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Hasan Mashhud Chow-dhury on Thursday resigned as chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission amid ‘evolving situation’ after leading a massive drive during the military-controlled interim government against corruption, in which least 156 people, including 70 high-profile politicians, were convicted and more than 200 politicians, including two top leaders and their cabinet colleagues, were kept in prison.
   ‘I think such a situation has cropped up now that a new leadership is essential to bring dynamism in commission activities,’ Hasan Mashhud told an impromptu briefing at the commission headquarters.
   Sending his resignation letter to Bangabhaban at about noon, Hasan Mashhud met his officials at the headquarters at 3:00pm to say goodbye to them and later at 4:00pm briefed newsmen.
   ‘You might have heard something [about resignation] and that is true… I have resigned at the wish of almighty Allah,’ Mashhud said, beginning his briefing.
   Hasan Mashhud, also a former army chief, did not answer any questions of newsmen.
   Hasan Mashhud, who along with three others in the cabinet resigned as an adviser to the caretaker government then led by former president Iajuddin Ahmed on December 11, 2006, was made chairman of the commission on February 22, 2007 after his predecessor Justice Sultan Hossain Khan and two other members of the commission had to resign after the January 11, 2007 changeover which established a military-controlled interim government.
   After his assumption of office, Hasan Mashhud at a press briefing on February 25, 2007, in a commanding voice, said, ‘This time the fight will be against corruption and so, no more resignations.’
   He, however, did not detail the reason for his resignation which came two years and eight days inside his office of the corruption watchdog.
   ‘There is no need for more details of the situation I tell you about as you all are well aware of the situation,’ he said.
   He continued saying, ‘The issue of containing corruption is yet to be resolved. There is still scope for work [to uproot corruption]. I hope the future leadership will continue with stamping out corruption swiftly and effectively.’
   As Mashhud was ploughing his way out through journalists after the short briefing, the journalists asked him why he resigned and whether there was any pressure from the government. But he kept heading towards his car parked on the premises of the commission headquarters without answering the journalists.
   He, however, turned back and gave a cold look as the journalists asked him whether he resigned to put the Awami League government in an awkward position.
   The state minister for law, Quamrul Islam, told reporters he was happy about the resignation as Hasan Mashhud had been used by the military-controlled interim government to harass politicians.
   ‘I am personally happy to know that Hasan Mashhud has resigned. He was used to harass politicians during the tenure of the immediate-past interim government,’ Quamrul told reporters in his office.
   He, however, said, Hasan Mashhud was neither removed nor asked to resign by the government.
   Asked whether there was non-cooperation from the government of the Awami League which assumed office early January, Quamrul replied in the negative, saying the government would allow the commission to function independently.
   Hasan Mashhud’s resignation came after lawmakers of both the ruling Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party had demanded in the parliament that he should resign with the new government assuming office after the December 29, 2008 elections.
   The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on February 4 also told the parliament, ‘The ACC should be reconstituted to ensure its accountability.’
   During the tenure of Hasan Mashhud as chairman of the commission, 165 people, including 70 politicians, were convicted of corruption by special judge’s courts set up by the military-controlled interim government.
   The commission on October 20, 2008 submitted a list of convicts to the interim government, informing it that 114 people, including 70 politicians, were convicted in corruption cases under the Emergency Powers Rules 2007.
   Of the 70 politicians convicted, 41 are of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, 25 of the Awami League, 3 of the Jatiya Party led by Anwar Hossain Manju and 1 of the Islami Oikya Jote.
   The commission have lodged 1,216 cases since February 22, 2007. As of February 12, 836 of the cases filed were under investigation and charge sheets in 151 cases were still to be approved by the commission.
   The High Court has so far stayed the proceedings of 344 cases, including 151 which were under trial. Trial of 370 cases, including 19 cases against 18 politicians, is pending.
   Almost all of the convicts and the accused, mostly politicians, have already been released on bail while the commission has paid Tk 13 crore to its lawyers employed to deal with the cases.
   Quamrul Islam questioned the expenses by the anti-corruption body, saying all the money spent during the time on dealing with the cases was wasted.
   ‘The commission has spent Tk 13 crore on the payment of lawyers’ fees in dealing with the corruption cases, mostly against politicians who are now released from jail. The chairman must give in details how public fund was spent on other purposes also during the period,’ the state minister said.
   He said all the cases against the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, were false and motivated.
   Asked whether the government would take any initiatives to withdraw cases against the leader of the house, Hasina, and the leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, Quamrul, who is a lawyer, said the corruption cases were proceeding in accordance with laws as no decision had so far been made in this regard.
   He, however, said all false cases should be withdrawn.
   Hasan Mashhud, however, said, ‘I think the time to evaluate our job is yet to come as the problem [of corruption] is a vast issue. I would term our activities of two years successful if our primary task creates any positive impact on society.’

The state minister for law, Quamrul Islam, on Thursday said he was happy about the resignation of Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury as chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission as he (Mashhud) had been used by the military-controlled interim government to harass politicians.
   ‘I am personally happy to know that Hasan Mashhud has resigned. He was used to harass politicians during the previous interim government’s tenure,’ Quamrul told reporters in his office when he was informed the ACC chairman had resigned.
   He, however, said, Hasan Mashhud was neither removed nor asked to resign by the government.
   After tendering his resignation on Thursday, Hasan Mashhud said the commission now required a new leadership to bring in dynamism as the situation was evolving.
   Asked whether there was non-cooperation from the government of the Awami League which assumed office early January, Quamrul replied in the negative, saying the government would allow the ACC to function independently.
   The state minister questioned the expenses of the Anti-Corruption Commission, saying all the money spent during the time on dealing with the cases was wasted.
   ‘The commission has spent Tk 13 crore on the payment of lawyers’ fees to deal with the corruption cases mostly against politicians who are now released from jails. The chairman must give details how public fund was used for other purposes during the period,’ the state minister said.
   He said the all the cases against the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, were false and motivated.
   Asked whether the government would take any initiatives to withdraw cases against the leader of the house, Hasina, and the leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, Quamrul, who is a lawyer, said the corruption cases were proceeding in accordance with laws as no decision had so far been made in this regard.
   He, however, said all false cases should be withdrawn.

The Awami League won 3 seats, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party 2 and the Jatiya Party one seat in the by-elections to six of the seven vacated parliamentary constituencies, according to unofficial results announced on Thursday.
   The AL retained Kishoreganj 6 and Rangpur 6 constituencies and won Kurigram 2 while the main opposition BNP retained Bogra 6 and 7seats, and the JP retained the Rangpur 3 cosntituency while it lost the Kurigram 2 seat to the AL.
   The number of general seats of the ruling AL in parliament has now increased from 230 to 231, while the strength of BNP remains the same at 29 and that of the JP reduced to 26 seats.
   Apart from some stray incidents of clashes between supporters of rival candidates, the polls held amid tight security, were peaceful but lacked spontaneous participation of the voters.
   Seventeen candidates on the tickets of five political parties contested the polls for six vacated seats of the ninth parliament. There will be no election to the Bagerhat 1 constituency, vacated by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, as her cousin Sheikh Helal Uddin, the Awami League-nominated candidate, has won the seat unopposed.
   At least 12 people were injured when police charged batons on supporters of rival Awami League and BNP involved in a clash in Kurigram.
   The BNP and the JP separately accused the ruling AL of influencing the administration to win the election.
   BNP candidate Jamiruddin Sircar, also former speaker of Jatiya Sangsad, won the Bogra 7 seat while BNP leader and former minister Moudud Ahmed took Bogra 6.
    According to unofficial results, Jamiruddin Sircar polled 1,39,531 votes in 108 polling centres while his nearest rival, AL candidate Mumtaz Uddin got 53,430 votes.
    In Bogra 7, Moudud polled 1,75,790 votes in 148 polling centres followed by AL’s Mustafa Alam with 97,285 votes.
   According to unofficial results from Rangpur 3, Rawshan Ershad of the JP won the seat polling 87,847 votes beating his nearest rival, BNP’s Rahim Uddin Bharasa, who got 25,524 votes. Sirajul Islam of Khelafat Majlis got 1,000 votes while Gana Forum candidate Krishak Mohammad Sadek received 456 votes.
   In Rangpur 6, Abul Kalam Azad of the AL was declared winner. He polled 1,12,415 votes to defeat his nearest rival Nur Mohammad Mandal of BNP who received 36,067 votes. Abed Ali of Gana Forum got 848 votes.
   AL candidate Nazmul Hasan Papon, also son of president Zillur Rahman, glided to victory in the Kishoreganj 6 by-election polling 1,06,147 votes while his nearest rival Shariful Alam of the BNP got 68,327 votes.
   According to unofficial results of Kurigram 2 constituency, Jafar Ali of the AL has been elected obtaining 1,40,784 votes while his nearest rival Golam Habib Dulal of JP received 46,619 votes. The BNP candidate Tajul Islam Choudhury got 12,915 votes and Mostafizur Rahman of Islami Andolan got 13,439 votes. The percentage of the votes cast was 64.71.
   Meanwhile, the defeated BNP candidate in Rangpur 3, Rahimuddin Bharasa and JP’s candidate in Kurigram 2, Golam Habib Dulal rejected the results.
   The Kurigram district BNP, at a press conference, complained that their supporters were intimidated and agents driven out of polling centres.
   Office secretary of BNP central committee Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and local BNP leaders, including Idris Ali, were present at the press conference held at hotel Arnob Palace in the town at 11:30am.
   .Rizvi said their polling agents at Shibrum GP School, Mandalpara GP School, Kurigram Alia Madrassah and Dudhkhawa Primary School centres under Rajarhat upazila were driven out by Awami League supporters.
   Jatiya Party candidate Golam Habib Dulal at another press conference at 6:00pm alleged that his agents were assaulted and turned away from many polling centres by the supporters of his rival. He called for cancellation of the votes in 30 polling centres.
   The Kishoreganj 6 seat had fallen vacant after AL veteran Zillur Rahman was elected president of the republic while prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who won three seats in the December 29 parliamentary polls, gave up Rangpur 6 and Bagerhat 1, leader of the opposition in parliament Khaleda Zia, winning three seats, vacated Bogra 6 and Bogra 7 and Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad, also elected from three places, gave up Kurigram 2 and Rangpur 3.
   Large numbers of police, ansar and Rapid Action Battalion personnel were deployed as army and BDR were not assigned to the election duties. The Election Commission, for the first time in its history, held parliamentary polls under its own officials as returning and assistant returning officers.
   Astami Snan begins Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Narayanganj
   The two-day annual Astami Snan, a religious festival of the Hindus begun at Langal Bandh under Bander in Narayanganj on Thursday.
   Langal Bandh turned into a place of pilgrimage as tens of thousands of devotees from across the country, and neighbouring India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, dipped into the River Brahmaputra at about 10:30am.
   Twenty five reception camps were set up to receive the pilgrims for overnight stay rest and leisure.
   The rituals of Astami Snan will continue till 8:30am on Friday in 13 ghats without any break. The ghats are Premtoli, Rajghat, Kalighat, Gundhi ghat and Makura Sadhur ghat.
   Other programmes include sacrifice, kirton, Basanti puja fair, devotional song and feeding to the devotees.
   The district administration, Hindu welfare Kallyan Trust and Narayanganj district Unit of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society arranged medical team and were providing other services with 40 shallow tubewells, 60 temporary toilets, illumination of ghats as night.
   According to Hindu belief Parsuram, a saint killed his mother Mugha Debi by the order of his father Jamadugnami with an axe. By the order of divinity he bathed at the slope of the Himalayan waterfall on this day of the lunar month. The axe dropped from his hand and freed himself from sin.
   Some 500 policemen, 200 volunteers, 25 armed police battalion, Ansar and VDP have been deployed in the area, the police said

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, in spite of alleging irregularities at a number of polling centres in Thursday’s by-election in six constituencies, accepted the verdict in two constituencies in Bogra.
   The party’s joint secretary-general, M Abdul Mannan, at a briefing in the party’s office in Gulshan, said the BNP would surely have swept the elections or the gap in the number of votes would have been higher if there had been no irregularities.
   The party also demanded re-election in the centres where irregularities had taken place.
   Mannan said that the Awami League’s activists had intimidated the people and barred them from going to the voting centres, and driven away the BNP’s candidates and polling agents from the stations in Bogra-6, Bogra-7, Kishoregang-6, Kurigram-3, Rangpur-3 and Rangpur-6 constituencies.
   Most of his allegations of irregularities were about centres in two constituencies.
   He said the voters were intimidated and barred from going to the polling centres and the polling agents were ousted from the Chalitabari, Tapasi, Chakgorai and Chikpara Madrassah centres in Bogra-6, Sukhanpukur MR School and Kadamtali centres in Bogra-7. ‘Awami League’s thugs also drove out the party’s candidate from Bogra-6 and his polling agents from Jamtala centre,’ said Mannan.
   In Kishoreganj the voters were intimidated in many places and barred from going to the Bhairab Matrisadan and Aftabul Ulum Marassah centres, he said, adding that similar incidents had taken place in 17 centres in Kurigram and Rangpur.
   Mannan said the party had already informed the Election Commission of the irregularities and filed formal complaints.

Low turnout of voters and concealed dominance of the ruling party inside and outside polling centres marked the by-election to Kishoreganj 6 parliamentary constituency on Thursday.
   Except a queue in front of a females’ booth at Bashgari Government Primary School centre and Shibpur Government Primary School centre for a little while in the afternoon, the turnout of voters in all the centers was very low.
   Ruling Awami League’s candidate Nazmul Hasan Papon, also son of president Zillur Rahman, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party candidate Shariful Alam were in the race for the Kishoreganj 6 constituency which fell vacant after Zillur Rahman became the president of the republic.
   Local government officials in Bhairab and Kuliarchar upazilas led by Kishoreganj deputy commissioner Mahbubul Alam received Papon when he came to cast his vote at the Bhairab MP Pilot High School centre at 9:15am.
   When asked whether Papon was received by officials because he was a ruling party candidate, the DC replied in the negative and said that the officials were present just to ensure security.
   The BNP candidate’s polling agent Saiful Islam Kakon at the same centre alleged that a couple of female activists of the ruling party were allowed to cast false votes.
   Kakon told reporters that he had objected to that and was barred from re-entering the centre after he returned from lunch at about 1:00pm.
   At Shimul Kandi centre’s booth number six, five voters were seen stamping ballot papers in front of all while Bangladesh Chhatra League’s local leader Deen Islam was organising voters inside the center.
   A young man who identified himself as Nayan Kumar Das was allowed to cast vote although the photograph on the identity card and the age mentioned did not match his claim.
   When asked why the person was allowed to vote although his face did not match the ID photo, assistant presiding officer Abdur Razzak said he was allowed because none of the agents objected.
   When BNP agents wanted to leave the place, the AL agents requested them not to do so. The BNP agents, however, refused to talk to reporters on the issue.
   BNP agent Shafiqul Islam at Murshif Majid High School centre, said he did not allow three persons to cast vote because their faces did not match the ID photographs.
   Abdul Hakim Munshi, an aged voter, at Choishuti Union High School centre alleged that he had sought assistance to stamp the symbol of ‘sheaf of paddy’ on the ballot but Enamul Huq, brother of a local AL leader, snatched away his paper and stamped the symbol of ‘boat’ and put the ballot into the box.
   Polling officer Abdul Malek admitted the incident and said the presiding officer had been informed about the matter.
   Presiding officer Abdul Mannan Talukder said he had heard about the incident.
   ‘It is an isolated and insignificant incident’, Takulder added.
   There were also allegations against AL activists of persuading voters and taking them from their homes to polling centres.
   AL supporter Dhon Miah at Tiarirchar Government Primary School centre told New Age that he had been working hard since the voting started at 8:00 am, bringing in voters and helping them inside the centres as the voluntary turnout remained quite low.
   When asked about the unauthorised presence of Dhon Miah inside the centre, presiding officer Mahbubur Rahman said just before the closing of the ballots that the man had just come and would soon leave.
   Dhon Miah said his target was ensuring at least 800 votes while polling officials at the end of the voting at 4:00pm announced 817 votes out of a total of 1,101 were cast.
   New Age correspondent visiting Laxmipur Haji Raja Miah Government Primary School centre came to know at 8:45am that only 13 out of 461 votes were cast in booth number five.
   Till 9:50am at the Shibpur Government Primary Schools booth number four, only 77 out of 501 voters had exercised their rights to franchise.
   At Bashgari Islamia Dakhil Madrasa centre for female voters, only 42 out of 451 votes were cast in booth number five till 10:10am.
   In booth number five of another female centre at Bashgari Government Primary School, only 18 out of 330 votes were cast till 10:30am.
   At the Gazaria Government Primary School centre’s booth number six, 50 out of 423 votes were cast till 10:50am.
   In booth number three of Manikdi Purangaon Government Primary School centre, 197 out of 498 votes were cast till 11:35am.

The investigators produced a total of 796 members of the Bangladesh Rifles, who were arrested earlier in connection with the February-25-26 rebellion at the BDR headquarters, in the metropolitan magistrates’ court for their personal appearances.
   The authorities had to designate eight magistrates to deal with nearly 100 accused at each of the courts, which hampered the regular functions of the court, according to officials.
   Production of so large a number of accused, mostly paramilitary soldiers, who allegedly rebelled against their officers in late February, in a single
   court is unprecedented in the court’s history, they said.
   The magistrates set May 12 for personal appearances of the soldiers and for submission of the investigation reports on the rebellion case filed on March 28 by Lalbagh police officer-in-charge, Nabajyoti Khisha, for killing 81 people, most of whom were army officers, at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters.
   ‘Today (Thursday) was scheduled for personal appearances of the soldiers, who were sent to jail after being arrested in the rebellion case. They (suspects) would be produced in court with the submission of investigation report,’ Metropolitan public prosecutor, Md Abdullah Abu told New Age.
   Of the soldiers, 391 were brought from the Dhaka central jail by eight prison vans in the morning while the rest 405 from Kashimpur central jail in Gazipur were brought by 12 prison vans in the afternoon, the courts’ police said.
   Thirty more BDR members, who are now under the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department for interrogation, were not produced in courts, the police said.
   The number of soldiers, detained in the case related to the mutiny, killing, arson and taking officers and their families hostage, raised to 821 on Wednesday.
   All were taken in groups to eight separate courts, including the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate, AKM Enamul Haque, amidst tight security, witnesses said, adding that no reporters were allowed to enter the courtroom during the hearing.
   Relatives of the arrested BDR members were seen standing on the court premises with foods, but nobody could reach them.
   Rikta Begum came to court from Kustia to see her brother, BDR cook Mujibur Rahman, who was detained at the BDR headquarters immediately after the rebellion ended on February 26.
   Rikta was pleading with the on-duty police to let her meet her brother with food but she was refused. ‘After Mujibor’s arrest, no salary and benefits were paid to him, the lone earning person of his six-member family,’ she said crying.
   Like, Rikta, Delwar Hossain, father of the detained soldier Sujan, and Sirazul Islam, brother of the soldier Moniruzzaman were seen waiting on the court premises but nobody could meet the detainees.
   Lawyers, litigants and detainees in other cases were facing problems as magistrates and court officials were busy tackling the detained BDR soldiers.

The director general of the Bangladesh Rifles, major general Mainul Islam, on Thursday said that he was not aware whether any of the border guards fled to India after the February 25-26 mutiny.
   ‘We have no information whether any fugitive soldiers crossed the border into India [after the February 25-26 rebellion at the Pilkhana],’ the DG told a press conference after returning from a regular consultation with his Indian counterpart Mahendra Lal Kumawat in New Delhi.
   He said that the Indian authorities had told him that no BDR personnel with arms had been arrested in India.
   The border coordination conference between the BDR and the BSF took place in March 30-31.
   Reports from border outposts and battalion headquarters of BDR also said that no border guards had crossed Bangladesh territory with arms, he said.
   About the proposed reconstitution of the BDR, Mainul said that the committee members were receiving views from different quarters, including the officers who were in the border guards in the past, and also studying the organograms of border guards of other countries.
   After completing those tasks, a report will be submitted to the government and the force will be reconstituted, he said.
   When asked how the Indian Border Security Force would assist reorganisation of the BDR as reported by the Indian media, the DG said it could be through exchange of information between the two border guards.
   To a query, Mainul said that it was the responsibility of the Indian media to explain how they had received the information about the killing of BDR DG Shakil Ahmed and other officers in the February 25-26 mutiny at the Pilkhana.
   A two-minute silence was observed before the beginning of BDR-BSF meeting on March 31 to pay respect to the BDR officers who were killed in the mutiny.
   The BDR chief said both sides had agreed that closer cooperation and better understanding between the two forces was essential to deal with the complex range of issues on the Indo-Bangladesh borders with constructive engagement at all levels.
   Appreciating India’s cooperation during the BDR crisis, Mainul praised BSF for their professional role in maintaining peace and tranquility on the border.
   Meanwhile, investigators continued interrogation of the BDR soldiers now remanded in custody of the Criminal Investigation Department.
   The investigators were verifying the statements extracted from the BDR soldiers, said an official close to the investigation.
   Earlier on Wednesday, the Rapid Action Battalion recovered the mobile telephone set of the slain BDR DG Shakil Ahmed from the village home of a soldier in Munshiganj but his wife managed to escape. The soldier, who joined the BDR headquarters after the mutiny, was detained and handed over to the police. The soldier was later sent to the jail.
   Meanwhile, families of BDR soldiers continued taking their belongings out of their quarters at Pilkhana.
   Some 18 flats were vacated on Thursday, the sixth day of the process, raising the number of vacated flats to 116 since March 28.
   The law enforcers recovered a pistol and a bullet-proof vest from the flat of a BDR soldier during the shifting of belongings on Thursday.

The parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry on Thursday asked the government to reduce the import of luxury items to make a balance between import and export expenditures.
   The parliamentary committee also stressed the need for increasing the volume of revenue.
   The committee also asked the National Board of Revenue to bring ministers, lawmakers, government officers and businessmen under tax network to increase collection of taxes.
   ‘Our economy is under tremendous pressure. We need to avoid importing luxury items to strike a balance between import and export,’ the committee chairman, AHM Mustofa Kamal, told reporters after a meeting in the parliament complex.
   He said the economic growth from July to March had already come down to 14 per cent from 22 per cent.
   The country spends $25 billion on import every year, export earns $14 billion and remittances fetch $9 billion, he said.
   ‘We have to make up for the gap,’ he said. ‘We must stop importing luxury items. We do not need Hummers on the streets.’
   The country could earn a huge amount of money by exporting jute and fish products, he said.
   He said the committee also asked the ministry to expedite efforts to increase the volume of revenue.
   The committee stressed the need for reduction in import duty on raw materials, increase in import duty on finished products, making adjustment in rate of bank interests, and ease the process to collect revenue from different sources.
   He said remittance earnings could be much higher if the government would bring in the money, which usually comes to the country by hundi, through official channels.
   ‘We have suggested banks should set up booths in remote areas having higher number of expatriate workers,’ he said.
   ‘If implemented, wage earners will send remittances through the banks and this will increase the volume of foreign reserve provided the money should reach destinations in time,’ he said.
   Committee members M Ali Ashraf, AKM Mayeedul Islam, Lutful Hye, M Tajul Islam, Golam Dastogir Gazi, MA Mannan and MK Anwar were present at the meeting.

Experts, economists and the people want to see the government shun excessive expenditure on unproductive sectors because of the falling revenue.
   They observed that the government should avoid unnecessary expenditure on expensive vehicles and luxury apartments, for which it has to borrow money from the banks, at a time when the delayed impact of the global financial meltdown is going to hit the country.
   Higher borrowing by the government from the local sources will deprive the private sector of much-needed loans for productive purposes. Besides, it will increase the budget deficit and weaken fiscal measures, they noted.
   The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies’ director-general, MK Mujeri, said the government should stop excessive expenditure right now as part of its preparation to face the challenges of global recession.
   The global recession is yet to have a major impact on the national economy, but indifference or careless will be dangerous for the country’s future, he said.
   Mujeri, a former chief economist of the Bangladesh Bank, said that early preparations will help the country to tide over the looming crisis and prevent the major adverse impacts.
   The parliamentarians have already put forward recommendations that include austerity and total avoidance of wasteful public expenditure. They made the recommendations at a meeting with the Minister of Finance, AMA Muhith, on March 29.
   Javed Alam, an iron rod businessman, said the government is procuring vehicles to replace the ones that are less than 10 years old. Terming such expenditure as totally unnecessary, he said the people want to see public funds being spent on productive activities.
   The government’s expenses should be focused on job creation and helping local manufacturers, he added.
   The Board of Revenue’s chairman, Abdul Mazid, said the country could no longer afford luxury imports for which valuable foreign currency has to be spent. He warned that higher duty is likely to be imposed in the coming fiscal year to discourage import of luxury goods.
   Raju Ahmed, an NGO official, said the government should immediately increase duty on certain imported luxury goods to discourage their import.
   The precious foreign currency should be used to train unskilled manpower as many manpower importing countries are shutting their doors on unskilled labour, he said.
   Sabuj, an engineer, said proper use of public money on infrastructure projects could bring a lot of benefit to the country during an economic crisis. He said the government could take up some giant infrastructure projects to generate employment.

World leaders agreed a trillion-dollar deal on Thursday to combat the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression.
   At a G20 summit, they also signed off on plans to commission blacklists of tax havens and tighten financial rules to bring hedge funds and credit rating agencies under closer supervision.
   ‘This is the day that the world came together, to fight back against the global recession. Not with words but a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable,’ the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, the summit host, said.
   Markets reacted positively.
   The index of top European shares was up 5 per cent after Japan’s Nikkei gained 4.4 per cent. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq was up 4 per cent and the Dow Jones 3.6 per cent. The price of oil jumped above $52.
   But economists warned against euphoria.
   ‘The IMF funding is more than expected, and in so far as that means there is a larger pot of money available to bail out troubled economies that is good news. But these trouble spots particularly in Eastern Europe are still there and this will not make them go away overnight,’ said Nigel Rendall, emerging market strategist, Royal Bank of Canada.
   Brown said that while there were ‘no quick fixes,’ the decisions meant that ‘we can shorten the recession and we can save jobs.’ The final communique forecast the measures taken would raise world output by four per cent by the end of next year.
   The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said the results were beyond what could have been imagined.
   Germany’s finance minister welcomed the fact that no obligation was agreed for countries to adopt further stimulus packages. The issue had created tension in the summit build-up, with Washington favouring such packages and Paris and Berlin preferring to let earlier measures take their course.
   Addressing a key demand from France and Germany, Brown said the leaders agreed ‘there will be an end to tax havens that do not transfer information on request. The banking secrecy of the past must come to an end.’
   He said they committed new resources of 1 trillion dollars that are available to the world economy through the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.
   This included 250 billion dollars of IMF reserve units called Special Drawing Rights. ‘This is available to all IMF members,’ Brown said. In addition, the IMF would see its own resources tripled, with up to $500 billion of new funds, of which $40 billion would come from China.
   The G20 asked the IMF to bring forward sales from its gold reserves, raising funds to help the poorest countries, Brown said. And it agreed a trade finance package worth $250 billion over two years to support global trade flows, which have shrunk under the impact of the credit crunch.
   The tax haven issue had threatened to be a stumbling block to agreement, with France and Germany demanding a crackdown on jurisdictions whose bank secrecy laws they portrayed as enabling the rich to dodge taxes at a time of economic hardship.
   ‘Since Bretton Woods, the world has been living on a financial model, the Anglo-Saxon model — it’s not my place to criticise it, it has its advantages — clearly, today, a page has been turned,’ the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said, referring to the landmark conference that created the post-war economic order.
   In the United States, meanwhile, an industry body announced a major change to accounting rules that would give banks more flexibility on how they value toxic assets. This would relieve pressure on banks with impaired balance sheets, which has been a major driver in financial market distress.
   The change in the Financial Accounting Standard Board rules helped fuel a stock market rally.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday branded the prime minister’s call to Khaleda Zia to leave the house on Mainul Road in the Dhaka Cantonment as a threat and said this had exposed Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic mindset.
   The BNP at a briefing at its office in Gulshan denounced her remarks and said they were indecent, vengeful and an example of political blackmail, and revealed a very low sort of cunning. ‘The attitude of the prime minister will endanger democracy, especially when Begum Khaleda Zia is showing her willingness to cooperate to overcome the crisis that the nation is facing,’ said the party’s spokesman.
   The party’s joint secretary-general, M Abdul Mannan, read out the statement of the party: ‘The prime minister’s intention of constructing flats for families of the slain military officers of the BDR on the piece of land if Begum Khaleda Zia leaves the house on her own was simply mockery of the families of the martyrs.’
   ‘As the widow of Ziaur Rahman who had proclaimed independence, who was a commander in the War of Liberation, who had introduced multi-party democracy and was a successful statesman, Begum Khaleda Zia is also a member of the family of martyrs. On that ground the house was allocated to her and she has been residing in it for long. The threat to oust the family of a martyr is completely illegal and is an insult to the great hero of the War of Liberation,’ he said.
   ‘It was the responsibility of the government to rehabilitate the families of martyrs in the Pilkhana, and we have been demanding this since the carnage. We think the prime minister was pointing at the house of the leader of the opposition to evade that responsibility,’ said Mannan.
   ‘During her last regime, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had occupied the Ganabhaban by compelling the government to sign it over to her in her own name, and had indulged in improper activities and propaganda against the house of Begum Khaleda Zia,’ said Mannan.
   ‘The courtesy and sympathy that Begum Khaleda Zia had shown during the state of emergency in protesting against Sheikh Hasina’s arrest and then the government’s refusal to let her come home, had led us to expect that the premier would shed her vengeful attitude. After assuming office, her tasteless propaganda against our chairperson was very unfortunate,’ he said.

Bangladesh and Russia at a consultation in Dhaka have in principle agreed on cooperation for peaceful use of nuclear power, official said.
   ‘If everything goes well, we expect to sign a deal to this end towards the end of this month,’ MM Neazuddin, a senior official at the science and ICT ministry, told New Age on Thursday, concluding a three-day consultation with Russian experts aimed at the installation of two nuclear power plants in Bangladesh.
   A Russian minister is expected to visit Bangladesh late April and the deal is likely to be signed at the time as both the sides agreed on a draft memorandum of understanding.
   ‘We will take the draft agreement to the top level of the government for approval,’ Neazuddin said.
   Once the agreement is signed, both the sides will be able to negotiate the setting up of nuclear power plants.
   Dhaka wants two nuclear power plants with generation capacity of 1,000MW to be established in Bangladesh to face the growing energy demand.
   Asked about the cost involved for a Russian power plant, the official said they wanted not to disclose the rate at this moment and they would discuss the cost once the negotiation begins.
   Two experts from the State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia began consultation with authorities to give Bangladesh assistance in setting up the nuclear power plant.
   Vladimir Averkeiv, the head of international cooperation of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, led the consultation for Russia while Neazuddin led the Bangladesh side.
   The Russian team claimed they had a sound technology to support Bangladesh with nuclear power plants.
   Bangladesh officials said a report on the consultation would be placed before the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, for her consideration as she asked the ministry to expedite the process for nuclear power plant installation.
   ‘We are working seriously as we badly need the power plants to face the future challenges,’ Neazuddin said.
   Bangladesh by now is almost ready to begin the process to set up two 1,000MW nuclear power plants, he said.
   Bangladesh is yet to decide how to manage funds for the nuclear power plant as each of the plants will cost more than a billion US dollars.
   Dhaka plans to hold more talks with countries having nuclear power plant manufacturing capacity. The countries include China and South Korea and France.

A couple of depressions in the Bay of Bengal may give rise to a cyclone this month.
   With the rain falling normally, the country’s northeastern areas may be victims of flash floods at the month’s end. And soaring temperatures may cause two to three moderate heat waves in the northern and central regions, and elsewhere three to four mild heat waves may occur, according to a long-range forecast for April by the Met office on Thursday.
   There are chances of moderate to severe nor’westers blowing across the northern and central regions of the country for two or three days. Elsewhere there may be 3-5 days of light to moderate nor’westers.
   The Met office’s forecast for April was made after a meeting of a committee of experts who prepared it with the help of satellite pictures, weather models and analysis of March’s weather pattern.
   The rainfall was poor in March. Only in Rajshahi division was it normal. Elsewhere in the country the showers were fewer than usual, according to March’s weather review.
   The experts said the reason for the poor rainfall was the failure of the easterly pressure to mate with the westerly pressure at the beginning of March.
   But later the mating of the two pressures generated some rain which was less than the month’s normal average, the review noted.

The Awami League-led alliance government has decided to hold an open discussion on the draft coal policy with different stakeholders for finalising the policy on a priority basis.
   ‘The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has directed us to finalise the coal policy as we need alternative energy sources to produce electricity. We will soon hold an open discussion with different stakeholders to finalise it on an urgent basis,’ the prime minister’s adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury told reporters after Hasina held a meeting with power and energy officials on Thursday.
   The previous BNP-led government that first prepared a draft of the coal policy and then the interim government held half a dozen open meetings with stakeholders but could not finalise the draft because of controversy surrounding the mining method and fixation of royalty.
   When asked why another meeting was needed with stakeholders when controversy was raging over the coal policy for the last three years, Tawfiq said, ‘Every government has its own policy and philosophy. Of course, we will consider the investment issues, local people’s concern and electricity generation while finalising the coal policy.’
   Hasina, who is also in charge of the power and energy ministry, held her second meeting, which lasted three hours and a half, at the ministry to discuss about the current power situation and what steps could be taken to improve it.
   The prime minister stressed the need for increasing gas and coal production for overcoming the power crisis.
   Sources present at the meeting said that Hasina had asked power officials why there were power outages 10-12 times a day. Power officials said that power outages more frequent in some areas because of technical faults.
   She dismissed power officials’ claims that there was only 15 per cent system loss in the power sector.
   Power officials said that the electricity supply situation in the capital would worsen after May because of rise in the demand and sought the prime minister’s directive in shutting down steel and re-rolling mills which consumed huge amount of electricity during evening peak hours.
   Hasina asked the authorities to go ahead with the plan. She also asked them to launch a campaign for reducing use of air-coolers during peak hours.
   She asked officials to take steps so that the power projects that were in the pipeline – under construction, under tender process or planning – could be implemented as soon as possible.
   Tawfiq said that the capacity of the power plants in the pipeline would be around 3,000MW. ‘The prime minister has directed the authorities to go for dual-fuel option in installing the new power plants like the 450MW Sirajganj independent power plant,’ he said.
   Hasina also asked the authorities to start negotiations with the countries that had installed power plants like Ghorashal, Ashuganj and Khulna, to replace these old and inefficient plants with new plants.
   She asked the power officials to explore whether smaller hydropower plants could be installed in rivers and haors across the country and in water streams in Sylhet and Chittagong.
   The prime minister also directed the authorities to expand solar energy projects in urban areas and to explore whether irrigation pumps could be run by electricity generated from solar panels.
   She also directed officials to explore whether electricity could be imported from India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar under regional cooperation.
   For exploring new gas, Hasina asked the gas authorities to engage a contractor to conduct 2D and 3D survey at the onshore gas fields of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company as Bapex would remain busy in the next three years with gas exploration.
   Hasina also directed energy officials to discuss with the attorney general the issue of taking legal steps to have a High Court injunction on signing production sharing contract for onshore gas fields withdrawn.
   Tawfiq said that they would take to the cabinet meeting a proposal for introduction of daylight saving system by advancing the clock by one hour to save power and gas during evening hours.

Malaysia’s prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resigned Thursday after six years in office, clearing the way for his deputy to take over the task of steering the nation out of economic crisis.
   Najib Razak will be sworn in on Friday, completing a transition that has been in the planning since elections last year in which the ruling United Malays National Organisation party put up its worst performance in 39 years.
   The incoming prime minister has said he will focus on a programme to unite the multi-racial nation, whose ethnic minorities shifted towards the opposition in large numbers in the 2008 polls, fearing their rights were being eroded.
   ‘I think this new thrust will ensure there will be a fairer distribution of government allocations and assistance to all communities,’ Najib said Wednesday.
   Najib and Abdullah had successive audiences with King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the royal palace on Thursday, and a senior official said AFP the prime minister’s resignation had been accepted.
   ‘PM Abdullah offered his resignation to the king. The king is understood to have accepted it,’ the official said.
   Najib was last Thursday officially declared president of UMNO, effectively smoothing his path to the premiership because of its dominance of the political scene. He is due to be sworn in as prime minister at 0200 GMT Friday.
   UMNO represents the majority Muslim Malays who make up 60 per cent of the population and dominate the government.
   Analysts say Najib faces an enormous challenge to rejuvenate the party, which has floundered since last year’s elections, and cushion the country from the worst effects of the global meltdown.
   Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third largest economy, has been hit by slumping exports and manufacturing, with more than 26,000 people losing their jobs so far this year.
   A slew of economic data for January underlined the scale of the problem.
   Industrial output fell 20.2 per cent year-on-year, manufacturing sales sank 22.7 per cent and exports plunged 27.8 per cent to hit their lowest level since 2001.
   Najib, who is also finance minister, unveiled a stimulus package worth 16.2 billion dollars earlier this month, but warned that the export-driven economy could shrink by 1.0 per cent this year despite the massive spending.
   He will face his first big test as prime minister next Tuesday with three by-elections that will be seen as a referendum on his fledgling leadership.
   ‘He will inherit a divided party with trust in the government at its lowest ebb and a strong opposition,’ political analyst Shahruddin Badaruddin said earlier.
   He said Najib’s challenge would be ‘to unite the fractured elements of the party.’
   Najib has an impeccable pedigree as the son and nephew of two former prime ministers, but he has been dogged by controversy which the opposition said he would have to address.
   Najib has repeatedly denied opposition allegations connecting him to the 2006 slaying of the mistress of his close aide — a Mongolian woman whose body was blown up with military-grade explosives.
   UMNO leads the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, which has ruled Malaysia for more than half a century since the former colony gained independence from Britain in 1957.
   The coalition of race-based parties — which also represent ethnic Chinese and Indian communities — were mauled by the opposition led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
   The opposition seized an unprecedented one third of seats in parliament and now controls three states.

Demonstrators pelted the police with missiles as they tried to save a dying man during violent London demonstrations, the police said as they imposed a lockdown around the Group of 20 summit on Thursday.
   The police manned barriers and checkpoints around the ExCeL centre in east London where world leaders met to thrash out a response to the economic crisis as huge cleanup started after Wednesday’s riot in the financial district.
   One man died after collapsing with a suspected heart attack and 86 people were arrested during the troubles as about 4,000 demonstrators laid siege to the Bank of England.
   Scotland Yard said police medics were targeted with bottles as they tried to save the man, who had collapsed and stopped breathing.
   ‘The officers gave him an initial check and cleared his airway before moving him back behind the cordon line to a clear area,’ a spokesman said.
   He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
   Thousands of people took to the streets for the demonstrations that descended into violent battles with riot police, as protesters smashed their way inside a Royal Bank of Scotland office, breaking through windows, hurling out office equipment and trying to set it ablaze.
   The 86 arrests were for a range of offences, including violent disorder, aggravated burglary, arson, bomb threats and possession of ammunition. Besides the storming of RBS, protesters tore down the crowd control barriers and the police came under a hail of missiles, including glass bottles and paint.
   Several protesters wore masks to disguise their identity. The riot police penned in the protesters and let them out one by one.
   Protesters began descending on the site in east London’s Docklands, which is flanked on one side by a dock and the other side by a railway line.
   The Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament and the Stop the War Coalition were in place and a mixture of anti-globalisation, anti-war and environmental activists expected to join them.
   A few hundred protesters had gathered by the time the summit started, waving placards reading: ‘Why do we have to pay?’, ‘We won’t pay for their crisis’ and ‘Jobs, not bombs’. Expecting demonstrations and disorder, the police have undertaken a massive security operation to keep protesters at bay in the days around the G20 summit.
   Up to 4,700 officers, including public order teams, intelligence gatherers and diplomatic security specialists were due to be on duty Thursday.

Two factions of the ruling Awami League’s associate body of students Bangladesh Chhatra League clashed on the Jessore Government MM College campus on Wednesday and Thursday in which at least three were injured.
   General students of the college said Chhatra League activists loyal to a lawmaker for a Jessore constituency and the Awami League’s district unit general secretary clashed with each other with iron rods and sharp weapons on Wednesday and Thursday over dominance on the campus.
   The two groups clashed first on January 30. On Wednesday, the two groups clashed again centring on the forthcoming annual sports of the college.
   The group loyal to the lawmaker wants the lawmaker to be chief guest of the programme and the other group opposed the move. The two groups clashed on Wednesday and Thursday, injuring three students.
   The injured are Chhatra League activists Tauhidur Rahman and Rabiul Islam and fourth-year economics student Ashraful Islam.

Three children of a family were killed and another was injured when a parked covered cargo vehicle tilted and fell on their road-side hut at Tekshimrai under Siddhirganj in Narayanganj Wednesday night.
   The police said the accident took place after the van’s rear wheel deflated and fell on the hut at about 10:30pm killing the trapped inmate children.
   The victims Masum, Sabuj, and Fatema died on the spot, the survived mother Mahinur Akhter said, adding her another daughter, Josna, was admitted to a clinic at Kanchpur with serious injuries. Mahinur, who was deserted by her husband, escaped as she was out of the room where the children were sleeping at the time of the accident.
   The police seized the vehicle but failed to hold the driver and helper.

The Anti-corruption Commi-ssion filed four cases against three former principals, two senior teachers of the Brajamohan College and four Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders of the college unit for alleged corruption, irregularities and misuse of funds and negligence in duties.
   Abul Hassan, assistant director of the commission’s office in Barisal, filed the cases under the Anti-Corruption Act and the Penal Code, the Kotwali police officer-in-charge, Nuruzzaman Chowdhury, said.
   The accused principals are Nurul Anwar, Yusuf Ali Mallik and AKM Syed Abdur Razzak and the teachers are Yusuf Ali and AKM Shahjahan Kazi.
   The accused student leaders are Chhatra League leaders Jasimuddin, Nipendra Das Nipu and Ziaur Rahman Badal and Chhatra Dal leader Abu Jafar Badal.