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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies applied to the Election Commission for registration on Monday, the last day of extended deadline, after bringing required amendments to their constitutions.
   The BNP incorporated minor changes in its constitution to meet the registration criteria set by the amended Representation of the People Order, which required Jamaat-e-Islami to go for major amendments, including changing the name of the party, to its constitution.
   A total of 107 parties, including Awami League, and political groups applied for registration as of Monday, while 195 parties and groups had collected application forms.
   ‘We have applied for registration fulfilling all requirements including an amended constitution of the party,’ BNP joint secretary-general Nazrul Islam Khan told reporters after submitting the application at the commission.
   The party standing committee at an emergency meeting approved draft amendments to its constitution on Sunday.
   Khan said it was the authority of the national council of the party to amend the constitution. ‘But we were compelled to get it done by the standing committee to fulfil requirements for registration,’ he added.
   BNP now operates two funds, one party fund having a deposit of over Tk 5.80 crore and the other relief fund with a present deposit of Tk 46 lakh.
   Asked about sudden changes in BNP’s stance on registration even though the government did not hold second round of formal dialogue with the party, he said, ‘BNP is a pro-election party, and a law abiding party.’
   BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain earlier said that the party would decide on applying for registration after getting response from the government to its seven-point demands.
   Awami League applied for registration on October 15.
   BNP and its allies, which earlier made their registration issue conditional on the outcome of the second round talks after the first one ended inconclusive, suddenly changed its stance as the commission and the military-controlled interim government declined to extend the registration deadline beyond October 20.
   According to the latest amendments to the Representation of People Order, registration after maintaining certain criteria with the commission is mandatory for the parties to contest the elections.
   BNP allies Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish and two factions of Bangladesh Jatiya Party also separately applied for registration at the commission on the day.
   Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman-led delegation handed over the application to the concerned EC official in the afternoon.
   Islami Oikya Jote secretary general Abdul Latif Nezami submitted the IOJ’s application to the commission.
   The Liberal Democratic Party was the first political party to receive its registration certificate from the Election Commission. Chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda on Monday handed over the certificate at a simple ceremony at the commission to party president Oli Ahmed, who had left BNP in 2006.
   The CEC said that the registration process was introduced not to control the political parties, rather to make parties transparent and accountable.
   ‘It is encouraging that the major parties have applied for registration within the given time. We hope it will help create a congenial atmosphere for elections,’ he said
   The commission on August 27 issued a notice inviting political parties to apply for registration in a prescribed form. It extended the deadline for applying for registration from October 15 to October 20 following requests from BNP and its allies.
   The parties and groups which have so far applied for registration also include Jatiya Party led by HM Ershad, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Workers Party of Bangladesh, People Party of Bangladesh led by HRC Group chairman Sayeed Hossain Chowdhury, Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League, Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League, Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (M-L), Jatiya Party faction led by Anwar Hossain Manju, National Awami Party, General Democratic Party led by its convenor Fazlur Rahman, Ganatantri Party, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal, Parbatya Chattagram Janasanghati Samity, Freedom Party, Bangladesh Kalyan Party, Bangladesh Islami Oikya Front, Oikyabaddha Nagorik Andolon, Progressive Democratic Party, Bangladesh Jatiya Party, Bangladesh Islami Oikya Jote, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon and Islamic Democratic Party led by Kazi Azizul Haq. Some less-known political groups also applied for registration without fulfilling the criteria.

Major political parties, including main power contenders Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, had to tailor their constitutions in a hurry to meet the registration criteria and deadline set by the Election Commission, after dragging their heels over the issue for months.
   Most of the parties had readily rejected the amended Representation of the People Order, which required them to reword their set principles to get registered with the EC if they were to contest the next general elections.
   Excepting a few left-leaning and newborn parties, major parties were saying that bringing any change to constitution required endorsement from the council sessions, which they found impossible to hold with state of emergency still in force and party chiefs in jail.
   Things started changing fast with the EC deadline for registration nearing an end.
   Parties were in a hurry to rewrite or reword their constitutions, some making window dressing to match the requirements and some others like Jamaat-e-Islami incorporating major changes, to qualify for contesting the polls.
   They had to inform the EC of the constitutional changes in writing, while applying for registration.
   Awami League and BNP avoided major changes in respective constitutions.
   Both the parties seemed to have managed to accommodate their overseas operations and front organisations, bringing almost identical amendments to phrases allowing the units to operate independently.
   Jamaat-e-Islami, however, had to bring major changes in its constitution and finally recognised the country’s War of Independence of 1971, making a major shift from the ideology it held for the last three decades and a half.
   The party also recognised the contribution of freedom fighters to the creation of Bangladesh. The party also revised its name to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami from Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.
   ‘BNP incorporated amendments in its constitution to fulfil demands of the amended Representation of the People Order for registration with the Election Commission,’ BNP joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan said Monday.
   He said under the amended constitution the standing committee, the party’s highest policy body, and executive committee would be elected by the national council session.
   Front organisations of the party will now be working as ‘associate organisations’ as per respective constitutions of their own, he said.
   Besides, the overseas units of the party will be functioning as per laws of the foreign countries concerned and constitutions of the units, Khan said.
   The amendments to BNP constitution also include: keeping 33 per cent of all committee positions reserved for women and finalisation of nomination of candidates by the party’s parliamentary board from lists forwarded by district committees, according to party insiders.
   Khan, however, contradicted with the claim of a BNP standing committee member that the committee incorporated a balance of power between its chairperson, now Khaleda Zia, and the committee.
   ‘There is no new constitutional stipulation about powers of the chairperson of the party,’ he told reporters Monday. ‘The amended Representation of People Order does not specify what power the party chief should enjoy,’ he said.
   According to previous provision of the constitution, the national council session had elected only party chairperson, who enjoys almost unrestricted power to run the party.
   The committee on Sunday evening approved a resolution that the party would ratify the amendments within six months of the first sitting of the ninth parliament.
   The central working committee of Awami League on October 14 approved proposals for amendment to the party constitution retaining associate organisations and overseas chapters but skipping the issue of the powers of the party chief, now Sheikh Hasina.
   The ‘associate’ organisations and overseas wings of the party would operate independently and will be guided by their own constitutions, according to the latest amendments.
   The party has also decided to retain its overseas wings formed by Bangladeshi expatriates and they will go by the existing rules and regulations of the countries of their residence.
   About party nominations for the parliamentary elections, the amended party constitution suggested that committees to be constituted by upazila/thana, union/municipal and ward units of the party will recommend a five-member panel for nomination through secrete ballot to the party’s parliamentary board which will choose one from among the five.
   The AL also updated the process of fund maintenance and expenditure as required by the electoral laws. The party will now have three signatories, the president, the general secretary and treasurer, to run its bank accounts. Bank accounts earlier had two signatories – the party president and the treasurer.
   The latest amendment also asserts fulfilment of at least 33 per cent posts reserved for women in all committees by 2020.
   The Jatiya Party faction led by Hussein Muhammad Ershad on October 12 amended its constitution at a meeting of the party presidium.
   No one will be allowed to hold the posts of both the chairman and secretary-general for more than two terms, according to the amendments, which also curtailed the power of the party’s chairman.
   The party has also dissolved its six front organisations and increased the volume of its district and upazila committees.
   Leaders of some political parties, including Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed, Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim and Dhaka city secretary of Workers Party of Bangladesh Quamrul Ahsan, claimed that the parties did not need to amend respective constitutions as the documents were already fulfilling requirements for registration with the Election Commission.

The Jamaat-e-Islam has made major changes in its constitution, acknowledging the country’s sovereignty, War of Independence, and the contribution of freedom-fighters in the creation of Bangladesh, and renamed itself in order to get registered with the Election Commission.
   ‘As Bangladesh is the third largest Muslim country which was established as an independent and sovereign nation-state by the struggle of the people and freedom-fighters of Bangladesh, our constitution has been framed to establish an Islamic society,’ said the preamble of Jamaat’s draft constitution which was submitted to the Election Commission on Monday for expediting its registration.
   After submitting the application form, Jamaat’s assistant secretary-general, Mohammad Quamaruzzaman, said his party would now be known as ‘Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’ instead of ‘Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh’.
   The name was changed slightly to dispel the suspicion of some people that the party might have links with Islamic parties with similar names in foreign countries, said Quamaruzzaman.
   ‘Many people say that the constitution of Jamaat-e-Islami is unconstitutional. This is not right. We have made a few changes in the constitution to comply with the Election Commission’s regulations,’ he said.
   Quamaruzzaman said they have also replaced the words ‘Allah’s law’ with ‘social system based on Islamic justice’ in the party’s constitution, and such a social system will be established if Jamaat is voted to power.
   The amended constitution of the Jamaat stated that non-Muslims would be able to become Jamaat’s members. Earlier, it was stated that any citizen would be able to become Jamaat’s member.
   The Jamaat’s amended constitution accommodates the women members of its national executive committee in the central national executive committee as well. Earlier, the women members of the national executive committee were collectively treated as a separate body of the central executive committee. It also pledges to increase the percentage of women in the party to 33% by 2020. Presently, women’s representation in the party is only 26 per cent, according to Quamaruzzaman.
   The party in its revised constitution has curtailed the power of the party’s chief who will no longer have the power to pick the district unit presidents. ‘From now the district unit presidents will be elected by Jamaat’s local electorate and the amir will have nothing to do with it,’ said Quamaruzzaman.

Islamic Democratic Party, a political party floated by leaders of banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad Al Islami, widely known as Huji, on Monday applied for registration with the Election Commission.
   The party’s adviser, Kazi Azizul Huq, submitted the application for registration at the EC secretariat.
   Asked about the background of the party, he told reporters that most of the initiators of IDP are Soviet-Afghan war veterans and leaders of banned militant outfit Harkatul Jihad Al Islami.
   ‘Still, we are a group of three to four hundred fighters of the Soviet-Afghan war,’ he said.
   He claimed that they had dissolved Huji in 1998 and changed the name of the organisation to Islami Gana Andolan.
   The government banned Huji in October 2005, he reiterated.
   He said the objective of the party is to establish an administration based on the Charter of Medina that gives equal rights to all citizens irrespective of religion and ethnicity.
   The party will, however, follow the national constitution, the Qur’an and the Hadith while conducting its activities, he said.

The interim government is planning to hold another round of talks with the major political parties, especially the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, on October 23 for to bring about qualitative changes in politics and create an environment congenial for the general elections in December.
   ‘We have already taken a step towards a meaningful election with the parties registering with the Election Commission…We will have another round of dialogues with the major parties, possibly on October 23,’ the education and commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, told reporters at the secretariat on Monday after a meeting of the panel of advisers on political negotiations for ‘a smooth transition to democracy’.
   The adviser, however, said that the government would continue the discussions with the stake-holders right till the elections. ‘We are planning for the next round of dialogues with the major parties…Our preparations for the talks will hopefully be completed in two/three days.’
   Led by communications and public works adviser Ghulam Quader, the panel’s members — law adviser AF Hassan Ariff, LGRD and cooperatives adviser Anwarul Iqbal — attended the meeting.
   Zillur congratulated the political parties for applying for registration, saying that all parties, including AL and BNP, were now playing a responsible role in the transition to democracy as all are preparing for the general elections scheduled for December 18, 2008.
   ‘The prime responsibility of the government is to create an atmosphere conducive to elections and we are continuously working to that end…We must ensure an environment in which the common voters can fearlessly cast their votes,’ he said.
   The political parties might have some thing to say about the right atmosphere for holding the elections. There is also the aspiration of the common people for a qualitative change in politics which has to be given due weight...All these issues will come up in the dialogues, said Zillur, the most vocal member of the interim cabinet of Fakhruddin Ahmed.
   When he was asked how many problems the government has to solve before the elections, the adviser sidestepped the question and said the media should rather appreciate the government’s continuous efforts to create an environment of confidence. ‘We are not holding the talks in a bureaucratic format…We are trying to maintain the atmosphere of confidence through continuous discussion with the political parties.’

Government leaders and regulators cold-shouldered exporters’ demand for depreciating taka against US dollar to give them some incentives to withstand the shocks feared from the current global financial turmoil.
   At a business session televised live from the Sonargaon Hotel Monday night, economists, politicians and business leaders in general sounded a note of ‘pragmatic optimism’ about the implications of what was described as economic Tsunami worldwide for the country.
   They said that Bangladesh would be able to withstand the effects of presumably ‘prolonged meltdown’ should national preparations be taken carefully.
   ‘Being overwhelmed by the situation, we should not go for immediate devaluation of taka. We have to be cautious and steady and take into consideration interests of all concerned,’ Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed said after FBCCI president Annisul Huq moderating the session spearheaded the demand for exchange rate readjustment.
   ‘Exchange rate change-like policy is not called for. Our export sector is bigger than garment sector and the whole economy is bigger than the export sector,’ observed commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman.
   In a similar vein, finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam said, ‘We have no reason to be alarmed as signs of improvement in confidence are there.’ In view of the oil price fall, the adviser also hinted at downward adjustment of the prices of petroleum products shortly.
   The panelists, however, suggested interest rate cut and ensuring smooth credit flow to improve the level of business competitiveness of the Bangladeshi manufacturers. Bangladesh’s banking sector and capital market are said to be immune from spillover of the global turmoil since they are less integrated with global markets.
   The high-profile special discussion titled ‘Global Economy and We’ was jointly organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and private television channel NTV between 8:15 pm and 10:30 pm.
   Economist Wahiduddin Mahmud forecast that the fallout of the financial crisis might prolong four years. ‘In that case we as a smaller economy will be affected,’ he said referring to the probable impacts on export and remittances.
   BNP leader MK Anwar and Awami League leader AMA Muhit stressed the importance of monitoring the situation, if necessary, by forming a taskforce.
   Businesspeople described both the leaders as potential ministers in the next elected cabinet and asked them about their economic policies. Anwar promised prudent economic policy and making the parliament effective while Muhit pledged that they would discuss every economic policy in parliament.
   Emphasis was given on promotion of the agriculture sector to ensure national food security as well as improvement in infrastructures to facilitate business activities.

History surely is in the making in Chittagong, but it remains uncertain who will make it after New Zealand took the momentum away from Bangladesh to finish the fourth day at 145-2.
   Opener Aaron Redmond struck an unbeaten 62, his maiden Test fifty, and despite a late run-out, the tourists reached a promising position in pursuit of a victory knocking off a 317-run target in the fourth innings.
   If New Zealand can do it, it will be their highest successful run chase away from home and in all likelihood they now can achieve it as they only need 172 more runs with eight wickets in hand.
   Skipper Daniel Vettori was accompanying Redmond at stumps without scoring a run after Bangladesh ran debutant Jesse Ryder (38) out thanks to a direct throw by Mashrafee bin Murtaza from the third-man position.
   The mysterious behaviour of the pitch and some poor umpiring decisions were almost ruining Bangladesh’s bid to get their first Test win against a major side, until the run-out gave them some hopes.
   On a fourth-day track that was expected to crack gradually, the bowlers have managed to take only three wickets in the entire day, a fact that left New Zealand pleasantly surprised and Bangladesh agonisingly shocked.
   The Tigers had a more sizeable lead than what they expected after Mashrafee bin Murtaza guided them to 242 runs in the second innings after resuming the play at 184-8. But his fabulous innings of 44 ended on a sour note when the third umpire, Enamul Haque, ruled him out stumped despite an inconclusive TV replay.
   Mashrafee shared a 40-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Abdur Razzak and put on 22 runs with Shahadat Hossain in the 10th-wicket stand as they successfully negotiated the spin of Daniel Vettori.
   The heavy rolling in the morning session and again before New Zealand began their second innings has had a role for the wicket to change its behaviour and it made Shakib al Hasan, the best bowler for Bangladesh in the first innings, the ultimate loser.
   Sakib hardly got any turn from the surface and so the tourists did not get any trouble to deal with his bowling. He, however, was unlucky not to get a wicket when umpire Ashoka de Silva turned down a confident lbw appeal against Redmond, who was then batting on 53.
   Umpire Darrel Harper denied Meharb Hossain Jr a wicket earlier despite he hit Jesse Ryder’s back-foot with the batsman on eight. Ryder put together 90 runs with Redmond for the second wicket to minimise Bangladesh’s advantage.
   The hosts’ only success with the ball came when Razzak had Jamie How bowled with an orthodox left-arm that pitched on the leg and middle stumps and took a sharp turn to dismantle the off-stump. The batsman departed on 36, but not before giving New Zealand a solid start they needed to win the game.

Different organisations continued countrywide protests on Monday against the removal of baul sculptures from the airport crossing in Dhaka amid pressure from fundamentalists.
   Three activists of Bangladesh Chhatra Union were injured in Khulna as police resorted to baton charge to foil a human chain programme, scheduled to be formed also to demand immediate rebuilding of the monument of baul sculptures.
   The demonstrators across the country vowed to continue their agitation till the reinstallation of the monument to commemorate great mystic Lalon.
   New Age correspondent in Khulna reports: the police resorted to baton charge to foil a human chain of the Khulna city and district units of Chhatra Union and Juba Union.
   The police also picked up Khulna city unit organising secretary of Chhatra Union Mustafizur Rahman Rasel from the spot.
   The organisation leaders claimed that three of their activists – Sanjay, Mukul and Moni — had been injured in the police action.
   The president and general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh in a statement criticised the government’s silent role on the issue and demanded immediate rebuilding of the monument.
   The party, under the banner of Left Democratic Alliance, will hold a protest rally on the Central Shaheed Minar premises in Dhaka today protesting the removal of the sculptures and demanding an end to the activities of fundamentalists in the country.
   New Age correspondent in Barisal reports: The Workers Party of Bangladesh formed a human chain in front of the Ashiwini Kumar Hall to protest at the removal of baul sculptures.
   They also put forward a 16-point charter of demands, including reconstruction of the sculptures at the same place.
   Leaders and activists of different student organisations, including Chhatra League, Chhatra Moitri, Chhatra Union and Chhatra Front, under the banner of Pragatisil Chhatra Oikya, organised another human chain at the same venue condemning the removal of the baul sculptures.
   New Age Jahangirnagar University correspondent adds: Samajtantrik Chhatra Front brought out a procession on the campus protesting at the removal of the baul sculptures.
   After the procession, they organised a brief rally where the speakers condemned the interim government for what they claimed backing the fundamentalist forces.

A total of 114 people, including 70 politicians, have so far been convicted of corruption by special judges’ court all over the country under the anti-corruption drive of the military-controlled interim government.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday submitted the list of the convicts to the home ministry.
   Of the 70 convicted politicians, 41 are from Bangladesh Nationalist Party, 25 from Awami League, three from Jatiya Party led by Anwar Hossain Manju and one from Islami Oikya Jote.
   According to the commission’s statement, the 114 people had been sentenced after completion of trial in 100 corruption cases filed by the commission.
   The commission has so far lodged 710 cases, as of October 15, and 495 of the cases are now under investigation, and charge
   sheet in 84 cases now await the commission’s approval, according to the statistics available with the commission.
   It said the High Court has so far stayed proceedings of 632 cases.
   The charge sheet of 262 cases have so far been submitted in Dhaka special judges’ court for trial. Trials of 37 cases have been halted following stay order issued by the High Court.
   The convicted BNP politicians are former ministers M Morshed Khan, Nazmul Huda, Shahjahan Siraj, Aminul Haque, Amanullah Aman, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, Salahuddin Ahmed and Shahajahan Omar, former lawmakers Mosaddak Ali Falu, Ziaul Haque Zia, Monjurul Ahsan Munshi, Ali Asgar Lobi, Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Rashiduzzaman Millat, Naser Rahman, Md Shahjahan Chowdhury, Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu, Hafiz Ibrahim and Shahrin Islam Tuhin, Sigma Huda, Aman’s wife Sabera Aman, Nasir’s son Mir Helaluddin Ahmed, Morshed Khan’s son Faisal Morshed Khan, Siraj’s wife Rabeya Haider, his son Rajib Siraj, Lalu’s wife Shamsunnahar Zaman, Omar’s wife Mehjabeen Farzana, Hafiz’s wife Mahfuza Sultana, Zia’s wife Nasima Haque, his son Mushfiqul Haque Zia, former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Harris Chowdhury, businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun, his wife Shahina Yasmin, Doctors Association of Bangladesh secretary general AZM Zahid Hossain, his wife Rifat Hossain, former Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation chairman Taimur Alam Khandker, telephone board CBA leader Firoz Miah, Sonali Bank CBA leader BM Bakir, his wife Nazma Hossain and ward commissioner Mohamamd Chowdhury Alam.
   The convicted politicians from Awami League are former ministers Mohammad Nasim, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, former chief whip Abdul Hasnat Abdullah, former lawmakers Kazi Jafarullah, Joynal Abedin Hazari, Sheikh Helal Uddin, HBM Iqbal, SM Mostafa Rashidi Suja, Haji Selim, Makbul Hossain, and Shamim Osman, Awami Swechchhasebak League general secretary Pankaj Devnath, Munshiganj Awami League president Mohammad Mohiuddin, former minister Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury’s son Shahdab Akbar Chowdhury Labu, Nasim’s wife Laila Arzumand Banu, Pankaj’s wife Monika Devnath, Helal’s wife Rupa Chowdhury, Iqbal’s wife Momtaz Begum, Suja’s wife Khodeja Rashidi, Maya’s son Sajidul Haque Chowdhury Dipu, Selim’s wife Gulshan Ara Begum, Makbul’s wife Golam Fatema Tahera Khanam, his son Masudur Rahman and Masud’s wife Salma Rahman.
   The convict politicians also include Jatiya Party faction chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, his wife Tasmima Hossain, cousin Mahmud Hossain and Islami Okkay Jote president Mufti Shahidul Islam.
   The other convicts include former secretaries ANH Akhter Hossain and Ismail Zobiullah, former public service commission chairman Mahfuzur Rahman, former chiefs forest conservator Munshi Anwarul Islam and Osman Ghani, former prime minister Khaleda’s assignment officer Firoz Mahmud Iqbal, former administrative officer of the Prime Minister’s Office SM Ahsan Habib, former National Broad of Revenue member ATM Sarwar Hossain, Akhter’s wife Nazneen Banu, Firoz’s wife Imtiaz Begum, Sarwar’s wife Nazma Sarwar, Zabiullah’s wife Ayesha Zabiullah and Ghani’s wife.
   A businessman and Oriental Bank chairman Obaidul Karim was also convicted of corruption charges.
   The convicts also include Janakantha editor Atiquallah Khan Masud, Masud’s wife Shamima Khan, former additional inspector general of police Shahidullah Khan, his wife Mahmuda Khannam, Fatullah police station officer-in-charge Ashraf-Ul-Islam, former police constable Golam Azam, post office officials Shamsul Karim Khan, Farid Ahmed Patwary, Sufia Begum, Abu Siddique Mizi, Shahjahan and Krishna Kumar Das, Rajuk authorised officers Mozaffar Uddin and Harun-or-Rashid, Titas Gas engineer Shahid Miah, former Roads and Highways administrative officer Abul Kalam Shamsuddin, Agricultural Extension Department project director Javed Iqbal, land ministry’s stenographer Kutub Uddin, former Sonali Bank managing director Muhammad Tahmilur Rahman and an Tariqul Rahman Prince.
   Ten others were also sentenced to imprisonment for different terms in Brahmanbaria last week.

The BNP-led alliance on Monday announced to hold countrywide rallies on October 26 as the military-controlled interim government created an ‘imposed situation’ forcing them to get registered with the Election Commission for their ‘survival’ though their demands remained unmet.
   The rallies will be held also to push for their five-point charter of demands — complete withdrawal of the state of emergency, cancellation of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Ordinance, deferring the upazila elections, withdrawal of all cases against the alliance leaders and freeing all the detained politicians.
   The BNP secretary-general, Khandakar Delwar Hossain, announced the programme after a meeting of the secretaries general of the alliance at his Sher-e-Bangla Nagar flat.
   ‘From the very beginning, the government acted hostile to the BNP and its allies and planned to keep us out of the electoral process. They [government] did not respond to our demands, which we consider essential for holding fair elections, with an intention to disqualify us for contesting polls,’ Delwar said.
   He said, ‘The imposed situation forced us to get registered with the Election Commission for our survival as we are election-oriented parties and nobody can keep us out of the electoral process on the plea of being unregistered,’
   ‘We want to contest the polls on December 18, but an environment conducive to the holding of the polls is yet to be created. We as well as the nation will not accept any got-up election,’ he said, adding the elections had to be participated by all political parties and held in a free, fair, neutral and acceptable manner.
   The alliance also demanded holding of the stalled parliamentary elections according to constituencies that existed before the recent delimitation.
   ‘Writs are pending with the court against the delimitation and nobody knows when they would be solved. So we ask the Election Commission as well as the government to hold the elections as per the previous constituencies,’ Delwar said.
   Delwar said the Election Commission had amended the Representation of the People (Amendment) Order going beyond their constitutional jurisdiction and many of its clauses were contradictory to the constitution.
   ‘This government does not bother the constitution and faced many cases; the highest court gave verdict that they violated the constitution by not holding the elections in 90 days of dissolving the parliament and asked it to hold the polls by December. We expect that they would hold the elections as per the schedule without any kind of interference,’ the BNP secretary general said.
   Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh secretary-general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, Islami Oikya Jote secretary-general Abdul Latif Nezami, Bangladesh Jatiya Party secretary-general Shamim Al Mamun, BNP joint secretary-general Nazrul Islam Khan, Jamaat assistant secretary-general Muhammad Quamaruzzaman and Khelafat Majlis joint secretary-general Shafiquddin were present at the meeting.

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday approved a Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation proposal paving the way for the government to bring down the prices of fuel oil.
   ‘The commission has given consent to the BPC proposal for decreasing fuel oil prices today. It’s now under the government’s jurisdiction when it will reduce the prices,’ BERC chairman Ghulam Rahman told New Age on Monday.
   Special assistant to the chief adviser M Tamim said they might decrease the prices within this week.
   ‘We have to perform some administrative formalities before we announce the price reduction. We may announce it this week, preferably on Thursday, and if not possible, we will cut fuel prices early next week,’ he said.
   He said, ‘We’ll roughly reduce the prices by around 10 per cent for all fuel oils. However, the reduction ratio for octane and petrol will be lower than other fuel oils as these are used by the affluent sections of the society.’
   The price of diesel and kerosene is likely to come down to around Tk 50 per litre from the current price of Tk 55 and that of octane to Tk 82-Tk 84 from Tk 90, sources in the energy division said, adding that the petrol price was likely to be re-fixed at around Tk 80 from Tk 87 per litre.
   The government has taken the steps to reduce oil prices on the local market against the backdrop of plummeting prices on international market, which experienced around 50 per cent price fall – from $141 to $70 – in recent times.
   The government raised prices of fuel oils on the local market by 33-37 per cent when the prices had hit record high on the international market in July.
   Energy secretary Mohammad Mohsin, meanwhile, briefed chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed about the BPC’s operations and financial matters, including the latest move to bring down the fuel oil prices.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, is likely to return home by November 7, said his lawyer Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapash Monday as her party and allies look forward to her return for forming a grand elections alliance.
   Talking to a private television channel, Tapash also disclosed that Sheikh Hasina is expected to contest from three constituencies the long-awaited December 18 polls.
   Party sources said the constituencies are Tungipara in Gopalganj, Pirganj in Rangpur and the third one either in Narail or Gaibandha. Asked about any legal barrier for Hasina to contest the polls, Tapash said the former prime minister would face no legal tangles as she was not convicted in any of the cases filed against her under the current purge in the interim period.
   Tapash said Hasina was scheduled to appear before her doctor in the USA on October 29 for the last check-up of her damaged ears and eyes.
   ‘Then Sheikh Hasina will start to take preparation for coming home,’ he said.
   After completion of her treatment, the Awami League chief will go to London first and then fly back for Bangladesh, said Tapash, also Hasina’s nephew.
   Hasina left Bangladesh for the United States on health grounds on June 12 after getting temporary release from jail following a government executive order.
   Both of her ears and eyes suffered a great damage under the impact of grenade attacks on her public rally in Dhaka on August 21, 2004. Her hearing aids also turned dysfunctional while she was in jail.

Barack Obama Monday aimed to put another dent in John McCain’s comeback hopes with a double-bill rally in Florida with ex-foe Hillary Clinton to kick off a frenetic final fortnight of the White House race.
   The rally is part of a three-day campaign offensive by the Democratic nominee’s team in the electorally crucial southern state, as they hope to lock in an advantage with the start of early voting in the state on Monday.
   The new offensive comes after Obama inflicted a demoralising string of blows on his Republican rival over the weekend in the final stretch to the epic election on November 4.
   On Sunday, the Illinois senator snapped up the key endorsement of former secretary of state Colin Powell and announced he had piled up a stunning 150 million dollars in fundraising last month.
   The Democratic nominee will spend much of the week charging through what was nominally Republican territory, seeking to convert his lead on the electoral map and clear opinion poll edge into a big victory over McCain.
   In Florida, Obama and Hillary were to headline a joint rally and several separate events Monday, pitching for a state which had looked solid for McCain, but where a wave of mortgage foreclosures offer the Democrats an opening.
   The former first lady is highly popular in the Sunshine State and trounced Obama in the Democratic primary there, but the contest was declared void after Florida violated party scheduling rules.
   McCain, 72, was meanwhile on the defensive Monday, attempting to cling onto states that helped send president George W Bush back to the White House in 2004.
   The Arizona senator was campaigning in midwestern Missouri on Monday, after Obama attracted a monstrous crowd of 100,000 people to St Louis on Saturday.
   He will fly onto Pennsylvania, a Democratic state in 2004 and a Republican target this year which now seems clearly tipping towards the 47-year-old Obama.
   Just two weeks from election day, McCain’s hopes rested on a hard-hitting campaign of mailings and automatic ‘robo-calls’ to voters in swing states assailing Obama’s character, past acquaintances and record on abortion.
   McCain and his feisty vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin were also seeking to break through with claims that Obama is far more liberal than mainstream Americans, and is bent on pursuing ‘socialist’ tax policies.
   Powell, a Republican and former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the highest-ranking African-American ever in US government service.
   In a stinging blow to his long-time friend McCain, Powell said on NBC that Obama, vying to be the nation’s first African-American commander-in-chief, would be a ‘transformational president.’
   In another demoralising blow to McCain, the Obama campaign announced a record-shattering take of more than 150 million dollars last month — nearly double McCain’s budget for the entire general election campaign.
   Despite claims by the McCain camp that the race is narrowing, daily tracking polls on Sunday showed a steady Obama lead.
   Gallup had Obama up by 52 to 42 per cent among registered voters nationwide, reflecting the last presidential debate last week in which Obama was adjudged the winner by most snap polls.
   Rasmussen also had Obama above 50 per cent, with a 51 to 45 per cent lead.
   Obama’s fundraising bonanza is helping him pummel his rival in a nationwide advertising blitz and allowing him to pin down McCain in Republican states, stretching his foe’s resources even further.
   The Democrat said in North Carolina that he was ‘beyond honoured and deeply humbled to have the support of General Colin Powell.’
   Speaking on Fox News Sunday, McCain said he had ‘always admired and respected General Powell.’
    ‘We’re long-time friends. This doesn’t come as a surprise,’ the Arizona senator said, touting his endorsement by other former secretaries of state including Henry Kissinger and James Baker.
   McCain on Sunday renewed his condemnation of Obama’s economic policies as ‘socialism’ and warned a rally in Toledo in the key swing state of Ohio that Obama planned to ‘redistribute wealth’ to the ‘more than 40 per cent of Americans’ who are too poor to pay income taxes.

The Truth and Accountability Commission has now planned to prepare a set of proposals for the government to keep corruption in check, including appointment of psychiatrists at public offices for counselling on the scourge.
   With its brief experience of dealing with corruption in public offices, the temporary commission, which was installed in August through an ordinance by the military-controlled government, will place a detailed report on voluntary disclosures by individuals at the end of its tenure, Asif Ali, a member of the commission said on Wednesday.
   Halfway through its tenure, the commission could fathom out that corruption has its roots more in the people’s psyche than in other social and economic realities.
   ‘It has become a psychological problem for many of the officials and employees working in the government and semi-government offices,’ said the member of the commission, set to wind up in December.
   The commission has so far heard statements of as many as 150 individuals who appeared before it to disclose their dishonesty pledging return of their ill-gotten property to get mercy.
   The individuals, most of whom are public servants and their spouses, frankly described their misdeeds —abuse of authority, taking bribes, extra charges on monthly basis from general public and business houses etc.
   ‘Now we have seen many facets to corruption in government offices. These must be addressed in a coordinated way. Enforcement of law alone is not enough,’ said a retired major general, Manzur Rashid, also a member of the TAC.
   As corruption breed in an atmosphere of impunity for years in Bangladesh, the country topped the global graft watchdog Transparency International’s corruption perception index for five straight years from 2001.
   Its rank has improved slightly by now, but the corrupt practices persisted as they were in the past, according to the latest TI report released late last month.
   Without disclosing names of the individuals, he said, admitting to their own offences, many officials said that they shared the illegal money with their colleagues and bosses. Many said that their shares were lower than that of other colleagues.
   Some people confessed that they had stolen huge money from the exchequer submitting forged budget. In addition to their salary, they used to receive extra money on monthly basis ranging from Tk 20,000 to Tk 100,000, said the TAC member.
   ‘One high official gave straightway testimony that he was not of this nature, but he was bound to do so in fear of being isolated from others,’ said Manzur, adding that the official used to get ‘illegal package’ for a long time and the amount increased keeping pace with his promotion.
   The entire system has become corrupt and the people are trapped in a cycle of corrupt officials at almost all levels.
   ‘The system needs complete overhauling, and the government should take appropriate steps to bring these malpractices to an end,’ said justice Habibur Rahman Khan, who heads the three-member quasi-judicial body, which ordered transfer of over Tk 19 crore, obtained through corrupt practices, to the exchequer.
   The chairman repeatedly vented frustration as he never got any petition from the politicians to seek clemency and get back their ill-gotten money to the exchequer. The commission received mercy petition mainly from the lower-grade employees of government offices.
   Apart from recommendations for appointment of psychiatrists, the commission would also request the government for measures for moral development so that the officials and employees in the public offices do not indulge in corruption driven by greed.
   The military backed controlled government of Fakhruddin Ahmed launched a massive anti-graft drive soon after it assumed office. More than 200 politicians were arrested for their alleged involvement in corruption. Many of them are now released on bail.

The education ministry has asked the seven education boards of the country and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board to finance the Tk 18 crore English Language Teaching Improvement Project which has received no funds since June.
   The duration of the three-year ELTIP Phase-III project, which ended in June 2008, was extended for one more year but due to fund crunch it has been suspended since June.
   ‘We have received a copy of the order issued by the education ministry last week which has asked seven education boards and the lone textbook board to pay us Tk 17.97 crore immediately,’ said M Mujibur Rahman, project director of ELTIP Phase-III, on Monday.
   Quoting the education adviser’s comment, Mujibur Rahman said, ‘The adviser had shown a very positive attitude and intends to continue the programme and that is why the ministry has issued the directive to the boards to finance our project.’
   In the directive, the ministry asked for Tk 2 crore from the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Tk 3.62 crore from Dhaka’s Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Tk 3 crore from Rajshahi’s board, Tk 2.50 crore from Chittagong’s board, Tk 2.25 crore from Jessore’s board and Tk 1.80 crore each from the Sylhet and Barisal boards and Tk 1 crore from the Comilla board.
   ‘The ELTIP introduced the communicative language teaching approach in the national curriculum of Bangladesh for the first time. Jointly financed by the government of Bangladesh and the UK’s Department for International Development, Phase-I was launched in July 1997 and ended in 2002,’ said Mujibur Rahman.
   ‘The ELTIP Phase-II [July 2002 to June 2005] was launched with the financial assistance of the seven general education boards and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board. Likewise, the Phase-III project was supposed to be funded by the same organizations but in most cases the general education boards were reluctant to provide funds,’ he said.
   ‘About 35,000 teachers of secondary schools and madrassahs have been given training on the communicative approach of teaching English in the 21-day training courses. There are 59,000 English teachers at the secondary level,’ he said. ‘The project is badly needed for the teachers of secondary-level educational institutions as they need the newly-introduced communicative approach of teaching English. Both the teachers and students will benefit immensely from the project.’

New Delhi is likely to ask for Dhaka’s approval of its recent proposal of operating container-train service between the two countries when railway officials meet in the Indian capital next month.
   ‘India has recently proposed to Bangladesh the operation of a container-train service on the Uttar Pradesh-Dhaka route to reduce the time and cost of transportation,’ Belayet Hossain, director-general of Bangladesh Railway, told New Age on Monday.
   He said that the issue would be discussed during the Bangladesh-India inter-governmental railway officials’ meeting which is scheduled to be held from November 6 to 8 or November 16 to 20 in New Delhi.
   Belayet, however, said that the country might have to assess some technical aspects before giving the final nod to the Indian proposal.
   Railway officials told this correspondent said that India has proposed 30 containers in every trip from Uttar Pradesh to the inland container depot of Dhaka, and to operate four such trips every month.
   ‘The Indian proposal is to transport motorbikes produced by Tata to Bangladesh,’ said the official.
   At present those motorbikes are carried to Bangladesh from Madras via Singapore on ships, which takes more time and money.
   ‘As the Indian proposal is for the Gede-Darshana route, it naturally cross the Jamuna bridge so we told them to give us some technical data on the container-train when we got their proposal,’ said a high railway official.
   In its reply, Dhaka asked New Delhi to provide the design and capacity of the container-trains and excess load for the consideration of local engineers.
   When he was asked whether Bangladesh would approve the India proposal in the upcoming railway officials’ meeting in Delhi, the official said that they need some more time to take a decision.
   Apart from this, there is an unofficial proposal of running a wagon service from Chennai to Shantahar through Gede-Darshana border for transporting the spare parts of cars and motorbikes manufactured by Tata.
   When the official was asked to comment on the above proposal, he said that operating such a service is technically difficult for Bangladesh.
   ‘It is difficult because Bangladesh uses vacuum-brake locomotives for such wagon trains while India uses air-brake locomotives,’ the official explained.

Pakistani helicopter gunships, fighter jets and artillery Monday pounded militant hideouts in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing 12 rebels, officials said.
   The strikes were carried out at militants’ hideouts across Bajaur, where Pakistani troops and Islamic extremists have been locked in fierce fighting since August.
   ‘Pakistani helicopter gunships, jet fighters and artillery hit militants’ hideouts, killing 12 militants and wounding more than a dozen others,’ a senior security official said.
   Local administration official Mohammad Jamil confirmed the deaths of 12 Taliban fighters in Monday’s offensive.
   The UN refugee agency recently said almost 190,000 people had been displaced from Bajaur since fighting began.
   Pakistan military said in late September 1,000 militants had died in the fighting since August, including al-Qaeda’s operational commander in the region, Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri.

At least 20 people, including college teachers and students, were injured in clashes between students of Dhaka College and City College which were reportedly caused by the teasing the female students on Monday.
   The agitating students took to the streets, went on a rampage and damaged scores of vehicles, and put up barricades on Mirpur Road, disrupting all traffic movement on the busy road for more than three hours.
   The law enforcers lathi-charged them and lobbed teargas canisters to bring the situation under control, but the unruly students countered the assault by pelting them with brickbats and stones, turning the road from Science Laboratory to New Market into a virtual battlefield.
   Witnesses said the clash ensued when some female students of the City College went to Sheuly Confectionary and Stationeries in front of the college at around 10:30am, and some students of Dhaka College and Ideal College teased them.
   When the female students protested against the teasing, the eve-teasers insulted them and the female students complained to the fellow male students of their college.
   After becoming aware of the incident, some City College students rushed to the scene and became locked in an altercation with the eve-teasers, who at one stage assaulted them.
   As soon as the news spread, hundreds of students and some teachers of City College rushed to the scene and took three Dhaka College students — Towsif Mohammad Jaber, Rakib Ahmed and Rashedul Hasan — into their custody.
   Soon after, several hundred agitated Dhaka College students rushed to the scene and started to break the windowpanes of City College with brickbats and stones.
   The teachers and students of City College and police tried to pacify the agitated students, but they did not pay them any heed and began fighting with them.
   The clash soon spread to the road from Science Laboratory to New Market, turning it into a virtual battlefield.
   Large contingents of police from Newmarket, Ramna, Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur police stations rushed to the scene to bring the situation under control, but the students clashed with them.
   Agitated students of the both the colleges damaged more than 12 vehicles stranded on the busy Mirpur Road.
   At least 20 people, including three teachers of the City College — Shafiqul Islam and Maksudur Rahman of the Marketing Department and Anwar Hossain of Management Department — were injured in the clash.
   The police managed to bring the situation under control at around 2:00pm and a four-member team of teacher of the Dhaka College went to City College and freed their three detained students after signing a written statement.
   The City College’s principal, Mohammad Hafiz Uddin, said that the students of Dhaka College attacked the teachers and students of his college, and complained that the former used to come to City College and tease its female students, thus creating a volatile situation.

NASA Sunday launched a probe into orbit high above earth to study the distant edge of the solar system where hot solar winds crash into the cold outer space.
   The Interstellar Boundary Explorer was launched at 1745 GMT, according to images broadcast live by the US space agency.
   The small probe was deployed on a Pegasus rocket which dropped from the bay doors of a Lockheed L-1011 jet flying at 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) over the southern Pacific Ocean near the Marshall Islands.
   ‘The count went really smooth... and everything appears to be going well,’ NASA assistant launch manager Omar Baez said shortly after the launch.
   The IBEX is on a two-year mission to take pictures and chart the mysterious confines of the solar system — including areas billions of kilometres from earth.
   The small, stop-sign-shaped probe is equipped with instruments that will allow it to take images and chart, for the first time, a remote region known as the interstellar boundary, where the solar system meets interstellar space. The area is a vast expanse of turbulent gas and twisting magnetic fields.
   ‘The interstellar boundary regions are critical because they shield us from the vast majority of dangerous galactic cosmic rays, which otherwise would penetrate into Earth’s orbit and make human spaceflight much more dangerous,’ David McComas, IBEX principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said recently.
   The only information that scientists have of this distant region is from the twin Voyager 1 and 2 probes, launched in 1977 and still in service today.
   The two probes have travelled past the inner solar system, where the planets are, and on their way to its farthest edge.
   In December 2004 Voyager 1 reached an area that scientists describe as the ‘termination shock’ zone, where solar winds crash into the gas of interstellar space, marking the boundary of the solar system.
   ‘The Voyager spacecraft are making fascinating observations of the local conditions at two points beyond the termination shock that show totally unexpected results and challenge many of our notions about this important region,’ said McComas.
   In 2007 Voyager 2 reached the heliosheath — the area where the termination shock begins — and on its current path and speed, should reach the heliopause — the boundary between solar winds and interstellar winds — in 2010.
   The National Aeronautics and Space Administration remains in regular contact with the two probes, which return data recorded by their particle detectors.

The National Board of Revenue has turned down a proposal of leading mobile phone operator GrameenPhone for 10 per cent tax benefit under its planned pre-IPO placement of Tk 74 crore for institutional investors and similar amount for initial public offering, sources said.
   The board forwarded the mobile company’s proposal along with its opinion to finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam for a decision.
   The mobile phone company can get a 10 per cent tax rebate only if offloads shares through stock exchange, the NBR explained in its note.
   The proposed offloading of five per cent share of GrameenPhone through pre-IPO placement does not comply with the criteria for tax benefit, it said.
   A decision from the finance adviser in this regard is expected this week.
   According to the Finance Bill 2007, any mobile phone company offloading 10 per cent share of its total paid-up capital in the capital market will be entitled to corporate tax rate of 35 per cent, instead of 45 per cent as applied to non-listed companies other than banks.
   ‘Mobile phone operators’ corporate tax rate would be 45 per cent but the tax rate would be 35 per cent if the companies are converted into publicly traded companies and listed with stock exchanges,’ reads the budget speech for 2007-2008 fiscal year.
   The GP, a joint venture of Norway’s Telenor and Bangladesh’s Grameen Telecom, has planned to make pre-public offer to global and local institutional investors and public offer to retail investors.
   The companies and institutions are covered under the pre-IPO offer include merchant banks, borrowers of Grameen Bank, commercial banks and employees of GP, sources said.
   Capital market officials and analysts say the GP offer does not contradict the budgetary guidelines for providing mobile phone operators with 10 per cent tax benefit as the pre-IPO placement is also very much related to stock exchanges.
   ‘We have strongly recommended the proposal of the GP, which has complied with the provision of the government,’ Salehuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, told New Age.
   The GP in the previous fiscal year gave the government about Tk 400 crore in corporate tax, sources in the NBR said.
   Meanwhile, the weighted average share price for pre-IPO placement has already been fixed at Tk 11.58 per share after bidding from local financial institutions.
   Trust Bank, Prime Bank, IDLC Finance Limited, Lankabangla Finance, AIMS of Bangladesh and AB Bank are the possible buyers in the on-going pre-IPO placement offer, the source said.
   The mobile phone operator filed its IPO application with the SEC in June this year, valuing the company at $3 billion.
   It planned to raise $150 million in a pre-IPO placement with international and local investors and a further $150 million from country’s stock markets.
   Telenor owns 62 per cent and Grameen Telecom the rest 38 per cent stake in the GP, the market leader of the country’s 45 million-strong mobile phone subscriber base.
   The company’s market share, however, came down to 47 per cent as of June 2008 from 63 per cent in 2006.
   Among the six-operator market, however, GP still remains in the leading position with about 20.84 million customers followed by Egyptian Orascom Telecom’s Banglalink with about 10.17 million customers and Aktel, recently taken over by Japan’s NTT DOCOMO, with about 8.14 million customers as of August.

A clash between two groups of smugglers in a bordering field between Dhamoirhat and Patnitala upazilas in Naogaon left one killed and 10 injured early Monday.
   The deceased was Enamul Haque, 35. The police said the clash ensued when smugglers led by Enamul tried to snatch smuggled goods from another group.

A 12-member committee of experts has been formed to retest whether powder milk of eights brands contain melamine, according to a commerce ministry order issued on Monday.
   The committee will also test samples of other brands of powder milk currently available in the market and the ones that may come to the market in future.
   The committee, formed as per an inter-ministry meeting attended by stakeholders on Sunday, has been asked to submit its report within seven working days, meaning latest by October 29.
   Mohammad Ali Patowari, a joint secretary of the ministry, has been made convenor of the committee, which drawn members from relevant organisations. He has been asked to brief the commerce adviser about the developments of the tests from time to time, according to the order.
   The committee will supervise retesting of the milk of eight brands, which reportedly contained melamine, in the country and arrange further tests at an accredited laboratory abroad.
   Other members of the committee are director general of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution Azmal Hossain, its deputy director Ashish Ratan Sen, chief scientific officers of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Didarul Alam Chowdhury and SM Saleh Uddin, Matiur Rahim, Nasim Sultana and Umne Ara of the Science Laboratory, child specialist of national Institute of Nutrition Mukim Ali Biswas and two teachers of the chemistry department of Dhaka University and customer support manager of PlasmaPlus Ziaul Abedin.

Fire broke out at City Bank head office in the city’s Motijheel area on Monday afternoon.
   Officials in the Fire Service and Civil Defence said the fire had originated in the head office of the bank housed at the 12th floor of Jiban Bima Tower at Dilkusha in the city’s commercial area at about 5:00pm from an electric short circuit.
   On information, fire-fighters went to the spot and doused the fire shortly. However, no casualty was reported.