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The military-controlled interim government has approved in principle a proposal to manage illegal assets confiscated from individuals as abandoned property, officials said.
   The council of advisers at a meeting on Thursday approved the Abandoned Property (Control, Management and Disposal) (Amendment) Ordinance 2008 to accommodate the proposal to manage the ill-gotten wealth since there was no mechanism to deal with such property.
   The special courts dealing with corruption cases, after the interim government assumed office in January 2007, ordered confiscation of assets of over Tk 288 crore from persons found involved in corruption till May this year.
   After the formation of the Truth and Accountability Commission, individuals started disclosing their ill-gotten wealth to get mercy by depositing the assets. But the government has no mechanism to manage and control the wealth.
   ‘The proposed amendment to the law will help smooth management of the property confiscated by any court, tribunal or commission’, said an official at the Chief Adviser’s Office after the meeting.
   The Abandoned Property Act usually deals with the management, control and disposal of the property of the people who left the country after the partition of the sub-continent in 1947 and before or after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.
   Presided over by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, the meeting also gave conditional approval to keeping operational 83 out of 201 industrial units set up illegally either on forest lands or in violation of the wildlife conservation act in Gazipur district.
   The fate of 118 units set up encroaching on forest lands has become uncertain as the cabinet gave no directive whether or not they would continue operation. The cabinet, however, assigned an eight-member taskforce to monitor the implementation of the conditions the government had imposed.
   The government will relax the Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) Order 1973, in order to enable people willing to set up effluent plants and build approach roads on their own lands, to run their industrial units in the forest-dominated district, the official said.
   The meeting, attended by the advisers to the interim administration, special assistants to the chief adviser and secretaries concerned, observed that a total of 201 industrial units were in operation in Gazipur district causing harm to the natural environment and wildlife in the area.
   According to media reports, big companies had encroached on Bhawal forests using forged documents or simply taking over the land by bribing local officials over the past years. In many cases, it has been seen that the companies kept pending cases with the court to prolong their illegal occupation.
   The government earlier formed a committee to find out illegal occupation of the forest lands, and found that most of the units were set up in violation of the laws. The committee found only 83 factories built on private land surrounded by forests. The government agreed to relax the law for these units only.
   Other units have been constructed illegally on lands of the national park. The units include garment factories, pharmaceutical units, poultry and fisheries, ceramic factories and food processing units.
   Asked about the fate of these units, an official said the taskforce would decide their fate in the light of the cabinet decision.

An adviser to the interim government on Thursday expressed scepticism about the fate of its agenda to bring about ‘qualitative changes’ in politics before the general elections set for December.
   The commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, on Thursday expressed the government’s apprehension regarding the reforms for qualitative changes in politics a day after two Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders faced the wrath of the party activists, who branded them as ‘reformists,’ at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital at the time of the release of the party’s senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman, also the eldest son of the detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia, on bail.
   He, however, asserted meaningful elections would be held by December with the participation of all political parties.
   ‘There is apprehension whether the parties will undergo qualitative changes as desired by the people… It is now a challenge for the government to dispel fears that the country may revert to the situation that had existed before January 11, 2007,’ Hossain Zillur said in reply to a question at the secretariat after holding a meeting of the advisers’ panel on dialogue with parties and other stakeholders.
   As for release of the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, from jail, Zillur said she would need to seek bail. ‘Khaleda Zia will be released through a legal process. She will have to appeal for release on bail.’
   He said the government was advancing the political process without hampering the legal procedure.
   The adviser iterated the government had been assured by all parties of their participation in the forthcoming parliamentary elections and the government was entering into a new phase where the main target was to ensure qualitative changes in politics. ‘We would no longer like to see the politics of violence. Political leaders should take into consideration people’s aspiration.’
   The law adviser, AF Hassan Ariff, and the communications adviser, Ghulam Quader, who attended the meeting at the law ministry, also attended the briefing at the commerce ministry.
   The commerce adviser said the important stakeholders in bringing about qualitative changes in politics were the political parties and the people while the government would persistently try to dispel doubts and fears in this regard and also to achieve the goal in keeping with people’s aspiration.
   ‘People are the most important side and they should ensure the changes in politics with balloting. We are constantly trying to dispel doubts and fears. But political parties must play a responsible role to this end.’
   He said the upazila polls would be held in keeping with the schedule of the Election Commission. ‘People at grassroots want the local government polls before the general elections.’
   As for output of the ongoing dialogue with the parties, Zillur, most vocal in the cabinet of Fakhruddin Ahmed, said the parties were headed for elections. ‘Moreover, the dialogue has broken the political impasse. An atmosphere of relief has been created… It has helped to consider common people’s aspirations more than political parties.’
   Immediately after assuming office in January 2007, the government of Fakhruddin announced one of its main agendas was to bring about qualitative changes in politics for smooth transition to democracy.

The Power Division on Thursday asked power agencies to impose more load shedding on the city’s ‘posh areas’ like Gulshan and Dhanmondi during peak hours in Ramadan and divert the electricity to other parts of the city facing frequent outages.
   In a meeting, chaired by power secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan, the division directed the agencies to bring an ‘equilibrium’ in distributing load shedding in different parts of the country following the recent unrest in Narsingdi and Bogra over power outages.
   ‘Although we have increased electricity generation by around 400 megawatts in the last three days with the beginning of the month of Ramadan, we have been forced to cut power during peak hours, especially Iftar, Tarabi and Sehri time, across the country’, Fouzul told reporters after the meeting.
   He said that Dhaka Electricity Supply Company and Dhaka Power Distribution Company were asked to give load shedding to the city’s posh areas like Gulshan and Dhanmondi during peak hours, especially at the time of Sehri.
   ‘We have observed that the posh areas experience less power outages than other parts of the city during Sehri time. The agencies have been asked to divert some electricity from feeders in Gulshan and Dhanmondi to other areas’, he said.
   Fouzul said that most of the houses in Gulshan and Dhanmondi had back-up generators or instant power supply system. ‘Residents of these areas can afford it for two to three hours.’
   An official of the Dhaka Electric Supply Company told New Age that they would reduce power supply to some feeders in Gulshan at Sehri time to divert the additional electricity to Mirpur and Tongi.
   Fouzul said that they had also asked the agencies not to impose load shedding to the areas which face outages because of technical problems. ‘If an area faces power outages because of frequency problems, that area should not get usual load shedding’, he told the agencies.
   Although power supply in the city has been increased to 1,450MW in the last few days from 1,300MW last week, many areas face frequent outages as the demand for electricity in the capital is around 1,800MW.
   The power secretary said that they had also asked the agencies to distribute load shedding all over the country in order to bring equilibrium.
   ‘With huge gap in demand and supply, we are faced with the dilemma of which areas should get priority. If the capital city gets more power, other districts suffer. We have asked the agencies make sure that people of any particular area do not face outages for a long time’, he said.
   About the recent unrest, Fouzul said that the division regretted the troubles the consumers were facing due to outages.
   ‘Load shedding is unavoidable as there is a huge gap between demand and supply. We urge consumers not to use excessive power at the time of Iftar, Tarabi prayers and Sehri…’, he said.
   The division will inform people about the current electricity situation and load shedding from time to time by publishing and broadcasting advertisements.

At least 50 students, including 15 female, were injured in violent clashes between a group of physiotherapy students and another group of Master of Surgery students of the orthopaedics department and the staff members at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Thursday.
   The students of both the groups vandalised the office room of the hospital’s director, classrooms, furniture and office equipments. The police arrested 15 persons, including a teacher and seven female students of the Physiotherapy Department.
   Witnesses said the brutal clash was caused because the students of physiotherapy, who have only two classrooms, want their new building, for which about Tk 30 crore has been allocated by the government, to be erected on the eastern side of the National Orthopaedic Hospital’s premises, which is vehemently opposed by the students and staffers of the hospital. The Bangladesh College of Physiotherapy under the Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Programme (HNPSP) has no building of its own as yet.
   Students of the Physiotherapy Department claimed that MS students of the Orthopaedic Department, with the help of the class three and class four employees of the hospital, swooped on them and critically injured more than 50 of their classmates.
   On the other hand, the employees alleged that the physiotherapy students confined the director of the hospital, Professor AKM Ishaq, in his office and attacked the employees when they went to rescue him.
   Hospital sources said the students of the Physiotherapy Department have long been demanding establishment of a separate college for them and recognition of them as doctors.
   To press home their demand they met the hospital’s director, Professor Ishaq, on Wednesday, and he asked them to come up with an application detailing their demands on Thursday morning.
   ‘As we gathered in the conference room of the hospital at about 10:00am to discuss the application, suddenly the MS students and the employees, armed with sticks and rods, swooped on us and beat us up badly, leaving 50 students injured,’ Naima, a student of the Physiotherapy Department, told New Age.
   The physiotherapy students alleged that the director wanted to build a dormitory for orthopaedic students in the hospital’s premises and was trying to grab the Tk 30 crore allocated by the government for their college by using his influential cronies.
   Another injured student said that the students and employees had severely beaten them up, and kept on urging everyone through the megaphone to catch and kill all the students of the Physiotherapy Department after locking the hospital’s collapsible gate from outside.
   Sarwar, Shaheen, Sajib, Sumaiya, Anita, Nirupama, Sumon, Halim, Ashraful, Junaid, Nazmul, Fayaz, Fatema, Mahmuda and Abir were admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital while the rest are being treated at Al Razi and Sarwardi Hospital.
   Physiotherapy students claimed that twenty of their fellow-students have been critically injured.
   Critically wounded Nupur, a female student of the 10th batch the Physiotherapy Department, is undergoing treatment at Al Razi Hospital. A physician said that her spinal cord has been broken!
   The employees alleged that the students of the Physiotherapy Department attacked some physicians of the hospital and the clash began when the employees tried to save them.
   They also pointed accusatory fingers at Kazi Humayun Kabir, a teacher and coordinator of the Physiotherapy Department, for instigating the students.
   Officer-in-charge of the Tejgaon police station, Lutfar Rahman, told New Age, ‘The police arrested 15 students and a teacher, Humayun Kabir, from the scene on charge of vandalising the hospital’s equipment and confining its director to his office room.’
   The police arrested Russel, Shaheen, Shahed, Arif, Dipu, Mamun, Rajib, Habib, Rupa, Pinky, Shanta, Aditi, Monira, Sumi, Laizu and Humayun Kabir.
   The director of the hospital filed a case in this regard with the Tejgaon police station.
   Later, the physiotherapy students at a press conference in the Dhaka Reporters Unity’s auditorium condemned the attacks on them and demanded establishment of a separate physiotherapy college, which has already been approved by the Ministry of Health.
   They also demanded unconditional release of the students and teacher Humayun Kabir.

Flood-affected areas are likely to be dropped off the list of about 250 upazilas going to polls in the first phase scheduled for the last week of October.
   ‘We are collecting information on the flood situation and flood forecasting for upazila polls. The commission will consider problems such as flood in holding elections,’ the Election Commission secretary, M Humayun Kabir, said at a regular briefing in the commission’s conference room on Thursday.
   Although major political parties are strongly opposed to holding any other elections before the parliamentary polls, which the government has pledged to hold in December, the commission is working to hold polls to about 250 upazilas in the last week of October.
   The commission is now working to out into the final form the list of upazilas which will go to polls in the first phase and decided to hold the balloting on two days.
   The commission at its next meeting after the dialogue with political parties in September 6-9 is likely to decide on the upazilas which will go to polls in the first phase. The commission has plans to hold polls to the remaining 482 upazilas in the second phase soon after the national elections.
   As for tentatively set balloting dates for upazila elections during October 23–30, the secretary said the commission was moving ahead to hold the upazila elections on the dates.
   Commission sources said it would decide on the dates to announce the schedule for the local body polls after getting the upazila electoral rules, now pending law ministry vetting.
   The commission has dropped off its rules and the code of conduct the provision to keep political parties out of the process of the local government polls.
   The final electoral roll with photographs of the areas of the Dhaka City Corporation was published on Thursday, paving the way for holding the Dhaka City Corporation polls in mid-October.
   Humayun Kabir at the briefing said as the electoral had been readied, there was no legal barrier to announcing the schedule for the Dhaka City Corporation polls.
   The secretary said the commission on Thursday had an inter-ministerial meeting over its move to amend laws to register
   expatriate Bangladeshis as voters.
   He said the commission in a week would send a draft proposal for amendment to the electoral roll ordinance clearing the way for enrolling expatriates as voters. He, however, did not to make clear whether the commission would enrol expatriates on the electoral rolls before the national polls.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, in August 2007 promulgated the electoral rolls ordinance 2007, which did not make any scope for enrolling non-resident Bangladeshis on the electoral roll as it said eligible people to become voters would need to be residents of any electoral area during registration.
   Election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain in July said the commission had drafted proposals for amendment to the electoral roll ordinance clearing the way for enrolling expatriates as voters and it would be sent to the law ministry in a week.

Jatiya Sangsad speaker Jamiruddin Sircar said on Thursday that the interim government had no chance to back away from its pledge to hold general elections by December.
   ‘[The chief adviser] Fakhruddin Ahmed has made a commitment to the nation and the international community that [the interim government] will hold parliamentary elections in December. There is no way for the government but to keep its promise’, he said.
   Bangladesh Nationalist Party organised the meeting marking the 30th founding anniversary of the party.
   The speaker also hoped that the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, would be released from jail through legal process soon and that the country would return to democracy.
   ‘If Khaleda Zia is released, BNP will come to power through free and fair elections’, he said. ‘BNP’s return to power is a necessity to make democracy sustainable.’
   ‘Democracy and only democracy can resolve the political, social and economic crises facing the nation’, he added.
   Sircar also praised the High Court for its ‘independent dispensation of justice’ in the cases filed against Tarique Rahman. He also thanked the government for going by the court’s decision.
   He said no one should be detained for long without trial.
   BNP vice-chairman MK Anwar, joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan, former adviser to the BNP-led government Mahmudur Rahman and Professor Mahbubullah also spoke at the discussion. BNP standing committee member RA Gani presided over the meeting.
   BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain was, among others, present but did not participate in the discussion.
   Professor Mahbubullah said the nationalist and Islamist political parties and organisations should unite to play a concerted role in leading the country towards democracy.
   Nazrul Islam Khan announced that special prayers would be offered after juma prayers today seeking divine blessings for release of Khaleda Zia and early recovery of Tarique Rahman from ailments.

The army-backed interim government on Thursday extended the duration of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina’s release by a month to facilitate better treatment for her in the United States, according to an official order.
   The home affairs ministry issued the order to extend the period of the temporary release of the former premier from September 7 to October 6 as per the conditions set before her release on June 11.
   The interim administration has extended the duration of the ex-premier’s release for the second time, though neither her party nor her family applied for extension of the duration of her temporary release. She had reportedly directed her party and family not to submit any application for extension.
   On August 5 the government extended the duration of her release from August 7 to September 6 in response to an application submitted by M Wazed Miah, her husband.
   Hasina’s special assistant Hasan Mahmud told New Age that she had asked him, over the telephone, to tell her party as well as her family members to desist from applying for extension as she does not want it, but rather wants withdrawal of all the cases filed against her.
   Hasina, who was detained on extortion and corruption charges by the military-controlled interim government, was released temporarily by an executive order for eight weeks from June 11 to August 6 to allow her to take medical treatment abroad. She left the country for the United States for better treatment the day after her release.
   The AL chief was arrested by the army-led joint forces from her Dhanmondi house, Sudha Sadan, on July 16, 2007 on charge of extortion. She is now facing trials in five cases in which she has been exempted from personal appearance in court.

The family of Tarique Rahman, ailing son of BNP chairperson Khalida Zia, has started making preparations to take him abroad for treatment of his multiple ailments.
   His physicians have advised him to take total bed-rest for two days.
   ‘According to the suggestions of the medical board, his [Tarique’s] family has started the process to complete travel formalities to take him to the UK or Germany or somewhere else for treatment at the earliest possible time,’ Tarique’s lawyer Shamsur Rahman Simul Biswas told New Age after visiting him at the hospital on Thursday.
   Applications for visas of the concerned countries will be submitted on Sunday, he said.
   Dr Kazi Mazharul Islam Dolon, a member of Tarique’s medical board, said, ‘The board examined him in the morning as he complained of pain in his back. His blood pressure was also fluctuating.’
   ‘The board advised him to take two full days of complete rest,’ said Dolon, a joint expert and associate professor of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital, where Tarique has been undergoing treatment for multiple ailments since January 31.
   On Thursday morning the medical board, headed by Professor Serajuddin Ahmed, examined Tarique, who was released on bail on Wednesday after 18 months of imprisonment.
   ‘They have also advised him to remain in the hospital for a couple of days before going abroad for treatment,’ said the physician.
   The board has also advised Tarique to restrict the number of visitors, he added.
   Several hundred leaders and activists of the BNP and its front organisations thronged the hospital to see Tarique, the senior joint secretary-general of the party. Many of them were carrying flowers for him. The police, however, scaled up security in the hospital after several clashes between antagonistic groups of the BNP.
   Major BNP leaders, including secretary-general Delwar Hossain and vice-chairman MK Anwar, and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders including secretary-general Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, Syed Abdullah Mohammad Tahir and Rafiqul Islam Khan visited Tarique in the hospital’s cabin.
   Former Jatiya Sangsad speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar and deputy speaker Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui on Wednesday night visited Tarique at the hospital.
   The government arrested Tarique on March 7, 2007 and implicated him in 13 cases.
   Out of the 13 cases lodged against Tarique, one involving the daily Dinkal was disposed of, and he got bail in the 12 cases that are under trial.

The mayor-elect of Sylhet City Corporation, Badaruddin Ahmed Kamran, was on Thursday remanded on bail from the Sylhet Centre Jail after over 15 months of his detention in four cases, two filed on graft charges.
   Kamran, also an Awami League leader, was received at the jail gate by his family members and party men at about 2:10pm.
   A large number of well-wishers, party men and relatives thronged into the jail gate to receive Kamran, who was granted bail for six months in two of cases, suspending traffic on the Jail Road for about two hours. He was also granted bail in two other cases, proceedings of which have been stayed by the court.
   Kamran expressed his gratitude to the city dwellers for voting him in the August 4 elections to the Sylhet City Corporation.
   ‘I shall never forget your love and cooperation that had made me winner in the election although I was in jail. I want to devote myself for the welfare of the city dwellers that also need your cooperation,’ Kamran told the crowd at the jail gate.
   A High Court bench of justice Sharif Uddin Chakladar and Justice Emdadul Haq Azad on August 27 granted Kamran bail for six months in two cases — one filed underteh narcotics control act and another under the Emergency Power Rules.
   He was earlier granted bail by the same court in two other cases filled against him by the Anti-Corruption Commission on corruption charges. The court also stayed the proceedings of the two cases.
   Ekramur Reza, assistant inspector of now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption, filed a case in May 2003 against Kamran, also the then mayor, and 17 others on charge of embezzling Tk 23.41 lakh of the Shibganj Kitchen Market in the city.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission, Sylhet, also filed a case on February 6 this year against Kamran and his wife for amassing wealth worth about Tk 2.22 crore beyond the known sources of income. The ACC submitted the charge sheet in the case on July 31.
   Kamran was arrested by the army-led joint forces on April 6, 2007 in the kitchen market corruption case and he was granted bail on May 8.
   The police again arrested him from a city hotel on May 28 the same year and seized Tk 1 lakh, savings certificates of Tk 34 lakh and a bottle of foreign liquor from his Chhararpar residence under Kalighat area in the city. Later, a case was filed under narcotics control act with the Kotwali police.
   Kamran was elected SCC mayor for the second term through his landslide victory in the August 4 elections. He got 1,15,436 votes while his nearest rival AFM Kamal of BNP got 32,097 votes.
   The Sylhet mayor-elect was freed on parole on Aug 18 to pay his last respects to his mother, who had died in Square Hospital in Dhaka.

The commerce ministry has formed yet another committee to investigate the reasons for the sudden price hike of essentials with the arrival of Ramadan and identify the real culprits.
   The closed-door meeting, chaired by commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman Thursday, formed the committee and discussed possible interventions to keep the price-level stable in the remaining days of the month of fasting.
   ‘The two-member committee will find out the market manipulators who are responsible for the sudden sharp rise in prices,’ said an official who attended the meeting.
   Besides, the committee, which incorporates a researcher from Hossain Zillur’s research organisation PPRC, will analyse the supply and demand data of essential commodities.
   Prices of essentials saw fresh wave of rises with the start of Ramadan, belying all pledges made earlier by the government and the business community to keep prices stable. Market intervention programmes initiated and surveillance promised by the interim government could not check prices from further spiraling, market sources said.
   A commerce ministry official admitted that the administrative actions like market drive by joint forces were unable to ease prices as in many cases wholesalers and retailers were found leaving the scene to avoid arrest.
   Impacts of different programmes such as the open market sales by the Bangladesh Rifles and Trading Corporation of Bangladesh as well as some ration shops run by trade associations including BGMEA and BKMEA were also discussed at the meeting Thursday.
   Official market monitors found that sales of essential items surged by 30 per cent with the start of Ramadan. Though no rise was seen in prices quoted in import letters of credit, retail prices soared unabated, they pointed out.
   ‘If wholesalers increase prices by one per cent, retailers inflate five or six times,’ a member of the ministry’s Price Monitoring Cell told the commerce ministry meeting Thursday.

The High Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail for three months to former law adviser Justice Fazlul Haque.
   The High Court vacation bench of Justice AFM Abdur Rahman and Justice Emdadul Haque also ordered him to surrender before Dhaka’s senior metropolitan sessions judge’s court and furnish the bail bond.
   The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Fazlul Haque, also a former judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, seeking anticipatory bail.
   He obtained the bail a day after Dhaka’s senior metropolitan sessions judge, M Azizul Haque, on Wednesday issued a warrant for his arrest. Fazlul Haque is now at the centre of a bribery scandal, and is facing charges of amassing illegal wealth and hiding assets in the wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   Fazlul Haque on Thursday rushed to the High Court vacation bench of Justice Zinat Ara and Justice Syed Mohammad Ziaul Karim with the bail petition.
   The bench refused to hear the petition, as it was an unlisted new petition, and referred it to the chief justice who later sent it to the vacation bench of Justice AFM Abdur Rahman and Justice Emdadul Haque.
   Emerging from the court after obtaining the bail, Fazlul Haque said, ‘I am happy with the order, but I cannot make any more comments on the issue since the matter is sub judice and I have served the Supreme Court as a judge.’
   He, however, said, ‘The High Court’s order has proved that I am not corrupt and the case was lodged only to harass me.’
   When he was asked about the allegation of bribing a group of fraudsters with a sum of Tk 24 lakh for being relieved of the charges in the case, Fazlul Haque said, ‘I don’t have the financial capacity of giving anyone 24 paisa even. I do not have money even for my food after depositing the income tax.’
   His counsel Helal Uddin Mollah, moving the bail petition, told the court that Justice Fazlul Haque should be granted bail as he is a former judge of the Appellate Division and also a former law adviser, apart from being 70 years of age.
   Deputy attorney-general Mubina Asaf, opposing the bail petition, said that the High Court should not entertain the bail petition as the charge-sheet of the case has already been submitted against him.
   Helal, however, argued that there was no bar on granting bail in a case even after submission of the charge-sheet, and earlier the High Court had granted bail in such cases to former ministers Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, the expelled former secretary-general of the BNP, M Shamsul Islam and Matiur Rahman Nizami of the the Jamaat-e-Islami.
   The warrant for the arrest of Fazlul Haque was issued by senior metropolitan sessions judge M Azizul Haque on Wednesday.
   The court issued the arrest warrant after taking into cognizance the charge-sheet submitted by the ACC on Tuesday against Fazlul Haque for amassing illegal wealth amounting to Tk 1.8 crore, which is beyond his known sources of income, and hiding assets of about Tk 91 lakh in the statement he submitted to the ACC.
   This is the first-ever case in which the ACC has pressed charges against a former adviser to the caretaker government and a former Supreme Court judge.
   ‘There is no precedent of such harassment of a former Appellate Division judge. I would have resigned had there been any such allegation during my service,’ said Fazlul Haque.

Militants in Pakistan have kidnapped 26 police recruits on their way to college, the police said on Thursday, while security forces killed 36 Islamist insurgents in clashes elsewhere in the northwest.
   Separately, the British High Commission closed its visa application centre in the capital, Islamabad, because of a threat, a mission spokeswoman said.
   The police recruits were travelling on three buses to a training college in the town of Hangu in North West Frontier Province when gunmen abducted them on Wednesday in the Orakzai tribal region. The militants freed the drivers. ‘The drivers told us that militants had kidnapped the recruits,’ said Hangu police officer Mohammad Idrees.
   Militants battling security forces have kidnapped numerous government officials, soldiers and policemen over the past year and are still holding many of them.
   Pakistani Taliban also say they are holding two Chinese telecommunications engineers abducted last week along with a Pakistani driver and guard.
   Pakistan has been a US ally in its fight against Islamist militancy since the September 11, 2001, attacks but the United States has repeatedly asked it to do more, in particular to stop Taliban infiltrating into Afghanistan from border sanctuaries.
   Security forces have killed more than 500 insurgents, the government says, in a surge of violence since militants suspended talks with a new civilian government in June.
   The violence has worried investors, already gloomy about a sagging economy and incessant squabbling between political parties, as well as allies hoping to see the government turn its attention to the nuclear-armed country’s other problems.
   Most of the fighting has been in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border and in the Swat Valley in North West Frontier Province.
   A military spokesman in Swat, which until last year was a tourist destination, said 16 militants were killed on Thursday when troops shelled their hideouts. The military said 30 militants were killed in the same region on Wednesday.
   Twenty militants were killed in an exchange of fire overnight in the Darra Adam Kheil region to the south Peshawar, the main city in the northwest, a paramilitary force said.
   Pakistan says it is doing all it can to combat militants but US patience is apparently wearing thin.
   On Wednesday, US-led troops from Afghanistan killed 20 Pakistanis in a tribal region close to the Afghan border in what was the first known incursion into Pakistan by US-led troops since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
   In Islamabad, the British High Commission said its visa application centre, which is in a separate premises to the High Commission, had been closed for security reasons.
   ‘We’ve received a threat and in response to that we’ve decided to close the application centre. We’ll reopen the centre once we’ve fully accessed the threat,’ said High Commission spokeswoman Jennifer Wilkes.
   A suicide car-bomber attacked the Danish embassy in Islamabad in June, killing six people.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Thursday asked for regular monitoring to see the outcome of the already-implemented and under-implementation recommendations of Bangladesh Better Business Forum (BBBF) formed to help enhance economic growth through maintaining suitable business environment through public-private partnership.
   The chief adviser, also chairperson of the BBBF formed last year, made the suggestion chairing the fifth meeting of the public-private business forum at the Chief Adviser’s Office.
   The five working groups under BBF have so far made 250 recommendations of which 113 were endorsed by the Better Business Forum. Of the approved recommendations, 52 have already been implemented while the rest are in different stages of implementation.
   Among the recommendations already implemented are Reconstruction of National ICT Task Force, setting up National Skill Development Council, increasing amount of financing and facilities in small and medium sector, establishment of SME service centre, expansion of tax holiday in industrialisation, rationalising import duty and reducing bandwidth and other charges on internet services.
   It was informed at the meeting that the working groups concerned would introduce necessary monitoring system with the help of BBF secretariat. Board of Investment office provides secretarial services to BBBF.
   At the meeting, members of the committee and businessmen discussed electricity, gas, coal policy and real-estate affairs and suggested lifting coal through quick implementation of the Coal Policy to meet the growing demand for fuels.
   The chief adviser called upon the BBF working groups for becoming more active and directed implementation of the recommendations quickly. In this regard, he instructed strengthening the BOI through recruiting more manpower for the board.
   Regarding electricity and gas, Fakhruddin said the government had taken appropriate steps to meet the shortage of gas. It was the first time BAPEX was financed to make it an independent institution.
   ‘It is not possible to solve easily problems of fuels without adjusting the present price of gas,’ he was quoted by an official handout as saying.
   He informed the BBF meeting that work for formulation of a new Broadband Policy Guidelines is at the final stage, aiming to make broadband easy available and cost-effective across the country.
   Soon an ICT policy will be finalised under the National Skill Development Council, the head of the caretaker government said and called for more investment in this sector.
   Regarding National Housing Policy, he said this sector had immense contribution to the national economy. There is no debate in principle regarding the policy guidelines. ‘Even then, discipline will have to be brought back in this sector for protecting the interest of clients.’
   Special assistant to chief adviser for power and energy Professor M Tamim, the cabinet secretary, the governor of Bangladesh Bank, the principal staff officer of the Armed Forces Division, secretaries of different ministries concerned and presidents of FBCCI, MCCI, ICC and DCCI were among others present at the meeting.

A taskforce of the National Coordination Committee to Combat Serious Corruption and Crime on Thursday started investigation into the alleged corruption and irregularities in the Power Development Board (PDB).
   The taskforce, led by Lieutenant Colonel Abu Zafar Siddique, held a meeting with PDB’s chairman, Shawkat Ali, and other high officials and said that they were there ‘to increase power generation’ and eradicate the problems faced by the PDB.
   The taskforce will start working at the PDB Bhaban from Sunday and will start probing the alleged corruption and irregularities reported in different newspapers and the Transparency International Bangladesh’s report.
   Power Division officials, however, expressed surprised over the timing of the taskforce’s investigation as the PDB is desperately trying to improve the power situation in the month of Ramadan.
   ‘The taskforce has the right to investigate and find out if the allegations of corruption are true, but it could have begun its probe earlier or after Ramadan,’ observed an official.
   The Power Division on Thursday held a meeting on the load-shedding situation during Ramadan, but found no PDB official present as they were busy in a meeting with the taskforce.
   The division then ordered a PDB official to come to the meeting as the PDB controls power generation and its participation was necessary, said official sources.

Some 500 ill-fated Bangladeshi workers have been without food and water in Riyadh since Sunday as their Saudi Arabian employer refused to accept them for disputes in arrival schedules.
   The Saudi employer put the blame on Bangladeshi recruiting agents for sending all the workers at a time, instead of in separate groups as agreed earlier. Abdul Matin Chowdhury, secretary to the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry, told New Age Thursday that the Bangladesh mission in the Saudi capital provided the workers with food and shelter for the last five days.
   ‘We’ve instructed our mission in Riyadh to take up the issue with the employer concerned.’
   Referring to the report of SM Haroon-or Rashid, labour counsellor of Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh, Matin said that the problem was related with Arsee Contracting Company, which hired the workers for the Saudi firm.
   Quoting a spokesman of the firm, Saudi daily Arab News on Thursday reported that the company blamed Bangladeshi recruiting agents for ignoring the company’s request to send the workers on a staggered schedule.
   ‘Instead, the company says the recruiters sent all the requested workers at one time,’ the daily added.
   The overseas employment secretary said that four recruiting agents including Rabbi, Al-Noman, Ismail and Dahamasi had sent those workers.
   ‘We’ve already asked the four recruiting agents to resolve the problem immediately,’ Matin said.
   He also said that if the recruiting agents failed to resolve the issue and if those Bangladeshi workers faced deportation, the government would take stern action against those recruiters, which might lose their licences.
   According to the official statistics, some 22 lakh Bangladeshi workers are employed in Saudi Arabia. Of them, 1.17 lakh went there in last seven months of this year.
   Quoting the spokesman for the Arsee Contracting Company, Arab News on Thursday reported that most of the workers had meanwhile been sent to jobs at different locations.
   The spokesman, who only identified himself as Ejaz, said, ‘The remaining 150 workers will also be deployed on Saturday.’
   ‘The company and the recruiting agent are playing the blame game,’ said the labour official at Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh told the newspaper.

The flooding in the central part of the country, including Dhaka, deteriorated further as the rivers flowing over the region continue to swell on Thursday.
   Flood experts also forecasted inundation of more low lying areas in Chandpur, Sirajganj, Tangail, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Faridpur, Madaripur and Shariatpur, Dohar and Nawabganj upazilas in Dhaka and Shibganj and Sadar upazilas in Chapainawabganj by the next 72 hours.
   They, however, expect slight improvement of the situation in the north and north-east although the Brahmaputra-Jamuna system will start rising from Friday, after a break of three days.
   As the major river systems began swelling downstream, the flooding in the low lying areas in the eastern part of the capital is likely to deteriorate in the next couple of days, they said.
   Most low lying areas on the outskirts of the capital went under water as Turag, Buriganga and Sitalakhya were flowing above their danger marks.
   Many areas in Kamrangirchar, close to the capital, were submerged and a good number of houses on the banks of the River Buriganga have been washed away by the strong current.
   Rivers continued swelling at 38 out of 73 monitoring points across the country and at 22 points they were flowing above the danger mark.
   The Ganges system remained steady while the confluence of Padma and Jamuna at Goalundo and Bhagyakul and the Meghna system will keep rising for the next 48 hours, according to a bulletin of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre issued at 6:00pm on Thursday.
   Flooding in Faridpur worsened further on the day as Padma was flowing 88 centimetres above the danger mark.
   Around 50,000 people in 15 unions of Charbhadrasan, Sadarpur and Sadar upazilas of the district were marooned leaving them in acute crisis of food and safe drinking water.
   Waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and rashes also broke out in the flood-affected areas.
   The district administration has distributed 13,500 kilograms of rice among 2,700 affected families in Decererchar, North Channel and Aliabad unions in sadar upazilas. Nine medical teams started working in Faridpur Sadar and Charbhadrasan.
   Reports from Pabna said 25 villages of four unions in Bera were inundated as Jamuna marked further rise although it was still flowing below the danger mark.
   Report from Bogra said fresh areas in the district were submerged following the damage of a portion of the flood protection embankment at Chandanbaishad in Sariakandi upazila.
   The district administration has distributed 20,000 kilograms of rice among 400 families.

The director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education on Thursday issued two circulars meant to reduce the sufferings of the management committees of non-government schools, colleges and madrassahs.
   Teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions are recruited by the management committees of the institutions and it is mandatory for the committees to have a representative of the director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. And if the institutions want, the government pays the salary to such teachers and employees on meeting certain criteria.
   Principals of 19 government colleges across the country have been empowered to name the director general’s representatives on the committees to recruit teachers and employees, the circular for colleges said.
   The district education officers have similarly been empowered to name the representatives of the director general on the committees to recruit teachers and employees in secondary schools and madrassahs. ‘The task is now carried out by the people in my office and it has become a matter of harassment for both the committee people and the people in my office,’ the director general, Khan Habibur Rahman, told New Age on Thursday.
   ‘Principals of the 19 colleges and the district education officers will be trained in how to do the job properly and their duties will be monitored centrally by my office,’ he said. More than 30,000 government and non-governmental institutions have about 5 lakh teachers and employees and the directorate is assigned to monitor the recruitment, transfer, salary, pension and some other administrative jobs of such institutions.

India’s main Hindu nationalist opposition Thursday demanded the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, quit, accusing him of misleading parliament over a key nuclear pact with the US.
   The deal, which seeks to allow India to buy nuclear technology and reactors after a gap of three decades, has sparked many stormy debates since it was clinched in 2006.
   The fresh controversy was triggered by a report in the Washington Post that said the United States would cut supplies of nuclear fuel and end all cooperation if New Delhi tested atomic weapons.
   According to the Bharatiya Janata Party, that position contradicts Singh’s assurances to parliament that the pact would not affect India’s right to test atomic weapons.
   ‘The State Department disclosures have confirmed our worst fears... It is now crystal clear that India will lose the right to conduct nuclear tests forever as a result of this agreement,’ senior BJP official Yashwant Sinha said.
   ‘This is a gross breach of privilege of parliament. The BJP demands that a session of Parliament be convened in the shortest possible time so that we can move a breach of privilege motion against the prime minister.’
   ‘This government has no business to continue in office,’ Sinha said.
   Singh, who in July won a confidence vote in parliament that was seen as a mandate to proceed with the controversial pact, has repeatedly defended it as vital for energy security and to end India’s nuclear pariah status.
   India’s Marxists, who had bitterly criticised the pact, also accused the government of hiding facts.
   Meanwhile, nuclear supplier nations began a two-day meeting in Vienna Thursday to try and hammer out consensus on lifting a 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade with India. After the US failed to drum up sufficient support for its proposal to start civil nuclear cooperation with India at a meeting last month, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls the export and sale of nuclear technology worldwide, convened again in Vienna to try and smooth out their differences.
   Diplomats who attended the last set of discussions had said that the US-India deal ran into stiff resistance among member states, with some setting conditions for giving approval.
   The United States wants a special waiver of NSG rules for India, which refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, allowing Washington and New Delhi to cooperate in the civilian nuclear field. But a number of countries have openly expressed reservations about the 2005 agreement between the United States and India.

Pakistan’s likely next president Asif Ali Zardari has vowed that the country will continue to work with the United States to defeat terrorism if he is elected on Saturday.
   Zardari’s remarks came a day after the prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, escaped an apparent assassination attempt when two shots hit his motorcade, heightening security fears in the volatile nation. ‘Chief among the challenges that all Pakistanis face is the threat of global terrorism, demonstrated again in this week’s assassination attempt against prime minister Gilani,’ Zardari said in an article in the Washington Post.
   ‘I will work to defeat the domestic Taliban insurgency and to ensure that Pakistani territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on our neighbours or on NATO forces in Afghanistan,’ he added.
   Zardari, the widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is the front-runner in Saturday’s three-way presidential race which was prompted by the resignation of US-ally Pervez Musharraf on August 18.
   Musharraf backed the US following the September 11 attacks and subsequent invasion of Afghanistan which saw the Taliban regime removed from power.
   However, American forces based in Afghanistan say that Pakistan’s tribal regions on the border have become a safe haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, who are using the area to launch attacks on coalition forces.
   Zardari insisted that Pakistan would continue to support Washington.
   ‘We stand with the United States, Britain, Spain and others who have been attacked,’ he said in the article. ‘It is important to remember that Pakistan, too, is a victim of terrorism ... Our soldiers are dying on the front lines; our children are being blown up by suicide bombers.’

The United Nations is likely to offer Bangladesh to lead the least developed countries in fighting against poverty and ensuring food security, an UN official told New Age.
   The offer is expected to come at the ‘high level’ meeting, scheduled to be held at the end of the month in New York, to review the progress of the UN millennium development gaols, signed by UN members eight years ago to halve the global poverty by 2015.
   ‘We will formally request Bangladesh to take the leadership in the discussions on tackling food crisis, especially for the least developed countries,’ Minar Pimple, head of UN’s millennium development campaign in Asia, said while he was in Dhaka earlier this week.
   Bangladesh led the LDCs twice — during trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisation and on climate issue in the United Nations in limited scale.
   The head of Bangladesh’s interim administration, Fakhruddin Ahmed, is scheduled to lead Bangladesh at the meeting to be held at the UN headquarters on September 25. The chief adviser will be accompanied by at least
   three members of the council of advisers and officials concerned.
   The UN tagged the upcoming meeting a high-level event where the world leaders will review the progress, identify gaps and devise ways to bridge the gaps at the halfway towards the date of target for halving the poverty worldwide.
   The meeting is taking place at a time when the number of global poor has shown a sharp rise due to soaring food prices, use of food grains for production of fuel by the developed nations and for halving the aid-flow to the developing nations by the developed ones.
   The UN believes that significant progress has been made to a few fronts, but urgent and increased efforts are needed by all stakeholders to achieve the MDG by 2015, especially to halve poverty across the world and improve living standards of the people.
   According to UN estimates, about 852 million poor people across the world are experiencing food insecurity, eradication of which requires more political will. About 95 per cent of the poor people are living in the developing countries.
   It has been predicted that the number of poor people is to rise by 100 million by 2015 in spite of the UN millennium development goal of halving the number by that time.
   Experts say that goals’ review is essential in the changed situation, especially for the least developed countries where the world’s most poor live.
   Nutrition and foods security will be given priority in the discussions at the mid-term review meting to be followed by environment and climate change and education.
   While talking to New Age on Sunday, the UN official said that Bangladesh had made significant progress towards achieving the MDG, especially in school enrolments where the number of girls was higher than that of boys, and reducing the maternal and child mortality rates.
   Tackling poverty will be a major area for Bangladesh in the coming days as the number of poor is on the rise, the official said, adding urbanisation, sanitation and safe drinking water would be other critical areas where the country needs special attention.
   The Indian-born UN official identified the state of emergency as an impediment to poverty reduction, saying that the people need freedom first to ensure food security.
   ‘Freedom and food security go hand in hand,’ said the official adding that the people’s rights are suspended under the state of emergency.
   He urged Bangladesh for lifting of the emergency to pave way for democracy.

Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, which recently tightened ethical procedures in Bangladesh, still has sub-contractors there using child labour, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus charged Thursday.
   Telenor was forced to review and strengthen its ethical guidelines after Norwegian media last May revealed deplorable conditions for workers, including children as young as 13, who supply antenna towers to GrameenPhone, one of the Norwegian company’s subsidiaries in Bangladesh.
   ‘They promised that now it’s cleaned up ... So you had hoped that after this lesson they would be very careful ... to make sure that it doesn’t happen again, but it happened again,’ Yunus told the news station TV2 Nyhetskanal.
   ‘They are not showing the kind of efficiency you’d be expecting from a company like Telenor,’ he added.
   Telenor owns 62 per cent of GrameenPhone, while Yunus’ Grameen Bank, with whom he shared the 2006 Nobel Peace system for people too poor to qualify for bank loans, holds a 38-per cent stake through a subsidiary.
   The Bangladeshi economist has long had a stormy relationship with Telenor, accusing it of breaching a deal concerning control of GrameenPhone.
   He said Thursday he had received a call recently informing him of another child labour case involving a GrameenPhone supplier.
   Telenor spokesman Paal Kvalheim confirmed that such a case existed involving a small company called Gazi Engineering, but stressed that the firm was ‘a supplier of a supplier.’
   ‘We have 700 suppliers in Bangladesh and we have concentrated on the ones with whom we have a direct relationship. But it is a known fact that child labour is widespread in this country,’ he said.
   He also pointed out that it was Telenor itself that had alerted Yunus to the new case.
   Company executive Hilde Tonne meanwhile issued a statement insisting that ‘when we or others reveal unacceptable conditions further down the value chain, we will of course respond. We are now on to the case.’
   ‘Neither Grameenphone nor Telenor can, however, take responsibility for all social wrongdoings in Bangladesh, but we have taken our share of the responsibility to improve conditions with our suppliers and to work for long-term improvements in all the communities where we operate,’ she added.
   According to Telenor, more than 160 Bangladeshi suppliers have so far been subjected to audits and been provided good practice courses.

A defeated ward councillor candidate in the Khulna city corporation polls on Thursday appealed to the local election tribunal to cancel the election result of the ward and declare him winner.
   In his application, SM Khurshid Ahmed, who contested the polls for councillor of ward 13, accused seven persons, including the councillor-elect Sheikh Mosaddek Hossain Babul, of hiding information and violation of election code. He also accused the returning officer of abetting the malpractice.
   In the application filed under section 37 of local government (city corporation) ordinance 2008, Khurshid claimed that Mosaddek was declared the councillor-elect ‘illegally’. He alleged that the winner had concealed information in his personal statement submitted to the election office and thus violated the code of conduct.
   Khurshid demanded that the tribunal should reject the result announced by the election office and declare him as the councillor-elect. Mosaddek, who bagged 1,513 votes in the August 4 polls, was declared councillor-elect while Khurshid, his nearest rival, polled 1,245 votes.

India’s giant Tata Group said Thursday it aimed to launch the world’s cheapest car as fast as possible despite fierce demonstrations against the plant being built to manufacture the vehicle.
   The statement by Tata chief Ratan Tata came as last-ditch talks were underway in the eastern city of Kolkata to end protests at the factory, which is 90 per cent complete.
   ‘We are a company that wants to launch as we have planned and we would do everything possible to try to come as close to the planned launch as we
   possibly can,’ Ratan Tata told an industry meeting in New Delhi.
   ‘But everything depends on that ‘Sing’ thing,’ he said, referring to the protests against the plant in Singur on the outskirts of Kolkata, the capital of Marxist-ruled West Bengal.
   Tata Motors, India’s top vehicle maker, had said it wanted to launch the snub-nosed four-door vehicle in October to coincide with the festival season when Indians traditionally spend lavishly.
   Tata, which shot to world attention when it bought British motoring icons Jaguar and Land Rover this year, said Tuesday it was seeking new sites to build its ultra-cheap car after violent protests forced it to suspend work on the Singur plant.
   The demonstrations have been spearheaded by the opposition Trinamool Congress which charges that poor farmers were evicted to make way for the project.
   Earlier, NDTV Profit, a business channel, reported the first Nano would not roll out of the troubled plant even if the land row was resolved.
   The channel noted that in any event the company would need more than one plant to meet projected demand for the car aimed at first-time buyers.
   Tata Motors, part of the tea-to-outsourcing Tata group, has promised the car will cost just 100,000 rupees or 2,264 dollars even though it has acknowledged that a rise in raw material costs has made that pledge hard to keep.
   ‘We are certainly under pressure from increased material costs that are faced by the industry,’ Ratan Tata said.
   In the past two years, steel prices have climbed by nearly 40 per cent, Ravi Kant, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and Tata managing director, said in a speech to the same forum earlier.

Former state minister for power and energy during Awami League rule Rafiqul Islam was released on bail Thursday after 16 months in jail.
   Rafiqul walked out of the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University at noon and went to Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi to place wreaths at the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He was arrested by joint forces on May 29 last year under emergency law.
   On August 20, the High Court granted him bail in two cases, including Niko scam case in which AL president Sheikh Hasina is the principal accused.

The Truth and Accountability Commission on Thursday heard eight more individuals, who voluntarily admitted their grafts and pledged to refund the illegal wealth to the state exchequer, an official of the commission said.
   The TAC chairman, Justice Habibur Rahma Khan, presided over the hearing sessions held separately at its Hare Road office and asked them to pay their ill-gotten money to the Bangladesh Bank to get clearance certificates.
   The commission earlier heard 19 individuals, 11 of whom disclosed that they had obtained about Tk 6.7 crore form illegal practices. They also pledged to deposit the money to the public exchequer for getting clemency.

The military-controlled government has approved the draft of a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and the United States to set up radiation detective equipment in the Chittagong port, according to official sources.
   The council of advisers at a meeting on Thursday gave the go ahead to the proposal to set up the equipment, which the government says would help to prevent smuggling of atomic and radioactive substances on sea route.
   Asked about the controlling authority of the equipment, an official at the Chief Adviser’s Office said it would be controlled by local officials. The official said the matter had been discussed for a long time.