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Former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, also known as Shah Alam, its executive director Abu Sufian and former lawmaker Kazi Salimul Huq have been sued again for misleading the sensational Sabbir murder case.
   Bashundhara Telecommuni-cations director Humayun Kabir Sabbir was killed in Dream House at Gulshan in Dhaka on July 4, 2006.
   Criminal Investigation Department assistant police superintendent Arman Ali lodged the case with the Ramna police Thursday night, two days after the Anti-Corruption Commission had pressed charges against them, along with former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman, for bribery of Tk 21 crore to cover up the killer.
   The first information report said some Tk 21 crore was exchanged at Babar’s house on Minto Road for misleading the case to save Shah Alam’s son Safiat Sobhan Sanbir from the charge of killing Sabbir.
   The commission on May 6 also submitted the charge sheet with court pressing charges against the four, along with Tarique and three others, for bribery of Tk 21 crore to cover up the killer.
   According to the first information report, a couple of meetings were held at Babar’s house on Mintu Road and at Gulshan between July 5, 2006 and February 13, 2007.
   Shah Alam offered Babar Tk 50 crore in bribe to mislead the case. However, Tk 21 crore was paid to Babar through the account of Salimul Huq with the Prime Bank. Salimul Huq is also chairman of the bank, the first information report said.
   After taking the bribe, Babar tried to give a wrong impression about the case and forced the authorities to turn it into a case of suicide.
   Sabbir’s brother-in-law filed a case on July 7, 2006 with the Gulshan police after Sabbir was killed in a flat of the Bashundhara Group on July 4.
   Shah Alam met Babar to save his son Sanbir from the murder charge. He held meetings with Tarique, Babar and Abu Sufian at Babar’s house on Minto Road on August 7 and 8, 2006, the first information report said.
   During the meeting, Babar demanded Tk 100 crore in bribe. The amount was settled at Tk 50 crore and Abu Sufian was assigned to execute the bribery as a mediator. Sufian visited Babar on three days –– August 13, 14 and 15, 2006 — and gave Tk 1 crore in cash on each visit.
   On August 17, Babar asked Sufian to hand over Tk 1 crore to Nuruddin Apu, an assistant personal secretary to Tarique at Hawa Bhaban, the first information report said, although it did not make Tarique an accused in the case. Sufian handed over Tk 1 crore to Apu on August 20, 2006 and gave Tk 2 crore more to Babar on August 21 and 22.
   Sufian also gave Tk 15 crore by cheques of different branches of the Prime Bank. Then officer-in-charge of the Ramna police, Daulat Akbar Khan, told New Age, ‘We sent all the case documents to court on Friday. The Criminal Investigation Department was assigned to investigate the case.’

The government is thinking about tightening the supervision of voluntary organisations as most of them flout rules and indulge themselves in corrupt practices because of a state of impunity persisting in the sector for decades.
   ‘We are working to bring the organisations under a common monitoring mechanism,’ the Department of Social Services director general, Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, told New Age, adding the activities of all voluntary organisations must come under close watch to make the best use of resources, whether they comes from abroad or within the country.
   The government move came after some non-governmental organisations cheated a number of poor people in two northern districts with their development and credit schemes.
   The government, officials said, wants to bring the activities of non-governmental organisations under a supervision umbrella as there has been no central mechanism to monitor such agencies registered under different authorities — the Department of Social Services, NGO Affairs Bureau and Registrar of Joint Stock Company and under trust and equity law.
   The social welfare ministry is panning an inter-ministry meeting to find ways to what extent the organisations would be monitored.
   The Department of Social Services asked its field administration to send information on the activities of more than 51,000 voluntary organisations in prescribed forms.
   ‘We will meet as soon as we get reports from the districts on the state of the non-governmental organisations,’ said Abdul Mannan, one of the directors at the department.
   The department observed most such organisations did not comply with the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance 1961 which made mandatory the submission of reports on their annual activities and audited accounts of expenditure to the authorities concerned.
   Violation of the rules is punishable with a maximum of six months’ imprisonment and or financial penalty. But the authorities have hardly taken any action against such organisations running on domestic resources.
   In recent times, the government cancelled the registration of nine non-governmental organisations for grabbing poor people’s money in Natore and Jaipurhat.
   Monitoring of the foreign-funded non-governmental organisations registered additionally with the NGO Affairs Bureau are also flouting rules, taking the advantage of weak monitoring by the government and non-implementation of the existing regulations.
   Bureau insiders say its mechanism to monitor foreign donation expenditure is virtually dysfunctional as a result of external influence, mainly from former bureaucrats.
   There has been an allegation of wholesale mishandling of foreign fund by many non-governmental organisations.
   Although the Transparency International, Bangladesh reported corruption by at least 20 NGOs in using foreign funds in the first year of the military-controlled government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, which is carrying out drives against serious crimes and corruption, there has been no visible action against any such organisations.
   Even the government has not taken any step to make public the list of the non-government organisations involved in mishandling of money.
   An official at the bureau said they could not take any action although numerous allegations of irregularities and misuse of fund were registered. In many cases, he said, high officials discouraged investigation.
   About 3,000 non-governmental organisations are registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau manned by 45 people, including the director general, three directors, two deputy directors, assistant directors and five assignment officers, to oversee NGO activities.
   Although the rules stipulate that the deputy commissioner and the upazila nirbahi officer will also oversee NGO activities, the district and upazila level officers are not directly accountable to the bureau.

The United States will not accept any deviation from the path of restoring democracy to Bangladesh with polls and wants withdrawal of the state of emergency for holding a ‘good election’ by December.
   Richard A Boucher, senior US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia came up with the views as he addressed a briefing at the American Club on Friday.
   Touching on the issue whether he foresees any military takeover, Boucher, after meeting the chief of army staff, General
   Moeen U Ahmed, said, ‘The answer is the same as before — no. The only path for Bangladesh is to restore democracy and have an election. We won’t accept any deviation from that path.’
   On the issue of withdrawal of the state of emergency, he said, ‘We don’t think of good elections under the emergency. Emergency has to be lifted. For a good election, it needs open political activities, meetings, rallies, debates and open information. We are pushing to lift the emergency, which is necessary to have credible elections.’
   ‘Elections must be held to get back to a democratically elected government next year,’ Boucher said.
   In reply too a query on the US position if major parties abstain from the elections unless their leaders are released, he said, ‘The United States is not involved with political parties. We are not taking side, we are not choosing winner and we are not supporting any faction of political party or individuals.’
   ‘Our goal is to support democratic process and help the people to get a chance to decide through elections,’ he said.
   As for trials of former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, Boucher said there were charges against the leaders and the government needed to follow due process of law and transparent trial, which is a different matter from the election process.
   He said, ‘I realise different political parties have different positions. But nobody can claim mandate or right to take away the rights of the people to a chance of deciding through elections.’
   Asked if the elections will be credible without the participation of major parties, Boucher said he could not deal with so many ifs and speculations.
   ‘We support the process to proceed in a manner so all the parties can participate. It is not the government, not the parties, but at the end it’s [for] the people to decide,’ he said.
   Boucher said the US goal was to support democracy and the democratic election to ensure overall stability in Bangladesh, which is in the interest of the United States and of the Bangladeshi people, including the army.
   Referring to his meeting with the army chief, Boucher said Moeen had told him how they (the army) were supporting the caretaker government to have the elections to get to an elected government.
   Expressing his satisfaction about the electoral roadmap, Boucher appreciated the efforts of the Election Commission for the progress in preparing a flawless electoral roll, which is a major achievement, and other necessary things to get to the elections.
   He said, ‘We all want the process to proceed on the right track and like you we will be following, monitoring and encouraging steady progress to get to the election by the end of this year.’
   On the issue of terrorism, he said Bangladesh did well in 2007 in its fight against terrorism and the efforts needed to continue to have stability and economic progress.
   Boucher said, ‘An elected government can be a solid foundation to continue with the fight against terrorism and improve the human rights situation in the country.’
   In reply to a question on probable emergence of terrorism before the elections, he said, ‘There is the possibility for disruption in the election process by extremist groups and Bangladesh needs to remain vigilant against extremists and terrorists.’
   He gave an assurance of US support for Bangladesh in enhancing counterterrorism efforts.
   The US ambassador in Dhaka, James F Moriarty, and the American Center director, Amy Hart Vrampas, were present at the briefing.

The government has no plan to take fresh initiatives for education sector in the next budget except for two reforms projects for technical and vocational education, sources in the finance ministry told New Age on Thursday.
   ‘A Tk 436 crore project has been planned for reforms in polytechnic and vocational institutions in the 2008-2009 national budget. The Asian Development Bank will provide the fund in soft loan for the five-year project which will also provide training of skills development and readymade garment training for the students who dropped out.’
    ‘Funded by the European Commission and the International Labour Organisation, another reform project of Tk 136 crore has also planned to make changes in the curriculum of technical and vocational education and training for the teachers,’ said the official. ‘The EC and the ILO will provide the fund in grants for the five-year project.’
   The government has planned to announce some projects in the budget proposal although all the projects are either half-implemented or decided earlier. They are promulgation of the proposed private university ordinance 2008, introduction of accreditation council for private universities, and establishment of two general public universities in Barisal and Rangpur.
   Besides, the government will announce introduction of creative types of question from Class VI from the academic year 2009 instead of the existing essay types and the establishment of model schools in upazilas where there are no government secondary schools.
   The leaders of the registered non-government primary schools, meanwhile, demanded budget allocation for job nationalisation. There are 77,113 teachers with 19,605 registered non-government schools across the country.
   The education and technology sector was given the highest allocation in the budget for the financial year 2007-08. The interim government allocated Tk 12,380 crore in revenue and development budget for the sector.

Women ward commissioners of six city corporations have demanded that the government should formulate a law or policy specifying their functions and responsibilities in order to end discrimination against them.
   Women ward commissioners are facing various problems in performing their official and field-level functions and are being subjected to gender discrimination though, like their male counterparts, they have been elected by direct vote.
   A total of 83 women commissioners, elected by direct vote to reserved seats in six city corporations, are not only ignored in decision-making but also facing non-cooperation of their male colleagues.
   Talking to NewAge a number of women ward commissioners said that due to non-cooperation of their male counterparts, they could not play their role in any major development work in their areas. They are kept out of budget formulation and other financial decisions, development and public works.
   They demanded equal participation in all development works in their areas, in budget-making for city corporations, authority to release funds, decision-making and access to all information.
   The women commissioners also said that like their male colleagues they should be authorised to issue all kinds of certificates to the citizens.
   ‘They [male colleagues] always try to belittle us and call us ‘showpieces.’ said Shahnaj Begum Shikha, a ward commissioner of Rajshahi City Corporation.
   ‘All policies and decisions are made without taking our views… We are left out of all kinds of public works…They avoid us deliberately…It is nothing but an attitude of male chauvinism’, she lamented.
   She said that they were kept in the dark about the activities of the local government bodies although the government had assured them time and again that their grievances would be addressed.
   Anju Ahmed, another commissioner of Rajshahi City Corporation, said, ‘We cannot take part in any public works like construction of roads and culverts, drainage, welfare activities like disbursing widow allowances and old-age allowances and even relief distribution.’
   She mentioned that in all city corporations, women ward commissioners headed the committees dealing with violence against women, including acid violence, dowry and child marriage. ‘But we are not even members of other important committees dealing with health and policy-making issues’, said Anju.
   Sufia Rahman, a ward commissioner of Khulna City Corporation, said, ‘We are not associated with any kind of development works in our wards while our male counterparts regularly receive funds from ADP and other foreign agencies for construction or other development works.’
   ‘We do not have any manpower for activities like cleaning roads and drains or repairing electric poles and cables in my area while our male colleagues never face such problems’, she added.
   She said that many women commissioners could not issue birth, death, nationality and citizenship certificates to the residents of their areas because certificate forms were never supplied to them.
   The women ward commissioners filed a writ petition with the High Court on the issue on May 5, 2003 and a verdict came on August 16, 2004 granting them equal rights in all works of the city corporations.
   But verdict has not yet been implemented in the six city corporations and other local government bodies.
   Sufia said that women ward commissioners had discussed the gender discrimination issue with interim government’s adviser Anwarul Iqbal and former local government and rural development minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan at different times, and they also assured the commissioners of steps to ensure equal rights, but no steps were taken yet.
   Ayesha Tawhida Luna, commissioner of 10, 11 and 12 wards of Barisal City Corportaion, told New Age that they knew that city corporation elections were round the corner. ‘But we are disillusioned about the gender-biased working condition.’
   Selima Ahmad, president of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Age that whenever she and other women entrepreneurs had met women ward commissioners they found them helpless because of discrimination.
   She said, ‘As a woman leader, I strongly believe specific guidelines or a concrete policy can change their situation.’
   Saheda Kashem, a commissioner of Chittagong City Corporation said that they hoped the interim government would take necessary steps to formulate a guideline for them before the next elections.
   Afroza Kalam, another CCC commissioner, said, ‘We may be the victims of discrimination, but our voters like us because they can get us easily at office and we are readily available with suggestions whenever they come to us with any problems.’
   ‘This is something we can take pride in despite all our frustrations’, Afroza said.

The American company, Chevron, could not resume the three-dimensional seismic survey of the Moulvibazar gas-field at Baligaon village in Kamalganj upazila for the second consecutive day on Friday due to the continuous protest of the angry villagers.
   The company, however, continued work in other parts of the gas-field and reportedly speeded up their work.
   Enraged villagers on Thursday forced Chevron’s surveyors to stop the seismic survey after the walls and roofs of some houses were cracked because of the underground explosions that were reportedly necessary for the survey.
   Witnesses said the villagers came out to protest for the second day when Chevron’s workers went to the village, and forced them to leave the place.
   Chevron’s staffers, in the meantime, contacted the upazila nirbahi officer of Kamalganj, Hajera Khatun, and urged her to request the villagers not to stop them from finishing their survey.
   Hajera Khatun told the reporters that she could not do anything to calm down the villagers and make them cooperate as she did not get any written assurance of compensation from the company. She said that she had wanted an assurance in writing from the company that it would compensate the villagers for the damage done to their houses and farms.
   A formal meeting with Chevron’s executives and the upazila nirbahi officer is likely to be held tomorrow.
   Hajera on Thursday visited Baligaon village and found large cracks on walls and roofs of houses after Chevron sparked off two explosions as part of its 3D seismic survey of the Moulvibazar gas-field. She said that the villagers were demanding assurance of compensation before any more underground bombs were detonated.
   Locals and forest officials said that a monkey was found dead in Lawacherra reserve forest after the explosions.

The acting Awami League president, Zillur Rahman, on Friday alleged a conspiracy was being hatched to hold parliamentary elections keeping the party chief, Sheikh Hasina, behind bars and cautioned no election could be possible without her presence.
   ‘The Awami League will resist any attempt to hold parliamentary elections without Hasina,’ Zillur said when Motor Chalak League leaders met him in his house at Gulshan.
   He said the demand for an unconditional release of Hasina would be the main agenda of the party in the proposed formal dialogue with the interim government.
   ‘Sheikh Hasina’s release will be our main agenda for the dialogue as it aims at holding free and fair elections which is not possible without her,’ Zillur said.
   In reply to a question, Zillur said they had hoped the chief adviser would talk about Hasina’s release in his address to the nation.
   ‘It will be our little achievement if the chief adviser announces the withdrawal of the ban on indoor politics in his address, but we want a complete withdrawal of the state of emergency before the parliamentary polls as no credible elections are possible under emergency,’ he said.
   Zillur requested the party leaders, activists and supporters to remain united, saying unity was essential at this crucial moment.
   The party’s forest and environment secretary Hasan Mahamud, Dhaka city unit acting secretary Qumrul Islam, Motor Chalak League president Ali Hossain and general secretary Alauddin Rana, among others, attended.

Students of Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute went on a rampage torching a bus and disrupting traffic on Tongi Diversion Road for about four hours on Friday following death of a fellow student in a road accident.
    Several hundred protesters put barricades on the road in the morning and damaged scores of vehicles halting traffic on the busy road.
   Witnesses said that the trouble had erupted when a speedy bus ran over Ashiqur Rahman, 18, a second year student of civil department of the institute and also a resident of room number 203, of Latif Hall, in front of the Satrasta when he was crossing the road at around 8:45pm.
   The police with the help of locals took him to Metropolitan Hospital at Mohakhali where doctors declared him dead.
   As the news of his death spread, hundreds of students took to the streets and started damaging vehicles stranded on the road.
   At one point, the unruly students set a passenger bus on fire in front of the Tejgaon Industrial Area police station at around 9:15pm.
   The arrival of the body of the deceased on the campus added fuel to fire and for the next several hours the students fought pitched battles with the police leaving at least 30 people, including lawmen, injured. On information, a large contingent of police and members of the Rapid Action Battalion went to the spot to bring the situation under control.
   Police lobbed at least 30 tear gas canisters and fired 20 rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the stone-throwing protesters.
   The clash continued till filing of this report at around 11:30pm.
   The students said they would continue the protest and the road blockade until killer was arrested.

Myanmar on Friday urged voters to approve a new military-backed constitution this weekend, ignoring international calls to delay holding the referendum in the wake of a deadly cyclone.
   The ruling junta has insisted on proceeding with the referendum in most parts of the country, except 47 townships worst-hit by Cyclone Nargis including the country’s main city Yangon.
   Officially, Myanmar says about 65,000 people are dead or missing since the storm slammed ashore last weekend, but the United States says the true toll could be 100,000.
   The United Nations says more than one million people are battling to stave off hunger and disease, but Myanmar’s junta insists the referendum will go ahead despite its lagging efforts to distribute aid to survivors.
   The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper ran banner headlines across its front page on Friday urging voters to approve the charter, which critics say will entrench military rule.
   ‘To approve the state constitution is the national duty of the entire people today,’ the paper said. ‘Let us all cast ‘yes’ votes in the national interest.’
   While international news channels were blanketed with images of the cyclone devastation, Myanmar state television screened a publicity campaign featuring sugary pop songs with dancing performers urging citizens to vote ‘yes’.
   ‘Are you 18 years old?’ a man croons. ‘Yes I am,’ comes the female reply. ‘I’m going to vote.’
   Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party on Friday called on the regime to postpone the voting, which will be the first since she led her National League for Democracy to a landslide victory in 1990 elections. The result was never recognised by the military government.
   UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday also urged the regime to focus on distributing aid to cyclone victims rather than on holding the referendum, a call echoed in Europe and the United States.
   Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party has urged Myanmar’s junta to postpone Saturday’s constitutional referendum in the wake of a deadly cyclone, but the generals have vowed to press ahead despite the outcry.
   The military has insisted that a vote on its proposed constitution — part of a slow-moving ‘roadmap’ to democracy — will take place in most of the country as scheduled, except in areas worst affected by Cyclone Nargis which hit a week ago.
   The junta postponed voting in 47 locations, including the main city of Yangon, until May 24, but the opposition said holding it at all was unacceptable and that the regime should focus on the recovery effort.
   ‘With this situation, it is not the appropriate time to hold the referendum,’ NLD spokesman Nyan Win said.
   Myanmar’s generals say approval of the constitution will pave the way for elections in 2010 under their democracy ‘roadmap’, but critics say it will only solidify their iron grip on power.
   Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has been held under house arrest for most of the past 20 years, and her party have called on voters to reject the document, which they say will do nothing to end decades of military rule.
   ‘We did not change, we are still asking the people to vote ‘no’ at tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) referendum,’ Nyan Win said on Friday.
   They and other pro-democracy groups have been largely unable to campaign, however, as the generals have outlawed speeches and leaflets about the referendum.
   Three leading activist groups — the 88 Generation Students, the All Burma Monks’ Alliance, and the exiled All Burma Federation of Student Unions — have also called for a ‘no’ vote, and slammed the regime for going ahead with the poll.
   ‘Instead of putting all resources toward saving the lives of the victims, the military junta is concentrating on legalising military rule in Burma forever through a sham constitutional referendum,’ they said in a joint statement.

The humble potato is being promoted as the answer to soaring rice prices in impoverished Bangladesh as the crisis pushes many to the brink of starvation, but the poor are reluctant converts.
   Some of the nation’s many impoverished people have turned to potatoes - which they eat seasoned with chilli and salt to make them more palatable - only as a last resort.
   Squatting by an urn on a Dhaka street corner, Kushnahar Begum, 55, ekes out a living selling tea to passers-by for a single taka a cup.
   The business brings in only about Tk 50 (70 cents) a day while the cost of a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice has doubled in a year to more than Tk 40.
   ‘We eat one meal a day but if we become sick and cannot earn anything for a few days then we cannot eat at all,’ said Kushnahar, adding that she lived in a state of constant anxiety about where the family’s next meal was coming from.
   In a country where 40 per cent of the 144 million population already lives on only a dollar a day, the rise in the cost of rice and other essentials has caused widespread suffering.
   The situation has been compounded by floods last summer and last November’s devastating cyclone Sidr which damaged some two million tonnes of rice crops.
   ‘We are suffering, my husband (a labourer) doesn’t get the energy to work every day any more and my son has become lean and bony for lack of food,’ said Kushnahar.
   Nearby, her seven-year-old nephew runs up and down the street as he plays with a home-made kite. The boy complains daily to his mother that he is hungry and wants to eat meat, fish and rice, not potatoes, said Kushnahar.
   The authorities, however, want Bangladeshis to consume more of the tuber.
   The chief of army staff, General Moeen U Ahmed, last month urged all citizens to include potatoes in their diet and army rations now include a daily helping.
   This week the country’s military-backed emergency government even organised a three-day potato promotion campaign in an attempt to publicise different cooking methods.
   Kushnahar has four children, the youngest of whom is 13, and said her family stopped eating fish and vegetables seven months ago as prices spiralled beyond affordability.
   The only meat they have had in the past year was donated by rich households during the two main Muslim festivals.
   Government-run shops sell subsidised rice at Tk 25 per kilogramme but queues are long and the amount each person can buy is limited.
   ‘If I stand in the queue at 5:00am then I get five kilograms of rice by 12 noon. It is enough for one meal a day for five or six days,’ she said.
   Car painter Dulal Sarker, 35, who earns a monthly salary of around Tk 5,000 (72 dollars) said his family had also taken to eating potatoes but only because there was no alternative.
   Potatoes sell in the markets at Tk 14 (two cents) per kilogram, or ten in the subsidised markets. The country this year saw a bumper harvest of a record eight million tonnes, up by a third on 2007.
   ‘We are Bengalis. We eat rice and fish and we cannot easily change to potatoes except to eat as a vegetable,’ he said.
   Sarker said he was angry that the suffering of the poor and lower middle class had gone almost unnoticed for so long.
   ‘They (the government) are not feeling it as a crisis because they have everything: money in the bank, cars, homes. They can manage everything for themselves but it is a crisis for us because we have nothing,’ he said.
   In his family village in the central Faridpur district, he added, the poorest were now eating just one meal every two days.
   ‘Only God knows how they are surviving, it is unimaginable,’ he added.
   At a supermarket in Dhaka’s upmarket Gulshan suburb, meanwhile, most rich families remain unaffected by the crisis.
   Here, imported cheese and pun nets of blueberries sell for four or five times a labourer’s daily wage.
   Shopper Faramarz Al Nur, 31, an export businessman, said his family enjoyed potatoes, especially baked, but that poorer sections of the population were not used to the tuber and would take years to change their eating habits.
   ‘Rice is the staple. It will take ten years for all people to get habituated with potatoes,’ he said
   In the meantime, the government would have to stem the growing tide of anger with concrete improvements, he added.
   ‘It is a silent crisis and those who are running Bangladesh have to feel for the country rather than just making speeches. Sweet words are there but nothing is changing.
   ‘The rich are getting richer and the poor are now destitute,’ he said.

Official statistics have revealed wide disparity between the government’s budgetary allocations for students enrolled in different types of educational institutions.
   According to the latest figures available with the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, in fiscal 2005-2006, government expenditure on a student of a cadet college was 13 times the amount spent on a student of a government college and almost 10 times the allocation for a non-government college student.
   A total of 2,732 students were studying in the 10 cadet colleges with 312 teachers during the fiscal, according to BANBEIS statistics. Officials of the Inter-Service Public Relations Directorate told New Age Monday that the number of cadet colleges stands at 12.
   The allocation for each student of cadet colleges in fiscal 2005-2006 was Tk 73,682 against only Tk 5,556 for a government college student and Tk 7,503 for a non-government college student.
   Spending on a student of a cadet college is almost 11 times higher than the amount spent on a student of a government secondary school and almost 38 times the allocation for a student of a non-government secondary school.
   A student of a non-government secondary school received Tk 1,948 and a student of a government secondary school Tk 6,798 during the fiscal.
   The government spending on a student of a cadet college, starting from class VII to Class XII level, was Tk 73,682 while the allocation for a student of a public university was Tk 42,643.
   In the same year, the amount spent on a student of a government madrassah was Tk 8,397 against Tk 2,226 on a non-government madrassah student. The BANBEIS statistics show that the lowest allocation of only Tk 772 was for a student of non-government primary school.
   In fiscal 1994-95, allocation for a student of a non-government secondary school was only Tk 707 compared to Tk 2,658 for a government secondary school.
   Allocation for a cadet college student was Tk 45,571, about 17 times the amount spent on a government college student during the period.
   Writer Muhammad Zafar Iqbal on Friday told New Age the students of general schools and colleges should be provided with the facilities as enjoyed by the students of cadet colleges. ‘As a guardian, my sympathy is equal for all students.’

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Friday warned that a certain quarter was stretching out its hands to grab everything lamenting that the courts were delivering verdicts which did not reflect the people’s expectations.
   ‘The authority of the judiciary has been curbed by the emergency rules. “Black hands” are at full stretch… It is unfortunate that the judiciary, the last resort for the people to seek justice, is delivering verdicts which do not reflect their expectations, he said at his flat at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
   Referring to framing of charge against Khaleda Zia in GATCO graft case,
   Delwar said the case was ‘false’ and ‘fabricated’ and aimed to malign the BNP chairperson and keep her out of politics. ‘It once again exposes the conspiracy against the politicians.’
   ‘People will never accept any designs to form a rubber stamp parliament with their chosen people in the next polls keeping the two top leaders, Khaleda Zia and [Awami League president] Sheikh Hasina out of the process’, he said.
   Delwar hoped that the government-backed splinter group of the party would take a lesson from this case in which two of their stalwarts, M Saifur Rahman and Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, had also been implicated.
   ‘As they have been included in the list of the accused in the case, they should now realise that this initiative has been taken to eliminate the politicians. They have no reason to think they are safe when a fire has engulfed the neighbourhood. I hope they will take a lesson…,’ he said.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission has pressed charges in GATCO case against 24 people, including former finance minister M Saifur Rahman, former local government minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, and former industries minister Matiur Rahman Nizami along with Khaleda Zia.
   The party’s vice-chairperson Sarwari Rahman, joint secretary general Selima Rahman and acting office secretary Rizvi Ahmed and a number of former lawmakers were present at the briefing.

India may allow limited rice exports and will continue to permit free overseas sales of corn, commerce secretary GK Pillai said on Friday, bringing some cheer to stretched global grain markets.
   He added that India was considering imposing restrictions on soymeal exports after demands from makers of animal feed.
   India, the world’s second-biggest rice exporter last year, banned all non-basmati rice shipments in March, one of a series of protectionist measures worldwide that triggered a wave of panic buying, causing benchmark Thai prices to nearly treble.
   ‘We are reviewing the situation and may allow limited exports,’ Pillai said on the sidelines of a conference in Kochi, adding that the government may also review the export tax for basmati rice.
   US rice futures soared nearly 5 per cent in early Asian trading on Friday as prospects of reduced output from cyclone-ravaged Myanmar and a larger-than-expected purchase of rice by Malaysia raised concerns.
   This week, India’s food secretary T Nand Kumar told Reuters India would soon consider selling limited volumes of the Asian staple to its neighbours or countries with which India had a ‘strategic interest’.
   Last year, India exported about 4 million tonnes of rice, equivalent to around one-eighth of global trade, much of it to big Middle Eastern buyers like Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, all important suppliers of crude to Asia’s third-largest economy.
   Earlier this year, it allowed exports of about 400,000 tonnes to Bangladesh, and sent smaller quantities to Nepal and Bhutan.
   The government has forecast a 1.7 per cent increase in rice output this year to 95.7 million tonnes, and the head of the top state grains buying agency told Reuters this week he was confident of hitting his target of buying 27 million tonnes.
   Pillai also said the government was considering restrictions on soymeal exports due to demand from animal feed makers.
   India is a major soymeal exporter and is expected to ship about 5 million tonnes of the commodity in the year ending September.
   He said the government would not restrict corn exports. ‘There is no need to ban corn exports as we are exporting very little quantity,’ he added.
   India is likely to export about 2.1 million tonnes of corn by May, Amit Sachdev, the India-based representative of the US Grain Council, told Reuters in April.
   India consumes about 14 million tonnes of corn in a year and had exported about 400,000 tonnes of the commodity in the 2006/07 corn marketing year, which runs from October to September.
   India revised its 2007/08 corn output estimates in April to 18.54 million tonnes from 16.78 million earlier.
   Import duty on natural rubber would not be cut, Pillai said although Indian tyre makers have demanded this saying rubber, a key raw material, attracted an import duty of 20 per cent, which was higher than the 10 per cent levied on tyres.
   ‘We will look into the welfare of one million rubber growers rather than the tyre-makers,’ he said. India imported 87,000 tonnes of natural rubber in 2007/08.

The United Nations warned ON Friday that another storm was headed in the direction of Myanmar, which could complicate the slow-moving relief efforts from deadly Cyclone Nargis.
   An estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless by the disaster, which has killed tens of thousands, and the storm could pose serious risks to those battling disease, said Richard Horsey, a UN relief spokesman.
   ‘Our meteorological people tell us there’s likely to be fairly strong rainfall in the next seven days,’ he told AFP in neighbouring Thailand.
   ‘That’s going to be a big issue with unpaved roads.
   Heavy rainfall could complicate things for all those people going without shelter,’ Horsey said.
   ‘If there’s an epidemic of water-borne disease and a lack of shelter when a storm comes in ... if we have another storm coming into the delta, that’s going to be a significant concern for all those people without shelter.’

The five major nuclear-armed powers said on Friday the Non-Proliferation Treaty was under threat and cited Iran’s uranium enrichment campaign in a rare joint call for action to shore up the NPT.
   North Korea’s nuclear test blast in 2006, Iran’s pursuit of potentially bomb-capable enrichment and new allegations Syria covertly tried to build an atomic reactor with North Korean help spotlight growing challenges to the treaty, many analysts say.
   ‘The proliferation of nuclear weapons constitutes a threat to international peace and security,’ the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France said in a joint address on the final day of a two-week meeting of 106 NPT member nations.
   ‘This ... imperils prospects for progress on other NPT goals such as nuclear disarmament and hurts prospects for expanding international (civil) nuclear cooperation,’ said British chief delegate John Duncan, speaking on behalf of the five.
   ‘The proliferation risks presented by the Iranian nuclear programme continue to be a matter of ongoing serious concern to us.’ Tehran is under UN sanctions for refusing to suspend the work and curbing UN inspections meant to verify its nature.
   Iran says it wants only electricity from enrichment, which can also produce atom bomb fuel if the process is adjusted.
   The five said they stood squarely behind a revised packet of economic incentives which they, along with Germany, plan to present to Iran soon to shelve its uranium enrichment programme.
   The four Western powers and Russia and China have often struggled to agree on a mix of carrots and sticks for dealing with Iran. But they told NPT members they aimed to resolve the standoff with Iran ‘innovatively through negotiations’.
   Iran denounced their surprise statement as ‘destructive and counterproductive’ and said it ‘seriously questions their political will for the negotiated solution they call for’.
   ‘We will never bow to threats and definitely not give up our inalienable right’ to peaceful nuclear energy under the NPT, Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said, his voice rising.
   The powers urged North Korea, which bolted from the NPT in 2003, to carry out a now-stalled six-party accord to disarm.
   Syria, like Iran repeatedly fingered by Washington and some allies at the meeting, was omitted from the powers’ statement due to Russian and Chinese reservations about US intelligence purporting to show Damascus was close to completing a secret reactor before Israeli warplanes destroyed it last September.
   Syria has rejected the findings as ‘forged’ but is now under International Atomic Energy Agency investigation.
   The five-power appeal tried to address grievances of developing nations ahead of another meeting in 2009 to finalise proposals for a decision-making NPT Review Conference in 2010, five years after the last one collapsed amid squabbling.
   Nuclear states have said that what the NPT needs most is tougher safeguards on transfer of nuclear technology.
   Developing states balk, saying this would wipe out their NPT right to peaceful uses of atomic energy. They also say the original nuclear powers have undermined respect for the treaty by lagging on commitments to disarm, a charge they deny.
   The five powers championed IAEA-driven proposals for a multilateral nuclear fuel bank under depoliticised agency control to supply refined uranium to developing states as an alternative to indigenous development of enrichment.
   This was a high priority for the 2010 conference, in addition to stronger non-proliferation safeguards, they said.

Russia has expelled two US military attaches from the US embassy in Moscow following the ouster of a pair of Russian diplomats from the United States, the state department said on Thursday.
   A series of issues have strained US-Russian relations, including Washington’s view that human rights suffered under Vladimir Putin, who stepped down on Wednesday as president.
   US officials sought to avoid tensions over Russia’s expulsions, saying they did not anticipate a US response.
   The defence secretary, Robert Gates, suggested Moscow was retaliating for the expulsion of its own diplomats in recent months.
   ‘I don’t read much into the attaché thing other than just the usual tit for tat,’ Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.
   ‘These things get into a kind of a back and forth, and at some point everybody decides to stop,’ he said.
   The state department disclosed the expulsions on Thursday but shied away from drawing a link. Spokesman Sean McCormack said Russia had given the United States the reasons for the expulsions, but he declined to say what they were.
   ‘We’re not making any particular connection between the expulsion of these two individuals and any steps we might have taken,’ McCormack told a news briefing.
   The United States asked a Russian defence official to leave Washington last month and another to leave New York in November last year, McCormack said.
   McCormack told reporters that Washington considered the expulsions of Americans unjustified and reserved the right to respond. But, he added: ‘At this point I don’t see that we are going to take any further action in response.’
   The relationship with Russia was very deep and broad, and ‘everybody feels we’re able to do our diplomatic work despite these incidents,’ he said.
   The expulsion orders for the two Americans were issued at the end of last month. McCormack said Russia had in April asked another US diplomat to leave, bringing the total of diplomats affected by the recent expulsions to five — three Americans and two Russians.
   In Moscow, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said, ‘We do not have any comment at the moment.’ The Russian embassy in Washington also declined to provide any details, saying it never commented on the expulsion of diplomats.

The prices of oral rehydration saline have increased for the second time in about a week, hampering the treatment of patients of water-borne diseases.
   Relatives of such patients and residents of low-lying areas in Dhaka said the price of ORS, which was Tk 50 for a 20-sachet packet a few days ago, had increased to Tk 65 to Tk 70 in the wholesale market.
   Shaila Begum, a relative of a diarrhoea patient admitted to the ICDDR,B hospital on Thursday, said, ‘ORS sold for Tk 3 per sachet a few days ago. The price has now just doubled. Six of my family members have contracted diarrhoea and I need at least ten ORS sachets a day,’ she said.
   The patients are mainly from poor families, and most of them are children suffering from the various diarrhoeal diseases that have spread since last month and killed 17 in thirty days and afflicted 64,134 people, said the control room of the Directorate-General of Health Services.
   Jashim, a resident of Mirpur from where a large number of patients come to the ICDDR,B hospital, told New Age on Thursday, ‘I bought ten sachets of ORS for Tk 60. The price was Tk 3 to 5 in March.’
   Shumon, a salesman of Medicine Corner in Moghbazar, said they had bought the saline packets at a high price from the wholesalers, so they had to increase the retail price.
   Due to the short supply and price-hike of ORS, diarrhoea has been still spreading over the last few days and patients coming from very poor families are not being given an adequate supply of oral saline.
   The oral saline of the Social Marketing Company, which produces about 60 per cent of the country’s requirement, as well as those of around 15 other companies are now selling at much higher prices. Moreover, it was found after visiting some of the city’s shops that SMC’s saline is not available in some areas.
   Wholesalers in Mitford, the capital’s major drug market, were selling SMC’s saline at Tk 65 per packet (consisting of 20 small sachets) for the past couple of weeks though the maximum retail price was fixed at Tk 60.
   ‘We have been buying SMC’s oral saline from Mitford at a higher price over the last few weeks as its supply cannot meet the demand that has surged in the last few weeks, ‘ said Shuva Rahman, a medicine seller near the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   Higher prices and supply shortage of such medicines are hampering health services, said an on-duty doctor at the DMCH.
   Diarrhoea is a water-borne disease that weakens the body due to dehydration. Doctors ask the patients to take enough pure water to enable the body to fight the disease.
   But low-income people, who rarely have access to pure drinking water and hygienic environment, are getting afflicted in large numbers by the disease, said an on-duty doctor.
   According to the control room of the DGHS, 2,446 people have been afflicted by diarrhoeal diseases in 24 hours till Thursday 8:00am.
   Noakhali, with 275 patients, has topped the list of affected districts.

The US economic downturn has spread personal financial worries far and wide, but women are more worried about paying bills, losing jobs, providing for children and saving for retirement, according to a study released on Thursday.
   The study comes as the US economy has been mired in a half-year-long period of stagnation accompanied by a shrinking job market, rising energy prices and a downward spiral in consumer confidence.
   The report said women, particularly among minorities, had more financial worries than men. It was based on a survey commissioned in February 2007 by the Rockefeller Foundation and an analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
   ‘Since the survey was conducted in 2007, we can only imagine that economic anxiety has heightened since that time,’ said Barbara Gault, vice-president and director of research at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
   ‘As our economy gets worse, women are going to feel the pain the most,’ Gault added. She was speaking to a news conference held for the report’s release.
   The report was based on telephone interviews with 3,157 people aged 18 and over.
   According to the survey, three of every 10 women were worried about their economic security, compared with two of every 10 men. Two-thirds of women fear they are not saving enough for retirement, but only half of men share this concern.
   Job, marital status or education provides no protection from higher rates of economic anxiety compared to men, while women among minorities feel these insecurities more acutely.
   ‘We found striking gender differences in economic anxiety and insecurity, with women much more likely than men to feel economically insecure,’ said Gault. ‘And, not surprisingly, perhaps this insecurity is even more pronounced among women of colour.’
   According to the study, 48 per cent of African-American women have had trouble paying bills. It said 42 per cent of Hispanic women have experienced this, but only 26 per cent of white women have. Single mothers had particularly high levels of worry.
   ‘Single mothers face double jeopardy: lower earnings because they are female and more financial stress from parenting,’ the report said.
   It said mothers were 50 per cent more likely than fathers to have to pass up buying something their child needed because they could not afford it and were also at greater risk of losing jobs than fathers or women and men without children.
   The study also said women were ‘very worried’ about possible cutbacks to old-age Social Security benefits. Even among the most well-off, women are nearly twice as concerned about threats to their Social Security benefits as men.
   Women earn less during their working lives and, because of their care-giving roles, are much more likely to spend time out of the labor force, which ultimately diminishes their retirement income.
   In an election year, particularly one in which a woman — Democratic senator Hillary Clinton of New York — has come closer than ever before to becoming president of the United States, other candidates may be well advised to take notice of these issues.
   ‘There are important lessons here for policy-makers and political strategists,’ said Gault. ‘Since women are more likely than men to vote, it is crucial that candidates provide compelling proposals for reform that speak to women’s economic concerns.’

The World Food Programme said two relief flights will be sent to Myanmar Saturday, just hours after suspending flights due to ‘unacceptable restrictions’ by the government.
   ‘The World Food Programme has decided to send in two relief flights as planned tomorrow, while discussions continue with the government of Myanmar on the distribution of the food that was flown in today, and not released to the WFP,’ Nancy Roman, WFP director of public policy and communications, said Friday.
   She added that enough high-energy biscuits to feed 21,000 people, which were airlifted on Thursday, have been delivered over the last 24 hours to some of the worst hit areas.
   Earlier Friday, the WFP suspended aid flights into Myanmar because of ‘unacceptable’ restrictions imposed by the country’s military rulers.
   ‘Two flights landed Friday morning with food, which has not been taken out yet,’ the Myanmar country director, Chris Kaye, said in Yangon, without specifying why the supplies had not been unloaded.
   Myanmar has maintained strict limits on foreign involvement in the relief effort, despite calls for it to allow unfettered access to experts whose skills are vital for an effective response.
   The regime said it was not ready to let in foreign aid workers, and although it needed supplies for the survivors of the cyclone, it would handle the distribution itself.
   While the junta dithered and appeared overwhelmed by last Saturday’s disaster, more than 1 million homeless people waited for food, shelter and medicine. Many crammed into Buddhist monasteries or just camped out in the open.
   Entire villages were submerged in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, with bodies floating in salty water and children ripped from their parents’ arms. At least 62,000 people are dead or missing, state media reported, and aid groups warned that thousands of children may have been orphaned and the area is on the verge of a medical disaster.
   On Friday, Japan said it would give aid worth $10 million through the UN to Myanmar, adding to the massive amounts of aid that has been pledged by foreign governments.
   But while accepting international aid, the isolationist regime of this Southeast Asian nation has refused to grant visas to foreign aid workers who could assess the extent of the disaster and manage the logistics.
   ‘The frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts,’ said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme in Bangkok. ‘It’s astonishing.’
   He said the WFP submitted 10 visa applications around the world, including six in Bangkok, but none has been approved.
   ‘We strongly urge the government of Myanmar to process these visa applications as quickly as possible, including work over the weekend,’ he said.
   The junta said in a statement Friday it was grateful to the international community for its assistance — which has included 11 chartered planes loaded with aid supplies — but the best way to help was just to send in material rather than personnel.
   One relief flight was sent back after landing in Yangon Thursday because it carried a search-and-rescue team and media representatives who had not received permission to enter the country, the junta said. It did not give details, but said the plane had flown in from Qatar, apparently referring to a UN flight.
   The announcement came as critical aid and experts to go with it were poised in neighbouring Thailand and elsewhere to rush into Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest nations.
   ‘Believe me the government will not allow outsiders to go into the devastated area. The government only cares about its own stability. They don’t care about the plight of the people,’ said Yangon food shop owner Joseph Kyaw, one of many residents angry at the regime for doing little to help them recover from the storm’s destruction.
   Among those waiting in Thailand were members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team. Air Force transport planes and helicopters packed with supplies also sat waiting for a green light to enter Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Democrat Barack Obama mapped out the end-game for his epic White House tussle with Hillary Clinton but the former first lady refused to yield to media catcalls declaring the race over.
   Obama said he could declare victory over Hillary for the Democratic presidential nomination on May 20, when primaries in Kentucky and Oregon may put him over the top in terms of elected delegates.
   In that event, ‘we can make a pretty strong claim that we have got the most runs and it’s the ninth inning and we have won,’ Obama said, using a baseball analogy, in an NBC interview on Thursday.
   But steering clear of calls for Hillary to bow out, and mindful of the wounds exposed by the Democratic primary season, the Illinois senator said it would be crucial to win ‘in a way that brings the party together.’
   Obama’s thumping win Tuesday in North Carolina and his narrow defeat by Hillary in Indiana have rewritten the narrative of the gripping Democratic contest.
   Editorialists crowned Obama as the Democrats’ champion-elect for the November election against Republican John McCain.
   ‘And the winner is...’ said Time magazine on its cover, over a photograph of Obama with a million-watt smile. The Economist said, ‘Mrs Clinton’s campaign is surely close to its end.’
   ‘I don’t want to be jinxed. We’ve still got work to do,’ Obama said of the Time cover, in a CNN interview.
   The New York Times, which had endorsed Hillary, on Friday defended her right to stay in the race, but said she would be making a terrible mistake ‘if she continues to press her candidacy through negative campaigning with disturbing racial undertones.’
   Hillary vowed no surrender, telling supporters in West Virginia their voices deserved to be heard when the state holds its primary next Tuesday.
   ‘This is a little bit like deja vu all over again,’ she said of the media critics, adding in a statement of intent for the general election: ‘I’m running to be president of all 50 states.’
   According to his campaign, Obama needs just 33 more pledged delegates to reach a majority of the Democratic nominating officials, 1,606.
   But while reaching this majority would be potent symbolically, Obama would still need support from Democratic grandees called ‘superdelegates’ to reach the ultimate winning line for the nomination — 2,025.
   Even as he vowed no retreat for the former first lady, Hillary campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said superdelegates would coalesce behind a candidate once the final primaries were held on June 3.
   ‘I think it will be all over. I don’t see it going to the (August) convention. We’ll have a nominee in June,’ he said on NBC.
   McAuliffe pinned Hillary’s campaign hopes on edging ahead in the national popular vote, if the voided results of primaries in Michigan and Florida are reinstated at a May 31 meeting of the Democratic National Committee.
   Hillary wrote to Obama demanding he join her in supporting new contests in the two states, warning that the Democrats’ treatment of their voters now ‘could be the difference between winning and losing in November.’
   But signs of a party shifting gear to back Obama were manifest. At least six superdelegates have declared for him since Tuesday, including David Bonior, who was the national campaign manager for failed presidential hopeful John Edwards.
   The Hillary campaign continues to argue that Obama has failed to close the deal with core Democratic constituencies, including women and working-class voters, and polls suggest many of them could end up voting for McCain.
   There was renewed talk of Obama running with Hillary as his vice presidential nominee to bridge the divisions. He said was premature, but did not rule out the idea as he praised his indefatigable foe.

The visiting Duke of Gloucester, Prince Richard, visited the Commonwealth War Graveyard at Mainamati in Comilla on Friday.
   Accompanied by a seven-member delegation, including outgoing British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury, he arrived at Comilla Cantonment by a helicopter at about 1:32pm.
   Later, he went to the Commonwealth War Graveyard and placed flowers at a plaque built in memory of those soldiers killed in War World II.
   Army, administration, police and other officials were present.
   Prince Richard, the second son of late Duke of Gloucester and late Princess Alice, left here at about 2:45pm.

The visiting Duke of Gloucester, Prince Richard, on Friday placed flowers at the National Martyrs Mausoleum in Savar.
   Prince Richard, the second son of late Duke of Gloucester and late Princess Alice, arrived at the Mausoleum at noon accompanied by the outgoing British high commissioner Anwar Chowdhury.
   The Duke planted a sapling of `Haritoki’ tree, botanical name Terminalia Chebula, on the National Memorial premises. He also signed the visitors’ book kept at the memorial.
   Earlier in the morning, Prince Richard visited a project of the Habitat for Humanity Intern-ational, Bangladesh at the South Rajaswan village in Savar municipal area.
   During the visit, he lauded the Habitat activities in Bangladesh and said their mechanism for building safe homes can be very effective in the disaster-prone coastal areas of the country.
   The Habitat for Humanity International is a Christian Housing initiative launched in 1976. It seeks to eliminate poverty by building safe houses at low cost for the economically challenged people.
   It builds sustainable houses with partnership from homeowners. The money spent by the HFHI is recovered in installments over six years from the borrowers.

An under-trial prisoner at Satkhira district jail died in police custody Friday morning.
   Jail sources said Abdur Rab, 40, was taken to sadar hospital after he fell sick at around 8:30am. He died soon after admission to the hospital, they added.
   On-duty doctor in the emergency department Dr Alok Kumar Sarkar told the news agency that Rab died early before reaching the hospital.
   Victim’s family demanded investigation to find out whether Rab was tortured to death in police custody. Abdur Rab of Boikari village iunder sadar upazila was arrested on February 5 this year in a drugs case. Later, he was sent to district jail.

Nepal’s Maoists and mainstream political parties launched talks on Friday to set up a new government following the former insurgents’ decisive win in landmark polls, officials said.
   ‘The prime minister, Maoist leader Prachanda, and top leaders from other parties have begun discussions on the formation of a new government,’ Jhalanath Khanal, a senior leader from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) said.
   The ex-rebels scored a surprise victory in the April 10 polls winning 220 seats in a 601-member assembly — more than twice the seats of their nearest rivals and pre-election favourites, the Nepali Congress.
   ‘People have given us a clear mandate to lead the new government and we are hoping to reach consensus with the other parties,’ Dinanath Sharma, a senior Maoist leader said. The world’s last Hindu monarchy is set to be abolished in the first meeting of the constituent assembly which is expected to take place in coming weeks. The fiercely republican Maoists want to see the end of the 240-year-old institution as soon as possible.
   ‘We are confident that the country will be declared a republic within 21 days. No one should doubt this,’ said Sharma.
   The Maoists fought a decade-long civil war that left at least 13,000 people dead, but they now say they are prepared to work with their former foes.
   ‘We understand that the unity between the political parties is important in transforming the country into a republic,’ Sharma added. The big parties like the Congress and CPN (UML) should stop having doubts about our commitment to democracy.’

An Indian court cleared controversial painter Maqbool Fida Husain Thursday of obscenity charges over his depiction of India as a nude woman.
   ‘The allegations made against the painter are baseless,’ said Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul of the Delhi High Court in a judgement, according to the Press Trust of India.
   ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder, so does the obscenity. It would not be proper to hold that he had a deliberate intention to manifestly insult Bharat Mata (Mother India).’
   The painter left India in 2006 after right-wing groups threatened him over his paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses and filed at least half a dozen criminal cases against him. He lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai.
   He was charged with obscenity and hurting the feelings of a religious community, both offences for which you can be jailed in India, among other charges.
   Judge Kaul quashed the proceedings in three cases and said he hoped the move would clear the way for the Muslim painter to return to India. Rulings are still due on at least three other cases against the painter.
   ‘A painter at 90 deserves to be in his home — painting his canvas,’ the judge said, according to PTI, expressing surprise that nudity in art was frowned upon in the land of the Kamasutra — India’s ancient pictorial book of erotic love.
   The 92-year-old painter — considered India’s foremost artist and known for large canvasses that have fetched millions of dollars at auctions — has often been at the centre of controversy.
   Extremist Hindu groups regularly target Husain for drawing their gods and goddesses in the nude. In 2006, a hardline Hindu group offered an 11.5-million-dollar reward for his death.
   The Indian government also waded into the controversy against the artist. The country’s law ministry examined half a dozen works by Husain and told the government that prosecutors would have a strong case against him if they sued him for deliberately hurting religious feelings.
   Husain’s lawyer, Akhil Sibal, said Thursday’s ruling was a ‘landmark’ one.