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The Pakistan president, Pervez Musharraf, resigned on Monday, bringing down the curtain on nine turbulent years of US-backed rule to avoid the first impeachment in the nuclear-armed nation’s history.
   The former army chief, who seized power in a 1999 coup, announced the move in a lengthy televised address. He rejected the charges against him but said he wanted to spare Pakistan a damaging battle with the ruling coalition.
   ‘After viewing the situation and consulting legal advisers and political allies, with their advice I have decided to resign,’ Musharraf, wearing a sober suit and tie, said near the end of his one-hour address.
   ‘I leave my future in the hands of the people.’
   Celebrations erupted across the country after Musharraf bowed out, yet it was far from certain what would come next for a nation whose role in the ‘war on terror’ has been increasingly questioned by Washington.
   The White House said the US president, George W Bush, thanked Musharraf for his commitment against extremism and he would keep working with Pakistan’s government.
   Musharraf’s decision to quit came after the coalition said it was ready to press ahead with impeachment as early as Tuesday on charges that reportedly included violating the constitution.
   It was not known if he had concluded a deal that would save him from either going into exile or from facing prosecution in the days ahead. The coalition made no comment on his fate.
   Coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in 1999, were shown shaking hands and smiling after his speech but gave no immediate reaction.
   The Pakistani prime minister, Yousuf Gilani, said it was a ‘historic day.’
   ‘Today we have buried dictatorship for ever,’ Gilani said in a special sitting of parliament. Pakistani stocks jumped more than four per cent on the news of Musharraf’s resignation.
   But Musharraf, 65, appealed for reconciliation after his departure.
   ‘If we continue with the politics of confrontation, we will not save the country,’ he said. ‘People will never pardon this government if they fail to do so.’
   Several close aides said Musharraf was not set to go into exile as several of Pakistan’s former leaders have done. ‘He is not going anywhere,’ one aide said.
   Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro will act as caretaker president until an election, which is expected in the next few weeks.
   Musharraf’s troubles began last year when he sacked senior judges who opposed him, clearing the way for his re-election while still holding a dual role as head of the country’s powerful armed forces.
   The move set off mass protests in the streets that built into a national crisis which saw Musharraf declare a state of emergency in November.
   But he was compelled to quit as army chief within weeks, and after the December assassination of Benazir, voters handed his opponents a massive victory in general elections in February.
   ‘After the martyrdom of my mother I said that democracy was the best revenge — and today it was proved true,’ said Benazir’s 19-year-old son, Bilawal.
   In Musharraf’s speech, however, he strongly defended every aspect of his time in power — even the coup nine years ago.
   He said he had improved a tottering economy, helped establish law and order, fostered democracy and burnished the country’s international stature.
   ‘On the map of the world Pakistan is now an important country, by the grace of Allah,’ Musharraf said.
   The president was also backed into a corner by the resurgence of Islamic militants in the tribal areas along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, who launched a massive wave of attacks last year that left more than 1,000 dead.
   Musharraf himself survived three assassination attempts while holding what some have called the most dangerous job in the world, and went from being a backer of the Taliban to a close US ally after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
   Cheering crowds poured into the streets in major cities across the country of 170 million people — the second most populous Islamic nation and the only one with an atom bomb — after he stepped down.
   ‘The nation is so happy,’ university student Saba Gul said in the eastern city of Lahore, as people embraced and handed out sweets.
   World leaders from Britain to Japan urged stability and unity in Pakistan, and called on Islamabad to continue its fight against extremism.

Pervez Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant nation into the US-led war on terror — an alliance that won him plaudits in the West but fuelled anger at home.
   While few doubted he wanted a stable, religiously moderate Pakistan, his commitment to democracy was shaky during his nearly nine years in power.
   As his political fortunes waned last year, he resorted to emergency rule, rounding up thousands of opponents and sacking independent-minded Supreme Court judges who could have barred his re-election to a third term as president.
   He leaves the presidency reviled by many of his countrymen and with Pakistan in the grips of a wave of Islamic militancy, its border regions widely viewed as a haven for al-Qaeda.
   Musharraf yielded on Monday to months of immense pressure from bitter rivals who swept February elections. Facing the humiliation of impeachment, in what would have been a first for Pakistan, Musharraf chose to go — but not without a last burst of the defiant self-confidence that marked his long domination of the country.
   ‘They want to impeach me now. Why do they want to do it?’ a downcast Musharraf said in a televised address in which he denied any wrongdoing. ‘Do they want to cover their failure?’
   His political demise was as tortured as his arrival was swift.
   The former military commando seized power in a 1999 coup from then-prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who is now one of the leaders of the ruling coalition that pushed Musharraf out.
   Sharif had ordered Musharraf’s dismissal as the army chief was flying home from a visit to Sri Lanka and denied his plane landing rights in Pakistan, even as it ran low on fuel. On the ground, the army seized control, and after he landed, Musharraf took charge. He promised to install ‘true’ democracy.
   His decision to side with Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks earned him favour in the West and a much-needed injection of aid that helped rescue Pakistan from bankruptcy and the status of an international pariah.
   But his popularity plummeted in 2007 with his imposition of emergency rule and firing of judges — moves that ruling coalition officials say were illegal and could be used to justify impeachment.
   Musharraf yielded on Monday to months of immense political pressure from bitter rivals who swept February elections. Facing the humiliation of impeachment, in what would have been a first for Pakistan, Musharraf chose to go — but not without a last burst of the defiant self-confidence that marked his long domination of the country.
   ‘They want to impeach me now. Why do they want to do it?’ a downcast Musharraf said in a televised address in which he denied any wrongdoing. ‘Do they want to cover their failure?’
   He was widely credited with seeking peace with rival India. While a lasting solution to the core dispute over Kashmir remains elusive, the dialogue dramatically reduced the chance of a cataclysmic future conflict.
   Musharraf, who described his military uniform as his ‘second skin,’ led Pakistan’s army for nine years and only ceded control in late 2007. He often harked back to his time as a commando and was famously unruffled by two huge al-Qaeda bombings against him within 11 days in December 2003 in which he escaped injury.
   Born August 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India, the middle son of a diplomat, Musharraf’s family joined millions of other Muslims in migrating westward when predominantly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan split during independence from Britain in 1947. Riots and fighting left hundreds of thousands dead.
   In the army, Musharraf said he was almost court-martialed for indiscipline but was saved by his bravery during Pakistan’s second war with India.
   He spent seven years in the elite Special Services Group and rose through the ranks, but was relatively unknown when Sharif promoted him over two other generals to army chief in 1998.
   The next year, he masterminded a military operation at Kargil, the first Pakistani push into the Indian-held part of Kashmir since the 1971 war. The offensive nearly brought the nuclear neighbours to a new conflict.
   Musharraf’s relationship with Sharif grew tense after the prime minister agreed to withdraw the Pakistani troops.
   The coup that brought Musharraf to power was bloodless and widely welcomed in Pakistan. Sharif, meanwhile, was convicted of hijacking and sentenced to life imprisonment, but agreed in 2000 to go into exile in Saudi Arabia. He only returned last year, vowing political revenge. His party is now the second-largest in the ruling coalition.
   After September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, Musharraf faced a bleak choice. Pakistan had been instrumental in the rise of the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan in the mid-1990s — the Islamist regime which played host to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
   Despite fears of a backlash in Pakistan, Musharraf threw his lot in with the United States, earning more than $10 billion in aid for the near-bankrupt country in the years that followed.
   The decision enraged Islamic hard-liners, and al-Qaeda called for Pakistanis to ‘uproot’ Musharraf. He escaped at least three reported assassination attempts between 2002 and 2003.
   He held flawed elections in late 2002, and only after changing the constitution to give himself sweeping powers to sack the prime minister and Parliament. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004.
   But Musharraf could not shake off doubts about his legitimacy as president. Fearing the judiciary would block his continued rule, he fired the Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry in 2007, triggering a mass movement by lawyers against military rule.
   When the chief justice was reinstated by the court and the opposition grew in strength, Musharraf declared a state of emergency and replaced Chaudhry and other independent-minded justices.
   While he struggled to manage domestic political affairs, pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda militants were asserting control over vast tracts of Pakistan’s northwestern frontier and launching a series of shocking suicide attacks on key political figures — former prime minister Benazir Bhutto among them.
   Under pressure at home and abroad to restore civilian rule, Musharraf stepped down as army chief, but rejected repeated calls to resign the presidency, saying his rule was crucial to the country’s survival during one of the most turbulent eras in its history.
   Though he won another five-year term, Musharraf faced a major national crisis following Benazir’s assassination in December, with opposition supporters demanding he resign for not protecting her and taking to the streets with chants of ‘Musharraf, killer.’ Musharraf’s government blamed Islamic militants.
   After his opponents won the February parliamentary elections, Musharraf found himself largely sidelined. The army, his former power base, said it wanted to avoid interfering in the political scene. And as the months have worn on, the US has also toed a tricky line, not disavowing Musharraf while trying to develop relations with the new civilian leaders.
   In his personal life, Musharraf has a reputation for being something of a bon vivant. He likes good food, traditional Pakistani music, Urdu poetry and fine clothes. He is known to enjoy dancing to Western music at parties.

Different political parties in Bangladesh have termed the resignation of Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf the victory of the people of that country and hoped that the event would strengthen democracy in Pakistan.
   Talking to New Age, Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak viewed that by his resignation autocrat Musharraf had saved his skin from the wrath of the Pakistani people.
   He warned that every despotic ruler like Pervez Musharraf would have to meet the same fate if they tried to impose dictatorship.
   The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, said the exit of Pervez Musharraf marked the victory of the Pakistani people who had been struggling for democracy for long and it would strengthen democratic practices there.
   ‘The event also leaves some lessons for those here who are eager to implement certain blueprints to subvert democracy in Bangladesh’, he told New Age.
   Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon told New Age that the resignation of president Musharraf had proved that the military rulers were destined to defeat.
   The struggle of the people in Pakistan must continue for consolidating democracy, Menon said.
   Pakistan must come out of the US imperialist design, he said.
   Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction president Hasanul Haq Inu said Musharraf’s fall had proved that the days of usurping power and military rule were over.
   ‘Military rulers must quit to escape people’s anger’, he said.

The departure of General Pervez Musharraf from Pakistan’s political scene has positive implications for the region, especially Bangladesh which is striving for restoration of democracy, foreign policy experts in Dhaka said, welcoming Monday’s development in Islamabad.
   External forces that initially back undemocratic regimes, withdraw their support at one point, they said. Besides, Pakistan’s military did not want to be dragged into unnecessary controversies by siding with the former dictator and army chief.
   In Dhaka, a key adviser to the military-controlled interim government commented that the people of Pakistan would determine their political destiny — a diplomatic standpoint which was similar to Musharraf’s own words that the people would judge and decide his fate.
   ‘It’s a good lesson for us and also for military institution. The message for those who want to cling to power is clear: they do not always find friends abroad,’ Amena Mohsin, a professor of International Relations at Dhaka University, told New Age on Monday evening.
   Describing Musharraf’s fall as victory of democracy and democratic forces, she urged the politicians to bear in mind that ‘military intervenes when they fail’. She called upon the politicians to sink parochial party interests and guard against any plots to subvert democracy.
   Amena stressed the need for making parliament effective to safeguard democracy.
   Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, a former foreign secretary, felt that the fall of General Musharraf would have positive implications not only for Bangladesh but also for democratic forces around the world.
   ‘His takeover, declaration of a state of emergency and the subsequent actions were never accepted by the Pakistani people,’ he said. ‘Musharraf, however, deserves thanks for his rational decision to quit’, he added.
   ‘Those who tend to violate the constitution should take a lesson from the events in Pakistan that an extra-constitutional situation does not last long’, the former diplomat said.
   Shamsher said democracy was the only acceptable mode of governance for all, including Bangladeshis.

The High Court on Monday started delivering the judgement of the death reference and appeals against the trial court’s verdict in the 1975 jail killing case.
   The High Court bench of Justice Nozrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ataur Rahman Khan will resume the delivery of the judgment today.
   The same court on July 23, after a lapse of nearly four years, began hearing the death reference and appeals against the trial court’s verdict.
   The Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge’s court on October 20, 2004 handed down the verdict, sentencing three persons to death and 12 to life-term imprisonment for the killing. All of the 15 convicts were former military personnel.
   The carnage took place inside the Dhaka Central Jail in the early hours of November 3, 1975, when four top leaders of Awami League were mercilessly killed. They were Syed Nazrul Islam, the acting president during the War of Liberation, Tajuddin Ahmed, the prime minister of the government-in-exile during the war, M Mansur Ali, the finance minister under him, and AHM Qamaruzzaman, the home affairs minister.
   The killing, seen as a desperate act by usurpers, occurred 79 days after the assassination of the country’s founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his family including his four-year-old child and two daughters-in-law, on August 15, 1975. Only two members of his family, Sheikh Hasina and Rehana, survived because they were abroad.
   The trial court sentenced three persons — Risaldar (retd) Muslemuddin, Dafadar (dismissed) Marfat Ali Shah and Dafadar (dismissed) Abul Hashem Mridha, all of whom are on the run — to walk the gallows.
   Those whom the court sentenced to life-term imprisonment were Lt Col (dismissed) Syed Farook Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Major (retd) Bazlul Huda, Lt Col (dismissed) Khandakar Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haq Dalim, Lt Col (retd) SHMB Noor Chowdhury, Major (Retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Major (relieved) Ahmed Sharful Hossain, Captain (retd) Abdul Majed, Captain (relieved) Kismat Hashem, and Captain (relieved) Najmul Hossain Ansar.
   Farook Rahman, Shahriar Rashid, Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed are in jail while the rest of the convicts are on the lam. Ten of the convicts in this case were earlier awarded the death penalty in the Bangabandhu Murder Case, now pending with the Supreme Court for appeal hearings.

A high-profile meeting of secretaries with the chief adviser on Monday turned more into a forum for demanding perks and privileges for public servants than for discussing how the bureaucracy can be made service-oriented.
   Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, while listening to the top bureaucrats’ various pleas and concerns, reminded them of their official positions and obligations to taxpayers as he did in three such formal encounters since he assumed office, meeting sources said.
   Top bureaucrats told chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed that they needed protection from any ‘harassments or legal actions’ for their acts done in ‘good faith.’
   The chief adviser, in reply, assured them that the government officials had nothing to be worried about.
   The cabinet secretary told the meeting that normal functioning of the administration would be disrupted if the officials were constantly haunted by fear of being implicated in corruption cases for any of their decisions ‘given in good faith,’ said a meeting source.
   The administrative officials have to work with risk and ‘fear of action’ would discourage them from discharging their duties professionally, a senior secretary told the meeting at the secretariat.
   ‘The chief adviser has said the officials may face temporary problems in discharging their responsibilities, but in the long run everything will be alright since the government trusts its officials,’ the chief adviser’s press secretary, Syed Fahim Muniam told reporters after the meeting.
   As one of the secretaries had sought scope for civil servants to get overseas jobs, especially in the UN peacekeeping missions, the chief adviser said that he would ask the foreign affairs ministry to look into the issue and take necessary measures.
   The issue of protecting the bureaucrats came up in the meeting as many officials were already implicated in the corruption charges framed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and facing contempt of court.
   Fakhruddin asked the civil servants for ensuring that the government decisions were implemented properly.
   The meeting was to focus mainly on the civil servants’ role in the planned general elections in December this year and government strategy to alleviate poverty. But, top bureaucrats were found more vocal about their own rights and privileges than to respond to the chief adviser’s call for making bureaucracy more efficient and functional, meeting sources said.
   The secretaries to the government pressed for a number of issues relating to their own interests including extension of service age, seventh pay scale and overall performance evaluation for postings and promotions while the head of the government reminded them of their role public servants and underlined the need for delivering better services to the public.
   This was the fourth such meeting and the first in the current fiscal year after the government of Fakhruddin Ahmed assumed office on January 12, 2007 a day after the state of emergency was proclaimed by President Iajuddin Ahmed to quell political unrests.
   Thirteen secretaries to the government spoke at the meeting that lasted for more than two hours. Citing examples from neighbouring countries, establishment secretary Abdus Salam Khan requested the chief adviser to consider the already-placed proposal for an increase in the service age to 62 from 57 years on the ground that the overall life expectancy of the people had increased.
   It was also mentioned that age limit for judges was extended to 67 from 65 years during the past political government.
   The bureaucrats asked for rationalising the pay structure for government employees and officials so that they could cope with spiralling prices of essential commodities.
   Agriculture secretary Abdul Aziz, communications secretary Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, finance secretary Mohammad Tareq, land secretary Mosleh Uddin, primary and mass education secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, among others, spoke at the meeting. Cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder assured the chief adviser that the civil servants would assist the Election Commission in conducting the elections in a free and fair manner, said the press secretary.
   The chief adviser apparently ignored the plea for extension of age limit, but took note of the demand for a new pay structure, saying that he would ask the finance ministry to form the seventh pay commission for public servants.
    The chief adviser, as in the previous meetings with the secretaries, asked them to work with responsibility to reduce delay in the administrative functioning.
   In the last meeting on November 6, 2007, Fakhruddin had asked the civil servants to be more active and accountable in delivering services and reduce the sufferings of the people.
   The first such meeting was held at the secretariat on January 23, 2007 where the chief adviser warned the mandarins that punitive action would be taken against those responsible for the administration’s failure although later on he appeared to have shifted from his stand in this regard.

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on Monday asked top bureaucrats to extend all out support to the Election Commission for holding a free and fair general election promised in December.
   ‘It is the constitutional obligation of the caretaker government to support the Election Commission to hold a free and fair election,’ he told secretaries to the government in a meeting.
   He asked them to work ‘fearlessly’ for peaceful elections and make sure that the people will crowd into the polling centres in a festive mood to exercise their franchise as witnessed in the local government polls earlier this month.
   Fakhruddin also requested them to play their due role in making democracy sustainable in post-election Bangladesh through completing the reforms agenda his interim administration had been pursuing over the last 19 months.
   A number of issues featured in the meeting, held at the Cabinet Division with the general election and related issues dominating.
   The chief adviser listened to the bureaucrats’ concerns and gave them guidelines to bring dynamism in bureaucracy.
   The secretaries too assured the chief adviser of extending maximum support for smooth holding of the parliamentary election, which was originally scheduled for January 22, 2007 but postponed with the promulgation of state of emergency on January 11, 2007.
   A roadmap was chalked out to hold the election in December 2008 after the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led emergency government assumed office.
   At Monday’s meeting, the chief adviser expressed satisfaction over the just-ended elections to four city corporations and nine municipalities and called upon the civil servants to maintain the same standard in the national polls, said Syed Fahim Munaim, the chief adviser’s press secretary.
   ‘He wants to see the people cast their votes in a festive mood like in the city polls,’ the press secretary told reporters after the meeting.
   The chief adviser asked the civil servants to ‘defy all threats’ while discharging responsibilities to facilitate voters to exercise their franchise without any fear.
   He called upon the senior civil servants to ‘put the right persons in right places’ for bringing dynamism in the bureaucracy.
   ‘If needed, the existing policy for promotion and posting will be updated,’ the chief adviser was quoted to have said.
   The secretaries urged the chief adviser to reshuffle the field-level administration in phases so that the officials are not panicked by the move ahead of the election.
   ‘The postings must be need-based, not on political considerations,’ the chief adviser said in response.
   He also asked the officials to make necessary postings against the current vacancies.
   He called for making the government’s decision-making process easier, quicker and flawless so that the taxpayers need not to suffer for getting services.
    He stressed the need for implementation of the Secretariat Instruction 2008, which the bureaucrats have prepared for simplifying the official procedures.
   Usage of information technology could yield good results in making the process quicker, the chief adviser told them, stressing the need for promotion of e-governance.
   The head of the government sought for strong monitoring of implementation of citizen charters prepared by different authorities to ensure quality services to the people.
   Irked by last year’s poor implementation of Annual Development Programme, Fakhruddin Ahmed asked the civil servants to start giving attention to the development programmes at the beginning of the fiscal year.
   He also asked them to remain serious about food security of the country, especially at a time when the food crisis is a global phenomenon.

At least 11 people, including six of a family, were killed in a landslide triggered by torrential rain in Matizarna area of Lalkhan Bazar in the city on Monday.
   Three members of a family were also killed in a house collapse at Bhaditala village under sadar upazila in Cox’s Bazar on the day.
   Locals said 10 people were buried alive and five others injured when a big chunk of earth collapsed on 10-12 shacks at Matizarna in Lalkhan Bazar during the rain at 4:45am. One of the injured later died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
   The dead were identified as Johara Akhter, 35, wife of Jasim Uddin, of Bangura area under Debidwar upazila in Comilla, her daughter Sumia, 8, and three sons Amirul, 9, Jahirul, 10 and Khairul, 7 and uncle Taju Mia, 50, Siru Mia, 45, son of Jahangir Alam, of Alir Char area under Muradnagar upazila in Comilla, his wife Anwara Begum, 30, Shahjadi, 7, daughter of Saju Mia, of Sabdarpur under Chandina upazila in Comilla, Fatema Begum, 35, wife of Dadan Mia, of Kachua in Chandpur and her sister-in-law Bilkis, 14.
   Two of the injured — Aizun and Kulsum — were undergoing treatment at CMCH while two others — Hasan, brother of deceased Johara, and Mafiz, brother of deceased Anwara, were released from the hospital after treatment.
   Met Office said it recorded 142mm rainfall in the past 24 hours till 12 noon Monday.
   The injured Hasan said he was sleeping when the incident occurred suddenly. ‘I just heard a big sound,’ he said, adding that the local people managed to pull him out from the debris immediately after the incident.
   Hasan, a rickshaw puller, informed that he had been living with his sister Johara for long as his mentally deranged brother-in-law used to stay at village home. ‘My sister, her four children and one of our uncles died in the landslide,’ he said.
   Acting mayor of the Chittagong City Corporation M Manjur Alam, Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner M Akbar Ali and deputy commissioner Ashraf Shamim visited the spot.
   The acting mayor said the dwellers of the damaged houses were evacuated to Lalkhan Bazar Primary School. ‘We have requested the school authorities to suspend classes for three days to accommodate the survivors.’
   A five-member committee, headed by CCC chief revenue officer Mohiuddin Ahmed Khan, was formed to investigate the incident, he added, saying that they were providing foods to the members of affected families.
   The CMP commissioner said the dwellers living in the vulnerable locations were asked to move towards safer places.
   A series of landslides, triggered by torrential rain, killed at least 126 people in the city’s Lebu Bagan, Kachiaghona and Kushumbug areas on June 11, 2007.
   Our Cox’s Bazar correspondent reported that three persons were killed and another was injured in house collapse at Bhaditala village under sadar upazila.
   The dead were identified as Harun-Al-Rashid, 27, his wife Sajeda Begum, 22 and their two-year-old daughter Khorsia Begum.
   Deputy commissioner Sajjadul Hassan said the house of Harun collapsed at 4:00am due to heavy rain. Four of the family died on the spot. The injured girl Jasi, 5, was admitted to local hospital.
   Heavy rain paralysed the life of people in the district. Met Office recorded 133mm rainfall during the last 33 hours still 3:00pm on Monday. Low-lying areas in Chakoria and Pekua were inundated due to flash flood caused by torrential rain.

The authorities concerned have done little to translate into reality the recommendations made by the probe bodies last year after the catastrophic landslide in Chittagong city that killed 126 people, said sources.
   Residents blamed the government for not taking effective steps to protect the port city from landslide tragedies.
   Consequently another landslide tragedy, the latest of its kind, hit the city’s Motijarna slum in Lalkhan Bazaar on Monday, killing 11 sleeping residents, they said.
   The two probe bodies formed last year put forward 36 recommendations that mainly included tough punishment of the hill cutters, restriction on dwellings within five km and installation of brickfields within 10 km around the hills, massive afforestation of the hills, construction of boundary walls around major hills in the city and proper maintenance of hills to avert landslide disasters, said administration sources.
   SM Jamal Uddin, chairman of  Brihattar Chattagram Unnoyan Sangram Committee (Greater Chittagong Development Action Committee), said that no pragmatic measures have been taken by the government to prevent further landslides in Chittagong.
   ‘Steps were not taken to implement the recommendations submitted by the probe bodies last year after the major landslides here,’ he added. ‘Those recommendations have turned into mere rhetoric.’
   ‘The administration only asked the people living on vulnerable hill slopes to move out. But where do they go? No steps were taken to ensure rehabilitation of those people after evacuation,’ he pointed out.
   ‘Without proper planning and measures for rehabilitation of the people living in flimsy houses at the bottom of cut hills, it will be difficult to avert the landslide tragedies here,’ he observed.
   ‘Stringent measures also need to be taken to stop hill cutting in the Chittagong region,’ he observed.
   But the acting mayor of the Chittagong City Corporation, Manjurul Alam, claimed that efforts are being made to prevent landslides.
   ‘Some disaster management programmes have been initiated as landslides become a major issue during the rains every year. We have already evacuated some people from the risky hill slopes in the city,’ he added.
   The divisional commissioner of Chittagong, Hossain Jamil, claimed that steps have been taken to turn the probe bodies’ recommendations into reality to avert landslides.
   ‘Everything is underway. As per the recommendations, we took up some short-term, mid-term and long-term programmes,’ he said.
   ‘Already we have evacuated several hundred families from the vulnerable locations in the city and given Tk 15,000/- to each family to enable them to settle in safer places,’ he added. ‘Other programmes will be launched in phases.’
   The deputy commissioner of Chittagong, Ashraf Shameem, said, ‘Some of the slum dwellers return to the previous locations on the hill slopes despite our drive to evacuate them.’
   ‘We find it difficult to motivate them to move to safer places or evacuate them totally,’ he added. ‘As torrential rains began to fall, megaphones were used to ask the people living near the hills at Lalkhan Bazaar and other areas to move to safer locations. But none of them heeded our call and the tragedy occurred early Monday at Motijarna slum in Lalkhan Bazaar when a landslide killed 11 persons and injured some others.’

The Election Commission plans to start the process for registration of political parties this month though the parties seem little prepared for registration at short notice and amid the state of emergency.
   ‘The process of registration will start after we get the laws [Representation of People Order 1972], hopefully in a day or two’, chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters on Monday at the EC Secretariat.
   According to an election commissioner, the EC is now planning to give the parties only two months for discussions and meetings to change their constitutions in compliance with the party registration laws. The commissioners, earlier, on several occasions said that the parties would be given three months, if required four months, to get registered with the commission.
   The EC missed its June deadline for the registration of political parties for delay in finalising reforms of the electoral law setting the conditions for registration.
   According to the electoral roadmap, all electoral reforms, including finalisation of the conditions for registration of political parties, should have been completed by February 27.
    The roadmap also gave the political parties three months, April-June, to get registered. But till date there is no sign of finalising the electoral reforms. The council of advisers to the caretaker government on August 6 approved a number of proposed amendments to the RPO 1972.
   Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain had said in June that political parties would be given adequate time, if required four months, to change their constitutions in compliance with the party registration laws.
   With parliamentary elections planned for the third week of December, the parties will get just two months – September and October – before announcement of the polls schedule in November to amend their constitutions and have new committees by holding councils to meet the proposed criteria for registration.
   Leaders of the two major political parties, Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, observed that there was no atmosphere in the country for holding party council sessions.
   Joint secretary general of BNP Nazrul Islam Khan and AL presidium member Matia Chowdhury separately told New Age that they could not start preparations for registration until the state of emergency was lifted. According to the proposed criteria for registration, major parties will have to amend their constitutions severing ties with their auxiliary organisations and to drop from their constitutions the provisions that allow them to have overseas chapters.
   After the new law is promulgated by a presidential ordinance, the EC will invite applications from political parties for registration. According to the plan, the EC may begin the process of registration by the end of this month.

The trial of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim in the Tk 2.99 crore extortion case, stalled for about six months, restarted on Monday.
   M Ashraf Hossain, the judge of the special court-5 set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, began the trial with recording deposition of the plaintiff, Azam J Chowdhury, a local power company chief, amid protests from the defence counsels.
   As the court resumed in the morning, defence counsel Syed Rezaur Rahman told the court the recording of Azam’s statement had been completed by Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Azizul Haque and the defence counsels began cross-examining him.
   ‘The case was transferred to this court for continuation of the trial, as we had expressed fear of getting no justice from the earlier court,’ the counsel argued, seeking permission for cross-examining the plaintiff without allowing him to make further statement.
   Chief prosecutor ABM Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan Mukul claimed that Azam’s statement in the previous court was inconclusive and he should be allowed to complete the statement.
   Accordingly, the court recorded the plaintiff’s further statement, in which Azam said Russian power company Technoprom Export signed a contract with the Power Development Board on June 26, 1995 for the installation of a 210MW thermal power plant at Siddhirganj.
   According to the contract, his company East Coast Trading Private Ltd was the local agent of the Russian company, Azam mentioned and submitted a photocopy of the contract.
   The defence counsels challenged the legality of submission of the photocopy of the contract and the court ruled that the photocopy would not be recorded as evidence until the original copy of the contract would be placed before the court.
   The prosecution, however, said that the original contract would be submitted by another witness.
   As the court, after recording the statement, asked the defence counsels to cross-examine the plaintiff, they argued that they could not do so without consulting Hasina, also the Awami League president.
   The court rejected the defence plea, saying, ‘She [Hasina] was on July 13 exempted from personal appearance in this court on your prayer, and now you cannot refuse to cross-examine the witnesses on the plea of consulting her.’
   Syed Rezaur, however, began the cross-examination.
   Hasina, who was earlier granted exemption from personal appearance in court, is now abroad. She left for the USA on June 12, a day after she was released by an executive order for overseas treatment.
   Azam J Chowdhury filed the case with Gulshan police station on June 13, 2007 alleging that the former prime minister, aided by her sister and cousin, had extorted Tk 2.99 crore from him for awarding the contract.
   Hasina was arrested on July 16, 2007.
   Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Azizul Haque on January 30 began the trial in the case in the makeshift courtroom on the Jatiya Sangsad complex.
   The trial had been stalled since February 26 when the High Court quashed the case. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on May 8 turned down the High Court verdict and ordered continuation of the trial.
   Metropolitan sessions judge Azizul Haque on June 15 transferred the case to the special court for trial.

A Dhaka court on Monday rejected a petition that sought bail for detained former premier Khaleda Zia in the latest case against her filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission on July 3, accusing her of embezzling Tk 2.1 crore from the Zia Orphanage Trust’s fund.
   The Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge, M Azizul Haque, passed the order after hearing the petition filed by Khaleda, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s chairperson.
   ‘We will soon move to the higher court to appeal against the rejection of the prayer for bail,’ one of her counsels, Sanaullah Miah, told New Age.
   On July 23, Khaleda and Tarique were shown arrested in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case filed by the ACC’s assistant director, Harun ur Rashid, with the Ramna thana. Khaleda was arrested on September 3, 2007 and Tarique on March 8.
   The other accused in the case are Khaleda’s nephew Mominur Rahman, former BNP lawmaker Qazi Saleemul Huq and three of his associates, Syed Ahmed Sayeed, Giasuddin Ahmed and Sharfuddin Ahmed, for embezzling Tk 2.1 crore from the orphanage’s fund.
   Khaleda, according to the First Information Report, during her tenure as former prime minister (1991–1996) opened an account in the name of the Prime Minister’s Orphan Fund with the Ramna branch of Sonali Bank. In the account she received $12,55,000, equivalent to Tk 4.44 crore, on June 9, 1991 as donation through demand draft of the United Saudi Commercial Bank.
   Moving the bail petition for Khaleda, her counsels argued that the government had lodged the case to harass her politically as no member of the trust had filed the case. ‘If she could misappropriate the orphanage’s money, the case should have been lodged by the deprived people,’ argued Sanaullah Mia.
   The metropolitan public prosecutor, Ahsanul Haque Shomoji, opposed the bail prayer, saying that the lower courts have no jurisdiction to entertain the petition, especially when it is for bail.

The proposed visit of the foreign and expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, to Kuwait for addressing the problems of Bangladeshi workers there has been deferred to the first week of September because of the Gulf nation’s lukewarm response to Dhaka’s overture.
   Officials of the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry said that efforts are being made to have about 16 Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait released from prison. The Bangladeshi workers there launched a fresh strike in protest against low pay on Sunday.
   Officials of the ministries of foreign affairs and expatriates’ welfare told New Age that Bangladesh has requested Kuwait to let Iftekhar’s visit to start from August 23.
   ‘We proposed the above schedule but we are yet to get any positive response from Kuwait,’ said an official of the expatriates’ ministry.
   A release of the foreign ministry on Monday said that Iftekhar would visit Kuwait in the first week of September and meet Kuwaiti ministers and also leaders of the Bangladesh expatriates’ community for solving the problems faced by Bangladeshi workers.
   The official said that the adviser’s visit was also aimed at withdrawal of the embargo on Bangladeshi workers.
   Abdul Matin Chowdhury, secretary to the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry, said that those Bangladeshis were arrested while they were protesting against their low salaries.
   ‘We have instructed our mission there to secure their immediate release,’ he said.
   A local daily, the Arab Times, on Monday reported that a total of 20 Bangladeshi workers went on strike on Sunday near the Parliament to demand full payment of their overdue salaries.
   Aggrieved workers claimed that a certain company was deducting KD 10 from the salary of KD 60 per month stipulated in their employment contracts.
   Denouncing the company’s refusal to pay them the salary of KD 60 approved by the Cabinet, one of the protesters said it had forced each of them to pay KD 70 for their residency permits and health insurance policies, which is against the law. The company has also threatened to deport anyone who refuses to pay the specified amount.
   Acting speaker of the National Assembly, Roudhan Al-Roudhan, vowed to discuss this issue with the secretary-general on Monday and compel the concerned company to pay the workers’ full salaries.
   The Kuwait Times on Monday, quoting officials of the ministry of social affairs and labour, reported that security measures had been beefed up in the fear of further demonstrations.
   The daily said that disgruntled Bangladeshi labourers employed by security and safety companies are planning to stage demonstrations at various locations around Kuwait because the companies have withheld their salaries for several months.
   The social affairs and labour minister, Bader Al-Duwailah, said measures would be taken against the companies that were depriving workers of their deserved salaries.
   Security was tightened to maintain law and order in the country, he said.
   South Asian workers in Kuwait, including Bangladeshis, called a strike and held mass demonstrations at the end of July, demanding higher pay and better working conditions.
   The Kuwaiti police on July 28 arrested at least 800 Bangladeshis during the demonstrations, and deported over 1,100 workers in several phases.
   Some of these were deported for staying on illegally after their work permits had expired.

The leader of Nepal’s Maoists, Prachanda, was sworn in as prime minister of the new republic Monday, finalising his transformation from warlord to the country’s most powerful politician.
   The former rebel chief was overwhelmingly voted in as Nepal’s new premier on Friday by lawmakers in the constitutional assembly, which in May abolished the unpopular 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.
   ‘I will remain faithful to the nation and my countrymen, and promise in the name of the people that I will remain faithful to the sovereign nation of Nepal,’ he said in his oath of office.
   Prachanda’s real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, but he chooses to go by a nom-de-guerre meaning ‘fierce one.’
   Dressed in a grey suit and tie and wearing a traditional Nepali cap, the ex-rebel leader — once Nepal’s most-wanted man — looked ill at ease as he was feted by a guard of honour and watched by an large audience of dignitaries, among them scores of foreign diplomats.
   A Nepal Army band played the new republic’s national anthem at the function, which was held in the lush gardens of the president’s office and residence in central Kathmandu.
   After the oath had been read and he had signed the document, Prachanda visibly relaxed and smiled as he received congratulations from Nepal’s new president, politicians and foreign ambassadors.
   ‘The priority is to take this peace process to a logical end,’ Prachanda told reporters in his new office shortly after the swearing-in ceremony.
   ‘I will also create an environment conducive to constitution-drafting which will be our first priority,’ he said.
   The ultra-leftists are still in negotiations with their political allies over the make-up of the incoming government.
   ‘We are in talks with members of the alliance and will form a government as soon as possible,’ Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said.
   The Maoists and their allies are still haggling over the distribution of ministerial portfolios, local media has reported.

A suicide car bomb blew up Monday outside a US military base in eastern Afghanistan, killing 10 civilian labourers, as the country marked Independence Day under the shadow of extremist attacks.
   The blast, claimed by the insurgent Taliban, did not penetrate the base in the town of Khost and security forces were
   able to prevent a second suicide attack moments later, the US-led coalition and Afghan officials said.
   It came amid heightened security as Afghanistan marked Independence Day, commemorating its final defeat of the British army in 1919.
   Kabul was locked down with 7,000 police on patrol and checkpoints at nearly every city centre intersection as well as main entry points into the capital.
   A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said his group had carried out the suicide attack in Khost, 30 kilometres from the border with Pakistan.
   The US-led coalition said insurgents detonated the device outside the base and that 10 Afghans were killed and 13 wounded. It said earlier that nine had died in the blast at its Salerno camp.
   The casualties were labourers who had been waiting to enter the base for work, Khost government spokesman Khaibar Pashtun said.
   ‘Moments later a second car bomber came and wanted to detonate his bombs. Police identified him and opened fire on him,’ a secretary to the Khost governor, Mohammad Bilal, said.
   He said the attacker was able to escape into the crowd and security forces destroyed the second bomb. ‘They wanted to disturb Independence Day,’ he said.
   Reacting to the suicide bombing, the president, Hamid Karzai, said in a statement that by killing ‘innocent civilians on Independence Day, the terrorists showed their hostility to the freedom of (the) Afghan people.’

An inter-ministry committee on price monitoring has emphasised on market surveillance by joint forces, Rapid Action Battalion and Bangladesh Rifles to prevent prices from further spiralling in Ramadan, beginning on September 1.
   The committee, in a meeting at the commerce ministry Monday, pledged to keep prices of most of the essential commodities stable despite their surging demand during the month of fasting.
   Pledges earlier made by the businesspeople prompted the committee to hope for a stable commodity market in Ramadan, members said.
   The monitoring committee, comprising officials of different line ministries and intelligence agencies, found no reason behind the latest increase in onion price, said its chief Golam Mustakim.
   Domestic production of onion in the previous season was estimated at 13.83 lakh tonnes, while 3.75 lakh tonnes were imported meanwhile.
   ‘Though we see domestic price of an item increases within seconds of global price rise, but prices never come down with fall in the global market. Let’s pray that business community behaves fairly while making profit,’ said Mustakim, additional secretary to the commerce ministry.
   He prescribed new iftar recipes to reduce single-item dependence like that on aubergine, used in making a common iftar item called Beguni.
   ‘Fourteen crore people should not jump for aubergine; please take Pepeni [papaya fry] or Aluni [potato fry] to divert pressure from a single vegetable,’ he said.
   He claimed that the government had adequate stock of food grains amounting to 12 lakh tonnes as of August 14, up from 5.96 lakh tonnes on the same day in 2007.
   The official announced a set of market intervention steps, being taken by government agencies such as the food department, Bangladesh Rifles and the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh to support the fixed income groups of people during Ramadan.
   The BDR began selling 22 items through 100 outlets in Dhaka city and 110 in 32 districts on August 15. The TCB is scheduled to sell a number of items through 10 trucks and five outlets in Dhaka and three more cities — Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna — during Ramadan.
   The food department begins open market sales of rice at Tk 28 a kilogram tomorrow for more than two months.
   Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, at a meeting with top bureaucrats Monday, asked the secretaries to ensure proper monitoring of the open market sales of rice across the country to shield the fixed income groups from price spiral. He also asked the administration to make arrangements for stabilising the commodity market and efficient operation of mobile courts to thwart any sort of market manipulation, meeting sources said.

Chinese superstar Liu Xiang sensationally pulled out of the 110m hurdles heats injured Monday, putting a huge dampener on China’s celebrations at achieving their most successful Olympics.
   Liu, the defending champion, is a national hero in China with his face on billboards everywhere, and his shock withdrawal with a foot injury after just a few strides in his hurdles heat stunned the nation.
   The Bird’s Nest, packed with a capacity 91,000 fans waiting for Liu’s race, went silent in disbelief as he limped from the stadium.
   The official athletics television coverage was halted for a hastily arranged press conference where a weeping Sun Haiping, Liu’s coach, explained a right heel injury, which has been a problem for years, flared up again.
   The sudden withdrawal of the ‘Shanghai Express’, the first Chinese athlete to simultaneously hold a world record, a world title and an Olympic gold, stunned his legion of fans who see Liu as a symbol of China’s burgeoning success in the world.
   It also took the shine off China revelling in its best Olympic gold medal achievement which some hailed as a potential end to US sporting supremacy.
   China reaped another four gold medals Monday, three in gymastics and the men’s team table tennis, while the United States won two in athletics and one in equestrian.
   After a series of athletics setbacks here, the United States fortunes turned when Angelo Taylor led home Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson to sweep the 400m hurdles final and Stephanie Brown-Trafton won the women’s discus.
   But the star performance at the track belonged to reigning Olympic and world champion Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia who broke her own world record in the women’s pole vault.
   Brimin Kipruto continued Kenya’s dominance of the 3000m steeplechase, winning their seventh consecutive title, while 18-year-old Pamela Jelimo became the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic track gold when she won the 800m.
   Mozambique’s Maria Mutola finished fifth in the 33-year-old’s sixth and final Olympics.
   Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who won the 100m in world record time, continued his quest for an elusive sprint double, cruising into the semi-finals of the men’s 200m in another effortless display of sprinting.
   He timed 20.29 seconds, with defending champion Shawn Crawford of the United States second fastest in 20.42sec.
   Australia won three gold medals on the day starting with the women’s triathlon where triple world champion Emma Snowsill won by more than a minute from Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal.
   Australia also won both the men’s and women’s yachting 470 class.
   Great Britain ended a 100-year drought in cycling’s team pursuit, racing away with the title for the first time since 1908 and smashing their own world record on the way in 3min 53.314sec.

Inflation returned to a double-digit level in June with economists ringing alarm bell about an economic slowdown unless steps are taken to raise incomes and purchasing power of the poor.
   Monthly inflation remained 7.66 in April and 7.66 per cent in May after ranging between 10 and 11 per cent levels for previous six months in a row. Price index rose to 10.04 per cent, propelled by 14.1 per cent inflation in food prices in June, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
   Annualised inflation was 9.93 per cent in the last fiscal, up from 7.22 of the year before. Average food price index rose to 12.28 per cent from 8.12 per cent and non-food index rose to 6.32 per cent from 5.9.
   Bangladesh Bank in its April-June quarterly said the government raised administered price of compressed natural gas in June and prices of fuel oil and urea fertiliser in July. These adjustments were expected to have some direct impacts on the point-to-point inflation in the following months.
   Prices of rice, fish, egg, meat, vegetables, soap and detergent increased significantly in the month.
   Market players forecast further rises in food prices in Ramadan, starting from September 1, despite announcements and pledges made by the government and business community.
   Price of most consumed coarse rice increased by Tk 3 per kilogram in June from May and fine quality najirshail by Tk 1, red lentil by Tk 2, ruhi fish by Tk 5, small shrimp by about Tk 15, beef Tk 5, chicken Tk 15, egg Tk 4 per four pieces, soya bean oil by Tk 9 and potato by Tk 5, according to the BBS figure.
   The government has already acknowledged the fact that price level is too high and it has raised its allocation for food-aided programmes by 48 per cent in the current fiscal
   year, said former finance bureaucrat Akbar Ali Khan,
   who now heads Regulatory Reform Commission.
   ‘It is not enough to have food in the market, people must have money or purchasing power to buy the food,’ he said.
   Economist Atiur Rahman termed inflation as the worst enemy of the poor, whose purchasing power eroded by 10 per cent if the official count of inflation was taken into account.
   ‘More people joined the marginalised section as inflation keeps galloping,’ he said.
   ‘If inflation continues to increase at such a rate, there would be an economic slowdown,’ he feared.
   ‘People will not have sufficient money to buy products other than food items and it will reduce the market size of non-food items,’ he explained.
   It is very alarming and the government should take
   immediate measures to increase the purchasing power of the people.
   In the global market, commodity prices maintained upward trend during the last quarter of the last fiscal, the central bank April-June quarterly said.
   Prices of most food items, especially wheat, rice and edible oils increased at a faster rate in the second half of 2007-08 fiscal that ended in June.
   Rice prices increased by 155.8 per cent, soya bean 80 per cent, wheat 57 per cent and maize (corn) 75 per cent in June 2008 from June last year.
   On point-to-point basis, IMF international commodity price index, which includes both fuel and non-fuel price indexes, increased by 63.0 per cent in June as compared with 29.4 per cent in December 2007 and only 5.6 per cent in June last year.
   Food prices rose 44.4 per cent while crude oil (petroleum) price index rose by an unprecedented 92.9 per cent in June compared with increases of 27.1 per cent and 46.6 per cent respectively in December and only 7.6 per cent rise and 0.2 per cent fall in June 2007.

Eighty-two Bangladeshis, who were travelling to the United Arab Emirates as migrant workers, were sent back Monday as they could not present proper visas at Dubai airport, an immigration official said.
   The UAE, a relatively new destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers, is the third country to send back Bangladeshis for various irregularities over the past month.
   ‘Eight-two Bangladeshis returned from the UAE on a Gulf Air flight,’ Zia International Airport’s immigration in-charge Tania told the news agency on Monday.
   ‘As the workers could not produce their original visas on landing at the airport, they were sent straight back,’ she said.
   According to a Bangladesh-UAE agreement, all passengers must show ‘original visas’ — rather than the photocopies that overseas workers often receive from their employment agents — if they want to travel the Gulf emirates.
   The provision for showing original visas has been made to prevent human trafficking as Dubai is one of the main hubs of the illegal activity. Most of those travelling with photocopied visas are suspected of being victims of traffickers.
   Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have deported hundreds of Bangladeshi workers over the past for breaking laws of the host countries.

The power division has drafted a renewable energy policy with an ambitious target of meeting five per cent of total electricity demand by 2015 and 10 per cent by 2020 with renewable energy.
   At an inter-ministerial meeting, which reviewed the draft on Monday, power secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan asked officials concerned to specify in the draft the tentative generation of electricity from a certain renewable source.
   When asked whether the target of generating five per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2015 was too ambitious, Fouzul told New Age, ‘This question can be raised by anyone. That is why we have asked the people concerned to specify the amount of expected electricity to be generated from each of the sources.’
   As per the power system master plan, the country’s total demand for electricity would be around 9,870 megawatts by 2015.
   The draft policy identified solar, wind, biomass, biogas and hydro-electricity as major renewable energy sources in the country.
   It said that around 2,00,000 household-level solar photovoltaic with a combined capacity of around 12MW have so far been installed in the country. ‘With a good to excellent solar resource available, there is a strong potential for solar photovoltaic within an overall rural electrification programme, if affordable products that meet consumer needs can be supplied and supported.’
   It says use of wind power is likely to be limited to coastal areas and islands with strong wind regime and these areas have good opportunities for wind-powered pumps and electricity generation.
   The draft said that the country had strong potential for biomass gasification-based electricity from sources like rice husk, crop residue, woods, jute stick, animal waste and sugarcane residue while biogas plants, mostly based on animal and municipal wastes, might be the most promising renewable energy in the country.
   Regarding hydro-electricity, it said more assessment was needed to identify possible sites of mini- and micro-hydropower plants.
   Talking to New Age, an energy expert said that it was unrealistic that 5 per cent of the total demand for power could be met by renewable energy by 2015. ‘Five per cent of total electricity means almost 500MW. Even if one per cent of the demand could be met by renewable energy, it would be a great achievement’, he said.
   He warned that the government should not focus entirely on renewable energy. ‘Renewable energy sources should be tapped. But the government should remember these are supplementary to the conventional energy and costly as well.’
   The draft policy recommended setting up of a separate company, Sustainable Energy Development Agency, for development and promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
   Officials of the National Board of Revenue at Monday’s meeting opposed the provision for 15 years tax holiday for the sponsors of renewable energy projects.
   The power secretary asked the NBR officials to review the options of tax exemption and to inform the division about their decision.

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday filed a case against eight persons, predominantly serving and former high officials of Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, for misappropriating over Tk 2.69 crore through denying the lowest bidder a tender for electric pole supply.
   The accused individuals also include a Bangladesh Rural Development Board high official and general manager of a firm owned by Azam J Chowdhury, the businessman who came into the limelight through suing detained former prime minister and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina for extortion over a power-plant project.
   The accused persons are former BREB chairman and incumbent additional secretary Dr AKM Helaluzzaman (now OSD), former BREB member (engineering) Abdul Halim Molla (now retired), BREB secretary Belayet Hossain Chowdhury, director (development) Torab Ali Akanji, director (Finance) Mujibur Rahman, chief engineer (project) Shahid Uddin Ahmed, BRDB joint director Altaf Hossain and Kayes Khalil Khan, general manager of the firm that clinched the contract.
   According to the first information report, a tender was invited on June 23, 2005 for purchasing 3,500 electric poles. ‘The contract was awarded to the second-lowest instead of the lowest bidder,’ causing loss of the above-stated amount.
   The ACC deputy director, Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan, filed the case with Khilkhet police station under sections 409/420/109 of the Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.

Six more corruption suspects, including land sub-registrars and their families, appealed to the Anti-Corruption Commission willing to confess their offences voluntarily, said an ACC official on Monday.
   ACC director-general (admin) Hanif Iqbal said that those applications would be placed before the commission soon for its decision.
   He declined to give details of the applicants but said, ‘Most of them are sub-registrars and their families.’
   The ACC earlier on August 14 sent a list of 17 government officials to the Truth and Accountability Commission.
   The civil servants included a divisional forest officer and a former chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department.
   TAC chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan and his two deputies, Manjur Rashid and Asif Ali, are now scrutinising the case records of the graft suspects seeking TAC mercy, officials said.
   The truth commission may start hearing of the appeals next week.
   It started functioning on August 3 with a five-month tenure and set September 1 as the deadline for submitting mercy appeals.

With the selection of 40 already completed, the foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, said Monday Saudi universities were willing to recruit far more Bangladeshi teachers.
   The foreign adviser, also in charge of the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, said this following a meeting in his office with Ali Mohammed Mussa Tobeigi of Jazan University in Saudi Arabia and Firoz Mahmood, a Bangladeshi English teacher in that country.
   Tobeigi informed the foreign adviser that the selection of 40 teachers had already been completed for recruitment to Jazan University through BOESL. Sixty more would follow suit.
   ‘This is exactly in line with our policy. Bangladeshi academics have made a good name for themselves in Saudi Arabia. New Universities are being opened there,’ Iftekhar said.