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Law enforcers have apparently failed to check mugging in the capital despite pinpointing some 434 vulnerable spots and
   identifying more than 300 active mugger gangs, who are using new techniques to deceive the police.
   Terming mugging as one of the major problems face by the city dwellers and to check the menace, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police recently published a guidebook for the law enforcers in which Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Pallabi, Ramna, Tejgaon, Uttara and Dhanmondi were identified as the most vulnerable areas.
   The 30-page guidebook, authored by the DMP commissioner, Naeem Ahmed, mentioned 39 spots only under Sutrapur police area where muggers were active.
   The booklet also pinpointed 31 other spots under the Jatrabari police area, 27 under Pallabi, 25 under Uttara, 24 each under Ramna and Mohammadpur, 23 under Tejgaon, 15 each under Dhanmondi and Khilgaon, 14 each under Shahbagh and Paltan, 13 each under Motijheel, Gulshan, Kafrul and Mirpur, 12 each under Sabujbagh and Adabar, 11 each under Hazaribagh, Dakkhinkhan and Lalbagh, 10 under Tejgaon Industrial Area, 9 under Shah Ali Bag, 8 each under Kotwali and Badda, 7 under New Market, 6 each under Khilkhet, Demra, Shyampur, Airport and Turag and 4 each under Kamrangirchar, Uttarkhan and Cantonment police areas.
   The booklet with 29-point guidelines to be followed by the law enforcers to prevent mugging in the capital has been
   distributed among the
   police personnel, DMP sources said.
   The guidebook mentioned that the 300 gangs of muggers comprised of more than 1,200 criminals, who may be
   classified into two groups — professional muggers and drugs addicts.
   The professional snatchers also have two categories — one using firearms and the other using new techniques of
   applying sedatives or ointments.
   The muggers also use various tricks to make people their victims, the anti-mugging guidebook mentions.
   The guidebook also revealed that the muggers remain active between 4:00am and 6:00am, 9:00am and 1:00pm and between 11:00pm and 4:00am, and in most occasions, motorcycles, private cars, taxicabs and CNG-run three-wheelers are used to commit the crimes in the capital.
   More than 1,500 law enforcers from different police stations, the Detective Branch of police and from Rajarbagh Police Lines have already been deployed to conduct special drives against mugging in the city since May, the booklet said.
   Besides, regular patrol, every police station were also directed to form at least three motorbike units for patrolling the streets from August.
   Despite clear directions for all the members of the police, the city dwellers have been regularly falling prey to organised gangs of muggers at various points, sufferers said.
   Apart from looting valuables, the muggers also kill people in some occasions.
   More than 50 incidents of mugging, according to DMP sources, occur every day in the city’s 33 police stations, but the actual figure would be more than double as most of the incidents are not reported.
   The inspector general of police, Noor Mohammad, told New Age, ‘Dhaka is a crowded city and the logistic support of the police is poor compared to the population. We cannot just take measures but need to implement those to improve the situation.’
   ‘It was impossible to fully curb mugging, but measures have been taken to reduce the number of incidents as much as possible,’ the police chief added.

Two people, including a sweetmeat owner, were shot dead at Mugdapara Jheelpar and East Kazipara in the capital Thursday night and Friday.
   The victims were identified as Mohammad Jasim Uddin, 38, of 34/E, Mayakanan and owner of Silver Sweet and Pastry Shop at Mugdapara under Shabujbagh police area, and Raqib Hasan Abu, 30, of 99, East Kazipara in Kafrul police area.
   Four assailants intercepted Jasim at Jheelpar of North Mugdapara at about 11:45pm on Thursday and shot him at point-blank range in the chest and abdomen, leaving him critically injured, the police said.
   Local people took Jasim, who was on way to his residence from the shop, to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the on duty doctors pronounced him dead at around 12:30am.
   Reasons behind the killing could not be known immediately. The police suspected that extortion or previous enmity could be the reason behind the killing. The victim’s elder brother Sharif Uddin filed a case with Shabujbagh police. The police could not arrest anyone till Friday evening.
   At Kafrul, five assailants called Raqib from his father’s tea stall at East Kazipara at about 2:30pm and shot him in the chest, face and abdomen.
   As he collapsed on the ground receiving four bullets in the face, chest and abdomen, the assailants left the scene firing several gunshots in the air.
   Local people rushed him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he died after admission.
   The victim’s family claimed that local criminal Bhagne (nephew) Rasel had carried out the gun attack.
   Shohag, friend of the victim, however, told newsmen at DMCH, sometime before the attack, Raqib had settled a brawl between two passengers of a rickshaw and a taxicab at the place, but the rickshaw passenger, dissatisfied with the mediation, had threatened him to face dire consequences. Separate cases were filed with the concerned police station in connection with the incidents, but the police could not arrest anyone till evening.

Green activists, architects and planners on Friday urged the government to finalise the draft Real Estate Management Ordinance 2008 without any delay to protect consumer rights by streamlining real estate housing business in private sector.
   Addressing a news conference in Dhaka, they also came down heavily on the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh for its opposition to the promulgation of the ordinance terming it unexpected and unnecessary.
   ‘The government should make no delay in promulgating the Real Estate Management Ordinance 2008 to protect consumer rights as well as to save the environment,’ Bangladesh Paribesh Andalon president Professor Muzaffer Ahmad told the news conference, organised by BAPA along with the Bangladesh Institute of Planners at the WVA Auditorium.
   The council of advisers at a July 29 meeting with the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, in the chair approved the draft Real Estate Management Ordinance 2008 against the backdrop of widespread allegations of fraudulence and deception in handing over plots or flats, and encroachment of private and public land by a section of real estate companies.
   ‘Though the draft ordinance does not include issues like noise pollution and occupying footpaths, we want it to be finalised soon as we believe that it will be the start of good initiatives,’ he said.
   Referring to the opposition to the promulgation of the ordinance, he said, ‘A vested interest group is campaigning against the ordinance with an ill motive.’
   He also held a section of media houses responsible, saying, ‘Campaign against the ordinance is being supported by a group of media houses as the private real estate and housing companies are their main sources of income.’
   ‘Why the homebuyers or the victims were not invited in the roundtable discussion organised recently on the proposed ordinance by a newspaper?’ he questioned.
   Former adviser to the caretaker government ASM Shahjahan said, ‘Unscrupulous businessmen were everywhere and there were huge allegations of fraud and deception in the real estate sector. ‘So a law should be in force in order to protect the rights of the commoners. At the same time, the government will also have to look into the interests of the entrepreneurs.’
   He also urged the real estate companies, especially the REHAB, to formulate a code of conduct on their own so that the unscrupulous companies cannot resort to fraudulent measures.
   Member of BAPA and architect Iqbal Habib said, ‘Out of the 43 articles in the proposed ordinance, REHAB opposes only three of them.’
   ‘We and others also asked the government to reconsider those articles. But the REHAB cannot say that there is no need of such ordinance,’ Habib said.
   He also made a three-point suggestion to resolve the impasses that include further consultation with all stakeholders on the issue and formulation of a committee like City Development Committee to oversee the implementation of the rules.
   Among others, BAPA vice president ANM Wahed, Bangladesh Institute of Planners general secretary AKM Abdul Kalam, and BAPA general secretary Abdul Matin were present at the news conference.

Speakers at a workshop in Khulna city on Friday called upon the police to be more pro-people, honest, accountable and neutral and serve the people staying free from political influence.
   They also stressed on modernisation of the police administration, and improving the skills of the force to ensure due service to the people.
   They were speaking at a regional workshop on ‘Review of Bangladesh Police Ordinance -2007 (draft)’, organised by the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust at Christian Service Society conference room in the city.
   The BLAST deputy director Soma Islam presented the keynote paper at the workshop attended by lawyers, development workers, members of the civil society and journalists from Khulna and Barishal divisions.
   Presided over by the Khulna unit BLAST president, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, the workshop was also addressed by Khulna metropolitan magistrate S Mohammad Ali, professor Wahidur Rahman, senior journalist Saheb Ali, Patuakhali unit BLAST coordinator Nizam Uddin Ahmed, advocate Kholilur Rahman and advocate Ashok Kumar Saha.

The process to regularise 72 Rajshahi City Corporation employees, appointed on political consideration allegedly by convicted former mayor and BNP leader Mizanur Rahman Minu, has been postponed following a ministry order.
   Responding to a request by the mayor-elect, AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, the LGRD ministry gave the order last week asking the corporation authorities not to hold any examinations to regularise the employees, sources in the corporation said. The corporation authorities were scheduled to hold the examinations on Friday and it was postponed following the ministry order, they added saying that the RCC mayor in-chare Rezaun Nabi Dudu, also a BNP leader, was in a ‘hurry’ to complete the job regularisation process before Liton takes the charge.
   Dudu said he had postponed the written tests after receiving an order from the ministry.
   ‘We got a copy of the ministry order on Tuesday and postponed the examinations accordingly,’ RCC public relation office Kazi Amirul Karim told New Age.
   The examinations were scheduled to be held to regularise jobs of two deputy taxation officers, 18 lower level clerks, 13 tax collectors, 27 health assistants, four pump operators, four chauffeurs, one MLSS, one office assistant, one imam and a tube-well installer.
   Earlier, Khairuzzaman Liton, in a letter after his election as the RCC mayor through the August 4 election, urged the LGRD ministry to stop the recruitment process in a hurry and termed it ‘recruitment businesses’.
   ‘It is a conspiracy. Some corrupt officials are trying to regularise jobs of some muster-roll employees, who were recruited by the convicted former mayor Minu,’ he said.
   In a post-election briefing, he also warned that he would take action against the corrupt officials and staffs, who were drawing salaries without any works.
   He also warned that action would also be taken against the employees, who had been recruited in political consideration.
   According to sources in RCC, Minu in 2004 had given appointment to 500 supporters of BNP and his followers at different departments although there were no posts vacant nor had there any approval for their appointment.
   ‘Most of the employees do not do any work although they draw their salaries regularly. Nobody dared to say anything about it as they were known as Minu’s people,’ a RCC high official said.

Customs officials seized 60 tolas of gold worth about Tk 16.20 lakh from an incoming passenger at Zia International Airport early Friday.
   Police and customs sources said Mohammad Azam, 27, son of Mohammad Abu Ahmed, of Chittagong was arrested at passenger’s lounge at around 5:35am while he was moving suspiciously.
   The customs officers later searched him and found some gold bars weighing 60 tolas tied with his body. Azam arrived at ZIA from Dubai.
   Morshed Ali, duty officer
   of Airport Police Station,
   told New Age that the arrested was handed over to the Airport police after a case was filed against him in this connection.

Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at most places over all the six divisions — Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet — with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   The day temperature may fall slightly over the country, it said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Friday, 33.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Mongla and the lowest, 23.6 degrees Celsius, in Dhaka. The sun sets in the capital today at 6:18pm and rises tomorrow at 5:40am.

At least nine people were killed and 34 others injured in separate road accidents in Jessore, Kishoreganj, Sylhet and Bogra on Friday.
   In Jessore, four people were killed and another was injured in separate road accidents.
   In the first accident, two betel leaf traders were killed and another was injured in a head-on collision between two trucks on the Jessore-Benapole Highway in Prembagh area.
   The dead were identified as Nasir Sheikh, 44 and Shajahan Ali, 40, of Bibhagdi village under Abhoynagar upazila in Jessore. The injured Abdur Rashid, 37, was admitted to Jessore General Hospital.
   In another accident, a bicyclist was crushed under the wheels of a bus in Kagojpukur area. Witnesses said Jabbar Ali, 40, of Lawtara village under Sharsha upazila, was injured seriously when a bus hit his bicycle, killing him on the spot.
   Besides, Laily Begum, 50, wife of late Ramzan Ali, of Baro Achra village, was killed on the spot when a truck ran her over while she was crossing road in front of export terminal of the land port.
   Our Kishoreganj correspondent reported that one person was killed and 30 others were injured in a road accident at Niyampur under Karimganj upazila.
   The deceased was identified as Abdur Rashid, 50, of Rajkunti village under sadar upazila in Kishoreganj.
   Police said the accident took place when the bus skidded off the road on its way to Chamra Bandar from Karimganj. Police went to the spot and pulled out the bus from the ditch. Traffic remained suspended for one hour after the accident.
   In Sylhet, two people were killed and three others injured when a truck rammed into a microbus at Auskandi on the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway under Nabiganj upazila.
   The deceased were identified as Abed Miah, 45, of Madhubagh of Moghbazar area in Dhaka, and Monwara Khatun, 30, of Mizmizi village in Narayanganj.
   Police said the accident took place at 2:30am when the truck hit the microbus coming from opposite direction, killing the two microbus passengers on the spot and injuring three others.
   The injured were admitted to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital in critical condition.
   Our Bogra correspondent reported that two people, including a teenage girl, were killed in separate road accidents at Sherpur upazila in Bogra Friday morning.
   The deceased were identified as Rekha Begum, 12, daughter of Ashraf Ali, of Talpukur under Sherpur and Abdul Mannan, 32, son Abdul Jalil, of Baroikandi under Sariakandi upazila.
   Police said Rekha was critically injured when a vehicle hit her in Talpukur area Thursday evening while Mannan was also injured in another road accident in Debdanga area Thursday night.
   Both the injured were admitted to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital where they died from their wounds Friday morning.

International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia is set to end today with a Dhaka declaration.
   Some 250 participants from 17 countries are taking part at the five-day symposium, which came in Dhaka as a follow-up to the recent global initiatives, including the FAO High Level Conference on World Food Security, the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy Conference held in Rome, and the SAARC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change in Dhaka.
   The University of Dhaka is hosting the symposium.
   Scientists told various sessions of the symposium that climate change had multi-dimensional impacts on agro-ecosystems in South Asia, including increases in temperature, declines in fresh water sources, sea level rise, melting glaciers in the Himalayas, increased frequency and intensity of floods, and shifting of cropping zones.
   The symposium was organised by the Ohio State University, the World Meteorological Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Government of Bangladesh.

Differing with major political parties, the Bikalpadhara Bangladesh president, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, Friday favoured the holding of upazila elections before the parliamentary polls.
   ‘The three previous governments failed to hold upazila elections. Countrymen want upazila elections; so, the local body elections should be held before the Jatiya Sangsad elections,’ he said.
   The Bikalpadhara president was addressing as chief guest at an organisational and political training programme of the party’s Nabinagar upazila unit at Nabinagar Pilot High School ground in Brahmanbaria.
   About the holding of elections under the state of emergency, B Chowdhury said the recent elections to four city corporations and nine municipalities, held under the state of emergency, were accepted by all. ‘So, (Jatiya) Sangsad elections can also be held under (the state of) emergency.’
   On the registration of political parties, he said his party had called at the beginning for such registration, ‘but it is not possible for the political parties to be registered by the time set by the Election Commission.’ He called for extending the time for registration of political parties.
   B Chowdhury, a former president, denied having made any secret deal with the government. ‘We don’t believe in any secret entente.’
   The caretaker government has failed to implement many of its pledges given during its assumption of power, he said, but still hoped that the interim government would hold the general elections by December.
   Later, B Chowdhury, also a noted physician, inaugurated a free medical camp on the school premises.

The Workers Party of Bangladesh on Friday said the military-controlled interim government was trying to control politics.
   So, they are trying to tarnish the image of the politicians in different ways, said the party president Rashed Khan Menon.
   He was addressing a discussion meeting of the party at Savar in Dhaka.
   He criticised the anti-corruption drives of the government, saying the aim of the drive was not to free society of corruption as the corrupt politicians were coming out of jail.
   The government was creating obstacles in the way of holding parliamentary elections and it seized the trade union rights of workers in the name of state of emergency, he said.
   Chaired by the party’s Savar upazila committee secretary Rafiqul Islam Sujan, the discussion was addressed by Awami League leader Ashraful Islam Himu, Juba League leader Zahidul Islam, Workers Party leader Alamgir Hossain among others.
   Help save a life

The launching ceremony of a book and two little magazines was held at the auditorium of Mukul Niketan in Mymensingh town Friday evening.
   Jati Sattar Kabi by Gausur Rahman and two literary papers — Swatantra: Buddhadev Bose Issue and Dwitiya Chinta — edited by Farid Ahmed Dulal and Iffat Ara respectively, were launched at the programme.
   Mymensingh Sahitya Sangsad organised the programme, marking the birth centenary celebration of Buddhadev Bose and Manik Bandhopadhya. A discussion was also held with Mosharraf Karim, president of Mymensingh Sahitya Sangsad in the chair.

The government was trying to control the political parties in the name of registration, said Ganasanghati Andolan coordinator Zonayed Saki on Friday.
   He called on the interim government to cancel the Representation of the People Order (amendment) 2008.
   He was addressing a discussion meeting of the party to mark its sixth anniversary at Keraniganj Press Club. The interim government, led by Fakhruddin Ahmed, was trying to hand over the national wealth to the multinational companies, left leaders at the discussion said.
   Chaired by the party’s local leader Abdur Rahman, the discussion was addressed by central leaders of the party, including Abul Hasan Rubel, Taslima Akter, Chhatra Federation president Ariful Islam.

A Bangladeshi cattle trader was shot dead by the Border Security Force of India on Agrabhulat frontier at Benapole in Jessore early Friday.
   The deceased was Amir Mollah, 40, of village Agrabhulat.
   BDR officials said when a group of 7/8 cattle traders were retuning to their village from the border area BSF troops of Jhaudanga camp fired on them, killing one of the cattle traders, Amir Mollah, on the spot. The border guards of India also took away the body of Amir into their territory.

A young housewife was killed as she was crushed under the wheels of a train at Langaljora level crossing near Jamalpur district rail station on Friday.
   The deceased was Hajera Khatun, 30, wife of Abdus Samad of village Gudashimla under sadar upazila. Railway sources said a Dhaka-bound down commuter express train coming from Dewanganj hit her, leaving her dead on the spot at about 5:45am.
   The GRP police recovered the body and sent it to the Jamalpur General Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination. A case was filed.

Robbery at CNG filling station
Robbers stabbed the cashier of a CNG filling station at Golapbagh in the city’s Jatrabari area and looted Tk 22,000 in cash early Friday. Police said a gang of six miscreants entered Quality CNG Filling Station at 4:00am and tried to snatch away the money from the cash counter. As cashier of the filing station Mahbub tried to resist them, they indiscriminately stabbed him in the shoulder, arms and abdomen, leaving him critically injured. The miscreants later fled the scene with the looted money.
— New Age

10 auto-rickshaw drivers sued in Sylhet
The highway police in Sylhet during a drive on Thursday filed cases against the drivers of 10 CNG-run auto-rickshaws on the Sylhet-Tamabil Highway for carrying extra passengers. The police said two temporary check posts were set up at Khadimpara and Surma Gate on the highway during the drive conducted between 4:00pm and 10:00pm. The drivers were sued for carrying passengers beyond per allowed number, which is a violation of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance, they said.
— New Age