Main Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The interim government’s authority to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for signing a Policy Support Instrument deal and handing over the management of Newmooring container port in Chittagong to the private sector has been challenged in the High Court.
   A Supreme Court lawyer, M Mesbahul Islam, on Sunday filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the government’s move in these regards.
   The petition is likely to come up for hearing before a High Court bench of Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana and Justice Abu Tarique today, the petitioner’s counsel Abdul Wadud Khandaker told the media.
   According to the constitution, the caretaker government has no power do deal with any policy matters, other than discharging regular day-to-day affairs and providing the Election Commission with the necessary supports for holding free and fair elections, the petition mentioned.
   The caretaker government has no right whatsoever to negotiate for or sign any agreement with the IMF or the World Bank as that does not fall under its work defined by the constitution, it argued.
   ‘In flagrant violation of the constitution, the government has partially acted upon the prescription[s] of the IMF and the World Bank that has caused price hike of essential commodities and given rise to inflation,’ causing ‘colossal and irreparable damage’ to the national economy, it alleged.
   Signing of a PSI agreement with the IMF will not only push the country’s economy to unpredictable consequences, it will also allow the global lending agency to interfere in matters which is clearly and manifestly opposed to the country’s sovereignty, the petition said.

A group of left-leaning politicians and civic leaders, at a meeting on Sunday, urged the government not to sign a loan agreement, called Policy Support Instrument, with the International Monetary Fund.
   They called on the government to publicise the conditionalities of earlier agreements with international lenders and also the agreements with multinational companies. They also urged it to rescind the conditionalities that were harmful to the national interest, and scrap the exploitative deals with rogue multinational companies.
   ‘The government cannot ignore the concern expressed by the businessmen about the evil designs and activities of the IMF and the World Bank, which are out to cripple the national economy,’ noted a resolution of the meeting, chaired by Badruddin Omar, president of the Jatiya Mukti Council.
   The politicians and eminent citizens cautioned the government about raising utility tariffs, saying that by prescribing such a policy the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank want to increase the cost of production in order to turn Bangladesh into a mere market of foreign goods.
   The meeting observed that the price-hike of essentials had made the public miserable, and the closure of jute mills and retrenchment of workers and shortage of fertiliser would have a devastating consequence on the economy.
   The meeting’s participants expressed concern at the oppression of garment factory workers and harassment of university teachers and students, and demanded release of those who have been arrested.
   ‘All the fundamental rights and civic liberties of the people are being denied on the plea of the state of emergency in the country,’ they said in the resolution, demanding withdrawal of the emergency and restoration of human rights.
   The meeting was attended, along with many others, by noted citizens Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah, Professor Akmal Hossain, and Manzurul Islam Khan and Mujahidul Islam Selim of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bimal Biswas of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, Khaliquzzaman of the Bangladesher Samaltantrik Dal and Tipu Biswas of the Jatiya Gano Front.

Commercial banks have asked Bangladesh Bank to provide clear guidelines on how to operate bank accounts of companies whose account-operating owners are either absconding or have been convicted or are under arrest. They have also asked it to give them legal back-up in operating those accounts.
   The banks are facing legal problems with such accounts as the convicted businessmen, either in hiding or in jail, have sent messages to the banks, telling them that they want to operate their companies’ accounts by themselves.
   The bankers raised the issue at a regular meeting with the Bangladesh Bank’s governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, on Sunday, said a senior banker who attended the meeting.
   The matter is purely legal, said another senior banker, adding that they need legal back-up to take a decision on the operation of the accounts. He hoped that Ministry of Finance would soon make a decision about the legal matters, he said.
   The BB’s governor, at the bankers’ meeting, told them to take steps for smooth functioning of the companies of absconding, convicted or arrested owners. He said under the bank-client relationship they should take any steps to help the companies.
   ‘If you face any problems, let us know and we can discuss the issues,’ the governor told the bankers.
   A managing director of a bank said it is difficult for a financial institution to take any steps due to legal complications.
   The governor said the businessmen are facing less harassment as the front-desks of the banks have been told not to ask them too many questions.
   In the meeting various issues were discussed on how to make the economy vibrant, said the governor.
   ‘The excess liquidity in the market should be transferred to the productive sector,’ he told the bankers.
   The governor urged the bankers to provide short-term loans to flood-affected farmers immediately as part of the post-flood rehabilitation programme. The private banks pledged that in the current fiscal year they would give Tk 1,067 crore as agriculture loans.
   He emphasised the need for providing loans to the housing sector as many other industries are attached to it and depend on it.
   Four banks have already signed agreements with the central bank for the housing refinance scheme under which the Bangladesh Bank would provide a loan of Tk 300 crore at 10 per cent interest rate.
   The vibrant housing sector creates big employment opportunities in the economy, said the governor.
   He also urged the banks to provide loans to small and medium enterprises and female entrepreneurs.
   Many SME entrepreneurs are not experienced or do not have much knowledge about banking, said the governor, adding that the banks should provide every facility to them.
   Salehuddin gave clear instructions to the banks to specify the role and kind of work of advisers in the banks.
   ‘Many banks have appointed advisers in addition to managing directors.
   The banks must tell the central bank what specific work the advisers do,’ he said.

An official of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee was abducted in Afghanistan Sunday, three days after another executive of the aid agency was killed by gunmen in the war-torn South Asian country, agencies report.
   A gang of six gunmen stormed into the BRAC office at Pul-i-Alam, about 50 kilometres south of Kabul, and kidnapped Nurul Islam, Afghan officials said.
   ‘He was kidnapped at noon by armed men, they also took 30,000 afghanis ($600),’ Logar governor Abdullah Wardak told Reuters.
   The governor did not rule out the kidnappers’ link to Taliban insurgents, but said this could also be an act of criminals seeking a ransom.
   BRAC’s public affairs director M Anwarul Haq confirmed the news. ‘We are in touch with our office in Kabul as well as the Afghan authorities,’ he told BSS.
   Anwar said the Kabul office of BRAC is trying to ascertain the cause behind the abduction.
   It is the second incident involving BRAC officials working in Afghanistan, where the aid agency has been working since 2002 in areas of health, education and women empowerment.
   One of its area managers Abdul Alim (38) was killed last Wednesday by gunmen while he was riding a motorbike.
   BRAC has a network of 251 offices in 24 Afghan provinces, employing around 4,300 people, including over 200 Bangladeshis, BRAC sources said.
   Taliban rebels have stepped up their campaign of kidnapping Afghans and foreigners this year, seizing 23 South Koreans in July and killing two of them before releasing the rest after more than a month. A German man kidnapped in July is still being held by the insurgents who killed his German colleague after he suffered a heart attack.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Sunday assured a Dhaka University delegation of handling the matters related to the university, including cases filed against the teachers and students, with a positive attitude.
   He gave this assurance at a meeting in the afternoon with a delegation of 14 syndicate members headed by the vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, where they discussed the overall situation of the university.
   ‘It was a very important meeting and the army chief was also present there. We projected with due emphasis how the university sees the present situation. We also requested the government to ensure division facilities for the three teachers detained in jail,’ Faiz told reporters at a briefing in his office after the meeting.
   Faiz said the university delegation also requested Fakhruddin to ensure the authorities’ ‘sympathetic’ attitude towards the arrested students.
   He said the government explained its stance on the unexpected incidents on the campus between August 20 and 22, and assured them that it would have a positive attitude in dealing with the matter.
   ‘The government also assured us that it would provide necessary support for restoring the proper academic atmosphere to the campus after the university is re-opened,’ Faiz said.
   Three professors — DUTA president Sadrul Amin and general secretary Anwar Hossain, and social sciences dean Harun-or-Rashid — are now in jail in connection with cases filed against them for inciting the
   students to break the Emergency Powers Rules during the August 20-22 campus protests.
   Sadrul Amin was sent to jail after he had surrendered in court on Sunday, and the two other teachers have been in jail since August 24.
   Neem Chandra Bhowmick, the provost of Jagannath Hall, who was also named on the charge sheet, has been absconding since the filing of the case.
   The army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, and the education adviser, Ayub Quadri, were also present at the meeting.

The Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president, Sadrul Amin, wanted in three cases in connection with the August 20-22 campus protests, was sent to jail after he had surrendered in a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Dhaka on Sunday.
   Magistrate SM Ferdous Alam gave the order after Sadrul, also arts dean, appeared in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court of Dhaka.
   The magistrate on Thursday issued warrants for arrest of 18 people, including Sadrul Amin and his fellow Neem Chandra Bhowmick, as they did not appear in court in connection with the hearing in the cases filed by the police.
   The warrants were issued against applied physics professor Neem Chandra, also the provost of Jagannath Hall, and 16 leaders of student wings of both the Awami League and the BNP. They are yet to surrender in court.
   Before his surrender, Sardul Amin, a professor of English, told the media, ‘I am innocent and have never conspired against any government.’
   Sadrul’s lawyers appealed for division facilities and treatment for him as there was no provision to seek bail under the Emergency Powers Rules.
   Masud Ahmed Talukder, a counsel for Sadrul, told the court, ‘My client is a victim of circumstances.’
   He said, ‘If the police had brought charges after screening video footage at the time of filing the first information report against unnamed people, Sadrul would not have been charged.’
   After hearing, the magistrate ordered jail authorities to provide treatment and special facilities for Sadrul Amin in prison in accordance with the jail code.
   Sadrul was among the four Dhaka University teachers who were charged by the police with breaching of the Emergency Powers Rules by instigating demonstrators during the three-day campus protests.
   The investigation officers of the cases on September 9 submitted the charge sheet to the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court, indicting 21 people.
   The teachers’ association’s general secretary Anwar Hossain, social sciences dean Harun-or-Rashid and student Moniruzzaman Sarder of Jasimuddin Hall were arrested earlier. They are now detained in jail.
   The teachers were indicted in three cases filed on August 23 with the Shahbagh police against unnamed people in connection with the protests at Dhaka University resulting from manhandling of some students by some army men at the university playground on August 20.
   The four teachers were charged with instigating of the demonstrators and the rests were charged with leading the demonstrators.

Brett Lee claimed the first ever hat-trick in the Twenty20 international as Australia completed an emphatic nine-wicket win over Bangladesh in their opening Super Eights match at Cape Town on Sunday.
   Lee removed Sakib al Hasan, Mashrafee bin Murtaza and Alok Kapali with the fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries of his third and the innings’ 16th over to complete the treble that restricted Bangladesh to 123-8 after being put in to bat first.
   Matthew Hayden smashed an unbeaten 73 to help Australia sail to 124-1 with six overs and a ball to spare. Adam Gilchrist, dropped on nought by Alok Kapali off Mashrafee, made 43 before he was run out.
   Earlier, Bangladesh’s batsmen restrained their natural attacking instincts at the start and never picked up any momentum. They had plenty of wickets in hand to go for late charge but Lee’s hat-trick dashed all their hopes.
   There could have been another hat-trick in the afternoon had Mushfiqur Rahim not denied Nathan Bracken in the final over. Bracken had Aftab Ahmed and Farhad Reza out with the third and fourth balls of the over. But Mushfiq flicked the fifth off the pads behind square for a single.
   Aftab scored 31 off 34 balls – a knock that was nowhere near his usual batting. The right-hander smacked just two boundaries during his 51-minute stay, enough to testify how he shelved up himself in the middle.
   He, however, has some excuses for not being able to expedite the run rate at the end. The 23-year old watched Brett Lee’s hat-trick from the non-striking end and huffed and puffed to get the strike once Farhad Reza joined up with him.
   Regretfully, Reza neither tried to give Aftab a strike, nor he managed to take a big shot. Before begin dismissed by Bracken Reza squandered 13 balls to take only two singles and one of those two runs came from a free-hit.
   Earlier, Tamim Iqbal and Nazimuddin started the innings on a cautious note and the pair were on the right track until the latter drove Mitchell Johnson at cover to Ricky Ponting to be out for 11 off 17.
   Tamim was next to go lofting a Michael Clarke into the sky in his familiar fashion after coming down the track. Ponting took a simple catch to get rid of the left-hander for 32 off 40 balls, which in the end turned out to be highest score for Bangladesh.
   It was the 11th over of the innings and the platform was ready for the new batsman Mohammad Ashraful. But the consistently inconsistent Bangladesh skipper survived only six balls and scored seven runs.
   Stuart Clark outfoxed the Bangladesh skipper with the slower ball and he skied it tamely at the point area only for Andrew Symonds to run across from cover to hold an easy catch, effectively ending Bangladesh’s chance to compile a competitive total.

Albie Morkel hit three massive sixes off successive balls and then took two wickets as South Africa beat England by 19 runs in a World Twenty20 Super Eights match at Newlands on Sunday.
   Morkel’s lower order hitting enabled South Africa to score 154 for eight after a stuttering top order performance. He followed up by dismissing England’s top scorers, Matt Prior and Owais Shah, as England were restricted to 135 for seven.
   A key turning point, though, was the dismissal of Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, England’s key batsmen, in the space of three balls.
   Pietersen was run out by a direct hit from Makhaya Ntini at backward square leg after he collided with bowler Shaun Pollock as he raced to the bowler’s end.
   Pietersen lost his balance and his bat went flying but he was only centimetres short of making his ground. Pietersen fell heavily on his left elbow.
   Two balls later England captain Collingwood was caught at slip off Pollock off the first ball he faced and England were 27 for three.
   Prior (32) and Shah (36) put on 55 off 47 balls for the fourth wicket before Morkel had Prior caught at backward point. He bowled Shah in his next over.
   Morkel’s big hitting transformed South Africa’s innings. They had struggled after being sent in and were on 112 for five when leg-spinner Chris Schofield came on to bowl the 18th over.
   In an over which cost 21 runs, Morkel hit his first two sixes over midwicket and out of the ground onto a railway line which runs close to the perimeter fence. Television technology estimated one of the hits to have traveled 106m - the biggest hit of the tournament so far. The other went 102m.
   Morkel’s third six was hit straighter to wide midwicket off a full toss. The left-hander made 43 off 19 balls with four sixes and three fours before being caught off the last ball of the innings.
   Stuart Broad claimed two early wickets as South Africa slipped to 42 for three. Until Morkel’s assault South Africa were unable to get on top as England captain Paul Collingwood made a bewildering 15 bowling changes in the space of 20 overs.
   
   Teams
   South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, Justin Kemp, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Albie Morkel, Vernon Philander, Johan van der Wath, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini.
   England: Paul Collingwood (captain), Matt Prior, Luke Wright, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Owais Shah, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Chris Schofield, Stuart Broad, Jeremy Snape, James Anderson.
   Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK), Tony Hill (NZL). TV umpire: Ian Howell (RSA). Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).

The government has launched an action plan to battle corruption in public offices and reduce people’s harassment through tightened monitoring of activities of public servants.
   Cabinet Division mapped out the action plan in line with the government’s vow to pull corruption by its roots from the governance and address the common grievances of the masses against public servants at all levels and the bureaucracy as a whole.
   All government offices under ministries, divisions and directorates have been ordered to implement the action plan to make the administration corruption-free, transparent, accountable and service-oriented, sources in the bureaucracy have told New Age.
   The latest directives of the interim government to streamline public administration and establish good governance reached all public offices.
   A designated ‘focal point officer’ will keep watch on the implementation of the government’s agenda in each of the offices under the ministries, divisions and directorates.
   ‘FPOs will receive complaints from aggrieved persons, investigate those and settle the disputes,’ reads the directive.
   The complaints must be dealt with in an impartial and transparent manner, and the victims must be informed of the actions taken against the officials or employees concerned for proved wrongdoings.
   FPOs, if required, could propose the higher authorities for any action.
   ‘The very motive of the arrangement is to ensure transparency in public administration, making it accountable
   to people and free of corruption,’ the government order says.
   Cabinet Division has asked the ministries and divisions to send names, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of designated FPOs for public notification and posting on official website, sources said.
   The provision of FPO would gradually be expanded to the offices at the district and thana levels, a Cabinet Division official said.
   Visitors at the secretariat expressed their satisfaction over the latest campaign of the government to free bureaucracy from corruption and hassles, but said the government must constantly monitor the activities of FPOs in different ministries for desired output.
   Most-visited ministries like home, establishment and education should have more than one FPO to handle the avalanche of complaints of harassment and bribery.
   ‘It’s no doubt a good initiative. But I am not convinced until the system works,’ Shafiqul Azim, a schoolteacher of Bramhanbaria, who came to the education ministry on Sunday for professional reason, told New Age.
   ‘What we want is fair treatment, which is often missed in the practice and attitude of bureaucrats, particularly in the ministries of home and establishment,’ said Abul Kashem, a trader from Rangunia, Chittagong, who came to the home ministry.

A Thai passenger plane crashed and burst into flames as it landed in driving rain on the resort island of Phuket, killing 87 people including foreigners, officials said.
   A senior civil aviation official said the pilot of the MD-82, operated by budget carrier One-Two-Go and carrying 123 passengers and seven crew, had received permission to abort the landing at the last minute.
   Instead the plane smashed onto the runway, careered into an embankment and broke in two, witnesses and officials reported.
   Marine Keisel, from Paris, was aboard a plane behind the one that crashed and saw the accident happen.
   ‘When the plane landed it caught fire,’ she said at Phuket airport. ‘We could see the fire coming out of it. It was chaos inside my plane.’
   Television images showed the blackened, smouldering jet lying on grass off the runway by a fence and close to trees. Officials and rescuers could be seen carrying bodies covered with blankets from the wreckage in the pouring rain.
   The health minister, Mongkol Na Songkhla, said in a statement that 87 people had died and 43 survived, accounting for all those on board. Initial reports had put the total on board at 128.
   Officials believe 15 survivors were Thai and 28 were foreign but were still verifying the identities of the dead and injured.
   ‘Some victims died of fire, some were thrown out of the airplane,’ deputy provincial governor Vorapot Ratsima said.
   ‘There are bodies piled up inside the smouldering wreckage,’ Vorapot told Channel 11 television earlier. ‘What we have to do is to identify and return dead bodies to their relatives.’
   Deputy transport minister Sansern Wongcha-um earlier said that there were at least 70 foreigners on board.
   Officials at one of Phuket’s main hospitals said the 29 people they were treating included citizens from Australia, Austria, Britain, Iran, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands.
   Other hospitals on Phuket, Thailand’s largest island and a popular resort destination, said they were treating people from the Netherlands, Sweden and Thailand.
   The plane had flown in from the capital Bangkok in mid-afternoon in heavy rain and low visibility.
   ‘The pilot asked to go around,’ Chaisak Angkasuwan, director general of the country’s air transport authority, told TiTV television.
   ‘The control tower allowed it but the aircraft fell to the runway and the body broke.’
   Another official said the aircraft had slid off the runway in the rain and slammed into the embankment.
   Later, Chaisak told reporters: ‘The committee will investigate the cause of the crash from the black box and the record from the aviation tower.
   At Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, where the jet had started, an information centre was set up for anguished relatives.

Three pirates were killed and five others injured in a shootout between the police and a gang of pirates in the River Jamuna in Char Bharanga area under Daulatpur upazila of the district Saturday night.
   Two police sub-inspectors — Mazhar and Belal — also sustained injuries in the heads during the gunfight that took place at about 11:30pm.
   The police arrested five pirates and seized firearms, ammunition and an engine-driven boat from their possession.
   The dead were identified as Khalek Fakir, 30, of Rajdhoria village under Bera upazila in Pabna, Sumon, 28, of Doyalnagar village and Mannan, 32, of sadar upazila in Rajbari.
   Police superintendent Imtiaz Ahmed said acting on a tip-off, a team of police from the Daulatpur police station went to the spot where a gang of 20 pirates were preparing to commit a piracy.
   Sensing the presence of the police, they opened fire on the lawmen.
   The police also returned the fire resulting in the gunfight that continued till 1:00am, he added.
   Two pirates were killed on the spot while another died later.
   The police seized five pipe guns, a revolver, 16 rounds of bullet, two cartridges, three weapons, three mobile sets and a bottle of local wine from the possession of pirates.
   Four of the arrested pirates were identified as Hontej Mandal, 30, of Dobirchar village under Bera upazila, Masud Rana, 27, of Kabilpur village, Yasin Gazi, 32, of Nawdubi village and Afzal Sikdar, 22, of Dhawabera village under sadar upazila in Rajbari.
   The police suspected that all of them were the members of Purba Banglar Communist Party.

Leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party’s faction led by AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury were of divided opinion on returning to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party at a series of meetings on Sunday.
   Top leaders of the party, however, decided to continue discussion on the issue for two or three days more, as the series of meetings held on Sunday ended inconclusively.
   Badruddoza presided over the meetings of the party presidium, national executive committee and leaders of the front organisations of the party to get their views.
   Most of the leaders, who addressed the Sunday meetings, opined in favour of ‘conditional return’ to BNP, while others suggested either the revival of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh or continuation of politics as the LDP, said meeting sources.
   ‘A suitable environment must be created for any dialogue, and it might be created if the BNP leaders apologise publicly for the wrongs they have done to Bikalpadhara’s leaders,’ said the LDP’s organizing secretary, Mahi B Chowdhury.
   The majority of the leaders, who preferred returning to
   BNP, suggested formation of a BNP faction with expelled secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, while some leaders wanted to join the mainstream party led by Khaleda Zia, said sources.
   A section of the leaders also preferred to form an electoral alliance with the nationalist parties, including BNP, they added.
   ‘The two groups of the BNP now realise that Prof Badruddoza Chowdhury may save the party in the changed
   situation,’ LDP’s secretary-general, Abdul Mannan, told reporters at the Baridhara KC memorial. ‘We will make a decision on the issue in two or three days.’
   He said the majority of the LDP’s members are aggrieved and indignant as many of leaders of the BNP and the four-party alliance had abused Bikalpadhara [now LDP] leaders and its politics in the last four years.
   ‘We will not join others, but if all nationalist forces get united — keeping thieves, corrupt people and terrorists far away — Prof B Chowdhury may give them the leadership they so desperately need,’ said Mannan, apparently setting a condition for joining BNP.
   Former president Badruddoza Chowdhury, also the founding secretary-
   general of BNP, left the party in 2002 as he was forced to resign from the country’s presidency in 2002. He formed the Bikalpadhara Bangladesh in March 2004. Later he formed the LDP with another BNP renegade, Oli Ahmed, in October 2006.

The Krishak Sramik Janata League chief, Abdul Kader Siddiq, on Sunday asked the Election Commission not to register Jamaat-e-Islami with the
   EC until they made a public apology for fighting against the independence in 1971.
   ‘Do not register any party like Jamaat as it opposed the independence war and did not seek an apology in public for committing war crime till date,’ Siddiq told the commission at a dialogue on electoral laws reforms.
   The commission’s meeting with the KSJL was the second in a series of dialogues with political parties to finalise the draft of the electoral reform proposals before the parliamentary elections expected before the end of 2008. The next dialogue will take place with the Ganatantri Party on September 20.
   Responding to the KSJL proposal, chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda observed that the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had forgiven the war criminals through a general amnesty when the question of what to do with the war criminals arose a year after the independence.
   ‘The people against whom there was no specific charge [of war crime] were granted amnesty,’ the CEC said.
   ‘These people [war criminals] should have been punished… It’s you people who made the anti-independence Shah Azizur Rahman the prime minister after 1975. The anti-liberation elements were also in the cabinet of the last government… Now you are asking us what to do… How can we deal with it now,’ the CEC asked.
   Kader Siddiq said they did not want to identify any individual as being anti-independence…Rather our reservation is about an organisation like Jamaat which we call anti-liberation. They killed people, raped women and committed other crimes [during the war of independence].
   Moreover, the KSJL president said, the constitution of Jamaat says of the rule of Allah while the EC pledges to uphold the constitution of the country.
   Emerging from the dialogue, Kader Siddiq told reporters that the issue of war criminals could not be avoided showing the instance of general amnesty.
   Giving his party’s opinion about the commission’s electoral laws reform proposals, Kader Siddiq, urged the EC to cancel Jamaat’s election symbol, ‘scales’ saying that this symbol was being used around the world as the symbol of justice.
   The KSJL appreciated an EC-proposed condition for party registration that stipulates that at least 33 per cent of the office-bearers in party committees should be women. But, he said, the provision was not realistic in the present social circumstances. So it should not be wise to implement the provision at the moment, he added.
   The KSJL opposed introduction of transparent ballot boxes and supported continuation of the traditional steel boxes. The Islami Oikya Jote, an alliance of some small Islamist parties, with which the EC held the first of its dialogues, also favoured continuation of traditional steel boxes.
   The KSJL suggested appointment of district judges or officials of same status from judicial services as returning officers. At present deputy commissioners (administrative cadre) discharge the duties of returning officers for the constituencies in the districts under their jurisdiction.
    The KSJL proposed that the EC should raise the ceiling of election expenditure to Tk 10 lakh from Tk 5 lakh.
   The party suggested that the EC should drop its proposal that the candidate polling the second highest votes will be declared elected if an elected parliament member was found to have concealed any of the required information in the nomination papers. The party proposed to conduct fresh polls in such circumstances.
   The KSJl lent support to the EC proposal for disbanding parties’ student fronts, but suggested that professionals and expatriates should be allowed to take part in politics as fronts.
   ‘The expatriates have been contributing to the country’s economy by sending remittances. Considering their contribution and to imbue them with patriotism, there should be a scope for them to affiliate with any political parties,’ the KSJL said.
   The KSJL differed with the proposed condition that the parties should have offices in half of the 64 districts and upazila headquarters and have a minimum of 1,000 members in each district and 200 in an upazila, and suggested that offices in eighth district should be considered adequate.

Dhaka on Sunday decided to send a probe mission to Malaysia for investigating the Bangladeshi wage earners’ current problems which gave rise to the hunger strike in front of the Bangladesh mission there by those who were defrauded by agents and recruiting companies.
   The decision was taken at an emergency meeting, chaired by Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, of the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry and other concerned ministries.
   ‘Due action will also be taken against any Bangladesh agency found involved in defrauding the job-seekers,’ Iftekhar told newsmen after the meeting.
   He said that the inter-ministry probe team, headed by acting secretary of the of expatriates’ ministry Md Abdul
   Matin Chowdhury, would soon leave for Kuala Lumpur for on-the-spot investigation and
   submit its report to the government on the problems faced by expatriate Bangladeshi workers and the plight of the victims of fraud who went on a hunger strike.
   Iftekhar, quoting his conversation with the Bangladesh high commissioner-designate in Kuala Lumpur, said the Bangladeshi workers who were on hunger strike left the premises after being assured of some kind of temporary solution.
   He said that Bangladesh has already lodged a strong protest with Malaysia against the workers’ sorry plight and sought stern action against the Malaysian company, PTC Asia-Pacific, for its failure to provide suitable jobs and facilities to the Bangladeshi workers it has recruited.

The Awami League acting general secretary, Mukul Bose, on Sunday came under fire from the dissidents for his remarks that the party could not be reformed keeping Sheikh Hasina aside.
   The dissidents who are pressing for inner-party reform, contending that the party could be run without Sheikh Hasina, if required, held an informal meeting at the Dhanmondi residence of Professor Abu Sayeed where they strongly criticised Mukul for his statements.
   ‘I have said in the past, I am saying now and will say in future that it is not possible to bring about reform in Awami
   League without Sheikh Hasina,’ Mukul Bose told reporters on Saturday.
   The dissident leaders asked Mukul for a clarification for such remarks and accused him of making statements ‘contrary to the ongoing reform initiatives’.
   ‘Everybody charged him [Mukul] for his contradictory remarks and asked him to refrain from making such statements,’ Abu Sayeed told
   New Age on Sunday night, adding that such statements might hamper the party’s
   unity. He said that Mukul had tried to defend himself
   saying that he told everything in line with the resolution of the last working committee meeting.
   ‘We censured him for his remarks and asked for a clarification,’ Professor Abdul Mannan, also a former lawmaker, told New Age, adding that the leaders pointed out a number of ‘contradictory remarks’ he had made at different times.
   He said that Mukul had claimed he was misquoted by the media.
   ‘I said what I thought was essential to uphold the unity of the party,’ Mukul told New Age on Sunday.
   He admitted that he had visited the residence of Abu Sayeed but claimed no other leaders were present there.
   ‘Nobody has so far asked me anything about my remarks. If anyone raises any question, I will answer…,’ Mukul added.

The law adviser, Mainul Hosein, on Sunday hinted that most of the corruption suspects on the upcoming list prepared by the national coordination committee on corruption and serious crimes would be politicians.
   ‘I guess the next list of corruption suspects would include mostly politicians and there is little possibility to find businessmen’s names on it,’ Mainul told a news briefing.
   He urged the businesspeople to shrug off fear and confusion and resume their normal activities.
   The coordination committee has so far named 142 corruption suspects. The next list will be finalised by the end of this month and the total number of corruption suspects would be around 220 as stated by the chief adviser in his last address to the nation broadcast by television and radio channels.
   The adviser said the interim government had taken various steps to remove the impediments to businesses to boost economic activities in the country, which had remained stagnant since the launch of anti-corruption drive.
   The government also assured the business people of necessary assistance in investing their ‘undisclosed’ money by paying tax, Mainul mentioned. ‘But despite the initiatives, businesses are not picking up,’ he observed, adding that the business community should come up with courage and invest to give a boost to the economy.
   He attributed the continued price hike of essential commodities to increased prices on the international market, which he said were beyond the government’s control.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Sunday sued former law minister Moudud Ahmed on charge of possessing assets disproportionate to his legitimate income.
   Shariful Haque Siddiqui, an assistant deputy director of the ACC, lodged the case with the Gulshan thana against Moudud for concealing information in his wealth report and amassing assets beyond his known sources of income.
   Moudud Ahmed amassed assets worth Tk 7,38,48,237 by corruption, and he hid information of his assets worth Tk 4,40,37,375 in his wealth report.
   According to the details of the case, Moudud concealed an FDR account in the Islampur branch of AB Bank worth Tk 3 crore, and Tk 1.4 crore in another account with the Motijheel branch of IFIC Bank.
   On July 3 the ACC served a notice on Moudud asking him to submit a wealth statement, which was submitted on July 23.
   The ACC’s move to sue Moudud was made just when his counsels had submitted bail bond to the Special Tribunal on Narcotics in Dhaka for his release from jail.
   AKM Enamul Haque, the judge of the tribunal, on Thursday ordered that Moudud might be released on bail, granted by the High Court, after furnishing a bail bond of Tk 1 lakh and getting the written assurance of the headmaster of a high school or the principal of a college in the city that he would not jump bail.
   The army-led joint forces arrested Moudud Ahmed on April 13, and he was charged with illegal possession of liquor, several bottles of which were reportedly seized from his residence during his arrest.
   A case under the Emergency Powers Rules was later filed against Moudud, and he was remanded for four days for interrogation after being produced in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka on April 14.
   The court sent Moudud to jail on a month’s detention after the end of the remand.
   Moudud, after losing the legal battle, submitted his statement of assets to the ACC when asked to do so.
   In the meantime, the High Court granted bail to Moudud and declared his detention illegal.

The Chief Adviser’s Office on Sunday asked the Power Division to post daily the electricity generation figures and the progress of different development activities on its web site to inform the people of the state of the power sector.
   The directive was issued after the Power Development Board recorded its highest ever electricity generation at 4,004 MW on Saturday night. Power generation on Sunday increased to 4,085MW.
   Power secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan asked the Power Cell to regularly upload the amount of the daily electricity generation and also the progress of development in the power sector in the division’s website.
   It was the first time that the generation of electricity in the country exceeded 4,000 MW; the previous highest electricity generation was recorded last month at around 3,800 MW.
   The electricity generation, however, decreased to around 3,400 MW two days after the previous record was set on July 23 due to the tripping of some old power plant units.
   Power generation increased to around 4,004 MW as the authorities resumed operation of both the 125 MW Barapukuria power plant’s units, 80 MW Tongi power plant and 360 MW Raujan power plant. The Kaptai hydropower plant has also been generating electricity in full swing for the last few days because of the increase in water-level during monsoon.
   Fouzul told New Age on Sunday that power generation had increased this year compared to last year, when generation was around 3,000 MW only, because of timely maintenance of the power plants’ units.
   ‘Previously the PDB could not shut down power units for scheduled maintenance in due time, resulting in the frequent tripping of the units. We have taken special permission from the chief adviser to shut down power units in time for maintenance, and this has yielded good results,’ he said.
   Energy adviser Tapan Chowdhury told reporters last week that although the PDB predicted that electricity generation would cross 4,000 MW, he would be happy if the power generation could be sustained at around 3,700-3,800 MW during the Ramadan since some of the power units are old and could face technical problems at any time.
   The Power Division, meanwhile, has decided to examine the technical, economic and environmental aspects of introducing energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFL).
   The division will hold a meeting on the work-plans of different power agencies on September 19 on introducing CFL bulbs that consume less electricity than the traditional bulbs and tube-lights used in the country.
   A high official said CFL bulbs had both merits and demerits. ‘On the one hand the CFL bulbs save energy but on the other hand the power factors of the bulbs are low and the bulbs are not environment-friendly. Besides, they are costly. So, before introducing them, we have to examine all the consequences and ramifications,’ he said.

Nepali authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in four south-western towns following violent protests against the killing of a local politician on Sunday, a local government official said.
   Gunmen on a motorbike shot dead Mohit Khan, a leader of the centrist Nepali Congress Party in Chandrauta town, said a district administrator.
   The murder sparked protests among local residents who clashed with the police and set fire to dozens of shops and vehicles. The violence spread to three nearby towns in the southern plains bordering India.
   ‘The situation is under control after we imposed the curfew.’ Town residents will be confined to their homes around the clock until further notice.
   Local media reports said Khan had been a member two years ago of a vigilante group supported by the then government which fought Maoist rebels towards the end of their decade-long insurgency.
   But further details about the unrest and the motive behind the politician’s killing could not be confirmed. The former Maoist rebels have now joined a coalition government with mainstream political parties under a peace deal.

The Election Commission has cleared the decks for Pervez Musharraf’s re-election as Pakistan’s president for another five-year term by amending the rules governing the presidential polls, according to a minister.
   ‘The Election Commission has amended the Presidential Election Rules 1988 so that Article 63 of the Constitution no longer applies to the president,’ media reported here on Sunday, quoting federal minister for parliamentary affairs Sher Afgan Niazi as saying.
   Article 63 lays down various conditions under which a person can be disqualified from being a member of parliament.
   ‘Now Article 63 does not apply to the president. Its clauses which prevent government servants from participating in elections unless they have been retired for at least two years, and stop anyone who holds an office of profit in the service of Pakistan from participating in elections, also do not apply to the president,’ the minister said.
   According to Niazi, after amending the rules, the chief election commissioner has issued a notification, which has become part of an official gazette, under which Musharraf can contest the presidential polls and subsequently get re-elected as the Islamic nation’s president.

Flood situation started improving on Sunday as major rivers receded although they kept flowing above danger mark, said bulletin of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.
   The flood warning centre said flooding in the nine central districts — Rajbari, Faridpur, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Chandpur, and in Dhaka’s Nawabganj and Dohar that have freshly flooded — will start improving from today.
   The New Age correspondent in Manikganj said around one lakh people marooned at Ghior, Daulatpur, Harirampur and Saturia were facing an acute shortage of food and drinking water. Hundreds of flood victims in the district have contracted waterborne diseases.
   The correspondent in Gopalganj said 17 unions of Muksudpur and some of Kashiyani and Kotalipara were inundated on Sunday.
   The River Padma marked a fall on Sunday, flowing 106cm above danger mark at the Goalanda point. It may keep falling today, the flood warning centre bulletin said.
   The Meghna recorded a slight rise at the Bhairab Bazar point and flowed 28cm above danger mark on Sunday.
   The Jamuna observed a fall, but flowed 77cm above danger mark at the Sirajganj point on the day.
   Low areas in Dhaka’s east have been inundated by the second spell of flooding on Sunday, but the capital is still not threatened as water level in the catchments of most rivers started falling, the bulletin said.
   All the rivers surrounding the capital marked a rise and flowed below danger mark on Sunday. Some of them may cross danger mark today, the centre said.
   The correspondent in Moulvibazar said Juria, Kulaura and Baralekha experienced flash flood on Saturday and the River Kushiyara and Hakaluki Haor kept swelling on Sunday because of onrush of water from the hill areas across the border.
   Five drowned in flood water in the district in a week, villagers said. Schools, colleges and madrassahs in flooded areas remained closed.

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Sunday described the meeting organised by Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and his followers on Saturday as a ‘flop’ saying that some known faces had attended the gathering.
   ‘They [ followers of Bhuiyan] admitted that the attendance at the meeting was thin,’ Delwar said when his attention was drawn to Saturday’s meeting convened by the expelled BNP secretary general. ‘The number of their supporters is decreasing day by day.’
   ‘The meeting organised by the people expelled form the party have no right to do so and those who attended the meeting went there at their own risk,’ he said.
   ‘We are not against reforms. We want reforms in the party but it has to be carried out in line with the party’s rules and regulations, not the way Mannan Bhuiyan wants,’ he said.
   Party standing committee member RA Ghani questioned, ‘Why Mannan Bhuiyan now prefers a joint leadership in the party? Why did not he ask the party chairperson to give him some authority or why did he continue discharging the responsibilities of the party secretary general under such a situation?’
   About Mannan Bhuiyan’s charge that the party chairperson Khaleda Zia and her followers are ‘all corrupt’, Delwar said, ‘It is the court’s jurisdiction to determine if anybody is corrupt or not. Mannan Bhuiyan should refrain from mudslinging.’
   On Bhuiyan’s allegation that the BNP leadership used to ask people seeking party tickets for polls if they had money and arms, Delwar said, ‘How could Bhuiyan obey such leadership for years?’ He, however, added that politics should be dominated by the politicians instead of industrialists.
   The BNP secretary general denied reports that there was a brewing feud between him and the party chairperson’s adviser ASM Hannan Shah. ‘There is no feud, no misunderstanding between us. Hannan Shah has a lot of contribution to the party. The chairperson can designate anybody any position.’

The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Sunday observed that the ban on politics should be relax in the districts by year-end and said the Election Commission would pressure the government to do so.
   ‘The government must do it [relax the ban on politics outside Dhaka]… as we will start holding elections with the election to the Rajshahi City Corporation from January,’ Shamsul said at the dialogue with Krishak Sramik Janata League in the commission conference room.
   He said that the commission would pressure the government to relax the ban across the country.
   The interim government relaxed the ban on politics on September 10 to create a congenial atmosphere aiming at holding dialogues with political parties.
   The government, however, did not allow the political parties to open their offices in the districts as the relaxation on ban on political activities applies only to the capital city only.
   A ban on all politics was slapped by the government on March 8.

US deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asian Affairs John A Gastright is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka Tuesday to weigh the latest political development, especially progress in the roadmap towards holding the elections by 2008.
   A US embassy release on Sunday said during his two-day visit, Gastright will hold talks with senior government officials and civil society actors on a wide range of bilateral issues and the progress in the roadmap towards the elections by the end of 2008.
   Foreign ministry sources said Gastright would meet interim government head Fakhruddin Ahmed, army chief General Moeen U Ahmed, foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda and acting foreign secretary Md Touhid Hossain.
   ‘Gastright’s discussion with the officials here will mainly touch on the government’s progress towards holding the next general elections, state of governance and human rights,’ said an official.
   Gastright, who is in charge of US foreign affairs with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, last visited Bangladesh in December 2006.

Left-leaning political parties are taking preparations to place a common proposal for electoral reforms when they will sit in dialogues with Election Commission.
   Leaders of Workers Party of Bangladesh and Ganatantri Party on Sunday held a meeting in Dhaka to discuss the issues for the dialogue.
   Ganatantri Party is scheduled to join the Election Commission dialogue on poll reforms on September 20.
   ‘We, the left, want to assert our common stand in the dialogue with the Election Commission on electoral reforms,’ Ganatantri Party presidium member Nurur Rahman Selim told New Age after the meeting at the Workers’ Party central office.
   ‘We are proud that the EC incorporated most of the proposals made by the Awami League-led alliance and the 11-Party Alliance. We feel these proposals are ours,’ he added.
   The party will request the EC to reduce the political party registration fee from Tk 25,000 to a nominal amount and keep the ceiling of election expenditure at Tk 5 lakh, he said.
   WP president Rashed Khan Menon and Gantantri Party president Mohammad Nurul Islam attended the meeting. Chaired by Ganatantri Party adviser Azizul Islam Khan, the meeting was also joined, among others, by WP leaders Bimal Biswas, Haider Akbar Khan Rano and Quamrul Ahsan, and Gantantri Party leaders Mahmudur Rahman and Sharafat Ali Hira.

The Bangladesh Rifles and the Rapid Action Battalion members in a joint raid seized a huge amount of ammunition in the Garo hill in Jhenaigati upazila Sunday, three days after another such ammo haul.
   The BDR sector commander of 45 Rifles Battalion Colonel Anisuzzaman told the news agency that acting on a tip-off, they raided the hill area at about 4:00am and found cartons stuffed with bullets.
   They recovered the bullets, loaded in three pickup vans and took those to Mymensingh sector of the BDR.
   Details could not be known yet as the drive was still continuing.
   A team of the BDR arrested an indigenous youth, Russell Sangma, along with 29,100 bullets from Bakakura village in Jhenaigati upazila on September 13.

The joint forces on Sunday picked up Dhaka University unit Chhatra Union president, Manabendra Dev, from his house in Old Town of Dhaka.
   ‘Five army men entered our house at around 4:15pm and asked my brother [Manabendra] to follow them. They did not show any warrant,’ Sajib Dev, Manabendra’s younger brother, told New Age on Sunday.
   ‘The army men locked the main gate before entering the house. Manabendra was in his room,’ Sajib said.
   ‘We are yet to know where he has been taken to and why he has been picked up,’ Sajib said at 10:00pm.