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The Awami League-led alliance is set to form the government today amid expectations of the electorate, demand for improved governance, challenges of peace and stability on the country’s return to a democratic system after about two years’ emergency rule.
   The swearing-in ceremony of the new government, to be headed by Sheikh Hasina, whose alliance had a landslide victory in the December 29 polls winning 262 out of the 299 parliamentary seats, is scheduled for a 6.30pm start at Bangabhaban, officials said.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, who on Monday invited Hasina to form the government as the chief of the majority party in the parliament, will administer oath to the new prime minister and her cabinet members. About a thousand guests have been invited to the ceremony to be held in the Durbar Hall at Bangabhaban
   Party insiders said the list of cabinet members had been finalised and the Cabinet Division was given an idea to prepare for oath-taking, accommodation and transport of about 40 ministers.
   Hasina, the prime minister-in-waiting, earlier said her cabinet would be a ‘complete surprise’ for the people.
   But party sources hinted the leaders apparently having clean image, dedication to the party and no any controversial role after the January 2007 political changeover when Hasina had been behind bars would be given portfolios.
   The alliance partners will also be accommodated in the government.
   The December 29 parliamentary elections were held about two years after the BNP-led alliance government had left power. The country had been run for two years by the military-controlled interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, installed after the promulgation of the state of emergency against the backdrop of political turmoil early 2007. The elections were originally scheduled for January 22, 2007.
   A record 87 per cent of the 81 million voters turned out for polling
   ‘Restoration of an effective democracy after meeting the challenges appears difficult, but it could be possible if the ruling party is sincere and take its opposition into confidence,’ political scientist Talukder Maniruzzaman told New Age.
   Arresting commodity price spiral, keeping law and order, establishing good relations with political forces and balanced relations with India are among the few of the major challenges he identified for the new government.
   Many promises made by the Awami League-led alliance seem ambitious given the nation’s limitations of resources, skills and technologies, said Manzoor Hasan, director of the Institute of Governance Studies at BRAC University. Such issues call for special attention.
   In the Awami League’s election manifesto, Charter for Change, Hasina promised to bring down commodity prices, create employment, generate adequate power, develop infrastructure and try war criminals. She promised a prosperous, digital Bangladesh by 2021.
   Addressing the problems, managing the expectations and ensuring checks and balances in the parliament will be hurdles for the party, which has been in the opposition for most of the time since its inception about six decades ago, he said. He, however, said the government would get immediate dividends on commodity price out of the international financial crisis.
   Hasina is set to become prime minister for the second time amid expectations of the people which remained unfulfilled during the two years of interim government. The interim government has left 114 ordinances for the parliament to ratify.
   Hasina, elected leader of the majority party in the parliament on Saturday, warned her deputies saying that the road ahead was not so easy and if they failed to deliver, the party would need to face the same fate as did the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance of Khaleda Zia, which won 32 parliamentary seats in the elections.
   The BNP had two-thirds majority in the parliament during its 2001–2006 tenure.
   ‘Failure to fulfil people’s hopes could be politically disastrous for the Awami League-led alliance in the long run,’ Ataur Rahman, a professor of political science in Dhaka University, said.

Campaigns for the January 22 elections to 481 upazilas across the country has gained some momentum with the Awami League plunging into electioneering in the wake of its landslide victory in the general elections though the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is yet to start electioneering apparently in fear of reprisals.
   A total of 8,131 candidates are contesting the upazila elections with 3,316 vying for the posts of chairman, 2,879 for vice-chairman and 1,936 reserved for women vice-chairmen.
   Local leaders of BNP in different parts of the country said they were facing some ‘strategic disadvantages’ in electioneering in addition to the post- election violence which had already claimed lives of 10 people and injured 270 others. Candidates nominated for the upazila polls by BNP and its allies in some places have reportedly withdrawn from the race fearing that the local polls may not be free and fair.
   Buoyed by the landslide victory in the December 29 general elections, the Awami League activists are dominating the campaigns for the upazila polls. They are trying to convince the voters that they would not face any problems in implementing their electoral pledges as their party would be in power.
   About the post-polls violence, election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain on Sunday told reporters, ‘Until December 31, the whole situation was under the Election Commission’s control and peaceful. But troubles started on January 1 which he called unfortunate. ‘The administration has to take necessary steps in this regard.’
   He said military would not be deployed during the upazila polls. Law enforcement agencies and the Bangladesh Rifles will be in the field to ensure security, he said.
   New Age correspondent in Khulna reported that BNP-led alliance candidates in the upazila elections were hesitating to start campaigns in different upazilas of the district fearing attacks from Awami League activists. A godd number of BNP supporters have left their homes in the face of threats from the AL men, alleged local leaders of the BNP-led alliance.
   A total of 40 candidates are in the race in nine upazilas of the district and the BNP-led alliance is backing one candidate for each of the upazilas.
   ‘AL activists have been threatening our men across the district after their victory in the December 29 polls and we are in panic’, said Shafiqul Alam Mona, Khulna district BNP general secretary.
   Mona, however, confirmed that they were directed by the BNP party high command to take part in the upazila polls and accordingly the four-party alliance was supporting only one candidate for chairman, vice-chairman and female vice-chairman posts in each upazila.
   Aftab Ahmed Jamaddar of BNP, a candidate for chairman of Rupsha upazila, told New Age that a number of BNP activists in his upazila were not at home at present in the face of AL men’s threat and a good number of the BNP men had already become victims of post-election violence. He said he was yet to start campaign in full swing though the election was round the corner.
   Khulna four party co-convener Maulana Sakhawat Hossain feared that the post-December 29 election violence could influence the upazila polls and demanded effective steps to quell the trouble.
   Our staff correspondent in Sylhet reported that candidates of BNP for upazila polls were not facing any major obstructions in electioneering.
   Former general secretary of the district unit of BNP, Abul Kaher Shamim, also a candidate for chairman of sadar upazila, told New Age that some sporadic incidents of violence had taken place after the national polls in the region. ‘But these will not have any impact on our election campaigns.’
   ‘We are facing some strategic disadvantages in campaigns because the Awami League candidates are making use of their party’s landslide victory in the national elections,’ Shamim said.
   New Age correspondent in Rajshahi reports: the BNP’s candidates in upazila polls have started electioneering after the party high command gave them green light. But the four chairmen and seven vice chairmen candidates of the party in Paba upazila have withdrawn from the race as they think the polls will not be free and fair.
   New Age correspondent in Pabna reported that intra-party feuds had surfaced in both AL and BNP over candidatures in the upazila polls and both the parties had more than one candidate for each post in every upazila of the district.
   New Age correspondent in Barisal reported that the AL had more than one candidate for each post and was ahead of other parties in electioneering being inspired by their landslide victory in the parliamentary polls.
   BNP candidates are mostly silent or less active than their political rivals because of the party’s debacle in the December 29 polls.

   In Dhaka, armed assailants shot dead Nazrul Islam, 32, Ward 56 president of Swechchhasebak Dal, at his Bijoynagar office on Monday.
   Witnesses said four armed men in two motorbikes reached Aqib Bumper House at Bijoyagar at around 3:30pm and shot Nazrul point blank.
   Local people took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the on-duty doctors declared him dead.
   Mohiuddin, 35, a customer at the shop, also sustained bullet injuries and was undergoing treatment at the hospital.
   Nazrul’s younger brother Iqbal Hossain claimed that political rivalry was behind the killing.
   He alleged that some local Juba League leaders and activists threatened to kill his brother.
   Nazrul had filed a general diary with the Shahbagh police in this connection.
   The Shahbagh police officer-in-charge, Mohammad Rezaul Karim, told New Age that the incident was under investigation.
   Our Pabna Correspondent reports: BNP activist Obaidul Islam, 42, who was injured in an incident of post-polls violence at Banglabazar under Pabna sadar on Friday, died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital Sunday night.
   Our Bogra correspondent reports: A Juba League leader was stabbed to death and another was injured allegedly by some local Juba Dal and Chhatra Dal activists at Nataipara Krishnapara of Bogra municipality on Monday.
   The deceased was Sabuj, 25, son of Abdul Gafur of the municipal area and a second year student of business management at Bogra Govt Azizul Haq College.
   Sources said Sabuj and Mousum, 30, son of Masud Mia, had a longstanding dispute over sand trade with some people of the area. As a sequel to the enmity, some miscreants stabbed Sabuj and Mousum while they were playing carom at about 4:15pm, leaving them seriously injured.
   The injured were taken to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College and Hospital where Sabuj died.
   Local Juba League brought out a protest procession, condemning the killing.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Monday expressed her concerns at the killing of her party activists across the country after the December 29 polls and denounced the politics of vengeance.
   Khaleda made the remarks as she consoled the daughter, son and wife of the slain BNP leader Shamsul Huq Master of Comilla and sought divine blessing for the deceased. Shamsul’s family met Khaleda in her office at Gulshan in the evening.
   After meeting Khaleda, Shamsul’s daughter Shamima Nasrin Bulu said her father was a teacher of Hajatkhola High School and devoted activist of the party.
   ‘When my father selected my brother Amir Hamza Sharif as polling agent for the BNP in Dakkhin Hajatia polling centre, the goons of the Awami League candidate Lotus Kamal threatened his life and they attacked my father at the night of the elections when he was on his way home,’ she said.
   ‘They left my father beaten up in front of our house and did not allow us to take him to hospital at the time. We took him to hospital the next morning and he died from his injuries on January 2,’ Bulu said.
   ‘The Awami League goods hurriedly brought the body of my father to our home without any post-mortem examination. Local Awami League leaders Malek Chairman, Matin Chairman, Halim Professor and others tried to arrange his funeral rites offering us Tk 3,00,000 and threatened our life if we would file any case,’ she said.
   The police later took the body and conducted a post-mortem examination.
   Khaleda also handed over Tk 1 lakh to the family.

   Amid raging battles around the main city, the senior Hamas leader in Gaza promised ‘victory is coming’. But Israel’s defence minister said Hamas has been hit ‘hard’ and insisted there would be no letup in the mission to halt militant rocket attacks despite the deaths of more than 520 Palestinians.
   Thousands of ground troops intensified Israel’s move into the Palestinian enclave of 1.5 million people, battling Hamas fighters in the east of the territory as they surrounded Gaza City on land and sea.
   Israeli jets carried out more than 30 air strikes. The military said they hit a mosque in the northern town of Jabaliya ‘where arms were being stored, as well as houses containing arms caches and vehicles that were transporting rocket launchers and armed men.’
   Naval ships off the coast also bombarded targets to help the ground offensive launched on Saturday night.
   The Israeli strikes killed another 14 Palestinians, including five children, on Monday, medics said.
   Three children were killed by a tank shell in Zeitun and two were killed in Shati by a naval strike, according to the head of Gaza medical emergency services Moawiya Hassanein.
   At least 525 Palestinians — including at least 90 children — have been killed since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27. Some 2,500 have been wounded.
   Israel says dozens of Hamas fighters have been killed while one Israeli soldier has been reported dead and 55 wounded since Saturday.
   The defence minister, Ehud Barak, told parliament the Hamas war would go on.
   ‘Gaza City is partially surrounded,’ Barak told MPs. ‘We have hit Hamas hard, but we have not yet reached all the goals that we have set for ourselves and the operation continues,’ he said.
   ‘We are doing everything that a state must do to protect its citizens. We want that the attacks against our citizens and our soldiers stop.’
   Three civilians and one soldier have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza since Israel’s operation started. More than 20 rocket and missile attacks were reported on Monday.
   Hamas remained defiant. ‘Victory is coming, God willing,’ the movement’s senior leader in Gaza, Mahmud Zahar, said in a television address.
   Dressed in black, Zahar insisted the group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, had ‘given the most beautiful performances during its confrontation with the army that the world thought invincible.’
   Israel faces intense international pressure to agree a ceasefire and ease the suffering of the Gaza population which has no power or water supplies and endures a daily struggle to get food, according to aid agencies.
   Israel agreed to let food and fuel into Gaza but scores of trucks were stuck at the border as the military said no one turned up to receive the supplies.
   Aid agencies said they were scrambling to organise a convoy on the Palestinian side where many people fear to venture out during the Israeli raids.
   The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on ways to reach a ceasefire.
   An EU ministerial delegation and a Russian envoy were also in the region. The US secretary of state, Condoleeza Rice, called off a trip to China because of the Gaza crisis.
   Sarkozy was to meet the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in Jerusalem and the Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, in Ramallah, after first meeting with Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Newborn babies in Gaza are at risk of hypothermia because of freezing temperatures and a cut in the power supply, the British aid charity Save the Children warned on Monday.
   Most homes and hospitals in Gaza, where night-time temperatures drop to freezing point, are now without power and have no heating, it said, adding that people leave windows open to stop them shattering from bombardment.
   ‘We need to deliver more food and blankets to ensure that children do not die of hunger and cold,’ said Jerusalem-based Save the Children spokesman Dominic Nutt, cited in a statement by the charity.
   Referring to a European Union mission in the region, he added: ‘We want (British prime minister) Gordon Brown and all EU leaders to push for a ceasefire so that we have safe access to those people in need in Gaza.
   ‘People also must be able to move freely and safely so they can provide for their families when food does become available.’
   Doctor Shaul Dollberg, professor of paediatrics at Tel Aviv University, was quoted by the charity as saying: ‘There is definitely potential for hypothermia for children in Gaza, especially for newborn babies.
   ‘Newborns need higher temperatures to survive,’ he said.
   Save the Children staff in Gaza have delivered food to around 6,000 of the most hungry families there, the statement added.
   ‘Our staff took their lives in their hands to deliver food aid. Two staff have already had their houses badly damaged in the bombing. No one is safe,’ said Nutt.
   ‘But we simply must do all in our power to protect children and babies from this conflict.
   The warnings came as Israeli troops tightened their military grip on Gaza with new air strikes and ground battles while Europe led the diplomatic offensive to secure a ceasefire.

Bangladesh has expressed concern at the ongoing killing of civilians and escalation of Israeli assault on Gaza.
   ‘I express grave concern at the deteriorating situation in Gaza,’ the foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmad Chowdhury, told the news agency on Monday.
   Urging Israel to stop assault on Palestinian territory, he said: ‘The Israeli ground action is extremely worrying as it places the world on the brink of full scale war’.
   The adviser said Dhaka was worried about the increasing civilian death toll in Gaza strip.
   ‘Bangladesh’s position on the issue of Palestine is well-known. The Israeli offensive must be stopped forthwith.
   ‘Further killings of innocent civilians are totally unacceptable,’ he said.
   Israeli forces on Monday pressed on with a deadly ground, sea and air offensive against Hamas members in the Gaza strip that has cut the territory in two.
   At least 512 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s 10-day offensive, a quarter of them civilians, a UN agency said while a Palestinian human rights group put the figure at 40 per cent.
   Forty-two Palestinians were killed on Sunday, most of them civilians, as Israeli shells slammed into houses and Gaza’s main shopping district, Palestinian medical sources said.
   Explosions rocked Gaza overnight while Israel Radio said gun battles had erupted between Israeli troops and Hamas militants in the streets of Gaza City early on Monday.
   France was spearheading diplomatic efforts to obtain a truce, while the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he had recalled his special Mideast envoy for briefings, adding he was worried about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
   Israel launched its offensive with aerial bombardments on December 27 to curtail Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza ahead of an Israeli national election next month, expanding it into a ground invasion on Saturday.

The majority party leader and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, Monday vehemently condemned the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip and expressed her profound shock at the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in the aggression.
   Hasina made the remark while ambassadors and charged d’affaires of seven Middle Eastern countries called on the AL chief at her Sudha Sadan residence in Dhaka.
   During the meeting, Hasina stressed the need for an immediate halt to the Israeli aggression and called upon the international community to press Israel to stop the killings of the innocent Palestinians.
   Talking to reporters after the meeting, former ambassador M Jamir, who was present at the meeting, said the Awami League president expressed her solidarity with the Palestinian people.
   The envoys are from Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
   Palestinian ambassador Shaher Mohammad led the delegation during the half an hour meeting. The envoys congratulated Hasina on her party’s landslide victory in December 29 parliamentary elections.
   Thanking the envoys for their gesture, the AL president urged the diplomats to increase manpower import from Bangladesh and enhance facilities of Bangladeshis working in their countries.
   Hasina recalled the role of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the Organisation of Islamic Conference to strengthen fraternal relations among the Muslim countries and solidarity of Islamic Ummah.
   They diplomats expressed the hope that the relations between Bangladesh and Muslim countries would further be strengthened in the years to come.
   Special assistant to Hasina Hassan Mahmud, Abdus Sobhan Golap, deputy press secretary Mahbubul Haq Shakil were also present.

The Awami League on Monday issued a fresh warning against any attempts at disturbing peace and asked the party activists to maintain calm in the wake of the ‘grand’ alliance’s landslide victory in the parliamentary elections.
   The AL’s spokesperson Syed Ashraful Islam said tough action would be taken against whoever was found trying to foment trouble and threaten law and order.
   Addressing a press conference at the party’s Dhanmondi office Monday, he called upon the AL leaders and activists to remain calm and not to take law in their own hands. He reminded them of party president, Sheikh Hasina’s instructions to refrain from vengeance.
   Ashraful warned that tough organisational and legal actions would be taken against those who would ignore the party chief’s instructions in this regard.
   He also called upon the caretaker administration to arrest those who were found taking law in their own hands.
   ‘AL does not believe in the politics of vengeance and we have despatched letters to the party’s district units to act with responsibility to maintain discipline, showing restraint under any circumstances,’ he said.
   Ashraful requested all for rejecting the politics of violence terming it harmful for the nation.
   He blamed the BNP-Jamaat alliance for their involvement in the politics of violence and vandalism, and urged them to take part in the forward march of democracy, accepting the people’s mandate in the polling.
   ‘We are observing that the MP-elect from the BNP-Jamaat four-party alliance are trying to fish in the troubled water by not taking oath of office,’ Ashraful said.
   He urged the BNP for not to waste more time in taking oath and refrain from unleashing terrorist activities and carrying out propaganda.
   ‘We are committed to make the parliament effective and focal point of all activities, he said, adding the constructive role of opposition was mandatory for making the parliament effective.
   He added that the opposition would get preference in the parliament to make democracy stronger. The AL’s promise to pick the deputy speaker of the parliament from the opposition would help making the parliament effective, he reiterated.
   Ashraful mentioned a number of attacks launched by the activists of BNP-Jamaat alliance on the AL workers before and after the elections.
   He added that compared to eight cases of attacks and vandalism filed against the AL-led grand alliance workers by the BNP-Jamaat alliance over the past six days after election, nine such cases were filed against the BNP-Jamaat alliance activists by the AL-led grand alliance.
   Responding to a query, the AL leader said the ordinances that were promulgated during the two-year term of the army-backed interim government would be placed in the parliament and the lawmakers would take decision on the matters.
   AL leaders Abdul Mannan Khan, Asaduzzaman Noor, Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin, BM Mozammel Huq, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Iqbalur Rahim and Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj were present at the press conference.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, whose interim regime calls it a day today, expressed his satisfaction over smooth transfer of power to an elected government through fair polls.
   ‘I feel happy to see that the state power is being transferred smoothly to an elected government. It will be a great achievement for the countrymen,’ he told reporters after paying his farewell call to the president, professor Iajuddin Ahmed, at Bangabhaban on Monday.
   The head of the outgoing interim government expressed the feeling of fulfilment of national tasks a day before a new cabinet led by the newly elected leader of parliament and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, will be sworn in at Bangabhaban today at 6:30pm.
   Replying to a question, Fakhruddin said he would stay in Dhaka and pass his time writing from his repository of experience after handing over power. He would remain always ready to extend his cooperation to the new government, if required.
   About the achievements of the interim government, which took over following the January 11, 2007 changeover, the chief adviser said maintaining law and order, facing disasters like floods and Sidr, and finally holding a free, fair and credible election as the most successful achievements.
   ‘We were able to make a field where people of the country cast their votes without any fear and returned home safely,’ he said about the December 29 polls held after the lapse of two years under emergency and clean-up drive following an accumulated past crisis.
   The chief adviser said his government had tried its level best to carry on country’s economic activities and did some institutional reforms, including the formation of the Local Government Commission and the Human Rights Commission, and promulgation of the Right to Information Ordinance.
   About expectations from the new government, Fakhruddin said the people expected of the new government to advance the country towards progress. ‘And as a citizen of the country, I also expect the prevailing stable law-and-order situation will be continued and improved further.’
   During the meeting, president Iajuddin gave his thanks to the chief adviser and his interim cabinet for running the country ‘efficiently and successfully’ through their hard work in the last two years.
   Praising the role of the interim government, the president noted that it successfully controlled the law-and-order situation, carried out rehabilitation work after two devastating floods and cyclone Sidr, prepared a correct voters’ list and national ID card with photograph and finally held a ‘free, fair and credible election’.
   The chief adviser expressed his gratitude to the president for giving his all-out support to the government.
   He informed the president that last year, while the world was facing food crisis, country’s farmers produced 33 million tonnes of food-grains and presently 1.3 million tonnes of food-grains were in government stock, which was ‘much satisfactory’.
   As Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country, Fakhruddin said the institutional capacity of disaster management had been increased which would be helpful in facing natural calamity.
   Fakhruddin said the amount of remittances had increased a lot in the last two years as about 8 lakh Bangladeshi workers went abroad each year.
   After the meeting, the president and the chief adviser joined lunch along with all the members of the outgoing council of advisers at the Bangabhaban dining hall.

The lawmakers-elect of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies are yet to receive instruction on whether they should attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet of the archrival Awami League-led alliance this evening.
   Some lawmakers-elect alleged they had till Monday evening not received any invitation to the ceremony scheduled to be held at the Durbar Hall at Bangabhaban.
   Almost all lawmakers-elect of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have reached Dhaka to attend a meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening to decide when to take oath.
   ‘We are waiting for the decision of our chairperson Khaleda Zia whether we should attend the ceremony at Bangabhaban,’ Barkatullah Bulu, the lawmaker-elect for the Noakhali 3 constituency, told New Age Monday evening. ‘We will follow her decision.’
   Asked whether BNP lawmakers-elect will join the new cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony, Mazibar Rahman Sarwar, elected lawmaker for the Barisal 5 constituency, said, ‘We are yet to receive any invitation.’
   ‘Question does not arise to attend the ceremony as we have not received any invitation,’ he said in the party chief’s office at Gulshan at 8:45pm Monday.
   ABM Ashrafuddin Nizan, the lawmaker-elect for the Lakhshmipur 4 constituency, told New Age, ‘A Bangabhaban official contacted me to check whether my address was correct. But the reality is that I am yet to receive any invitation to the ceremony.’
   ‘Even if I receive a formal invitation, I will follow the decision of the party chief in this regard,’ he said at 9:00pm Monday.
   Asked about joining the function, the BNP’s vice-chairman MK Anwar said, ‘How can we join the programme when the leaders and activists of the party [BNP] are attacked by Awami League men?’
   The BNP office secretary, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, however, said the party was likely to send a delegation to attend the ceremony. ‘Two or three party lawmakers are likely to join the programme,’ he said.
   Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader ANM Shamsul Islam, also the lawmaker-elect for the Chittagong 14 constituency, however, told New Age he had received the invitation to the ceremony. ‘I will consult with the party leadership tomorrow regarding joining the programme,’ he said on Monday. ‘I will follow the party decision.’
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, will administer oath of office to the new cabinet members led by the Awami League chief, Sheikh Hasina, in the Durbar Hall at Bangabhaban at 6:30pm.
   The BNP’s archrival Awami League-led alliance, which has 258 MPs in the 300-strong parliament, is expected to form the new cabinet this evening.
   Barkatullah also said almost all lawmakers-elect were in Dhaka to attend the Wednesday meeting convened by the party chairperson.
   Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a senior BNP leader and lawmaker-elect for the Chittagong 2 constituency, on Sunday said the party chief had convened the meeting in her office at Gulshan decide when to take oath.
   According to the Press Information Department, the Cabinet Division has invited the lawmakers-elect to the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet.
   The division has requested the lawmakers, who are yet to receive the invitation, to collect their invitation letter from the deputy secretary (administration) of the Parliament Secretariat.

Four fugitive convicts in the Awami League leader, Ahsanullah Master, murder case were arrested in Kolkata of West Bengal state, a senior official of CID said in Dhaka.
   A special team of Kolkata CID arrested the four fugitives — Nazrul Islam Dipu alias Nurul Islam Dipu, Shahadat Hossain, Obaidul Islam Tipu and Zakir Hossain Manju alias Syed Ahmed Manju, from a house near the Garia bus-terminal in Kolkata, upon tips of the CID officials in Dhaka.
   Of them, Dipu and Manju were awarded death sentence while the two others given life term imprisonment in the trial. They were living in Kolkata for the last four years.
   The Kolkata police filed a case against them for illegal trespass into India as they failed to show valid documents in support of their staying in Kolkata.
   The four convicts were placed on police remand on Monday and they were being interrogated by the Kolkata CID.
   Ahsanullah Master, a labour leader and an AL lawmaker, was shot dead at a meeting of the Awami Sechchhasebak League at Noagaon MA Majid High School ground, near to his residence, in Tongi of Gazipur. A schoolboy, Omar Faruk Ratan, was also killed in the gun attack.
   After investigation, ASP Khalequzzaman of CID, submitted a charge-sheet to the court against 30 people.
   The trial court on April 16, 2005 awarded death sentence to 22 people, life term to seven others and acquitted one.
   Twelve of the convicts including Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal central leader Nurul Islam Sarker, are now in the jail custody while the rest are on the run.

Germany’s Eurofins Analytik GMBH laboratory has detected no melamine contamination in five samples of the milk powder brands sent to Europe from the health ministry for laboratory test under the supervision of the World Health Organization as per the Supreme Court’s order.
   ‘The test reports on the five individual samples indicated that none exceeded the safe melamine level of above 0.1 part per million,’ said the reports submitted to the Supreme Court’s registrar’s office by the WHO on December 24, 2008.
   The WHO, in its report, also said, ‘WHO has recently recommended that the melamine residual level in infant formula powder should not exceed 1 part per million.’
   The report will be submitted to the High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui today to dispose of the writ petition filed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh and three Supreme Court lawyers, seeking an embargo on the sales and display of the eight brands that are suspected of melamine contamination.
   The brands are Yashili 1, Yashili 2 and Sweet Baby from China, Dano of Denmark, Red Cow and Diploma from Australia, and Nido Fortified Instant and Anlene from New Zealand.
   The High Court on November 10, 2007 asked the health ministry to test, in the local laboratories, all the available brands of milk powder to find out the percentage of melamine in them, and publish all the previous test reports of eight disputed brands to help the people to make an informed choice.
   On November 17 the Appellate Division modified the November 10 High Court order, asking the government to send samples of all available brands of milk powder to any laboratory in Europe for testing to discover the melamine level in them.
   Earlier, the Dhaka University’s chemistry department detected melamine in all the eight brands — Yashili 1, Yashili 2, Sweet Baby, Dano, Red Cow, Diploma, Nido Fortified Instant and Anlene.
   The BAEC lab and found that all but the Red Cow brand contained melamine.
   The Dhaka-based private laboratory, Plasma Plus, found melamine in all the brands but Yashili 1.
   The lab of the Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research found 115mg of melamine per kilogram in Yashili 1, but below 0.025mg per kilogram in all the seven other brands. But the Department of Medical Science in Thailand, in a test under the supervision of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, found 67.33mg of melamine in Yashili 1, 0.20mg in Yashili 2 and 0.28mg in Sweet Baby, but found no melamine in the other brands.

An unbroken century stand between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera followed by a half-century from Kumar Sangakkara helped Sri Lanka consolidate their position in the second Test against Bangladesh after the third day’s play on Monday.
   The visitors, 1-0 up in the two-Test series, stretched their overall lead to 472 at the stumps after reaching 296 for four in their second innings and making it almost impossible for the hosts to come back in this match.
   Dilshan, who struck 162 runs in the first innings to guide Sri Lanka from a precarious 75 for four to 384, was batting on 81 with Samaraweera unbeaten on 72.
   Bangladesh’s fielders were again generous to the Sri Lankan batsmen squandering at least two clear chances of dismissing Samaraweera and Dilshan when they were on 22 and 51 respectively.
   Dilshan, who is now closer to a very rare century-in-each-innings of a Test, should be thankful to Junaed Siddique, who dropped him on 78 at slip in the first innings and repeated the same mistake in the second innings.
   The only difference was that in the first innings Mehrab Hossain was the bowler while Mashrafee bin Murtaza was the unlucky chap in the second innings. Junaed, however, can take heart from the fact he tried his best to hold the catch in the second innings and injured his right thumb in the process.
   He was taken to the hospital after the day’s play and had a precautionary X-ray, which revealed no fracture meaning that he will be able to bat in the second innings once Sri Lanka declare.
   Samaraweera had a lucky let-off when substitute fielder Rajin failed to accomplish his run-out from the handshaking distance. Samaraweera was at least five metres away from crease when Rajin had the ball in his hand at the silly point area, but his chose to throw instead of jumping at the stumps and missed it agonisingly.
   The poor fielding helped Samaraweera and Dilshan build an unbroken 133-run stand for the fifth wicket as Sri Lanka kept Bangladesh wicketless in the final session adding 109 runs after resuming from 187-4 at tea.
   The partnership came after Sangakkara scored 54, his 28th half-century, before he dragged a delivery from Mohammad Ashraful on to the stumps. Ashraful was surprisingly Bangladesh’s most successful bowler in the day with his 2-29.
   The skipper provided Bangladesh their first breakthrough ending a 55-run opening partnership when he had Prasanna Jayawardene caught at short midwicket by Sakib al Hasan for 28 runs.
   Three balls later, Shahadat Hossain trapped the other opener Malinda Warnapura leg-before for 27, at the same total.
   Mahela Jayawardene was next to go ending a subdued run in his 100th Test when he was out for 22, caught at short-cover by Imrul Kayes off left-arm spinner Enamul Haque.

A policeman was killed and seven rubber garden workers were injured by bullet in a clash at Baishari in Naikhyangchari upazila of Bandarban on Monday morning.
   Local sources said the workers of a rubber garden under PHP group had long been struggling for wage hike and other facilities. They had been on work abstention for about one month to press for their demands.
   A clash ensued Monday between rival workers when one group joined their work following an understanding with the owners.
   Abul, manager of the PHP Group which owns the rubber garden, called in police when the workers began demonstrations at about 7:30am.
   ‘At one stage, the police opened fire on the agitated workers to bring the situation under control, leaving seven of them injured,’ says a report from the far-flung area.
   Policeman Bacchu Alam, who was fatally injured in beating with stick by the workers, was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries at 7:30 pm.
   Five of the injured workers — Nurul Hakim, Jamal Ahmed, Uthoyai Ching Chak, Kathoyai Ching Chak and Saber Hossain — were admitted to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital.
   BDR teams went to the spot and brought the situation under control.
   Police super M Shamsuddin told newsmen that BDR was deployed at the garden to avert further trouble.
   Deputy commissioner Moudud AK Qaium Chowdhury said, ‘Action would be taken against the responsible persons after investigation into the incident.’

Tens of thousands of truckers stayed off the roads on Monday after talks with officials to cut taxes and diesel prices broke down, threatening to push up prices of food and commodities across the country.
   ‘We are on an indefinite strike until our demands are met,’ said Charan Singh Lohara, president of the All India Motor Transport Congress, which says it represents 60 lakh trucks across the country.
   ‘The government is giving concessions and bailout packages to so many industries. Why not us, when we are struggling to repay loans with high fuel prices, high prices of tyres and numerous taxes,’ he said.
   More than 70 per cent of freight in India moves by road, and truckers had benefited from a booming economy that required the transport of steel and cement, as well as an improving network of highways that encouraged demand for trucks.
   But the country’s 2 lakh transport companies have been hit in recent months by a slowing economy, higher interest rates on vehicle loans and greater competition from the railways.
   Sales of trucks and buses at Tata Motors, India’s top vehicle maker, fell by more than half in December from a year ago.
   ‘How can we compete when our costs are so high,’ Lohara said.
   India cut prices of petrol and diesel on December 8 after crude oil tumbled, but the economy, Asia’s third largest, has shown palpable signs of slowing amid a global financial crisis, after growing at 9 per cent or more in the past three years.
   Economists and government advisers expect expansion to moderate to around 7 per cent this fiscal year to March 31.
   Talks with the government would continue, Lohara said, but a prolonged strike could nudge up prices of fruits and vegetables and disrupt supplies of other commodities.
   A three-day trucker’s strike last July calling for lower road tolls and cheap diesel had pushed up prices of produce.
   Big retailers stocked up and made arrangements with their own fleets to ensure supplies were not hit, said Rajan Malhotra, chief executive of Big Bazaar in Mumbai.

At least eight people were killed and two others injured in a road accident at Chaler Ghat on the Dhaka– Mymensingh Highway at Trishal in Mymensingh Monday morning.
   The police and witnesses said the accident had taken place when a Dhaka-bound microbus from Muktaga-chha collided head-on with a Haluaghat-bound truck from Dhaka. Eight, including the driver, were killed on the spot. Two were critically injured. The microbus was smashed.
   The deceased are driver Sohel, 35, and Ayen Uddin, 35, both residents of Ishwargram, Habibur Rahman, 35, of Moniram Bari, Mustafizur Rahan, 32, of Nandibari, and Abdus Salam, 40, of Atani Bazar at Muktagachha, Hasan, 40, of Dubail at Haluaghat, and Shahar Ali, 40, of Banda Chetulia in Jamalpur.
   One of the deceased could not be immediately identified.
   The critically injured Harun-or-Rashad, 42, of Kaliani Kanda and Faizur Rahman, 26, of Kuthi Kora, all of Haluaghat, were admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
   The Trishal police officer-in-charge, Abu Al Khair Matabbur, visited the spot. The bodies were sent for post-mortem examinations. The police seized the truck, but the driver managed to get away.
   The Mymensingh deputy commissioner, Ziaur Rahman Khan, additional police superintendent Aktaruzzaman and assistant police superintendent Raihan Uddin also visited the spot.
   The police said the microbus passengers were going to join the second-day programme of the 8th founding anniversary of the group at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Confe-rence Centre in Dhaka.

Two operatives of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, arrested along with 28 homemade grenades in Chittagong last week, will be sent to Dhaka today for interrogation, police officials said.
   The two militants, Masum and Khorshed, were arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion on December 30 at their hideout at Teribazar in the port city.
   They were remanded in the custody of Kotwali police for questioning on a court order.
   A senior police official said that they were looking for six other JMB militants active in Chittagong following some leads after interrogation of the two.
   ‘The JMB activists are regrouping here and may be plotting to strike again’, he said.
   He also said that the police had raided Halishahar residential area on Friday night to hunt down an activist of the JMB, but he managed to flee. ‘A private university in the city and two madrassahs at Hathazari and Patiya are also under surveillance’, he said adding that special measures had been taken here to thwart any attempts at subversion.

The government has promulgated the Private University Ordinance 2008 with effect from December 30 last, an official handout said Monday.
   With the effect of new ordinance consisting of 52 clauses, the previous Private University Act, 1992 (Act 32 of 1992) will be considered as repealed.
   However, initiatives that have done under the previous act would be treated as the activities of the new ordinance, the handout added.
   All private universities established under the previous act have to follow all the conditions under the new ordinance from the day of its effect. The full ordinance is available at www.moedu.gov.bd web site of the ministry of education.