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The detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina felt sick in jail and could not appear in court on Wednesday to face the hearing in the framing of charges against her in the barge-mounted power plant case.
   Hasina’s counsels, however, moved a petition seeking her bail saying that the case should be dismissed as the High Court on February 6 declared illegal the trial of any offence committed before the declaration of the state of emergency under the Emergency Powers Rules.
   M Firoz Alam, the judge of the special judge’s court 1 of Dhaka set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, posted for February 19 the ruling on the petition and hearing arguments on the framing of charges.
   As the court resumed in the morning, the judge told the court about the illness of Hasina, also the Awami League president, quoting medical report submitted by the jail authorities.
   Former energy secretary Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, accused in the case and detained in jail, was in the dock.
   ‘Her physical condition is not good enough to attend court… Her blood pressure is fluctuating,’ the medical report said.
   At the news of Hasina’s illness, her counsel Shafique Ahmed filed an application seeking her bail in view of the changed scenario after the February 6 High Court judgment.
   Hasina’s counsels argued the trial in the case should not continue after the High Court’s verdict delivered on February 6.
   In the verdict, the High Court declared illegal trial under the emergency rules in any case involving an offence committed before the declaration of the emergency and the power plant graft case had also been placed under the emergency rules, argued the counsels.
   The High Court on November 4, 2007 halted the proceedings of the graft case and granted bail to Hasina. It also issued a rule on the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government to explain the legality of placing the case under the emergency rules, they said, contending that Hasina should now be released immediately on bail.
   The court said the Appellate Division had already stayed the execution of the High Court order and the rule was yet to be heard in the High Court.
   The defence counsels also argued Hasina should be granted bail for her proper medical treatment as she is ill.
   Opposing the bail petition, the chief public prosecutor, Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan Mukul, told the court that the Appellate Division on November 26, 2007 had stayed the execution of the High Court order and asked the parties to get expeditious disposal of the in the High Court.
   ‘This court now cannot deal with the bail petition as the matter is still pending with the High Court,’ he said.
   On September 2, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission’s deputy director Sabbir Hasan lodged the case with the Tejgaon police accusing Hasina and seven others of helping a foreign company and its local partners to win a deal for the installation of the 100MW barge-mounted power plant in Khulna, which denied the lowest bidder the award of the deal.
   Three companies allegedly paid the bribe after winning the work order for the installation of the barge-mounted power plant in which the lowest bidder was deprived.
   The amount was spent on buying a house at Dhanmondi for the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust, according to the charge sheet.
   The Wartsila Power Development Ltd Consortium and its local partners, Summit Group and United Group, won the deal when Hasina was prime minister.
   Incidentally, February 19 is also the last date set by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for the government to file a regular petition seeking permission to appeal against the February 6 High Court verdict that quashed Tk 2.99 crore extortion case against Hasina under the emergency rules.

ASM Hannan Shah, adviser to the detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia, was arrested yet again, for the fourth time, at his house at Mohakhali DOHS in Dhaka Wednesday night, 24 hours inside his release from jail on bail.
   The police reached his house at about 8:30pm when he was talking with some leaders of the Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal who went to greet him on his release on Tuesday.
   A senior police officer, leading the squad, approached the BNP leader and asked him to accompany them. ‘You have to come with us,’ the police officer was quoted by an assistant to Hannan as saying.
   Hannan asked him why he should go with the policemen as he had come out of jail only on Tuesday evening. The officer said they were following the instruction of higher authorities, said Hannan’s assistant Yunus Babul who was present at the place.
   The police then took him out of the house few minutes before 9:00pm and drove straight to Gazipur.
   Another policeman said Hannan had been arrested in connection with an extortion case filed with the Kapasia police.
   One Rashid Mollah filed the case on Wednesday against Hannan and others on charge of extorting Tk 3 lakh, said Yunus Babul, quoting the police officer as saying.
   The army-led joint forces earlier arrested Hannan, also a retired brigadier, at his house along with his eldest son, Rezaul Hannan, on May 14, 2007. They were shown arrested in five cases filed with the Kapasia police.
   The two were released from jail on July 22, 2007 on bail granted by the High Court.
   He was again arrested at his house on November 7, 2007 on charge of violating the Emergency Powers Rules by gathering people 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 Fatullah police on February 7, 2008 arrested Hannan again at the jail gate soon after he had been released on bail. A Narayanganj court sent him to jail, rejecting his bail prayer.
   The Fatullah police officer-in-charge, Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan, filed the general dairy, accusing Hannan of leading a rally joined in by about 2000 party activists in violation of the Emergency Powers Rules after his release.
   A High Court bench of Justices Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Mohammad Abdul Hye issued the bail order on Sunday after Hannan Shah had appealed for the cancellation of the general diary.
   Hannan Shah was freed at about 8:00pm Tuesday from the Narayanganj jail.

Students in general and student organisations in particular were in the forefront of all past movements for establishment or restoration of democratic governance and should be prepared to do so in future, if needs arise, say former student leaders, who initiated the pro-democracy movement in the early 1980s against the dictatorial regime of HM Ershad.
   The leaders, many of whom now operate at the national level, also believe the post-1990 elected governments have betrayed the spirit of the anti-Ershad movement and of democracy by not making any substantial effort to implement the 10-point demand that the students raised during the movement.
   The students demanded that an education policy be formulated, educational kits provided at a fair price, the martial law withdrawn, the national elections held, state prisoners and student detainees released, freedom of expression established, the Special Powers Act repealed, prices of food kept at an affordable level, etc.
   Repeated failures of the governments to meet the demands have pushed the country to such a pass that it may regress to a situation similar to that during the autocratic regime of Ershad, the former student leaders say.
   Their remarks came on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the police firing on the students’ procession against the illegal takeover of state power by Ershad.
   On February 14, 1983, five students – Zafar, Dipali Saha, Jainal, Mozammel and Ayub – were killed in the police firing, leading to the formation of Chhatra Sangram Parishad (students’ action council), the first politically organised platform against the Ershad-led military junta.
   ‘The students have waged movements in the past to establish democracy so that the people’s economic emancipation is ensured and their rights are protected,’ Akhtaruzzaman, a former vice-president of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union, told New Age on Tuesday.
   The current crop of student leaders needs to do some soul-searching to figure out why student politics has been detached from its glorious heritage and no longer enjoys the public confidence that it used to in the past.
   Akhtaruzzaman, now an organising secretary of the Awami League, believes the present situation is similar to that of the post-1982 military rule.
   Democratic environment is absent now as it was then, he said.
   Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, a former president of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, students’ front of the Awami League, agrees.
   ‘We waged a movement then to establish democracy as the country was under military rule. Now, too, an unelected government is running the country,’ said Mostafa Jalal, now the health affairs secretary of the Awami League.
   Asaduzzaman Ripon, a former president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, students’ wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, made similar observations.
   ‘Students played a key role in preparing the ground for almost all the pro-democratic uprising in the past. They would do so again,’ he said.
   Making a comparison between the post-1982 and present political situation, he said student leaders were not detained then although some politicians were in the first year of Ershad’s rule.
   ‘But now many politicians including two top leaders of the country –Khaleda Zia of the BNP and Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League – and a number of top student leaders have been detained,’ Ripon said. ‘The labour and student fronts [of different political parties] were active against the autocratic rule from the beginning. They did not wait for any relaxation of restrictions on politics.’
   Fazle Hossain Badsha, a former vice-president of the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union and a former president of Bangladesh Chhatra Moitree, students’ wing of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, see little difference between the political situations of the two periods.
   ‘There is hardly any difference as students then waged movement to establish their rights as well as democracy. Now, too, they are engaged in a struggle for the same causes,’ he said.
   Shirin Akhter, a former president of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, students’ front of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, said the students ‘must uphold the legacy of student movement.’
   They must realise student politics is the schooling for national-level politics, she said.
   Shirin, now a joint general secretary of the JSD, said an autocratic government was running the country in the post-1982 years, suspending all fundamental and democratic rights. ‘Those rights, including holding students’ agitations, have once again been suspended now as the caretaker government, backed by the military, is running the country, imposing the Emergency Powers Rules.’
   Mustafizur Rahman Babul, a former president of the Bangladesh Chhatra Union president, students’ wing of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, hopes the students will be able to a play vital role once again in the struggle for democracy. ‘The students succeeded whenever the national-level leadership failed to make a breakthrough.’
   The people’s democratic rights were suspended and many politicians were detained in the post-1982 years, he said. ‘Now, too, the democratic rights of the people are suspended. Besides, it is not clear whether the print and electronic media are really free.’
   Badsha believes the failure of the post-1990 elected governments to implement the 10-point demand of the students has led the country to the current situation.
   Their failure to address the issues that stirred the anti-Ershad movement has dragged the country into such a situation, he said.
   ‘Unfortunately, we [politicians] were engaged in mudslinging in the past 15 years,’ Shirin said.
   Akhtaruzzaman, however, claimed that the AL government did establish an employment bank to create job and opportunities for self-employment in line with the 10-point demand while Ripon said the BNP government had implemented some of the demands, including increasing the maximum age of entering service from 27 years to 30 years and constructing some student dormitories at different universities.

Barendra Tripura cannot afford the 20-odd-kilometre ride on ‘chandergari’, ramshackle jeeps turned into public transports that meander through the hilly terrain with more passengers and goods than they ought to carry, to the Massalong bazaar to buy a month’s provisions for his family.
   Once every month, the 55-year old starts from his house in the remote hills of Rangamati for the bazaar very early in the morning. He walks 40-plus kilometres to the bazaar and back to buy rice, salt, kerosene and vegetables for his four-member family.
   On his latest trip to the bazaar, he had Tk 200 to buy provisions for the family, which translates into 83 paisa per person per day.
   ‘I could manage only Tk 200, that too after two months. If I take chandergari, half of it will be spent on the fare,’ said Barendra, as he walked through Konglak, a hill top locality more than 2,200 feet above the sea level, on his way to the Massalong bazaar on February 7.
   Barendra, who has recently migrated from the Toi Choi mauza to Natunbari High School para (neighbourhood), is one of many internally displaced people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts who have virtually no social and economic security.
   Like many others, he was forced to leave his ancestral home in Khagrachari because of the decades-long armed conflict in the hill tracts.
   Internal displacement in the hill tracts started with the construction of the Kaptai dam and intensified during the armed conflict, which left more than 8,500 people killed.
   Forced eviction, atrocities during the conflict between the government and the rebels, confiscation of land to establish military camps, population transfer programme, clashes between Bengali settlers and minority ethnic groups have also compelled many hill people to flee their homesteads.
   Repatriation and rehabilitation of refugees was started with the signing of an agreement between the government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, bringing an end to the insurgency in late 1997, paving ways for resettlement of the displaced people.
   But the problem remained thanks to inefficacy of two bodies formed to resolve the problems. The task force to rehabilitate the displaced people and the land reforms commission to settle land disputes have never functioned effectively even after 10 years of signing of the deal.
   A large number of displaced people still live in reserved forest areas in the deep interior of Rangamati and Khagrachhari. Most of the refugees, repatriated from neighbouring India, live in makeshift camps housed at different government institutions in the districts with little food aid from the government.
   There has been no charity for the internally displaced ones. They lack food, water, medical treatment, education, sanitation and other amenities, forcing them to continuous habitat shift from one place to other in search for better livelihood supports. Additionally, they face eviction threat from forest officials on a regular basis.
   Neither the district administration nor the taskforce on CHT refugee has correct statistics on the number of displaced people, although the government spends a significant amount of money on the refugees’ cause.
   In the last 20 years, Tk 1,100 crore was spent from the public exchequer on the refugees, the deputy commissioner of Khagrachari, Shahadat Hossain, said.
   Asked about the condition of the internally displaced persons, the chairman of the taskforce, Samiran Dewan, told New Age that a list of displaced people was prepared. ‘But not all displaced people were accommodated in it.’
   The list stirred a controversy as Bengalis from the plains were also included it, he added.
   The hill leaders opposed inclusion of Bengalis settlers in the list, almost stalling the rehabilitation process.
   ‘We had a series of dialogues over the matter but failed to come to any conclusion,’ Samiran said.
   He added that the taskforce is now tasked with distribution of rations among 12,222 families, including 90,208 from indigenous communities. Official estimates say between 500,000 and 550,000 people were displaced due to the conflict.
   According to available statistics, some 5,100 people from 1,000 families were repatriated while the internally displaced people could not return to their original villages.
   ‘Dithering by the government has put us on the street. We are not sure whether we’ll get back our home and land,’ a member of a repatriated family told New Age at Dighinala Upazila headquarters, where several hundred repatriated families took shelter on the premises of different government establishments.
   He said the administration serve them with eviction notices on a regular basis.
   ‘Where should I go…my land is still occupied by Bengali settlers with the assistance from the administration, why they [Bengali settlers] are not served notices,’ the returnee, who was evicted from his home in 1986 in the wake of arson attacks by Bengali settlers.
   After the military-controlled interim government came to power, the taskforce chairman claimed that it had rehabilitated 26 refugee families at Dhiginala.
   However, local sources said, these families were not rehabilitated on their land. They were rehabilitated on a highland, not suitable for agricultural production.

Experts and prominent members of the civil society on Wednesday emphasised the need to make the government and the lending agencies pro-active to provide safe drinking water across the country by reducing dependency on underground water to protect 100 million people who are at risk of arsenic poisoning.
   They also urged the authorities concerned to ensure the transparency and accountability of the organisations working on ways to stop or mitigate arsenic contamination.
   These observations and demands were made at an international workshop on arsenic contamination of underground water in which a 10-point Dhaka Declaration was adopted. The declaration included a call to update and implement the National Arsenic Mitigation Policy 2005 and its action plan, after taking into account the risk, affordability and sustainability.
   The other declarations include initiating large-scale programmes for rain-water harvesting at the national level, particularly for drinking and cooking; taking measures to ensure reliable access to water that is free of microbial, chemical and physical contamination; and asking the government and the lending agencies and countries and other support organisations to mobilise resources for treatment and rehabilitation of arsenicosis patients.
   ‘The government and the donor communities should become pro-active to ensure supply of safe drinking water to the masses by reducing dependency on underground water,’ said the Dhaka Community Hospital’s chairman, Professor Quazi Quamaruzzaman.
   He warned the audience that arsenic contamination would hamper the national economy and society as about 100 million people are at risk of arsenic poisoning.
   Urging the authorities concerned to ensure accountability in the field, he said, ‘The big problem is that a huge amount of money has been made available here. Four billion dollars have already been spent for arsenic mitigation projects in the country. But the people are still suffering from arsenic contamination. We need to assess how much support we are really providing to the people who are at risk.’
   The Dhaka Community Hospital’s coordinator, Professor Mahmuder Rahman, suggested that there should be third party audit of the quality of the water of all deep tube-wells installed by government and non-government agencies in all the high-risk upazilas.
   Dr Atiq A Rahman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies suggested that a holistic approach should be adopted to address the problem of water contamination.
   Professor Mahmuder Rahman said that the World Health Organisation’s approved level of arsenic contamination is 0.01mg/l, but Bangladesh is still maintaining the level at 0.05mg/l which is five times higher.
   It is estimated that 30 per cent of the 10 million tube-wells of the country are contaminated with a high level of arsenic. But if 0.01mg/l is the upper limit then the percentage may be about 70 to 100 in some of the arsenic-contaminated areas.
   Professor Feroze Ahmed of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology emphasised the need for introducing the water safety framework of the WHO to improve the safety level of underground water.
   Professor Mujibur Rahman of BUET said harvesting rain-water could be a low-cost and technologically viable option for supply of safe drinking water in the arsenic-affected areas with the appropriate back-up of community sources of water for 2-3 months in the dry months of the year.
   The Daily Star’s editor, Mahfuz Anam, emphasised the need for creating a social movement to make the people, in general, and the policymakers, in particular, aware of arsenic-related problems. He also suggested preparation of a time-bound work plan to tackle the arsenic problem.
   Professor Dipankar Chakraborti of the Jadavpur University, India, said that 50 crore people of the region, which includes Bangladesh and the neighbouring states of India, are exposed to arsenic contamination.
   Professor Allan H Smith of the Berkeley University, USA, said the real problem in addressing the problem of drinking water contaminated by arsenic is the level of awareness in the decision-makers.
   Dr Meera Hira Smith of the same university warned against faulty installation of tube-wells.
   Farida Akhter of UBINIG said the arsenic problem is a women’s health issue as they are most vulnerable to contamination.
   The New Age’s editor, Nurul Kabir, said the subsequent governments have failed to understand the level of arsenic contamination and the magnitude of the problem. Emphasising the need for making the people aware, he suggested launching of a concerted move by the electronic and print media — both Bangla and English.
   It was the seventh international conference on arsenic contamination of underground water and its mitigation held at the Dhaka Community Hospital.
   Babar Kabir of BRAC, Khaled Shams of Grameen Telecommunications, Richard Johnson of UNICEF, Abdul Motaleb of the water and sanitation programme of the World Bank and Sharmeen Murshed of Brotee, among others, participated in the discussion moderated by Professors Mahmuder Rahman and Ahmed Kamal.

The speedy trial tribunal in Khulna on Wednesday acquitted all the accused of the charge of killing journalist Humayun Kabir Balu.
   Judge Mohammad Abdus Salam Sikdar handed down the verdict after examining 24 prosecution witnesses out of 36, court sources said.
   Khulna Press Club president Balu was bombed to death at his residence-cum-office in the city on June 27, 2004.
   Sub-inspector Maruf Ahmed filed a case with the Kotwali police station the following day. The police submitted charge sheet on April 25, 2005, accusing 10 persons. The accused were Nazrul Islam, Sheikh Sadiqur Rahman, Zahidur Rahman, Iqbal Hossain, Masum, Altaf alias BDR Altaf, Ripon Ahmed, Sumon Shyamal and Abdur Rashid Malitha alias Dada Tapan. Four of them — Altaf, Ripon, Sumon and Shyamol — were killed in crossfire, the sources said.
   As the police were asked for further investigation into the case on January 4, 2006, they submitted a supplementary charge sheet on August 8, 2007 with including the name of another person Nazim Uddin Ahmed alias Abul.
   All the persons were acquitted of the charge as the court found them innocent of guilty.
   The family members of the slain journalist, and local journalists expressed their dissatisfaction after the court had delivered the verdict. Balu’s eldest son Asif Kabir told newsmen that some vested quarters had a hand in the killing of his father. Khulna Press Club president Wadudur Rahman and general secretary SM Zahid Hossain and Khulna Union of Journalists president Mamun Reza and general secretary Anwarul Islam Kajal in separate statements also expressed their dissatisfaction over poor investigation and weak charge sheet.

Pakistan’s army chief is withdrawing hundreds of officers from civilian positions in the government, officials said, in a move widely seen as reducing the military’s involvement in politics.
   General Ashfaq Kayani, who took over from the president, Pervez Musharraf, as army chief in November, has ordered 311 officers to return to their jobs in the armed forces, a military spokesman said.
   The move comes just days ahead of general elections in which polls say Musharraf’s allies are trailing behind opposition groups led by the party of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto.
   Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the officers were needed back in the army for duties both inside and outside the country.
   ‘We are calling 311 officers back from the civilian departments because we need them now to meet our own requirements,’ Abbas said.
   Pakistani media have widely reported that Kayani wants to improve the army’s image after Musharraf spent nine years in a dual civilian-military role following the 1999 coup that brought him to power.
   Kayani approved the withdrawal of serving officers from civilian departments at a meeting of the army’s corps commanders in Rawalpindi on February 7, a military statement said.
   ‘The serving officers whose services are essentially required by the government in these departments will be bare minimum and others will be reverted soon,’ the statement said.
   The statement also said that Kayani had ‘re-emphasised that the conduct of free and fair elections is the sole responsibility of the Election Commission.’
   The Western-friendly Kayani is reportedly close to Musharraf but keen nevertheless to reduce the army’s role in politics. The army said he had declared 2008 the ‘Year of the Soldier’.
   Army morale has been hit by casualties in the ongoing fight against Islamic militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and the surrender of more than 250 troops to insurgents in the region last year.
   Pakistan been ruled by generals for more than half of its turbulent 60-year history since independence from Britain. Musharraf is the most recent of four military rulers during that time.

The husband of slain Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto left the door open Wednesday for post-election power-sharing with rivals, including allies of the president, Pervez Musharraf.
   Against a backdrop of fresh violence that left two people dead as they campaigned for Monday’s vote, Asif Ali Zardari said if his party won he would form a ‘government of national consensus’ to unify Pakistan.
   He said he would work with ex-prime minister and fellow opposition politician Nawaz Sharif, but did not rule out cooperating with the former ruling party that backs Musharraf.
   ‘I think a dilemma that the military government has put Pakistan in today leaves us no choice but to try and get together with all the political forces,’ Zardari said at his home in the eastern city of Lahore.
   ‘I have already taken a position politically that we shall make a government of national consensus with everybody,’ said Zardari, who is leading Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party until their son Bilawal completes his education.
   ‘There is no other way to get the nation together but in the grief and in unity to face the problems that we are facing today,’ he added.
   Benazir was assassinated in a suicide and gun attack as she left an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on December 27, causing elections to be postponed by six weeks.
   Zardari held talks with Sharif on Tuesday night at which the two leaders said they had discussed a possible coalition, after surveys showed both of their parties were ahead of Musharraf’s grouping.
   But insiders said there was disagreement over the fact that Sharif – the man ousted by Musharraf in a coup in 1999 – was not ready to work with Musharraf, while Zardari remained non-committal.
   ‘He said the party would decide whether to work with Musharraf or not,’ a PPP source quoted him as telling Sharif.
   A spokesman for Sharif’s party said earlier there were ‘several issues on which both sides have agreement and there are a number of issues on which both sides can work together in a post-election scenario.’
   Sharif addressed a major rally in central Punjab province later Wednesday, defying security concerns following Benazir’s murder and a subsequent wave of suicide attacks.

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, a year after being in office, is scheduled to exchange views with officials of the establishment ministry at the Cabinet Division on February 20, ahead of the parliamentary elections to be held by the end of 2008.
   This is the first such meeting of the head of the interim government with the establishment ministry’s officials although the chief adviser shoulders the charge of the ministry responsible for transfer, posting and appointment of government officials, according to official sources.
   The chief adviser is expected to inaugurate a website of the establishment ministry before addressing the meeting in the morning.
   All advisers, along with senior bureaucrats, will be invited to the discussion, said an official of the establishment ministry, adding that the secretary to the ministry would make the speech of welcome at the meeting.
   ‘The chief adviser will inaugurate the establishment ministry’s website which will help ensure free flow of information. People will have access to government information,’ the establishment secretary, Md Abdus Salam Khan, told New Age on Wednesday.
   The officials concerned were found busy preparing for the meeting with the chief adviser.
   Fakhruddin, after assuming office in January 2007, in his first meeting with the secretaries called on the civil servants to restore the image of the bureaucracy as soon as possible by proving themselves to be neutral.
   Irked by their poor performance in implementing the government’s Annual Development Programme in the last six months, the chief adviser, as in the previous meetings with the top bureaucrats, is expected to give guidelines to the establishment ministry on how to expedite administrative functions, said sources. Officials, on the other hand, are likely to raise a number of matters of their own interest.
   It has been alleged that many beneficiaries of the previous political government still remain in important positions of the bureaucracy as the government is yet to bring about ‘significant changes’ in the field and top levels of the administration to make it neutral.

Nepal’s ethnically tense south was hit by an indefinite strike launched Wednesday, compounding a fuel shortage in the impoverished and landlocked nation’s capital and fears for the peace process.
   The strike in the Terai region is the latest protest action by the Mahadhesi minority, who are seeking greater autonomy for a region hit by a year of violence that has left at least 200 people dead.
   ‘All transportation services have come to a halt and markets, schools remained shut today (Wednesday)’ Bhola Prasad Shivakoti, chief district officer from the southern town of Birgunj, said.
   The strike across the south has hit the capital hard, as the Terai is the only route to bring in petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene from India.
   Kathmandu was already facing an acute fuel shortage after supplies from India were tightened due to outstanding bills.
   Shivakoti said Mahadhesi activists forced people to close their shops in Birgunj, 80 kilometres south of Kathmandu, although he said that ‘so far the situation has remained peaceful.’
   Around two dozen armed ethnic groups have emerged in the Terai region since mainstream parties and former Maoist rebels signed a peace deal in November 2006 and formed an interim government that Mahadhesi activists say still excludes politicians from the lowlands.
   Last weekend, three different groups representing the minority formed an alliance for what they called ‘a final revolt’ against the country’s government, which is itself riven by tensions ahead of national elections set for April 10.
   Protests were reported elsewhere in the region bordering India, home to around half of Nepal’s 27 million population and known as the country’s bread basket.
   Authorities in Kathmandu said they were ready for dialogue but warned any fresh violence would not be tolerated.’

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has spelt out a four-point measure for fair lending to SME sector, with a special focus on helping female entrepreneurs, for flourishing small and medium enterprises in the country.
   He advised the commercial banks and financial institutions to ease lending procedure and reduce the existing interest rates for small women entrepreneurs.
   Inaugurating the daylong 2nd National Women SME Conference 2008, Fakhruddin, an economist and former governor of the Bangladesh Bank, put forward the four steps for creating a fair and sustainable loan system in the Small and Medium Enterprise sector.
   The dos are reduce the existing rates of bank interest, set up SME unit or desk in commercial banks and financial institutions to make loan-disbursement procedure quicker and simpler and incorporate business strategy for providing SME loan, create woman-friendly environment in banks and financial institutions, and fix SME-friendly tax, duty and VAT structure.
   The head of interim government said it was very essential today to consolidate and coordinate women’s participation in main stream of the country’s economy. And the present government is very keen and active on this matter.
   The policymakers have to know the impediments facing women during participation in industrialisation and formulate suitable policy guidelines, if necessary, he told the function.
   ‘Empowering Women Entrepreneurs towards a Shared Economic Growth’ was the theme of the conference organised by the SME Foundation at the Sonargaon Hotel.
   Special assistant to chief adviser in charge of industries ministry Mahbub Jamil, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, Asian Development Bank country director Hua Du, managing director of the SME Foundation and secretary in charge of food and disaster management ministry M Ayub Mia and convenor of the National SME Women Entrepreneurs Forum Pervin Mahmud also spoke at the function, presided over by SME Foundation chairperson Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury.
   The chief adviser lamented that though a good number of women of the country set example of success as entrepreneur, they have to face various problems during investment in industry.
   Specially, he pointed out, showing collateral for getting bank loan, high-rated bank interest, inadequate market information, existing management culture, and, many times, family responsibilities create barriers to their initiatives.
   He urged the commercial banks and financial institutions to formulate gender-sensitive conditions and form a special fund for women entrepreneurs.
   He said the government has given importance to labour-intensive small and medium industry to accelerate the economic growth through poverty alleviation and reducing unemployment.
   ‘Flourishing small and medium industries is demand of the time in the competitive aspect of globalisation and free-market economy,’ the chief adviser told his business audience from the womenfolk.
   In this regard, enthusiasm and eagerness have already been created in Bangladesh and this interest of private entrepreneurs, including women entrepreneurs, in setting up industries undoubtedly carries a positive message for the country’s economy, he observed.
   Still, there remains much scope for increasing women’s involvement in the economic activities of the country.
   He said nature of poverty at grassroots level is much different than in urban areas, and rural women can keep invaluable contribution through small investment by setting up small industries.
   The chief adviser urged all to unite to bring this immensely potential country into desired destination of peace and prosperity. ‘We may have difference of opinion and path, but our expected goal is common, that is, national development and attaining self-reliance,’ said the head of neutral, non-political interim government.
   Chief adviser’s special assistant Mahbub Jamil said assistance had to be provided so women could easily become entrepreneurs, by way of ensuring that they get service easily.
   He noted that some economically strong Asian countries, like Japan and China, have come to the present position due to attaching importance to SMEs. So the government has given priority to the SME sector.
   BB governor Salehuddin said an about Tk 605-crore fund had been developed for SMEs of which Tk 95 crore was earmarked only for women entrepreneurs with maximum 10 per cent interest rate.
   The ADB country director appreciated commendable progresses of the Bangladeshi women community in socioeconomic areas. She however noted that, despite the advances, women remain vulnerable, suffering from poverty and social deprivation.
   Women entrepreneurs from across the country and distinguished personalities were present at the function.

The country’s present sluggish economy can see a turnaround only if the emergency laws are withdrawn, says a former central bank deputy governor, who believes that open market economy and a state of emergency are not compatible.
   ‘Emergency laws are very rigid whereas business is very flexible and these two just do not go together,’ Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled said at a book launching programme Wednesday.
   Non-economic factors are responsible for sluggish economic performance, he pointed out. ‘Only those who control the non-economic factors can provide the solution to the current problems.’
   If the government withdraws the emergency laws, there may be some political disturbances but the businesses will be able to run smoothly, the former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank said.
   ‘The economy will rebound within six months if regular laws are enforced instead of the persisting emergency laws and if a government of people’s representatives is in place.’
   The senior banker, who is now chairman of the state-run Bangladesh Krishi Bank, launched the book titled ‘Jonogoner Dorgoray Budget’ [Budget on the people’s doorsteps], edited by economist Atiur Rahman, in Dhaka.
   Ibrahim Khaled viewed that channelling black money into productive sectors could help keep inflation in check.
   If anybody invests black money in an industry, in creates a huge impact on the economy in terms of employment generation as well as increases in individual income, factory output and tax revenue, and thus brings down inflation or at least reduces its bite.
   But if businessmen do not invest out of fear of being grilled for disclosing source of the black money, then no industry would be set up, he said.
   ‘It is definitely bad to hold black money, but the government should take pragmatic decision considering the reality,’ he suggested.
   ‘A black money holder sets up industries where 50,000 people work and if the government puts him behind the bar or forces him to go into hiding, those people will risk losing jobs.’
   Instead, the government can penalise him and let him off the hook to run his business smoothly, he felt.
   Grameenphone and other mobile phone operators have been penalised heavily for doing illegal VoIP business, but the government did not arrest any of the officials of the operators, Ibrahim Khaled cited.
   About agriculture production, the Krishi Bank chairman said if the country could achieve near self-sufficiency in food earlier, why not now.
   He emphasised on smooth distribution of fertilisers and seeds to get a bumper boro crop.
   Under the current distribution system, prices may not fluctuate but the farmers may not get the right quantity of inputs in the right time, he feared.
   ‘Open the marketing channel and allow good businesses to run,’ he suggested.
   Atiur Rahman said the primary task of the government was to restore confidence in the businessmen.
   ‘If the government asks where the equity comes from, no businessman will invest,’ he said.
   Absence of political stability is very bad for the economy, said Atiur, chairman of research organisation ‘Somonnay’.
   Everybody in the government — from chief adviser to chief election commissioner and chief of army staff — is trying to assure the people that the election would be held on schedule, he said.
   ‘So many assurances create suspicion among the people,’ he pointed out.
   In people’s mind, there are a lot of questions like ‘Where the country is heading towards?’ and ‘What is happening in the economy?’
   This shows that people lack confidence in the government, he said.
   Stability in politics and administration is a must for smooth functioning of businesses, Atiur observed.

A Chittagong Law College student was killed and 10 were injured in a clash between rival groups at Paschimanchal of Anwara in Chittagong on Tuesday night.
   The police and local people said the incident took place at around 7:00pm in the house of union council member Kabir Ahmed during arbitration in a long-standing feud between two groups — led by Haji Mohammed Ashraf Ali and Syedul Huq — over claim to char land in the Bay of Bengal.
   At one point, Ashraf and Syedul entered into an altercation, leading to a fight. Eleven people were injured in the incident, sourced said.
   Seven of the injured were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where the law student, Mohammed Kaiser, 21, died from his wounds at about 11:00pm.
   Two cases were filed with the Anwara police in this connection.

The Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, dissolved parliament Wednesday to pave the way for snap elections which are expected to see the ruling coalition’s majority eroded.
   Abdullah’s popularity has plummeted as the nation is beset by mounting racial tensions, unprecedented street protests, anger over rising fuel and food prices, and high crime rates.
   Announcing that the king had consented to dissolve parliament, Abdullah indicated he did not expect a repeat of the 2004 landslide when the Barisan Nasional coalition seized some 90 per cent of parliamentary seats.
   ‘2004 was a special election and it was extraordinary. I pray that BN will get at least two-thirds of the votes in the upcoming election,’ he told a press conference.
   ‘I hope voters will understand the issues affecting our country objectively,’ he said, adding that the Election Commission would decide on the polling date.
   Voting must be held 60 days after parliament is dissolved, but the government traditionally allows just a two-week campaign period, which would mean the ballot in early March.
   Abdullah appealed for calm during the campaign, in an apparent reference to a string of public rallies over the past few months which police have broken up with tear gas and water cannon.
   ‘My hope is that during the voting, nothing untoward will happen – there will be no disturbances or trouble that will affect the voting process,’ he said.
   Abdullah heads the United Malays National Organisation which leads the Barisan Nasional (National Front) multi-racial coalition that holds 200 of the 219 seats in parliament.
   The Chinese-based Democratic Action Party holds 12, the fundamentalist Islamic party PAS has six and Keadilan which is led by the wife of dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim has one seat.
   The government’s term expires only in May 2009 and some commentators say it is going to the polls early to ensure Anwar cannot contest. He was sacked and jailed in 1998 and is barred from politics until April this year.
   In the next elections there will be 222 seats contested due to the creation of new constituencies. The assemblies in the 12 states and territories will also be contested.
   DAP parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang condemned the election announcement which falls during celebrations for Chinese New Year.
   ‘I think it shows a disregard and insensitivity of the diverse cultures and religions in the country,’ he said.
   UMNO was also criticised for holding its annual talks during the Deepavali festival which is celebrated by Malaysia’s minority ethnic Indian community – an incident Lim condemned as a ‘debacle.’
   On Tuesday Abdullah had tried to quell the rumours that he would dissolve parliament on the 13th – his favourite number – telling reporters ‘No, it won’t be tomorrow’.
   Lim slammed the premier for the about-face.
   ‘I think it’s most disgraceful and shocking after the assurance yesterday evening that there would not be a dissolution today,’ he said.

Two students, who remained absconding in the case filed for setting fire to an army vehicle on 22 August during the campus violence in 2007, were released on bail after they surrendered to the court on Wednesday.
   The court of metropolitan magistrate Shahnaz Sultana issued the order after the counsels of the two students — Rashedul Habib and Abul Hasan — appealed for their bail.
   On August 23, army corporal Quamrul Islam lodged the case with the Shahbagh police station against some unidentified people for setting fire to vehicles in front of the Aziz Supermarket in Dhaka.
   Although the police on January 7 filed the charge-sheet in the case against 25 students, the government on January 21 excluded 18 students from prosecution.
   The other five arrested students were second-year mass communications student Deen Islam Angel, Mohsin Hall resident Rafiqul Islam Sujan, Master’s student of mathematics Asaduzzaman, also resident of Ekushey Hall, Kazi Zahidul Islam Biplob and Deen Islam. They were later released on bail on January 23.
   The court on Feb 7 accepted the charge-sheet and issued an order to arrest Habib and Hasan.
   The court is scheduled to transfer the case for trial on March 16.
   The Dhaka Metropolitan Police lodged 53 cases against 87,000 unnamed people in connection with the violence on the campus which spilled over to the streets.
   Trials of seven cases filed with police stations in Dhaka in connection with the August 2007 campus protests continue after the withdrawal of 13 cases, including the case of setting a vehicle ablaze.
   Of the cases, the police pressed charges in 14 against 61 people, including four teachers and 40 students of Dhaka University, and submitted the final reports in 39 cases, saying that no evidence was found against anyone accused in the cases. Five of the 13 withdrawn cases were filed with the police stations in Dhaka.
   Of the 14 cases in which charge-sheets have been filed, the trial of three cases — two filed against four teachers and 15 students in connection with the protests — have been completed by sentencing three Dhaka University teachers and four students to two years of imprisonment.
   The court of the chief metropolitan magistrate in Dhaka on September 27, 2007 dismissed the other case filed with the Motijheel police against four people for vandalism at the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation’s bus depot in Kamalapur before the framing of charges.

India is set to liberalise its weapons purchase policy to bolster domestic defence manufacturers by opening more avenues for foreign investment, but anti-corruption crusaders fear the ‘offsets’ programme to guide it would encourage underhand deals, reports The Telegraph.
   The government will come out with a revised Defence Procurement Policy by April, the defence production secretary, Pradeep Kumar, said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
   The defence ministry’s announcement that a new policy will be out has come at a time representatives of large global weapons manufacturers are assembling in Delhi for India’s arms trade fair, Defexpo, from February 16 to 19.
   At the core of the changes this year is likely to be an offsets clause that will allow foreign suppliers to reinvest in the defence sector a part of the amounts for contracted acquisitions.
   The revised DPP 2008 will guide, for example, the offsets programme for the biggest arms deal for which India has invited bids — an estimated $10.2 billion (Rs 42,000 crore) for 126 multi-role combat aircraft for the air force.
   The six bidders for the IAF order — Lockheed Martin (F-16 Fighting Falcon), Boeing (F/A 18-E/F Superhornet), RSK Mig Corporation (MiG 35), Dassault Aviation (Rafale), Saab, Sweden, (JAS 39 Gripen); and a European consortium (Eurofighter Typhoon) — have to submit the technical bids for their aircraft by March 3. But they have until June 30 to state how they will plough back 50 per cent of the contracted amount as offsets into the Indian defence industry.
   The policy will not, however, allow indirect offsets — which means a provision that will allow ploughing back funds into other sectors of industry apart from defence.
   The defence ministry has set up a separate body — the Defence Offsets Facilitation Agency — to keep a watch over an estimated $6 billion in offsets that government officials expect in five years but industry is circumspect about.
   The DPP 2008 is likely to permit ‘banking of defence offsets’ that will allow suppliers to reinvest in defence projects not directly related to their contract.
   For instance, the winner of the IAF order may not have to necessarily invest 50 per cent in the related business of servicing the order but may choose to put funds into other military projects for India.

Democrat Barack Obama’s three decisive wins over rival Hillary Clinton propelled him on Wednesday into the next round of presidential contests on a wave of momentum and sent her scrambling to find an answer.
   Obama and Republican front-runner John McCain cruised to victories in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, with McCain moving closer to clinching his party’s nomination for the November election.
   Obama extended his hot streak to eight consecutive wins over Hillary in a hard-fought presidential campaign that appears to be tipping his way. The victories allowed Obama to expand his lead in pledged convention delegates, who will select the Democratic Party’s nominee at its August convention.
   ‘This is the new American majority,’ Obama told supporters in Madison, Wisconsin, where the next showdown occurs in a week. ‘This is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up.’
   Hillary, whose deputy campaign manager resigned in her latest staff shake-up, already was counting on contests in Ohio and Texas in three weeks as her best hope to stop Obama’s surge.
   ‘We’re going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks,’ Hillary said in El Paso, Texas, where she headed on Tuesday before the day’s results were known. She made no mention of the three contests she lost.
   McCain’s wins over his last major challenger, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, had him looking toward a general election match-up with the Democrats despite continued qualms among conservatives about his views on immigration, tax cuts and other issues.
   ‘We do not know for certain who will have the honour of being the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. But we know where either of their candidates will lead this country, and we dare not let them,’ McCain, an Arizona senator, told supporters in Alexandria, Virginia.
   All three of Obama’s wins on Tuesday occurred in fertile territory for him, featuring large populations of the highly educated, high-income and black voters who have favoured the Illinois senator.
   But exit polls indicated Obama dramatically expanded his support and cut into Hillary’s core groups. Obama led among women, Hispanics, seniors and in every income and education level in Virginia and essentially split the white vote with Hillary.
   Obama already had edged past Hillary in the race for pledged delegates who formally select a party nominee at a convention in August. A total of 168 Democratic delegates were at stake in Tuesday’s voting.
   Obama had 1,074 pledged delegates to Hillary’s 967, according to a count by MSNBC – well short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
   ‘Tonight, we’re on our way,’ Obama said. ‘But we know how much further we have to go. We know our road will not be easy. But we also know that at this moment the cynics can no longer say our hope is false.’
   Hillary’s latest staff defection was deputy campaign manager Mike Henry. He was brought into the campaign by Patti Solis Doyle, who stepped down as campaign manager on Sunday.
   Henry, who managed Virginia governor Tim Kaine’s win in 2005, was the author of a memo last year that recommended Hillary skip the kick-off Democratic contest in Iowa. Hillary did not follow his advice and finished third.
   In the Republican race, McCain has built a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates to the party’s nominating convention and became the likely nominee last week with the withdrawal of top rival former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
   McCain has won 801 of the 1,191 delegates needed for nomination while Huckabee has 240.
   But exit polls showed McCain still had difficulty winning over conservatives. Those who described themselves as very conservative accounted for about one-third of Virginia Republican voters, and two-thirds of those went for Huckabee.
   Huckabee, a Baptist minister whose rise has been fuelled by strong support from religious conservatives, said he would keep pushing in the race.

The tallest shaheed minar (memorial monument) of the country built on the Jahangirnagar University campus was inaugurated on Wednesday.
   Each of the three triangular pillars of the shaheed minar, designed by architect Rabiul Hossain, stands 71 feet high from the foot, showing respect to the martyrs of the 1971 independence war.
   The circumference of the foot of the monument is 52 feet, showing respect to the heroes of the 1952 language movement.
   One of the pillars symbolises the language, art and culture, another pillar history, custom, land and people and the other pillar sovereignty, war and independence.
   The eight stairs leading to the altar symbolise eight important movements — in 1947, 1952, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1969 and 1970 — which led to the independence.
   The vice-chancellor, Khandaker Mustahidur Rahman, inaugurated the shaheed minar. Pro-vice-chancellor Mohammad Maniruzzaman, treasurer Syed Abdul Hye and regis-trar in-charge Kazi Mahiuddin attended the programme.
   The foundation stone of the Jahangirnagar University Shaheed Minar, built at a cost of Tk 60 lakh, was laid on November 6, 2004.