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The Directorate of Military Land and Cantonment served the leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia a third notice on Sunday asking her to hand over her house at the Dhaka Cantonment to the military estate officer by June 30.
   The directorate issued the latest notice a day before the deadline set by the High Court asking the government not to harass Khaleda was to be over.
   The High Court bench is scheduled to hear today the writ petition filed by Khaleda, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, challenging the two previous notices issued by the government asking her to vacate the house.
   Her personal secretary Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas acknowledged that officials of the authorities concerned had handed over the [third] notice to the caretaker of the house on Sunday.
   Khaleda called her lawyers to a meeting Sunday evening to discuss about the latest notice and her strategy for the hearing in the court today.
   The third notice reminded Khaleda that the directorate had issued a notice on April 20 asking her to vacate the house in 15 days and a supplementary notice on May 7 asking her to explain in 15 days why she should not be directed to hand over the house to the military estate officer.
   It stated that Khaleda had served the directorate a notice on May 10 through her lawyer stating that the supplementary notice had no application in respect of the property [house] on lease.
   ‘But, you [Khaleda] did not mention why the supplementary notice had no application in respect of the leased property.’
   Khaleda’s possessing or staying in the house has no legal basis, as she did not reply to the supplementary notice, the third notice said.
   Prime minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament in the first week of April that she would ask the opposition leader to vacate the house.
   ‘No member of parliament, no leader of the opposition, should live in the cantonment,’ Hasina said.
   Hasina also said the cantonment authorities had allotted the house to Khaleda in violation of the Cantonment Board laws.
   The cabinet on April 8 decided to cancel Khaleda’s leasehold of the cantonment house she went into after her husband former president Ziaur Rahman was killed in a military coup on May 30, 1981.
   The Directorate of Military Land and Cantonment issued the first notice on April 20 asking her to vacate the 6 Moinul Road house in 15 days. She filed a writ petition on May 3 challenging the notice.
   She filed a supplementary petition on May 17 challenging the second notice served by the directorate on May 7 asking her to explain in 15 days why she should not be directed to return the house to the authorities concerned.
   The Zia family has been living in the house since the 1970s. The 2.72-acre mansion was originally the official home of the army chief, a position held by the then Lieutenant General Zia.
   The government has argued that since Khaleda was given a second house, on a 1.5-bigha plot in Gulshan, the allotment of the 9-bigha cantonment house should be cancelled.
   It also said the house was leased out to Khaleda for 99 years with some conditions, including restrictions on political activities in the house.

The High Court on Sunday asked the government to act swiftly to stop erection of any structures – temporary or permanent – on the banks of the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers and earth filling and encroachment of any kinds on the rivers.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed also asked the government to explain in a week why it should not be ordered to demarcate the original boundaries and limits of the four rivers by forming a special survey team.
   The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority chairman, Department of Environment director general and deputy commissioners of Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur were also asked to explain why restoration of the rivers to their former state and removal of the installations on their banks should not be ordered.
   After hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by five Supreme Court lawyers – Asaduzzaman Siddiqui, Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury, Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan, Tapan Kanti Das and Mamun Aleem – on behalf of rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the court posted the hearing on the ruling for June 1.
   The petitioners’ counsel Manzill Murshid told the court that quarters with vested interests were grabbing the rivers and obstructing their flows in violation of the provisions of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995, and Natural Water Bodies Protection Act 2000.
   Citing newspaper reports, Manzill argued that the environment was being continuously endangered and threatened by various illegal activities such as encroachment, earth filling and erection of numerous temporary or permanent structures on the rivers.
   As the main sources of water for WASA are the Buriganga and Shitalakhya rivers, purification of its waters is seriously hampered due to large scale pollution of the rivers, he said.
   The polluted waters are causing various diseases among the city dwellers, he added.
   He said that callous disregard for laws and failure in enforcing the laws had caused much damage to the environment of the areas adversely affecting the city dwellers.
   ‘Non-implementation of the laws by the government undermines the rule of law and jeopardises the people’s life and their fundamental rights guaranteed by article 31 of the constitution,’ Manzill said. ‘The government should be directed to protect the rivers in accordance with the law.’

At least 30 people sustained injuries as police baton-charged a protest march of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the Old Town of Dhaka Sunday morning.
   The party activists were marching towards the deputy commissioner’s office to submit a memorandum against ‘atrocities in educational institutions and politicisation by the government’ when the police stopped them at Nayabazar crossing triggering the clashes.
   Leaders and activists of the party gathered in front of Nawab Yusuf Market at Nayabazar and marched towards the deputy commissioner’s office on Johnson Road as part of its month-long nationwide agitation programme against the government’s ‘utter failure’ in running the country.
   Leaders of the BNP’s Dhaka district unit, including Nazmul Huda and Amanullah Aman, and journalists also came under the police attack. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals and most of them were released after first aid treatment.
   Angry marchers started hurling stones when the police stopped them at Nayabazar crossing. Dhaka district BNP president Nazmul Huda, also former minister, and its general secretary Amanullah Aman, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Azizul Bari Helal and other leaders at the front of the procession came under police attack. Chhatra Dal leader Shahadat Hossain Babu sustained severe injuries while attempting to save Huda.
   Clashes erupted again at Raisaheb Bazar crossing after the marchers broke through the police barricade and tried to advance.
   The dispersed activists then walked to the DC’s office in groups but police again pounced on them in front of the District Council building and barred them from entering the office.
   At one point, police agreed to allow only Nazmul Huda to enter but he declined to go without other leaders. Later a delegation of the party met the deputy commissioner and submitted the memorandum.
   Nazmul Huda blasted deputy commissioner Zillar Rahman for the police behaviour that, he said, had left 30 his activists injured. He said the party would have to go tough if such undemocratic behaviours did not stop.
   During the clashes, senior reporter of Radio Today Shahabuddin Chowdhury and cameraman of Ekushey Television Tanvir Ahmed also sustained injuries in police action.
   Reports from Chittagong said BNP activists brought out a procession from the party’s local office at Nasiman Bhaban and went to the District Council in the morning. After holding a brief rally on the council premises, a delegation led by the party’s join-secretary general Abdullah Al Noman submitted the memorandum to the DC.
   Party leaders M Nazimuddin, Abu Sufian and MA Sabur addressed the rally.
   In Barisal, two factions of the district unit BNP separately submitted memorandums to the deputy commissioner after staging separate rallies and processions.
   A group of leaders and activists led by district BNP general secretary Nazrul Islam Rajon, city unit president Mahmud Golam Salek and Barisal mayor in-charge Altaf Shikdar, held a rally in front of Ashwini Kumar Town Hall before marching towards the deputy commissioner’s office in the morning.
   The other faction led by former Barisal mayor Ahsan Habib Kamal, city BNP organising secretary Mohsin Montu, district unit Juba Dal president Khwaja M Iqbal, district Chhatra Dal president Monwar Hossain Jipu and city unit Chhatra Dal general secretary GM Ata-e- Rabbi held a rally in front of Ashwini Kumar Town Hall an hour later at 11:00am.
   Speakers at both the rallies vowed to continue the protest against ‘violence in educational institutions, politicisation, deterioration of law and order, land grabbing by Awami League activists and harassment of opposition leaders by filing “false” cases.’
   New Age correspondent in Rajshahi said the city and district BNP and its associate bodies had jointly brought out a procession and submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner on the day protesting against ‘continued violence’ in the educational institutions by the ruling party’s activists, and the government’s failure to supply gas, water and power.
   Former Rajshahi mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu, district BNP president Azizur Rahman, organising secretary Alauddin Ahmed, party leaders Shafiqul Haque Milon, Kamrul Munir and Saheen Shawkat addressed a brief rally in front of the deputy commissioner’s office.
   In Khulna, the district unit BNP brought out a procession from its office on KD Ghosh Road and submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner after holding a rally on the District Council premises.
   Former lawmaker Nurul Islam, Nazrul Islam Manju MP, Shafiqul Mawla, Sekandar Ali Dalim and Syeda Nargis Ali addressed the rally.
   In Sylhet, a delegation of the city unit BNP, led by its president Ariful Huq Chowdhury, Nasim Hossain, and Shahriyar Hossain, submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner and held a rally in front of the DC’s office. No one from the district unit BNP was seen in the programme.
   New Age correspondent in Jessore reports: the district unit BNP handed over a memorandum to the deputy commissioner to press home its demands, including punishment of those who had been involved in the Pilkhana carnage.
   Before submitting the memo, the BNP activists brought out a procession led by its district unit president Chowdhury Shahidul Islam Nayan.
   The BNP on April 23 announced the month-long agitation programmes stretching from May 5 to June 8.

The deep depressed that developed in the Bay of Bengal on Saturday moved slightly northwards, intensifying into cyclonic storm Aila Sunday evening. It is likely to intensify further and move in a northerly direction.
   The Met Office said the depression was staying about 565km southwest off Chittagong port, 510km southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 460km south-southwest of Mongla port in the evening.
   Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla have been advised to hoist local warning Signal 4. All fishing boats and trawlers in the north Bay have been advised to remain in shelter till further notice.
   River ports imposed restriction on the plying of vessels of less than 65 feet in length in the evening.
   The maximum sustained wind speed within 54km of the storm centre is about 60kmph rising to 70kmph in gusts or squalls. The sea will remain rough.
   The system was likely to intensify and move in a northerly direction and cross the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast Monday evening, forecasts the India Meteorological Department.
   Reports reaching from coastal region said sea and river estuaries were very rough with waves rising up to 7 to 8 feet.
   People of char and coastal areas became panicked in the south, which was hit by cyclone Sidr on November 15, 2007.
   More than 200 trawlers with more than 3,000 fishermen on board could not get back to the shore because of high waves, according to the Mohipur-Alipur Fish Warehouse Association of Patuakhali and the Patharghata Fish Warehouse Association of Barguna, said the New Age correspondent in Patuakhali.
   It started raining heavily in the coastal region Saturday night. The Met Office at Kalapara recorded 85 millimetres of rainfall between 12:00pm Saturday and 6:00pm Sunday.
   The food and disaster management ministry has cancelled leaves of all the persons related to disaster management. The ministry has also asked all the volunteers to remain alert to the situation.
   The district and upazila administrations in southern districts also opened control rooms to monitor the development of the cyclone. The Red Crescent asked cyclone preparedness programme volunteers to get ready for emergencies, reports the correspondent in Barisal.
   The Patuakhali deputy commissioner, Md Riaz Ahmed, has asked all the upazila nirbahi officers to alert the people to the situation on PA system.
   A separate control room was opened in the district administration office and vehicles, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society volunteers and medical teams have been kept ready for emergencies.
   The Dhaka Met Office forecast that rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty to squally wind is likely over many places in Barisal, Khulna and Chittagong divisions and over one or two places in Rajshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions with moderately heavy rainfalls in places in Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong divisions.
   Day temperature may fall by 1–2 degrees Celsius across the country.

Sri Lanka said Sunday it would not allow aid workers complete access to civilians who remain held in camps after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers until rebels hiding among the refugees had been weeded out.
   United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to one camp housing 2,00,000 Tamils, had called for his staff to be given ‘unhindered access’ to those displaced in the decades-long war that ended a
   week ago.
   Ban, who toured the Menik Farm facility on Saturday, described the conditions as overcrowded and the detained civilians as ‘badly in need of food, water and sanitation.’
   The government responded to his appeal for aid agencies to be permitted to help by saying that ‘as conditions improved, especially with regard to security, there would be no objections to such assistance.’
   President Mahinda Rajapakse’s statement warned of ‘the likely presence of Tamil Tiger infiltrators among the large numbers who had come to the government areas.’
   The government describes the camps as ‘welfare villages’ and says it wants to resettle all displaced civilians as soon as possible, but Tamil activists say they are ‘concentration camps’ with inmates penned in behind barbed wire.
   During his visit, Ban urged Rajapakse to probe alleged human rights violations committed during the defeat of the Tamil separatists, a joint statement on Sunday said.
   The government responded warily to Ban’s request, promising only to ‘take measures to address those grievances.’
   Between 80,000 to 1,00,000 people died in years of fighting between government troops and Tamil separatists, who were battling for an independent homeland on the Sinhalese majority island.
   The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has said both the military and the Tigers may have been guilty of war crimes, and campaign groups have condemned the army for indiscriminate shelling of civilians.
   Rajapakse has robustly rejected all allegations of war crimes since his troops’ victory, which came after he ignored the UN’s repeated calls for a ceasefire.
   About 3,00,000 Tamils abandoned their homes and waded through swamps and jungle to flee the violence, only to be herded into the spartan state-run camps.
   Aid agencies have complained that even the limited access they had to the detained Tamils had been cut off in recent days.
   The Red Cross said on Thursday the government had stopped it from delivering desperately needed food to the Menik Farm camp, where it said people were still arriving after enduring ‘unimaginable hardship.’
   The UN chief flew by helicopter over the battlefields in the northeast of Sri Lanka on Saturday, observing a desolate landscape of craters, burnt-out vehicles and charred buildings.

A parliamentary probe on Sunday said that the parliament secretariat had paid the fuel bill for a political trip of BNP’s joint secretary-general, Tarique Rahman, to Naogaon district from where the former deputy speaker Akhter Hamid Siddiqui was elected.
   ‘Paying the fuel bill for someone who was neither an MP nor an official of the parliament secretariat is highly unethical,’ said Shahjahan Khan, an Awami League lawmaker who is heading a parliamentary sub-committee to investigate alleged corruption by top bosses of the eighth parliament.
   The meeting was informed that the office of the deputy speaker allocated money for 530 litres of fuel for Tarique Rahman’s visit to Mohadevpur in Naogaon in June 2006.
   The deputy speaker’s office submitted bills for only 100 litres.
   ‘This is an example of corruption committed by the deputy speaker’s office. If we can go through all the evidence we have collected, the number of such acts of corruption will continue to rise,’ Shahjahan told reporters.
   He said that he would submit the report to the main committee, constituted by the House on March 19 to investigate alleged corruption by the speaker and others at the parliament secretariat.
   The 11-member committee, comprising members of both the ruling and opposition parties, was formed to investigate the alleged corruption, irregularities, abuse of power and wastage of public money by the former speaker.
   The members belonging to BNP have refused to attend the meetings, saying that the probe is an ill-motivated move to tarnish the former speaker’s and the opposition’s image.
   Sunday’s meeting was looking into alleged irregularities in arboriculture in the parliament complex, allocation of houses to the parliament staffers and a few other allegations of petty corruption.
   The committee’s chief said that the report would be placed before the House so that the public are apprised of the former parliamentarians’ corruption.

Pakistan’s military said on Sunday several key areas in the Swat valley’s Taliban-held main town were secured, part of street-by-street urban fighting whose success is considered critical to flushing out the Taliban from the valley as a whole.
   The advances in Swat came as helicopter gunships pounded alleged militant hide-outs in a nearby tribal region, killing at least 18 people, while the police announced the arrest of a militant commander and six other Taliban fighters elsewhere in the northwest.
   A military statement on Sunday said forces had encountered at least 12 roadside bombs while securing eight Mingora intersections. Five suspected militants were killed in various parts of Mingora while 14 others were arrested, the army said.
   The retaking of Green Chowk could have serious symbolic value.
   Residents nicknamed it ‘khooni chowk’ or ‘bloody intersection’ because the militants would leave their victims’ bodies there — some decapitated, some killed in other brutal fashions. The dead often were left hanging from trees. Some had notes attached that accused the victims of spying and told local residents not to move the bodies until specified times.
   It was just one fear tactic used by Taliban fighters to exert control over the population of Mingora, which when not under army siege normally has at least 3,75,000 residents.
   Some 10,000 to 20,000 residents are still stranded in the town, according to the army.
   One trapped civilian told The Associated Press via phone Saturday night that gunshots were ringing through the air, first continuously then at intervals. He said he had tried to flee the city twice but failed due to the fighting and lack of transportation.
   ‘I will try to leave again whenever I get another chance,’ said Fazal Wadood, a local leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N party. ‘It is like inviting death to stay here anymore.’
   Overall in the valley, 10 militants were killed in the past 24 hours while three security troops died, the army statement said.
   It said troops had entered Piochar village, a hub in a remote part of Swat that is the rear base for Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah. A huge cache of arms and a bomb-making factory were unearthed, the statement said.
   Officials have downplayed reports that the army would soon expand the offensive to the lawless, semiautonomous tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. However, violence has continued to flare in those areas.
   On Sunday morning in the Orakzai tribal region, helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant targets in multiple locations, including a religious school, local government official Mohammad Yasin said.
   At least six civilians were among the 18 dead, he said, adding the targeted spots were strongholds of Hakeemullah Mehsud, a deputy to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. Hundreds fled the area amid the fighting, he said.
   Also Sunday, the police in nearby Charsadda district said they caught seven Taliban militants during a raid on a religious school. They included Qari Ihsanullah, a Taliban commander suspected in attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Charsadda police chief Riaz Khan said.
   ‘We recovered three suicide jackets, explosives and assault rifles,’ he said of the Saturday night raid.
   The military says about 1,100 suspected insurgents have died so far in the month-long offensive in Swat and neighbouring districts. It has not given any tally of civilian deaths, and it’s unclear how it is separating non-combatants killed from militants. Residents fleeing the region have reported dozens of ordinary Pakistanis killed in the fight.
   Some 1,500 to 2,000 hard-core insurgent fighters remain in Swat, the army says. Information provided by the military and civilians is nearly impossible to verify independently because of limited access to the area.
   The offensive has also triggered an exodus of nearly 1.9 million refugees, more than 1,60,000 to relief camps. Some fear the generally broad public support for the military campaign could drain away if the refugees’ plight worsens or if the army gets bogged down too long.

The 110th birth anniversary of the national poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam, who pioneered the poems of rebellion espousing the spirit of revolt against orthodoxy and oppression, will be observed today.
   On the eve of the day, the president, Zillur Rahman, prime minister, Sheikh Hasina and the leader of the opposition in the parliament, Begum Khaleda Zia in separate messages paid rich tributes to the memory of the rebel poet and prayed for the eternal peace of his departed soul.
   In his message, the president expressed his firm hope that the ideals and spirit of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam would provide inspirations towards establishing peace and human rights in the society.
   The prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, in her message, said poet Nazrul Islam would remain ever-fresh in Bengali language and literature. Narzul’s creative works and write-ups are illuminated with extraordinary glory, she said, adding that the poet of equality and humanity used to raise his voice to the highest pitch in favour of humanity, defying adversities.
   The leader of the opposition in the parliament, Begum Khaleda Zia, in her message, said that Nazrul had fought for humanity and stood against oppression, discrimination and injustice through his literary works.
   He was a poet, lyricist, tunesmith, music composer, musician, dramatist, short story writer, revolutionary thinker and a political activist.
   The government, several socio-political and cultural organisations, foreign embassies and education institutions have chalked up elaborate programmes to mark the day.
   The programmes include discussions, rallies, cultural functions and a book fair to display the books written by the poet and on the poet.
   Newspapers have published special supplements to mark the day. Television channels and radios are also airing special programmes to commemorate the day.
   The programmes will begin with placing of flowers on the poet’s grave on the Dhaka University premises at 6:30am.
   The government is celebrating the day in Dhaka, Chittagong, Trishal, Darirampur, Comilla and Doulatpur where the poet spent some time. The main programme will be held at Osmani Memorial Hall in Dhaka. President Zillur Rahman will inaugurate the programme at 11:30am as chief guest.
   Nazrul is widely known as the ‘Bidrohi Kabi’ or ‘the rebel poet’ for many of his poems and songs celebrate the rebellious spirit against oppression of human beings. His poetry, particularly, the poem titled ‘Bidrohi’ and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of ‘Bidrohi Kabi’.
   The poet also condemned religious bigotry and upheld the spirit of humanity for the people from all walks of life. He composed poems and songs upholding the rights of peasants and workers of all the nations.
   Nazrul is best known for his fiery poems and songs that inspired the Bengali people to rise against the British colonial rule and fight against all sorts of injustice, discrimination and oppression.
   For his fearless voice, the poet faced the wrath of the British rulers who jailed him several times.
   The poet composed about 3,000 songs which created a new genre of Bengali music known after his name as ‘Nazrul Sangeet’.
   Nazrul’s songs and poems were a great source of inspiration for the freedom fighters during the country’s war of independence against the Pakistani junta in 1971.
   Nazrul was born on this day in 1899 in a poor Muslim family in the village of Churulia in Bardwan of West Bengal. He died in Dhaka on August 29, 1976.

Former President Iajuddin Ahmed on Sunday said that the declaration of the state of emergency and his subsequent resignation from the post of the chief adviser on January 11, 2007 was the result of ‘Allah’s will’.
   ‘Everything has happened according to Allah’s will,’ he said in a programme aired by Banglavision, a private television channel, on Sunday evening. Kazi Jesin hosted the programme titled ‘Point of order’.
   Iajuddin, a former university teacher, was also chairman of the University Grants Commission and Public Service Commission before he was made president by the eighth parliament.
   He said the ups and downs in his career were also the result of ‘Allah’s will’.
   When asked whether he was under pressure and anything [written] was placed before him for declaration of the state of emergency when the chiefs of three services [Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Air Force and Bangladesh Navy] visited him in Bangabhaban before the promulgation of emergency, Iajuddin simply replied, ‘I agreed with them.’
   When asked about the detention of politicians, including Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, without any arrest warrant, and the cases filed against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission, he said, ‘Nothing that happened was unknown to me.’
   Iajuddin Ahmed on January 11, 2007 declared a state of emergency in the country, suspending fundamental rights and indefinitely delaying the election to the ninth Jatiya Sangsad, which was earlier scheduled for January 22.
   Iajuddin appointed Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former governor of the Bangladesh Bank, as the new chief of the interim administration.
   When asked why he had resigned from the post of chief adviser, Iajuddin said he had resigned because of the exigencies of the overall situation.
   When asked whether he had hesitated before promulgating the state of emergency as he was the elected president of a democratic nation, he said, ‘I had many things on my mind’.
   He claimed that the two major political parties, Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, had consented to Fakhruddin Ahmed being appointed as the chief adviser on January 12, 2007.
   When asked whether he had violated the constitution by promulgating the state of emergency, Iajuddin was silent.

The governing board of the Proshika Manabik Unnayan Kendra has removed Qazi Faruque Ahmed, its founding chairman, after a month-long agitation by its employees to rid the organisation of corruption, nepotism and politicisation.
   The highest policy-making body of one of the country’s biggest NGOs, at a requisition meeting on Sunday, unanimously appointed Md Abdul Wadud as its new chairman after removing the founder chief who is accused of massive corruption and politicisation of the organisation.
   Eight out of nine members of the governing body attended the meeting held at the Proshika headquarters in Mirpur, said a press statement issued by the NGO.
   Faruque was requested to attend the meeting but he stayed away.
   The board members at a press conference after the meeting elaborated on the necessity of the requisition meeting. They said that they wanted to save one of the largest NGOs of the country which has numerous beneficiaries.
   As the employees took to the streets to underscore their demand for removal of the chairman, seven members of Proshika’s governing board on May 10 requested Faruque to call an urgent meeting to solve the problems.
   But he refused to do so, so the members of the board called the meeting to ‘save the organisation’ from corruption, said Mahbub Ul-Karim, one of the members of the governing body who was appointed as chief executive officer of Proshika. He resigned from the governing board after his appointment as CEO.
   Although Faruque has been removed from Proshika, he still remains the chairman of the eight trustee boards formed with the funds of the NGO.
   These trustee boards include the Proshika Computer System, Human Resources Development Centre, Tissue Culture, Proshika Fabrics, Integrated Agriculture Farming, Small Entrepreneurship Development and Staff Welfare Fund.
   After analysing the situation, the board held Faruque responsible for the worker’s unrest that began a month ago.
   It observed that Faruque had tarnished the image of the organisation by using Proshika’s funds and manpower for his personal and political benefits, and slowly made it virtually inactive.
   Thousands of employees became disgruntled and agitated as he failed to lead the organisation from the front, observed the board according to the statement.
   Because of his inefficiency the existence of Proshika is under serious threat and it is difficult to restore its image under his leadership, said the statement.
   The board decided to oust Faruque to save the 33-year-old organisation which provides bread and butter to thousands of employees and their families.
   The meeting was attended by Mahbub Ul-Karim, Abdul Matin, Mashrurul Islam, Renuka Biswas, Golapi Bewa, Shahjahan Halder, Sultana Ahmed and Abdul Wadud.
   The meeting also appointed a five-member panel comprising Sirajul Islam, Sirajul Haque, Abdur Rab, Mahbubul Alam and Altaf Hossain Talukdar to assist the chief executive of the organisation.
   The board also decided to hold its annual general meeting on June 9, said the new chairman while addressing a press briefing at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
   From now onwards the board will also take steps to prevent employees from participating in political activities, he said.
   When contacted, Faruque termed the meeting illegal and claimed that according to Proshika’s constitution only the chairman could call such a meeting.
   ‘The chairman can only be removed by the 55-strong general body after casting three-fourth of the total votes against him,’ Faruque told New Age.
   According to Article 27 of Proshika’s constitution, the post of the chairman or any member will be vacated only if s/he is convicted by a criminal court or removed by a special general meeting, Faruque claimed.
   He added the governing board had no power to remove him as they were a part of the management committee.
   Wadud contradicted Faruque, saying, ‘If the governing body can appoint someone as chairman, it can also remove him from that post.’

Eminent citizens, local government experts and elected representatives are now worried about the effective functioning of the Upazila Parishads in which the newly introduced vice-chairmen have virtually nothing to do. The latter are now becoming frustrated and are planning to launch agitation programmes to
   get their due status and authority.
   They said all the upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen should be united in pressing home their demand for making the local government bodies truly functional.
   The chairmen should also delegate some authority to the vice-chairmen on the basis of mutual understanding to ensure better service, said local government experts.
   Justice (retd) Golam Rabbani said the framework of the local government, as laid down in Article 59 and 60 of the constitution, should have been implemented in toto.
   ‘It is an unfortunate situation that the position of the upazila vice-chairmen, among whom the majority are women, has been deprived of any power. They have nothing to do for the public although they pledged during their election campaigns that they would fulfill certain local demands,’ he added.
   The vice-chairmen of the Upazila Parishads on May 19 threatened to go for street agitation if they are not given due status and authority immediately in running the recently-formed Upazila Parishads.
   They issued the threat at a press conference in the capital under the banner of Bangladesh Upazila Vice-Chairmen Association (proposed).
   They also demanded cancellation of the government’s notification on the temporary guidelines for the newly-elected UP representatives.
   ‘We cannot sit idle just like ornaments of the local government body…It is very sad that the government is not involving us in any activities, like food procurement, test relief or the Food for Work programme,’ said the vice-chairman of Munshiganj sadar, Mansur Ahmed, who is also the joint convener of the proposed association.
   He alleged that the local development activities in most areas were going on as per instructions of the Members of Parliament.
   Local government expert and also former member of the now-defunct Local Government Commission, Tofael Ahmed, said that the Upazila Parisad system would gradually become dysfunctional if the present situation continues.
   ‘The future of the Upazila Parishad is bleak…The chairmen should now delegate some authority to the vice-chairmen to make the local government bodies functional,’ he said, adding that the decentralization of power within the parishad is essential to solve the problem.
   Professor Salauddin M Anisuzzaman of the Department of Public Administration at Dhaka University said that the government should officially delegate authority to vice-chairmen in some specific areas as half of them were from reserved seats for women. ‘For women’s empowerment and practice of democracy at the grassroots level, the vice-chairmen, particularly the female vice-chairmen, should be involved in some local development activities, especially in the areas of health, agriculture and social welfare,’ he added.
   A female vice-chairman from Debidar in Comilla, Najma Begum, said, ‘We feel very embarrassed in the present situation…Most vice-chairmen do not go to the parishads as they have no work to do.’
   On May 5 the government enforced some temporary rules for the 482 newly-formed Upazila Parishads across the country without defining the jurisdiction of vice-chairmen.
   The Upazila Parishads have been empowered to look after all development activities and review the law and order situation and relief and rehabilitation work at the upazila level.

In recent weeks, there has been a quiet surge in the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area, local people and some NGO officials said.
   Without giving any figure of such new entrants, they said of late scores of people belonging to the Myanmar ethnic minority called Rohingayas had been trickling into Bangladesh, crossing the border and the river Naaf.
   Many of these new arrivals were putting up makeshift shelters around Kutupalong hill near the ‘government refugee camp’ under Ukhiya police station. They were constructing houses by cutting the hill and extracting timber from the nearest forest, the local people alleged.
   One of the new refugees, Katija Begum (22), said she entered into Bangladesh through Balokhali border point on May 21 with her husband and three sons.
   She said her family had been evicted from their homestead in Myanmar by Burmese military and border security forces, alleging that the their home was burnt down and cattles taken away by Myanmar authorities.
   An official of MSF Holland, a medical facilitator for Rohingya refugees at Kutupalong in Ukhiya, told this correspondent that they were providing medical assistance to the incoming refugees. She said many of these refugees were languishing without any government or NGO support.
   When contacted, Md. Gias uddin Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, did not confirm any figure of fresh influx of refugees from Myanmar, but said efforts were on to repatriate the remaining Rohingayas with assistance from United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
   There is a UNHCR proposal for resettling some the refugees in a third country like Canada, USA, UK, Australia, New Zeeland or any European country which would be interested to take them in.
   On May 23, some 19 Rohingyas who had illegally entered into Bangladesh, were pushed back by BDR through Teknaf border. According BDR sources, a total of 300 Rohingyas have been pushed back to Myanmar during last two weeks.
   Md. Firoj Salaudin, Reugees, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) at Cox’s Bazar, recalled that some 2,50,877 Rohingys refugees had arrived in Cox’s Bazar district between 1991 and 1992, most of whom were sheltered in 20 refugee camps set up in the area.
   Following negotiations, some 2,33,000 Rohingyas were later repatriated to their homeland in Myanmar until 1998.