul Collingwood said his team would now concentrate on their first Super Eight game against hosts South Africa at Newlands on Sunday.
   Andrew Flintoff was England’s top scorer with 31 off 19 balls but they were unable to put together any significant partnerships.
   England were only able to score 52 runs in the first nine overs, losing three wickets. Pietersen and Collingwood briefly threatened to shift the balance, putting on 25 in three overs.

The education ministry has abandoned the plan to reform the secondary school certificate examinations after spending about Tk 30 crore on the purpose, education ministry officials said.
   The ministry on July 25 decided that the students who would take the SSC examinations in 2010 would face structured questions instead of the existing essay types.
   ‘The government needs to train 89,000 teachers in the new system for its implementation in 2010. This will require Tk 10 crore more, but the education secretary did not approve the file,’ said a ministry official associated with the exams reforms project.
   ‘The reform plan has finally been abandoned as the ministry refused to allocate any more funds,’ he said. ‘Nobody knows when the new system will be introduced.’
   The introduction of structured questions is a component of a Tk 793-crore Secondary Education Sector Development Project under the ministry. The project director, Afzalur Rahman, sent the proposal to the ministry early July for the allocation of Tk 10 crore.
   Afzalur said if the teachers’ training was not completed by the time, it would not be possible to introduce the system in 2010. He said the education secretary, M Momtajul Islam, did not approve the fund.
   ‘We will send the proposal to the secretary once again and hope that he will approve it,’ Afzal said on Thursday. ‘About Tk 20 crore has already been spent on exam reforms.’
   But the ministry official said more than Tk 30 crore had been spent since 2004 on the reform.
   The structured questions were scheduled to be set for the examinees for the exams in 2008, but the groundwork in this regard has halted since November 2005.
   The ministry on May 6, 2007 decided that it would be introduced from the exams in 2009, but it had to revoke the decision in the face of opposition from different quarters.
   A number of educationists, joined in with guardians, also demanded that the new system should have been introduced in 2010 as both the students and teachers had been in the dark about it.

The Power Division has formed a 17-member advisory committee involving civil society actors, energy experts and business group representatives to oversee power sector activities and to make recommendations to improve situation.
   The committee, headed by the power and energy adviser, Tapan Chowdhury, included two from civil society, one from BUET, two from power experts, an energy economist, representatives of three business bodies, high officials of the power and energy divisions and power agencies and one from the defence.
   Sources in the division said the committee was formed in the past week, keeping similar to the kind of advisory committee formed during the BNP-led, four-party alliance government.
   Almost none of the recommendations of the committee formed by the BNP-led government have been implemented although the committee had meetings every month for two to three years, they said.
   The division has selected environmentalist Abdullah Abu Sayeed and journalist Ataus Samad as civil society actors, Ali Chowdhury from BUET, former Power Development Board chairmen ANM Rizwan and Khaja Golam Ahmed as experts and KAS Morshed of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies as energy economist.
   The presidents of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association, power and energy secretaries, and the chairmen of the power board, Rural Electrification Board and the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority have also been selected for the committee.
   The terms of reference of the committee included the formulation of short-, medium- and long-term programmes on increasing power generation, reducing systems loss, improving transmission and distribution systems and maintenance of the existing power units.
   The committee will also make recommendations on the formulation of citizen’s charter for better client service by the power agencies.
   ‘There is no major difference between this and the previous committee. Only the members have been changed,’ said a source.
   There were both ruling and opposition lawmakers on the previous committee along with the leaders of power board collective bargaining agents. ‘Such persons on the committee have been replaced with civil society actors in the new committee,’ said a source.
   Sources in the power division said the recommendations of this committee would be taken into consideration as the officials of the division are scared of taking any move fearing future repercussion.
   ‘The Anti-Corruption Commission recently filed a case against three important officials of the division for signing a file of allotment of shares of the Dhaka Electric Supply Company among the power division staffs during the previous government. Panic gripped all officials of the division and they are scared to move any file as they might fall in trouble when an elected government assumes office,’ said a source.

Energy adviser Tapan Chowdhury left Dhaka for Vienna on Thursday night to attend the 51st annual general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, where he is expected to hold talks on setting up nuclear power plants in the country.
   Tapan is likely to hold talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the world atomic energy watchdog, on the sidelines of the conference which kicked off in the Austrian capital on September 17.
   ‘We will seek cooperation from the IAEA director general on setting up nuclear power plants in Bangladesh as we are facing chronic power shortage,’ Tapan told New Age before his departure.
   The IAEA, which was set up as the world’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ organisation in 1957 within the United Nations family, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
   Tapan said that he might also discuss the nuclear power plant issue with representatives of other participating countries. ‘We are looking for different avenues as it usually takes a long time to implement a nuclear power project,’ he said. Tapan is likely to return home on Thursday.
   Bangladesh, facing severe electricity and fuel shortages to run power plants, is now looking for alternative sources like nuclear power plants as energy experts are urging the government to look for nuclear option.
   The foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in his recent visit to Russia sought Moscow’s assistance in setting up nuclear power plants.
   The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission last month apprised Tapan that the country could set up two 500MW nuclear power reactors at the proposed nuclear power plant site at Rooppur.

World deaths from ‘lifestyle’ diseases will double by 2015 unless all-out efforts are taken to combat them, the World Health Organisation warned on Friday.
   It said about 17 million people die prematurely each year as a result of the global epidemic of largely preventable chronic diseases — the leading cause of death in the world today.
   ‘Unless national interventions are urgently taken to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases, 36 million people will die of these diseases by 2015, nearly half of them before they turn 70,’ said Shigeru Omi, director of the WHO regional committee for the Western Pacific.
   The committee on Friday was winding up a five-day meeting in the southern South Korean island of Jeju.
   In 2005 the WHO set a global goal of reducing the projected trend of chronic disease death rates by two percent each year until 2015.
   High on the list are cardiovascular diseases — mainly heart disease and stroke — cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and obesity.
   The vast majority of cases are caused by a small number of known and preventable risk factors. Three of the most important are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use, the WHO said.
   Omi called for a ‘whole-of-society’ approach to prevention. ‘All sectors, from government to private enterprises, civil society and communities, will have to work together,’ he said. Regional health ministers urged national leaders to be role models for healthy lifestyles, including encouraging people to eat nutritious local food.

The US president, George W Bush, announced on Thursday he will pull some 21,500 combat troops from Iraq by mid-2008, but ruled out a full withdrawal and promised an ‘enduring’ US presence there.
   ‘Because of the measure of success we are seeing in Iraq, we can begin seeing troops come home,’ he said in a prime-time televised speech. ‘The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home.’
   Insisting the unpopular war can still be won, Bush said whoever succeeds him at the White House will likely inherit the conflict and warned against giving up on a fledgling ally that is ‘fighting for its survival.’
   With most public opinion polls showing the US public two-to-one opposed to his strategy, and his Democratic foes clamoring for a withdrawal, Bush defiantly said he would build ‘an enduring relationship’ with Iraq.
   Iraqi leaders ‘understand that their success will require US political, economic, and security engagement that extends beyond my presidency,’ said Bush, whose term ends in January 2009.
   ‘These Iraqi leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America. And we are ready to begin building that relationship in a way that protects our interests in the region and requires many fewer American troops,’ he said.
   The unpopular president said he had accepted advice from the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, that would bring some 5,700 troops home by Christmas and a total of 21,500 combat troops out by mid-2008.
   That would leave about 130,000 troops in Iraq, roughly the number in December 2006, one month before he escalated US force levels in a thus-far failed effort to give Iraq’s leaders room to reach key political compromises.
   Bush also bluntly acknowledged he was not satisfied with the pace of Iraqi political reforms that Washington views as critical to forging national unity and quelling sectarian violence and urged leaders in Baghdad to do more.

The Rapid Action Battalion on Friday filed a case against two persons, including a businessman, for assaulting the two members of the elite force.
   Deputy assistant director of RAB-4 Alamgir Sarker filed the case with the Kafrul police station against businessman Mohammad Ali Haque and his unidentified associate.
   Sub-inspector Shahabuddin Ahmed of the police station was assigned to the case. He told New Age on Friday that they started investigation but were yet to arrest the accused.
   Ali who was also severely beaten by two members of the elite force near BRTA office in the city’s Mirpur area following an altercation centring a road accident on Thursday is now undergoing treatment at Orthopaedics Hospital.
   Deputy assistant director Safayet Hossain, 30 and assistant sub-inspector Kamranur Rahman, 30, of RAB-4 sustained severe injuries as a mob beat them up following the incident.
   The Kafrul police rushed to the spot and rescued the RAB men. The three injured were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and later Ali was shifted to Orthopaedics Hospital.
   Ali’s wife Shahnaz Momtaz Shanta who is attending to her husband at the hospital told New Age, ‘I don’t know why a case was filed against my husband.’
   ‘Physicians informed me that two fingers of the hand of my husband were broken. He is the only earning member of our family and only God knows what is in my fate,’ Shanta added.

Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto will return to Pakistan on October 18, after living in self exile for more than eight years, a senior aide said on Friday.
   Benazir faces a slew of corruption charges and possibly arrest, but she has been in talks with president Pervez Musharraf about the likelihood of sharing power after a general election due around the end of the year.
   ‘Benazir Bhutto will be landing in Karachi on October 18,’ Makhdoom Amin Faheem, vice- chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, told a news conference.
   Self-exiled former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto announced a date for her return to Pakistan on Friday, without any breakthrough in sight in talks on a power-sharing deal with president Pervez Musharraf.
   Musharraf and Benazir have been trying for months to secure a pact that would help him get re-elected for a second five-year term and allow her to return without fear of prosecution on a raft of outstanding corruption cases.
   But, with a presidential election due within the next four weeks, there are no signs that they have reached an accord.
   Earlier this week, authorities bundled off another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to Saudi Arabia hours after he landed at Islamabad airport after a seven-year exile.
   But Sharif is the man Musharraf ousted eight years ago, whereas Benazir is a potential ally.

Myanmar’s pro-democracy party on Friday called for dialogue with the ruling military junta after a string of rare protests led to a government crackdown and the arrest of dozens of its members.
   The statement by the National League for Democracy, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, comes after the junta on Sunday threatened action against democracy activists and accused the party of inciting national unrest.
   ‘The expectations of the people, who hope for a change here, will survive if we cooperate by quickly building national reconciliation after holding dialogue,’ the NLD said in a statement.
   The party also denied it was the driving force behind recent protests, sparked by a surprise hike in fuel prices on August 15.
   Amnesty International estimates that up to 150 people have been rounded up in the crackdown since the start of the rallies, the largest in Myanmar in nearly a decade.