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The government has apparently made no preparation as yet to hold talks with the political parties after a month of Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed’s announcement to begin dialogues ‘soon’ for transition to democracy.
   ‘The government is still pondering over the matter, and the format of discussion is still undecided,’ the official spokesman, Syed Fahim Munaim, told reporters on Sunday in reply to a question on the progress of preparation for the dialogues.
   The chief adviser pledged to hold such dialogues for the first time on January 12 while he was addressing the nation through radio and television to mark his military-backed government’s one year in office.
   Politicians from different parties responded positively, although top leaders of both the major parties were either in jail
   or on the run because of graft charges.
   The head of the interim government, which was installed in a chaotic situation amidst political tumult, also pledged to hold the polls before the end of 2008 as per the roadmap at any cost.
   To this end, the government opted to start the dialogues which have been completed with most of the parties, but the Election Commission’s dialogue with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party remained stalled because of a legal battle between its two factions.
   The Election Commission has announced a fresh round of talks to begin next week and to be concluded by the end of February. The dialogues will be aimed at bringing about reforms to electoral law to clean up the electoral process and free it from undue influence.
   When asked whether the government has fixed the agenda for discussion with the parties, the spokesman replied in the negative.
   ‘The government’s dialogue with the parties will by no means be a parallel to that of the Election Commission’s talks,’ said Fahim Munaim, the press secretary to the chief adviser.
   But he hinted that the discussion might centre on smooth holding of the stalled parliamentary polls and peaceful hand-over of power to the elected parties.
   The government wants assistance from the political parties to hold a credible election, he added.
   ‘The government is not an opponent of any party. It will try to sit together with them to find the ways for peaceful transition to democracy,’ said the spokesman, adding that no one has officially been given the responsibility for groundwork on the proposed dialogue.
   But one of the newly appointed advisers, AMM Shawkat Ali, made a phone call to Matia Chowdhury, one of the senior leaders of the Awami League, immediately after the chief adviser unveiled his plan for dialogues with the parties.
   The law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser, AFM Hasan Ariff, drew criticism from various political camps after he told a seminar late last month that there might be some preconditions from the government for initiating the talks. The government has denied the truth of Ariff’s announcement.
   The political parties are willing to take part in the discussion only if a few demands are met beforehand. The Awami League and its allies say that they will place a charter of demands that include release of AL’s president Sheikh Hasina and complete restoration of civil and political rights, now suspended under the state of emergency proclaimed on January 11, 2007.
   The disunity in the BNP has led the party’s top leaders to refrain from taking any action to draw up the agenda for discussion.

Awami League and Workers Party on Sunday agreed to prepare identical agenda for the proposed talks with the government and stressed that such dialogues must be free of any precondition.
   On completion of his one year as the chief adviser to the caretaker government on January 11, Fakhruddin Ahmed offered to hold talks with political parties to pave the way for a credible general election towards the end of 2008. No date has so far been announced for the talks.
   Leaders of both the parties at a meeting on Sunday demanded that the government should start the dialogues immediately and complete the process within March.
   The agenda for the talks would be based on the spirit of the 31-point reform proposals announced on July 15, 2005 by Sheikh Hasina, the then ‘Grand Alliance’ leader. Present political crisis, sufferings of the people, abnormal price hike and release of AL president Sheikh Hasina will also be incorporated in the common agenda for talks, the two parties decided.
   ‘We have agreed to place identical proposals in the talks to ensure free, fair and credible elections as per the roadmap,’ Awami League presidium member Tofail Ahmed told reporters after the meeting at the Gulshan residence of the party’s acting president Zillur Rahman.
   Apart from the 31-point reform proposals, new issues would be drawn from present political, economic and social realities including release of political detainees like Hasina and alliance coordinator Abdul Jalil for talks once they get formal invitation from the government, he said.
   ‘The present political crisis, people’s sufferings including abnormal price hike of essential commodities and economic situation will be among our issues for talks with the government,’ Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon said after the meeting.
   He said that his party’s proposals would be identical to those of Awami League, and Workers Party supported the demand for release of Hasina from the very beginning.
   Both the leaders demanded that the proposed dialogue should begin without delay and preconditions, and be completed by March to create a congenial atmosphere for the polls.
   ‘The government should not wait for completion of the dialogues of the Election Commission,’ Tofail said.
   Meeting sources said that Menon wanted to know about the view of Zillur Rahman about expansion of the election alliance and Zillur answered that the alliance might incorporate other pro-liberation and non-communal forces.
   ‘A grand alliance may be formed ahead of general election with pro-liberation and non-communal forces and the decision will be finalised in the meeting of 14-party Alliance,’ Zillur was quoted as saying in the meeting.
   ‘We have told Awami League leaders that Workers Party in any way won’t accept any fundamental political force as an alliance member,’ a Workers Party leader told New Age after the meeting.
   Awami League hurt its left allies by signing a sudden deal with an Islamist party during the political turmoil at the end of 2006, making them extra cautious about the expansion of the alliance.
   Awami League leaders Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Matia Chowdhury, Suranjit Sengupta, Kazi Zafar Ullah and Syed Ashraful Islam and Workers Party leaders Bimal Biswas, Fazle Hossain Badsha, Anisur Rahman Mallik and Quamrul Ahsan attended the meeting, among others.

At least 30 students were injured in a clash between the activists of the Awami League student front Chhatra League and Jamaat-e-Islami student front Islami Chhatra Shibir over a brawl which resulted from seating in a hall’s dining room at the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute on Sunday.
   The authorities ordered the residents to vacate only the boys’ halls by 5:00pm on Sunday. A notice signed by the principal, Md Shamsul Alam, was hung on the notice board of the institution.
   In another incident on Sunday, several hundred students of Dhaka University and Dhaka College also went out on demonstrations after a fellow student had been assaulted by shop employees near Dhaka College in the afternoon. Traffic on the Mirpur Road remained suspended for two hours.
   At the Polytechnic Institute, the clash resulted from an altercation between an Islami Chhatra Shibir activist and a Chhatra League activist in the dining room at Latif Hall at around 11:00pm Saturday. The two groups attacked each other and vandalised rooms on Sunday.
   Chhatra League leaders claimed Shibir leaders and activists attacked them without any provocation in which more than 15 Chhatra League activists were injured.
   Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders also claimed Chhatra League leaders and activists attacked on them in which 20 of their activists were injured. They said the injured activists of the front were admitted to hospital.
   Witnesses said the clash resulted from Saturday night’s brawl and 10 to 15 rooms were vandalised.
   Shibir activists stood guard at several points on the campus Sunday morning. Chhatra League leaders and activists gathered on the campus at about 10:15am and chased Shibir leaders and activists, leading to the clash which continued for two hours.
   Both the groups attacked each other with sticks, cricket bats, stumps and iron rods. Thirty of both the groups were injured.
   Of the injured, seven were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, six to Al Raji Hospital and four to Orthopaedics Hospital.
   At least 10 rooms, windows, doors and furniture of the institution and its halls were vandalised.
   Chhatra League activists at one point drove Shibir activists out of the hall; Shibir activists attacked Chhatra League activists again after regrouping.
   The Chhatra League activists also attempted to block the road going by the institution at Tejgaon in the morning, but the police dispersed them. Lawmen controlled the situation at about 1:00pm.
   Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner, Mahbubur Rahman, said the brawl continued from Saturday night, leading to the clash on Sunday.

Several hundred students of Dhaka University and Dhaka College staged demonstrations in the city’s New Market area Sunday afternoon, protesting against the assault on a student by shopkeepers.
   Traffic on busy Mirpur Road remained suspended for about two hours, resulting in severe traffic jam in the New Market, Nilkhet, Elephant Road and Shahbagh areas.
   Witnesses said Bijon Saha, a student of Jagannath Hall at Dhaka University, went to a footwear shop at Gausia Market at around 5:00pm.
   But shop employees assaulted him after he locked in an altercation with them over the price of a pair of shoes.
   As Bijon informed some fellows of the incident over mobile phone, they immediately rushed to the scene and attacked the shopkeepers
   who also counterattacked with the help of some street hawkers.
   The students later took shelter at the dormitory of Dhaka College. Chase and counter-chase took place when they along with the students of Dhaka College took to the streets in protest against the attack.
   Most shops and shopping malls in New Market area
   were shuttered in fear of vandalism.
   The students also vandalised a number of makeshift shops and set fire to some.
   They staged demonstrations on the road and chanted slogan against the owner of the footwear shop.
   A huge contingent of police went to the spot and brought the situation under control with giving the students assurance that legal action would be taken against the shop owner, said Monirul Islam, second officer of New Market police station. Traffic on Mirpur Road resumed at around 7:15pm, he added.

The food and disaster management adviser, AMM Shawkat Ali, on Sunday said the government initiated a move through the foreign affairs ministry so that the restrictions on rice export by India do not affect the letters of credit already opened by Bangladesh traders for import.
   He said India had ordered the restrictions on rice export for their ‘internal reasons.’
   ‘India has imposed restrictions on rice export through private sector. We have no scope for doing anything in this regard,’ Shawkat told reporters at the secretariat, adding that even Indian exporters had reacted to the ban.
   He gave an assurance that the restrictions would not hamper the import of 5 lakh tonnes of rice from India which was earlier pledged by the Indian government. The process of rice import is in progress, he said.
   ‘I have already talked with the foreign adviser to look into the matter,’ the food adviser said.
   The government has already issued work orders for the import of 2.1 lakh more tones of rice in an alternative way to keep the market stable, he told newsmen.
   Responding to a query on further increase in rice prices after the export ban by India, the adviser said the middle-class people might suffer a little because of the price increase.
   He said the authorities would continue monitoring the market to keep the situation under control.
   The director general of the food directorate signed an agreement with the Indian counterpart on Sunday on the import of the five lakh tones of rice in four modes of transport at the rate of $399 a tonne, an official source said.

The export restriction on non-Basmati rice, announced on February 7, 2008, is applicable to all countries and is not specific to Bangladesh, said a press release of Indian High Commission in Dhaka on Sunday.
   The restriction, however, will not affect the export of five lakh tonnes of rice to Bangladesh announced during the visit of Indian external affairs minister to Bangladesh on December 1, 2007, the release added.
   The process of procurement of half a million tonnes of rice is underway, added the release.

Squabble between the two warring factions of Bangladesh Nationalist Party over unification process intensified as dissenters on Sunday rejected the precondition set by Khaleda Zia-nominated secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain to scrap October 29 resolutions.
   The factions are waiting for a courtroom showdown over the legality of the Election Commission’s invitation to dissenter camp’s acting secretary general secretary Hafizuddin Ahmed for electoral reform talks. The High Court is scheduled to hear the writ petition on Tuesday.
   ‘We won’t go for any discussion with Khandaker Delwar Hossain unless he withdraws his precondition,’ acting chairman of the pro-government faction M Saifur Rahman said Sunday after a meeting with the stalwarts of the faction. ‘Talks for reconciliation in BNP must be held without any precondition.’
   Saifur claimed that Delwar and others failed to decode the message of detained party chief Khaleda Zia, who urged all for working for the party’s unity and getting things settled through discussions.
   ‘We have a very close relationship with Khaleda Zia and we believe she would understand our points if we could have scopes to explain those to her. But “they” are not willing to sit at all,’ Saifur told reporters at his Gulshan home.
   A day before her arrest on September 3, Khaleda expelled the party’s long-serving secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and appointed Khandaker Delwar in his place.
   Saifur and Hafiz were made acting chairperson and acting secretary general of the party respectively in a midnight meeting attended by a number of BNP standing committee members on October 29, 2007. The meeting nullified the decision of Khaleda Zia to expel Mannan Bhuiyan.
   Delwar on Saturday reiterated the demand for scrapping the resolution of the October 29 meeting, which he termed ‘illegal.’
   Four standing committee members, who had attended the October 29 meeting, did not turn up at the Sunday’s meeting at Saifur’s house. They are RA Gani, Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, Khandaker Mahbubuddin Ahmed and M Shamsul Islam.
   The leaders who attended the Sunday’s meeting at Saifur’s house included, among others, expelled secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, vice-chairman Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, and chairperson’s advisers ZA Khan, Mofazzal Karim and MA Hakim and former state ministers Rezaul Karim and Shah Mohammad Abul Hossain.
   Briefing the media on the meeting, Hafiz said they welcomed the party chairperson’s call for unity and discussed the message in its true spirit.
   ‘She told us to get united at any cost…Now it is not the time for talking about which resolution should be cancelled or which not,’ he said.
   ‘There is no scope to debate over the position of acting chairperson. The standing committee withdrew the expulsion of Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, but he refused to continue as secretary general. And I was given the charge,’ Hafiz said, referring to the October 29 meeting.
   An adviser to the party’s detained chairperson said they would wait for a decision of the court unless Delwar Hossain withdrew the precondition.
   A close aide to Delwar also said they were taking preparations to face the dissidents in the court. ‘We hope we would be able to prove the October 29 meeting illegal,’ he said. ‘We hope that the majority of the standing committee members would support our position.’
   A High Court bench is to hear Tuesday the writ petition that wants the court to ask the Election Commission to invite Khandaker Delwar Hossain to represent BNP in the electoral reform talks.
   The issue of unification came in the spotlight after Khaleda, during her brief parole on January 20, called for unity and ending mud-slinging. She also urged all to ‘forget who said what in the past’ for the sake of unity.
   The call prompted the two camps to think and talk unity and both Saifur and Hafiz earlier this month offered to quit their posts to expedite the unification process. But Delwar’s precondition seems to have widened the distance between the two camps further.
   Insiders in both the camps believed that the court order would determine the next move towards unification.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday again deferred to February 12 the hearing of the government’s petition that was submitted to seek stay of the High Court’s judgement that quashed the Tk 2.99 crore extortion case against Sheikh Hasina.
   The six-member Appellate Division bench, chaired by acting Chief Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim, deferred the hearing as the government’s petition did not conform to the Supreme Court’s rules. Hasina’s counsel Rafique-ul Huq also objected to the flaws in the government’s petition.
   The government’s appeal was first scheduled for hearing by the Appellate Division on February 7, but the court deferred the hearing to Sunday as Hasina’s counsel sought time for preparation.
   On Sunday, Rafique argued that he would not take part in the hearing as there were flaws in the government’s appeal.
   As per Appellate Division’s rules, the government will have to submit certified copies of full documents of the writ petition on the basis of which the High Court on February 6 not only declared the extortion case against Hasina illegal but also quashed it.
   The government filed the petition without furnishing the related documents except a copy of the writ petition only, mentioned Rafique.
   Attorney-general Fida M Kamal said that the Supreme Court had already granted extra time earlier in response to a request made by Hasina’s lawyers. The government side was ready on Sunday morning for the hearing, he added.
   Fida M Kamal said that the issue was of great public importance and so he requested the bench to continue the hearing, saying it should not be deferred further.
   The court, however, said that all parties must abide by the rules and the court should also conduct its business as per the law.
   The Appellate Division’s bench ordered the government’s lawyers to rectify the flaws in the submission of their appeal.
   Within hours of the High Court’s judgment, the government filed a petition with the chamber judge, Justice MA Matin, who refrained from passing an instant stay order and referred the petition to a full-court hearing, scheduled on February 7.
   The attorney-general, back in his office, told reporters that the government’s appeal had been duly included in the appeal court’s cause-list for Sunday after allowing Hasina’s lawyers extra time for preparation.
   The attorney-general also said that such a case of
   public importance is likely to have a crucial impact on similar cases, but it has now been deferred again as Hasina’s lawyers have objected to the hearing.

The Election Commission will next week begin its second round of dialogues with political parties on electoral reforms.
   ‘If the dialogue with the BNP is delayed, we will hold the second round of talks with the political parties we earlier talked with. The dialogue may begin on the 17th or 18th of this month,’ election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told reporters in his office on Sunday.
   He, however, expected a court decision on holding the stalled dialogue with the BNP before starting the second round of dialogues. A writ filed in this connection with the High Court is scheduled for hearing on February 12.
   ‘If the court gives a decision regarding the dialogue with the BNP on February 12, we will first hold talks with the BNP. If that does not happen, we will hold talks with other parties. We do not have much time,’ he said.
   The commission will sit separately with each of the political parties, not with all the 17 political parties at a time, Sohul said.
   ‘We think the task will be easy if the dialogue is held separately with each political party. The forthcoming round of talks will be shorter, with discussions on only the aspects of laws in dispute. We may hold dialogues with two or three parties a day,’ he said.
   The commission was originally scheduled to hold talks with the BNP on November 22 as part of its series of talks with the political parties on the reforms of electoral laws.
   A writ petition, filed on behalf of the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, with the High Court on November 18 resulted in a stay on the execution of the commission’s letter of invitation for the party to the dialogue.
   According to the electoral roadmap, as announced by the commission on July 15, 2007, the talks were meant to be completed within three months from September.
   The laws were to be finalised by this March. The commission has completed dialogues with 16 parties. Only the BNP has been left out of the dialogue.
   Sohul said an Election Commission meeting on Sunday finalised the draft of an ordinance regarding wall writing and posters. The draft will be sent to the local government ministry for initial vetting.
   After the approval of the ordinance, the ministry will keep watch on wall writing and pasting of bills.
   There will be a provision for a fine of Tk 10,000, in default three months’ imprisonment, in case of any violation of the law, Sohul said, adding any magistrate or mobile court could try such cases.
   If the ministry does not approve the ordinance, the commission may amend the election code of conduct, banning election-time graffiti or posters.

The projected growth can be achieved if the government successfully tackles the emerging constraints, said the Bangladesh Bank in its quarterly report.
   The government has taken various measures to address losses in the agriculture sector, and the slow pace in the industrial sector is expected to accelerate due to the increase in the import of raw materials and other favourable developments, according to the quarterly.
   Supportive macro-economic policies, heightened business confidence and the desired growth in private sector-led investment, effective measures to address infrastructure constraints and speedy implementation of reforms are needed for short-term growth, said the quarterly released on Sunday.
   The supply side factors will play the major role in moderating inflationary pressure, the quarterly observed.
   ‘The increase in food prices has exerted significant pressure on the cost of living in direct and indirect ways,’ said the quarterly.
   The central bank will support increased production, especially in agriculture, and keep the pressure of the demand side under control.
   Inflation kept creeping up and reached 11.59 per cent in December 2007 on the back of soaring food prices.
   Food inflation in December rose to 14.46 per cent, the highest in the decade, which was 6.65 per cent in January 2007.
   The gap between urban and rural inflation rates widened in the second quarter in respect of food and non-food categories, said the quarterly.
   The real economy showed an accelerating pace of growth as domestic production activities resumed after the twin floods and the cyclone, the quarterly observed.
   The quarterly, however, said the overall growth of the manufacturing sector slowed down moderately in the second quarter of the current fiscal year compared with the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

The US ambassador designate to Bangladesh, James Moriarty, has said Washington wants Bangladesh interim government to move as quickly as possible to take additional steps to restore civic freedoms and democracy.
   Appearing before the US senate foreign relations committee in Washington on February 6 for confirmation of his ambassadorial job, he said the United States had also called upon the interim government to adhere to the electoral roadmap to hold national elections by the end of 2008.
   Senator John F Kerry, who chaired the hearing, asked a string of queries about the general election, role of the army, human right situation, development, ‘Islamic terrorists’ and impact of climate change in Bangladesh.
   The Bangladesh ambassador to the USA, Humayun Kabir, was present at the Senate hearing — a prerequisite for appointment of an American ambassador.
   In his introductory remarks senator Kerry said this was a trying and troubling time for Bangladesh, now ruled by ‘military’ for over a year.
   ‘We have a very strong interest in maintaining strong relations with Bangladesh, but we also hope that Bangladesh is going to continue as a moderating voice in the Islamic world,’ he said in his introductory remarks.
   Kerry said, ‘We also can’t lose fact that we need to restore full civil and political rights to all the citizens of Bangladesh.’
   The senator mentioned that in May last year, he wrote a letter with senators Biden, Lugar and others urging the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, to immediately lift emergency rule and announce a timeline for free and fair elections.
   He said although emergency rule was still in place, the government had announced elections by the end of 2008; it’s very important these be transparent and held as scheduled.
   Kerry also noted that instituting reforms to end Bangladesh’s notorious corruption is also a challenge and vital to restoring popular confidence in government.
   In his deposition, Moriarty said Bangladesh was a country in transition, in an area of the globe vital to US interests. In Bangladesh, he said, US interests revolve around three, inter-twined ‘d’s’: democracy, development, and denial of space to terrorism.
   The seventh-most populous country in the world, Bangladesh is overwhelmingly Muslim and has in the recent past been grindingly poor. ‘If, under such conditions, it succeeds in building a tolerant, prosperous democracy, it will serve as a shining beacon for much of the world,’ the American-designate told the committee of lawmakers.
   Moriarty said, ‘If it fails in these tasks, it could become a nation of ungoverned space and a potential safe haven and crossroads for international terrorism.’
   He appreciated that, after assuming office, the incumbent interim government embarked upon an ambitious agenda to rid the country of endemic corruption, reform institutions necessary for a sustainable democracy, and hold free, fair and transparent elections.
   He noted that in a country that Transparency International described in recent years as ‘perceived to be the most corrupt in the world,’ the anti-corruption campaign quickly led to the arrests of a number of prominent individuals — politicians and businessmen alike.
   At present, two of Bangladesh’s former prime ministers are in prison facing corruption charges.
   He said under the state of emergency, the interim government placed restrictions on freedom of expression and the right to engage in political activities. In August 2007, the caretaker government received a jarring wake-up call when the country erupted in violent protests.
   ‘The government, with the strong support of the military, quickly restored order by imposing a curfew on the areas hit by rioting. But the demonstrations showed what can happen when legitimate means of expressing grievances are unavailable,’ he said.
   Before and after the protests, the United States has consistently urged the interim government to lift the restrictions on basic rights, and on September 9 last year the chief adviser announced a partial relaxation of the ban on political activity.
   He said the United States had welcomed this announcement and urged the government to move as quickly as possible to take additional steps to restore civic freedoms and democracy. In particular, he said, the United States has called upon Bangladesh interim government to adhere to the electoral roadmap to hold national elections by the end of 2008.

The government has decided to honour nine people with Ekushey Award 2008. Six of the awards will be given posthumously.
   The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has approved the recommendations of the advisory council committee on national awards to honour the nine with the award, a government official said. The chief adviser will distribute the awards on February 20.
   Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of the Transparency International Bangladesh board of trustees, social scientist Najma Chowdhury and music director Khandaker Nurul Alam will be among the recipients of the award this year.
   The six be awarded posthumously are Dr Zohra Begum Kazi, the first woman in South Asia to receive an MBBS degree, journalist and Tagore singer Waheedul Huq, poet Dilwar Hossain Khan of Moulvibazar, language movement hero Khaleque Newaj of Mymensingh, and folk singers Shyamsundar Baishnaba and Shefali Ghosh of Chittagong.
   Diverse organisations, forums and individuals submitted 81 names as the government sought names who could be awarded Ekushey Award.
   A four-member scrutiny committee, led by former cultural affairs adviser Ayub Quadri, shortlisted 15 names.
   Other members on the committee are the education secretary, information secretary and cultural affairs secretary.
   The advisory council committee on the national award nomination led by adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury made a final list and recommended the final nine names for the 2008 awards.
   Each of the recipients will get a gold medal, a trophy and Tk 40,000 in cash.
   According to national award rules, Ekushey Award may be conferred on up to 15 people in a year.

The advisory council of the interim government approved the draft Muslim Marriages and Divorces (Registration) (Amendment) Ordinance 2008 delegating the authority of issuing licence to deputy commissioners from the law ministry.
   As per the new ordinance, the deputy commissioners of all the districts will provide licence to marriage registrars as well as can cancel and suspend the licences.
   There are presently 5,219 licence-holder marriage registrars across the country.
   A regular weekly meeting of the council with the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, in the chair on Sunday also gave final approval to the Fertilier (Management)(Amendment) Ordinance 2008.
   In the new fertiliser ordinance the definition of organic fertiliser has been specified and provision for mention of production date and maximum retail price of fertiliser on the sack or container has been incorporated.
   Earlier, the drafts of both the ordinances were approved in principle by the council of advisers.
   The meeting discussed elaborately the draft of the Consumer Rights Protection Ordinance 2008, which was also earlier approved in principle. The council asked the law and commerce ministries to ‘sit together to examine the latest suggestions and make some clarifications’.
   The two ministries have been asked to place again it before the council meeting within next 15 days for its final approval.
   Moreover, advisers and special assistants to chief adviser placed and discussed various issues they experienced respectively during their visits to a number of places.
   On India’s ban on export of rice, the foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, apprised the council that the measure wouldn’t cast any impact on the agreed import of 5 lakh tonnes of rice from India. ‘It wouldn’t also affect those L/Cs which were opened before February 7,’ the meeting was told.
   The adviser further said notification was being sent to the respective customs officials regarding the matter to clear the confusion.
   Chief adviser’s press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim briefed newsmen about the outcome of the meeting.
   Advisers and special assistants to chief adviser attended the meeting at the Chief Adviser’s Office. The cabinet secretary and secretaries concerned were also present at the meeting.

The strength of a sympathy vote for assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in the country’s biggest province is likely to determine the result of a general election on February 18.
   The vote could seal the fate of the president, Pervez Musharraf, even though it is not a presidential election, with opponents calling for the increasingly unpopular leader to step down.
   ‘Certainly there’s a sympathy vote,’ said Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, a vice chairman of Benazir’s party standing in Punjab province, where half the country’s 160 million people live and half of its members of parliament will be elected.
   ‘If there’s a free, fair and transparent election the PPP will be number one,’ Gilani said at his house in the city of Multan, while aides bustled about in the gloom of a power cut.
   Months of political turmoil and militant violence have raised worries about the stability for the nuclear-armed US ally.
   Fear of violence has stifled election campaigning, especially after Benazir was killed on December 27 in an attack the government blamed on militants, and is also expected to hurt turnout in the election for a National Assembly and four provincial assemblies.
   A suicide bomb attack on Saturday at a rally by an ethnic Pashtun nationalist party opposed to Musharraf killed at least 25 people.
   Opposition parties have also complained of rigging in favour of Musharraf’s allies.
   The main challengers to the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League are Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party and the party of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999. Punjab is their main battleground.
   ‘She was very brave and gave Musharraf a tough time, which nobody else has dared to do. People should vote for her party,’ Punjab labourer Jumma Khan said of Benazir.
   Musharraf, who stepped down as army chief in November, has lost popularity over his efforts to cling to power, which included the purging of the judiciary and gagging of the media after he imposed a six-week stint of emergency rule on November 3.
   His security ties with the United States are also unpopular.
   But it is inflation, power cuts and shortages of the staple flour and natural gas that could scupper the election hopes of the PML, which has been ruling under Musharraf.
   Musharraf won re-election for another five-year term as president in an October vote by legislators.
   But critics say he has held on to power unconstitutionally and he could face efforts to unseat him in an opposition-dominated parliament.

Starting next month, foreign doctors from outside the European Union will not be allowed to come to Britain for training under new rules aimed at protecting the interests of home-grown medical graduates, reports The Hindu.
   But an estimated 10,000 overseas doctors — mostly from India — who are already here will not be affected. They won a court ruling last year against a health department guidance that would have given preference to locally-trained doctors and those from the EU.
   The government has challenged the ruling and a decision is expected in May.
   The new rules will replace the practice of recruiting doctors from India and other Commonwealth countries with a ‘sons-of-the-soil’ policy giving preference to domestic medical graduates and those from the EU.
   This follows a sharp increase in the number of qualified doctors coming out of Britain’s own medical schools thus ending the shortage that forced the National Health Service to recruit doctors from abroad.
   The health secretary, Alan Johnson, said with enough doctors of its own, Britain wanted to move towards ‘self-sufficiency’ and end its dependence on foreign doctors.
   ‘It can cost up to £250,000 to train a UK medical student. With the increase in UK medical schools we are moving to a policy of self-sufficiency. If UK medical graduates cannot access specialist training because of a large number of applicants from outside Europe, then it is only right we should consider what needs to be done,’ he said.
   The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, which has successfully campaigned against new rules being applied to the doctors who are already training in Britain, welcomed the new policy, but the British Medical Association expressed reservations saying it would affect the prospects of overseas doctors.

The interim administration is seriously considering introduction of big buses that can carry more passengers, instead of mini-buses, as the main mode of public transport in the capital to streamline the traffic system.
   An inter-ministry meeting on the city’s traffic management on Sunday at the secretariat reviewed the recommendations placed by the nine-member committee led by director-general of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, AYM Ekramul Hoque, for preventing traffic congestion.
   The committee suggested staggering the office times and timetables of the educational institutions. The jams occur mostly because the schools and colleges, along with offices, are opened and closed at nearly the same time, which causes a huge influx of vehicles into the roads at the same time, filling them and causing traffic congestion.
   The committee, which was formed in November 2007, recommended decentralizing education and health services and relocating the factories from the city other areas to check the increasing pressure on public transport. It also suggested franchising city routes to private sector companies to streamline traffic management.
   Officials from the ministries of planning, home affairs, health, education and communications, the Cabinet Division, Dhaka City Corporation and police, among others, attended the meeting.
   The meeting, presided over by LGRD and cooperatives adviser Anwarul Iqbal, asked the authorities concerned to come up with specific suggestions in writing within a week to tackle traffic problems.
   ‘An integrated move involving various departments will be taken soon to streamline the traffic management system,’ Iqbal told newsmen after the meeting, adding that mini-buses must be phased out from the city to decrease traffic congestion.
   He said the government had decided not to allow establishment of any more commercial institutes in the city’s residential areas.
   The education ministry has been asked to implement the rules regarding operation of private universities and other educational institutes. ‘As per the rules, the private universities were supposed to be shifted to their own campuses within three years of their establishment, but this is not being done,’ the adviser said.
   He said high taxes should be imposed on old vehicles so that people feel encouraged to buy new ones.
   Moreover, the government has decided to set up over-passes at the rail-crossings and underpasses at the busy intersections.
   Ekramul Hoque, in his presentation at the meeting, said the unplanned educational institutes and health service centres should immediately be shifted from the capital to prevent traffic jams, which have become a major headache for the city-dwellers.

The procurement of 300 buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) with a loan from South Korea to modernise the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation’s fleet has become uncertain because of the Korean government’s condition to purchase the vehicles only from a Korean manufacturer.
   Sources in the communications ministry said the procurement of the buses has become uncertain as purchase through only limited competitive bidding would violate the Public Procurement Rules of the government which stipulate open international tenders for any such purchase.
   ‘The bidding by companies of a single country is not allowed by the Public Procurement Rules, so the purchase has remained stalled,’ said an official of the communications ministry.
   On the other hand, ministry sources said that the cost of each bus would be much higher if the government awards the procurement contract to a company of the lending country through limited competitive bidding.
   Earlier, the communications ministry outlined the project to buy 300 CNG-powered buses at a cost of Tk 230 crore of which it decided to seek Tk 218 crore from Korea, which had shown interest in January 2007 to provide loans from the South Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund for buying buses.
   According to the officials, the EDCF will charge 0.5 per cent interest rate on its loans, repayable in 30 years with 10 years of grace period.
   Some officials in the communications ministry, however, said that it would not be feasible for the government to buy such buses for the loss-making corporation which is plagued by mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency.
   The finance ministry was also not in favour of giving any fund to the BRTC, apparently because of its huge accumulated losses and liabilities.
   The state-owned transport corporation, which has a fleet of 795 buses and 170 trucks, incurred a loss of around Tk 55 crore in the 2006-07 fiscal year, Tk 38 crore in 2005-06, Tk 35 crore in 2004-05, Tk 42 crore in 2003-04, Tk 33 crore in 2002-03 and Tk 24 crore in 2001-02.

Four suspected criminals were lynched after a gang of miscreants shot dead a fish project owner in Azampur Bazar area under Mirsarai upazila in the district early Sunday.
   The police and local people said Nazrul Islam Shaheen, of Patakote area under the upazila, was shot dead by the miscreants at around 4:00am while he was returning home from his project.
   The killing took place following a sequel to past enmity with one Sabuj centring the fish project, they added.
   Hearing gunshots, villagers went to the spot and managed to catch nine of the miscreants. Later they beat them up mercilessly, leaving three criminals dead on the spot.
   Another miscreant died from his wounds on way to local hospital.
   Three of them were identified as Shawkat Hossain, 30, Rafiqul Islam, 29 and Mohammad Sabuj, 32.
   Five miscreants, including Abdur Rahim, 29, Mohammad Mia, 22 and Iqbal Hossain, 27, were undergoing treat- ment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital in critical condition.
   Few other criminals managed to flee the spot, the police said.

Barack Obama easily swept Democratic presidential contests in three states on Saturday, striking the latest blows in a bruising back-and-forth battle with Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination.
   Among Republicans, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won contests in Louisiana and Kansas over front-runner John McCain, highlighting conservative discontent with the Arizona senator two days after he essentially sewed up the nomination.
   Obama scored decisive wins in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington to gain a small dose of momentum in a deadlocked, state-by-state fight with Hillary for Democratic convention delegates who will choose the party’s presidential nominee.
   ‘Today, the voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say yes, we can,’ Obama said at a party dinner in Richmond, Virginia, a state that votes on Tuesday.
   ‘We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington state, we won North, we won South, we won in between, and I believe that we can win Virginia on Tuesday if you’re ready to stand for change,’ the Illinois senator said.
   The wins by Huckabee, a Baptist minister whose campaign has been fuelled by support from religious conservatives, came in states with big conservative voting blocs and did not change McCain’s daunting advantage in the Republican race.
   McCain has more than 700 of the 1,191 delegates needed to capture the Republican nomination at this summer’s convention. He virtually clinched the race on Thursday with the withdrawal of his chief rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
   But Huckabee said he would not give up, telling a conference of conservative activists in Washington he would continue his shoestring campaign until McCain mathematically won the nomination.
   McCain still faces widespread opposition from conservatives unhappy with his views on immigration, tax cuts and other issues.
   ‘I did not major in math, but I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them,’ Huckabee said at a rally at the University of Maryland in College Park.
   McCain held a slim lead on Huckabee in Washington state with nearly 90 per cent of the vote counted late Saturday. Huckabee won about 60 per cent of the vote in Kansas, more than double McCain’s total. He narrowly beat McCain in Louisiana.
   Obama cruised to easy wins in Nebraska and Washington, doubling Hillary’s tally by capturing more than 60 per cent of the vote. He comfortably beat Hillary in Louisiana, winning more than half of the vote. Obama also won easily in the US territory of the Virgin Islands.
   Hillary, a New York senator, and Obama are about even in pledged delegates after contests in more than half of the US states, but both are well short of the 2,025 needed to win the nomination.
   Democratic rules allocate delegates on a proportional basis state-wide and in congressional districts, meaning even the loser in each state can win big blocks of delegates. There also are another 796 ‘super-delegates,’ elected officials and party insiders, who can switch their support at any time.
   It was not immediately clear how the delegate count would break down in Saturday’s vote, with a combined 161 pledged delegates. The Obama camp said it won just more than 100 of those delegates up for grabs.
   Obama, who would be the first black US president, had been the favourite in all three contests. In Louisiana, he benefited from a high percentage of black voters, his strongest supporters.
   Exit polls showed blacks made up about half of the turnout in the state, and Obama won four of every five of their votes. Hillary captured about 70 per cent of whites, with Obama taking about one-quarter of their vote.
   The contests in Nebraska and Washington were caucuses, which require voters to turn up at specific times and typically attract more motivated voters. Obama has focused on caucus states, where his advantages in organisation and grass-roots enthusiasm come into play.
   Obama and Hillary will square off again on Sunday in Maine, a caucus state, before they head into Tuesday’s round of contests in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

The High Court on Sunday granted interim bail for three months to the detained BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser ASM Hannan Shah, rearrested on February 7 on allegation of breaching the Emergency Powers Rules.
   The High Court bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice MA Hye also issued a rule on the government to explain in four weeks why Hannan Shah would not be cleared of the general diary filed with the Fatullah police against him for his alleged involvement in breaching the emergency rules.
   His counsel AM Mahbubuddin Khokon told reporters after the High Court order that there was no legal reason to keep Hannan detained as he was not wanted in any other case.
   The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Hannan Shah, also a former minister, challenging the legality of the general diary.
   The Fatullah police on February 7 arrested Hannan again at the gate of the Narayanganj jail shortly after he had been released on bail in another case. A Narayanganj court sent him to jail, rejecting his bail prayer.
   Subinspector Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan filed the general diary, accusing Hannan of leading a rally joined in by about 2,000 party activists in violation of the Emer- gency Powers Rules after his release.
   The police on November 7, 2007 arrested Hannan on charge of violating the Emergency Powers Rules by gathering people, chanting slogans and assaulting some leaders of the government-backed faction of the BNP, including former army chief Mahbubur Rahman, at Ziaur Rahman’s grave during the observance of National Revolution and Solidarity Day.
   The High Court on December 6, 2007 granted Hannan bail in the case.
   The government on November 25 ordered him to be detained under the Special Powers Act.
   The High Court on January 30 declared illegal the detention of Hannan Shah and ordered his release if there are no cases pending against him.
   Hannan was first arrested on May 14, 2007 in five extortion cases, but was remanded on bail on July 22 by the High Court in all the cases.

The border security force of India opened barrages of gunfire at Bangladesh Rifles camps along the Baliadangi border without any provocation early Sunday.
   ‘Our troops took shelter in bunkers when the BSF started firing at Paria, Mandumala, Ratnai and Kantivita villages at 1:00am. They returned the fire in self-defence,’ said a BDR official at Baliadangi.
   None was reported wounded but the gunfire created panic among the villagers. Dozens of families instantly left home for fear of BSF attack.
   Reinforcement has been sent to the Baliadangi border from Thakurgaon in the morning.
   The official said red alert was declared all along the Baliadangi border. Residents were advised to refrain from going close to the border.
   Villagers complained of frequent firing by the BSF along the border leading to the death of innocent people.
   At least five Bangladeshi farmers/traders were killed in a single week of January 31 to February 7 on Baliadangi border.

Abul Barakat, an economics professor of Dhaka University, received death threat on Wednesday.
   A letter posted to his office address said, ‘No mercy for so-called teachers who spoil the future of innocent students and destroy the tradition of Dhaka University known as Oxford of the East.’
   ‘So, you have no right to live any longer for being involved in a deep-rooted conspiracy to destroy the country. Wishing welfare of the nation, Sachetan Samaj,’ the letter reads.
   A piece of shroud was also enclosed with the letter sent from General Post Office on February 4. The address of the sender was mentioned as Sohel Rahman, Badda, Dhaka.
   Professor Barakat filed a general diary with the Shahbagh police station on Friday.
   Barakat in a press release said some vested quarters especially communal group were trying to exploit the present situation.

Saraswati Puja, a festival of Hindu community, will be celebrated today across the country, mostly at educational institutions.
   Saraswati is the goddess for education, arts and crafts, and students traditionally arrange the puja at educational institutions to seek blessings from her for success in learning knowledge and study.
   In the capital, the puja will be held at different places, including Jagannath Hall on the Dhaka University campus and Ramkrishna Mission.
   Around 43 puja mandaps of various DU departments will he set up at Jagannath Hall.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed and the chief adviser, Iajuddin Ahmed, have greeted the member of Hindu community on the occasion of Saraswati puja.

Three crude bombs were exploded at the Motor Workers’ Union office in Jhenaidah Sunday evening in which three were injured.
   Two or three persons riding a motorcycle reached the place and hurled the bombs, witnesses said.
   The injured are Jhenaidah bus owners’ association organising secretary Abdur Razzak, his son Alam and another person named Akkas Ali.
   The injured were admitted to Jhenaidah General Hospital.
   The acting police superintendent TM Mujahidul Islam, assistant police superinten-dent Nazrul Islam and the sadar police officer-in-charge, Syed Iqbal Ali, visited the place.