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BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia Saturday asked the party leaders and activists to strengthen their organisations and get ready for both movement and elections.
   ‘You have to gain strength for movement alongside your preparations for elections. The incidents of January 11 were made to happen to destroy the BNP and such conspiracies are still on,’ she said, while exchanging views with leaders of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal at her Gulshan office.
   Khaleda cast her fresh doubts over the interim government’s sincerity about a credible national election and asked whether a ‘process of selection’ was underway keeping emergency in force.
    She alleged a quarter was active behind the government in conspiracies to thwart the Jatiya Sangsad elections planned on December 18.
    ‘Do they plan a process of selection in the name of election? If not, why attempts are there to hold the election under state of emergency?’ Khaleda said.
   ‘The state of emergency has to go completely if they want to hold elections,’ she asserted.
   She said a favourable atmosphere for a fair poll was not yet created. ‘I do not blame only the government, because a certain axis is behind to serve the interests of local and foreign vested groups.’
   The former prime minister accused the government of indulging in rhetoric over holding a free, fair election participated by all parties and creation of level playing field. ‘All the leaders of my party are behind bars and others are moving freely. No level playing field can be ensured this way. No credible election can be held in such manner.’
   ‘If the elections slated for January 22, 2007 were not held after one party questioned its credibility and refused to contest, the situation would proceed that way if our demands are not met,’ she warned.
   She, however, said that her party still wanted to help the government to break the logjam.
   ‘The incidents of January 11 were invited to destroy the BNP. The process is still on.’
   She said in past two years the country went back to where it was 20 years ago. ‘Economy has been ruined and even we have lost our labour market in the Middle East and elsewhere. Scores of people were deported but the government did not pay heed to it,’ she said adding that no public interest could be protected by an unelected government.
   Khaleda assured the activists that the labour issues would be duly addressed in the party’s election manifesto.
   BNP vice chairperson Sarwari Rahman, Sramik Dal president Nazrul Islam Khan, vice-president Abul Kashem Master and general secretary Zafrul Hasan were present during the exchange of views.

The United Nations wants Bangladesh to hold a credible parliamentary election next month for a peaceful transition to democracy, the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday.
   ‘I have expressed my sincere wish that this parliamentary election will be held in a most fair, objective and credible way so that Bangladesh can have a very smooth and peaceful transition to democracy’, the UN chief told reporters after a meeting with foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury soon after his arrival.
   Ban hoped that Bangladesh’s leadership in the government and political parties would co-operate with each other in this matter as he was scheduled to hold meetings with leaders from both the government and political parties during his two-day visit.
   He said that this was an opportunity for the country, in particular for the political parties, to address the serious problems that had given rise to politics of confrontation and violence.
   On the political front, the nation’s most pressing need is to ensure a peaceful transition back to democracy and for incoming elected government to consolidate democracy and reforms, the UN chief said while addressing a banquet hosted by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, at Dhaka Sheraton hotel.
   Ban listed a number of historic victories of Bangladeshi people and said, ‘You now face the challenge of ensuring a smooth return to better democracy – a democracy that is sustainable and responsive to the needs of the people.’
   The UN chief arrived in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon on a two-day visit to discuss a wide range of issues relating to politics, economy and social affairs, and to see for himself the country’s rural development and disaster management projects.
   Ban termed ‘very good’ Bangladesh-UN partnership and hoped that Bangladesh’s contribution to the United Nations, especially in global peace mission, would further expand.
   ‘I’m very much grateful that the strong partnership [has been] maintained between Bangladesh and the United Nations, particularly in the area of peacekeeping operations. Bangladesh is the second largest troops contributing country with 9,000 soldiers’, Ban said.
   He said he had discussed with the foreign affairs adviser how Bangladesh could contribute more troops to the UN for global peace and stability.
   Briefing newsmen, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury described the meeting as very fruitful. He termed the UN chief’s visit to Bangladesh recognition of its people’s achievement in development in various sectors.
   He said that the UN chief had expressed his satisfaction with the preparation for the general elections. The UN is committed to continue its support for a peaceful election, he said adding that the visit would help further cement the cooperation between Bangladesh and the United Nations.
   Ban Ki-moon said he would have meetings with president Iajuddin Ahmed, chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and the two major political parties.
   Recalling his visit here back in 1970s, he said he noticed a lot of changes this time. He termed ‘very good’ his meeting with Iftekhar with whom he had worked for several years.
   Earlier, receiving the UN chief at the Zia International Airport, Iftekhar said that Ban’s visit was significant for both the UN and Bangladesh.
   Ban, who is now at the final leg of his four-nation tour of Asia, flew in here from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu by a special UN plane. He also visited India and the Philippines.
   Ban’s visit to Bangladesh ahead of the general elections is considered to be a significant event as the polls, slated for December 18, would mark the nation’s return to democracy after two years under an un-elected and military-controlled interim government.
   Iftekhar hoped that the United Nations would continue its support to hold a peaceful election in Bangladesh.
   Accompanied by his wife Yoo (Ban) Soon-taek and some key UN officials, Ban will also meet Dhaka-based officials of the UN agencies Sunday morning.
   He will place flowers at the National Martyrs Memorial at Savar to pay homage to the heroes of Bangladesh’s war of independence before flying to northern Sirajganj and Bogra districts to see disaster management and micro-credit programmes respectively on the last day of his tour, according to his itinerary in Bangladesh.
   The UN chief is scheduled to exchange views with senior leaders of the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party before wrapping up his tour by addressing a news conference on Sunday evening.

Almost all election-related activities of the Awami League have remained suspended due to the absence of the party president Sheikh Hasina, although only 46 days are left for parliamentary polls, slated for December 18.
   Top leaders of the party are not taking any crucial decisions in her absence.
   Though the party leaders several times claimed that being a pro-election party, the Awami League was prepared to contest the polls anytime, it was yet to take crucial decisions on expanding the electoral alliance, formation of election steering committee, selection of the party candidates for the polls and what to do about the leaders expelled from the party for violating discipline.
   But a number of leaders said they did not think it would hinder the party’s preparations for the general election. They are optimistic that the party will gear up its election-related activities and preparations after Sheikh Hasina’s return and complete electioneering before the December 18 ballot.
   Talking with New Age, AL presidium member Matia Chowdhury admitted that some major issues relating to the election awaited Sheikh Hasina’s decision. ‘But these will be settled quickly after her return as ‘Hasina knows very well how to manage things’, she added.
   The AL president’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told New Age that the party chief was likely to return home on November 10 by an Emirates flight. Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for the United States for treatment on June 12, a day after the interim government released her by an executive order.
   Key AL leaders have repeatedly said over the past few months that the party would join the upcoming polls after forging a ‘grand’ electoral alliance with like-minded political parties but made it clear that that a final decision in this regard would be made after Hasina’s return.
   The party had formed a ‘grand’ alliance on December 18, 2006 taking both its ‘ideological allies’ and Jatiya Party of HM Ershad on board for contesting the ninth parliamentary elections originally scheduled for January 22, 2007. The alliance became virtually inactive after the political changeover on January 11, 2007.
   The Awami League has already decided that nominations for the upcoming polls will be distributed among candidates of the components considering their individual popularity in the constituencies. The party this time will not distribute seats among the allies under pressure rather wants to nominate potential winners.
   AL’s election committee, headed by former cabinet secretary and party advisory council member HT Imam, is looking for the most competent candidate for every electoral constituency irrespective of what party of the alliance he belongs to. It is also examining the results of the 2001 national elections.
   The committee will submit its recommendations to Sheikh Hasina upon her return and then the party’s parliam entary board will get down to the business of nominating candidates.
   But the party has not yet formed a parliamentary committee for nominating candidates and or an election steering committee, which will monitor the party’s election preparations and activities, due to the absence of Sheikh Hasina.
   Awami League has decided to nominate candidates for parliamentary elections from the grassroots level and finalised its draft policy on nomination but is yet to start the process.
   The draft policy, finalised by the AL presidium on October 26, is expected to be approved by the party’s central working committee on November 6.

The Election Commission on Saturday heard objections of some organisations such as the Sector Commanders Forum to the registration of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as a party to contest the December 18 parliamentary elections.
   Jamaat, however, did not appear in the hearing and sought deferral of the hearing by five days.
   Jamaat, in the letter it sent to the commission seeking deferral, said the party did not think it becoming to bring two sides together for the hearing and hearing two sides at a time could lead to unwarranted situation. The commission is, however, yet to make any decision on Jamaat’s appeal.
   The organisations having objections to Jamaat’s registration during the hearing claimed Jamaat was a foreign organisation and an organisation of war criminals based on religion.
   The petitioners after the hearing told reporters the commission assured them of considering their arguments.
   ‘We have protested against its [Jamaat’s] registration. We will move court if Jamaat is registered,’ said the Sector Commanders Forum convener, AK Khandaker.
   The organisations which argued against Jamaat’s registration in the hearing are Ekatturer Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee, War Crime Facts Finding Committee, Amra Muktijoddhar Santan, Muktijoddha Sangsad Central Command Council, ’71 Nirjatita Nari, Bangabandhu Sanskritik Jote, Prajanma ’71, Sammilita Nagarik Jote and Supreme Court Ainjibi Samiti.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, and fellow election commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hussain concluded the two-hour hearing in the conference room of the EC Secretariat. Reporters were not let in during the hearing.
   Professor Kabir Chowdhury, who led the delegation of Ekatturer Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee, said, ‘Jamaat cannot get registered on legal and humanitarian grounds as the party’s amended constitution remains incongruous with the Bangladesh constitution.’
   Muntassir Mamun of Nirmul Committee said, ‘According to the Representation of the People Order, Special Powers Act and the constitution, Jamaat cannot get registered as it wants to establish a theocratic state.’
   ‘Jamaat is the foreign branch of the Indian organisation and it wants to establish theocracy. Theocracy and democracy cannot go hand in hand,’ he said.
   AK Khandaker said Jamaat was ineligible for registration with the commission as its revised constitution remained contradictory to the country’s constitution.
   ‘Jamaat has implemented an agenda based on religion in this country backed by foreign forces which is contradictory to the spirit of democracy,’ he said.
   The convener of the War Crimes Fact Finding Committee, MA Hasan, said, ‘A number of significant leaders of Jamaat were involved in massacre, war crimes and genocide during the war of independence because of loyalty to Pakistan. So the party should not be registered.’
   Earlier in the day, Jamaat appealed with the commission seeking deferral of the hearing by five days.
   ‘We have received the commission’s letter late. We have sought deferral of the hearing date as we did not have time for full preparations,’ Jamaat’s legal affairs secretary Jashim Uddin Sarkar told reporters after filing the appeal.
   The letter, signed by Jamaat’s office secretary Majharul Islam, said the party had received the commission’s notice at night on October 30.
   ‘Most of the central leaders are outside Dhaka and they will not get back before November 2. It is not possible for us to take part in the hearing at such short notice,’ the letter said.
   It also said, ‘We do not think it becoming for both the sides to sit together. It is not unlikely that attending the hearing in the presence of them [the petitioners] may create an unwarranted situation.’
   ‘In accordance with the RPO 2008 and electoral rules, there are no legal grounds for the commission to accept such allegations. So we do not think there is any logical ground for hearing in such objections,’ the letter said.
   It also quoted a statement of the chief election commissioner, made on October 23, that there were no major obstacles to the registration of the Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, among others, as they had ‘fulfilled all registration criteria.’
   Jamaat’s letter further quoted the chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, as saying: ‘It is the legal responsibility of the commission to get them registered without delay.’
   The party also claimed the organisations which raised objections to Jamaat’s registration were either fronts or organisations associated with the Awami League.
   Jamaat applied for registration with the commission on October 20, after making a number of changes in its constitution and changing its name from Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
   Asked about Jamaat’s letter to commission, Shamsul said ‘We are yet to make any decision.’
   Shamsul did not answer questions on Khaleda Zia’s demand for resignation of all election commissioners.
   The commission on Saturday, meanwhile, settled disputes over the names of and symbols for the two factions of the Bangladesh Jatiya Party, led by Abdul Matin and Andalib Rahman Partha.
   The commission allocated the name Bangladesh Jatiya Party for the faction led by Matin while Bangladesh Jatiya Party-BJP for the faction led by Andalib Rahman Partha.
   Delegations of both the factions expressed their satisfaction with the commission decision.
   Party registration is a requisite for contesting the forthcoming polls under the reformed politico-electoral rules made by the interim government against the backdrop of past crisis.
   The commission has so far given registration certificate to only two parties from among 107 parties which applied for registration.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain enter the final weekend of their epic race for the White House, scrambling across several states in a last dash for votes.
   Obama, aiming to become the first African-American to be elected US president in Tuesday’s vote, was seeking to lock down western battlegrounds of Nevada and Colorado before returning to the bellwether state of Missouri.
   Victory in the west would go a long way towards securing an election triumph for Obama, even if he loses one of the major toss-up states out east such as Florida, a pivotal state in recent US presidential elections.
   Midwestern Missouri meanwhile has an impressive track record of backing the White House winner in every election since 1904, with one exception in 1956. Obama was to be joined by his wife Michelle at the events in Pueblo, Colorado and Springfield, Missouri.
   The would-be first couple were to head on to crucial Ohio Sunday for three events including a rally with rocker Bruce Springsteen in Cleveland. Obama’s running mate Joseph Biden was stumping in Indiana and Ohio on Saturday.
   McCain, meanwhile, was preparing to hit the trail in Virginia and Pennsylvania before heading to New York to make a cameo appearance in television comedy sketch show ‘Saturday Night Live.’
   The latest national poll by The New York Times and CBS News gave Obama a yawning lead of 11 points among likely voters, 52 per cent to 41 per cent for McCain.
   Despite the gloomy polls, the McCain campaign has defiantly said they remain in the fight.
   At a rally in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, a fired-up McCain got a welcome lift from California governor — and movie star — Arnold Schwarzenegger.
   McCain told supporters: ‘I know a winning campaign when I see one. We’re a couple of points back. Arnold said it best. The Mac is back. We need a new direction and we have to fight for it.’
   However Obama’s massive campaign spending advantage has forced McCain onto the defence. McCain and running mate Sarah Palin will each race through seven states on Monday, many of them normally reliably Republican.
   Indeed Obama’s campaign sought last-minute contributions in emails to supporters. Campaign chief Davide Plouffe said: ‘I’m writing to report that we’re seeing a surge of support in states we didn’t expect to be close contests, including Georgia and North Dakota. But the latest battleground is a major opportunity: John McCain’s home state of Arizona.’
   McCain has struggled to disassociate his campaign from the Republican administration of outgoing president George W Bush.
   His campaign chief Rick Davis late Friday also promised supporters that despite media reports to the contrary, McCain could still win the White House.
   ‘If your television is tuned to cable news as frequently as ours are here at campaign headquarters, you have seen the pundits say John McCain and his campaign are done,’ Davis said in an email to supporters.
   ‘If you’ve followed this race since the beginning, this is clearly a song you’ve heard before,’ he said.
   One out of seven voters is still undecided ahead of Tuesday’s election, Davis insisted.
   ‘That means, if 130 million voters turn out on Tuesday, 18.5 million of them have yet to make up their mind. With that many votes on the table and the tremendous movement we’ve seen in this race, I believe we are in a very competitive campaign,’ he said, insisting: ‘We believe this race is winnable.’
   In an interview on Friday, Obama said the other pressing priorities if he wins would be achieving energy independence and enacting universal health care for Americans reeling from the economic crisis.
   ‘And none of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system or the financial system,’ he told CNN in Iowa, where he beat Hillary Clinton in the year’s first Democratic nominating clash.
   ‘So that’s priority number one, making sure that the plumbing works in our capitalist system,’ Obama said.
   He refused to detail his potential choice of Treasury secretary — but noted that his economic advisers include ex-treasury secretary Larry Summers, former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker and billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
   Obama also said he had admired McCain in 2000, when the Republican had decried ‘low road’ politics after a vicious smear campaign in his contest against Bush for the Republican nomination that year.
   ‘But the high road didn’t lead him to the White House then, so this time, he decided to take a different route,’ the Democrat said.
   ‘But Iowa, at this moment, in this election, we have the chance to do more than just beat back this kind of politics — we have the chance to end it once and for all,’ he said in Des Moines.
   ‘We have the chance to prove that the one thing more powerful than the politics of anything-goes — the one thing the cynics don’t count on — is the will of the American people.
   ‘That’s how we’ll steer ourselves out of this crisis — with a new politics for a new time. That’s how we’ll build the future we know is possible — as one people, as one nation.’

India has offered Bangladesh to buy electricity of around 1,000MW as they have started a mega-plan to produce 30,000MW in next 10 years in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
   ‘We can have an agreement to export 1,000MW power,’ the Indian minister of state for commerce and power, Jairam Ramesh, told a press conference at Hotel Radisson Saturday evening.
   He made the offer for the power sector cooperation during separate meetings with the commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, and the special assistant to the chief adviser for energy and power, M Tamim, earlier in the day. He also visited a power plant in Siddhirganj of Narayanganj.
   Replying to a question, Ramesh said right now India had an under-construction project in Tripura to generate 750MW electricity while Indian companies had got permission to install power plants in Nepal to generate 1,400MW power to import back to India.
   Similarly, he said, India is now pursuing a plan to generate a total of 30,000MW power in next 10 years in the countries surrounding Bangladesh like Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
   He said the power sector cooperation could take place through a South Asian power grid, but the real issue would be how that grid could be reached. A bilateral approach could take place faster.
   ‘It’ll be a competitive price… no profiteering,’ he told the conference.
   Earlier on the day, the commerce adviser told reporters after meeting with Ramesh that India proposed Bangladesh to be their partner in constructing power projects with 10-15 per cent share in their under construction Tripura power plant.
   The Indian junior minister also offered that Bangladesh could buy electricity from Tripura power plant as demand for power in the Indian state is only 250MW. He also proposed to form a joint working group in this regard. Hossain Zillur termed it a very interesting proposal.
   In his opening remarks at the press conference, Ramesh listed the accomplishments in Bangladesh-India relation, particularly in the economic cooperation, during last one year including the notification of duty-free export of 8 million pieces of apparel items from Bangladesh to India.
   He informed that Bangladesh had so far exported 3 million pieces and expected that the rest would be exported by the next year to add $60-70 million in Bangladesh’s export earnings from India.
   Ramesh said India reduced its negative list of products for Bangladesh and other LDCs under SAFTA from 744 items to 480 items effective from January this year.
   India allowed 50 items out of 101 Bangladesh requested for special consideration from India to offer duty-free market access, he added.
   Moreover, India now permits Bangladesh investment in India as he would be in Agartala next moth to launch the first Bangladeshi financed project of food processing there.
   Ramesh said Indian exports to Bangladesh increased three times during last 7 years to $3.3 billion while Bangladesh’s exports to India increased seven times to $350 million, though the figures reflect huge surplus in favour of India.
   ‘We’ll have to address the issue…. The only way to reduce the gap is Indian big investment to Bangladesh with buyback arrangement,’ he said, adding that Indian investors other than Tata were waiting to come and invest in Bangladesh’s pharmaceuticals, steel and IT sectors.
   ‘If we pursue from both the sides, Indian investors would come to Bangladesh,’ he said, adding that Tata did not move forward for some reasons. ‘I’m confident that this is a temporary divorce.’
   Replying to a question, the Indian minister said: ‘I’m not here to press for transit.’ He said India was looking at multi-modal connectivity.
   Referring to an Indian study, he said Bangladesh could earn as high as $ 1.2 billion annually by allowing transhipment only through two routes — Kolkata–Dhaka–Guwahati and Kolkata–Dhaka–Agartala. ‘People who are worried about trade deficit could consider the corridors.’
   Replying to another question, Ramesh said India had identified seven land customs stations along the border of seven-sister states to develop them as modern LCSs. They are Petrapol, Hili, Chandrabandha, Karimganj, Agartala and Dauki.
   He appreciated the authorities of Bangladesh for allowing the seventh one of Bilonia LCS while expected that Bangladesh would also allow another LCS of Kaiwarpuchia in Mizoram as they proposed to Bangladesh.
   Asked about lack of trust and confidence on India, he said: ‘Unfortunately, we’re the prisoners of history, prisoners of conspiracy theory. We’ve to be pragmatic.’ He added: ‘In South Asia we talk and in East Asia, they do.’
   The Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, supplemented that the problem was abstract, not tangible. ‘Once we start working things will be removed gradually,’ he added.

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, who plans to return home this month, vowed to contest general elections slated for December 18 despite the higher court’s denial of her bail.
   ‘I am going back, though they did not grant bail. I don’t know what will be my fate after going back home. But I have to go back and I will contest the elections. Definitely I will take part in the election. Let my people decide,’ said the former prime minister in Washington on Friday.
   Hasina, who has been in the United States for medical treatment since she was released on June 11 on parole, told the Voice of America that she would return to Bangladesh in November and that her party Awami League was not planning to boycott the elections.
   She was denied bail in a case in which she is accused of extorting Tk 50 million (five crore) from a businessman when she was prime minister. Hasina said the charges against her were not true.
   ‘Well, though they have not given me bail, after going back I can seek bail.
   All the cases, you know, those are all false, fabricated and everybody knows that,’ she said.
   Hasina said she was eager to run in the elections and would try to improve Bangladesh’s struggling economy. ‘This is my priority.
   That is the economic emancipation of our people.
   The people are suffering because of the price hikes, the inflation growing at double digits.’
   The former prime minister said she had asked the US officials to send observers to Bangladesh to make sure the elections were free and fair.

The acting Awami League president Zillur Rahman on Saturday said the remark of the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, regarding the resignation of the election commissioners was harmful for holding of the national polls on time.
   Khaleda on Friday accused both the interim government and the Election Commission of favouring a particular political party. She said the commissioners should resign if they could not work neutrally.
   The elections must be held on December 18 and any conspiracies against the national elections would be thwarted, said Zillur on Saturday as he addressed a token hunger strike.
   The Awami League Supporters’ Forum of Gaurnadi and Agailjhara organised the programme at the Central Shaheed Minar, demanding permanent release of the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, and party leader Abul Hasnat Abdullah, also a former chief whip in the parliament.
   Zillur said people’s doubt about the holding the parliamentary polls on December 18 could not be dispelled until the elections schedule would be announced.
   He demanded Hasina’s release and said the party would contest the elections only under Hasina’s leadership.
   In an another programme, the acting Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said doubts had been created as the electoral constituency demarcation remained unresolved.
   He said the Election Commission should resolve the issue of constituency demarcation and be more focused on holding the elections in a free and fair manner. ‘The commission, otherwise, should hold the elections in accordance with the previous demarcation.’
   Ashraf addressed at a protest rally in the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue, demanding Hasina’s immediate, unconditional release. The party’s youth front Awami Juba League organised the programme.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has said a fresh voters’ list with photographs and amended electoral rules, laws and code of conduct would help ensure that the general elections on December 18 are free, fair and acceptable to all.
   The head of the interim government made the remarks at a banquet hosted in honour of the visiting UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and his spouse, Ban Soon-Taek, by Fakhruddin and his spouse Neena Ahmed at the Sheraton Hotel on Saturday night.
   The host and his wife received the UN secretary general and his wife at the hotel. The chief executive of the United Nations arrived in Dhaka in the evening on a two-day visit to Bangladesh.
   Fakhruddin informed the UN chief that his government, under its reform recipe, completely revamped the Election Commission to ensure its independence and neutrality.
   He said the Bangladesh Election Commission with assistance from the UNDP and country’s development partners and helped by the armed forces prepared a fresh electoral roll of over 80 million eligible voters with photographs.
   ‘This new voters’ list, we are confident, will help eliminate vote rigging and other forms of electoral fraud,’ Fakhruddin told the function terming the new voters’ list as monumental achievement.
   The chief adviser said the caretaker government, in its nearly two years in office, had attempted a series of reforms and succeeded in many of them to make democracy strong and sustainable. ‘Most have involved institution-building and drives against corruption and mal-governance.’
   Mentioning other steps, including establishing a National Human Rights Commission, promulgating the Right to Information Ordinance, revamped laws relating to local government, establishing an independent Local Government Commission, he said the government was confident that Bangladesh would set a new standard of democracy and good governance in the developing world.
   The National Human Rights Commission will become operational anytime now, he said.
   Fakhruddin said Bangladesh had always been a strong believer in the United Nations and in the pivotal role its plays to promote peace, security and development.
   ‘As the head of the world organisation, your visit revalidates the unity of purpose that Bangladesh shares with the United Nations,’ he told the UN secretary general.
   He said Bangladesh had been one of the key architects of the ‘Culture of Peace’ resolution adopted at the General Assembly that seeks to promote understanding and engender hope for a peaceful world.
   ‘Our troops — in blue berets under the UN flag — have served in most difficult missions to give peace a chance. It gives us tremendous pride when a small village in Sierra Leone or Liberia decides to honour our peacekeepers.’
   As one of largest troop-contributing countries Bangladesh has consistently remained by the side of the UN, Fakhruddin said.
   The chief adviser noted that Bangladesh continued to surprise the world not just for its resilience but also with its capacity for innovation.
   He mentioned micro-finance, non-formal education programme to achieve education for all, gender parity in primary and secondary education, Bangladesh people’s coping with climate change with unparalleled determination and ingenuity, and developing crop varieties that can withstand salinity or inundation.
   The Jatiya Sangsad speaker, advisers, chief election commissioner, special assistants to the chief adviser, diplomats, chiefs of three services of the armed forces, distinguished personalities of different professionals, high civil and military officials, members of the delegation of the UN secretary general, among others, were present at the function.

The government’s offer to legalise undisclosed income expires today (Sunday) with a poor response so far received from the people believed to have untaxed or black money in possession, revenue officials have told New Age.
   Only about 2,150 individuals whitened their untaxed incomes paying about Tk 42 crore in tax as of October 29.
   Tax offices remained open on weekend Saturday and the full staff were kept on standby to handle the expected rush on the day before the deadline, but no such crowd was seen at most of the tax offices in Dhaka.
   ‘The response we have got so far is frustrating. We are expecting a good response tomorrow,’ a member of the National Board of Revenue told New Age.
   The revenue board kept the offer open for four months — July to October — allowing people to legalise their undisclosed income by paying seven per cent penalty in addition to normal taxes.
   The date was extended up to November 1 as the last day of October falls on weekend.
   The interim government’s indication that no major drive against corruption would be launched before the December 18 polls and the prospects that the country would return to democracy in two months’ time might have prompted the tax-dodgers to clod-shoulder the NBR deadline, revenue people believed.
   ‘The fear factor is seemed to have gone to a large extent, and many people think that the NBR has relaxed its grip on tax evaders,’ a senior NBR member told New Age.
   The tax department is learnt to have identified a large number of people with huge undisclosed incomes in possession, mostly under the large tax payers unit of the revenue board, and planned to crack down on those after the deadline expires today, sources said.
   Actions like bank account search orders could be given, they hinted.
   The last offer given by the incumbent government in 2007 brought Tk 5213.30 crore into formal economy from 42,459 individuals and companies, generating tax incomes of Tk 802.40 crore.
   Individual taxpayers were mostly from middle income group, which earlier avoided tax offices in fear of hassles.

Dhaka on Saturday made a formal request to the United Nations for assistance in rescue of two Bangladeshi development workers abducted in Afghanistan on October 23.
   ‘We have sought assistance from the United Nations to rescue abducted Bangladeshi workers,’ the foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, told reporters after the talks with the visiting UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
   Unnamed gunmen kidnapped Akhter Ali and Mohammad Shahjahan Ali, who worked with non-governmental organisation BRAC in Afghanistan.
   ‘We requested the secretary general for further efforts so that we can bring our citizens back home,’ Iftekhar said.
   The authorities in Kabul and the United Nations have been trying to rescue the two BRAC officials, who were abducted from their office at Moi Mubarak of Ghazni.
   The BRAC officials in Bangladesh in the past week requested the Bangladesh government to seek international assistance to rescues its officials.
   BRAC has been operating in Ghazni, one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, for three years in education, health and livelihood support through micro-credit programmes. In September 2007, unnamed gunmen killed BRAC official Abdul Alim. Three days later, another BRAC executive, Nurul Islam, was kidnapped, but released after 83 days.

The world faces a growing risk of conflict over the next 20 to 30 years amid an unprecedented transfer of wealth and power from West to East, the US intelligence chief has said.
   Michael McConnell, the director of national intelligence, predicted rising demand for scarce supplies of food and fuel, strategic competition over new technologies, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
   ‘What I’m suggesting — there’s an increased potential for conflict,’ McConnell said in a speech Thursday to intelligence professionals in Nashville, Tennessee.
   ‘During the period of this assessment, out to 2025, the probability for conflict between nations and within nation-state entities will be greater,’ he said.
   Conditions for ‘large casualty terrorist attacks using chemical, biological, or less likely, nuclear materials’ also will increase during that period, he said.
   McConnell described a multi-polar world in 2025 shaped by the rise of China, India and Brazil, whose economies will by then match those of the western industrial states.
   ‘In terms of size, speed, and directional flow, the transfer of global wealth and economic power, now underway, as noted from West to East is without precedent in modern history,’ McConnell said.
   Territorial expansion and military rivalries are not likely, but cannot be ruled out, and the perception that oil is scarce could trigger conflicts between states, he said.
   ‘We judge these sweeping changes will not trigger a complete breakdown of the current international system, but the next 20 years of transition to a new system are fraught with risks and many, many challenges,’ he said.
   By 2025, China is likely to have the world’s second largest economy and to have emerged as a major military power, the largest importer of natural resources and the largest contributor to world pollution.
   ‘China is poised to have more impact on the world over the next 20 years than any other country,’ he said.
   India will have either the third or second largest economy and will press to become ‘one of the significant poles of this new world,’ he said.
   Russia also will be part of that group, but only if it expands and diversifies its economy and integrates it with the world global economy, he said.
   ‘Strategic rivalries are most likely to revolve around trade, demographics, access to natural resources, investments and technological innovation. There will be a struggle to acquire technology advantage as the key enabler for dominance,’ he said.
   Other parts of the world face a more vulnerable future as rising demand for food, fuel and other resources outstrip supply.
   McConnell said US intelligence estimates that 1.4 billion people in 36 countries are likely to suffer from a lack of access to water for drinking and agriculture.
   ‘Now, just think about it: 1.4 billion people without these basic necessities will create significant tensions on the globe, tensions that world bodies and larger states will have to contend,’ he said.
   ‘Based on the many estimates, climate change is expected to exacerbate these resource scarcities,’ he said.
   Lack of access to water will be ‘devastating for many of the countries because agricultural (output) accounts for a large share of their economies and many of these citizens live close to the subsistence level.’
   The economy will be in the midst of a transition from oil by 2025 but moving in the direction of natural gas and coal, according to McConnell.
   New technologies and innovations could provide solutions but existing technologies ‘are inadequate for replacing the traditional energy architecture on the large scale in which it’s needed,’ he said.
   Unless economic and political opportunities improve, conditions in the Middle East will be ripe for growing radicalism and recruitment of youths into terrorist groups, he said.
   ‘The expansion of technologies and scientific knowledge by 2025 will place some of the world’s most dangerous capabilities within the reach of terrorist organizations, whatever their cause,’ he said.
   ‘One of our greatest concerns continues to be that a terrorist group or ... some other dangerous group might acquire and employ biological agents or less likely a radiological device to create casualties greater than 9/11,’ he said.

Dhaka on Saturday dismissed Indian media reports, which involvement of a Bangladesh-based group in Thursday’s serial blasts in Assam in which 77 people were killed.
   ‘The allegation is totally baseless and, as in the past, have no evidence to back them up,’ the Bangladesh foreign ministry said in a statement, brushing aside the Indian media claims.
   Indian media have alleged that Bangladesh-based banned Islamist organisations are involved in the blasts.
   An Indian opposition leader, LK Advani, also pointed finger at Bangladesh for the violence which also injured more than 300 people and asked the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, for action against the perpetrators of Thursday’s blasts.
   Officials in the Bangladesh foreign affairs ministry said the country had adopted the strictest measures against terrorists and it would never allow its territory to be used to facilitate attacks on other countries.
   ‘This is no time for finger-pointing without proof. Instead, all efforts should be directed at apprehending the culprits and bringing them to justice. Bangladesh has strongly condemned these acts of cowardice, and shares the pain of the people of India at this sad horror,’ said the statement.
   On Friday, Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury strongly condemned the serial bomb attacks in Assam.
   In a statement issued on Friday, he termed the bomb attack an act of ‘cowardly terrorism.’
   ’We strongly condemn the bomb blasts in the northeastern India that led to so many deaths and injuries,’ the adviser said, adding Bangladesh stands firmly beside its Indian neighbours at this sad hour.

The Indian police detained six people on Saturday after a little-known Islamist group claimed responsibility for bombings that killed 77 people in the troubled state of Assam.
   The police said two cars and mobile phones used to detonate bombs in the remote northeastern state, including its main city Guwahati, had been traced to four men while the remaining two were picked up for possible links with the attackers.
   A police officer said two of three cars used as bombs in Guwahati had been identified.
   ‘One of the vehicle owners has been picked up for questioning,’ said Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, an inspector general of police.
   Thursday’s coordinated bomb attacks were the worst in India’s turbulent northeast, home to more than 200 tribes and a focus of dozens of insurgencies connected with demands for autonomy or statehood.
   The Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahideen sent a mobile text message to a local television station claiming responsibility for the bombings.
   ‘We, ISF-IM, take responsibility of Thursday’s blast. We warn all of Assam and India of situation like this in future,’ the text message said.
   The police say the group may have been seeking to avenge attacks on Muslim settlers by indigenous tribes that killed at least 47 people last month.
   Ethnic tensions have simmered for decades in Assam where over the years Muslim settlers, mostly from Bangladesh, have moved to this Hindu and tribal-dominated region.
   Security officials said they were investigating if the ISF-IM group was the same as an Islamic militant organisation formed in 2000 in Assam to avenge attacks by indigenous people.
   But the police say the text message could be a ploy to divert attention from the real attackers.
   ‘You never know, it could be their diversionary tactic. We have not closed our options,’ Mahanta said.
   The police also were talking to a lawyer who said he had seen two men park a car near one of the blast sites in Guwahati and leave nervously. The police were preparing sketches of the pair.
   The police were investigating the links of ISF-IM with the Indian Mujahideen, which first emerged in November 2007 and has claimed several major attacks across India this year.
   The separatist United Liberation Front of Asom also is suspected, but security experts say the scale and sophistication of the attacks bore the hallmark of Islamist militant groups, and that ULFA may have played only a supporting or logistical role. ULFA has denied any involvement.
   The police were trying to find out if ISF-IM was a front for Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami that has often been suspected of attacks on Indian cities. HuJI has ULFA links.
   Meanwhile, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, met families of the victims and survivors in Guwahati hospitals amid opposition charges his government had failed to stop a wave of bombings across India.
   ‘Our government is not soft on terror,’ Singh told reporters outside Guwahati’s main hospital.
   A tight security blanket was draped over the state after a Hindu-nationalist group linked with India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party called a day-long shutdown across Assam on Saturday to protest the bombings.
   The police arrested more than 100 BJP supporters.

The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Saturday issued a release explaining his remark over holding the forthcoming polls the way the 1970 polls were held.
   The release signed by the Election Commission’s public relation officer SM Asaduzzaman said the Shamsul was appointed returning officer of one national assembly and two Punjab provincial assembly seats of the erstwhile West Pakistan in 1970 and he had referred to his experience as a returning officer as an example of fair electoral process.
   ‘In that election, all the three seats were won by the Pakistan People’s Party. The polling was peaceful and smooth: there was incident of violence, capture of polling stations, vote buying or rigging. All election officials worked neutrally under his direction. The losing parties also did not complain of any malpractice. For these reasons, the CEC cherishes very fond memories of his service as a returning officer and has always been very proud of doing an excellent job so early in his career,’ the release said.
   The release also said ‘The CEC, in the DC’s meeting, only referred to his experience as a returning officer as an example as to fair electoral process.’

Commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman on Saturday made light of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s demand for resignation of the chief election commissioner and suggested that any problems stemming from ‘personal frustration’ could be resolved through discussion.
   ‘It [ Khaleda’s charges against the EC] can be resolved through discussion if the problems have stemmed from personal frustration’, said the adviser while responding to reporters’ queries at the secretariat after a meeting with the visiting Indian state minister for commerce and power Jairam Ramesh.
   ‘Anybody can make allegations against the Election Commission…If the charges are brought out of personal frustration, it can be resolved through discussion’, Hossain Zillur said assuring all that this would in no way hinder the electoral process.
   He said the government was close to holding a free, fair and neutral election. ‘All preparations for holding the elections will be completed properly for making the polls free and fair.’
   ‘I think the Election Commission at the moment is focusing more on the polls schedule than the statements of political parties’, the adviser said.
   BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Friday accused both the interim government and Election Commission of favouring a particular political party and said the commission should resign if it could not work neutrally.
   Asked whether the government would take any steps to reconstitute the EC, the adviser said, they were going ahead with the aim of holding the polls on December 18. ‘Our eyes are fixed on this now. If any problem arises it will be resolved through discussion to ensure that the election is held on the announced date’, he added.
   About the meeting with the visiting Indian minister, Zillur said it was a courtesy call and they discussed issues of bilateral trade.

The High Court is scheduled to deliver its judgement today on the writ petitions which challenged electoral constituency demarcation, which has held back the announcement of the schedule for the December 18 national elections.
   The High Court bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain on Thursday set the date after hearing five of the 12 rules issued earlier asking the Election Commission to explain why the demarcation of the constituencies would not be declared illegal.
   The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is also scheduled to hear today the petition filed by the Election Commission seeking stay on the High Court’s earlier order which stayed the commission’s July 10 gazette notification demarcating the electoral constituencies.
   The High Court bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuque Hosain Ahmed on August 7 stayed for three months the operation of the notification.
   The court also asked the commission to explain why the notification would not be declared illegal after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by former BNP lawmaker Abdul Mannan, challenging the legality of the notification issued by the commission.
   Eleven more writ petitions were filed challenging the commission’s decision on constituency delimitation.
   The High Court bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain on October 22 started the final hearing in the rules.

The Chief Adviser’s Office has asked the agriculture and water resources ministry to bring more land under irrigation coverage to increase winter crop production, officials said on Thursday.
   ‘Let us identify small irrigation- and water-related works. If we can bring such small pieces of land under irrigation coverage, we can increase winter crop production,’ said a high agriculture ministry official, quoting the letter the Chief Adviser’s Office sent to the ministries.
   The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, after his visits to different parts of the country, said canals going by the fields had remained damaged for which fields could not be irrigated.
   He suggested that with small investments in such infrastructure the fields could be irrigated which would in turn increase winter crop production.
   Such small earthworks could be financed from projects such as food for work, test relief, 100-day minimum employment scheme and the regular maintenance budget of the Bangladesh Water Development Board or other government agencies, the official quoted the letter as saying.
   The chief adviser also suggested that local people and their knowledge could be employed in such works.
   The chief adviser, according to the official, suggested that the two ministries should initiate a process to elicit proposals from related agencies, local administration, and stakeholders for an institutional arrangement to achieve the best results.
   The domestic demand for winter crop, on an average, is Tk 1.2 crore tonnes while the yearly production is 20 lakh tonnes from cultivation of 10 lakh to 15 lakh hectares of land, according to the agriculture ministry.
   The total arable land is 83 lakh hectares and 48 lakh hectares are on an average irrigated every year, according to the ministry. If proper irrigation could be ensured, 76 lakh hectares of land could be cultivated, an official said.

The France ambassador in Dhaka, Charley Causeret, on Saturday offered his country’s help to build a nuclear power station in Bangladesh.
   ‘Bangladesh can benefit from France’s expertise to initiate a nuclear power policy,’ he said addressing a seminar titled ‘Power sector management: Bangladesh perspective’ at a city hotel.
   The offer came from a European country at a time when Bangladesh is experiencing huge power shortage that eats up about 2 per cent of its GDP growth.
   Franco-Bangladesh Association of Scholars & Trainees organised the seminar where the special assistant to the chief adviser for power and energy ministry, M Tamim, spoke as special guest.
   The special assistant welcomed the France offer saying, ‘We want collaboration of France (in this regard).’
   He also emphasised the need for improving the management system in power sector and urged politicians to evolve a strategy on a consensus basis to improve the power sector.
   At present, Bangladesh generates about 3,600MW power against a demand for more than 5,000MW.
   To mitigate the crisis, the government has been considering various options, including setting up of nuclear- and coal-based power plants. The country has also obtained a positive nod from the international nuclear agency in this regard.
   Causeret said the nuclear option could be an alternative to fossil fuels to increase power generation in Bangladesh. ‘It’s a long-term option. Developing a nuclear industry requires a strong policy and institutional framework.’
   He mentioned that nuclear power in France is a success story. ‘France has a century-old tradition of nuclear scientists and highly experienced companies in the entire nuclear cycle.’
   Causeret said the France’s first nuclear power plant was built in 1956 and the political decision to expand the country’s nuclear power capacity was taken in 1974. After the first oil shock, today, almost 80 per cent of the electricity in France comes from nuclear energy, he said.
   The French envoy said the areas of cooperation between Bangladesh and France in power sector were potentially very important.
   Pointing out Bangladesh’s 80 per cent dependence on gas for power generation, Causeret suggested the government for seriously considering other options.
   He said the important thing was that high quality coal in the northwest region could be an option for developing coal-based power generation.
   A French company, AREVA, is now engaged in implementing the National Load Dispatch Centre to develop a digital power management system. Another two companies — Schneider and Electric and Legrand — are also working in Bangladesh.
   Appreciating the role of AREVA, belonging to AREVA T&D Group, and other two companies, the French ambassador said AREVA was a world leader in the energy business and the number one in entire global nuclear cycle.
   The group offers its customers technological solution for highly reliable nuclear power generation and electricity transmission and distribution.
   The power secretary, Fozul Kabir Khan, and the FBAST president, Liaquat Ali Khan, also spoke on the occasion.

The government has made a decision to make two-year work mandatory at the upazila level for medical students who want to do post-graduation courses, the health secretary, AMM Nasir Uddin, said on Saturday.
   He said the decision had been made with a view to ensuring healthcare facilities for rural people.
   Besides, he said, the government has also decided to extend the duration of internship course for would-be physicians from one year to one and a half years.
   It is not mandatory for all interns, rather it will be applicable for those who want to work additional six months at upazila-level hospitals, the health secretary said, adding the government made the decision to remove the problems of non-availability of government doctors at the village level.
   Addressing a function, Nasir Uddin said the health ministry had undertaken a programme for SSC-passed youths to train them in basic treatment with a view to reaching medical facilities to the doorstep of rural people. The programme will begin by this year, he added.
   Institute of Child Health and Shishu Sasthya Foundation arranged the function on the occasion of ‘capping for nurses’ and ‘certificate-giving ceremony for rural medical practitioners’ in its conference room at Mirpur in the city.
   With chairman of the foundation National Professor MR Khan in the chair, the function was attended by the special assistant to the chief adviser for social welfare, MA Malek, as chief guest.
   Referring to scarcity of nurses and biomedical engineers, the health secretary said there were only 23,000 registered nurses in the country against the demand for 58,000.

An international business gathering in Dhaka has called for promoting Bangladesh in the world market with right branding and underlined the urgent need for a functional democracy to build a prosperous country in next 15 years.
   Local business leaders expressed the hope that the next elected government would take massive initiatives to solve problems such as poor infrastructures for facilitating a higher economic growth with equity.
   Foreign dignitaries stressed that Bangladesh needed more economic integration initially with South Asia and gradually with the whole Asia, which has taken the centre stage in the world economy and trade, for tapping potentials of trade and investment.
   The views came at different sessions Saturday, the concluding day of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s mega event that marks the trade body’s 50 years.
   The two-day business conference, themed on ‘The Next 15 Years: A Vision for Growth,’ brought global body leaders, including UNCTAD secretary general Supachai Panichpakdi and WTO deputy director general Harsha V Singh, along with regional government and business leaders, to share their thoughts on Asia’s future business and economic landscape.
   Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed inaugurated the event at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre Friday, stressing the need for a deeper financial integration among Asian economies to stay safe in global crisis.
   India’s state minister for commerce Jai Ram Ramesh regretted that politics in the region had been the number one problem as diversity that defined South Asian societies had been a major source of human disaster and conflict.
   ‘Our ability to accommodate pluralism and diversity in a democratic manner will determine our future,’ he told a session on ‘Global Economic Shift to Asia — Regional Synergies’, wondering why political conflicts were escalating despite modern education and globalisation.
   Echoing his views, Bangladesh commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said despite enjoying national homogeneity, Bangladesh was plagued by political conflicts — something, which, he claimed, the present interim government was trying to address by initiating reforms and holding dialogues with political parties.
   Underlining the importance of a common political framework, he said democracy was a common destiny of the South Asian people for their economic advancement.
   Presenting a paper, managing partner of AT Capital Partners in Dhaka Ifty Islam listed inherent strengths of Bangladesh such as population with large number of youths and extreme resilience to adversity, fertile land, suitable location, and incubator of ideas like micro-credit, informal education and oral saline.
   ‘Bangladesh is not a poor country; it is a poorly managed country,’ business leader Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan observed at another session on ‘Does Bangladesh have a Niche in Asia?’
   He felt that national food security and other developments could not be ensured had the country failed to solve infrastructures problems such as gas supply. He termed the role of Bangladesh embassies in upholding the country’s image ‘pathetic.’
   Former foreign secretary Farooq Sobhan admitted that Bangladesh had not been promoted adequately in the international arena.
   He pointed out that three agents of change — top political leadership, bureaucracy and the private sector — would have to play crucial role in shaping the future of Bangladesh. ‘Opportunities would be gifted by the present caretaker government to the next elected government in terms of reforms,’ he added.
   Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Annisul Huq stressed the need for putting proper infrastructures in place for economic development while Nobel laureate scientist Rajendra Pachauri suggested that Bangladesh’s concerns about climate change effects should be duly highlighted in global forums.
   While branding of Bangladesh featured prominently in the discussion, Grameen Phone CEO Anders Jensen maintained that Bangladesh’s branding must start at home through creation of a platform.
   The outcomes of the two-day conference were summed up in the ‘Dhaka Vision’, which would be submitted to the government and various agencies concerned, said DCCI president Hossain Khaled.

Women who gain more than 40 pounds during pregnancy have nearly twice the risk of delivering a heavy baby as those who gain less, US researchers said on Friday.
   The study of more than 40,000 US women and their babies found as many as one in five women gains too much weight during pregnancy, doubling the chances her baby will weigh 9 pounds or more.
   And they found women who gain more than 40 pounds during pregnancy are more likely to have a heavy baby even if they do not have gestational diabetes, a short-term form of diabetes linked with pregnancy that is known to increase the risk of having a big baby.
   ‘Because there are so many women who are gaining more than 40 pounds during pregnancy, it’s an important health message for most women to avoid excessive weight during pregnancy,’ Dr Teresa Hillier of Kaiser Permanente Centre for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, whose study appears in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, said in a telephone interview.
   Hillier said gaining extra weight during pregnancy increases the risk for having heavy babies, and studies suggest these babies are programmed to become overweight or obese later in life.
   According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, babies who weigh more than 9 pounds at birth are considered heavy.
   A large baby can pose risks for a difficult delivery — increasing the chances of vaginal tearing, bleeding, and Caesarian-sections for the mother and the risk of stuck shoulders and broken collar bones for the baby.
   In the study, Hillier and colleagues examined the medical records of 41,540 women who gave birth in Washington, Oregon and Hawaii from 1995-2003. All had been tested for gestational diabetes and 5.4 per cent were treated for it with a programme of diet, exercise and insulin, if needed, to control blood sugar.
   Overall, 20 per cent of the women in the study who gained more than 40 pounds — the upper limit of pregnancy weight gain recommendations in the United States — gave birth to heavy babies.
   Fewer than 12 per cent of women in the study with normal weight gain delivered heavy babies, she said.
   The group at greatest risk were those who gained more than 40 pounds and had gestational diabetes. Nearly 30 per cent of these women had heavy babies, compared with 13.5 per cent of women with gestational diabetes who had normal weight gains during pregnancy.
   The researchers said the findings suggest all women should avoid excessive weight gain during pregnancy. And women who are being treated for gestational diabetes should also strive to keep weight gain below 40 pounds.
   ‘You can’t treat the glucose and ignore the weight gain issue,’ Hillier said.
   Weight gain during pregnancy has been rising over the past two decades, and some researchers suspect this may be fuelling an epidemic of childhood obesity.

Khagrachari hill district council chairman Manindra Lal Tripura, arrested in the city’s Rajabazar area on Friday in connection with the killing of former KHDC councillor Anupam Tripura, was sent to jail on Saturday.
   The Tejgaon police produced him in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court which sent him to jail.
   The police arrested Manindra at the house of his relative Prabin Chandra Chakma at Rajabazar Friday afternoon upon a requisition from Khagrachari police.
   He was taken first to the Tejgaon police station and then in the detective branch custody for interrogation, police said.
   Anupam Tripura died under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in Old Town of Dhaka on July 11.
   His companions claimed it was a normal death and no case was filed with the police immediately.
   But Anupam’s wife Alpana Tripura filed a case with Khagrachari police station on July 14 stating that she suspected it was a murder.
   After investigation, police were convinced that Anupam was killed and arrested three people, Shanti Priya Chakma, Parendra Lal Tripura and Kulanath Baishnab.
   On the basis of their statements, the police arrested Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain from Satkhira on October 26.
   Shanti Priya made a confessional statement before the Khagrachari chief judicial magistrate’s court while Mosharraf in the police custody also confessed to his involvement in the murder.
   Both Shanti and Mosharraf, believed to have close association with Anupam, reportedly confessed that they had poisoned Anupam to death upon instruction of Manindra.
   Manindra went into hiding after his name surfaced and tried to obtain bail from the High Court on Thursday but failed. Later, his attempt to fly to Australia to attend a seminar also failed as the government imposed a bar to his leaving the country.
   Following the confessional statement of prime accused Shanti, Khagrachari police requested the Tejgaon police in Dhaka to arrest Monindra Lal for his alleged involvement in the killing.

Two men were released from custody in Pakistan on Saturday after they were arrested on suspicion of organising the wedding of their two young children to end their families feuding, their lawyer said.
   The police arrested the pair and a marriage registrar in the Nazimabad area of the southern city of Karachi on Thursday, amid claims that a four-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy were being wedded unlawfully.
   A court in Karachi on Saturday granted the men bail, lawyer Maqbool-ur-Rehman told reporters outside the court.
   ‘Judge Zahida Perveen ordered to release the three men against a personal bond of 3,000 rupees (30 dollars) and give the children’s custody to their parents,’ he said.
   The arrested men said the wedding was meant to end a feud between the two families.
   ‘We had some old family disputes which we had decided to settle by getting our children wedded,’ the girl’s father said.
   The boy’s father added: ‘We were just registering the marriage of our children to settle our disputes. We had decided the real wedding would be held when the couple reaches the marriageable age.’
   Child marriage or ‘vani’, which is condemned by campaigners as a violation of human rights, is banned in predominantly Muslim Pakistan. The minimum legal age for marriage is 18 for men and 16 for girls.

Traffic was disrupted for more than two hours on the DIT Road, from Mouchak to Rampura, when a train hit a city service bus in the Malibagh level crossing Saturday evening.
   Train communications had also been disrupted for about two hours after the accident. No casualty was reported.
   The police and the local people said a city service bus of Dibanishi Paribahan from Banani suddenly went out of order in the level crossing at about 6:15pm.
   The driver tried several times to start, but failed. The passengers then got down.
   Traffic police and members of the Khilgaon police reached the place, but they could move the bus a little.
   The Drutajan Express, headed for Dhaka from Dinajpur, by the time reached the place. The people tried to stop the train, and it stopped after hitting the bus, damaging its rear side. The bus was left stranded across the road, the police said.
   Fire service people later removed the bus from the road. The road was cleared to traffic at about 8:45pm. The train started for the Kamalapur railway station after 8:00pm.

The Progressive Democratic Party on Saturday iterated its demand for the deferral of the forthcoming parliamentary polls, scheduled for December 18, by at least three months.
   The party’s chairman Ferdaus Ahmad Quarishi at a briefing in its central office at Segun Baghicha said the time would be required to hold the elections in a free and fair manner.
   The deferral of the elections date will dispel people’s doubt about the holding of the elections.
   Quarishi termed the announcement of polling date without resolving the issues related to electoral constituency demarcation ‘unjust and immoral.’
   The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has been irresponsible in announcing the polling date without resolving the elections issues, Quarishi said.
   Quarishi said his party might boycott the forthcoming elections on December 18 if a level playing field was not created.
   The party will hold its national representatives’ council in Dhaka on November 8 where the leaders would decide on joining the polls, Quarishi said.
   ‘We are making preparations to take part in the elections and discussing formation of alliance,’ Quairishi said. ‘We can launch a third alliance with like-minded political parties or participate in any existing alliance.’
   Quarishi congratulated the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on her making a call for the resignation of the chief and other election commissioners which he demanded earlier.
   The party’s secretary general Noor Mohammad Khan, joint secretary general Golam Sarwer Milon, central leader Sudhir Kumar Hazra and others attended the briefing.