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A group of striking day-labourers of Platinum Jubilee Jute Mills at Khalishpur industrial belt in Khulna on Saturday assaulted a trade union leader and ransacked the house of another for what they alleged was their collusion with the factory management against their cause.
   Sources said the labourers went on an indefinite strike on September 3 in demand of permanent jobs. On Saturday, they resisted a number of officials when they tried to enter the mill premises at around 9:00am. The police immediately brought the situation under control and made way for the officials to enter the factory.
   A group of agitated labourers then went to the house of Mohammad Jahangir Hossain, general secretary of the mill’s trade union, blaming him and the trade union president, Delwar Hossain, for conniving with the factory management against the labourers on strike. Jahangir was not home at the time. The labourers in fury ransacked the house.
   On their way back, they found Delwar and beat him black and blue, witnesses said, adding a severely wounded Delwar took refuge in a nearby house.
   Police reached the spot at around 10:00am and arrested two labourers named Mujibor and Shamim for their alleged involvement in the ransacking of Jahangir’s house and the assault on Delwar, said the Khalishpur police. Additional police were deployed in the mill area to keep the situation under control, they said.
   More than 5,000 labourers work at the seven jute mills in Khulna-Jessore region on a ‘no work, no pay’ basis. They had recently been designated as irregular, daily-basis labourers, although some of them had worked at the mills for 20 to 25 years. At present, an irregular labourer operating a loom is paid Tk 100 for a day’s work and his assistant gets Tk 90.
   The irregular labourers of the seven jute mills had been striking since September 3 to press home a set of demands, with regularisation of their jobs topping the list.
   In another development, the sacked and retired jute mill workers of the mills have decided to demonstrate at the mill gates for two hours a day from Sunday, demanding payment of their dues.

Experts at a roundtable on Saturday made the reassuring statement that there is hardly any chance of tsunami (huge tidal wave caused by a quake in the seabed) in Bangladesh’s coastal areas.
   The Save the Environment Movement, a non-government organisation, organised the discussion on ‘Risk of tsunami in the Bangladesh coastal areas and things to be done’ following a warning of the possibility of a tsunami hitting the Bangladesh coastal belt on September 12.
   The environment experts said the Bangladesh coastal areas were less prone to tsunami. ‘But we cannot shrug off the possibility of a tsunami in our coastal belt. So we should take all possible precautions to face the disaster,’ one of the experts mentioned at the seminar moderated by Maksud Kamal, professor of the geology department of the Dhaka University.
   Mehedi Ahmed Ansari, professor of the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology and secretary-general of the Bangladesh Earthquake Association, Aftab Alam Khan and Syed Humayun Akhtar, professors of the Dhaka University, Ashutosh Sutradhar, associate professor of BUET, Khurshid Alam, disaster management expert and Abu Naser, convener of the Save the Environment Movement, among others, took part in the discussion.
   They underlined the need for research and formation of a national expert committee to assist the government in taking measures to face tsunami.
   The experts also asked the authorities concerned to set up more cyclone-centres and repair the existing ones to provide shelter to the people in the disaster-prone areas.

Speakers at a dialogue arranged in Dhaka on Saturday by the British Broadcasting Corporation suggested the government to give subsidy on food as an immediate remedy for stemming the tide of price spiralling to avert a serious crisis.
   Striking a note of caution that the caretaker government has to shoulder responsibility for a failure, they also said the government should extend its relief activities to help out the hapless multitude.
   The speakers at the BBC Bangladesh Sanglap observed that the responsibility for continuous price hike would certainly fall on government’s shoulders and it would create an indicator of this government’s success and failure.
   ‘I think the government’s food department has failed to perform its duty in controlling the food-management system,’ former adviser to the last caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan said.
   ‘The government has taken the responsibility of rice and wheat… But the price hike of rice and wheat does effect other commodities,’ he added.
   Noted writer Selina Hossain painted a stark scenario that a ‘silent famine’ is stalking over the country.
   Former whip of parliament Ashraf Hossain of BNP and member of the Awami League advisory council Subid Ali Bhuiyan also took part in the sanglap as panellists. BBC Bangla Service in conjunction with the BBC World Service Trust organised the event, moderated by BBC’s Kamal Ahmed.
   ‘The government should increase its food storage and distribute it among the poor people for free or at a subsidized rate,’ said Akbar, also a former cabinet secretary.
   The former finance advisor also observed that the government should also encourage the private sector to come forward to help resolve the problem.
   AL leader Subid Ali observed that the price-hike situation would turn out to be an indicator of government’s ‘failure and success’.
   Ashraf Hossain, recently expelled as BNP joint secretary general by detained party chairperson and ex-PM Khaleda Zia, observed that the government has already admitted its failure in controlling price hike by engaging BDR to control the market.
   Asked if the Election Commission could avoid either of the BNP faction’s demand for inviting them for the ongoing dialogue, Akbar Ali said the EC discussed with the Islamic Oikya Jote who had only one representation in the last parliament. ‘So they should discuss all such parties.’
   Subid Ali and Selina Hossain observed that the EC should determine whom they would call for dialogue as per their set criteria.
   About the IOJ suggestion to the EC for making the registration condition of having 33 per cent female representation on party committees optional, all the three discussants, excepting Selina
   Hossain, agreed on this point.
   ‘The provision would make problem in party activities,’ Akbar Ali said, suggesting that 50 per cent quota should be reserved for the females in Jatiya Sangsad.
   Subid Ali and Ashraf Hossain said imposing the restriction would not be rational and the decision should be left to party constitution.
   Asked about chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed’s remark that there is no dual governance (of the government and army) in the country, all the discussants suggested mending the remark.
   ‘His (CA) remarks have another consequence, that is, he is admitting the responsibility for what is happening in the country… Whatever the army is doing, doing with the full approval of him (the CA cum government),’ Akbar Ali noted.
   About the ongoing crisis in Bangladesh Biman, the discussants felt the need of a quick solution by opening the sky for foreign airlines and chartering airbuses from abroad.
   ‘As a short-term solution the sky should be opened for 6 to 12
   months… And in the long-term, the organisation should be privatised by encouraging the local investors to take over it,’ said Akbar Ali.

The United States has asked Bangladesh to crack down on two pirate CD manufacturers which have been accused of causing huge losses to some producers.
   ‘The Bangladesh government has taken the issue seriously and decided to crack down on the two CD companies,’ a commerce ministry official said Saturday
   The US previously expressed its concern over the lax implementation of copyright regulations in its 2007 Special 301 Report and at World Trade Organisation discussions.
   The US has accused two CD manufacturers, World Com Ltd and Sonic Enterprise Ltd, located in Tejgaon Industrial Area and Konabari of Gazipur respectively, of unchecked CD piracy.
   The commerce ministry official, who asked not to be named, said, ‘Of the two companies, one is of Pakistan origin and registered with the Board of Investment.’
   ‘Copyright rules are now very strong in Pakistan and that’s why the company shifted to Bangladesh. We’ve asked the BoI to take appropriate action,’ he added.
   Commerce ministry additional secretary Golam Mostakim said, ‘The cultural ministry is the authority to take action against CD piracy that violates intellectual property rights.’ The cultural affairs secretary, ABM Abdul Howk Chowdhury, told the news agency that his ministry moved to take action against the two pirate CD makers.
   The US government’s 2007 Special 301 Report included Bangladesh in its ‘watch list’ for copyright violations despite Bang-ladesh enjoying a waiver in the application of WTO copyright rules until 2013, as a least-developed country. ‘The US decision to put Bangladesh on its watch list was prompted by rising piracy in CDs and books,’ said a commerce ministry document, adding, ‘The inclusion may be of concern to Bangla-desh because it discourages US investment, trade and commerce here.’
   The 2007 Special 301 Report provides the US government with an effective arsenal of trade and investment sanctions against foreign countries that it deems to have infringed its intellectual property rights.

World Ozone Day will be celebrated across the world today, marking the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to protect the stratospheric ozone layer.
   One hundred and ninety-one countries have so far signed the protocol, worked out to phase out the production and consumption of ozone depleting chemicals.
   The city of Montreal in Canada where the protocol was first signed will host the 20th anniversary of this environmental agreement.
   The United Nations General Assembly on December 19, 1994 proclaimed September 16 Interna-tional Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, marking the date in 1987 when the Montreal Pro-tocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed.
   The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, in a message on the occasion said, ‘Twenty years later, the developed world has nearly pha-sed out these substances. And their use in the developing world has plummeted by over 80 per cent.’
   He congratulated all parties to the Montreal Protocol for the achievement which he said was ‘remarkable.’

A delegation of Dhaka University teachers will today meet the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, to discuss the situation on the campus after the students’ unrest and its after-effects in late August.
   The university’s vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, will lead the delegation comprising representatives of the syndicate, the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association and the deans of different
   faculties.
   The issues of re-opening the university, arrest of teachers and students and safety and security of the residents on the campus will get prominence in the meeting.
   On Thursday a university delegation exchanged views with the army’s chief of general staff, Sina Ibn Jamali, and a top military intelligence officer, Chowdhury Fazlul Bari, at a restaurant and called for immediate release of the arrested teachers and students which, they said, would be conducive to restoring normalcy on the campus.

A Barguna-bound night coach was robbed early Saturday on the Dhaka-Patuakhali highway, despite a team of police on patrol trying to resist the highwaymen.
   The police team later arrested one of the passengers for his suspected involvement in the robbery.
   Police sources said the bus, bearing the registration number Dhaka-Metro-Ba-3319, left Dhaka with 40 passengers at 8:30 on Friday night.
   After it had crossed the River Kirtonkhola at around 2:00am on Saturday, six to seven armed robbers stopped and boarded the bus posing as passengers. At one stage, the gang took over from the driver and robbed the passengers of Tk 20,000 in cash, ornaments, mobiles, and other valuables worth Tk 50,000, the sources said.
   When the police team chased the coach on suspicion, the robbers opened fired on it, forcing the team to fire back. The robbers stopped the bus at Katherpul under Nalchhity upazila of Jhalakathi district and fled with the booty.
   The police arrested a passenger, Shamim Al Mamun, 31, son of Kanchan Ali of Bhorpasha village under Nalchhity upazila, as a suspected accomplice of the highwaymen after finding two sharp weapons on him.
   The superviser of the coach filed a case with the Nalchhity police in this connection.

The driver of the Silk City express train that derailed in Tangail Thursday evening and the stationmaster of the Ibrahamabad station to the east of the Jamuna Bridge were suspended on Saturday.
   Silk City headed for Rajshahi from Joydevpur derailed at Char Patalkandi under Bhuyanpur in Tangail Thursday evening. The incident took place between Ibrahimabad station and the eastern end of the Jamuna Bridge.
   Railway communications beween Dhaka and northern districts were restored early Friday, about 12 hours after the incident.
   Divisional railway manager (Pakshey) Md Anwarul Kabir said the driver, Anwar Hossain, and the stationmaster, Fazar Ali, had been suspended as they were at faults for the shunting of the train. A four-member committee was formed to investigate the incident, he said.

The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal led by Hasanul Haq Inu decided on Saturday to participate in the dialogue on electoral reforms with the Election Commission.
   The decision came from a meeting of the JSD central executive committee held at the party’s central office. The meeting urged the components of the Awami League-led alliance to take a common stance on electoral reforms and hoped that the next general elections would be held by the end of 2008 following the roadmap announced by the commission. The commission should draw up a new voters’ roll within the shortest possible time and carry out electoral reforms to ensure free and fair elections, the meeting maintained. JSD executive president Moinuddin Khan Badal, vice president Sharif Nurul Ambia, general secretary Syed Zafar Sajjad, and joint general secretary Shirin Akhter, among others, addressed the meeting chaired by party president Hasanul Haq Inu. The daylong meeting at the Taher Auditorium also discussed a number of organisational issues, a JSD news release said.