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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Sunday called on the military-controlled interim government to announce by June the schedule for general elections and hold the polls by October ensuring that all political parties participate in the ballot.
   She demanded lifting of the state of emergency immediately to create an atmosphere conducive to polls.
   Khaleda, also immediate-past prime minister, called for unity of all political parties to rid the people of miseries.
   ‘Announce the election schedule by June and hold the polls by October’, she said as the government produced her in a special court on the day.
   ‘It is also necessary to lift the state of emergency immediately to ensure an atmosphere conducive to elections’, she said.
   She said the government was preparing to hold local body polls before parliamentary elections with an ulterior motive.
   The BNP chief said, ‘All political parties, including the nationalist forces, must be united.’
   It was her first appearance in the court since she was arrested nearly nine months ago on September 3, 2007.
   Standing in the dock, Khaleda Zia made a strongly-worded extempore statement for about 18 minutes on the present political and economic situation and condemning the filing of cases against the politicians.
   Terming the situation ‘very bad’, she said the incumbent government in its 16 months’ rule had pushed the country 20 years back.
   ‘People are starving and committing suicide. Suspending their studies, students are waiting in queues at BDR outlets for rice. People are scrambling for water, gas and power. Trades and businesses have slowed down. The country is losing overseas labour markets. But the government has concern about the problems’, she said. ‘Instead of addressing the problems, the government is becoming increasingly repressive’, she said.
   Khaleda Zia also accused the government of trying to cling to power with the help of its sycophants. ‘The country cannot be run by “dalals”,’ she said.
   She also wondered how a [caretaker] government mandated to hold office for three months could run the country for an unlimited period.
   ‘They [government] will have to stand trial in the people’s court as it is hatching conspiracies to make the country dysfunctional’, she warned.
   ‘I have been in jail for nine months. I waged movement for nine years against an autocratic government for restoring democracy’, she said adding, ‘Only Allah knows, what consequences await them [government]’.
   On the government’s anti-corruption drive, the BNP chief said it was aimed at arresting political leaders. ‘The people who were involved in corruption have found a place on the government’s lap.’
   She said that ‘false’ cases had been filed against her and her family with an aim to malign and destroy the family. ‘Not only against me, cases have been filed against the members of my family for harassment… we did no wrong, but we have been charged with corruption’, she said.
   She demanded an ‘open trial under existing laws’ in the cases instead of ‘trial in camera’.
   Khaleda Zia said that although they [government] claimed that the judiciary had become independent, the ‘judges are functioning as they are dictated… where is the independence of the judiciary?’
   She urged the court to give judgment in the cases independently.
   The BNP chairperson also demanded withdrawal of all ‘false’ cases filed against politicians.
   She asked the ‘nationalist forces’, including the BNP, to forge unity.
   As Khaleda Zia was speaking, chief public prosecutor Anisul Huq requested the court to ensure that political statements were not made in the court.
   ‘Then why the politicians have been arrested and produced in the court’, former law minister Maudud Ahmed, a co-accused in the case, asked the public prosecutor.
   ‘It is a political case’, said Moudud.
   Khaleda Zia, wearing an off-white chiffon saree, looked confident as she entered in the
   tight security courtroom
   on the parliament complex at about 11:15am. She waved to lawyers and journalists and exchanged greetings with her usual smile.
   She was taken back to the special jail on the parliament complex at about 1:45pm.
   Judge Khandaker Kamal Uzzaman set June 8 for charge hearing in the Niko graft case as defence lawyers prayed for time on the plea that they could not yet go through the FIR and charge sheet in the case.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission filed three cases against Khaleda Zia on charges of corruption.

The hearing in the framing of charges against the detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia and 10 others in the Niko graft case was on Sunday deferred against to June 8.
   Khandakar Kamal Uzzaman, the judge of the special judge’s court 9 set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, passed the order as the defence counsels sought time for the hearing, saying they were yet to get the certified copies of the papers related to the case and examine the documents seized by the prosecution from different offices.
   The court ordered its staff to provide the defence counsels with the certified copies immediately as the chief public prosecutor, Anisul Huq, told the court that the copies were ready and alleged that the defence counsels had not tried to get them.
   The court also ordered the defence counsels to examine the documents in the case in the courtroom in two days beginning 9:00am today.
   It also allowed the defence counsels to consult Khaleda, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, for 40 minutes in the court’s custody room.
   Standing in the dock, Khaleda made a strongly worded statement for 20 minutes on the current political situation.
   As Khaleda made the statement, Anisul Huq requested the court to ensure that no political statement could be delivered in court.
   Former law minister Moudud Ahmed, also accused in the
   case, asked the prosecutor, ‘Why did you bring politicians to court?’
   Moudud, standing in the dock beside Khaleda, earlier said, ‘It is nothing but a mockery in the name of trial… In 42 years of my law practice, I have never heard of any case filed by the government seeking compensation. The government claimed compensation of Tk 700 crore from the Canadian company Niko Resources Limited while sued us for causing a loss of about Tk 2,700 crore.’
   After the court proceedings, when Khaleda and Moudud were taken to separate custody rooms beside the courtroom, Moudud told Khaleda, ‘Goodbye, Madam! I will come again whenever you convene the cabinet meeting.’
   On May 26, the hearing in the framing of charges in the case was deferred till June 1 as the judge had fallen ill. Khaleda Zia was, however, not produced in court on May 26.
   Security was heightened around the court premises in anticipation of the BNP chairperson’s arrival in the court for the first time after her arrest on September 3, 2007.
   Besides Khaleda and Moudud, others accused in the case former state minister AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former acting energy secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam, One Group managing director Gias Uddin Al Mamun, International Travel Corporation chairman Selim Bhuiyan and former secretary of BAPEX Shafiur Rahman, all detained in jail, were also produced in court.
   Two others accused in the case, former principal secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office Kamal Uddin Siddiqui and Quasem Sharif of Niko, are still in hiding.
   Mahbubul Alam, an Anti-Corruption Commission assistant director, filed the case with the Tejgaon police on December 9, 2007.
   Khaleda was sued for causing a loss of Tk 10,000 crore to the state.
   The commission filed the charge sheet against Khaleda and 10 others in the case on May 5 pressing charges against them for causing a loss of Tk 13,777 crore to the state exchequer by signing the deal with Niko.

Senior leaders of different political parties on Sunday expressed mixed reaction to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s call for unity of the political forces in the present political context.
   They, however, shared her views that the state of emergency should be lifted immediately to create an atmosphere conducive to polls, and that the schedule for general elections be announced by June for holding the polls by October. ‘All political parties, including the nationalist force must be united’, Khaleda said when she appeared in a special court for charge hearing in the Niko graft case on the day.
   When he was asked to comment on Khaleda’s call for unity of all political parties, the acting Awami League president, Zillur Rahman, said time had not yet come for such unity.
   Talking to New Age, Zillur said the government should take steps immediately to lift the state of emergency and hold parliamentary polls at the earliest.
   AL presidium member Abdur Razzak said national unity could be forged but ‘unity with Razakars and any party accused of committing war crimes is never possible.’
   Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon ruled out the possibility of unity of all political parties at this point of time for waging an anti-government movement. ‘But it is necessary for the political parties to take a common stand on the demand for lifting of emergency and holding of elections at the earliest’, he said.
   Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal convener Khalequzzaman said that Khaleda Zia, being the chief of BNP, could make a call for unity of her own party. ‘But when she calls for unity for all political parties, we cannot agree instantly.’
   ‘She must make it clear first what will be the basis of such unity’, he said.
   Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Haq Inu said that unity of political parties was essential.
   ‘We want unity of all progressive and non-communal political forces,’ he said adding, ‘But it is also necessary to exclude plunderers [from such unity move].’
   Communist Party general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim said that the people were suffering at present ‘but they have not forgotten the sufferings of the past.’
   ‘Khaleda Zia as chief of BNP represents a class and can make such call for their interest…’
   ‘We want polls according to the roadmap announced by the Election Commission and handover of power to an elected government, he said.
   The CPB leader called for strengthening the ‘left alternative political force’ out of the ambit of Awami League and BNP.

The army-led joint forces hauled up more than 1600 people, including local leaders and activists of major political parties, labour leaders, student activists and local government representatives in a fresh spate of arrests which began midnight past Friday and continued into Sunday.
   As many as 1,637 people were arrested in 24 hours from Saturday morning across the country, according to a statement of the police headquarters
   On the first day of the crackdown, about 250 were arrested overnight Friday.
   Most of the people were detained under the Emergency Powers Rules. They were subsequently sent to prisons.
   A home ministry press release on Sunday said 548 people had been arrested across the country in 24 hours on ‘specific charges’.
   Police sources, however, said that a good number of people were arrested on suspicion during the drive.
   Shahenur Mia, a spokesman for the home ministry, told bdnews24.com that the people facing arrest warrants were kept out of count to avoid confusion over the number of arrestees.
   According to reports gathered from our correspondents, the crackdown so far saw 87 people rounded up in the capital, 16 at
   Dohar, 83 in Chittagong, 3 in Brahmanbaria, 8 in Chandpur, 16 in Bogra, 44 in Kishoreganj, one in rangpur, one in Barisal, 14 in Faridpur, 22 in Magura, one in Sirajganj, 4 in Kaliakair, 4 in Chapainawabganj, 11 in Jhalakati and 8 in Rajshahi.
   In Rajshahi, the forces detained eight persons. They include Ahasanul Haque Masud, a former central vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra League, and Amirul Islam, a local leader of Juba League.
   In Faridpur, Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee district president Mahbubur Rahman Khan, also an Awami League leader, and Awami Juba league leader Liton Khan, labour leader Ismail Hossain’s sons Sajjad Hossain and Ali Haider Lenin were, among others, detained.
   In Sirajganj, the forces detained Abu Saiyeed Sweet, district general secretary of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal.
   In Rangpur, the forces arrested district BNP joint secretary Masud Ahmed Khan.
   In Barisal, the lawmen detained Shahidul Islam Arshad Ali, a former leader of Jatiya Chhatra Samaj, student wing of Jatiya Party (Ershad). Most of the local political activists have gone into hiding.
   In Bogra, town Krishak League president Mamunur Rashid and 15 others were arrested on charge of taking drugs.
   In Chittagong, where most
   of the political activists have gone into hiding, 83 people were arrested till Saturday night.
   Pattan union parishad chairman in Brahmanbaria, Yakub Miah, and a passport broker Al Amin Miah were arrested by the joint forces.
   In Chandpur, the joint forces arrested Jubadal leaders Manirul Islam and Saddam Hossain, Hajiganj BNP leaders Zahir Hossain and Azad Hossain Sarkar, former Kachua union parishad chairman Delwar Hossain Patwari, also a BNP leader, Mobarak Ali of Kachua, Mohammad Wasim of Faridganj and Noor-e-Alam Ziku of Haimchar.
   In Kishoreganj, some 44 persons, including two ‘listed top terrors’, were arrested by the army-led joint forces during the drives on Saturday night. The joint forces also raided the houses of a number of district leaders of Awami League and BNP and listed terrorists on the night.
   The joint forces arrested Magura Jubadal leaders Hasanuzzaman Hasu and Zahid Hasan Tikka and 20 others on charge of possessing heroin. Also, 10 were arrested in Shripur, 4 in Shalikha and 2 in Mohammadpur upazila in Magura.
   New Age correspondent in Narayanganj said, 34 people, including Bangladesh Hosiery Association president Badiuzzaman Bodu, were arrested at different parts of the district early Sunday.
   In Bagerhat, 30 suspects were arrested in nine upazilas since Saturday night. Police claimed that most of them were wanted in various cases.
   In Munshiganj, 19 suspects, including a fugitive convict and two terrorists, were rounded up by the joint forces on Sunday.

The government on Sunday said the countrywide drive by the law enforcement agencies was aimed at arresting criminals and recover illegal arms for improving law and order and removing fears and scepticism from people’s mind.
   In a clarification in response to media reports, the Ministry of Home Affairs categorically said that there was no political motive behind the arrest.
   Pointing out the media reports on the special drive, the ministry said some criminal activities including attack on members of the law and enforcement agencies, killings, hijackings and activities of extremists had increased.
   The news of these incidents was published in different dailies and other media, heightening the possibility of creating anxiety in public mind on law and order, the ministry said.
   Against the backdrop of this scenario, the government asked the police to arrest the culprits and recover illegal arms. In view of this, the police launched the countrywide special drive on May 28 and members of the armed forces, who are engaged in aid of civil administration, are helping them.
   The press note Sunday said over the last 24 hours, members of the law enforcement agencies rounded up 548 persons on specific charges from different parts of the country. The arrested included illegal arms holders and identified criminals.
   The clarification said the government had no political motive behind the arrests and none is being arrested to harass or undermine politically.
   The persons, who have specific allegations against them, are being arrested, the ministry said adding that the police and others concerned had been asked to see that innocent people are not harassed under any circumstances.

At least 50 people, including two policemen, were injured in a clash between the garment workers and the police at Kalurghat industrial belt in Chittagong city on Sunday.
   Witnesses said the trouble started when over 5,000 workers of four garment and sweater factories of Azim Group staged demonstration and vandalised a factory at 8:00am, demanding wage hike.
   At one stage, the demonstrators vandalised some 100 vehicles and tried to block the highway in the Kalurghat area. They also started pelting brickbats at the policemen when they tried to calm them down.
   The police said they first charged the agitators with baton in a bid to disperse them. As the situation went beyond their control, the police opened fire and lobbed teargas canisters.
   Five of the injured workers were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital while others to private clinics. A police havildar was also admitted to police hospital with critical injuries, the police said.
   Chittagong Metropolitan Police commissioner M Akbar Ali said, ‘The police were forced to fire from shotguns as the unruly garment workers attacked them.’ Later the police brought the situation under control and removed the road blockade with restoration of traffic on the highway, he added.
   Deputy commissioner (north) of the CMP Mostafa Kamal informed that 10 workers were picked up from the spot during the clash. Security was beefed up in and around Kalurghat industrial zone following the trouble, he said.
   The army and RAB members were patrolling the area to fend off further trouble.
   MA Salam, first vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the agitating garment workers attacked his factory in Kalurghat area during the trouble demanding fixing basic pay for them. ‘All on a sudden, the workers raised such a demand without any formal approach. So we cannot accept it.’
   General manager of Azim Group Sulal Kanti Shil informed that the workers were paid on ‘piece’ basis but not on basic pay system. The production was badly hampered at the four factories of Azim Group following the clash, he said.
   The factories also faced labour unrest at early May after the workers had demanded wage hike.

The government has initiated a fresh move to introduce machine-readable passports and visas from July 2009 as the deadline of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in this regard will expire on April 1, 2010.
   The tender process for implementing the five-year project on machine-readable passports and visas, involving a fund of Tk 560 crore, will begin just after budgetary allocation for the 2008-09 fiscal year in response to the home affairs ministry’s proposal this month, said an official.
   ‘All the preparations have been made to introduce the new system…We will be able to issue machine readable-passports and visas from July 2009,’ the director-general of the Department of Immigration and Passport, Abdur Rob Hawlader, told New Age on Sunday, adding that an international tender would be floated soon to appoint a consulting firm for expediting implementation of the project.
   He said the tender process for appointment of the consulting firm was at the final stage.
   The consulting firm’s responsibilities include monitoring, evaluation and supervision of the project and training the passport officials and employees. It will develop a master plan for introduction of the machine-readable passports and visas. Four consultants from the International Organisation for Migration have already been working voluntarily for six months for creating expertise on issuance of machine-readable passports, said sources in the Department of Immigration and Passport.
   A proposal for a five-year development project to be implemented by the department has been included in the Annual Development Programme for allocation in the coming budget, as the BNP-Jamaat government’s mega-project of Tk 1,546 crore for machine readable passports, visas and national identity cards, which was being implemented by the home affairs ministry, was abandoned due to controversies over appointment of consultant and tender evaluation in late 2006, said an official.
   Bangladesh, being a signatory to the ICAO which is a specialised agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel, must introduce the digital system by the deadline in 2010, and convert all its manually-issued passports into the machine-readable ones by November 25, 2015, said the official.
   115 out of 187 member nations, including India and Pakistan, have so far issued machine-readable passports to their citizens.
   The Department of Immigration and Passport has finalised the tender documentation for expression of interest by the consulting firms, that have at least one year’s experience in preparing machine-readable passport, at one crore takas, said an official, adding that a proposal to the effect has been sent to the central procurement and technical unit for its opinion.
   A six-member technical committee, headed by the director-general of the department, is now working for the project.
   In 2006 controversies erupted at the very beginning of the BNP-Jamaat government’s almost similar project, that included issuance of national identity cards, as the ministry appointed a ‘consultant’ at a monthly salary of Tk 3.9 lakh even after the selection committee deemed him ‘unfit’ for the job, said sources in the home affairs ministry.
   In a machine-readable passport the data on the identity page is encoded in the ‘optical character recognition format’. Most passports in the world can now be read by machines.
   There will be offices in all 64 districts of the country to deliver the passports which will have a validity of 10 years, said official sources.

At least two explosions at a hotel at Naya Paltan in Dhaka Sunday night left at least 50 people, including two foreign nationals, injured.
   The first explosion took place at about 8:30pm in Room 602 on the sixth floor of Hotel Orchard Plaza where a three-member delegation of the Bank of Ceylon had been staying since their arrival in Dhaka on May 29.
   One of the members, AR Samantilak, 43, sustained serious wounds in the explosion. He was admitted to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   The second explosion took place on the seventh floor at about 11:30pm leaving about 50 people injured.
   The injured also included fire-fighters, Rapid Action Battalion members, pedestrians, rickshaw-pullers, journalists, who went to the hotel following the first explosion.
   Another foreign national Kathir Esan who was staying at the hotel also suffered injuries.
   Law enforcers and army personnel rushed to the spot immediately after the first explosion and they said the cause of the explosions was yet to be known.
   Criminal investigation department explosives expert Mrinal Kanti Saha told reporters on the spot, ‘The severity proves that
   chemicals might have been used to cause the explosions.’
   Paltan army camp in-charge Major Mahbub Islam, however, told reporters that the gas line of the hotel was leaked and the gas had passed through the sewerage line to all the rooms of the hotel.
   The act of lighting a cigarette in one of the rooms may have started the explosion.
   Fire was seen at the sixth and seventh floor of the hotel.
   Personnel of army, police and RAB cordoned the
   area and people from the hotel and the adjacent buildings were evacuated immediately.
   Of the injured, at least 37 people were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and a number of them were admitted there.
   A number of injured were also given primary treatment at the Islami Bank Hospital at Kakrail while one injured fireman was sent to the Combined Military Hospital.

The interim administration has expedited the move to establish a direct road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar with an aim to boost trade and commerce between the two neighbours.
   The communications ministry has already taken initiatives to appoint a consulting firm for conducting a survey by March, 2009 on the proposed Bangladesh-Myanmar Link Road and its construction is likely to begin in the middle of the year in line with an agreement singed between the governments of the two countries in 2007, according to official sources.
   ‘Hopefully, construction of the road between Bangladesh and Myanmar will commence by the middle of next year… The contract for a study and cost estimation on the trans-boundary road will be signed by September, 2008’, a senior official of the communications ministry told New Age.
   He said that five to seven consulting firms would be short-listed this week and request for proposal would be issued by June 20.
   The firms will get 45 days for submission of proposals. Financial bid will be opened after technical evaluation of the proposals for the technical and financial study on the proposed trans-boundary road, the official added.
   A total of eight firms submitted expression of interest for the survey responding to the advertisement by the roads and highways department. The planning commission earlier on March 10, 2008 approved an estimated fund of Tk 4.97 crore for the survey of the project.
   The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding on April 4, 2004 to construct initially the 25-kilometre link road – two kilometres in Bangladesh and 23 kilometres in Myanmar – at an estimated cost of Tk 195.85 crore.
   Later in July, 2007 the two governments signed another agreement on the proposed road. According to the deal, Dhaka is to finance the project which initially covers construction of a 25 km link road. The project area includes Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Arakan province of Myanmar. As per the memorandum of understanding, two taskforces –technical and financial – were commissioned for the proposed link road.
   The Bangladesh-Myanmar Direct Link Road Project has been initiated by communications ministry of the government of Bangladesh and the roads and highways department is the implementing authority of the project.

Heightened security in connection with the appearance of the two detained former prime ministers in special courts set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex created severe traffic congestion around the complex, forcing people stranded in the scorching summer heat on Sunday.
   The Higher Secondary Certificate examinees and office-goers had to suffer much as the lawmen closed suddenly the road to the east of the complex, from Khamarbari to the Bijoy Sarani crossing at about 8:45am.
   The two former prime ministers, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, were produced in separate special courts for hearing in the Niko scam case scheduled for Sunday.
   Khaleda, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, was on the day produced in court for the first after her arrest in September 2007. Hasina, also the Awami League president, has been produced in court for several times in different cases. Their party activists also gathered around the complex on the occasion.
   The BNP and Awami League activists, numbering several hundred, then gathered on Manik Mia Avenue and stayed there till about 1:45pm when the hearing in the cases ended for the day. No untoward incidents were reported from the gathering.
   As the police stopped traffic on Roquiah Sarani, the people, especially HSC examinees and office-goers, faced trouble, being forced to wait for long.
   No vehicles, even ambulances, were allowed to go by the road. The police also asked turned out the vehicles parked on the road, local people said.
   BNP activists on May 26 assembled to the east of the national assembly complex when Khaleda was scheduled to be produced in court; but she was not produced in court on health grounds. The activists then went out on demonstrations at the place on the day.
   In view of the demonstrations, the administration on Sunday tightened security and did not allow anyone to gather to the east of the complex, said a senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer.

A special court will on June 5 pass its order on the petition filed by the detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the Niko graft case.
   AK Roy, the judge of the special judge’s court 2 set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, also deferred once again the hearing in the framing of charges against Hasina, also the Awami League president, and eight others in the case to June 5.
   The court passed the order as the defence counsels sought time for the hearing, saying they were yet to get and examine the case documents.
   The court also ordered the defence counsels to examine the documents in the case on June 3 in the courtroom at 3:00pm.
   It further ordered the prison authorities to allow the defence counsels to consult Hasina in the special jail on the Jatiya Sangsad complex.
   Entering the courtroom, Hasina said some newspapers had reported that she had signed the contract with the Canadian oil company Niko Resources Limited for the exploration and extraction of gas.
   She said he had not signed any such deal but had approved a policy on the exploration and extraction of gas from the abandoned gas fields.
   Hasina also claimed she had committed no offence by approving the draft policy and said, ‘If I had indulged myself in corruption, my son-in-law would not have to go to Canada from the United States to drive a truck.’
   Submitting the petition seeking Hasina’s bail in the case, her counsels argued she deserved bail as the charges pressed against Hasina were ‘baseless, ex facie [on the fact of it] vague and politically motivated.’
   They told the court that one of the accused in the case, former energy and power secretary Taufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, had already been granted bail.
   As the former prime minister is an elderly woman, who is seriously ill, the general law provides for granting bail in such a deteriorating physical condition, they contended.
   The chief prosecutor, Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan Mukul, opposed the bail prayer.
   As the state of emergency is in place, there is no scope for entertaining the bail petition as Rule 19(Ga) of the Emergency Powers Rules revokes the right to seek bail by an accused facing graft charges under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
   Syed Rezaur Rahman, Sahara Khatun, Abdul Mannan Khan and Quamrul Islam appeared for Hasina while Mukul and Syed Shameem Ahsan Habib stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   Hasina and two others accused and detained in the case — former state minister for energy and power Rafiqul Islam and Taufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury — were produced in court.
   Charges were pressed on May 7 against Hasina and eight others in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission’s deputy director MM Shabbir Hassan with the Tejgaon police for causing a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore to the state by way of signing the deal.
   Former state minister for energy in her cabinet Rafiqul Islam, former principal secretary SA Samad, former energy secretaries Taufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and M Akmal Hossain, then Petrobangla chairman Mosharraf Hossain and Niko’s South Asia vice-president Quasem Sharif, former secretary of then External Resources Division AKM Moshiur Rahman and former director of Petrobangla (mines and mineral and operation) Syed Anwarul Haque were also accused of the same charge. Except for Taufiq, all others accused in the case are still in hiding.
   According to the charge sheet, the accused in collaboration with each other approved the policy and the draft for singing a deal with Niko for gas extraction work in Chhatak, Kamta and Feni gas fields through ‘cheating for personal financial benefit.’
   The charge sheet also mentioned the work was given to Niko in an illegal way without floating tenders, allowing it to extract 1,794 billion cubic feet of gas from a reserve of 2,834bcf, which caused the country to incur a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore in view of the price of each million cubic feet of gas of Tk 75.9783 at the time.
   The commission also alleged the accused had ‘cheated and abused power’ by showing the eastern part of the Chhatak gas field, explored by Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company, but yet to be extracted, as marginal and abandoned.

The military-controlled government has now said that it will ‘exhaust its capacity at the highest level’ to bring the parties to the ongoing political dialogue for smooth handover of power to an elected government in December and transition to democracy.
   ‘Efforts are on to bring the parties to the talks. If needed, the government will exhaust its capacity at the highest level to persuade the parties to participate in the dialogues,’ the communications adviser, Ghulam Quader, told reporters on Sunday.
   He was responding to queries on the government’s efforts to make the ongoing dialogue with the political parties fruitful as the two major parties — Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party — have announced that they will not join the talks unless their two top leaders are unconditionally released from jail.
   From May 22 the government held dialogues with six small political parties and fixed the schedules to have dialogues with a few other small parties on the reforms agenda.
   After a two-day weekend recess, the dialogue resumes this morning with the Gana Forum which is scheduled to meet an advisers’ panel led by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, at the Chief Adviser’s Office.
   The government has, by this time, got prepared to begin dialogues with the civic groups. It will sit with leaders of the business community tomorrow [Tuesday].
   Although the government has been saying that it has been trying to bring all the parties to the discussion table, it has never made public its efforts to release the two former prime ministers — Sheikh Hasina of AL and Khaleda Zia of BNP — without which the two biggest parties will not sit for dialogues, according to their public statements.
   When he was asked about the release of the two leaders, the communications adviser declined to make any comment. ‘It is not possible for me to answer the question,’ he told reporters.
   Quadir said that the government had imposed no conditions before agreeing to hold the dialogues.
   ‘It is the political parties, who wanted the dialogues, who are now imposing conditions for joining the talks. It is their responsibility to join the dialogue.’
   He said that the interim government was not anyone’s opponent, nor would it take part in the coming elections.
   ‘If the political parties forge a consensus, the nation will move towards a free and fair election and thereby see a better future, which is what the government desires,’ he added.
   After today’s meeting with Kamal Hossain’s Gana Forum, the government will sit with the business community on Tuesday. More than 300 businessmen from different parts of the country are expected to attend the meeting at the International Conference Centre of the Chief Adviser’s Office.
   Khalequzzaman’s Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal will sit with the government on June 4. The Islami Okiya Jote of Fazlul Haq Amini was invited for the dialogue on June 10 and the Political Reform of ASM Abdur Rob on June 11.
   After a 22-day consultation with the political parties and a few civil society actors, the government started its formal phase of dialogues on May 22.
   The Fakhruddin-led panel of advisers held meetings with six political parties — Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Liberal Democratic Party, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Islami Shasantantra Andolan — of the 19 parties invited to the dialogues.

The interim government’s plan to supply electricity from costly rental power plans during summer has virtually fallen through as the errant companies on Sunday again deferred commissioning of six plants.
   The government, which selected the inexperienced companies to install the plants on build-own-operate basis, seems to be helpless in the face of repeated missing of deadlines by the companies.
   One of the companies, Energy Prima, which was awarded four power plants, has informed the Power Division that it would not be able to put the power plants into operation within the fresh deadlines it provided on May 15.
   Energy Prima, a consortium of Energy Prima, Hosaf Meter Industry and Geo-Spectrum Group, first failed to install and commission three 50MW plants at Kumargaon, Shahjibazar and Fenchuganj within May 15 deadline and a 20MW plant at Bogra by May 23.
   The company later informed the division that it would put the Kumargaon plant into operation by May 31, Shahjizabar by June 15 and Fenchuganj and Bogra by July 15.
   But it again backed away from the commitment and informed a Power Division meeting, chaired by secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan, on Sunday that it would put the Kumargaon plant into operation by June 15, Shahjibazar by June 25, Bogra by July 23 and Fenchuganj by August 7.
   The GBB-Kaltimax, which was supposed to commission a 30MW plant at Bhola by May 15, first deferred the deadline to July 15. The company on Sunday set July 31 as a fresh deadline.
   Aggreko International, which signed a contract with the Power Development Board on January 28 for supplying costly electricity from a 40MW diesel-run plant by May 27, apprised the meeting it would commission the power plant by June 3.
   The energy secretary told reporters after the meeting that the PDB had already served ‘event of default’ notice to the companies for failing to meet the first deadlines and that the companies would get 60 days of ‘cure period’. After that the PDB will have an option to cancel the contracts, he said.
   When asked whether PDB would rescind the contracts after the 60-day cure period, Fouzul said that the board would take steps ‘as it deems necessary’.
   ‘The companies’ contracts are with the PDB. If the PDB wants any suggestions from us, we will provide it’, he said.
   The government took the steps to set up rental power plants to make up for power shortages during summer and the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, approved the plants.
   Fouzul said that the companies would have to pay penalties from the day the deadlines would be over.
   For each megawatt of power, a company will have to pay $500 in penalty for one day’s delay, said PDB member (generation), Murtaza Ali.
   Sources in the PDB, however, said that it would not be easy to realise penalty from the companies and feared that the errant firms could get away through the loopholes of the agreements.
   Hosaf Group chairman Moazzam Hossain told New Age, ‘As per the contracts we are supposed to put the power plants into operation in 120 days after the PDB gave us land for installation of the plants.’ The PDB handed over the land nearly one month after signing the contracts on May 15, he added.
   Moazzam insisted that if the delay in land handover was taken into account, the deadlines for commissioning the plants were yet to over. ‘Besides, PDB gave us low-lying land and it took us many days to fill the land’, he claimed.
   ‘We want to put the power plants into operation at the earliest’, said Moazzam, an accused in the Barapukuria coal mine scam case.
   The energy secretary, however, told New Age that the count of 120 days would begin from the date of signing the contracts.

Four of the country’s senior journalists have renamed the organisation, Mukto Ganomadhyomer Jonyo Amra Charjon — which they had launched earlier to investigate allegations of interference in the media by any quarter — as the Bangladesh Free Media Forum.
   The senior journalists — KG Mustafa, AMB Musa, Nirmal Sen and Kamal Lohani — in a press statement on Sunday made the above announcement.
   The BFMF will investigate any specific allegation of pressure, harassment or intimidation of the media by any quarter or individual. They will send suggestions to the authorities concerned, asking them to take due action once they complete the investigation.
   Anyone interested can send letters or fax messages to any of the four journalists: Fax no 9563503, care of the National Press Club, Topkhana Road, Dhaka-1000. The sources of information or names of the complainants or correspondent will not be disclosed without their permission, said the press statement.

As Nepal made an historic leap this week, ousting its Hindu god-king by voting to become a republic, many were hoping a period of peace and stability would boost economic growth in the impoverished nation.
   Nowhere are hopes higher perhaps than in the Maoist heartland of Rolpa, where the former rebels launched an armed struggle in 1996 that was key in paving the way to Nepal’s transformation to a republic.
   ‘The 10 years of war were hardest for us villagers. We now have peace. I am very happy about that,’ said Kumari Jargha Magar, 28, a housewife from the hilly district 280 kilometres west of capital Kathmandu.
   ‘Without peace, we cannot think about good education, health services, roads, electricity or employment.’
   Magar walked for three days to reach Rolpa village, where Maoists last month promoted a ‘tourism festival’ that thousands of people attended.
   The event appeared to be a bid to buoy local spirits as well as to show that the former rebels, who stunned the nation by winning key polls last month to a body charged with writing a new constitution, are serious about development.
   The ultra-leftists hold over a third of the seats in the 601-member assembly, which abolished the monarchy as its first act on Wednesday and gave unpopular King Gyanendra a two-week deadline to leave his pink-hued palace.
   The Maoists are in negotiations with rival parties to lead the next government, which will replace a power-sharing administration that has governed for two years.
   Their leader, Prachanda, has promised double-digit growth in the aid and remittance-dependent country, where growth stands at 3.5 per cent and average annual incomes are about 350 dollars.
   ‘Our party is planning for an economic revolution,’ said Muldhan Roka, 35, head of the Rolpa branch of the Young Communist League. ‘I think
   our party can lead this country to the next level within five years.’
   That will be difficult in a country where villages have electricity poles that have never supplied a single watt of power and wells that are dry of clean drinking water.
   Villages may have schools but no textbooks – a shortage that recently forced a two-week shutdown in learning centres around the country.
   The capital – the richest place in Nepal – turns dark at night because street lights don’t work, and posh hotels post timetables of power cuts.
   In Rolpa, locals said they were discriminated against by authorities and troops – leaving little room for development.
   ‘There were no basic necessities and the security people would not let us bring those things to the villages because we were the ones that started ‘the People’s War,’ said Magar, who believes things will be different now.
   The bloody civil war – in which at least 13,000 people were killed and Nepal’s development stalled for a decade – ended with a peace deal between mainstream political parties and the Maoists in 2006.
   The deal sidelined the king, who alienated the country with a power grab in 2005 that saw him dismiss the government and rule directly before mass protests forced him to cede control 14 months later.
   The Maoists have defended their decade-long bloody struggle, saying it was necessary to do away with feudalism and end discrimination against minorities and low-caste Hindu groups.
   Despite their pledge to embrace multiparty democracy, the Maoists face criticism for their human rights record, most recently with the abduction and murder of a Kathmandu businessman.
   There are also allegations that the former rebels are making it hard to do business by continuing to engage in extortion.
   ‘We have huge challenges ahead,’ said Kalpana Roka, 23, a former Maoist platoon commander on leave from one of the UN-monitored camps where she and some 20,000 registered Maoist combatants live as part of the peace deal.
   ‘There is a big difference between being a rebel and being a statesman. Insurgency is different than policy making. We have to think about the country now.’
   Some of the country’s poorest said they hope the Maoists will do that.

More people will perish in Myanmar’s cyclone disaster zone unless the regime lifts restrictions on foreign aid, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, warned Sunday, accusing it of ‘criminal neglect.’
   Nearly a month after the storm tore through swathes of Myanmar, around 60 per cent of the 2.4 million survivors remain without foreign aid, despite some opening-up by the military rulers after an intense UN-led diplomatic push.
   The junta blocked entry to overseas aid workers in the critical days after Cyclone Nargis pummelled the impoverished nation on May 2-3, leaving 133,000 people dead or missing.
   ‘Unless the regime changes its approach, its policy, more people will die,’ Gates said en route to Bangkok after a regional security forum in Singapore.
   ‘I would describe it as criminal neglect.’
   Gates, who earlier said that Myanmar’s initial delays could have cost tens of thousands of lives, added that the United States would decide within days whether to recall four US Navy ships waiting to deliver aid.
   He said it was ‘becoming pretty clear’ the junta would not accept military help from the United States, which has been a fierce critic of the regime.
   The USS Essex and three other ships have been off the coast of Myanmar for more than two weeks with a dozen helicopters, landing craft and Marines, but have been refused permission to use them to distribute relief.
   Supplies are slowly trickling through to worst-hit areas, but the generals – notoriously suspicious of the West – are wary of what is coming in.
   ‘We would warmly welcome any assistance and aid which are provided with genuine goodwill from any country or organisation, provided that there are no strings attached, or politicisation involved,’ the deputy defence minister, Aye Myint, told the same forum in Singapore that Gates attended.
   He said officials were now concentrating on reconstruction, with the junta estimating the cyclone caused more than 10 billion dollars in damage.
   ‘For those groups who are interested in rehabilitation and reconstruction, we are ready to accept them in accordance with our priorities,’ he added.
   That stance earned Aye Myint ‘a good old-fashioned ear-bashing’ from donor nations represented at the conference, the Canadian defence minister, Peter MacKay, said, adding Myanmar appeared to be in ‘a state of denial.’
   MacKay said Canada and other nations have been ready to supply food, water, clothing, shelter and other basics, but ‘have met with considerable reticence and reluctance to let that relief flow.’
   While more foreign aid workers are now being allowed into Myanmar, they are finding it difficult to gain access to some of the hardest-hit areas – where villagers say they have received little or no government help either.
   What they are finding instead is that many people are still without clean water and at risk of disease.
   With the monsoon rains now hitting hard, survivors are at increased risk of respiratory infections, MSF said in a statement.
   Residents in the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta village of Kanzeik are only now getting the plastic sheets and clean water that should have arrived long ago.
   ‘I was so happy once I saw the aid boat entering the village,’ said Kyaw, a 35-year-old villager with four children.
   ‘I’m so glad that I got what I really need for my family now. At least our family can live safely under the rain for this year,’ he said.
   With crucial supplies now arriving, aid groups hope storm victims can think about returning to the fields in this key rice-growing area – but many others in need of food, shelter and medicine still remain out of reach.
   Aye Win, the UN’s spokesman in Yangon, said about 41 per cent of survivors, or close to one million people, had received some form of assistance.
   ‘There have been some improvements’ in access and visas, he added, ‘albeit not as much as would like them to be.’

League or knock-out there was only one champion. It was fitting that the most consistent side in the tournament held their nerve to clinch a thriller. The Chennai Super Kings summoned every ounce of their reserves to take the match till the last ball but a calm swat from Sohail Tanvir, when one was needed off the last ball, sparked some heady celebrations in the Rajasthan Royals’ dug-out. The least expensive side in the league had completed the coup that had them winning 13 of their 16 matches.
   A galaxy of international stars might have added fizz to the IPL but it was India’s most improved domestic player who sparkled in the tense final at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday. Few outside India might have heard of Yusuf Pathan before this tournament but he imposed himself on the grand stage, snaffling three wickets before smashing a scintillating 56, setting the stage for the inspirational Shane Warne to pull off the last-ball thriller.
   Chasing 164 wasn’t going to be easy on the slightly two-paced surface and Rajasthan were hobbling at 42 for 3 but the 65-run stand between Yusuf and Shane Watson provided the impetus. Another mini-collapse put them in a spot but Warne and Tanvir put on 21 in a harum-scarum final leg. Chennai’s sloppy fielding didn’t help but the batsmen ensured they didn’t lose their head.
   L Balaji, who got a pasting in the first three overs, was brought on with eight needed off the final over. Three tight deliveries piled on the pressure before a costly wide, which also produced a bye, tilted the balance. With three needed off 2 balls, Tanvir hurried two to deep midwicket before settling the victory in the final ball. The best bowler of the tournament had did his side a big service with the bat. Warne’s mighty embrace suggested conveyed much.
   The base was set up by Yusuf’s ballistic, yet fortuitous, fifty. Chennai will rue the chance they missed in the 11th over - Yusuf tried to loft Muttiah Muralitharan but Suresh Raina, one of India’s best fielders, couldn’t latch on to the skier after running from mid-on. With the asking rate approaching 10, that could have been a big blow. Murali had no answers against him in the next over, though, when he was blasted for two successive sixes over wide long-on.
   Yusuf soon pounded Balaji, backing away and blitzing thunderbolts down the ground, and looked more like a veteran accustomed to such high-pressure situations. He looked set to run away with the match but Raina’s dart-accurate throw from gully added another twist.
   Yusuf was instrumental with the ball too. Just as Chennai appeared to be building partnerships he pegged them back with his fastish off-breaks. S Vidyut holed out to deep midwicket, Parthiv Patel snicked to the wicketkeeper, and Albie Morkel top-edged towards short fine leg. Not only was he the most effective of the bowlers but also the most economical one - showing the ability to raise his game at the crunch.
   Chennai weren’t outclassed, not by a long way. Against an efficient bowling attack, with a slow outfield to consider, they strung together a fighting total. Raina and Parthiv, the duo who took them to victory last night, put on a useful 25-run stand through accumulation rather than attack, ensuring that the platform was laid for the rest of the order.

A package of proposed constitutional reforms drafted by Pakistan’s ruling PPP aims to give only prime minister the powers to authorise the use of nuclear weapons or to declare war, apparently in a bid to prevent situations like the Kargil conflict of 1999.
   The reforms package, approved with certain modifications by PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday, has been provided to the party’s allies in the ruling coalition to get their views.
   The law minister, Farooq Naek, met PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Lahore this morning to discuss the proposed constitutional amendments.
   Under the changes outlined in the package, which is expected to be introduced in parliament soon, only the prime minister will have the power to declare war or authorise the use of nuclear weapons, official sources told Dawn News channel.
   The move to give only the prime minister the powers to declare war is aimed at preventing the Pakistan Army from repeating Kargil-like operations, the sources said.

The interim cabinet on Sunday approved a proposal scrapping the provision for lawmaker’s membership of the Supreme Judicial Commission, formed nearly two months and a half ago to select people for the appointment as Supreme Court judges.
   The weekly meeting of the council of advisers, presided over by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, approved the Supreme Judicial Commission (Amendment) Ordinance 2008 only two and half months after the president had promulgated the ordinance on March 16.
   The amendment is aimed at making two High Court judges members on the commission instead of the earlier provision for two lawmakers to be nominated by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition in the parliament.
   As there is no parliament now, the positions have been vacant ever since the earlier ordinance came into being.
   ‘It will help to set the commission rolling,’ an official said, adding that the commission headed by the chief justice would have, as members, the law minister in charge, three senior judges of the Applegate Division of the Supreme Court, two High Court Division judges, the attorney general and the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
   The High Court earlier halted the functioning of the Supreme Judicial Commission Ordinance on a public interest litigation filed with the court. The High Court order was subsequently halted for a month by the Appellate Division on a government appeal in May.
   The president will soon promulgate the ordinance to put the amendments into effect, said Syed Fahim Munaim, the press secretary to the chief adviser.
   The council of advisers also approved the Public Servants Dismissal (Amendment) Ordinance 2008, proposing a year’s imprisonment and a fine of Tk 10,000 for automatic dismissal of any public servant. The provision in the Public Servants Dismissal on Conviction Ordinance 1985 stipulates six months’ imprisonment and a fine of Tk 1,000.
   Attended by most of the advisers, the weekly meeting also ratified a convention involving visa regime of the D8 nations. The D8 Group, an economic development alliance, comprising Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, was formed on June 15, 1997.

A Dhaka court on Sunday issued arrest warrants against six serving bureaucrats and nine other serving and former officials of the Dhaka Electric Supply Company as they were shown absconding in a share scam case.
   Metropolitan sessions judge M Azizul Haque issued the warrants after accepting the charge-sheet filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission with his court. The judge also asked the police to report the court by June 4 on the execution of the orders.
   The six serving bureaucrats against whom the warrants have been issued are the Bureau of Manpower’s labour and training director Azizul Rahman, the Power Division’s joint secretary ASM Mesbahul Islam, its deputy secretaries Abdullah Masud, Laila Jesmin and Ismat Ara Jahan, and its former assistant secretary Ali Hossain, now posted at the liberation war affairs ministry.
   The seven DESCO officials against whom warrants have been issued are its managing director Saleh Ahmed, secretary AHM Nurul Huda, former chairman and Summit Group’s managing director Towhidul Islam, the Power Division’s administrative officer Chanchal Krishna Talukdar and its board members Manzur Rahman, Kudrat-e-Elahi and Mansuz Rahman.
   Two others — former deputy energy secretary Zahidur Rahman and DESCO’s former director Khan Lodi Saiful Haque who have been implicated in the case — have also been issued arrest warrants.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission on May 29 submitted charge-sheets against detained former power secretary ANH Akhtar Hossain and 15 others for causing a loss of Tk 10,20,00,891 to the state exchequer by distributing shares of Dhaka Electric Supply Company to the officials and employees of the Power Division from the reserved shares of the company’s officials and employees.

The newly appointed chief justice, MM Ruhul Amin, took oath at Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban on Sunday.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, administered the oath at about 10:30am. Cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder conducted the ceremony.
   The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, the speaker, Jamiruddin Sircar, and the immediate past chief justice, M Ruhul Amin, were present.
   Advisers, special assistants to the chief adviser, chief election commissioner, judges of the Supreme Court, chiefs of three services, attorney general, secretaries concerned, vice-chancellors of different universities, former chief justices, editors, eminent lawyers, journalists and senior military and civil officials were also present at the ceremony.
   Justice MM Ruhul Amin, a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, has been appointed chief justice, superseding his senior M Fazlul Karim.
   The president appointed him on May 25.

At least 71 examinees were expelled on Sunday for cheating in the exams halls on the 2nd day of the Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations under nine education boards.
   A fake examinee was arrested at an exams hall at Jamalpur Sujat Ali College under the Dhaka board during the English 2nd paper exam.
   An invigilator was also expelled for abetting the examinees in cheating in an exams hall in Jamalapur under the Technical Education Board. A total of 8,234 examinees avoided taking the examination on the day.
   According to the education ministry control room report, 12 examinees were expelled from the halls under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board and 11 under the Madrassah Education Board.
   Under general education boards, 16 examinees were expelled in Rajshahi, 11 in Dhaka, 7 in Comilla, 5 in Barisal, 5 in Jessore, 3 in Chittagong and 1 in Sylhet.
   No information was available from five overseas centres — Doha in Qatar, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Tripoli in Libya.
   A total of 6,20,020 examinees have registered for the exams this year.

The police on Sunday filed a charge sheet against 22 Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh leaders and activists, including former lawmaker Shahjahan Chowdhury, in an extortion case filed under the Emergency Powers Rules.
   The accused named on the charge sheet include the Satkania Jamaat amir, Nurul Hoque, also the chairman of the Sonakania union council, Abu Musa also known as Golakata Musa, Nesar Uddin, Moazzem Hossain, Mokter, Musa, Nurul Islam, Mohiuddin also known as Fal Mohiuddin, Enamul Hoque Siddiqui, Abdul Mannan, Rafiqul Islam alias Golakata Rafique, Hamid and Nasir alias Badam Nasir.
   Satkania police subinspector Mohammed Sahjahan, also the investigation officer of the case, filed the charge sheet with the judicial magistrate’s court which posted the recording of deposition for June 9–11.
   Abdur Rahim, a resident of Madhyam Garangia at Sonakania, filed the case with on March 24, 2007 against Shahjahan Chowdhury and 38 others in connection with extortion of Tk 3 lakh.

Bangladesh Bank has sought again public opinion on the draft guidelines prepared for the appointment of bank directors from the depositors.
   The central bank issued a notice on Thursday and requested the people to send their opinions to the general manager of the Banking Regulation and Policy Department by mail or e-mail gmbrpdbb@bangla.net by this week.
   The draft guidelines stipulate that if a depositor wants to be a director, he/she must be a graduate, and persons having higher degrees or professional skills in trade and industry will get preference.
   Earlier in March, the central bank also sought opinion on this issue, and after receiving public response, it discussed the matter with the directors of private commercial banks.
   The bank directors, however, expressed their reservation regarding to the recruitment process of the directors from the depositors and submitted their proposals.
   Taking into account the proposals, the Bangladesh Bank issued fresh notice barring any loan, tax or utility bill defaulter from being a director. The person must not be involved with any political party and must not have any trade or profit transaction, except deposit transaction and dividend payment, with the respective bank.
   The person or his/her family must not own more than 1 per cent share in the bank to be eligible for directorship, the guidelines said.
   Director, official, employee, adviser, law adviser or external auditor of any bank, financial institution, insurance company or stock exchange will not be eligible for directorship.
   Relatives and employees of incumbent directors will not be eligible for the position. The director’s fit and proper test criteria of Bangladesh Bank will also be applicable to the depositor director.
   Banks will submit a list of two persons to the central bank with detailed information about their eligibility. The central bank will approve the directors and their tenure will be three years and they can serve maximum two terms at a stretch.

Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, owned 54 per cent by the Norwegian state, has ended its partnership with a supplier in Bangladesh after a scandal over working conditions, Norwegian media reported on Sunday.
   Telenor and its subsidiary in the Asian country, GrameenPhone, have ended their contract with Mizan Hatim Engineering after a minor was found working for it.
   ‘We discovered a minor working for this supplier. We also discovered conditions that we could not accept in a customer-supplier relationship,’ Telenor chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
   Labourers, some as young as 13, were filmed handling toxic substances without any protection.
   It is owned 62 per cent by Telenor and 38 per cent by Grameen Telecom, a division of Grameen Bank, the microcredit bank created by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.