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

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The High Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to former ministers Moudud Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Rafiqul Islam, former state ministers Fazlur Rahman Patal and Amanullah Aman, and businessman Salman F Rahman in separate cases.
   The High Court bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice M Emdadul Haque Azad passed the orders after hearing separate petitions filed by the six seeking bail.
   The court also stayed for two months the proceeding of the corruption case filed against the Awami League’s general secretary Abdul Jalil on December 18, 2007 for amassing illegal wealth and hiding information in the wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   The same court stayed the proceedings of two cases — one filed with the Tejgaon police against former lawmaker Mosaddak Ali in March 2007 for misappropriation of corrugated iron sheets from government fund and the other filed with the Ramna police against former lawmaker Shahidul Haque Jamal on August 4.
   Former law minister Moudud Ahmed was granted bail for three months in two graft cases. One was filed with the Gulshan police on September 16, 2007 for amassing illegal wealth and hiding information in the wealth statement submitted to the commission and the other with the Tejgaon police on December 9, 2007 in connection with the Niko corruption case.
   The court granted bail for four months to Mosharraf in the tax evasion case, for six months to Amanullah in four extortion cases filed with the Keraniganj police in March and April, 2007.
   Rafiqul Islam was granted bail for three months in two cases — one filed in connection with the Niko case and the other filed with the Dhanmondi police on November 16, 2007 for amassing illegal wealth and hiding information in the wealth statement.
   The court granted bail for six months to Salam F Rahman in the latest case filed against him with the Motijheel police on September 30, 2007 for misappropriation of IFIC Bank fund by forging documents.

Students at Dhaka University observed the first anniversary of the August 2007 campus protests on Wednesday with a vow to resist any sort of state-sponsored repression.
   To mark the first anniversary of the campus protests, almost all the student and cultural organisations of the university drew up a series of programmes, including bringing out processions, holding solidarity rallies and cultural functions.
   The programmes were held amid fresh tension over the hearing in the case of setting a military vehicle on fire during the August 2007 protests. Different student organisations brought out processions, demanding withdrawal of the case filed against seven students of Dhaka University.
   The activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal carrying black flags and tying around their mouths with black cloths brought out a procession at noon and demanded that the university authorities should declare August 23 as ‘Black Day’.
   At a rally held at the foot of Aparajeya Bangla, they said that the students protested the conspiracy of the military-backed government in 2007. They would not tolerate any conspiracy against Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the activists said, adding that they would wage tougher movement for the release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman.
   Bangladesh Chhatra League brought out a procession and held a rally in front of the arts building. Leaders of the organisation at the rally demanded cancellation of the case filed against the students. BCL men brought out the procession tying around their mouths with black cloths.
   To mark the anniversary, Bangladesh Chhatra Federation and Bangladesh Chhatra Union also brought out processions and placed similar demands raised by Chhatra Dal and Chhatra League.
   Chhatra Union put graffiti on the wall of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union building with the demand for making the campus free from violence.
   The students, accused in the case of setting a military vehicle on fire, along with the activists of different organisations lit candles on the Dhaka University campus in the evening.

Major river system Brahmaputra-Jamuna continued swelling on Wednesday and is likely to continue with the trend for a couple of days.
   According to the flood forecasting and warning centre, the system will cross the danger mark at Aricha within next 24 hours and at Sirajganj within 48 hours as the river was retreating in upper Assam where a moderate flooding with heavy rains had increased the pressure on it.
   The Ganges system also sustained going up and was flowing above the danger mark at bordering Pankha in Chapainawabganj and inundated low-lying areas in Shibganj and sadar upazilas.
   The Padma-Jamuna confluence will continue rising at Goalunda and Bhagyakul points and the tendency may continue for next three to four days.
   More low-lying areas in Munshiganj, Manikganj, Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Dohar and Nawabganj in Dhaka, Shibganj and Sadar in Chapainawabganj are likely to be inundated within next two to three days.
   Rivers kept swelling at 56 points, out of the 73 monitoring points. They were flowing above danger mark at seven points.
   The Padma was flowing 39 centimetres above danger mark at Pankha, 44 centimetres at Bhagy-akul and 40 centimetres at Goalu-nda. The Arial Khan was flowing 17 centimetres above the danger mark at Madaripur while the Kangsa 42 centimetres at Jariajhanjail in Netrakona and the Surma 27 centimetres at Sunamganj and 25 centimetres at Kanaighat.

The Awami League’s acting president, Zillur Rahman, on Wednesday said that his party is planning to launch a ‘democratic movement’ to underscore its demand for holding the parliamentary elections, and urged the interim administration not to hold any other polls before those elections.
   He was talking with the reporters at his Gulshan residence after a meeting with leaders of Bangladesh Gram Daktar Kallyan Samiti.
   AL Presidium member Suranjit Sengupta, who was present at the meeting, referred to the recent incidents in Pakistan, and warned that local leaders should pay heed to the fate of Pakistan’s Musharraf and make ‘a U-turn towards democracy’.
   ‘There is no alternative to democracy, though it faces a lot of hurdles in societies like ours,’ he said.
   At a discussion in the afternoon, another presidium member, Amir Hossain Amu, said they would accept any election at any moment after the national elections, and requested the government to hold parliamentary elections first.
   He said that the people want national elections first so that they can elect the government of their choice. ‘We will raise the issue of the people’s attitude at the dialogue with the interim government as well as the Election Commission.’
   Amu was addressing a discussion in front of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi. The Dhaka district unit of the AL organised the discussion to mark the National Mourning Day.
   Another presidium member, Abdur Razzak, said Sheikh Mujibur Rahjman’s dream was to ensure the people’s fundamental rights, and to materialise his dream an elected, democratic government is essential. ‘Only an elected government led by Sheikh Hasina can fulfil the people’s desire.’
   President of AL’s Dhaka district unit, Benazir Ahmed, presided over the discussion in which AL leader Abdul Mannan Khan and the unit’s general secretary, Mahbubur Rahman, participated, along with others.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday rejected the bail petition of detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia in Barapukuria coal mine corruption case.
   Another court also Wednesday turned down the bail prayer of her detained son Tarique Rahman in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
   The rejection of their pleas for enlarging them on bail came at a time when it has long been talk of the town that government moves are on to set the BNP leaders free in the political rapprochement process to get out of the standoff in the run-up to elections.
   Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Golam Rabbani rejected the bail prayer of BNP chairperson Khaleda after hearing both sides.
   Meanwhile, metropolitan sessions judge Md Azizul Haq rejected the bail prayer of Tarique Rahman, senior joint secretary general of the BNP, in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
   Tarique’s lawyers filed miscellaneous cases with the court and sought bail for him.
   In the bail petition filed by Khaleda’s lawyers, it was stated that there was no definite allegation against her in the FIR of the Barapukuria coal mine corruption case.
   ‘She was implicated in the case only for politically undermining her.
   The statement of the ejahar is totally false, baseless and fabricated,’ the petition said.
   ‘She (Khaleda) fell sick as she has been in prison for long,’ it was further said. ‘She was detained in a baseless case, so she deserves bail,’ the counsel submitted before the court in filing the petition.
   The lawyers of Tarique
   also termed the allegation brought against him ‘false’ and ‘baseless’.
   Tarique is victim of ‘political vendetta’ and that implicated him in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case, his lawyers said in the petition.
   The petitioners pleaded that Tarique Zia needs proper treatment as one side of his body got ‘paralysed’.
   Earlier on Monday, a court rejected another bail petition of Khaleda in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case against the former prime
   minister and BNP chairperson, her detained son Tarique Rahman and five others on charges of embezzling over Tk 1.01 crore from the Orphanage Trust.
   They were arrested and sued on graft charges under a clampdown on the political arena after the January 11, 2007 changeover following a political crisis over election issues.

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port on Wednesday called on the government to officially observe August 26 as Phulbari Day and to expel Asia Energy from the country.
   ‘People of Dinajpur achieved a victory in protecting national resources at Phulbari on August 26, 2006 by sacrificing their lives against the controversial Phulbari coal project of Asia Energy. We call on the government to officially observe the day,’ said the committee member secretary, Anu Muhammad, at a briefing in Dhaka.
   The committee observes August 26 as Phulbari Day to mark the protests against Asia Energy and the company’s proposed open-pit mining at the Phulbari coal field. Three people were killed by law enforcers at the protests led by the committee.
   The government of the time signed an agreement with the committee on August 30, four days after the protests, that Asia Energy would be expelled from the country and there would be open-pit mining.
   Anu demanded immediate implementation of the Phulbari agreement by the interim government. ‘If the present government does not implement the agreement fully, this government, like the previous ones, will also be held responsible for corruption and anti-state activities,’ he said.
   ‘Although the previous government signed the agreement with us for the expulsion of the company from Bangladesh, it has continued with its evil activities and buying brokers to lobby in its favour,’ he said.
   The committee convener, Sheikh Md Shahidullah, alleged the local administration at Phulbari and influential quarters in the government were putting pressure on the people who protested and who are against the Phulbari coal project.
   ‘But despite all the pressure, we know the Phulbari agreement will be implemented one day as earlier we could stop the efforts to export gas from the country and to hand the Chittagong port over to a US company,’ he said.
   The committee has chalked up programmes, including placing of wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar, holding a mourning procession and discussion meetings in various parts of the country during August 26–30 to mark Phulbari Day.

South Korea has highly appreciated Bangladesh’s role in drafting the final NAM declaration at the recent Tehran meet, in which the issue of the Korean peninsula was addressed.
   The foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, received a letter of thanks from his South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan for the contribution the Bangladesh delegation made at the Non-Aligned Ministerial Conference in the Iranian capital.
   The Bangladesh delegation rendered strong support in resolving the ‘drafting issue’ with regard to the paragraph on the Korean peninsula in the Final Declaration.
   ‘The strong support rendered by your delegation throughout the drafting process was of great value in our endeavours to ensure that the article reflect all the past inter-Korean agreements in a comprehensive and balanced manner,’ the South Korean minister said.

A Sri Lankan flag vessel laden with 3,609 tonnes of rice, imported by the government from India, sank in the outer anchorage of the Chittagong port on Wednesday.
   Sources in the Chittagong Port Authority said the vessel, Baduluvalley, headed for the jetty, hit the anchored Panama flag vessel Hangxue at about 1:30pm.
   The sources said the vessel sank into the Bay of Bengal as its deck cracked after the accident. The Panama flag vessel remained unharmed.
   Sixteen out of the total 17 members on the crew were rescued. The chief engineer of the vessel remained missing till the afternoon, they said.
   The port authorities formed a two-member committee, headed by Captain Jashim Uddin of the Mercantile Marine Department, to investigate the incident. The committee has been asked to submit the report in a week.
   A lighter vessel, Seven Circle 2, meanwhile, sank in the outer anchorage at about 5:00am after hitting a sunken ship when it was headed for the mother vessel to offload cement clinker.

An extremist was sentenced to 21 years rigorous imprisonment by a court in Rajbari on Wednesday in an arms case.
   The convict was Tofazzal Hossain, 40, of Madla village under Sailkupa upazila of Jhenaidah district and also second in-command of Biplobi Communist Party.
   According to the prosecution, the police arrested Tofazzal along with a shutter gun and four rounds of bullet from Kalimahar union in Pangsha upazila on May 5 this year.
   After examining 12 witnesses, district and sessions Judge Mohammad Belayet Hossain handed down the verdict against Tofazzal under two sections.

Freedom fighters on Wednesday staged a sit-in at the liberation war affairs ministry, pressing their six-point demand, including legal action against those who misappropriated Tk 74 crore of Muktijoddha Sangsad.
   They also demanded that the misappropriated money, which was revealed in the audit report of the Auditor General of Bangladesh, should be distributed among the distressed freedom fighters.
   The freedom fighters, under the banner Bangladesh Mukti Sangha and led by its chairman Nurul Islam, arrived at the ministry office on the Secretariat Link Road around 12:00pm and sat in on the fifth floor of the building.
   They arranged a prayers session during their hour-long programme.
   Later, they went to the chamber of the secretary concerned, Nasiruddin Ahmed, and he assured the freedom fighters of working for their demands.
   Earlier, the freedom fighters submitted a memorandum to the secretary on August 14, urging him to meet their demands within 96 hours.
   Their other demands included formation of a new committee in place of the existing ad-hoc committee saying the committee members had misappropriated the money of Muktijoddha Sangsad, punishment for the responsible persons.

Odhikar, a prominent human rights organisation, in its polls observation report said that the Election Commission’s claim that the recently held elections to four city corporations and nine municipalities under emergency were free and fair is not only exaggerated but incorrect.
   Odhikar, which sent mobile observers to various centres during the elections to the four city corporations, submitted its observation report to the EC on Wednesday. ‘Elections under a state of emergency cannot be accepted,’ concluded its report.
   ‘Ensuring that mainly those people come out victorious who are already part of the existing undemocratic and anti-people regime, is contrary to human rights and electoral norms and practice. The emergency must be lifted immediately,’ said the report.
   The observation report said election observers, in a number of centres in the four major city corporations, were harassed, asked to leave and not allowed to inspect the centres beyond a certain point of time. It said that in a number of centres many voters were either ill-treated or harassed, were not told by the polling officers which booth to vote in, and in a number of centres the officials’ attitude was aggressive and uncooperative.
   In many centres, the police and Rapid Action Battalion lathi-charged the voters, and there were reports of violence in some centres between law enforcers and voters and campaigners as well as between supporters of rival candidates. In one centre, a RAB member even assaulted a university teacher.
   Odhikar’s report reveals that, in a number of centres around the country, party activists were seen asking for votes from the voters lined up outside polling stations, which is illegal on polling day. On one occasion a candidate was heard asking the polling officer to ‘to look out for him’. In another centre law enforcement officials were seen asking votes for a certain candidate, and one candidate was soliciting votes right inside the polling centre.
   Odhikar’s observers noticed that in many centres the candidates and their campaigners were bringing voters by rickshaws and other vehicles to the centres at their own expense.
   In a number of centres there was no privacy in the ballot room. In one centre the window was left open, an open balcony was converted into a ballot room in another centre, while in another centre the ballot room consisted of just a large umbrella!
   What shocked the observers was that in more than a few centres there were reports of fake voters in spite of national identity cards with photographs, and a good number of voters found that their votes had already been cast. In one even more shocking incident, a polling officer was seen marking the ballot papers himself!
   In some centres, the people who had voter ID cards did not find their names on the voters’ list. The chief election commissioner’s assurance only the night before elections that the national ID card was not required for voting appears to have caused a lot of confusion. People without ID cards were not allowed to enter many centres, said the report.

The Criminal Investigation Department has submitted charge sheet in the August 17 synchronised bomb blasts case implicating 21 suspected militants in the terror attack in the southern town in 2005.
   Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of   CID, Jessore, submitted the charge sheet to the chief judicial magistrate Mostafizur Rahman on Tuesday.
   Court sources said the CID named 21 suspected operatives of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh in the charge sheet. They accused are – Nazmul Fakir Shahin, Alauddin and Akramuzzaman of Abhaynagar upazila, Jewel, Abul Kashem and Kausar  Ali of Keshabpur upazila, Shamsur Rahman, Mostafa Kamal, Mizanur Rahman and Solaiman Hossain of Jhikargachha upazila, Nurul Islam, Anwarul Islam, Abdul Haq and Raju of Sharsha upazila, Abdur Raqib of Melandaha upazila in Jamalpur district, Khalid Hossain and Abu Naim of Satkhira district, Sabbir Ahmed of Bagdi in Natore, Matiar Rahman of Gangni in Meherpur and Raqib alias Nur Uddin of Mohanpur in Rajshahi district.
   The investigation said the 21 accused had carried out explosions or were involved in the near simultaneous bombings which rocked all but one of the country’s 64 districts, including Jessore, on August 17 in 2005.

The Anti-Corruption Commission is set to charge-sheet former superintendent of police Mujibul Haque, his wife and his son in a case filed against them for amassing illegal wealth and hiding information.
   According to ACC sources, the anti-graft watchdog has approved the submission of charge sheet against the former SP, his wife Shaheda Haque and their son Shahidul Haque.
   The ACC deputy director, Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan, the investigating officer, would submit the charge sheet with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court early next week, the sources added.
   On January 6 this year, the ACC filed the case with Ramna police station against Mujibul for acquiring wealth worth about Tk 5.27 crore beyond his known sources of income and concealment of information of assets worth Tk 2.15 crore in his statement to the commission. His wife and son were accused of assisting him in committing the offences.