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The attorney general, Fida M Kamal, resigned on Wednesday.
   ‘I have tendered my resignation,’ Fida Kamal told reporters at about 8:15pm at the law ministry where he attended a meeting behind closed doors with the law adviser, AF Hassan Ariff, for about four hours and three quarters.
   Asked about the reason for his resignation, he said, ‘I have resigned on personal grounds.’
   Sources in the attorney general’s office said the resignation came after a recent tug of war between the military-controlled interim government and the highest law officer of the government over a number of issues, including promulgation of the Government Attorney Service Ordinance 2008, establishment of the government attorney services directorate, conflicts between the attorney general’s office and various government organisations and agencies and non-appearance of Fida Kamal for hearing in various important cases.
   Fida Kamal, however, made no comment when he was asked whether any difference of opinion with the government prompted him to resign.
   He was appointed attorney general on February 5, 2007. Before assuming the office of attorney general, he had been additional attorney general since June 26, 2002.
   His resignation came after the High Court on July 13 had ruled the president could promulgate no ordinance making provisions not directly related to elections.
   Speculations had been rife for some days in different quarters, including the legal arena, over the possibility of his resignation.
   In his tenure as attorney general, Fida Kamal did not appear in courts during the hearing in various important cases, including the cases involving the Emergency Powers Rules, cases against former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, and the writ petition challenging the Supreme Judicial Council Ordinance 2008.
   In almost all cases in which he did not appear, the government lost the legal battle and this has angered the interim administration, sources in the law ministry said.
   Lastly, the High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Huq and Justice Abu Tarique had asked Fida Kamal to appear during the hearing in a writ petition that challenged the authority of the interim government to promulgate ordinances.
   The court finally delivered the verdict in the case on July 13 giving a rule that the president could promulgate no ordinance making provisions not directly related to elections.
   His absence in the hearing in such important cases was found by different government offices and agencies as deliberate, the law ministry sources said.
   Sources in his office also said different offices and agencies recently questioned him about such of his absence.
   He also angered the authorities by not giving traditional felicitations to the immediate past chief justice on his retirement and the present chief justice on his assumption of office.
   For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, an attorney general refrained from giving felicitations to the outgoing or the new chief justice. Fida Kamal had told New Age at the time that he had gone by the decision of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
   Fida Kamal recently got involved in a tug of war with the government as it promulgated the Government Attorney Services Ordinance 2008 on May 18 and formed the government attorney services directorate on June 2 without consulting him.
   He opposed the ordinance and the formation of the directorate, formed to regulate the services of the government law officers, as the ordinance had no role for the the attorney general in regulating the services.
   According to the sources in his office, he had also been in conflict with the government over the relationship between his office and government offices and agencies. He had also made some recommendations on the issues, but the government allegedly did not heed them.

The chief adviser to the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has urged the Election Commission to complete polls to most of the 482 upazilas before parliamentary elections and to the rest of the upazilas soon after the national polls.
   The chief adviser expressed his desire at a meeting with the election commissioners on Saturday and the commission agreed to the proposal, meeting sources said.
   The schedule for polls to the rest of the upazilas will be announced before the national polls. The schedule for the first phase of upazila parishad elections will be announced in the middle of August aiming to hold the polls in October.
   A day after the meeting, election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain on Sunday said that the EC had planned to hold upazila polls in two phases – elections to about 300-350 upazila parishads in the first phase and to the rest in the second phase after the national polls. The chief election commissioner, Shamsul Huda, however, on July 9 said that as the Election Commission was holding city corporation and municipality polls at the request of the government, the political parties and the government should come to an understanding on holding of upazila parishad polls before the national elections.
   According to new laws, the commission is entitled to set the polls date.
   The EC is making preparations in full gear to hold upazila elections amid the state of emergency despite strong opposition from major political parties.
   The commission is preparing lists of probable polling centres and drafting rules for upazila polls. The commission in June also floated tenders for supply of election-related materials for upazila polls. Electoral rolls in around 330 upazilas will be ready by the third week of July, facilitating the commission’s plan to announce polls schedule for upazila councils.

Secretaries to the government on Wednesday pressed taking all possible measures to contain commodity price spiral and increasing salaries of public servants to help fixed-income groups cope with exorbitant living costs, said official sources.
   The top bureaucrats, at a routine meeting at the Cabinet Division with cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder in the chair, also expressed their concerns about a steep rise in prices of essential goods.
   ‘We have iterated our proposal for salary increase for government officials and employees as the fixed-income groups are already choking to survive in the present situation… The government employees are really hard-pressed,’ said a secretary as he talked with New Age after the two-hour meeting.
   The secretaries asked for making the proposed pay commission functional immediately, he added, saying the top officials had stressed the need for taking all possible steps to check soaring prices before Ramadan.
   The senior officials further raised the issue of extending the retirement age of public servants from 57 to 62, said the official who attended the meeting that reviewed the overall situation of the country with a focus on food, power, fertiliser. ‘The secretaries concerned have been asked to make all the preparations in advance for possible flooding and to strengthen monitoring system to keep stable the commodity prices during Ramadan,’ Ali Imam told reporters.
   He, however, said all officials had been directed to assist the Election Commission for a smooth holding of the elections.
   The food secretary informed the meeting the government would have sufficient food grains in its stock and said there would be no food crisis. The secretaries recommended giving priority to agriculture sector in terms of power and gas supply.
   The first such meeting this year was held on April 28 where secretaries proposed increase in pay scales for government employees in view of rising commodity prices. The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to chair the next meeting of the secretaries at the Cabinet Division in August.

Apparently disturbed by the wide difference between the import and market prices of some essential commodities, the ministry of commerce will hold two meetings today with businessmen to discuss the issue.
   Commerce secretary Feroz Ahmed will preside over the meetings.
   A number of essentials, including rice, pulses and soya bean oil, are being sold on retail market at prices much higher than their import costs, according to sources in the export and import controller’s office.
   The government is extremely worried at the businessmen’s tendency to maximise profits, the sources added.
   They said the meeting would scrutinise the import and selling prices of essential items and try to find out the reasons of the wide difference.
   The commerce ministry has already obtained necessary information about the imported commodities, including rice, pulses and edible oil. The ministry has also collected the local market prices of the items.
   The sources also said that the meeting would also discuss ways to keep the prices stable during the coming Ramadan.
   According to the import and export controller, the rice imported at Tk 29 a kilogram was selling at Tk 35 to Tk 38 per kg on the retail market. Pulses imported for Tk 72-80 per kg were selling at Tk 110 per kg while soya bean oil, the import cost of which was Tk 105 per kg on an average, was being sold at Tk 122 to 125.

The High Court on Wednesday granted bail for a month to former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s parliamentary affairs adviser Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and former BNP lawmakers Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu, MA Hashem and MAH Selim in separate graft cases.
   The bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad also stayed for a month the proceedings of the cases pending with the special judges courts, set up on the Jatiya Sangsad Complex to try high-profile corruption suspects.
   The same court asked the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain in four weeks why the cases filed by the commission against the four people for amassing illegal wealth and concealing information on assets should not be quashed.
   Appearing in the High Court, defence counsel Rafique-ul Huq said the investigation of all graft cases must be completed within 60 days in keeping with the commission’s law, but the authorities failed to comply with its law in filing the investigation reports with courts against the four, now behind bars.
   ‘If the commission fails to go by the law, the court considers bail to the suspects behind the bar,’ Huq said.
   The commission’s counsel Moazzem Hossain opposed the bail petitions, saying, ‘It is not mandatory to submit the investigation report to court within 60 days.’
   The army-led joint forces arrested SQ Chowdhury on February 4, 2007, Selim on March 8, 2007 and Hashem on May 28, 2008, while Pintu surrendered in court on February 15, 2007. All are named on the list of corruption suspects announced by the commission.
   The commission sued SQ Chowdhury and Pintu on June 13, 2007 and pressed charges against them in October. Hashem was sued on December 5, 2007 and MAH Selim on December 6, 2007.

The two-day Bangladesh-India foreign secretary-level meeting is scheduled to begin in New Delhi where issues of security, border management, water resources and equitable sharing of the waters of common rivers, economic and trade-related issues, and cooperation in agriculture will come up for discussion.
   Apart from the above-mentioned issues, the two South Asian next-door neighbours will also discuss some other contentious issues that have remained stalled for decades. Those issues include exchange of enclaves and lands in adverse possession, allegations and counter-allegations of harbouring terrorist elements, demarcation of the maritime boundary, and demarcation of 6.5 kilometres of land boundary.
   Foreign secretary Touhid Hossain will lead the Bangladesh delegation while the Indian external affairs secretary Shivshankar Menon will head the hosts.
   The Bangladesh side will highlight the need to take measures to reduce the huge trade deficit, which currently stands at more than $1.9 billion, said a foreign ministry release.
   Bangladesh in this respect  will urge India to take unilateral measures that include removal of non- tariff barriers by India on Bangladeshi exports, duty-free access of Bangladeshi products to Indian markets and mutual recognition of standards.
   Dhaka will flag other issues of interest that include Implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement, demarcation of the remaining 6.5 km border, early convening of the meeting of the Joint Boundary Working Group, unfettered access through Tinbigha Corridor, almost daily killing of unarmed civilians by India’s Border Security Force, and early convening of the 37th session of the Joint Rivers Commission.
   Bangladesh will also propose the beginning of talks related to maritime boundary delimitation that was last held in December, 1980.
   Bangladesh will also seek the timely delivery of the remaining amount of the contracted 5 lakh tonnes of non-Basmati parboiled rice.
   Some concrete proposals regarding cooperation in agriculture, based on the existing memorandum of understanding, will also be discussed.

The foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, has termed transit an ‘integrated issue’ and said that the government would address the matter without compromising Bangladesh’s interest.
   ‘It [transit] is an integrated issue. It has been on the table, it will remain on the table, but we will address the matter in a way that preserves our interests,’ he told reporters on Wednesday after a meeting with Jatiya Ganatantrik Party.
   He was clarifying the government’s position on land transit facilities for India to its landlocked ‘seven sisters’ states through Bangladeshi territory, as the party asked the government not to allow transit facilities.
   New Delhi has long been pursuing Dhaka to obtain the transit facility, and it is highly likely that the Indian side will raise the matter in the two-day India-Bangladesh foreign secretary-level talks beginning in New Delhi today.
   The Jatiya Ganatantrik Party asked the government not to go for negotiation on the transit issue before settling a number of outstanding issues — almost daily killing of innocent Bangladeshis by the Indian border forces, inequitable sharing of the water of trans-boundary rivers and border demarcation, among other issues.
   ‘The successive past governments have failed to protect the country’s interest. This government should not hold any discussion unless the pending issues are resolved,’ the chairman of the party, Shafiul Alam Prodhan, told a joint press briefing at the Chief Adviser’s Office.
   In response to the demand, the foreign affairs adviser, who also participated in the political dialogue, said that the government would neither be afraid of launching negotiations nor would it abandon any negotiation out of fear.
   ‘We will make every diplomatic move in favour of our interest so that our national sovereignty remains protected. We will not take any initiative if we see it is against our interests,’ said the foreign adviser, adding that it was the government’s unequivocal position.
   Apart from the transit issue, the party raised a number of social and political issues at the meeting that lasted for more than one and a half hour. The Chief Adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, led the government side.
   The party asked the government to take measures for bringing an end to the present system of caretaker administrations to hold elections, ensure a logical balance of power between the president and prime minister, hold accountable the foreign diplomats meddling in Bangladesh’s domestic affairs and form a supreme religious commission, along with other issues.
   It observed that the government has failed to arrest the price-hikes of essentials and asked it to introduce ration cards for the poor people across the country to help them cope with the soaring prices.
   The party’s chairman said a state of sluggishness has gripped the government, especially in terms of expediting the current anti-corruption drive.
   ‘It seems the government is compromising with corruption,’ said the party’s chief, referring to the release of a few politicians, who were detained for alleged involvement in graft, from the jails on ‘humanitarian grounds’.
   Taking the floor, the commerce and education adviser said, ‘The question of compromise does not arise.’
   What the government is trying to do is to create an atmosphere of confidence without compromising ethics. It wants to go forward with all the parties for a holding a meaningful election, and ensuring post-election stability and long-term growth, he added.

The cross-section of people, including politicians, thinkers, economists, teachers, physicians, political scientists and business leaders on Wednesday harshly criticised the foreign quarters for meddling in internal political affairs of Bangladesh.
   They condemned the political parties, their leaders and others who hang out with foreigners to talk local political issues.
   Some of them said the US ambassador in Dhaka, James F Moriarty, should be declared persona non grata for interfering in local political affairs.
   They said this in reaction to a ‘tea party’ organised by Moriarty at his residence at Baridhara for a select group of politicians and others to discuss political issues, including the state of emergency and parliamentary and local government polls.
   Leaders of political parties, including the Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Party, told him the interim government must hold parliamentary elections before local government polls, especially the upazila elections, and the state of emergency must be lifted before polls. The tea party lasted for two hours and a half from from 4:00pm Tuesday.
   ‘It is regrettable that foreigners are persistently poking their nose in our political affairs and politicians are hobnobbing with them,’ said the Communist Party general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim.
   ‘The US ambassador should be declared persona non grata for interfering in internal political affairs here,’ he said.
   The Workers Party president, Rashed Khan Menon, said, ‘It is very unfortunate that foreigners are openly meddling in our internal affairs.’
   ‘It is demeaning the political parties and the history of politics of Bangladesh,’ he said.
   Eminent thinker Farhad Mazhar said the presence of the leaders of major political parties at this sort of meeting exposed their ‘minimum perception’ of sovereignty.
   The leaders of major political parties such as the Awami League, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami do not sit across the table to discuss local political problems, he said, ‘but they share wine and chips at the meetings sponsored by foreign embassies.’
   He said the ambassador should be declared persona non grata for poking his nose in Bangladesh’s internal political affairs. ‘According to the Vienna Convention, he committed an offence by formally inviting politicians to discuss local political issues.’
   He said the politicians and others, who joined the meeting, should be arrested and questioned for their role in the meeting.
   The Jatiya Mukti Council president, Badruddin Umar, and the secretary, Faizul Hakim, in a statement said the meeting between the US ambassador and the leaders of the Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and the Progressive Democratic Party was a part of a conspiracy against the country.
   The Dhaka Community Hospital chairman, Quazi Quamruzzaman, said, ‘It is regrettable that our politicians instantly rush if foreigners invite them [politicians].’
   ‘Foreigners only work for their own interests. They do not share our interests,’ he said. ‘We must protect our interests.’
   Political scientist and Dhaka University professor Talukdar Moniruzzaman said, ‘Foreigners get the chance to interfere in our internal politics as politicians hang out with them [foreigners] without considering the consequences.’
   ‘Politicians must be careful in responding to foreigners’ invitation,’ he said.
   Economist Anu Muhammad said, ‘Foreign embassies, especially the US embassy, have become the centre point of political affairs of Bangladesh, and the ruling class, especially politicians, is gradually becoming dependent on the embassies.’
   The US government signed some secret treaties, which undermine the sovereignty of Bangladesh, using the members of that class in the past, he said. ‘The people should identify the members of this class and they must be exposed.’
   BRAC University professor Piash Karim said, ‘It is a reflection of a new colonial attitude of the country [United States]’.
   ‘It [Tuesday’s tea party] also reflects the overall political bankruptcy here as the politicians went to the US embassy to give their views on local politics,’ he said.
   ‘We should be able to resolve our political problems on our own,’ he said. ‘We should reclaim our politics.’
   Former Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries president Mir Nasir Hossain said, ‘Our leaders have developed a culture to request foreigners to resolve internal political problems. They [politicians] do not even talk with each other and foreigners are taking this as a chance to interfere in local politics. It is disgraceful.’
   ‘Our leaders must uphold their dignity,’ he said.
   The Bangladesh Political Science Association president, Ataur Rahman, said, ‘Interference by foreigners in local politics is not desirable… But it is a reality and our politicians have accepted it.’

The US ambassador in Dhaka, James F Moriarty, held a second round of talks with politicians, journalists and diplomats on Wednesday night to take stock of the political situation in Bangladesh.
   ‘The US ambassador hosted a dinner and discussed with us the present political situation, including the issues of the state of emergency, parliamentary and local government elections and post-election scenario’, a politician who attended the dinner told New Age.
   The ambassador wanted to know why the political parties were opposing holding of elections under the state of emergency and elections to local government bodies before parliamentary polls.
   He also wanted to get an idea about the post-election scenario.
   In identical tone, Awami League and BNP leaders, who attended the dinner, told him that the government should hold parliamentary elections before polls to local government bodies.
   They also stressed the need for lifting of the state of emergency to make the elections credible.
   Moriarty, who hosted the dinner in honour of British high commissioner Stefan Evans, will be flying to the United States next week to report to the State Department on the political situation in Bangladesh.
   Gana Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain, Bangladesh Nationalist Party vice-chairman Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf and joint-secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan, The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, Awami League organising secretary Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Jamaat-e-Islami organising secretary Barrister Abdur Razzak, Abul Hasan Chowdhury of PDP, UNDP resident representative Renata Lok Dessallien, Australian high commissioner Douglas Foskett, German ambassador Frank Meyke and UK high commissioner Stefan Evans attended the dinner.
   Barrister Abdur Razzak claimed that they did not discuss anything political at the dinner. ‘It was simply a dinner’, he told New Age.
   Moriarty also hosted a tea party for the politicians on Tuesday afternoon. The politicians who attended the tea party were also present at Wednesday’s dinner except AL acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam and publicity secretary Asaduzzaman Noor.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday sent former lawmaker Mirza Azam, also the Juba League general secretary, to jail after he had surrendered in a graft case.
   Metropolitan senior special Azizul Haque issued the order after hearing a petition filed by Azam’s counsels seeking bail in the case filed by the commission on January 10.
   Azam on July 14 surrendered in the High Court and sought bail, but the court directed him to surrender in lower court in 10 days.
   As the police were taking the Juba League leader to jail, a few hundreds of his followers chanted slogan on the court premises.
   Moving the bail petition in the court, counsel Khandaker Abdul Mannan argued Azam should be granted bail as the commission had not filed the charge sheet with court within 60 days from the filing of the case in keeping with the commission’s law.
   The charge sheet in the case was filed 179 days after the filing of the case, invalidating the charges pressed, the counsel said.
   The commission filed the case against Azam with the Ramna police alleging he owned wealth of Tk 64.29 lakh illegally. It also filed the charge sheet with the court on July 7 against him of amassing of Tk 53 lakh in illegal earnings.
   The judge, Azizul Haque, on July 9 issued a warrant for the arrest of Azam as he was shown absconding in the charge sheet.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was arrested Wednesday, the police said, over allegations that he sodomised a male aide which threaten to thwart his plan to seize power.
   Anwar’s wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she feared for his safety, after the events of a decade ago when he was sacked as deputy premier, beaten up by the police chief, and jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges.
   ‘My concern is for my husband’s safety and we want access to see him,’ said Wan Azizah, a parliamentarian whose Keadilan party leads a three-member opposition alliance.
   ‘I feel apprehensive because my husband is 10 years down the road, he is not that well, he has a bad back, he’s had surgery and from a brief conversation, he said they (police) were not gentle,’ she said.
   Earlier Wednesday Anwar dismissed the accusations as a conspiracy to prevent him from seizing power, and said it was a re-run of past events when he was slapped with charges widely seen as politically motivated.
   ‘There’s no basis for this whole fabrication and malicious attacks. It is just a repeat of the 1998 script. You can see the pattern,’ he told reporters. ‘I will challenge them on every ground.’
   The charges threaten to derail Anwar’s political comeback, and his plans to oust the government with the help of defecting lawmakers, after landmark March elections that handed the opposition unprecedented gains.
   Keadilan said Anwar was in a vehicle approaching his home when the road was blocked by 10 police cars and a contingent of 20 balaclava-clad special forces who took him to Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.
   His lawyer Sankara Nair criticised authorities for pouncing just an hour before Anwar had agreed to appear at the headquarters for questioning, and said it was unclear how long he would be detained.
   He said that by Tuesday evening Anwar was still giving his statement to the police, and had taken a break to perform his Muslim prayers and to rest his back which was troubling him.
   Meanwhile, Anwar has been taken to hospital and is believed to be undergoing a medical examination, his party said.
   ‘We think that he’s being taken for a medical examination but we’re not sure,’ said Tian Chua, information chief for Anwar’s Keadilan party which leads a three-member opposition alliance.
   ‘I don’t think this is necessary. If you need a DNA swab you can do it up there (in police headquarters), you don’t need to take a man to hospital for a DNA swab,’ he told reporters. ‘This is a big game being played out.’
   Deputy national police chief Ismail Omar confirmed Anwar had been arrested, saying he was a suspect in the sodomy case.
   ‘He is not being charged with anything yet, don’t jump to conclusions,’ Ismail said.
   ‘We have to record his statement to complete our investigations,’ he said. ‘Once the facts are in we can make a decision.’
   Police can detain him for 24 hours, after which they must apply for a court order that would allow them to keep him for up to 14 days without charge.
   It was not clear why Anwar was taken into custody even though he had agreed to be questioned over assault allegations levelled by Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a 23-year-old who was a volunteer in his office.
   Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is illegal in predominantly Muslim Malaysia and carries a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment.
   Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan described the arrest as regrettable and said police appeared to have acted because they thought Anwar would not turn up for the interrogation.
   ‘The treatment of Anwar will receive the utmost public scrutiny and we really hope we are not seeing a repeat of the fiasco of 1998,’ she said. ‘They didn’t need to arrest him, that’s not a very good start.’
   Keadilan issued an immediate call for its supporters to rally outside the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.
   The mood there was tense, with up to 100 armed officers watching over about 600 protesters, with water cannons at the ready as opposition leaders addressed the crowd.
   The Keadilan vice-president, Syed Husin Ali, said Anwar had sent a message calling for restraint, for fear the government would use protests as a justification for a wider crackdown.
   ‘He calls upon his supporters and the people of Malaysia to remain calm and to reject any provocation which would give a pretext for any emergency action to be taken,’ he said.
   The police chief Musa Hassan warned opposition supporters against creating any disturbances and said authorities would ‘not hesitate to act’ against those who stepped outside the law.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission holds an open meeting with Petrobangla and other stakeholders today on the proposal to increase gas tariffs for consumers of different categories by 18 per cent to 65 per cent.
   Petrobangla will formally present its proposal to increase gas price before the commission and stakeholders such as consumers’ association and representatives of business and trade bodies. The meeting will be open to all.
   Petrobangla, on behalf of its four gas distribution companies — Titas, Bakhrabad, Jalalabad and Paschimanchal — and the Gas Transmission Company Limited submitted an application to the commission in the last week of June seeking to increase gas prices for consumers of all categories.
   It proposed the gas price for domestic use should go up by around 50 per cent, industries by 18 per cent, power plants by 21 per cent, fertiliser 41 per cent and captive power plants by 65 per cent to reduce losses of Petrobangla.
   ‘Petrobangla will be given the chance to justify why it wants to increase gas prices for consumers at Thursday’s meeting. The stakeholders, on the other hand, will give their opinions. After that, we will decide whether we will accept the Petrobangla application to consider its proposal to increase gas prices,’ the commission chairman, Golam Rahman, told New Age on Wednesday.
   ‘If we accept the Petrobangla application, an open public hearing will be held to make a decision on whether gas prices will be increased and by how much and when,’ he said.
   Commission officials, however, are puzzled at a recent announcement of the chief adviser’s special assistant M Tamim that the government would not allow Petrobangla to increase gas prices in near future. The government is likely to allow price increase only for captive power plants to stop theft by a section of industries
   Tamim said even if the commission approved increased gas tariffs, the government would not allow Petrobangla to enforce the new rate soon.
   ‘We are not saying that we will approve the Petrobangla proposal to increase gas tariffs. But the announcement of the special assistant is a bit puzzling as the commission, according to the BERC Act, holds the jurisdiction to fix when the prices will go up,’ said an official of the commission , a quasi-judicial body.
   Tamim, however, recently told New Age the commission would approve the new rate in keeping with the act, but as the gas entities are owned by the government, it would not allow Petrobangla to enforce the new rate.
   ‘The government can say it will not allow its companies to increase gas price, but the act says the commission has the right to say “yes” or “no”,’ the official said.

The military-controlled interim government on Wednesday filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking a halt of the High Court verdict that had observed the caretaker government could promulgate no ordinance making provisions not directly related to elections.
   Advocate-on-record B Hossain filed the provisional petition on behalf of the government.
   Deputy attorney general Zahurul Islam Mukul told reporters the petition might come up for hearing with the chamber judge of the Appellate Division on Sunday.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Huq and Justice Abu Tarique on July 13 delivered the judgement observing the caretaker government could promulgate no ordinance making provisions not directly related to elections.
   The court, however, certified that the case involved a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the constitution, allowing the government to appeal against the judgement. It means the government will not need to get permission of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court to file the appeal.
   The court also observed, ‘The president and the caretaker government do not represent the people… The shorter the tenure of such an undemocratic government, the better it is for all.’
   The court came up with the observations in its judgement on a writ petition filed by the Marriage Registrars’ Association president, Peerjada Syed Shariullah, and five other marriage registrars challenging the legality of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Ordinance 2008.
   The court also declared unconstitutional and void the ordinance, which empowered the deputy commissioners, instead of the law ministry, with the authority to hire and fire marriage registrars.
   Observing that the powers of the caretaker government are narrower than those of a politically elected government, the court said, ‘An ordinance can only be promulgated by the caretaker government if is directly related to elections. Otherwise, that would be without lawful authority.’
   The court further observed, ‘If the power of the president is widened at the demand of particular quarters beyond the constitutional framework, the balance of the people’s powers would be jeopardised.’
   ‘Before promulgating any ordinance, the president must be satisfied that the elections will be hampered unless the ordinance is promulgated. Otherwise, the president cannot promulgate such an ordinance,’ the court said in the verdict.
   The judgement said, ‘In general, the president, in the exercise of his functions, acts in accordance with the advice of the prime minister. But, under Article 58E of the constitution [during the tenure of the caretaker government] the president does not act in accordance with the advice of the chief adviser to the caretaker government. The council of advisers also cannot advise him for promulgation of any ordinance. They can only request him. The president promulgates an ordinance on his own responsibility and power in accordance with Article 93 and 58D.’
   Referring to a judgement delivered by the US Supreme Court in 1608, the court said, ‘The president cannot go beyond the powers given to him by the constitution. If any person is aggrieved by an ordinance promulgated by the president, s/he can seek redress before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has the power to consider such a petition and to examine the constitutionality of the ordinance.’
   ‘Every citizen and every person engaged in the service of the republic are bound to go by every article of the constitution. If the constitution is violated, however slightly, for some reason the probability arises for its complete destruction in the end,’ the court observed. ‘No authority can violate the constitution on any grounds, as none is above law.’
   The court further said, ‘All powers in the republic belong to the people. In Bangladesh, elected parliament runs the state. The prime minister and the cabinet are accountable to the parliament for their functions. It means the elected government is accountable to the people.’
   Commenting on the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Ordinance 2008, promulgated on February 20, the court said, ‘The promulgation of the ordinance is without lawful authority. So, the ordinance is declared ultra vires of the constitution and void.’
   The writ petition was filed on March 3 and the High Court on the day issued a rule on the government to explain the legality of the promulgation of the ordinance.
   Senior lawyers Rafique-ul Huq, Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Azamalul Hossain argued in the case as amici curiae while Quamrul Islam Siddique and Joy Rahman appeared for the petitioner and deputy attorney general Idris Khan for the government.
   The court had also appointed Kamal Hossain as amicus curiae and asked the attorney general, Fida M Kamal, to make their arguments in the case. Both of them, however, did not turn up.

Arafat Rahman, the ailing youngest son of the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, is likely to be released from prison in a day or two for treatment abroad, according to sources in the home ministry.
   ‘The formal process for the release of Arafat Rahman will be completed in a day or two,’ he said.
   Arafat’s lawyer Sanaullah Mia told New Age Wednesday evening he would go to the home ministry this morning to had in necessary papers to complete the official procedure for his release.
   The army-led joint forces on September 3, 2007 arrested Arafat along with his mother at their house in the Dhaka Cantonment.
   The government implicated him in two cases. Arafat has been undergoing treatment in a prison cell in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital since November 12, 2007. Arafat’s wife Syeda Shameela Rahman on May 24 asked the government’s permission to take her husband abroad for treatment. The government on June 5 formed a five-member medical board to examine him as his physical condition was gradually deteriorating.
   The National Chest Diseases Hospital director, Mustafizur Rahman, who headed the medical board for Arafat, also suggested that he should be treated abroad.

India’s embattled coalition government has been hit by allegations it is offering bribes and lucrative jobs as it tries to muster the support needed to survive a parliamentary confidence vote next week.
   If the government loses, the world’s largest democracy will go into early elections, and opposition parties – especially the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party – will be given a big political boost.
   With the stakes so high, opponents of the dominant Congress party have alleged big money backhanders are on offer to fence-sitting MPs who could tip next Tuesday’s vote either way.
   The leader of the Communist Party of India, AB Bardhan, publicly accused the government of putting together a war chest containing millions of dollars of bribe money.
   ‘No one has principles any more,’ Bardhan fumed in a public meeting on Monday. ‘It’s not a question of a few million, but 250 million rupees (5.8 million dollars) for horsetrading.’
   Meanwhile, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, sparked more criticism for meeting with one of the feuding billionaire Ambani brothers, whose businesses make up about 5 per cent of the Asian giant’s economic output, reports Reuters/bdnews24.com.
   Samajwadi’s leader Amar Singh has close links to Anil Ambani, the head of Reliance Communications, who has been in a long dispute with his even richer and elder brother Mukesh, chairman of Reliance Industries.
   So when Mukesh Ambani met the prime minister on Monday, it sparked headlines that he was trying to defend his business interests amid fears his brother now enjoyed greater access to the government thanks to his SP links.
   The meeting followed Amar Singh saying his party would push for a windfall tax on private oil refiners, a move that would directly hurt Mukesh’s business.
   The confidence vote was triggered by the withdrawal of support from a bloc of communist and left-wing parties opposed to a civilian nuclear deal that Singh struck with the United States in 2005.
   The government says the deal would help meet India’s exploding energy demands.
   The left and the BJP say the deal would tie India too close to Washington, and they are also railing over high inflation, notably food and fuel prices.
   A rebel MP from the Samajwadi Party – which has promised to vote with the coalition – claimed he has also been offered a financial windfall or a top job should he tow the party line and help keep the government in office.
   ‘I had expressed my objection to supporting the government,’ Munawar Hasan said by telephone from his parliamentary constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
   ‘Very soon after that, I received a call on behalf of parties in New Delhi telling me that I could get a cabinet post or money – 200 million or 250 million rupees – if I voted for the government,’ Hasan alleged.
   The government has angrily denied ‘either directly or indirectly’ approaching Hasan, or any other MP.
   ‘We are seeking support of MPs no doubt, but there are no offers of money or ministerships,’ a Congress spokesman said.
   Party leader Sonia Gandhi has predicted the government will sail through the test – but the numbers suggest there could be plenty of nail-biting next week.
   At present, the government has 225 assured seats plus 39 Samajwadi Party MPs it can count on in India’s 545-member Lok Sabha, or lower house – leaving it still slightly short of the 272 votes it needs to win.
   The BJP, who themselves lost a confidence vote in 1999 by a single ballot, now smell blood and has slammed what it said were the Congress party’s ‘desperate efforts to stay in power.’
   ‘Trying to save the government by this method is unacceptable,’ BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, saying his party was also lobbying hard for support but with ‘no money involved.’
   Still, few Indians find the allegations at all surprising – given that for many people paying bribes remains a part of everyday life when dealing with officialdom.
   Author and political analyst Rasheed Kidwai said high-level corruption was something that is ‘very difficult to prove and so it thrives.’
   Only eight years ago, former Congress premier PV Narasimha Rao was found guilty of bribing MPs to win a confidence vote in 1993. But he was cleared by a higher court 18 months later.
   And the Indian chapter of global anti-graft watchdog Transparency International said the wheeling and dealing of coalition politics meant corruption was only to be expected.
   Bribing MPs for votes ‘is not unknown in Indian politics’ said Transparency International’s India representative, RH Tahiliani.
   In the present context, ‘not all MPs want to face elections’ and will do anything to survive, he said.

At least 21 Indian commandos were killed Wednesday in a Maoist rebel attack in the mineral-rich but impoverished east of the country, officials said.
   The attack came as top officials met in New Delhi to try and devise a strategy to stamp out the worsening left-wing guerrilla revolt in a large swathe of the country left out of India’s economic boom.
   Federal home ministry and state officials said a special counter-insurgency unit was hit by a landmine blast while patrolling Malkangiri district, a known Maoist stronghold in the far south of Orissa state.
   ‘So far we can confirm 21 policemen belonging to special operations group were killed in the landmine blast,’ Orissa’s police chief, Gopaal Nand, said in state capital Bhubaneswar.
   ‘The policemen were travelling to locate landmines, as the rebels had organised roadblocks on a strategic road,’ he said, adding that fighting was continuing into the night.
   A group of special commandos was attacked on a reservoir in the same area on June 29. That incident left around 35 dead and dozens injured.
   Rebel activity is mainly concentrated in Chhattisgarh state, which borders Orissa, but has spread to around half of India’s 29 states.
   The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has described the rebels, known here as Naxalites, as the biggest threat to the country’s internal security.
   The latest heavy death toll to be inflicted on the overstretched and poorly-trained security forces operating in the east coincided with a fresh government effort to come up with ways to tackle the rebellion.
   The Indian home secretary, Madhukar Gupta, told reporters Wednesday’s meeting would lead to the creation of new, specialised commando units to be deployed in the worst-hit Indian states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
   ‘Moreover the home ministry will also set up six jungle warfare and counter-insurgency schools this year,’ he said, adding the work will be started ‘without any delay.’
   New Delhi has refused to hold peace talks with the shadowy rebels unless they renounce violence, and has also struggled to come up with a strategy to battle the guerrillas.
   Some officials have called for a massive security operation of the kind used to battle insurgents in Indian Kashmir, but the heavy-handed approach adopted so far has exposed federal and state officials to fierce criticism from rights groups.
   On Tuesday, US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch accused the government of backing an anti-Maoist vigilante group that has forced at least 100,000 people from their homes in Chhattisgarh state.
   Other officials have said the focus needs to be placed on improving living conditions in India’s impoverished hinterland.
   According to official figures, tribal villagers in the insurgency-hit east have no more than 35 cents a day to spend – the lowest in the country – providing a fertile rebel recruiting ground.
   Analyst PV Ramana, with the Institute of Defence and Studies and Analyses, said New Delhi lacked a ‘clear vision and an accurate assessment of the Maoist strength’ – unlike the Maoists, who are known to be well-organised.
   He said there was also an ‘unwillingness to accept that this is a political problem.’

A noted economist and former adviser of a caretaker government on Wednesday suggested that the government should immediately import rice, even at higher prices, and also begin sale of rice procured from the domestic market.
   ‘The government has to establish market stability by importing rice and wheat as well as by ensuring that there is no panic stocking of food-grains by farmers and dealers,’ said Wahiduddin Mahmud at a seminar organised by the Institute of Microfinance at the Palli Karma-Shahayak Foundation.
   Despite a slightly declining trend in grain prices, he insisted, it would not be wise for the government to encourage the private sector to buy rice from the international market and sell it at commercial rates. The rice should be imported by the government, even if some financial risk is involved, for making the price affordable to the lower-income groups, said Wahiduddin.
   ‘I don’t know whether or not the bureaucrats know that the quality of food-grains will automatically deteriorate if they are stocked for more than six months. So the government should now start selling the rice that has so far been procured from the domestic market,’ said Wahiduddin.
   ‘The international prices of rice are likely to be lower than the current values in the second half of this [calendar] year, and that is likely to favourably affect domestic prices in Bangladesh,’ said Hassan Zaman, a World Bank economist, while presenting the keynote paper on ‘Global Food Crisis: Evolution, Impact and Policy Response’.
   The food inflation in Bangladesh is not as high as in other countries of the region, he pointed out. Also, the options of various safety net programmes are available here, Zaman told the seminar that was chaired by the executive director the institute, MA Baqui Khalily.
   In the past one month after the harvesting of Boro rice, the price of food-grains, especially rice, rose by 10 per cent — a rate which Wahiduddin Mahmud found perplexing in view of the costs involved in the stocking of rice by the traders.
   ‘Traders understand the market better than the economists do. But a volatile situation may lead to confusion in business decisions on the part of all,’ said the economist, referring to the rice stocked this year after the Boro harvest. The country has a shortfall of food-grains that is between 2.5 million to 3 million tonnes, which is filled in by mostly private imports.
   Dwelling on the impacts of food price-hike, Wahiduddin mentioned that urban industrial labourers, such as garment workers, were one of the most affected groups and the government has no safety net programmes for their protection.
   He dismissed the debates on rise or fall in the level of poverty estimated by traditional methods, saying that symptoms of poverty such as infant malnutrition and hunger had not been calculated properly. ‘Debates on the magic number of people living below the poverty line are not relevant for policymakers,’ he said, referring to the finance adviser’s statement that contradicted the local research organisations’ projection on the rise in poverty.
   The economist said that it was more important to identify the groups of people, both in the rural and urban areas, who had been most harmed by the price-hike of food items.

The hearing in charge framing against the detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia and seven others becomes uncertain after High Court stayed the case proceedings.
   Khandaker Kamal Uzzaman, the judge of the special judge’s court 9 set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, on Wednesday asked the defence counsels to submit by July 23 the certified copy of the High Court order, issued on July 9, which had stayed the proceedings.
   The High Court bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuq Hossain Ahmed on July 9 also issued a rule on the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain in four weeks why the filing and the proceedings of the case would not be declared illegal.
   The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on July 15 declined to halt the High Court order and asked the commission to file a regular petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court order.
   All the other accused in custody but Khaleda were produced in court amid heightened security.
   Khaleda’s counsel raised a question about Khaleda, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, not being produced in court. They pleaded the court should ask for explanation from the prison authorities.
   The judge, however, declined to pass such an order saying he could not pass any order as the records of the case were sent to the High Court.
   On the same grounds, he also refused to allow former law minister Moudud Ahmed, an accused in the case, to make submission.
   The court did not allow Moudud’s plea to talk with his counsels.

A Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader was killed in ‘crossfire’ between Rapid Action Battalion and his associates at Kashipur in Barisal city early Wednesday.
   The deceased was identified as Mashiul Alam Sentu, president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Barisal city unit and also former vice-president of BM College Students Union.
   RAB Barisal unit commander KM Mamunur Rashid said the plain-clothes RAB personnel arrested Sentu at Kataban area in Dhaka while he was returning from Dhaka University after taking part in token hunger strike Tuesday afternoon.
   During primary interrogation, Sentu confessed that he had a stock of hidden arms in Barisal, and he was handed over to RAB-8 at Mawa Ghat at early hours on Wednesday, the RAB official claimed.
   As a team of RAB-8 with Sentu went to Kashipur Bilbobari area nearby his house, his associates opened fire on RAB men and tried to snatch him, the official said, adding that Sentu was killed in crossfire while he was trying to flee at 4:15am.
   He also said two RAB men were injured and their car was damaged during the gunfight. An AK-47 rifle, a shutter gun, a revolver and a country-made gun and five rounds of cartridges were recovered from the spot.
   RAB sources said Sentu was a top criminal of the city and accused in 22 cases, including four murders. He would go into hiding whenever law enforcers conducted anti-crime operations, they said.
   Family members said the cases were lodged against Sentu on political reasons and he was acquitted of all the cases.
   Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir brought out procession on the BM College campus at noon protesting against the killing.
   Due to tense situation on the campus, the teachers postponed their scheduled programme against students’ movement launched accusing the teachers of corruption.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has said poverty alleviation is a must for lasting peace and sustainable development, but global warming and climate change is a major factor in Bangladesh that casts adverse impacts on poverty.
   The head of the interim government made the remark when visiting chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Ole Danbolt Mjos made a courtesy call on him at the Chief Adviser’s Office Wednesday afternoon.
   Fakhruddin said developing countries, particularly Bangladesh, were least responsible for climate change but worst sufferers from adversities stemming from climate change. He mentioned the two consecutive floods and powerful cyclone Sidr that wrought havoc on the country last year.
   He cited a prediction that a third of the landmass of Bangladesh might go under water following sea-level rise due to global warming, blamed on greenhouse gas emissions from the developed hemisphere of the world.
   He said the government wanted to advance by working with all, including private sector and non-governmental organisations, with the common objective of poverty alleviation and lasting peace.
   Adaptation and mitigation are being incorporated in the country’s development strategy, which needs a lot of funds and resources, the chief adviser said. So, the world community, particularly rich countries, historically emitters of greenhouse gases, should come forward with contribution to the countries vulnerable to climate change, he added.
   He hoped that the noble committee would make aware the world forums for contributing to vulnerable countries to minimise the adversities.
   The Nobel Committee chairman said bad climate newly added to poverty, which makes peace- and poverty-alleviation process risky.
   ‘If you cannot fight poverty, you cannot win peace,’ he was quoted as saying.
   Thanking the Nobel committee chairman for visiting Bangladesh, the chief adviser said he could see for himself the activities of the Grameen Bank, micro-credit and socioeconomic development.
   Mjos said Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank were good ingredients for good things for Bangladesh that works for peace and fights against poverty.
   The chairman said Grameen Bank’s role in women empowerment was remarkable.
   Referring to the day of announcement of winning Nobel Prize by Professor Yunus, the chief adviser said it was a great moment in the history of Bangladesh when people of the country burst into joy. Achieving the prestigious prize is a pride for the nation.
   Professor Yunus, who was present at the meeting, said it was the time now, not tomorrow, world community, particularly developed countries, came forward in reducing the adversities of climate change, coming up with specific modalities as the year 2050 is far long.
   He said the Grameen Bank was the only home-built organisation which got Nobel Prize as other organisations which got the Nobel were international organisations.
   Nobel committee chairman Mjos said Nobel prize enhanced prestige, visibility and credibility of Nobel winner as well as encouraged further carrying out his or her work for making contribution to people and the world.
   The chief adviser said micro-credit had brought about a silent revolution in last two decades in Bangladesh which increased the coping capacity of natural calamities like cyclone.
   Referring to big population of Bangladesh in a small country, he said world community should come forward thinking about what severe consequences might come as a result of climate change.
   Chief’s adviser’s deputy press secretary M Sarwar Alam briefed newsmen about the meeting.
   Norwegian ambassador in Dhaka Ingebjorg Stofring, director of Nobel Peace Centre Bente Erichsen and secretary of Chief Adviser’s Office Kazi Aminul Islam were also present.

White House hopeful Barack Obama Tuesday promised to shift the ‘single-minded’ US focus on Iraq to al-Qaeda sanctuaries in tribal Pakistan as part of a sweeping new blueprint for US foreign policy.
   Setting the stage for a major foreign tour designed to bolster his commander-in-chief credentials, Obama called for tough, principled US diplomacy, rooted in a vow to get most US troops home from Iraq in 16 months.
   He promised to make Iraqis provide for their own security, to strike at al-Qaeda in Pakistan if Islamabad would not, to secure loose nuclear weapons, combat climate change and end the ‘tyranny’ of US reliance on foreign oil.
   ‘Iraq is not going to be a perfect place, and we don’t have unlimited resources to try to make it one,’ Obama said in the speech in Washington.
   ‘I will give our military a new mission on my first day in office: ending this war,’ Obama said, ahead of an expected visit to Iraq and Afghanistan soon, and talks with the leaders of European powers, Israel and Jordan.
   Obama’s Republican opponent, senator John McCain however argued Obama had been ‘wrong’ to originally oppose the US troop surge escalation strategy in Iraq, and guilty of ‘bluster’ and ‘idle threats’ about striking al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
   ‘Today we know senator Obama was wrong. The surge has succeeded and because of its success, the next president will inherit a situation in Iraq in which America’s enemies are on the run,’ McCain said in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
   ‘The status quo in Afghanistan is not acceptable. Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated and our enemies are on the offensive,’ McCain said. ‘Senator Obama will tell you we can’t win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq.’
   McCain said three more combat brigades were needed in Afghanistan, prompting claims by Obama’s campaign that he had ‘flip-flopped’ and copied Obama’s position, after saying earlier he opposed sending more troops to the war.
   Obama said this week that he would divert two combat brigades from Iraq to Afghanistan.
   ‘As should have been apparent to president Bush and senator McCain – the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was,’ Obama said in his speech.
   ‘Al-Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia,’ Obama said in excerpts released by his campaign.
   ‘If another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned. And yet today, we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan.’
   ‘By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe,’ Obama said.
   Obama said the greatest threat came from tribal regions of Pakistan.
   ‘We cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as president I won’t,’ he said. ‘We must make it clear that if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like (Osama) bin Laden if we have them in our sights.’
   McCain scathingly joined the fight, the latest episode of an intensifying and long-running campaign debate over war policy.
   ‘Senator Obama is departing soon on a trip abroad that will include a fact-finding mission to Iraq and Afghanistan,’ McCain said.
   ‘I note that he is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time,’ he said referring to the commander of US troops in Iraq.
   ‘In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: first
   you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy.’
   A poll Monday underlined why Obama needs to improve his standing on national security issues, and why McCain’s team senses he is vulnerable.
   Some 72 per cent of the 1,119 adults surveyed by telephone in the July 10-13 ABC News/Washington Post poll said McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, would be a good commander in chief. Only 48 per cent thought the same of Obama.
   Obama promised to concentrate on five main goals: ‘Ending the war in Iraq responsibly; finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; achieving true energy security; and rebuilding our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century.’

Foreign ships allegedly involved in dumping undeclared cargo or contraband items call at the Outer Anchorage of Chittagong Port and then disappear ‘mysteriously’ after some days, said sources.
   Most of the ‘ghost ships’ have links with smuggling syndicates both at home and abroad, added the sources in the port and shipping circles.
   Citing recent incidents, they said that a foreign oil tanker, apparently loaded with over 32,000 tonnes of diesel, after staying at Kutubdia channel for six days fled the spot on July 3 without making any declaration.
   It could not yet be ascertained whether the costly diesel of the ship called MT Port Luis was discharged, they added.
   Jafor Ullah, Chittagong Port Authority’s harbour master, said, ‘We don’t know the reason behind the mysterious arrival and departure of oil tanker MT Port Luis. It stayed near Kutubdia channel and we thought that it had brought the oil for the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation. But without making any declaration or any intimation the oil tanker secretly left for an unknown destination.’
   The harbour master said that the authorities sometimes come to know about the arrival of ‘ghost ships’ at the Outer Anchorage, but it is difficult to identify or monitor them due to lack of security patrolling in the deep sea.
   ‘We can be sure about the arrival and other particulars of ships only after they make formal declarations to the port authority,’ Jafor Ullah added.
   A senior official of the BPC admitted that MT Port Luis carried over 32,000 tonnes of diesel sent by Emarat, an oil supplying firm of the United Arab Emirates.
   ‘The consignment of diesel was supposed to be delivered to the BPC after the tanker’s entry into Chittagong Port. But the oil tanker neither made any declaration to the port authorities nor contacted us,’ he said.
   ‘We are really surprised at the behaviour of the oil tanker. We tried to communicate with Emarat, but in vain,’ he said.
   The consignment of diesel might have been delivered to some other party who was ready to pay more than the BPC, he added.

At least 40 people were killed and 60 injured on Wednesday when a truck failed to stop at a level crossing and pushed waiting traffic into the path of a speeding train in northern Egypt, the police said.
   The truck ploughed into traffic at the level crossing, including a bus and at least four other vehicles, pushing them into the path of the passenger train.
   Two train carriages overturned and another two were derailed, a police official said.
   The accident occurred 80 kilometres east of Marsa Matruh in the Mediterranean coastal region of Dabaa, the official said.

The visiting Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjos felt that there was room for working with Bangladesh to train people for peace.
   Mjos came up with the views after he called on foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at the latter’s office Wednesday afternoon.
   ‘We train our people for war but we should train our people for peace and we’ve to work together because at last peace matters (to) all,’ Mjos said.
   ‘Bangladesh and Norway are both peaceful countries with long tradition in peacekeeping and peacemaking and we want to collaborate in that,’ he added.
   The NNC chairman informed reporters that his meeting with the foreign adviser would also help strengthen the relations between Bangladesh and Norway.

The High Court on Wednesday extended till July 31 the tenure of bail granted to the Dhaka mayor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, also a BNP leader, in a case filed against him for amassing illegal wealth of Tk 9.76 crore and hiding information in the wealth statement.
   The bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Mohammad Emdadul Haque Azad extended the order, staying the case proceedings till July 31 on an an extension petition filed by his counsel Rafique-ul Huq.
   The same bench on July 7 granted anticipatory bail to Sadeque Hossain in the case and stayed the proceedings until July 16 on a writ petition filed him seeking the case to be quashed.
   The commission on April 2 filed the case against Sadeque for amassing wealth of more than Tk 17.57 crore beyond his known sources of income and concealing information on his wealth. Charges were pressed against him on July 1.
   Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge Azizul Haque accepted the charge sheet on July 7 and issued a warrant for the mayor’s arrest as he was shown absconding in the charge sheet.

Professor M Mofakkharul Islam has been appointed vice-chancellor of National University on Wednesday, according to an official order issued by the education ministry.
   Mofakkharul Islam, a professor of history at Dhaka University, was enjoying leave preparatory retirement.
   Before Islam’s appointment, pro vice-chancellor of the university Syed Rashidul Hasan was made acting vice-chancellor in late December 2007.
   National University is the affiliating authority of all colleges providing graduate and postgraduate degrees. As many as ten lakh students are studying for bachelor’s (honours and pass) and master’s degrees at about 1,700 affiliated colleges.