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As more than 10 million Bangladeshis are about to be displaced because of the effects of climate change, a rights organisation on Saturday called for recognising such refugees as ‘universal natural persons’ for their social, economic and cultural rehabilitation.
   Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh, is now communicating with the global civil society organisations and legendary figures like Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan and Al Gore, to uphold the cause of the people vulnerable to climate change at the United Nations level, said the group’s leaders.
   Although the international literatures based on forecast reports say approximately 22 million people in Bangladesh will be forced to become refugees under the impact of climate change by 2050, about 30 million people in 19 districts have already been found exposed to climate change in extreme weather conditions, sea level rise and river erosion.
   ‘Symptoms and effects of climate change are already there in at least 19 districts, making most people there vulnerable. So, the global community must recognise it as a serious issue and treat them as universal natural persons to ensure their rights,’ Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, convenor of the group, said while briefing journalists at the National Press Club.
   Because of climate change, Kutubdia, an island in the Bay of Bengal, has been reduced to a 15-square-kilometre-area from its earlier size of 25 square kilometres while many inhabitants of Bhola have been forced to migrate elsewhere at home or abroad, he said citing the examples of displacement.
   ‘Many of these people, who are not political refugees, are being treated inhumanly. They deserve international recognition as their plight is not because of themselves, but because of crimes committed by others,’ said Mohammad Shamsoddoha, secretary general of the group. Shahadat Islam Chowdhury and Mostafa Kamal Akanda of the group also spoke.
   As the developed countries are mostly responsible for the accumulation of Green House gases and eventually for climate change catastrophes, the rights leaders insisted, they should accept the responsibility of rehabilitating the displaced people.
   The campaign by these rights activists aimed at generating civil society voices ahead of the International Refugee Day on June 20, especially to raise the demand for economic, social, cultural, and human rights of ‘climate change refugees’ in the light of international and UN covenants for their settlement in or migration to advanced countries.
   Bangladesh, identified in various global reports as one of the most vulnerable countries, is the first country from where the demand for respectful recognition of the climate change refugees has been made. Bangladesh, as a member of the group of least developed countries, is also demanding movement of natural persons at the forum of World Trade Organisation.
   The EquityBD has also urged the government to raise the issue of climate change effects, asking the global community to pay due attention to the affected peoples in countries like Bangladesh.

A section of sacked workers of Mongla Port has said they would observe a half-day strike on April 7 if their five-point demand, including payment of all their dues, was not met within April 6.
   The committee member secretary, Md Babul Khan, in a press release issued on Saturday said they had given 72 hours’ ultimatum, effective from Saturday 6:00am, to meet their demand, otherwise they would observe a half-day strike on April 7 from 6:00am to 2:00pm at the Mongla upazila headquarters and in the port area in Bagerhat.
   They would also bring out a procession bearing empty plates and utensils on April 9 and besiege the Mongla port administrative building on April
   12 to press home their demands.
   They also demanded cancellation of labour law (amendment) ordinance 2008, promulgated by the immediate-past interim government, immediate action against 11 mafias detected by the parliamentary standing committee of water transport ministry in 2004, re-installation of call station booking system and removal of corrupt officials.
   The committee went for an indefinite hunger strike on February 25 and called off the strike on February 26 night as the Khulna mayor, Talukder Abdul Khaleque, assured them of considering their demands and fulfilling them gradually.
   Babul said they were enforced to declare the fresh move as their demands were not fulfilled.
   Another group of sacked workers under the banner of the Mongla Port Shipping Workers Association is set to besiege the Mongla Port Building today to press home their demands including payment of their dues.

Five more soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles have admitted to their involvement in the late February rebellion against their commanders at the border guard’s headquarters in Dhaka that left 75 people, mostly army officers, killed, investigators claimed.
   They made the confession on Saturday when the officials of the Criminal Investigation Department, responsible for investigation of the rebellion and killings, produced them in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Dhaka after a lengthy interrogation during their remand.
   Naik Monirul Islam, sepoy Masud, sepoy Jahur Ali, sepoy Jainal Abedin and sepoy Raihan Chowdhury made the confessional statement in the afternoon
   With the latest five, a total of 14 BDR soldiers have reportedly admitted their guilt before the court under section 164 of the code of criminal procedure.
   The police arrested more than 800 paramilitary soldiers so far in connection with a case filed with the Lalbagh police station on February 28, accusing more than 1,000 soldiers, mostly unnamed.
   Nearly, 1,800 other are reportedly absconding, the BDR authorities said.
   The investigators said that a total of 128 soldiers and two civilians were remanded in custody
   for interrogation.
   Among them 30 are still being quizzed by the investigators.
   Meanwhile, the officials are still talking to the witnesses of the rebellion that ended on February 26.
   Earlier, three BDR soldiers, havilder Masud Iqbal, nayek Abdul Qaiyum and sepoy Monirul Alam, confessed to the court on Friday while six other soldiers, subeder Shafiuzzaman, subeder Gofran Mollick, havilder Belal Hossain, lance nayek Gausul Azam, nayek Motiur Rahman and carpenter Narayan Kumar Das, confessed to the court on March 25.
   The CID is preparing a list of influential persons, including political leaders of different parties, cultural and NGO activists and government officers, to quiz them in connection with the BDR rebellion. But the number is not known.
   It was reported that the mutineers had contacted a number of influential personalities before and after the rebellion.
   Sources said the CID has already identified a number of BDR soldiers who talked to the ministers, lawmakers and a few influential persons after examining call lists of mobile phone operators.
   Earlier, the CID summoned Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdur Razzaq to the CID headquarters and quizzed him for over three hours.

A union parishad level Awami League leader was hacked to death by unidentified assailants in village Sonapur in Pabna early Saturday.
   The deceased was Shafiqul Islam, 36, secretary of Ataikula union Awami League and former activist of the ultra left Purba Banglar Communist Party, the police said.
   The police and the victim’s family source said a group of assailants at around 3:00am had attacked Shafiqul’s house and hacked him in his bed room.
   Local people rescued Shafiqul and took him to Pabna General Hospital where he was declared dead.
   The police sent the body to the hospital morgue.
   The victim’s father filed a case with the Pabna police.

At least 20 people were injured as two passenger trains collided head-on at the Parbartipur railway station in Dinajpur on Saturday evening.
   According to the railway officials and witnesses, the accident took place at about 5:30pm when Birol Express entered the Parbatipur railway station ignoring the signal and the Nilphamari-bound Rupsha mail was just leaving the station.
   The injured were admitted to the local upazila health complex. Of them, the condition of three was critical.
   The railway communication on the Parbatipur-Nilphamari and Parbatipur-Rangpur routes were snapped after the accident.

The Consumer Association of Bangladesh on Saturday called on the government to observe April 1 of every year as national consumer rights day to promote awareness about fair business and rights of the consumers.
   The call came in a discussion meeting organised by the consumer rights body which thanked Jatiya Sangshad for passing the much awaited Consumer Protection Act on April 1 this year.
   ‘Although it may have some loopholes, we are thankful to Jatiya Sangshad for passing of the Consumer Protection Act,’ said CAB general secretary Quazi Faruk.
   Faruk said CAB would make further observations on the law when they would get the gazette copy of the act.
   Announcing that CAB every year would celebrate April 1 as national consumer rights day, Faruk urged the government to endorse such a day in promotion of good ethics of businesses and their responsibilities to citizens.
   Emdad Hosain Malek, chief of the market monitoring cell of CAB, however, said the amended version of the Consumer Protection Act had made many scopes for the traders to escape.
   ‘We may see some scopes for the traders to escape from punishment in case of consumer rights violations. Yet, by passing the law Bangladesh, like other civilised and democratic states, has respected the consumers’ rights,’ he said.

The BNP’s associate body of students Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal protested at the violence by the Awami League’s associate body of students Chhatra League in educational institutions, including Dhaka Medical College and Jagannath University on Saturday, according to a release.
   They also protested at the remark of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in the parliament on the house of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, in the Dhaka cantonment.
   Hasina on Wednesday requested Khaleda to return her house in the cantonment to the state, saying the government could set up flats in the place for the families of the army officers killed in the February 25–26 rebellion of soldiers in the BDR headquarters.
   Chhatra Dal leaders said violence by Chhatra League activists in educational institutions was geared to having dominance on the campuses. They said it was disappointing that a bright student of Dhaka Medical College was killed in their factional feud.
   They also expressed theirs concerns as the eight educational institutions were closed in two months.
   They said they would resist all conspiracies against the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal with movements against the Awami League and its associate body of students Bangladesh Chhatra League.

Bus owners and employees in Rajshahi Saturday again threatened to go for an indefinite strike from April 12 if their seven-point demand was not met by April 11.
   ‘We will call transport strike in the northern districts from April 12 if our demands are not met by April 11’, said Manjur Rahman Pitar, general secretary of bus owners association in Rajshahi, in a press briefing held at Sarak Paribahan Group office.
   They also demanded cancellation of the leasing system, route permits of the buses operated by Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation in the upazila areas, withdrawal of illegal vehicles like Nasiman and Kariman from the roads and reduced rate of toll of Jamuna Bridge.
   They also alleged that the administration in Rajshahi had shifted the inter district bus terminal to Nawdapara to cut traffic congestion. But the administration was yet to remove the BRTC depot from the city’s Kumarpara area.

One was killed and 10 were injured in clashes over a land dispute between the supporters of Awami League and the BNP at Singra in Natore on Saturday.
   The police arrested two in this connection.
   The police and local people said there was a longstanding dispute between the two groups, one led by BNP supporter Kamal Hossain and the other by Awami League supporter Abul Khayer.
   The supporters of Abul Khayer group attacked the supporters of Kamal group with lethal weapons. The deceased was Abdus Samad.
   Seriously injured Sukur Fakir, his wife Suraiya and their son Sukchand Fakir, Akther, Salamoth, Sanowar, Shah Alam and Mahbub were admitted to Natore sadar hospital and Singra health complex.
   The two arrested were Korban Ali and Golam Mowla of Khayer group.
   A case was filed later in this connection.

A group of reporters on the education sector at an exchange of views on Saturday said free distribution of secondary textbooks and an end to the printing and marketing of notebooks could be a permanent solution to end textbook crisis, which hampers academic activities of thousands of students.
   The government distributes textbooks free among primary and ibtedayi students and there is no monopoly or artificial crisis in the printing or distribution of textbooks for such students.
   The journalists of the print and electronic media at the meeting with a 15-memebr national committee also said exemplary punishment of culprits involved in making creating an artificial textbook crisis and transparency and accountability of the textbook board officials could also and end such sufferings of the students.
   Against the backdrop of acute supply shortage, the government on March 9 formed the 15-member expert committee, headed by Dhaka University history department teacher Professor M Aktaruzzaman, and asked it to submit recommendations to the government so that secondary students could get textbooks on time.
   The committee organised the exchange of views at the National Curriculum and Textbook Board office with journalists working with the education sector.
   Committee members Dhaka University English department teacher Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, joint secretary (secondary) Md Moyjuddin Ahmed and NCTB chairman Professor Khan Habibur Rahman also attended the meeting.
   Aktaruzzaman stressed the need for media support in resolving the crisis of secondary textbooks.
   There are about one crore students in 18,500 secondary schools and about 6,685 dakhil madrassahs, according to government statistics.
   The government is supposed to make textbooks available on the market at the beginning of the academic year on January 1.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner has directed his force to ensure proper running of the existing community policing service throughout the capital within two months.
   Commissioner Shahidul Haq told police chiefs of all metropolitan stations on Saturday that enactment of a law was not enough. ‘The service must be properly implemented and managed under the organogram of the metropolitan police.’
   City residents were paying for the service, said the DMP chief. ‘Receiving such funds, the police have a duty to serve the community fully.’
   Senior police officials at the meeting also stressed the need of a permanent organisational structure for community policing.
   They said running such a service was a complex task in the capital, compared to district headquarters, in terms of social environment and conditions.
   The DMP commissioner had earlier unveiled a book on community policing at the Police Telecom Auditorium in Rajarbagh in the city.
   Asked about the police action against ongoing campus violence and use of arms by the ruling party-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League, he said it was the responsibility of the ‘parent organisation’ and educational institutions concerned to supervise the students’ activities.
   The police would take all actions against criminal behaviour, he said.

Speakers at a pre-budget discussion on Saturday called for special allocation in the budget for the people living in the country’s coastal region and setting up a separate ministry for them as they are vulnerable to natural disasters.
   ‘There should be a special attention to coastal people in preparing the budget so that they can be protected during natural calamities,’ whip of Jatiya Sangsad ASM Feroz told the discussion.
   The speakers urged the government for forming a coastal region ministry like the ministry on the Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs for the welfare of the people of the coastal region.
   They underscored the importance of balanced development of the country, proper utilisation of the capacity of people, pro-people allocation in the budget and coordinated efforts to ensure rights of the coastal people.
   Centre for Coastal Development and Research, a non-government organisation, arranged the discussion titled ‘Rights of Risky and Neglected Coastal People and Expectation’ at the National Press Club.
   Former adviser to the caretaker government M Hafiz Uddin Khan addressed the discussion as chief guest while parliament member AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad presented the keynote paper.
   The whip said the government should review the project of cyclone shelter centres that were being implemented in unnecessary places instead of cyclone-hit areas.
   Hafiz Uddin said the common people needed to cooperate with the government in implementing its development projects in their own interest so that none could leave the project halfway.
   He suggested that the government should focus on afforestation in coastal areas which might be a key tool to face natural disasters. ‘I think the finance minister should visit coastal areas before the budget so he can feel the importance of giving government attention to coastal areas,’ the former adviser to the caretaker government said demanding discussions on the budget for at least two months.
   Hafiz Uddin claimed that the previous governments had neither short-term nor long-term planning for disaster management, which was needed to be addressed immediately.
   Taking part in the discussion, economist Professor Mahbubullah said the government should identify why the coastal areas were neglected and the problems should be solved immediately.
   ‘It won’t be wise to allow the regional discrimination to go on,’ Mahbubullah said, giving importance to land reclamation and research for enhancing agro-products in coastal areas.
   Criticising the conventional trend in formulating the national budget, he said, ‘As we’ve resource constraint, we must ensure its balanced distribution. And additional allocation is needed for the underprivileged regions,’ Mahbubullah said.
   He, however, said it would be a tough task for the government to prepare the budget this time due to the global financial downswing.
   Azad in his keynote paper said the government should ensure interest-free loan for those involved in agriculture and fishing.
   Parliament members Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, Mohammad Fazlul Azim, Noni Gopal Mondol, Mohammad Golam Moula Roni and Bangladesh representative for the International Union for Conservation of Nature Ainun Nishat, columnist Sadek Khan, and president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists Ruhul Amin Gazi, among others, took part in the discussion.

The food and disaster management minister, Abdur Razzak, on Saturday underlined the need for bringing unique changes to agriculture sector aimed at ensuring food security in the country through boosting production.
   He said the government was working relentlessly to produce surplus food along with achieving food autarchy.
   The minister said this while addressing a press briefing to highlight the success of the 29th Asia and Pacific Regional Conference of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
   The six-day ministerial level conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand between March 26 and March 31.
   Referring to the outcome of the conference, Razzak, who is also an agriculturist, told the journalists that the Bangkok conference put special attention on food security across the country.
   Replying to a question, he said the South Asian countries had to solve water- related problems through regional initiatives to boost agricultural production in the region.
   The minister said Bangladesh called upon the world leaders to extend their cooperation in allocating more money for agricultural research in Bangladesh, expansion of agro-business, infrastructure development in the agricultural sector and development of non-farm agricultural production in the country.
   Razzak said request was made to the UN and the FAO to introduce new technologies in the agro-sector for saving it from the adverse impacts of climate change.
   FAO representative to Bangladesh Ad Spijkers and principal information officer Iftekhar Husain were present in the briefing.

At least 25 people were injured in a head-on collision between two buses at Khejurtali of Begumganj in Noakhali on Friday.
   The police and witnesses said a Chittagong-bound bus of Balaka Paribahan collided with a Dhaka-bound bus of Janani Paribahan on Begumganj-Sonaimuri road at about 4:15pm, injuring the two drivers, two helpers and 21 passengers of the two vehicles.
   The accident disrupted traffic on the road for an hour creating severe traffic jam.
   The injured were taken to local clinics and hospitals. The police seized the two buses.

A Rajshahi University teacher received death threat from ultra left Purba Banglar Communist Party on Saturday.
   Dramatics department teacher Abdul Matin Talukder told reporters that a man identifying himself as a top leader of the party asked for Tk 5 lakh over phone. If he failed to pay the money, he would have to face death.
   Matin, also provost of Mother Bux hall, filed a general diary with the Motihar police in this connection.
   The university proctor, Chowdhury Mohammad Zakaria, confirmed the incident saying the university authorities asked the police to take necessary steps in this regard.
   Habibur Rahman, the Motihar police officer-in-charge, told reporters they had started investigation.

Md Mozharul Islam, a Bangladeshi teacher at the Cambridge University, died of heart attack on the university campus in the UK on Friday at the age of 66.
   He is survived by his mother, two brothers and two sisters, said a press release on Saturday.
   Mozharul obtained master’s degree in mathematics from Dhaka University in 1963 and PhD from University of Liverpool in 1966. Later, he joined Queen Merry College. He also worked with University College in London.

A Barisal court has issued a warrant of arrest for four police officials for their failure to appear in court for giving deposition in a case against an army official.
   Additional chief judicial magistrate Md Khademul Kayes passed the order on Thursday as they failed to follow the court order seven times to appear in court in connection with the case lodged against army sergeant Abul Hossain.
   The police officials summoned were Belayet Hossain, then officer-in-charge of the Criminal Investigation Department of Barisal zone, Shariful Islam, Aurangazeb and Abdul Malek, former subinspectors of the Barisal Kotwali police and now working in other places.

Independent University, Bangladesh has distributed academic awards to 429 students for the academic year 2008.
   Vice-chancellor Professor Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury gave away the awards at a function held at the university’s permanent campus at Bashundhara on Thursday.
   The awards given were in two categories. The students in the vice-chancellor’s honour list received Tk 10,000 each and those in the dean’s honour list got Tk 5,000 each for purchasing books.

State minister for law Quamrul Islam on Saturday said 80 per cent cases relating to women and children repression were false and fabricated.
   ‘In most cases, poor and helpless people become victims,’ he said at a seminar titled ‘Legal Assistance for Poor and Hapless People’ held at Meherpur district town hall.
   The state minister said there were many good laws in the country but those were being misused by vested quarters.
   He said influential people were behind filing such false cases against the poor and distressed people.
   ‘Legal assistance will be ensued by removing the trend of harassment implicating poor and dejected people.’
   Quamrul urged the members of the bar and the bench to play their due role in this regard and help such victims.
   He said a massive campaign was needed to be launched about government’s legal assistance programme for poor litigants and hapless people so that they could avail of the legal help.

Leaders of the Dhaka Union of Journalists on Saturday demanded constitution of a permanent wage structure for the journalists and employees in the newspaper industry and formulating a national newspaper policy in order to establish discipline in the sector.
   They also demanded to appoint competent, dedicated and non- controversial journalists at different posts in the government positions related to newspaper industry and journalism, said a DUJ press release.
   The call was made at an emergency meeting of the DUJ at the National
   Press Club with DUJ president Shah Alamgir in the chair.
   DUJ vice-president Abul Kalam, general secretary Omar Faroque, treasurer Mofidul Islam, organising secretary Noor-e-Jannat Akhter Sima, office secretary Barun Bhoumik Nayan, publicity secretary Gazi Zahirul Islam, welfare secretary Rafique Ahmed, DUJ leaders Tarun Tapan Chakraborty, Kamal Chowdhury, Rajendra Chandra Dev Mantu, Abul Khayer, Khandaker Golam Zilani, among others, were present.
   Referring to unpleasant situation in some newspapers, the leaders expressed deep concern over the uneasiness in the industry and said a quarter was trying to create unrest and anxiety among the journalists and newspaper workers, which is not expected during the present democratic government.
   A critical situation is prevailing at the daily Ittefaq and the journalists and employees are
   being threatened, they said and sought immediate government intervention there.
   ‘While the journalists and employees of the Ittefaq, who are the union members, are not allowed to enter into the office, advertisements are being published for fresh appointments, which is not acceptable to the DUJ,’ the leaders said.
   The leaders urged all journalists not to respond to any such advertisements in present circumstances. Besides, an insecure situation has been prevailing at the Ittefaq office, they said and urged the law enforcers to keep vigil over the situation at the Ittefaq.
   Expressing concern over the situation at the Bangladesh Observer due to non-payment of wages to the journalists and employees for the last 78 months, the DUJ leaders urged the government to appoint an administrator there in order to avoid any untoward situation.
   They also demanded forming of an investigation committee to probe into the alleged irregularities and corruption at the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha in the past.