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Ten Rapid Action Battalion personnel were on Monday sued for killing two leaders of the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute unit Bangladesh Chhatra League early May 28.
   Mohsin Sheikh, 23, a fourth-year student of electrical engineering, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah, 22, a third-year student of mechanical engineering, of the polytechnic institute in Dhaka were killed in an alleged ‘shootout’ on Manik Mia Avenue near the Asad Gate at night on May 28.
   Jinnah’s brother-in-law Jasim Uddin filed the case with the Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s Court, accusing 11 persons, including 10 battalion personnel, in this connection.
   The 10 RAB 2 members accused in the murder case are deputy assistant director Md Furjal Hossain, havildar Md Abdul Kuddus, lance nayek Md Shekher Ali, soldier Md Monsur Elahi, lance Nayak Md Imran Ali, deputy assistant director Menhazuddun, lance corporal Md Siddiqur Rahman, subinspector Shafiqul Alam, corporal Md Monirul Islam and Md Nurul Huda.
   Sajib, a fourth-year student of civil engineering and resident of the Zahir Raihan Hostel of the institute, was also accused in the case.
   The plaintiff in the case details alleged the battalion members with the help of Sajjib killed the two students in a planned way after staging a crossfire drama without any specific charges.
   The battalion members later also staged an arms recovery drama when they claimed they had recovered two revolvers and four bullets from the possession of the deceased, according to the case details.
   The plaintiff also said assistant commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police ASM Mahtabuddin on May 30, two days after the ‘gunfight,’ told the media they had not found any case or complaint lodged against the two with any police stations.
   The plaintiff urged the court to issue warrants for arrest of the accused and take steps against them in accordance with the Penal Code to ensure justice.
   Jinnah and Mohsin along with Sajib, according to the case details, went out of their hostel at about 10:00pm on May 27 after dinner.
   Sajib returned to the hall alone at about 1:00am on May 28. Amir Hossain, guard at the hostel gate, said this to the victims’ families.
   Sajib called Jinnah’s family in the morning on May 28 and said Jinnah and Mohsin had been killed in an encounter with the battalion on Manik Mia Avenue.
   A press release issued by the battalion claimed a RAB-2 team had set up a check-post to the south of the national assembly building.
   The team members, as part of their duty, asked the two to stop as they were moving about suspiciously in the area at about 12.30am. The two started running to get away and at one point they fired on the RAB personnel, who instantly fired back, leading to a brief gunfight, the release said adding both the students sustained several injuries and died on the spot.
   In the release, the battalion failed to furnish their criminal records and showed them to be ‘unidentified,’ according to the case details.
   Jasim in his case documents said his younger brother identified Jinnah at the morgue of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   ‘According to the post-mortem report prepared by a forensic expert at the DMCH in the presence of an executive magistrate, a total of seven bullets pierced the bodies of Jinnah and Mohsin. Jinnah also had marks of injury in the legs,’ according to the details.
   The complainant said during the gunfight, the battalion fired seven shots and the post-mortem report established the fact. He raised some questions in the case details such as how all the seven bullets fired by the battalion personnel hit the two victims, why none of the bullets were misfired and how none of the battalion men was injured.
   According to the post-mortem report, bullets hit in the middle and the right of the chest of Jinnah while bullets pierced through the neck and the abdomen of Mohsin, according to the case details.
   The killing took place despite repeated commitment by the key leaders and ministers that the government would not allow any extrajudicial killing by law enforcers.
   Extrajudicial killing have been widely criticised for years by national and international rights organisations and other countries.
   The LGRD and cooperatives minister, Syed Ashraful Islam, also the ruling Awami League’s spokesman, after a meeting organised by apparel exporters’ forum BGMEA on May 5 told reporters there would be no further extrajudicial killing.
   He said the government would no more allow law enforcement agencies to use ‘crossfire,’ killing without trial, as a tool.
   ‘Establishment of the rule of law is a must for a democratic country and for that, extrajudicial killings will not be allowed to be used as a tool of the law enforcement agencies,’ Ashraful said, adding crossfire and extrajudicial killings were not related to general law and the law must be allowed to take its own course.
   On February 4 at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the foreign minister, Dipu Moni, said the government would show ‘zero tolerance’ towards extrajudicial killing or torture and death in custody.
   According to human rights watchdog Odhikar, more than 1,000 people were killed by law enforcers in five years since June 25, 2004 when the Rapid Action Battalion was commissioned.

Lawmakers of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday demanded trial of the immediate-past army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, on charges of sedition and violation of the constitution, the Army Act, service rules and for vitiating the discipline of the armed forces.
   They also demanded trial of the former adviser of the interim government MA Matin, former Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, coordinator of the taskforce on anti-corruption Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury and two former directors of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, ATM Amin and Chowdhury Mohammad Fazlul Bari, for abetting Moeen in all his ‘misdeeds’.
   BNP lawmakers raised the demand at a press conference in the media centre of the parliamentary complex a day after Moeen retired from service.
   They also said that Iajuddin Ahmed, the immediate-past president, and Fakhruddin Ahmed, chief adviser to the emergency government, were ‘equally responsible’ for violation of the constitution.
   ‘Bring Moeen U Ahmed under the purview of the law immediately,’ said the opposition chief whip, Zainul Abdin Farroque, in a written statement at a press conference held on behalf of BNP’s parliamentary party Tuesday afternoon. ‘It has become a demand of the time to hold trial of the persons responsible for the protection of the constitution and laws as well as for maintaining the goodwill of the army.’
   The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, approved the statement Monday evening, according to a party lawmaker.
   Zainul Abdin Farroque said Moeen U Ahmed and a few army officers loyal to him had committed the crime of sedition by forcing Iajuddin Ahmed to promulgate the state of emergency (in January 2007) and suspend the general elections.
   He said former President Iajuddin Ahmed had been found mentally sick in medical tests about six months before he quit the post of presidency. ‘Many important decisions were taken and many ordinances were promulgated with malicious intention by keeping Iajuddin’s sickness secret. Moeen U Ahmed has to take the responsibility for keeping the mentally unbalanced man in the presidential chair and holding the blueprint election.’
   Moeen U Ahmed forcibly got his service as army chief extended for one year by getting the signature of a mentally disordered person, said the opposition chief whip. ‘Fakhruddin Ahmed was also equally responsible for the offence.’
   He said Moeen had controlled all the activities of the anti-corruption taskforce and the Anti-Corruption Commission that had arrested, tortured and harassed politicians, businessmen and government officials by filing ‘false’ cases during the interim regime.
   ‘Many people were physically and mentally tortured in the name of interrogation. Many people were imprisoned for a long time without any reason. Many rich people were forced to pay huge amounts of money with or without being given any receipts. Many markets, shops, houses were demolished across the country, hindering economic activities,’ he told reporters.
   ‘Special courts were set up for trial of political leaders. Pre-determined verdicts were given by the judges. Members of intelligence agencies made the trials a mockery of justice by their physical presence in the courts,’ alleged Zainul Abdin.
   ‘Moeen violated the rules of government service and spoilt the discipline of the army by directly using several army officers to split the political parties in order to create a new party. The print and electronic media were strictly controlled for carrying out a malicious campaign against politicians under the direction of a special agency. Many political personalities, including the country’s two top politicians, were humiliated. They were illegally forced to go into exile,’ he said.
   The chief whip alleged that Matin, Hasan Mashhud, Masud Uddin, Amin and Fazlul Bari had acted as Moeen’s accomplices in all his misdeeds.
   ‘The BNP’s parliamentary party believes that it is the moral and constitutional obligation of the government and the administration to bring all these people to trial,’ he said. ‘In the past, many ruling party leaders, including the prime minister, had pledged that they would hold the trial of anyone for violation of the constitution and other offences.’
   The constitution does not allow anybody to remain above the law, concluded the statement.
   BNP lawmakers Jamir Uddin Sircar, Abdul Momin Talukdar, Nazrul Islam Manju, Golam Mostafa, ZIM Mostafa Ali, Rehana Akthtar Ranu and Nilufar Chowdhury were present at the press conference.

Massive power outages have hit the country again as power generation dropped and demand shot up because of sweltering heat in the last few days.
   Most of the Dhaka city areas are facing around six to eight hours of load shedding amid sweltering heat and humidity while other parts of the country are facing around 12-18 hours of load shedding.
   ‘The current spell of massive power cuts is due largely to the ongoing heat spell and high humidity which have pushed up the demand,’ said a Dhaka Power Distribution Company official on Tuesday.
   The Power Development Board officials said the electricity generation, especially during the evening peak hours, has reduced in the last few days because of the closure of a unit of the Rauzan power plant and gas shortage in other power plants.
   The overall electricity generation was around 3,580-3,780MW during the evening hours of Monday and Tuesday against the demand for around 5,500MW. The PDB’s generation was over 3,800-3,900MW in most of the days in May.
   The city areas got around 1,440MW of electricity in the last few days against demand for 2000MW. So, the power agencies are being forced to maintain load shedding for six to eight hours in each of the city areas.
   Most of the city areas faced similar load shedding during March-May, when power supply to the irrigation areas was increased for boro cultivation.
   Residents from different parts of the city, including Khilgaon, Rampura, Shewrapara, Mohammadpur, Razabazar, Moghbazar and Tikatuli, said their lives have become difficult because of the current spell of load shedding amid extreme heat and humidity.
   ‘We faced eight hours of load shedding on Monday as well as on Tuesday. Even we faced load shedding deep into the night. It’s difficult to stay at home during load shedding in the sweltering heat,’ said Zakir Ahmed, a resident of the Razabazar area.
   Rahela Khatun, a housewife of the city’s Agargaon Taltala, said they faced load shedding almost every alternate hours in last three days. ‘In fact, this is the worst load shedding we have ever faced,’ she alleged.
   The Dhaka Electric Supply Company officials said the frequency of load shedding in areas under the Kalyanpur sub-station is higher because of the ongoing parliament session.
   ‘The load shedding came down to three to four hours in some days in May because of rain. We are hopping that the load shedding will again come down once the monsoon sets in fully,’ said an official of the company.

Parliament on Tuesday passed the supplementary budget for the outgoing 2008-09 fiscal year, endorsing an additional expenditure of Tk 49,211 crore.
   The House approved the Appropriation (Supplementary) Bill 2009 by voice vote endorsing the expenses incurred by the immediate-past military-backed government and the present Awami League-led alliance government, which assumed office in the middle of the fiscal year in early January.
   The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, piloted the bill.
   With this additional amount, the size of the budget for the outgoing fiscal stands at around Tk 95,000 crore, the finance minister told parliament.
   The original outlay of the expenditure for the outgoing fiscal was over Tk 99,000 crore.
   The opposition lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies remained absent from the House, presided over by Speaker Abdul Hamid.
   ‘The government’s capacity to utilise resources earmarked in the annual development programme has been seriously constrained. We will try our best not to show any negligence in the coming years,’ the minister said responding to the discussion on the supplementary budget.
   The minister detailed the initiatives and measures taken by the government to address the fallout of the global financial meltdown and said those, specially the stimulus package, have been appreciated by different quarters.
   Ministers concerned raised demands for grants in the House, on which the opposition lawmakers brought cut motions. But their motions were not discussed due to their absence.
   The finance minister was critical about the role of the military-backed government that lasted for nearly two years.
   He said that the caretaker government was in office for longer time beyond the constitutional limits. They had also moved a ‘minus two’ formula, and tried to establish local governments keeping the politicians away.
   The minister, however, appreciated the budgetary allocations and targets fixed by the interim government and said the proposed budget for the 2009-10 had been based on the outlay of the previous one. ‘This budget was a success, and they (interim administration) deserve appreciation.’
   He also thanked the military-backed government for presenting a flawless voters’ roll with photographs.

A team comprising parliamentarians and experts will visit the Indian project for construction of a dam on an upstream river to fathom its possible ecological effects on downstream Bangladesh, decided a parliamentary panel on Tuesday.
   ‘We have decided to send a team to India to inspect its Tipaimukh project,’ said Abdur Razzak, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the water resources ministry after its meeting at the Sangsad.
   Razzak, a former water resources minister, will head the delegation to India. The date of the trip is yet to be finalised.
   The parliamentary panel’s decision came in the wake of strong protests against the Indian project on the river Barak, some 200 kilometres upstream from the Bangladesh border, by members of civil society members and a number of major Bangladeshi political parties who fear that the project will cause extensive desertification in north-eastern region of the country.
   Two opposition lawmakers, senior officials from the Water Development Board and experts will be included in the delegation, said the chairman, adding that the committee will choose impartial experts having enough experience.
   The delegation, after returning from India, will submit a report to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who on Monday said that Dhaka would come up with its formal reaction to New Delhi’s planned dam once she gets the delegation’s opinion.
   Former water resources minister Razzak blamed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government, which ruled the country between 2001 and 2006, for ‘agreeing’ to let India construct the Tipaimukh Dam.
   ‘We have come to know that the hydro-electric project went ahead as per the discussion and the resolutions of a meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission in New Delhi in 2003,’ said Razzak, adding that the then water resources minister, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, had led the JRC talks.
   They did not protest against the project at that time, but now are opposing it with loud voices. The former minister kept the nation in dark at that time, alleged Razzak.
   New Delhi has recently assured Dhaka that the project would have no adverse effect on Bangladesh’s ecology. The water resources minister, Ramesh Chandra Sen, told parliament on Monday that he had been assured by diplomatic sources that the project would not harm Bangladesh as India would not withdraw water from the common river.
   Indian foreign secretary Shiv Sankar Menon, in a surprise visit to Dhaka in April, had requested Bangladesh to send a delegation to the site of the project to assess its impact on downstream areas.
   Bangladesh has long been asking India to refrain from constructing the dam, which will be located at the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai rivers. India began soliciting international bids for the dam in early 2006.
   The Barak feeds Bangladesh’s Surma and Kushiyara rivers in the north-east, eventually flowing down into the Meghna, one of the three main rivers in Bangladesh.
   According to the Indian plan the project will end by 2012.
   The chairman of the committee observed that Bangladeshi experts who have been holding forth in the talk shows in television channels have little knowledge of the project, but still they talk a lot about it.
   ‘I request all to refrain from talking on the issue without studying it thoroughly,’ he said after the meeting, which was attended by water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, committee members ABM Ruhul Amin Hawladar, Md Abdur Rahman, AKM Fazlul Haq, Abdullah Al Islam Jacob and AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad, along with others.

The ruling Awami League spokesperson, Syed Ashraful Islam, on Tuesday said the government, if it desires, could appoint the just retired army chief, Moeen U Ahmed, as an envoy to a foreign mission and there would be no problem in such appointment.
   Replying to a question about a rumour that Moeen would be made an ambassador, he said the country has such practice of appointing retired army officers as the country’s envoy to foreign missions.
   ‘This practice was in the past and would continue in the future and the present government could follow this process,’ said Ashraful, adding that the government, however, had not yet taken any decision in this regard. ‘The issue of appointing him as an ambassador is also speculation.’
   He said Moeen went on retirement in normal process on expiry of his tenure and none but he can say what he will do in future.
   The AL leader was briefing newsmen after having a preparatory meeting for observing the party’s 60th founding anniversary to be celebrated on June 23. Party senior presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury presided over the meeting held at AL chief Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi office to chalk out the programmes.
   About people’s demand for putting Moeen on trial for violating the constitution by going beyond his professional jurisdiction, Ashraful, also the LGRD and cooperatives minister, said the Awami League-led alliance government has no plan at this moment to bring him to book. ‘The government has not yet taken any decision in this regard.’
   Apparently contradictory was a comment by state minister for public works Abdul Mannan Khan who said that those who had caused even a little damage to the nation or the society must be brought to book.
   ‘Truth will come to light one day… Those who have caused even a little damage to our nation or the society must face trial. It might be today or tomorrow. Truth will prevail,’ Abdul Mannan said about the two-year tenure of the army-backed interim government’s activities when his attention was drawn to the demand for trial of Moeen.
   Responding to a question about the demand for cancellation of the caretaker government system, Ashraful said Awami League had initiated the formula of the caretaker system and the government has no plan to abolish the system.
   The AL leader said the government wanted to strengthen the Election Commission and it has no plan to change the present election commissioners at this moment.
   Asked about the party’s national council, he said if the party fails to hold its national council within the EC’s timeline then it would write to the Election Commission asking for an extension of the deadline for holding the council.
   About the BNP-led opposition parties’ boycott of the budget session of the parliament, Ashraful said they should come back to house to take part in the current session and discuss the national issues.
   ‘The opposition can raise their demands in the parliament after joining the on-going session,’ he said.

There has been a significant rise of killings of Bangladeshi people by the Indian border guards along the frontiers with the death of 52 people in first six months of 2009 despite repeated pledges of Indian authorities to curb such killings.
   The death figure of Bangladeshi nationals in the border areas is almost double compared to the tally of corresponding period of last year when 30 people were killed, according to information available with human rights watchdog Odhikar.
   Among those killed, some 37 people died in the first three months of 2009 while the figure was 3 and 10 in April and May respectively.
   During a director general level meeting of the BDR and BSF held in Dhaka on August 20-24, 2008, the then chief of the Indian border guards Ashish Kumar Mitra had said they would show ‘zero tolerance’ to border killings as they did not want anyone to be killed on the frontiers.
   The human rights watchdog’s statistics also revealed that apart from killing 52 Bangladeshi nationals in the border areas, the Indian BSF also injured and abducted some 65 Bangladeshis in recent months.
    According to news agency reports, Indian BSF on Tuesday morning gunned downed Rabiul Islam, 30, of Barogram sadar upazila of Dinajpur district while he was working in the field along the border.
   Quoting Fulbari 40 Rifles Battalion sources, the reports said that the BSF members of Doghati camp also injured another Bangladeshi citizen, Anwar, 28, of the same village.
   In a recent report, Odhikar revealed that on April 23, Rabindranath Mandal, 45, and his wife Kalyani Rani Mandal, 38, from the village Bolabari under Ashashuni Upazila in Shatkhira, were arrested by BSF from India’s Ghojadanga Camp as they were returning to Shatkhira from India along Main Pillar No 4.
   The report said that BSF officers beat Rabindranath to death and tortured and raped Kalyani and left their dead bodies near the Main Pillar Number 4 on the Shatkhira-Lokkhidari border.
   The couple had gone to the Nadiya district in India for medical treatment six months ago.
   Odhikar said that Indian border guards from Dubli border camp entered into Bangladesh territory on the morning of March 21 and abducted three Bangladeshis namely, Sultan Hossain Dhabok (20), Bokul Hossain Dhabok (19) and Alamgir Hossain Dhabok (18) from the village of Choyghoriya of Boikari Union in Shatkhira.
   The following day Sultan and Bokul were rescued after being tortured by the BSF. But the other person, Alamgir, is still missing.

Internationally renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist Dr Shahidul Alam who was detained by the Indian border guards Tuesday afternoon when he was taking photographs in Bangladesh’s Roumari frontiers in Kurigram was released after six hours’ detention.
   The commanding officer of the 6 Rifles Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Mizan, told New Age at 11:30pm over telephone that his troops had just received Shahidul from the Indian border guards. Shahidul, however, could not be reached on his mobile till 11:35 although his phone was ringing.
   Earlier in the evening, an official of the Indian high commission in Dhaka earlier confirmed the news of Shahidul’s detention.
   The Bangladesh Rifles director general, Major General Mainul Islam, however, told New Age his office was not aware of any such incident in the border with India. ‘I am not aware of the incident.’
   The New Age correspondent in Kurigram said the internationally renowned photographer along with two of his colleagues went there to take photographs.
   ‘As he was taking photographs within the Bangladesh territory, the Indian border guards of the 21 IPP at Shahpara on the other side called him at about 5:30pm and he went to them,’ said the correspondent.
   The Indian border guards then detained him at Shahpara.
   Shahidul Alam studied and taught chemistry in London University before taking up photography.
   He returned to his hometown Dhaka in 1984 where he photographed the democratic struggle to remove General Ershad.
   Shahidul, the founder of the Drik Picture Library, Bangladesh Photographic Institute and Pathshala, the South Asian Institute of Photography, initiated the now famous international photography contest, Chobi Mela, in Bangladesh.
   He is credited with a number of international awards including Mother Jones, Howard Chapnick and Andrea Frank awards in photography, judgeship in world-class competitions including World Press Photo and teaching in several universities home and abroad.

A trainee air force pilot on Tuesday survived his aircraft crashing into the estuary of the River Karnaphuli, air force and port officials said.
   The two-seater FT-6, piloted by flight lieutenant Mamun in a training exercise, met with the accident just 20 seconds after the fighter had taken off the Jahurul Huq base at Patenga at 11:35am because of a mechanical failure, the officials said.
   The aircraft sank into the sea near Chittagong port channel after it had crashed, they said.
   Navy personnel rescued the pilot and took him to hospital where physicians said he was safe, according to officials.
   ‘When the pilot sensed the mechanical trouble after take-off, he immediately contacted the control tower and ejected his seat for an emergency escape,’ said a senior air force official, quoting the pilot. ‘The pilot was found safe.’
   The fighter was procured from China at a cost of Tk 5 crore about 15 years ago, he said.
   The pre-flight check-up was done and the problem suddenly surfaced after the take-off, he said, adding the check-up was done by the ground team, maintenance team and the pilot himself.
   Bangladesh air force owns around 100 such aircraft, he saiid.
   Immediately after the accident, air force, navy and port officials started rescue operation, officials said.
   Navy patrol boat BNS Meghna and tug boat BNT Khadem were sent after establishing the location near the port channel, they said.
   The Chittagong Port Authority also sent its rescue vessel and a tug boat to the spot, port officials said.
   Ship movement through the port channel had not been hampered by the accident, said the CPA secretary, Farhad Uddin. ‘Ship movement continued as usual as the wreck sank outside the channel.’
   He said efforts were on to salvage the wreck.

Iran’s election watchdog said on Tuesday it was ready for a recount in the hotly disputed presidential vote as the nation braced for further protests after seven people were killed in street battles.
   President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s camp and supporters of defeated rival Mir Hossein Mousavi have both called for rallies in Tehran, swept up in the biggest outpouring of public anger since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
   In an apparent move to quell the unrest, the Guardians Council election watchdog said it was prepared for a recount if irregularities were found in Friday’s election, which gave Ahmadinejad a landslide win over Mousavi.
   And Mousavi urged his supporters not to turn up for their rally on Tuesday, which was due to be held in a Tehran square just an hour after a similar demonstration called by the regime, in a bid to avoid any violence.
   Iran, which has been at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear drive, is facing an international backlash over its crackdown against the opposition protesters and the validity of the election itself.
   Seven people were killed in fighting in Tehran on Monday after a mass rally which saw Mousavi appear in public for the first time since polling day, and demonstrations have also spread to other major cities across the country.
   The EU said it was ‘very concerned’ about the unrest.
   Tyres, dustbins and motorbikes were set ablaze by protesters in Tehran as hundreds of thousands took to the streets in support of Mousavi, who has denounced the election as a ‘rigged’ charade.
   State radio said at least seven people were killed when ‘thugs’ attacked and vandalised government buildings at the end of the rally, which had been banned by the authorities as an illegal gathering.
   ‘A military post was attacked with the intention of looting its weapons. Unfortunately, seven of our citizens were killed and a number of them injured,’ it said.
   Medical sources suggested the toll could be as high as eight.
   The mounting protests against Ahmadinejad’s re-election have created the worst political crisis in Iran in 30 years of Islamic rule and some analysts have raise concerns about the future of the oil-rich Shia Muslim nation.
   Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the election watchdog the Guardians Council to probe the vote-rigging allegations raised by Mousavi, who had declared himself the victor on polling day.
   ‘If the Guardians Council reaches the conclusion that such offences as buying votes or using fake identity cards have been committed... it will order a recount,’ council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai told the official news agency IRNA.
   The authorities have warned they would nip any ‘velvet revolution’ in the bud and have rounded up scores of people in Tehran and other cities, including prominent reformist leaders close to former president Mohammad Khatami.
   Iran also announced a ban on foreign media covering ‘unauthorised’ rallies.
   The Iranian authorities have also cracked down on local and foreign media, with Mousavi’s own newspaper reportedly suspended and international outlets reporting the arrest and harassment of their journalists.
   Some telephone, texting and internet services have also been disrupted, and protesters have been turning to Twitter to spread word about the dramatic events in their currently.
   Top dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a one-time heir to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who was later sidelined, called on the youth of the ‘oppressed nation’ to pursue peaceful rallies.
   And in a rare criticism, parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a conservative rival to Ahmadinejad, blamed the interior minister for attacks on civilians and university students.
   The US president, Barack Obama, who has called for dialogue with the Islamic republic after three decades of hostility, said he was ‘deeply troubled’ by the unrest and would stick to tough diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear drive.
   On Tuesday, Ahmadinejad himself was in Russia — a key ally which is helping Iran build a nuclear power plant — for a security summit. Moscow has described the election as an ‘internal’ affair.
   The UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, has called for the will of the Iranian people to be ‘fully respected.’
   European governments also complained about the tactics used against protesters and added their voices to US doubt over the election outcome, with the EU calling on Tehran to launch a probe.
   Britain said the world should not take sides but the prime minister, Gordon Brown, urged the authorities to refrain from violence.

Three workers were killed and 10 injured in a fire that broke out in a blade factory at Mill Gate area of Tongi in Gazipur early Tuesday.
   Property worth an estimated Tk 10 crore was destroyed in the fire. The deceased were Shahidul Islam, 27, Delwar Hossain,
   26 and Sanjoy Kar, 26.
   The police and Tongi fire service officials said the fire broke out at Bidyut Blade Factory from a gas cylinder explosion at about 12.40am.
   Factory worker Shahidul Islam was burnt alive and 10 were injured. The critically injured three were taken to Dhaka Medical Collage Hospital and others were admitted to Tongi hospital. Delwar and Sanjay later died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   Seven fire engines from Tongi and Joydevpur in Gazipur, and Kurmitola and Saver EPZ in Dhaka reached the place and put out the flames in fire hours and a half.
   The police recovered Shahidul burnt alive from inside the factory in the morning. Shahidul was a resident of Bogra.
   The factory management said they had estimated the losses to be work Tk 10 crore.
   A case was filed with the Tongi police in this connection.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is considering some changes in the convening committees of several district units after a section of local leaders and activists staged demonstrations, demanding cancellation of the some newly formed committees.
   Local leaders and activists brought out processions, burnt effigies, held rallies and launched signature campaigns demanding dissolution or reformation of the convening committees in the districts concerned.
   They have formally requested the party’s chairperson, Khaleda Zia, and secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, to make tested and dedicated leaders convenors and joint convenors of the committees and keep ‘controversial’ leaders out of these bodies.
   In some places the grassroots-level leaders threatened tougher programmes, including mass resignation, if the top leadership does not heed their demands.
   Many senior and mid-level leaders expressed the fear that the intra-party wrangle, if not settled immediately, may have an adverse impact on the party’s re-organisation.
   ‘The party members in several districts are demanding accommodation of some party leaders in the concerned convening committees. The party is likely to try to find out if their demand is logical,’ said Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, the BNP’s standing committee member.
   He said the convening committees are an interim arrangement for holding council sessions in the districts. ‘Some problems related to the convening committees in a few districts have cropped up as some leaders, most of them young, are vying for positions in the district- and upazila-level committees,’ he said. ‘The crisis will be resolved at the earliest possible time.’
   Another member of the party’s standing committee said, ‘The chairperson is thinking of making some changes in the convening committees of several district units to accommodate some tested and dedicated leaders who were not included inadvertently but can play an important role in reorganising the party in their districts.’
   He said the Awami League is the main political rival of the BNP. ‘So we must strengthen the party by reorganising it to face them at the central- as well as the grassroots-level.’
   The BNP dissolved 71 out of 75 of its district units on June 9 and announced new convening committees, and asked them to form full-fledged convening committees with 51 members for each district by June 25. The party is yet to announce the convening committees for Dhaka city, Dhaka district, Manikganj and Sunamganj.
   The new convening committees have been asked to elect committees at all local levels before November 15 by holding council sessions.
   In many districts, the new committees are likely to fail to carry out thorough re-organisation unless the intra-party wrangle is sorted out immediately and the dedicated leaders are given due importance, said a joint secretary general of the party.
   In Pabna, the district- and upazila-level leaders have been holding rallies and bringing out processions everyday since June 9 as the mainstream leaders have been kept out of the convening committee, said a former BNP lawmaker. ‘Somebody close to the chairperson apparently misguided her when she formed the convening committee for Pabna,’ he said.
   In Mymensingh, leaders who have no links with the people have been given important positions in the convening committee, said a joint convenor of the committee.
   Khaleda’s younger brother, Sayeed Eskandar, was made convenor for Feni although he drew flak from grassroots-level leaders in his own constituency (which is now the parliamentary constituency of Khaleda) for his ‘superiority complex’, said a former lawmaker of the district.
   The majority of the district-level leaders in Chapainawabganj have launched a signature campaign as the top brass of the party made have Shahjahan Miah, who earned a bad name by sparking off the Kansat crisis in 2006, convenor of the committee.
   A large group of leaders and supporters of the BNP and its associate organisations brought out a procession in Patuakhali on Sunday, shouting slogans against Abdur Rashid Chunnu Miah, the newly appointed convener of the district’s convening committee. They went on hunger strike Tuesday.
   Wadud Bhuiyan and M Naser Rahman, who were widely disliked for their arrogance when BNP was in power from 2001 to 2006, have been made convenors of the Khagrachhari and
   Moulvibazar committees respectively, said a joint secretary general of the BNP. ‘None of the dedicated leaders who have a good image will feel comfortable working with arrogant persons like them, or forget about the allegations of corruption against them.’

The Election Commission will write to the speaker to ask for cancellation of the parliamentary membership of Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Salauddin Quader Choudhury for furnishing ‘false’ information in his affidavit to the commission as a candidate in the 2008 general elections.
   Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told reporters on Monday that the EC would send the letter to the speaker in a day or two.
   ‘He did not mention anything about his educational qualifications in his electoral affidavit. The
   parliament secretariat has confirmed his educational qualifications, so the EC has decided to send a
   letter to the speaker to request him to take action according to the law,’
   said the election commissioner.
   It was proved by the EC that Salauddin provided false information in his affidavit before filing nomination papers to contest the parliamentary polls on December 29, he said.
   ‘It is proved that the information about his educational qualifications as preserved in the parliament’s records has no similarity with the information that was given in the affidavit by SQ Chowdhury,’ said Sakhawat.
   He said that as per the rules, he cannot remain a Member of Parliament after it has been proved that he provided wrong information in his affidavit. ‘We will request the speaker to take legal action against him according to the 1981 Act in this regard,’ he added.
   He did not make it clear how the EC became sure that SQ Chowdhury provided untrue information. ‘What I have said is enough,’ he told curious reporters.

The leaders of Nepal’s former rebel Maoists will meet Tuesday to discuss the future of the party, six weeks after the collapse of their government plunged the country into political chaos.
   It will be the first meeting of the 45-member politburo since party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal — known as Prachanda — resigned as prime minister after just eight months following a failed attempt to sack the head of the army.
   ‘We will review all the political developments since the signing of the peace deal in 2006,’ party spokesman Dinanath Sharma said on Tuesday.
   ‘The meeting will also evaluate the performance of (the) Maoist government and analyse the current political situation in order to chart a new political strategy.’
   The one-time rebels, who fought a decade-long civil war with Nepal’s army before a 2006 peace deal, won nearly 40 per cent of the seats in last year’s elections and have accused the new government of ignoring the people’s will.
   New prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has appealed to the Maoists to join the new government, saying their participation is needed to protect the peace process.
   But Maoists have pledged to boycott parliament and disrupt daily life in Nepal until the president reverses his move to reinstate the head of the army, General Rookmangud Katawal, and apologises.
   On Monday, a protest strike called by the Maoists’ youth wing crippled life in the capital Kathmandu.

The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday met the Pakistan president, Asif Ali Zardari, for the first time since the Mumbai attacks, bluntly declaring that Pakistani soil must not be used for terrorism.
   ‘My mandate is to tell you that Pakistani territory should not be used for terrorism against India,’ the Press Trust of India quoted Manmohan as telling Zardari.
   PTI said the pair had earlier shaken hands but after Manmohan’s comments Zardari immediately asked journalists to be escorted from the room so the meeting could be continued in private.
   The leaders were meeting in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security body where both India and Pakistan are observers.
   India blamed the attacks — which left 172 dead — on Pakistan-based militants linked to the country’s powerful spy service and froze the four-year-old peace dialogue with its nuclear-armed neighbour and arch-rival.
   PTI reported that Manmohan was also understood to have conveyed India’s ‘unhappiness’ over Pakistani inaction against terrorism aimed at India.
   New Delhi blames a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, for planning and launching the November assault in which 10 gunmen targeted multiple locations in Mumbai during a three-day killing spree.
   Manmohan also expressed disappointment over the release of the Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed suspected by India of being among the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks, PTI said.
   A Pakistan court earlier this month ordered the release of Hafiz, a founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and whose Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a charity blacklisted in the West as a terror group.
   Pakistan put Hafiz and three of his co-leaders under house arrest in early December and publicly shut offices of the charity.
   Indian prosecutors say they have evidence that ‘undoubtedly and conclusively’ links the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan.
   The last high-level India-Pakistan meeting took place in September when Manmohan met Zardari on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Ajantha Mendis spun out New Zealand as Sri Lanka roared into the World Twenty20 semi-finals with an emphatic 48-run win at Trent Bridge here on Tuesday.
   The mystery spinner grabbed 3-9 in three overs as the Black Caps failed miserably to chase down a target of 159 in a must-win game and were shot out for 110 in 17 overs.
   Martin Guptill top-scored with 43, but New Zealand lost their last eight wickets for 46 runs after being comfortably placed at 64-2 in eight overs.
   Sri Lanka topped group F with three straight wins, following their all-win record in the preliminary league, and now travel to the Oval in London for the second semi-final on Friday.
   Their opponents will be either South Africa or the West Indies, depending on the result of the last Super Eights match between the Proteas and India here later on Tuesday.
   Pakistan take the second spot in the group with four points, two more than New Zealand, and play the first semi-final at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
   Sri Lanka’s gamble to give the second over to spinner Sanath Jayasuriya backfired as Aaron Redmond smashed the left-armer for three consecutive boundaries and a six.
   Redmond, however, failed to survive Lasith Malinga’s first over, the fifth of the innings, when he misjudged a slower ball and tapped an easy catch to mid-wicket.
   New Zealand moved to 64-2 when Mendis turned the game around with two wickets in four balls, having Ross Taylor stumped before bowling Scott Styris.
   Another two wickets fell for as many runs when Isuru Udana bowled Jacob Oram and Jayasuriya had the dangerous Guptill caught on the square-leg fence by Angelo Mathews.
   Sri Lanka continued to strike at regular intervals to wrap up the match with three overs to spare.
   Earlier, Sri Lankan captain skipper Kumar Sangakkara made 35 to anchor his side to 158-5 after he won the toss and elected to bat on a good wicket.
   Sangakkara put on 62 in 49 balls for the third wicket with Tillekaratne Dilshan and 50 for the fourth with former captain Mahela Jayawardene after he won the toss and elected to bat on a good wicket.
   Dilshan hit a pugnacious 48 off 37 balls before tapping a catch to the cover fielder off New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori in the 12th over.
   Vettori also removed Sangakkara in the 18th over to a catch in the deep to finish with two for 32 in his four overs.
   Jayawardene remained unbeaten on 41 off 29 balls that included the only six of the innings and six fours.
   Sri Lanka took a heavy toll of fast bowler Kyle Mills, who went for 41 runs in four overs.
   New Zealand removed opener Jayasuriya and Chamara Silva by the fourth over to make it 25-2, before Dilshan and Sangakkara began the rescue act.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee Tuesday night sat at a meeting to review organisational activities and the latest political developments.
   The meeting began at around 8:00pm with the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, in the chair.
   It was expected to discuss organisational issues such as reorganisation of its associate bodies and changes to be made to the convening committees of district committees.
   The standing committee earlier on May 18 formed convening committees of 71 out of 75 district-level units, disbanding the past committees.

Five policemen, including two sub-inspectors, and an ansar were injured in a mob attack on a police camp at Hatfazilpur bazar in Sailkupa upazila of Jhenaidah Monday evening.
   The police said the attack was launched as they tried to control a clash ensued between two groups of villagers —one led by local shop owner Basir and another by customer Firoz — over buying cigarette.
   The police fired eight gunshots in the air to disperse the angry people.
   At one stage, the agitated mob attacked the police camp and pelted brickbats at the policemen, leaving five injured.
   SI Abdul Hakim, SI Bishwajit and three police constables and an ansar member were injured in the attack.
   ASP Nazrul Islam along with upazila chairman Nayeb Ali Zoardar and UNO Mahmudul Hossain visited the spot.

Mozammel Hossain, accused in a murder case, died in police custody at Kahalu in Bogra on Tuesday.
   The police said Mozammel, 35, had hanged himself inside a bathroom with a shirt. Mozammel’s relatives, however, alleged he was tortured to death.
   The body was sent to the Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.
   The police arrested Mozammel on June 6 in connection with the killing of van driver Golam Rabbani, 15, at Bandaikhara of Kahalu. He was remanded in custody for three days on Tuesday.

Armed assailants shot a septuagenarian tribal man to death at village Durchari under Manikchari upazila of Khagrachari Monday midnight.
   The dead was Meshkumar Chakma, 70.
   According to local security forces, the assailants attacked the house of Meshkumar at about 11:30pm and sprayed bullets on him, killing the old man on the spot.

BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury says the Election Commission and the speaker do not have the power to strip him of the right to represent his electorate.
   Speaking to the news agency over phone from Singapore on Tuesday, he claimed that he had not provided any false information in the nomination affidavit about his educational credentials.
   ‘Both the commission and the speaker know that they don’t have the power to do anything due to legal drawback.’
   The Election Commission said earlier in the day that it would ask speaker Abdul Hamid to strip the MP from Chittagong 2 of parliamentary membership ahead of last December’s elections.
   He went to Singapore on Monday night for medical treatment.
   Chowdhury said: ‘I have said in the affidavit that I don’t have education qualification. If there is any wrong let the commission prove it and collect my certificates.’
   ‘Then I will say what is true and what is false.’
   On providing two types of information about his SCC exams, Chowdhury said: ‘I didn’t submit any biography to the commission. It might have collected it from the parliament secretariat.
   ‘There is no provision to submit biography to the commission. If the commission does so many things based on it I have nothing to say’, he said.