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A senior minister Thursday said that Islamist militants had links to last month’s rebellion by the Bangladesh Rifles troops that left dozens of army officers killed.
   ‘Some links of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh [to the rebellion] have been found, it will be cleared once the investigation is completed,’ the commerce minister, Faruk Khan, told reporters after a conference in Dhaka.
   He said all BDR soldiers were not involved in the rebellion, but it was part of a deep conspiracy against Bangladesh and its people.
   Faruk’s remarks came a day after he was assigned for coordinating probes by different agencies into the 33-hour rebellion that was quelled on February 26.
   Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned Islamist outfit, is responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh in the past years.
   Six of its top leaders, who campaigned for establishing shariah law in Bangladesh and waged jihad against existing laws, were hanged by the immediate-past military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed in April 2007.
   Abdul Kahhar Akand, investigation officer of the case related to the BDR rebellion, declined comments on whether the rebellion was linked to the Islamist militants.
   ‘We are still in the investigation process and cannot make any comments at this point,’ the IO said adding that a total of 236 BDR soldiers were arrested in connection with the February 25 rebellion and killings.
   ‘The accused are being quizzed everyday. We record their statements and will cross-check them.’
   The chief of the home ministry committee, Anis uz Zaman Khan, a retired bureaucrat, visited the BDR headquarters along with the members of his team on the day to re-examine the evidence they had collected earlier. The committee is scheduled to submit its report to the government next week.
   Army chief General Moeen U Ahmed also visited the headquarters.
   The government launched three separate investigations by the army, home ministry and the Criminal Investigation Department of police after the rebellion that left 81 people, most of them army officers deputed to the BDR, killed.
   Responding to a request by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the British and United States governments sent agents to assist Bangladeshi investigators to help probe the bloody mutiny inside the BDR headquarters.
   A four-member Scotland Yard team and a two-member team from Federal Bureau of Investigation are now working closely with local investigators.
   More than 1,000 Bangladesh Rifles soldiers were charged with rebellion, killings, arson and looting of armouries inside the headquarters of the paramilitary border force.
   As of Thursday the police arrested as many as 236 soldiers, including a prime suspect, Syed Tawhidul Alam. Several hundred others were under surveillance at the BDR headquarters.
   The authorities have planned fast-track trials for the mutineers, preferably by court martial. The mode of the prosecution will be determined after the investigation is completed.

The executive magistrates will not get judicial powers they are demanding, but the government will have the power to entrust them with some sorts of judicial powers to keep law and order in extreme emergencies, the parliamentary standing committee on law ministry decided on Thursday.
   The committee at its meeting Thursday night finalised the report on the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill 2009, which proposes amendments to make the lower judiciary independent of the executive.
   The report is likely to be placed in Jatiya Sangsad on Sunday, the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, told reporters.
   ‘The bill will be passed by the parliament next week,’ he said at a briefing at the ministry in the morning.
   The chairman of the committee, Suranjit Sengupta, told reporters after the meeting, ‘In the report, the committee has not proposed any change in the basic characteristics of the bill.’
   ‘We have also considered the arguments made before the committee by the Bangladesh Judicial Service Association, Administrative Service Association and the Police Association,’ he said.
   The three associations are now at loggerheads over the separation of the judiciary as the administrative association are demanding the judicial powers the executive magistrates enjoyed before November 1, 2007, when the lower judiciary was made independent of executive organ of the state, should be retained.
   The committee examined the bill keeping in mind the fundamental principle and basic structure of the constitution that mandated the state to ensure the separation of the judiciary from the executive and the separation of powers of the three organs of the state — legislative, judiciary and executive — so that they could function independently, he said.
   Awami League lawmaker Abdul Matin Khasru, also a member on the committee and former law minister, told New Age, ‘The committee proposed to empower the government to entrust executive magistrates with minimum judicial powers, if required, to keep law and order in extreme emergency situations.’
   All the judicial powers, including holding trials and taking cognisance of a criminal case, will remain with the judicial magistrates and metropolitan magistrates, he said.
   Earlier on Wednesday, the High Court came down heavily on the government for delaying the passage of two ordinances to make the judiciary independent of the executive.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Abdul Hye, in a rule issued suo moto, also asked the government to explain by March 19 the legality of the judicial functions done by the judicial magistrates and metropolitan magistrates after February 24 when the two ordinances ceased to be in force.
   The lower judiciary was made independent of the executive on November 1, 2008 with the establishment of judicial magistracy by the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2007, promulgated by the immediate-past interim government.
   The ordinances, promulgated in accordance with the Supreme Court directives detailed in the Masder Hossain case, widely known as the separation of the judiciary case, brought about changes in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
   The ordinances were placed in the parliament at its first sitting on January 25, but they were yet to be passed into laws.
   As the ordinances were not passed by February 24, when a period of 30 days from their placement in the parliament expired, they ceased to be in force, according to constitutional provisions, the court said.
   The government on March 2 placed in the parliament the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill 2009 proposing same amendments, the ordinances brought about, to the code, repealing the ordinances.
   Asked about the legality of the functioning of judicial magistrates after February 24, the law minister said, ‘Once the bill is passed by the parliament, the judicial activities of the judicial magistrates after February 24 will be legitimised.’
   ‘The bill has a “saving clause” to legitimise the judicial activities so far done by the judicial magistrates,’ he said.
   Section 104(2) of the bill says the activities done under the ordinances, which have ceased to be in force, will be deemed to have been done under the new law.

The government has tightened the austerity measure to face the impacts of the current global economic recession and trim down the expenditure.
   The finance ministry, as per directives from the high-ups, has asked the ministries and divisions to reduce their expenditure in certain areas including, protocol maintenance, outsourcing of the third and the fourth class employees, and vehicles.
   The new tightening measures will be included with the existing austerity steps as the government was alert of the possible onslaught of the worst ever global financial crisis, said finance ministry officials.
   They said the ministries and divisions were asked to take austerity measure in fuel consumption, using telephone, and utilising water, electricity and gas.
   Chief economist of Bangladesh Bank, MK Mujeri, said always there was a scope for the government to slash down the public expenditure plagued with misuse.
   ‘Enforcement of the further stringent measures for controlling the public expenditure has become urgent in the backdrop of the global recession that already started to pinch the country’s economy,’ he told New Age.
   Although Bangladesh did not face any major blow from the initial shock of the global meltdown, the experts said the country would not withstand the second wave of shock which might come through downturn in remittance and export revenue.
   Remittance and export revenue, the main driving forces of the economy, has already been showing the signs of downturn, said another economist.
   BAIRA, the association of country’s recruiting agencies, recently said the current global recession might cut the overseas jobs for the Bangladeshi workers by almost half in 2009. Some 8,75,055 Bangladeshi workers went to different countries in the year 2008 and they sent record $9 billion remittance to the country.
   The Wednesday’s announcement of canceling the visas of 55,000 Bangladeshi jobseekers by Malaysia, the country’s second largest manpower export destination after the Middle East, had struck another blow to the sector.
   The jute and jute goods exporters on Thursday also revealed their plights to the finance minister, AMA Muhith, saying that the global recession had cut their export to Tk 470 crore in the first seven months of the current fiscal year compared to Tk 602 crore during the same period in the previous year.
   Like the jute sector, the country’s export earning from the frozen food, leather and leather goods, and apparel also slowed down in the recent months, sources said.
   The country’s overall export stood at 25 per cent during the first quarter while it slowed down to 17 per cent in the first seven months of the fiscal.

Dhaka has initiated diplomatic manoeuvre including, pursuing the authorities in Kuala Lumpur, to review their decision for cancellation of visas for 55,000 Bangladeshi workers.
   Bangladesh has formally requested Malaysia to reconsider the decision on humanitarian ground.
   Foreign minister Dipu Moni on Thursday told the newsmen that the government had officially asked Malaysia through the high commissioner in Dhaka as well as Bangladesh mission in Kuala Lumpur to review the decision.
   She said, ‘Our foreign secretary has already talked to the Malaysian high commissioner to Bangladesh over the issue and conveyed our concern.’
   Talking to journalists at the National Press Club after a discussion on ‘media and human rights,’ Dipu Moni said that the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment were jointly negotiating the matter with the Malaysian government.
   She added that there was no reason to get panicked over the matter as diplomatic efforts were going on to resolve the issue.
   She said, ‘I don’t think the situation has reached a point that should cause panic.’ While talking at his secretariat office, the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister, Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, said that the government had formally requested Malaysia to reconsider the decision.
   He added that he was trying to convince the Malaysian government to find alternative jobs for the Bangladeshi workers in the agricultural sector.
   ‘I think they are considering the matter compassionately and will realise that the visas were issued on real demand,’ the minister said.
   The state minister for foreign affairs, Hasan Mahmud, on Thursday said that the government was sincerely talking with the Malaysian regime over the issue.
   He said, ‘We’ve already discussed the matter with the Malaysian government and we hope a positive decision will come out from the discussion.’
   The state minister while talking to the reporters after attending a function at Hotel Sheraton said that Bangladesh had requested the Malaysian government to reconsider the issue on humanitarian ground.
   He hoped that a positive solution would come out after the Malaysia’s national elections on March 30 and the current negotiations would continue until a solution was found.
   Malaysian home minister Syed Hamid Albar on Tuesday had ordered cancellation of the visas for 55,147 Bangladeshi workers, which was approved in 2007, to stave off unemployment at home.
   He said that foreign workers were not required now in the backdrop of the ongoing global economic recession, adding that the levies paid by the Malaysian companies for recruiting the workers would be refunded.
   The employers’ federation and other groups in Malaysia, however, argued that foreign workers, who make up one-fifth of the country’s 11 million strong work force, were still required in that country.

Forty-six nominations were submitted for elections to the 45 reserved seats for women in parliament on Thursday, the day nomination submission closed.
   The Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party submitted 36 and five nominations respectively in accordance with their quota proportionate to their repre- sentation in Jatiya Sangsad. Five aspirants from the Jatiya Party, however, submitted nominations, though the party got an allocation of four seats.
   The returning officers will scrutinise the nomination papers on March 15 at the Election Commission secretariat. The last date for withdrawal of the candidature is March 19 and the elections to the 45 reserved seats are scheduled for March 30.
   According to rules, there will be no elections to 41 seats as the number of candidates nominated by the AL and BNP matched that of their quotas. If the nomination papers are found valid during scrutiny, nominees of the AL and BNP will be declared elected uncontested.
   After handing over the list of the party’s nominees for women’s seats to the returning officers, AL spokesperson and local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam said that this would be the last elections to reserved seats.
   ‘From next time there will be direct elections to 100 women’s seats in parliament. The constitution will be amended in this regard in due course,’ Ashraful said.
   The AL nominated candidates who have submitted nomination papers are – Ashrafunnessa Mosharraf, Jahanara Begum, Shahida Tarek Dipti, Sharifa Khatun, Asma Jarin Jhumu, Mamtaj Begum, Tarana Halim, Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, Faridunnahar Laily, Rubi Rahman, Zobeda Khatun, Amina Ahmed, Chemon Ara Toieb, Ethinab Rakhain, Farida Rahman, Noor Afroz Ali, Nur Jahan Begum, Hamida Banu Shova, Sultana Bulbul, Saleha Mosharrof, Rawshan Jahan Sathi, Jebunnesa Huq, Tahura Ali, Shahin Monwara Haque, Nazma Akhtar, Apu Ukil, Mahfuza Rahman Rina, Sadhana Halder, Zinatunnesa Talukder, Khadiza Khatun Shefali, Shefali Mamtaz, Shawkat Ara Begum, Farida Akhter Hira, Ahmed Naznin Sultana, Mamtaz Begum and Parvin Talukder Maya.
   Local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam submitted the nomination papers to the returning officers. All nominated candidates were present at the EC conference room.
   The BNP-nominated candidates are – Rasheda Begum Hira, Rehana Akhter Ranu, Shammi Akhter, Syeda Asifa Ashrafi Papiya, Bilkis Akhter Jahan and Nilufar Chowdhury Moni. Jainal Abdin Farrouque, chief whip of the opposition, submitted the BNP nominees’ papers.
   Four Jatiya Party-nominated candidates, led by party secretary general Ruhul Amin Howlader, submitted their nomination papers early on the day. The four nominees are – Noor-e-Hasna Lily Chowdhury, Nasrin Jahan Ratna, Salma Islam and Mahjabeen Morshed. Later another candidate, Merina Rahman, submitted nomination papers as a Jatiya Party candidate.
   According to the Jatiya Sangsad (Reserved Seats for Women) Election Act 2004, if the number of candidates nominated by a party matches that of its quota, its nominees will be declared elected uncontested. But if the number of nominations exceeds the quota, the commission will go for a single transferable vote for the elections in which only the lawmakers of the party will participate.
   The law also lays out a formula to count the single transferable vote. If a party nominates candidates fewer than its quota or nominates no candidate, the commission will set another date for polls to the seats and all the lawmakers will be allowed to nominate candidates and vote.

The government has cancelled the Independence Day parade scheduled for March 26 in the wake of the February 25–26 rebellion in the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters.
   The LGRD and cooperatives minister, Syed Ashraful Islam, made the announcement after a meeting of the cabinet committee on law and order at the home affairs ministry on Thursday.
   The committee members questioned the role of intelligence agencies in dealing with the rebellion in the paramilitary force, said a source attending the meeting, adding the cabinet members stressed the need for a separate inquiry to establish why the intelligence agencies had failed to report on the rebellion in advance.
   The home affairs minister, Sahara Khatun, presided over the second such meeting of the Awami League-led government to review crime situation and recommend measures to keep order.
   ‘The national parade scheduled for Independence Day has been cancelled this time in view of the present situation,’ Ashraful said as he briefed newsmen.
   He, however, said the cabinet body had discussed the BDR rebellion and killing in the headquarters. ‘The cabinet committee will hold another meeting soon only to discuss the BDR issue.’
   The minister, also the spokesman of the ruling Awami League, said the media should not play any role which might deepen the crisis.
   ‘It is your responsibility to dig out the truth. But sometime the truth that may deepen any crisis should not be published in the greater interest of the nation,’ he said.
   Ashraful said the government was expecting inquiry reports soon as three separate committees were investigating the BDR incidents. ‘We do not want to say anything before the reports are placed as any premature statement may prejudice the investigation or the trial of the culprits.’
   Other committee members — law minister Shafique Ahmed, posts and telecommunication minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, labour and employment minister Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, information minister Abul Kalam Azad, state minister for liberation war affairs ABD Tajul Islam and state minister for home Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj — attended the meeting.
   The cabinet secretary, home secretary, heads of the law enforcement agencies, Bangladesh Rifles director general and representatives of the Armed Forces also attended.
   The meeting reviewed progress in the implementation of the decisions made in the meeting held on January 26 and asked the lawmen to intensify patrol to curb incidents of mugging and snatching.
   The BDR director general has been asked to visit all sector offices across the country to restore the chain of command, according to sources who attended the meeting.

The British minister for international development, Mike Foster, on Thursday said that the BDR revolt was a ‘serious challenge’ that the Awami League government was tackling through the full judicial process and focus on its ambitious election manifesto.
   He came up with the views while addressing a briefing at a city hotel, held to wrap up his three-day tour.
   ‘Without doubt it is a serious challenge…I think this the first test of the new government to bring the matter to a conclusion through the judicial process,’ said Foster.
   Touching on the implication of the February 25-26 incident on the country’s democracy and development, he said that the government had assumed office with a strong mandate in a fair election.
   ‘I sincerely hope the government not only gets through this crisis but also delivers fully on its election mandate, and that’s the way democracies are strengthened and people realise the significance of their votes,’ said the UK minister.
   When asked what he meant by a ‘serious challenge’, Foster said that incidents like the BDR mutiny occur in political cycles and the government needs to meet that challenge and continue to govern in the manner it was elected to do, and that’s the sign of good government.
   ‘This is a newly formed government and it should be given time to deliver. Governments across the world face challenges like this and they do
   their best to overcome them. I am confident that the government of Bangladesh will do its best to overcome this challenge,’ said Foster.
   Foster, who met several ministers during his visit, including the finance, the foreign and agriculture ministers, praised the government’s moves to strengthen parliamentary democracy and encourage an effective opposition
   by putting the democratic structures in place.
   He said the UK’s development partnership
   with Bangladesh is focused on tackling extreme poverty and climate change, improving governance, ensuring better social services and improving the status ofwomen.
   The minister said the UK’s aid to Bangladesh will rise to ?150 million by 2010. Its total aid to Bangladesh in 2008-09 was about $200 million.
   British High Commissioner Stephen Evans and DFID chief Chris Austin were also present at the press conference.

Twelve more Bangladesh Rifles personnel, arrested in the case filed over the February 25–26 rebellion in the BDR headquarters, were on Thursday remanded in custody of the Criminal Investigation Department for five days.
   Metropolitan magistrate Abdur Rahim passed the order after a prayer filed by the investigation officer of the case, Abdul Kahhar Akhand, seeking the suspect to be remanded for 10 days.
   In his prayer, Abdul Kahhar said the 12 BDR personnel — subedar Gofran Mallick of the 24 Rifle Battalion, havildar Rezaul Karim, lance nayek Yusuf Ali, sepoy Jamir Ali, sepoy Sohrab Hossain and sepoy Shariful Islam of the 44 Rifle Battalion, lance nayek Gausul Azam of the 13 Rifle Battalion, sepoy Jayanta Kumar Das of the 19 Rifle Battalion, sepoy Abdul Latif of the 37 Rifle Battalion, sepoy Ismail Hossain of the 39 Rifle Battalion, Rafiqul Islam of the 36 Rifle Battalion and sepoy Masudur Rahman of the 13 Rifle Battalion — were involved in the rebellion.
   ‘The rebel personnel have been arrested at place across the country after being identified from the photographs published by the print media and video footage aired by the electronic media which covered news on the BDR rebellion,’ Abdul Kahhar said.
   He said, ‘We need them to be remanded in custody for interrogation to arrest other personnel and establish the conspirators behind the rebellion.’
   Two hundred and forty-three BDR personnel have so far been shown arrestged in the case filed on March 1 by the Lalbagh police officer-in-charge, Nabajyoti Khisha, against more than 1,000 BDR soldiers, accusing them of taking up arms against their officers under the leadership of four BDR officials.
   Twenty-six of the arrested are being interrogated in custody with the permission of court, subinspector Khandaker Ikhlasur Rahman of the Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s court, told New Age on Thursday.
   Others BDR personnel, now in custody of the Criminal Investigation Department are the prime suspects deputy assistant director Syed Tawhidul Alam and deputy assistant director Md Abdur Rahim, havildar Azad Ali, nayek Feroz Ahmed Khan, sepoy Zakir Hossain, BDR cook Amirul Islam, sepoys Fashiur Rahman, Shirajul Islam, Emran and Shah Alam, medical assistant of the BDR hospital Jamiruddin, and cook Shahjahan.
   The first six were remanded in custody for three more days on Wednesday on completion of their previous remand for seven days the court granted on March 4. Others were remanded in custody on March 9.

The Pakistan police Thursday stopped activists from leaving the country’s biggest city of Karachi and arrested more than 100 protesters, heightening tensions at the start of a mass anti-government march.
   With nuclear-armed Pakistan in fresh crisis, lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists planned to drive 1,500 kilometres from Karachi to Islamabad to demand that the president, Asif Ali Zardari, reinstate sacked judges.
   Main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, locked in a showdown with Zardari, has urged the masses to rise up against the civilian government, which has failed to stem a political crisis, the economic meltdown and Islamist violence.
   But the riot police turned back a convoy of around 300 activists and lawyers at the main gateway out of Karachi, confiscating buses and manhandling about 20 protesters into waiting prison vans after erecting barricades on the highway.
   ‘We have instructions not to allow any political activists to cross the barrier,’ the police official Anwar Ahmed said.
   Baton-wielding police beat at least one political activist before arresting him and shoving him into a van on the Karachi highway, said an AFP reporter.
   A senior Pakistani policeman who refused to detain lawyers and political activists, on Thursday urged colleagues to defy orders in a government clampdown against a mass protest.
   ‘I cannot arrest anybody. These orders for arresting people are illegal. Police are not a toy for politicians to use against each other,’ Superintendent Athar Waheed told reporters in the Punjab city of Gujranwala.
   ‘I hope my colleagues will not obey any illegal order and strictly adhere to the law and the constitution,’ said Waheed.
   The officer, the second most senior policeman in the industrial city of Gujranwala in the country’s political heartland, said he had requested leave.
   In the third such annual march, protesters were calling on Zardari to act on a promise to reinstate judges after former military ruler Pervez Musharraf sacked around 60 of them, including the Supreme Court chief justice, in 2007.
   A nervous government banned all protests in Punjab, the country’s most important political constituency, and Sindh, the province including Karachi, where security forces guarded key installations amid fears of violence.
   ‘Our struggle will continue. If we are stopped from joining the long march then other people will reach Islamabad secretly,’ lawyer Rashid Razvi said as he was being pushed into a prison van.
   Ethnic Pashtun and Urdu-speaking mobs, who have a history of violence, took advantage of the opportunity to clash in Karachi, setting ablaze at least one minibus, firing off volleys of gunfire and throwing stones, said the police.
   More than 100 people were detained across the city, including Ghafoor Ahmed, vice president of Pakistan’s biggest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, the police said.
   Around 2,000 lawyers, political workers and civil activists rallied in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, shouting ‘Zardari is a dog’ and ‘Long March, Long March’ — clashing briefly with police, an AFP reporter said.
   Several hundred activists left the southwestern city of Quetta, where an American UN official was kidnapped last month, headed for Sindh, but it remained unclear whether they would be allowed to proceed on to Punjab.
   Hundreds of activists have been detained since Wednesday. US-based Human Rights Watch condemned the clampdown as endangering Pakistan’s transition to democracy.
   ‘It’s a disgrace for elected officials to mimic the discredited military government by using old and repressive laws to stifle political expression,’ said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at HRW.
   The government this week threatened to charge Sharif with sedition for inciting public rebellion after the Supreme Court on February 25 disqualified him and his brother from contesting elections.
   Zardari and Sharif have long fought over the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key US ally in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda militancy.
   Protests in 2007 ultimately led to Musharraf’s resignation and patience is running out with the new civilian government, more than a year after parliamentary elections and six months after Zardari took office.
   Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz pulled out of the cabinet last year to protest against the government’s failure to honour a deadline for reinstating the sacked judges.

The Iraqi journalist who shot to fame for hurling his shoes at former US president George W Bush was jailed for three years on Thursday, stirring outrage from his family and supporters.
   Television reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, had pleaded not guilty at the Iraq Central Criminal Court to assaulting Bush during his farewell visit to Baghdad last December.
   ‘He was sentenced to three years in jail,’ defence lawyer Yahia Attabi said outside the court.
   The defendant shouted: ‘Iraq, long live Iraq,’ after the verdict was read out, the lawyer said.
   Chief counsel Dhiya al-Saadi called the conviction severe.
   ‘I consider the decision harsh. He was charged with assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit, but I don’t believe it was an assault,’ he said. ‘We will contest the decision and try to get the verdict overturned.’
   There was standing room only at the courtroom on the edge of Baghdad’s high security Green Zone as some 200 family members, reporters and lawyers crowded in.
   Returning his verdict, Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubaie announced he had taken into consideration that Zaidi is young and it was his first offence, the defence lawyers said.
   Shoe-hurling is an especially grave insult in the Arab and Muslim world and Zaidi had risked up to 15 years in jail on the charge of aggression against a foreign head of state.
   Bush, deeply unpopular among Arabs for ordering the 2003 invasion of Iraq, had been at a globally televised news conference with the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, when Zaidi let rip with his shoes.
   The president dodged the flying footwear and later joked about the incident.
   Bush spokesman Rob Saliterman on Thursday said the case was a ‘matter for the Iraqi judicial system.’
   When the judge asked Zaidi if he was innocent, the journalist responded: ‘Yes, my reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi (would have done).’
   After the verdict, his 25-strong defence team emerged to scenes of chaos. Several family members screamed: ‘It’s an American court... sons of dogs.’
   One brother, Uday, said the decision to jail Zaidi was political.
   ‘This is a political court. Muntazer is being treated like a prisoner of war. He is not a normal prisoner... This decision has been taken by the prime minister’s office.’
   The family said they would both appeal and proceed with plans to bring torture charges against Bush, Maliki and his bodyguards at a human rights court abroad.
   A Syrian lawyer said she was preparing to file a complaint in Belgium or Spain.
   Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders condemned the sentence, calling it ‘cynical in a country where so many of the people who kill journalists are never brought to justice. We call for his release.’
   Wearing a light-brown suit and thin-framed glasses, Zaidi arrived in a packed courtroom under heavy police escort.
   Chief counsel Saadi had argued that his client’s motives were ‘honourable.’
   ‘He was only expressing his feelings. What he could see was the blood of Iraqis at his feet when he watched the US president speaking about his achievements in Iraq.’
   He also argued that although Iraqi law considered it an attack on a visiting head of state, ‘his throwing of the shoe did not cause any injury or damage... His goal was to insult Bush for the pain Iraqis have suffered.’
   Zaidi had already spent three months behind bars, Saadi stressed.
   The Baghdadia television reporter told the court when the trial opened on February 19 that he had been outraged and unable to control his emotions when Bush began speaking.
   ‘I had the feeling that the blood of innocent people was dropping on my feet during the time that he was smiling and coming to say bye-bye to Iraq with a dinner.
   ‘So I took the first shoe and threw it but it did not hit him. Then spontaneously I took the second shoe but it did not hit him either. I was not trying to kill the commander of the occupation forces of Iraq.’
   Zaidi shouted at Bush: ‘It is the farewell kiss, you dog,’ before security forces wrestled him to the ground. He also said he was beaten and tortured in custody.

The committee, formed to assess compensation for the affected people at Barapukuria coal field in Dinajpur, is likely to recommend acquiring around 3-3.5 square kilometres of area for coal mining by resettling people so that land subsidence does not affect them.
   An inter-ministerial meeting, headed by the prime minister’s adviser, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, on March 3 directed the seven-member committee to prepare a complete package programme for compensating people affected by land subsidence at the coal mine area and for future course of action including acquiring of land.
   The meeting also asked the committee to review the land acquiring procedures for Jamuna Bridge and proposed Padma bridge.
   ‘There is no other option for the government but to acquire 3-3.5 square kilometre area as land subsidence at Barapukuria coal mine area will continue if the government continues underground mining. Besides, the land acquiring will also be required if the government goes for open pit mining in future,’ said a source in the seven member-committee.
   Affected people at Barapukuria have become agitated in recent times as huge land subsidence took place at 300 acres of land and subsequently many houses developed cracks in five villages.
   ‘It is obvious that there will be more land subsidence because of the underground mining. If people continue to live in the mining areas they might be at great risk because of subsidence and there might be protest,’ said the source.
   He said that the people in the areas needed to be resettled with the payment of an international standard compensation to them.
   The committee, headed by a joint-secretary of the energy division, however, is finding it difficult to assess the compensation for the affected and resettle them as huge field works were needed to do it. The committee was asked to submit its report in 10days.
   ‘All the committee members are government officials and they have their works at their respective organisations. It will entail an enormous work to determine the compensation for the people of the five villages. Moreover, people should be interviewed to know what they want,’ said a committee source.
   The committee is likely to recommend a guideline for the government to appoint experts or surveyors to determine what the people in the area want.
   ‘Before assessing the compensation package, finding the actual number of people living in the area, and determination of the amount of arable and residential land, the number of houses, trees and the cost of crops are crucial. Besides, peoples’ views should be taken on where they want to go and what they want to do after relocation,’ said the source.
   The committee members, however, could not confirm when they would submit the report to the government.
   The Barapukuria coal field has a reserve of around 389 million tonnes and the authorities will extract 10-20 per cent coal from the underground mine in 30 years. The government, however, may go for the controversial open-pit mining method at the field.

The European Union thinks it is very important for the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh to remain an independent institution because fundamental institutions like ACC are needed for the continuation of the country’s democratic government.
   ‘[For] the continuation of democratic government in Bangladesh, there are [some] fundamental institutions [that are] needed — and anti-corruption [watchdog] and good governance are parts of the things,’ Swedish ambassador Britt F Hagstrom told reporters after a meeting between ACC chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and ambassadors of the EU member states in Bangladesh.
   ‘We discussed the work of the ACC, even in the future. It’s very important for the ACC to be an independent institution and continue its importance and good work,’ said the Swedish envoy whose country is currently holding the EU presidency.
   It is not only the ACC, Hagstrom said, they also discussed how to work with anti-corruption, including preventive measures and linking them to other issues of the governance.
   Asked if the ACC is working independently during the political government, she said, ‘I think the framework is there to continue to work as an independent institution. We hope this will remain so. This is what we also discussed.’
   Asked if the ACC leadership should be allowed to continue despite criticism from the government, including the prime minister, Hagstrom said, ‘I think that also calls for continuity to see the performance of the commission.’
   Declining to discuss about individuals as to who should be there, she said the ACC should be judged based on their performance and the works they are carrying out and the works that are carried out ‘that is something we want to see continuing’.
   Asked if the EU is happy with the performance of the ACC, the Swedish envoy said, ‘Yes, we’ve been happy with the performance of this commission so far. We’re supportive of this commission with development assistance.’

A grouping of Indian political parties on Thursday launched what they hope will be a ‘third front’ in general elections next month.
   The coalition of nine left-leaning and regional parties is designed to take on the ruling Congress party and opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party during the April 16-May 13 general elections in the world’s largest democracy.
   ‘Today we have come together because the country needs a new alternative,’ Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat told the large crowd in the town of Dobbespet, 50 kilometres from the southern city of Bangalore.
   ‘The future of this country does not lie with Congress or the BJP,’ said Karat, adding that high unemployment, rising prices and continuing suicides by farmers meant the two main national parties had ‘failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people.’
   The alliance, led by former premier Deve Gowda and calling itself the ‘Third Front’, comprises communists and parties representing lower-caste Indians, as well as regional parties from the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
   Not all party representatives present at the rally confirmed their participation in a formal alliance and the coalition has yet to announce a campaign platform or official candidate for prime minister.
   In the capital New Delhi, Congress spokeswoman Jayanti Natarajan dismissed the Third Front’s potential to make an impact.

Thailand’s opposition on Thursday filed a censure motion against the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, and five government ministers, accusing them of corruption.
   The move by the Puea Thai party, which is allied to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is the second step in their bid to topple the government, following the launch of impeachment proceedings on Wednesday.
   British-born Abhisit, the leader of the ruling Democrat Party is accused of incompetence and mismanagement, alongside the finance minister, Korn Chatikavanij, his deputy Pradit Patharaprasit and the foreign minister, Kasit Piromya.
   The interior minister, Chavarat Charnveerakul, and his deputy Boonchong Wongtrairat are also cited in the no-confidence motion.
   The measure is the latest twist in a bitter political dogfight that has divided the kingdom since Thaksin was toppled in a 2006 coup.
   ‘There are 174 Puea Thai lawmakers who have supported the motion,’ Pormpong Nopparit, Puea Thai party spokesman said, admitting the number would fall far short of the 234-majority needed to win a parliamentary vote.
   Wednesday’s impeachment proceedings, a necessary precursor to the censure debate, accused Abhisit of offering ‘moral support’ to royalist protesters who launched a week-long occupation of Bangkok’s two airports last year.

The imam of the central mosque in the Pilkhana, Siddiqur Rahman, died reportedly of a heart attack on Wednesday, said hospital and family sources.
   Siddiqur, one of the vital witnesses of the February 25 soldier rebellion inside the BDR headquarters, was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Wednesday after he suffered a heart attack. Later, he died at the hospital.
   His family members said excessively stringent and lengthy interrogation by various investigative agencies, probing the rebellion, might have caused his heart attack.
   Siddiqur was among those who were present at the Durbar on February 25, said Naim Rahman, his son.
   The body of the 45-year-old imam was taken to his village home at Tarabunia of Razaput upazila in Jhalakathi district.
   On Tuesday the investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department of police interrogated the imam inside the BDR headquarters.
   Siddiqur recited from the Qur’an at the beginning of the Durbar on February 25 and stayed there until 11am when the rebels went on a rampage and fired indiscriminately, according to an officer of the CID.
   ‘We interrogated Siddiq on Tuesday. More interrogation was needed, but I heard he suffered a heart attack and died,’ said Abdul Kahhar Akand, who is investigating the mutiny.
   He told New Age that he had personally interrogated 13 BDR jawans out of 243 arrested so far in the case. The members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the USA and the home ministry-led committee and army also interrogated Siddiqur.
   Mozammel Haq, a nayek subedar, allegedly committed suicide inside the BDR headquarters on March 9.

The Chittagong Port Authority on Wednesday started scanning over 900 suspected containers brought here by two Singapore-flagged feeder vessels, port officials said.
   The containers were held up after the port authorities received secret information from intelligence sources that they might be carrying illegal arms or explosive materials, port officials said.
   MV Kota Harta carried to Chittagong port about 500 containers from Singapore on Tuesday while another ship MV Kota Ratu brought 450 containers from the same port on Wednesday, they added.
   Over 100 containers were scanned till filing of this report at 7:30pm Thursday but no arms or explosives were found, port officials said adding that the search would continue.
   ‘It seems to be a rumour, but in spite of that we are checking all the containers in the two suspected vessels,’ said a senior official of  CPA. He said that MV Kota Harta left the port on Wednesday after unloading all containers while the other ship, Kota Ratu, anchored at the container terminal.