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Representatives of the newly-elected upazila parishad chairmen at a press conference on Sunday threatened to go for legal action and agitation if the parliament passed the upazila parishad bill, which, they said, was against the spirit of the constitution.
   They said that the bill which empowered lawmakers to interfere in local governments’ activities, was placed in parliament by the ruling Awami League in violation of the constitutional provisions.
   ‘The bill is designed to keep upazila parishad chairmen under control of the members of parliament. The independence of the local government body will be affected if the bill is passed by the parliament,’ said the coordinator of the Bangladesh Upazila Parishad Association, Harun-ur-Rashid Hawlader, also chairman of Dumki under Patuakhali.
   He said the upazila chairmen, according to the amendments, would have to follow recommendations of the lawmakers in preparing development plans for their areas. ‘The bill has been made just to empower the MPs.’
   The Governance Advocacy Forum, a coalition of 33 non-government organisations, arranged the press conference in the capital.
   Coordinator of the forum Mohsin Ali read out a written statement while Justice Golam Rabbani, among others, responded to queries of reporters. Chairmen and vice-chairmen of various upazilas were present.
   ‘I hope the members of parliament will not pass the bill which goes against the constitutional provision…If the bill is enacted, there will be scope for a writ petition against the law,’ Golam Rabbani said.
   Uzirpur upazila parishad chairman Abul Kalam Azad said all the chairmen and vice-chairmen had decided to go for a legal battle and at the same time wage a movement against the law that ‘curtails the power of the local government body.’
   He said the Awami League in its election manifesto pledged to make the local governments stronger and more independent.
   The latest amendments makes it mandatory for the upazila parishad to take advice from the MP concerned as the adviser to the local government body and inform the lawmaker of any communication with the government. The parishad must send minutes of every meeting to the MP, according to the new provision in the bill.
   The Governance Advocacy Forum and the upazila parishad association demanded that the government should drop the latest amendments before passing it in the house.

Women rights activists on Sunday demanded that one-third of the seats in the parliament be reserved for women and that they are elected through direct elections.
   The demand was made at a programme at the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh in Dhaka to mark the 39th anniversary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad.
   Speaking on the occasion, artist Qayyum Chowdhury said all forms of discrimination between men and women must
   be erased to uphold democracy.
   ‘All must be paid his/her own credit, regardless of gender, for a society free of discrimination,’ said Qayyum.
   He was speaking on reception of an honorary crest from Mahila Parishad president Ayesha Khanam.
   Qayyum said, ‘We have fought for our language and land in the past, but women are still forced to demonstrate to press home their rights.’
   ‘We must guarantee equality in every area of life.’
   Women activists called for a responsible parliament to ensure all rights alongside good governance.
   They also urged the government to implement the national women development policy of 1997.
   General secretary of the organisation Maleka Banu read out the declaration of demands.
   Ayesha said they would fight to remove fundamentalism from Bangladesh.
   Mahila Parishad awarded 31 crests to women activists at the programme.

The government has moved to increase the treatment fees in public hospitals both in upazila health complexes and tertiary
   level hospitals across the country.
   The health and family welfare ministry already drafted a proposal titled ‘User’s fee’, according to the documents circulated in the ministry conference room on Sunday.
   The ministry was scheduled to discuss the matter on the day but the discussion on the topic was deferred for a meeting
   latter on.
   The health minister, AFM Ruhal Haque, who went to the conference room three hours late, said the topic would be discussed in another meeting.
   The ministry has finalised all the procedures to increase the user’s fee, according to the documents.
   It also formed three committees comprising local elected representatives who would work for better management of the hospitals and ensure quality of service, the minister said.
   All principals, vice-principals and directors of the public medical college hospitals were present at the meeting.
   According to the proposal, an outdoor ticket will cost Tk 3 in the upazila hospitals which was now free, Tk 5 in district hospitals which was now Tk 4.44 and Tk 10 in medical college hospitals, and an admission ticket will cost Tk 5 in upazila hospitals, which is now free, Tk 10 in the district hospitals, which is now Tk 7.70 and Tk 15 in the medical college hospital, which is now Tk 11.
   ‘This move is being taken in line with the steps by the interim government which had planned to give autonomy to the public hospitals and increase the user’s fees,’ said the Doctor’s for Environment president, Rashid-E-Mahbub.
   According to the suggested charges, one will have to pay Tk 50 for a bed in the upazila hospitals which is free now, Tk 75 at the district level, which is also free now and Tk 150 in tertiary level, which is now Tk 100.
   One will have to pay Tk 100 in upazila for general non air-conditioned cabin which is free now, Tk 200 in the district level, which is now Tk 100, and Tk 400 in tertiary level, which is now Tk 200. One will have to pay Tk 1,000 in air-conditioned one-bed cabin which is now Tk 700.
   According to the documents circulated by the ministry, one have to pay daily Tk 75 and Tk 120 (special day’s food) for medicine and food in general bed, which is now free.
   Charges of a total of 471 items including pathological tests, ambulance fare, surgery, eye test and cancer treatment and test, blood grouping, screening, radiotherapy, and digital X-ray, MRI, CT scan and other imaging will also be increased.

Politicians, academics and rights defenders at a roundtable discussion on Sunday said that extra-judicial killings in the name of ‘crossfire, encounter, suicide or heart attack’ should be stopped for good and the perpetrators brought to book.
   They hoped that the prime minister’s assurance of stopping such killings would be materialised and proposed formation of a human rights protection committee as it was done in early 1970s to investigate extra-judicial killings. They also raised questions about deaths in custody, especially the deaths of some soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles which were attributed to heart failure.
   The fortnightly Chinta and rights watchdog Odhikar organised the programme at the National Press Club.
   Though most of the speakers voiced concern over extra-judicial killings, former law minister and Awami league leader Abdul Matin Khasru and daily Naya Diganta editor Alamgir Mohiuddin tacitly supported some incidents of ‘crossfire’ to maintain order.
   According to Khasru the incidents of political killings and crossfire should not be considered to be the same and Alamgir Mohiuddin said reality should be taken into account.
   Khasru preferred ‘public execution’ of the perpetrators of the massacre at the Pilkhana. ‘They [killers of officers at the Pilkhana] have to be executed by a firing squad in public so that no one dares to commit such crimes again. We may have sympathies for them and expect their rights protected but they have to pay for their deeds,’ he said.
   Khasru attributed political and extra-judicial killings to the ‘culture of impunity nurtured by the post-1975 rulers.’ ‘Only rule of law can contain extra-judicial killings,’ he said.
   Former adviser to caretaker government Mainul Hossain Chowdhury said normalcy and order could not be maintained by unusual means. ‘State of emergency was imposed five times in the country and the nation experienced turmoil after every emergency regime. The tragic incidents at the Pilkhana were the fallout from the two-year emergency rule and the people who had run the country during the period should be brought to book,’ he said.
   Mainul also condemned granting of indemnity to the perpetrators of Operation Clean Heart. ‘There was no need for indemnity as military laws clearly state punishments for such crimes and one need not go to civil courts to sue them. ‘The indemnity was given to earn cheap popularity but such actions leave a bad impact on the discipline of armed forces, especially when they come to the aid of civil administration,’ he said.
   Former adviser for energy and commerce Mahmudur Rahman urged all to guard against imperialist terrorism which inspires state-sponsored terrorism in small countries. ‘Unfortunately the intelligentsia in Bangladesh are opposing imperialist terrorism but endorsing Bush’s strategy of demonising Islamists,’ he said.
   Chaired by writer and thinker Farhad Mazhar, the discussion was also addressed by Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders Rafiqul Islam Mia and Shamsuzzman Dudu, Revolutionary Workers Party convener Saiful Huq, Ubinig executive director Farida Akhtar, Faizul Hakim, BRAC University professor Pias Karim, UPDF leader Soumen Chakma, writer Raisuddin Arif, Shibli Quaiyum and Jahangirnagar University teacher Swadhin Sen. Secretary of Odhikar Adilur Rahman Khan conducted the programme.

Finance minister AMA Muhith will sit today with the secretaries of 20 ministries, divisions and departments to determine the expenditure limit for the next three years [2009-2012] under the Medium Term Budget Framework, said official sources.
   ‘Enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the MTBF ministries and divisions is essential to reduce public expenditure for the next three year as the country’s GDP growth is dependent on the performance of those ministries,’ said a senior official of the finance ministry.
   The official also said that it is essential to increase the efficiency of the Bridge Department as the construction of the Tk 10,500 crore Padma Bridge will start from the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
   ‘Twenty out of 59 ministries and divisions have been brought under the MTBF for achieving the goals of the poverty reduction strategy,’ said another high official.
   The ministries and divisions under the MTBF are the primary and mass education ministry, education ministry, science and technology ministry, health ministry, social welfare ministry, children and women affairs ministry, local government department, rural development and cooperatives division, agriculture ministry, fisheries and livestock ministry, environment and forestry ministry, land ministry, water resource ministry, food and disaster ministry, roads and highways department, shipping ministry, Bridge Department, energy ministry, Power Division and the housing and public works ministry.
   Sources said the MTBF ministries will have to increase their implementation capacity as less unused resources continue to remain in the ministries and divisions after the end of the fiscal year.
   Ministries under the MTBF should not be given any block allocation as per the finance ministry’s directives, said the sources, adding that they themselves will have to devise their three-year budgets.
   According to the primary estimate, the possible expenditure limit and foreign assistance will be higher for the ministries of education, primary and mass education, health, local government, power, and the roads and highways division for the next three years.
   The agriculture ministry has not suggested any possible expenditure limit to the finance ministry.

Dacope Upazila Nagarik Parishad, a civic body comprising different socio- cultural and professional groups at the upazila in Khulna, demanded an end to harassment of the peace-loving farmers of the upazila by some shrimp cultivators.
   The parishad demanded it at a press briefing at the Khulna Press Club on Sunday.
   The saline water shrimp cultivators are allegedly harassing the farmers by filing false cases and threatening to kill them.
   Achinta Kumar Mandal, joint secretary of the parishad, read out a written speech at the briefing in presence of the committee member secretary, MM Ruhul Amin and the committee leaders Abu Bakkar Sana, Himangshu Bain, Falguni Gain, Pronob Golder and Subrata Sarkar.
   Dacope is divided into three polders including Polder no 31, Polder no 32 and Polder no 33, where the fertility of the soil has shrunk drastically because of unplanned saline water shrimp cultivation over a long period, Achinta said, adding that the farmers had to suffer enormous losses consequently. He said the general farmers and different socio-cultural and professional organizations under the banner of the ‘Parishad’ had been waging movements for the last two years to avert the situation.
   He said that their movements were successful as they could free polder no 33, three-fourth of polder no 31 and Polder no 32 from the saline water shrimp cultivation with their protests. But now the influential shrimp cultivators have begun to threaten the workers of the movements and filed five cases with the police against the workers bringing false allegations to harass them.
   He demanded that the government should ensure the security of the farmers and the Upazila Nagarik Parishad workers.
   The parishad leaders, while talking with the newsmen, said the upazila had had around 6600 shrimp enclosures two years ago and now the upazila had only about 600 shrimp enclosures.
   They said that the shrimp cultivators were now stung as the farmers of the upazila had begun to grow crops on the land instead of handing it for shrimp cultivation.

This week’s meeting of the cabinet of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has been shifted from Monday to Wednesday.
   Hasina’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told New Age the meeting would be held on Wednesday at cabinet division conference room in the secretariat.

Professor Kazi Faruq Ahmed has been made treasurer of National University in Gazipur.
   The prime minister and chancellor of the university, Sheikh Hasina, made the appointment. Faruk will take over the charge on Monday.
   Faruk is a former member of Dhaka University and Rajshahi University senates and also of the academic council of National University.

Bangladesh should set up a taskforce comprising persons interested in the pursuit of a smart and suitable foreign policy which will improve the country’s tattered image throughout the world.
   The experts — including diplomats, bureaucrats, academicians and civil society representatives — came up with the view on Sunday while addressing a discussion on the challenges faced by Bangladesh’s foreign policy and the changes that should be made in it.
   Discussing the key issues of terrorism and giving transit to India, they also observed that institutionalisation of democracy would be instrumental in tackling the menace of terrorism and the government should commission a detailed study on transit before going ahead with it.
   The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies organised the seminar, styled Foreign Policy of Bangladesh: Continuity and Challenges, in its auditorium on Sunday.
   Four papers on the key issues in foreign policy were presented in the two sessions of the discussion.
   The state minister for foreign affairs, Hasan Mahmud, speaking as the chief guest, said, ‘The fundamental objectives of Bangladesh’s foreign policy have not changed, but the making of foreign policy (sic) has changed because the world has changed.’
   He said that the Awami League government’s foreign policy has focused on the three key issues of economy (stabilizing the economy), ecology (environmental protection and prevention of environmental degradation) and security (consolidating a regional network of security institutions).
   Professor Anwar Hossain, a teacher of the history department in Dhaka University, said that Bangladesh has been reactive rather than pro-active in regard to any issue due to the absence of a clear-cut foreign policy.
   In his presentation, ‘Bangladesh and Key Global Players’, the professor criticise the successive political regimes for appointing persons in the country’s overseas missions on political considerations, overlooking their lack of capacity.
   He said that the foreign ministry should not be the dumping ground of functionally redundant persons.
   Anwar also suggested the setting up of a taskforce for devising a foreign policy that is suitable in the present global context.
   Ashfaqur Rahman, former ambassador to China and executive director of the Centre for Foreign Affairs Studies, said that Bangladesh, for the sake of smart diplomacy, should use its strategic geographical position to focus on multilaterism with special focus on Indo-China and ASEAN.
   In his presentation, ‘Menace of Terrorism: A Key Issue of Foreign Policy’, Ishfaq Ilahi Chowdhury, a former official of the Bangladesh Air Force, said that over the years terrorism has evolved into being transnational in character and multi-dimensional in operation.
   ‘So the country’s foreign policy must evolve a master mechanism, along with both the SAARC and the Western world, to tackle terrorism,’ he said.
   Speaking as a panel discussant on the issue, Syed Badrul Ahsan, current affairs’ editor of the Daily Star, said that the country could get rid of terrorism by institutionalising democracy.
   Abdur Rob Khan, director of BIISS, in his paper on Transit Issue in Bangladesh’s Foreign Policy, underlined the need for critical assessment of the ‘politically sensitive’ issues and suggested introduction of multilateral connectivity.
   Professor Delwar Hossain, a teacher of international affairs in Dhaka University, said that neither the foreign minister nor any think-tank had commissioned any serious study on serious issues like transit.
   ‘The Indo-Bangla bilateral ties must not be made hostage to the transit issue. Bangladesh and India should not over-react to each other’s decision on this issue,’ said Delwar.
   Tareq A Karim, vice-president and chief executive officer of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, presented a paper on Bangladesh and Her Neighbours.
   CM Shafi Sami, former adviser to the caretaker government of Iajuddin Ahmed, and Farooq Sobhan, former foreign secretary and president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, chaired two sessions of the discussion.
   Sheikh Md Monirul Islam, director-general of the BIISS, delivered the welcome address to the audience and participants.