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

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The new government to be headed by the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, is expected to take oath on Tuesday as the lawmakers of the party and its allies were sworn in on Saturday.
   ‘The swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet is scheduled for Tuesday evening,’ Md Sirajul Islam, secretary to the president, told New Age.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, will administer oath to the cabinet members at Bangabhaban at 6.30pm.
   In line with the constitutional provisions, the president is to appoint Hasina, the leader of the majority party in the parliament, the next prime minister. Her party had a landslide victory in the December 29 general elections.
   She will choose the members on her cabinet to run the country for five years. She had earlier been prime minister between 1996 and 2001.
   ‘Initially, the size of the cabinet will be comparatively small,’ Hasina is quoted to have said by one of her party lawmakers.
   Hasina briefed the newly elected lawmakers on her plan at her first meeting of the Awami League parliamentary party after the lawmakers were sworn in to the night parliament.
   The swearing-in ceremony marks the transition to a democratic system ending about two year’s emergency rule of the army-controlled interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, whose administration assumed office in January 2007.
   After he failed to conduct the general elections scheduled for January 22, 2007, the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, who was the chief of the caretaker administration, declared the state of emergency against the backdrop of political turmoil on January 11, 2007.
   Former ministers, advisers to the caretaker governments, heads of foreign missions in Bangladesh and civil society actors, among others, will be invited to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
   The Cabinet Division has prepared about a thousand invitation letters to be sent on Sunday.
   Consultations on the formation of the new government are going on, but it is still uncertain how many members the Awami League and its allies would have on the cabinet.
   Awami League lawmakers on Saturday chose Sheikh Hasina as the leader of the house and the head of the Awami League parliamentary party after the lawmakers took oath.
   The party also elected its presidium member Zillur Rahman the deputy leader of the house.
   Two hundred and fifty-seven lawmakers of the Awami League-led alliance, which won 262 out of the 299 parliamentary seats in the polls, took oath on Saturday, the first day of the oath-taking ceremony staggered over two days.
   Two hundred and fifty-nine lawmakers in all took oath on the day. Two hundred and twenty-seven of them are of the Awami League, 25 of the Jatiya Party, 3 of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and 2 of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and 2 independent candidates.
   The lawmakers-elect of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance of Khaleda Zia are not taking oath today. The lawmaker-elect of the Liberal Democratic Party and two more who won the polls as independent candidates are scheduled to take oath today.
   Sheikh Hasina, who won all three seats she contested for — Gopalganj 3, Rangpur 6 and Bagerhat 1 — retained the Gopalganj 3 constituency.
   The Jatiya Party chairman, Hussein Muhammad Ershad, who also won three seats — Dhaka 17, Rangpur 3 and Kurigram 2 — retained the Dhaka constituency.
   The Election Commission will later arrange by-elections to the constituencies which have been vacated.
   The Jatiya Sangsad speaker, Jamiruddin Sircar, administered oath to the lawmakers in three phases as the oath hall has limited seating arrangement.
   The Public Works Department, meanwhile, employed a large number of labourers to furnish a number of houses on Minto Road and Hare Road where the ministers of the incoming government will be staying.
   Around 27 houses in the area are now almost ready for the ministers. About 50 cars will be kept ready for them.

The MPs-elect of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance will not take oath today, according to the alliance sources.
   The party chairperson Khaleda Zia made the decision after a meeting with her party’s two senior MPs-elect— MK Anwar and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury— at her Dhaka Cantonment residence Saturday night.
   ‘The BNP MPs will not take oath tomorrow (Sunday),’ a source close to the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, said.
   The Jatiya Sangsad secretariat has invited the MPs-elect of the BNP-led alliance to take oath at 3:00pm today.
   ‘But the BNP is yet to confirm [whether they will be coming],’ the Jatiya Sangsad deputy speaker, Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui, told New Age at about 10:00pm Saturday.
   The party did not convey its decision to MPs-elect on taking oath till Saturday evening, said Barkat Ullah Bulu, MP-elect for Noakhali 3 electoral constituency.
   Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader ANM Shamsul Islam, also MP-elect for Chittagong 14 constituency, said a decision on oath taking would be taken at a meeting of the party leaders Sunday.
   Andaleeve Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Jatiya Party, a component of the alliance, said that the alliance lawmakers would not take oath today.
   ‘We will not take oath tomorrow (Sunday)’, Andaleeve, newly elected MP for Bhola 1 electoral constituency, told New Age Saturday evening.
   All 29 lawmakers-elect of the BNP, excluding Khaleda, are in the capital waiting for a decision of the alliance.
   According to Article 67 (1) of the constitution, an MP-elect must take oath and make formal affirmation within 90 days from the date of the first meeting of the parliament. The Jatiya Sangsad speaker may extend the time before the expiration of the period.
   The 259 MPs-elect of the Awami League-led alliance and two independent ones took oath on Saturday afternoon.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has asked its grassroots leaders to take preparations for contesting the upazila polls scheduled for January 22.
   At a briefing at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office Saturday, its office secretary Rizvi Ahmed said, ‘The BNP has asked the local leaders, who are eligible for contesting upazila polls, to take necessary preparations…’
   He dismissed as baseless media reports that the BNP and its allies were withdrawing their candidatures for upazila polls.
   The BNP leader also gave an account of ‘attacks’ on the party’s activists and ransacking of its offices.
   He said a reign of terror was unleashed in the constituencies where the BNP candidates won the December 29 polls. ‘The Awami goons are not even sparing the women… The wife, daughter and niece of a day-labourer and BNP supporter, Abdus Salam, in Char Sonapur of Fulgazi in Feni, were hacked by Awami League activists Sultan, Absar, Harun and Aziz as they failed to abduct his daughter and niece,’ Rizvi said.
   ‘The Awami activists demanded Tk 10,000 from a BNP activist, Abu Taher, in Panchrukhi of Ramganj in Lakshmipur, threatening that they would foil the wedding ceremony of his daughter. They beat up the groom after he failed to pay them the money. Taher was forced to pay Tk 8,000 to save his daughter and the groom’, Rizvi alleged.
   In Gazipur, the Awami League activists swooped on 30 BNP activists from minority communities at Boali for campaigning for paddy sheaf, he said.
   Rizvi also showed a ballot paper with a seal on ‘paddy sheaf’ and recovered from the constituency of the party secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain in Manikganj.

The Awami League president Sheikh Hasina on Saturday warned her party’s newly elected lawmakers of consequences if they were found involved in activities harmful for the party image.
   Hasina, the would-be prime minister, while addressing the maiden meeting of the party’s parliamentary wing, also called upon her parliamentary deputies to start work for implementing her election agenda as the people in general voted the party to power get rid of misrule, corruption and violence.
   Hasina, who is scheduled to take oath as the prime minister of the country for the second time on Tuesday, warned the party would have to meet the fate of the BNP-Jamaat coalition if her party failed to meet the people’s expectations.
   She asked the party deputies not to indulge in corruption and violence.
   The AL chief was addressing the newly elected MPs at her party’s first parliamentary party meeting, which elected her the Leader of the House and the party’s presidium member, Zillur Rahman, Deputy Leader of the House, at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
   Hasina said that price control and law and order would be the main tasks of her government.
   ‘Our prime tasks will be to implement our election pledges’, she said while briefing newsmen after a meting with the outgoing Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar.
   She assured all that her election manifesto would be implemented and sought cooperation from all to make Bangladesh prosperous by 2021.
   Hasina called upon her party activists to show restraints across the country. She was critical of the BNP-led coalition for repression on the AL leaders and activists after the 2001 elections.
   She told a questioner that her party wanted cooperation from the opposition. ‘We do not want to consider the oppositions in terms of number. We consider them as part of the government.’
   She called upon her parliamentary deputies to get prepared for making parliament effective in cooperation with the oppositions.
   About Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad’s portfolio in her government, Hasina said Ershad would remain in parliament. She, however, said her cabinet would be formed with the leaders of the AL-led electoral alliance.
   Hasina discussed with the outgoing speaker the ordinances which were promulgated during the military-backed interim government.
   The AL lawmakers chose Sheikh Hasina as the Leader of the House after the party’s MPs-elect took oath.

The Awami League-led alliance, which is set to form the government, will need to deal with some contentious issues in energy sector such as formulation of a coal policy taking into account national interests, demand for the cancellation of the agreement with Asia Energy for the Phulbari coal field and the award of offshore blocks to international oil companies.
   It will also find it tough to implement its election pledge to increase the power generation to 7000MW by 2013 from about 3800MW now because of gas shortage, which has already hit generation in the existing power plants.
   The interim government has left the coal policy, Asia Energy and offshore blocks issue for the elected government amid controversy and protests by rights groups over the open-pit mining method and export provision in the model production sharing contracts for gas blocks.
   ‘Successive heads of the government have kept the power and energy ministry in their hands. The sector is plagued with corruption as a huge amount of money is transacted in the sector and it is heavily investment-dependent. A full minister should be appointed this time for the energy and power sector,’ observed an energy expert as he talked with New Age on Saturday.
   Energy expert Professor Nurul Islam of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, on the other hand, said the new government should formulate an integrated national energy policy by including coal policy and barring export of any local energy such as gas and coal as Bangladesh is facing an energy crisis.
   He told New Age on Saturday the government should integrate into the national energy policy the version of coal policy the advisory committee, headed by BUET professor Abdul Matin Patwari, finalised. The latest draft of the coal policy, however, is slightly different as the energy division made some changes.
   Nurul also recommended the government should cancel the procedure to award two international oil companies nine offshore blocks and go for fresh bidding by scrapping the provision for the export of gas up to 80 per cent in the model production sharing contract.
   ‘Leaders of the Awami League, Workers Party of Bangladesh and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal time and again expressed their solidarity with us in our demand for a coal policy barring open-pit mine, cancellation of the agreement with Asia Energy and award of offshore blocks to two international oil companies. As they are set to form the government, we hope they will meet our demands,’ said Professor Anu Muhammad, member secretary on the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources Power and Port.
   Anu Muhammad also hoped the new government will implement fully the agreement the former BNP-led government signed with the committee to bar open-pit mining in Bangladesh and to expel Asia Energy from Bangladesh.
   ‘We also demand the new government should cancel the offshore bidding as the existing PSC has a provision for export of 80 per cent of gas,’ he said.
   He said they would continue with their movements until their demands are met.
   Power experts feel the Awami League-led government will be in better position in terms of availability of funds for the installation of power plants as the government has already signed contracts with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the Japan Bank of International Cooperation for around $1 billion of loan for the installation of power plants with 1,000MW capacity. Three to four more power plants are in the pipeline whereas the investors have interest in the installation of around 1,000MW impendent power plant.
   ‘But the main problem the new government will face is the conditions of the lenders and shortage of gas to run the plants. If the new government wants to increase power generation to 7,000MW, around 700 million cubic feet of additional gas will be needed for the additional 3,000MW of power,’ said a power division official.
   With the existing gas reserve, it is highly unlikely to produce another 700mmcfd of gas by 2013 while the additional coal extraction is unlikely before 2013 even if the government approves coal policy in three months, he said.

Israeli artillery on Saturday bombarded the Gaza Strip in a dramatic escalation of the campaign against Hamas after a week of air attacks which have left more than 440 Palestinians dead.
   At least 10 Palestinians, including two boys, were killed on Saturday when an Israeli air raid struck a mosque during prayers in the northern town of Jabaliya, medics and witnesses said.
   At least 10 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque after it was struck by a missile, they said.
   Two brothers, 10 and 12 years old, were among the dead, medics said.
   Sixteen people were wounded in the strike, 15 of them critically, medics said.
   More than 200 people were inside the mosque praying when it was struck, witnesses said.
   The Israeli military has destroyed several mosques during its week-long offensive on Hamas targets in its Gaza stronghold, saying the Islamists used the houses of worship to store weapons.
   Israeli tanks were seen moving toward the frontier as Howitzer guns fired dozens of shells across the border. AFP correspondents saw huge plumes of black smoke rise on the Gaza side.
   The Israeli army made no immediate comment on the operation which came amid mounting speculation that Israel would send troops into Gaza.
   With thousands of troops and tanks massed at the frontier, Israeli air strikes earlier killed a Hamas military commander and destroyed a school as the military campaign against rockets fired from Gaza entered a second week.
   Israeli radio warned the public that rocket attacks could intensify in ‘coming hours’.
   Israel has staged more than 750 air raids launched against Hamas leaders and military targets since launching ‘Operation Cast Lead’ on December 27. At least 442 Palestinians have been killed — including 75 children — and 2,290 wounded, according to Gaza medics.
   Four people have been killed in Israeli by more than 500 rockets fired from Gaza over the same time.
   Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal warned Israel on Friday of a ‘black destiny’ if it invaded. But US leaders have given their key Middle East ally free rein to begin a ground operation, again blaming Hamas for the new conflict.
   More than 30 air raids on Saturday hit Hamas targets across the densely populated territory.
   One strike killed Mohammad al-Jammal, who Gaza sources said was a Hamas military commander. Israel said he was responsible ‘for the entire rocket launching enterprise in all of Gaza City.’
   Jammal’s death came two days after an air raid killed top Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan.
   Another raid demolished a school in northern Gaza and killed a guard there. Israel said its warplanes had targeted ‘a college used as a base for firing a large number of rockets.’
   Two people were killed when a strike hit their car in the southern city of Khan Yunis, medics said.
   The Israeli strikes have so far failed in their declared aim of ending rocket fire from Gaza and there is mounting concern over the humanitarian impact of the Israeli operation.
   Maxwell Gaylard, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said on Friday ‘there is a critical emergency in the Gaza Strip right now. By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more.’
   About 80 per cent of the 1.5 million population relies on international food aid.
   But the United States has given fresh backing to Israel, insisting that the key to a truce is Israel’s demand that Hamas stop firing rockets.
   In his weekly Saturday radio address, the text of which was released by the White House, president George W Bush called on Hamas ‘to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace.’
   Bush blamed Hamas for the violence and rejected calls for a unilateral ceasefire that he said would allow the Islamists to continue targeting Israel with rocket and mortar fire.
   Thousands of Israeli troops with tanks have been waiting along the 60-kilometre border with Gaza for the green light from the government to advance.
   Amid new diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting, the Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, was to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Ramallah on Monday. He was then to travel to New York to appeal for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council.
   The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, on Saturday met Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Saeed Jalili to discuss the Gaza crisis, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported.
   Jalili also met the exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah on Friday, a Palestinian source said.
   In a televised speech on Friday night, Meshaal warned Israel: ‘If you commit the stupidity of launching a ground offensive then a black destiny awaits you.’
   The week of Israeli strikes has destroyed Hamas government buildings, the homes of senior Islamist officials, mosques, schools and other buildings said to have stored weapons, and roads and tunnels used to smuggle arms and supplies.
   Israel has kept the territory virtually sealed since Hamas seized power there in June 2007 from Fatah forces loyal to the secular Abbas.

At least 58 people, mostly activists and supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, were injured and a teenage boy was killed in post-polls violence in different districts across the country on Friday night and Saturday.
   So far, at least seven people have been killed and over 265 people injured in post-elections violence across the country.
   Of the victims to violence, 35 people were injured in Pabna, 10 in Rajshahi, seven in Barisal, three in Laxmipur, one in Dhaka and two in Khulna.
   Our Barisal Correspondent reports: Awami League-backed BCL activists ransacked upazila BNP office at Muladi and injured a JCD activist on Saturday morning.
   The upazila unit AL secretary, Abdul Malek Rari, acknowledged the incident.
   Sukumar Roy, officer in charge of Muladi police station, admitting to the incident said no case was lodged in this connection till Saturday night.
   Report received from Banaripara upazila in Barisal said the decomposed body of Md Sohel, an activist of BNP-led alliance, was recovered from a garden near his house Saturday noon.
   Golam Rabbani, officer in charge of Banaripara police station, said no case was lodged in this connection.
   Eight rooms of JCD activists at Barisal BM College were occupied by the BCL activists Friday night and four BCL activists were injured in factional clashes over occupying the rooms.
   In Patuakhali, AL activist Shahidul Islam, 22, was hacked by the BNP men at Musullibad under Latachapli of Kalapara under the Patuakhali 4 constituency on Friday night.
   In Khulna two BNP men, Sheikh Mamun, 24, and Abul Hossain, 32, were injured by Awami League activists Friday night in two separate places.
   No case was lodged in this connection till Saturday night.
   In Dhaka, BCL activists assaulted a number of students and ransacked rooms of rivals at Dhaka University.
   At Savar, a local Juba Dal leader Madhu Dewan, a cousin of Dewan M Salauddin, BNP candidate for Dhaka 18 constituency, was kidnapped and later beaten up by AL men at Earpur of the upazla on Friday.
   In Laxmipur, BNP activist Rabiul was stabbed by AL activists at village Purba Jamirtali under sadar upazila when he was returning home Friday night.
   BCL activists attacked JCD supporters at Laxmipur Government College and ousted JCD president of the college unit Mamun and beat up JCD leader Khaled on Saturday. Three others were also injured in the attack.
   In Jamalpur, a petrol pump was looted and the son of its owner and manager were wounded allegedly by the Awami League activists at Sarishabari on Saturday.
   ASP Zahid Hossain Bhiyan told newsmen that AL activists plundered Noor Jahan Petrol Pump at Boira at about 11:00am. They looted Tk 2.75 lakh, hacked Sumon, son of pump owner, and beat up the manager, Mokhlesur Rahman.
   A case was filed with the Sarishabari police, but none was arrested till the evening.
   A BNP supporter Chan Mia was hacked at Panchashi in the district allegedly by AL activists Friday night. Doail union JCD leader Liton Mia came under attack and his house at Ramanandapur was ransacked the same night.
   In Pabna, at least 35 people were injured in separate attacks by Awami League activists on Friday and Saturday at Daipara and Manikhat villages under Sujanagar upazila, Dighulia under Chatmahor and Mahudadia under Bera upazila.
   At least 26 houses were ransacked and valuables were looted during the attacks.
   In Rajshahi, the BCL activists ousted the JCD activists from the dormitories of the Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology campus and injured 10 JCD activists.
   Zahangir Hossain, assistant commissioner of police, Motiher Zone, admitted to the incident.
   In Gazipur, police arrested five AL activists along with a truck when they tried to take away waste clothe from a garment factory.

Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar, the outgoing speaker and a failed contender from BNP-led alliance of ninth parliamentary election has said he feared a ‘parliamentary autocracy’ as the incoming treasury bench would have a massive majority in the house.
   In an interview with Bdnews24.com on Saturday the speaker said after administering oath to the newly-elected MPs of the Al-led alliance, he, however, believed the 31-strong BNP-Jamaat combine would be able to challenge the Awami League and its allies in parliament unless they were obstructed.
   ‘They should be able to give a good fight,’ Sircar told the news agency at his office in the parliament building.
   ‘People’s faith on the democratic practice would go if the ruling parties resort
   to muzzling the opposition in the house and oppress them outside,’ said Sircar.
   He said he would neither run polls in future nor encourage his son to be in politics. ‘I call it a day. I will be in legal profession as I am a barrister,’ he said.
   Sircar was optimistic about the BNP prospects and said he would back the BNP if it called strikes in protest at ‘oppression’.
   ‘This [calling general strikes] is their constitutional right,’ he said.
   ‘But they must not damage cars and business establishments, resort to arson, or attack and kill people and get engaged in other unconstitutional actions,’ he added.
   ‘If the opposition calls strikes and hartals, people judge their actions and take decisions in democratic ways,’ Sircar said.
   ‘As a politician, I am really frustrated. Black money now controls politics,’ he said.
   Sircar, who fought to retain Panchagarh-1 seat on a BNP ticket, claimed he tried to maintain his impartiality as guardian of the parliament.
   ‘Democracy will suffer in future unless good sense prevails upon them [Awami League],’ said Sircar.
   He said the Awami League should ‘give the microscopic opposition the chance to play their role in parliament.’

Awami League’s senior presidium member Zillur Rahman is going to be the next president of the country.
   The AL chief, Sheikh Hasina, told newsman on Saturday at the parliament building complex that her party would nominate its presidium member Zillur Rahman as head of the state.
   Zillur Rahman was chosen as deputy leader of the Awami League Parliamentary Party, a position he will quit when he goes to Bangabhaban.
   ‘He (Zillur) is a senior member of our party. We want to recognise him first for his long time contribution to our party as well as the political arena of Bangladesh. He has played an important role in all our struggles including the language movement,’ Hasina said.
   She also said they would nominate Zillur as the president of the country when the time comes for them to choose the president.
   In reply to a query about Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad, who claimed several times that he had an agreement with Hasina
   about presidency, the AL chief said, ‘Let’s see what we can do for him. He will be in the parliament,’ she added.
   Hasina also informed that she would meet with Zillur Rahman on Sunday.

The police raided nine Dhaka University halls of residence on late Friday night and arrested eight outsiders at two halls.
   Six activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, an associate body of the Awami League, were, meanwhile, sued on Saturday on charge of injuring one of their fellows, Samsul Kabir Rahat, on December 27, 2008.
   Residents of the university halls said the police began raid on Jagannath Hall at about11:50pm and then raided Jasimuddin Hall, SM Hall, Ziaur Rahman Hall, Zahurul Haq Hall, Surya Sen Hall, Bangabandhu Hall, Mohsin Hall and AF Rahman Hall.
   Hall sources said the police arrested five outsiders at Jagannath Hall and three at Surya Sen Hall. The Shahbagh police officer-in-charge, Rezaul Karim, however, denied arresting anyone at the university halls.
   Rahat’s elder brother Khairul Kabir on Saturday filed the case against Riaz Uddin Choudhury Sumon, Shahriar, Mizanur Rahman, Muhibul Rahman Shovon, Sakline Alam and Ashraf Ali Beg Taposh. They are all residents of the Zahurul Haque Hall.
   The university unit Chhatra League president, Sohel Rana Tipu, on Saturday told New Age, ‘We do not know anything about the matter. But if any such thing happens, we must go by law.’
   The Zahurul Haq Hall Chhatra League activists who are loyal to the Rahat Group alleged the activists loyal to the Sumon Group had threatened them.
   ‘They locked our rooms and said if we want to continue in politics, we need to join their group,’ said on of the activists of the Rahat Group.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, who won three parliamentary seats in the December 29 polls, retained Gopalganj 3 as her constituency.
   According to the constitution and laws, a person can contest the national polls for not more than three constituencies and if a person is elected from more constituencies than one, the person needs to inform the Election Commission in writing retaining a single constituency, which she or he wants to represent, before swearing in as a lawmaker.
   Hasina accordingly retained Gopalganj 3. The other two constituencies, Rangpur 6 and Bagerhat 2, now stand vacated.
   The Jatiya party chairman, HM Ershad, retained Dhaka 17, giving up Rangpur 3 and Kurigram 2.
   The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, who won Bogra 6 and 7 and Feni 1 constituencies, however, is yet to inform the commission which seat she wants to represent.
   She will need to inform the commission of the matter before she takes oath.

The authorities have tightened security to prevent troubles as tension prevails in the port city, including the Chittagong University campus, following the December 29 parliamentary polls, police and other sources said.
   Police officials said that special measures were taken for round-the-clock surveillance on the Chittagong University campus after the Bangladesh Chhatra League, associate organisation of the winner Awami League, on Saturday gave the university authorities a three-day ultimatum to oust the ‘armed outsiders’ backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir, associate organisation of the Jamaat-e-Islami, who were occupying  different dormitories.
   The BCL also announced a procession on the CU campus for Sunday morning to mark its founding anniversary.
   ‘We will begin our founding anniversary programmes midnight past Saturday by placing flowers at the Shaheed Minar, to be followed by a rally and procession Sunday morning’, said Nazrul Islam, organising secretary of the BCL’s CU unit.
   ‘We have given the university authorities a three-day ultimatum at a meeting held in presence of the vice chancellor and other officials to fulfil our demands, including driving out  the outsiders staying illegally in the halls, police raids for seizure of illegal arms, an end to the irregularities in allotment of seats and removal of the partisan provosts’, he said.
   ‘We will be forced to take further decisions if the demands are not met by the deadline’, he added.
   ‘In the past seat allotments in the halls of CU were not made on the basis of merit or following proper criteria’, he alleged.
   When contacted, CU proctor Jashim Uddin said that the authorities had held a meeting with the BCL leaders on Saturday afternoon to avert any outbreak of violence on the campus.
   ‘Chhatra League has placed some demands and the authorities are looking into them to take proper steps’, he added.
   When asked about reports that some students had left the halls fearing clashes between BCL and Shibir, he said, ‘We heard about it, but we don’t know anything exactly.’
   Police super of Chittagong Kamrul Ahsan said that adequate security measures were taken on the CU campus and other sensitive areas of Chittagong district to prevent post-poll violence.
   ‘We have deployed a large contingent of police on CU campus and we are monitoring the situation…’, he added.
   Another senior official of Chittagong Metropolitan Police said that security was tightened in the city to maintain peace.
   Special measures were taken in the surroundings of the Polytechnic Institute at Nasirabad fearing troubles, he added.

Some poor fielding and wicket-keeping marred Bangladesh’s fine bowling efforts as Sri Lanka piled up a massive 371 for six thanks to a century from Tillakaratne Dilshan on the opening day of the second Test at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium on Saturday.
   The visitors were struggling at 75 for four when Dilshan came to the crease and he was eventually last the man out, bowled by left-arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr, for a rapid 162 off 165 balls.
   The right-hander, who raced to his half-century in only 37 deliveries and completed his sixth Test century from 93 balls, led the counter-attack after Bangladesh had the visitors on their toes in the entire first session.
   Mashrafee bin Murtaza struck in his first over to dismiss makeshift opener Prasanna Jayawardene for a first-ball duck and then sent back Kumar Sangakkara (5) in his next over, bowled off an inside-edge.
   Mahela Jayawardene, who was playing his 100th Test being only the fourth Sri Lankan, was caught by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim off Sakib al Hasan for 11, adding only three runs after he was given a life by the same man off the same bowler.
   Sri Lanka went for lunch with 65-3 and things were getting worse for them when Shahadat Hossain had removed Thilan Samaraweera for 14 shortly after the restart. But his replacement at the crease, Dilshan, took a different strategy and it helped Sri Lanka change the total scenario.
   Shocked and surprised by the counter-attack, Bangladesh lost their confidence totally and it was reflected in the movements of the fielders, who not only dropped a few chances but also gave some unnecessary boundaries.
   Dilshan, dropped by Junaed Siddique on 78, fully captalised on the missed chance and produced two century stands with opener Malinda Warnapura and Chamara Kapugedera, who replaced Michael Vandort for this game.
   Warnapura, who was lucky not to be stumped on 19 off Sakib, anchored the innings from one end and Dilshan attacked from the other end as Sri Lanka added 164 runs in just 30 overs of the second session.
   Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful provided the team a much-needed breakthrough when he trapped the opener in front with his first delivery, ending his 119-run stand for the fifth wicket with Dilshan.
   Warnapura also chipped in with 63, his fourth Test half-century. Kapugedera replaced him in the middle and shared another 173 runs with Dilshan in the sixth-wicket stand. But the partnership could have been ended a lot earlier if Imrul Kayes could take Kapugedera’s catch at mid-on off Mashrafee.
   Kapugedera, who was batting on 37 at that time, remained unbeaten on 93 at the stumps. However, Bangladesh were relieved after they managed to get rid of Dilshan, who had survived an easy stumping chance when he was on 155.
   ‘That’s part of the game. It gives you an opportunity to capitalise and when you get a let-off you should then try and make a big score. It was an opportunity for someone to put a hand up and I am happy to have contributed,’ Dilshan said after the day’s play.

The establishment ministry, in a hectic move, is going to propose amendments to the appointment rules for accommodating 64 forests officials in the cadre service at a meeting of the secretary committee on administrative development today, said official sources.
   The ministry is set to propose inclusion of 82 posts in various categories under the department of forests in the cadre service allegedly in a bid to favour some quarters although the matter is now pending with the court, according to the sources.
   The cabinet secretary, Md Abdul Aziz, will chair the meeting at the Cabinet Division in the secretariat.
   The move comes at a time when the tenure of the interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed comes to an end.
   ‘We will discuss the issue at the meeting keeping in view all rules and regulations in this regard…The officials can be accommodated in the cadre service subject to completion of all procedures that include sitting for the Public Service Commission examinations,’ environment and forests secretary AHM Rezaul Kabir told New Age on Saturday.
   He said the amendments to the appointment rules would be proposed to accommodate the officials in the cadre service, but nothing would be done in violation of the rules to favour any quarter.
   Additional secretary to the establishment ministry Mostafa Kamal Haider on January 1, 2009 signed the summery of the proposal to be submitted at the meeting for approval today, a day before the interim government’s tenure expires, said an official at the establishment ministry.
   The summery suggests making amendments to the Bangladesh Civil Service Appointment Rules, 1981, necessary for including 64 assistant conservators of forests in the cadre service. All these officials from various projects under the forests department were regularised in the revenue budget in December 2003 with effect from 2000.
   It also mentions that the proposal had the approval of the chief adviser, who is also responsible for the establishment ministry.
   The BCS forests cadre officials, meanwhile, have protested at the government’s move to include the once-project officials in the cadre service with seniority effective from the date of regularisation of their services in the revenue budget, saying it would cause frustration and resentment among the forests cadre officials.
   Some aggrieved officials earlier filed a writ petition with the High Court in protest at the government move to include the project officials in the cadre service.

Nepal’s former king appealed Saturday for an end to a dispute at Nepal’s holiest Hindu temple, where the Maoist-run government has thrown out Indian priests who have officiated for generations.
   Deposed king Gyanendra was formerly the patron of Pashupati temple but since ex rebel Maoists won elections last year and ended his 240-year-old dynasty, the Maoist prime minister, Prachanda, has replaced him as patron.
   ‘I would like to request and appeal to the Nepal government and all devotees to keep the Pashupati temple...above politics,’ Gyanendra said, according to Phanindra Raj Pathak, a former royal press secretary.
   Gyanendra — who has kept a very low profile since his reign was ended in May last year — made the comments to a small group of local journalists at his home on Saturday, Pathak said.
   The replacement of the Indian holy men has sparked protests by local priests at the temple, who accuse the ruling Maoists of placing their supporters in key positions.
   ‘We will continue our protests as what the temple trust is doing is completely wrong,’ said Om Shiva Bhandari, a priest at the temple that is dedicated to the god Shiva and revered by Hindus worldwide.
   The riot police were on duty for the third day Saturday at sprawling the temple complex on the banks of the Bagmati river in Kathmandu ‘to avert any possible problems’, said Parmananda Shakya, the Maoist-appointed head of Pashupati trust.
   ‘The old priests had the monopoly on the offerings made by devotees,’ he said.
   Nepal’s former rebel Maoists now govern the impoverished Himalayan nation after ending a bloody civil war that killed at least 13,000 people in 2006.
   Last year, they won landmark polls and swiftly pushed through the end of the world’s last Hindu monarchy.

The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said on Saturday he hoped sense would prevail in Pakistan over tackling militancy and reiterated a demand that Islamabad hand over those suspected of plotting the deadly attacks in Mumbai.
   ‘We are committed to rooting out terrorism and we sincerely hope that better sense will prevail with Pakistan,’ Singh told reporters in Shillong.
   Faced with global pressure to act, Pakistan launched raids on militants on its soil after the Mumbai attacks in November. But India said Islamabad was not sincere and needed to do more.
   New Delhi wants Pakistan to dismantle what it says are camps training militants to attack India, and extradite at least 40 suspects.
   Pakistan denies fomenting trouble in India and says it would act if India provided credible evidence. Islamabad has denied any wrongdoing in the Mumbai attacks which it blamed on ‘non state actors’.
   ‘We hope that these criminals will be handed over to us to face trial in our country.’

India’s external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to visit Bangladesh in the second half of January to convey the good wishes of the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, to the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, and to further strengthen Dhaka-Delhi ties, said diplomatic sources.
   Without detaining the schedule, the foreign affairs, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Saturday night told New Age the Indian external affairs minister would visit Dhaka after the Awami League-led alliance would assume office.
   Indian high commission officials in Dhaka, however, said they had so far no information on the visit.
   Manmohan Singh in a statement on December 30 said he would send Pranab Mukherjee to Dhaka at the earliest as his emissary to congratulate Sheikh Hasina on the overwhelming victory and to cement the ties between the two next-door neighbours.
   Iftekhar said during the visit, the Indian minister would talk with the new government on issues of mutual interest to strengthen the friendly ties.
   The visit will be significant as the Congress-led United People’s Alliance government felt some comfort with the win of the Awami League-led grand alliance.
   Hasina announced to take a tough stand against terrorism by constituting a regional task force.

The police on Saturday unearthed a fake liquor factory and seized 408 cans of bears at Pallabi in Dhaka.
   Tipped-off, the Pallabi police raided a house at about 4:00pm and seized 408 cans of bear produced in the clandestine factory.
   Materials of liquor making were also seized.
   All men of the factory managed to flee before the police came. The owner of the house said a man identified as Sunny rented the house.

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, under threat of death from Islamist extremists who accuse her of blasphemy in her writings, is to take up residence in Paris, the city hall said Saturday.
   Municipal authorities will provide her with a large studio in an artists’ residence in the 10th arrondissement, in east of the French capital, and initially pay her rent.
   Taslima, who was made an honorary citizen of Paris in July 2008, put in an application for housing six weeks ago.
   ‘You are at home here, in the city where it was proclaimed that men are born and remain free and equal and nobody can be condemned for their beliefs,’ the Paris mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, said when she was given honorary citizenship.

Four persons were arrested from the Panchasi area under Sarishabari upazila in Jamalpur for assaulting a BNP activist who was a polling agent in December 29 election.
   The police said they were taken under custody for attacking Zahirul Islam, when he was returning home from a nearby village market on Friday. They also snatched away bicycle and cash money from him.
   The arrested persons were Usman, Shafiqul Islam, Rubel Hassan, and Abu Bakkar Siddiqui.
   Zahirul was admitted to Sarishabari health complex.

A man was killed and 10 others were injured in a clash between two groups of people at Halda of Lohagarha in Narail Thursday.
   The deceased was Khayer Majumder, 45, of the village.
   Sources said the clash broke out in sequel to a longstanding dispute between Akbar Sheikh and Ibrahim Biswas over the ownership of a plot of land.
   Eleven 11 people, including Khayer, were injured in the clash. He was taken to Khulna Medical College Hospital where he, later, succumbed to his injuries.