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The lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led main opposition in parliament are expected to return to the house in a day or two after skipping the session for 16 working days.
   They decided to return to the house at a meeting in the parliament complex Sunday. The leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, presided over the meeting.
   ‘We have decided to return to this session at the earliest,’ opposition chief whip Zainul Abedin Faruk told a briefing at the leader of the opposition’s meeting room.
   Several lawmakers of the opposition alliance told New Age that they would return to the house today.
   Faruk said the meeting had delegated the responsibility to the leader of the opposition to appoint the deputy leader of the opposition in parliament.
   The opposition lawmakers did not return to the house after staging a walkout from parliament on January 28 in protest at the new seating arrangement giving eight instead of 21 seats in the first two rows to the left of the speaker to them. The parliament held 18 sittings since January 25.
   He said the opposition lawmakers had decided to return to the house as the speaker, Abdul Hamid, and the ruling party chief whip Abdus Shahid on February 19 assured them of a solution graceful for the opposition on its demands.
   The speaker assured them that he would settle the dispute on the seating arrangement before the next session, Farruk said.
   The ruling party chief whip pledged that four opposition lawmakers nominated by the leader of the opposition would be made chairman of four parliamentary standing committees on different ministries, the opposition chief whip said.
   They also pledged to reconstitute the special committee, formed for examining ordinances and bills in the absence of standing committees, inducting two members nominated by the leader of the opposition in it, Farruk said.
   Sources present in the meeting said senior BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was likely to be included in the special committee as the leader of the opposition had nominated him to the committee.
   He said the opposition lawmakers condemned the Dhaka University authorities for not giving due protocol and honour to the leader of the opposition at the Central Shaheed Minar at the Amar Ekushey’s programme.
   The speaker changed the seating arrangement laid out by his predecessor Jamiruddin Sircar who had given the main opposition lawmakers nine seats in the front row and 12 in the second row ignoring the treasury bench proposal.
   The leader of the opposition sent two names – MK Anwar and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury – to represent the opposition in the special committee on parliamentary activities. But the treasury bench replaced Salauddin Quader Chowdhury with the opposition chief whip [Faruk] ‘without taking the latter’s consent’.
   In the 2001 parliament, when BNP was in power, all 10 seats – eight from Awami League and two from Jatiya Party factions – in the front row to the left of the speaker were allocated to opposition lawmakers.

Citizens expressed their satisfaction as the lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led main opposition on Sunday evening decided to return to the parliament session in a day or two.
   They [citizens] hoped that the treasury and the opposition benches will together play responsible role to make the parliament functional and effective.
   ‘The opposition has made a positive decision. Now we hope both the treasury and the opposition benches will work together with due respect for each other to make the parliament functional and effective,’ Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told New Age Sunday evening. ‘In fact, the parliament cannot be truly functional in the absence of the opposition.’
   ‘It would have positive impact on economic activities of the country, and thereby it would help the nation to face the global financial recession,’ Parvez added.
   Expressing satisfaction at the decision of the main opposition, Farida Akhtar, executive director of Ubinig, an NGO, told New Age, ‘The parliament seems incomplete unless the opposition participates in its functions.’
   She said that joining the parliament session would not be enough. ‘They must discharge their due responsibility.’
   On the other hand, the ruling party and the speaker must take the opposition in their confidence, she added.
   The lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led main opposition are likely to join the parliament session in a day or two after staying out of the house for 16 working days.
   The opposition lawmakers did not return to the house after staging walkout from parliament on January 28 in protest at the new seating arrangement giving eight instead of 21 seats in the first two rows to the left of the speaker to them. The parliament so far held 18 sittings from January 25.
   Afzalur Rahman, a Janata Bank executive, said it was a much expected decision from the opposition side. ‘The people voted the lawmakers of both the bench to play role in making law for the betterment of the nation. We hope that they will frustrate us,’ he said.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday called on people to remain watchful so that none could halt the democratic process which had been deterred time and again by extra-constitutional means.
   ‘We call for cooperation of all to ensure that the democratic process is uninterrupted, and at the same time the people need to guard against any behind-the-scenes plots to harm democracy,’ the prime minister said while inaugurating a four-day orientation programme for the newly elected lawmakers.
   Hasina, also the leader of the house, lauded the common people for resisting formation of a king’s party during the two years of the military-backed government and asked parliament members to work sincerely for the people’s causes.
   She called upon the opposition lawmakers to join parliamentary proceedings and make parliament the centre of all activities.
   The prime minister observed that parliamentary practices had not flourished at its desired level as a result of recurrent extra-constitutional interventions. Repeated martial law and state of emergency in the case of last two years had deterred the democratic process.
   The process of elections was also vitiated because of formation of political parties in the post-martial law periods and handpicking of certain politicians to have two-thirds majority in parliament for legitimising the extra-constitutional actions, she added.
   ‘These are some of the reasons that deterred democratic rule from taking firm roots,’ Hasina, also the president of ruling Awami League, said acknowledging common people’s aspiration for democracy.
   She also referred to the attempts to float new political parties with public money and said many people were made ambitious during the last tow years of emergency government.
   But the people, not the political leaderships, resisted such attempts with courage and a peaceful election was made possible only because of the courage of the common people and support by democracy-loving forces at home and abroad, she said.
   ‘The people have a strong passion for democracy and they want to see reflection of their hopes in parliament,’ said Hasina, who was detained in jail for a year by the immediate-past military-backed government.
   The prime minister said parliament should be the centre of all activities and the lawmakers must work for the people rising above their political beliefs.
   ‘The people voted you to see how much you can deliver, and they will give judgement in the next elections,’ said Hasina who initiated the training for the newly elected lawmakers, especially the first-time members of parliament.
   The prime minister also called upon the opposition lawmakers, who have been boycotting the proceedings since January 28 over seating arrangement, to return to parliament to play their role. Hasina said that the speaker had initiated a move to bring them back to the house accommodating their demands.
   The United States-based National Democratic Institution for International Affairs, the United Stares Agency for International Development and some other organisations arranged the orientation programme for 171 first-time MPs of the ninth parliament in association with the parliament secretariat.
   The Jatiya Sangsad speaker, Abdul Hamid, welcomed the lawmakers and the guests while the Indian Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee narrated his experience as a parliamentarian at the inaugural session at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
   The Indian speaker advised the new MPs to learn more about delivering in parliament saying not all the people should necessarily have expertise in every subject. A lawmaker does not need to speak on every issue, rather he should be subject-specific.
   He also advised his Bangladeshi counterpart to introduce groups of lawmakers on women affairs, children affairs, climate change and water conservation.
   The plenary session of the four-day orientation programme will be held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre. Local and international experts will deliver lectures before the novice lawmakers on rules of procedure, parliamentary norms, practices and conventions. The newly elected MPs will also be given ideas on how to keep good contacts with the constituents and the media as well.

The Indian Lok Sabha speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, emphasised maintaining good understanding between the ruling and opposition parties in parliament as he said opposition was a parliament’s pivotal pillar.
   ‘In parliamentary democracy, the role of the opposition party is very much important. Democracy works effectively in that system where opposition is strong and careful,’ the veteran Indian parliamentarian told his audience of Bangladeshi lawmakers, who are facing a parliamentary standoff at the very outset of the newly elected parliament.
   As the chief international guest he was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a four-day orientation course for the new members of the 9th parliament most of whom are first timers, coming up after a topsy-turvy in the country’s political scenario during a two-year emergency regime.
   The Washington-based National Democratic Institute and USAID have jointly arranged the orientation programme. The plenary sessions of the training course will start today at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.
   Somnath Chatterjee noted that the government is mandated to rule the country while the opposition party’s duty is to play the watchdog keeping a sharp eye on government activities.
   ‘Opposition for opposition’s sake is not expected in parliamentary democracy. Constructive criticism and alternative proposals by the opposition will expedite the advancement of democracy,’ said the speaker of the world’s largest democracy.
   He told the new MPs that delivering speech in political rallies and in parliament is not the same thing.
   ‘In our parliamentary talk your (MPs) speech will have to be full of authentic information and wisdom which should influence government policy and enactment of laws,’ he said.
   With reference to Mahatma Gandhi, the legendary leader of India’s non-violent independence movement, the Lok Sabha speaker said the parliament would have to be made forum of debate and discussion.
   All MPs will have to attain a quality to listen to each other with respect. ‘With well-thought-out speech one has to contradict other’s speech. But the aim of all will be welfare of the people,’ he said in his word of advice.
   Somnath Chatterjee informed his audience that Indian MPs have various forums on climate change, child and maternal health, water crisis, and such fora help the MPs know the problems in detail and suggest the parliament to enact necessary laws and take steps for people’s development.

The home minister, Sahara Khatun, on Sunday said that the government had launched a crackdown across the country against Islamist militants and captured 14 more suspects following Friday’s grenade attack on a police station that left 12 people injured.
   She said that the government had formed a three-member committee headed by the deputy inspector general of the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate the attack by a militant in custody. The committee was asked to report back in three working days.
   Sahara, while giving a statement in parliament, said that the government was determined to eliminate terrorism. She said that the terrorists had no political identities, they were enemies of the country and of the constitution.
   ‘It is not possible for the government alone to eliminate terrorism from the society. The government needs assistance from all concerned,’ the home minister said calling upon the people to form committees at every neighbourhood to fight terrorism.
   She said that the government would also find out the patrons of the criminals with the help of the people. ‘We will bring the godfathers and financers of the terrorists to justice,’ the minister said adding that they would be given exemplary punishment.
   She called upon the people to inform the government if they had any information on terrorists or any attempts at terrorism. ‘Please inform the police or Rapid Action Battalion to help them take prompt actions.’
   Sahara said that she had information that the radical Islamists might try to unleash attack on any of the programmes marking the International Mother Language Day. But, acting on the information, the police and RAB seized arms and ammunition, leaflets and compact discs on Islamist militancy.
   The police frustrated their plans for attack, she said.

Seven suspected JMB members arrested from Jamalpur and Gazipur on Saturday were taken on police remand Sunday.
   In Gazipur, four suspected JMB activists, who were detained early Saturday during a raid on a house at East Kalomeswar in sadar upazila, were taken on 10-day remand on Sunday.
   The DB police produced Nasrin Akhter, Zahid, Masud and Atique before the chief judicial magistrate court on Sunday praying 10-day remand for interrogating them.
   After the hearing, chief judicial Magistrate Mohammad Anwar Pasha granted the remand prayer.
   Acting on the information given by the four JMB activists arrested earlier on Friday, the police raided the house in Masterpara residential area and arrested Jahid, 24, Atique, 20, Masud, 22, and Nasrin, 19 along with three grenades, bomb-making materials and Jihadi books.
   In Jamalpur, three out of four suspected JMB members, arrested from the district town and Sarishabari upazila on Saturday, were taken on police remand on Sunday.
   The police arrested Abdullah Hel Kafi, 22, Mehedi Iqbal Ripon and Shamsul Haq from Shekherbhita and Iqbalpur areas of the town while Mokhlesur Rahman Mishu from Satpoya Madyapara village in Sarishabari upazila on Saturday.
   The court granted seven-day remand for Kafi and five-day remand for Shamsul Haq and Mishu when the police produced them before the court of additional judicial magistrate Fazle Khoda Mohammad Naziur Sunday, seeking seven-day remand for each.
   Mehedi Iqbal Ripon was released on bail as his involvement with the JMB activists could not be proved.
   Ripon is the brother-in-law of Mamun, who was arrested from Gazipur and pounced on a seized hand-grenade in the police super’s room during a press conference and detonated it on Friday afternoon that left 12 people injured.

The death toll in the Thursday’s launch capsize in the River Kirtonkhola in Barisal raised to 41, including the 14 bodies, recovered from the engine room of the capsized launch and river on Saturday and Sunday.
   At least 15 passengers of the launch were missing as their relatives had been searching for the bodies in the river by trawler, boat, and fishing nets till filing of this report at 7:15pm on Sunday.
   But the operator of the launch and BIWTA officials could not say the exact number of passengers, who were on board at the launch while meeting the disaster.
   Locals apprehend that the death toll in the launch capsize will rise.
   Of the 14, the bodies of Md Kamal, 28, was recovered from the engine room of the capsized launch on Saturday morning, and Kawsar Hossain, 17, an HSC examinee of Savar Alia Madrassah and son of Shajahan Mia, Taslima Begum, 31, wife of Harun Majhi, and Sagor, 8, her nephew and son of Abu Zafar of Charabdani area near the disaster spot on Saturday evening.
   And the bodies of Hanif Mia of Amtali upazila in Barguna, Moslem Chawkidar, 40, son of Kalai Chawkidar, Khaleque Molla, 50, husband of an expatriate Kohinoor Begum of Pereira road in Barisal, Nur Muhammad Bepari, 58, a retired teacher of Char Hogla Laxmipur Madrassah, Faruk Master, 45, a teacher of Bhasanchar high school, Md Rubel, 26, of 50/3, Sultanganj at Rayer Bazar in Dhaka, Bimol Chandra, 35, of Patarhat, and Nurunnessa Begum, 31, of Mehendiganj, were recovered on Sunday morning.
   The body of an unidentified 10-year minor boy was recovered from the river in the afternoon while the body of another minor boy Shohag, 11, son of Jafar of Bhasanchar recovered at about 7:15pm in the evening.
   The inquiry committee formed with the district BIWTA and police officials had inspected the colliding vessels on Friday while another enquiry committee, headed by a joint secretary of shipping ministry, inspected the vessels at the Barisal BIWTA marine workshop jetty on Saturday morning.
   Immediately after the inspection on Saturday morning, some boys from the locality, entered the jetty and found the body of one Kamal inside the engine room of the salvaged launch at about 11:00am.
   Hayatul Islam, an assistant commissioner of Barisal Metropolitan Police, another member of the enquiry committee said that the number of the recovered bodies had raised to 41 — 25 males and 16 females — after the recovery of four, including one from the engine room and three from the river on Saturday, and 10 more from different points surrounding the mishap spot on Sunday.
   Rafiqul Islam, a deputy director and port officer of BIWTA in Barisal, who is a member of the inquiry committee, said according to the inland marine law any water transport carrying more than 100 tonnes of passenger or cargo while plying the major river routes must take piloting service from the conservancy and piloting department of the BIWTA for safe navigation to avoid accident.
   The launch ML Fahmida-Happy Express with around 100 passengers on board was hit by a cargo vessel MV Sanim carrying fly ash had capsized in the River Kirtonkhola at about 6:20am on Thursday morning at the Beltala-Charbadni point, after its departure from the Barisal port at 6:05am.
   The launch was salvaged at 5:00pm, 27 bodies were recovered, and the salvage operation was declared completed at 7:00pm on Thursday.
   The salvage operation and the investigation raised questions among the public when so many bodies were recovered from the river and engine room of the rescued launch after declaring the salvage operation completed and inspections of the launch at the jetty by two enquiry committees.

Seventy-four workers were confirmed dead and dozens trapped underground after a gas blast early Sunday at a north Chinese colliery, the worst accident to hit the nation’s mines in over 14 months.
   More than 400 miners were on the job when the pre-dawn explosion ripped through the mine overnight, the official Xinhua news agency reported. A number of victims died after being rescued from the mine, it said.
   Some of the miners trapped at the site outside Taiyuan, capital of the main coal-producing province of Shanxi, reportedly called their families on mobile phones from underground.
   The death toll makes this the most lethal accident reported in China’s disaster-prone mining industry since 105 people died in a mine explosion in December 2007, also in Shanxi.
   The president, Hu Jintao, and the premier, Wen Jiabao, issued instructions to do everything possible to save those still trapped inside the mine, state television reported, later giving the updated death toll of 74.
   The vice premier, Zhang Dejiang, was dispatched to the scene to oversee rescue efforts, Xinhua reported. He said a team would be set up to investigate the deadly incident.
   One of the survivors, 27-year-old Xue Huancheng, said he and his co-workers initially were not aware how serious the accident was and were not ordered to leave the mine until more than an hour after the blast.
   ‘At that time the power supply underground was cut off and we had to walk,’ he told Xinhua from his hospital bed. He added he reached the mouth of the mine after 50 minutes, at which time he fainted from lack of oxygen.
   Xinhua said dozens of rescuers had gone underground at midday in search of those still missing. A total of 436 were at work when the blast erupted, and more than 300 miners escaped alive, the agency reported.
   One man told Xinhua that a mere coincidence had saved him from being among those trapped at the Tunlan coal mine.
   ‘I should have been among them, had I not changed my shift with another miner,’ said the man. ‘He is still underground. I hope he is alive.’
   According to state media, about 3,200 people died in Chinese coal mines in 2008.
   However independent labour groups have long maintained that China’s mining death toll is much higher than the government says, as local mine bosses and regional leaders cover up accidents to avoid fines and costly mine shutdowns.
   Government figures also show that almost 80 per cent of the nation’s 16,000 mines are illegal.
   Most of the miners rushed to hospital after Sunday’s accident had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, Xinhua said, citing doctors at the Xishan Hospital of Coal and Electricity.
   A photo posted online showed one of the survivors, apparently unconscious and with a blackened face, being rushed to medical treatment.
   A total of 113 miners were under observation at hospital, including 21 whose injuries were ‘relatively serious,’ according to Xinhua.
   The mine, which has an annual capacity of five million tonnes, is operated by the Shanxi Jiaomei Group, according to Xinhua.
   It said that it was considered a relatively safe mine, with no accidents reported over the past decade.
   Zhang Baoshun, the head of the Communist party in Shanxi, told miners to take care and avoid getting hurt while carrying out their dangerous work.
   China has vowed for years to improve safety at its mines, but has been hampered by a lack of resources to effectively supervise the sprawling industry, a major employer of destitute migrant workers.

Thousands of people on Saturday paid homage to the martyrs of the language movement by placing flowers at shaheed minars across the country.
   The people started streaming, midnight past Friday, along the roads leading to shaheed minars barefooted and sang Amar Bhaiyer Rakte Rangano Ekushey February to pay homage to martyrs who, along with others campaigning for recognition of Bangla as a state language, were killed in police firing in 1952.
   In Dhaka, thousands converged on the Dhaka University campus and walked barefooted to the Central Shaheed Minar to place flowers and wreaths.
   A large number of people from all walks of life crowded the Central Shaheed Minar amid police apprehension that Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh might attack the gathering.
   The law enforcers were on red alert with three-tier security measures after the arrest of a number of JMB operatives at a place in the outskirts of the capital, reportedly planning to attack Ekushey programmes.
   People had crowded the Dhaka University campus and its surrounding areas before midnight past Friday and people from all walks of life, including students, freedom fighters, politicians, and a number of foreigners waited in long queues.
   The president, Zillur Rahman, first placed a wreath at the altar of the Shaheed Minar, a minute past midnight, followed by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
   Hasina, along with the council of ministers, advisers, lawmakers and her sister Sheikh Rehana, placed one more wreath on behalf of the ruling Awami League.
   The Jatiya Sangsad speaker, Abdul Hamid, and the deputy speaker, Shawkat Ali, then placed wreaths. They were followed by the chief whip, Abdus Shahid, and the Dhaka city mayor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
   They were followed by the chiefs of the three services, General Moeen U Ahmed, Rear Admiral Zahir Uddin Ahmed, and Air Marshal SM Ziaur Rahman, placing wreaths. Attorney general, Mahbubey Alam. The sector commanders of the war of independence, under the banner of the Sector Commanders’ Forum, followed their turn to place wreaths.
   Members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of the UN organisations also placed wreaths, followed by the Dhaka University vice-chancellor, AAMS Arefin Siddique. The Awami Juba League placed wreaths after the vice-chancellor followed by journalist Nirmal Sen.
   The leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, also the BNP chairperson, was the 14th to place wreaths along with the party’s secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain and other leaders.
   As the day broke, people kept streaming in, leaving virtually no room for free movement. Vehicle movement was restricted till Saturday noon.
   The Indian Lok Sabha speaker, Somanth Chatterjee, who is now in Dhaka, visited the Shaheed Minar on Saturday.
   There were makeshift shops, mostly of old books, on either side of the road. Shops were there on the pavement in front of the fine arts faculty and the grave of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. A number of socio-cultural organisations held cultural programmes in different parts of the campus.
   The Amar Ekushey book fair saw the highest number visitors on the day. The fair opened from 8:00am and about 200 new titles hit the fair. The Bangla Academy authorities held a programme of recitation of poems by noted poets in the morning.
   The stream of people continued till Saturday afternoon. They renewed their pledge to uphold the status of Bangla and the spirit of the language movement in all spheres of life.
   Special prayers were also held at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, seeking salvation of the departed souls of the martyrs.
   Security measures were beefed up. No untoward incident was reported. But the leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies chanted slogans against the Dhaka University vice-chancellor, AAMS Arefin Siddique, for ‘breaching protocol’ for the leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia.
   The BNP chief immediately stopped her activists telling Arefin that he had failed to maintain neutrality.
   Reports from divisional headquarters of Chittagong Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet said Ekushey February was observed. Book fairs were organised in different places across the country.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, also the leader of opposition in the parliament, was denied due protocol when she paid homage to the martyrs of the language movement by placing a wreath at the Central Shaheed Minar early Saturday, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party said.
   Khaleda was also resentful of the matter and held the Dhaka University vice-chancellor responsible for playing a partisan role in conducting the ceremony.
   ‘You have failed to maintain neutrality [in conducting the ceremony]. Your have showed a partisan role,’ Khaleda told the vice-chancellor, AAMS Arefin Siddique, as she was leaving the Shaheed Minar premises after placing the wreath.
   At this stage, former and present leaders of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, an associate organisation of the BNP, started hurling abuse at the vice-chancellor terming him ‘a collaborator of the Awami League.’
   Khaleda, however, interfered to quell the activists and got into the car after telling vice-chancellor, ‘This kind of situation will not be tolerated further.’
   Khaleda, also a former prime minister, reached the Shaheed Minar at about 12:25am and placed the wreath in the corner of a crowd while the vice-chancellor and others were placing wreaths standing in the main queue.
   It is customary that the leader of the opposition in the parliament places wreaths at the Shaheed Minar after the president, the prime minister, the speaker and the deputy speaker.
   But at least 12 to 13 individuals or organisations, the president, prime minister, speaker, deputy speaker, members of diplomatic corps and Sectors’ Commander Forum, had placed wreaths before Khaleda did.
   Although the commentators on the dais were announcing the names of the people approaching to place wreaths, they did not announce the name of Khaleda when she arrived. They announced Khaleda’s name when she was placing the wreath.
   Arefin Siddique brushed aside the allegation of denying the leader of the opposition due protocol. ‘No hindrance was made for her to place the wreath,’ he said.
   A senior leader who was accompanying Khaleda to the Shaheed Minar alleged Khaleda’s motorcade had been stopped in Doyel Square for at least half an hour before allowing her to enter the Shaheed Minar premises.
   Condemning the incident, former Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president Sadrul Amin, also the arts dean in the university, on the Shahid Minar premises said the university had failed to show neutrality. ‘Even Khaleda Zia’s name was not announced when she arrived and placed the wreath.’

Elections to the 45 reserved seats for women in the parliament will be held on March 22, election officials said on Sunday.
   Officials in the EC secretariat said the commission had fixed March 22 as the polling day as the Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party did not raise any objection to the date.
   The commission earlier sent letters to three major political parties having representation in the house and sought their opinions on the tentative date of March 22 for the polling.
   No election commissioners and officials of the commission secretariat, however, formally announced the schedule.
   According to a circular, signed by additional secretary at the EC Secretariat Rafiqul Islam, the deadline for the nomination submission is February 26 and for withdrawal March 5.
   In keeping with the constitution, the parliament will consist of 300 members to be elected directly by the people in single territorial constituencies, and the 45 seats reserved for women will be allotted to the political parties on the basis of their representation in the parliament.
   The Awami League gets an allocation of 36 seats, Jatiya Party 4, and the BNP-led combine 4 in proportion to party strengths in the house.
   According to the Jatiya Sangsad (Reserved Seats for Women) Election Act 2004, the political parties and alliances will select and nominate their candidates. If the number of candidates nominated by a party matches that of its quota, its nominees will be declared elected uncontested.
   But if the number of nominations exceeds the quota, the commission will go for a single transferable vote for the elections in which only the lawmakers of the party will participate.
   The law also lays out a formula to count the single transferable vote. If a party nominates candidates fewer than its quota or nominates no candidate, the commission will set another date of the elections to the seats and all the lawmakers will be allowed to nominate candidates and vote.
   The ninth parliament will have the highest number of female lawmakers — 64, including 19 elected in the December 29 general elections and the 45 others to be elected to the seats reserved for women.

The information secretary, Abu Karim was Sunday sued on charge of writing some derogatory words in his book criticising Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members.
   The president of the Bangladesh Awami Ulema League, the religious front of the ruling party, Maulana Mohammad Ilias Hossain Bin Helali, filed the case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.
   According to the complaint, the accused bureaucrat in his recently published book titled ‘Bagane Fute Achhe Anek Golap’
    allegedly used some indecorous words and sentences on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his three sons.
   ‘It’s a serious defamation of the Mujib family,’ said the ruling party’s cleric in filing the case against the incumbent to government official of the ministry of information.
   Maulna Helali demanded that the court should issue arrest warrant against the information secretary for allegedly casting such aspersions on the country’s founding president and his family members.
   The chief metropolitan magistrate, Konika Biswas, issued directive for recording the case and fixed March 2 as the next date for order.

The Awami League-led government will begin sales of rice at subsidised rates next month for over two million workers of readymade garments in the metropolis, without covering the low-income people employed in other industries right now.
   Alongside the garments workers, each of the workers of tea gardens, a yawning industry outside the capital, will also be provided with 20 kilograms of rice at a rate of Tk 18 a kg between March 20 and April 30.
   Disclosing this, after a meeting of a high-powered food planning and monitoring committee on Sunday, the food and disaster management minister, Mohammad Abdur Razzak, said this ‘targeted open market sale’ of rice would be implemented in collaboration with the owners of both the export-oriented industries.
   ‘Sadly, many industrial workers are not provided with living wages, so we have decided to introduce the OMS twice a year – during March-April and October-November,’ he told journalists. The meeting was also attended by the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, and the agriculture minister, Matia Chowdhury.
   When asked why the government had decided to cover only two segments of the industrial workers in these safety net programmes, Razzak mentioned that the government would include other industrial workers and low-income groups such as rickshaw-pullers later.
   ‘We can’t do so right now as there are problems of identification and implementation. However, we will expand the coverage of test relief and food for work in the rural areas,’ he said. The government has refrained from initiating the common open market sales of rice, considering operational costs of opening sales outlets, he pointed out.
   The government is not going to introduce soon the old system of distribution of a number of food items, given the corruption and mismanagement that was witnessed in the past, the minister told a questioner. He, however, claimed that the targeted OMS might be used as a pilot project for rationing in future.
   The food committee also decided not to procure any wheat this season or fix any rate of this food-grain in view of its declining price in the international market recently. The minister added the government would no more procure any Aman paddy or Aman rice this season despite the shortfall in collection of Aman paddy.
   ‘We have to clear our go-downs which are now full of food stocks and release the food-grains to be ready for the next harvesting,’ said Razzak. The latest buffer stock of food-grains is around 12.5 lakh tonnes.
   The minister told newsmen that the government would plan programmes to ensure the food security ahead of the season by collecting necessary information, data and forecast from three relevant organisations — the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation or SPARRSO.

The government has planned purchase of a number of military hardware, including tanks and anti-aircraft missiles and destroyers, to strengthen the Armed Forces, the planning minister, AK Khandker, disclosed in the parliament on Sunday.
   ‘The government has a number of plans to strengthen our army, navy and air force keeping our financial conditions in mind by arming them up with modern equipment and providing the with necessary training,’ Khandker, who is also in charge of the defence ministry in the parliament, said in reply to a question by Zafar Iqbal Siddiqui, the lawmaker for the Nilphamari 1 constituency.
   The minister said the government had plans to procure helicopters, tanks, armoured personal carriers, missiles to destroy tanks and aircraft, sniper rifles, radio equipment, ammunition, night vision and other equipment in the current financial year for the army.
   The government also arranged training in computer simulation in 27 places for the army.
   Apart from members of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, members of other countries are being trained in the institutions while the Armed Forces mem-bers are receiving joint training with the armed forces of other friendly countries.
   The government has also planned to replace three frigates more than 50 years old with new ones to turn the navy into a three-dimensional force.
   The matter was under the government’s active consideration, and the authorities have started contacting different countries for replacement of the frigates, he said
   The minister said the process for signing an agreement for the procurement of the ship-destroying missile had been finalised to modernise the frigate at a cost of Tk 120 crore. The agreement is in the final stages to get the government nod.
   The government also floated international bidding to procure anti-helicopter and maritime patrol aircrafts to strengthen maritime patrol in the Bay of Bengal.
   It has plans to modernise the air force. It will procure equipment to guard Bangladesh’s sky, to carry out rescue operations in case of natural calamities and to assist the army and navy in need.
   The plans will be implemented in phases, the minister said.

Yet another case has been filed against suspected war criminals with the chief judicial magistrate court in Rajshahi.
   Sufia Bibi, daughter of Tasir Uddin of village Sinduri under Mohanpur upazila, filed the case on Sunday, accusing Mohed Ali, Nazim Uddin, Manjur Rahman, Ayub Ali, Saman Ali of village Sinduri, Abdul Hakim of village Badejul and Amar Ali
   of village Bhaduria under Mohanpur of killing her brother Mafiz Uddin during the liberation war in 1971.
   In her case, Sufia alleged that the accused, who were active members of the Razaker, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, on November 15, 1971 night attacked their (Sufia’s) house with firearms and sharp weapons and looted valuables.
   They also took her brother Mafiz Uddin to the Razaker camp at village Sakoa. Later, they killed Mafiz. The Razakers also refused to hand over Mafiz’s body.
   ‘After the killing of my brother, I requested the Razakers to give back his body but they refused to hand over the body,’ Sufia said told reporters on the court premises after filing the case.
   Earlier, on February 17, the Mohanpur police refused to record the case, when Sufia went to the police station.
   Earlier, one Mejharul Sheikh, son of a slain freedom fighter, on June 22, 2008, had filed a case with a Rajshahi court against 19 war crime suspects on charge of killing his father Bashir Uddin and 14 others.
   Two crime suspects — Daud and Nur-e-Anwar — were arrested in the case on February 13.

The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, on Sunday said the announcement of agitation programme by the Judicial Service Association demanding removal of the law secretary was not decorous.
   Talking with reporters in the ministry after the Canadian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Robert McDougall, had called on him, the law minister also hoped the Supreme Court would look into the issue as the service of the judges were now under the Supreme Court.
   ‘The issue of appointment of law secretary Kazi Habibul Awal is now pending with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. So it is not decorous to announce programmes for his removal until the case is settled,’ Shafique said.
   Asked whether the association has violated the service rule and any punitive action will be taken in this connection, Shafique said the Supreme Court would look into the matter. The executive branch has nothing to do with it after the separation of the judiciary, he said.
   Justifying the government’s move to pass the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance, made by the military-controlled interim government, into a law, Shafique said the bill would be passed after further scrutiny by the parliamentary committee and detailed discussion in the house.
   During the call-on, McDougall told Shafique Canada was keen on extending the duration of the Legal Aid Project run under the law ministry with the assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency, said an official handout.

Some 476 bullets were recovered from beside the Nursing Institute hostel on the Dhaka Medical College Hospital compound Sunday evening.
   The bullets were stashed inside a motor tube and it was lying abandoned in the drain beside the hostel.

The High Court on Sunday granted former Awami League lawmaker Joynal Hazari anticipatory bail for two months in a carjacking case and ordered him to surrender in trial court in 12 other cases in eight weeks.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed AB Mahmudul Huq and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury gave the order after Hazari surrendered in the court seeking bail in 14 pending cases.
   Hazari, expelled from the Awami League when he was in hiding, was sentenced to imprisonment for 60 years in five cases in two years.
   The court also called for records of the two cases filed under the Public Safety Act. It asked the government not to arrest or harass him in the period.
   Hazari left the country on March 17, 2001 and returned home on February 14.
   Senior lawyer Abdul Baset Majumder moved the bail petitions for Hazari.
   Hazari said he tried to surrender in 2001, but he was unable to do so as law enforcers then surrounded the court premises to arrest him.

The police in India on Sunday arrested two doctors on homicide charges for spreading hepatitis B by injecting patients with used needles, officials said.
   At least 34 people have died in an outbreak of the disease in the town of Modasa in western Gujarat state, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
   Hepatitis B is an infectious virus that is spread through blood and bodily fluids.
   ‘The two doctors arrested today are charged with culpable homicide as many of the patients treated by them were found hepatitis B positive and some have died,’ the Modasa police chief KK Maysorewala said.
   Six other doctors were earlier arrested on charges of criminal negligence.
   Gujarat state health minister Jaynarayan Vyas said he had ordered emergency steps to tackle the outbreak, including 600,000 anti-hepatitis B vaccines.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has proposed that the speaker of Jatiya Sangsad should initiate a move to launch a television channel entirely dedicated to broadcasting parliamentary proceedings.
   ‘Honourable speaker can take up a move to launch a parliament [television] channel,’ the prime minister said Sunday while inaugurating an orientation programme for lawmakers on parliamentary procedures in Dhaka.
   Every voter has a right to know what the elected representatives do in parliament, Hasina said adding that a television channel, dedicated exclusively to airing parliamentary proceedings, would help the electors know more about their representatives.
   Indian Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who spoke on the occasion, said that Indian citizens enjoyed the right to see what their representatives were delivering in parliament through the Lok Sabha channel.
   British Broadcasting Corporation has a parliament channel dedicated to the coverage of the British parliament’s proceedings.