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Gunmen stormed the office of a market co-operative and fired a fusillade of bullets killing a man and injuring seven others in broad daylight at an under- construction market at Mirpur section 1, in the city on Monday afternoon.
   In protest, students of Mirpur Bangla College took to the streets and attacked vehicles on Darussalam Road disrupting traffic for more than two hours.
   Rivalry over land grabbing and supremacy in the area between two local groups is believed to have led to the bloody incident.
   Local gangsters Shahadat and Khorshed ran a slum on the government land during the rule of the BNP-led alliance but it was demolished by the caretaker government. After the Awami League-led alliance assumed office, people backed by city Chhatra League leader, Anwar Hossain Litu, occupied the land and built the market.
   Abdur Rahim, 40, bodyguard of Litu, died on way to hospital while Anwar, also general secretary of Swadhin Bangla Samabaya Samity, and six others sustained bullet wounds.
   According to witnesses, the gangsters numbering 10 or 12 attacked the Swadhin Bangla Super Market Samabaya Samity office, housed on the ground floor of the under-construction market opposite Sony cinema at Mirpur section 1, at around 2:45pm, spraying bullets and leaving the eight people inside critically injured.
   ‘I saw 10 or 12 gunmen on four motorbikes park 100 metres from the market and walk into the office,’ Niyat Ali, a roadside vendor, told New Age.
   ‘Within moments, I heard the sound of a burst of gunfire. While coming out the gunmen fired in the air to scare off the crowd before speeding away,’ he said.
   Locals and fellow traders took the injured to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the on-duty doctors declared Abdur Rahim dead.
   Those who sustained bullets wounds were Anwar Hossain Litu, 36, in the forehead, Khokon, 35, in the left arm and abdomen, Mehdi Hasan, 30, in the left leg, Bishu, 32, in the abdomen and left arm, Solaiman Hazi, 60, in the right leg, Kamal Hossian 34, in the abdomen and Sekander Molla, 47, in the left thigh, They were admitted to DMCH.
   Iqbal Hossain Titu, elder brother of Litu, told New Age, ‘My brother was the target, but others also fell victim and one of them lost his life…’
   ‘Henchmen of Shamser Ali and local Shahadat-Khorshed group carried out the attack,’ he said.
   Abdur Rahim, worked at the shop of Litu’s younger brother Kamal Hossain, a cable operator. Kamal was also hit by bullets in the attack.
   Local residents alleged that Shahadat-Khorshed gang with the help of local influential Shamser Ali, son of Sharafat Ali, illegally occupied the land and built a slum during the rule of the BNP-led government.
   The land was freed during the rule of the caretaker government and Litu occupied the land in January this year in the name of Swadhin Bangla Super Market. A case remained pending in this connection.
   Gangsters killed Litu’s younger brother Monu on August 15, 2006, following the dispute.
   Md Nizamuddin, officer-in-charge of Mirpur police station,told New Age,
   ‘We believe Chhatra League leader Litu was the target of the assailants.
   We primarily suspect the bloody incident was the result of rivalry over the control of the market and cable business.’
   President of the market association, Abdul Hai, told New Age, ‘Wanted criminals Shahadat and Khorshed, who are in hiding, demanded Taka 1 crore as toll from us and the attack was a sequel to our refusal.’
   Assistant commissioner Mainul Hasan of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Mirpur zone) told New Age, ‘We are investigating the incident… Political rivalry as well as business dispute and row over toll collection could be the reason but we cannot say anything for sure before investigation.’
   Earlier on June 26, armed assailants shot dead three businessmen and injured another at the traders’ association office at Karwan Bazar over refusal to pay toll.

The High Court on Monday scrapped the 13-year sentence against Awami League lawmaker Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir, ruling the special judge court’s verdict illegal.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Mohammad Rais Uddin passed the order allowing the appeal preferred by Mahiuddin Alamgir, a former state minister and now a presidium member of the ruling party, against the special judge court’s verdict delivered on July 26, 2007.
   This is the first High Court judgement in the appeals filed by the convicts, who were sued during the immediate-past military-controlled interim regime.
   The special judge courts, since they began trying high-profile corruption suspects in May 2007, so far delivered verdicts in over 100 cases, filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission during the interim regime.
   The courts sentenced at least 156 people, mostly politicians, to imprisonment for various terms on charges of amassing illegal wealth and hiding asset information from the authorities.
   Emerging from the court, Rafique-ul Huq, the counsel for Mahiuddin Alamgir, told newsmen that people facing cases of similar nature filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission would be benefited from Monday’s High Court judgement.
   ‘All the accused, who were convicted earlier on the similar charges, will get benefit with the precedence of the High Court judgement,’ he said.
   ‘The judges of kangaroo court and its prodders should have realised that people could not be harassed by indicting them in false cases,’ added Rafique.
   The ACC counsel, Khurshid Alam Khan, said, ‘The commission will prefer appeal against the High Court judgement.’
   Rafique said, ‘We have challenged the notification issued by ACC on February 18, 2007 asking Mahiuddin Alamgir to submit his wealth statement.’
   As the court allowed the appeal, that notification stands illegal, he said.
   The commission’s secretary, Delwar Hossain, on February 18, 2007 notified 50 people including Mahiuddin asking for their wealth statements in 72 hours.
   During hearing on the appeal, Rafique had argued that the notification was illegal, as it was issued at a time when there was no commission.
   The commission was reconstituted on February 25, 2007, when ACC chairman, Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, and the two commissioners had assumed office.
   According to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, the commission can notify any person asking for his/her wealth reports, while its secretary issued the notification without any approval of the commission, Rafique had argued.
   As the notification was illegal, the case filed based on it was also illegal, he said.
   Shahed Nooruddin, the judge of the Special Judge’s Court-3 of Dhaka set up in the Jatiya Sangsad Complex, on July 26, 2007 sentenced Mahiuddin to imprisonment for 13 years on charge of amassing wealth, which was disproportionate to his known sources of income, and hiding assets in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   Maihuddin, in his first-hand reaction, told reporters that the false graft cases had been lodged against him, his wife and expatriate sons as he could not agree to give statement against Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister.
   ‘The then head of the government and army-led joint forces put pressure on me to give statement against Sheikh Hasina,’ added Mahiuddin.
   On March 6, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case accusing Alamgir of amassing wealth worth over Tk 3.27 crore beyond his known sources of income. He submitted his wealth statement through his representative on February 22, 2007.
   On February 4, 2007, the army-led joint forces arrested Mahiddin amid the drive against suspected corrupt politicians, business tycoons and other influential people.
   He was released on bail on October 23, 2008.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Monday ordered appointments on an ad hoc basis to the vacant posts in the public service skipping the process of the Public Service Commission amid complaints that manpower shortage is hampering works in ministries, a highly-placed source said.
   She assigned five of her advisers to prepare a report on vacant posts at different ministries and how to fill in those shortly.
   If needed, she said, appointment should be given on an ad hoc basis so that the activities of the ministries and divisions get momentum, a minister told New Age.
   The prime minister issued the instruction at a closed-door meeting of ministers after the formal weekly meeting of the cabinet in the secretariat, said the minister.
   Sheikh Hasina asked her advisers to quickly report on necessary measures to fill in vacant posts after the ministers of finance, agriculture and health complained that the activities of the ministries were being hampered due to shortage of manpower, mainly skilled professionals like doctors and engineers.
   The advisers, who were assigned for the task, are Alauddin Ahmed, Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Syed Modasser Ali, HT Imam and Masihur Rahman.
   The finance minister, AMA Muhith, on Monday told private television channel ATN Bangla that the government might appoint to the vacant posts in the public service on an ad hoc basis as appointment through the Public Service Commission was time consuming.
   ‘As no appointments in the public service has been made during more than last two years and a half, a large number of posts remain vacant…The Public Service Commission told us that it cannot make appointment to such a large number of posts within a short span of time through its normal procedures due to limitations stipulated in the law,’ said Muhith.
   The prime minister on July 10 directed the authorities concerned to take immediate step to recruit physicians against 6,000 vacant posts for reaching medicare facilities to the doorsteps of people as committed by the government.
   ‘If necessary, recruit the new physicians on adhoc basis first and then complete formalities of the Public Service Commission,’ she said at the Reunion 2009 of Dhaka Medical College Alumni Trust marking the 63rd founding anniversary of Dhaka medical college at Shaheed Dr Milon auditorium.
   Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office had issued letters to the presidents and general secretaries of the ruling Awami League’s thana and upazila units asking them to send lists of ‘educated unemployed’ youths by May 30 to give them jobs.
   Upon advice from prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her special assistant Mahabubul Alam Hanif had issued the letters in mid April. Hanif last week told New Age that the PMO got some 7 lakh CVs from the unemployed youths.
   At Monday’s meeting, the prime minister asked the ministers and state ministers to fix targets for three to six months to ensure that the national budget would be implemented fully. ‘I don’t want to hear from you in next June that you have not been able to implement the budgetary objectives,’ Sheikh Hasina was quoted by the minister as saying.
   She also gave directives to take steps to announce Rangpur as the country’s seventh administrative division incorporating eight northern districts.
   She asked the shipping ministry to take initiatives to remove people’s sufferings at ferry ghats during the rainy season, when water level in the rivers go up and pontoons are submerged or displaced, meeting sources said.
   She called for steps so that vehicles carrying perishable goods get priority in ferry service amid reports that hundreds of long-haul buses and trucks, loaded with fresh vegetables, fish and fruits, get stranded for hours at Paturia-Doulatdia ferry ghats on both sides of the Padma river.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party will launch a global campaign against the Indian move to construct a dam across upstream Barak at Tipaimukh in Manipur by sending letters to the heads of state and government of various nations.
   The party will send the letter, signed by its chairperson Khaleda Zia, through diplomatic missions in Dhaka, requesting the world leaders to intervene and prevent a project that will be a death-trap for millions of Bangladeshis, which lies downstream.
   The letter will also be sent to the heads of major international organisations, including the United Nations, said some of BNP’s leaders.
   The party’s top policy-making body, the national standing committee, finalised the draft of the letter in its meeting on Sunday night.
   The draft letter describes the dire impacts on Bangladesh if the dam is constructed across the cross-border river, on which the Meghna river system is dependent. A member of the standing committee, Moudud Ahmed, said they had drafted the letter and it would be sent at a convenient time.
   The dam’s threats to climate, ecology, bio-diversity, agriculture, fisheries, drinking water, and the livelihood of more than one-third of the Bangladeshis have been described in the draft.
   The BNP will remind the global leaders of the clauses of the International River Law that restrict a country from constructing any structure on a common river without the consent of the lower riparian country, said sources.
   Khaleda Zia on June 24 wrote to the Indian premier, Manmohan Singh, apprising him of the concern of the Bangladeshis over the news of the construction of a dam on a common river.
   The BNP has also initiated a move to collect data and information on the Tipaimukh dam and its effects, and will make them public in a programme to which politicians and members of various professional and trade bodies will be invited.

Water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen said on Monday that the all-party parliamentary committee would not be able to visit the Tipaimukh dam project’s site on July 15 as scheduled earlier.
   He said the foreign ministry was yet to get any letter from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka regarding the visit although the committee had made all preparations, including visa processing, for members of the team who will go to Tipaimukh.
   Moreover, the Awami League and the Jatiya Party were set to hold the parties’ council sessions soon, which might also delay the visit, the minister hinted.
   ‘The parliamentary committee’s visit to Tipaimukh will be delayed as we have not received any letter from the foreign ministry for the visit to India till now. Moreover, Awami League and Jatiya Party are set to hold national council sessions soon,’ Ramesh Chandra told reporters at the secretariat.
   The 10-member parliamentary delegation, that includes six Members of Parliament and two water experts, was scheduled to go to India on July 15 to see for themselves the Indian project to construct the dam and hydro-electricity plant on the trans-boundary river Barak, which divides into two rivers — Surma and Kushiara — some distance after entering Bangladesh.
   The minister hoped that the committee would visit the site within this month. ‘I have talked to the foreign minister who has informed me that the ministry is expecting the letter for the Tipaimukh visit from the Indian High Commission within two-three days.’
   Ramesh said his ministry had not received any letter from the leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, containing a list of names for a six-member team, including four experts, to visit the dam site.
   ‘We have not got any letter from the opposition. They [BNP] will have to go with the government’s delegation as there is no scope to send a separate team...We are ready to include their names,’ said the water minister, blaming journalists for making false statements.
   Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 24 suggested at a party rally that the BNP could send its own delegation, including experts, to visit the dam’s site in the Indian state of Manipur.
   Accordingly BNP’s joint secretary general, Nazrul Islam Khan, sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office on June 29, proposing the names for a separate delegation.
   Environmentalists and water experts have expressed concern that the proposed dam on the Barak would destroy the river system in Bangladesh, destroying its ecology and the livelihood of the people.

Seismic studies have shown an earthquake fault within 80 kilometres of the proposed Tipaimukh dam site that could result in a massive quake in the near future, says one Indian expert.
   Dr RK Ranjan Singh, former associate professor of earth science at Manipur University of India, now chairman of the Citizen Concern for Dams and Development, warned of potential earthquake dangers to the dam during a recent interview with the news agency.
   India plans to build the Tipaimukh dam across the River Barak in the north-eastern state of Manipur, in a region that experiences regular quakes, including two that have registered 7 and 8 on the Richter scale in the last 200 years.
   Singh said the River Barak system and its smaller tributaries travelled across the Kashar valley of Assam, with its delta in Bangladesh.
   The river’s ecosystem flows from the source region to the end region of Barak, with the upper source region being situated in a very seismic-sensitive zone, said Singh. Moreover, all the tributaries, including the mainstream Barak, flows along the fault line, itself located in a very weak tectonic zone.
   ‘The river, then, continues through a region of seismic sensitivity,’ he said. Seismic zones are rated from one to five, with five being the rating of greatest danger.
   ‘The area of the dam zone is rated five. Therefore, if the water in the upper catchments of the Barak is dammed it may actually increase the chances of triggering a seismic event,’ said Singh.
   The dam axis is located on this path along the fault line called the Tai Thu fault, considered to be a major fault. For this reason, Singh warned it is not advisable to build the proposed 180 metre-high dam at this site.
   Further, when the area becomes submerged, a range of bio resources will be affected, including endangered species, plants and animals.
   This is considered a gene pool area of bio resources. However, once the water flow is controlled, the gentle ebb and flow of the water rising and receding will stop, with a negative impact upon the wildlife, depending upon the slow cycles of the waters, said Singh.
   Areas to be affected include the haor areas in Bangladesh, particularly the wetlands in the Sylhet region.
   Further, Singh warns that the dam will result in the growing season for farmers being shortened, as a longer dry season will occur. The negative impact of the dam might be felt in the local economy, occupations, fishing communities and within other aspects of community life.

The ruling Awami League will hold its national council session on July 24, the day before the Election Commission’s deadline expires, the party’s general secretary said on Monday.
   The decision was adopted by a joint meeting of AL presidium, the highest policy making body of the party, and the sub-committee for amendments to party constitution and its manifesto, chaired by party chief Sheikh Hasina at her Dhanmondi political office in the city.
   Emerging from the meeting, party’s general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said the party has decided to hold council session on July 24 due to obligation of the Representation of the People Order (Amendment) Act 2009.
   ‘It will be our party’s full-fledged national council, not a special council. We have full preparations to organise the council session,’ he said.
   The party is going to hold its national council session after a lapse of seven years.
   The previous council session was held on December 26, 2002 when Sheikh Hasina was re-elected the party president and Abdul Jalil the general secretary. The committee was elected for a three-year period.
   According to the Representation of the People Order (Amendment) Act 2009, political parties must submit their ratified constitutions to the Election Commission within six months from the first sitting of the ninth parliament. The first session of the ninth parliament began on January 25 and the deadline for submission of party constitutions to EC expires on July 25.
   The party presidium last week decided to seek six months’ time to hold council session to endorse the changes in its constitution agreed earlier and submit the ratified constitution to the EC.
   ‘It is our legal obligation to hold our party’s national council session within the EC-set timeframe as we do not want to deviate from the law that was passed by our government,’ said Ashraf, who holds the local government, rural development and cooperatives portfolio of the AL-led alliance government.
   Responding to a query, he, however, said they have no objection if the Election Commission extends the deadline as per request from any political party. ‘But we will hold our national council session on July 24.’
   The council session will begin at 10:00 am at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city.
   The Monday’s presidium meeting reviewed and endorsed the amendment proposals, put forward by the sub-committee.
   ‘The party’s central working committee will meet on July 22 and adopt the drafts of the amended manifesto and constitution before they are placed to councillors on July 24,’ Ashraf told reporters.
   Earlier, on March 28, AL formed the sub-committee with party president Sheikh Hasina as chair, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury as co-chair and Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin as member-secretary to bring amendments, corrections, additions and subtractions to the party constitution and its manifesto.
   The session will be represented by all organisational districts of the party. A few districts could not yet form their committees. Ashraf said those districts would be asked to elect their councillors by July 20.
   A council-preparatory committee has been formed with party president Sheikh Hasina as its chief and all members of the party central working committee as its members. Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury will chair the reception sub-committee.
   MA Mannan has been made convenor and advocate Rahmat Ali as member-secretary of the election board.

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Monday accused the Election Commission and the government of conspiring against the party so that it fails to complete registration process.
   ‘Conspiracies are on to keep BNP out of registration process. The government and the EC teamed up to obstruct BNP in submitting its constitution approved by its council session,’ he said at the party’s central office.
   ‘They want to establish single-party rule like BKSAL and do not want to see any opposition in the country,’ he said.
   Though no party could submit ratified constitution yet, he EC is now saying they cannot even receive an application to extend the submission deadline as there was no mention about it in the revised RPO act, he regretted.
   Delwar reminded the commission of its attitude towards BNP during the emergency rule and warned them of the consequences if the BNP was not registered. ‘It would bring no good for the country if the BNP is kept out of registration process,’ he said.
   Delwar asked the commission to keep scopes for political parties to submit constitutions after getting those approved in respective council sessions.

The ‘road-march’ of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources and Port to Cox’s Bazar to protest against the government’s reported move to lease out off-shore blocks to international oil companies for hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal reached Chittagong on Monday.
   Hundreds of people stood at different points to express their solidarity with the civic group and create pressure on the government not to sign any such deal when the road-march reached the port city from Mirersharai on the third day.
   Addressing a rally in the Chittagong Shaheed Minar’s premises, the speakers said the spontaneous support of the people proves that they do not want export of gas and are committed to resist any such move at any cost.
   Presided over by the civic group’s Chittagong district’s convenor, Abdul Momen, the rally was also addressed by Dhaka University’s economics teacher MM Akash, central convenor Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah and member secretary Anu Muhammad.
   The speakers alleged that the government was pursuing the plan of the military-backed interim administration to award eight offshore gas blocks to US-based Conoco Philips and one to Ireland-based Tullow.
   As per the scheme, the US company is set to get deep sea blocks 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20 and 21, while the Irish company will be awarded block 5, the civic group claimed.
   A certain quarter in the energy ministry has also been pursuing a production sharing contract with the international oil companies which will allow them to export 80 per cent of the gas in liquid form once it is extracted, the organisers alleged.
   The speakers said that if Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signs the agreement with the multinationals, it will prove that she has come to power after coming to a secret understanding with foreign powers.
   They said that their movement also has the indirect support of many leaders of the major political parties, including the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, as was seen during the movement against the Phulbari coalmine in 2006.
   The Jatiya Gana Front’s convenor Tipu Biswas, Communist Party of Bangladesh’s presidium member Shah Alam, Workers Party’s leaders Abul Hossain and Abdus Sattar, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal’s central leaders Bazlur Rashid Firoz and Shubrangshu Chakravarty, Revolutionary Workers Party’s general secretary Saiful Huq, Democratic Revolutionary Party’s general secretary Mushrefa Mishu, Ganatantri Party’s central leader Mahmudur Rahman Babu, Ganasanghati Andolon’s coordinator Zonayed Saki and Ganatantrik Mazdoor Party’s leader Abdur Rashid Niloo also spoke on the occasion.
   The road-march that began in Dhaka on Saturday stopped at Sitakunda, Barabkunda and Boro Kumira where roadside meetings were held to drum up support against the government’s move to sign a harmful deal with IOCs.
   After the meeting at the port city, the civic group brought out a procession which paraded through the main streets.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to leave the capital for Cairo this morning to attend the July 15-16 Non-Aligned Movement summit at Sharm El Sheikh, a Red Sea resort city of Egypt.
   Around 60 heads of state and government are expected to attend the 15th NAM summit, themed ‘International Solidarity for Peace and Development.’
   Foreign ministry officials said some 110 countries would be represented at the meet that will focus on economic, development and social issues confronting the member-nations as well as the world community as a whole.
   It is the second time that Egypt, one of the founders of the group in 1955 in the era of Cold War, is hosting NAM meet after 1964.
   Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will take over the rotating chair from Cuban leader Raul Castro when the summit opens on Wednesday at Maritim Congress Centre.
   UN secretary-general Ban ki-Moon will address the opening session.
   Besides, representatives of G-77, China and European, African, Asian, Latin American and Caribbean regions will deliver their statements.
   Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will present Bangladesh’s position paper on current global issues, particularly those concerning the NAM domain.
   She is leading a 36-member official delegation and a 14-member media team. Her sister Rehana Siddique is accompanying her in the trip.
   Foreign minister Dipu Moni and foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes are already in Sharm El Sheikh to do the spadework for the summit, preceded by meetings of NAM ministers and senior officials.
   The NAM leaders will listen to the report of the chair of the 14th NAM Summit, Raul Castro, and debate current global economic, political and social crises.
   As programmed, the summit will adopt two main documents—one is Final Document, which will outline the common position of the 118-member group on various issues, and the other is Sharm el-Sheikh Declaration, which will focus on the development of the group itself.
   The NAM Committee on Palestine will debate the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and adopt the Declaration on Palestine.
   A ‘First Ladies Summit’ will be held on the last two days, with a general debate on ‘The Role of Women in Crisis Management’.
   Twenty-five countries joined the first NAM summit in Belgrade of former Yugoslavia in 1961. Now the group has 118 member states, 16 observer countries and nine observer organizations.
   The movement, which represents nearly two-thirds of UN member countries and comprises 55 per cent of the world population, pursues the principle of an independent, democratic policy without alliance with any power or bloc.
   Though it lost much of its relevance with the end of Cold War era, member countries at the 15th summit will try to find some common grounds in the contexts of Iraq and Afghanistan wars and developments over nuclear strengths of Iran and North Korea.

The ruling Awami League presidium members kept mum about BNP leader Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku’s filing of a case against former army chief general Moeen U Ahmed.
   Tuku, former state minister for power, on Sunday sued Moeen for defamation and Tk 100 crore in damages with a Dhaka court,
   which asked the former army chief to explain in three weeks why his house at Baridhara DOHS should not be attached.
   When asked, three AL presidium members — Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta— declined to make any comment in this regard.

At least 10 activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, an associate organisation of ruling Awami League, were injured in a factional clash at the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute on Monday.
   The institute campus sources said a junior student was locked in an altercation with a senior student at the institute in the morning over a dispute. At one stage, the junior student assaulted the senior one. Later, the matter of dispute was negotiated by the classmates of the two students.
   As the information reached the Latif Hostel, a group of angry BCL workers demanded action against the junior student.
   At this, two rival factions of the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute unit of BCL — Zakir-Shahin group and Russel-Kamalesh group — equipped with lethal weapons and hockey sticks started clashing at about 1:00pm. They also chased each other on the road in front of the hostel.
   At least 10 students were injured during the clash and the traffic on the road came to a halt for the clash that lasted for about half-an-hour.
   On information, police rushed the spot at about 1:30pm and brought the situation under control.
   The general students alleged that the police personnel remained silent although the supporters of two clashing BCL groups were moving carrying the weapons in front of the lawmen.
   The officer-in-charge of Shilpanchal police station, Omar Faruk, said that they seized two sharp weapons at the spot, but failed to arrest anyone.
   Police were deployed at the Latif Hostel to check any untoward incident further.

A deep sense of insecurity has gripped political leaders in Khulna following the killing of city corporation ward councillor, Shaheed Iqbal Bither, also a presidium member of Awami Jubo League, early Sunday.
   Iqbal, a former director of Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry and an organiser of games and sports, Iqbal was shot dead near his Musalmanpara residence in the while he was returning home from Sandhishya Bazaar in the city.
   Condemning the dastardly act of killing, leaders of different political parties expressed their deep concern over deteriorating law and order in the city. They told NewAge that they were terrified by the killing and were worried about their own safety and security. They take precaution while going out.
   Khulna district Awami League president and former lawmaker Sheikh Harunur Rashid told New Age that he was scared.
   He said that a total of 31 political leaders, activists and journalists were killed in past seven years and no one was punished in the cases and ‘this culture of impunity might have made the killers even more trigger-happy.’
   Demanding exemplary punishment for the killers, Khulna city BNP joint convener Saharuzzaman Mortuza, told New Age that law and order in Khulna was deteriorating fast in Khulna and none felt safe in such a situation.
   Mortuza, also a leader of the KCCI, said he too had become frightened and that his family did not want him to go out after dusk.
   Condemning the killing of Iqbal, Jatiya Party central organising secretary and Khulna district general secretary, Shafiqul Islam Modhu said that he was terrified and concerned about his own safety.
   Demanding immediate arrest and punishment of the killers, Khulna district Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary, SA Rashid said Iqbal’s murder had left them so scared that they had almost confined themselves to home and party offices.
   Expressing his feeling of insecurity, Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, the Khulna district Workers’ Party general secretary, observed that it had become necessary to mobilise people against such heinous crimes.
   An official of Khulna Metropolitan Police told New Age that there was no reason to be scared as police were at work. The lawmen are working hard for ensuring security not only of political leaders but also of the common people.

Ten people including seven children were killed and dozens wounded Monday in an explosion at the home of a Muslim cleric in central Pakistan where pupils were taught the Qur’an, officials said.
   It was not immediately clear why the explosives detonated on the outskirts of Mian Channu, about 90 kilometres east of Multan in the heart of Pakistan’s most populous and politically important province, Punjab.
   ‘Ten people were killed and 70 others wounded in the explosion,’ local district police chief Kamran Khan said.
   He said an audio cassette, pamphlets of a previously unknown militant group, two suicide jackets, detonators, six rockets and two rocket launchers were recovered from the debris of the house.
   Naeem Sadiq, a doctor at the local hospital, said the dead included three women, a 15-year-old boy and six children aged between six and 12.
   ‘Ten seriously injured have been shifted to the main hospital. We have declared an emergency,’ he added.
   The police said up to 25 homes were damaged due to the force of the explosion, which gouged a huge crater out of the ground.
   Only the outer walls of buildings were left standing, as rescue workers sifted through the rubble under the burning sun and a rocket launcher was visible sticking out of the debris, according to television footage.
   ‘The blast took place inside the house of a local cleric. Children used to come to his house for religious education,’ Khan told reporters.
   ‘The blast was so severe that it formed a big crater and around 25 houses collapsed,’ he told the private Geo television channel.
   Rana Sanaullah, a provincial cabinet minister, said that an investigation was under way into the cause of the blast.
   ‘This was not a formal madrassah but children used to come to get a Qur’anic education,’ he told Geo.
   Pakistan has had a troubled record with madrassahs since the 1980s when then ruler General Zia-ul Haq turned seminaries into nurseries for jihad to help the United States raise a fighting force against Soviet invaders in Afghanistan.

Chasing a target of 277, West Indies were 54 for after 14 overs on the fifth and final day of the first Test match at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent on Monday.
   When last reports came in at 10:45pm, Travis Dowlin and skipper Floyd Reifer were at the crease with 14 and nine runs respectively.
   Sakib al Hasan took the wicket of opener Omar Phillips (14) while the other opener Dale Richards (14) was run out.
   Earlier, resuming the day on 321/5, Bangladesh were all out for 345 as West Indies pacer Darren Sammy took five wickets for 70 runs.
   Sakib al Hasan made 30 while wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim made 30.

The cabinet on Monday approved in principle a bill that proposed enactment of a new law prohibiting graffiti and pasting posters on walls.
   The weekly meeting of the cabinet also approved in principle a bill seeking amendment to the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Act 1996 keeping no age bar for researchers in the council.
   The approvals came at the meeting of the council of ministers, chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina at Cabinet Division in the secretariat.
   Abul Kalam Azad, press secretary to the prime minister, told reporters that the cabinet approved the Graffiti and Poster Pasting Control Bill 2009 to prevent people from writing and pasting posters on walls.
   The billboards meant for government publicity and nation building activities, however, will remain out of the purview of the proposed law, he explained.
   The council of advisers of the military-controlled interim government on November 9, 2008 approved an ordinance titled, Writing on Wall and Poster Pasting Control Ordinance 2008, proposing similar provisions.
   Referring to the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (Amendment) Bill, Azad said the government wanted to amend the law to ensure transparency and accountability in research works in agriculture, considering the importance of modernising the country’s agricultural sector.
   Endorsing the bill, Sheikh Hasina said there should not be any age bar for those researchers who have been working to innovate new technologies for the development of the country’s agriculture sector.
   ‘We should look into the matter carefully that the researchers who have dedicated themselves to modernisation of farm technologies should be kept free from day-to-day financial matters and livelihood concerns,’ Hasina was quoted by her press secretary as saying.
   Azad said the bill was prepared on the basis of opinion from all agriculture research institutions of the country and senior researchers concerned.

Despite complaints of poor civic amenities inflicting metropolitan life everyday, Dhaka stands out as the country’s best city with its population growing at 5 per cent a year as the capital city along with its neighbourhood employs 34 per cent of labour force, shows a study report.
   Dhaka’s urban population growth is higher than national average of 3.5 per cent at a time when
   the percentage of urban population stands at around 30.
   With a huge concentration of industries and service sectors, the greater Dhaka region accounts for 24 per cent of gross domestic product, says the study on ‘City Cluster Economic Development’.
   And the absence of effective local government institutions for providing infrastructure and utility services is found to have hindered decentralisation of development and growth of services and business opportunities.
   Dhaka has been ranked the country’s most attractive city with 7.3 points
   in a scale of 10, still below international level at
   7.5 points, for measuring competitiveness of 10 major cities. There are 522 cities and towns in Bangladesh.
   The competitiveness has been measured in terms of cost of doing business, dynamics of local economy, human resources and training, infrastructures, government responsiveness to business needs and quality of life.
   Chittagong, Sylhet and Comilla have scored 6.32, 5.78 and 5.11 points respectively while Rajshahi and Rangpur got 3.7 and 3.43 points which are considered below national average of 5 points, said the case study done by Centre for Urban Studies, Bangladesh, in collaboration with Asian Development Bank.
   ‘People make influx toward Dhaka as there
   are attractions here,’ Nurul Islam Nazem, secretary
   of the centre, said while presenting the report
   at a seminar in Dhaka Sheraton Hotel on Mon-day.
   ‘Towns around Dhaka could be developed for easing pressure on Dhaka,’ he added.
   ‘The Dhaka city grew spontaneously. Now we have to regulate it pro-perly,’ Nazrul Islam,
   a noted urban planner
   and chairman of University Grants Commission, told the opening session.
   Underlining the importance of implementation of a number of master plans on Dhaka city, he said, ‘We must put in place a law and order plan for the city. Otherwise, we will not be able to attract foreign capital.’
   The industries minister, Dilip Barua, welcomed the new concept of city cluster and said the government would streamline the business activities, industries and investments in greater Dhaka region.

Bangladesh Bank today announces a comprehensive agricultural credit policy containing measures to boost farm output and rural economic activities along with a strengthened supervision on private bank’s loan disbursement.
   It aims to disburse around Tk 11,500 crore loans to farmers across the country. The first ever such policy of the central bank may also have debt relief facility for the farmers affected by natural calamities, Bangladesh Bank officials said.
   ‘We will include unconventional agriculture commodities in the first ever agricultural credit policy,’ said a senior official.
   Farm credit to several sub-sectors would be increased by 15 to 20 per cent.
   Central bank governor Atiur Rahman will announce the new comprehensive agriculture credit plan, which will ask commercial banks to lend money to growers of items like bamboo, mango, papaya, black berry, betel leaf and betel nut, apart from traditional crops.
   Farm credit policies of different countries emphasise augmentation of credit flow in the grassroots through adopting region–specific strategies, rationalisation of lending schemes and procedures, and bringing down the cost of borrowing.
   Bangladesh never adopted such a detailed credit policy. Farm loans are mainly channelled through state-owned specialised and commercial banks on the basis of budgetary allocations, which are sometimes revised upward for post-disaster rehabilitation.
   BB issued guidelines and regulations on various occasions asking banks to disburse adequate credit to the farm sector. But many private and foreign banks cared little about the BB directives, citing their little or no presence in rural areas.
   Another central bank official said those critical issues would be addressed in the credit policy.
   ‘Some commercial banks could tie up with NGOs to reach out to the farmers,’ he added.
   To support higher production, annual target for agricultural credit disbursement was set at Tk 9,380 crore for fiscal year 2008-09, 13 per cent higher over the previous year. Of the total, Tk 6,910 crore was disbursed during the first three quarters of the year till March, official data showed.

Britain has revoked five Israeli arms export licences over the Gaza war, blocking the supply of replacement parts to navy gunships used in the offensive, officials and reports said on Monday.
   ‘The foreign office told the Israeli embassy in London last week that following a decision by parliament, Great Britain will stop the sale of certain arms’ to Israel, a senior official said.
   The move came after the British government reviewed all 182 licences for arms exports to Israel and ultimately decided to cancel five, which cover spare parts for Saar missile boats, said the Haaretz daily.
   By participating in the Gaza war, the boats ‘violated the security agreements between Britain and Israel, which specify what uses may be made of British equipment,’ Haaretz quoted the British directive as saying.
   The British embassy in Israel said in a statement that there is ‘no partial arms embargo on Israel’ as such a move would not improve the current situation in the Middle East.
   ‘In light of Operation Cast Lead, and in line with our obligations after a conflict, we conducted a review of extant export licences for Israel,’ it said.
   ‘We judged that in a small number of cases Israeli action in Operation Cast Lead would result in the export of those goods now contravening the consolidated criteria. These licences have been revoked.
   ‘We do not grant export licences where there is a clear risk that arms will be used for external aggression or internal repression,’ it said.
   The Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, brushed off the sanctions, telling public radio: ‘We’ve had many embargoes in the past... We can manage. This shouldn’t bother us.’
   Israel launched its devastating three-week war on Gaza in December. More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the offensive that has been widely criticised around the globe.

At least 25 female teachers and students of Chunkutia Girls High School were wounded in an attack by an eve teaser and his associates Monday afternoon.
   The authority declared closer of the school for an indefinite period demanding immediate arrest and exemplary punishment for the attackers.
   Witnesses said Suny, an Awami League activist and nephew of local leader of the party, was teasing a student of Class VII at the school gate at about 4:00pm. Finding indecent behaviour of the youngster, a teacher raised objection.
   This angered Suny. Soon he returned with a dozen of his associates and launched indiscriminate attack on the teachers and students. They ransacked the classes, assaulted and manhandled female teachers and students leaving 25 of them wounded.
   On information police and RAB went to the spot and arrested Islam, father of Suny.

A trader was stabbed to death and four others were injured by a group of alleged robbers at South Kayempur of Fatullah in Narayanganj early Monday.
   The deceased was Sawkat Ali, 55.
   According to the police, some eight to 10 people, in masks and equipped with firearms, knives and hammers, entered the three-storey building of the victim after breaking open the collapsible gate. They tied up hands and legs of the family members of the victim and stabbed them.
   At one stage, they stabbed Sawkat Ali in the neck, killing him on the spot. The robbers looted Tk 20,000 in cash and 15 tolas of gold.
   Other injured family members of the victim are Nasima Akhter, 42, Shafiqul Islam Shuva, Monir, 30, Konika and Zabed Mia, 45. Critically injured Monir was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Import of coal from India through four customs stations of Sylhet will resume in a couple of days following withdrawal of restriction imposed by the environment ministry.
   District Coal Importers’ Association leader Kolunder Ali Monday said they would resume import of coal from India in a day or two. An inter-ministerial meeting in Dhaka on July 8 decided to withdraw the restriction.
   The meeting decided to waive the restriction until June 30, 2010.

Nepal’s new government said Monday it would provide almost 1,300 dollars to inter-caste couples when they marry to discourage discrimination against the lowest Dalit caste.
   The finance minister, Surendra Pandey, said inter-caste marriages were still frowned upon, and he hoped that the 100,000-rupee (1,270-dollar) payment would help such couples in the early days of their marriage.
   ‘Society still rejects inter-caste marriage between Dalits and non-Dalits and the initial days of couples thus married are normally tough,’ he told parliament as he presented the government’s new budget.
   ‘To encourage such inter-caste marriage, the government will provide a grant of 100,000 rupees to the newly married couple within 30 days of marriage registration.’
   Discrimination against Dalits, who make up around 13 per cent of Nepal’s population, was outlawed in the 1960s. But the tradition of ‘untouchability’ survives, particularly in rural areas, where Dalits are frequently banned from entering temples or drinking from communal wells.
   Subash Darnal, a caste activist who is himself a Dalit, welcomed the new policy but said the government would have to take care to prevent abuses.
   ‘This sounds like a very good initiative from the government side,’ he said.
   ‘But very good initiatives can go wrong if they are not carried out seriously. What would happen if the husband accepted the money then abandoned his wife?’