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The state minister for home affairs, Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj, on Monday submitted his resignation to prime minister Sheikh Hasina, sources close to Taj told New Age.
   He showed personal grounds for his resignation but, the sources said, his apparent inability to work to his satisfaction might have prompted the decision.
   Sohel Taj, the youngest of the present government’s ministers and state ministers, sent his resignation letter to the prime minister through his personal secretary, Md Mojakker Ali, in the morning.
   Awami League lawmaker Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapas, when asked at around noon in the Supreme Court’s premises, admitted that Sohel Taj had tendered his resignation.
   Sohel Taj, who was praised by Hasina at the cabinet meeting on May 26 for his performance, did not specify any reason for his resignation.
   In his resignation letter he mentioned ‘personal grounds’ only, said the sources.
   Sohel Taj, son of Tajuddin Ahmed, the country’s first prime minister, neither went to his office nor attended Monday’s regular cabinet meeting.
   According to the sources, he told his close relations that he had decided to resign for ethical reasons only.
   The prime minister, however, did not accept his resignation letter till Monday night.
   A highly placed source close to Hasina told New Age last night that the prime minister had not yet taken any final decision in this regard.
   This is the first instance of resignation by any minister or state minister since the Awami League-led government assumed office on January 6.
   Afsar Uddin Ahmad Khan, younger brother of Tajuddin Ahmed, who was made state minister for housing and public works by the previous Awami League government, had to quit after briefly serving the government.
   After Monday’s cabinet meeting, the prime minister sent LGRD and cooperatives minister Syed Ashraful Islam to persuade Taj to withdraw the resignation letter, said sources close to both of them.
   Ashraf met Sohel Taj at the latter’s sister’s house in Dhanmondi at about 5:00pm. He talked with Taj for an hour but failed to make him change his mind, sources said.
   On Sunday evening Taj met Sheikh Hasina at Jamuna, her official residence, to submit his resignation letter but she, instead of accepting it, asked him to pay attention to his duties, sources close to the prime minister told New Age.

Two suspected criminals were killed in ‘encounter’ with the police and Rapid Action Battalion personnel at separate spots in capital Dhaka and Narsingdi early on Monday.
   Of them, Akter Hosain Kalu, 25, a suspected member of notorious criminal gang of Shahadat Bahini, was killed in ‘crossfire’ with police near Botanical garden under Shah Ali police station in the city.
   In the other incident, Mongal Miah, 25, a suspected highway bandit, was killed in a gunfight with RAB at Shibpur in Narsingdi early on Monday.
   Acting on a tip off, a police team arrested Kalu from Berirbandh Balurmath area under Shah Ali police station in the city at about 11:00pm on Sunday.
   Based on a statement of Kalu about a clandestine meeting of his associates near the Botanical Garden at the dead of night, a police team headed for the spot along with him.
   As they reached near the garden, suspected ‘criminals’ opened fire on them, forcing the law-enforcers to retaliate that triggered a gunfight there.
   The fight continued for a few minutes and police found Kalu lying injured while the others retreated from the scene, police claimed.
   Police took Kalu to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where attending doctors declared him dead.
   Police seized four sharp weapons and some used cartridges from the spot.
   Akbar Ali Babu, elder brother of Kalu, said that his brother used to sell vegetables at Mirpur-1 kitchen market.
   Police had picked up Kalu from Uttar Bishil in Mirpur area at around 7:00pm on Sunday. but when his family contacted the police station, they found he had not been taken there, said Babu.
   On Monday morning, they came to know that he had been shot dead in an ‘encounter’ with police at Botanical Garden, Babu said.
   Police said Kalu, who was sentenced to 14 years jail term in an arms case, was freed on bail one and a half month ago.
   In Narsingdi, a RAB-11 patrol team came to know that a gang of robbers were preparing to commit robbery after placing logs on Shibpur-Narsingdi road.
   As a vehicle carrying the members of RAB-11 was passing through the road, the bandits fired shots on them at about 3:00am, triggering a gun fight.
   At one stage, the bandits retreated from the scene, leaving behind the body of their associate Mongal, who was wanted in seven cases, including two murder murder cases, RAB officials said.
   With the death of Kalu and Mongal, a total of 30 people have so far been killed in ‘encounter’ with the law enforcers since the Awami League-led alliance government assumed office in January.

Odhikar, a human rights organisation, has demanded immediate measures to stop extra-judicial killings by lawmen and ensure prosecution of the perpetrators.
   In its monthly report on human rights situation in Bangladesh in May, the organisation said a total of 29 people were killed in the hands of law enforcers in incidents of so-called ‘crossfire’ after the Awami League-led government had assumed office on January 6, 2009.
   Among them, 15 were killed in May alone although the foreign minister, Dipu Moni, had iven assurance during the Universal Periodic Review of Bangladesh at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 3 that the government would show zero-tolerance towards extra-judicial killings, torture and custodial deaths, said the Odhikar report published Monday.
   The home affairs minister, Sahara Khatun, on the other hand, was quoted as saying, ‘The law enforcers should have the right to save themselves when they come under attack. Incidents of encounter occur only when members of the law enforcement agencies come under attack from criminals.’
   The extra-judicial killings continue with the ministers issuing contradictory statements, according the organisation working for upholding human rights issues.
   Odhikar has appealed to the government for immediate measures to implement the UNHRC electoral undertakings and stop human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings and torture.
   It mentioned that Bangladesh was elected a member of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council for the second time on May 12, 2009. Several incidents of human rights violations took place here after the election, which was a violation of the electoral undertakings, said the report.
   The organisation expressed deep concern for the deaths of BDR jawans and torture in custody following the February 25-26 rebellion and killings at the Bangladesh Rifles’ headquarters in Dhaka.
   It also expressed concern for ‘unnatural deaths’ of the Bangladeshi workers abroad.
   Odhikar reported that 10 Bangladeshis were killed by the Border Security Force of India in May.
   The organisation recommended ensuring transparency and accountability in regard to publishing an accurate list of detained/arrested and fugitive BDR members. It also urged the government to stop torture on BDR members in custody.

An international rights group has voiced concerns over alleged human rights abuses in Bangladesh, especially extra-judicial killings in recent times, lamenting that the perpetrators were not being brought to book while the victims have no scope for making complaints for accessing the justice system.
   The Asian Legal Resource Centre in a statement on Monday accused the Awami League government of allowing impunity to the perpetrators of such abuses and reminded that the ruling party in its elections manifesto had pledged to stop extra-judicial killings.
   The Centre cited ‘grave and widespread human rights abuses’, including ill-treatment, custodial torture, extra-judicial killings, restrictions on the freedoms of expression and the press.
   The non-governmental organisation having consultative status at the Human Rights Council under the UN General Assembly, called on the government to allow visits of rights groups to monitor the situation and also urged the Council to take immediate steps to address the situation in Bangladesh.
   From January to May 2009, since the new AL government came to power, some 20 extra-judicial killings in the form of ‘crossfire’ have been recorded following as many as 315 of such killings in 2006, 184 in 2007 and 149 in 2008, the human rights group pointed out.
   The police, the Rapid Action Battalion, the armed forces and other paramilitary forces are perpetrators of such abuses, according to the centre which blamed the state minister for home affairs, Tanjim Ahmed Sohel, for commenting that law-enforcers had the right to self-defence.
   About the deaths of some 20 soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles in custody after the mutiny on February 25, the centre said despite there being evidence of serious injuries on their bodies, the authorities had claimed that the deaths mainly resulted from ‘suicide’ or ‘heart attack’.
   The ALRC is concerned that the authorities in Bangladesh continued to provide blanket justifications for killings that, allied with the lack of investigations into such cases, engenders impunity and further abuses, read the statement.
   It also referred to the foreign minister Dipu Moni, who expressed the government’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy with regard to extra-judicial killings.
   In the first four months of 2009, at least 112 women and girls have been raped in the country. In one case, a woman from an ethnic minority group was gang raped by four policemen, according to the statement.
   The Asian Legal Resource Centre also termed the separation of judiciary ‘only nominal’ explaining that the government might empower any of its executive magistrates to take cognisance of any criminal case bypassing the original judiciary.
   Dwelling on the government’s decision to withdraw ‘politically motivated fabricated cases’ that have been pending trial, the centre said this process has created new opportunities for perpetrators of various crimes to go unpunished and would likely benefit the members and associates of the ruling political parties.
   It called upon the government to enact a law on criminalisation of torture and custodial deaths, already tabled in the parliament as a private member’s bill.

The cabinet on Monday decided to advance Bangladesh Standard Time by one hour from midnight June 19 to save electricity during evening peak hours.
   ‘From midnight June 19 the new Bangladesh time will be GMT plus 7 hours instead of the current GMT plus 6 hours. The new BST will virtually be permanent standard time for Bangladesh if the time change does not make any major negative impact,’ prime minister’s adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury told New Age on Monday.
   The weekly cabinet meeting, chaired by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, approved the new BST based on a proposal of the power and energy ministry to introduce daylight saving time by advancing clock by one hour for saving electricity and gas during evening peak hours.
   Clocks will be set at 1:00am at midnight June 19 and the sun will effectively set at around 7:50pm instead of 6:50pm last year.
   ‘All times, for prayers or office, schools or flights and shops and farming, will have to be advanced by one hour. Because of the time change, we will get more daylight and work in every sector could be finished during daytime reducing power consumption during evening hours,’ said Tawfiq.
   As per the ministry proposal, 250-300MW of electricity and 10-20 million cubic feet of gas could be saved during evening peak hours when the DST is introduced as there will be more daylight during evening hours and less consumption of electricity.
   Although the ministry proposed that the DST could be introduced from June 15 to be effective till September 30 this year and again for six months every year beginning from April 1, 2010, the cabinet felt that it would be hazardous for people to get used to clock change every year, said sources present at the meeting.
   ‘The energy ministry’s original plan was to continue DST till September 30 and go back to GMT plus 6 hours time in winter. But the cabinet felt that GMT plus 7 hours time should be continued as the demand for electricity during winter is relatively low,’ said a source.
   He said although the initial plan was to introduce the DST from June 15, the cabinet decided to start it midnight Friday (June 19) so that there was no confusion during the Jumma prayers on June 19.
   Tawfiq, however, said that they would observe and assess what benefits the time change would bring before thinking about whether to go back to the original time.
   When asked how the government would let the countrymen know about the new time, Tawfiq said that a campaign would be launched. ‘We ask for media support in this regard.’
   Sources in the energy ministry said it would hold a meeting today to devise a mechanism for informing people about the new time.
   Briefing reporters, prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad earlier said that many countries, including the United States, Canada, most European countries, Brazil, and a few Middle-Eastern countries had introduced DST and introduction of DST would reduce power crisis in Bangladesh.
   At present there is a daily demand for 5,000MW of electricity while around 3,800MW power is generated.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Monday said ‘conspirators’ were still active to turn Bangladesh into a ‘failed state’ and called on the people to be united to thwart such designs.
   ‘The nation is passing through bad times. Conspirators at home and abroad are active against the country’s independence and sovereignty. We have to be united to face the plots,’ she told a gathering at Aganagar Gudaraghat after distributing food among the destitute.
   At Aminbazar of Savar, she said, ‘Moves are on to destroy Bangladesh and the vultures are not only hovering over the country but are about to spring on the map to tear it apart.’
   After assuming office, the Awami League has started implementing its pledges to foreigners, instead of the pledges to the people, she said.
   ‘A new dam is being constructed at Tipaimukh which will result in desertification of vast areas of the country and the route of Asian Highway has been changed to benefit a certain country,’ she said and urged the people to wage a united movement to resist the moves.
   Khaleda distributed food among poor people at 21 points in the city and its outskirts on the concluding day of the three-day programme of the BNP marking the 28th anniversary of death of the party’s founder Ziaur Rahman.
   Khaleda said the economic situation had turned worse and prices of essentials continued to rise.
   ‘There are no development activities in the country… At this crucial juncture we all need to face up to conspiracies,’ she said.
   ‘The people had been without democracy for long. But, no improvement has been seen even after this government came to power,’ she said.
   Party standing committee member Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, vice-chairperson Sarwari Rahman, joint secretaries general Gayeshwar Roy and Mirza Abbas accompanied Khaleda.

The emergency repair and reconstruction of flood-control dams and embankments breached by tidal surges, caused by cyclone Aila on May 25, are yet to begin in most districts in the south, even a week after the disaster that inundated large tracts of land.
   Even the dams and embankments damaged by super-cyclone Sidr in 2007 were not repaired, which resulted in damage and inundation on May 25 that were far more severe than they should have been.
   A total stretch of about 168km of flood-control dams was damaged completely and 1060km partially in nine southern districts, along with 296 sluice gates and other installations.
   Sources in the Water Development Board said they have submitted a demand letter for allocation of Tk 650 core to the ministries concerned, but repair work is yet to be started as the fund has not been approved so far, reported our correspondent in Barisal.
   WDB sources said the ministry had asked them to start repair work under the Food for Work programme as allotment of fund before the budget might not be possible.
   Our correspondent in Patuakhali said the local office of the WDB has started repairing dams in several places of the district.
   People marooned in the coastal districts said that more areas would be flooded if the dams were not repaired before the appearance of the next full moon.
   Villages and croplands are being inundated by saline water during high tide. If they cannot be protected from saline water, cultivation of Aman rice might not be possible this season, said Fazlul Karim, a farmer of village Nachna Para in Kalapara of Patuakhali.
   Another farmer of the same village said that they are suffering very much as they failed to reconstruct their houses because of the water that rushes into the villages during high tide through the breaches in the dams.
   Md Zahirul Islam, executive engineer of the WDB in Patuakhali, told New Age that they have begun repair work in Lalua, Chakamoya and Khaprabhanga unions of Kalapara, Panpatti, Barabaishdia and Maudubi unions of Galachipa, and Kachipara, Dhulia, Kalaia and Keshabpur unions of Bauphal.
   WDB sources in Barisal said the proposed repair and reconstruction budget of the dams and embankments damaged by Sidr had been reduced to Tk 725 crore from Tk 2,000 crore due to fund crunch. Later a Tk 180.84 crore project was approved by the World Bank which included construction, repair and rehabilitation of flood-control dams and embankments, but the project could not be implemented due to fund replacement crisis.
   In such a situation the WDB’s zonal office in Barisal sought an initial sanction of Tk 131 crore to repair and reconstruct damaged dams and embankments in six districts of the division: Barisal, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Barguna, Bhola and Jhalakati
   Barisal WDB sources said that at least Tk 49.38 crore was needed for immediate reconstruction of at least an 8km stretch of dams, repair of 44km stretch of dams and 43 regulators.
   If repair is not completed within June, monsoon rains and storms and astronomical tides would throw the situation totally out of control, they warned.
   The chief engineer of Barisal zone WBD, AKM Mokhlesur Rahman, and superintending engineer, Akhtar Alam, said it would take a much longer time to complete the repair work if allocation of fund was delayed.

The cabinet on Monday decided that the government would not make any appeal to the international community at the moment for aid for rehabilitation of the people affected by the cyclone Aila.
   The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, told the cabinet meeting that the government could tackle the situation on it own with domestic resources and would rather seek foreign assistance in construction of embankments and shelter centres in the disaster-prone coastal districts for a permanent solution to the problem, said a meeting source.
   The meeting, held at the cabinet division, also decided to suspend realisation of agricultural loans from farmers in the cyclone-affected areas until further order.
   The government will also request non-government organisations not to create pressure on the Aila-affected people to repay agricultural loans, food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzaque told New Age.
   ‘Natural calamities regularly visit the country. So the government will not seek any immediate foreign assistance to tackle the situation, rather we will seek their assistance in construction of embankments and cyclone shelters for a permanent solution…,’ Hasina was quoted by the food and disaster management minister as saying.
   The prime minister also told the meeting that no government building would be constructed at ground level in the disaster-prone areas, meeting sources said.
   Cyclone Aila struck the country’s south-western coast on May 25 battering 51 upazilas of 11 districts and killing 179 people by official count to date.
   The meeting took a decision to repair the damaged embankments in the Aila-hit districts, the prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters. It also decided to keep open the disaster management control rooms at upazila level.
   The cabinet assigned two ministers, one adviser to the prime minister, one state minister and the Khulna city mayor to oversee relief operation in the cyclone-hit areas, Azad said.
   Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque will monitor relief activities in Satkhira, the prime minister’s economic affairs adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman and Khulna city mayor Talukdar Abdul Khalek in Khulna, while state minister for LGRD and cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak would monitor relief operation in Barisal and Bhola and state minister for religious affairs Shahjahan Miah in Patuakhali district.
   At the meeting, the prime minister asked the health minister to send more medical teams to the affected areas, sources said.
   The meeting also reviewed progress of implementation of the decisions so far taken by the nearly six-month-old cabinet of Sheikh Hasina.
   All the ministries narrated their activities and progress of implementation of the decisions taken by the cabinet after the Awami League-led government assumed office on January 6. Hasina expressed her satisfaction over the activities of the ministries.
   Azad said a total of 124 decisions were taken in the 23 cabinet meetings held since January 7 till May 25 and of these 67 decisions had been implemented fully and 57 others were being implemented.
   ‘Drafts of 68 acts have been finalised. Of the drafts, 37 turned into laws through 32 bills in parliament. Eleven draft acts are waiting to be placed in the house through 10 bills and others are still under process in the ministries and departments concerned,’ Azad said.
   Hasina asked all concerned to work sincerely to implement the cabinet’s decisions.
   The army has been given the responsibility to construct and repair damaged embankments in three upazils – Swarankhola, Syamnagar and Asasuni. The cabinet asked the army to monitor the relief activities in other upazilas. Hasina asked the armed forces to brief their activities in the Aila-affected areas through ISPR, meeting sources said.

The parliament speaker, chief whip and opposition chief whip on Monday failed to reach a consensus over the row centring on the seat plan in the house.
   A meeting of the chief whip, Abdush Shahid, and the opposition chief whip, Zainul Abdin Farroque, and the speaker, Abdul Hamid, ended without any decision.
   After the meeting which continued for about an hour, Abdush Shahid said the discussion would continue. But Farroque said there had been no progress and declined further comments.
   Former Jatiya Sangsad speaker Jamiruddin Sircar before the first session of the ninth parliament allocated 10 seats in the front row to the speaker’s left to opposition lawmakers, including one to LDP lawmaker Oli Ahmed.
   Taking over as speaker, Abdul Hamid, on the demand from the treasury bench changed the seating arrangement, allocating four seats in the front row to opposition lawmakers, including one for Oli Ahmed.
   BNP lawmakers then boycotted the parliament in protest against the speaker’s decision.
   They later attended the first session on assurance of the speaker that their demands would be considered.

At least 428 students of eight primary schools in Lakshmichari upazila of Khagrachari fell sick after taking biscuits distributed under feeding programme of the United Nations World Food Programme Monday morning.
   Of the sick students, over 150 were admitted to Lakshmichari and Manikchari hospitals, physicians said.
   Local administration sources said the students fell sick shortly after eating the biscuits, provided by the UN food agency.
   The biscuits were distributed to the students of Jarulchari School, Lakshmichari Model School, Lakshmichari School, Monglapara School, Kuttachhara School, Binajuri School, Muttachari School and Dipipara School under the WFP programme that began Monday.
   The Lakshmichari UNO, Salimuddin, told the news agency that the biscuits were first distributed among 81 children of Lakshmichari Model School at about 10:00am during their morning break.
   ‘Shortly after taking the biscuits, students developed dizziness, drowsiness, stomach pain and vomiting tendency,’ he said.
   Informed by school’s headmaster, Polash Kanti Dey, the UNO and local army unit rushed in and started providing treatment to the sick children.
   The army zonal commander, Shariful Islam, said most of the children were released after first aid and about 150 were undergoing treatment at Lakshmichari and Manikchari hospitals.
   ‘But, there is nothing to be worried about as all the children are now out of danger,’ a source in the Civil Surgeon Office said.
   Health officials, however, could not confirm the nature of the sickness.
   Local MP Jyotidranath Tripura visited the spot.
   Meanwhile, WFP officials could not be reached for comment.
   The district administration sources said distribution of biscuits in Mahalchari upazila was stopped halfway through while withdrawn in Ramgarh upazila.

A good number of people in Koyra upazila, badly affected by the cyclone Aila, are forced to sell their cattle and poultry birds for meagre prices for want of animal fodder and poultry feed.
   The cyclone Aila, which ripped through the southern coastal districts on May 25 triggering giant water surges, killed 41 people, 1,562 cattle and 1,200 poultry birds and damaged partly or totally more than 13,820 houses affecting 1,52,496 people of all the seven unions of the upazila, according to the upazila administration statistics.
   The administration sources said that 50 thousand people had taken shelter at 61 shelter centres, while a large number of victims had taken refuge on embankments and roads, leaving their homesteads inundated by water whipped up by the cyclone and gushing through the breaches of embankments.
   According to the upazila livestock department statistics, there are 50,000 cows, 1,200 buffalos, 9,000 goats, 5,000 sheep, 80,000 poultry birds in the affected areas of the upazila.
   Relief workers said vast areas of the upazila were still under water and that there was a severe crisis of fodder and water for cattle which were forced to drink saline water dangerously polluted by decomposing carcasses.
   There has been an outbreak of waterborne diseases not only in humans but also in cattle in the worst affected villages, said Abdul Majid, 45, of village Madinabad of the upazila. He has taken shelter on the embankment near his village and sold his only goat for Tk 800, the price of which would otherwise be almost double.
   ‘Taking advantage of the situation, traders are visiting us to buy cattle and poultry birds and we are selling the flocks for meagre prices as we badly need money’, said Amena Bibi, 45, of a village in Koyra.
   ‘There is a crisis of fodder and water for cattle in the affected areas and the marooned people need relief,’ said Dakkhin Bedkashi union parishad chairman Shamsur Rahman.
   Khulna district livestock officer Obaidul Karim told New Age that the outbreak of animal diseases had not yet turned alarming and that the affected people were selling their cattle and poultry birds due to a severe crisis of fodder and safe drinking water as well as for money that they badly needed to buy food.

The High Court on Monday asked the government to set up food courts at every district headquarter across the country within one year in line with the Pure Food Ordinance 1959.
   A High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed also asked the government to appoint food analysts and food inspectors in all districts.
   The court ordered the government to report by July 1, 2010 the implementation of the court orders.
   The court passed the orders in its verdict in a public interest litigation writ filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.
   In the verdict, the court also underscored the need for framing rules under the Pure Food Ordinance for proper implementation of the law.
   ‘It is the duty of the government to ensure the right to life and individual liberty as per Article 32 of the constitution. The word “life” means ensuring healthy livelihood. So, the government is constitutionally bound to ensure pure food for all,’ the court observed.
   The same court on January 18 had asked the government to explain why it would not be directed to constitute food courts and appoint food analysts and food inspectors in all districts.
   During the hearing, deputy attorney general M Enayetur Rahim sought time for a year to implement the provisions mentioned in the Section 4 [Food Analysts] and Section 41 [Food Court] of the ordinance.
   The rights organization’s counsel Manzill Murshid told the court that dishonest businessmen were producing and marketing adulterated food in Bangladesh. ‘The life and health of the citizens are under threat due to adulterated food,’ he said.
   He cited artificial food colour, urea fertiliser, formalin and other ‘poisonous and deleterious ingredients’ as adulterants found in food. Manzil argued that the government failed to take sufficient steps to stop such adulteration.
   He further said that it was the right of the citizens to get pure food. ‘But adulterated food flooded the market, which is clear violation of citizen’s rights,’ said the lawyer.

Three former officials of the Criminal Investigation Department, charged with the shielding the culprits of the grenade attack on an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004 and putting the investigation on the wrong track, secured bail from a Dhaka court on Monday.
   The judge of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court, ANM Bashir Ullah, granted them bail upon a bond of Tk 1 lakh each.
   The three officials are assistant police superintendents Mohammad Abdur Rashid and Munshi Atiqur Rahman and special superintendent Mohammad Ruhul Amin. Rashid and Munshi Atiq were the investigation officers while Ruhul Amin was the supervising officer of the case.
   The former CID officials, after emerging from the court, claimed to be innocent and said they were not involved in the arrest of George Miah, who was cast in the role of scapegoat by investigators who wanted to protect the real culprits.
   Public prosecutor Shah Alam said the accused, despite holding important government posts and being responsible for digging out the truth, tried to conceal the facts and shield the real culprits by ‘staging the George Miah drama’.
   The three former CID officials surrendered before the same court on May 12 for securing bail. They had previously tried to get bail after surrendering to the High Court on April 13.
   The bench of Justice MA Wahab Mia and Justice Marje-ul Haque turned down their pleas and asked them to surrender to the lower court within eight weeks. It also directed the law enforcing agencies not to arrest or harass them during the period.
   The CID’s senior assistant police superintendent Fazlul Kabir, the investigation officer of the case who submitted the charge-sheet to the court in 2008, filed the case with the Paltan police station on March 29 against the three former police officers.
   According to the complaint, the officials tried to divert the case by concealing facts and implicating a number of innocent people.
   The charges include destroying evidence and forcing people to make confessional statements. They arrested at least 22 innocent people to shield the culprits.
   The grenade attack on the Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 left at least 24 people, including front ranking AL leader Ivy Rahman, dead and scores of others, including Sheikh Hasina, injured.

An Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris was feared to have crashed into the Atlantic on Monday after suffering an electrical failure while flying through a fierce storm.
   Air France said the Airbus A330-200 jet was probably hit by lightning, the airline said. The Brazilian and French air forces sent out search planes and other countries were on alert.
   If it is confirmed that all 228 people were killed it would be the worst loss of life in Air France’s history and civil aviation’s worst accidental disaster for more than a decade.
   ‘We are without a doubt faced with an aviation catastrophe. The entire company is thinking of the families and shares their pain,’ Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters.
   The French ecology minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, said hijacking had been ruled out and that the plane had probably had some kind of accident.
   ‘There’s nothing on Spanish radar, nothing on Moroccan radar, nothing on French radar. We can seriously envisage the worst,’ Borloo said.
   The minister said there were ‘powerful’ tropical storms in the zone. ‘It is the kind of jet made to handle this kind of circumstance but there must have been a build up of circumstances,’ he said.
   Flight AF 447 sent an automatic error message reporting a fault in an electrical circuit at 0214 GMT, just over four hours after it left Rio, Gourgeon said.
   ‘The most likely thing is that the plane was hit by lightning. The plane was in a stormy area with strong turbulence, which provoked problems,’ Francois Brousse, Air France’s director of communications, said separately.
   Borloo was among top French officials sent to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, where relatives of the 216 passengers and 12 crew were being cared for by doctors and psychologists.
   The passengers were made up of 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby, Air France said. There were nine flight attendants and three flight crew.
   Three Italians, three Moroccans and two Lebanese were among those on board, according to reports and officials. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, told Sky Television that he ‘feared they may be British citizens aboard.’
   Flight AF 447 left Rio at about 7:00pm (2200 GMT) on Sunday night for the 9,145 kilometre flight which would normally take 10 hours and 20 minutes.
   The Brazilian air force said its planes had scrambled to search for the jet off its northeast coast. A French military reconnaissance plane also flew out of Senegal to take part in the search.

Indian national Daud Merchant alias Abdur Rauf and another close assicuate of the Dubai-based Indian mafia don, Daud Ibrahim, confessed they had plotted to kill Bharatiya Janata Party leader and chief minister of Gujrat, Narendra Modi, during interrogation for the second day on Monday.
   Merchant provided significant information on the plot to kill the Indian ministers for their oppression and killing of Muslims in India, said sources in the interrogation team, a combine of various intelligence agencies and the Rapid Action Battalion.
   Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh alias Mujahid, along with Kamal Mia who had sheltered them, are now being interrogated after being taken on eight days of remand in the case under Passport Act with Adabar police on Saturday.
   In an overnight raid from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, the Detective Branch arrested Daud Merchant and Zahid at a house in Brahmanbaria.
   ‘We decided to kill Gujrat’s chief minister Narendra Modi and some others leaders who instigated Hindus to kill innocent Muslims in India,’ said a source in the interrogation team, quoting Merchant.
   He also said that their kingpin, Daud Ibrahim, and his second-in-command, Chhota Shakil, handed over the charge of killing them to some of their gangsters in India.
   Investigators said Merchant confessed his wife had met him in Brahmanbaria in the past week and he was scheduled to fly to Dubai in the first week of June.
   The team also said the arrested would be interrogated at the Task Force Interrogation Cell on Wednesday.
   A high DB official told New Age, ‘We are now crosschecking the statements of Merchant and his two other associates to ascertain the names of their Bangladeshi patrons.’

Sakib al Hasan followed a brave start by Tamim Iqbal with a quick half-century but that was not enough for Bangladesh to stave-off a defeat in their first official warm-up match against Australia at Trent Bridge on Monday.
   Australia won the match by 38 runs thanks to their efforts with the bat that helped them making 219-6, a total which took them beyond the reach of Bangladesh half-way through the game.
   Pleasantly for Bangladesh, they did not give it up without a fight and pushed the Aussies hard before finally ending up on 181-7. The Tigers made their intent very clear when Tamim Iqbal struck Nathan Bracken for 18 runs in the first over that included two boundaries off the first two deliveries.
   The next over fetched 13 runs but Mitchell Johnson gave Australia the breakthrough in the third over when he clean bowled Junaed Siddique for 13. Tamim followed Junaed in the next over of Brett Lee ending his entertaining innings of 21 facing that came off nine balls.
   Joining with skipper Mohammad Ashraful, Sakib swung the momentum again on Bangladesh’s way as the duo maintained a run rate of 10 runs per over before Ashraful dragged Johnson on to his stumps to depart for 26 off 24 balls.
   Sakib hoisted Andrew Symonds for two sixes in successive balls over the mid wicket and shortly completed his half-century facing just 25 balls to keep Bangladesh still in the game.
   Michael Clarke dropped Sakib off David Hussy at midwicket when he was on 51, but Ricky Ponting refused to do the same mistake when the left-hander again lofted a catch, this time off Nathan Bracken at extra cover.
   With Sakib departing for 54 off 29 balls hitting six fours and two sixes, the competition was effectively over. In form batsman, Mahmudullah Riyad still did not miss the chance
   to test his skill against
   the Australian attack to remain not out on 31 off 25 balls.
   On a day when the other Bangladeshi bowlers were hammered disdainfully, Mahmudullah was also a success with the ball taking four wickets for 37 runs. Apart from Mahmudullah, Australians hardly showed any respect to others bowlers.
   Once Tamim put down Brad Haddin the in very first over bowled by Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Australia never looked back and scored at their will. A 99-run opening partnership between Shane Watson (52 off 23 balls) and Haddin (47 off 29 balls) was the highlight of their innings, though a few other batsmen, most notably Symonds (27 off 14 balls) and Clarke (35 off 18 balls) also strolled at the park with ease.

The Thai foreign minister, Kasit Priomya, who arrived here on Monday on a two-day visit said that the option for a road from Bangladesh to Thailand through Myanmar as a link with the Asian Highway appeared viable.
   ‘The option for a road from Chittagong to Myanmar and Thailand looks quite viable,’ the Thai minister told a joint press conference after the official talks with his Bangladesh counterpart at the foreign ministry.
   Bangladesh’s link-up with the ancient silk route came up for discussion at the talks, said Dipu Moni, the Bangladesh foreign minister.
   Dipu Moni and Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Priomya led their respective sides at the talks held at the foreign ministry. Top officials from both sides attended the meeting.
   The Thai minister also said that the proposed road link depends on decision from the three governments, and political security is also important. ‘It very much depends on the key security conditions in Myanmar,’ he added.
   One of the options of the Asian Highway was to stretch a road from India through a part Bangladesh and then enter India again and lead to Southern China through Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
   There are talks of the East-West corridor and Asian super highway coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan up to Vietnam and onwards. The proposed Asian highway project was mooted on the basis of an ESCAP study, the Thai minister pointed out.
   Both Bangladesh and Thailand have trade links with Myanmar, he said, adding, ‘So, why should we not extend the (Myanmar) roads up to Bangladesh.’
   He said the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh went through military regimes.‘But all of us have got rid of the military authoritative regimes and emerged as democratic societies,’ he said.
   He said the changes in Myanmar will resolve the Rohingya refugees issue and the problem of displaced people along the Bangladesh-Myanmar and Myanmar-Thailand borders.
   Bangladesh foreign minister said Thailand has agreed to give ‘on arrival visa’ to Bangladeshi diplomats and government officials. Such ‘on arrival visa’ would also be allowed for the general public in future, she hoped.
   Bangkok also extended support to Dhaka’s proposal to set up the headquarters of BIMSTEC in Bangladesh capital.
   The issues featured at the bilateral meeting included infrastructure development in Bangladesh, cooperation in energy sector, Bangladesh’s inclusion in the Asian Highways, Bangladesh-Thailand road links through Myanmar and maritime ports linkages between the two countries.
   Dipu Moni said that the Thai authorities have assured Bangladesh of taking skilled labour and other professionals from Bangladesh. The Thai foreign minister sought cooperation in education sector, especially in teaching profession. Thailand has demands for English teachers in different Thai universities.

Millvina Dean, the last remaining survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died in England aged 97, the British Titanic Society announced.
   Elizabeth Gladys Dean, known to friends as Millvina, was only nine weeks old when the liner hit an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean on the night of April 14, 1912, and sank killing 1,500 people.
   She survived after being bundled up in a sack and carried to safety. Her mother Georgette Eva and brother Bertram also made it, but her father, Bertram Frank, was among those who died.
   Dean’s family had boarded the Titanic at Southampton, heading for a new life in Kansas where her father hoped to open a tobacconist shop.
   Born on February 12, 1912, she was the youngest passenger on board RMS Titanic, which at the time was the most luxurious, most technically advanced and largest passenger liner in the world.
   The vessel was dubbed ‘unsinkable’, but it took just two hours and 40 minutes for her to disappear into the icy waters of the Atlantic after striking an iceberg at 11:40pm on April 14.

India’s government confirmed Monday two new cases of swine flu in southern India, bring the total number of cases in the country to three.
   ‘Two people have tested positive for swine flu in Coimbatore city in the southern state of Kerala,’ an official of the National Institute of Communicable Disease said.
   The two arrived from the United States on May 29 and were being treated at a government hospital in an isolation unit, the official said.
   Their cases were detected when they came to the hospital for a check-up after suffering symptoms of swine flu.
   India confirmed its first swine flu case last month after a 23-year-old man who had flown to Hyderabad from New York tested positive for the virus.
   Indian authorities have begun screening passengers at the country’s international airports in an attempt to detect any cases of swine flu.

Angry protesters stoned vehicles and shut down shops and schools in the Nepali capital on Monday as a strike demanding a separate Newar autonomous province took hold, the police and witnesses said.
   Various ethnic groups are demanding a greater role in running the government, and some are pressing for separate autonomous states as the Himalayan nation prepares a new constitution after abolishing its 239-year-old monarchy.
   Ethnic Newars domi-nate temple-studded Kathmandu, the Himalayan nation’s capital, as well as several small towns.