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Urdu speakers staying in Bangladesh, who have registered as voters for the first time, were very happy to have been able to cast vote, a number of them told New Age on Monday.
   Many Urdu speakers, concentrated in areas under Dhaka 16 constituency, were elated that exercising their franchise had proved they were Bangladeshis.
   ‘I am very happy. I feel proud too as I have cast my vote and thus proved I am a citizen of Bangladesh,’ said M Anwar Hossain, a Urdu speaking voter living in Talab Camp at Mirpur section 11 in Dhaka.
   ‘Some of us have not registered as voters for some reasons and I am sure it was simply a blunder’, said Anwar Hossain, one of 10,000-plus Urdu speakers staying in Bangladesh and who have registered as voters for the first time.
   More than 300,000 Urdu speakers have been staying in Bangladesh for 37 years as Pakistani authorities are not taking them back.
   Many of these people have integrated into Bangladesh’s society while most others are languishing in about 70 refugee camps in 13 districts.
   ‘By casting my vote I have proved I am a citizen of Bangladesh…’ ,said Meer Azad Hossain, aged about 35.
   ‘At the polling centre I found mismatch between my voter serial number and identity number which gave me some trouble in casting my vote,’ said Azad who came to the Mirpur Bangla School polling centre at 7:30am and waited for more than two hours to cast his vote due to procedural flaws.
   ‘A significant number of Urdu speakers living in the Mirpur camp did not enroll themselves in the voter list fearing that casting vote in Bangladeshi elections might lead to problems like losing dwellings in the slums, where we have been living for nearly four decades after the independence of Bangladesh in 1971’, he added.
   The Urdu speakers, known as stranded Pakistanis, were made voters by the Election Commission following a court ruling.

With the national elections less than a week away, the authorities have
   started cleaning the parliament building and complex.
   More than a hundred workers were seen on Monday busy cleaning the floors inside the parliament complex. The work started last week.
   ‘We conduct the work on cleaning the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on a regular basis. However, we could not pay heed to the cleaning work over the last years seriously as there was no parliament,’ additional chief engineer of the Public Works Department, Dewan Md Yameen told New Age on Monday, adding, ‘We have started the work as the ninth Jatiya Sangsad is going to be formed with the general elections nearing fast.’
   ‘The work began in the last week and we hope it will be completed before the first session of the new parliament,’ said Kamruzzaman, the superintendent engineer for Jatiya Sangsad.
   About the kind of task, he said, ‘Apart from repairing the chairs and desks meant for the new parliamentary members, we
   are also carrying out the cleaning work.’
   He said the repairs to the doors and windows, and air condition, light and sound systems were also being carried out.
   The doors and windows are being painted as well, he added.
   Besides, the jail authorities have given back to the Jatiya Sangsad authorities the two houses of the complex which were built for the deputy speakers and later declared sub-jail where the Awami League president, Sheikh Hsaina and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia were interned.
   Major Shamsul
   Haider Siddiqui, deputy inspector general (prisons), told New Age that the houses were given back to the Jatiya Sangsad authorities on December 7 this year.
   The eighth Jatiya Sangsad, which began its business on October 28, 2001, was dissolved on October 2006 after a full term of five years.
   The parliament complex was built in 1963-83 on 215 acres of land, with a 10-storey building having a floor of 8,23,000 square feet, 400 rooms, 340 toilets, 1,635 doors, 335 windows, 50 staircases and a plenary hall.

The top positions at the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and the Directorate of Technical Education have been vacant for several months, hampering the regular activities of the offices.
   The position of director general in the secondary and higher education directorate, popularly known as Shiksha Bhaban, has been vacant since August 17 as KM Aurangazeb went on leave preparatory to retirement on the day. Aurangazeb was made director general on October 29, 2007.
   The position of the director general in the Technical Education Directorate has been vacant since November 25 as M Abul Bashar went on leave preparatory to retirement on the day. Bashar was made director general on October 15, 2001.
   The directors general are assigned to monitor and supervise the administrative activities of more than 30,000 government and non-government institutions offering education from the secondary to master’s level.
   They also oversee promotion, salaries and evaluation of around 5 lakh teachers and employees employed in such educational institutions.
   ‘The education adviser and the education secretary several times talked with more than 40 senior professors in a few months, but no appointment has been made till date. Regular activities are hampered as the acting director generals have no authority to make any decision on important issues,’ said a joint secretary of the education ministry.
   An aspirant professor who a few days ago faced the interview told New Age Monday some officials of the administration cadre were lobbying for the positions.
   ‘At least 100 senior professors are fit for the appointment in the positions. But the government is delaying the matter for reasons unknown,’ he said.
   There are more than 14,000 members of the Bangladesh Civil Service (education) cadre who are employed in government colleges, 10 education boards and in different positions in the secondary and higher education directorate.
   There are more than 1, 000 members of the technical education cadre and about 25 professors who are fit for the post of the director general of the technical education directorate.

The Election Observer Group, an umbrella organisation of local poll observers, termed the ninth parliamentary elections ‘peaceful’ and ‘satisfactory’ barring some flaws in the process, including insecurity of voters in a few places, mismanagement and illegal campaigns on the polling day.
   The group releasing its preliminary assessment of the polls on Monday evening also accused election officials of barring observers from monitoring polls in different parts of the country.
   Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, executive committee member of the Election Working Group, said that their local observers had reported insecurity of voters in some constituencies including Khagrachari hill district, Sylhet 1 and Sylhet 3.
   About illegal campaigns on the poling day, the preliminary report said that such incidents had taken place in a number of districts, including Barguna, Bandarban, Khagrachari, Laxmipur, Rangamati, Rajs-hahi, Chapainawabganj, Moulvibazar and Laxmipur.
   Mozammel Haque, another official of the forum, said that their member were both barred and expelled from polling centres in Rajshahi, Comilla, Noakhali, Gazipur and Rangamati.
   About allegations that some poll observers were linked to political parties, Mohsin Ali said, ‘We are not aware of it… We offer an apology if the allegation is true….’
   He, however, defended the competence of the poll observers.

The chief of army staff, General Moeen U Ahmed, Monday said the army would work in a coordinated manner for the country’s welfare whoever comes to power through the ninth parliamentary election.
   ‘Let us not divide the country, rather work together for nation-building activities whoever wins the election’, he told reporters after casting his vote at the Adamjee Cantonment College in Dhaka at 11-15am.
   Congratulating the people for their spontaneous participation in the polling across the country, General Moeen said it was so tough to formulate a flawless voters’ list within a short span of time. ‘But the army has made it possible,’ he said.
   The Bangladesh Army, said General Moeen, did this task very efficiently as given by the government in 11 months only with the cooperation of the people.
   Referring to the recent US election, he expressed the hope that whoever wins the election would be welcomed by all quarters. ‘The present interim government is not an army-backed one,’ he said on a query.
   General Moeen said the army had extended all-out cooperation and supports to the government in carrying out the nation-building activities. ‘The army will extend the same support to the government, which will be elected through today’s (Monday’s) election.” he said.
   Describing the previous welfare-oriented endeavours of the army during the previous governments, General Moeen said the army did its best to carry out any responsibly given by the governments for the people’s welfare.
   ‘The ninth parliamentary election is not only a matter of pride for Bangladesh, but also for the whole world as it is a process for transition to de-mocracy,’ the army chief said.

BNP leader and former lawmaker Manzurul Ahsan Munshi has been taken to custody for violating the Election Code of Conduct.
   The police arrested Munshi from Mohammadpur polling centre of Debidwar upazila in Comilla at 3-30pm Monday.
   His wife, Sajeda Ahsan Munshi, is contesting as a candidate of the four-party alliance from Comilla-4 constituency.

A middle aged man was stabbed to death while returning home after casting vote at remote Janata Bazar polling centre in Noakhali 6 (Hatiya) constituency Monday.
   The victim was Mofizur Rahman,48, a farmer.
   Confirming the murder police super Lutful Kabir said Mofiz was stabbed to death by unknown assailants at about 2:30pm.
   Independent candidate Fazlul Azim claimed Mofiz as his supporter. He accused pirates of Bashar Majee bahini supporting his rival Ayesa Ferdous (independent) of killing Mofiz on way back home after casting vote at Janata Bazar polling

The Rapid Action Battalion seized five pipe-guns and rounded up four suspected criminals from different areas in two northern districts during the last 24 hours till Monday noon.
   Acting on a tip-off, a team of the elite force conducted a raid on Shalban Hafizia Madrassah premises under Khetlal upazila of Jaipurhat Sunday night and seized five countrymade pipe-guns from an abandoned house. However, none was arrested in this connection.
   In another raid in Noyatola area under Syedpur upazila of Nilphamari, the RAB personnel rounded up four members of Kalema-e-Jamaat.
   They were Helal Uddin, 31, of Bhadarakola village of Ullapara upazila of Sirajganj, Ramij Uddin, 38, of Kanchvila area in Chowgachha upazila of Jessore, Ramjan Ali, 16, of Jogijoda village under Moheshpur upazila of Jhenaidah and Dr Iqbal Hossain of Noyatola village under Syedpur upazila of Nilphamari.

Eighteen people were injured in separate clashes between the supporters of rival candidates in parliament election at Kalkini and Shibchar upazilas Monday.
   Fifteen people were injured in a clash between the supporters of two rival candidates at east Kamalapur Government Primary School centre at Kalkini.
   Supporters of two candidates for Madaripur 3 constituency were locked into an altercation and clashed, causing injuries on both sides at noon.
   In another incident, three people, including a ward commissioner, were injured as supporters of two rival candidates clashed over voters’ list at Nalgora Government Primary School centre at Shibchar. One of the injured, Abdul Kader Khan, a ward commissioner of Shibchar pourashava, was admitted to local hospital.

Festive mood marked the election in Chittagong on Monday with a good voter turnout.
   Braving cold in the morning, a large number of voters queued up in different polling centres to exercise their franchise amid spontaneity and enthusiasm.
   Polling officers informed that 4,164 out of 5,155 votes were cast at Bagmoniram primary school centre by 3:00pm, showing a turnout of over 80 per cent.
   Presiding officer Mohammad Iqbal said 80 per cent out of total 1,456 votes were cast at Khastogir Girls’ High School centre, which wore almost a deserted look after 3:00pm.
   The voters had already left the centre as they cast their votes. ‘After 3:00pm, we didn’t find any voter here.’
   Chittagong mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury said that the polls were held by and large peacefully despite some minor problems with the registration of voters.
   ‘There is no violence in and around polling centres here. The voter turnout is also very good. I think that AL and BNP may get 50-50 seats out of 16 in Chittagong,’ he added.
   The police informed that no untoward incident was reported barring a few stray incidents of attempt to distribute money among slum dwellers for votes and intimidation of some minority voters in remote areas of Rauzan in Chittagong.
   Taposhi Sarkar, a 45-year-old housewife, said she was happy to cast her vote for returning to democracy. ‘It is a challenge for our nation now,’ she said while coming out of Bagmoniram centre in Chittagong city.
   ‘I have felt more comfortable this time to cast my vote as I faced no problem,’ she added, saying, ‘We hope for peace and prosperity in our country without any tension.’
   Jashim Uddin, owner of a pharmacy in Chittagong city who cast his vote at Askardighi centre in the city said, ‘I feel proud to cast my vote in such a festive and free atmosphere this time. But we expect such a government which can ensure food price cut and combat violence.’
   He added that they wanted to see violence any more. ‘Earlier, we had to pay tolls to local political activists for running a shop or holding any other social function.’
   ‘We want to sleep in peace, buy essentials at reasonable price and see the end of power, water and gas crises in Chittagong,’ he said.
   Monjur Mahmud Khan, chairman of a private school said the election was held here peacefully. ‘Sense of change has developed among the people who are now crazy for a democratic system,’ he said after casting his vote at Askardighi polling centre.

No polling agents for nine contestants out of a total of 13 for the Dhaka 7 constituency were found at the Azimpur Girls’ School and College centre during the polling hours on Monday.
   The New Age correspondent, who passed the whole day at the polling station, found the polling agents for the candidates of only the Awami League-led alliance, BNP-led alliance, Jatiya Party (JP) and an independent candidate at each of the six booths.
   The aspirants who were in the race include Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin of the AL, Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu of the BNP, Sarwar Hossain of the JP, Azmeri Begum of Bikalpa Dhara, M Ibrahim Adil Khan of Bangladesh Kalyan Party, M Zafarullah Khan of Khilafat Andolon, Nurul Amin of Islami Andolon Bangladesh, M Munirul Islam Shikdar of Jatiya Party, M Mustafa Mahmud of the Bangladesh National Awami Party, Mohammad Rahim of Krishak Sramik Janata League, Sarafat Ali Hira of Gantantri Party, Shahida Amin of Gono Forum and an independent candidate, M Yahya Ahmed.
   ‘We did not face any problems during the election hours. A peaceful environment prevailed during the eight-hour polling’, said the presiding officer, Sirajul Islam after the polls.
   Nearly 75 per cent voters of the centre exercised their franchise with about 350 of the 2499 voters from Azimpur Estate and Pallasi Barracks casting their votes in the first hour till 9:00am.
   Many of the voters, however, complained about the delay in finding their names in the voters’ list.
   The female voters were comparatively slow in casting their votes, said the agents who had to help the voters fold the ballot papers.
   ‘As most of the voters were facing problems, we had to help them,’ said Suman Mia, a polling agent of the BNP.
   The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia visited the centre at 3:00pm and talked to some of the young children who had accompanied their parents to the centre in the old part of Dhaka.
   ‘You are the future of the nation and you will cast your votes for the advancement of the country’, she told the children during her five-minute stay.
   The AL chief, Sheikh Hasina, while passing by, also made a brief stopover outside the centre when no other candidates were seen there.

About a hundred presiding officers on Monday staged a demonstration for being sent home after waiting for nearly six hours at the Azimpur Girls’ School and College in Dhaka to discharge their duties.
   ‘We all were ordered to be present at the centre before 6:00am to conduct the polls’, said Jamal Uddin, a senior teacher of the West End High School in the old part of the city.
   ‘Some of our colleagues, mostly teachers of different noted educational institutions, also received threats of losing jobs if they failed to attend the election duty’, he said.
   ‘Afraid of losing jobs, some of us reached the centre on time from different corners of the city….One Abul Khayer came here with a broken hand…but why the authorities behaved in such a way calling off our duties at the eleventh hour we do not know’, he said.
   The demonstrators said the Election Commission on December 13 had appointed them for discharging the polling duties on December 29.
   A total of seven members received orders for discharging the responsibilities as presiding officer while 32 teachers were appointed assistant presiding officers. The EC also appointed 53 teachers as polling officers.
   ‘We all attended the training sessions conducted by the commission and received an honorarium of Tk 500 each as presiding officer while the assistant presiding and polling officers received Tk 350 and Tk 150 each respectively’, said Abul Kashem of the West End School.
   They said that they could not cast their votes for the poor decision by the authorities concerned.
   Angry demonstrators met the Dhaka City Corporation regional 3 deputy secretary (administration), Akramul-Al Hossain, and wanted to know the matter, demanding their remunerations.
   ‘We are very sorry that you did not receive directives in time’, he told them.
   ‘This is a national duty. We all are busy conducting the polls peacefully’, he said.
   Regarding the remuneration, he said that the EC had allocated some money as honorariums for the officers, who were discharging their responsibilities at the polling centres.
   ‘It is very unfortunate that some of you had to come here with problems’, he said.

Polling officials in the RK Chowdhury Degree College centre at Sayedabad in the Dhaka 5 constituency found it difficult to handle the rush of voters, who are mainly transport workers, in Monday’s polling.
   The voting in the centre was delayed by half an hour as the polling agents of a party failed to reach the place in time.
   ‘The polling agents of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, which is contesting the polls with the election symbol of hand fan, failed to reach at the polling booths in time which delayed the polling by half an hour,’ the presiding officer, Matlab-e-Elahi Majumder, told New Age.
   At noon, he said 1,200 out of about 2,000 voters had cast their vote. About 250 voters cast their vote by 10:30am in four polling booths of the centre.
   ‘We have cast our vote without out any hassles,’ said Najmul Huq, a first-time voter. There were some problems because of names being similar in the national identity cards.
   The assistant presiding officer Mamun Hossain told New Age most were first-time voters. ‘We are trying to explain to first-time voters the voting process,’ he said just after noon.
   The presiding officer said the Election Commission this time had the provision of casting tender vote. ‘We had to have a voter cast a tender vote,’ he said.
   At 11.30am, a mobile court headed by a Dhaka court judge, inspected the centre. Foreign observers did not visit the centre, but local polls observers visited the centre. Election Working Group member Shahadat Hossain, who inspected the four booths of the centre, told New Age voters cast their vote in a free and fair manner. At 12:10pm, around 1,200 votes were cast.
   Two ill, elderly voters went to upstairs to cast their vote in centre, but according to the electoral rule, there should have been special arrangement for such people.
   At 3:45pm, around 1,500 people cast their votes.
   The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, visited the nearby RK Chowdhury School centre. Voters expected Khaleda to visit the centre.
   At 4:02pm, the presiding officer ordered to close the gate of college centre and about 1,550 votes were cast by then.
   The BNP-led alliance candidate Salah Uddin Ahmed polled 446 votes with the election symbol of paddy sheaf in the centre. Awami League-led candidate Habibur Rahman Mollah, now behind bars, polled 878 votes with the symbol of boat. Syed Abu Hossain of the Jatiya Party contesting the polls with the symbol of plough bagged 146 votes.

A man was arrested along with a fake ballot paper from near Sundarban Women College Centre in Rampal upazila Monday afternoon.
   The Police said local people caught Aminul Sardar along with the fake ballot paper at about 3:30pm while roaming around the area.
   They, later, handed him over to Rampal thana police. He was being interrogated, the police said.

The police arrested four suspected militants from a rented house near the residence of Awami League candidate for Nilphamari 2 constituency Asaduzzaman Noor Sunday night.
   The police said on a tip-off, they had raided the house of one Abdul Aziz Chowdhury on the Saidpur Road at around noon and nabbed the four suspects.
   The house is only 20 feet away from the residence of Asaduzzaman Noor, also a noted cultural activist.
   The arrested are Helal Uddin, 31, a resident of Sirajganj, Ramiz Uddin, 37, of Jessore, Ramzan Ali, 30, of Jhenaidah and Iqbal, 29, of Nilphamari.
   Local residents said the four had rented the house two months back identifying themselves as employees of a ceramic factory and suppliers of tube well spear parts.
   Two of the arrested had been residing in the house along with their families, the locals added.
   The officer-in-charge of the sadar police station, Nural Islam, said during interrogation, the four confessed that they were the members of Islamist outfit Kalema Jamaat.
   ‘We joined Kalema Jamaat to invite people to follow the ideals of Islam,’ the four told the police.

After a long 50 years, the female members of Chandradighalia union in Gopalganj exercised their franchise in the national elections on Monday.
   The females of the union had refrained from casting their votes in any election for the last 50 due to various social superstitions, local sources said.
   From the early in the morning, the female voters started queuing up at polling centres at Bhyianpara, Charpara and Mollahpara Primary School to cast votes in Gopalganj 1 constituency.
   Some female members of the union, while talking to New Age, said they were very happy with the exercises of their franchise for the first time in 50 years.
   A good many female voters like Ayesha Begum, 60, Jahanara Begum, 45, Nurunnahar Begum, 57, Sufia Begum, 45, Mabiya Begum, 40, Fazera Begum, 45 and Pansi Begum, 35, expressed such feelings.
   As per the electoral roll, the union has a total of 5,791 voters and 2,765 of them are females.

Freedom fighter Professor AKM Jahangir, also a former ward commissioner of Rajshahi City Corporation, died Sunday night in Rajshahi at the age of 60.
   According to his family, Jahangir suddenly fell sick while travelling by a rickshaw in the city’s Sagarpara Battala area. Later he was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared him dead at about 10:30pm.
   He is survived by two daughters. After namaz-e-janaza on Monday, he was buried at Hatem Khan Graveyard with state honours.
   Rajshahi mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, former mayors Abdul Hadi and Durul Huda, Badiuzzaman Bir Pratik and Dr Abdul Mannan, among others, attended the janaza.
   The Rajshahi mayor in a condolence message expressed his deep shock at the death of Jahangir and conveyed sympathy to the members of the bereaved family.police.

Law enforcers seized 22 bombs from a house at South Bychutti under Chouddagram upazila in Comilla early Monday.
   The police said on a tip-off, they raided the house of local Jatiya Party leader Md Bosor and seized the bombs.
   Bosor could not be arrested as he fled the scene earlier sensing police presence.
   The police, however, arrested one identified as Zobbaer Ahmed, 29, in this connection.

A female voter, travelling by a rickshaw-van to cast her vote in Meherpur 1 constituency, was killed when the van turned upside-down at Bhabanipur of Mujibnagar upazila in Meherpur Monday.
   The deceased was Rakhi Khatun, 50, wife of Raja Khan of Rashikpur village at Mujibnagar. Local people said the woman travelling alone in the van to cast her vote at Bhabanipur Government Primary School Centre, died on the spot, 50 yards off the centre, as the van overturned while giving side to another vehicle at noon.
   The van driver sustained injuries in the accident.
   Deputy commissioner Amjad Hossain Khan visited the spot.

A man killed his minor daughter by slitting her throat at Taura of Jhikargachha upazila in Jessore on Monday night.
   The deceased was Juin, 7, daughter of one Abdul Hakim.
   The police said Hakim was insane and he slit the throat of his daughter with a sharp weapon while she was asleep. She died on the spot.
   On information, the police came to the spot and arrested Hakim in connection with the killing.
   The arrested were produced in the court which sent him to Jessore central jail.