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Former chief election commissioner Abu Hena on Saturday said elections observers should also monitor post-polls violence.
   Inaugurating a workshop on ‘Election related capacity building training programme to promote democratic values and media engagement,’ he said the observers should monitor the situation before, during and after polling.
   He also termed post-elections violence very unfortunate and urged the government to stop the ongoing post-polls violence taking place across the country after Monday’s polling.
   Human rights organisation Odhikar, which also observes elections, organised the two-day workshop in the Caritas auditorium in the Dhaka.
   Abu Hena also said the election observers should maintain neutrality in observing the polls and preparing their reports.
   ‘The observers must be neutral and they must know and be respectful to electoral laws, rules, electoral code of conduct and democratic norms and practices,’ he said.
   Praising the amendment to electoral laws and rules, he said the latest laws and rules on elections were pragmatic.
   He said as the election atmosphere in the December 29 polls was congenial and favourable, people, especially young and first-time voters, cast their vote freely for a change.
   ‘This verdict is nothing but against militancy and corruption. The next elected government will need to move forward carefully and it should work in unison with opposition forgetting past enmity to resolve the present crisis,’ he said.
   Asked about the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s allegation that the elections stage-managed, he declined to many any comment on the issue.
   Terming the polls results a verdict against war criminals, Abu Hena said, ‘The people have also boycotted the alleged war criminals in the elections. Especially first-time voters fully rejected them.’
   He hoped the Awami League-led government would be able to contain goods price spiral.
   Presided over by the Odhikar secretary, Adilur Rahman Khan, the inaugural session was also addressed by the Dhaka American Centre director Amy H Vrampas.

Navigation on almost all the river and coastal routes in the southern region has become risky as most of the marking signs on the routes remain inoperative.
   Almost all the beacon lights and buoys on 40 routes in the region have gone out of order, threatening safe movement of vessels, some masters said.
   ‘We ply vessels on the costal routes at high risk as a large number of shoals have emerged on the routes’, Abdul Mannan, a master of a river vessel, said.
   The Barisal Launch Owners’ Association vice-chairman, Khorshed Alam, said currently only seven routes out of 40 are worth movement of vessels.
   Marking signs like beacon lights and buoys are hardly found on the remaining 33 routes, badly hampering safe movement of vessels, he added.
   BIWTA sources said 180km-long Dhaka-Barisal and 261 km-long Barisal-Chittagong route include 90km sea and coastal water ways.
   There are no buoys and beacon lights at Patarhut, Char Birbiri, Patar Char, Ramgoti, Char Hakim, Ludia, Ghashiar Char
   and other points, sources said.
   Besides, the marking signs lie inoperative at Sayestabad, Potkar Char, Char Bamni, Mallikpur, Ghashiar Char, Ramgoti, Hatiya and Bitol points, the sources added.
   ‘It is very difficult to ply water vessels during fog and emergence of shoals, said Sobahan Mia, master of a oil tanker said.
   Different stations on Barisal–Mathbaria, Barisal–Hularhut, Barisal–Mohipur, Barisal–Goma, and Barisal–Galachipa routes have already been closed and Shaberhut-Tungibaria canal on Barisal-Bhola, Basnir Khal on Barisal–Dhaka routes are often disrupted due to shoals and absence of sufficient making signs.
   Mannan, a master of triple-decked launch MV Sundarbon-7, plying Barisal-Dhaka–Barisal route, said, ‘At least six buoys and beacon lights are required on  Barisal-Charmonai and three at Barisal-Vashan Char route.

A mild cold wave coupled with dense fog, sweeping over the country since Friday, almost paralysed life and disrupted road and river communications across the country.
   Two elderly people have died due to biting cold in separate places of the northern district of Nilphamari in the last two days till Saturday.
   Besides, cold-related diseases like diarrhoea have broken out in different places of the country. The people affected with cold-related diseases were seen rushing to hospitals.
   ‘The mild cold spell started on Friday in different parts of the country including Rajshahi, Srimangal and Comilla,’ an official of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department told New Age.
   ‘The persisting mild cold wave results from the impact of a sub-continental ridge now existing over the west Bengal and its adjoining area,’ he said.
   The lowest temperature of the country was on Saturday recorded at 8 degrees Celsius at Rajshahi and Srimangal, the Dhaka met office said adding, ‘The cold spell might continue for the next two or three days.’
   The New Age correspondent in Manikganj reports: Several hundred vehicles got stranded at Paturia and Daulatdia terminals as ferry service on Paturia-Daulatdia and Paturia-Kazirhat routes remained suspended for about eight hours due to dense fog.
   Sources at the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation said ferry service was suspended from 2:00am to 10:00am, bringing traffic to a complete halt.
   Thousands of passengers, particularly women and children, suffered a lot.
   Two ferries — Shah Mokhdum and Amanat Shah with vehicles — had to anchor in the mid river for hours while several other ferries stranded at the Paturia, Daulatdia and Kazirhat ghats, the sources said.
   The suspension of the ferries caused a snarl-up of vehicles stretching about four kilometres on the road to Paturia Ghat at about 5:00pm Saturday.
   New Age correspondent in Barisal said the cold spell and dense fog over the southern region has delayed movement of water and road transports towards the region for hours since early Saturday.
   Thousands of passengers stranded at different points of their routes amid dense fog and unusual cold spells of 9.5 degree Celsius, the lowest in this season in the region.
   Ferry service from Mawa, Paturia, Charjanajat and Dauladia terminals was suspended from 1:00 early Saturday to 9:30am. More than 1,000 vehicles got stranded.
   More than 200 water transports, including cargo, tanker and passenger-carrying vessels, plying 28 routes in the southern region from Dhaka and Barisal with more than 20,000 passengers and goods, have remained stranded in different places from Chandpur to Hizla channel on Meghna and its branch rivers since 1:30am early Saturday.

Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee on Saturday called on the incoming elected government to restore the original constitution of 1972 and set up a special tribunal for holding trials of the war criminals of 1971.
   A meeting of the central executive committee and advisory council of the organisation said the people had given their mandate in favour of the Awami League-led alliance in the December 29 parliamentary elections for restoring the spirits of the Liberation War and holding trials of the war criminals.
   The meeting viewed that the government could hold trials of the war criminals under the law titled ‘International Crime (Tribunal) Law 1973’ and formulated by the post-independence government led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
   The government can form one or more tribunals through an official gazette, a resolution said.
   ‘We do not need help of the United Nations for holding trials of the war criminals as it will make the process complex’, the Nirmul Committee observed.
   The United Nations and other human rights organisations can be invited to observe the trials in order to ensure its transparency, it said.
   Abu Osman Chowdhury, Shahriar Kabir, Muntasir Mamun and Robiul Hossain attended the meeting chaired by justice Golam Rabbani.

The Sector Commanders’ Forum leaders on Saturday demanded reactivation of International War Crime (Tribunal) Act 1973 to try the war criminals which was one of the major pre-election pledges of the Awami League-led alliance.
   They urged to set up an office of the chief prosecutor or to form a special commission to try the war criminals involving international organisations to ensure a transparent and acceptable trial.
   ‘It’s a truth that the whole nation desperately wants trial of the war criminals, and if it cannot be done, our independence and sovereignty will remain unguarded,’ said SCF chairman AK Khandker.
   The SCF placed the demands at a post-polls press conference on the Liberation War Museum premises in Dhaka.
   AK Khandker read out a written statement at the conference.
   SCF leaders Harun-ar-Rashid and KM Safiullah also attended.
   The SCF hoped the new government would soon contact the United Nations seeking cooperation in this regard.
   The leaders said they would like to see restoration of 1972 constitution for a non-communal state.
   They said registration of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as a political
   party would automatically be cancelled if the 1972 constitution could be revived.
   They demanded immediate annulment of the constitutional provision under which Islam was declared the state religion.
   The forum leaders expressed their gratitude
   to the countrymen, especially the young generation, for boycotting in the national election the war criminals and the forces which acted against the country’s independence in 1971 and for ensuring a landslide victory for the forces which acted for the independence during the war.
   They thanked the Election Commission for holding a free, fair and credible election in which people’s desires have largely been reflected.
   The SCF recalled the contributions of Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee, Peshajibi Samanway Parishad, Prajanma ’71, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, and social and cultural organisations for joining hands with them in the ongoing protests against war criminals.
   The forum hoped the Bangladesh Nationalist Party would realise its mistakes and sever relationship with Jamaat and the war criminals and cooperate in the trial of the war criminals.

The Progressive Democratic Party on Saturday urged the Awami League-led alliance, set to form the next government, to implement their election pledges sincerely.
   The party chairman, Ferdaus Ahmad Quarishi, in a press conference at the party’s Segun Bagicha office said, ‘We hope that the Awami League-led alliance that achieved an absolute majority will work for freeing the politics and the administrations from the corruption.’
   They must continue with the anti-graft drives and bring under trials those against whom charges of corruption were raised in last two years, Quarishi said.
   The next government also free the people against whom false allegations of corruption were brought, the PDP chairman said.
   The people had given their verdict in favour of Awami League for their pledges of action against war criminals.
   Among other central leaders of the party, Sudhir Kumar Hazra was present at the press conference.

The Bangladesh Rifles on Friday night arrested a drug peddler at Godagari in Rajshahi and recovered 600 g of heroine from his possession.
   Acting on a tip-off, the BDR carried out a search at Railbazar Ghat of Godagari and arrested Sadequl Islam of Debinagar with the drugs from a boat.
   Sadequl was handed over to police and was sent to jail after being producd before the court on Saturday.

The second round of 17th National Immunisation Day was observed on Saturday in Dhaka as elsewhere in the country through administering polio vaccines to the children aged under five years.
   Some 1,500 children aged 0-5 years and 2-5 years were administered polio vaccines and anti-worm tablets free of cost at the Japan-Bangladesh Friendship Hospital in Dhaka.
   Marking the day, JBFH arranged a function where health secretary AMM Nasir Uddin was present as chief guest.
   The function was also attended by Aktel chief commercial officer Bidyut Kumar Basu, newly elected parliament members Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Barrister Sheikh Fazle Nur Tapas.
   BJFH chairman Zonaid Shafique presided over it, said a press release.
   Thanking JBFH for taking such steps, the health secretary called upon other private health facilities to come forward to help free the country from polio.

Leaders of the Citizens’ Rights Movement on Saturday demanded that the United Nations should intervene in stopping mass killing in Gaza by the Israeli authorities.
   They made the demand while addressing a gathering after a human chain formed by the human rights organisation at Shahbagh in Dhaka.
   Israel is continuing attacks in Gaza as the United States is backing the country as its foremost ally, they observed.
   `It is a US strategy to keep Middle East situation unstable to prevent the freedom of Palestine and also to grab huge wealth of the country,’ the speakers said.
   Against the backdrop of situation, they stressed that UN intervention was a must now in halting continued Israeli attacks that killed several hundred civilians in Gaza in the last few days.
   They also called on the people of the developing countries to raise strong voice against Israel and US imperialism all over the world, particularly in Palestine.
   The chief adviser to Citizen’s Rights Movement, Syed Margub Morshed, also former secretary, and researcher and writer Syed Abul Maqsud, among others, took part in the programme.

Bangladesh Chhatra League activists captured two halls of residence in Jagannath University Friday midnight.
   The university sources said some Chhatra League activists, led by Qamrul Hasan Ripon, beat up Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activists and asked them to leave the Banibhaban Hall and the Shaheed Anwar Hossain Hall.

The Election Working Group on Saturday suggested that the Election Commission should have allowed the domestic organizations to observe the polls effectively, which could contribute substantially to the electoral process.
   The umbrella organization of the local poll observers also felt that the regulations to be observed by the election observers should be transparent with regard to their permission to do the job.
   The EWG came up with the observations while briefing the reporters at the BRAC Centre Inn about their findings on December 29 general elections.
   In its observation, the group noted that the ninth parliamentary election was credible and consistent with the international standard regarding maintenance of freedom, fairness and transparency.
   Mohsin Ali, one of the executive members of the EWG said that the factors which had made the election successful included the turnout of 87 per cent voters, exercise of franchise by the minorities without any intimidation and a significant number of winners from the female candidates.
   He said, ‘We have found that the polls had some minor incidents of irregularities of the kind which is found in conducting a national election involving 81 million voters. But we do not find any evidence of any systematic abuse of the electoral system affecting the integrity of the polls.’
   Touching on the issue of the standard of the polls observers, Mohsin said those involved with the EWG had tried to maintain their standard while doing their job.
   On the reported allegations against the observers for not doing their jobs properly because of lack of information about their responsibilities and their affiliations with the parties, another member of the group, Numan Ahmed Khan said that they could not train up the observers because of time constraints.
   He said some 1,55,000 observers of the partners of the EWG had worked on the polls day covering about 88 per cent constituencies across the country.
   Dwelling on the issue of the polling process and security on the electoral day, the officials said that at many polling centres a large number of voters had faced difficulties in locating their designated polling booths and finding their names on the electoral rolls, which caused delays.
   ‘Although there is no evidence of any systematic violence, there were occasional reports of confrontations between the rival party activists resulting in temporary suspensions of proceedings at some centres,’ said Numan.
   About the scope of working environment for the observers, he said that excepting the Charghat union under the Rajshahi-6 constituency, they had got support from the EC and the administration at other places. Despite showing the documents including the appointment letter from the EC, the chief judicial magistrate at Charghat tore up the documents and arrested some seven observers there, they alleged.
   ‘He forced me to telephone other observers to leave the centres,’ said Awal, an official in Rajshahi.
   Responding to a query about the BNP’s allegation of gross irregularities at a large number of constituencies, Mohsin Ali said, ‘We have given our observations on the basis of the findings by our poll observers. We cannot comment on the BNP’s allegation.’
   Mohsin said six development partners including the United States Agencies for International Development, UK’s Department for International Development, Canadian International Development Agency and the Danish International Development Agency had provided $3.8 million to the EWG to conduct polls observation activities on December 29.
   Responding to a query about the honorarium for the observers, Numan said that each observer had received Tk/ 300 on the polls day apart from getting Tk/ 200 for training earlier.

The government primary school books numbering about 73,676, which were meant for distribution among the students, are missing from the store of the Nilphamari district primary education office recently.
   In the primary investigation it has been found that those books were stolen and sold in collaboration with the assistant monitoring officer of the office.
   Sources in the office said that the government had allocated 8,27,846 school books for distribution among the students of the primary schools at six upazilas in the district.
   Accordingly, 8,12,361 books had reached the district between 4 November- December 31, 2008.
   Sending of the books from the store of the office began in the first week of December under the supervision of Hasan Tarique, the AMO of the office.
   On December 30, a truck loaded with a large number of books was sent to Jaldhaka office of the department. Normally it takes about one and a half hours to reach Jaldhaka from the district town. But the truck did not reach Jaldhaka even on December 31.
   The Jaldhaka upazila primary education officer, Shaidul Islam informed the district primary education officer of the matter.
   As per the rule, a primary education department official or any other employee is supposed to go with the truck carrying the books. But the AMO did not send any one with the truck.
   It is suspected that the books of the truck were sold in the name of being sent to Jaldhaka in collaboration with Hasan Tarique.
   Contacted, the DPEO, Fasiuddin Ahmed said that he had interrogated the AMO in this regard. The AMO had confessed to his involvement in the stealing and selling of the books, the DPEO said.
   The DPEO added he had written to the director general of the primary education directorate on Thursday to take necessary actions against the AMO.

Several hundred workers of a sweater factory staged a demonstration, blocking the Ashulia-Baipal Road Saturday morning, to protest against the closure of the factory without any prior notice.
   Witnesses said the workers of the S-Suhi Industrial Park, at Jamgora of Ashulia in Saver, came to receive their salaries as the authorities of the factory had announced a four-day closure from December 29. But after coming, the workers found another notice which said the factory would remain closed till January 17.
   The Abdullahpur road also remained blocked by them for half-an-hour till 9:30 am, which created a long tailback on the road.
   The police said the factory authorities had earlier announced a four-day holiday beginning on December 29.
   As the workers came to the factory in the morning to join their work and receive salaries, they found another notice which said the factory would remain closed till January 17.
   The agitated workers vandalised the main gate and windowpanes of the factory, pelting brickbats. Later, they barricaded the Abdullahpur road.
   They also staged a demonstration putting a barricade on the Ashulia-Baipal Road at around 9:30am, suspending all kinds of traffic movements on the busy road, the police said.
   On getting information, the police reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
   The officer-in-charge of the Ashulia police station, Rafiqul Islam told New Age, ‘The workers withdrew the blockade after the police officials assured them of releasing their salaries as soon as possible.’
   One of the directors of the factory, Sirajul Islam, told New Age, ‘We were compelled to close the factory because of a crisis of thread. We will open it on January 18 after receiving the threads, when the workers will also get their payment.’

Twenty shops of Tahir Plaza and an adjacent jewellery market in Chhatak industrial area of Sunamganj were gutted in a fire on Friday night.
   Fire service sources said, the fire originated from a shoe store of Tahir Plaza at about 8:30pm and fast spread to the adjacent jewellery market.
   The local people and shopkeepers tried to douse the fire but failed.
   Fire fighters from Chhatak Fire station, Lafarge Surma Cement company and Sylhet divisional headquarters rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control after a two-hour long effort.
   Fire service officials estimated the loss to be of Tk 50 lakh while the shop owners claimed it to be more than Tk 1 crore.
   A two-member committee headed by Ruhul Amin Majumdar, station manager of the Chhatak Fire Service, has been formed to find out the cause behind the fire.

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on Saturday congratulated his Myanmar counterpart prime minister General Thein Sein on independence day of his country tomorrow.
   In a message, the chief adviser said, ‘It is a great pleasure for me to extend, on behalf of the people of Bangladesh and on my own behalf, our warmest greetings and heartiest felicitations to your Excellency and through you to the people of Myanmar.’
   Fakhruddin, in the message, said, ‘It is my firm conviction that the bonds of friendship that so happily exist between our two countries will be further strengthened in the future to the mutual benefit of our two peoples.’ He wished good health, happiness and long life of General Thein Sein and continued peace, progress and prosperity of the people of Myanmar.

Activities of the Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad should be controlled by the defence ministry, which is directly under the head of the government, the sangsad leaders said at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday.
   SM Jahangir Alam, vice-chairman of the central command council of the Muktijoddha Sangsad, read out a written statement at the press conference, attended by leaders of different district and upazila units.
   The leaders censured the two previous governments – Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government and the outgoing interim administration – for harassing freedom fighters on numerous occasions in the last seven years after placing the organisation under the liberation war affairs ministry, established by the alliance government.
   Copies of the summary of the audit findings containing detailed information of the corruption, including ‘embezzlement’ of more than Taka three crore by officers of the ministry, were distributed among journalists at the briefing.
   The summary, which also includes a number of recommendations to reduce corruption, was signed by Md Sultan Uddin Khan, deputy director of the Local and Revenue Audit Directorate.
   Jahangir Alam narrated the miseries of the freedom fighters in the past and expressed the hope that the incoming elected government led by the grand alliance would take steps to address their problems.
   Congratulating the AL-led grand alliance on its landslide polls victory, he said, ‘We hope that Sheikh Hasina, being the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will take steps for proper rehabilitation of the freedom fighters and safeguarding their rights.’
   He thanked the people of Bangladesh for rejecting the war criminals in the ballot and pledged to fight against the anti-liberation elements who had been elected in the polls whichever party they belonged to.
   The sangsad iterated its demand for announcing December 1 as the ‘freedom fighters day’ .

Muggers looted cash money, gold ornaments and other valuables from a house at Ramballavpur of Kabirhat in Noakhali Thursday night, making the house inmates unconscious by food poisoning.
   Sources said house-owner Mostafa and the 10 family members fell unconscious after taking meal.
   The victims, Mostafa’s wife Bali Begum, and their sons Masud, Mosharraf, Ahsanullah, daughters Shilpi, Sami, and Priti, and granddaughters Sathi, Sumi, and Kajal, were admitted to Noakhali General Hospital in unconscious state.
   Masud said he regained his sense early Friday and found that muggers entered their house by making a hole in the wall and looted cash and valuables worth about Tk 2 lakh.
   Priti was later moved to a hospital in Dhaka as her condition deteriorated.
   Masud suspected the muggers made them unconscious poisoning their foods.

Former additional attorney general Abdul Wadud Khandakar died of old-age complications at his residence in Dhaka on Saturday morning. He was 72.
   Also former general secretary of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, Wadud Khandakar is survived by two sons and two daughters.
   His first janaza was held in Dhaka at 1:00pm and second one on the premises of Harat Shahjalal shrine in Sylhet city at 7:30pm.
   He was buried at the family graveyard at village Ahmadpur of Dakshin Surma upazila.
   Late BNP lawmaker Khandakar Abdul Malik was the elder brother of late Wadud Khandakar.

Vice-president of the district Awami League and freedom fighter Md Abdul Hye Miah died of a heart attack at his Khabashpur residence here Friday night at the age of 65.
   He is survived by his wife and one daughter.
   His namaz-e-janaza was held on the premises of Alipur Golpukur Dream Shopping Centre after asr prayers. He was buried at Alipur graveyard in the district town with state honours.

Former police official Azizur Rahman Siddiqui, also father-in-law of Sylhet mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, died of old-age ailments at his own residence at Savalia in Tangail town Friday morning at the age of 80.
   He is survived by three sons and four daughters. Azizur Rahman was buried at his family graveyard in the town after juma prayers.
   Mayor Kamran and deputy commissioner of Tangail Maksudur Rahman Patowari, among others, attended the janaza.

Three compartments of a passenger train derailed near Hajiganj Railway Station Saturday afternoon, leaving 20 passengers injured.
   Railway sources said the compartments of Chandpur-bound Sagorika Express from Chittagong went off the track at about 1:00pm.
   Panicked passengers jumped down onto the ground from the running train, leaving 20 injured.
   Communication on Chandpur-Laksam-Chittagong routes remained suspended till 7:00pm.
   A relief train from Laksam reached the scene and started rescue operation.

Exporters of the Indian state of Meghalaya have agreed to reduce the coal price by $5 to $48 per tonne.
   Sylhet coal importers group leader Delwar Hossain told UNB on Saturday he received the proposal for reducing the price from Doli Kongla, president of Meghalaya Chamber of Commerce. He said the offer was made in the wake of sharp decline of coal import and fall in oil price in the international market.

Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad, who was an aspirant for the office of president, apparently received a severe blow as Awami League Parliamentary Party endorsed its senior leader Zillur Rahman as the next president.
   Prime minister-in-waiting and AL president Sheikh Hasina disclosed the decision to media after the ALPP meeting at the Sangsad Bhaban Saturday evening, setting at rest speculations surrounding the choice.
   ‘He is a senior leader of the party. It’s recognition of his long contribution,’ she said.
   Elderly politician Zillur served Awami League as acting president at its critical time when Hasina was in jail and a move was on to drop her from the party’s top leadership under the so-called party reforms during the emergency rule.
   He lost his wife Ivy Rahman in the grenade attacks on Hasina’s rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004.
   Asked about the fate of Ershad, Hasina avoided a direct reply, but said Awami League and the AL-led alliance would work together in the future for the betterment of the country.
   Before the December 29 parliament elections, Ershad had tried to give an idea that he had understanding with Hasina about his presidency if the alliance won the vote.
   Asked to comment on any such understanding, JP presidium member GM Qader told UNB that he was not aware of what had transpired in coalition talks between Sheikh Hasina and Ershad, ‘because the understanding, if any, was not made public.’
   Qader said there was a written understanding with Awami League in 2006 to make Ershad president. ‘I’ve seen that agreement signed by Awami League leader Abdul Jalil. But, I don’t know any such understanding having happened this time,’ he said.
   Asked whether they would be given any ministerial post in the new cabinet, Qader said he did not know, but hastened to add that the alliance was formed with a decision to contest the election unitedly and form the government unitedly.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, has abolished the post of her political secretary.
   This was said in a press release signed by her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad on Saturday. Saber Hossain Chowdhury had been serving as her political secretary.

The Bangladesh Rifles on Saturday seized smuggled goods worth Tk 3.5 lakh from different areas of Jessore.
   The BDR sources said the seized items included Indian saris and automobile spares.

The security forces held two youths with 1 lakh Indian rupees from Majerbosti in Rangamati and handed them over to the police on Friday, security forces and police sources said.
   The youths are Adar Kumar Chakma, of Katapahar, and Sontosh Dutta, of Reserve Bazar, in the town.
   Tipped-off, the security forces went to the area at around 7:30pm and held the two youths in possession of rupees.
   Sub-inspector Shamim Uddin Khandakar filed a case under the special power act with the Kotwali police, the police said.
   A court of the district sent the two youths to jail on Saturday when they were produced before it.

Health and veterinary workers culled poultry in densely populated West Bengal in India on Saturday after a fresh outbreak of H5N1 bird flu, officials said.
   The latest outbreak of the virus in poultry is the fourth in the state since 2007.
   Bird flu first broke out in India in 2006. Millions of chicken and ducks have been culled since to contain the virus, but it has resurfaced from time to time. India has reported no human infections.
   West Bengal officials said they had begun culling about 60,000 poultry after the fourth outbreak was confirmed on Saturday near Siliguri, bordering Bangladesh.
   Culling operations in West Bengal to contain the third outbreak had ended barely a fortnight ago.
   ‘We have sent 30 teams to kill chickens and ducks in the village where dead birds tested positive,’ Surendra Gupta, a senior government official, told Reuters.
   Hundreds of thousands of birds had also been culled in Assam and Meghalaya after bird flu was detected in November. Experts have warned that the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.
   According to the World Health Organisation, H5N1 bird flu has infected more than 390 people in 15 countries and killed at least 247 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.