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The legality of the state of emergency, proclaimed on January 11, 2007, has been challenged in the High Court.
   Supreme Court lawyers M Saleem Ullah, Mohsen Rashid, Nahid Sultana Juthi and Abdul Mannan Khan on Monday filed a writ petition challenging the legality of the declaration of the emergency, two emergency powers orders suspending fundamental rights, Emergency Powers Ordinance and the Emergency Powers Rules.
   Moving the petition with the High Court bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuq Hossain Ahmed, the petitioners’ counsel MI Farooqui said the president on January 11, 2007 had declared the emergency without any lawful authority.
   The emergency was declared in violation of the constitution as there was no existence of ‘a grave emergency in which the security or economic life of Bangladesh’ was threatened by internal disturbance, the counsel said.
   The court, however, adjourned the hearing till this morning as assistant attorney general Mahfuza Begum Nila sought time for the hearing on behalf of the government.
   This is the first-ever writ petition challenging the declaration of the emergency and subsequent orders, ordinance and rules.
   The constitution empowers the president to issue a proclamation of emergency, but the power is not absolute, but conditional, Farooqui said. ‘In order to declare emergency, the president must be objectively satisfied that “a grave emergency exists in which the security or economic life of Bangladesh is threatened by war or external aggression or internal disturbance”.’
   In the proclamation, issued on January 11, 2007 declaring the emergency, no reasons were cited establishing the ‘objective satisfaction’ of the president for the declaration of the emergency, Farooqui said.
   The declaration of the emergency is also tainted with malice in law as in the wake of strong condemnation, the president surrendered the de facto office of the chief adviser, but hastened to declare mala fide the emergency before the induction of the chief adviser on January 12, 2007, suspending fundamental rights without any specification, the counsel said.
   The blanket suspension of the fundamental rights without any specification is in conflict with the constitution and the fundamental rights so suspended have no link with the objectives of the proclamation of the emergency and is also in direct conflict with the objects of the caretaker government to hold free, fair and credible national elections, he said.
   He also said, ‘The caretaker government is a government defined by the constitution under the thirteenth amendment to the constitution and cannot assume the character of a representative government, nor can it claim to be supra-constitutional government and it has no authority to declare and linger the emergency beyond 90 days that goes against the objectives of the caretaker government to hold national elections within the specified period of 90 days.’

The Bangladesh Rifles is not willing to deposit ‘profit money’ of Tk 4.25 crore from open market sales of rice to the government exchequer despite requests by the authorities concerned, said official sources.
   ‘The BDR has told the Food Directorate in writing that it has spent the money to meet the cost of transportation, handling, preservation, labourers, packing and also loss of weight. We have not accepted the explanation…The BDR is not entitled to charge all these costs as its members draw their salaries from the public fund,’ a senior official of the food and
   disaster management ministry told New Age on Monday.
   He said that only OMS dealers were entitled to take profit and other costs for shop rent, labour costs, handling and transportation. ‘The BDR will be asked to give an account of the head-wise expenditure in line with the government’s approved rates…As per the OMS guidelines, only dealers are entitled to the margin [Tk 1/1.50 a kg] between the selling price at OMS outlets and the buying rate at delivery point.’
   ‘We supplied 35,000 tonnes of rice at Tk 24/23.50 a kilogram, and the selling rate was fixed at Tk 25 a kg at the OMS outlets. For this reason, we requested the BDR to deposit the margin of Tk 1/1.5 gained after selling each kg of rice to the government fund,’ said an official of the Food Directorate.
   The government provided the BDR with 35,000 tonnes of rice from the public food distribution system for open market sales at outlets in Dhaka and Khulna at the rate of Tk 25 per kg in fiscal year 2007-08 to cushion the low-income group from the soaring commodity prices and keep the rice market stable by increasing its availability.
   ‘We have demanded the handling and other operational costs that are given to the OMS dealers. Nothing has been done in violation of the government’s rules in this regard. We had to hire commercial vehicles for transportation and labourers for operating the OMS outlets,’ the BDR’s director-general, Major General Shakil Ahmed, told New Age on Monday.
   He said the BDR had submitted its explanation for the expenditures incurred.
   On July, 9, 2008, a meeting of the food planning and monitoring unit, presided over by the food adviser, directed the authorities concerned to again request the BDR to give a detailed explanation of the head-wise expenditures at the government’s approved rates to prevent any audit disputes in this case, said official sources.
   The director-general of the Food Directorate issued a letter to the BDR in early June, requesting its DG to submit the sum of Tk 4.25 crore, which it earned from the open market sales of rice, to the government’s fund.

A six-member inter-departmental delegation from the United States has started assessing the strength and activities of Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime force, the Rapid Action Battalion, to find fresh areas of cooperation in the coming days, said officials.
   But the US wants a first-hand evaluation on the reported human rights violations by the RAB before striking any fresh deal with it.
   ‘First, we need to assess the alleged human rights violations by the force,’ Jessica R Mazzone, global issue coordinator of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the State Department and one of the members of the delegation, told New Age on Sunday when asked about the areas of cooperation the US was looking for.
   The six-member delegation — also including representatives of the US Justice Department, US Navy, Office of the Secretary of Defence, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights and Labour — is scheduled to meet human rights defenders, media personalities and officials concerned to look into the alleged human rights violations.
   The team members say the US administration needs to be sure that the RAB is not involved in any activity against internationally acclaimed norms and conventions on human rights and dignity before going for cooperation in any area.
   The success of the elite force, which came into being in 2004, was marred by a good number of reported extrajudicial killings and disregard for human dignity.
   Human rights defenders have keep track of rights violations by the RAB.
   According to the available statistics, the RAB has killed as many as 536 people in the last four years, in circumstances euphemistically known as ‘encounters’ or ‘crossfire’. The over 8000-strong RAB members are drawn from the army, navy, air force and police department and is being supervised by the home ministry.
   Although the number of so-called ‘crossfire’ incidents decreased in the initial period of the assumption of power by the army-backed interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed in January last year, the recent trend shows that the number of extrajudicial killings is rising.
   The delegation discussed the possible areas of cooperation, including the human rights issues, with the senior RAB officials on Monday in their headquarters.
   The delegation proposed training and capacity-building of the RAB, its director-general, Hasan Mahmud Khandakar, told New Age after the meeting. He said the authorities want the RAB to be a three-dimensional force in order to tackle crimes effectively.
   Training on counter-terrorism, investigation, establishment of a modern forensic laboratory, tackling religion-based militants and left-extremists were the areas of cooperation, among others, proposed by the RAB during the discussion.
   When he was asked whether any timeframe for training and cooperation was fixed in the discussion, the RAB chief replied in the negative, saying that the talks were at the initial stage. He said that the US team appreciated the RAB’s activities, especially in tackling militancy in Bangladesh. He, however, remained silent about the issue of human rights violations.

Candidates contesting the August 4 elections to four city corporations and nine municipalities started formal electioneering on Monday as the government relaxed the state of emergency for 21 days in polls areas.
   The returning officers concerned on Monday allotted election symbols to the candidates.
   Soon after getting the polls symbol, the candidates and their supporters brought out processions and sought votes on the PA system. All local printing presses became busy printing leaflets and posters.
   The government, by a gazette notification issued on June 20 with effect from July 14, announced a relaxation of the ban on politics in four city corporations and nine municipalities before the August 4 local government elections in polls areas.
   The gazette said, ‘The government…relaxed the ban on processions, meetings and rallies and participation in those for the convenience of the publicity of the city corporation and municipal elections.’
   The New Age correspondent in Rajshahi said the AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, the candidate nominated by the alliance led by the Awami League and Nagarik Committee, was given ‘padlock’ as his symbol and Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, the candidate of the combine led by the BNP, was given ‘tiger’ as his symbol.
   After the allotment of election symbols, hundreds of Khairuzzaman’s supporters started rallying from the office of the returning officer. Other mayoral candidates started campaigns later.
   The Nagarik Committee brought out rallies in the wards in the afternoon in support of Khairuzzaman.
   Mosaddek was yet to begin a full-fledged campaign. ‘We will form a committee for my campaign by the evening. The committee will decide how I will begin campaigning,’ Mosaddek told New Age at noon.
   The acting Rajshahi mayor, Rezaun Nabi Dudu, started electioneering in the wards in the afternoon.
   The city Awami League president, Masudul Haque Dulu, at a briefing in Rajshahi in the afternoon requested the city dwellers to extend support for him. His supporters later brought a procession.
   The correspondent in Sylhet said the Awami League-led alliance in Sylhet formed a 501-member citizens’ forum called Nagarik Parishad Sunday night to carry out campaigns in support of mayoral candidate Badruddin Ahmed Kamran.
   The alliance leaders announced the citizens’ forum at a preparatory meeting at Sarada Smriti Bhaban to carry out campaigns in the Sylhet city corporation elections.
   Of the mayoral candidates, Badruddin was given ‘pineapple’ as his election symbol, former Sylhet BNP president MA Haque ‘fish,’ former Sylhet municipal chairman AFM Kamal, also a BNP leader, ‘television set’ and former Sylhet municipal chairman, Babrul Hossain Babul, also an Awami League leader, ‘rickshaw.’
   The correspondent in Barisal said candidates began campaign after the allotment of election symbols. Supporters of the candidates sought votes on PA system. Banners were hung and bills were pasted at different places.
   No processions were brought out on Monday as it rained.
   Of the mayoral candidates, Nagarik Parishad president Enayet Pir Khan was given ‘fish’ as his election symbol, former district BNP secretary Ebadul Huq Chan ‘ship,’ AL-led alliance candidate Shawkat Hossain Hiron, also the city Awami League convener, ‘television set.’

India will propose various modes of transit, including the latest floated in August 2007, and want to know Bangladesh’s stance over the issue as foreign secretaries of the two South Asian countries sit for the annual consultations in New Delhi on July 17.
   Bangladesh officials said India on August 20, 2007 handed over to Dhaka a draft deal on transit for five years, agreement on regulations of passenger and cargo vehicular traffic between the two countries, for signing.
   In the draft, New Delhi proposed allowing Indian vehicles with goods and container cargos to enter the Bangladesh territory through the Benapole land port and again enter the Indian states of Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram through Bangladesh boarder points of Tamabil, Bibirbazar and Khagrachari.
   Officials in Dhaka, however, observed despite mounting pressure from New Delhi, Bangladesh cannot afford to allow India any transit for certain factors such as lack of infrastructure and logistics, absence of in-depth assessment of possible gains from such ‘economic issue’ and implication on internal security.
   Foreign affairs and communications ministries officials on Sunday told New Age New Delhi had already made a number of proposals to Dhaka to allow its goods transit through Bangladesh on land and waterway.
   The foreign affairs ministry before the inter-ministerial meeting on July 10 took the consent of the ministries of shipping and communications on providing transit to India.
   The foreign secretary, Touhid Hossain, presided over the July 10 meeting which discussed various issues to be discussed at the Indo-Bangla foreign secretary talks and Bangladesh’s preparation in this direction.
   As for India’s latest proposal, a high government official, earlier involved with the process, said in the latest proposal, New Delhi tacitly avoided using the word ‘transit,’ considering political sensitivity on the issue in Bangladesh.
   ‘Whatever the wording may be, the draft means to allow transit for India,’ the official said.
   Foreign ministry officials also felt apart from the above agreement, India might take up the issue of setting up a new port call at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria, bus link between Agartala and Kokata via Dhaka and goods train service between Akhaura and Agartala.
   ‘As for the three Indian proposals, we need to asses the benefits from such propositions and get the final government nod to sign agreements with India,’ said another official.
   Foreign ministry officials said Dhaka would emphasise issues such as increased trade cooperation to reduce trade gap, a schedule for the Joint Rivers Commission meeting of the ministerial level and resumption of the delimitation of maritime boundary talks that was stalled more than two decades ago, at the two-day meeting of the foreign secretaries.
   A shipping ministry official Bangladesh would also request India to allow it carry high-speed diesel from Silghat in Assam. The diesel is now carried from Pandu.

The detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman, former home minister Lutfozzaman Babar and six others were on Monday charged with Tk 21 crore bribery to save Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan’s son Safiat Sobhan from the charge of killing the group’s director Sabbir.
   Shahed Nooruddin, the judge of the special judge’s court 3 set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, framed the charges against the eight and posted for July 24 the beginning of the trial with recording the depositions of prosecution witnesses in the case.
   This is the first-ever case, in which Tarique, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s senior joint secretary general, who faces a number of cases, is now facing trial.
   The court charged Babar with taking the bribe under Section 161 of the Penal Code and abusing power under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
   Tarique, Bashundhara Group’s sister concern East West Property Development Pvt Ltd director Abu Sufian, former BNP lawmaker Kazi Salimul Huq Kamal, Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan also known as Shah Alam, his sons Safiat Sobhan Sanbir and Shahadat Sobhan, and Tarique’s assistant private secretary Miah Nuruddin Apu were charged with helping Babar in taking the bribe under Section 165A of the Penal Code.
   If the charges are proved, Babar may be punished with imprisonment for three years for taking bribe and for seven years for abusing power and the seven others accused, including Tarique, may be jailed for three years for helping Babar in taking the bribe.
   Babar and Abu Sufian, standing in the dock, pleaded not guilty as the court read out the charges against them. Others accused in the case, except for Tarique, are in hiding.
   Tarique was not produced in court as he was on July 6 exempted from personal appearance in court on health grounds.
   His counsel Sanaullah Miah represented him and told the court Tarique was innocent.
   Bashundhara Telecommunications Limited director Humayun Kabir Sabbir, 30, was killed on July 4, 2006. A murder case was filed on July 7, 2006 with the Gulshan police in this connection.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the bribery case with the Ramna police on October 4, 2007 after Babar, being detained in corruption cases, allegedly confessed the bribery.

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina has alleged that the interim government is occupied by greed for power and has failed to keep prices and corruption in check.
   ‘We brought this government to power and it has now become greedy for power,’ she said while addressing the leaders and activities of her party’s Finland unit at Sokos Hotel in Helsinki Sunday night.
   The former prime minister, temporarily released from a Dhaka jail on June 11 and allowed to go to the USA on a health tour, compared the present price situation with that during the period [1996-2001] of Awami League government.
   The people are feeling the pinch of soaring prices of everything they need daily and realising how difficult days they are passing now, she said.
   Two consecutive budgets, passed ‘illegally’ by the incumbents in absence of a parliament, failed to take some heat off the market, she pointed out.
   Hasina arrived in Finland on Wednesday to attend the wedding ceremony of her nephew Ridwan Siddique Boby on Friday at the residence of new bride Peppi Kiviniemi Khadija at Espoo in Finland.
   The former prime minister deplored Bangladesh’s ranking as the most corrupt country in the global corruption perception index in stark contrast to Finland’s highest rating as a clean nation.
   ‘We should improve the situation of our country,’ she said.
   She termed the corruption charges brought against her as ‘false and baseless,’ and alleged that witnesses’ statements were recorded forcibly with an ill motive to prove her guilty.
   She appreciated expatriate Bangladeshis in Finland for their contribution to the economy of their homeland and stressed that special measures should be taken to send more skilled people abroad.
   Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wajed Joy, Finland unit AL leaders Anwar Hossain, Tapon Bangabasi, Humayun Kabir, Nasir Ahmed, Mainul Islam, SM Abdur Rahman, Ataur Rahman Ruhel, Mursalin Hossain, Raju Malek and Jibon Krishna Saha were present at the tea-party.
   The Awami League president spent more than one hour and a half with about 100 Bangladeshi expatriates there and exchanged pleasantries with them.
   She was scheduled for leaving Finland Monday by a Scandinavian Airlines flight.

The High Court on Monday granted ad interim bail to Jamaat-e-Islami amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, former state minister Redwan Ahmed and his wife Momtaj Ahmed, and former lawmaker Giasuddin in separate corruption cases.
   The bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad also ordered former Awami League lawmaker Mirza Azam to surrender to Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court in 10 days in a graft case.
   The court asked the government not to arrest or harass Azam, also Jubo League general secretary, in the next 10 days.
   It granted bail for two months to Nizami, implicated in the GATCO scam case.
   Nizami, a former minister of Khaleda Zia’s cabinet, was arrested on May 18. He was also accused in Barapukuria coalmine graft case.
   The High Court granted Redwan, his wife and Giasuddin one month’s bail and stayed the proceedings of the graft cases filed against them by ACC for a month.
   Redwan was arrested on December 28, 2007 while Giasuddin surrendered to a Narayanganj court on February 25, 2007. Redwan’s wife surrendered to the High Court on Monday.

Two major Nepalese political parties Monday agreed to elect the republic’s first president within two days.
   ‘We have agreed to take a decision on the post of president within two days,’ CPN-UML central member Bhim Rawal said after a crucial meeting with top Maoist leaders.
   The development came a day after the country’s Parliament introduced an amendment in the interim Constitution paving way to form the government through simple majority.
   CPN-Maoist leader and prime minister-in-waiting Prachanda and CPN-UML general secretary Jhalanath Khanal agreed to elect president within a couple of days and start the process of government formation soon, Rawal said.
   He, however, said that further discussions are needed on the issue of power sharing.
   ‘We will soon hold a meeting with Nepali Congress leaders to decide who will be the president,’ he said, adding, ‘We are trying to build a consensus among all political parties and I hope Nepali Congress will also join the new government’.
   Nepali Congress, the second largest party in the Constituent Assembly, reiterated its demand that the prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, be made the country’s first president.
   ‘The party will otherwise sit in the opposition and play a constructive role in drafting the new constitution,’ NC vice-president Prakash Man Singh said.
   The Constituent Assembly passed the Fifth Amendment to the constitution Sunday, which focuses on changing the provision requiring two third majority to form government, with the simple majority.
   The amendment paves the way for Maoists to lead the next administration. The Maoist and the CPN-UML have a combined strength of 337 in the 601-strong assembly.
   Meanwhile, just over a month after his eviction from the royal Narayanhity palace, Nepal’s dethroned king Gyanendra now faces fresh ouster, reports IANS on Monday.
   The 61-year-old, who spent a grim birthday seven days ago in the remote Nagarjuna summer palace, refusing to come out even to receive greetings from diehard royalists, will be asked to vacate his current residence as well, probably within a fortnight.
   When deposed king Gyanendra left the Narayanhity palace, he asked the Koirala government to allow him to temporarily move into the old hunting lodge of his forefathers, the Nagarjuna palace on the outskirts of Kathmandu, till he was able to find a suitable new home.
   Though the nod to the request triggered sharp public criticism, the Koirala government said it had okayed it to facilitate the exit of the former king from the royal palace, which, subsequently, became a national museum.
   But more than a month after the former king and queen Komal moved into the Nagarjuna palace, there is no sign of their vacating the temporary abode, which has also been taken over by the government.
   ‘We haven’t fixed any time limit for the king’s sojourn in Nagarjuna,’ the peace and reconstruction minister, Ram Chandra Poudel, told IANS. ‘That decision will be taken by the new government.’

The acting Awami League president, Zillur Rahman, on Monday said they would resist any move of the caretaker government to hold upazila elections before the parliamentary polls.
   Criticising the government for not taking any effective steps to control essential goods price spiral, he said the country was passing though a famine-like situation.
   The Awami League leaders were addressing at a joint convention at the Institution of Engineers organised by the Dhaka city north and south units of the Juba League.
   The Awami League’s
   youth front organised the programme to push for the permanent release of the AL chief, Sheikh Hasina, withdrawal of the cases filed against Juba League chairman Jahangir Kabir Nanak and general secretary Mirza Azam.
   Zillur said the government had no headache about containing the goods price spiral; it was rather busy working out a plan to send Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman, sons of the detained BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, abroad.
   ‘I have never ever seen such a government in my life which violates the constitution every day,’ he said.
   Another presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury demanded withdrawal the state of emergency and schedule for the parliamentary elections by this month. She warned of serious consequences, otherwise.
   Sajeda said the interim government had a plan to cling to power for long for which it wanted to hold upazila elections before the national polls. ‘By holding upazila elections, the government wants to put in place the people of its choice.’
   AL presidium member Amir Hossain Amu was critical of the government for formulating the Representation of the People Order which banned all fronts of political parties.
   ‘This government will not be able to snatch the people’s democratic and constitutional rights with political parties having their fronts. This is why the government formulated the law to ban party fronts,’ he said.
   Presidium member Tofail Ahmed demanded that the state of emergency should be withdrawn before holding elections, saying no credible and acceptable elections are possible under the emergency.
   ‘The Election Commission wants to hold the elections to 350 upazilas. Why is the government not moving towards holding the national polls?’ he said.
   Tofail urged the leaders and activists to keep the Awami League united, saying the government would be forced to release Hasina permanently if they remained united.
   Presidium member Suranjit Sengupta criticised the government for formulating the Representation of the People Order. He said it was undemocratic and violation of the constitution.
   ‘We earlier met the Election Commission for two times and then the commission assured us not to cancel the Representation of the People Order 1972. But the commission did not keep its words,’ he said.
   Presidium member Matia Chowdhury alleged the caretaker government wanted to form a ‘puppet government’ by formulating various laws. She warned the government that the people would resist this kind of design of the government.
   Matia said the government wanted to hold upazila elections violating the constitution to muddle the water. ‘The government will need to face serisous consequence for this.’
   Presided over by the Dhaka city south Juba League president, Mohiuddin Mohi, the convention was addressed, among others, by Juba League leaders Mizanul Rahman, Harunur Rashid, Mojibur Rahman Chowdhury, Mahabubur Rahman Hiron, Abdus Sattar Masud, Billal Hossain, Subrata Pal and Ismail Hosain Samrat.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Monday approved charges against former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s youngest son Arafat Rahman for amassing illegal wealth of Tk 2 crore and concealing information on Tk 11 lakh in the statement submitted to the commission.
   The commission’s director general (administration) Hanif Iqbal at a briefing on Monday also said the charge sheet would be filed soon with the Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s court by the investigation officer after completion of some official works.
   The commission’s deputy director M Abu Sayed on April 23 lodged the case with the Ramna police against Arafat saying he had owned assets of Tk 2.23 crore beyond his known sources of income, and had concealed information on Tk 11.2 lakh in the wealth statement submitted to the commission.
   Arafat on January 9 submitted, through prison authorities, the wealth statement on Tk 7.78 crore to the commission as it had on December 18, 2007 notified him to submit the statement.
   The commission earlier pressed graft charges against Khaleda’s eldest son Tarique Rahman, his wife and mother-in-law for amassing illegal wealth and concealing information on assets. The case proceedings are stalled with the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Dhaka on a stay order issued by the High Court.
   The commission is now scrutinising the wealth statement submitted by Khaleda, also the BNP chairperson.
   Khaleda, Tarique and Arafat are all now detained in jail.
   The commission also approved charges against Firoza Banu, wife of former lawmaker Ali Reza for the Jessore 3 constituency, for hiding information on wealth of Tk 4 lakh and acquiring assets worth about Tk 19 lakh beyond her known sources of income.
   The commission has also decided to press charges against nine others, including Chhatak municipal chairman Majnu Mia, Nalchhity municipal chairman Taslimuddin and Osmani Airport customs officer Mohammad Selim, in separate cases.
   The commission has, meanwhile, also asked eight people to submit their wealth statements to the commission.
   They are Dhaka Mercantile Cooperative Bank Limited chairman Abu Jafar Chowdhury, Water Development Board member Mohammad Kamruzzaman, Roads and Highways deputy assistant engineer Nurul Haque, Roads and Highways additional chief engineer Fakrul Alam Talukder, and superintending engineers Jamilur Rahman Pramanik, Arifur Rahman Zinnah and MA Moktadir Belal.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has said the interim government has no conflict with any political party.
   ‘The present government is a caretaker government. It has no contradiction with any political party. The next government will be a political government,’ he said while speaking at a regional-level dialogue at Keshabpur upazila in Jessore on Monday.
   The education and commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, conducted the dialogue attended by the LGRD and cooperative adviser, M Anwarul Iqbal, and law adviser, AF Hassan Ariff. High civil and military officials were present.
   Deputy commissioner of Jessore Abu Al Hossain gave the address of welcome in the function chaired by Keshabpur Press Club president Ashrafuzzaman Khan.
   Fakhruddin said the government was working for solving all issues through discussion.
   He said his government after assuming the office had been working with an objective to hold free, fair and credible elections for smooth transition to democracy and good governance.
   In this connection, he said the Election Commission had already completed the huge task of preparing voter list with photograph. It has also taken various measures to bring some reforms to the existing electoral law for holding meaningful polls, he added.
   The government will take all necessary steps so that people can cast their votes without any fear and intimidation to elect honest and competent candidates during next polls, Fakhruddin said.
   Fakhruddin said the Election Commission would hold some local body elections shortly and upazila polls by October.
   The chief adviser urged all stakeholders to work unitedly to implement the steps taken by the government for strengthening democracy as well as good governance.
   Responding to various local demands including permanent solution of water stagnation in the vast land of Bhabadaha in the district, Fakhruddin said the government would take necessary steps through consultation with all concerned.
   About agricultural development, he said the government put top priority to agriculture sector with a view to ensuring food security in the country and had given highest budgetary allocation to this sector for development including agri-research.
   Food production of the country has to be increased significantly, the chief adviser said and called upon all to make highest contribution to this end from their respective positions.
   Referring to improvement of road network, he said the authorities concerned had been directed to complete the construction work of about 3,000 incomplete bridges across the country.
   Later, at a similar meeting at the deputy commissioner’s office in Khulna the chief adviser sought cooperation from all in holding the general elections in a free, fair and credible manner to ensure good governance and sustainable democracy.
   ‘Your support is very much important as the government is trying to hold the next election free from the influence of black money, muscle power and misuse of power.’
   He said fixing of election expenditure ceiling would help stop influence of black money in polls.
   Fakhruddin said the government was working to bring changes to the country’s political culture to encourage honest and competent candidates to contest polls.
   He expressed the hope that, with the help of the people, his government would be able to hand over power to the elected government in January.
   Fakhruddin called upon the people to rise above fear and remain later so that black money and muscle power could not influence the voting process.
   He emphasised on forging unity with political parties on some national issues, and said that his government wanted to hold a meaningful election on the basis of unity.
   ‘We are holding dialogue with political parties and professionals to this end.’
   The chief adviser said the government put utmost importance on building a bridge across the Padma river to improve communications between southern and south-western areas with the rest of the country.
   He said that a detailed engineering work of the proposed bridge had already been completed and that the construction would start as soon as possible.
   Responding to queries, Fakhruddin said the government took measurers, including setting up gas pipeline and short term power plants, for the development of south-western areas of the country.
   People belonging to different professions, including freedom fighters, journalists, social workers, business leaders, teachers, farmers, NGO representatives and imams asked questions and raised local demands.

The newly appointed Saudi ambassador in Dhaka, Abdullah Bin Naser Al-Busairi, on Monday observed Bangladesh should have a strict mechanism to regulate the recruiting agents who breaches contract in sending Bangladeshis to the kingdom.
   He came up with the views when his attention was called to the recent reports on the state of Bangladeshi labourers in Saudi Arabia.
   ‘The recruiting agents who send Bangladeshis to Saudi Arabia do not respect the contract and send them on job with a meagre salary. So Bangladesh should have a strict mechanism to control the recruiting agents,’ said Al-Busairi at a briefing in his office on Monday.
   He praised the contribution of Bangladeshis to the economy of the kingdom. ‘More than 17 lakh Bangladeshis now work in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi authorities are very happy about them. Most of them stay there in a good condition. Only a small number of such workers do not bother about the law of the kingdom.’
   Al-Busairi blamed the recruiting agents for the misdeeds of Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia.
   ‘The recruiting agents do not care for the contract they make with Saudi employers and send the workers there with a poor salary. They do no even train the workers in social and traditional customs before sending them to the kingdom,’ he said.
   Al-Busairi felt the agitation of the aggrieved Bangladeshis and their criminal activities could have been avoided and their rights could be protected if the recruiting agents had trained them properly in the laws and customs of the kingdom.
   As for the reduction in the number of Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia, he said, ‘Every day we issue around 1000 visas for Bangladeshis and our friendly relations will not be hampered by such small incidents.’
   On the visit of the Saudi king to Dhaka, he said, ‘The schedule of his [King’s] visit is yet to be fixed. We will announce the schedule later.’
   In reply to another question, he said the recruiting agencies in Bangladesh send workers Bangladeshis to the kingdom with low pay and the Saudi companies had nothing to do with it.

A World Bank database report has ranked Bangladesh ‘poor’ for having the ‘most restrictive’ trading regime in South Asia, although official records show that the country has expeditiously opened up the economy since the 1990s.
   ‘World Trade Indicators 2008’, launched in Dhaka on Monday, placed Bangladesh at the 113th position in terms of trade policy and 107th in institutional environment out of 125 countries studied in the report, prepared by the World Bank Institute.
   In line with the report’s observations, the WB’s country director, Xian Zhu, prescribed reduction of trade restrictiveness as an ‘appropriate trade policy’ to enable Bangladesh to thrive in spite of the global competition it was currently exposed to.
   Economist Mustafizur Rahman told the launching ceremony that the average 4 per cent tariff in the United States does not benefit Bangladesh since the effective duty rate for exports of Bangladeshi garments stood at 15 per cent. He felt that Bangladesh rather deserved appreciation for reducing tariff.
   Mustafiz further pointed out that customs duty, considered trade restrictive in the report, was a major source of revenue in Bangladesh, and the report had not covered issues such as para-tariffs such as state taxes and value added tax charged by India.
   Since the early 1990s, Bangladesh has reduced tariff by 350 per cent compared to 150 per cent reduction by India, the most powerful economy of the South Asian region which also allegedly applies non-tariff barriers to exports from other neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh.
   The inter-regional trade in South Asia, which is rated in the report as the most restrictive region in trade policy, is less than two per cent of the gross domestic product as against 20 per cent trade for East Asia.
   Also, the South Asian region has one of the worst business environments throughout all Asia as none of its countries is on the list of the top 50 countries where it is easy to do business, and only two are in the top 100 with Maldives ranked 60th and Pakistan 76th. Bangladesh’s position is 107th and India’s 120th.
   Although the overall trade restrictiveness has declined since the 1990s, the agricultural sector is still subject to high trade restrictiveness both in developed and developing countries, according to the report presented by Gianni Zanini of the WB Institute.
   Xian Zhu mentioned that restriction on grain exports has severely aggravated the impact of the global food crisis on the poor in countries that are net grain importers. Such countries number about 147 and three-fourth of them are low-income countries.

A Taliban attack that killed nine US soldiers, the biggest single American loss in Afghanistan since 2005, was a well-planned, complex assault aimed at overrunning an outpost near the Pakistan border, a NATO spokesman said.
   The Taliban have largely shied away from large-scale attacks on foreign forces since suffering severe casualties in assaults on NATO bases in the south in 2006. Instead the militants have scaled up hit-and-run attacks and suicide and roadside bombs.
   ‘It was a complex attack, well organised and planned ... it was clear they wanted to overrun the combat outpost,’ said Captain Michael Finney, spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.
   The Taliban began the assault on the Afghan army and ISAF outpost in the mountainous and thickly forested Pech Valley district of Kunar province just before dawn on Sunday, warning villagers to leave their homes before the fighting started.
   ‘They chose their positions well. It wasn’t just an attempt to rush the gate,’ Finney said.
   The defenders, numbering between 100 to 150, called in airstrikes from attack helicopters and fixed wing warplanes in fighting that went on till mid-afternoon.
   There was no exact count of Taliban dead, but ISAF estimated militant losses to be ‘in the high double figures, close to triple figures,’ the spokesman said.
   Tens of Taliban were killed, an Afghan defence ministry spokesman said.
   There has been a marked increase of violence in Afghanistan this year, especially along the eastern border where militants have effectively secured their rear with de-facto ceasefires with Pakistani forces and launched more attacks into Afghan soil.
   The surge in violence is also partly due to the higher numbers of ISAF and Afghan forces in the country entering areas, such as the Pech Valley, where they seldom went before.
   Afghan officials said on Sunday the Taliban fighters had infiltrated from nearby Pakistan to launch the attack. However, NATO’s Finney said it was unclear whether the militants had crossed the border.
   But Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan were ‘a matter of great concern,’ he said.
   Afghan leaders are growing increasingly impatient with Pakistan, whose new government has adopted a policy of trying to treat with militant leaders instead of battling them.
   Afghan officials have hinted at Pakistani agents being involved in a string of attacks in Afghanistan, including a suicide bomb on the Indian embassy in Kabul last week which killed 58 people and an attempt to kill the president, Hamid Karzai in April.
   Karzai last month threatened to send troops into Pakistan if Islamabad does not take action against militant sanctuaries.
   Pakistan denies it is aiding militants and says the Kabul government should try harder to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict, which it says is an internal Afghan issue.
   Meanwhile, a roadside bomb tore through a civilian pick-up truck in eastern Afghanistan on Monday killing seven people, a government spokesman said.
   ‘The bomb was perhaps planted to target military vehicles,’ Paktika province spokesman Ghamai Khan Mohammadyar told AFP, accusing Taliban-linked insurgents of planting the homemade device. ‘It struck a civilian car and killed seven people, all civilians,’ he said.

A Singapore-based company which holds licences for exploration of minerals in Cox’s Bazar beach has sought permission to take 9.5 tonnes of sand to Australia for test, putting the energy officials in a dilemma as the existing mines and mineral rules do not support taking such huge volume of sand to a foreign country.
   The Premier Mineral, which got two licences for minerals exploration in 2006, recently sought permission to send the sand to Australia to test the presence of minerals such as zircon, rutile, garnet and magnetite.
   The Bureau of Mineral Development, however, initially granted the company permission to take 50kg of sand as the Mines and Mineral Rules 1968 does not allow sending more than that, sources in the Energy Division said.
   The Premier Mineral then insisted that the testing would not be completed at an Australian laboratory if 9.5 tonnes of sand could not be taken, they said.
   The Energy Division formed a committee, headed by its joint secretary and comprising officials of the Geological Survey of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission to make recommendations.
   The committee on Sunday submitted its report to the Energy Division recommending taking the law ministry’s opinion on sending the sand and the Atomic Energy Commission’s approval for clearance that there would be no radiation, sources in the division said.
   They said many committee members felt the test could be done at the Atomic Energy Commission while some others felt the test could not be completed in Bangladesh. Many raised questions as to whether it was necessary to take such a huge volume of sand for test.
   The Atomic Energy Commission representative felt it might be harmful to take the sand to Australia because of radiation from some of the minerals.
   The committee members also discussed how the royalty for the minerals in 9.5 tonnes of sand could be fixed, if it allowed sending the sand to Australia, as the company was yet to get the mining licences.
   So far around 16 minerals have been found in the sand of Cox’s Bazar beach following tests conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Premier Mineral’s predecessor, an Australian company named Titanium.
   ‘There is no clear indication in the mines and mineral rules on sending sand to any foreign countries. The rules neither bar it, nor do they allow it. We will send the issue to the law ministry in keeping with the committee recommendation for a decision,’ said a high official of the Energy Division.

The United Arab Emirate (UAE) reportedly made a U-turn from the deal to supply fuels to Bangladesh, forcing the latter to plunge into a crisis, while the prices of petroleum products continued to surge in the global markets, said sources concerned.
   The state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) struck a deal with Emarat, an oil supplying firm in the UAE, to import 3,90,000 tonnes of diesel and octane, and the consignments of oil started arriving from May this year, added concerned sources.
   Emarat, after sending about 90,000 tonnes of fuels, suddenly stopped the supply, and kept completely silent though the BPC sent a series of reminders to it in this regard, said sources in the BPC.
   The BPC, in a letter faxed to the company on Monday, warned it that it would resort to legal action if Emarat breached the agreement to supply fuels on schedule.
   A senior official of BPC said, ‘We are really surprised to find that Emarat, being a state-owned firm of the UAE, is not making any reply to our reminders for supplying the fuel as per the deal. It will be a clear breach of agreement if Emarat fails to supply the fuels.’
   ‘So we may go for legal action as we did not expect such treatment from Emarat, especially when we are badly in need of fuels to meet our internal demand,’ he added.
   ‘Now we are thinking of procuring fuels through some spot tenders to overcome the disruption caused by the UAE firm,’ he said.
   He told this correspondent that Emarat had recently undergone a change of management, but that does not justify its silence and behaviour.
   As per the deal, Emarat charged a premium of $5.2 for a barrel of diesel, $5.6 dollars for kerosene and jet fuel and $7.5 for octane, said BPC officials.
   BPC struck a deal to import fuels from Emarat for the first time in its bid to find alternative sources to reduce dependence on its major oil supplier, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which was demanding higher premium, said officials.
   The BPC imports 3.7 million tonnes of fuels annually, the bulk of which is supplied by Kuwait the Petroleum Corporation, they said.

India is ‘gravely concerned’ over reports suggesting the use of military force against Iran and is strongly against any such action, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
   There has been concern an attack against Iran could be imminent after it emerged Israel had practised a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
   ‘India is gravely concerned at these statements threatening the use of military force against Iran,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement.
   ‘India is against any such military attack, which constitutes unacceptable international behaviour. There is no military solution to the issues that are being discussed between Iran and the international community.’
   India’s comments come after Iran intensified international tensions on the nuclear issue by conducting two days of tests, which included the firing of a missile that it says can reach Israel.
   The United States and its regional ally Israel have never ruled out a military attack to end Iran’s controversial nuclear work, which the West fears could be used to make weapons – a charge vehemently denied by Tehran.
   Energy-hungry India, which enjoys warm relations with Iran, expects to finalise a deal on a 7.5-billion-dollar pipeline that will transport gas from the Middle East to here via Pakistan.
   New Delhi says Tehran has the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy but has asked it to cooperate with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
   India has previously rejected pressure from Washington not to do business with Iran, viewed in the US as a state sponsor of terrorism and seen as bent on acquiring nuclear weapons.
   Earlier this year, New Delhi told the US not to interfere in its dealings with Iran after a State Department spokesman said Washington would like India to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.
   ‘India calls upon all concerned governments to exercise restraint and choose the peaceful path of persuasion and negotiations,’ the foreign ministry said.

Miss Venezuela took the crown and Miss USA took a tumble before up to one billion television viewers at the Miss Universe pageant held in Vietnam on Monday.
   Venezuela’s Dayana Mendoza, 22, burst into tears when the presenter, US talk show host Jerry Springer, announced she had beaten finalists from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.
   The 178-centimetre beauty, the favourite of pageant bloggers and online bookmakers, clinched the diamond-studded gold crown after answering a question on the difference between men and women.
   ‘Men think that the fastest way to go to a point is to go straight,’ explained the trilingual aspiring interior designer. ‘Women know that the faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves.’
   Mendoza, who was once kidnapped in her home country, later issued a call for an end to violence in the world.
   ‘The kidnapping happened a year and a half ago,’ she said at a post-pageant press conference, answering questions in both English and Spanish.
   ‘It’s something that happens in my country. You don’t even have to have money to be kidnapped ... That’s why I wanted to raise my voice and tell the world that violence is not the answer.’
   Her prize package includes cash, a year-long contract promoting Miss Universe, world travel, a rent-free New York City luxury apartment and a giftbag stuffed with free designer shoes, dresses and beauty products.
   In the world of beauty contests, Venezuela – where such contests are held in schools, villages and even prisons – is considered a ‘pageant superpower’ with four previous Miss Universe and five Miss World winners.
   Kicking off the extravaganza, ex-’Spice Girl’ Mel B shouted ‘Good Morning, Vietnam!’—an apt greeting since the final was held at 8:00am local time to coincide with prime-time Sunday evening TV slots in the Americas.
   The 80 contestants were introduced in their national costumes, with Miss New Zealand sporting a Maori-style pretend-facial tattoo, Miss Korea twirling a martial arts sword and Miss Albania dazzling in a vampire theme.

India’s communists on Monday accused the country’s ruling coalition of putting the interests of the United States before its own people, in its bid to seal a controversial nuclear pact with the US.
   The furious allegations came as the government of the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, tried to lobby support ahead of a confidence vote in parliament next week sparked by the withdrawal of left-wing parties opposed to the deal.
   ‘The country is in a crisis. The price of goods is touching the skies,’ said Marxist leader Prakash Karat, who has spearheaded the left’s criticism of the deal.
   ‘But Manmohan Singh’s government is paying no attention to these problems of the people. They want to give permission to America’s big multinational companies, like Wal-Mart, to come here.’
   A vote in parliament on July 22 will decide the fate of both Singh’s government and of the bilateral deal, which would allow India to purchase civilian nuclear technology after being shut out for decades.
   Singh argues the pact is crucial for India’s energy security and continued strong economic growth.
   The deal requires nuclear-armed India, which has not signed the non-proliferation treaty, to open its civilian reactors to UN inspections.
   The left, along with the Hindu nationalist opposition, has expressed fears that allowing these inspections of the country’s civil nuclear programme – as demanded by the Americans – will harm India’s strategic weapons programme and bring the traditionally non-aligned country too close to the United States.
   US officials have been piling pressure on India to speed up the process, warning of an ever narrowing window of opportunity to get the deal through before November 2008 presidential polls.
   New Delhi first has to clinch a pact with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, allowing international inspections of its civilian nuclear reactors.
   The Indian government last week moved forward on finalising a safeguards agreement with the IAEA, prompting a bloc of left-wing and communist parties to pull support for the Congress-led alliance and seek next week’s confidence vote.

The political and electoral reforms package, approved by the cabinet on Sunday, has been met with a barrage of criticism from politicians, with some calling those undemocratic and means of chaining political parties.
   The military-backed government on Sunday approved the draft of Representation of People Order Ordinance 2008 which sets new eligibility criteria for individuals and political parties for participating in parliamentary polls.
   ‘Most of the new provisions in the RPO are both undemocratic and unconstitutional,’ Awami League presidium member Suranjit Sengupta said.
   Amir Hossain Amu, another presidium member of the party, said, ‘This government has framed such a law to ban front organisations of political parties to snatch people’s democratic and constitutional rights.’
   No front-ranking leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party was available for comments on the approved reform package. But the party is expected to give its formal reaction to the reforms today [Tuesday].
   ‘The party will express its view after holding a consultation with alliance partners,’ Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, acting BNP office secretary, said.
   Workers Party of Bangladesh president Rashed Khan Menon said the government finalised the amendments to RPO almost unilaterally. ‘We gave our opinion on amendment proposals during our dialogue with the Election Commission. Both the commission and the government had promised to consult political parties before finalising the draft. But they did not do it.’
   Democratic Left Alliance coordinator Mushrefa Mishu said in a statement that the government was trying to control the political parties making their registration mandatory.
   Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, however, said some of the newly added provisions of the RPO were ‘not bad.’

Australian scientists have identified a potential treatment to combat malaria by pinpointing the process that helps the disease hijack red blood cells.
   They have found the key to an adhesive that stops the parasite being flushed out of the body by the immune system.
   The removal of just one of these compounds is enough to bring the process to a halt.
   Researchers in Melbourne believe their discovery could be a major breakthrough in the fight against the disease.
   They have identified eight proteins that allow this glue-like substance onto the surface of a hijacked cell.
   Proteins are nature’s building blocks. They are large molecules that are essential for the function of cells in the body.
   Professor Alan Cowman, a member of the research team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, said targeting those proteins could be a key to fighting malaria.
   ‘We essentially block the virulence or the capacity of the parasite to cause disease,’ he said.
   Malaria is preventable and curable, but can be fatal if not treated promptly.
   The disease kills more than a million people each year. Many of the victims are young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Four persons were killed in separate road accidents in Chittagong on Monday.
   Of the victims, two were identified as Kulsum Begum, 23, a worker of KDS Garments Industry in the Bayezeed Bostami area in the city, Tapan Biswas, 28, of Kaptai in Rangamati.
   The identity of two other male victims aged about 15 and 26 years, who were run over by a speedy bus and killed on the spot in the Bhatiary area under Sitakundhu upazila in the district at about 2:30pm, remained unknown.
   Kulsum and Tapan were hit in separate accidents in the Oxygen area.

Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud is scheduled to inaugurate an international conference for dialogue among the followers of divine religions in Madrid in July 16-18.
   The newly appointed Saudi Ambassador in Dhaka Abdullah Bin Naser Al-Busairi informed reporters of the meeting at his office Monday afternoon.
   Al-Busairi said, ‘The initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques aims at forging human relations between the followers of the prophets of different religions, cultures and faiths for spreading peace, love and harmony among them.’
   The dialogue is also aimed at establishing peace, security, stability and human development globally, he said.
   Responding to the call of the Saudi King for the dialogue, the Muslim World League and non-governmental international organizations will organize the conference.
   Scholars from various faiths will be invited to the dialogue to discuss matters relating to human society, international cooperation, human rights, peace, security and coexistence in the world.
   About recognition of Kosovo’s independence he said the matter would be decided at the OIC level.

A six-year-old boy was killed by a herd of wild elephants at village Dochhuri under Naikhyangchari upazila in Bandarban on Sunday night.
   Local people said three elephants coming from the hill attacked the house of Abul Kashem of the village at midnight.
   Abul Kashem fled the house along with his wife and son Jashim took shelter to the house of his neighbour Salam. But after a few minutes, the herd attacked the house of Salam.
   All the people, except Abul Kashem’s son Jashim, managed to flee the house of Salam. The elephants later trampled Jashim to death.
   Earlier, four members of a family were trampled to death by wild elephants at Lama upazila on Thursday.

The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, vowed to target problem families Monday as he talked tough on knife crime after a recent spate of high-profile deaths including four in 24 hours in London last week.
   Brown said parents must take responsibility for their children, adding there were 110,000 families whose children were at risk of becoming prolific offenders.
   The worst 20,000 could face tough sanctions including eviction if the situation does not improve, he added at his monthly news conference.
   ‘We need to make it absolutely clear to everyone, but especially young people, that in our country there are boundaries of acceptable behaviour, that it is completely unacceptable to carry a knife,’ he said.
   ‘We need to focus on the around one in 20 young people who commit half of all youth crime. These are the families whose children are disrupting the classrooms or, worse, roaming the streets committing crime.’
   A string of fatal knife attacks on young people have dominated the headlines in the British press in recent weeks – some 20 teenagers have been killed this year in the capital alone.
   Brown’s government Monday faced criticism from a senior doctor after the home office announced plans Sunday to force young people caught with weapons to be taken to hospital emergency rooms to see victims receiving treatment.
   Brown told the press conference that this was just one of a range of measures being considered.