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Thirteen members of the Bangladesh Rifles have been undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the capital for heart ailments, said a release on Saturday.
   The BDR’s director-general, Brigadier General Mainul Islam, visited the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases and Hospital on Saturday to see ailing Havildar Badrul Alam.
   Badrul of 19 Rifles Battalion fell sick at Mahipal in Feni while he was on his way to the headquarters on April 22. He was taken to the Feni Hospital and then shifted to the NICVD Hospital in Dhaka as his condition deteriorated the same day.
   The DG inquired about his treatment and also visited two other soldiers, Nayek Subedar Nazrul Islam of 23 Rifles Battalion and Havildar Ali Amjad of 36 Rifles Battalion who are also undergoing treatment at the hospital, said the release.
   Classes in the Bir Shrestha Munshi Abdur Rouf School and College in Pilkhana will resume on Sunday, two months after the late February massacre at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters that left 75 people dead.
   The morning shift will begin at 7:15am and the day shift at 11:30am. The students have to use Gate(s) no 3 and 1 to enter the school’s compound. The teachers will receive the students at the gates and also help them to exit after the end of classes.
   The guardians have been asked to be present at the two gates before the end of the morning and day shifts.
   The only English-medium institution inside the Pilkhana, Bir Uttam Fazlur Rahman School and College, opened on April 15, and the Bir Shreshtha Noor Mohammad Public School and College resumed classes on April 11.
   However, the decision to reopen the only primary school inside the Pilkhana, the BDR Primary School, is yet to be taken.
   A Dhaka court on Saturday granted fresh remand of five days to four soldiers and sent 11 others to the Dhaka Central Jail after expiry of their remand on Friday.
   The Criminals Investigation Department produced 15 soldiers before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on Saturday and sought fresh remand of 8 days for four of them.
   After the hearing, metropolitan magistrate Emdadul Huq granted five days of fresh remand to four persons — Havildar Julhasuddin, Sepoy Shahidul, Nayek Subedar Aziz Miah and Abdul Majed, a sweeper.
   The court sent the other 11 BDR men to the Dhaka Central Jail as the CID did not seek any remand for them.

The BNP vice-chairman, Nazmul Huda, on Saturday called for a massive overhaul of the party’s top policymaking body, the standing committee, which, he said, was barely alive.
   ‘The standing committee needs to be completely overhauled. I think it barely exists. Only three to four members of the 15-member committee attend its meetings and some of them are retiring from politics. It is a weak sign for any political party,’ Huda told a private television channel.
   He said the members of the standing committee should be active in politics and participate in organisational activities regularly, not just address rallies or sign statements.
   ‘The present standing committee has many weaknesses and most of the members are unable to play any active role,’ said Huda, a former communications minister convicted for graft by a special court during the emergency regime.
   He also demanded change in the position of the party secretary general and slammed Khandaker Delwar Hossain for playing no active role but addressing rallies or signing statements.

The attorney general’s office has asked the Anti-Corruption Commission to vacate two rooms occupied by the commission’s counsels in the state attorney’s chamber housed on the Supreme Court premises, officials said.
   ‘We have asked the Anti-Corruption Commission to vacate the rooms being used by the lawyers and officials of the commission within the shortest possible time,’ the attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, told New Age on Saturday.
   The attorney general’s office is facing an acute space shortage to accommodate 148 state lawyers and their employees, he said.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission counsels were given the cubicles in the attorney general’s office during the immediate-past military-controlled interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed.
   They used the office to look after the corruption cases challenged in the Supreme Court during the two years of state of emergency when the interim government had launched a drive against serious crimes and corruption targeting mostly politicians.
   The commission and the police lodged 1,216 corruption cases. Eight hundreds fourteen writ and criminal miscellaneous petitions were filed with the High Court challenging the corruption cases.
   In reply to a question, the attorney general said the commission’s law officers sought time, saying they would need few more days to shift the pile of case records.
   A prosecutor at the commission said one of the rooms had already been vacated. But the commission was negotiating with the office of the attorney general and the chief justice to retain just a room on the court premises for their use to ease their task in court.
   Mahbubey Alam said the rooms were for state law officers. ‘The commission has its own building and the commission’s lawyers can work there.’
   The coordinator of the commission lawyers, KM Hafizur Rahman Nehal, said the rooms named as ACC cell on the Supreme Court premises were being used to maintain liaison between the commission headquarters and the courts.
   ‘The copies of the corruption cases challenged in the Supreme Court by accused persons are served to us through the cell,’ Nehal said. ‘If they are to shift to headquarters from the attorney general’s office, they would face problems in performing their duties.’
   ‘We have informed the commission’s acting chairman Habibur Rahman of the matter and he has assured us of solving the problem immediately,’ he added.

Jatiya Party faction chief Anwar Hossain Manju on Saturday pledged to extend support to the Awami League-led alliance government for its positive moves.
   ‘As a partner of the grand alliance, we will extend support to the government and will also help the government through constructive criticism,’ Manju said while addressing an extended meeting of his party in his first appearance in public in 27 months.
   Manju, a former minister, had gone into hiding after the military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed launched anti-corruption drives targeting mainly the politicians.
   He accused the interim government of doing excesses. ‘But many of its actions need to be maintained for the sake of administrative continuation.’
   Manju, who presided over the meeting at a city hotel, called for tolerance for strengthening the democratic process. Disputes should be resolved through dialogues in a democracy, he added.
   ‘Under no circumstances the people’s fundamental rights should be curtailed,’ he said.
   Senior leaders of the JP faction also addressed the meeting which decided to hold the party’s central council session in Dhaka on June 20.

Five people were injured in a clash between activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir at Dinajpur Medical College on Saturday.
   Medical college sources said the clash began Friday night as activists of the two organisations locked into an altercation over establishing supremacy on the campus.
   In a sequel to Friday’s melee, Shibir men attacked the BCL activists in the afternoon triggering a fierce clash between the two groups that left five injured from both sides. On information, the police rushed in and brought the situation under control.
   One of the injured, Masud, was admitted to Dinajpur Medical College Hospital.
   All the classes were suspended during the clash.
   Meanwhile, Muslim hostel of Dinajpur Government University College was closed and its inmates were asked to vacate their dormitory by 4:00pm on Saturday following a tense situation over the ransacking of Sheikh Mujib’s portrait at the hostel Wednesday night.

The chief of the Bangladesh Rifles has told the BBC he is confident any probe into the spate of border guard deaths since the BDR rebellion in February, will be fair.
   The deaths, reported by the national media, of at least 16 BDR men have been criticised by local and international rights groups.
   BDR chief Major General Moinul Islam said four border guards had committed suicide, six died of heart attacks and six died of other diseases in recent weeks.
   Over 1,000 BDR members have been officially detained and interrogated by investigators following the rebellion at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka, which left at least 70 dead, mostly army officers who were deputed to lead the border force.
   But last week, a border guard alleged in a remand hearing related to the rebellion case that he had been tortured for seven days in custody before he was even brought before a court.
   A BDR statement released on Thursday said some soldiers ‘connected with the rebellion are committing suicide which is quite unexpected’.
   ‘Post-mortem examinations of those died have been conducted by a civilian hospital,’ Major General Moinul told the BBC, ‘and if there is any evidence of wrongdoing I am fully confident that the police and other investigating authorities will be fully able fairly to investigate the matter.’
   ‘We believe that perhaps they have failed to cope with the mental pressure associated with the guilt of committing the brutal attacks. Suicide is seen as a sin in religious terms and is also socially undesirable.’
   Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and local rights groups, in separate statements, have expressed concern over the number of these deaths — the most recent of which occurred last week – and questioned the official causes of death.
   Meanwhile, findings of a government inquiry into the rebellion are yet to be made public, after several delays over the past month.
   Major General Moinul refused to comment directly on allegations in the press that the BDR had been infiltrated by Islamic hardliners, but he said steps had been taken to rid the force of ‘infiltrators’.
   He said that morale in his force was improving since February’s low point and that measures had been introduced to improve BDR pay and conditions in addition to making it easier for BDR soldiers to get commissioned.

The Bangladesh Trade Union Federation formed a 23-member central committee with Faizul Hakim as president and Amir Abbas general secretary.
   The committee was formed in its 8th conference at Maitri Auditorium in Dhaka on Friday.
   The Jatiya Mukti Council president, Badruddin Umar, inaugurated the conference.
   Faizul Hakim placed the report at the council session while its leaders Abul Kalam Azad, Mojibur Rahman, Hasibur Rahman and Farhad Hossain participated in the discussion on the report.
   About 100 represe-
   ntatives across the country took part in the confe-rence.

The teachers and employees of the educational institutions of Khulna district, which have no government monthly payment order, formed a human chain at Picture Palace Crossing in Khulna Saturday morning.
   They formed the chain under the banner ‘Non-MPO Educational Institute Teachers-Workers Coordination Association’, demanding MPO for their institutions immediately.
   The gathering at the human chain was chaired by Khulna unit committee president, Golam Mahamudunnabi, and it was addressed by general secretary, Md Idris Ali and association leaders Md Kamal Hossain, Subrata Sana, Gazi Maruful Kabir, Gobinda Ghosh and Shahanaz Tanjila, among others.
   The speakers said that the teachers and employees of the educational institutions having no MPO were passing their days in hardships as they were not getting their salaries. A number of those teachers and employees have also crossed the age-limit to apply for government jobs, they added.
   They said there were about 4000 educational institutes in the country, including 120 in Khulna district, but there was no MPO for them.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday went out on demonstrations in divisional and district headquarters against the issuance of a notice to the party chief, Khaleda Zia, to vacate her house on Mainul Road in the Dhaka cantonment in 15 days.
   The Chittagong city BNP held a rally in front of its office. Former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury presided over the rally. The leaders who addressed the rally denounced the government move and warned of dire consequence if the government would not change its stance.
   Party leaders Rosy Kabir, AMM Nazimuddin, MA Sabur and Yasin Chowdhury also addressed the rally. A procession followed the rally.
   Reports from Rajshahi said the local BNP staged demonstrations in the city in protest against the cancellation of lease of Khaleda Zia’s house in the cantonment.
   As part of the central programme, they brought a procession from Lokanath School. The procession ended at Zero Point.
   The BNP activists later held a rally at Zero Point where the speakers condemned the government decision and demanded that the decision should be revoked.
   The district BNP president, Azizur Rahman, chaired the rally, which was addressed by local leaders.
   In Sylhet, the party’s district and city units held a rally in the registrar’s office ground in the city where former BNP lawmaker Ilias Ali said the consequence of conspiracy to evict Khaleda Zia from the house would bring no good for the government.
   He said the government had initiated a move with the issue to divert public attention from its total failure to address major problems and to protect the people behind the killing in the BDR headquarters.
   Lawmaker Shammi Aktar, former lawmakers Dildar Hossain Selim and Shafi Ahmed Chowdhury, Abdul Gaffer and Noman Mahmud addressed the rally.
   In Khulna, the city unit BNP held a rally in front of its office and brought out a procession demanding withdrawal of the notice issued to Khaleda.
   The rally, chaired by former BNP lawmaker M Nurul Islam, was addressed by lawmaker Nazrul Islam Monju, former lawmaker Quazi Sekendar Ali Dalim, former acting Khulna mayor Moniruzzaman Moni and local BNP leaders SM Morshed Alam and Anwarul Quadir Khokon.
   The speakers put out a call for the Awami League-led government to stop doing ‘politics of confrontations’ by withdrawing the notice for the cancellation of the lease of Khaleda’s house.
   Reports from Noakhali said the district unit BNP and its associate bodies brought out a procession against power outages, high prices of essential goods and notice issued to Khaleda to vacate the house in the cantonment.
   The district unit BNP secretary, Harun ur Rashid Azad, also the Noakhali municipal mayor, district Juba Dal president Mahbub Alamgir Alo and secretary Kamaksha Chandra Das and Chhatra Dal president Jahangir Alam Kala led the procession.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Saturday said the government wanted to take away the people’s right to speak and protest as it was issuing threats to take tough action should the citizens take to streets over water and power supply disruptions.
   Delwar also called for an issue-based united movement against the government’s ‘complete failure’ to provide water, power and gas during the summer.
   After its debacle in the December 29 general elections, senior leaders of the BNP-led alliance for the first time appeared together on a single podium at a meeting organised on Saturday to commemorate Khelafat Majlis naib-e-amir Emdadul Huq Araihajari, who died on April 3, at the Institute of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh.
   Along with Delwar, Jamaat-e-Islami amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, Islami Oikya Jote chairman Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini and Khelafat Majlish amir Muhammad Ishaq were on the dias.
   Delwar said that the BNP and its allies had not yet launched a movement against the government’s activities centring on Khaleda Zia’s house at Dhaka Cantonment. ‘Meet out demand immediately and cancel the illegal eviction notice. We will have no other option but to wage a movement if our demands are not met. Do not force us to hit the streets,’ he said.
   Nizami said the government was planning to go back to ‘one-party BKSAL rule’ and threatening to take tough action if the people take to the streets for water and power. He said the government was shifting the blame for all their failures on to the shoulders of the BNP-led alliance though it was ‘conspicuously silent’ about the two-year emergency rule that had pulled the country backwards.
   ‘The incidents of January 11, 2007 and the killings at Pilkhana were linked. Those who do not want a strong army were behind the events…The government now wants to kill two birds with one stone,’ said the Jamaat chief.
   Amini accused the government of plotting to shut qoumi madrassahs and warned that millions would lay down their lives if any such attempts were made. ‘If the lawmakers attempt to repeal Islam as the state religion or try to remove Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim from the constitution, they will have to stay inside the parliament house and will not be able to come out,’ he said.
   Chaired by Muhammad Ishaq, the programme was also addressed by Islami Oikya Jote secretary general Abdul Latif Nezami, Khelafat Majlis secretary general Ahmad Abul Quader and Jatiya Ganatantrik Party president Shafiul Alam Pradhan.
   No leaders from Bangladesh Jatiya Party, a component of the alliance, were present at the programme.

The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, on Saturday blamed the secondary school teachers for the poor state of education in the country.
   ‘The unruly governments between 2001 and 2008 have included more than 12,000 secondary schools in the monthly pay order system without citing any justification over the matter,’ he observed.
   Teachers of these schools are destroying the education system of the country,’ the minister said while addressing a seminar in Sylhet on overall situation of education in the division.
   The minister also stressed the need for special training for the secondary school teachers to develop the education system.
   Citing the poor state in education of the Sylhet region, he said a social movement have to be waged in this regard to overcome the present situation and the civil society members also have to come forward in this regard at first, he added.
   The government’s involvement is also necessary to achieve the goal of movement, he noted.
   Muhith suggested all primary schools of the division should be upgraded with having five-member teaching staff. The overall quality and geographical location should also be taken into consideration, while providing registration to any new primary schools, the finance minister pointed out.
   Besides, special measures should be taken in the haor and tea garden areas, importance on science and mathematics and setting up of library in all the intuitions are needed to ensure the quality education, the finance minister observed.
   ‘Reconsidering formation of governing body in the secondary schools is also an important issue so that the actual guardians, donors and teacher representatives can be included in the committee,’ he noted.
   Social welfare minister Enamul Haq Mostafa Shahid, education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, chief whip in the national parliament Abdus Shahid, state minister for education Motaher Hossain and Sylhet City Corporation mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran addressed the seminar as guests of honour.
   Divisional commissioner Zafar Ahmed Khan presided over the seminar held at M Saifur Rahman Auditorium at Rikabibazar in the city.
   The education minister told the seminar that the government wants to take special measures for development of education in some specific regions like hilly, haor and monga-stricken areas, which have remained backward in education in the country.
   ‘We have identified the reasons behind the poor state of education in the Sylhet division, and now we will move ahead with proper initiative to resolve the situation,’ the education minister said.
   Awami League lawmakers Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury, Mahmud-Us Samad Chowdhury, Hafiz Ahmed Mazumdar, Imran Ahmed, Muhbubur Rahman Manik, Abdul Mazid Khan, Abu Zayeed, Syeda Jebunnessa Haq and BNP lawmaker of reserved seat for woman Shammi Akhtar, among others, participated in the discussions.
   Joint programme director in the primary education development programme-2 of Primary Education Department Chowdhury Mufad Ahmed presented the keynote paper on the problems of primary education in Sylhet division.

World Intellectual Property Day will be observed today in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world to raise awareness of the role of intellectual property in daily lives with the slogan ‘green innovation as the key to a secure future.’
   In a message marking the day, the president, Zillur Rahman, on Saturday called for building an integrated intellectual property management in the country in line with ‘Intellectual Property Administration’ functioning in the developed countries.
   Apart from the government, other institutes should take effective measures in protecting and flourishing the country’s intellectual property, the president said.
   The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in her message said there is no alternative to building a knowledge-based society to this end.
   Mentioning the commitment of the present government to building a ‘digital Bangladesh’, she said development of intellectual property and its preservation will work as an important factor in building a happy and prosperous Bangladesh by 2021.
   The Patent, Design and Trademarks Directorate of industry ministry in association with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry will hold a seminar on ‘Encouraging Intellectual Property for Attaining Digital Bangladesh’. Industries minister Dilip Barua is expected to participate in the seminar as chief guest.
   The directorate also published a souvenir to mark the day and the daily newspapers will publish supplementary.
   Bangladesh has been observing the day since 2001 to encourage and nurture intelligence property. The World Intellectual Property Organisation, situated in Geneva, Switzerland, was established on the day in 1970.

An orientation session on business journalism was held in Jessore on Saturday to enhance understanding of the local journalists about trade financing, agricultural credit, information and communication technology in the banking sector and anti-money laundering.
   The business reporters must have a clear understanding of the border trade, banking and related issues for accurate and objective reporting, said experts in the programme.
   A total of 29 local journalists of print and electronic media and editors of local dailies participated in the workshop, said a press release.
   They also advised the participants to interpret the available data correctly, quote reference specifically and maintain regular communication with the sources.
   The Jessore Business Journalists’ Network and the Management and Resources Development Initiative organised the session in association with the Jessore Press Club and Katalyst.
   Khulna Bangladesh Bank deputy general manager Shyamal Kumar Das and its deputy director Abdul Khaleque conducted the session.

Didarul Alam alias Didar Boli and Marma Sing Tripura shared the championship of the century-old Jabbarer Bolikhela, a traditional form of wrestling, held at the Laldighi Maidan in the Chittagong city on Saturday.
   Didar of Ramu upazila in Cox’s Bazar and Marma, a police sub-inspector from Khagrachhari, failed to floor each other during their 28-minute bout, prompting the organisers to declare them as joint champions.
   Didar became champion in 2007 but shared the championship with Marma in five other competitions since 2004, the organisers said.
   A total of 78 wrestlers from different parts of the country, including Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, three hill districts, Comilla, Noakhali, Laksmipur, Narail and Bhola, took part in the competition.
   Shykh Seraj, director (news) of Channel-i, inaugurated the wrestling competition, releasing balloons.
   The shipping minister, Afsarul Amin Chowdhury, will distribute prizes among the winners as chief guest.
   SM Iqbal Hossain, acting mayor of the Chittagong City Corporation, Mohammed Moniruzzaman, commissioner of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police, and Bishwajit Pal, regional commercial chief of Bangla Link, were special guests.
   A three-day Baishakhi Mela covering more than one square kilometre area, comprising Laldighi Maidan, Badarpati, KC Dey Road, Anderkilla and Kotwali crossing, was organised on the occasion of Jabbarer Boli Khela.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested 167 people on various charges in different parts in the capital on the second day of the ‘Special Drive’ aiming to arrest listed criminals with a view to maintaining law and order.
   Of the arrested, four are listed as criminals, one extortionist, one illegal arms holder, 11 muggers, 76 accused in regular cases, two convicts, 40 drug peddlers and 32 warranted accused.
   A total of 299 people have so far been arrested since the beginning of drive Thursday midnight.
   During the drive, the police seized two machetes (chapati), one knife, 300 grams of heroin, 310 bottles of Phensydil, 20 bottles of liquor, 12.50 kilograms of hashish, 30 yaba tablets, 287 cans of beers, 9,440 pieces of sedative tablets, one mobile phone set, one gold chain and Tk 530 in cash on the second day.
   On the first day, a total of 132 criminals wanted in several cases were arrested and three illegal firearms and several rounds of bullet were recovered.
   The police officers concerned including officers-in-charge of the 35 police stations of the DMP areas are to conduct special drive to arrest criminals without considering their political affiliation.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will hold a series of programmes titled ‘Digital Bangladesh’ aimed at reaching information technology across the country and create an efficient manpower.
   The programmes will be held in observance of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day which falls on May 17, said a release issued on Saturday.
   The commission, with the help of Splash Group, will hold an essay writing competition with the participation of students of schools, colleges and universities.
   An online illustration competition will also take place in which anyone can participate by sending in sending their illustrations online by April 30.
   The commission will also hold an exhibition of the activities of about 20 ICT organisations. Further details are available on the commission web site (www.btrc.gov.bd/wtisd).

‘All parts of my body were seared with heated iron rod as I did not agree with their proposal for prostitution,’ a 35 year-old Fulbanu of Jessore said while describing the torture she like thousands of migrant Bangladeshi workers had to undergo.
   Some of the hapless migrant workers who were sent back recently from different countries and some of the relatives of the workers who had died abroad spoke of their plights during their stay abroad at a press briefing on Saturday.
   Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association organised the briefing at the National Press Club on the plights of the migrant Bangladeshi workers who were sent back to the country.
   ‘The recruiting agency took about Tk 70,000 in exchange for sending me to Lebanon as a domestic help. But after my arrival in Lebanon, I found myself in the hands of middlemen who sold me to a brothel,’ she said.
   Rekha, 32, of Gazipur, who is back from Malaysia, said, ‘Embassy officials in Malaysia did not respond to our call to save us when we were passing our miserable days after becoming victims of fraudulence of the unscrupulous recruiting agency and the middlemen.’
   Josef Mandal, 28, of Gopalganj, who had gone to Malaysia in 2007, said, ‘Though the recruiting agency, Madina Overseas of Fakirerpool, took some Tk 2,40,000 from me in exchange for giving me a job in Konsdrtium-Casar Borong company of Malaysia with the monthly salary of around Tk 15,000, I did not get the job and at one stage the Malaysian immigration police arrested me.’
   Bidhan Chandra Sarker, 38, of Madaripur, said he was sent back from the United Arab Emirates few days back, though he had paid the recruiting agency Tk 2,20,000 for the job in an electronics factory in Dubai.
   ‘None of the middlemen, agency people in the country and the people in Bangladeshi embassy in the UAE cooperated with us despite several requests from us at the time when we began to despair at failing to get the jobs,’ Sarker said.
   Executive director of the BNWLA, Salma Ali said the government had paid no heed to ensuring safe migration of the workers though more than eight billion dollars remittances came from the migrant workers sector.
   Ali said the Al Baraka Training Centre at Uttara in the capital was engaged in ‘trafficking’ women, openly alluring them with luxurious jobs abroad, but the government was taking no action against them.
   The BNWLA demanded formation of an enquiry committee to investigate deaths of the workers abroad and asked the government to give the workers due compensations alongside taking strong measures to stop mishandling of the manpower.

The Domestic Workers’ Right Network on Saturday called on the government to enact a law to ensure rights and safety of domestic workers.
   The domestic workers are neglected in their workplaces, Wazedul Islam Khan, coordinator of Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad, said in a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity.
   ‘Some 80 per cent of domestic workers are women and children, but no effective steps have been taken to protect them to date,’ he said.
   The Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies secretary general, Nazrul Islam Khan, said domestic workers urgently needed to be included under labour laws for their safety.
   At least two million people are employed casually as domestic works across the country.
   A study by the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies shows 640 incidents of torture on domestic workers were recorded in 2001-08. Of them, 305 died because of torture during the period.
   Basic rights, prevention of inhuman treatments, education and legal help in case of tortures were demanded for the domestic workers in the conference.
   Among others present in the press conference were Farida Yasmin, deputy director of BLAST, Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, Abul Hossain, adviser of the domestic women workers union, Hosne Ara Kashem, executive director of Shoishab Bangladesh, and Abu Taher.
   The Domestic Worker’s Rights Network was established in 2006 with the alliance of 22 organisations. Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies is working as the secretariat of the network.

The Australian High Commission in Dhaka on Saturday commemorated the 94th anniversary of ANZAC Day remembering Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women who died in wars and conflicts, including 29 buried in Commonwealth War Cemeteries in Bangladesh.
   Australian high commissioner Justin Lee, along with representatives from Bangladesh government Major General Mollah Fazle Akbar, Turkish ambassador Sakir Ozkan Torunlar, and honorary consul of New Zealand Neaz Ahmed placed wreaths at the service in their remembrance.
   Lee in his address recognised and thanked the many ordinary men and women who lost their lives serving Australia and New Zealand in wars, conflicts and peace operations, alongside their compatriots from Allied and Commonwealth Nations. The Turkish ambassador read the words of remembrance first made by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
   The commemorative service highlighted the sacrifice of young servicemen from the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force who served with British Royal Air Force Squadrons in both the Burma and India/Ceylon theatres, including in and around Chittagong during the Second World War. A number of these airmen lost their lives while supporting the jungle fighters and now lie buried in the Chittagong and Comilla war cemeteries.
   The service was also attended by the US ambassador, Canadian high commissioner, UK charge d’affaires, defence attachés, manager of Commonwealth War Graves in Bangladesh, and Australian and New Zealand community members in Dhaka.
   ANZAC Day is commemorated on April 25, to remember that on that day in 1915 troops from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed in Gallipoli, Turkey, during the First World War. This was the first time Australian troops fought together as a nation and during the eight month campaign over 8,700 Australians were killed.

Two officials of a melamine company were arrested from Shubharda Purbapara of Keraniganj on Saturday on charge of copying Sharif Melamine’s designs.
   The police said they arrested Abul Kalam, manager of Real Melamine Company, and sales
   representative Kabir from the factory at about 12 noon.
   They also seized valuables worth Tk 8 lakh from the factory and some important documents.
   The police said Real Melamine had been copying designs of Sharif Melamine since long.
   When contacted, owner of Real Melamine MA Hanif alias Manik, denied the allegation and claimed it was a conspiracy of Sharif Melamine management as products of their company were more popular than that of Sharif’s.
   ‘We didn’t copy any designs of Sharif Melamine,’ he said.
   The police arrested the two officials though they showed necessary documents to them, he said.

A leader of the ultra-left outfit Purbo Bangla Communist Party (ML-red flag) was killed in Pabna, the police said on Saturday.
   The dead was identified by the police as Alam, son of Khorshed Ali of Shibpur village under Atgharia in the district. Some 10-12 unidentified men took Alam from his home Friday evening, stabbed him and left him, Atgharia police chief Sirajul Islam told Bdnews24.com.
   ‘The assailants may have been members of a rival radical group,’ said the police officer. Alam was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital in a critical condition where he died in the night, said Sirajul.
   A case was filed with the Atgharia police.