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City dwellers want the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence’s equipments to be upgraded with sufficient fire-fighting tools, and also want the buildings’ owners to have their own fire-fighting systems and trained manpower to prevent any further fire disaster.
   People from all walks of life told New Age of their concern at the lack of sufficient logistics for the fire service and poor fire monitoring system by the authorities concerned.
   They also wanted strict implementation of the rules and regulations and regular fire drills in all the high-rise buildings and other commercial establishments in the capital.
   They called for prompt action by the government and creation of awareness among the buildings’ owners to prevent disastrous fires like those in Bashundhara City and BSEC Bhaban.
   Many of them suggested measures to reduce the population of the capital by decentralization to ensure speedy vehicular movement so that the fire-fighters can reach their destinations in the quickest possible time.
   ‘I saw the fire-fighters desperately trying to spray water on the 18th and 19th floors of Bashundhara City, but they failed to reach the floors where the fire appeared first as they did not have ladders of that height,’ said Ashraf, a tea stall owner who does his business on the pavement in front of Bashundhara shopping complex.
   He said the fire service should be equipped with state-of-the-art fire-fighting equipments to reduce casualties to the minimum.
   An electrician, Anwar said, ‘The fire-fighters do not lack sincerity, but they need proper equipment and training.’
   Mohammad Moniruzzaman, deputy marketing manager of a garment factory, laid emphasis on taking effective measures to train the fire-fighters of both the fire service and the building.
   ‘Had there been a set of trained fire-fighters in the Bashundhara City shopping mall, the fire could have been doused much earlier,’ he added.
   Sohel Rahman, chairman of the Cotfield Group, favoured imposition of strict rules and regulations on the private high-rise buildings’ owners and mandatory provisions of having their own fire-fighters and conducting fire drills regularly in their buildings. ‘If a modern structure like the Bashundhara City shopping complex can be ravaged by fire for hours, how do other buildings of the capital remain safe?’
   A garment factory worker, Salma Khatun, said many garment factories do not have enough fire exits. ‘The authorities should inspect all private and commercial buildings to ensure that they have sufficient fire-fighting equipment and fire exits,’ she said.
   Abdul Matin, a lecturer of Udayan School and College, said the fire service should inspect every private building at least once a year to check the condition of the fire-fighting equipment and verify that they are working condition, and also ensure that adequate safety measures have been taken.
   A survey conducted recently by a civic forum found that around 90 per cent of the capital’s buildings, mostly high-rises and big commercial establishments, are vulnerable to earthquake and fire as they do not have any arrangements to tackle these disasters.

The probe body formed to probe into the fire at Bashundhara City Tower blamed negligence of the Bashundhara Group for its devastation on March 13.
   The committee chief, Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, said it while briefing newsmen after visiting the affected floors of the 21-storey tower on Wednesday.
   The Bashundhara group management, however, denied the allegation.
   The three-member probe committee, comprising Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, also joint secretary (police) of home ministry, director of fire service and civil defence Matiur Rahman and deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Mahbubur Rahman, inspected the affected floors for three hours from 10:30am.
   Iqbal Khan said the Bashundhara Group management did not response to the fire alarms which signalled a number of times.
   ‘The origin of fire was detected but we cannot disclose it for the sake of inquiry,’ he said. Kamrul Mehedi, general manager (administration) of Bashundhara Group, said the fire did not spread downwards because of the efforts of Bashundhara Group’s own firemen.

The government has promoted with retrospective effect four former officials, who were all made officers on special duty and were forced to retire in 2002 by the BNP-led alliance government, to the rank of secretary following their ‘appeals and also the verdicts of administrative tribunal.’
   They would be given arrears and all other benefits including pension, according to the establishment ministry notifications issued on Wednesday.
   Former deputy secretary Pulin Bihari Dev has been shown promoted to joint secretary on June 13, 2002, to additional secretary on August 27 and to the rank of secretary on February 15, 2005.
   It has been presumed he went on leave preparatory to retirement on November 6, 2006.
   Former joint secretary MA Kamal has been shown promoted to additional secretary on August 27, 2003 and to secretary on February 15, 2005. He has been deemed to have gone on leave preparatory to retirement on February 28, 2007.
   Former deputy secretary Md Enamul Kabir has been shown promoted to joint secretary on June 13, 2002, to additional secretary on August 27, 2003 and to secretary on February 15, 2005. He has been presumed to have gone on leave preparatory to retirement on December 20, 2005.
   Another retired joint secretary, Syed Abdul Malek, has been shown promoted to additional secretary on August 27, 2003 and to rank of secretary on February 15, 2005. He has been deemed to have gone on leave preparatory to retirement on March 14, 2005.
   The officers appealed to the government of Awami League, which formed a high-level committee immediately after had assumed office early January, to review the grievances of the officials who were either forced to retire or deprived of promotion in 2001–2006.
   The review committee, led by Alauddin Ahmed, adviser to the prime minister, on Monday recommended reinstatement of 143 former government officials who were forced to retire during the tenure of the BNP-led alliance government allegedly on political consideration.

The government on Wednesday said that the border with Myanmar was calm following a brief tension arising from a recent move by Yangon to erect fences unilaterally along its frontiers with Bangladesh.
   Talking to reporters at his office, state minister for foreign affairs Hasan Mahmud said that the Myanmar border guards had not yet started erecting barbed-wire fence along the border with Bangladesh.
   ‘There is no tension on the borders with Myanmar and that is what we have been informed officially by our various sources,’ Hasan said.
   He told newsmen that he had talked to the chiefs of the navy and BDR as well as other officials concerned about the latest situation on the borders.
   Hasan said, ‘Myanmar has not yet started erecting barbed-wire fence along the borders, according to official information received from Cox’s Bazar. However, we have also been informed by unconfirmed sources that the Myanmar border guards were stockpiling fencing materials along the border in Teknaf.’
   About the issue of Yangon’s naval reinforcement in the Bay, the state minister said that one naval ship of Myanmar had taken position on its own territorial waters, far away from Bangladesh waters.
   The state minister said, ‘In the wake of the latest development on the borders, one ship of Bangladesh navy, equipped with sophisticated technology, including a radar covering 15 nautical miles, has been deployed in the Bay of Bengal.’
   When asked whether Myanmar could unilaterally erect barbed-wire fences along its borders with Bangladesh, Hasan Mahmud said, ‘They [Yangon] cannot do that without consultation with us. They cannot do that unilaterally.’
   Myanmar’s Nasaka border guards on March 14 started deploying additional forces and stockpiling materials to fence the frontier that stretches from Naikhyangchhari upazila of Bandarban hill district to Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar without consent of Bangladesh, which was a violation of bilateral accord.
   After Myanmar’s move, the government ordered the border guards to remain alert and deploy additional forces there.

The ethnic community rights activists on Wednesday demanded immediate trial of the killers of their leader Chalesh Richhil and scrapping of the Eco Park Project at Madhupur in Tangail.
   They put forward the demand at a human chain formed in front of the National Museum at Shahbag in the capital, organized by Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolan and Bangladesh Chhatra Sangram Parishad on the occasion of Richhil’s second death anniversary.
   ‘Chalesh Richhil, who was the leader of the anti-eco park movement at Madhupur, was killed brutally while remaining in custody of the law enforcers about two years ago. But we haven’t noticed any significant progress in the trial process,’ Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolan general secretary, Mesbah Kamal said at the human chain.
   ‘The investigation committee, which was formed on May 5, 2007, is yet to submit its report on his death,’ he added.
   He also demanded making the investigation report of Richhil’s death public without any delay and punishment for his killers in accordance with the law.
   The speakers called on the government to scrap the Eco Park Project at Madhupur right away and withdraw the fabricated cases filed against the ethnic people by the forest department.
   Deshpremik Janaganer Mancha convener, M Enamul Huq, National Garments Workers’ Federation general secretary, Amirul Huq Amin, Bangladesh Chhatra Sangram Parishad president, Sohel Hajang, and Pahari Chhatra Sangram Parishad general secretary, Bablu Chakma, spoke, among others, on the occasion.
   Rights leader of the ethnic community at Madhupur, Chalesh Richhil died on March 18, 2007 after torture while in custody.

The parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday asked the government to form a special committee comprising the members of Rapid Action Battalion and police to contain the religious extremists in the country.
   The JS body made the request at a meeting of the committee at the parliament complex with its chairman, Abdus Salam, in the chair.
   The JS body also stressed the need for strengthening the police force to make the law enforcing agency more effective to find out the networks of the criminals, and contain violence and militant activities.
   They also underlined the need for reducing the gender-bias in police force and appointing more women members in the law enforcing agency.

Four members of the Air Force have been punished in court martial for their involvement in assaulting a Bangladesh-born Briton, barrister Rezwan Hasan, at Zia International Airport during the rule of emergency.
   Deputy attorney general, Nazrul Islam, stated this in the High Court bench of Justice M Iman Ali and Justice Abdul Awal on Wednesday while replying to the suo moto rule issued upon the government on April 20, 2008 to explain why the taskforce men involved in assaulting Rezwan would not be punished.
   Of the four, one was ordered to quarter guards [armed forces prison] for 45 days and the three others were barred from getting promotion, the state attorney said. Another accused was acquitted of the charge of assaulting Rezwan at the ZIA on April 14, 2008.
   Immediately after the incident, the Air Force arrested the persons responsible for it and handed them over to the custody, the state attorney said, adding that the four airmen were punished on charges of ‘irregularities and breaking discipline.’
   The HC, however, asked lawyer Manzill Murshid, who drew attention of the court causing issuance of the suo moto rule, to explain whether the four air men could be tried under the penal code after the departmental trial, which gave them punishment.
   As Manzill sought time to reply the query, the court adjourned the hearing till April 13.

The Jatiya Sangsad on Wednesday passed the Trade Mark Bill 2009 bringing necessary changes in the Trade Marks Act 1940 against the backdrop of present global trading.
   The industries minister, Dilip Barua, piloted the bill in the House with speaker Abdul Hamid in the chair.
   The House rejected in voice vote the proposal of the opposition bench members for eliciting public opinion before passage of the bill.

Family members of 25 more army officers killed in the February 25-26 BDR rebellion received the prime minister’s personal letter of compassion and cheque for Tk 10 lakh each on Wednesday.
   Since the morning, various delegations led by ministers, state ministers, lawmakers and high officials of the Prime Minister’s Office remained busy handing over the compensation money to the families.
   The recipients are the families of major general Shakil Ahmed, brigadier general Abdul Bari, colonel Majibul Haque, colonel Kudrat-e-Elahi Rahman Sahfiq, colonel Anisuzzaman, colonel Mashiur Rahman, colonel Akhter Hossain, colonel Shamsul Arefin Ahmed, colonel Badrul Huda, colonel Kazi Muajjem, colonel Rejaul Kabir, colonel Nafiz Uddin Ahmed, colonel Kazi Emdadul Haque, colonel BM Zahid Hossain, lieutenant colonel Abu Musa Mohammad Aiyub Kaiser, lieutenant colonel Shamsul Azam, lieutenant colonel M Enayetul Haque, lieutenant colonel Golam Kibria, lieutenant colonel Niamatullah, major Humayun Kabir Sarker, major Ajharul Islam, major Mahmudul Hasan, major Mustafa Asaduzzaman, major Rafiqul Islam and major ASM Mamunur Rahman.
   A delegation led by the state minister for labour and employment Begum Monnojan Sufian went to the house of the slain BDR director general Shakil Ahmed. The delegation handed over two cheques for Tk 5 lakh each to Shakil’s son Rakin Ahmed and daughter Akila Raida Ahmed.
   The other persons who went to the army officers’ house to hand over the cheques are the foreign minister, Dipu Moni, state minister for foreign affairs Hasan Mahmud, lawmaker Jahid Ahsan Russel, lawmaker Abdur Rahman, lawmaker Shahriar, retired brigadier general ASM Baker, lawmaker Rahmatullah, lawmaker Enamul Haque Chowdhury, lawmaker Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, lawmaker Nasrul Hamid Bipu, lawmaker Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury Liton, the prime minister’s personal secretary Manjila Faruque, the prime minister’s deputy press secretary Nakib Ahmed, Sheikh Shahana Abdullah, Sheikh Fazle Nur Taposh and Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash.
   Earlier on Tuesday, family members of captain Mazharul Haider and lieutenant Elahi Monjur Chowdhury received the prime minister’s personal letter of compassion and cheque for Tk 10 lakh each.

The much-awaited machine-readable passport and visa project is likely to be placed at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council today, said officials.
   The five-year project will be implemented at a cost of Tk 350 crore although the last BNP-led alliance government, bypassing the ECNEC in 2006, attempted to undertake the project at an estimated cost of Tk 750 crore.
   Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair today’s ECNEC meeting.
   A month ago the MRP proposal was withdrawn from the ECNEC at the last moment due to printing mistakes in the proposal.
   Earlier, the home ministry sent the project proposal to the planning ministry to fulfil an international obligation after the present Awami League-led government came to power.
   The previous BNP government’s attempt to launch the project failed as the purchase committee rejected the project due to excessive cost.
   Planning ministry sources said the government would earn around Tk 9,000 crore in the next five years after the project begins to be implemented from 2009.
   Sources said that since the basic technology of the leading manufacturers of machine-readable passports was similar, the manufacturing time would depend solely on the number of passports required. Any of them would take 8 to 9 months to deliver the first lot of MRPs or e-Passports.
   As per the previous plan, the estimated quantity of MRPs for Bangladesh is between 3.5 million to 4.5 million per year for about 5 years.
   Bangladesh will have to introduce MRP to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s requirements by April 2010. If the country fails to become a member of ICAO, Bangladeshi citizen’s access to international manpower markets as well as the obtaining of all types of visa will be put at risk.
   However, some experts said the government would have to introduce new technology like e-Passport. The e-Passport will achieve the ICAO e-passport standards and enhance Bangladesh’s national security with tamper-proof travel documents.
   ‘If we are going to move to a new technology and step into the digital world, then why MRP and not e-passport, which is a true digital travel document?’ asked an expert.
   Besides, the e-passport will provide safe passage and achieve a nation’s trade and tourism goals and objectives with greater ease.
   One hundred and fifteen out of 187 member nations of the ICAO, including India and Pakistan, have so far issued machine-readable passports to their citizens.
   ‘We will have to introduce the MRPs in the country because without them a large section of people will not be able to go abroad for earning money,’ Mohammad Idris Ali Dewan, member of the Planning Commission, told New Age on Wednesday.
   Home ministry sources said they would float an international tender to start the implementation of the project immediately after getting the Cabinet’s approval.
   In 2006 the home ministry sent a Tk 1,561 crore project proposal for procurement of machine-readable passports, visas and national identity cards to the purchase committee.
   Of the total amount, about Tk 750 crore was set aside for MRPs and visas. The proposal was sent to the purchase committee without the approval of the ECNEC, allegedly to award the tender to a single company.
   However, the purchase committee rejected the project at that time because of inflated cost.
   During the military-controlled interim government’s period in 2007-08, the home ministry revived the project but eventually decided to leave it for the next elected government.

The Progressive Student Alliance, a combine of the left leaning student organisations, on Wednesday demanded cancellation of the extra fees which are taken by all the departments from the new comers of 2008-09 session of Dhaka University.
   They brought out a procession on the DU campus at noon and held a rally in front of the Central Library after the procession. Speakers, at the rally, said that almost all the departments of the university were taking a good amount of additional money from the newly admitted 1st year students without documents and the fees from each student ranged from Tk 2000 to Tk 4000.
   They said it was really tough for a student to arrange the money as most of the students who came to the university to study were from the middle class or lower class families. If this tendency of the departments develops into a tradition, DU will become out of reach for the poor students, they said.
   ‘Departments are charging the amount in the name of computer lab, research lab and even for beautification. This is a conspiracy of the capitalist world to establish an education system only for them who will serve its purpose’, Moloy De, the president of the university unit of Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, said.
   ‘DU authorities are trying to convert the university into a private university but the students will wage a movement against this conspiracy’, he added.
   Shaikat Mallik, the president of the university unit of Bangladesh Chhatra Federation, also attended the rally.

Six persons were killed and three others injured as a bus rammed into an auto-rickshaw at Ragamara bazar of Trishal on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway Wednesday evening.
   Two of the deceased are Mokammel,35, and Nilufa, 25. The police said a Dhaka-bound bus dashed the auto-rickshaw from behind, killing its four passengers on the spot and injuring five others.
   Among the injured, Mokammel and Nilufa succumbed at Trishal upazila health complex.
   Three other injured passengers were rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.

The government on Wednesday formally announced a 27-member taskforce headed by the finance minister to analyse the situation and suggest ways and means to overcome the depression that, experts believe, will soon affect Bangladesh.
   The taskforce’s terms of reference encompass 12 priority areas, and it will analyse the global and domestic situation and make realistic recommendations to the government to offset the negative effects of the global crisis and protect Bangladesh’s fragile economy, according to an official order.
   Exports, remittances and manpower exports, inflow of foreign funds and foreign exchange rates are identified as critical areas for which the taskforce will put forward suggestions to keep the economy on track with simultaneous efforts to create domestic demand.
   The taskforce is comprised of key ministers and an adviser of the government, representatives of the Awami League, Jatiya Party and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a former finance minister and two advisers, a number of economists and researchers, representatives of trade bodies, the governor of Bangladesh Bank and relevant secretaries.
   The taskforce has replaced the technical committee which the interim government had formed in 2008, with the finance secretary as its chief, for fiscal policy, management and reforms.
   The taskforce will meet once in two months and can convene an emergency meeting if needed, said the official order, adding that it will be able to co-opt new members.
   The taskforce will hold its first meeting on March 24, said the finance minister and taskforce’s convener, Abul Maal Abdul Muhit, on Wednesday after a delegation of the Palli Karma-Shahayak Foundation, led by its chairman Wahiduddin Mahmud, met him at his office
   Terming the situation ‘very complex’, Muhith said the next two years would be a ‘tough time’ for Bangladesh’s economy as the recession was deepening and was likely to be aggravated further in the coming months. ‘Our challenge is to prepare the next budget, and not only to ensure development activities but also to assist others,’ said Muhith.
   Wahiduddin, himself a member of the taskforce, expressed apprehension over the prolonged recession and the deepening negative effects on Bangladesh. ‘Our country is likely to be dealt a serious blow by the recession despite our economic growth in recent times,’ he said.
   The taskforce is assigned to identify the transmission channels of the negative effects of the global recession on the Bangladesh economy, analyse the situation on a quarterly basis and review the economic situation whenever necessary.
   It will recommend policies to keep investment at a desirable level, infuse dynamism in agriculture and the rural economy and address the energy crisis.
   The members of the taskforce include the agriculture minister, the textiles and jute minister, the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister, the commerce minister, the finance and planning adviser to the prime minister, former finance adviser and chairman of Centre for Policy Dialogue Rehman Sobhan, former finance minister M Syeduzzaman, president of the Bangladesh Economic Association Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of research organisation Shamunnoy Atiur Rahman, economics professor of Dhaka University Abul Barkat, director-general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, presidents of the FBCCI, BGMEA and BKMEA and the executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

Speakers at a discussion meeting on Wednesday strongly criticised the Asian Development Bank’s policies and projects for their ‘negative impacts’ on people’s lives and livelihoods.
   They also lamented the Asian Development Bank’s Long Term Strategic Framework (LTSF) for 2008-2020 for its ‘anti-poor’ stand and demanded strong resistance against ADB’s policies that are biased toward private sector-led development.
   The discussion was jointly organised by ‘Voice’, a research organisation, and NGO Forum on ADB in the WVA auditorium.
   Civil society organisations’ members, trade unionists, farmers’ organisations’ representatives, NGOs, students, activist groups and civil society actors attended the seminar, moderated by Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of the Voice.
   Towhid Ibne Farid, coordinator of ActionAid Bangladesh, said that in the face of the global financial crisis and climate change, civil society actors should come together to fight the dominant role played by the international financial institutes including the ADB.
   Highlighting the Southwest Integrated Water Resource Management Project, he alleged that ADB had not complied with its safeguard policies and thus violated the people’s right to development. He also demanded redesigning of the project in consultation with the affected communities.
   Monowar Mustafa, an independent development activist, said that the failure of the neo-liberal policies should be underlined by the civil society groups in the upcoming Bali meeting. He termed the International Financial Institutions undemocratic and unjust, and called for redefinition of the term ‘development activism’.
   The speakers said that private sector, which dominates the development process, would concentrate on its own profit, thus endangering the agenda of poverty reduction and ultimately undermining the aspiration of the people to break out of the poverty trap.
   The ADB’s recommended growth-based development paradigm creates poverty, so most of the countries including Bangladesh have failed to reduce the number of destitutes which has increased in recent years.
   Speakers criticised the ADB for its bias towards market-led economic growth that increases poverty in many countries of Asia and the Pacific.
   They rejected the LTSF that suggests expanding the ADB’s activities and increasing the private sector’s resources, which is only 13 per cent at present, by 50 per cent within 2020, and they also urged people to take a collective stand against ADB’s role in the country.
   The ADB never understands the root causes of poverty, it only wants to ensure that the corporate powers can dominate and control the global market and continue to make abnormal profits, said Uma Chowdhury, director of Supro, a civil society network.
   Ratan Sarkar, director of Incidin Bangladesh, Zakir Hossain, executive director of Nagorik Uddyog, Farzana Akhter, Mohammad Iqbal, trade union leader Subal Sarkar and farmers’ leader Zayeed Iqbal also spoke on the occasion, along with others.

Two CUFL officials, the managing director and the general manager (administration), will be brought from custody to the office of the CID on Thursday for fresh questioning in connection with the sensational 10 truck-load arms haul case, said investigators.
   The managing director, Mohsin Uddin Talukdar, and general manager, Enamul Huq, were remanded for three days by the court here for fresh interrogation as CID investigators think that they will get some important leads from them, said court sources.
   The CID arrested both of them last week after the second round of interrogation, said officials.
   The CID has sent a fresh notice to Mohammad Ali Chowdhury, the former deputy director of the National Security Intelligence, Chittagong unit, asking him to appear before them for questioning in connection with the arms case, officials added.
   ‘Earlier, we sent him a notice to report to us immediately for interrogation, but he did not respond. So we sent the notice again,’ said the investigation officer, ASP of CID Moniruzzaman Chowdhury.
   He said that the information gathered so far was reviewed again on Wednesday.
   Police seized the 10 truck-loads of light and heavy arms from the jetty of the CUFL on April 1, 2004.
   The case got a new start after the court ordered a fresh investigation and with the recording of confessional statements of the two prime accused, Hafizur Rahman and Deen Mohammad, which brought to light startling facts that had been buried at that time, officials said.

The High Court on Wednesday granted interim bail for two months to businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun, a close friend of Tarique Rahman, in the Niko corruption case.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed AB Mahmudul Huq and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury also asked the government to explain why Mamun would not be granted regular bail in the case.
   The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Mamun seeking bail in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission on December 9, 2007 under the Emergency Powers Rules.
   His lawyer SM Sabbir Hamza Chowdhury told New Age that Mamun could not be released from jail at this moment as he was yet to get bail in seven other criminal cases.
   A total 17 cases were filed against Mamun, who was arrested on March 25, 2007. Of them, he secured bail in ten cases, the lawyer added.
   In another development, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court set March 24 for a full court hearing on the petition filed by former BNP lawmaker Mohammad Giasuddin seeking review of its earlier order that had cancelled his bail granted by the High Court on February 11 in an extortion case.
   The Appellate Division chamber judge, M Abdul Aziz, set the date as Giasuddin’s counsel Abdul Baset Majumder moved the petition saying Giasuddin was released from jail on March 18 on bail granted by the High Court as he did not know that his bail was stayed by the chamber judge on March 16.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday expressed its reservations about the appointment of a minister to coordinate the investigations of the February 25–26 rebellion in the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters, in which at least 81, mostly army officers, were killed.
   The party’s secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain at a briefing questioned the rationale of the appointment of an investigation coordinator who is a minister and leader of the ruling party. ‘It should not have been done.’
   ‘His remarks and attitude raises questions,’ Delwar said. ‘It was not appropriate for the government to make such a decision in the interest of impartial investigation. We would like to say it clearly the investigation process should not be politicised.’
   ‘What will he coordinate? He is making statements every day on the investigation before the investigators have completed their task. Some other ministers pointed finger at militants although the law minister said such a comment should not have been made before the investigation is complete. People have already started doubting that it was done to influence and tailor the investigation at their will,’ Delwar said.
   ‘Everybody wants a fair, neutral and transparent investigation of the unprecedented event. The government has formed several investigation committees and have also made changes to them. We want the reports should be made public,’ he said.
   Delwar also criticised the government for tightening security for the president and the prime minister, ignoring the leader of the opposition. ‘They [the government] think if they are safe, everything is all right and they do not bother about others despite formal requests and demonstrations,’ he said.
   He also accused the government of planning to let off ruling party leaders from all cases and to indict opposition leaders to harass them. ‘Despite being convicted, Sheikh Helaluddin was elected unopposed and cases are filed against opposition leaders. The Anti-Corruption Commission or the police have become their tools,’ he said, in reply to a question regarding the filing of a case against Arafat Rahman, the youngest son of the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia.
   Asked whether a man could be punished for his son’s fault, Delwar said the party’s standing committee was the only forum to define what the ‘punitive action’ could be and it had taken action against Chowdhury Tanveer Ahmed Siddiqui, who had contributed a lot to the party, accordingly.
   Delwar said the party’s standing committee also expressed its concerns about the remarks of a policymaker of the neighbouring country on ‘direct intervention in Bangladesh if necessary.’ The standing committee condemned it and also expressed surprise at the government’s silence on the issue, he said.
   The standing committee also found similarity with the statements of some ruling party leaders and the propaganda made by the media and intelligence of the neighbouring country, Delwar observed.
   The forced return of Bangladeshi workers from different countries and the 25 per cent fall in apparel export was due to the total failure of the government, Delwar said.

BNP standing committee member M Shamsul Islam was stopped at Zia International Airport on Wednesday on his way to Bangkok for treatment.
   The former information minister was scheduled to fly by a Thai Airways flight at 1:40pm and the immigration officers stopped him from boarding the plane.
   ‘I was waiting in the lounge and my people went to the immigration counter with the documents and the assistant commissioner in-charge told them that they have instructions not to allow me to fly out,’ Shamsul told New Age.
   ‘I was surprised at such instruction as I had travelled to Bangkok and Singapore several times during the tenure of the interim government,’ he said.
   Shamsul, an accused in the GATCO scam case along with the party chief, Khaleda Zia, obtained bail in the case.

The Jatiya Sangsad on Wednesday reconstituted the parliamentary committees on public accounts and different ministries, incorporating lawmakers of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
   Parliamentary committee on public accounts: Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and MK Anwar, law ministry: Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, finance ministry: MK Anwar and Zainul Abdin Farroque, information ministry: Zainul Abdin Farroque, labour ministry: Mosharraf Hossain, civil aviation ministry: Mezbahuddin Farhad, shipping ministry: Mostafa Kamal Pasha, communication ministry: Nazrul Islam Manju, energy and foreign affairs ministries: AM Mahbub Uddin Khokan, women affairs ministry: Hasina Ahmed, food ministry: Mozahar Ali Pradhan, textile and jute ministry: Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anny, local government ministry: Abul Khair Bhuiyan, commerce ministry: Rumana Mahbud, industry ministry: Harunur Rashid, expatriate welfare ministry: Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, establishment ministry: Barkat Ullah Bulu, youth and sports ministry: Amjad Hossain, health ministry: ZIM Mostafa Ali, post and telecommunication ministry: Golam Mostafa, religious affairs ministry: Kazi Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad, agriculture ministry: Majibar Rahman Sarwar, land ministry: Hafizur Rahman, social welfare ministry: Abdul Momin Talukdar, primary and mass education ministry: Nazimuddin Ahmed, housing and works ministry: Lutfar Rahman, planning ministry: ANM Shamsul Islam and water ministry: AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad.

The first permanent Bangladesh observer in the United Nations Syed Anwarul Karim died of cancer on Monday at his house in New Work at the age of 81, said a message received on Wednesday night.
   He is survived by wife, three sons and a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn his death.
   Syed Karim had left the diplomatic job of Pakistan and joined the Liberation War in 1971. He is the author of ‘Sheikh Mujib: Triumph and Tragedy’, published in 2005.
   Qul khwani of Syed Karim will be held at Dhanmondi residence of Syed Anwarul Azim (flat 13, Apswara Apartment, House no-23, Road-4, Dhanmondi R/A) after asr prayers on Friday.

A police constable was killed and an assistant sub-inspector injured in a road accident on Salutikar-Goainghat road in Sylhet on Wednesday afternoon.
   The deceased is constable Rafiq of the Goainghat police and the injured ASI is Alamgir Hosen. Alamgir was admitted to a local hospital.
   The accident took place at about 3:00pm when a stone-laden tractor hit the motorcycle of Rafiq and Alamgir from the opposite direction. Rafiq died on the spot, the police and eyewitnesses said.