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

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, on Friday called upon the people to vote for the candidates of her party and allies to put an end to corruption, crime and militancy.
   ‘Changes are necessary for democracy. People want peace and prosperity to replace corruption and terrorism’, she said and urged the voters to stamp the symbol of ‘boat’ in the ninth parliamentary polls on December 29.
   The AL chief was addressing a large election rally, her penultimate rally on the campaign trail, at Paltan ground in Dkaka.
   Dhaka city Awami League organised the rally where Sheikh Hasina introduced her party candidates for the constituencies in the capital. City AL’s acting president MA Aziz presided over the rally. She will wrap up her barnstorming two-week electioneering with a rally at Laldighi ground in the port city Chittagong today.
   In her 22-minute address amidst unprecedented security, the AL chief said the moment of truth had arrived for the people to decide whether they would go back to the situation when corruption was rampant and terrorism was given a free rein or they wanted peace, prosperity and a developed Bangladesh.
   She slammed the rule of the previous BNP-led alliance government saying that corruption and plunder of national wealth almost ruined the country after they had assumed power in 2001 through vote rigging.
   ‘How do they claim they were not involved in corruption when the former finance minister of the [BNP-led alliance] government has whitened his black money’, she wondered and said Khaleda Zia should be accountable for the misdeeds as she was the prime minister of that government.
   Hasina said people at home and abroad knew well about the corruption of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government and, in this context, referred to the recent reports that Khaleda Zia’s sons had smuggled out money and taken kickbacks from German multinational Siemens.
   The AL chief accused the BNP-led alliance of using religion for political gains. ‘Islam is the religion of peace and the Holy Quran permits people of all faiths to perform their own rituals’, she added.
   She said that the people had been living with terrorism, violence, corruption, anarchy and suffering hardship for the last seven years. Ridiculing BNP’s election slogan ‘save the people’ and ‘save the country’, Hasina said BNP’s actual slogan was ‘kill people, sell the country, take bribes and smuggle out money.’
   Hasina iterated her pledge that, her alliance, if voted to power, would reduce the price of essentials, work for poverty reduction, ensure free education up to the degree level, ease water, power and gas crises, turn Dhaka into a modern city, generate new jobs, ensure health care facilities for all and make the country self-sufficient in food.
   She also vowed to build a digital Bangladesh capable of facing the challenges of the 21st century within 2021 when the country would celebrate its golden jubilee.
   The AL chief urged her party leaders, activists and supporters to plunge into last minute campaigns and go door to door seeking vote for ‘boat’.
   Referring to Khaleda Zia’s remarks about the country’s sovereignty, Hasina said the BNP-led government had filed cases against her [Hasina] for buying MiG-29 fighters and a modern frigate for the armed forces. ‘The country’s maritime boundary was protected by that frigate when a foreign country [Myanmar] tried to explore hydrocarbon there.’
   ‘I purchased MiG-29 and the naval frigate to strengthen air and naval defences. How will Khaleda protect the country’s sovereignty without these MiGs and frigates’, she quipped.
   Hasina, addressing the rally from behind bullet-proof glasses, said she had lost her father, mother, brothers and scores of relatives in the bloody August 15, 1975 events and that she herself had brush with death several times but nothing could stop her from the struggle to establish the people’s rights. ‘My father Bangabandhu laid down his life for the people of the country and I will continue the battle…,’ she said.

Electioneering for the December 29 general elections ends at midnight past today and the Election Commission imposed a ban on the plying of motorcycles across the country from same time.
   The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, will conclude her formal electioneering with a rally in Paltan Maidan in Dhaka this afternoon while her archrival Awami League president Sheikh Hasina will wind up her election campaigns with a rally in Laldighi Maidan in Chittagong at the same time.
   The Election Commission has so far completed preparation, including dispatch of ballot papers for all but Comilla 10 out of the 299 electoral constituencies.
   The commission is yet to make the final decision on whether it would stick to its latest decision on announcing Mobashwer Alam Bhuyian as the BNP candidate for the Comilla 10 constituency.
   The commission kept pending the announcement on the appeal of the BNP’s first choice for the constituency Abdul Gafur Bhuiyan, whose nomination was validated by court.
   Gafur was given the BNP’s election symbol of paddy sheaf by the returning officer and the commission later scrapped his nomination paper. Gafur asked the commission to explain why his election symbol of paddy sheaf was scrapped in the past week.
   One thousand, five hundred and fifty-five candidates of 39 political parties are contesting the polls for 299 constituencies. The elections to the Noakhali 1 constituency have been suspended because of the death of the Awami League-led alliance candidate, Ganatantri Party chief Nurul Islam, for the constituency.
   About 13 lakh people including 5,66,537 polling officers, 4.25 lakh Ansars members, and 2 lakh personnel of law enforcement agencies were readied for polls duty, the commission officials said.
   According to a commission release, the commission has imposed restrictions on the plying of auto-rickshaws, taxicabs, microbuses, jeeps, pickups, cars, buses, trucks, human haulers, launches, and all mechanised boats between midnight past Sunday and midnight past Monday. The release said the ban would not be applicable to vehicles plying highways.
   It said the ban had been imposed on taxicabs, microbuses, jeeps, pickups only for metropolitan areas.
   The release, however, said the ban would not be applicable to authorised and identified local and foreign election observers and journalists, employees on election duty, members of the law enforcement agencies, ambulances and the vehicles engaged in electricity, gas, telephone and postal services.
   The commission has extended the time limit for electioneering by 16 hours as the contestants did not get enough time for electioneering because of the state of emergency and extended the deadline till midnight past Saturday.
   The EC Secretariat has directed the returning officers to allow political parties and candidates to campaign till midnight past December 27.
   ‘A ban has been imposed on conducting electioneering, holding meetings, joining processions from Saturday midnight to December 31 midnight across the country, including the metropolitan areas,’ said a commission release. This ban will remain in force for 48 hours after the elections, the commission said requesting all concerned to go by the directives.
   Although the government appointed 286 judicial magistrates on election duties to deal with electoral offences and conduct summary trial in the 299 parliamentary constituencies, the district administration allegedly are not cooperating with judicial magistrates.
   Judicial magistrates from different constituencies informed the EC secretariat of the non-cooperation of district administration and sought commission’s directive in this regards.
   As the Supreme Court rejected the move of both the home ministry and Election Commission to invest executive magistrates with powers to try electoral offences during the December 29 general elections, the commission sent a requisition letter to the government seeking judicial magistrates.
   The law and parliamentary affairs ministry assigned the judicial magistrates and sent a list of 286 such magistrates to the commission six hours inside the commission’s requisition.
   The commission formed a special cell to keep watch on law and order as it does not want to waste time waiting for information from the law enforcement agencies.
   The Arms Forces Division has informed the Election Commission of its limitation in reaching 204 polling stations in 13 upazilas which are within eight kilometres of the Indian border.
   The division suggested the commission should deploy members of the Bangladesh Rifles with the help of he army or communicate India’s Border Security Force though the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters for the deployment of troops in the areas.

Bangladesh on Friday asked India to stop hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal until the maritime boundary delimitation issue is resolved on a mutual agreement.
   ‘We will lodge a protest with the Indian authorities in a diplomatic note on Saturday about the intrusion into the Bangladesh waters and ask them to move their ships from the territorial waters. We will tell them to postpone any such hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay until the issue maritime boundary delimitation is resolved on a mutual agreement,’ the foreign secretary, Touhid Hossain, told New Age on Friday.
   Indian naval ships along with exploration vessel refused to leave Bangladesh’s territorial waters despite Dhaka’s protest.
   Quoting naval officials, a foreign ministry official said the Bangladesh Navy had earlier lodged a protest with the Indian navy about the intrusion and asked India them to pull out from Bangladesh’s territorial waters. ‘They [the Indian navy], however, did not respond,’ the official said.
   Foreign ministry officials said an exploration vessel backed by two Indian naval ships intruded into Bangladesh’s waters for hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay since early Thursday.
   Officials said Bangladesh would hand its note verbale over to the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka sometime on Saturday.
   Bangladesh Navy officials said two Bangladeshi ships had been sent to the region and a third was on its way.
   The navy and coast guards have been on high alert in the wake of Indian intrusion into Bangladesh waters for hydrocarbon exploration some 140 nautical miles off the Mongla seaport.
   As for Indian ships’ intrusion into the Bangladesh waters, a foreign ministry official said an Indian ship was seen conducting a survey in the deep sea Block 14 in the maritime area claimed by Bangladesh in terms of the Territorial Waters and Maritime Zones Act 1974.
   He said, ‘The survey ship was aided by two other support vessels. The Bangladesh Navy vessel asked the survey ship to leave the Bangladesh waters after locating it into Bangladesh’s territorial waters.’
   The spokesperson said initially the survey ship moved towards Indian waters and it later came back to the earlier location where it was located in the afternoon of December 25. When the Bangladesh Navy vessel again asked it to leave the Bangladesh waters, the ship replied it was in the Indian waters.
   The spokesperson said the government was lodging a formal protest with the government of India about the activities of the survey ship in the Bangladesh waters.
   ‘The government of Bangladesh will ask for postponement of any explanatory or development activity in adjoining areas till such time as the maritime boundary between the two countries is settled by mutual agreement,’ he said.
   The latest row in the Bay of Bengal took place less than two months of Myanmar’s intrusion into Bangladesh’s territorial waters for hydrocarbon exploration, some 60 nautical miles off St Martins Island.
   Yangon finally pulled out of the Bangladesh waters after Dhaka’s hectic diplomatic parleys involving Beijing and Seoul.

The law enforcers seized 34 bombs in Rajshahi, Naogaon and Benapole of Jessore on Thursday night and Friday, three days before the general elections on December 29.
   They also detained eight people, including five activists of pro-BNP Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Jamaat-backed Islami Chhatra Shibir, in Rajshahi and Naogaon, but failed to nab anyone at Benapole in connection with the incident.
   New Age correspondent from Rajshahi reports: The police personnel of detective branch recovered 25 powerful bombs from Meherchandi area in Rajshahi city at about 10:30pm Thursday.
   The bombs, wrapped up with black and red tapes, were found in an under construction building, nearing the three polling camps of Awami League and BNP in the area.
   After recovery, the bombs were kept in Boalia police station of the city.
   An explosive expert of police, Alamgir Hossain, said the bombs were made of phosphorus, gunpowder, pieces of glasses and other substances.
   Police detained five student activists of JCD and ICS, for interrogation. They were JCD leader Kamrul Islam, and Shibir activists Ruhul Amin, Habib, Rafique and Rashid.
   Police suspected that the bombs were kept for blasting during the polls to create anarchy.
   No complaint was lodged till filing of this report at about 5:00pm on Friday.
   In another drive, a police team seized six powerful bombs and a video camera raiding a house of Saiful at Hapania Bazar under the In Naogaon Sadar upazila on Friday. The bombs and camera were kept in a sack.
   A police team arrested Saiful’s wife Mina Begum, son Shahid and sister Majeda Begum in this connection, but failed to nab Saiful as he and his associate Abul Kalam Azad managed to escape the scene, sensing the presence of law enforcers.
   Police said Saiful and Azad are the members of an inter-district dacoit group.
   In Benapole of Jessore, police seized three live bombs from the house of Mobarak in Lautara village on Friday morning, but Mobarak managed to flee the scene, smelling the presence of law enforcers.

The eight suspected JMB operatives arrested by law enforcers in Gaibandha on Thursday were placed on a five-day police remand on Friday.
   The police produced the eight in the district judicial magistrate court on Friday and sought a 10-day remand in the case filed under explosives substance act with the Govindaganj police station on Thursday.
   After hearing, the court granted a five-day remand.
   They were being interrogated by a joint team of the Rapid Action Battalion and the detective police at the district DB police office on Friday.
   They are likely to be sent to Dhaka for questioning by members of taskforce for interrogation.
   On Thursday, the DB police arrested the JMB operatives, Rejaul Karim alias Hasan alias Shihab, 25, Manjurul Islam Manju, 20, Al Amin, 27, Mostafizur Rahman, 32, Nannu Miah, 32, Rowshan Ali, 30, Amjad Hossain, 35, and Obaidullah alias Mohammad Obaidur Rahman from different places under sadar and Govindaganj upazila.
   The lawmen seized 50 casings of grenade, grenade-making materials, huge explosives and jihad books from Chakshibpur and Parkachua villages.
   Meanwhile, the two suspected militants — Ayub Ansari alias Masum and Naim — arrested by the battalion members Tuesday evening, were being interrogated by the battalion officials at the Debidwar police station on Friday.
   The two were placed on a 16-day police remand on Thursday in connection with two cases filed with the Debidwar police station under the explosive substances act and assault on the lawmen on Wednesday.
   The two will also be sent to Dhaka for questioning by the TFI members.
   On Tuesday, a joint team of RAB intelligence wing and RAB-11 arrested the two suspected militants raiding a house at village Nabiabad under Debidwar in Comilla.
   The lawmen seized five improvised grenades and a 10-kg bomb from their possession.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, Friday evening called on people to cast their vote for the candidates of the BNP-led alliance to save the country and the people.
   ‘The December 29 elections are very important for the nation. Cast your vote for the candidates of the four-party alliance to save the country and the people,’ she said during electioneering at Khilgaon in Dhaka.
   She started visiting different places of Dhaka 6, Dhaka 7 and Dhaka 8 electoral constituencies at about 10:15pm and sought vote for the party candidates.
   She stopped her motorcade in different places and exchanged greetings with the persons present. A huge number of women gathered in several places.
   She urged the city resident to join her rally in Paltan Maidan in Dhaka Saturday afternoon.
   The BNP’s office secretary Rizvi Ahmed at a briefing in the party chairperson’s office at Gulshan said the party would register a formal protest with the Election Commission against about three hundred thousand NGO workers for their partisan role in the elections.
   The party will also hand over to the commission a list of 164 polling centres which the party considered vulnerable.
   He alleged some returning officers were appointing controversial persons as presiding and polling officers.

Some 32 high profile candidates of the alliances led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Awami League and other parties face off in more than a dozen constituencies in the December 29 parliamentary elections.
   Two former finance ministers – BNP’s standing committee member M Saifur Rahman and AL’s advisory committee member Abul Maal Abdul Muhith – will fight it out in the Sylhet 1 constituency. The constituency is considered important by both AL and BNP.
   Hussain Muhammad Ershad, former president and chairman of Jatiya Party, a major partner of the AL-led alliance, and ASM Hannan Shah, BNP chairperson’s adviser, are vying for the Dhaka 17 constituency.
   Although Syed Mohammad Ibrahim, chairman of Bangladesh Kalyan Party, which was formed during the state of emergency, is the other notable candidate for the seat, locals believe he may end up an also-ran and that it will be a contest between Ershad and Hannan Shah. All there are former army officials.
   Ershad faces Tajul Islam, a former minister of his government who later joined BNP, in Kurigram 2 constituency.
   Former president and chief of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, ex-deputy prime minister and BNP leader Shah Moazzem Hossain and AL leader Sukumer Ranjan Ghosh are in the race for Munshiganj 1 seat.
   Dhaka mayor and BNP leader Sadek Hossain Khoka faces two formidable rivals – Badruddoza Chowdhury and AL leader Mizanur Rahman Khan – in Dhaka 6 constituency.
   Former minister and BNP’s top leader Moudud Ahmed will fight it out with AL leader and former state minister Obaidul Kader in Noakhali 5.
   Rashed Khan Menon, president of Workers Party and a firebrand student leader of early 1960s, and Habib-Un Nabi Sohel, former president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, have crossed swords for the Dhaka 8 constituency. Menon is contesting the polls with AL’s symbol ‘boat’ while Sohel is the nominee of BNP.
   Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, nominated by the BNP-led alliance, faces two formidable rivals – BNP’s rebel candidate and former minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf and AL leader and brother-in-law of Sheikh Hasina, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain – in Faridpur 3 constituency.
   Begum Rawshan Ershad, presidium member of Jatiya Party and wife of HM Ershad, and AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former state minister in BNP-Jamaat government, face off in Mymensingh 4 constituency.
   BNP’s standing committee member and senior lawyer Khandaker Mahbubuddin Ahmed
   and young lawyer Fazle Nur Tapash of AL are vying for the Dhaka 12 constituency.
   Rajshahi mayor and BNP leader Mizanur Rahman Minu and Workers Party’s politburo member Fazle Hossain Badsha are in the race for the Rajshahi 2 seat. Badsha is contesting the polls with AL’s symbol ‘boat’.
   GM Kader, Jatiya Party presidium member and Ershad’s brother, and Asadul Habib Dulu, former state minister of BNP-Jamaat government, will fight it out in Lalmonirhat 3 while Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, former minister of AL government, and Ehsanul Haque Milon, former state minister of BNP-led government, are vying for Chandpur 1.
   Juba League president Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Juba Dal general secretary Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal have crossed swords in Dhaka 13 as voters expect a tough contest between the two youth leaders coming from greater Barisal region.
   Two well-known brothers and industrialists in northern districts – Karim Uddin Bharasha of Jatiya Party and Rahim Uddin Bharasha of BNP – are vying for the Rangpur 4 constituency. Karim defeated Rahim in the 1996 and 2001 elections. Like in the past, locals look forward to the battle between the siblings with great interest. Karim has been nominated by the AL-led grand alliance but AL leader Tipu Munshi is also vying for the seat with the symbol ‘boat’.
   Two cousins – Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury of BNP and ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury of AL – have locked horns for Chittagong 5 constituency.

Tens of thousands of people thronged the Paltan ground to listen to Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina who addressed her penultimate election rally on Friday amidst unprecedented security arrangements before the December 29 parliamentary polls.
   Amidst slogans in favour of the party’s election symbol ‘boat’, the AL chief addressed the huge crowd from behind a bullet-proof shield on the dais while lawmen frisked everyone entering the venue.
   This was for the first time that a bullet-proof shield was used for a politician addressing a public meeting in Bangladesh.
   The security measures were taken amidst threats by militants to the lives of prominent political leaders, particularly the two former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, ahead of Monday’s polls.
   The authorities will undertake similar measures for Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief, Khaleda Zia, who is scheduled to wrap up her electioneering today at the same ground.
   As many as 4,000 security personnel from police, Rapid Action Battalion, Armed Police Battalion, Ansars, Special Security Force and the Dog Squad were deployed in and around the venue as streams of masses engulfed the surrounding Motijheel, Zero Point Purana Paltan and Gulistan areas during the rally.
   Processions from different parts of the city poured into the meeting venue chanting ‘Joy Bangla’ and slogans in favour of the AL candidates.
   They carried colourful banners, inscribed with the AL candidates’ portraits, and festoons with black and white posters, giant boats made of bamboo and wood and decorated with coloured papers.
   Golam Kibria, a resident of Goran who attended the rally, said he believed that the AL, if voted to power, would fulfil the people’s expectations for a better future. ‘Our demands are not so high. We want to live in peace with our limited income’, said Kibria, who runs a small business in his locality.
   Many party supporters were seen singing and dancing while brass bands played tunes.
   As soon as the Awami League chief got on the dais at around 4:15 pm, the entire crowd burst into applauses.
   The AL’s candidates for 15 Dhaka city constituencies addressed the audience one after another before Sheikh Hasina arrived. They termed the last three days very crucial for elections asking the party leaders and supporters to remain alert against conspiracies.
   Hasina introduced 13 out of 15 alliance candidates in the city to the audience. The candidates are – Sanjida Khanam for Dhaka 4, Mizanur Rahman Khan Dipu for Dhaka 6, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin for Dhaka 7, Rashed Khan Menon for Dhaka 8, Saber Hossain Chowdhury for Dhaka 9, AKM Rahmat Ullah for Dhaka 14, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal for Dhaka 11, Fazle Noor Tapash for Dhaka 12, Jahangir Kabir Nanak for Dhaka 13, Aslamul Alam for Dhaka 14, Kamal Ahmed Majumder for Dhaka 15, Iliyas Molla for Dhaka 16 and Sahara Khatun for Dhaka 18.
   Two candidates of the AL-led ‘grand’ alliance – HM Ershad for Dhaka 17 and Abu Hossain Babla for Dhaka 5 who are running in the elections with Jatiya Party’s symbol plough – were not present.

A businessman who filed an extortion case in 2007 against Arafat Rahman, the youngest son of Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia, on Thursday night submitted an application to withdraw the charge.
   Abu Ahmed Zayed an Rabbi, owner of an advertising firm, had filed the case with Gulshan police on May 16, 2007 against Arafat and his two brothers-in-law – Mustaqin Reza and Muktaqin Reza – accusing them of extorting a total of Tk 1.20 crore from him over a period of a few years.
   In the case, Rabbi, owner of Ad Media Ltd, mentioned that Arafat along with his two brothers-in-law had come to his office at Gulshan 1 on April 27, 2004 and asked him to appoint his two brothers-in-law as directors of the company. As Rabbi refused, Arafat threatened him with dire consequences. A frightened Rabbi sought three days to deliberate over the matter, the complaint stated.
   Rabbi said that three days later he had to appoint Mustaqin Reza and Muktaqin Reza as directors under duress though the two did not have any investment in the firm. Since then they drew Tk 50,000 each per month as salaries from the company. Arafat also received Tk 1 lakh per month from the firm,
   the complainant said accusing the three of extortion.
   Rabbi mentioned in the case that there was an implicit threat that his life could be in danger if he did not agree to Arafat’s proposal.
   In the FIR Rabbi also stated that apart from the amount taken from his firm as salaries, Arafat had taken Tk 2 lakh on May 1, 2003, Tk 6 lakh on August 10, 2004, Tk 3 lakh on October 31, 2005, and Tk 2 lakh on January 9, 2006 from him.
   Mir Rezaul Hossain, officer-in-charge of Gulshan police station, told New Age, ‘We have received an application from the complainant of an extortion case against Arafat in which he said that a misunderstanding had led to the filing of the charge and that he decided to withdraw the case as he had no allegation against Arafat.
   ‘I have directed the officer concerned to take initiative in this regard’, the OC said.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday expelled four rebel candidates, including its publication affairs secretary Lutfozzaman Babar, for their involvement in activities against the party, according to a release.
   It also expelled former lawmakers Mohammad Fazlul Azim and Rustam Ali Farazi from the party.
   The party suspended the membership of Tasvir-ul-Islam, vice-president of the Kurigram BNP.
   Babar is contesting the December 29 polls for Netrakona 4, Azim for Noakhali 6, Farazi for Pirojpur 3 and Tasvir for Kurigram 3 where the party has fielded other candidates.
   The party fielded Syed Ataul Haque for Netrakona 4, Sakhawat Hossain for Noakhali 6, Mohammad Shahjahan Mia for Pirojpur 3 and Mohammad Matiur Rahman for Kurigram 3.
   The party on December 24 expelled four rebel candidates, including its central law affairs secretary Jainul Abedin and party leaders Shahidul Haque Jamal, Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan and Quiyum Chowdhury, who are contesting as independent candidates for Barisal 3, Barisal 2, Lakshmipur 2 and Sylhet 3.
   The party nominated Selima Rahman, a central joint secretary general, for Barisal 3, Sharfuddin Ahmed Shantu for Barisal 2, Abul Khair Bhuiyan for Lakshmipur 2 and Shafi Ahmed Chowdhury for Sylhet 3.
   The party informed the persons concerned of the decisions by sending them letters signed by the party’s office secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed.

Pakistan has redeployed thousands of troops to the border with India, officials said Friday, in a dramatic escalation of tensions with New Delhi in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
   The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, summoned his military chiefs to review New Delhi’s ‘defence preparedness’ while his foreign ministry advised Indians not to travel to Pakistan, saying it was unsafe for them to be in the country.
   The developments sent ties plummeting to their lowest point since late 2001, when Kashmiri militants staged a brazen attack on the Indian parliament — an attack New Delhi blamed on the Pakistan-based extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
   India has blamed the same group for the Mumbai attacks and has repeatedly said Islamabad is not doing enough to rein in militant groups — a claim Pakistan rejects.
   Both sides have said they do not want war but warn they would act if provoked.
   In Islamabad, senior defence and security officials said thousands of troops were being moved from the restive northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to the east of the country along the Indian border.
   ‘We do not want to create any war hysteria but we have to take minimum security measures to ward off any threat,’ a defence ministry official said.
   He added that leave for ‘operational’ armed forces personnel had been ‘cancelled as a defensive measure’.
   A top security official explained that a ‘limited number of troops have been pulled out from snowbound areas on the western border where they were not engaged in any operation’.
   Pakistan’s army and air force have recently scaled back their operations against Taliban-linked militants in both the Swat valley and the Bajaur tribal area bordering Afghanistan. Both operations were launched in mid-2008.
   Another senior security official said the new deployments on the Indian border were not in ‘significant numbers but only in areas opposite the points where India is believed to have brought forward its troops’.
   The defence ministry official said authorities had noticed the movement of Indian troops toward the border near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, and that they believed India had also cancelled military leave.
   Pakistan’s chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas declined to comment.
   India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. Both sides rule the disputed Himalayan region in part but claim it in full.
   New Delhi has said its slow-moving peace process with Pakistan is now on hold in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, in which 172 people including nine of the gunmen were killed.
   Islamabad has said it is willing to cooperate with India in investigating the carnage, but says New Delhi has not given it evidence on which to act — a claim dismissed by the Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee.
   ‘We have ample evidence...to prove that elements based in Pakistan carried out the Mumbai attacks,’ Mukherjee said.
   ‘Pakistan should not divert attention from the real issue of taking action against terrorists by raising war hysteria,’ he told reporters in New Delhi.
   Singh was meanwhile closeted with the chiefs of India’s army, air force and navy to review ‘India’s defence preparedness,’ an official in his office said.
   ‘The three chiefs made presentations on India’s defence preparedness and reviewed conventional military threat scenarios as well as counter-measures now in place,’ the official said.
   The Indian foreign ministry, in advising its nationals to avoid Pakistan, cited Pakistani press reports linking the arrest of at least one Indian national to a bomb attack earlier this week in Lahore that killed one woman.
   Pakistani officials have not confirmed the reports.
   ‘Indian citizens are therefore advised that it would be unsafe for them to travel or be in Pakistan,’ said ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash.

The chiefs of the two major political camps, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, are scheduled to address the nation in connection with the December 29 general elections on the state-owned Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar this evening.
   The chief adviser to the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, will also address the nation before the airing of the recorded speeches of Khaleda, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, and Hasina, the Awami League president, said officials in the Chief Adviser’s Office.
   The Bangladesh Television authorities recorded the speeches of Khaleda and Hasina on Friday. The length of their speeches will be around 40 minutes each, the officials concerned said.
   The speech of the chief adviser, which is likely to be his last address to the nation, will be recorded today.
   The speeches of Khaleda and Hasina are set to be aired after BTV’s prime news at 8:00pm. The addresses will also be aired on private channels.
   With their speeches, the election campaigns by the contestants of the 9th parliamentary polls will come to an end as the Election Commission has earlier set December 27 as the last day for electioneering.
   Khaleda is scheduled to conclude her formal electioneering with a rally in Paltan Maidan in Dhaka this afternoon while Hasina will wind up her polls campaigns with a rally in Laldighi Maidan in Chittagong at the same time.

Left-arm spinner Sakib al Hasan claimed three wickets as Bangladesh left Sri Lanka stuttering at 172 for six before bad light stopped play early on the opening day of the first Test on Friday.
   After scalping Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, the two most experienced batsmen in the Sri Lankan line-up, Sakib removed Tillakaratne Dilshan to return with three for 43, while Shahadat Hossain took 2-47.
   Sangakkara scored 43 runs before he was caught at midwicket by Mohammad Ashraful ending a 95-run stand with Michael Vandort.
   Sri Lanka had added two more runs before Shahadat removed Vandort for 44, the opener was caught by Sakib at midwicket after mistiming a pull shot.
   Sakib then bowled Mahela Jayawardene for three and the fall of three Sri Lankan wickets for just 16 runs saw them reeling at 139-4 at tea.
   ‘There was not that much turn on the pitch. I just tried to put the ball in one area and got some success,’ Sakib said later.
   The Tigers were on a hunt when Sakib took his third wicket deceiving Dilshan, who scored 14 before he was bowled. Tamim Iqbal took a well-judged catch at fine-leg to end the innings of Prasanna Jayawardene, the second victim of Shahadat.
   Thilan Samaraweera was unbeaten on 20 with Chaminda Vaas on zero when the umpires called off the proceedings after 57.4 overs for insufficient light.
   Samaraweera and Vaas have averages of 74.40 and 100 against Bangladesh in Tests and both have scored a century each against the Tigers, naturally the tourists were not giving up hopes for a respectable total yet.
   ‘It is still evenly poised. A 300-plus total is still very much possible,’ said Vandort.
   The visitors had resumed the post-lunch session at 27-1 with opener Malinda Warnapura the only casualty of the fog-delayed morning session.
   Warnapura was trapped lbw by pace bowler Mashrafee bin Murtaza for 14 runs shortly after Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim got injured when he dropped the opener off the same bowler.
   Mushfique bruised his forehead attempting the catch and left the ground immediately with Junaed Siddique taking his place behind the stumps.
   He returned to the field after lunch and missed another difficult chance, this time offered by Sangakkara off pacer Mahbubul Alam when the batsman was on 11.
   Sri Lanka had won the toss and opted to bat after a thick fog delayed the start of the match by one hour and 45 minutes.

At least 30 people, including a train driver and his assistant, were injured in a collision between two trains near the Rajendrapur railway station in the Gazipur district headquarters on early Friday.
   Two inquiry committees, each of four members, were formed to investigate the matter.
   Train communications were suspended for at least eight hours on the Dhaka-Mymensingh route because of the accident.
   Local sources said the Brahmaputra Express, headed for Dhaka, collided head-on with local train Mahua, headed for Mymensingh at 7.00am. Two compartments of the Brahmaputra Express derailed.
   At least 30 persons, including driver Shahab Uddin and his assistant Jahidul Islam, were injured.
   Two of the injured, Farukh, 30, and unidentified youth were found under the train. Army personnel with the help of the local people rescued the two and took them to Combined Military Hospital in Rajendrapur. One of the legs of Farukh, a resident of Raypura in Narsingdi, was damaged.
   Some of the injured could be immediately identified — Jaheda Khatun, 17, Amena, 45, Salim Uddin, 46, Mohsin, 18, and Jamal Uddin of Dewanganj in Mymensingh, Rafiqul, 30, and Hamid, 50 of Lohagachia at Shreepur in Gazipur, and Jahidul, Asma, 25, and Farukh , 25, of Jamalpur.
   Rescue train from Dhaka and Mymensingh reached spot and cleared the route after working for about eight hours.
   The Gazipur deputy commissioner, Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, police superintendent Md Abdul Baten, Bangladesh Railway director general Belayet Hossain and other high officials visited the spot.

The government is likely to spend nearly Tk 250 crore on holding the December 29 general elections, official sources said on Tuesday.
   ‘We expect more or less Tk 250 crore would be spent by the Election Commission on security issues and other jobs during the national polls,’ said a senior finance ministry official.
   The official also said the commission had spent Tk 105 crore on the 2001 general election and estimated expenses for the December 29 polls is likely to surge by 41 per cent because of increase in the prices of paper, ink and other election materials and the cost of communications.
   ‘The commission is likely to need more money as it has decided to destroy 25 lakh ballot papers for including the names of fresh candidates who obtained court orders validating their nomination,’ he said.
   Other sources in finance ministry said the commission had received in advance Tk 254 crore till Tuesday out of the allocated Tk 425 crore for the parliamentary elections in the budget for the 2008–09 financial year.
   The commission will spend about Tk 86 crore on security issues while it received in advance Tk 81 crore for other purposes.
   The commission earlier spent about Tk 5.33 crore on elections to four city corporations and nine municipalities.
   The commission in November also received Tk 61.45 crore in advance from the finance ministry for holding upazila elections.
   The government has earmarked a total allocation of Tk 550 crore for the Election Commission as non-development and development expe-nses in the 2008–09 budget.
   In 2007–08, the commission’s non-development and development expenses were Tk 514 crore.

South Korea’s opposition lawmakers have stepped up their occupation of parliamentary chambers in a bid to stop the passage of contentious bills including a free trade agreement with the United States.
   Around 50 lawmakers of the opposition Democratic Party surged into the National Assembly’s plenary session hall and barricaded themselves in, accusing president Lee Myung-Bak of ‘moving down the path toward civic dictatorship.’
   ‘We’ll mobilise all possible means at our disposal to stop the initiation of the evil bills aiming to curtail democracy,’ the party said in a statement.
   Opposition lawmakers and their aides have also been occupying the National Assembly Speaker’s room and three other committee rooms over the past week to prevent the ruling Grand National Party from passing several bills.
   The seizure of the plenary session hall came as the ruling GNP vowed to push controversial draft laws through the National Assembly before year’s end. The party has a large enough majority to force any bills through.
   The party denounced the occupations as ‘a seriously illegal act that undermines the authority of the National Assembly.’
   Rival lawmakers and their assistants brawled at the National Assembly last week after the ruling party initiated a bill to ratify the free trade agreement, locking themselves inside the trade committee room.
   A sledgehammer, fire extinguishers and a hose were used in the scuffle.
   The ruling party and the government say the FTA is necessary to stimulate South Korea’s slowing economy, all the more so because of the global slump.
   But opponents including farmers and workers are worried they will lose their markets and jobs. The likelihood of the United States ratifying the deal also remains questionable.
   Besides the FTA, there are several other highly controversial bills.
   These include some allowing large businesses and big newspapers to acquire controlling stakes in local TV broadcasters.
   Critics say this will only strengthen the right’s control on news media.

A local al-Qaeda chief known as ‘Imad the killer’ escaped in a pre-dawn breakout from an Iraqi police station Friday, triggering a wild shootout that left 13 militants and policemen dead.
   Imad Ahmed Farhan, who police say has admitted to murdering at least 100 people, is on the run with two other ‘amirs’ or local leaders of al-Qaeda who broke out of their cells in a police station in the western city of Ramadi.
   ‘During an exchange of fire between prisoners trying to escape and police officers in the station, six policemen and seven prisoners were killed,’ provincial police chief Tareq al-Dulaimi said.
   The three prisoners managed to flee but one was recaptured, Dulaimi said, adding that another four policemen were wounded in the shootout that occurred at 2:00am Thursday at Forsan police station in the centre of Ramadi.

The development of infrastructures, including roads, sewerage lines and drainage systems, dominates the pledges made by the contestants of the Dhaka-10 constituency for the forthcoming parliamentary elections on Monday.
   But many of the electorates cast doubt whether the promises of the candidates will be fulfilled after one of them being chosen in the polling.
   Still they were discussing about the major candidates for choosing one of them as their leader to represent them in the 9th Parliament.
   The AL-led grand alliance candidate, AKM Rahmat Ullah, is in the polls fight in Dhaka-10 with the symbol ‘boat,’ the BNP-lead four-party alliance contestant, MA Qaiyum, with symbol ‘sheaf of paddy,’ and independent candidate, Mozammel Haque, with symbol ‘pushcart.’
   Like his rivals, Rahmat Ullah, who won the parliament seat twice earlier, was found carrying out mass contacts on the streets and lanes at different parts of the constituency on Friday.
   He told New Age that the voters would cast votes on the symbol ‘boat’ on December 29 to send him to the parliament as their representative, taking lessons from the past experiences during the BNP-led four-party alliance’s five-year rule, after the general polls in 2001.
   ‘If voted to power, I will mainly pay my attention to infrastructure development as the people of this constituency, mostly comprises of low lying areas, are deprived of city amenities, like roads, sewerage system and educational facilities,’ Rahmat Ullah said.
   MA Qaiyum claimed former BNP lawmaker Qamrul Islam developed many roads, including the Badda-Beraid road in 1993, during the tenure of BNP government, and constructed a good number of bailey bridges over roads in the constituency areas.
   He said, if voted to power he would arrange pipeline gas supply from Badda to Beraid areas for the people as one of his major election pledges,’ adding that he installed gas pipelines from Badda to Satarkul during the BNP-led four party alliance rule.
   Oaiyum also claimed as an incumbent ward commissioner of Dhaka City Corporation, he completed many development works in his ward for the people.
   He expressed hope that the voters of Dhaka-10 would choose him through voting on Monday as their leader to continue the development works.
   Independent candidate, Mozammel Haque, said he would win the election as the voters of the constituency had sent many leaders of various political parties during the past 37 years. All of them had deprived and exploited the people, caring a little for them since 1971, and indulging in making their own fortunes through corruption and looting.
   If voted to power, he said, ‘I will work for developing roads and service institutes for the people of this constituency, keeping myself away from corruption and looting, like others.’
   The parliamentary seat comprises of the ward nos. 21, 22 and 23 of Dhaka City Corporation, and Badda, Beraid, Bhatara and Satarkul unions. There are 3,49,181 voters — 1,81,898 males and 1,67,283 females.
   The other five contestants for the JS seat are: SM Ismail of Krishak Sramik Janata League who is in the race with symbol ‘gamchha,’ Shahidullah Kazi of Khelafat Andolan with symbol ‘banyan tree,’ Habibur Rahman of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal with symbol ‘star,’ Abu Soud of Liberal Democratic Party with symbol ‘umbrella’ and Abdul Jalil of Islami Andolan with symbol ‘hand fan.’

The BNP has blamed the media for carrying ‘misleading’ information in reports that the party chief, Khaleda Zia, asked her party to ‘surround polling centres’ until results were out.
   ‘The party chief just asked party workers and supporters to stay alert about the poll results not ‘cordon’ the polling centres,’ the office secretary, Rizvi Ahmed, said Friday.
   ‘Worries and apprehensions about the elections are still there, especially given the behaviour of the administration and several organisations raising concern,’ he said at a regular press briefing at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.
   Citing newspaper reports of ‘300 grenades being recovered’ Rizvi said they could have been used ‘to kill Khaleda Zia.’
   ‘What has the government done all these days?’ he asked, saying leaflets threatening to the former prime minister’s life were still being distributed just days ahead of the polls.
   ‘The government hasn’t done a thing about that,’ the BNP office secretary complained.

Four Jatiya Party activists, including a woman, were assaulted allegedly by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party activists Friday in the home village of former deputy minister Asadul Habib Dulu at Barobari in Lalmonirhat.
   Three of the injured were given first aid in the local health complex. The female, Sahera Begum, 32, was taken to Lalmonirhat General Hospital.
   The Jatiya Party activists alleged the BNP activists had first stopped them from holding a campaign at Barobari saying it was only for Asadul Habib to hold campaigns at the place.
   Asadul Habib is contesting the December 29 polls for the Lalmonirhat 3 constituency.

The BNP-led alliance candidate for Dhaka 16 constituency, Rafiqul Islam Mia, was wounded as unknown attackers pelted brickbats at his procession near Nannu Market in the capital city’s Mirpur area on Friday.
   Witnesses said unidentified people threw brickbats at Rafiq while he was passing by the area in a procession that started from Indoor Stadium.
   Rafiq was taken to the near by ward commissioner’s office and given first aid.