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The major political parties have apparently softened their positions on joining the December 18 polls though some disagreements remained unresolved in the latest dialogues between the parties and the military-backed government.
   Complete lifting of state of emergency before polls and deferring the upazila polls to a comfortable time after December 18 Jatiya Sangsad elections still remained the issues of contention as the government stuck to its guns on the long-standing demands of the parties.
   At separate meetings with Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the government on Thursday assured that it will take up appropriate measures for spontaneous electioneering and ensuring security of the voters during the December 18 polls.
   The government also announced that it would ensure the highest security for the two top leaders –Sheikh Hasina of AL and Khaleda Zia of BNP.
   ‘We will take appropriate measures on appropriate time,’ said commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, a key negotiator from the government side.
   The parties, which came up with almost identical demands, insisted on complete lifting of state of emergency to allow them to go for an all-out electioneering and deferring of the dates of upazila elections, which were set for December 24 and 28.
   But the government sees no wrong in holding upazila election as per the schedules set by the Election Commission.
   In the afternoon, the panel of government advisers led by chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed agreed on seven out of nine demands of Awami League.
   The party’s demands included release of the party chief Sheikh Hasina, now paroled for medical treatment abroad, guarantee for her contesting the national elections, ensuring her security, lifting emergency and deferring the upazila polls.
   After the meeting, AL leaders said that they advanced a step forward to the election, but some minor differences still existed which they hoped to be narrowed through further discussions.
   In the evening, a 13-member BNP delegation placed a seven-point demand to the interim government. The demands included complete withdrawal of emergency, deferring the upazila poll dates, scrapping the plan of fresh delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, creating a level playing field for all players and cancellation of amended Representation of the People Order.
   The government responded positively to these demands saying that both the sides agreed on most of the points.
   “Excepting one [deferment of upazila election], we have agreed in principle on almost all the points,’ said Hossain Zillur, adding that the remaining differences will be minimised through discussion.
   Zillur assured the BNP delegation that the state of emergency would go in phases, but stopped short of telling when.
   ‘The government talked about consensus on six out of our seven demands,’ said BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain.
   The military-backed government started the dialogue on May 22 to bring mainstream political parties to the election path. The series of talks substantially narrowed the differences and was followed by developments like parole of Sheikh Hasina and bail of Khaleda Zia in graft cases, prompting the major power contenders to soften their stances gradually and finally applying to Election Commission for registration, a must for contesting national polls.

The military-controlled government of Fakhruddin Ahmed has in general agreed to seven of the nine demands made by the Awami League, but refused to lift the state of emergency and defer the upazila elections.
   An AL delegation led by its acting president, Zillur Rahman, placed a nine-point charter of demands at the crucial electoral dialogue with a panel of advisers led by the head of the interim administration, Fakhruddin Ahmed, at his office.
   The government agreed to allow AL chief Sheikh Hasina to contest the general elections in December, provide her with the highest security, ensure the neutrality of the administration and formulate a media policy during the polls, said meeting sources.
   ‘The government agreed not to stop Sheikh Hasina from taking part in the general elections’, an AL leader told New Age after the meeting. The government assured the AL leaders that it would review the demand for cancelling delimitation of parliamentary constituencies and consider repeal of the amendments of two provisions of the electoral laws after consulting the Election Commission, they said.
   At a joint press briefing after the meeting that lasted for three hours, both the sides termed the outcome of the dialogue positive and said their discussion ranged to the issue of post-election stability.
   ‘We have resolved many of the issues, and we will be able to work out the rest through discussion’, Syed Ashraful Islam, the acting general secretary of the party, told the media. He added that his party had now taken one step forward to the December 18 election.
   The commerce and education adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, said, ‘The nation has now left the side-lanes and stepped onto the electoral highway and hopes to reach the destination of polls quickly’.
   He said that the government had fulfilled many of the demands made by the Awami League.
   On the complete lifting of the state of emergency, the adviser said, ‘We should not be impulsive. A decision will be taken on the basis of reality so that election campaigns can be carried out without any hindrance and the voters can turn up without fear.’
   The adviser said that the government has, in principle, decided to provide the chiefs of both the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party the highest security coverage during the polls. The final decision will be made at a cabinet meeting.
   When asked whether Hasina would be allowed to contest the general elections, he referred to a few legal problems but said her leadership was unquestionable in the politics of her party.
   The government is determined to hold the upazila elections on the announced dates of December 24 and 28, only a week after the general election, because it thinks holding of upazila elections is possible according to the announced timetable, though the AL thinks it should be deferred, said adviser Zillur.
   The government agreed to hold a dialogue with media bigwigs as the AL has proposed the formulation of a media policy. ‘We want to uphold the freedom of speech and outline the media’s responsibility through a set of guidelines for them’, said the adviser.
   The meeting assured the AL leaders that the administration would play a totally neutral role during the polls.
   The AL leaders raised the issue of the chief adviser’s meeting with the fugitive Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, and condemned such a meeting. The advisers replied that they had hardly anything to do in this regard.
   ‘Try to understand that we could not do otherwise under the prevailing circumstances’, one adviser told the angry leaders.
   The leaders also criticised the government for failing to implement the Women Development Policy 2008, but the advisers insisted they had not made any compromise as far as the policy was concerned.
   The AL delegation included presidium members Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, Matia Chowdhury and Suranjit Sengupta, while the government side also included advisers Ghulam Quader, Hassan Ariff and Iftekhar Ahmed.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday asked the interim government to fully accept its seven-point demand in order to create an atmosphere conducive to holding fair general elections as the latter agreed ‘in principle’ to six out of seven demands of the party, according to party secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain.
   ‘The government side has agreed “in principle” to six out of our seven demands’, Khandaker Delwar said after the second round of formal dialogue with the government at the Chief Adviser’s Office. ‘We call for immediate implementation of the agreed issues.’
   ‘They [government] told us they would gradually relax the restrictions of the state of emergency, but we want total withdrawal of [the ordinance and rules of] the emergency as it [emergency] will obstruct participation of many [candidates] in elections’, he said.
   Delwar said, ‘The government is still unwilling to defer the upazila elections. But we maintain that the upazila polls should be deferred to make the general elections unhindered.’
   He said there were scopes in the provisions of the Representation of People Order 2008 to take ‘despotic decisions’ to disqualify candidates for the polls. ‘So we demand cancellation of the amendments to the RPO.’
   The other demands of the party include: cancellation of the delimitation of the electoral constituencies, withdrawal of ‘false’ cases filed against party leaders and release of the detained leaders from prison, and announcement of public holidays on May 30 [the anniversary of death of Ziaur Rahman, founder of BNP] and November 7 [National Revolution and Solidarity Day].
   Delwar, who led a 13-member delegation to the dialogue, said they had found the government’s attitude ‘positive’ about holding the general elections.
   Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said the two sides still differed on the issues of upazila elections and announcing public holidays on May 30 and November 7. ‘But we will continue discussion on the issues.’
   ‘The days like May 30 and November 7 are “emotional wounds” in the heart of the nation. It requires discussion in a broader forum with participation of two major parties for a permanent solution’, he said.
   When asked if there was any bar to participation of the top two leaders, Khaleda Zia of BNP and Sheikh Hasina of Awami League, in general elections, he said, ‘It is a legal matter. We will get an answer in time. But they are free to lead their parties.’

The High Court on Thursday ordered the government to take immediate action to ban display and sales of eight brands of powder milk, tested earlier to have contained melamine, which will be sent abroad for further testing.
   Tests at the chemistry lab in Dhaka University detected melamine presence in the eight brands of powder milk — Yashli 1, Yashli 2 and Sweet Baby sourced from China, Dano from Denmark, Red Cow and Diploma from Australia, and Nido Fortified Instant and Anlene from New Zealand.
   Banning the display and sales of the eight brands of powder milk, the High Court bench of Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui also issued a rule on the government to explain in four weeks why its inaction about not stopping the sales of the eight brands of milk powder would not be declared illegal.
   The court ordered the home, finance and commerce secretaries, National Board of Revenue chairman, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission chairman, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution director general and inspector general of police to enforce the ban on display and sales of the eight brands of milk powder until further test reports at home and abroad would confirm that the brands are not contaminated with melamine.
   The court passed the orders after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh and seven Supreme Court lawyers.
   The acting commerce secretary Ghulam Mustakim Thursday evening told New Age the ministry would follow ‘word by word’ the High Court directive once the copy of the directive would be officially available.
   The writ petitioner’s counsel Manzill Murshid said he would convey to the respondents the High Court’s order issuing a certificate. The certificate will be sent to the houses of the respondents through special messengers today, he said.
   Pleading for the petitioners, Manzill told the court after the reports of children’s becoming sick in China because of melamine contamination in powder milk, the Bangladesh government collected samples of eight major-selling brands and sent them for laboratory tests.
   The Dhaka University chemistry lab found all the eight brands to be contaminated with melamine.
   Although the lab test by PlasmaPlus and the Standards and Testing Institution did not confirm the results fully, the display and sales of the eight brands in question cannot be the allowed until further lab tests at home and abroad confirm that the brands are not contaminated with melamine as the government as sent the samples for further tests and the Dhaka University chemistry department stood by its tests report, the counsel said.
   He also said three UN agencies advised the government to recall all milk products contaminated with melamine from the Bangladesh market as soon as tests could confirm melamine presence in the imported brands of powder milk.
   Offering support for further testing of the powder milk samples, the UN agencies on food, health and children’s affairs also reminded not only government authorities but also food producers and importers of their duty to ensure safety of food products, he explained.
   Local offices of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Health Organisation and UNICEF in a statement on Wednesday voiced their concerns about the implication of melamine-contaminated milk products on infant and child nutrition and health, said the counsel.
   The commerce secretary, Feroz Ahmed, on October 19 said the government decided not to stop sales of eight brands of powder milk tested earlier to have contained melamine until confirmed by further tests in view of the ‘interests’ of companies and their agents. The counsel termed the commerce secretary’s remarks irresponsible.

The commerce ministry will take a decision about eight milk powder brands, tested melamine positive, only after it ‘officially’ gets the copy of the High Court ruling against display and sales of those items, a senior official said.
   ‘We will follow the court order word by word once we get the copy of the High Court judgement,’ acting commerce secretary Ghulam Mustakim told New Age Thursday evening, hours after the delivery of the court order.
   The High Court on Thursday ordered the government to immediately ban display and sales of eight brands of milk powder, tested by Dhaka University earlier to have contained melamine, until further test results are available.
   The order followed a public interest litigation petition filed amid a nationwide health scare, with the High Court bench also asking the government to explain in four weeks its inaction regarding stopping sales of the eight brands.
   Mustakim, now in charge of the commerce secretary as Feroz Ahmed is touring abroad, declined to detail further how the ministry was going to implement the judgement, whose copy was unlikely to reach the ministry before Sunday because of the two-day weekend.
   Mustakim heads a taskforce force, which on October 15 advised the people to refrain from consuming eight particular brands of powdered milk.
   After an inter-ministry meeting with stakeholders, including agents of powdered milk companies, Feroz Ahmed on October 19 also left the question to the individual’s choice whether or not to consume contaminated milk brands, saying that the commerce ministry had the responsibility to look into the interests of milk companies.
   The meeting decided to form an expert committee and wait for its decision based on repeat test results to come from home and abroad. Earlier, three UN agencies advised the government to recall all milk products contaminated by melamine from the Bangladesh market.
   The inter-ministry taskforce is scheduled to meet on October 27 to recommend corrective measures and necessary amendments or additions to existing laws to respond to the problem, ministry officials said.
   An earlier test of the chemistry department of Dhaka University found melamine, an industrial chemical, in Yashli 1, Yashli 2 and Sweet Baby sourced from China, Dano from Denmark, Red Cow and Diploma of Australia, and Nido Fortified Instant and Anlene from New Zealand.
   The companies and their local agents have been claiming in media advertisements that their products are safe, while the Dhaka University has repeatedly stood by its test, landing parents in confusion and prompting them to frantically look for safe foods for their babies, who lived on imported milk brands until the melamine scandal surfaced last month.

The Election Commission on Thursday decided to register Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Jatiya Party as it has been satisfied with the parties’ clarifications to its queries and their constitutional revisions.
   Earlier, the EC accepted the Awami League’s revised constitution and gave hints about registering the party to allow it to contest the December 18 Jatiya Sangsad elections.
   ‘Now there is no problem in giving the BNP, Awami League, Jamaat and Jatiya Party registrations. We have approved their applications and asked our secretariat to issue public notices awarding registration certificates,’ chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters Thursday afternoon.
   He said other political parties, which had attended the EC-sponsored dialogues on electoral law reforms, might not face any major problem in getting the registration. The parties are Samyabadi Dal, Ganatantri Party, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu), Islami Oikya Jote, Jatiya Party (Manju), Krishak Sramik Janata League, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rab) and National Awami Party (Muzaffar).
   About less-known and newborn political parties, the CEC said that field level officials were verifying the existence of the parties in different districts of the country.
   Liberal Democratic Party was the first political party to receive registration certificate from the EC on October 20.
   NI Khan, chief of the EC’s technical evaluation committee formed to scrutinise application forms and documents submitted by political parties for registration, said that 30 to 40 political parties were likely to get registration out of 107 applicants.
   The EC approved BNP and Jamaat’s applications for registration after two leaders from the parties clarified some provisions of their respective party constitutions.
   ‘The commission is satisfied with our points. I do not think there remains any more hindrance for us to get registered,’ BNP joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan said after meeting the CEC Thursday.
   Jamaat’s law affairs secretary Jasim Uddin Sarkar Wednesday night clarified a provision of the party’s revised constitution that sounded contradictory to the sovereignty of parliament. Jamaat deleted a part of the provision, EC sources said.
   Meanwhile, the EC received from the home ministry a list of four banned political parties — Shahadat-e-al Hikma Party Bangladesh, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Jamatul Mujahidin and Harkat-ul Jihad Al Islami. According to revised Representation of the People Order, no political party banned by the government could get EC registration, a must for contesting national polls.

A mentally retarded person Thursday morning chopped and beheaded a young woman in his house at Segun Baghicha in Dhaka.
   Lawmen with the help of local residents managed to capture the suspected killer when he was roaming about in the locality with the cut-off head.
   The deceased is Nasrin Akhter Tuli, 22, daughter of Ramijuddin of Postapara at Sarail in Brahmanbaria and tenant of a house on the Topkhana Road at Segun Baghicha.
   Local residents said Amin, suspected of killing the young woman, had lived with his family on the second floor of the house for two years.
   Amin’s parents rented out two rooms of the house where Tuli and another young girl, Munni, were living as paying guests along with Amin’s younger sister, Fatema.
   Amin went out of his house Monday morning and had an altercation with his wife, Yasmin, just after his return at about 8:00am Thursday when she where he had been for three days.
   He beat up Yasmin and left the house threatening to kill his wife. Amin went to the nearby Segun Baghicha kitchen market and snatched away a machete from a coconut trader.
   Neighbouring tenants, Kader and Hanif, tried to stop Amin, but he chopped Hanif.
   Kader then tried to take Hanif to hospital and Amin went back to the house and looked for his wife. Everyone took shelter inside a room, but Tuli was taking breakfast in her bedroom.
   Amin stabbed Tuli in the neck, but she narrowly escaped and took shelter in the balcony of the neighbouring house. Another elderly tenant, Nurjahan Begum, tried to save Tuli, but Amin critically injured her.
   He then attacked Tuli, chopped her and cut off her head on the staircase. Amin then went out of the house with Tuli’s head and told people that this was his wife’s head and he had killed her.
   The lawmen then captured him. Amin’s mother Rokeya told newsmen he went to Saudi Arabia in 2001 and had been in jail there for four years and a half.
   He returned in 2007 and married Yasmin eight months ago. He was passing through a tough time as he had been unemployed since the wedding.
   A tenant said ‘Amin’s mother took Tk 80,000 in dowry from Amin’s in-laws saying Amin would start a business, but they had spent the money, which frustrated Amin.’
   The police took Amin to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. He told newsmen, ‘My wife was in the grip of a ghost and she could hide herself inside anyone standing nearby when I wanted to kill her. She hid herself inside Tuli today and I killed Tuli.’
   Tuli’s cousin Abu Taher said she had an LLB degree from the Mohakhali Capital Law College and was waiting for permission to practise law.
   The Shahbagh police officer in-charge, Rezaul Karim, said, ‘We came to know that the killer is mentally retarded.’

The government is planning to construct some 4,500 flats for government employees in different areas of the city to tackle the acute housing shortage in the capital, said sources in the Ministry of Housing and Public Works on Thursday.
   The Department of Public Works will use private contractors to construct these residential buildings in Mirpur and Mohakhali, they said.
   The government’s housing project will cover some 7.18 acres in Mirpur and 43.38 acres at Korail Mouja in Mohakhali.
   According to the plan, the government will construct 3,360 flats in 30 buildings [each 15-storied] in Mohakhali and the size of the flats will be 2,000, 1,700 and 1,400 square feet.
   Ten 15-storied buildings containing 1,140 flats will be constructed in Mirpur, and the size of the flats will be 1,400 and 1,200 square feet, said the sources.
   The chief engineer of the Public Works Department, Abdullah-Al-Shafi, told New Age, ‘Though the housing facilities for the public sector employees are not more than 7 per cent of the total housing requirement for them, these flats will help to solve the housing problem to some extent’.
   The housing initiative has taken into consideration the low income of the public sector employees who are often forced to resort to minor corruption to pay rents to their private-sector landlords, said the official.
   The construction of these buildings, which will be built by private-sector contractors, will begin on January 2009 and is expected to be completed within the next two years, under the project of ‘Construction of Flat/Apartment Buildings on Sharing Basis by Developers on Government-Owned Land’, which was approved by the government in March 2008, he said.
   The National Housing Authority, with the support of the Public Works Department, will also construct some 26,000 flats in Mohakhali, Mirpur and Mohammadpur
   for the lower-income employees.
   ‘The size of the flats will be 600 to 800 square feet, and the government will sell them to the third and fourth class employees at a subsidised rate,’ said another official of the National Housing Authority, adding that the employees would be able to buy these flats after paying 20-25 instalments.
   The government also has a plan to construct four 20-storied buildings in Motijheel and will also construct some multi-storied buildings in Azimpur after demolishing some old buildings in the area, said a high official of the ministry.
   The government constructed 3,000 flats for the government employees during the 1990-2000 period and 422 more flats were built since 2005.

The interim government has promulgated the Right to Information Ordinance keeping a number of security and intelligence agencies outside the jurisdiction of the law and restricting people’s access to information classified under at least 20 categories.
   It will be mandatory for the authorities concerned to appoint a responsible officer within 60 days of the promulgation of the law at each information delivery unit, according to the ordinance made available on Thursday.
   The law was promulgated on October 20, 2008 after the approval of the president, Iajuddin Ahmed.
   The people seeking public information will need to apply in writing or in prescribed forms or by e-mail to the designated officers by paying a reasonable amount of fee to be set for specific information.
   The officers concerned will need to provide the information requested for in 20 working days. The officers must inform the clients 10 days inside the submission of applications if they are unable to provide the information on demand in any case, says the ordinance.
   ‘In the case of the information involving more than one delivery unit or authority, the officer can take a maximum of 30 days for giving the information… But the authority must provide information in 24 hours if it is related to life and death, arrest and release from jail,’ says the law.
   The agencies kept outside the purview of the law include the National Security Intelligence, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, defence intelligence units, Criminal Investigation Department, Special Security Force, intelligence cell of the National Board of Revenue, Special Branch and intelligence cell of the Rapid Action Battalion, according to the law.
   The authorities will not be bound to give any information that may cause threat to the country’s security and sovereignty, hamper implementation of existing laws or increase incidents of crime, hamper confidentiality of anyone’s personal life or any matters, among others, under trial in court.
   The military-controlled government of Fakhruddin Ahmed on September 20 approved the Right to Information Ordinance to ensure transparency in government and private offices by providing information for common people on demand.
   The law suggests formation of a three-member information commission at an early date, with the chief information commissioner as the chief executive and two information commissioners, including at least a woman, appointed for five years.
   The commission to be located in Dhaka will function independently and supervise the general activities related to the people’s right to information. It will receive complaints against any authority in the case of refusal to provide information.
   The commissioners will have the power of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908.
   The president will appoint the chief information commissioner and other commissioners at the suggestion of a five-member selection committee to be headed by a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, nominated by the chief justice.
   The other members on the committee will be two lawmakers from the treasury and the opposition bench of the parliament nominated by the Jatiya Sangsad speaker, the cabinet secretary and an eminent citizen selected by the government.
   If any officials refuse to provide information, individuals can file appeals with the information commission. The officials may be penalised Tk 50 a day up to Tk 5,000 for such refusal.

Political and socio-cultural organisations continued holding protests on Thursday asking the military-controlled interim government to reinstall the baul sculptures which were removed from the airport crossing in the past week in the face of protests by Muslim bigots.
   Charan Sangskritik Kendra formed a human chain in front of the National Museum in the afternoon demanding reinstallation of the baul sculptures and trial of the people responsible for the removal of the baul monument and a ban on politics based on religion.
   The cultural activists also demanded that the airport crossing should be renamed as Lalan Square and Article 12 of the constitution should be reinstated to stop use of religion in politics.
   Bangladesh Juba Union, Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Khelaghar Asar formed a human chain in front of the Communist Party office at Purana Paltan demanding reinstallation of the baul sculptures and its renaming as Lalan Square.
   Juba Union president Kafi Ratan, Chhatra Union president Khan Asaduzzaman Masum and general secretary Manabendra Dev addressed the programme.
   Bangladesh Nari Mukti Sangsad in statement demanded reinstallation of the sculptures in the place and condemned the threat of Muslim bigots of pulling down all sculptures.
   The New Age correspondent in Sylhet said cultural activists in city would hold a session of baul songs this afternoon in protest at the removal of the sculptures and their reinstallation.
   The Sylhet mayor, Badaruddin Ahmed Kamran, will inaugurate the programme in the city.
   The Noakhali unit of the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front formed a human chain on the Town Hall premises where it condemned the removal of the sculptures.

Dhaka University teachers belonging to the White Panel, which is backed by BNP-Jamaat alliance, threatened to boycott the admission process if six of the departments at the university do not change the conditions required for admission to them.
   The members of the panel informed vice-chancellor SMA Faiz of their planned boycott after meeting him in the morning, while the members of the rival Blue Panel, sponsored by the Awami League, also met him and told him that they stood by the decision of the departments, and reminded him that the departments had acted as per the authority given to them by Article 43 of the Dhaka University Order 1973.
   The White Panel teachers told the vice-chancellor that the decision of the six departments violates the rights of the admission-seekers who have studied in madrassahs and that making it mandatory for admission-seekers to study 200-mark courses in Bangla and English was irrational and discriminatory.
   The Blue Panel members said that members of the White Panel were trying to strengthen the foothold of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir in the university, and some activists of Shibir’s DU unit had vandalised the vice-chancellor’s office.
   After meeting the vice-chancellor, Blue Panel stalwarts said the decisions taken by the departments were absolutely right as Article 43 of the university order clearly says that all policy matters of the departments shall be dealt with by two departmental committees, the academic committee and the co-ordination and development committee, and the academic committee shall deal with the admission of students.
   The Blue Panel’s convener Harun-or-Rashid, also dean of Social Sciences faculty, said the prospectus of the admission test of 2008 was endorsed by the general admission committee on September 20 where all the chairmen of the departments and the faculty deans were present, and nobody raised any questions then. ‘But now they stand against the university’s laws,’ he said. ‘It seems that they give little priority to education and work for their political interest first.’
   The White Panel’s convener Sadrul Amin, also dean of the arts faculty and president of the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association, said he had sent letters to the deans of the faculties, asking them to review the decisions on admission of madrassah students. ‘Many of our colleagues now think that the decisions were irrational and we are demanding another meeting of the deans’ committee to rethink the decision,’ said Sadrul.
   He agreed that the decisions of the six departments were ‘conventionally’ correct and they do not want to impose a decision on them, but were only asking for a second thought as the decision is discriminatory to a group of students who are capable of getting admission to the university as they did well in the previous admission tests.
   Sadrul nimbly side-stepped a question on whether their stance was changed by pressure from Islamist parties, saying, ‘We are here as academicians, not as politicians.’
   Vice-chancellor SMA Faiz said that the decisions were taken according to all the procedures, and the admission process is appreciated by all as it is transparent.
   The teachers of both the panels were present in the meeting that was held to fix the criteria of admission test, he said. ‘I proposed that the decision should be accepted this year, but if the deans want another meeting to revise it, it will be arranged. But the division of teachers because of this issue is not acceptable and, if necessary, we will revise the process together,’ he added.
   Members of the Blue Panel said that the teachers included in the committee to probe the vandalism of VC’s office are biased as they are now in favour of the students who are members of the Shibir.
   AASM Arefin Siddique said, ‘We decided that they would have to appear in both the Bangla and English exams of 200 marks of the Higher Secondary Certificate course, which is rational because anyone who wants to study journalism and mass communications has to be good in the both the languages.’
   ‘Shibir wanted to gain control of the media so its members are trying to violate the rules that were fixed in accordance with the university’s laws,’ he added.

The Election Commission’s counsel Mahmudul Islam, also a former attorney general, on Thursday told the High Court the writ petitions which challenged the demarcation of the electoral constituencies were not maintainable.
   The attorney general, Salahuddin Ahmed, however, argued the petitions were filed only to foil the national elections scheduled for December 18 as some 100 politicians have already been convicted and about 100 more are likely to be convicted soon, leaving the political parties into crisis in nominating candidates for the polls.
   The former and present attorneys general made the arguments as the High Court bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain continued for the second day with the final hearing in the writ petitions.
   Challenging the maintainability of the writ petitions, Mahmudul Islam argued, ‘According to Article 125 of the constitution, the validity of any law relating to delimitation of constituencies and the allotment of seats to such constituencies cannot be questioned in any court.’
   According to the constitutional provision, the writ petitions are not maintainable and the High Court cannot entertain such petitions challenging the demarcation of the electoral constituencies made by the commission, he said.
   The hearing, which began on Wednesday, remains inconclusive and it will resume on Sunday.

The High Court on Thursday granted bail to former law minister Moudud Ahmed and former lawmaker Mosaddak Ali Falu while the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the High Court orders which had granted bail to former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar in separate cases.
   The full-court Appellate Division also extended by three months the bail granted earlier to former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman.
   The High Court bench of Justice Anwarul Haque and Justice Farah Mahbub granted interim bail for three months to Moudud on health grounds in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission in which he was accused of amassing illegal wealth.
   The same bench granted interim bail for three months to Mosaddak Ali, in the case in which he was sentenced to imprisonment for five years on charge of misappropriation of corrugated iron sheets meant for relief supplies.
   With Thursday’s High Court order, he has been granted bail in all the cases he faces and now there is no legal bar on his release from the prison, said his counsels.
   The full-court Appellate Division upheld the High Court order which had granted bail to Babar, former state minister for home affairs, in an arms case in which he was sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment by the trial court.
   The full court, headed by the chief justice, MM Ruhul Amin, passed the order, dismissing a petition filed by the government seeking permission to appeal against the High Court order.
   On October 16, the High Court granted the interim bail to Babar for six months on health grounds after hearing Babar’s appeal against the trial court judgment delivered on October 30, 2007.
   The same court also extended by three months its August 28 order granting interim bail to Tarique, also the BNP’s senior joint secretary general, now in the United Kingdom for treatment, in the Tk 21 crore bribery case involving the murder of Bashundhara Group director Humayun Kabir Sabbir.

Suspected US spy drones fired missiles early Thursday into a school set up by a top Taliban commander in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, killing 11 people, security officials said.
   The air strike apparently targeting veteran militant Jalaluddin Haqqani, a major target for US forces, was the latest in a string of attacks on Pakistani soil that have raised tensions between Islamabad and Washington.
   It came hours after parliament passed a special resolution calling for an urgent review of Pakistan’s anti-terror policy, including more talks with militants and a vow to defend Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty.
   Security officials said the madrassha, or religious school, near Miranshah, the main town in troubled North Waziristan region, was set up by Haqqani during the 1980s ‘jihad’ against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
   It was currently run by one of Haqqani’s own commanders, Mullah Mansoor, and was recently used as a guest house for ‘international and local students travelling from other areas.’
   ‘At 2:25am, two spy drones fired three missiles at the madrassha of Mullah Mansoor. Eleven people have been killed in the missile strike,’ a security official said.
   A similar missile strike targeting another house owned by Haqqani on September 8 killed 23 people, including members of Haqqani’s extended family, security officials said.
   Haqqani was one of the most prominent Afghan commanders who fought the Red Army between 1978 and 1989. He subsequently became close to Mullah Omar, the leader of the 1996-2001 Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
   Since the fall of the Taliban, Haqqani has become one of the most active Taliban commanders launching attacks on international forces in Afghanistan from safe havens in Pakistan, security officials said.
   His son Sirajuddin, also a leading Taliban commander, was an occasional visitor at the madrassha that was hit on Thursday, a senior security official handling tribal unrest said.
   The Pakistani army said it was gathering details about an ‘incident’ in North Waziristan. ‘Details are being gathered about the exact number of casualties,’ chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.
   Residents said that all of the victims were local tribesmen, adding that locals had fired at two suspected US drones hovering above.
   Missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan in recent weeks have been blamed on US-led coalition forces or CIA drones based in Afghanistan.
   Pakistani lawmakers passed a unanimous resolution during a closed-doors joint session of parliament demanding that the government do more to put an end to US military action on Pakistani soil.
   ‘The nation stands united against any incursions and invasions of the homeland, and calls upon the government to deal with it effectively,’ it said.
   But it also said that talks with insurgents were vital, adding: ‘Dialogue must now be the highest priority, as a principal instrument of conflict management and resolution.’
   The United States has stepped up attacks on militants in Pakistani tribal areas since a new civilian government came to power in Islamabad in March.
   The Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari, has vowed zero tolerance against violations of his country’s sovereignty amid the strikes, which have stoked anti-US sentiment in Pakistan.
   US and Afghan officials say northwest Pakistan is a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who sneaked in from Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
   Taliban militants Thursday killed eight pro-government tribesmen in an ambush. The victims were returning from a gathering held to discuss ways to combat militants in the Orakzai tribal region, local official Ahmed Khan said.
   ‘Armed Taliban stopped their vehicle, ordered the tribesmen to come out and shot them dead one by one,’ Khan said.
   Security officials Thursday revised upward the toll from an air strike, a day earlier, at a militant compound in northwestern Bajaur tribal district to 33 rebels killed. Officials said Wednesday 10 insurgents were killed. There was no independent confirmation of the latest claim.

More than 3,600 babies remain in hospital in China after drinking tainted milk products that have sickened over 53,000 children, the government said Thursday.
   Of the 3,654 infants still in hospital, three remain in serious condition, while over 46,700 children have recovered and been released from medical clinics as of October 22, the health ministry said in a short statement.
   On Tuesday, 105 young children were admitted to hospitals around China with kidney ailments stemming from drinking the tainted milk products, while 370 infants were released, it added.
   The ministry did not report any new fatalities, but said that the four infant deaths so far attributed to drinking the contaminated milk all occurred between May and August before the scandal was made public.
   The government had previously reported that more than 53,000 children had fallen ill after drinking tainted milk.
   Meanwhile, three more children in Macau were found to have kidney stones after drinking milk tainted with melamine, the government said.
   The latest diagnosis takes the total number of affected children in the former Portuguese enclave to seven, a government spokeswoman said.
   ‘Ultrasound tests have confirmed that two six-year-old girls and a 11-year-old boy have developed kidney stones,’ she said.
   The spokeswoman said the two girls had drunk milk distributed to schools from mainland Chinese supplier Yili, one of the brands found to be contaminated with melamine.
   A Japanese woman also fell ill from eating instant noodles laced with insecticide, officials said Thursday, in the latest food safety scare to hit the country.
   Nissin Food Products Co., the manufacturer of the globally popular fast food, did not immediately say how the noodles were tainted. A series of previous incidents involved food imported from China.
   The scandal erupted when melamine, an industrial chemical normally used to make plastic, was discovered in Chinese-made dairy products, including milk powder, liquid milk and yoghurt.
   The chemical was added to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein, but led to kidney stones developing in the infants.
   The scandal has hit China’s dairy industry hard, and continues to escalate around the world as multinationals and countries recall made-in-China milk products.
   On Wednesday, the United Nations urged China to modernise its food safety system arguing that an outdated and disjointed approach may have worsened the crisis.
   Although at least one Chinese dairy firm knew of the scam for months, it did not immediately report it to local government officials, who in turn delayed passing on the news for nearly a month until after the August Beijing Olympics.

The law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry has taken a move to make available all laws and regulations made as of October 20, 2008 online and bundled on compact disks for the public.
   ‘All laws including the ordinances promulgated in about two years of the present government will be made available on a web site for the public as part of the government’s initiative to introduce e-governance,’ the law secretary, Kazi Habibul Awal, told reporters at a news briefing at the secretariat on Thursday.
   He said the present government had so far promulgated around 90 ordinances to introduce new laws and to amend the old ones.
   Asked about the fate of the ordinances promulgated during the tenure of the interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, the law secretary said, ‘The fate of the laws will be determined in accordance with the constitution.’
   The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to inaugurate the ‘Laws of Bangladesh’ and ‘Bangladesh Code’ on the law ministry web site, Awal said.
   The Bangladesh Code incorporating all laws and their amendments from 1836 to 2007 were published in 38 volumes in November 2007. The ‘Laws of Bangladesh’ and ‘Bangladesh Code’ will now be available on www.minlaw.gov.bd .
   The exercise of law will increase with more people now getting chance to be aware of the laws through the internet, the secretary said, adding it would help to bring in more transparency and accountability in public administration.

The Bangladesh Bank on Thursday announced to release a fresh currency note of the highest denomination of Tk 1,000 on Monday.
   The bank’s executive director Khandakar Mujharul Haque said 200 million pieces of the new currency notes would be released in the first go. The Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd has printed the notes.
   ‘The fresh Tk 1,000 notes will be released from the central bank’s Motijheel branch on Monday and later from all other branches of the bank,’ Mujharul Haque said at the briefing.
   The Security Printing Corporation managing director, Abdullah Al Mamum, and senior executives also attended at the briefing.
   He said there would be no negative effect on money market because of the release of notes of Tk 1,000 denomination, said Mujharul. ‘The printing cost of a note of the denomination is only Tk 6.’
   ‘The country’s GDP has increased in a couple of years, so the present notes of Tk 500 denomination fails to cope with the market,’ he said.
   Currency in circulation has doubled in 10 years, he said, explaining the need for notes of higher denomination.
   In reply to a question, he said no country in the world could give an assurance that their notes would not be forged. ‘We are trying our best in cooperation with other government agencies to stop forging of notes.’
   The note is a little larger in size than other notes in circulation while the colour is reddish violet.
   The note, signed by the central bank governor, Salehuddin Ahmed, has the image of the Central Shaheed Minar on the obverse and the Curzon Hall of Dhaka University on the reverse. The note has five circles embossed for the blind to feel the denomination.
   Muslim Miah of the Security Printing Corporation prepared the design of the note.

United Nations Day will be observed across the world, including Bangladesh, today highlighting world peace.
   On October 24, 1945, the United Nations was formally established after a majority of its founding members ratified a treaty setting up the world body.
   In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending that the day be observed as a public holiday by member states.
   Traditionally, it is observed throughout the world through programmes like meetings and discussions and holding exhibitions on the goals and achievements of the organisation.
   In a message on the occasion, the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, said the international community must further strengthen and democratise the UN to make it more effective in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.
   Bangladesh joins the comity of nations to reaffirm the country’s strong and unwavering commitment to the ideals, values and principles of the United Nations, he said.
   The UN Charter, which came into effect on this day in 1945, embodies the hopes and aspirations of the world’s six billion people to live in peace and harmony. Towards this end, the world body has been relentlessly promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and sustainable development, the chief adviser said in his message.
   Bangladesh remains avowedly committed to the objectives of the United Nations, the chief adviser said.
   In another message, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said, ‘This is a crucial year in the life of the United Nations which has just passed the midpoint in the struggle to reach the Millennium Development Goals-our common vision for building a better world in the 21st century.’
   Partnership is the way of the future, he said, adding, ‘The United Nations must deliver results for a safer, healthier and more prosperous world.’
   He called on all partners and leaders to do their part and keep the promise.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday decided to give away 22 power distribution and generation licences and three CNG filling station licences.
   The commission after an open meeting, headed by its chairman Ghulam Rahman, decided to award the state-run North-West Zone Power Distribution Company the power distribution licence which will replace the power distribution activities of the Power Development Board in the north.
   It decided to award four small independent power plants of the Summit Group electricity generation licences.
   The Summit Uttaranchal Power Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Summit Power Ltd, will start power generation and supply to the national grid from the 11.30MW Ullapara plant and the 34MW Maona plant in January.
   The Summit Purbanchal Power Company Limited, another subsidiary of Summit Power, will start generation from the 34MW Comilla and the 34MW Rupganj plant in the same period.
   The commission, however, did not award the Regent Power Limited any licence for its 24MW Barabkunda small IPP as the company did not have proper representation at the meeting.
   The commission also awarded three rental power plants — Venture Energy’s 35MW Bhola plant, Energy Prima’s 50MW Fenchuganj plant and Shahjibazar Power Company’s 87MW Shahjibazar plant — generation licences.
   Stakeholders including representatives of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh and business associations gave their opinions in favour or against the licence awards.
   The CAB representative observed such rental plant and small IPPs should not be given licences as the power tariffs of the plants were high and the rental plants were set up in the absence of related policies.
   The commission, however, said it would look into the power price when the Power Development Board would submit its report in future.
   ‘If we find that the power tariff is high, we will ask the power board not to pass on to the consumers that portion of the tariff which is high. It means, government will need to bear the cost,’ said Ghulam.
   As for rental plants, Ghulam said they had sought clarification from the government on the issue and the government had informed them that it had made a policy decision to set up the rental plants. ‘We are happy with the government explanation.’
   Ghulam told New Age in total, 300MW of electricity would be added from such plants to the national grid by January.
   The commission also approved the applications of 12 government and private entities, including Zia Fertiliser Company, Jamuna Fertiliser Company, Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company, Square Hospital and the Rahim Energy Limited for licences of their existing captive power plants.
   The commission decided to give licences to three CNG stations while it rejected one application for want of required documents.

Thirty councillors of the Chittagong City Corporation at a briefing on Thursday demanded the government should reinstate ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury as mayor.
   ‘The city dwellers are deprived of services as the LGRD and cooperatives ministry has stopped him for resuming office after his release from jail,’ MA Naser, councillor of the Jamal Khan ward, said as he read out a statement.
   They said the corporation failed to run its services as income-generating projects had collapsed. They said the richest city corporation had to take huge amount of loans in 19 months.
   ‘The city has turned into a heap of garbage and the corporation-run schools, colleges and hospitals have been pushed to be ruined,’ the statement said, calling for the dynamic leadership of the mayor. They also said a conspiracy was on to keep Mohiuddin, who turned the corporation into a model of development, dynamism and efficiency, off his office.
   Panel mayor Rekha Alam and councillors Ahmedur Rahman Siddiqui, Mohammed Aslam, Rehana Kabir Ranu, Golam Haider Mintu, Mohammed Hashem and Mohammed Zakaria attended the briefing in the corporation auditorium.

The executive committee of the National Economic Council on Thursday approved the Tk 681 crore higher education projects funded by the World Bank with loan negotiations remaining incomplete, officials said.
   ‘Under the Education Quality Enhancement Project the private universities will get the grant from the government for their research work,’ said the planning secretary, Zafar Ahmed Chowdhury.
   He also said the government would bring money under the project in loans from the World Bank for researches in private and public universities.
   ‘An independent committee will decide on researches in public and private universities and selected research work will be funded by the project,’ he said.
   A high Planning Commission official, however, on Thursday told New Age ‘controversial Education Quality Enhancement Project was approved, but the loan negotiations were going on.’
   The official said the Planning Commission had opposed the World Bank project proposal as it did not match the needs of the country. More than a half of the project money will go to private universities for improvement in quality of education.
   The government in the past week formed a seven-member loan negotiation team, headed by the Economic Relations Division’s additional secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuyian.
   Representatives of the ministries of finance, education and law and the University Grant Commission are also members on the team.
   The commission earlier opposed the project as it would not be wise for the government to take loans from the World Bank and give the money in grants to private universities, which collect a huge sum in fees from students.
   The commission also said colleges offering higher education under the National University were facing serious problems in maintaining education quality while public universities and such colleges cater to the need for higher education for more than 90 per cent of the students pursuing higher studies.
   The government is expected to provide only Tk 82.56 crore of the total cost of Tk 681 crore for the project to run from 2009 to 2013.
   The project will have four components — promoting academic innovations, building institutional capacity, raising connectivity capacity of the higher education sector and project management. The academic innovation component, involving Tk 350 crore or $50 million, is focused on private universities.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, Thursday urged country’s filmmakers in the changed context to project in their cinemas the current issues of prevention of corruption, leadership of honest, devoted and patriotic persons and establishing good governance and fair justice.
   ‘Good film always can carry a message. It can strongly, and sometimes permanently, draw a line in the mind of cinema viewers,’ the head of the interim government told the national film award-giving function.
   He said that the subjects of great Liberation War, transition to real democracy, religious values and tolerance should be presented in a much better way.
   The chief adviser gave away the National Film Awards 2002-2007 to cine-world celebrities at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the evening. The information ministry organised the event.
   Spouse of the chief adviser Neena Ahmed, advisers, film actors, actresses, producers, directors, noted singers and cultural personalities were among others present.
   The information secretary, Zamil Osman, made welcome address at the function.
   The chief adviser distributed prizes for best films, best directors, best actors and actresses and best child artistes for the year 2002 to 2007.
   Addressing the function Fakhruddin said the government was ready to take punitive action against unhealthy and filthy films and the action of a taskforce was continuing to this end under a crackdown on the gutter cine.
   He said monitoring had been made intense in remote areas of the country and provisions of punishment under the purview of the law are being made.
   On the other hand, he said, government’s donation system for encouraging the making of good films had been made neutral and realistic. The censor board has been reconstituted comprising noted writers, producers, directors and meritorious cultural personalities.
   The chief adviser told the star-studded awarding ceremony that it was one of the major media in building up a knowledge-based and progressive society for the practice of wisdom.
   He said cinema had a massive role in nation building for developing countries like Bangladesh and urged the filmmakers to project social problems alongside the country’s history, tradition and national entity.
   Fakhruddin drew attention to the need for solving the problems facing the filmdom, saying that in the era of open-sky culture the domestic films faced a tough challenge.
   He emphasised short-mid-long-term planning and put forward a 10-point suggestion to advance the country’s film industry.
   The suggestions include urgently setting up a full-fledged film institute having various facilities, including methodological study of cinema, training, library, research and exhibition for making artistic and representative films for creating decent viewers.
   Film viewers will have to be motivated to be cinema hall-oriented amid an environment for watching cinema with family members.
   Taking effective steps to stop film piracy and controlling indecent films and programmes on satellite channels, arranging international film festival regularly, preparing films targeting Bangladeshi expatriates, around 50 lakh in number, hosting single-country film festival regularly abroad, increased private patronage alongside government in flourishing talents of meritorious, talented filmmakers and artistes are also suggested.
   Eighty-nine awards in 27 categories were given in the National Film Award.
   The films adjudged best are Hason Raja (2002), Joyjatra (2004), Hazar Bachhor Dhore (2005), Ghani (2006) and Daruchini Dip (2007).
   The best actors and actresses are Kazi Maruf (2002, film Itihas), Manna (2003, film Bir Sainik) Poppy (2003 film Karagar), Humayun Faridee (2004, film Matritta), Api Karim (2004, film Bachelor), Mahfuz Ahmed (2005, film Lal Sabuj), Shabnur (2005, film Dui Nayaner Alo), Arman Pervez Murad (2006, film Ghani), Naznin Hasan Chumki (2006, film Ghani) and Riaz Ahmed (2007, film Daruchini Dip) and Zakia Bari Momo (2007, film Daruchini Dip).
   The national film award was introduced in 1975. The Censor Board has so fare given censor certificates to 2,609 movies.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge said Thursday they have found that a drug originally developed to treat leukaemia can halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis.
   In trials, alemtuzumab reduced the number of attacks in sufferers and also helped them recover lost functions, apparently allowing damaged brain tissue to repair so that individuals were less disabled than at the start of the study.
   ‘The ability of an MS drug to promote brain repair is unprecedented,’ said Dr Alasdair Coles, a lecturer at Cambridge university’s department of clinical neurosciences, who coordinated many aspects of the study.
   ‘We are witnessing a drug which, if given early enough, might effectively stop the advancement of the disease and also restore lost function by promoting repair of the damaged brain tissue.’
   The MS Society, Britain’s largest support charity for those affected by the condition, said it was ‘delighted’ at the trial’s results, which must be followed up with more research before the drug can be licensed.
   ‘This is the first drug that has shown the potential to halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of MS and this news will rightly bring hope to people living with the condition day in, day out,’ said head of research Lee Dunster.
   MS is an auto-immune disease that affects millions of people worldwide, including almost 100,000 in Britain and 400,000 in the United States.
   It is caused by the body’s immune system attacking nerve fibres in the central nervous system, and can lead to loss of sight and mobility, depression, fatigue and cognitive problems. There is no cure, and few effective treatments.
   In the trial, 334 patients diagnosed with early-stage relapsing-remitting MS who had not previously been treated were given alemtuzumab or interferon beta-1a, one of the most effective licensed therapies for similar MS cases.
   After three years, alemtuzumab was found to reduce the number of attacks the patients suffered by 74 per cent over the other treatment, and reduce the risk of sustained accumulation of disability by 71 per cent over interferon beta-1a.
   Many individuals who took alemtuzumab also recovered some of their lost functions, becoming less disabled by the end, while the disabilities of the other patients worsened, the study in the New England Journal of Medicine said.
   Alastair Compston, professor of neurology and head of the clinical neurosciences department at Cambridge, said alemtuzumab was the ‘most promising’ experimental drug for the treatment of MS.
   He expressed hope that further trials ‘will confirm that it can both stabilise and allow some recovery of what had previously been assumed to be irreversible disabilities’.

The president of the Bangladesh Economic Association, Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, on Thursday called upon the major political parties to incorporate in their election manifestoes the critical development agenda, including strategies to overcome the adverse impacts of the global financial turmoil.
   Terming the financial meltdown a fiasco caused by neo-liberalism characterised by consumerist greed, he said that the time had come to reassert the stronger role of the state in the economies of countries like Bangladesh to ensure the welfare of the poor and vulnerable groups.
   ‘We would like to hope that the major parties would spell out in their election manifestoes the development needs and strategies to allow a smooth transition to the people’s democratic government in the country,’ he told a press conference on the state of Bangladesh’s economy in the current worldwide crisis.
   The issues floated by the economists in this context included creation of employment opportunities, food security, development of agriculture, energy security, price stability, increasing foreign exchange earning, promotion of small and medium enterprises, control of population growth, quality education and equitable development across the country.
   Kholiquzzaman recommended realistic re-evaluation of the role of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and stopping them from interfering in the internal affairs of Bangladesh.
   ‘We have to be a dignified nation and morality should be given priority in our personal and social life. Human beings in our society must be treated as creatures that deserve respect,’ he said, describing them as preconditions for building an enlightened society.

Foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said Thursday that the current global financial turmoil would not have any adverse impact on Bangladesh’s development cooperation with the West.
   ‘Both the ambassador and I hope that the situation will not adversely impact the development cooperation between Bangladesh and the West in general and Europe in particular,’ the adviser said after a meeting with British high commissioner Stephen Evans at the foreign ministry.
   He appreciated the leadership and timely response of British prime minister Gordon Brown to the financial market crisis there.
   ‘We discussed a range of international issues concerning both Bangladesh and the United Kingdom,’ Evans said adding they discussed early ratification of the UN optional protocol against torture.
   Asked whether they discussed pre-election political issues, the British envoy said they mainly focused on international issues.
   He expressed the hope that Thursday’s political dialogue between the government and major political parties would help resolve the political matters.

Nepal’s deposed king and his family will have power to their homes cut if they do not clear nearly one million dollars of overdue electricity bills, an official said Thursday.
   Gyanendra has been living as a commoner in a former hunting lodge on the outskirts of Kathmandu since May, when his 240-year-old dynasty was ended by a former rebel Maoist-dominated assembly.
   ‘The royal family owes 980,000 dollars and we will stop supply within 15 days if the bills are not paid,’ Arjun Bahadur Karki, managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority, said.
   The cash is owed from 22 palaces around the country, most of which have now been nationalised by the Maoist-led government, the official said.
   Gyanendra’s sisters, daughters and cousins also owe money to the electricity authority, said Karki.
   ‘We have sent separate notices to royal family members to pay the bills but have had no response,’ the electricity official said.
   In June, Gyanendra left Narayanhiti Palace — the sprawling pink building in the heart of Kathmandu that was the location of the 2001 palace massacre that elevated him to the throne — to live in a government-owned lodge.
   The palace is due to be opened as a museum and the former king’s current home is on the list of places that will face a black out if the bills are not paid, the official said.
   The ex king and his relatives have not paid their electricity bills since Gyanendra sacked the government and took direct control of the nation in 2005, the official said.
   The royal takeover pushed rebel Maoists and sidelined mainstream political parties into the alliance that ended his reign as the world’s last Hindu monarch earlier this year.
   Nepal’s fiercely anti-monarchist Maoists are the country’s most potent political force after ending their decade-long ‘people’s war’ that killed at least 13,000 people in 2006.
   In April they won landmark polls to the body that made the impoverished country the world’s newest republic in May and led to their former guerrilla leader becoming prime minister.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has banned the holding of rally by an organisation styled Bimanbandar Golchattar Murti Protirodh Committee on the airport premises today.
   ‘It was learnt that the organisation will hold a rally on the airport premises On October 24. Holding such programme is contrary to the Emergency Powers Rules, 2007,’ the DMP said in issuing the prohibition.
   The metropolitan police requested all concerned to refrain from holding such programme.
   ‘Else, legal actions will be taken against the violators of the law,’ the police forewarned.
   The bigots have been agitating for dismantling the sculptures of mystic singer-philosopher Lalon Shah built on the Zia International Airport premises.

A low pressure developed in the west central Bay of Bengal and its adjoining area Thursday noon, Met Office officials said.
   As the low was brewing in the west central Bay, the coastal areas had some drizzles.
   The birth of a low pressure is likely to bring some rains in some other parts of the country.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, now abroad for medical treatment, is likely to return in the first week of November.
   Hasina’s special assistant Hassan Mahmud, who returned home on Thursday from Canada, told New Age Hasina would return home in the first week of November as she has an appointment with physicians on October 29.
   Hassan said Hasina would meet US state department officials towards the end of this month and will also meet the Commonwealth secretary general in London early November. ‘After the scheduled meetings, she will return home in the first week of November.’
   As for Hasina’s health condition, Hassan said she was suffering from various illnesses, including diabetes.
   Hasina left Bangladesh for her treatment abroad on June 12 after her release from detention on June 11 by an executive order.

India’s million-plus army is consuming much more alcohol than permitted, causing huge financial losses to the state and raising suspicions of widespread black marketeering, a report said Thursday.
   Among the biggest culprits is the Indian army’s most prestigious hospital in New Delhi and a military spy unit attached to prime minister Manmohan Singh’s office, the Midday evening newspaper said.
   The efence ministry and army sources confirmed there was a serious problem.
   Indian soldiers are allowed a certain amount of heavily-subsidised liquor for personal consumption, but the report said the limit was being widely flouted.
   It said 43 army units had inflicted a loss of around 100 million rupees (at least two million dollars) on the government over the past 18 months, the paper said.
   ‘We suspect some of it is finding its way into the civilian market and we are trying to plug it,’ a colonel from the army’s Central Stores Department said.
   A major-general was arrested in 2005 after he smuggled two truck-loads of liquor to the open market.

The Border Security Force of India shot dead a Bangladeshi citizen on Kathalia frontier under Chauddagram upazila in Comilla on Thursday morning.
   The Bangladesh Rifles, quoting local people, said BSF troops shot Ana Miah, 28, to death when he went to the Kathalia border area at about 8:30am.
   The BSF later dragged away the body of Ana Miah into their territory.