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A parliamentary panel on Thursday asked the government to ‘withdraw immediately’ all oppressive charges against teachers and students brought two years ago by the military-backed administration over a silly incident on the Dhaka University campus that had caused a nationwide flare-up of protest.
   ‘We suggest that the government withdraw all pending cases on the violence by an executive order,’ said Rashed Khan Menon, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry, after a meeting of the committee.
   He said that the home affairs ministry had provided the committee with partial information on the incident, and the meeting had asked for more information on the military brutality in dealing with the students and teachers during that turbulent protest that lasted between 20 and 23 August, 2007.
   According to the home ministry, a total of 68 cases were filed against teachers and students of various universities. Of them, 58 cases were disposed of and 10 others have remained pending.
   After reviewing a number of petitions for justice filed by the victims of army brutality, the committee in early August decided to re-investigate the incident to stop its recurrence in the future and asked the ministries concerned to provide it with information. The verdicts of the trials, which took place under emergency rules, were fixed before they began, believe the committee members.
   ‘The home ministry’s information is still inadequate and we have asked for more,’ said Menon, who also rejected the judicial inquiry into the violence for its failure to pinpoint the reasons and for going beyond its jurisdiction while making recommendations.
   ‘It included some irrelevant issues like the University Act 1973 and the justification of political involvement of the university teachers and students in the incident,’ added Menon.
   The interim government had assigned retired Judge Habibur Rahman Khan to probe the unrest in Dhaka University and report back to it.
   Menon hoped that a fresh probe would start after the committee members had gone through the evidence and documents of the previous probes into the countrywide teacher-student protest against army excesses, which was sparked off by a brawl between students and soldiers over a football match on the Dhaka University campus on 20 August, 2007.
   The emergency administration had imposed curfew and arrested five university teachers and numerous students to prevent the spread of the protest. They were subjected to torture, tried in special courts and handed prison sentences of different terms.
   Four teachers of the universities of Dhaka and Rajshahi were among the convicts, but were later given presidential mercy. But many students are still burdened with lawsuits and still bear scars of the wounds inflicted by those who tortured them.
   Menon said that the perpetrators of the atrocities were beyond prosecution because of the culture of impunity.
   When asked who were responsible for the atrocities, Menon said that military and civil agencies were preliminarily responsible. Earlier he had alleged that teachers and students of Dhaka University and other universities were tortured blind-folded in police and military custody.
   ‘We want to identify the torturers and settle the matter once and for all,’ said Menon, adding that the law ministry had consented to let the committee go ahead with its investigation.
   All the members of the 10-member committee will be involved in the investigation and its terms of reference will be fixed after the committee reviews the necessary evidence.
   The committee requested the information ministry to provide it with video clips that were shot and used by the television channels, and photographs and newspaper articles on the incident to enable it to delve deeper into the incident.

Seven of the Dhaka University students, who protested at excesses of army personnel in August 20–23, 2007 during the military-controlled interim regime, continue to stand in the dock facing charges of emergency rules violation.
   The interim government filed 54 cases with the police across the country against more than 80,000 students and teachers in connection with the protests, which flared off the assault of some students by some army men in the Dhaka University playground during a football match between two departments on August 20, 2007.
   Two university teachers who went to the place to tackle the situation were also assaulted by army men of the temporary camp housed at the gymnasium.
   The students then went out on demonstrations demanding withdrawal of the camp from the campus. The police then attacked the demonstrators in which a number of students and teachers, including then acting vice-chancellor, were injured.
   The student protests later spilled over to other educational institutions including Rajshahi and Chittagong universities.
   The government later decided not to continue with 53 of the cases. But it also decided to continue with proceedings against the seven of the 25 accused in the remaining case filed with the Shahbagh police.
   Although the government has started withdrawing the cases filed out of political motives to harass people, it is yet to heed the appeal filed by the seven students who sought the case to be withdrawn.
   Dhaka University students in such a situation on Thursday began observing the second anniversary of the student protests with programmes spanning three days. The university authorities will observe August 23 as a black day.
   The students who still face court proceedings are Deen Islam, Deen Islam Angel, Rafiqul Islam Sujan, Zahidul Islam Biplab, Asaduzzaman, Rashedul Habib and Abul Hasan in the case filed in connection with the vandalism of a military vehicle and assault of an army soldier.
   The government, when it decided not to continue with the cases amid opposition, decided not to continue with the case against 18 of the accused.
   Five teachers of the universities of Dhaka and Rajshahi and a number of students, convicted for violation of the Emergency Powers Rules, were also released in January 22–23, 2008 on a presidential clemency although they had not sought any such clemency. Iajuddin Ahmed, who was then the president, suo moto remitted the sentences hours after the pronouncement of the verdicts.
   A Dhaka court on August 4, 2009 overturned the trial court verdict that had sentenced three Dhaka University teachers — former Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president Sadrul Amin, now arts dean, and the general secretary Anwar Hossain, also a biochemistry professor, and former social sciences dean Harun-or-Rashid, now pro-vice-chancellor — to imprisonment for two years each as they appealed against the verdict.
   The New Age correspondent in Rajshahi said the hearing in an appeal against the conviction of four Rajshahi University teachers in connection with the campus protests would begin on August 27.
   But, the correspondent said, no date has been set for the hearing in another appeal by 10 students and a member on the Rajshahi University staff.
   A Rajshahi court on December 4, 2007 sentenced the four teachers — Professor Moloy Kumar Bhowmik of management, and Professor Selim Reza Newton, Professor Dulal Chandra Biswas and Professor Abdullah Al Mamun of mass communications — to two years’ rigorous imprisonment on charges of violating the Emergency Powers Rule.
   The speedy trial tribunal in Rajshahi on December 12, 2007 jailed 10 Rajshahi University students and an employee for three years each in the case of setting a military vehicle on fire during campus protests.
   The Rajshahi University teachers were released from jail on December 10 and the 10 students and an employee on January 21 on a presidential clemency although none of them sought mercy.
   Deen Islam Angel, one of the seven Dhaka University students still facing the charges, on Thursday told New Age the government of the time had continued with the case against them out of vengeance.
   ‘We had expected the elected government would withdraw case. We also filed a petition with the government seeking withdrawal of the case when the government started withdrawing cases filed to harass people out of political motives, but the government has made no response to our appeal as yet,’ he said.
   The chief metropolitan magistrate’s court is hearing the case and it has completed cross-examining only five of the 64 witnesses, he said. ‘We have been appearing in court for months and we do not know when it will end.’
   Various students’ organisations have chalked up programmes to mark the second anniversary of the incident.
   The Bangladesh Chhatra Federation held an exhibition of photographs and newspaper clippings on the student protest in front of the DUCSU cafeteria.
   The Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, Bangladesh Chhatra Federation and other organisations will hold programmes on August 23.
   The Dhaka University teachers will wear black badges on August 23 and not take classes between 11:00am and 1:00pm. The university will hold a discussion at the Teachers-Student Centre at 11:00am.
   A group of teachers who had extended their solidarity with the students’ movement will also hold a rally on August 23, said Muhammad Samad, one of the organisers.
   Rajshahi University students will start observing the second anniversary of the incident today with a series of programmes such as processions, rallies and cultural functions.
   Mukta Biswabidyalay Andolan will hold rally on the campus at 11:00am today and cultural programme at 4.30pm.
   The organization will hold a painting competition and an open discussion on ‘Mukta Biswabidyalay Andolan: Pratirodher Dharabahikatay’ on Saturday. The teachers who were convicted in the case filed over the students protests will speak.
   The Progressive Teachers’ Society of Rajshahi University will hold a rally and bring out a silent procession.
   The Rajshahi units of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, Bangladesh Chhatra Federation, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front and Sammilita Sangskritik Jote will also hold separate programmes.

Even five years after the deadly grenade attacks on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on 21 August, 2004, the nation is still in the dark about the masterminds of the carnage and the source of the Austrian Arges grenades used in the attacks.
   The Criminal Investigation Department, assigned to investigate the two cases filed after the attack, and the judicial inquiry commission of Justice Joynul Abedin failed to identify the behind-the-scenes plotters of the carnage and the source of the grenades.
   Different investigation reports and conflicting confessional statements by three petty criminals and an Islamist militant leader have led to serious confusion over the attack.
   Although the trials of the cases began at the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 and 61 prosecution witnesses out of 408 were examined, Judge Masdar Hossain on August 3 asked the inspector general of police to appoint an experienced police officer to conduct further investigation into the cases.
   The suppliers of the grenades have to be identified in order to mete out true justice, said the judge.
   The judge further said that the prosecution only filed the petitions but could uncover nothing significant, so the order for further investigation was given to establish justice for both parties.
   On June 25 special public prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman filed a petition with the tribunal of Judge Masdar Hossain to seek further investigation into the August 21 grenade attack with a view to finding out the suppliers of the grenades.
   The CID submitted two separate charge-sheets in the cases, accusing 22 persons on 11 June, 2008 without identifying the real plotters of the carnage and source of the grenades.
   The investigators failed to trace the suppliers of the grenades, said the then chief of CID, Javed Patwary, after submission of the charge-sheet.
   ‘We have submitted the charge-sheet at the moment but investigation is still going on. If we find that more people are involved, a supplementary charge-sheet will be submitted,’ he said.
   In compliance with court’s order, the CID has started re-investigation of the grenade attack cases in a bid to identify the source of the grenades. Senior ASP Abdul Kahhar Akand was appointed to re-investigate the cases.
   The CID has sent a letter to the establishment ministry, seeking permission to interrogate the two former magistrates who recorded the confessional statements of George Miah and two others. The probe into the cases was misdirected by using those false confessional statements.
   ASP Rownakul Hoque Choudhury, investigation officer of a case filed against three former CID officials, two investigation officers and their supervising officer for misdirecting the probe into case, has sent the letter to the establishment ministry.
   The case was filed with the Paltan thana on March 29 by the ASP of the CID, Fazlul Kabir, against three retired CID officers on charge of deflecting the probe into a wrong direction by forcing some people to make false confessional statements and concealing evidence to protect the culprits.
   The CID had submitted the charge-sheets against 22 people, including former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu of the BNP-Jamaat government, his two brothers and outlawed Harkat-ul-Jihad Al Islami’s top leader Mufti Hannan.
   The accused are Pintu’s brothers Maulana Tajuddin and Maulana Liton, Hannan’s brother Mahibullah alias Mafizur Rahman alias Ovi, Hafez Maulana Abu Taher, Sharif Shahedul Islam Bipul, Maulana Abu Sayeed alias Dr Abu Zafar, Mufti Moin alias Abu Zandal alias Moinuddin alias Masum Billah, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, Jahangir Alam, Arif Hasan Sumon, Shahadatullah alias Jewel, Hossain Ahmed Tamim, Anisul Mursalin and his brother Mahibul Muttakin, Mohammad Iqbal, Maulana Abu Bakar alias Hafez Selim, Maulana Liton alias Zubayer, Ujjal alias Ratan, Rafiqul Islam Sabuj and Khalilur Rahman alias Maruf.
   Eight of them — Hannan, Bipul, Ovi, Abu Sayeed, Bulbul, Arif Hossain Sumon, Jahangir and Sabuj — have made their confessional statements before the court. They and six others — Abu Taher, Jewel, Tamim, Pintu, Zandal and Ujjal — are behind bars while the others are absconding. Two of the absconding, Muttakin and Mursalin, are in Tihar jail in India.
   ASP Fazlul Kabir, the investigation officer, has found the involvement of some 28 people in the grenade attack. The names of two Harkatul Jihad men were excluded from the charge-sheet as both of them are dead. The names of four others were excluded as their addresses were not found.
   The names of 20 people including Awami League leader and ex-ward commissioner Mokhlesur Rahman, George Miah and Shaibal Saha Partha were excluded from the charge-sheet as their involvement in the attack was not found during the investigation.
   Several teams of the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol and UK’s Scotland Yard visited Dhaka and inspected the crime spot a number of times. Interpol has also submitted a report to the government in this regard.
   The one-member judicial inquiry commission of Justice Joynul Abedin, formed the day after the attack, submitted its report to the home affairs ministry on 2 October, 2004 with 14 short- and 7 long-term recommendations.
   None of those reports, however, has been made public.
   The judicial commission, in its report, a copy of which has been made available to New Age, stated that it had failed to identify the actual culprits.
   ‘The commission has not been able to identify the actual culprits,’ says the report, ‘but it has nevertheless been able to identify the masterminds behind the incident.’
   The report, however, did not specifically mention either the masterminds or the source of the grenades.
   The commission observed that the attack on the Awami League rally was not by anyone in the government, BNP, Awami League or Jamaat-e-Islami.

The ruling Awami League will today observe the fifth anniversary of the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on its rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in which 24 people, including the party’s women’s affairs secretary Ivy Rahman, were killed and more than 300 were wounded.
   Grenades were thrown this day in 2004 into the Awami League where almost all the party leaders were present. The party president, Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister, escaped the attack, but her ears were damaged at the sound of explosion.
   The party’s associate bodies and other political, socio-cultural and professional organisations have chalked up programmes marking the day.
   The Awami League’s for the day will begin with the placing of flowers at the memorial plaque in front of the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue. Hasina will place wreaths at 5:20pm. AL leaders and party lawmakers will also place flowers.
   The party will observe a two-minute silence at 5:22pm, the time when the first grenade exploded in 2004, across the country in a symbolic protest at any terrorist attack and in honour of the people killed in the incident.
   The party will hold a discussion to mark the anniversary of the attack in the auditorium at Institution of Engineers. Hasina will attend the discussion as chief guest.
   On the eve of the day, the president, Zillur Rahman, and the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, gave messages.
   In his message, Zillur said August 21, 2004 was a disgraceful day in Bangladesh’s history.
   ‘The anti-independence and anti-democratic forces of Bangladesh launched the heinous grenade attack on this day at the Awami League meeting on Bangabandhu Avenue in a bid to kill Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the father of the nation, and also the ideology of Bangabandhu,’ he said.
   The prime minister, in her message, termed August 21 a black day in the political history of Bangladesh.
   She said, ‘The aim of the grenade attack was to halt the pace of development, independence, democracy and peace and development… to perpetuate the reign of killing, conspiracy, militancy, terrorism and corruption.’
   Referring to the BNP-Jamaat alliance government of the time, Hasina said it tried its best to protect the killers although its moral responsibility, being in the government, was to arrest and try the culprits.
   In addition to local law enforcement agencies, several foreign agencies such as Scotland Yard, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol visited Bangladesh to investigate the incident.
   But there were not much headway in the investigation in five years as all the evidences, including the live grenades recovered from the place of occurrence, were destroyed.
   Forty-six months after the attack, the police on 11 June, 2008 submitted two charge sheets — one for the killing and another for the explosion — against 22 people, including former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami chief Mufti Hannan.
   Both of them, along with some of their associates, were later tried in a Dhaka court, which sentenced them to imprisonment of varying terms. The families of the victims have, however, demanded a thorough investigation to find out the masterminds of the incident.
   The Awami League in its election manifesto pledged that the people carrying out the grenade attack after would be tried after a thorough investigation.
   The Awami League general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam, in a statement urged all leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies to observe the day.

City’s traffic management seems to have spiraled out of control of police and has now required all city agencies to team up and plan a crackdown from Sunday to give Ramadan commuters some respite from tailback.
   The ‘special drive’ will include checking of automobiles for valid documents, and freeing roads from vehicles parked and construction materials piled haphazardly.
   The announcement this time came from communications minister Syed Abul Hossain a day after a Dhaka Metropolitan Police meeting on traffic woes was followed by a total collapse of city traffic in evening shower.
   ‘We will start a special drive to ease traffic congestion in the city,’ the minister told reporters after a meeting on city traffic situation at his secretariat office Thursday.
   He said actions would be taken against any car, irrespective of its owner, if found plying without valid document or parked illegally. Drive against rickshaws with forged or no numbers will continue while hawkers will not be allowed to sell merchandises on footpaths, he added.
   Mobile teams comprising people from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, district administration, Dhaka City Corporation and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha will operate the drive throughout the month of Ramadan.
   The number of mobile teams to be fielded will depend on the availability of magistrates from the departments concerned. If enough magistrates are not available, the drives will be conducted with officials of the ministry, said the communications minister.
   The meeting was told that numerous illegal and unfit vehicles were plying the city roads along with nearly 175,000 registered private cars, buses and minibuses chocking the city’s traffic.
   The number excludes rickshaws, whose real number is unknown even to the three-wheeler’s regulator, the DCC.
   It usually takes more than two hours to cross only five kilometers on workdays and evening peak hours on almost all city arteries, clogged by vehicles, mostly private cars along with other motor and non-mechanised transports.
   Drivers say their average speed is confined to a single digit on most of the way although the government spent Tk 550 crore between 1999 and 2005 on the city road and traffic management.
   The communications minister said the crackdown, to be coordinated by a committee with an additional secretary as its chief, would not mean harassment of people.
   He informed that DCC was asked to take measures to rehabilitate the hawkers, who would be evicted from footpaths.
   Besides, a decision was taken to ask the education ministry for changing class hours so that those would not clash with the office hours during the holy month.
   Officials of the ministry, DCC, Rajuk, Roads and Highways Department and Dhaka Metropolitan Police were present at the meeting that also decided to increase number of passenger coaches of trains running between Gazipur and Narayanganj via Kamalapur railway station in Dhaka.
   The newly-introduced train service has already become popular among the dwellers of Uttara, the growing downtown of the capital. Many passengers are opting for train service between Kamalapur and Airport station to avoid traffic snarl on Dhaka-Uttara road.
   On an average, more than 40,000 vehicles were registered annually in the last five years, overloading the city roads as the unreliable public transport system forced well-off people to buy cars for children’s schooling and family usages.
   Traffic officials say road areas in the city were reduced to less than 8 per cent, while a city needs to have 25 per cent space for roads for a smooth traffic management. Whatever road space is available, its significant part is left unusable due to traffic maintenance failures, users said.

The Water Development Board on Thursday issued a red alert in the Teesta Barrage areas as the river was flowing 36cm above danger mark in the evening after India had opened all the gates of the Gajaldoba Barrage at noon.
   Influenced by a strong monsoon, Bangladesh had, meanwhile, experienced downpour for 24 hours till Thursday morning, which caused inundation of many areas.
   Water Development Board executive engineer in Lalmonirhat MA Matin Sarker said they issued a red alert as the water level in the River Teesta increased at an alarming rate with water rushing down from the upstream after India had opened all the gates of the Gajaldoba Barrage, reports the New Age correspondent in the district.
   Villages on bank of the Teesta — Paruliya, Sindurna, Uttar Gaddimari, Dowani and Dakshin Gaddimari at Hatibandha, Bhotmari, Sholmari, Jamir Bari and Kakina at Kaliganj, Mahishkhocha, Gobardhan, Kadamtala and Palashi at Aditmari and Khuniya Gachh, Kalmati, Rajpur, Tajpur, Gokunda, Milan Bazar, Haldibari and Char Teesta in the district headquarters — have all been inundated for the third time this season. At least 40 thousand people have been marooned.
   Most residents of the areas left for shelter at noon as the River Teesta started swelling.
   The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in a bulletin said the prevailing flash flood in the country’s north and north-east was likely to worsen and low-lying areas in Bogra, Jamalpur, Sirajganj, Manikganj, Munshiganj and at Dohar and Nababganj in Dhaka are likely to be inundated in three days.
   The Jamuna at Sirajganj and the Padma at Goalanda were approaching danger mark, it said.
   Rivers continued to swell at 50 monitoring out 73 monitoring stations of the Water Development Board. Rivers were flowing above danger mark at eight points. They marked a fall at 22 points. Water level remained steady at one point.
   The Kangsa was flowing 125cm above danger mark at Jariajhanjail, the Surma 69cm above danger mark at Janaighat and at 33cm above at Sunamganj and the Jamuneshwari 33cm above danger mark at Badarganj.
   Influenced by a strong monsoon, the country had experienced heavy rainfall for 24 hours till 6:00am Thursday. There were 214 millimetres of rainfall in Chittagong, 160mm in Bandarban, 113.5mm in Sirajganj, 104.5mm in Bogra, 89mm in Sylhet and 84mm in Jamalpur.
   The rain inundated many low-lying areas in the port city of Chittagong, including Bakalia, Chawkbazar, Halishahar, Chandgaon, Agrabad, Goshaildanga and Mughaltali.
   The correspondent in Patuakhali reported heavy rainfall and flash flood had inundated two-thirds of the Patuakhali town, remote chars and low-lying areas of the district.
   The Met Office in Patuakhali recorded 250 millimetres of rainfall in 48 hours till Thursday noon. It said heavy rainfall might continue for two more days.

Afghans voted Thursday to elect a president for only the second time in history as fears emerged of poor turnout, despite only sporadic violence from Taliban militants bent on sabotaging the ballot.
   A series of insurgent attacks across Afghanistan on voting day Thursday killed nine civilians, nine policemen and eight soldiers, government ministers announced.
   Eight Afghan soldiers were killed and 28 wounded with 135 incidents of violence reported and five suicide attacks thwarted, the defence minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, told a press conference.
   Four US soldiers were also killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan, the military said Thursday, the International Security Assistance Force said.
   Western allies have pumped billions into Afghanistan since the Taliban were overthrown and NATO’s chief hailed the polls as ‘encouraging’, although other observers said turnout was worse than for the first presidential vote in 2004.
   The president, Hamid Karzai, urged Afghans to exercise their democratic rights in a nation that, despite the presence of 100,000 foreign troops, is still beset by a bloody insurgency eight years on from the 2001 US-led invasion.
   Minor attacks were reported elsewhere, including in Kandahar in the south, which was the capital of the 1996-2001 Taliban regime. But cautiously optimistic Afghan and UN officials said violence could have been far worse.
   The NATO chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said early reports on turnout were ‘a clear demonstration that the Afghan people want democracy, they want freedom and reject terrorism’.
   Voting centres allowed those still in queues to cast their ballots after the official close of polls, guarded by a huge deployment of 300,000 Afghan and foreign forces, and election officers began counting ballots late Thursday.
   The election commission says partial results could emerge as early as Saturday, but that a full result is not expected before next month.
   Pre-election violence stoked fears about whether it would prove safe to vote despite US and NATO troops stepping up their anti-insurgency operations.
   But about halfway through voting, Afghan deputy chief electoral officer Zekria Barakzai said: ‘The turnout is very good.’
   Independent observers, however, said voter participation appeared low. One Western diplomat said: ‘Turnout (in Kandahar) is definitely very, very low, significantly lower than in the north.

The Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, at No. 78 is among the world’s 100 most powerful women in a list, according to a Forbes ranking released on Wednesday.
   The German leader, Angela Markel, topped for the fourth consecutive year.
   The US First Lady, Michelle Obama, debuted at No. 40, coming in ahead of talk show host Oprah Winfrey at 41 and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth at 42.
   Sheila Bair, chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, which insures bank deposits, retained the No. 2 spot after debuting on the Forbes list last year. She has gained increased prominence as the US recession grinds on.
   The chief executives of PepsiCo, Anglo American, Temasek, Kraft Foods, WellPoint, and Areva all remain in the Forbes top 10.
   The list is based on factors such as economic impact, media reach and career accomplishments.
   The chief executives of Dupont and Sunoco are new to the top 10, replacing the Xerox Corp chair, who dropped to No. 15, and former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who fell off the list after leaving office in January.
   Rice’s successor, Hillary Clinton, came in at No. 36, dropping from No. 28 last year when her presidential bid made her the woman with the highest public profile on the list.
   Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, retained No. 35.
   ‘Women in power are rising to leadership positions in business, government and philanthropy by making daring and unconventional moves,’ Forbes said. ‘Gone are the days of women feeling they must stick with one employer and patiently wait for promotions.’
   ‘Highly ambitious women ... are moving across companies and industries, making big leaps with each change, and repositioning themselves for opportunities that allow them to gain a breadth of experience,’ the business magazine said.
   Merkel, 55, became the first female chancellor of Germany in 2005 and is widely expected to retain power in a federal election on September 27.
   Obama, 45, has won fans for her down-to-earth personality, her support of causes including healthy eating and the arts, and her fashion sense that has seen her grace several best-dressed lists.
   Other US newcomers include Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at No. 54, the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius, at No. 56, the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, at No. 51 and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Schapiro at No. 55.
   The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navanethem Pillay, at No. 63 and the Icelandic prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, at No. 74.

The High Court on Thursday dropped from the list of the cases to be heard a petition filed by prime minister Sheikh Hasina seeking the barge-mounted power plant graft case against her to be quashed. The petition was on the list since August 2008 for final hearing in the rule issued
   earlier asking the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain why the case against Hasina, also
   the Awami League president, should not be quashed.
   The High Court special bench of Justice Sheikh Rezowan Ali and Justice Md Rais Uddin de-listed the petition saying, ‘The matter is not treated as part of hearing as the court’s jurisdiction has already been changed.’
   Hasina’s counsel Rafique-ul Huq pleaded that the petition should be dropped as the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.
   Another petition of Hasina for quashing the Niko graft case was dropped from the list of cases for hearing by the same court on January 15 as attorney general Mahbubey Alam told the court that the petition should be dropped as his office was not prepared for the hearing.
   The same bench, however, on January 15 refused to de-list Hasina’s petition seeking the power plant case to be quashed as the hearing in the petition had already started.

Bangladesh cricket team were given a hero’s welcome upon their arrival in Dhaka on Thursday after successful tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe.
   The victorious Tigers landed at the ZIA at 9:01pm and their arrival sparked a festive mood at the airport. The state minister for youth and sports, Ahad Ali Sarkar and former state minister for sports Obaidul Kader rushed to the tarmac to bring the heroes to the VIP lounge.
   President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board Lt General Sina Ibn Jamali, BCB directors, family members of the cricketers, Grameenphone officials and a few hundred devoted fans were also present.
   Bangladesh recorded a clean sweep victory over West Indies in both Test and one-day series before trouncing Zimbabwe 4-1 in the one-day series during the 53-day long tour.
   Sakib al Hasan, the in-form skipper, however, was modest about the achievements. ‘We did not imagine such a result, but our confidence was high and we were determined to put up a good show, we got the opportunity and excelled,’ said the skipper.
   ‘The credit goes to all members of the team, who showed a splendid teamwork, our only target was to play good cricket and the consequence is success, these results will motivate us to play good cricket,’ said Sakib.
   Opener Tamim Iqbal became emotional in such an atmosphere. ‘I have always dreamt of such a situation. I personally believed that I could perform and I did it, when an opener lays the foundation a win becomes easy for the team, I would like to continue playing long innings as much as I can,’ said the left-handed hard hitter.
   Mohammad Ashraful termed the success as the proof of their improvement. ‘After the debacle at the T20 World Cup we were devastated. From the very beginning of the tour we were determined that we will mark our presence and we did it, a number of centuries were scored, the bowlers bowled well, we stamped our authority like never before,’ said Ashraful.
   Mushfiqur Rahim said the successes came as a result of the hard work. ‘We have been working hard for the last six months, the most important thing on the tour was that we played with consistency,’ said the wicketkeeper.
   Coach Jamie Siddons did not return with the team and went back to Australia.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Thursday said the government had shown autocratic attitude by imposing a ban on the party’s ‘peaceful programme of discussion and prayer session’ in Manikganj.
   ‘The Awami League government has infringed on the people’s right to expression, mobilising people and holding rally by imposing section 144 to foil a peaceful commemorative meeting and prayer session,’ Dewlar said at a news conference at the party’s central office at Naya Paltan protesting against a ban on a BNP programme on Matilal College premises of Daulatpur in Manikganj on the day.
   ‘The ban was imposed at the instruction of the government high-ups fearing that the meeting might expose the government’s failure,’ he said.
   Delwar brushed aside the local administration’s fear of law and order deterioration centring the planned meeting as a lame excuse.
   ‘The Awami League has never used democratic language or practiced democratic norms since its inception in 1949,’ he said. ‘It is not the picture of Manikganj only. Similar situation is prevailing across the country.’
   The local BNP arranged the meeting to ‘commemorate some of their leaders and seek salvation of their souls’ at Matilal College compound on Thursday and Delwar was scheduled to attend it as chief guest. Party lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was also on the list of special guests.
   The district administration imposed section 144 on the college ground from 9:00pm Wednesday to mindnight Thursday.
   Asked about the Awami League’s reservations about Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Delwar said, ‘This is not right.
   Salauddin Quader Chowdhury is a leader of BNP and a lawmaker and a citizen of the country.
   There is no court
   ruling against his addressing a public meeting. Then why should he be obstructed?’

The High Court on Thursday rejected two petitions which sought a ban on partial pullout of troops from the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
   The court, however, posted for October 22 the final hearing in the rules issued in 2000 and 2007 asking the government to explain the legality of the CHT peace treaty singed on December 2, 1997 during the previous Awami League government.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury passed the order after hearing the petitions filed on August 9 by Supreme Court lawyers Tajul Islam and Badiuzaman seeking the ‘sudden pullout of troops’ to be stayed till the disposal of the writ petitions on which the rules were issued.
   The claim made in the petitions that the army pullout was done all of a sudden was not true, said the court.
   It is clearly established that the current phase of troops replacement within the CHT region is in the continuation of similar exercises carried out in nine years of so, the court order said.
   It said the government had withdrawn 200 camps from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in different phases. Sixty-three camps were withdrawn in 2004 and 48 camps in 2007.
   The decision on withdrawing 35 camps has been made as a result of the process and even after that, there will be 300 camps and six permanent cantonments, the court said.
   The same bench on August 16 directed the government to suspend withdrawal of troops till Wednesday after the petitions were filed. The order was revoked on Wednesday.
   The attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, represented the government, Kamal Hossain and Sara Hossain appeared for the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council chairman, Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma also known as Santu Larma, while Moudud Ahmed and Abdur Razzaq appeared for petitioners Tajul Islam and Badiuzzaman respectively.

The market monitoring teams formed by the commerce ministry for four zones of the Dhaka city and one each for the districts find it difficult to work as the consumer protection law could not be enforced as yet due to the absence of an effective mechanism.
   In a circular issued on Thursday, the commerce ministry said one of the four members of the monitoring team would have magistracy powers to take impromptu action against traders found guilty of exacting higher prices.
   In case the team has no officer with magistracy powers, it will have to report to the authorities concerned about the price offender and take action against them.
   On the other hand, prices of five essential items out of 10 selected by the commerce ministry have not yet been fixed.
   The commerce ministry formed the teams last week for monitoring prices in kitchen markets. The teams are supposed to check the mill-gate price, wholesale and retail prices of 10 listed essential items – rice, potato, sugar, edible oil, chickpeas, lentils, onion, dates, milk and eggs.
   But so far only the prices of sugar, edible oil, potato, lentils and chickpeas have been fixed by the ministry, official sources said.
   Commerce minister Faruk Khan, however, said on Wednesday the government had started monitoring the kitchen markets and the commerce ministry had asked the city corporation, law enforcing agencies and deputy commissioners to make combined efforts to keep the prices stable.
   ‘We have received complaints from a number of deputy commissioners outside the capital that they were not yet sure about who would be responsible for monitoring the prices of essentials,’ said a senior official of the ministry on Thursday.
    The official also said the deputy commissioners also wanted to have the list of the ten essentials items with fixed prices.
   ‘As the consumer protection law could not be enforced as yet due to delay in setting up of the directorate,’ the official added.
   Emdad Hossain Malick, research director of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh, told New Age that the government had virtually not law to rein in dishonest businessmen.
    An inter-ministerial meeting will be held next week for determining the prices of the rest five essential items and also resolve the problems facing the monitoring teams.
   Sources also said that besides the consumer protection law, the monitoring teams are equipped with two more laws – BSTI labelling rules of 2007-08 and essential commodities act, 1951.
   The BSTI rules stipulate a maximum punishment of three years’ imprisonment for price manipulation but its effectiveness is limited to a few items.
   The essential commodities act stipulates maximum 14 years imprisonment for an offender but it has become ineffective after Bangladesh entered the World Trade Organisation regime in 1992.
   On Wednesday, the commerce minister called upon the traders to be guided by conscience and businessman-like attitude while fixing prices for goods. He urged retail traders not to make profits more than 5-10 per cent on a commodity.
   He also said that necessary steps had been taken to curb extortion during transportation of goods.

Eight of the 12 house tutors of the Surya Sen Hall in Dhaka University resigned on Thursday levelling allegation of vengeance and discourteous attitudes against the hall provost.
   House tutor Al Amin, on behalf of others, handed in the resignation letter to the vice-chancellor in his office at around 10:00am.
   The other house tutors who resigned are Muhammad Saiful Alam, Faruk Ahmed, Md Amirus Salat, AKM Yunus, Mahmud Ullah, Mohammad Nur-e-Alam Siddiq, and Md Rajib Alam.
   The joint resignation letter, signed by the eight teachers, said they were unable to discharge their duties amid ‘extreme indecent’ attitudes against them by the provost, Khandokar Ashraf Hossain, which prompted them to resign from their positions.
   The letter said they had urged the vice-chancellor, AAMS Arefin Siddique, three times in writing to resolve the crisis.
   ‘We surrendered to our conscience as the university authorities are not interested in resolving the crisis,’ the letter said.
   Ashraf Hossain, however, dismissed the allegations against him, saying that it was a political move.
   ‘The house tutors who resigned were appointed during the tenure of the previous government and are known for their inclination towards the BNP and Jamaat. They were not cooperating with the hall administration and were not discharging their duties properly,’ he said.
   ‘Asking them to perform their duties properly cannot be a discourteous attitude,’ he said.
   The vice-chancellor said his office had received the resignation letter, but no decision had yet been made on it.

Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology was declared closed amid massive violence following clashes between Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir Thursday.
   All the dormitories of the university were also declared closed and the residential students asked to vacate the halls by 6pm, as tensions gripped the campus.
   Following the troubles, traffic movement on the Shimultali-Gazipur road halted, putting people into untold suffering.
   ‘Hearing the decision of closure, unruly students ransacked halls and the administrative building,’ a campus source said.
   Sources said the brawl ensued over the pasting poster of a coaching centre of Shibir men above Bangabandhu poster on Monday night, which left three injured from both sides.
   Later, they said, BCL supporters drove out Shibir men from the halls after ransacking their rooms.
   As a sequel to the incidents, activists of the ruling Awami League-backed student organisation, equipped with sticks and iron rods, tried to attack
   at least 50 Shibir supporters confining them to a nearby mess in the morning. But police foiled their attempt.
   As tensions mounted over the campus and neighbourhoods, the authorities decided to shut down the campus till September 29 encompassing Ramadan, Eid and Puja vacations.
   They also ordered the students to leave all dormitories of the university by 6:00pm.
   Hearing the decision, the unruly BCL activists confined the vice-chancellor to his office for 30 minutes, witnesses said.
   They also ransacked the administrative building and Shibir activists’ rooms in dormitories.
   The police also conducted a drive at the mess of Chhatra Shibir, the student front of Jamaat, and arrested seven admission-seekers from the boarding house named ‘Dhanshiri’.
   They were Mohammad Belal, Imrul Kayes Parag, Wahab Ali, Yasser Arafat, Monjurul Islam, Ahmed Imtiaz and Shariful Islam.
   They were under interrogation at Joydevpur thana when the last report came in to UNB newsroom at 10:30pm.
   However, the BCL activists were staying on the campus instead leaving till the filing of the report at about 7:00pm.
   The Shibir activists alleged that even after seeking help, ‘police did not assist’ them in leaving the mess till the evening.
   Additional police force was deployed as the tensions kept brewing in the entire area.

The government may consider supplying duty-free diesel to the readymade garment sector to reduce its dependency on gas-powered electricity, said the prime minister’s adviser, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, on Thursday.
   He also said that they would float a tender for installation of furnace oil-based rental power plants with a combined capacity of 500-600MW by next month.
   Tawfiq made the comments while talking to reporters after a meeting with the leaders of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association at his secretariat office.
   The BKMEA leaders, led by its president Fazlul Haque, apprised the adviser that production in the apparel industry has declined by 20-30 per cent as they were facing gas and electricity shortage.
   They requested the government to provide their industries with duty-free diesel to enable them to operate smoothly.
   They also urged to the government to withdraw the ‘monthly minimum bill’ system as many industries did not get any gas at all but still had to pay the bills.
   The business leaders sought the government’s intervention in the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission’s fixation of licence fees for generators.
   Tawfiq told leaders that the government would consider supplying them duty-free diesel and asked them to provide information on how much fuel they would need, Fazlul Haque told reporters after the meeting.
   The adviser, however, told New Age that they would find out whether it would possible to provide the garment sector duty-free diesel as a lot of issues, including the effect on the budget and government’s revenue earning, were involved with the price of fuel oils.
   He also advised the leaders to turn their gas- and diesel-run generators to furnace-oil run ones to avail themselves of the lower price of furnace oil.
   Tawfiq told reporters after the meeting that they would float a tender by next month for installation of short-term rental power plants with a combined capacity of 500-600MW to add electricity to the national grid on a fast-track basis.
   He said that the government would hold meetings with potential investors next week to encourage them to invest in the rental power plants that will be installed by June 2010.
   Tawfiq also said that the duration and capacity of the power plants, which would be installed for three years, could be extended.

The government has planned to include lawmakers in school admission committees.
   Sources in the parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry and the ministry officials on Thursday told New Age local lawmakers had no role in school admission and administration officials only played their role in such affairs.
   Schools will begin the admission process much earlier than usual this year as the government has directed the schools to begin classes when the academic session begins on January 1.
   For decades, all the 317 government schools and some reputed schools across the country complete their admission process in the first week of February.
   ‘We are working to prepare admission guidelines in line with the demand of lawmakers to include them in admission committees. A meeting early September will put the guidelines in the final form,’ a ministry official said.
   ‘When we request headmasters or any admission committee members to do something, they often refuse to do so. But we have information that many students are enrolled when senior assistant secretaries, deputy secretaries of some important ministries and officials of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and school management committee members make such requests,’ said a lawmaker, also a member on the standing committee.
   ‘As local representatives, we face requests for admission every year. But we fail to do anything in this regard. The officials involved in admission process can do it at their will,’ he said.
   For a few years, reputed schools in cities have been facing a huge rush of admission-seekers. Guardians and admission-seekers both suffer a lot every year as the number of seats in reputed schools is much less than the number of aspirants.
   In Dhaka, there are nearly 8,000 seats for admission in 24 public schools in different classes every year. But statistics showed more or less 45,000 students take part in admission tests.

The consular section of the US embassy in Dhaka has rescheduled interviews for Diversity Visa applicants with interview dates on September 8, 9 and 10, said a US embassy press release issued on Thursday.
   Individuals with interviews scheduled for one of those dates should have received a letter with the new interview date. Individuals may also check the US embassy’s web site at http: /dhaka.usembassy. gov for the new date. .

Four British Bangladeshi men have been sentenced to prison for their involvement in the supply of class A drugs in Slough, Berkshire, England.
   They were among 36 people charged with drugs offences after one of the largest pre-planned intelligence-led drugs operations held by Thames Valley Police.
   The members of a London-based gang, known as the ‘Naz Network’, were jailed for their involvement in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine in the town using a network of hire cars. They were sentenced in Reading Crown Court on August 12.
   Code-named Operation Chester, the crackdown included a series of drugs raids at homes in Slough in July 2008, aimed at disrupting suspected major drugs networks operating in the area.

Torrential rain disrupted life in Chittagong on Thursday as different parts of the city went under knee to waist-deep water, putting a brake on the business activities and hampering the vehicular movement on city roads.
   Sources in the Meteorology Department said they recorded a total of 213.6mm of rain during the past 24 hours ending at 6:00pm on Thursday.
   Pouring rain inundated many low-lying areas, including Bakalia, Chawkbazar, Halishahar, Chandgaon, Agrabad, Goshaildanga and Mughaltoli, causing immense sufferings to city dwellers.
   The private and government offices, business enterprises and educational institutions were off to a slow start as people got trapped inside their home when vehicular movement was also disrupted on different city streets.
   A huge number of cars, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, minibuses and other motorised vehicles were seen abandoned on the flooded city roads as water ran into their exhaust pipes.
   Both the office-going and homebound people were seen waiting for hours for transports. Passengers also hurried to get into a few buses that were plying the city roads during torrential rain.
   Sources concerned said heavy downpour seriously disrupted the activities at the city’s business hub Chaktai-Khatunganj when transactions at the banks and other financial organisations also reduced significantly.