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The High Court on Thursday asked the government to demarcate the boundaries of the four rivers surrounding Dhaka — Balu, Turag, Buriganga and Sitalakhya — according to the cadastral survey in four months and report to the court by December 15.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed ordered the on-site demarcation of the river boundaries by erecting pillars, demolishing all illegal structures and removing the dirt dumped from inside the boundaries without any discrimination by May 31, 2010.
   The costs of the demolition of illegal structures and removal of dirt dumped unlawfully may be recovered from the offenders under the Public Demands Recovery Act, the court said.
   The court ordered the construction of boundary walls and walkways along the river and planting of trees in rows by May 31, 2011.
   It also asked the Dhaka City Corporation, municipalities concerned and Public Works Department to plant trees along the river under their jurisdiction.
   It also asked the government not to transfer the director general of the Land Records and Survey and the deputy commissioners of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Munshiganj till completion of the river boundaries.
   The officials will be responsible individually if the works are not completed on time, the court said.
   The court also ordered the environment and forest ministry to declare the four river areas ecologically critical area under Section 5 of the Environment Conservation Act 1995.
   If necessary, the finance ministry will provide fund for the activities, if required, while the home affairs ministry will ensure the security of the officials concerned, the court said.
   It ordered the land ministry to hand over the land within the port limit to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority so that it could take necessary step to look after the river land.
   The court observed considering the sources of the four rivers and their flow needs, the government should as well dredge the Bangshi and Dhaleshwari and also the link canals of Tongi, Pungli and Karnapara in five years.
   The government should form a committee to recommend ways to protect all navigable rivers of the country, it observed.
   The court passed the orders and made observations in its judgement in a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking directives on the government to protect the four rivers from being polluted and encroached on. The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association also became a petitioner in the case.
   In the verdict, the court, however, did not dispose of the case, saying it would continue until the four rivers were brought back to their original status.
   Syeda Rizwana Hasan and M Iqbal Kabir moved the case for BELA and Manzill Murshid for the original petitioner while deputy attorney general Mostafa Zaman Islam appeared for the government.

The Law Commission has recommended five changes in the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973, including exclusion of military officials from the persons qualified to be a judge of the tribunals to be formed to try 1971 war criminals.
   The commission on Wednesday sent its recommendations on amendments to the act to the law ministry and the commission chairman, Justice M Abdur Rashid, disclosed the recommendations to reporters at the commission on Thursday.
   Section 6(2) of the act says, ‘Any person who is or is qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh or has been a judge of any High Court or Supreme Court which at any time was in existence in the territory of Bangladesh or who is qualified to be a member of General Court Martial under any service law of Bangladesh may be appointed as a Chairman or member of a Tribunal.’
   According to the commission’s recommendation, a person who is qualified to be a member of General Court Martial under any service law of Bangladesh will not be eligible to be a judge of the tribunal.
   According to Section 6 of the act, the government may set up one or more tribunals, each consisting of a chairman and not less than two and not more than four other members.
   The commission recommended a provision for setting up a comprehensive tribunal in the capital and one or more tribunals in the capital or other cities under the comprehensive tribunal.
   In that case, the comprehensive tribunal can have control and supervision over other tribunals, the commission chairman explained.
   According to Section 21, a convict of any crime under the act has the right to appeal against the conviction directly with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in 60 days after the judgement.
   The act, however, says nothing about any appeal by the state against any acquittal of anyone accused of the charges.
   The commission recommended provisions empowering the state to appeal against any such acquittal.
   Section 24 stipulates that no order, judgement or sentence of a tribunal will be called into question in any manner whatsoever in or before any court or other authority in any legal proceedings excepting an appeal against the final verdict of the tribunal.
   The commission recommended provisions to allow an accused to appeal against any order of a tribunal with the Appellate Division, but the proceedings of the tribunal in the case would be stayed by the Appellate Division.
   The commission also recommended suing individuals, but not institutions, for their alleged crimes.
   According to Section 4 of the act, if any crime is committed by several persons, each of such people is liable for that crime in the same manner as if it was done by the person alone.
   More than three months after the parliament had adopted a resolution for expeditious trial of the 1971 war criminals, the law ministry referred the act to the Law Commission in May asking for recommendations for necessary changes to update the law.
   Asked about the recommendations of the commission, sent to the ministry on Wednesday, the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, on Thursday told reporters, ‘I am yet to go through the commission’s report.’

The law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister disclosed in parliament on Thursday that a total of 1,522 people, including some top leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, were sued for allegedly committing crime against humanity during the country’s liberation war in 1971.
   Replying to a question from Md. Zakir Hossain of Kurigram-4 constituency, Law minister Shafique Ahmed said that some 119 cases were lodged against these people until May 31, 2009 for their alleged involvement in crimes like killing, raping and arson attacks during the liberation war.
   Most of the cases were filed in 2009 after the Awami League-led alliance, which in its 2008 election manifesto pledged for prosecution of the war crimes, assumed office in January.
   In his answer to the question, the law minister informed that Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Muhammad Muzahid, the ameer and the secretary general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, were among the accused.
   Jamaat had opposed the country’s independence and its leaders collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces in 1971 to kill innocent people during the nine-month war which left as many as three million people killed and about 200,000 women violated, according to historians.
   The law minister said that more than 1,000 accused were unidentified while police arrested 70 out of the total of 1,522 accused. Fifty-seven of them were released on bail while the rest 13 were in jail, he said.
   The government has initiated a move to try the 1971 war criminals and passed a resolution in parliament to this effect on January 29. The government sought assistance from the United Nations to make the trial process up to international standard.
   In response to another question from Khandaker Abdul Baten of Tangail-6 constituency, Shafique said that procrastinating process of trial is a setback for Bangladesh’s judicial system. The government has initiated moves to settle the pending civil and criminal cases within the shortest possible time.
   The government has also strengthened the alternative dispute resolution mechanism to settle the logjam in the courts, the minister said.

A parliamentary panel on Thursday assigned a subcommittee the investigation of alleged corruption by yet another adviser to the military-controlled interim government as the panel observed the former adviser had taken undue favour abusing his authority while he was in office.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the housing and public works ministry at a meeting decided to investigate the allegations of corruption against Mainul Hosein, who had been in charge of the ministry for about a year after the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led government had taken over.
   ‘We have received a number of allegations from different quarters about corrupt practices by the former adviser. We want a thorough investigation of the allegations,’ ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, the chairman of the committee, said after the meeting.
   Deviation from the ministry’s plan in personal interest, capturing land and abuse of power and concealing information to get a government plot are among the allegations the five-member subcommittee will initially look into, resolved the meeting. The subcommittee was asked to submit the report in a month.
   Ruling Awami League lawmaker Nasrul Hamid Bipu heads the subcommittee. The other members are Asaduzzaman Khan, Zahirul Haq Bhuiyan Mohon and Enamul Haq of the ruling party and Lutfur Rahman of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
   ‘You will come to know in details when the subcommittee comes up with its findings,’ said the committee chairman.
   Mainul became adviser to the interim government after the military-controlled administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed had taken over on January 11, 2007 in the wake of political turmoil.
   The administration launched a massive crackdown on top political leaders branding them as corrupt.
   Before he resigned from the interim cabinet along with three other advisers on December 8, 2007, he had made a number of controversial statements.
   Asked whether the formation of the investigation committee was a kind of revenge, the committee chief replied in the negative, saying his committee received a number of allegations and formed the investigation committee. ‘We want a transparent and fair investigation.’
   In reply to a question, Fazle Karim said Mainul Hosein might be summoned before the committee after completion of the investigation. He said it was learnt that the former adviser had a plot of land allotted in favour of his son by concealing information.
   Another parliamentary panel earlier launched an investigation of irregularities alleged against former shipping adviser MA Matin, who reportedly awarded a little known firm a deal to handle containers at Chittagong Port on his last day in office.
   He was also accused of flouting rules to increase the age limit of pilots at Chittagong Port without consulting the establishment and finance ministries.
   Thursday’s meeting asked the ministry to explain under which rule the authorities changed the size of a few plots at Uttara during the caretaker regime.
   It also asked the authorities concerned to place a report before the committee on the process of selling out abandoned property in Dhaka and Chittagong during the interim government.
   The meeting recommended scrapping of plot allocation at Tejgaon changing the previously approved plan. It also asked the officials concerned to place a report before the committee meets next time.
   It discussed the process of changing the name of the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka.
   The meeting was informed the name was changed by the foreign ministry. The conference centre, when its construction was initiated by the 19996–2001 Awami League government, was named as Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
   The meeting was also attended by state minister for housing and public works Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, Md Abdus Satter, Asaduzzaman Khan and Zahirul Haq Bhuiyan.

A home ministry committee investigating the ‘unnatural deaths’ of some Bangladesh Rifles soldiers in custody missed the second deadline for submission of report on Thursday as it could not make any headway in the probe in a month’s time.
   ‘The committee has sought another month to complete the task as the inquiry into the unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers has not been completed,’ home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told New Age on Thursday.
   He said that the committee would be allowed the time [30 days] so that it could carry out a thorough inquiry into the incidents that took place after the February 25-26 rebellion at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka.
   The government initiated the executive inquiry into the unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers in custody in the face of mounting criticism of the incidents which were initially described as cases of heart attack.
   The committee was initially given 15 days to complete the task, but it could not initiate any work during the time because of ‘confusion’ over who would lead the four-member committee after deputy secretary (law) Zakir Hassain, who was made its head in the capacity of the deputy secretary (in charge of police) declined to continue with the work.
   As the first deadline expired on June 4, the ministry allowed the committee 15 more days to complete the inquiry and Zakir Hossain was asked to lead the committee.
   The home ministry notification issued on May 14 named Zakir Hossain as the head of the inquiry committee.
   The committee comprising Bangladesh Rifles and police personnel was supposed to find out the reasons for the incidents of unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers and submit a report in 15 days.
   Twenty-one BDR soldiers died in Dhaka and elsewhere after the rebellion. Four of them reportedly committed suicide, seven ‘died of heart attack’ and the remaining 10 of other diseases, according to the BDR authorities.
   The committee has been asked to recommend how to prevent such custodial deaths.
   The police have so far arrested more than 3,000 BDR soldiers at places across the country in connection with the rebellion in which 75 persons, including 57 army officers, were killed and many were injured.
   The inquiry committee is to give details on BDR soldiers – their numbers, names, addresses and ranks – who met unnatural death after the rebellion in the BDR headquarters.

Two person were killed and over 50 injured as rivalries over local political supremacy erupted into a violent clash between two groups at Shimrail village in Kosba upazila of Brahmanbaria on Thursday morning.
   The deceased were Quddus Mia, 30, and Bachchu Mia, 42, of the area.
   Police and witnesses said the clash between the supporters of local UP chairman Alam and his rival Mostafiz broke out at about 9:00am over ‘establishing political supremacy in the area’.
   Equipped with lethal weapons, the two feuding groups clashed till 12:00pm, leaving Quddus dead on the spot and over 50 others wounded, including Bachchu. Bachchu later died at Sadar hospital.
   The other injured were admitted to Kosba health complex, Brahmanbaria Sadar hospital and Brahmanpara health complex in neighbouring Comilla district.
   On information, the police rushed in and brought the situation under control.
   Alam, his younger brother Moslem and another person named Rashid were arrested in connection with the bloodletting clash.
   Additional police were deployed in the area to fend off further trouble.

Some 85 per cent of Australians believe the country has a problem with racism, new research has shown following renewed ethnic tensions in recent weeks.
   The study, led by University of Sydney social science professor Kevin Dunn, found one in five had experienced racial abuse while one-in-10 had been excluded from activities on the basis of race.
   The Challenging Racism Project, collating surveys and studies over the past 11 years, provides a timely snapshot of Australian race relations, which are again under a cloud after a series of attacks on Indian students.
   Racial prejudice was identified as a problem by 85 per cent of respondents, yet 87 per cent believed cultural diversity was positive for Australia.
   Dunn said the apparent contradiction reflected Australians’ mixed feelings towards multiculturalism.
   ‘Australians (are) pro-cultural diversity, yet anxious of the dangers inherent to cultural diversity if it is not well managed,’ he said.
   About 12 per cent of respondents identified themselves as racist, compared to about a third in a similar study in the European Union carried out in 2004.
   Dunn said he conceived the project in 1996, when right-wing politician Pauline Hanson was enjoying a surge of popularity with her attacks on Asian immigration and Aboriginal welfare.
   Since then, Australia’s major racial flashpoint was the Cronulla riots in December 2005, when mobs of whites attacked Lebanese Australians at a southern Sydney beach, sparking a series of retaliations.
   Most recently, Indian students have been subject to violent attacks in Australia’s major cities, causing outrage on the subcontinent and diplomatic tensions with New Delhi.
   Dunn criticised politicians for denying there was any racial element to the Indian attacks, saying their stance hindered efforts to address the problem.
   ‘Clearly there is a need for the realities of racism to be acknowledged, this is essential for enabling public policy responses to racism,’ he said.
   Muslims were the minority most often cited as a concern by Australians, followed by Aborigines, Asians, black Africans and Jews.
   Almost one-in-four victims of racism said they were ‘more bitter and cynical’ as a result of their experience.
   ‘These outcomes are inconsistent with a healthy society,’ Dunn said. ‘It produces more guarded and less engaged citizens.’

The US ambassador in Dhaka, James F Moriarty, on Thursday urged Dhaka and New Delhi to sit across the table to settle their dispute over India’s Tipaimukh dam project on the cross-boundary river Barak.
   The US diplomat, however, categorically ruled out his country’s intervention in the water row between the two South Asian neighbours.
   Addressing a discussion on US president Barak Obama’s South Asia policy, Moriarty said that Washington’s special engagement with New Delhi would not affect its ties with Dhaka because US interests overlapped all the countries in the region.
   Responding to queries from the audience on the Indian move to construct the Tipaimukh dam upstream of the river Barak, which experts feared could play havoc with the life and livelihoods of the people in Bangladesh’s north-east, Moriarty said, ‘I urge the people of Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh to negotiate with India to settle this [Tipaimukh dispute].’
   About Washington’s special engagement with New Delhi and its possible implications for other South Asian countries, he said ‘Whatever we do with India won’t be done sacrificing Bangladesh . . . we have overlapping interests in many areas [which also] involves Bangladesh.’
   ‘We have bilateral relations with other [South Asian] countries also,’ the US ambassador said.
   He said, ‘India will be less threatening to its neighbours because of Washington’s overlapping interests involving the countries in the region.’
   Replaying to a question, the envoy advised Dhaka to try to figure out a solution to bilateral disputes with India through enhanced negotiations and said an US engagement in such matters would only complicate the situation.
   ‘You should never say ‘never’ [about solution of a problem]. What cannot be solved today can be solved tomorrow  . . . Pakistan and India too have made progress [towards improvement of their ties] and resolved several bilateral water-related problems,’ said Moriarty.
   The US diplomat said beyond a 3D (democracy, development and denial to terrorism) basis of US-Bangladesh relations, the new administration in Washington, also incorporated issues like climate change and food security in its ties with Dhaka.
   ‘Washington is encouraged by prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s pledge to fight terrorism at home and at regional level,’ the envoy said.
   He said South Asia was now at the ‘centre stage’ of the new policy of the Obama administration, which also revised its strategy for troubled Pakistan and Afghanistan exploring allies’ support to contain terrorism while the US engaged with India on the basis of common concerns like threats of terrorism.
   Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) organised the discussion styled ‘Engaging South Asia: Obama’s South Asia Policy’ moderated by its director general retired major general ANM Muniruzzaman.
   He said, ‘Ongoing shifts in geo-political, geo-strategic and geo-economic power turn the west to the East making the Asia-Pacific regions more important to the US today than ever before.’

The Awami League general secretary, Abdul Jalil, on Thursday called for an investigation into running of a dual administration during the regime of the military-controlled caretaker government asking for legal action against the persons involved in ‘unconstitutional activities’ during the period.
   He also called for an end to the army’s commercial entrepreneurship.
   Jalil was also critical of the role of the advisers to the prime minister and the bureaucracy.
   ‘Caretaker government was a dual entity. There cannot be two systems in one government,’ he said while delivering a speech on the national budget for 2009-10 in parliament.
   Referring to the parallel relief activities by the chief adviser’s office and the army chief after cyclone Sidr ravaged the country, Jalil said under what authority the army should receive relief supplies.
   He said that many of the actions of the caretaker administration were being ratified by the present government for administrative continuation, but their unconstitutional actions should be investigated.
   ‘These misdeeds should be investigated and the people responsible should be brought to book,’ added Jalil, who has been made virtually inactive as general secretary of the ruling Awami League.
   ‘The army is the pride of the nation. Why should they engage in commercial activities,’ he asked on the parliament floor referring to awarding the toll collection responsibilities to the army without tender.
   He asked whether the army a business entity and they are being given banks, hotels and toll collecting responsibility although they are an organ of the government and servants of the people.
   The allocation of 5.3 per cent of the proposed budget to the military is not justified, he said adding that the fact was that they had been given more than that as they received allocations from the education sector, health and public works.
   He demanded that the prime minister’s advisers should not be allowed to attend the cabinet meetings since they had no oath of secrecy.
   ‘The prime minister can appoint advisers. But they cannot attend the cabinet meetings. The cabinet ministers have oath of secrecy, but they don’t have. If they attempt to steer the cabinet, the proposed budget cannot be implemented,’ Jalil added.
   Treasury bench lawmakers Abdur Razzak, Subed Ali Bhuiyan, Ruhul Amin Hawlader, Mahbubur Rahman, Abdul Latif Biswas, Asaduzzaman Noor, Rashiduzzaman and Mujibur Rahman, among others, participated in the discussion.

A Briton who claims to have been tortured in Bangladesh with the complicity of MI5 agents said Thursday he was accused of organising the 2005 London suicide bombings, and threatened with rape.
   Jamil Rahman, who says he faced repeated beatings by Bangladeshi agents over more than two years, claimed Bangladesh agents tried to force him to say he was an al-Qaeda militant behind the July 7 attacks.
   They stripped me naked and said that if I didn’t say what they wanted me to say, they would rape me and my wife and burn her and other family members,’ he told the BBC.
   ‘They told me to say I was al-Qaeda and the organiser of the 7/7 bombings’ which killed 56, added Rahman, who is taking legal action against Britain’s Home Office over the alleged abuse.
   Rahman says he was arrested in 2005 by the police in Bangladesh, where he had settled after marrying a Bangladeshi woman. Over three weeks of interrogation, he agreed to make taped confessions to terrorist offences.
   After his release, he was frequently summoned for fresh interrogations by security service MI5 and Bangladeshi officials over the next two years, he told the Guardian newspaper last month.
   In the new BBC interview, Rahman said MI5 appeared to be the driving force behind his mistreatment in Bangladesh.
   ‘It was all to do with the British. Even the Bengali intelligence officer told me that they didn’t know anything about me, that they were only doing this for the British,’ he told the broadcaster.
   The Home Office denied the allegations. ‘We firmly reject any suggestion that we torture people or ask others to do so on our behalf. Rahman has made a lot of unsubstantiated allegations.
   ‘They have not been evidenced in any court of law,’ said a spokesman.
   The claims come after the British police said in March they would investigate claims that MI5 was complicit in the torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan.
   Mohamed became the first prisoner to be released from the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp under the president Barack Obama in February and has kept a low profile since returning to Britain.

Maoist rebels Thursday blew up a railway building and damaged the control rooms of three mobile phone towers in Orissa’s tion to the station from railway control room. Some trains on the route have been terminated and a few cancelled. Railway officials have already made efforts for normalisation of train operations, which will begin on receipt of clearance from state police,’ Sahu said.
   Koraput district, some 500 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, is considered a Maoist stronghold.
   The rebels had attacked the bauxite mine of the state-owned NALCO in the same district April 12. At least 10 Central Industrial Security Force personnel were killed in the attack.
   At least 125 villages in the district have been cut off from the rest of the state since June 16 after Maoists felled more than 30 trees on three roads that connect the region to the district headquarters of Koraput.
   In another incident, the rebels Wednesday attacked a government office at Narayan Patna — about 60 km away from Kakiriguma and destroyed the office records. They also looted computers, vehicles and food materials, Kumar said.
   Officials say the attacks may be a reaction to the ban on Communist Party of India-Maoist the central government has imposed recently, branding the outfit as a terrorist organisation.

The 15th anniversary of death of Jahanara Imam, who first launched the movement to bring the war criminals to justice in early 1990s, will be observed today.
   A number of organisations will mark the day through elaborate programmes in the city. Wreaths will be placed at the tomb of Jahanara Imam at Mirpur Intellectuals’ Graveyard in the morning.
   Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee will place floral wreaths at the grave of Jahanara Imam at 8:00am. They will also hold a Jahanara Imam Memorial Lecture, a discussion session and a programme to hand over the Jahanara Imam Memorial Award at WVA auditorium in Dhanmondi at 4:00pm.
   Barrister Amirul Islam will deliver the memorial lecture to be followed by the discussion meeting. Awami League presidium member Suranjit Sengupta, Worker Party president Rashed Khan Menon, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction president Hasanul Huq Inu, Asaduzzaman Noor MP, Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury MP, among others, will take part in the discussion.
   This year the Jahanara Memorial Award goes to one of the judges of gana adalat, Abu Osman Chowdhury, who was a commander of the sector 8 during the war of independence in 1971, and Bangladesh Abriti Samannay Parishad.
   The Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal will place floral wreaths at the grave of Jahanara Imam at 8:00am.
   Jahanara Imam gained fame for her writings, especially for Ekatturer Dinguli, her diary of 1971. The book is one of the most popular titles on the independence war which has had 25 editions since 1986.
   It is she who first initiated the ‘gana adalat’ in the light of Nuremberg Trail that awarded capital punishment to Ghulam Azam, former chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh, for war crimes.
   Jahanara along with 24 others intellectuals was charged with treason for organising the people’s court. She died of cancer on this day in 1994 at a hospital in the United States.
   Jahanara Imam was popularly known as ‘shaheed janani’ [mother of the martyr] as her son Rumi joined the war of independence and sacrificed his life.
   Our Correspondent from JU reported that female students of the Jahanara Imam Hall brought out a rally on the campus on Thursday demanding erection of a mural of Jahanra Imam in the hall premises.
   Later representatives of the residents of Jahanara Imam Hall called on the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Shariff Enamul Kabir, and submitted a memorandum to him.

The Supreme Court has extended the bail of BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman for six more months in the Bashundhara bribery case, a lawyer said on Thursday.
   The Appellate Division led by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin made the order after Tarique filed an appeal.
   Tarique’s lawyer Rafique-ul-Huq told the news agency after the verdict that the court had extended Tarique’s bail on health grounds.
   Huq submitted a medical certificate on Tarique’s present physical condition to the court.
   He said during the hearing that his client had been undergoing treatment in London. ‘As Tarique needs more treatment the bail period should be extended,’ Huq said.
   Additional attorney general Murad Reza opposed the appeal and said Tarique was doing politics in London.
   Tarique stands accused of taking about Tk 21 crore in bribe to conceal the involvement of Safiat Sobhan in the murder of Bashundhara Group director (communication) Humayun Kabir Sabbir.
   Sabbir was murdered in 2006. A case was filed three days later with Gulshan police station.

The home affairs ministry at a meeting on Thursday sought explanations as to how police had submitted final reports instead of charge sheets in 11 sensational cases of bomb attacks which had taken place between 1999 and 2007.
   The 65th meeting of the home ministry’s monitoring cell for reviewing sensational murder cases found that final reports had been submitted in 11 cases out of 26 in connection with 22 incidents of bomb attacks that left scores of people killed during the period at different places in the country.
   Presiding over the meeting, home minister Sahara Khatun expressed surprise at how the police had made light of the cases by giving final reports instead of charge sheets. The meeting ordered formation of a four-member committee to look into what went wrong.
   The committee has been asked to complete by next week the review of the 11 cases that include the incidents of terror attack on the Ahmadiyya mosque in Khulna on October 8, 1999, an AL rally in Mollarhat on September 23, 2001, the shrine of Shahjalal in Sylhet on January 12, 2004 and Rangmahal cinema in Sylhet on August 5, 2004.
   ‘We have sought explanations as to how final reports have been submitted in the murder cases,’ the home minister told reporters at her office after the meeting.
   A committee has been formed to review the cases and to identify whether there were any anomalies in the process, she added.
   The investigation officers concerned had submitted final reports in the cases, stating that no evidence was found to prove the charges against the accused.
   The committee to be led by a deputy inspector general of the Criminal Investigation Department will include two deputy secretaries – one from the home affairs ministry and the other from the law ministry – and a public prosecutor as members.
   Asked whether the government would initiate further investigation into the August 21 grenade attacks on an Awami League rally in Dhaka, Sahara said the case was under trial.
   ‘Measures will be taken to reinvestigate the case of the August 21 grenade attack if the court so desires,’ she replied.
   The investigating agencies concerned have been asked to give explanation on the final reports they have submitted in the sensational cases in the next meeting of the home ministry’s monitoring cell.
   Thursday’s meeting reviewed 10 cases, including the killings of Keraniganj upazila field organiser of BRDB Zahura Khatun, NTV video editor Tariqul Islam and Talora union parishad chairman Mohammad Ali.
   The meeting decided to take up the case relating to the late February carnage at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters for review.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, sought combined effort by the South Asian nations to eradicate poverty and combat terrorism as this twin-foe holds down people in the region.
   ‘Poverty is the main enemy of the South Asian countries. And terrorism and terrorists have no boundary and religion,’ she said.
   The prime minister made the suggestion when the Sri Lankan high commissioner in Dhaka, V Krishnamoorthy, made a farewell call on her at the Prime Minister’s Office Thursday.
   Hasina and Krishnamoorthy expressed satisfaction over the fact that both in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka democratic governments are in power.
   The prime minister said democracy was the most indispensable element to ensure overall development of people of all walks of life.
   They hoped that the peoples of the two countries would be able to attain their desired development and prosperity under their democratic governments.
   The two sides also exchanged views over the education systems of the two countries, particularly about the education at the primary level.
   Hasina said the present government firmly believes that education is one of the most effective tools to improve people’s living standards, eradicating poverty.
   She reiterated her government’s plan to make education free up to degree level to build the nation as an educated one.
   Krishnamoorthy mentioned the outstanding training programmes of the National Defence College, Bangladesh, and expressed interest in sending more students from Sri Lanka to take modern education and training at the NDC.
   He appreciated the ‘visionary’ leadership of Hasina for the way she has been successful in solving various recent crisis after assumption of her office.
   The Sri Lankan envoy thanked the prime minister for all cooperation and support he has got in Bangladesh in discharging his duty as the high commissioner.
   The prime minister said Bangladesh attached high importance to its relationship with Sri Lanka which was deeply rooted in shared history and culture.
   They hoped that the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka would strengthen further in the days to come.
   Besides, various other issues related to national, regional and international development also came up for discussion during the meeting.
   Prime Minister’s Office secretary Mollah Waheeduzzaman, prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad and former ambassador M Ziauddin were present.

Bangladesh and Britain will hold talks in Dhaka on June 28 to discuss the modalities for striking a deal to set up a joint working group on counter-terrorism.
   The idea for forging the joint working group on counter-terrorism was proposed by the United Kingdom during the army-backed caretaker regime.
   State minister for foreign affairs Hasan Mahmud will lead the Bangladesh side while Lord West of Spithead, parliamentary under-secretary of UK home office, head the British delegation at the talks.
   Foreign ministry officials told New Age on Thursday that the Awami League-led grand alliance government in principle decided to go ahead with the British proposal for setting up of a joint working group to face the menace of terrorism.
   An inter-ministerial meeting on April 12, presided over by foreign minister Dipu Moni, decided to ask the British government to provide details of the modalities for the proposed counter-terrorism framework and experiences of such joint efforts with India and Pakistan before signing a deal for formation of a joint working group.
   The British authorities have responded to Bangladesh’s request, said an official.
   Responding to a query about the issues to be discussed in the talks, another official said that the two sides would discuss about the draft proposal of the framework as well as touch upon issues of counter-terrorism, border security, money laundering and sources of funding for militant outfits.
   About the draft proposal for signing a memorandum of understanding on the formation of the joint working group, an official said the talks will also cover new areas, specially focusing on enhanced border security and curbing extremism.
   The British draft proposal suggested dealing with counter-terrorism in the areas of civil aviation, border security and management, crisis management and identifying patrons of radicalism.
   Referring to the draft, the official said the United Kingdom offered to make it an informal forum, headed either by the home minister or a senior official, and also comprising experts, which would meet once a year.

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, has accused the CIA of being behind anti-government protests rocking Iran, and reaffirmed his support for Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
   Chavez, who has tried to cultivate ties with the Islamic republic, said the ‘imperial hand’ of the US Central Intelligence Agency — and of Europe — was behind post-election clashes that has killed at least 17 people.
   ‘People are in the streets, some are dead, they have snipers, and behind this is the CIA, the imperial hand of European countries and the United States,’ he said. ‘From my point of view that is what is happening in Iran.’
   Chavez made his comments late Wednesday on the sidelines of a gathering of Latin American leftist leaders in Maracay, central Venezuela.

The president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warned his US counterpart Barack Obama on Thursday to stop meddling in Iran’s affairs as the regime clamped down further on the opposition despite growing global concern.
   Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said he was under pressure to withdraw his complaints of widespread irregularities in the vote he lost to Ahmadinejad, with his web site reporting that scores of supporters had been rounded up.
   Mousavi, a former premier who emerged as a strong contender for president and has since led a massive public protest campaign over what he brands a ‘shameful fraud’ has demanded the results be scrapped and a new vote held.
   ‘The recent pressure on me aims to make me give up my demand for the election to be cancelled,’ Mousavi said on his Kalameh web site. ‘My access to people is completely restricted.’
   Mousavi’s accusations came as a top dissident cleric warned Iran’s rulers that their suppression of protests over the disputed election could threaten the very foundations of the Islamic regime, grappling with the biggest upheaval since the 1979 revolution.
   Iran is blaming Western powers for stoking the unrest, with the regime insisting it will not back down over the vote and the regime’s security forces moving swiftly to crush any public protests.
   ‘I hope you (Obama) will avoid interfering in Iran’s affairs,’ Ahmadinejad said, accusing the US leader of using words similar to those of his predecessor George W Bush who took a hard line against the Islamic republic.
   ‘Will you use this language with Iran (in any future dialogue)? If this is your stance, there will be nothing left to talk about,’ said Ahmadinejad.
   Since taking office Obama has made diplomatic overtures towards Iran, after three decades of severed ties and a standoff with the international community over Tehran’s nuclear drive.
   But he has been increasingly critical of the June 12 vote and said he was ‘appalled and outraged’ at the crackdown on protesters who have staged mass demonstrations against the election.
   Ahmadinejad also took aim at Britain, which Iran has repeatedly accused deliberately fomenting unrest, saying Britain and other European countries were led by ‘a bunch of politically retarded people.’
   Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that he was considering reviewing ties with Britain after the two countries expelled diplomats in tit-for-tat moves.
   Iran has expelled the correspondent for the BBC in Tehran, accusing him of ‘supporting the rioters’ and has also arrested a British-Greek and a Iranian-Canadian journalist working for US publications.

The police arrested the executive director of non-governmental organisation Jubok at a house at Paltan in Dhaka on charges of fraud.
   The Paltan police team arrested Mohammad Hossain Al Masum, 55, at his house at around 5:30pm.
   Masum was wanted in nine cases, mainly related to cheating, filed with different police stations. One of the cases is filed with the Paltan police.
   Masum is now in the custody of the Paltan police, said subinspector Altaf Hossain.
   The police said the Jubok official misappropriated crores of takas from several thousand people across the country promising them profit in return.
   The police earlier arrested the Jubok chairman, Lokman Hossain, at his house at Dhanmondi on May 6 and five senior officials on April 22, 2008.

Workers of a garment factory blocked the Hatkhola Road in Old Town of Dhaka on Thursday demanding their salaries and payment in arrears.
   The Sutrapur police officer-in-charge, Tofazzal Hossain, said the workers of Gazi Fashion had not been paid their salaries of May.
   The authorities assured them of clearing their salaries for May and June on June 30.
   On reaching the factory Thursday morning, the workers found the main gate locked which made them angry, Tofazzal said.
   The workers then took to the streets and had blocked the road for more than an hour, causing traffic congestion in the area.
   The police later cleared the road at 10:00am and the demonstrators staged a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar. They left the place after an hour.

Militants blew up a girls’ school in a restive Pakistani tribal region where a full-scale army offensive is expected against Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, officials said.
   The incident came three days after rebels bombed two other schools, one in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the other in Bajaur tribal region.
   ‘A girls’ high school was blown up early Thursday morning in Shin Warsak town,’ 13 kilometres west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan tribal region, local government official Allah Bagh Khan said.
   He added that there was no loss of life in the explosion but it completely destroyed the school building. Militants have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in Pakistan’s northwest and its troubled tribal regions during the past couple of years.
   At least 200 girls’ schools in the scenic northwest Swat valley were bombed during a two-year Taliban campaign to enforce sharia law.
   The army has said it was poised to launch an assault into the tribal areas along the Afghan border to track down senior Taliban leaders, including Mehsud.

An acute heatwave roasting much of India has claimed at least 100 lives, with more deaths feared because the annual monsoon rains have yet to come, officials said Thursday.
   In the eastern state of Orissa, at least 58 people have died due to sunstroke since April, disaster management official Durgesh Nandini Sahoo said in the state capital Bhubaneswar.
   Local newspapers have reported at least 12 deaths in the impoverished northern state of Bihar, and 17 deaths in neighbouring Jharkhand state.
   The Press Trust of India has reported 18 deaths in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and six more in the south-central state of Andhra Pradesh. In the eastern state of Chhattisgarh authorities have ordered schools to shut.
   Indians have been watching the skies anxiously after the monsoon failed to appear two weeks ago, prompting concerns about the impact on agriculture and water supplies as lakes run dry after a long, hot summer.
   In the capital New Delhi temperatures over the past week have touched 48 degrees Celsius.