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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday boycotted the dialogue with Election Commission on political parties’ registration as it found such talks pointless, prompting the commission to send fresh invitation to the party for the dialogue.
   The party conveyed its decision to the EC through a letter Sunday morning, more than a week after it had received invitation for the talks.
   BNP said it boycotted Sunday’s talks since new electoral laws were framed without consulting the party.
   Two of its allies, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote, will also stay away from the talks scheduled for today.
   ‘BNP was not consulted when the relevant laws and rules were framed. Keeping those in force, any talk only on the issue of political parties’ registration will neither bring about any qualitative changes in politics nor it help resolve ongoing crises,’ BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said in the letter, explaining the reasons for the boycott.
    A six-member delegation led by BNP office secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed carried the letter to the EC.
   The commission in the evening sent a fresh invitation to BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain clarifying some points raised in Delwar’s letter and requesting him to join the dialogue.
   Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told BBC that the commission sent the letter to Delwar responding to some points which could lead to misunderstanding.
   Earlier the commission had held no dialogue with the political parties on redrawing the parliamentary constituencies and preparation of electoral rolls, the commission stated in its letter.
   The commission held the dialogues to consult the parties only on electoral law reforms and the Representation of the People Order 1972 was amended in accordance with the consultations, the letter said adding that now the commission was consulting the parties on registration issues.
   The commission also said in the letter that it would hold the dialogue with the BNP for open discussions on the issues.
   Delwar told New Age that he received the letter and the party would decide the issue consulting other senior leaders.
   He, however, said that the dialogue might take place if the commission cancelled the amendments it made to the Representation of the People Order without consulting the party.
   Chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda, meanwhile, said the commission would not wrap up the third round of dialogues by October 15 without holding talks with BNP.
   The BNP secretary general said in his letter that the EC’s ‘unwarranted, immoral and partisan’ attitude towards the leadership of BNP has put the neutrality of the Election Commission in question.’
   Khandaker Delwar said the EC declared the political parties as ‘main clients’ of the election and had several rounds of talks with many parties. ‘But they did not discuss with BNP, the largest party in the country, in the process of framing new laws. The EC also demarcated parliamentary constituencies afresh without any consultation with BNP,’ he regretted.
   BNP was not a party to the process and not obliged to give its opinion on new electoral and registration laws, which did not reflect the views of the majority of the people, he pointed out.
   It was for the first time the EC invited the mainstream of BNP to talks on August 29, specifically addressing Khandaker Delwar as the party’s secretary general.
   Until recently the EC had recognised the government-backed splinter group of the BNP and held its earlier talks with the leader of that group, M Hafizuddin Ahmed, distancing itself from the party’s mainstream loyal to Khaleda Zia-nominated secretary general, Delwar.
   The EC changed its mind recently and a day after sending the invitation letter to Delwar, the chief election commissioner at a function in Dhaka termed the commission’s past dealings with the BNP ‘unexpected.’
   The commission initiated the latest series of dialogue to discuss the contentious issues relating to parties’ registration as major political parties rejected the October 15 deadline for getting registered to qualify for contesting general elections planned in December.
   The amended Representation of the People’s Order 1972, which came into effect on August 21, made registration compulsory for parties willing to contest national polls and set tough eligibility criteria, which big parties found impossible to comply with in a short notice with emergency still in force.
   A number of parties already had talks with the EC since the third round began last week, while Awami League and its allies are to hold talks today.
   The BNP kept all guessing for a week whether it would join the talks or not until it formally wrote to the EC Sunday conveying its decision to stay away.
   Jamaat-e-Islami senior assistant secretary general Muhammad Quamaruzzaman said Sunday evening that the party would also not join the dialogue with the Election Commission.
   ‘Jamaat-e-Islami believes that joining the dialogue with commission at this stage will be useless,’ he told New Age.
   The commission is constitutionally mandated to hold the parliamentary elections first, but it seems more inclined to hold local government elections, the Jamaat leader said, justifying the party’s decision not to join the dialogue.
   Abdul Latif Nejami, secretary general of Islami Oikya Jote, also confirmed the party’s decision to boycott the today’s talks with the EC.
   ‘What is the use of joining dialogue with the commission, which hardly accepts suggestions from political parties?’ he said.

The military-controlled interim government has conditionally relaxed ban on trade unionism across the country about 19 months inside the declaration of the state of emergency amid pressure from various quarters at home and abroad.
   The home affairs ministry has issued a gazette notification with immediate effect setting the conditions for trade union activities indoors including elections to collective bargaining agents in industrial units, commercial organisations and other institutes under the Emergency Powers Rules 2007.
   The gazette notification, issued on September 4, was made available on Sunday.
   Labour leaders, however, rejected the conditional, partial withdrawal of the ban.
   Demanding a complete withdrawal of the ban, they said conditional or partial trade unionism would not be of much help to protect labourer’s rights by ensuring healthy industrial relations.
   According to the gazette notification, trade union activities will be allowed indoors on a limited scale and elections to collective bargaining agents can be conducted with permission from the metropolitan police commissioner or the district magistrate concerned.
   ‘The police commissioner, district magistrate or upazila nirbahi officer depending as applicable must be informed 48 hours before holding any trade union meetings where not more than 100 persons can participate,’ the home ministry order said. ‘For participation of more than 100 persons, the trade bodies concerned must take permission 72 hours before the meetings from the authorities concerned who can allow maximum 500 people to attend.’
   ‘The unions would not be allowed to hold meetings in open space. The meetings will only discuss and make decisions on matters related to organisations and workers’ interests. Discussions on politics or other matters would not be allowed,’ said the order, adding live broadcast or telecast of trade union meetings on electronic media has been prohibited. But news items in this regard can be aired as part of regular news bulletins.
   Use of PA system to make meeting activities reach outside the venue would not be allowed, according to the home ministry gazette, published on September 3, but made public on September 7.
   The government of Fakhruddin Ahmed enforced the Emergency Powers Rules on January 25, 2007 restricting political and civil rights, including trade unionism, with effect from January 11, 2007 against the backdrop of political violence.
   The ban on political activities was conditionally relaxed for Dhaka in September 2007 and for other areas of the country in May.
   Labour leader Abul Basher, also the convener of the Jute, Yarn and Textile Mills Workers and Employees’ Action Council, said they did not want trade unionism on a limited scale. It would not hep the workers to establish their rights.
   ‘We want full-scale trade unionism and it is our basic rights. We do not want mercy,’ he said. ‘We have enjoyed trade union rights under the martial law of Ayub Khan and now the rights have been seized under the state of emergency.’
   The Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad coordinator, Wazedul Islam Khan, also the general secretary of the Trade Union Centre, said it was nothing but effort to make people believe that the government was doing something. ‘Trade union rights can not be given partially.’
   Labourers will not be able to establish their rights with a limited-scale trade unionism, he said.
   The Sramik League president, Abdul Matin Master, said they would first observe how much of labour rights could be ensured with a limited-scale trade unionism.

The flood situation in the northern and central areas continued to deteriorate on Sunday.
   Flood forecasters and government agencies, however, expected improvement in the situation from today and recession of the flood water in a week.
   The situation in Bogra, Jamalpur, Sirajganj, Tangail, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Rajbari, Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Chandpur, Dohar and Nawabganj is likely to deteriorate slightly in 24 hours till this evening, said flood forecasters, and will then start improving.
   The Meghna system kept rising at a lower rate on Sunday, and the Brahmaputra-Jamuna system remained steady at upstream points and continued rising at a lower rate at downstream points. The forecasters expect flood water in both the systems to begin receding on Monday.
   The Ganges system continued falling and was likely to continue with the trend for a couple of days. Flood water in the confluence of the Padma and the Jamuna at Goalanda and Bhagyakul will start receding on Monday, the forecasters said.
   Flooding in low-lying areas on the eastern fringe of Dhaka is likely to remain static for a couple of days. The New Age correspondent in Bogra said the Jamuna and its tributaries continued rising on Sunday, inundating more areas. The Jamuna flowed 103 centimetres above danger mark at Sariakandi and the Bangali 16 centimetres above the mark.
   A 30-metre portion of the spur of the flood protection dam at Chandanbaisha in Bogra caved in at around 8:30pm Sunday.
   According to the government, more than 130 metres of the flood protection dam collapsed twice at Talukdarpara, and about a 100m span of the alternative dam also collapsed, inundating land and dwellings of about 3,050 families.
   Two weeks after the region had faced flooding, the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, visited Talukdarpara of Sariakandi on Sunday. He distributed relief goods among the affected.
   Six children were drowned in two days in Kurigram, said the office of the civil surgeon.
   Flooding in Manikganj worsened because of the rising trend of Jamuna, Padma, Kaliganga and Dhaleswari.
   The Jamuna rose by 3 centimetres in 24 hours till Sunday evening and flowed 42 centimetres above danger mark.
   The flood protection embankment was under threat at two points — Nihalpur and Jharierbagh — at Shibalaya. The Span Type Concrete Pole factory has been closed for a week as it went under water.
   In Jamalpur, 45 out of the 68 unions were inundated, marooning about two lakh people, and flooding in the district further aggravated as the Jamuna and the Brahmaputra continued to swell. Transplanted aman on 36,000 hectares of land and seedbeds on 300 hectares were damaged by the flood, said the Department Agricultural Extension office.
   More areas in Faridpur were inundated in 24 hours till Sunday evening as the Padma continued to rise, flowing 89 centimetres above danger mark.
   Large areas in Nagarkanda upazila went under water and most areas in Talma, Dangi, Kodalia-Shahidnagar and Phulshuti unions were inundated.
   The situation in Charbhadrasan, Sadarpur, Bhanga and the Faridpur district headquarters remained unchanged. Road communications between Faridpur and Charbhadrasan have been snapped for a week because of the overflowing of water at several points.
   The people in flooded areas are still struggling to get drinking water and food, and fuel to cook. They alleged no NGO officials, political figures or businessmen reached them with relief although the situation continued to worsen.
   The overall flood situation in Kurigram remained unchanged in all the nine upazilas of the district. The Brahmaputra continued to erode its bank at Chilmari and forced the authorities concerned to dismantle three schools and auction the building materials.
   The Austamirchar union council complex and the Dhooshmara police outpost faced constant erosion. The flood-affected people have taken shelter on the dyke.
   The Bangladesh Water Development Board director general, Hussain Shaheed Mujaddad Faruq, at a briefing in Dhaka said flooding in 22 districts would be more or less over by the end of the week, reported the United News of Bangladesh.
   He said the inundation of one-fifth to one-fourth of the country’s area during monsoon was normal.
   Faruq ruled out any possibility of deterioration of flooding in the eastern part of Dhaka.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Sunday said his government was giving attention towards permanent solution to river-erosion havoc through building permanent flood-protection embankment and other necessary measures in the flood-prone areas of the country.
   He made the remarks talking to journalists in the Spar-1 area of Sariakandi flood-protection embankment in Bogra after distributing relief materials, including rice, pulses and edible oils, among flood-affected people. Earlier, he visited the eroding portion of the flood embankment on the River Jamuna at Talukdarpara of Chandonbaisha in Sariakandi.
   Fakhruddin said he had already given instruction for finishing all types of development works in dry season as well as for completing tender process by December.
   He said he had discussed with Water Development Board and water resources ministry the ways of permanent prevention of river erosion and sudden flooding caused by the erosion.
   Assuring the flood-affected people of all necessary support, the head of the caretaker government said local administration, joint forces and local government were working together to alleviate the sufferings of flood victims.
   He said medical centre had been opened as well as attention was being given to ensuring supplying of pure drinking water in the flooded areas.
   The deputy commissioner of Bogra, Humayun Kabir, briefed the chief adviser about the reason for the collapse of a portion of the flood-protection embankment of the Jamuna at Talukdarpara, damage done by floods and relief operation in Sariakandi.
   The chief adviser visited Naukhila PN High School flood shelter at Sariakandi to see condition of the flood victims took refuge there and talked to them, assuring that the government is beside them.
   Later at around 11:30am, the chief adviser flew from Sariakandi to Sirajganj by helicopter and visited flood-hit areas of Ekdala and Gunergati in Sirajganj sadar upazila. He first went to the hard point of Sirajganj Town Protection Embankment along the Jamuna at Ekdala. Later, he went to nearby Gunergati of Khokshabari and distributed rice, pulses, dates and edible oils among the flood victims.
   Talking to reporters after distributing relief, the chief said floodwater didn’t flow into Sirajganj town this time around following quick approval of a project on construction of embankment after last year’s devastating floods and completion the works.
   He hoped that construction of spar over the Jamuna in Sirajganj would be completed within this year. ‘If necessary, house-building loan will be given by the government,’ he said on a note of assurance for the people who are perennially afflicted by flooding calamity.
   In Sirajganj, the number of flood-affected upazilas is five, unions 33 while villages 163. The number of affected families is 19,963 and total people 86,530.
   The number of marooned families in Sariakandi is 3,050, affected people 12,510, the number of flood shelter eight, and the number of affected families in shelter is 366. Three medical teams are working in Sariakandi.
   Five educational institutions have been damaged in the flooding, it was informed in the briefing.
   The chief adviser flew back to Dhaka in the afternoon on completion of his relief mission for the people in distress.

The High Court on Sunday posted for Tuesday the hearing in two petitions filed by the detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia seeking bail in the Niko and GATCO corruption cases.
   Khaleda Zia, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, has already obtained bail in two of the four cases so far filed against her.
   If Khaleda is granted bail in the Niko and GATCO corruption cases, there will be no bar on her release from jail, her lawyers told reporters on Sunday.
   The High Court bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Mamnoon Rahman set Tuesday to hear the bail petition of Khaleda in the GATCO case as her counsel Rafique-ul Huq moved the petition on Sunday.
   Rafique told the court the High Court bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuque Hosain Ahmed on July 15 stayed the proceedings in the GATCO case and issued a rule on the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain why the filing of the case and subsequent proceedings in the case would not be declared illegal.
   The other accused, who were detained in the case, have already obtained bail, Rafique argued.
   Coming out of the court, Rafique told reporters, ‘We moved the bail petition and sought an expeditious hearing.’
   Khaleda earlier filed a petition seeking bail in the Niko corruption case, said another of her counsels AM Mahbubuddin Khokan, adding the petition would also be heard by the same bench on Tuesday.
   ‘We hope the court will grant bail to Khaleda Zia and then there will be no bar on her release,’ he said.
   Khaleda was arrested at her house in the Dhaka cantonment on September 3, 2007, a day after the Anti-Corruption Commission’s deputy director Golam Shahriar Chowdhury had filed the GATCO corruption case with the Tejgaon police against her and 12 others.
   The investigation officer, Mohammad Zahirul Huda, also a deputy director of the commission, on May 13 pressed charges against 24 people including Khaleda, her youngest son Arafat Rahman and her former cabinet colleagues M Saifur Rahman, MK Anwar, M Shamsul Islam, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, also the expelled BNP secretary general, Matiur Rahman Nizami, also the Jamaat-e-Islami amir, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, AKM Mosharraf Hossain and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury for awarding ‘an incompetent and unfit firm, Global Agro Trade Company’ a contract to handle containers at the Inland Container Depot in Dhaka and at Chittagong port allegedly for bribe.
   The commission on December 9, 2007 sued Khaleda and another former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, for alleged corruption in signing contracts with Canadian oil company Niko Resources which caused Tk 23,630.50 crore loss to the state exchequer.
   The commission pressed charges against Khaleda and 10 others on May 5 for causing a loss of Tk 13,777 crore to the state exchequer by signing the Niko deal and against Hasina and eight others on May 7 for causing a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore to the state.

Pakistan president-elect Asif Ali Zardari faced immediate pressure Sunday to tackle an upsurge in militant violence, as the toll from a suicide blast in the country’s troubled northwest reached 33.
   Zardari, who won a two-thirds majority in a secret ballot among lawmakers on Saturday, will be sworn in as leader of the world’s only nuclear-armed Islamic state and frontline US ‘war on terror’ ally on Tuesday.
   The new president — the widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto — will take charge of a country that has been riven by Islamic militancy, with nearly 1,200 people killed in bombings and suicide attacks in the past year.
   The militant threat was underscored in the northwestern city of Peshawar during voting Saturday, when a suicide car-bomber rammed a police checkpost killing 33 people and wounding more than 80.
   The unrest is seen as a backlash by militants angry at the support given to the United States by former president Pervez Musharraf, whose August 18 resignation triggered Saturday’s election.
   ‘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,’ Zardari said in an editorial before his win.
   Zardari is also facing pressure from the opposition to reverse controversial changes to the constitution made by Musharraf, which give him the right to dismiss parliament, as well as make key military and judicial appointments.
   ‘Zardari’s first test is that as president he facilitates the transfer of Musharraf’s powers to parliament,’ said Ahsan Iqbal, a former minister and senior figure in the party led by two-time former premier Nawaz Sharif.
   Sharif’s allies have already demanded that Zardari resign as co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, the country’s largest, in the wake of his victory.
   ‘We want the president to be apolitical — that has been the tradition and we hope this tradition is kept,’ Iqbal said.
   The country’s leading newspapers, meanwhile, used editorials Sunday to urge Zardari to remove all doubts about his chequered past and prove he can be trusted.
   ‘There have been more controversial presidents in the past... but none has been as controversial as Zardari at the time of assuming office,’ Dawn, an English-language daily, said in an editorial.
   Zardari, once dubbed ‘Mr Ten Percent,’ spent a total of 11 years in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder. An amnesty signed by Musharraf cleared him of all corruption charges last year and allowed him and Benazir to return to Pakistan and end years in exile.
   ‘The trust deficit is significant,’ the editorial added.
   He is yet to take the presidential oath but Zardari showed he means business Sunday when he stopped millions of Pakistanis from having a day off in his honour.
   But Zardari’s popularity in his home province of Sindh may have taken a dent after he cancelled a celebratory public holiday planned there for Monday.
   ‘The government withdrew the notification about declaring Monday as a holiday after Zardari said it was not the time to go on holiday but to work hard and solve the people’s problems,’ provincial minister Waqar Mehdi said.
   ‘He directed us that there is enough work to do and a lot of problems to solve, which needs little leisure and more work. That’s why the government withdrew the holiday notice,’ he added.
   Pakistan’s economy is also in trouble with rampant inflation and a plunging stock market that has lost around 40 per cent of its value since January, in a country already reliant on foreign aid.
   Zardari, 53, defeated retired chief justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, who was backed by Sharif, and Mushahid Hussain, a close aide of Musharraf, in Saturday’s election.
   He will become the 14th president in Pakistan’s short but turbulent history.
   Leaders across the world congratulated Zardari on his victory.

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, has congratulated the newly elected president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari.
   In a message of felicitation on Sunday, Iajuddin expressed hope that the excellent relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan would be further strengthened during his tenure as president.
   He wished the newly elected president good health and happiness and the friendly people of Pakistan continued peace and prosperity.

The Awami League in separate meetings with its alliance partners on Sunday pledged that the party, in its dialogue with the Election Commission tomorrow, would pursue the demands for immediate announcement of the schedule of parliamentary polls and lifting of the state of emergency.
   The AL is scheduled to hold its third round of talks with the Election Commission tomorrow.
   The crucial issues the AL has agreed to press in the EC talks are – holding of parliamentary elections before any other polls, announcement of the election schedule immediately, withdrawal of the state of emergency and barring the war criminal from contesting the polls.
    Leaders of the AL on Sunday held meetings with three of its alliance partners – Workers Party of Bangladesh, Ganatantri Party and Samyabadi Dal – at the Gulshan residence of acting AL president Zillur Rahman.
   Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon proposed that the AL-led alliance should be reconstituted keeping in view the changing political situation after January 11, 2007.
   Menon said that in the new context the alliance must set new strategies.
   The Awami League came under fire from its allies for attending an iftar party at the Saudi ambassador’s residence in presence of the leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
   In Sunday’s meetings, the allies accused the AL of ‘breach of an understanding’ that it would boycott functions attended by the war criminals, sources said.
   Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon said war criminals should be boycotted socially and politically.
   Acting AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam at a news briefing reaffirmed the
   party’s stance on the war criminals. ‘We want that war criminals should be tried and barred from contesting the elections.’
   Speaking to reporters after their separate meetings at the house of Zillur Rahman, leaders of the three components of the alliance said the AL leaders should not have attended the Iftar party in presence of Jamaat leaders.
   Menon told reporters after the meeting, ‘We do not want to create any confusion…
   The incident [AL’s attending the iftar] has raised questions. The war criminals should be boycotted socially and politically.’
   Asked whether war criminals should be boycotted even at religious functions, he said, ‘We don’t want to hurt religious sentiments. But we want to say that war criminals must be boycotted in every sphere.’
   About Sunday’s meeting with the AL he said that the two parties had agreed to press for announcement of the schedule for national elections immediately, withdrawal of the state of emergency, holding of parliamentary polls prior to any other elections and barring war criminals from contesting elections.
   Ganatantri Party president Mohammad Nurul Islam told reporters that his party had agreed with the AL on a number of issues, including the priority of national elections. ‘We will not contest any polls prior to parliamentary elections’, he said.
   ‘It seems the government wants to keep its control over politics. We have discussed how the country can return to democracy.’
   Acting AL president Zillur Rahman, presidium members Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Matia Chowdhury and acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam took part at the meetings.
   Workers Party team included politburo members Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Fazle Hossain Badsha and central leader Quamrul Ahsan.
   National Awami Party led by Muzaffar Ahmed, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal led by Hasaul Haq Inu and Gana Azadi League, will hold meetings with the AL today.

Accusing Pakistan of misusing the massive American aid to fight the war on terror, Democratic nominee for the US presidential election Barack Obama, in a sensational comment, has said Islamabad was using these funds for ‘preparing for a war against India’.
   Senator Obama vowed to hold Islamabad accountable for the massive military aid it has received from Washington if he is elected to the White House. He said his administration will increase pressure on the Pakistan to come to terms with terrorist safe havens along its northern border with Afghanistan.
   ‘What we can do is stay focused on Afghanistan and put more pressure on the Pakistanis,’ Senator Obama said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on September 5.
   Obama’s interview came a day ahead of Asif Ali Zardari’s victory in the Pakistan presidential election.
   The widower of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto swept the electoral votes on Saturday as a suicide bomber killed at least 30 people in an attack on a police post in the north-western city of Peshawar — underscoring the problems Zardari faces as Pervez Musharraf’s successor.
   He noted that the US was providing Pakistan military aid ‘without having enough strings attached’.
   ‘So they’re (Pakistan) using the military aid...Pakistan...They’re preparing for a war against India,’ senator Obama said.
   Maintaining that he will follow the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the ‘gates of hell’, the Democratic nominee said that this could be accomplished without resorting to sending ground troops to Pakistan.
   Bdnews24.com quoting the same interview reports from Dhaka: Asked by the host if US was still in the middle of ‘The War on Terror’, and if so who was the enemy, Obama replied: ‘al-Qaeda, the Taliban, a whole host of networks that are bent on attacking America, who have a distorted ideology, who have perverted the faith of Islam, and so we have to go after them.’
   sked whether the answer to the Pakistan problem was pulling out funding and support, Obama replied: ‘No, no, no, no. What we say is, look, we’re going to provide them with additional military support targeted at terrorists, and we’re going to help build their democracy.’
   However, he said his future administration is not going to pullout from the war on terror and allow the fundamentalists to take over Pakistan.
   ‘What we say is, look, we’re going to provide them with additional military support, targeted at terrorists, and we’re going to help build their democracy.... We’ve wasted $10 billion with Musharraf without holding them accountable for knocking out those safe havens,’ senator Obama said.
   He stressed that ‘nobody talked about some full-blown invasion of Pakistan’, but ‘we’ve got to put more pressure on Pakistan to do what they need to do’.

India’s state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Company is in talks with UK-based Cairn Energy for taking over Cairn’s production assets in Indian subcontinent, a Scotland-based newspaper reported.
   ‘We are primarily interested in its [Cairn’s] Indian fields, but if the Bangladeshi asset comes up as a package, it is fine,’ the Edinburgh Evening News quoted an ONGC official as saying.
   ‘Cairn has made many discoveries in India and they have a good gas field in Bangladesh, which can be fully exploited,’ he added.
   The chairman and managing director of ONGC, Subir Raha, added that the company was open to any opportunities in and around the subcontinent, said the report posted on Saturday.
   The report said following weekend reports that a bid of £500 million was to be made for Cairn’s production assets in the Indian subcontinent, an unnamed company official confirmed that talks had taken place.
   Cairn has declined to make any official comment on any possible bid coming for the group, one of Britain’s largest indepen-dent energy exploration firms, other than saying that it talks ‘to a lot of people all of the time’.
   Cairn produces around 50 million cubic feet of gas from the offshore Sangu gas
   field in Bangladesh while it is exploring gas at two other prospective offshore sites — Magnama and Hatia under Block 16. Cairn is also the operator of Block 15 in the country.
   In 2005, reports in different Indian media suggested that ONGC would acquire Cairn’s Bangladesh assets. The UK Company, however, sold its 30 per cent share of block 16 to an Australian company, Santos, in 2007.

An inter-ministry meeting Sunday found prices of most of the essential commodities ‘more or less’ stable and food stocks sufficient for meeting market demands in coming months.
   It, however, identified keeping the supply chains uninterrupted, local market’s indifference to global price fall and the government’s obligation to continue special supports for the low-income people as key challenges to keep prices at reasonable level.
   Commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman acknowledged the huge gap in prices between the wholesale and retail markets, but said ‘market control’ was not the solution. ‘Yet if anything irrational is seen in the price differential, necessary steps will be taken,’ he told newsmen after the meeting at the commerce ministry.
   The adviser did not have any quick fix.
   ‘We are still not happy; we are concerned about high prices. We have to continue our various efforts to keep prices stable and support the vulnerable groups.’
   Prices of rice, onion, coarse flour, edible oils and powder milk did not see any fresh rise, though that of sugar and some off-season perishable items marked rises, the adviser said, hoping that supply would increase, should the current flood not deteriorate.
   He said the government would continue market monitoring and readjust different programmes considering the needs of the people and effectiveness of the programmes in each area.
   Zillur, a development economist, pointed out that rural market infrastructures had to be developed to improve connectivity of the rural economy with the urban centres. ‘We do not even have adequate urban wholesale markets. In the long term, we have to improve efficiency of the market so that interests of farmers, consumers and also traders can be equitably ensured.’
   Ruling out any possibility of a food supply crisis, the commerce adviser said the government had nearly 12 lakh tonnes of grains in stock and the supply scenario for the coming months looked better with the declining trend in global commodity prices.
   He pointed out that demand for rice at the open market sales centres had decreased, signalling that market prices of cereals were stable now.
   ‘We may have to close down the sales outlets in North Bengal in view of lesser demand,’ he said.
   Zillur also mentioned that an amount of Tk 20 crore would be injected everyday into the rural market from September 15 when the government would begin implementing the 100-day employment guarantee scheme.

The banned Islamist militant outfits Jagrata Muslim Janata and Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh issued a fresh threat of attack on the offices of law enforcement agencies across the country.
   They also threatened to attack the offices and house of the advisers to the caretaker government.
   One Obaidur Rahman Giashi, a resident of Bhadrapur in Chapainawabganj, claiming himself to be Jamaatul Mujahideen’s military commander, on behalf of the two militant outfits faxed two letters to the offices of the Rapid Action Battalion in Rajshahi and the Rajshahi police commissioner at about 12.45pm August 4, sources concerned said.
   The law enforcers have started investigations, said the sources.
   The Rapid Action Battalion’s director general, Hasan Mahmood Khandkar, told New Age Sunday evening they were aware of the threat and they had initiated investigation in this regard.
   ‘The backbone of the banned Islamist militant outfits has been broken. But one cannot say there are no activities of the outfits.
   The battalion has started investigation in this regard. We are not sure whether the threat has come from the Islamist outfits or any other individuals to create panic. We must find out the people behind the threat and bring them to justice,’ he said.
   ‘Jatrata Muslim Janata and Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh have decided to blow up the headquarters of the battalion and other law enforcement agencies, camps of the joint forces and police commissioner’s offices in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chittagong to fulfill the last wishes of the Shaheed JMB leaders,’ said the letters which were identical.
   ‘We have decided to carry out bomb and grenade attacks as the caretaker
   government after assuming office has continued with its drive against the JMB leaders and activists,’ said the letters. ‘RAB was responsible for the killing of the JMB leaders.’
   The letters also claimed union-level JMB leaders and activists were continuously becoming subject to torture by the army.
   The letters also threatened to attack the offices and houses of the all advisers to the caretaker government.
   The Rajshahi police commissioner, Mahbub Mahsin, on Sunday told New Age the police, RAB and other law enforcement agencies
   had started investigation separately.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s ailing son Tarique Rahman, his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and their daughter Zaima Rahman applied for UK visas on Sunday.
   ‘The process of getting visas for Tarique Rahman, Dr Zubaida Rahman and their daughter Zaima Rahman is underway,’ said Tarique’s lawyer, Ahmed Azam Khan. ‘They applied for British visas on Sunday. They have also applied for visas to the USA and Germany’
   ‘He [Tarique] will fly abroad for treatment later this week if the concerned foreign missions issue the necessary visas,’ he said.
   Tarique’s physician, Dr Kazi Mazharul Islam Dolon, will
   also accompany him and his family, said sources close to Tarique.
   The government released Tarique, the senior joint secretary-general of the party, on September 3 on bail granted by the Supreme Court on health grounds.
   He is now at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital where he has been undergoing treatment since January 31.
   His physician, Dr Kazi Mazharul Islam Dolon,
   said he needs to fly abroad for treatment as soon as possible as his ‘chronic pain’ has worsened.
   ‘His well-wishers should not disturb him as he needs complete rest,’ said the physician.

Political parties on Sunday, on the second day of the dialogue with the Election Commission, asked for immediate announcement of the date for the parliamentary elections without wasting time on upazila polls.
   The EC on Sunday held talks with the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) to try to reach a consensus on registration of political parties by October 15.
   The CPB and JSD separately demanded the lifting of the state of emergency and disqualifying war criminals from contesting elections. The BDB, however, assured the government of its cooperation even if the administration decides to hold the parliamentary polls under the state of emergency.
   The Bangladesh Nationalist Party stayed away from the dialogue, apparently because lots of laws have been made by the government without consulting its leaders.
   According to the schedule, the EC will sit with the Liberal Democratic Party at 10:30am, Islami Oikya Jote at 11:30am, Jatiya Party (Manju) at 12:30pm and the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh at 2:00pm today.
   However, leaders of the Jamaat and IOJ on Sunday said that they would not participate in the dialogue with the EC.
   Leaders of the BDB, CPB and JSD, in reply to a query, said that if the upazila polls delay the parliamentary polls, then the elections to the Parliament must be held first.
   ‘We do want upazila elections — it is demand of the countrymen — but not if they delay the national elections,’ Abdul Mannan, secretary-general of BDB, told reporters in reply to a question after their meeting with the EC.
   The CPB asked the EC not to register the Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party eligible to contest elections. ‘The Jamaat-e-Islami is not eligible for registration as per our Constitution and the EC’s registration rules,’ said CPB’s general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim, who led the party’s five-member delegation to the dialogue.
   ‘The conditions for registration need to be relaxed to accommodate the newly-emerged political parties,’ said Selim.
   JSD’s president Hasanul Huq Inu, who led his party’s delegation, also said that they had urged the EC to relax or scrap some conditions for registration of parties.

The Rapid Action Battalion early Sunday arrested four young men at Mirpur in Dhaka on charge of hacking into the battalion’s web site (www.rab.gov.bd) on Friday.
   The arrested are Shahee Mirza, 21, of Taherpur in Sunamganj, Sayeed Mohammad Istiaq, 21, of Ranabijaypur in Bagerhat, Mohammad Zayedul Hossain, 21, of Palash in Narsingdi and Mohammad Tawhidul Islam, 21, of Joydevpur in Gazipur.
   The battalion said one of its teams raided a house at Mirpur at around 12:30am and arrested the suspects.
   The battalion’s communications director, Commander Moinul Hoque, said, ‘We have arrested four suspects at a house at Mirpur. They admitted to being involved in defacing the battalion’s web site.’
   The battalion’s director general Hassan Mahmood Khankdar at a briefing in its headquarters at Uttara said the arrested had committed a crime by hacking into the web site and they will be punished under the Information and Communications Technology Act 2006.’
   The prime suspect, Shahee Mirza, said he and his associates were students of a private institution at Mirpur and he had defaced the battalion’s web site out of curiosity and nothing else as he faked his internet protocol address and posted his name and valid e-mail address during defacement.
   According to the battalion, Shahee hacked into 22 web sites of various organisations between July 17, 2007 and September 6, 2008.
   The battalion’s web site was hacked into on Friday by a person who claimed himself genius and 10 times superior than the battalion’s IT experts. After hacking, he posted on the site a message which said, ‘Hacked by Shahee-Mirza.’
   He alleged the government had not taken sufficient steps for the development of information technology in Bangladesh although it had made laws to prevent cyber crimes.
   Shahee in the message posted on the site further said, ‘You don’t know what cyber security is and you don’t know how to protect yourselves either.
   ’Hackers are no criminals, but they happen to be at least ten times better than your (RAB) experts. You guys can’t even perceive how meritorious we are.’

A highway robber was shot dead by the police during bus robbery at Hazrahati crossing on Chuadanga-Alamdanga road early Sunday morning.
   The police said two night coaches — Chuadanga Delux and Purbasha Paribahan — left Gabtali in capital Dhaka for Alamdanga of Chuadanga at about 8:00pm on Saturday night.
   After reaching sadar upazila headquarters, ‘Chuadanga Delux’ authority took three police constables on board as escort at about 3:00am apprehending robbery on the road.
   As the buses reached Hazrahati crossing, a gang of highway robbers swooped on these felling trees on the road.
   Sensing danger, the cops —Tariqul Islam, Alamgir Hossain and Toriqul Islam — opened fire on the robbers, leaving one of them dead on the spot. The other robbers managed to flee the scene.
   The dead was Noor alias Noore Kana, 55, hailed from Bhandardaha in sadar upazila.
   Chuadanga Delux driver Mumtaz said the police fired 20 gunshots on the bandits when they attacked the passengers with sharp weapons.

Bangladeshi garment exporters have suffered a major setback in their single largest market as Vietnam has taken over Bangladesh’s position of the second largest supplier to the USA in terms of volume.
   Quoting fresh data sent from the USA, sources at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said that in the January-June period of the current year, Vietnam’s apparel shipments increased by more than 26 per cent to 706 million square metres.
   Bangladesh’s shipments to the USA, in that period, increased by less than one per cent (0.78 per cent) to 679 million units.
   In the first half of the last year Bangladesh was the second largest supplier to the American market with shipments recorded at 673 million units while Vietnam stood third with 559 million units.
   However China, the top supplier, faced a more than 7 per cent decline in shipments as it exported 3,146 million square metres or equivalent units of readymade apparels. Shipments from Honduras, the fourth largest supplier, increased by more than 12 per cent, while Mexico stood fifth after suffering more than 15 per cent decline in shipments.
   The president of the BGMEA, Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, said poor growth in shipments was the result of economic recession in the American market and intensified competition from other competitors.
   ‘Exporters are passing though a critical period as they are not getting the expected volumes of orders from the US buyers who procure the major portion of the cut and sewn and woven garments made in Bangladesh,’ he said.
   Around 30 per cent of Bangladesh’s garment export proceeds come from the US importers who buy more than 60 per cent of its woven garments.
   Renowned industry analyst Professor Mustafizur Raman said the poor growth of Bangladesh’s apparel shipments to the American market indicated that competition has intensified among global suppliers, who are now targeting the markets of low-cost and basic category apparels.
   ‘The Vietnamese exporters, blessed by higher productivity in their factories, and efficiency and advanced skills in their business operations, have increased their market share in the USA and have apparently grabbed the market share lost by the Chinese,’ said Mustafiz.
   However Mustafiz, who is the executive director of prominent think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue, pointed out that Bangladeshi exporters have increased their earnings by nearly seven per cent in spite of lesser growth in the volume of exports.
   ‘Bangladeshi exporters are gradually diverting to production of upmarket garments that are required for the much-talked-about value addition,’ he said.
   He advised Bangladeshi garment exporters to increase productivity in their factories and enhance the skills of workers for more cost-effective production, and also attain the capacity to market their products professionally.
   The Bangladeshi garment exporters, either in USA or EU market, mainly concentrate on the quantities of garment exports because they are fond of making low-cost and basic category apparels.
   Bangladesh, according to data provided by the BGMEA, in terms of value of exports stood sixth with $1.62 billion earned from apparel exports to the USA during the period, while Vietnam stood second with export earning of $2.35 billion. Indonesia stood third with $2.02 billion and Mexico third with $1.99 billion.

Leaders of garment workers and right activists on Sunday asked the factory owners to give the workers legitimate wages and improve relation with them instead of giving threat to close factories.
   They made the observations following Saturday’s threat of closure by the owners of 91 garment factories in Gazipur in case of vandalism of factories.
   As the workers are not getting living wages, their sense of belongingness to the factories is eroding making the security of industries vulnerable, they said.
   ‘The factory owners should set a deadline to solve the problems of workers, not to close down the factories,’ said Mushrefa Mishu, convenor of the Garment Sramik Oikya Parishd.
   ‘If workers are truly supported by their employers, they (workers) will be the best security for the factories,’ she said.
   Aminul Haque Amin, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, stressed orientation and motivation of workers before introducing trade unions or workers participatory committees in factories.
   Syed Sultan Ahmed, executive director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, said, ‘The threat of closure by some factory owners may raise question whether they are trying to deprive the workers just before the Eid. If workers are paid fairly all problems will be solved.’

The Maldives is to hold its first multi-party presidential election next month as part of sweeping political reforms in the Sunni Muslim nation, a minister said Sunday.
   The tourist paradise is due to hold a national vote to elect a new president for a five-year term under the constitution ratified in August, the legal reforms minister, Mohamed Nasheed, said by telephone from Male.
   ‘Elections will be before October 10,’ Nasheed said.
   An exact date is yet to be fixed.
   Political parties were recognised in 2005 when the president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia’s longest-serving ruler, launched reforms after pro-democracy protests. Gayoom, 70, has been in power since 1978.
   It was previously illegal for anyone to offer himself as a candidate for the presidency. A candidate instead had to be selected by the 50-member majlis, or national parliament.
   Eight members of the majlis were appointees of the incumbent president.
   The candidate chosen by the parliament had to then go before the 370,000-strong electorate and win a ‘yes’ vote at a referendum.
   The new constitution also creates independent bodies for the judiciary, police, defence and corruption investigations.
   Nasheed said a new elections commissioner and prosecutor general were appointed last week, while a general electoral bill and a bill on presidential elections were before parliament.
   Currently, there are 12 political parties registered in the country.
   The presidential election bill sets out a 30-day campaign period ahead of the poll.
   Gayoom has said he wanted to contest the country’s first multi-party polls, which looked likely to be challenged by at least eight others, including two former ministers.

An urgent inquiry was underway in Britain on Sunday after a disc containing the perso- nal details of 5,000 justice staff went missing in yet another embarrassing data loss blunder.
   Those affected are employees of the National Offender Management Service, who may include many prison officers.
   ‘We believe nearly all of this data related to financial information — for example, invoices from Prison Service suppliers,’ said a ministry of justice spokeswoman.
   ‘However, we believe there is also a limited amount of personal information on around 5,000 NOMS employees including their names, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and employee numbers.’
   According to a letter obtained by the News of the World newspaper, which it published on Sunday, private contractor EDS told the Prison Service in July that the hard drive had gone astray. The missing disc was last seen in July 2007.
   ‘I am extremely concerned about this missing data,’ the justice secretary, Jack Straw, said in a statement, adding that he was only informed about it on Saturday.
   He said he had ‘ordered an urgent inquiry into the circumstances and the implications of the data loss and the level of risk involved.
   ‘I have also asked for a report as to why I was not informed as soon as my department became aware of this issue. My officials are also in touch with EDS as part of these processes. We take these matters extremely seriously.’
   The news is the latest in a series of revelations in the past year of government data security blunders, with the Ministry of Defence last month admitting that more than 700 laptops had been lost or stolen since 2004.
   Last November, the government admitted it had lost confidential records for 25 million Britons who receive child benefit payments, and in January, the MoD revealed that a laptop with details of some 600,000 people interested in joining the armed forces had been stolen from a naval officer.
   And the interior ministry admitted Thursday that personal details relating to every criminal in England and Wales had been lost.
   PA Consulting informed the Home Office earlier last week that a computer memory stick which also contained information about thousands of prolific criminals was lost by the contractor.
   The memory stick contained data on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales, as well as information from the Police National Computer of around 30,000 people with six or more convictions.

The interim government has gone for large-scale installation of renewable energy sources like solar panels giving the rural poor a tough choice of consuming high-cost electricity.
   The Power Division has already instructed the Rural Electrification Board to supply solar energy to rural consumers by installing solar panels and the poor consumers are claimed to have responded positively failing to get the cheap electricity from the gridline.
   The division also formed a national steering committee, headed by special assistant to the chief adviser, M Tamim, comprising energy experts to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in the country.
   The committee in its maiden meeting on Sunday decided go for campaign in rural areas to motivate school students to influence their parents to subscribe solar energy while in urban schools to promote energy efficiency.
   ‘The poor consumers, who do not get any electricity from the gridline, want to get electricity of any sort without knowing the high cost they will have to pay for solar energy,’ said an REB official, adding that the goal of establishing the REB to serve people is in question due to the move.
   Officials of REB said studies were conducted at 34 palli bidyut samities (formed with consumers of a certain area) out of 70 across the country and the REB found that up to 10,000 solar panels could be installed in each of the samities. They said around 2 lakh consumers had so far been identified who wanted solar energy.
   Many officials, however, alleged that the samity officials in some areas hurriedly completed the study to show that more consumers were interested in taking the solar energy.
   In Phase I, as per the REB plan, it will give at least 10,000 solar panels in each of 11 samities out of the surveyed 34 samities, 4,000-10,000 solar panels to each of eight samities and 1,000-4,000 panels to each of the remaining 15 samities.
   The board will charge consumers Tk 171 per month for taking 24-watt capacity panels, Tk 195 for 31-watt, Tk 291 for 43-watt and Tk 363 for 51-watt capacity panels.
   The REB consumers, who get electricity from the gridline, pay Tk 90 for getting minimum 25 units of electricity per month. If their consumption crosses 25 units, they pay around Tk 3 for each of additional units.
   ‘If we calculate the price of solar power, for 10 units of electricity each consumer will have to pay Tk 171 per month,’ said a REB official, saying that it is a clear discrepancy between the consumers having access and without access to gridline electricity in a same PBS area.
   ‘Besides, the quality of light of solar energy is not adequate to serve the purpose of the consumers,’ he observed.
   The REB was set up in the late 1970’s with the aim to serve the rural people and brining a change in their socio-economic situation, officials at REB said.
   The REB has opted for installing solar panels in remote off-grid areas as its attempt to give solar energy to other areas failed earlier.
   Also, many private-sector companies installed around 2.5 lakh solar panels in the country so far.
   Some REB officials alleged that the government after failing to generate adequate conventional electricity had now ‘imposed’ high-cost electricity to ‘serve the interest of so-called development partners to sell their solar panels in the country’.
   Power Division officials, however, denied the allegations, saying that the division had instructed to supply solar energy only to those areas where it would not be possible to supply grid line electricity at present.
   ‘Everyone knows there is electricity in the country. So if people get solar energy, where is the problem? No one is forcing them to take the panel,’ said a source in the division.
   The chide adviser’s special assistant Tamim told journalists recently that they had instructed the REB to promote solar energy in rural areas. ‘We, however, did not give any directive on the monthly charge,’ he said.
   When his attention was drawn to the REB planned high charge, Tamim said he would look into the matter.
   When asked why he was promoting renewable energy although he used to say that the renewable energy had no solution to solve electricity crisis in the country, Tamim said, ‘I still say that renewable energy will not solve the entire energy crisis. But it can play a supplementary role to mitigate the conventional energy crisis. That’s why we are promoting renewable energy.’

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, is scheduled to leave for Beijing on September 15 on a four-day official visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao.
   The foreign secretary, Touhid Hossain, on Sunday told New Age the chief adviser would call on the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, and hold bilateral talks with Wen Jiabao.
   Touhid said the chief adviser’s visit to China visit was scheduled earlier, but was delayed because of the earthquake in the Sichuan province and later the Beijing Olympics.

The newly-formed Seventh Pay Commission will start its work at a makeshift office next week, said official sources.
   ‘We are hoping that we will be able to begin work from next week,’ M Mustafizur Rahman, the commission’s chairman and former finance secretary, told New Age on Sunday.
   He expressed his determination to fix an adequate pay scale for public servants, taking into consideration the government’s ability, market prices and needs of the officers and employees.
   Four permanent members of the Seventh Pay Commission have already visited five government houses to choose the office of the commission, which is comprised of 13 members.
   They also met the finance secretary, Mohammad Tareq, at the finance ministry and discussed the human resources and financial support the commission would need for running its office.
   The government formed the Seventh National Pay Commission on August 30 to review and recommend a revised pay structure for civil servants and pensioners within six months.

The High Court Sunday granted bail for four months to detained ex-BNP lawmaker Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu along with his wife in the tax-evasion case filed against him by the National Board of Revenue.
   Granting the interim order, a vacation bench of the High Court Division comprising Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mamnoon Rahman also stayed the case proceedings against the petitioner.
   Lawyer Asaduzzaman appeared for the former lawmaker from old Dhaka, who faces a litany of litigations involving extortion, land grabbing, graft and so, amid a purge in the interim period.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has sent a fourth list of seven individuals to the Truth and Accountability Commission for considering their clemency applications.
   ‘Yes, we sent Sunday a list of seven persons to TAC. The relevant documents have also been sent with the list,’ the ACC director general (admin), Col Hanif Iqbal, told the news agency.
   He said the seven individuals include a union parishad chairman, engineers from Roads and Highways and Water Development Board, and two of their wives.
   With the day’s list, the ACC has now forwarded four lists to the TAC containing a total of 55 corrupt persons.
   Meanwhile, Hanif informed that the ACC chairman, Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, flies for Norway Sunday night at 9:30 to attend a seminar. The ACC chairman is expected to return on September 18, he said.

A Dhaka court on Sunday issued arrest warrant against Shahdab Akbar Chowdhury, son of former Awami League minister Sajeda Chowdhury, in a tax evasion case.
   Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions judge M Azizul Haque passed the order and fixed September 10 for hearing the case.
   The court’s order came after Abdullah Amin, deputy tax commissioner, filed the case against Shahdab for evading tax of Tk 1.19 crore.
   According to the case, Shahdab concealed his income of Tk 6.04 crore from 1999 to June 30 of 2006 and did not pay Tk 1.19 crore as tax on the income.
   Earlier, the same court had issued another arrest warrant against Shahdab for amassing wealth illegally. The trial of the case is now going on at the special court in his absence.

Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad, a combine of labour organisations, on Sunday termed irresponsible the threat issued by garment factory owners to shut down the units.
   Owners of garment factories in Gazipur on Saturday threatened that they would close down 350 factories located in the district if the labour unrest did not stop by September 25.
   The SKOP leaders in a press statement said it was ominous that the garment factory owners made the threat of factory closure before Eid-ul-Fitr. Such threats are irresponsible and an attempt to avoid an amicable solution to the problems facing the sector.
   ‘The factory owners should try to find out the reasons for the on-going labour unrest in the garment factories instead of issuing such threats. Closure of factories can never bring a solution to the problems’, the statement said.
   The owners should try to find out who are behind the spread of rumours provoking ransacking of garment factories.
   For an amicable solution to the problems and ensuring stability in the garment sector, the owners should increase the workers’ wage and clear their dues considering their hardships.
   The SKOP leaders called on the government to play an effective role in resolving the crisis in the garment sector.
   The factory owners should take labour leaders into confidence and discuss the problems with them with an open mind, the SKOP said.
   The SKOP also called for restoration of the trade union rights, suspended under the state of emergency, to enable labour leaders to play a role in ending the crisis.
   The signatories to the statement included Abul Bashar, Abdul Matin Master, Abdullah Sarker, Shah Mohammad Abu Zafar, Mohammad Nurul Islam, Abdul Kader Hawlader, Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam, Wazedul Islam Khan and Shafiqur Rahman Majumder.

The pass percentage in the 2007 bachelor’s (pass course) examination under the National University stands at 56.99. The results were published on Sunday.
   A total of 67,095 examinees took the final examinations (3rd year) and 38,236 of them came out successful. Of the successful examinees, 1,627 obtained 1st class while 29,923 2nd class and 6,686 3rd class from all groups.
   The results of the bachelor’s (pass) examinations of the 1st year, 2nd year, subsidiary and the certificate course examinations under the National University were also published.
   A total of 83,776 students took the 1st year exams and 78,180 passed with a 93.32 per cent success rate. In 2nd year exams, 67,051 out of 71,506 passed with 93.77 per cent pass rate.
   A number of 1,634 students took the subsidiary examinations and 674 of them passed while 589 took certificate course and 358 of them succeeded.