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The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has said detained former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina would not be eligible to appear before the proposed Truth Commission for pardon as they are already arraigned on corruption charges and facing trial in courts.
   He, however, said his interim government would accept whatever verdict is given against them by the judiciary which he said is now independent.
   The chief adviser made the remarks during an interview with Al Jazeera television in London last week. Renowned journalist David Frost took the interview during his tour of the UK and was aired on Friday at 1:00am in a special programme styled ‘Frost’.
   On the question of lifting the state of emergency, he said some curbs imposed under the state of emergency on some political activities would be withdrawn to create congenial atmosphere for electioneering.
   Asked whether the proposed Truth Commission will be constituted in South African model, Fakhruddin said the government has looked at similar models set up in different countries.
   Explaining the logic behind instituting Truth Commission, he said some people, who have already been accused of corruption, have been going through normal judicial process and there are others who may be willing to say they had been involved in some of irregular corrupt practices.
   If the commission is set up, those people will go through that process. They will know and the people will know about their corrupt practices through a legal process, if not the judicial process, he added.
   Asked whether those corrupt would be forgiven by the Truth Commission, the chief adviser said, ‘Yes, the idea is that they will be forgiven if they admit to having indulged in some kind of irregular corrupt practices of certain amount of money. But, as part of that process, there may be some kind of restrictions on their participation in political activities for a limited time.’
   Asked if the two ‘Begums’ (Khaleda and Hasina) will also be pardoned if they go through the Truth Commission, Fakhruddin said the way thinking is going on is that if somebody is already arraigned and charge-sheeted and the judicial process has begun, they should go through the judicial process.
   It is not only the two ex-prime ministers, he said, those who have crossed that some sort of threshold, they will not be eligible for appearing before the Truth Commission. ‘That’s the thinking now, but it is not yet finalised.’
   Asked when the emergency will be lifted, the chief adviser said, ‘We’ve not yet fixed the time. We will be looking at all options when and how the state of emergency will be lifted.’
   He said the state of emergency was declared to improve the law and order situation and bring the country back to normalcy. Now the law and order has improved a lot, and even though there is the emergency, it is not being enforced in that sense in many fields.
   Citing an example, the head of interim government said press is free ever since his government came to power. ‘We told the press that they can criticise the government and they have been doing that — and we benefit from those criticisms.’
   He said as normal activities have been going on and they will be going on, they would, in any case, make it possible for the election to take place. To ensure congenial atmosphere for election campaign, he said, there would be need to lift ‘some of the curbs on some of the activities up to the elections.’
   Asked whether the general election will be held by December this year as promised, the chief adviser said, ‘Absolutely, that is some kind of deadline. I have said this more than once and the elections will be held at the latest by December 2008.’
   He said the Election Commission has also announced a roadmap detailing all priority activities and ‘I am absolutely committed and confident that the elections will be held according to the roadmap.’
   Asked whether Khaleda and Hasina would be able to lead active politics, Fakhruddin said it would depend on several factors. ‘At this point in time they have been arrested and facing trial in courts. So, judicial process will go on.’
   In this context, the chief adviser noted that the judiciary is an independent institution and they would accept whatever decision comes from the judicial process. ‘It will depend on judicial process and outcome of the judicial process.’
   Asked whether the number of detained persons in Bangladesh is 250,000 as published in some British press, he straightaway denied, saying the number is much lower. The total number of convicts and under-trial prisoners is around 75,000 to 80,000, and a handful of them have been detained under Special Powers Act.
   Asked about whereabouts of the two former prime ministers —Awami League president Sheikh Hasina and BNP chairperson Khaleda—the chief adviser said they were not under house arrest. They were arrested and put in two special houses declared sub-jails by the government for under-trial prisoners.
   Asked whether the level of corruption has gone down due to the ongoing anti-graft drive, Fakhruddin said corruption has started going down significantly, but it is very difficult to estimate what the current level of corruption is.
   But, he said, a general impression is it has a positive impact not because of the people being brought to trial for corruption but the government is working on rules and regulations, making them simpler, clearer and transparent and a strategy to prevent the corruption.
   Asked whether he has any intention to float a political party and run a political office, the chief adviser outright dismissed the idea. He said that since he is heading a caretaker government, his first duty is to hold free, fair and credible elections first and carry out institutional reforms to ensure sustainable democracy in Bangladesh.
   When asked what he will be doing after the elections, the chief adviser, a former governor of Bangladesh Bank, said he has not yet thought about that but added that he would make himself available to serve the country.

One hundred and eighteen former BNP lawmakers at a press briefing on Saturday demanded release of the detained party chairperson Khaleda Zia as well as Awami League president Sheikh Hasina before Independence and National Day.
   They also demanded release of Khaleda’s sons BNP senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman to have proper medical treatment.
   The former members of parliament called for immediate announcement of the schedule of elections to the ninth parliament before holding any local government polls.
   Selima Rahman, one of the joint secretaries general of BNP, presented a 10-point charter of demands in presence of some 30 former lawmakers and read out a statement of 118 at the briefing held at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar apartment of party secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain. Before addressing the press the ex-MPs held a discussion among themselves.
   ‘The 37th Independence Day will be observed at a time when Bangladesh is passing through an extremely critical juncture. The parliamentary system of democracy was one of major aspirations which led us to the war of independence, but the system has remained suspended for the past 14 months. The seats in the Jatiya Sangsad are gathering dust and the bungalows for speaker and deputy speaker have turned into sub-jails — one for Khaleda Zia and the other for Sheikh Hasina,’ the statement read.
   ‘The only crime of Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina is that they are the chairpersons of the country’s two major political parties — BNP and Awami League. They have been detained on false charges of corruption as they refused to go into exile bowing to the wish of the interim government,’ the statement went on.
   ‘Khaleda Zia’s sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman are about to die in jail. They will never flee the country if they are released on bail,’ it added.
   ‘We want Khaleda Zia and her family to be freed immediately. We hope the government will create a favourable atmosphere for elections by releasing the two leaders,’ said BNP organising secretary Mohammad Shahjahan.
   Asked whether they would go for elections keeping Khaleda behind bars, Shahjahan said, ‘It is not a matter of joining or boycotting the polls. We will do whatever it takes to free Khaleda.’
   He said, ‘It is clear that some super powers want to bring the people and the armed forces of Bangladesh into confrontation and Khaleda Zia is the only person who can avoid such a situation.’
   On unification of the party, Shahjahan said, ‘The matter is now in the court of Saifur Rahman and Hafizuddin Ahmed. Let us see what they do. The grassroots activists and leaders are with Khandaker Delwar Hossain.’
   The party will send the chief adviser a memorandum on the release of their chairperson in a day or two, he added.
   The other former lawmakers present at the briefing included Syed Mehedi Ahmed Rumi, Khairul Kabir Khokan, Nazimuddin Alam, Akhteruzzaman, Sohrabuddin, Selim Reza Habib, Shah Nurul Kabir Shahin, Shahjahan Chowdhury, Abdul Momin Talukdar, Gazi Shahjahan Jewel, Ashrafuddin Nizam, Kazi Rafiqul Islam, Shah Shaheed Sarwar, Abdul Gafur Bhuiyan, Giasuddin Kader Chowdhury, Mohammad Yunus, Helen Zerin Khan, Rehana Akter Ranu, Bilquis Jahan, Newaz Halima Erlee, Fahima Hossain Jublee, Jahan Panna, Rozina Islam, Shahina Khan, Khaleda Panna, Yasmin Ara Haq, Chamon Ara, and Rasheda Begum Hira.

An expert committee on tax holiday has recommended increasing the minimum amount of paid up capital for tax holiday eligibility from Tk 1 lakh to Tk 10 lakh.
   The committee also suggested that this scheme should continue beyond June 2008 besides a number of conditions to ensure industrialisation and employment generation.
   The previous regulation stipulating a minimum of Tk 1 lakh paid up capital for tax holiday for four to six years, will expire this fiscal.
   The National Board of Revenue formed a six-member committee in January assigning it the responsibility to analyse the pros and cons of the existing tax holiday facility and recommendations for future course of action, sources said.
   The committee, headed by Emdadul Hoque, member of the revenue board, submitted the report to the NBR chairman last week.
   The committee recommended that the tax holiday scheme should make it obligatory for investors to install equipment and machinery to improve waste management and decrease pollution.
   The floor of Tk 1 lakh has been in force since independence and it needed to be revised upwards said a committee member.
   The committee recommended that projects that had secured permission for tax holiday previously be set up in the export processing zones, which enjoy 10 years’ tax holiday.
   Currently, the industries in the special zones need no permission from the revenue board for similar facility, sources said.
   Presently, four-year tax holiday facility exists for industries in Dhaka and Chittagong divisions except Rangamati, Bandsrban and Khagrachari districts.
   A similar facility for six years exists for industries in Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barishal divisions and Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari districts.
   According to the Finance Bill 2005, 18 industrial sectors are entitled to tax holiday facility up to June 30, 2008. The sectors include textile, high-value readymade garment (overcoat, jacket and suits only), pharmaceuticals, melamine, plastic product, ceramic and sanitary ware, steel from iron ore, fertiliser, insecticide and pesticide, three-star hotels and computer hardware.
   Besides, 12 infrastructure development sectors including solar plants, waste treatment plants and inland container depots also enjoy the facility.
   The report recommended continuation of the scheme for another four to six years.
   As an alternative, the committee proposed two to three years’ 100 per cent tax exemption for industries across the country, 50 per cent tax exemption for subsequent two years and 25 per cent for another year after that.
   ‘We would discuss the report with different stakeholders and a final decision would be taken in consultation with the finance and planning adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam,’ Mazid told New Age on Saturday.
   The report said the government incurred revenue losses worth Tk 732 crore for tax giving holiday facility to 30 industries in 2006-2007 fiscal and Tk 1292 crore for 89 industries in 2005-2006.
   However, it said new employment of about 28,000 people was generated during the last two years through the industries that enjoyed tax exemption, which invested about Tk 2,050 crore.
   The report said tax holiday facility has been popular among industrialists and played a positive role in industrialisation and employment generation.
   Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has recently suggested that the government scrap or at least rationalise its tax holiday facility.

War heroes have urged the government to immediately initiate the process of trial of war criminals, who perpetrated the history’s worst-ever genocide during Bangladesh’s liberation war in 1971.
   ‘As the government itself realised that war criminals should be prosecuted and people from different strata voiced the same, the demands for trial of the war criminals seem very logical,’ Justice Habibur Rahman, chief of the 1996 caretaker administration, told a convention of Sector Commanders’ Forum on Friday.
   He expressed solidarity with the forum’s demand for forming a war crime tribunal and an enquiry commission under the tribunal to bring the perpetrators of genocide to book with supports from the United Nations and international community.
   ‘The government should take immediate initiatives to try the war criminals,’ he said.
   The convention, held at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre and attended by nearly 2000 people, adopted a 16-point declaration including the demand for beginning the trial process without delay.
   It also urged all concerned to carry forward the ongoing movement until the perpetrators are prosecuted for the heinous crimes against humanity.
   The forum of war veterans, who were in command of 11 sectors of the 1971 liberation war, was earlier denied the permission to hold the convention. They brought the issue of trying the war criminals to the forefront through a renewed nationwide campaign following two leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh in October last year claimed that there had been no war criminal in the country and that the 1971 war was a ‘civil war’.
   Freedom fighters, progressive political forces and free thinkers were angered by such comments of the leaders and sympathisers of a religion-based party which opposed the liberation war and collaborated with the Pakistani army in killing, arson and rape in 1971.
   Amid demands from various quarters, head of interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed had said the 1971 war criminals should be brought to justice. But he expressed his administration’s inability to begin the process as the interim government was burdened with many other pressing things to conduct the national elections in a free and fair manner.
   The sector commanders took the fresh initiative 36 years after the country’s victory over Pakistan and organised six conventions in divisional headquarters to drum up support for resuming the trial.
   The trial was initiated in 1972 but stopped abruptly after the August 1975 political changeover that saw the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman killed with almost all members of his family.
   A total of 37,000 war criminals were arrested between 1972 and 1975, said Air-Vice Marshal (Retd) AK Khandaker, one of the sector commanders. About 26,000 of the detainees with minor offences were freed under a general amnesty offered by the then Mujib government.
   But the trial process of 11,000 others, who were directly linked to killing, rape, arson and looting, was going on. Among them, 752 were awarded punishments under the Collaborators Act 1972 and the International Crime (Tribunals) Act 1973, he said.
   ‘But, unfortunately, after the assassination of Bangabandhu (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman), the administration of General Ziaur Rahman halted the trial process by scrapping the Collaborators Act, resulting in rehabilitation of the hated criminals in the society,’ said Khandaker, the chairman of the forum.
   The war criminals and their followers have continuously been attacking the constitution and the spirit of Bangladesh’s independence, and never bothered to offer any public apology for their misdeeds even so many years after their defeat, the war hero regretted.
   ‘The nation today seems united to see the war criminals barred from all elections. Their trials should be held as soon as possible to ensure justice and holding free and fair national polls,’ he said urging all to join hands in the campaign.
   Sector Commanders Abu Osman Chowdhury, Quazi Nuruzzaman, CR Datta, Mir Shawkat Ali and KM Shafi Ullah, and Professor Mizanur Rahman, MA Hasan and former army chief Harun Or Rashid, also the coordinator of the forum, spoke at the inaugural session.
   ‘The government must try the war criminals. If the big criminals are not brought to justice, the people will never be respectful to the law,’ said Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury.
   Since the crime was against the state and its people, it is the responsibility of the government to bring the criminals to book, said Professor Anisuzzaman.
   Quazi Nuruzzaman criticised post 1990-governments for not taking any step to try war criminals although all the major parties pledged to do so.
   He believed the government would never do it unless the people created pressure on them. He called upon all progressive forces to launch a movement and compel the government to take up the issue seriously.
   CR Datta called upon the freedom fighters to get united rising above political divides and carry forward the movement until the war criminals are tried.
   Mir Shawkat Ali said, ‘We hope this government will do justice to the freedom fighters through the trial of war criminals’.
   KM Shafiullah said citizenship of the war criminals should be scrapped as they did not believe in the country’s existence. Anti-liberation forces should be resisted at every stage of the society, the former army chief also said.
   Bangladesh must be able to accomplish the trial of the war criminals since many other countries were doing the same, said another former army chief Harun. ‘If we fail to do so, all our anti-graft works and words will seem useless,’ he added.
   The convention, held amid tight security, was attended by senior political leaders, liberation war veterans, freedom fighters, intellectuals, teachers, students, civic leaders and professionals.

Slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto’s party Saturday named ex-parliamentary speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani as its candidate to be the troubled country’s new prime minister.
   Benazir loyalist Gilani was chosen more than a month after the Pakistan People’s Party emerged as the biggest party from general elections and agreed to form a coalition government with ex-premier Nawaz Sharif.
   The 58-year-old Gilani is now a virtual shoo-in to be elected as prime minister when Pakistan’s new parliament meets on Monday, ahead of a looming showdown with key US ally president Pervez Musharraf.
   ‘I have great pleasure in calling upon Yousuf Raza Gilani in the name of Shaheed (martyr) Benazir Bhutto to accept the heavy responsibility to lead the coalition government and the nation,’ said a statement by Benazir’s widower Asif Ali
   Zardari that was read out to reporters by a party spokesman.
   The statement said that Gilani was the ‘consensus’ candidate of the coalition.
   Musharraf, whose political backers lost heavily in the elections after five years in power of the nuclear-armed nation, is set to swear in the new premier on Tuesday.
   Gilani is a stalwart figure in the PPP and friend of Zardari who spent five years in jail under Musharraf’s regime on corruption charges that were later overturned.
   He was speaker during her second term in power from 1993 to 1996 and a minister during her first term from 1988 to 1990.
   Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar would not comment on reports that Gilani would be a stop-gap premier until Zardari, who is not an MP, becomes eligible to stand for the post by contesting a by-election in May.
   The party struggled to settle on a candidate amid a power vacuum left by the charismatic Bhutto’s assassination in December, with Gilani emerging only in the last week.
   The other contenders were ex-trade minister Ahmed Mukhtar, party president Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Punjab province party chief Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
   Sharif said in Lahore that his Pakistan Muslim League-N party ‘will raise no objection on the PPP nominee,’ adding: ‘Musharraf should understand that the days of dictatorship are numbered.’
   A nominee of Musharraf’s allies meanwhile quit the race for the premiership, but the main party that supports the US-backed president said it would field another candidate so the PPP’s nominee would not be uncontested.
   The president’s political ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, said it had decided to withdraw its candidate as a ‘gesture of goodwill.’
   ‘We have decided to extend unconditional support to the PPP nominee,’ Farooq Sattar, the candidate of the Karachi-based MQM, said by telephone.
   The decision to withdraw was taken after Zardari held talks with MQM leader Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile in London, Sattar said.
   Sattar, who met leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which backs Musharraf,
   later confirmed that he was quitting the race at a news conference.
   PPP spokesman Babar hailed the MQM support as ‘a positive development.’
   But PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said his party would nominate Sattar’s replacement on Sunday.
   ‘We have decided to contest the election for prime minister and not to withdraw from the political process,’ Hussain told reporters here.
   Western governments are keenly observing the political scene in Pakistan, with a showdown looming between the new parliament and Musharraf, a frontline ally in the US-led ‘war on terror.’

Bangladesh completed a clean sweep of Ireland when they handed the visitors a massive 79-run defeat in the third and final one-day match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.
   Opener Tamim Iqbal slammed his maiden one-day century to guide Bangladesh to 293-7, their second highest total in limited-over game, after skipper Mohammad Ashraful won the toss and opted to bat first.
   Tamim’s 129 off 136 balls was complemented by third successive half-century of Shahriar Nafees, who struck 54 off 56 balls, to raise his tally in series to 204 at an average of 102 that easily earned him the man-of the-series award.
   Unlike the batting, Bangladesh did not need any individual brilliance with the ball as the fielders accomplished four run-outs to dismiss Ireland for 214 runs in 45.3 overs. Niall O’Brien scored 70 for Ireland, the first fifty for the side in the series.
   Shahriar and Tamim indicated a great day for Bangladesh when they put together 109 runs in the opening partnership in 19 overs before Alex Cuasack put a brake on them by removing Shahriar and Aftab in the same over.
   The duo had a 94-run partnership in previous game but needed to play at least 25.5 overs for that. Both of them played in the same vein on Saturday sending almost every bad ball out of the fence as Bangladesh raced past 100 runs in 17 overs.
   Tamim had his share of luck when Andre Botha grassed a simple catch off his own bowling. Tamim, who was then batting on 30, started walking when he saw the ball went into the sky after getting his leading edge, but soon returned seeing Botha doing a favour for him.
   Bangladesh’s opening partnership could have ended on 69, should the Irish bowler grab the catch. Tamim made the most of his life as he stayed until 47.3 overs at the crease and hammered 15 fours and a six before giving a catch at mid-on to William Porterfield.
   It was only the ninth one-day century for Bangladesh and second best behind Sakib al Hassan’s 134 against Canada (at Saint Johns in 2007).
   Tamim hardly got any support from the middle-order batsmen as Mohammad Ashraful (22), Sakib al Hasan (7) and Roqibul Hasan (2) all departed cheaply. It was his lone battle in the middle until Mahmudullah Riyad arrived to put on 82 runs for the sixth wicket.
   Mahmudullah hung on until the last to help Bangladesh add 102 runs in the final 10 overs. Unfortunately he missed his first half-century having remained stranded at 49 off 44 balls that included just four fours.
   Abdur Razzak and Sakib took two wickets apiece while Mashrafee and Mahmudullah bagged one each for Bangladesh to compete the winning formality.
   ‘Bangladesh have improved a lot particularly in fielding. I think people should stop now criticising Bangladesh and rather help them make further improvement,’ said Ireland coach Phil Simmons after the series.
   West Indian Simmons lost 5-0 to Bangladesh when he came here last time in 2006 as the coach of Zimbabwe.

The jail authorities will today submit a report on the health condition of detained Awami League president Sheikh Hasina before the court which is hearing the graft charges against her.
   ‘The Square Hospital authority will give the report on her (Hasina) health condition and it will be placed before the court tomorrow,’ deputy inspector general (prisons) Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told New Age on Saturday.
   The special judge court on March 13 ordered the jail authorities to submit detail report on Hasina’s health condition.
   ‘We will give the report to the jail authorities detailing her (Hasina) admission, present health condition and results of the tests so far done here,’ Sanwar Hossain, a director of the hospital told New Age on Saturday.
   ‘It is an interim report and the final report is given only at the time of the patient’s discharge,’ he said, adding that physicians would go for a check-up Sunday morning to see whether the Awami League would be able to appear before the court or not.
   Hasina was taken to
   Square Hospital on March 11 from the sub-jail in the Jatiya Sangsad premises amid reports of her deteriorating health condition and calls from her personal physicians, relatives and party colleagues to send her abroad for better treatment.

The government is likely to undertake massive food distribution drives to offset the impacts of food price hike by increasing the number of urban open market sales outlets and reorganising rural Vulnerable Group Feeding programme till the Boro harvest.
   The commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, on Saturday announced that the number of sales centres in major cities, including Dhaka, would be increased, targeting the working class people, such as garment workers.
   He said this following recommendations made by economists at a meeting with him on ‘Trends of National Economy: Problems and Solutions’, which discussed ways and means to mitigate the impacts of food price hike on the vulnerable groups.
   For the fixed income group people, particularly the public servants, the economists suggested providing dearness allowance — a proposal which is now being dealt with by the finance ministry as part of the budget-making process, the adviser pointed out.
   Economists MA Taslim, Atiur Rahman, Sajjad Zahir, Quazi Shahabuddin, Mahbub Ullah and Mahbub Hossain attended the meeting. Palli Karma-Shahayak Foundation managing director Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Rifles director general Major General Shakil Ahmed, and Moniruzzaman, chairman of Alinagar Union Parishad under Kalkini upazila in Madaripur were also present.
   If a decision on widening the safety net is taken at the highest level of the government on the basis of the recommendations, the Bangladesh Rifles alone will sell 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes of rice daily through its outlets in Dhaka till the end of April in place of only 350 tonnes being sold at present.
   ‘What is being distributed through the open market sales centres now is inadequate. Along with the rise in the quantity of supplies, the number of outlets of open market sales of rice will also be increased so that they are located in the proximity of workers,’ the adviser told reporters after the meeting at the commerce ministry.
   He said a concrete decision would be made in a week to scale up the open market sales of rice in urban areas and at the upazila level until the availability of Boro rice in the market after harvesting. ‘After discussion with the chief adviser and my colleagues in the government, we will soon come up with a decision.’
   The initiative apparently followed widespread hue and cry about food price hike and suggestions made by a number of economists and civil society leaders to bring people under a safety net programme more than three months before the next fiscal year, although the finance adviser was planning expansion of the safety net in the next budget.
   In response to a query, the BDR chief said the number of middle class clients lining up to buy cheap food items from their outlets was on the rise. Earlier, only the poor were seen in the queues.
   The government may also consider replacing certain quantity of rice by potato while distributing rice under the VGF programme in rural areas, said Zillur, adding, ‘Introduction of potato in the relief package may help farmers get fair price of this agri-produce after this season’s bumper crop.’
   Quoting economists, the commerce adviser said they also suggested introduction of food for work programme alongside free distribution of food among the ultra-poor to save many people from the ‘culture of receiving relief’ and revitalise the rural economy.
   Asked if the government would introduce a minimum employment guarantee scheme like that in India, Zillur, a development economist, expressed his conviction that some components of such scheme were already there in Bangladesh.
   Mesbahuddin Ahmed added that an ongoing programme styled Rural Employment and Public Asset Management could fill in certain vacuum of safety net by job-oriented activities.
   Zillur claimed that rural areas were better covered by safety net programmes compared to urban areas, where distribution of direct food relief is almost uncommon these days.
   In Alinagar Union of Madaripur, 2,100 or 70 per cent out of a total of 3,100 families have been being provided with 15 kilograms of rice per month for the last five months under an eight-month VGF programme, he cited as an example. In Shahpara Union of northern Gaibandha district, 2,600 or 40 per cent of the 6,500 families are being provided with the same quantity of rice.
   To ensure a long-term food security, the meeting of economists suggested procurement of Boro rice during the upcoming season for fattening the government’s food stocks. Construction of new godowns and use of unused stores of the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation were also suggested.
   Currently, the government’s godowns under the food and disaster management ministry can store only 14 lakh tonnes of food grains, while the minimum buffer stock of food for ensuring food security is estimated at 10 lakh tonnes.

Sudden storms in Sunamganj, Rangpur and Lalmonirhat killed nine people and injured about 250 and damaged standing crops on many hectares of land on Thursday and Friday.
   The most devastating storm blew over Sunamganj on Friday midnight leaving seven children killed, mostly in collapse of houses, and about 200 wounded.
   The dead were identified as Jamshed and Nasima Khatun Kona in Sadar upazila, Nilufar Begum and Amir Ali in Dharampasha, Maleka Begum and Hamid in Bishwambharpur, and Champa Rani Das in Chhatak. They died in house collapse or hit by flying objects, according to reports reaching from the affected areas.
   The remaining two people were killed in Rangpur.
   In Sunamganj, the storm accompanied by hailstorm blew away or razed to the ground about 2,500 houses, uprooted trees and caused heavy damage to early Boro plants. A high voltage power transmission line was snapped in Chhatak and it could not be restored till 8:00pm Saturday.
   The storm also swept over Sylhet causing a number of houses to collapse, uprooted trees and damaged crops and vegetables. Power supply to Sylhet city was snapped during the storm and remained so till 3:00pm Saturday.
   In Rangpur, two people were killed and 25 injured and several hundred houses were damaged in 15 unions under Rangpur sadar, Pirganj, Mithapukur and Pirgachha upazilas as a tornado lashed the areas on Thursday and Friday night. Five hundred hectares of maize land were damaged in the tornado.
   Khukumoni of village Asmatpur and Halima Bewa of village Gondhopur under Pirganj died on the spot as their houses collapsed on Thursday night.
   About 5,000 houses and 37 educational institutions were damaged in the storm that lasted for about an hour, snapping the power supply that could not be restored till Saturday afternoon.
   The district administration distributed 34 tonnes of rice, Tk 2.5 lakh in cash, 500 kilogram fried rice, 100kg puffed rice and 100kg molasses among the affected people.
   A storm also swept over 18 villages in Lalmonirhat on Friday night, injuring 20 people, including six women. Five of the injured were admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital and the rest were admitted to other local hospitals.
   Houses and standing crops were damaged in the storm that started at about 8:30pm. Some schools and mosques at Kaliganj, Lalmonirhat sadar and Hatibandha upazilas were damaged in the storm.
   Power supply remained suspended at all the upazilas except the district town after a power sub-station was damaged in Kaliganj.
   The Department of Agricultural Extension of the district said the storm damaged various crops, including maize, in different areas.

Subscribers owe the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board Tk 540 crore in unpaid bills including Tk 114 crore lying with different government offices.
   Some 16,000 cases, filed by the board over overdue bills and other disputes, are now pending with different courts across the country, revealed a discussion on ‘formulating policy to improve telecoms services’ held at the Telecommunications Building on Saturday.
   Chief Adviser’s special assistant for the telecoms ministry MA Malek attended the programme as the chief guest where plans for cutting down BTTB charges were mooted in the face of steep competitions from mobile phones and recently from private land phone companies.
   BTTB general manager (finance) Abu Sayeed Khan told New Age after the meeting that the outstanding telephone bills of different government offices cumulated since independence of the country at Tk 114 crore.
   The figure excludes the bills of semi-government and autonomous bodies, he mentioned adding that private bill defaulters included former lawmakers.
   BTTB chairman Ashraful Alim told New Age that the board was taking various measures for the recovery of the overdue bills.
   Besides filing law suits, the BTTB will bar the outgoing calls of bill defaulters, he mentioned. Defaulters would
   be notified seven days before disconnecting the telephone line.
   Speakers at the meeting urged all concerned to work together to run the BTTB efficiently and improve its services to subscribers.
   ‘The BTTB must stop harassing its subscribers for the sake of its own existence. Its call charges and line rents should be revised considering the competitive market,’ Malek told the meeting.
   He directed the officials concerned to make an effective proposal by April 5 on easing the cumbersome process of getting telephone connections and billing systems.
   BTTB officials said they would be able to prepare a database of 8.5 lakh subscribers within three months, which would help ease many procedures, including transfer of telephone lines.
   Malek suggested that the BTTB should follow the billing system of cell-phone companies which update monthly bills with arrears.
   ‘The standard of BTTB services is nowhere near the expectation by any means now. In that case, to survive it has to take policy looking at the current market,’ said Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission chairman Manjurul Alam.
   He said since the inception of the commission in 2001, the BTTB has not taken any licence yet from the watchdog body.
   ‘Many of its projects may become null and void if new licence is not taken,’ he warned.
   Telecommunications secretary Iqbal Mahmud asked all concerned to take into account that the tasks are being done as per the citizens’ charter.
   Presided over by the BTTB chairman Ashraful Alim, the meeting was also attended, among others, by BTTB members Syed Mamun Akhter (maintenance and operation), M Shamsul Alam (planning and development), Saleh Ahmad Hakim (administration) and Ratan Chadra Bhoumik (finance).

The US charge d’ affaires Geeta Pas on Saturdayi said the issue of holding political dialogues with parties was for the government alone to decide.
   She said foreign diplomats may hold their own talks with different groups, including political parties and businessmen.
   Questioned by journalists after a local community meeting in Gulshan, the US envoy said that it was not the job of the diplomatic community to say whether dialogues between the government and political parties should take place.
   The discussion meeting was held during an ‘Open Day’ programme at Gulshan police station, organised to discuss the problems facing the local community.
   Geeta Pasi said she was attending the function not in a professional capacity but simply as a resident of Gulshan.
   Gulshan deputy police commissioner Rezaul Alam moderated the programme, while former adviser and former inspector general of police ASM Shahjahan, local ward commissioners Peara Mostafa, Anwar Hossain, Rabeya Alam and local residents addressed the meeting. Shahjahan said the government had started reforms within the police force, and programmes such as Saturday’s ‘Open Day’ were an important step as a bridge between the police and the people.
   The speakers at the function discussed various problems of the area including traffic jams, free selling of drugs, vandalism of telephone cables and water crises.
   The function also discussed the activities, obstacles and problems of service organisations such as the city corporation, WASA, RAJUK, Titas Gas and the Power Development Board.

As the tiny Himalayan state of Bhutan readies for its first major polls next week, many people are still apprehensive of the changes that the country’s shift to democracy will bring.
   The Buddhist kingdom will conduct elections for a lower house on Monday, bringing an end to absolute rule by the immensely popular King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, who took over the kingdom from his father in 2006.
   While some Bhutanese have remained indifferent to the election process so far, others have reservations about what the future holds.
   ‘I am not sure if democracy is good or bad. If they change the laws, our culture will be lost under democracy,’ said Sangay, a 50-year-old farmer.
   The isolated kingdom of just under 700,000 people has carefully preserved its traditions and culture – making it mandatory for its citizens to wear traditional clothes, and allowing only limited industrialisation and tourism.
   Many Bhutanese take a dim view of democracy.
   ‘I see on television how people fight in other democracies. So far, Bhutan has been a peaceful country but after March 24, it will become like other countries,’ said house help Mani Lhamo.
   Lhamo said – like many others – that she will not vote as reaching her remote constituency centre would take up to three days. ‘Who will look after my cows if I go to vote?’
   ‘People are apprehensive of change because monarchy has worked well so far. Many people see corruption and strife around them in other countries,’ said Kinley Dorji, managing director of the national Kuensel newspaper.
   Officials are also concerned about security after a string of bomb blasts in the past month, suspected to have been carried out by communist rebels operating from neighbouring Nepal.
   Two explosions have occurred in the last week alone, local police said.
   Tens of thousands of ethnic Nepalese fled from southern Bhutan to Nepal after a cultural campaign to encourage the use of Bhutan’s national language and dress, and have been living in refugee camps.
   ‘A group of people in Nepal camps are bent on disturbing the elections. We can’t wish away these security concerns,’ said the country’s chief election commissioner Kunzang Wangdi.
   Around 10,000 police have been deployed, Wangdi said, and a 400-kilometre long border with India will be sealed a day ahead of polls to prevent militants from India’s insurgency-hit northeast from crossing.
   The two political parties – the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT, Bhutan United Party) and People’s Democratic Party – are trying hard to convince people to vote amid widespread apathy.
   Last year’s test polls saw 40 per cent turnout, and 50 per cent voters turned up for staggered elections for the upper house, the National Council, in December and January.
   Candidates from the two parties have been going on long treks, which can take up to 10 days by foot in the rough hilly terrain, to reach the remotest villages to encourage people to cast their ballots.
   Most of the political contestants have already served as ministers and bureaucrats in previous governments appointed by the king and command huge respect among the Bhutanese.
   ‘My prayers go to you so that you serve a good government,’ a retired judge told DPT’s prominent candidate Ugyen Tshering as he went for door-to-door campaigning.

Printing of the final voters’ lists with photographs of four city corporations and seven municipalities has already been completed and the draft voters’ lists of 230 more areas are scheduled to be published by May.
   The army personnel will hand over the printed copies of the final lists of 11 areas containing 12,91,147 voters to the concerned local election officers tomorrow, Major Ferdous Ahsan Selim, spokesman of the Bangladesh Army’s central control cell on preparation of the voters’ list, told reporters during a briefing on Saturday.
   The city corporations are Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and Rajshahi while the pourasavas are Gopalganj, Cox’s Bazar, Sitakunda, Fulbaria, Sreepur, Shariatpur and Manikganj.
   The central control cell of the army on preparation of the voters’ list and national ID card project predicted that final voters’ roll of the country will be available by October next.
   ‘Registration of 4.93 crore voters with photographs and fingerprints has been completed across the country and now the matching work of the enlisted voters is being carried out through the biometrics system for identifying duplications,’ said Ferdous.
   He said five days’ time is required to identify the duplications though the biometric system after analysing the pictures and fingerprints of about two lakh voters. He also said that the number of duplications was insignificant. For example, only seven duplications were identified in Barisal city corporation areas.
   ‘After matching all the 2.54 lakh voters’ fingerprints and photographs of Putia of Rajshahi, we identified only four duplications. Of them we found that one had himself enlisted him twice with ill-intention while three others did so by mistake,’ said another army officer of the cell.
   Addressing a press briefing at the Dhaka Cantonment, Ferdous said that they expect that the total number of voters would be over 8 crore and the printing of the draft voters’ lists of over 3 crore voters would be completed by May.
   The army have been printing three sets of draft voters’ lists of each area and five sets of final voters’ list by using laser printers. The army is planning to set up printers at the regional level to expedite the printing process as two printers can print a set of voters’ list containing 1 lakh voters a day.
   The EC has directed field-level election offices to begin publication of draft voters’ lists where the voters’ registration work is complete. The draft list of other areas will be published in phases on completion of the registration of voters in order to complete whole electoral roll by October.
   Ferdous said that 57 days would be required after completing the process of registration to publish the draft of the voters’ list.
   Once the draft list is published, it will be available for viewing for 15 days after its publication at the offices of district and upazila election officers or assistant registration officers, union parishad offices, municipality offices, ward offices, cantonment boards and polling stations used as voters’ registration centres.
   Voters can file objections and claims or ask for correction of mistakes within 15 days, if they find any. The revising authorities will look into the objections and claims.
   Decisions regarding the claims, complaints and objections will have to be incorporated within 10 days of their resolution and the final roll will be published within the next 12 days.
   According to EC’s decisions, upazila executive officers will do the revision work in upazilas while deputy election commissioners, additional deputy commissioners, additional district magistrates and cantonment executive officers will revise the lists in the metropolitan and cantonment areas.
   The EC began the field-level task of listing voters with photographs in August last year, and the final electoral register will be published by October, according to the electoral roadmap announced by the EC on July 15 last year.

The government should make a more ‘open to people’ budget by including views of politicians, economists and civil society representatives, demanded the Equity and Justice Working Group, a development advocacy forum, on Saturday.
   At a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium, the group also placed recommendations on making the second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which is to be a part of the next budget, more effective and poor-friendly.
   The budget-making process in Bangladesh is poorly communicated to the citizens and its openness to the general people lags far behind scores of other countries, said Syed Aminul Haque in the keynote.
   Alongside Nepal and Albania, Bangladesh scores below 40 out of the highest score of 100 in the global Open Budget Index, Aminul Haque said. India scores up to 60, South Korea up to 80 while USA, UK and France score between 80 and 100.
   He regretted that although pre-budget report and post-budget audit reports are prepared in Bangladesh, those are not made public, while interim evaluation and annual progress reports on budget are not made at all.
   Aminul suggested that the next PRSP should oblige the annual budget to spend 9 per cent of the GDP in education, health and poverty reduction sectors. At present the spending in those sectors stands at 5.2 per cent of the GDP.
   He said development of small and medium enterprises and creation of sustainable agricultural and non-agricultural employment for the poor to raise their purchasing capacity should be two major focuses of the next PRSP.
   Like India, at least 7 per cent of the country’s annual agricultural production in terms of value should be channelled back to farmers as subsidies and the funding of research on agriculture should be enhanced, he recommended in the keynote paper on behalf of the group.
   EJWG convener Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said for making an effective budget or a PRSP wider public interactions were very much necessary. ‘Making of a budget should not be confined to the bureaucratic process.’
   Both Rezaul and Aminul blasted international lending agencies for their interference and unwarranted prescriptions. They termed lenders’ prescriptions and pressure to increase private sector investment in agriculture sector to increase production motivated.
   Their suggestions contradict the strategies of making a poor-friendly budget, they observed.
   EJWG members Mohammad Samsuzzoha, Sahadat Chowdhury and Mostafa Kamal also attended the press conference.

Effects of withdrawal of water by India, especially at Farakka Barrage point, is manifested in further deterioration of poverty in the country’s southwestern region, observed experts and members of the civil society.
   Speaking at a special edition of BBC Bangladesh Sanglap titled ‘Farakka and Environment’ in Kushtia on Saturday, they called on the government to take immediate steps for construction of an alternative Ganges Barrage on the river Gorai to protect the region’s environment and livelihoods.
   The region’s agricultural production and farm productivity and fisheries are being ruined under the impact of the Farakka Barrage in India that obstructs flow of the Ganges, said the discussants.
   Unemployment, increase in criminal incidences such as outlawed activities and human trafficking and labour migration were said to be the symptoms of poverty.
   ‘We need to construct immediately an alternative barrage on the Gorai to protect the region and its people. Such a barrage can help ensure uniform distribution of water in the region,’ said Touhidul Anwar Khan, a former member of Joint Rivers Commission, an Indo-Bangladesh bilateral body assigned to resolve water sharing issues.
   Bangladesh could have grown an additional 4-5 million tonnes of crops in the region, it the country received agreed amount of water from India, he explained.
   The Indian authorities are not properly following the formula stipulated by the water-sharing treaty, causing severe water crisis for Bangladesh, the expert alleged. Instead, he said, India constructed barrages on almost all rivers flowing into Bangladesh to divert the water courses, resulting in drying up of the rivers in the country.
   ‘The future generation may fall into great danger,’ he said and called upon people of all walks of life to raise their voice for due share of water.
   Editor of New Nation Mostafa Kamal Majumder, coordinator of Padma-Gorai Area Water Partnership Anwarul Karim and former Jatiya Party lawmaker Badruddoza Gama also took part in the Sanglap as panelists. BBC’s guest presenter Gawhar Nayeem Wahra, convenor of Disaster Forum of Bangladesh, moderated the Sanglap held on the Renwick Embankment. BBC Bangla Service in conjunction with the BBC World Service Trust organised the event.
   Responding to a query, Karim said the prevailing problems might be resolved, if the alternative barrage was built. As a result of Ganges barrage, salinity has increased in the rivers in the region affecting the Sundarbans, agriculture, fisheries and livelihoods, he pointed out.
   Mostafa Kamal said water level has gone down further due to surface water crisis over the years and such a process caused severe arsenic contamination in the ground water in the southwestern region.
   Gama said the number of poor farmers had increased as ultimate consequences of water crisis. He called for exerting pressure on India to demand equitable sharing of water by pursuing a prudent foreign policy. ‘We have to raise the issue at different international fora including the United Nations,’ said the former lawmaker.

China turned its back Saturday on appeals for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, vowing to smash anti-China forces in Tibet, where it said the death toll from recent unrest had risen to 19.
   A day after Beijing launched a manhunt for monks and others it blamed for violence in Tibet, an editorial in the People’s Daily, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist party, said opposition to Chinese rule in the Himalayan region must be wiped out.
   ‘China must resolutely crush the conspiracy of sabotage and smash ‘Tibet independence forces’, the newspaper said in the editorial, rejecting calls from US, European and Asian leaders for talks.
   The commentary accused the Dalai Lama of masterminding protests in Tibet in the hope of undermining the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics and gaining Tibet independence from Beijing.
   It said that ‘1.3 billion Chinese people, including the Tibetan people, would allow no person or force to undermine the stability of the region.’
   The commentary effectively rebuffed growing international calls for dialogue to end the crackdown on protests that began last week to mark the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Beijing’s rule.
   Earlier Saturday, China said 18 ‘innocent’ civilians and one police officer were killed in rioting in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, raising its official death toll from 13.
   Tibet’s government-in-exile in the Indian hill town of Dharamshala has put the toll from a week of unrest across the Himalayan region and neighbouring provinces at 99.
   On Friday, leaders in Japan and Poland joined the United States and other countries in an international appeal for restraint and dialogue.
   They were joined on Saturday by 30 prominent Chinese writers and intellectuals who signed a letter to their government urging talks with the Tibetan spiritual leader.
   They also called on China to open Tibet up to foreign media and to allow a team of independent UN investigators to carry out a full investigation of ‘the evidence, the course of the incident, the number of casualties, etc.’
   The signatories, who included Liu Xiaobo, Teng Biao, Wang Qisheng and other noted rights activists, also said China should show evidence it says it possesses that proves the Dalai Lama was behind the uprising.
   US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi has also demanded that China come clean on repression in Tibet.
   ‘The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world,’ said Pelosi, who was greeted in Dharamshala by thousands of flag-waving Tibetan exiles as she arrived for talks Friday with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.
   ‘What is happening, the world needs to know,’ she said.
   However, China has responded to the protests with a massive clampdown on the affected areas, and on Friday released a most-wanted list of 19 people caught on film taking part in the Lhasa riots, amid warnings by activist groups of harsh reprisals.
   Outside China, street demonstrations against the crackdown in Tibet continued on Saturday in Tokyo, where 600 people took to the streets.
   On Friday protesters in Paris burned Chinese flags, while demonstrators in New Delhi stormed the Chinese embassy.
   The protests come with less than five months to go before the Beijing Olympics, which is becoming a magnet for more protests over Tibet and other issues.
   On Monday the symbolic start to events leading up to the Games is scheduled to take place in Greece on Monday when the Olympic flame is lit.
   The so-called sacred Olympic flame is to be lit during a 30-minute ritual in the presence of the International Olympic Committee president, Jacques Rogge, whose organisation has been sharply criticised for its silence on the Tibet crackdown.

Angry students of Jahangirnagar University on Saturday set fire to three buses and damaged five more vehicles at the main gate of the university after blocking the Dhaka-Aricha Highway for about three hours.
   The students got agitated hearing the news that a university bus, carrying first year students, was damaged by transport workers at Gabtali, leaving ten students injured.
   As the news spread on the campus, several hundred students blocked the highway at around 2:30pm and set fire to three buses and damaged few others.
   The agitation continued till 5:30pm, snapping communication between the capital and northern and southern districts.
   There was a long tailback as several hundred vehicles remained stranded on both the sides of the highway following the road blockade.
   Later pro vice-chancellor M Muniruzzaman and members of the proctorial body and commanding officer of Savar cantonment went there and managed to calm them down.
   Proctor Kamrul Ahsan Titu said they were trying to find out real cause behind the agitation for the sake of safety and security of the students.

Pakistani troops shut down three FM radio stations Friday and arrested eight employees after the stations aired a speech by a pro-Taliban cleric, the military said.
   Weapons, ammunition, audio cassettes and ‘provocative literature’ were seized, and troops dismantled the stations’ transmission equipment, the military said in a statement.
   The raids on the stations, which operated without a license, took place early Friday in the Swat Valley, a restive area in Pakistan’s northwest.
   A day earlier, the stations had broadcast a recording of a fiery speech by Maulana Fazlullah, a radical Muslim cleric who tried to enforce Taliban-style Islam in the valley, said Syed Akhter Ali Shah, a top police officer in Swat.
   Pakistan’s security forces have been battling Fazlullah’s supporters in Swat for months as part of its anti-terrorism campaign against supporters of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The chief justice, M Ruhul Amin, on Saturday stressed establishment of the rule of law in the country and reminded that there is no other alternative to a democratic government for ensuring people’s welfare.
   ‘Rule of law is necessary to reach the benefits of a democratic government to the people,’ he said, calling upon the lawyers, particularly the women ones, to campaign for establishing the rule of law in all spheres of life.
   He urged upon the women lawyers to continue their ‘systemic movement’ to realise their demands and rights, including equal share of assets.
   ‘The rights of women in past have so far been established through systematic movements and arguments which should be continued in future,’ said Ruhul Amin, addressing the sixth Women Lawyers’ Congress, 2008.
   Khan Foundation chairman Abdul Moyeen Khan presided over the function organised by the foundation at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. Among others, Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim of the Appellate Division, ICRC country director Finn Ruda, and Khan Foundation executive director Rokhsana Khondker spoke at the programme.
   The chief justice in his deliberations said every social group must achieve their rights through continuous movement as nobody gives them if not pressed for.
   He also called upon women to establish their position in various tiers of the society by proving their talents and qualifications.
   Justice Fazlul Karim said the discrimination against women stems from myths and stereotyped ideas and practices, which must be eliminated to attain gender parity. He hoped that women would succeed in achieving their goals and aspirations within the near future.
   Former ICT minister Abdul Moyeen Khan said women are victims of discrimination in this society and called upon the judges, who are the custodians of the constitution, to enforce the laws relating to equal rights of women.

The government is likely to extend the tenure of the ad-hoc committee of the Bar Council until its next elections.
   The council of advisers is expected to approve a proposal for amending the Bar Council (temporary regulation) Ordi-nance-2007 to extend the tenure.
   The tenure of the elected committee of the Bar Council expired during the state of emergency proclaimed by president Iajuddin Ahmed on January 11, 2007.
   The body was formed in July 2007.