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

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Monday submitted a charge sheet against former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s detained eldest son Tarique Rahman and his wife and mother-in-law for amassing illegal wealth and hiding information of assets in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   The investigation officer of the case, ACC assistant director Taufiqul Islam filed the charge sheet with the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka, Golam Rabbani.
   He also appealed to the court for issuing warrants for arrest of Tarique’s wife Zubaida Rahman and mother-in-law Syeda Iqbalmand Banu. The magistrate, however, did not pass any order in this regard.
   The case will be transferred to the court of metropolitan sessions’ judge, Dhaka for trial soon, court sources said.
   This is the first charge sheet filed against Tarique, who faces about a dozen corruption and criminal cases. Fifty-seven prosecution witnesses were named in the charge sheet.
   In the charge sheet, the investigation officer pressed charges against Tarique, also the senior joint secretary general of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, for amassing wealth of Tk 2,74,93,087 beyond his known sources of income and hiding assets of Tk 2,16,48,087 in his wealth statement submitted to the commission.
   He pressed charges against Zubaida and Iqbalmand for abetting Tarique in hiding the assets by submitting false documents and trying their best to prove that assets of Tk 35 lakh out of Tarique’s total ill-gotten wealth were earned by them legally.
   The charges against Tarique are punishable with imprisonment for 13 years and fine. If the charges are proved, the ill-gotten assets might also be confiscated.
   ACC deputy director Zahirul Huda filed the case with the Kafrul police on September 26, 2007, accusing Tarique of acquiring illegal wealth of Tk 4.82 crore and concealing information of property worth more than Tk 4.23 crore in his wealth statement.
   Tarique submitted his wealth statement to the commission on June 10, 2007 through the jail authorities, claiming to own assets of Tk 1.37 crore in his name and in the names of his wife and daughter.
   Taufiqul Islam investigated the case and filed the investigation report with the commission on January 13, 2008.
   The army-led joint forces arrested Tarique at his mother’s house in Dhaka cantonment on March 8, 2007.

The Awami League on Monday called upon the government to release Sheikh Hasina before the party launches a countrywide mass signature campaign on April 5, or face tougher action programmes.
   Condemning the jail authorities’ misbehaviour with the ailing former prime minister and the disgraceful manner in which she was taken to the court from Square Hospital and then whisked away to the special jail, the senior leaders of the AL also warned that the party would turn the hunger strike, scheduled for mid-April, into a popular uprising if Hasina was not sent to the United States for treatment by that time.
   ‘Our Dhaka city unit will begin a mass signature campaign on April 5 demanding her [Hasina] release and we will observe a countrywide mass hunger strike by mid-April. We want her release before April 5 so that we need not go for movement’, AL
   presidium member Amir Hossain Amu told a discussion meeting marking the Independence Day organised by the party’s city unit at its Bangabandhu Avenue office in the afternoon.
   He warned that the party would go for tougher action programmes to get Hasina freed if the demand was not met by the deadline.
   ‘The seeds we have sown by announcing the mass hunger strike will turn into a mass upsurge, if Sheikh Hasina is not released’, said Tofail Ahmed, another presidium member.
   He said that the party had ‘no trust in the interim government after the shameful attitude it has shown to our leader on Sunday’.
   Terming the government unconstitutional, presidium member Suranjit Sengupta demanded immediate withdrawal of the state of emergency and lifting of the ban on politics to restore the people’s democratic rights.
   ‘The government’s arrogant attitudes are pushing us towards movement. If the emergency is not lifted and a specific date for elections is not announced immediately, the Awami League-led 14-party alliance will announce the date for the polls’, Suranjit said.
   He also demanded Hasina’s re-admission to hospital within 24 hours.
   Suranjit urged the Supreme Court to issue an order to send Sheikh Hasina abroad for her proper treatment considering her worsening health condition.
   ‘The country has been turned into a jail and we have been living in this virtual prison for the last one year. We have reached the limits of our patience and now we want to be free’, acting AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said asking the leaders and activists to observe all action programmes to be announced by the party,
   He warned the government not to take the issue of Hasina’s treatment lightly ‘as the Awami League will not go back home before realising the demand.’
   ‘We have written to the chief adviser, adopted resolutions in our working committee meeting demanding Hasina’s proper treatment but the government has not paid heed. We ask the government once again to release her unconditionally and send her to the United States for treatment’, Ashraf said.
   He said that the government had started work at upazila and thana levels to hand-pick candidates for the next parliamentary elections which was unbecoming of a non-party caretaker government.
   ‘Stop such activities and announce a specific date for the elections after lifting the state of emergency’, Ashraf said.
   Referring to media reports, he said the government was planning to lift the ban on indoor politics across the country from April 14, ‘but the Awami League does not want indoor politics, it wants lifting of the state of emergency first.’
   Presided over by the acting president of the party’s city unit, MA Aziz, central and city leaders addressed the meeting among others.

Former finance minister M Saifur Rahman’s eldest son Naser Rahman was jailed for 13 years on Monday for amassing illegal wealth and hiding assets in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   Khandaker Kamaluzzaman, judge of the special judge’s court 9 in the Jatiya Sangsad complex, ordered confiscation of Tk 1.8 crore worth of Naser’s wealth, which is disproportionate to his legitimate sources of income.
   The court also fined Naser, also a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker, Tk five lakh and ordered him to serve one more year in jail in case of failure to pay the fine.
   The court sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years for amassing illegal wealth and three years for hiding assets in his wealth report and ordered consecutive execution of the sentences, meaning Naser would serve the sentences one after another.
   The period of the jail terms will be counted from February 3, 2007, when Naser was arrested, the court said in the verdict.
   ACC assistant director M Moniruzzaman filed the case with the Gulshan police on May 27, 2007 against Naser and his wife Rezina Begum.
   Naser was also jailed for nine years by a Sylhet court on September 18, 2007 in an extortion case.

A Dhaka Court on Monday sentenced Khandaker Akhter Hamid Paban, son of BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, to 17 years rigorous imprisonment in an arms case.
   Metropolitan special tribunal judge Shafiul Azam also awarded the same punishment to four others — Paban’s maternal cousin Nahid alias Mota Nahid, Anwar Hossain, Masud Ali Apu and Delwar Hossain Ratan.
   The court sentenced each of the five accused to 10 years in jail for possessing illegal arms and another seven years for keeping bullets.
   After the delivery of the verdict, Paban shouted threats apparently at the judge saying, ‘You will not be spared. Your children will face its consequences.’
   Paban’s sister Luna Khandaker also shouted at the court and said it was an ‘unjust verdict as it was delivered as per the government’s directive.’
   Nahid burst into tears, saying ‘I surrendered to the court honouring the judge thought I was not involved in the case. But the judge was not kind to me.’
   Paban’s lawyer Gazi Touhidul Islam told reporters that ‘None of the 14 state prosecution witnesses in their depositions had said anything against Paban. So this verdict cannot be accepted.’
   Paban’s lawyer also said that they would appeal against the verdict to the High Court.
   Additional public prosecutor Kabir Hussain told reporters, ‘Witnesses’ accounts and evidences proved beyond doubt that Paban had possessed illegal firearms which he later handed over to Nahid.’
   According to the FIR in the case filed with the Pallabi Police Station on October 30 by RAB-4 officer Enayet Al, four co-accused of Paban were carrying illegal arms to snatch a taxicab.
   RAB had arrested them near Pallabi embankment and seized a Germany-made revolver and five bullets from them.
   The arrestees alleged that the arms and bullets belonged to Paban, who was later arrested at Japan Garden City in Mohammadpur.

Political parties should unite for immediate withdrawal of the state of emergency and getting back the rights to practice politics freely, said thinkers, politicians and journalists Monday.
   ‘Our first call is to forge unity against the non-political and undemocratic forces that are subduing the politics and political process,’ leading thinker Farhad Mazhar said in a keynote paper presented at a roundtable discussion.
   He cautioned the political parties, which, according to him, were hostile to each other and remained busy to keep the people divided, saying, ‘People will not forgive them unless they [parties] come to their senses.’
   ‘The quarters-in-power will be successful easily if they can keep the distance and conflicts [created among the political parties],’ he warned. ‘We want to get back politics. But time is running out fast.’
   Odhikar, a human rights organisation, arranged the discussion titled ‘constitution and legal processes: questions of a democratic state’ held at the National Press Club.
   Farhad Mazhar, an adviser to Odhikar, also stressed the need to evade the issues that could divide the people as ‘the country is in a grave danger now.’
   ‘We can work out a way to face fundamentalism without dividing the people,’ he said.
   Awami League presidium member Suranjit Sengupta said, ‘All political parties should think to work together as unity of the people is essential to get rid of present circumstances.’
   He also demanded immediate withdrawal of emergency, holding national elections at the earliest, release of the party president Sheikh Hasina and bringing down prices to tolerable levels.
   Workers Party of Bangladesh president Rashed Khan Menon said, ‘Unity of politicians is a necessity.’
   He said holding credible national election was the only way out for the incumbent government as nobody would accept a ‘selected’ parliament.
   He questioned if the present government would investigate into the funds and expenditures of influential quarters that were trying to influence the grassroots level politicians.
   Dr Hasan Mahmud, special assistant to Awami League president, stressed the need for ‘constructive engagement’ of all, including politicians and members of the civil society to restore peoples’ democratic rights.
   ‘All must unite to protect the state from the monsters,’ he said. ‘The country has become a studio where horror movies are being made.’
   Awami League leader Faruk Khan said, ‘It is necessary to hold a grand convention of all political parties.’
   Rizvi Ahmed, a BNP central leader, urged all to remain alert against the manoeuvring of the ‘Indo-American imperialist forces’ to put sovereignty of Bangladesh at risk.
   Former BNP standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Mia said, ‘the “written” national constitution is already violated’.
   ‘A number of ordinance are either promulgated or in the process of promulgation. But the constitution has not given authority to the president to promulgate ordinance on policy issues unless those become necessary for holding elections,’ Mia, also a lawyer and a former minister, said.
   Dhaka University Teachers Association general secretary Professor Anwar Hossain demanded immediate withdrawal of emergency and restoring democratic rights.
   Dhaka Community Hospital chairman Dr Quazi Quamruzzman criticised the politicians in general, former members of parliament in particular, for their failure to become united to protect national interests. ‘Why did the former lawmakers fail to raise voices to protect peoples’ greater interests, although they vowed to sacrifice almost everything for possession of the NAM flats?’
   Senior journalist Mahfuzullah criticised politicians for ‘remaining inactive and pusillanimous’ in present political and economic situations.
   Syeda Rizwana Hasan, executive director of Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association, questioned if the national constitution was still valid.
   ‘Who is the custodian of the constitution now?’ she asked.
   She said the politicians were to face real tests after resumption of a political government. ‘They must prove if they really took any lesson from present crises’.
   Ahmed Ziauddin, another adviser to Odhikar, also presented a keynote paper, stressing the need for correcting the ‘loopholes and contradictions’ of the national constitution.
   Advocate Tawfiq Nawaz, who moderated the discussion, described the Emergency Power Rules as a ‘corruptor’ and said this ‘corruptor’ swayed 152 articles of the national constitution and removed the ‘sovereign will’, which is the foundation of the constitution.
   Awami League leader Dipu Moni, BNP leader Shimul Biswas, journalists Matiur Rahman Chowdhury of daily Manabjamin and Mizanur Rahman Khan of daily Pratham Alo also participated in the discussion.

The interim administration is now preparing for filing certificate cases against those former lawmakers who are residing in NAM apartments but not paying the increased rents effective from January, as the deadline for payment expired on Monday, officials said.
   The former lawmakers are also planning for a legal battle, taking the issue to the court, while the speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad requested the government not to cancel allotments of the apartments to lawmakers of the eighth parliament until the next parliament was elected.
   The housing and public works ministry in a letter asked the parliament secretariat to cancel all allotments of the fully-furnished apartments at NAM buildings if the increased rents were not realised by March 31, extending the deadline by three months.
   Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar on Sunday in a letter to the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, said that 324 NAM flats were the parliament’s property and it was not possible at the moment to cancel allotments of them to former lawmakers of the eighth parliament as asked by the housing and public works ministry. The NAM buildings were named ‘Sangad Sadasya Bhaban’, the letter mentioned.
   The House Committee responsible for accommodating parliamentarians allotted the flats to members of parliaments for the period until the results of the ninth parliamentary elections were announced. As the committee is not in place, it is not possible to cancel the allotments now, the speaker argued in the letter.
   The certificate cases will be filed under the Public Demand Recovery Act 1913 if the resident former MPs do not pay the increased charges for staying at the NAM flats in the capital, said an official concerned.
   About the government move, a lawmaker of the eighth parliament, Shajahan Khan, said on Monday, ‘The House Committee allotted us the NAM flats. So the ministry cannot ask the parliament secretariat to cancel the allotments. If any case is filed against us in this connection, we will also fight them in the court.’
   ‘We will maintain legal procedure to implement the government’s decision for realising the increased charges of NAM flats from the former MPs,’ secretary to the housing and public works ministry, ASM Rashidul Hai, told New Age.
   He said, the former MPs willing to pay the rents at the new rates set by the government would be allowed to stay on in the NAM flats. ‘In that case, they (former lawmakers) will have to take fresh allotments from the Directorate of Government Accommodation.’
   The ministry also requested the secretariat to ask the resident MPs to take fresh allotments from the Directorate of Government Accommodation for staying in the apartments.
   Earlier on March 25, the ministry, in response to the last letter from the parliament secretariat, reminded it of the government’s decision to this effect, referring to the letter issued on March 19.
   The government in December 2007 asked the parliament secretariat to immediately cancel all the allotment letters it had issued to the lawmakers for the flats and increased the rents with a retrospective effect from January 2007. The secretariat was requested to hand over the luxury apartments to the Public Works Department, but the decision was not implemented due to disagreement among the authorities concerned.
   The government increased the rents from Tk 400–500 to Tk 20,000–25,000 a month effective from January last for the resident former lawmakers.
   Later, the housing and public works ministry extended the deadline for cancelling all allotments and realising the increased rents through issuing fresh allocations till March 31.
   A total of 304 out of the 324 flats constructed in 2001 for hosting the Non-Aligned Movement summit were allotted to the members of the eighth Jatiya Sangsad in June 2005 and the parliament secretariat was given the charge of the flats. Now 187 well-furnished flats are occupied by former lawmakers and 90 have been handed over to the housing and public works ministry.
   The interim government on June 19 handed over the charge of the flats to the ministry for renting them to government officials on a temporary basis.
   The speaker in his letter to the chief adviser suggested resolving the issue either by arbitration between representatives from the parliament secretariat, the public works ministry, and the resident former lawmakers, with law adviser AF Hassan Ariff as the arbitrator or by sending the matter through the president to the High Court for its directives.

Detained Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to stand for election in army-ruled Myanmar because she was once married to a foreigner, its proposed new constitution says.
   A copy of the charter obtained by the Reuters on Monday confirmed that a ‘person who is entitled to rights and privileges of a foreign government, or a citizen of a foreign country’ cannot run for office.
   Suu Kyi, 62, was married to British academic Michael Aris from 1972 until his death in 1999, and as such was entitled to hold a British passport.
   However, rather than being an invention of the former Burma’s military junta to keep their nemesis at bay, the clause has simply been copied across from Myanmar’s two previous constitutions of 1947 and 1974, experts said.
   The proposed charter, a key step in the generals seven-point ‘roadmap to democracy’, goes to a referendum some time in May and has left opponents of the junta in a quandary, unsure whether to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
   Integral to the ‘discipline-flourishing democracy’ advocated by the generals is a proviso that 25 per cent of seats in parliament are reserved for the military.
   The commander-in-chief of the armed forces will also be the most powerful person in the country, with the right to suspend the constitution at will.
   However, the charter also enshrines many rights that have been absent for nearly the last two decades.
   Under the proposed charter, the southeast Asian nation’s 53 million people will be allowed to form political parties and unions and freedom of the press and religion will be protected.
   Myanmar’s myriad ethnic groups, many of whom have waged years of guerrilla war since independence from Britain in 1948, will also be accorded the specific right to promote their own languages and cultures.
   While some people are refusing to approve any constitution spawned by a reviled military regime, others say it is better to have a bad constitution than none at all.
   ‘We can’t expect it perfect at the initial state and we should not delay till it is perfect,’ one lawyer said. ‘There will be freedom of expression, press, association, procession and so on that we haven’t got now.’
   The information minister, Kyaw Hsan, said last week the charter would be open to incremental change after multi-party elections slated for 2010.

Bangladesh should reintroduce its five-year development programme, build up an adequate stock of food and declare a proper food procurement policy to avert the abnormal food prices in the future, economists told a programme in Dhaka on Monday.
   They said poverty eradication and improving the lifestyle of the people would remain a far cry with the present Annual Development Programme and donors-prescribed Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
   ‘We’ve abandoned our five-year action plan and opted for one-year development programme being prescribed by the donor agencies and countries. Bangladesh must look for five-year plan without delay if it really wants a stable economy and unhindered development,’ Professor Dr Atiur Rahman said.
   Atiur, also the chairman of Shamunnay, was addressing the launching ceremony of Bangladesh Economic Outlook (Year 1, Issue 3 March 2008) at the Jatiya Press Club in the morning.
   Young economist Selim Raihan presented the findings of his team’s research carried by the publication. Newly elected FBCCI president Annisul Huq also spoke on the occasion.
   Referring to the weak points of ADP, the research said many projects, which were undertaken during the reign of a particular government, either had their budgets slashed or was even totally abandoned when a new government was elected.
   Bangladesh must consider devising and adhering to a development plan that covers a longer time horizon, the research said.
   Former caretaker government adviser Hafizuddin Khan who attended the ceremony as chief guest said a person might even not be able to chalk up a plan in one year for his own life. ‘Then how is it possible to have a plan and implement it for a country of 14 crore people?’
   All the speakers laid emphasis on building up a food stock after an estimate what can be the demand of the growing population of Bangladesh in the next 10-20 years.
   ‘In 2000 when the then government completed its term there was no food shortage or price hike of food in Bangladesh. Then-agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury had been able to create a food stock of 16 tonnes of rice against the total demand of 10 lakh tonnes,’ Atiur Rahman recalled.
   ‘But after that Bangladesh could not maintain the practice of stocking food. Now a large portion of the population finds it almost impossible to buy rice they require. A sort of silent famine is now prevailing in the country,’ he said.
   About the effectiveness of having a food stock, former adviser Hafizuddin Khan said, ‘During our caretaker government, Bangladesh’s development partners had forced us to reduce food stock, although food stock always has a positive impact on price hike.’
   ‘Now where are those development partners who had forced this country not to stock food when Bangladesh is suffering from food crisis and price hike of essentials? Has America or the World Bank said they were ready to provide Bangladesh with rice?’
   Atiur Rahman said Bangladesh should finalise its food procurement law immediately. ‘How much rice will be collected in the coming Boro season, what price the farmers will be given, how many godowns will be needed, everything should be fixed now.’
   The experts found Bangladesh is facing the current food crisis and intolerable price hike due to a mismatch between demand and supply of food.
   ‘Government’s estimates on total food demand of the country falls 23 lakh tonnes short than ours. I suggest the government should form a high-profile taskforce which will be able to estimate the real demand for food in the country,’ Atiur said.
   About the necessary steps to reduce the current record high rice price, Atiur said now Bangladesh should manage India, by any means, to collect the rest 4 lakh tonnes of rice.

The Election Commission, which has already missed its deadline for completing the electoral law reforms, now awaits the High Court verdict on its pending dialogue with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to complete the process in April.
   ‘We hope that the verdict will come by April 10 and then we will sit with BNP for the dialogue as early as possible for completing the electoral laws reforms by this month [April],’ election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told reporters after a meeting with the EC’s lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain on Monday.
   When asked what the EC would do if the matter was not settled even after the HC verdict expected on April 10, the commissioner said, ‘Wait and see… we are not thinking of any alternative.’
   ‘The commission will not appeal against whatever the court decides’, Sohul said when asked if the EC was considering any alternative should the defeated faction of BNP make an appeal against the verdict.
   Another election commission M Sakhawat Hussain, however, on Sunday told reporters that the EC’s patience could get exhausted if the legal process lingered even after the HC gave its verdict.
   The HC has fixed April 10 for giving its decision on which faction of the BNP is eligible to be invited for dialogue. The detained BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, challenged the EC decision inviting the splinter group of the party led by Saifur Rahman and Hafizuddin Ahmed to the electoral dialogue.
   Dr Kamal Hossain, who has been appointed by the EC to handle the legal process, met the EC in the afternoon to apprise them of the present state of the legal battle over dialogue with BNP.
   ‘I am confident that the verdict will come on April 10,’ he said talking to journalists after the meeting with the EC.
   The electoral reforms, originally planned to be completed by March this year, has been held back pending dialogue with BNP.
   The commission missed the December, 2007 deadline for wrapping up its dialogues with the political parties over the proposed electoral reforms because of the delay in settling the legal dispute over which of the BNP factions should represent the party at the talks.

The interim government has decided to activate a commission about a decade after its formation to settle the longstanding disputes over land ownership in Chittagong Hill Tracts.
   The government has initiated the process to amend few provisions of the Land (Disputes Settlement) Commission Act and reconstitute the commission for speedy disposal of disputes, said the chief adviser’s special assistant on CHT affairs ministry, Raja Devashish Roy on Monday.
   ‘We are seriously working on how to make the commission functional. We are not far away as many of the matters were discussed during the previous government,’ he told reporters in Dhaka after a roundtable discussion on ways and means to end land disputes in the CHT, battered by three decades of fight for self-rule of the indigenous people.
   The council of advisers at a recent meeting emphasised the need to put an end to the thorny land issues, which intensified other problems in three hill districts — Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban — that account for one-tenth of country’s land areas.
   The insurgency ended with signing of a peace deal, called CHT treaty, in 1997.
   In line with the treaty the government constituted the land commission with a retired judge of the Supreme Court as its chairman on June 3, 1999.
   Two more retired judges served as chairman of the commission, but they could hardly yield any result towards ending land disputes as the indigenous leaders alleged the law was full of discrepancies.
   The commission held only one meeting in nine years, and the position of chairman remained vacant since its last chairman Justice AM Mahmudur Rahman passed away on December 1, 2007.
   The commission did not help resolve in any way the land disputes that led to other complications in the hill districts.
   Tens of thousands of indigenous people had to leave their homes and take shelter at safer places, including neighbouring India due to the decades of tension in the area. And taking the advantage, the Bengali settlers moved in to occupy their lands, locals alleged.
   The displaced people returned to the CHT after the signing of the treaty, but most of them are yet to get their lands back.
   The problem has intensified with unending influx of people from the plains, local people said.
   Officials said that the commission might be reconstituted under a new chairman once the government amended some provisions of the law to make it functional.
   ‘It will happen soon,’ said one official referring to the chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed’s recent announcement during his two-day visit to Rangamati and Bandarban.
   There are proposals that the commission, a quasi-judicial body, would sit frequently, at least once in a month, to hear disputes. It would delegate the authority of investigation into allegations and field level activities to some other agencies.
   The commission comprises a retired judge as its head while chairman of the CHT regional council or his representative, the chairmen of three hill district councils, the circle chiefs and the divisional commissioner or his representatives are the members, according to the provisions of the law.
   Asked how much time the government might take to activate the commission, food and disaster management adviser Shawkat Ali, who was also present at Monday’s discussion, said, ‘As soon as possible.’
   He suggested that the commission should have two more fulltime members.
   Taking part in the discussion, former adviser to the caretaker government Sultana Kamal called upon all concerned to see the indigenous people’s issue with empathy. She said the political government must take steps on humanitarian grounds to end the disputes that lasted for decades.
   Presided over by former Jahangirnagar University vice chancellor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui, the discussion was addressed, among others, by politician Pankaj Bhattachariya, economist Abul Barakat, columnist Abul Maksud and Professor Ajay Roy.

The Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, swore in 24 members of prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s cabinet on Monday, six weeks after opposition parties won a general election.
   Eleven of the new ministers were from assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s party, which won the most seats in the election and nine were from its main coalition ally, the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.
   Of the other four, one was an independent member of parliament and three were from two smaller parties joining the coalition.
   Some members of Sharif’s party being sworn in wore black armbands, in a show of protest against Musharraf, who they consider an unconstitutional president.
   As expected, Ishaq Dar, a member of Sharif’s party, is finance minister and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a member of Benazir’s party, is foreign minister, according to a government statement.
   Minister of defence is Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, a member of Benazir’s party.
   More ministers will be appointed later, party officials have said.
   A top student from Punjab University, Dar was an accountant before he was appointed commerce minister in a pro-business Sharif government in 1997. He identified export-led growth as a cornerstone of economic strategy.
   He became finance minister in November 1998 and concluded negotiating an IMF rescue package to tackle an economic crisis triggered by sanctions over nuclear tests in May that year.
   While generally well regarded, Dar, 60, was criticised for what some saw as a naive approach to markets, blaming speculators for every rapid movement of the currency and stocks.
   Dar was detained for nearly two years after Musharraf overthrew Sharif in a 1999 coup.
   Qureshi is president of the PPP in Punjab, Pakistan’s richest province and home to half its 160 million people and the seat of power of the political and military establishment.
   Qureshi, 52, comes from a land-owning family from the eastern city of Multan and is a graduate of Britain’s Cambridge University.
   He served as finance minister in Punjab’s provincial government, headed by Sharif’s party, in the early 1990s, before joining the PPP. He was a junior minister for parliamentary affairs in Benazir’s second government in the mid-1990s.
   Among other appointments announced on Monday, Sherry Rehman, a top Benazir party spokeswoman, has been made minister of information.
   The four-party coalition is made up of Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the ethnic Pashtun-based Awami National Party and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam religious party.

With the volatile rice market showing no signs of stability, the government will launch large-scale open market sales of rice today to make the staple available to the low-income people at affordable prices, sources in the food and disaster management ministry said.
   ‘The ministry has already sent necessary instructions to the deputy commissioners and district food department officials to run the operation smoothly, especially in the industrial and predominantly working class areas’, said the acting food secretary Molla Waheduzzaman after a meeting at the secretariat on Monday.
   The upward rend in the rice prices continued in the city retail markets on Monday with different varieties of coarse rice selling between Tk 33 and Tk 36 a kilogram, while the prices were Tk 44-46 a kg for Miniket, Tk 40-42 for Najirshail and Tk 34-38 for Paijam.
   The government’s mobile units will also sell the OMS rice particularly in areas with high concentration of poor and working class people, including garment workers, in order to make rice available to them at fair prices, said the acting secretary.
   If there is any delay in appointment of dealers in certain areas, the food department officials and district officials have been instructed to ensure the supply of OMS rice by alternative means, he said.
   The main objective of widening the operation is to contain the runaway rice prices and to ensure that the poorer sections can buy their staple at affordable prices, he added.
   At present two dealers are operating in each upazila under the programme while the decision to appoint additional dealers will increase the number to 3 or 4 in each upazila.
   The OMS operation is being run by some 2,530 dealers across the country and following the government’s decision to widen the operation, the food department has completed the appointment of 3,800 additional dealers across the country, said a high official of the department of food.
   Besides, the Bangladesh Rifles is also selling rice from its 200 outlets across the country.
   The government will allocate 1,020 kilograms [one tonne and 20 kg] of coarse rice to each dealer every alternate day at a price of Tk 23.50 per kg.
   A consumer can buy a maximum five kg of rice for Tk 25 a kg, according to a decision of the government.
   The total allocation for a month will be 1.20 lakh tonnes. The government started the OMS programme on January 9 and the ministry on March 30 decided to widen the operation.
   The country at present has an estimated food grains reserve of 5,50,000 tonnes, including 3,50,000 tonnes of rice and 2,00,000 tonnes of wheat.

Teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions on Monday demanded introduction of rationing of rice, pulses, oil, and flour and dearness allowance to help them cope with the skyrocketing prices of food and other essential commodities.
   Leaders of the Awami League-backed National Front of Teachers and Employees also demanded increase of housing allowance for the teachers — which is now just Tk 100 a month or approximately enough for a night’s stay in a modest hotel.
   ‘We demand rationing of essential commodities for above 5 lakh teachers and employees of more than 30,000 non-government high schools, colleges, and madrassas across the country,’ said the front’s chief coordinator, Quazi Faruque Ahmed, at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity.
   ‘As the prices of essentials have been going up almost everyday, we demand dearness allowance equivalent to 50 per cent of the basic salary,’ he said.
   Since July 2006 a non-government schoolteacher has been getting a minimum of Tk 4,350 and a maximum of Tk 9,400 from the public exchequer as gross salary and allowance while a college teacher has been drawing between Tk 7,050 and Tk 15,450 a month. The amount includes Tk 100 monthly housing allowance.
   Front leaders Mohammad Azizul Islam, Asadul Huq, M Arzu, Bilkis Zaman, and Mohammad Ali Choudhury were also present at the conference.

With the efforts to revitalise the ailing Biman Bangladesh Airlines continuing by procurement of new aircraft, the government has decided to offload 49 per cent of its shares through the stock market by this year.
   Mahbub Jamil, special assistant to the chief adviser in charge of civil aviation and tourism ministry, disclosed this on Monday, hoping that the national flag carrier would be given a new lease of life soon.
   ‘I can assure you that Biman will not remain an unprofitable company by the end of this fiscal year, it will reach a break-even point. Hopefully, it will be profitable from next year,’ he told a business gathering at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
   After finalising the offloading process, the Biman authorities will float shares to raise funds from the capital market and, according to the special assistant, 49 per cent of shares would go to the public, implying that the government would still hold a majority 51 per cent shares.
   In a major step towards turning the sick airlines around, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited on March 15 signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Boeing Company for buying eight new generation aircraft.
   Mahbub Jamil also said the Zia International Airport, which was using only 40 per cent of its capacity, would be turned into a world-class airport like Singapore in terms of service quality.
   He regretted that the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh had made losses everywhere except in running a duty-free shop by means of smuggling while the Biman made profits only in a poultry farm. ‘Biman made losses wherever it flied,’ he said.
   An initiative has already been taken to bring 22 agencies working at the airport under one umbrella to bring harmony in their relationship and dynamism in their performance, he added.
   The government is also going to launch a National Tourism Authority for country branding and promotion of tourism instead of doing business.

The BNP chairperson’s adviser, ASM Hannan Shah, on Monday asked the government to hold the elections immediately and warned that things would turn for the worse if polls were delayed.
   He also castigated the Election Commission for its ‘controversial’ activities. ‘People no longer have any faith in the words and actions of the commission’, he said while speaking at a discussion organised by Jatiyatabadi Tax Lawyers’ Association marking the Independence Day.
   Hannan Shas also called upon the government to take immediate steps to contain the price spiral of essentials and resolve the food crisis. He asserted that only an elected government could tackle the crisis.
   ‘Experts are apprehending a 1974-like famine if necessary steps are not taken immediately,’ he said adding, ‘This government has failed in almost all sectors.’
   He also asked the government to free Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina immediately and sit with political parties for dialogue to put an end to the political stalemate.
   He also came down heavily on the Anti-Corruption Commission for indicting Tarique Rahman, his wife, and mother-in-law on ‘false’ charges.

The Nepal prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, appealed Monday to all political parties to put an end to violence plaguing the run-up to landmark elections in the country recovering from years of conflict.
   The April 10 polls are the culmination of a 2006 peace deal between former rebel Maoists and the government, and are being held to elect a body that will abolish the world’s last Hindu monarchy and rewrite the country’s constitution.
   ‘The next few days are a very sensitive period. Even a small mistake can make a big difference,’ the 84-year-old premier told reporters after meeting with the election commission.
   ‘The need of the hour is to show greater patience as we are on the threshold of bringing a landmark change,’ he said.
   Nepali media has been reporting daily clashes between supporters of the former rebel Maoists and the country’s two largest parties – the Nepali Congress and the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist).
   ‘The violence, including killings, beatings and the threatening of election candidates has occurred in several parts of the country and the trend is increasing,’ the election commission chief, Bhojraj Pokhrel, said at a press conference.
   ‘We are worried that this (continued violence and intimidation) will spoil the election environment if the parties continue such activities,’ Pokhrel said. ‘It will raise the question of elections being credible and fair.’
   The United Nations, which was invited to assist with the polls and monitor former Maoist guerrillas confined to camps around the country, has said that the continuing violence could derail the election

A news item published by some newspapers on March 31 saying ‘Jacob wants immediate trial of war criminals’, has come to the notice of Lieutenant General JFR Jacob.
   The retired Indian General denied having made such comments. Before leaving Dhaka, he said in a written statement, ‘No such statement was made by me at anytime during my visit to Bangladesh. Officers from the Army of Bangladesh were present to confirm this.’
   General Jacob expressed his deep concern on the motive of ‘interested quarters publishing untrue and misleading sensitive information,’ according to an ISPR press release.
   Major General (retd) Lachman Singh, another member of the Indian delegation, also denied having made any statement calling for trial of war criminals, a spokesman of the Indian high commission said.

The Bangladesh Bridge Authority has sought technical proposals from the five international consulting firms, short-listed earlier, to prepare a detailed design for the proposed Padma Bridge.
   ‘We have sought “request for proposals” from the short-listed firms on March 25,’ said an official the BBA, which will implement the proposed Padma Multipurpose Bridge.
   ‘The firms were asked to submit their proposals by May 15,’ said the official adding the Asian development Bank, one of the key financiers of the Padma bridge project, would select one firm from the list for the design consultancy job at a cost of $22 million.
   The ADB will provide around $18 million for the detailed design project.
   In June last year, the government had authorised the ADB to conduct the consultant selection process as per the lender’s condition for funding around $300 million for construction of the 5.58 km road-cum-railway bridge. The government, however, will retain its authority for negotiation and signing of the contract.
   The ADB in August last year short-listed six consulting firms for submitting technical proposals to prepare a detailed design of the bridge, but later dropped a South Korean firm amid reservation of the government.
   The remaining five short-listed firms are — TY Lin International Group Ltd of the United States; Over Arup and Partners International Ltd of Hong Kong in joint venture with Schlaich Bergermann UND Partner and Consulting Engineering Services; High Point Rendel of the United Kingdom in joint venture with Royal Haskoning and BCL Associates Ltd; Nippon KOEI Company Ltd of Japan in joint venture with Pacific Consultants International, COWI A/S, DHI, BELLER Consult and Development Design Consultants Ltd Bangladesh and Maunsell Ltd of New Zealand.
   The bridge, to be built at Mawa-Janjira point of the Padma river and considered to be of vital national importance, is one of the highest priority projects of the government. Its construction is expected to begin in 2010 after completion of land acquisition. The BBA board has already approved Tk 184 crore for land acquisition purpose.
   The cost of constructing the bridge has been estimated at $1.6 billion, of which around $600 million will be managed from internal sources and the rest $1 billion will be mobilised as project aid from external sources.
   Apart from the ADB, the World Bank also informally apprised the government that it had earmarked $300 million in its lending programme for 2009 for the construction of the bridge, which will be largest in the country. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation has also expressed interest to fund the project.
   The construction will take a maximum of 54 months if the work continues smoothly. The bridge will provide much-needed direct road and rail links between the south-western region and the rest of the country.

The five-member committee formed to investigate the reasons for the under-construction 37-storey City Centre developing cracks could not start its work on Monday as two of the committee members were yet to be named.
   ‘We have issued letters to the Public Works Department and the Army Engineering Corps on Monday to name their representatives to the committee and hope to get them on Tuesday,’ said a member of the committee, adding that they would start their after getting the names.
   The Dhaka City Corporation on March 30 formed the five-member committee to find out the reasons for the ground floor of the under-construction parking-cum commercial building at Motijheel developing cracks. The committee, with Md Sekendar Ali, a professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, as its convener, has been asked to submit its report within 15 days.
   The other members of the probe body are BUET Professor Jainul Abedin, a representative of the PWD and another of the Army Engineering Corps, with DCC executive engineer Abul Hasnat acting as its member secretary.
   The cracks were noticed in a false wall on the ground floor of the City Centre on Saturday, which created a panic among the dwellers of the adjacent areas.
   The DCC chief engineer, Asfaqul Islam, on Sunday said they had examined every column of the building properly but did not find any crack.
   The construction work of the 37-storey high-rise including three basements started during the immediate past BNP-led alliance government and 31 storeys have been built so far, said Rafiul Kader Siddiqui, executive officer of Belhasa Acom JV.
   Belhasa Accom JV is the developer of the building, the DCC the land owner, Islam Trading Consortium Ltd its management contractor.
   The construction of the skyscraper including a 10-storey parking lot at 5-A Motijheel is scheduled to be completed by December 31 and the car parks are also slated for opening to the public by the same time.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Monday called for increasing the country’s export growth to keep pace with the fast rising economies of Asia like China, India and Vietnam.
   He emphasised on production of more competitive goods and their marketing utilising the comparative advantages of the country’s human resources.
   The head of the caretaker government made the call and remarks while addressing the National Export Trophy distribution function at Osmani Memorial Auditorium jointly organised by the Export Promotion Bureau and the commerce ministry.
   Fakhruddin said the country must diversify its exports, adding that the government was considering potentialities of the export sector.
   He said there was high demand in the international market for agro-based and processed agricultural goods, light engineering items, shoes and leather products, medicine, ICT and home textiles.
   The export income of Bangladesh was $12.18 billion in 2006-07 fiscal year while export target for the current fiscal was set at $14.50 billion.
   Drawing attention of all concerned for maintaining peace and discipline in business arena in the interests of development of the country’s economy, Fakhruddin made a clarion call to all concerned to refrain from activities which cast negative impact on trade and business as well as in the economy.
   He believed that Bangladesh would turn into a middle-income group country in the next one decade if all, irrespective of class, profession and position work together.
   The national export trophies were awarded for the years 2002-2003, 2003-04 and 2004-05 in three categories: gold, silver and bronze along with certificates on 21 export items among 82 business institutions and industries for their extraordinary contributions to the national economy.
   A total of 33 gold, 28 silver and 21 bronze trophies were given for the three years.
   In 1978 the government introduced President’s Export Trophy as recognition for keeping special contribution to the economy through exporting goods. Later in 1994, the trophy was renamed as National Export Trophy.
   Bangladesh is now exporting 167 items to some 186 countries.
   The commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, the commerce secretary, Firoz Ahmed, the FBCCI president, Annisul Huq, and the EPB vice-president, Md Shabullah, also spoke at the function.
   Advisers, business leaders, exporters, industrialists and businessmen were present at the function.
   The chief adviser said the government already announced the finished leather, frozen fishes, handicrafts goods, electronic goods, live flowers and foliages, jute products, handloom clothes, unpolished diamond, herbal medicine and herbal plants as special sectors for export development.
   He said utilising the opportunities of globalisation export activities would have to be made more intense and dynamic and efforts to be made to alleviate poverty by involving the country’s huge population.
   So to attain this goal, he said, the government is giving importance on simplification of import-export procedures, using modern technology in trade and commerce, expansion of market, increasing productivity and capacity, production of standard quality products, reduction in business cost, implementation of international conditions and ensure good governance in the business arena.
   He said the government was also carrying out strong efforts for duty-free access of Bangladeshi goods into the markets of the developed world.
   The chief adviser said the government had constituted Better Business Forum and Regulatory Reforms Commission comprising representatives from government and private sectors for ensuring good governance and further improvement of business environment.
   He hoped that recommendations of BBF and RRC that would be placed before the government will be quickly implemented and good results of those will be visible to people.
   He also mentioned about the government’s three-year term (2006-09) export policy for sustainable increase of exports.
   Fakhruddin said the government was taking multifarious steps for development of communication, telecommunication system, utility services including water, gas, electricity, and management of ports.

The government on Monday approved a hard-term borrowing of $300 million from Standard Chartered Bank to meet the increased financing for oil imports by the cash-strapped Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.
   The loan would be taken for nine months at London Inter-bank Offer Rate plus $1.79.
   This is the second such loan BPC is going to take from a foreign bank at hard-term after 2005-06 when the then BNP government approved a loan of $250 million from the same bank.
   ‘BPC’s cash flow has been seriously affected (by the increased price of fuel oil on the international market),’ the finance adviser, Mirza Azizul Islam, told reporters after approving the borrowing at a high-level Hard-Term Loan Committee at finance ministry.
   The Bangladesh Bank governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, and senior officials concerned were present at the meting with the finance adviser in the chair.
   Aziz said international price of petroleum oil was $62 to $63 per barrel in April last year when the domestic price was last increased, but the price on the international market now reached $100 to $110 per barrel.
   He said another foreign bank BNP Paribas also offered the loan, but it was rejected due to tougher terms than that of SCB.
   Replying to a question, the finance adviser said different ministries had estimated an overall subsidy requirement of Tk 15,600 crore during the current fiscal year as against the budgetary provision of Tk 6,000 crore.
   ‘The subsidy demands from the ministries need to be examined,’ he said.
   In response to another question, he said the government was planning to borrow $220 million from the International Monetary Fund as Balance of Payment support.

His mother suffered dark depressions and tried to dominate his life. His sister and daughter had severe mental problems, his father and wife died young and a beloved uncle committed suicide in his arms.
   So what did Peter Mark Roget, the creator of Roget’s Thesaurus, do to handle all the pain, grief, sorrow, affliction, woe, bitterness, unhappiness and misery in a life that lasted over 90 years?
   He made lists.
   The 19th century British scientist made lists of words, creating synonyms for all occasions that ultimately helped make life easier for term paper writers, crossword puzzle lovers and anyone looking for the answer to the age-old question: ‘What’s another word for…’
   And according to a new biography, making his lists saved Roget’s life and by keeping him from succumbing to the depression and misery of those around him.
   ‘As a boy he stumbled upon a remarkable discovery — that compiling lists of words could provide solace, no matter what misfortunes may befall him,’ says Joshua Kendall author of the just published ‘The Man Who Made Lists’ (Putnam), a study of Roget’s life (1779–1869) based on diaries, letters and even an autobiography composed of lists.
   Kendall, in a recent interview, said Roget cared more for words than people and that making lists on the scale that he did was obsessive-compulsive behavior that helped him fend off the demons that terrorized his distinguished British family.
   Madness was a regular guest in Roget’s home, Kendall said. One of his grandmothers either had schizophrenia or severe depression, Roget’s mother lapsed into paranoia, often accusing the servants of plotting against her. Both his sister and his daughter suffered depression and mental problems.
   Then there was the case of Roget’s uncle, British member of Parliament Sir Samuel Romilly, known for his opposition to the slave trade and for his support of civil liberties. He slit his own throat while Roget tried to get the razor out of his hands.
   Unlike a Thesaurus, no one understood Uncle Sam’s last words: ‘My dear…. I wish…’
   Indeed, to quote most of the Thesaurus listing for pain, Roget’s was a life filled with grief, pain, suffering, distress, affliction, woe, bitterness, heartache, unhappiness, infelicity and misery.
   Kendall said, ‘The lists gave him an alternative world to which to repair.’ Many writers have declared their debt to Roget, including Peter Pan’s creator, JM Barrie. In homage, he put a copy of the Thesaurus in Captain Hook’s cabin so he could declare: ‘The man is not wholly evil — he has a Thesaurus in his cabin.
   The 20th century poet Sylvia Plath called herself ‘Roget’s Strumpet’ to pay respects for all the word choices he gave her.
   But the British journalist Simon Winchester holds Roget responsible for helping to dumb down Western culture because his work allows a writer to look it up rather than think it out.
   Roget made his first attempt at a Thesaurus at age 26 but put aside the effort and did not publish his book until 1852 when he was in his seventies and retired. He then kept busy with it for the rest of his life.
   It became an instant hit in Britain but did not sell that well when an American edition was published two years later. But when Americans went crazy for crossword puzzles in the 1920s, the Thesaurus assumed its place on reference shelves.
   Kendall’s book is written in a style that he calls ‘narrative non-fiction’ which contains a lot of dialogue and descriptions of how Roget and his friends feel and think, all, he says, based on source material.
   ‘I did a lot of work to stitch together a narrative,’ he said, adding that all the scenes in the book are based on actual events.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus Monday unveiled a deal between his pioneering Grameen Bank and French group Veolia Environment to provide clean water to poor rural communities in Bangladesh.
   The Bangladeshi economist also sought support from the president, Nicolas Sarkozy, for creating more microcredit schemes to fight poverty, particularly in Africa.
   ‘I wanted to make him understand how effective a tool microcredit is in helping the poor people, particularly the poor women, to take control of their own lives and pull themselves out of the problems and benefit the children,’ Yunus told reporters after his meeting at the Elysee palace.
   After meeting with Sarkozy, Yunus sat down with top business leaders at the Elysee including billionaire Vincent Bollore and announced the creation of the new joint company with Veolia Environment.
   Called Grameen-Veolia Water, the company will operate several water treatment plants in Bangladeshi villages, with the goal of bringing clean water to 100,000 people.
   The project represents investments worth 500,000 euros.
   A first venture is planned for the end of the year in the town of Goalmari, some 100 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, where clean water will be provided through drinking fountains, according to a joint statement.
   During his meeting with Sarkozy, Yunus reminded him of the Group of Eight commitment to expand microcredit to Africa and said lending schemes could help the international community meet the UN millennium development goals of halving world poverty by 2015. ‘In many other countries, particularly in Asia, many of the development millennium goals would be achieved but Africa is way behind so we need to focus our attention to African countries so they still have time left, so they still can achieve those goals,’ he said.
   Sarkozy told Yunus that France would continue and step up its efforts to provide access to loans to the poor.

The Orissa Assembly speaker, Maheswar Mohanty, has resigned over accusation of sexual harassment levelled against him by lady marshal Gayatri Panda, reports The Times of India.
   The Orissa police had on Saturday registered a criminal case against speaker Maheswar Mohanty for allegedly sexually harassing a state assembly woman marshal Gayatri Panda.
   The police commissioner, BK Behera, said Mohanty had been booked under sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 507 (similar intimidation through telephone), 509 (lewd suggestions and obscene remarks) and 34 (common object) of the IPC.
   Prior to police registering the case against the speaker, there was a series of public protests in Bhubaneswar and other parts of the state.

The Degree (pass) and Subsidiary examinations for the 2007 session under the National University began on Monday.
   Enamul Karim, acting director of the Public Relations Department of the NU said the university’s acting vice- chancellor Professor Syed Rashidul Hasan had visited the examination centres at Eden College, Government Bangla College in the capital and Tongi Government College.
   A total of 223,844 students from 1,403 educational institutions are taking the exams. Of them, 97,583 are women.