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A Dhaka court on Monday ordered further investigation into the two cases filed in connection with the 21 August, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka in which 24 persons were killed.
   Mohammad Masder Hossain, the judge of the Dhaka Speedy Tribunal-1, also asked the inspector general of police to submit the report of the investigation within two months.
   The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Syed Rezaur Rahman, the chief public prosecutor of the two cases, on June 25 to seek reinvestigation of the case.
   The same court on 29 October, 2008 indicted 22 people, including BNP’s former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami’s operative Mufti Abdul Hannan in the cases, and a total of 61 out of 412 witnesses in the cases have so far testified in the court.
   The cases were transferred to Special Trial Tribunal-1 from the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s court on 21 July, 2008 for completion of trial in the stipulated period of 135 working days.
   Rezaur told the court that the attack was launched to assassinate Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister, but the influential people who had supplied grenades could not be traced in the previous investigation.
   Khandaker Mahbub Hossian, lawyer for Abdus Salam Pintu, told the court that the government had appealed for more investigation to politically harass the BNP and include in its net a good number of politicians from the opposition.
   Several grenades were hurled on the Awami League rally and at least 24, including high-ranking party leader Ivy Rahman, were killed and more than 200 were injured.
   Sharif Farook Ahmed lodged the cases with the Motijheel police on 22 August, 2004 — one related to the attack and the other under the Explosive Substances Act.
   The Criminal Investigation Department’s assistant superintendent Fazlul Kabir, also the investigation officer of the cases, on 11 June, 2008 pressed charges in the two cases against 22 persons. Four hundred and twelve people, including Hasina, were named prosecution witnesses in both the cases.
   The past investigators several times tried to put the case on the wrong track and arrested 20 innocent persons, including George Miah. George gave a statement in court saying that top criminals Subrata Bain and Joy had carried out the attack, but no one of the persons accused at that time was named in the charge-sheets.
   George, who had been reportedly set up as the scapegoat, was recently released from jail after being cleared of all the charges in the case.
   After the submission of the charge-sheets the CID’s chief, Mohammad Javed Patwari, in a briefing on 11 June, 2007 said, ‘We have submitted the charge-sheets, but the investigation continues. If we find more people are involved, a supplementary charge-sheet will be filed.’
   He, however, added that so far they had found no people, as named by Awami League leaders, were involved in the attack.
   Javed said the CID’s earlier investigation had taken a wrong turn, but it had been brought back to the right track and the 20 persons earlier arrested had been freed and dropped from the charge-sheets.
   When asked about taking action against past investigators for derailing the investigation, Javed said the three officials had already retired and there was no scope for departmental action anymore. ‘Now it depends on the court.’
   Javed also mentioned that they could not identify the source of the grenades.
   ‘We came to know during investigation that Pintu’s brother Maulana Tajuddin had supplied the grenades. As Tajudddin has gone into hiding and is staying abroad, we could not identify the source of the grenades,’ he said.
   Pintu, Mufti Hannan and 12 others, now in jail, were on the dock during the framing of the charges. After the judge read out the charges against them, all of them pleaded not guilty.
   The remaining eight, indicted in the case, are still in hiding. All of the 22 were charged with launching the grenade attack and killing.
   The others indicted, now in prison, are Hannan’s brother Mohibullah alias Mafizur Rahman alias Ovi, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul, Maulana Abu Sayeed alias Zakir, Abdul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, Jahangir Alam, Hafez Maulana Abu Taher, Shahadatullah alias Jewel, Hussain Ahmed Tanim, Moyeenuddin Sheikh alias Abu Al-Din alias Masum Billah, Arif Hasan Sumon, Rafiqul Islam Sabuj alias Khalid Saifullah, and Mohammad Ujjwal alias Ratan.
   The remaining of the eight indicted persons, now in hiding, are Pintu’s brothers Maulana Tajuddin and Maulana Liton, Anisul Mursalin, Mahibul Muttakin, Iqbal, Maulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Howlader, Jahangir Alam Badar and Khalilur Rahman.

The cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for promulgating an ordinance amending the updated Representation of the People Order to give political parties six more months to submit their ratified constitutions to the Election Commission.
   The weekly cabinet meeting, held at the Cabinet Division with prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, gave the approval following an appeal by the Election Commission as many political parties missed the July 24 deadline.
   Meeting sources said that the commission sought one year extension of the deadline.
   According to the new RPO, as amended by the parliament recently, the date for submitting the ratified party constitutions expired on July 24.
   The six-month extension would be counted from July 25.
   The amended RPO requires political parties to submit their constitutions ratified in council sessions within six months form the date of the first sitting of the ninth parliament. The first session of the parliament began on January 25.
   Ten political parties, including the main opposition BNP, out of 39 registered parties applied to the EC seeking extension of the deadline. The ruling Awami League and its ally Jatiya Party earlier submitted their constitutions to the EC by the deadline, after holding their councils on July 24.
   Briefing the newsmen, PM’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said the cabinet asked the Election Commission to decide what actions would be taken against the political parties in case of missing the extended deadline.
   At the meeting, the prime minister urged the EC to prepare separate lists of the parties which have already been registered, those which applied for registration and others which are yet to apply.
   Meeting sources said agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury and state minister for women and children affairs Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury criticised the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party for failing to submit its ratified constitution to the EC within the deadline.
   But no minister opposed the extension of the timeframe.
   ‘Many political parties are required to go through a democratic process, so we have to accept this,’ Sheikh Hasina was quoted by a minister as saying.
   She said the BNP does not bother to follow any rules and regulations, the party is doing politics with corrupt persons and it has not even submitted its election expenditure statement, the minister told New Age.
   ‘We do not want to put any party in difficulties as we want to do politics with all in a democratic society,’ the PM was quoted as saying.
   The cabinet gave final approval to the Ethnic Communities’ Cultural Institutions Act 2009 to remove barriers in receiving service and retirement benefits by the officials and employees of those institutions, Azad said.
   From now on the people working in the ethnic communities’ cultural organizations will get salaries and other job facilities specified under the government service rules.
   The cabinet also approved in principle Bangladesh National Science and Technical Information Collection and Distribution Centre (BANSDOC) Act-2009 to enable the centre in preserving science and technology related information and to communicate with similar organisations of other countries by eradicating administrative complications.
   The cabinet received two reports on Bangladesh’s participation in the 36th OIC foreign ministerial meeting in Syria and in the 98th International Labour Conference in Geneva.
   Foreign minister Dr Dipu Moni, who led a four-member delegation to the OIC Conference in Damascus in May, deplored Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people and called for implementing the Arab Peace Treaty for establishing an independent Palestinian state.
   Besides, labour and employment minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain led the Bangladesh delegation to the ILO conference in Geneva in June where Bangladesh was elected president at the conference.

Taxicab operators are now counting the cost of their wrong choice of vehicles that forced them to pull 90 per cent of cars out of service much before their average lifetime expired.
   Their association estimates that return on their Tk 200 crore investment in the nascent service in last six years was much less than expected as light vehicles with low engine capacity lost their resale value. Cars worth more than Tk 80 crore turned into junks.
   The blame goes to cheap Indian cars with low capacity engines, which made their way into Dhaka’s streets due to cost-cutting exercise of operators and promotional prices offered by local car dealers.
   Affected cab operators now point their finger at the government’s wrong policy that paved the way for low quality Indian cars and forced more than a half of taxicab companies to fold within years of operation.
   The insolvent operators are now avoiding the commercial banks which invested in taxicab services. Some others have their garages filled with junk cars and scraps.
   In 2003, the communications ministry gave permission to 10,000 taxicabs to ply in the city, opening the floodgate for poor quality Indian cars. Initially these taxicabs were given 8-year road permit which was later extended to 10 years.
   But within five years, taxicab operating companies which invested crores of taka through bank loans realised that their investment went down the drain.
   ‘Indian made cars are not viable for taxicab service,’ said Mannan Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Association of Taxicab Operators.
   The realisation is, however, late and proved costly as more than 70 operators lost about Tk 80 crore in taxicab business.
   Only 1,000 taxi cabs are in operation in the capital while the rest are turned into scrap, he added.
   Anudip Auto Ltd, which got permission to run the highest number of nearly 1600 taxicabs, is now guarding two yards of scraps of Indian cars — one at Mirpur and the other in the outskirt of the capital.
   Cab Express (BD) Ltd. Cab One, Cab Bangla Ltd, Cab Salida Ld, Cosmo Cab (Pvt.) Ltd, Nihon Taxi Cab, Cosmo Cab (Pvt.) Ltd, Yellow Lines Ltd and Orion Texi Cab (Pvt.) Ltd were among the companies which pressed low-quality Indian cars into service and suffered losses.
   Out of 70 operators, 40 have already folded their business and distanced themselves from banks after failing to repay loans.
    Banks and leasing companies like Islamic Bank, UCBL, ICB Islamic Bank formerly known as Oriental Bank, AB Bank, Phoenix and Uttara Finance and Investments Limited, which provided the loans, are planning to file cases against the loan defaulters.
   An official of the Islamic Bank on condition of anonymity told New Age they are following rules and regulations to realise their loans as they found many taxicab companies ‘simply unresponsive’ despite repeated reminders.
    Taxicab operators last week at a press conference demanded waiver of bank loan interest. They have been urging the communications ministry for the last couple of years to intervene into the matter for the protection of their business.
   Some operators including Navana Tax Cab and Nippon, however, stood out from the rest, and they are doing well with Japanese cars.
   Navana manager Ainul Kabir Chowdury told New Age that his company operates around 400 cars, all Japanese, to run their cab business since 2000.
   Lack of feasibility study to determine whether the Indian cars were viable for running such business was the main reason for the present debacle, he pointed out.
   He said the government has of late realised the mistake and decided to allow cars with engine capacity of above 1300 cc for taxicab services from the current fiscal year.

The investigation committee failed to make any headway in probing the deaths of BDR soldiers in custody even in the last two months and a half as such death toll soared to 35 until Sunday, officials said.
   The government has given the probe body one more month to complete the investigation into ‘unnatural deaths’ of Bangladesh Rifles soldiers in custody in the aftermath of the February 25-26 bloody rebellion at the BDR headquarters.
   The home ministry’s committee, formed on May 14, had missed the deadline for the third time, said an official concerned.
    As the last deadline for submitting probe report expired on July 26, the government on July 29 gave it one-month time further to facilitate ‘better investigation into the incidents.’
   ‘The committee asked for more time to properly investigate the incidents of unnatural deaths…We have allowed one month more so that the body can complete the task in a better manner,’ home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told New Age on Monday.
   The government initiated the executive inquiry into unnatural deaths of the paramilitary force members, who were taken into custody on suspicion of their involvement with the mutiny, in the wake of pressures from local and international rights groups.
   At least 35 BDR soldiers died in custody in Dhaka and elsewhere after the rebellion that killed 75 persons, including 57 army officers deputed to the border force.
   The police so far arrested more than 3,000 BDR soldiers at places across the country in connection with the worst rebellion in BDR that stunned the nation and put the two-month old government in troubles.
   Of the arrested, seven reportedly committed suicide, eight died of ‘heart attack’ and the other 20 deaths were caused by various diseases, according to the BDR authorities.
   ‘The deputy secretary-led committee is too weak to carry out such a sensitive task,’ said a senior official at the home ministry.
   In late June, the committee was given a month’s extension for completing the inquiry into the incidents after it missed the second deadline.
   The committee formed with representatives from BDR and police was supposed to submit report in 15 days to June 4.
   But it could not even start the work in the given time as deputy secretary (law) Zakir Hassain initially declined to head the four-member body.
   It was given 15 more days.
   The committee is supposed to identify the reasons behind the unnatural deaths of border guards and recommend steps to prevent such custodial deaths.

The government has rescinded the forced retirement of two judges –M Abdul Gafur and M Shahjahan—who are also the top leaders of Bangladesh Judicial Service Association.
   The law ministry on Sunday night issued a gazette notification saying the government, in the public interest, cancelled the order issued on July 30.
   Dhaka district and sessions judge M Abdul Gafur and Gazipur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal judge M Shahjahan had been given forced retirement under Section 9(2) of the Public Servants (Retirement) Act 1974.
   The latest order was also given effect from July 30, the gazette notification added.
   An official handout issued on July 30 had said the two were sent into retirement in order to maintain discipline in the public service.
   Abdul Gafur and Shahjahan, also the president and secretary general respectively of Bangladesh Judicial Service Association, were served the forced retirement order two days after more than 100 lower court judges had staged a demonstration at the law ministry on July 27 to protest the government move to divide the ministry into two divisions.
   The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, in a briefing at his ministry on Sunday said, ‘A procedural mistake had been committed in forcing the two judges into retirement.’
   He also admitted that the Supreme Court had not been consulted before issuing their retirement order on Thursday.
   Sources in the law ministry, however, told New Age on Sunday neither the law minister nor the state minister for law, Quamrul Islam, were aware of the forced retirement of the two judges.
   They said an adviser to the prime minister had instigated the law ministry to recommend to the president, through the prime minister, their retirement order, bypassing the minister and state minister for law.
   On July 27, Shafique Ahmed had said the Supreme Court was the authority to take any action against the judicial officers as they now serve under the Supreme Court since November 1, 2007, when the judiciary was made independent of the executive organ of the state.
   Considering the action unconstitutional and following the judges’ move to file writ petitions challenging the action, the minister and the state minister for law, home minister Sahara Khatun and ruling Awami League presidium member Yousuf Hossain Humayun, all of whom are lawyers, met the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, at her official residence, Jamuna, on Saturday night and discussed the matter.
   They were told by the prime minister that the file on the forced retirement placed before her had no mention that a judge cannot be forced into retirement without consultation with the Supreme Court, according to a source who was present at the meeting.
   The meeting decided to cancel the July 30 order and that the decision would be disclosed at a meeting of the prime minister with the judges, the source said.
   The leaders of the judges’ association, accordingly, met the prime minister at Jamuna on Sunday morning and the prime minister told them that Thursday’s order would be withdrawn as the judges said ‘sorry’ for the July 27 demonstration.
   Earlier on July 12, about 200 administration cadre officials from various ministries had gathered at the law ministry to register their protest against the deputation of judicial officers to executive positions.

Key members of Bangladesh’s parliamentary delegation stayed back in New Delhi for further talks with Indian officials on the basis of the available data and their impressions from the aerial view of the controversial Tipaimukh project.
   ‘Six lawmakers of the team stayed there for further discussion with Indian officials on the Indian project,’ said M Hasanuzzaman, private secretary to the chairman of parliamentary standing committee on water resources and delegation leader Abdur Razzak.
   He told New Age Monday that Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi informed that the lawmakers would place their observation on the visit and discuss the future course of action on the proposed dam on the Barak River.
   The rest members of the team — three officials and one academic— returned to Dhaka Monday as per earlier schedule.
   The 10-member delegation, including six lawmakers from Awami League and Jatiya Party, left Dhaka for New Delhi on July 29 and held discussion with the Indian authorities on the pros and cons of India’s planned structure on the cross-border river Barak in its north-eastern Manipur state.
   The team’s attempt to visit the Tiapimukh dam site was failed twice due to inclement weather on Saturday and Sunday. The members, however, flew over the areas by helicopter before they started for New Delhi from Assam Sunday.
   They were scheduled to return on Monday, but new meeting arrangements kept the lawmakers busy in the Indian capital for one more day, said the official who could not elaborate the content of the second round discussion.
   ‘They will now return home on Tuesday,’ said Hasanuzzaman.
   Earlier, the delegation held talks with Indian power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi and suggested a joint survey to weigh impacts of the Tipaimukh project on the both sides of the border.
   But no clear signal was given from the Indian side, which only said that they would not take any scheme harmful for Bangladesh — an assurance given by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh to prime minister Sheikh Hasina during the NAM summit in Egypt last month.
   The project is a hydro-electric one and there is no possibility of diverting water from the common river Barak, they said.
   Environmentalists fear that the Indian project would withdraw water from Barak river and restrict flow to Surma and Kushiyara rivers in Bangladesh, causing ecological disasters in the Sylhet region.

Christian schools went on strike in Pakistan Monday to protest against the killing of seven Christians in bloody riots that heightened fears of widening unrest in the troubled country, officials said.
   ‘We are mourning the death of innocent people in Gojra and have closed our schools in Karachi for three days from today,’ said Saleem Michael, an official of the Catholic Board of Education in Pakistan’s financial capital.
   The board controls about 62 schools in Karachi where around 50,000 students are enrolled, Michael said.
   ‘We believe in peace, so we are protesting against the Gojra tragedy in a peaceful manner,’ he said.
   An angry mob of Muslims torched 40 houses and a church in the remote village of Gojra, 160 kilometres west of Lahore in Pakistan’s heartland province of Punjab, on Saturday.
   The violence broke out over the alleged desecration of the Qur’an, which is punishable by death under blasphemy laws in Pakistan, although no executions have ever been carried out.
   The law was introduced by former military ruler Zia ul-Haq, who passed tough Islamic legislation and whose rule from 1977-1988 was seen as a critical point in the development of extremist Islam in parts of Pakistan.
   Two children — a brother and sister aged six and 13 — their parents and 75-year-old grandfather were burnt to death after the mob locked them inside a room of their house, Father Shabbir Bashir said by telephone from Gojra.
   ‘Five members of one family burnt to death, including innocent children and their parents. How we can feel safe and secure in such a country?’ he said.
   ‘They killed us. They ransacked our houses. They looted our homes. How we can feel protected?’
   Ayub Sajid, a Christian community leader in the central town of Multan, said 13 missionary schools due to re-open after the holidays in central Punjab would remain closed for three days to mourn and protest the killings.
   Christians, who make up less than three per cent of Pakistan’s 167 million population, and are generally impoverished and marginalised, claim the blasphemy laws are used as an excuse to victimise them.
   Authorities deployed paramilitary rangers in the area and arrested
   dozens of suspects on Sunday but Christians said they still feel unprotected.
   ‘The blasphemy law is always used against minorities... Now minorities all over Pakistan feel they aren’t secure,’ said Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, a Christian member of the Punjab provincial parliament.
   Another Christian lawmaker in North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan in western Pakistan, also echoed the same fears.
   ‘We have cancelled all functions in Peshawar and other districts. We will mourn the killing for three days,’ Prince Javed said.
   ‘We are now a target in Pakistan,’ Javed said.
   ‘We are not refugees. This is our own country. We are Pakistanis by birth, so why they are attacking us?’
   The president, Asif Ali Zardari, has announced compensation of 500,000 rupees (6,000 dollars) to relatives for each person killed, federal minister for minorities affairs Shahbaz Bhatti told a news conference in Islamabad.
   He said the government would also pay 300,000 rupees to those whose houses were torched.
   ‘One hundred houses were torched, 100
   more were looted, seven people were killed and several wounded,’ Bhatti said.
   ‘Christians are mourning this incident across the country — we
   have postponed all Christian functions for three days.’
   The prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has ordered an inquiry into the alleged desecration of the Qur’an and appealed to residents of the area to remain calm.
   The unrest between a group of local Muslims and Christians first flared late last month over the ‘desecration’ of the pages of a Qur’an, but the matter was thought to have been resolved amicably, the police said.

The High Court issued a contempt of court rule on Monday against three top civil servants, including establishment secretary Iqbal Mahmud and public works secretary Mahbubur Rahman
   Chief engineer of the public works department Rafiqul Islam was the third top-ranked official facing the contempt of court petition made by 131 staff of the public works department.
   On July 30, 2008, the High Court ordered the civil servants to regularise the staff, but failed to comply. On July 13 this year, the court served a legal notice upon them.
   As no move was made to regularize the staff, even after issue of the notice, they filed a contempt of court petition against them on Aug 2.
   The bench of justices Nazmun Ara Sultana and Shamsul Huda on Monday asked the three to explain within two weeks why they should not be penalised for contempt of court for not complying with the order.

A parliamentary committee on Monday levelled charges of ‘massive corruption’ against Mainul Hosein, one of the owners of Ittefaq and former adviser to the military-backed interim government that ran the country for two years until January 2009.
   ‘We have received a number of allegations of corruption and misuse of power by the former housing and public works adviser,’ said Nasrul Hamid, an Awami League lawmaker who heads a parliamentary subcommittee formed to investigate alleged corruption by the last Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government and the following military-backed interim regime.
   Mainul was in charge of the housing and public affairs, information and law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministries of the army-controlled administration which took over on January 11, 2007 amidst political turmoil that threatened to tear the country apart.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the housing and public works ministry also assigned the five-member panel to look into allegations of graft by the adviser who had to resign midway in the two-year rule of the unelected government, and also of his family members. It was asked to submit a report to the committee in the shortest possible time.
   The subcommittee’s head said that allegations against Mainul of misuse of power are still coming to the committee. ‘We are looking into these complaints and hope to submit the probe report within a month.’
   When asked about the allegations, Nasrul said that Mainul and his family members are accused of grabbing land and changing government plans to favour some individuals.
   He said the former adviser had constructed a high-rise building in defiance of building codes, interfered in the allocation of plots by the Khulna Development Authority, and allocated government land to a private university in Mirpur in violation of the existing rules.
   Nasrul blamed Mainul for the tragic death of 13 construction workers who were killed while demolishing the much-talked-about Rangs Bhaban in Tejgaon as the ministry had allowed the use of unsafe methods to knock down the illegally constructed building.
   ‘Being the chief executive of the ministry, Mainul cannot avoid the responsibility of the death of 13 poor workers,’ said Nasrul, adding that the ministry had allowed workers from ship-breaking yards to demolish the high-rise.
   ‘We will recommend legal measures against Mainul for the callous decision that led to the deaths.’
   Nasrul also alleged that one of Mainul’s sons has forcibly occupied an apartment in Gulshan.
   Mainul denied everything while talking to a news agency, and asked the panel to prove the allegations.
   ’Bangladesh is yet to give birth to a person capable of proving corruption charges against me,’ he told bdnews24.com.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s youngest son, Arafat Rahman, on Monday filed a writ petition challenging the filing and continuation of the money-laundering case against him by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   After a brief hearing, the High Court bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury adjourned the session till today afternoon.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission’s deputy director, Abu Sayed, on March 17 filed the case with the Kafrul police station, accusing Arafat of siphoning off 28,84,603 Singapore dollars (Tk 12.88 crore) and 9,32,672 US dollars (Tk 6.38 crore) into two accounts in Singapore.
   According to the First Information Report of case, money worth of Tk 19.26 crore was taken out of the country during the 2004-2007 period. It was stated that 28,84,603 Singapore dollars were stashed in the account of a company named ZASZ and 9,32,672 US dollars in the account of another company named Fairhill Consulting Private Ltd.
   The case has been filed under Section 4(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2008, but the alleged offence was committed in the years between 2004 and 2007.
   The ACC had filed the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2008 in violation of the constitution, as according to Article 35 of the constitution no one can be sued or punished under any law which was not in force during the alleged committing of the offence, argued Arafat’s counsel TH Khan.
   TH Khan with Rafique-ul Huq, Moudud Ahmed and Mahbub Uddin Khokon appeared for Arafat, while attorney general Mahbubey Alam stood for the ACC.
   Arafat, who was arrested along with his mother on 3 September, 2007 in connection with a graft case filed by the military-controlled interim regime, is now on parole and undergoing treatment at a Bangkok hospital.
   This is the third case filed against Arafat by the ACC. During the emergency regime he was sued in the GATCO case and for amassing illegal assets.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday termed the attitude of the two senior judges as ‘unseemly’ and said that the people do not expect such indecorous behaviour from judges, said highly placed sources in the government.
   Hasina expressed her opinion of the two senior judges at a closed-door meeting of Cabinet members, held after the regular Cabinet session was over, when some minister said the judges had tarnished the image of the government by their inappropriate behaviour.
   The government on Sunday night cancelled the forced retirement of two top leaders of the Bangladesh Judicial Service Association who were sent into retirement on July 30 following the judges’ noisy demonstration at the law ministry on July 27.
   Hasina told the Cabinet meeting that the government had cancelled the forced retirement of the two judges as they had apologised for misbehaviour, sources said.
   The prime minister asked the newly appointed shipping minister, Mohammad Shahjahan Khan, to take tough initiatives to stop extortion in the transport sector, said insiders.
   The meeting discussed the illegal Rohingya immigrants in Bangladesh and food and disaster minister Abdur Razzak drew attention to the problems caused by them, saying that the Rohingya problem is an extra burden for the country, a minister told New Age.
   Foreign minister Dipu Moni then reminded them that the Rohingya problem arose during the regime of General Ziaur Rahman and the government would try to find a peaceful solution and send them back to their country.
   Advisors to the prime minister and the state ministers for the first time were not allowed to attend the Cabinet meeting since the government assumed office on January 6. But the state minister who is in charge of the ministry under discussion will be able to attend the meeting. The Cabinet Division on Sunday conveyed the message to the advisors and the state ministers.
   But one of the PM’s advisors, Alauddin Ahmed, was allowed to attend the meeting. Inside sources said the decision was relaxed for PM’s administrative and establishment affair advisor HT Imam and finance adviser Mashihur Rahman who will be allowed to attend the meetings in the future, said sources.
   Earlier, in a speech on the national budget for 2009-10 in parliament, former general secretary of the Awami League, Abdul Jalil, demanded that the prime minister’s advisers should not be allowed to attend the Cabinet meetings since they had not sworn an oath of secrecy.
   The government in January amended a few provisions of the Rules of Business 1996 to enhance the prime minister’s authority to appoint and assign persons of her choice as aides.
   According to the amendment, the advisers and special assistants will be allowed to attend the meetings of the Cabinet or any other government committees.

A restaurant in Chicago run by a Bangladeshi couple has become famous as the family of president Barack Obama frequented the eatery before moving to the White House.
   First lady Michelle Obama would quite often take her dinner in the restaurant, Aigre Doux, when the family was in Chicago during Obama’s term as the Illinois senator, the city’s Examiner newspaper reported.
   The restaurant is located at Kinzie Street in Chicago’s River North area.
   The newspaper said Michelle used to visit the dinning room at least once a month and she had a favourite booth there.
   ‘Some of the dishes she [Michelle] tried were seared ahi tuna, roasted beet salad and black truffle pizza,’ the report said Quoting Malika Ameen, the chef and crowner of the restaurant.
   ‘She’s really lovely. We really liked having her here,’ said Malika’s husband Mohammad Islam, about Michelle.
   Mohammad Islam and Malika Ameen, the Bangladesh-born couple living in the United States for years, met each other in 1998 while working at The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Chicago.
   They married in 2001 and left New York next year to head the kitchen at the legendary Chateau Marmont Hotel in West Hollywood.
   Islam is a self-taught chef and he worked under world famous chef Jean Georges Vongerichten in New York City.
   Malika is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York and has worked with Celebrity chefs Karen De Masco and Gina Depalma.
   She also worked as a sous chef in New York’s famed Balthazar Bakery.
   In late 2006 Mohammed and Malika returned to Chicago and launched Aigre Doux.
   Aigre Doux, [ay-greh-DOO] is a French term for the combined flavours of sour (aigre) and sweet (doux). An aigre-doux sauce contains both vinegar and sugar.

Dhaka University authorities have convened a meeting today to promote three teachers to the rank of associate professors in the sociology department, overriding an earlier decision by the university’s Selection Board which had already selected three teachers for promotion, said DU sources.
   Such a meeting of the Selection Board to overturn an earlier decision has been termed ‘unprecedented’ and in violation of the Dhaka University Order 1973, the legal framework according to which the university is run.
   The chief of the Selection Board, Professor Emeritus Saad Uddin, in a letter to vice-chancellor AAFM Arefin Siddique, protested against the move and said the Selection Board’s decision could be rejected or approved only by the chancellor if it was referred to him.
   ‘A Selection Board shall report to the Syndicate which shall, if it accepts the nomination of the Board, make the appointment to the post accordingly. If the Syndicate does not accept the nomination of the Board, it shall refer the case to the Chancellor who shall make such appointment as he thinks fit,’ says Article 22 (2) of the Dhaka University Order.
   The Selection Board on June 24, 2009 unanimously decided to promote three teachers of the sociology department to the post of associate professor — one against a vacant post and two under the restructuring policy, said sources in the department.
   But the deputy registrar of the DU, in a letter dated July 27, called a meeting on August 4 to review the earlier decision.
   The vice-chancellor was not available for comments.
   According to the normal procedure, the vice-chancellor presides over the Selection Board’s meetings for appointing associate professors and professors while the pro-vice-chancellor chairs the meetings for finalising the decision to appoint lecturers and assistant professors.
   Three teachers who were earlier selected for promotion were Mahmuda Khatun, AKM Jamal Uddin and Shahadat Hossain.

Shortage of gas and the projected dependence on a huge volume of imported fuel to run power plants might jeopardise the government’s project to install plants with 7,000MW capacity by 2014, observed power and energy officials.
   The power and energy ministry will hold a meeting today to take a look at the stock of gas and other fuels and to take steps to implement the plan to generate adequate power for an outage-free Bangladesh.
   The power and energy ministry last week made a presentation before Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for installing power plants fuelled by furnace oil, diesel and coal, along with the gas-based power plants which are in the pipeline, to materialise the vision of a Bangladesh that will be free of load-shedding by 2014.
   The ministry projected that around 752MW of power would be added by 2009 from the power plants initiated by the previous government that are expected to be installed soon.
   Officials of Petrobangla, however, said that gas supply to the under-construction 2x120MW Siddhirganj power plant and 150MW Shikalbaha power plant is uncertain. ‘The Shikalbaha power plant will have to be run by fuel oil and Siddhirganj power plants can be run by gas if gas supply to some existing power plants is cut off,’ said an official.
   Petrobangla currently faces gas shortage of more than 400 million cubic feet per day and the existing power plants suffer from shortage of around 150mmcfd.
   The ministry also projected that around 1,350MW of power would be added in the 2011-2013 period from some power plants including the 450MW Bibiyana independent power plant, the 300MW Siddhirganj plant, and five 150MW plants in Bhola, Sylhet, Chandpur, Sirajganj and Khulna.
   Although Petrobangla had earlier promised gas supply to these plants which were planned during the terms of the previous BNP-led and interim governments, it is now unsure whether gas can be supplied to them because of the current shortage. ‘Petrobangla might be able to supply gas to the Bhola and Sylhet plants. But for ensuring gas supply to other plants like Bibiyana, Petrobangla will have to divert gas from some existing power plants,’ said another official.
   Besides, gas shortage can also affect the plan to install power plants capable of producing 1,445MW in 2012-2014.
   Officials of Petrobangla said that they had projected that the gas production could be increased to 2,024 million cubic feet per day by 2010 from the existing supply of around 1,900mmcfd, and production would be around 2,169mmcfd in 2011 and around 2,500mmcfd by 2014.
   ‘We are currently projecting that gas supply to power plants will be around 800mmcfd in the next few years,’ said an official. The current supply of gas to power plants is around 750mmcfd against the demand of around 900mmcfd.
   The power and energy ministry had earlier said that the new power plants would have the capability of using alternative fuels like furnace oil or diesel in addition to gas.
   Besides, the ministry told the prime minister that additionally it wanted to install around 500MW of furnace oil-based short-term rental power plants, 800MW of furnace oil-based peaking power plants and 1,000MW of coal-based power plants.
   Sources in the energy ministry said that at least 1.5 lakh tonnes of furnace oil would have to be imported annually for running the furnace oil-based power plants.
   As the Power Division projected that the production cost of furnace oil-based plants would be around Tk 10 per unit, of diesel-based plants Tk 16 per unit and of coal-based plants Tk 3.5 per unit, the government would either have to provide an astronomical amount of subsidy or increase the price of power for consumers by a huge margin as the current average generation cost of electricity in the country is below Tk 3, said officials.
   ‘If the government goes for costly oil-based rental and peaking power plants, it will be interesting to see how it brings about a balance in cost of generation and price of power for consumers,’ said a power official.

Assailants stormed into the chamber of a lawyer and shot at him in old Dhaka in broad daylight Monday.
   Miah Mohammad Zakir Hossain, the lawyer, was admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital with bullet wounds in the right hand, police and family said.
   Two youths entered the ground floor chamber of the lawyer on Kailash Ghosh Lane beside the Dhaka Judge’s Court building at about 3:45pm.
   One of the youths fired shots from a revolver at the lawyer before the two ran away and slid into the crowd.
   Zakir Hossain told newsmen at the hospital that someone identifying himself as Shaheed had told him over telephone about some discussion which did not take place.
   The Monday’s shooting followed that telephone call.
   Kotwali police officer-in-charge Salahuddin Khan said that they primarily guess the incident might be a sequel to conflict over a case, but said nothing could be said for sure until the culprits are held.
   ‘The area is highly protected and covered by the closed circuit television camera and without grievances, none could dare to take risk in launching attack in the area,’ he said and added that investigation was on to nab the criminals.
   The broad daylight
   incident sent a wave of panic among the lawyers working in the courts and having chambers in the area.

A Dhaka court on Monday issued a warrant for arrest of BNP joint secretary general Gayeshwar Chandra Roy as he failed to appear in court in connection with case filed against him for amassing illegal wealth and hiding information in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge AMN Bashir Ullah also asked police to inform the court on August 17 about execution of its order.
   The court passed the order after accepting the charge sheet framed by the commission on July 5.
   When contracted, Gayeshwar told New Age that he was unaware of the court hearing. ‘I will go to the court during the next hearing,’ he added.
   The High Court on March 9 granted interim bail to Gayeshwar for six months.
   ACC deputy director SM Mofidul Islam, also investigation officer of the case, on July 5 submitted charge sheet to the court.
   On January 6, the ACC had filed the case with the Ramna police station accusing Gayeshwar of amassing illegal wealth of Tk 2.61 crore and concealing information in his wealth statement.
   The ACC alleged that Gayeshwar owned properties worth Tk 1, 27,71,373. But in his wealth statement submitted to the ACC, the BNP leader mentioned his wealth to be worth Tk 1,01,76,268.

The education minister on Monday formed a 16-member committee for giving advice to the government and monitoring the jobs of publishing and distribution of textbooks for the academic session 2010, according to a ministry circular.
   Headed by Professor M Aktaruzzaman of Dhaka University Islamic history department, the committee will oversee the purchase and collection of papers for printing textbooks and publishing and distribution of books for the primary and secondary students. The committee will give advice to the government in this regard.
   Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam of Dhaka University English department, director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education Professor Noman-Ur-Rashid, director general of the Directorate of Technical Education Nitai Chandra Sutradhar and head of the news section of ATN Bangla Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul are among the committee members.
   The National Curriculum and Textbook Board will provide financial support and secretarial service to the 16-member committee.
   The government will print about 22 crore copies of textbooks for free distribution among the students from Class I to Class IX.
   In June, the ministry had formed committees headed by deputy commissioners and UNOs to monitor the distribution of primary and secondary textbooks at the district and upazila levels.
   The fourteen-member committees headed by deputy commissioners in each districts will take steps to carry, stock and distribute the textbooks among primary, ibtedayi and secondary students free for the academic year 2010.
   The district education officers have been made member secretaries of the committees, each of which includes a journalist and a lawyer.
   Likewise, in each of the upazilas, a nine-member committee, led by upazila nirbahi officer, has been formed to do the same thing.

Senior CPI(M) leader and West Bengal minister for transport, sports and youth affairs, Subhas Chakraborty died at a hospital here on Monday after a brief illness.
   Chakraborty, 68, is survived by his wife and a son. The senior CPI(M) leader, who was suffering from cancer and other complications, was admitted to the hospital last week. He died at 11.35am, party sources said.
   After his condition deteriorated on Sunday, a large number of his supporters and admirers thronged the hospital to enquire about his health. Many of them broke down after hearing the news of his death.
   Several of Chakraborty’s ministerial and party colleagues, including CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Left Front chairman Biman Bose, visited him at the hospital on Sunday and early on Monday.

Former British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury arrived in Dhaka on Monday morning on a three-day trip amid protests.
   During his stay here, the Bangladesh-born British diplomat who is now director of the international organisations in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, is scheduled to meet foreign minister Dipu Moni and foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes. He will also meet officials of the UN agencies in Dhaka and visit Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Training Operation in Gazipur.
   After his arrival by a Qatar Airways flight at about 9:30am, activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party staged protests at the airport against the visit of Anwar Choudhury, who they accused of playing a role in the 11 January, 2007 changeover in the country.
   Activists of the BNP-backed Deshpremik Jagrata Janata Kendriyo Committee and Sachetan Nagarik Forum gathered near the entrance to Zia International Airport at around 10:00am – half an hour after Choudhury had left the airport under the watchful eyes of law enforcers.
   Quoting MA Hashem Raju, convener of the Deshpremik Jagrata Janata Kendriyo Committee and former leader of the BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, bdnews24.com reported that police charged batons to disperse the protesters.
   Shamsuddin Saleh Ahmed Chowdhury, acting officer-in-charge of the airport police, however, denied the police had used batons.
   He said, ‘We made them understand that the former high commissioner already left the airport. So, there was no point in staging protest by that time.’
   A group of Chhatra Dal activists under the banner of ‘General Students of Dhaka University’ staged protest on the campus against the visit of Anwar Choudhury.
   They brought out a procession on the campus chanting slogans against the visit.

Armed robbers looted valuables from the passengers of a long-route bus at Jatrabari in the Dhaka city Monday morning.
   The police arrested the bus driver and helper for their alleged involvement in the incident.
   The police said the Shyamoli Paribahan bus left Sayedabad in the city at about 10:00am for Chittagong with only 17 passengers on board.
   As the bus crossed Jatrabari intersection within 20 minutes, about eight robbers, who were in the guise of passengers, took control of the bus holding the driver hostage.
   They looted cash, gold ornaments, mobile telephones and other valuables, worth over Tk 1.50 lakh, from the passengers at gunpoint.
   The robbers got down from the vehicle when it reached Chhantek near Shanir Akhra at about 10:30am.
   As the passengers shouted, local people stopped the bus.
   On receipt of the information, police reached the spot and seized the bus. The police arrested the driver, Azizul Haque, 35, and helper, Golam Hossain, 40, for their suspected involvement in the incident.