Main Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led main opposition returned to the parliament on Monday after remaining absent from its session for 16 working days.
   About 25 opposition lawmakers led by senior BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury joined the session soon after the house resumed at about 3:45pm. The leader of the house and prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was present in the house when they returned.
   The treasury bench members thumped their desks to welcome the return of the opposition.
   Welcoming them back to the session, the speaker, Abdul Hamid, said presence of both the treasury and opposition benches in the house was a matter of pride for the chair.
   He urged the benches to set their strategies carefully so that none could hinder democracy in future. ‘Many things happened in the last two years [2007, 2008] and all of us have been victims of those events.’
   The opposition lawmakers had stayed off the session 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 19 sittings since January 25.
   As soon as the house started its business, the opposition chief whip, Zainal Abedin Faruk, criticised the government and the treasury bench for withdrawing special security for the leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, restrictions on entry of physicians, personal staffs and visitors to her Dhaka Cantonment residence and change of representative of the opposition in the special committee formed to scrutinise the ordinances and bills in the absence of the parliamentary standing committees on different ministries.
   Faruk also referred to the people’s ‘sufferings’ caused by the ‘severe crisis of power and drinking water across the country.’
   He also censured the speaker for forming a panel of chairmen [to chair session in the absence of the speaker and the deputy speaker] without including a representative of the opposition and changing the seating order in the house by giving four instead of nine seats in the first row to the left of the speaker to the opposition.
   He also slammed the Dhaka University authorities for not giving the leader of the opposition protocol she deserved when she had visited the Central Shaheed Minar early February 21 to pay homage to the Language Movement martyrs.
   Several ruling Awami League lawmakers protested against some remarks of the opposition chief whip who dubbed the December 29 polls ‘questionable elections’. They also protested when Faruk called the leader of the opposition [Khaleda Zia] ‘the
   most popular leader’ of the country.
   The treasury bench chief whip, Abdus Shahid, protested at Faruk’s claims terming them ‘100 per cent untrue’.
   Replying to the opposition’s charges, the speaker said he did not include an opposition lawmaker in the panel of chairmen by mistake. ‘The treasury bench was not a party to it. It was a mistake on my part as the panel was formed hurriedly.’
   The opposition chief whip told New Age that they had returned to the house as the speaker and the treasury bench on February 19 assured them of a solution ‘respectable’ for the opposition on its demands.
   The speaker pledged to settle the dispute on seating arrangement before the next session, Faruk said.
   The ruling party chief whip gave an assurance 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 to examine ordinances
   and bills in the absence of standing committees, inducting two members nominated by the leader
   of the opposition, he added.

The cabinet on Monday approved scrapping of the Local Government (Upazila Parishad) Ordinance and National Board of Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance, promulgated by the military-backed interim government.
   The elections to the upazila parishads held on January 22, will, however, stand valid and the local lawmakers will be the advisers to the respective upazila parishads.
   This was the first time that the cabinet of Sheikh Hasina discarded any ordinances of the interim administration.
   The meeting of the cabinet, held at the cabinet division’s conference room at the secretariat, approved 22 bills for passage of 25 ordinances, including National Human Rights Commission Ordinance and Right to Information Ordinance, into laws, the prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters at a briefing after the meeting.
   The cabinet has so far approved passage of 44 ordinances into laws. The parliamentary special committee, assigned for scrutiny of the 122 ordinances promulgated during the emergency rule, have recommended 54 ordinances for passage into laws.
   According to constitutional provisions, the 54 ordinances need to be tabled as bills in parliament by Wednesday.
   The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, however, asked the cabinet members not to leave Dhaka until the cabinet decides the fate of the rest 10 ordinances, said a minister adding that the next meeting of the cabinet would be held on Wednesday.
   The cabinet approved two bills on Local Government (City Corporations) Ordinance and Local Government (Municipalities) Ordinance for passage into laws with amendments.
   According to the proposed amendments, the mayors of the city corporations and municipalities will not need to give up their portfolios in the respective political parties.
   The cabinet approved a bill for reintroduction of the Local Government (Upazila Parishad) Act 1998, enacted by the Awami League government on December 3, 1998, with amendment and scrapping of the Local Government (Upazila Parishad) Ordinance 2008.
   The interim administration on June 30, 2008 promulgated the ordinance repealing the act.
   In the bill, the cabinet proposed amendment to the 1998 act giving validity to the January 22 elections.
   Once the bill is enacted by the parliament as law, the 1998 act will come into effect again.
   Section 25 of the act says, ‘Member concerned of parliament elected from single territorial constituency under Article 65 of the Constitution “shall” be the adviser to the upazila parishad and the upazila parishad “shall” heed the consultation of the adviser.’
   The provision was scrapped by the ordinance that left no room for any interference by lawmakers in the function of the upazila parishads, the most important local government unit.
   The meeting approved National Board of Revenue (Amendment) Bill proposing amendments to the National Board of Revenue Act and repeal of National Board of Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance 2008.
   The Right to Information Ordinance has 27 sections, including one for formation of an information commission, which will have power to fine up to Tk 25,000 and recommend punishment as per the service rules if any official fails to provide information to citizens in a stipulated timeframe.
   Another bill that proposed passage of Criminal Law (Amendment) (Amendment) Ordinance was, however, withdrawn, said Azad.
   According to him, the cabinet sent Grameen Bank (Amendment) Bill, which sought enactment of Grameen Bank (Amendment) Ordinance as law, back to the finance ministry for further scrutiny.
   While approving the Consumer Rights Protection Bill for passage of the related ordinance as law, the prime minister said her government would breathe new life into the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
   ‘We will strengthen the TCB to ensure smooth supply of commodities to local markets and monitor the price trends and the government is undertaking initiatives for import of daily commodities by the TCB,’ Hasina was quoted by Abul Kalam Azad as saying.
   While approving the Dhaka Electricity Supply Authorities (Amendment) Bill, the prime minister asked the authorities concerned to ensure uninterrupted power supply during irrigation period so that farmers did not face difficulties.
   The power supply authorities informed the meeting that 130MW electricity was added to the national grid in the first month of the incumbent government and hoped that more 700MW electricity would be added by June, Azad said.
   The cabinet also approved passage as laws of Gram Sarker (Repeal) Ordinance, Bangladesh Biman Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (Amendment) Ordinance, Supreme Court Judges (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Ordinance, President’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Ordinance, Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (Amendment) Ordinance, Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, Mobile Court Ordinance, Public Money and Budget Management Ordinance, Bangladesh Flag Vessel (Protection) (Amendment) Ordinance and three ordinances on Islamic University.

Citizens from various strata of society, including representatives of local bodies, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Cabinet for allowing lawmakers to interfere in the Upazila Parishads’ activities.
   On the same day, the Cabinet scrapped the Upazila Parishad Ordinance, promulgated by the military-controlled interim government, and decided to make the local MPs ‘advisers’ to the Upazila Parishads.
   A number of people, including a former adviser to the caretaker government, students, school-teachers and businessmen, on Monday observed that the lawmakers’ control and interference would make the local government bodies weak and ineffective.
   ‘The freedom, effectiveness and accountability of the local bodies will be hampered if the MPs remain involved in their work. Moreover, the local tiers of the government will not be strengthened,’ Akbar Ali Khan, former adviser to the caretaker government, told New Age.
   Mohammad Ullah, chairman of Begumganj upazila, strongly opposed the government’s move to appoint lawmakers as advisers to the Upazila Parishads, and observed that the move would create problems in the functioning of the administration.
   ‘The right persons should be given the scope to discharge their responsibilities. Every job should be done by the right and by the designated person. Dual governance has never brought any good,’ Mohammad Ullah told New Age. He argued that it was not the job of the lawmakers to meddle in the local bodies’ work.
   Nadira Begum Shila, vice-chairwoman-elect of Golapganj upazila, found no problem in the involvement of MPs in the development works of local government bodies. ‘The MPs are also elected by the people of the constituencies, so all the representatives elected to Parliament or local bodies should work together for the good of their localities,’ she observed.
   When asked to comment on the Cabinet’s decision, Faruk Hossain, a school-teacher of Chapainawabganj, said, ‘The MPs should discharge their duties like enacting laws and formulating policies, and the local government representatives should be free to deal with local issues and development. It will be better for both the sides to stick to their designated tasks.’
   The newly elected upazila representatives—chairmen, vice-chairmen (general) and vice-chairwomen —were sworn in at Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna divisions on Monday.
   Dhaka’s divisional commissioner, Khandaker Shawkat Hossain, administered the oath to 332 chairmen, vice-chairmen and vice-chairwomen at around 11am in the LGED auditorium in Agargaon.
   Of Dhaka division’s 363 posts in 121 upazilas, 111 chairmen, 112 vice-chairmen and 109 vice-chairwomen have taken oath. The remaining 31 posts in various upazilas are waiting for re-elections and investigations into electoral irregularities.
   Some 39 elected chairmen and male and female vice-chairmen of 13 of Chittagong Division’s 14 upazilas were sworn in by the divisional commissioner, MA Siddique, in a simple ceremony at the Circuit House.
   Deputy secretary to the LGRD ministry Habibul Kabir said that the swearing-in ceremony of Sylhet Division’s upazila representatives was completed on Sunday, and the upazila representatives of other divisions would be sworn in by March 12.
   The divisional commissioner Rajshahi Division, Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, administered the oath to the elected UP representatives at the Rajshahi Medical College’s auditorium on Monday.
   Out of 124 upazilas of the 16 districts of Rajshahi Division, chairmen and male and female vice-chairmen of 122 upazilas took oath as election was suspended in two upazilas of Sirajganj district.
   Our correspondent from Jessore reported that all the chairmen and vice-chairmen of 20 upazilas in Jessore, Magura, Jhenidah and Narail took oath in the Jessore Collectorate Conference Room on Monday afternoon. Yunusur Rahman, the divisional commissioner of Khulna, administered the oath.
   The New Age correspondent from Moulvibazar reported that the oath-taking ceremony of elected UP representatives of seven upazilas of Moulvibazar district was held in the conference hall of the deputy commissioner of Moulvibazar on Monday afternoon.
   Zafar Ahmed Khan, the divisional commissioner of Sylhet Division, administered oath to the UP representatives at a simple ceremony.

Two judges of a High Court bench on Monday passed split orders on petitions filed by 15 high-profile fugitive convicts seeking bail in the High Court without surrendering in trial court.
   The senior judge of the bench, Justice Syed AB Mahmudul Huq, in his order, kept pending the petitions and directed the fugitive convicts to surrender in eight weeks in the metropolitan senior special judge’s court.
   He also asked them to appear in the High Court after obtaining papers of surrender from the designated court.
   On the other hand, Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, in his order, disposed of the petitions and asked the convicts to surrender in the designated lower court in eight weeks and, if necessary, appear in the High Court after exhausting the regular process in the trial court.
   ‘Now the matter will be referred to the chief justice for constitution of a new bench for the disposal of the legal dispute,’ additional attorney general M Enayetur Rahim told reporters.
   At the fag end of passing the orders, Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, apparently being annoyed, left the court keeping his senior colleague in the chair following remarks by a counsel for the fugitive convicts, eye accounts said.
   According to court sources, the row surfaced when the petitioners’ counsel Rafique-ul Huq repeatedly pointed out that his arguments did not get mentioned properly in the order.
   The 15 fugitive convicts filed a total of 22 petitions on January 27 seeking their cases to be quashed. They also sought bail in the cases.
   The court concluded hearing on February 18 and posted for February 23 the delivery of its judgment on whether a fugitive convict could seek bail in the High Court without surrendering in trial court.
   The 15 fugitive convicts, who were convicted during the military-controlled interim regime, include former Jatiya Sangsad chief whip during the Awami League government Abdul Hasnat Abdullah, former communications minister Anwar Hosain Manju, also a Jatiya Party faction chairman, his wife Tasmeema Hossain, former state minister Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya, former Awami League lawmakers Maqbul Hossain, Joynal Abedin Hazari, Haji Selim, Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mustafa Rashidi Suza, his wife, former BNP lawmakers Nadim Mostafa and Rashiduzzaman Millat, former power secretary Nurul Islam and former BNP lawmaker Hafiz Ibrahim’s wife Mafruza Ibrahim.

The Dhaka city dwellers want the authorities concerned to take quick and realistic measures to give them a respite from stinky water and an imminent shortage of water when the summer sets in fully.
   Over the past few weeks, residents in different parts of the capital are struggling to cope with an unpleasant odour in piped water supplied by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authorities.
   ‘We have long been suffering from dirty and stinky water. Neither WASA nor the local representatives are paying any heed to our problems,’ Rozi Karim, a residence of Purba Goran, hastened to add, ‘We want the Dhaka WASA to take immediate steps to solve the problems.’
   Solaiman Hossain, a resident of Gopibagh, said, ‘We never receive fresh water, free of foul odour. Sometime we get water smelling like rotten plants and sometime we get the odour of bleaching powder.’
   ‘The authorities should take quick action to solve the problems,’ Hossain said, adding, ‘The old and dilapidated water supply pipelines should be replaced by newer one, besides modernising the WASA pump stations.’
   Shahjahan Miah, a dweller of Rampura, said, ‘We have to struggle to cope with the stinky water. The water supplied by WASA is full of dirt. A layer of dirt and filth
   gathers at the bottom of buckets of water, if it is kept untouched for a while.’
   Debashish Roy, a resident of Madartek, said, ‘WASA water is not suitable for use at all. For the last couple of weeks, we have been buying jars and bottles of water for drinking and wash, putting pressure on our shoe string budget for living. For other purposes, we collect water from neighbouring places.’
   The areas affected by the stinky water supplied by WASA include Kamalapur, Gopibagh, Mugdapara, Maniknagar, Jatrabari, Khilgaon, Goran, Chowdhuripara, Basabo, Nayatola, Shantinagar, Rampura, parts of Mirpur 6 and 10 and some areas in Old Town of Dhaka.
   The Dhaka WASA managing director, Raihanul Abedin, blamed the age-old dilapidated water supply pipelines and the use of additional chemicals at the Sayedabad water treatment plant for the crisis.
   He, however, claimed that the situation has already improved and there are some stray incidents of getting stinky waters in some places.
   The WASA official take prompt action whenever we receive complaints from a customer, he said, adding, ‘In an effort to tackle the problem, WASA has decided to set up a pre-treatment unit at the Sayedabad plant.’
   Sources, however, said, it would take at least one year to set up the pre-treatment plan and make it operative. Till then, the sufferings of the city dwellers would continue, they added.

The information secretary, ATM Fazlul Karim, lost his job on Monday, a day after he was sued for allegedly defaming Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman through his poem.
   An official notification Monday afternoon said Karim would go into retirement immediately.
   In the notification, which cited no reason for his forced retirement, the government invoked a rule that empowers the authorities to send any public servant into retirement on completion of 25 years in service.
   The announcement just said he was being retired as he had completed 25 years in service and ‘as the government considers it necessary to retire him in public interest.’
   Known as Abu Karim among poets, the civil servant, who was appointed information secretary on January 19, was sued by Mohammad Ilyas Hossain bin Helali, the president of the ruling Awami League’s associate body Awami Ulema League, on Sunday.
   A newspaper published excerpts from his poem titled ‘Alu Bokhara and Abdur Rahman,’ printed in his collection of poems tilted ‘Bagane Phute Achhe Asangkha Golap,’ in which he allegedly depicted the leader of Bangladesh’s independence war, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his three sons in a defamatory manner.
   One of the witnesses named in the complaint is Amader Shomoy editor Naimul Islam Khan. The paper published the excerpts on Friday.
   Abu Karim, however, brushed aside the allegation of defaming Sheikh Mujib. He told New Age on Monday, ‘The poem, written on February 6, 2006 and published in the volume in 2008, is metaphorical. In the poem, I did not write anything defaming Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or his family. But I apologise if someone thinks it hurts anyone’s feeling.’
   A freedom fighter, Abu Karim, has so far 15 collections of poems published.

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion on Monday managed to find the hide-out of Maolana Saidur Rahman, the acting chief or Ameer of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, said sources.
   The additional director-general of the RAB, Colonel Rezanur Rahman Khan, told New Age, ‘We came to know through our intelligence wing and valuable information provided by the recently nabbed militants that Saidur was orchestrating militant activities from his hide-out in outskirts of the capital.’
   ‘We have intensified our intelligence activities and manhunt in the outskirts of the city, especially Gazipur, Narayanganj, Savar and Keraniganj, after receiving certain information,’ said Khan, adding that 12 of their special units along with the members of the other law enforcing agencies are
   on the watch and ready to to nab the militant kingpin.
   RAB sources said after the execution of JMB kingpin Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai on March 30, 2007, Saidur took the charge of the outfit and began reorganising and strengthening it.
   As soon as Saidur was made chief of the Islamist outfit, he started enrolling new JMB members comprising madrassah teachers, students and Imams of mosques in Kushtia, Meherpur, Jhenaidah, Magura, Faridpur, Satkhira, Narail, Khulna, Jessore and Rajbari.
   A high official of the RAB told New Age, ‘Saidur was always under RAB vigilance but our special team failed to catch him even after raiding two of his hide-outs in the city.’
   On November 15 the RAB raided two hide-outs in Kalshi of Mirpur and Shanir Akhra of Jatrabari, but Saidur narrowly escaped arrest.
   The team, however, managed to arrest the military commander of the outfit, Hanif, and seized a large number of explosives and jihadi books from the scene.
   The detained Hanif confessed that the JMB members were busy collecting bomb-making materials and grenades under the guidance of Saidur, their new chief.
   ‘We are trying to locate all the dens of the outfit as the recently detained JMB’s chief coordinator and member of the Majlish-e-Surah (highest policy-making body), Mohtasim, and its military wing leader, Mamunur Rashid, confessed that they had set up most of their dens in and around the capital and in the northern part of the
   country,’ said the RAB official.
   The additional director-general of the RAB, Colonel Rezanur Rahman Khan, told New Age, ‘We hope Saidur will be nabbed soon and then we will able to uproot the JMB by grilling him and extracting vital information.’

Non-professionalism in handling the militants led to the grenade explosion in the office of Gazipur’s superintendent of police on Friday, observed the members of committee formed to inquire into the incident, said sources.
   Headed by the deputy inspector-general of the Criminal Investigation Department, Saiful Alam, the three-member committee visited the spot in Gazipur and talked to a number of witnesses including policemen and newsmen who were eye-witnesses in the last two days. The government formed the committee on February 21 and asked it to submit its report immediately.
   Sources close to the inquiry committee said that the officials concerned did not take adequate precautionary measures to restrain the militants — rather they were busy claiming credit before the media.
   Such dangerous arrestees should have been hand-cuffed with their hands behind their backs, but they were hand-cuffed with their hands in front of their stomachs, which gave them some freedom of movement and enabled Mamun to explode the grenade, said a police official.
   ‘It is essential to defuse the explosives before exhibiting them in any public place,’ said a CID official. ‘But the police officials in Gazipur even did not take the assistance of explosive experts.’
   After the explosion on Friday, the SP of Gazipur, however, said that they had taken enough precautionary measures.
   The committee’s head, Saiful Alam, said that the inquiry was still going on and they would confirm what led to the incident only after completion of the inquiry.
   He, however, admitted that inadequate precautionary measures were taken by the police concerned during the press briefing.
   Another member of the committee, additional DIG of Dhaka Range Mozammel Haque, declined to comment on the issue, saying that the inquiry was still going on.
   Witnesses said that the Tongi police arrested four militants — Mamun-or Rashid, Rina Begum, Marzina Begum and Noorjahan — of the banned Islamist outfit, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, from a house in West Khartoil under Tongi police station on February 20.
   Based on their statements, the police seized five grenade-like bombs, many explosives and books on jihad from the house.
   Immediately after that, the police concentrated on garnering credit by airing their achievement before the media. About 40 members of the media were present at the briefing session arranged at the SP’s office in Gazipur the same afternoon.
   After completion of first briefing, some members of electronic media reached the office and the second briefing was held for them. At the end, the hand-cuffed militant, Mamun, exploded the bomb, injuring about 20 people, including policemen and media persons.

Parliament Monday legitimised, amid strong opposition from the lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance, four ordinances related to financial measures promulgated by the immediate-past military-backed government to meet the administrative spending during the two years of emergency rule.
   It also passed two bills seeking separation of the Election Commission secretariat from the Prime Minister’s Office and the updated voters’ roll after a lively debate between the lawmakers of the treasury and opposition benches.
   Parliament, which resumed its session in the afternoon with speaker Abdul Hamid in the chair, rejected motions by the lawmakers from the main opposition seeking disapproval of the ordinances related to the budgetary measures.
   The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, piloted the bills in parliament saying the ordinances required the house’s nod for maintaining constitutional continuity, but the opposition lawmakers insisted that the unelected government had no right to promulgate such ordinances.
   The minister placed the Consolidated Fund (supplementary grants and appropriation) Ordinance 2007, Ordinance No. 11 of 2007, Consolidated Fund (excess grants and appropriation) Ordinance 2007 (Ordinance No. 12 of 2007), the Appropriation Ordinance (Ordinance No 38, 2008) and Appropriation (supplementary) Ordinance 2008 seeking their ratification.
   The interim government had approved supplementary allocations of Tk 9,407.87 crore in 2006-07 fiscal year and Tk 35, 838 crore in 2007-08 fiscal year. It had allocated Tk 79,614 crore in 2007-08 national budget and Tk 99,962 for 2008-09 fiscal year. The money has already been spent and needed parliamentary approval.
   The finance minister was seen stammering during the process of the passage of the ordinances, brought in the house as fresh bills, amid opposition from the lawmakers belonging to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
   Law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister Shafique Ahmed sought passage of the bill related to the Election Commission secretariat and modernisation of the voters’ roll. The bills were passed by voice vote after the opposition lawmakers suggested eliciting public opinion.
   The minister had piloted the bills Sunday.
   The opposition lawmakers, who moved separate motions seeking disapproval of all budget-related ordinances, asked the government to refrain from passing them in the house. Their motions were, however, rejected by voice vote.
   The finance minister maintained that the ordinances required approval for continuation of the government as the money had been spent on running the state affairs. He said it was unfortunate that such a bill had to be moved under special circumstances, and hoped such a situation would not recur again.
   Taking part in the disapproval motion, the opposition lawmakers, who came back to the house after 16 working days, said the interim government had violated the constitution and their action did not deserve ratification.
   They demanded actions against the army chief, Moeen U Ahmed, caretaker chief Fakhruddin Ahmed and the president Iajuddin Ahmed for violating the constitution and pursuing a policy of de-politicisation.
   Some of the lawmakers alleged that the army had tortured many politicians during the last two years of army-backed government and crackdown against the politicians.
   Senior BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury demanded punishment of those who had violated the constitution in the two years of unelected government.
   He said that as per article 83 of the constitution none could impose tax without parliament’s approval, but by imposing taxes and realizing them without parliament’s approval, the government had violated the constitutional provision.
   He requested the finance minister to place the bills after taking actions against those who had violated the constitution. ‘Then the house will consider the passage of the budgets,’ SQ Chowdhury said adding, ‘Some of them had advised the people to eat potato’, referring to the army chief’s suggestion during the emergency rule when prices of rice were skyrocketing.
   ‘The politicians were made the victims of the two years of unconstitutional rule’, the BNP lawmaker said.
   Zainul Abedin Faruk, chief whip of the opposition, said that many politicians were picked up blindfolded during the interim government which had attempted de-politicisation. ‘They had pursued the policy of ‘minus two’ in a bid to keep the two top leaders away from politics. Therefore their illegal action should not be given legitimacy by parliament.’
   The finance minister defended the bills saying that in the absence of a parliament, the expenditure had been made by presidential promulgations in the forms of ordinances.
   Treasury bench lawmakers Suranjit Sengupta and Rashed Khan Menon and opposition lawmakers MK Anwar, Jainal Abedin, Rumana Mahmud, Hasina Ahmed, ABM Ashrafuddin Nizan, Mojibar Rahman Sarwar, Andaleve Rahman, Golam Mostafa, Mozahar Ali Pradhan, ZIM Mostafa Ali, Mostafa Kamal Pasha, Abul Khair Bhuiyan, Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anny, Zafrul Islam Chowdhury, AM Mahmub Uddin Khokan, Nazimuddin Ahmed, Nazrul Islam Manju and AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad participated in the debate.

The Indian police questioning the lone surviving gunman involved in the attacks in Mumbai are to formally lay the first charges against him this week, officials said Monday.
   Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman — also referred to as Kasab — was arrested during the November 26-29 siege of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.
   A Mumbai police official said the charges were likely to be submitted in a city court Tuesday.
   ‘It is a legal requirement to submit the chargesheet in court against a suspect within 90 days of his or her detention and in Kasab’s case the deadline ends Wednesday,’ he said.
   He faces a string of charges including ‘making war against the country’ and murder. If convicted he could face the death penalty.
   A total of 172 people were killed and 308 injured when the gunmen, allegedly belonging to the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked luxury hotels, a railway station, a Jewish centre and several locations across the city. Islamabad earlier this month admitted for the first time that the strikes were partly planned on its soil.
   Two other suspected LeT members are also in custody in Mumbai accused of providing support to the attackers.

The Election Commission on Monday announced the schedule for polls to the 45 reserved seats for women in parliament shifting the date for voting to March 29.
   The commission had earlier fixed March 22 as polling date.
   ‘Though we have not received objections from any political parties, a number of issues have necessitated the change in date,’ election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told reporters at his office.
   March 5 is the last date for filing nomination papers while scrutiny of nominations will be completed by March 8. ‘The last date for withdrawal of the candidature is March 12,’ the commissioner said.
   ‘The polling will start at 8:00am March 29 and continue till 4:00pm at the EC secretariat,’ Sakhawat said.
   He said nomination papers should be submitted to the returning officer at the Election Commission secretariat during office hours.
   Jesmin Tuli, deputy secretary (administration-1) of the EC secretariat has been made the returning officer and EC deputy secretary (election) Mihir Sarwar Morshed assistant returning officer. EC senior assistant secretaries Farhad Ahamad Khan and Md Abdul Baten have been appointed polling officers for the elections.
   The commission had earlier sent letters to three major political parties having representation in the house and sought their opinions on March 22 as the tentative date for the polling. But the political parties – Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party – did not raise objection to the date.
   In keeping with the constitution, parliament consists of 300 members elected directly by the people in single territorial constituencies, and the 45 seats reserved for women are allotted to the political parties proportionate to their strengths in Jatiya Sangsad.
   This time the Awami League gets an allocation of 36 seats, the Jatiya Party 4, and the BNP-led combine 4 in proportion to the parties’ 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 for polls to the seats and all the lawmakers will be allowed to nominate candidates and vote.
   The ninth parliament will have 64 female lawmakers – the highest in its history – including the 19 elected in the December 29 general elections and 45 others to be elected to the seats reserved for women.

Garments workers of a Tejgaon factory staged a demonstration on Monday in the wake of an alleged attacks on colleagues.
   At one stage, the protesting workers of Sunshine Knitwear Ltd were locked in a three-hour battle with other workers in the industrial area, said police.
   ‘Workers of Sunshine Knitwear were protesting as some of them were beaten up by the local gangsters,’ acting officer-in-charge of Tejgaon police Shafiqul Islam told the news agency.
   ‘When they tried to get other garments factory workers to join with them, clashes broke out. But
   the police eventually brought the situation under control. Some were slightly injured in the clash,’ said Islam.
   Faruq, a Sunshine employee, said, ‘Workers from another factory beat one of our assistant production managers, and when he complained local gang came and beat up another seven workers.’
   When news of their beaten colleagues reached the Sunshine factory, about 1,700 workers poured out on to the street, said Faruq.
   They also called on workers of Topaz Garments to join them.
   ‘As we were heading to another factory, of Hamim Group, to call on their workers to join us, a group swooped on us with sticks.’
   The police said the latter were Hamim Group workers, while Sunshine workers claimed they were agitators and local gangsters.
   The clashes, lasting about three hours, saw factory windows and vehicles smashed by brickbats.
   The police brought the situation under control after some 12 workers were seriously injured in the three-sided battle that included the law enforcers.
   Sunshine workers were given holiday after the unrest, while the police were deployed on site to ward off any untoward incident.

Rags-to-riches drama ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ swept the board at the 81st Academy Awards here Sunday, winning eight Oscars including best picture on a night of high-voltage Hollywood glamour.
   The feel-good film about a Mumbai tea boy who rises from poverty and enters a television quiz show to win millions and find the love of his life, won eight of the nine categories in which it was nominated at the Kodak Theatre.
   The acting honours saw Sean Penn triumph for his portrayal of murdered gay politician Harvey Milk in the biopic ‘Milk’ while Britain’s Kate Winslet ended her Oscars losing streak for her performance in Holocaust drama ‘The Reader.’
   There was a tear-jerking posthumous Oscar for late Australian actor Heath Ledger, a moment of unforgettable poignancy that reduced the star-studded audience to hushed silence.
   But it was the triumph of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ that stole the show, with more than a dozen members of the Bollywood-inspired movie’s cast and crew crowding the stage to receive best picture from Steven Spielberg.
   ‘We had passion and we had belief and if you have those two things, truly, anything is possible,’ said producer Christian Colson.
   The ‘Slumdog’ Oscar-haul included best director honours for British film-maker Danny Boyle and a brace of Academy Awards for Indian composer AR Rahman, who won for best song and original score.
   It was a fairytale night for ‘Slumdog’, which had been nearly released directly to video last year after losing its US distributor, a move which would have ruled it out of Oscars contention.
   The best picture award brought the curtain down on a revamped Oscars ceremony that had earlier seen Penn and Winslet carve up the top acting honours.
   Winslet, 33, meanwhile won her first Oscar after five previous defeats, for her portrayal of a former Nazi death camp guard who starts a love affair with a teenage boy in post-war Germany and is later put on trial for war crimes.
   Earlier Heath Ledger’s family took to the stage to collect the tragic star’s best supporting actor honour for his portrayal of Batman villain the Joker in ‘The Dark Knight.’
   Spanish star Penelope Cruz won the best supporting actress prize for her part in the steamy Woody Allen comedy ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’
   Period romance ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,’ which began the night with 13 nominations, ended the night with only three Oscars in the technical categories of art direction, makeup and visual effects.
   The new-look awards extravaganza had got off to a flying start with Australian actor host Hugh Jackman wasting no time in launching into a medley of musical numbers that referenced this year’s nominees.
   It was one of several innovations made by Oscars show producers that breathed new life into the previously tried and trusted formula which had led to record low television ratings last year.
   As usual, stars of the silver screen literally shone on the red carpet bringing excitement, style and old-fashioned glamour to the event.
   Shimmering gowns of gold and silver; glittering crystal, sequins and beading were the most popular choices for the icons of the movie industry on the most famous fashion runway in the world.

Greece’s most notorious criminal escaped Sunday by helicopter from one of the country’s top-security jails for the second time in less than three years, prompting a string of top officials to resign.
   In a scene not out of place in a Hollywood movie, Vassilis Paleocostas and his Albanian accomplice Alket Rizai escaped on a rope ladder which had been lowered by a helicopter to a prison in Korydallos, near Athens, where both men had been moved after their earlier break-out, according to the police.
   The 43-year-old Paleocostas and Rizai, 32, were then lowered to two getaway cars, a pilot — who claimed to have been abducted and coerced into taking part in the daring escape plot — told the police.
   Bewildered Greeks scratched their heads and wondered how the pair not only pulled off the brazen and noisy escape under the noses of prison guards once, but twice.
   Amid the outcry, the country’s enraged justice minister stormed off to the jail to the north of the capital, demanding that heads roll.
   Paleocostas — who had been serving time for bank robbery and kidnap — and convicted murderer Rizai both caused red faces among prison bosses back in June 2006 when they were also airlifted to freedom by helicopter.
   Although Rizai was caught later that year and Paleocostas was picked up in 2008, the experience seems nonetheless to have given the two jailbirds a sweet taste of freedom and the pluck to attempt the exact same escape a second time.
   A skill for daring prison breaks — but perhaps not for staying free — appears to run in Paleocostas’ family.
   It was his brother Nicos who helped the two break free the first time round after escaping from the facility himself, only to be recaptured in September 2006.
   With two notorious criminals on the loose and a public relations nightmare on his hands, the justice minister, Nicos Dendias, demanded Sunday that an investigation into the incident be launched.
   The minister told local media that he had travelled to the jail in Korydallos, to the north of Athens, where he forced a number of officials to resign.

Some dozen deputy commissioners across the country have recently expressed their apprehensions about possible deterioration in law and order because of lack of law encoring personnel and logistics, especially after withdrawal of troops from the field.
   In separate letters forwarded to the establishment ministry, the DCs, who also act as district magistrates, mentioned that it had become extremely difficult for them to perform duties of maintaining peace and order in view of various constraints.
   Since separation of the judiciary from the executive, the ‘executive magistrates’ have been facing difficulties in running mobile courts, carrying out drives for demolition of illegal structures and establishments, conducting public examinations and elections, combating criminal activities and performing other duties related to law and order, said the letters.
   ‘As we cannot command the police, the orders related to law and order are not properly carried out. In terms of judicial power, we have become a ‘dummy’ in the absence of a defined authority after separation of the judiciary,’ a high official of the administration cadre told New Age, explaining the messages conveyed by the DCs.
   In a bid to persuade the new government office, they have sought some additional authority under the criminal procedure code, which, as they argued, the executive magistrates should be entrusted with to properly carry out duties of maintaining law and order at the field level.
   Another official pointed out that the entire field-level administration had been suffering an image crisis because of lack of authority — a situation which might lead to a complete deterioration in the function of the administration. ‘Judiciary separation is an independent issue but due authority to the executive magistrates has not been given to help them run the field administration,’ said the official, adding that such authority was given to the executive magistrates in all civilised nations.
   The letters, most of which are dated between late January and early February, bear similar messages and apprehensions as the deputy commissioners presumably had consultations among themselves before sending such confidential letters to the headquarters, said sources in the administrative hub, Bangladesh Secretariat.
   ‘Given the lack of adequate power vested with the executive magistrates, the possibility of deterioration in law and order situation in the district cannot be denied,’ read the letter written by Mohammad Ziaur Rahman Khan, deputy commissioner of Mymensingh.
   After separation of the judiciary, the judicial magistrates themselves take into cognizance and make prosecution, mentioned the letter written by Laxmipur DC, Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Sarkar, expressing concern about the delay in prosecution under the current judicial process.
   The deputy commissioner of Jhenidah, AKM Rafiqul Islam urged the government to vest the executive magistrates with adequate authority on the basis of seniority, for allowing them to take into cognizance some cases and prosecute them.

Kazi Shahidullah, a Dhaka University history teacher, has been appointed vice-chancellor of the National University on Monday, an education ministry order said.
   The position had been vacant from the first week of February as Mofakkharul Islam resigned on personal grounds. Mofakkharul was appointed vice-chancellor of the National University in July 2007.
   The National University is the affiliating body of all colleges offering bachelor and master’s degrees across Bangladesh.
   Around 80 per cent of students pursuing higher education in the country are enrolled with the university.

M Masir Uddin, chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, has been made
   an officer on special duty, an education ministry order issued on Monday said.
   Khan Habibur Rahman, the acting director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, has been made chairman of the textbook board, the order said.
   ‘The chairman is responsible for the failure in the printing and marketing of secondary textbooks. And this is why he has been made an officer on special duty,’ an education ministry official said.
   M Liakat Ali Khan has been made the acting director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and Sirajul Haque has been appointed the director (planning and development), the ministry order said.
   M Shafiqur Rahman, principal of the Gafargaon Government College, has been made member (text) of the textbook board.
   The position of director general in the secondary and higher education directorate, popularly known as Shiksha Bhaban, has been vacant since August 17, 2008 as KM Aurangazeb went on leave preparatory to retirement on the day.
   The directors general are assigned to monitor and supervise the administrative activities of more than 30,000 govern-
   ment and non-government institutions offering education from the secondary to master’s level. They also oversee promotion, salaries and evaluation of around 5 lakh teachers and employees employed in such educational institutions.