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Two people were killed as the police fired into garment factory workers rallying for pay unpaid for three months at Ershadnagar in Gazpur on Saturday. More than a hundred, including law enforcers, were injured.
   The killing and the firing into the workers of the Nippon Garments Industry Limited, who had blocked the Dhaka–Mymensingh Road for about four hours, led to further clashes between the workers and the lawmen in the Tongi Industrial Area.
   The Tongi police officer-in-charge, Tapan Chandra Saha, late Saturday night confirmed the death of two — a rickshaw-van puller and an unnamed pedestrian.
   According to spot accounts, the police charged with truncheons at the workers who blocked the highway to push for their pay for three months in arrears. As the clash began, the lawmen fired gunshots, rubber bullets and teargas shells into the workers.
   Vehicles remained stuck spanning 10 kilometres on both ends of the road stretch.
   The workers, however, claimed four of their fellows were killed in the police firing. They alleged the police had taken away the bodies, but the local administration brushed aside any such allegation of taking away any bodies.
   Witnesses said the deceased were rickshaw-van puller Mohammad Babul Sheikh, 35, and an unnamed pedestrian aged about 45 years.
   Witnesses and local residents said several hundred workers of the garment factory, located near the Ershadnagar bus stand went to work about 7:30am, but the authorities with the help of the police stopped them from entering the factory.
   The workers then went out on demonstrations and the authorities pasted a notice on the main gate announce a lay-off at the factory till November 29. The notice further said salaries would be paid on November 10.
   The workers immediately took to the streets and blocked the Dhaka–Mymensingh Highway about 8:15am.
   As the police charged at them with truncheons, the workers pelted the lawmen with stones, which led to a series of clashes.
   They damaged the glasses and windowpanes of at least 50 vehicles stranded on both ends of the road stretch and set fire to a bus used to carry workers and a motorcycle parked in front of the factory.
   The workers took control of the Nippon Garments Industry premises and kept clashing with the lawmen in several small groups.
   The Gazipur police superintendent, Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman, in the afternoon said, ‘We reinforced police deployment inside the factory Friday night as requested by the garment factory management.’
   The workers alleged the owner had announced the lay-off after the police deployment without any notice and without paying their salary in arrears.
   Rabeya, a worker of the factory, said, ‘The police beat us ruthlessly and assaulted female workers by confining them to the factory premises.’
   The situation eased a bit at 11:30am after the deployment of additional police and Rapid Action Battalion personnel at the spot. But sporadic clashes continued as the rumour that four of the workers were killed in police firing spread.
   Rokhsana Begum, a worker of the factory, said, ‘My husband was killed in the police firing. He was coming to take me back home from the factory after he heard of the clash.’
   Several thousand workers then gathered again on the road and clashed with the police, deployed there from Friday night.
   They became angry hearing that the police were trying to take away the bodies of the people killed in the firing.
   Personnel of the police, Riot Police, Ansars and the Rapid Action Battalion again fired gunshots and teargas shells to disperse the workers.
   Many were injured with the bullets and truncheons. A place inside the factory was stained with blood and there was a piece of brain, which the workers believed was of a worker who was killed the firing.
   ‘We fired gunshots to control the situation,’ said a policeman on the spot.
   Once the situation calmed down, about 1:30pm, some people in the area started looking for people who they said had been missing since the clash began.
   The injured were admitted to Gazipur General Hospital, Dhaka Medical College Hospital and other local clinics.
   The inspector general of police, Nur Mohamamd, and the Rapid Action Battalion director general, Khandaker Hassan Mahmood, visited the spot.
   Local lawmaker Zahid Hasan Russel and Tongi municipal mayor Azmatullah also visited the place.
   A tense situation was prevailing in the area and a huge number of policemen were deployed in and outside the factory to stave of further troubles.
   The incident took place a day before the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association holds Batexpo garment workers’ fair ’09 at the Bir Shreshtha Shaheed Sipahi Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium at Kamalapur in Dhaka today.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has asked the home ministry to take necessary action against the authorities of the garments factory responsible for the violent incident happened in Tongi, Gazipur.
   Prime Minister’s press secretary Abdul Kalam Azad Saturday told BSS as saying the prime minister.
   The authorities of the Nippon Garments Factory laid the factory off Saturday morning without making payments of arrear salaries for three months of the workers, leading to the violent incident, officials said.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has sensed a campaign of industrial sabotage in Saturday’s protests of garment workers at Tongi, which, its leaders have said, was aimed at crowding out the country of the global clothing market.
   At a hurriedly-called press conference attended by two members of the parliament, who are also the factory owners, the association leaders Saturday censured some online news services for airing
   reports of workers’ deaths, which police did not confirm.
   The industry owners’ club defended the Nippon Garment owner, who had abruptly closed down the unit sparking workers’ protest.
   ‘We are sensing an act of sabotage behind the destruction and lawlessness at Tongi this morning,’ BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy said.
   Tipu Munshi MP, a former president of the association and Israfil Ahmed MP, a member, shared similar observations.
   Tipu said he had immediately contacted the SP of Gazipur who was quoted in the death news aired by some online news services. ‘The SP said he did not say anything such.’
   Circulating news of deaths of workers is very sensitive and enough to infuriate the mob, said Tipu. ‘The situation could turn even worse.’
   Only one out of 14 injured people taken to hospital was a worker of Nippon Garment, the former BGMEA chief cited to substantiate his doubt that ‘some vested interest quarters have instigated workers.’
   Israfil Ahmed MP urged the government to remain cautious against ‘local agents of foreign elements’ that might have been working to create unrest in Bangladesh’s garment industry.
   Due to global market recession, many foreign elements are in a frantic move to grab Bangladesh’s share in the global apparel market, he said without elaborating.
   The BGMEA president pointed out that despite having inadequate orders Nippon was continuing its operation by taking subcontract jobs from other factories.
   The factory owner was obliged to notify one month’s leave to factory workers at the eleventh hour as a transport company captured three lots of fabrics of Nippon, which failed to pay Tk 20 lakh in bill arrears, Murshedy argued.
   Even then, Nippon did not owe its workers any due wages and the factory notified its workers to receive October salary on November 10.
   Although they admitted that Nippon owner did not inform the BGMEA of the abrupt closure of the factory, both Murshedy and Tipu defended the factory owner’s notification of one month’s leave for all workers.
   Israfil Ahmed, however, pointed to a legal grey area and said it was not
   legally binding on factory owners to inform any authority in advance of closure. ‘I think the law should be amended,’ said the lawmaker.

Parliamentary supervision of the executive branch has not gained ground as the ministries’ responses to legislative recommendations and their implementations are below the expected levels, alleged a number of heads of Jatiya Sangsad committees.
   Some parliamentary standing committee chairmen are planning to seek the prime minister’s interference to remove bureaucratic bottlenecks that stand in the way of implementing their recommendations for various ministries. ‘We will shortly meet prime minister Sheikh Hasina to seek her assistance in the implementation process,’ Rashed Khan Menon, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on education ministry, said.
   He said many well-thought-out recommendations of parliamentary panels are not taken care of adequately. ‘They get stuck up in bureaucratic tangles,’ said the lawmaker belonging to the Workers Party of Bangladesh, an ally of the Awami League-led coalition.
   Chairman of the parliamentary watchdog on land ministry, AKM Mozammel Haque has also planned to meet the prime minister for implementation of his committee’s recommendations for reclaiming 43 canals in Dhaka city on which public and private buildings were illegally established.
   ‘I may seek an appointment of the prime minister in the second week of November,’ the ruling AL lawmaker told New Age.
   He observed the implementation process at the ministry-end was slow.
   ‘The ministry’s speed is not like that of us. Its feedback is very slow,’ he said.
   The AL-led alliance government formed 39 parliamentary committees on ministries in the first session of the ninth parliament that began on January 25, aiming at establishing a strong supervision of people’s representatives on the government’s activities.
   Senior lawmakers, many of whom had served as ministers during the Awami League’s 1996-2001 regime, were made chairmen of those committees, represented by treasury and opposition lawmakers. Two of the committees are headed by opposition lawmakers.
   Apart from examining bills and other matters referred to it by parliament, the standing committees are tasked with reviewing the works relating to concerned ministries, inquiring about any activity or irregularity and serious complaints. The committees have the authority to send recommendations to the government, which the authorities are supposed to implement.
   A former state minister and now chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on information ministry, Obaidul Kader on October 27 said the committee’s responsibility is to suggest corrective measures and it is the duty of the government to follow those up.
   Kader found the implementation process frustrating. ‘It is a matter to be seen to what extent they [the ministry officials] implement our suggestions.’
   Hasanul Haq Inu, a lawmaker belonging to Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the post and telecommunications ministry, said some of his committee’s recommendations were implemented quickly while few others were not.
   He said he has a good working relation with the ministry.
   In the last nine months, only a few parliamentary committees’ recommendations were taken seriously, according to officials at the parliament secretariat.
   The government’s plan to sue former interim government adviser MA Matin followed the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on the shipping ministry. The industries ministry responded quickly to the recommendations from the standing committee concerned for cancelling sugar export order earlier given to a private refiner.
   In some cases, standing committees were found confused and coming up with contradictory suggestions as happened to a controversial development project near the airport.
   The committee concerned earlier objected to the five-star hotel and golf club project, stalled for years due to disputes about the foreign company concerned. But it changed its mind later and favoured giving the job to the same company reportedly at the personal insistence of the committee chief.

Contrasting half-centuries from Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Ashraful propelled Bangladesh to a four-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the third one-day international giving them a 2-1 lead in the five-match series in Dhaka on Saturday.
   Tamim plundered 80 off 72 balls hitting 10 fours and two sixes before Ashraful stroked 63 from 91 balls as Bangladesh ambled past their target making 198-6 in 40.4 overs after the bowlers had restricted Zimbabwe to 196 in 41.1 overs.
   Tamim looked well set for his third ODI century before a moment of madness saw him stumped by Berndon Taylor off leg-spinner Graeme Cremer, which also ended his 98-run second-wicket stand with Ashraful.
   Ashraful was happy with a supportive role as long as Tamim stayed at the crease, but he accelerated later to complete his half-century, his 19th in what was his 150th ODI.
   His departure triggered a mini-collapse with the hosts losing four wickets in quick succession to be reduced from 175-2 to 194-6, which gave an otherwise comfortable victory an ugly look.
   The victory came so easily that Bangladesh were on 54-1 in 11 overs before the match went for the scheduled innings break. Opener Junaed Siddique, having been dismissed for five, was the only casualty before the break came.
   But it did not do any harm as Tamim had already turned his bat into a sword to punish almost all Zimbabwe bowlers, who had seen their confidence totally shattered.
   After his departure, Ashraful was joined by Roqibul Hassan, otherwise a cool customer, used the situation beautifully to put together 53 runs for the fourth wicket where his contribution was 21 off 29 balls.
   Earlier, Hamilton Masakadza, stand-in captain for the second match in a row for injured Prosper Utseya, took the Bangladeshi bowlers into a similar situation, but unlike Tamim, he had no helping hand like Ashraful.
   Masakadza, who raced to his half-century off only 36 balls, with this innings became the second batsman after Australia captain Ricky Pointing to score 1,000 runs in 2009.
   He has now accumulated 1,064 runs from 23 matches in the year, just 10 short of Ponting. Mike Hussy of Australia later joined them with a half-century against India in the third ODI in New Delhi.
   Bangladesh bolstered their attack for the match with their fourth spinner Enamul Haque Jr, who justified his inclusion in place of Dollar Mahmud with 3-45. Ironically, it was Nazmul Hossain, the only seamer they used, became the most successful bowler with 3-13.
   Bangladesh opened their bowling with Razzak but to their surprise Zimbabwe also reshuffled their batting line-up with Brendon Taylor coming in to open the innings with Masakadza.
   The move, however, did not pay off as Nazmul removed Taylor for only two, but Charles Coventry, promoted to number three in the pecking order, caused a fright in the hosts’ dressing room, with an attacking 71-run stand.
   Masakadza and Coventry (29) helped Zimbabwe accumulate 84 runs in the first two powerplays, but thanks to some controlled bowling by Enamul, Nazmul and Razzak (2-41) late on they did not get a chance to use the third powerplay.

Committees of all eight associate bodies of the ruling Awami League served out their tenures two or three years ago, but their council sessions are unlikely to be held by this year despite the party's willingness to do so.
   If the associate bodies fail to hold council sessions by this year, the Awami League would fix timeframes for them to complete the councils as the party wants to bring changes in the leaderships of its associate organisations to give young leaders the responsibility to strengthen the party.
   The party is asking the organisations repeatedly to hold their council sessions at the earliest, AL general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam told New Age.
   'The associate bodies will have to hold their council sessions by this year…Otherwise, we have the authority to fix a timeframe for doing so,' he said.
   The party have eight associate bodies - Awami Juba League, Awami Swechchasebak League, Mahila Awami League, Krishak League, Awami Ainjibi Parishad, Tanti League, Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad and Juba Mahila League.
   In accordance with the amended constitution of the AL, Jatiya Sramik League and Bangladesh Chhatra League are no longer the associate bodies of the party and would run independently under their separate constitutions.
   The associate bodies are now being run with acting chiefs or general secretaries as many of their leaders have been inducted in the AL central committee after the party's national council session on July 24.
   Awami Ainjibi Parishad president, advocate Sahara Khatun was made presidium member of the AL while Juba League chairman, Jahangir Kabir Nanak was made organising secretary and general secretary, Mirza Azam, was made the party's central executive committee member.
   Swechchasebak League president, Bahauddin Nasim was made organising secretary of the AL while Mahila League general secretary, Fazilatunnessa Indira was elected women affairs secretary. Party lawmaker Asrafunessa Mossaraf has been discharging responsibilities as the acting president of Mahila League since its president Ivy Rahmen was killed in the August 21, 2004 grenade attacks on an AL rally in the capital.
   MA Aziz and Quamrul Islam have been discharging responsibilities as the acting president and acting general secretary respectively of the AL 's Dhaka city unit since its former president, Mohammad Hanif died on November 27, 2006 and general secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya went into hiding during the emergency rule.
   The city AL at its extended meeting on September 12 decided to hold its tri-annual council session between October 20 and 30, but it could not be possible due to lack of preparations and bickering among the leaders, sources said.
   Although leaders of the associate bodies claim they are fully prepared for holding council sessions by December, the reality is that many of their units have not yet been completed.
   Usually, Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, also the prime minister, inaugurates the national councils of its associate bodies. But she will have hectic schedules in November and December, including visits to at least five countries.
   Awami Swechchasebak League earlier decided to hold its council on October 11 but failed as conferences of some 8-9 district units of the organisation have not yet been held.
   Swechchhasebak League general secretary, Pankaj Devnath told New Age that they hoped to hold its national council session by this year after completing council sessions of the district units shortly.
   Juba League has completed its countrywide organisational tour programme and is taking preparations for its national council by November, said its acting chairman Omar Faruk Chowdhury.
   Juba Mahila League general secretary, Apu Ukil told New Age that they had completed all preparations for holding its national council the date for which would be finalised in consultation with the AL chief, Sheikh Hasina.
   Bangladesh Chhatra League president, Mahmud Hasan Ripon said conferences many district and university units were long due and that its national council was expected after completion of conferences of these units.
   The last council of Dhaka city Awami League was held on June 18, Mahila Awami League on July 12, Krishak League on July 29, Juba League on January 25 and Swechchasebak League on July 27 in 2003. Awami Ainjibi Parishad held its council on March 11, 2000, Tanti League on August 8, 2004, Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad on September 5, 2004 and Juba Mahila League on March 15, 2004. All the committees are elected for a three-year tenure each.
   Bangladesh Chhatra League held its last council session on April 4, 2006, and Jatiya Sramik League on July 3, 2003.

The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, has said there should be initiatives to investigate any kind of extrajudicial killing, as the present government does not believe in such killings.
   ‘The present government believes in the rule of law and there should be initiatives to investigate any kind of extrajudicial killing,’ he said after the inaugural ceremony of the ‘human rights training for law officers and legal practitioners’ at a city hotel on Saturday.
   Talking to reporters, Shafique said the government would appoint the ombudsman very soon to ensure the constitutional rights of people.
   He said the scrutiny committee, headed by the speaker, would sit soon with its members to select the ombudsman.
   The law minister said the ombudsman could probe allegations against any government, semi-government or statutory bodies or organisations, and could recommend the government to take proper steps against any of them.
   The minister said the government had enacted the Right to Information Act and constituted the Information Commission for ensuring the free flow of information as part of fulfilling its election pledges.
   Reiterating his government’s commitment to try the war criminals, he said, ‘Our government is committed to trying the war criminals and put those criminals on trial who had committed crimes against humanity.’
   Terming the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his youngest son, four national leaders in jail as crimes against humanity, Shafique said they could not yet bring the perpetrators to justice.
   On human rights, he said the government was committed to protecting human rights. ‘Government’s decision and commitment have already manifested with the steps it has taken in the last nine months,’ he added.
   About access to justice, the law minister said legal aid committees, headed by the district judges, had started functioning and they were trying to create awareness among people under a pilot programme, ‘Promoting Access to Justice and Human Rights in Bangladesh Project’.
   The ministry of law, justice and parliamentary affairs is implementing the project with support from UNDP. Legal Education Training Institute will conduct the programme.
   State minister for law, Qumrul Islam, Bangladesh Bar Council vice-chairman Abdul Baset Majumder, LETI chairman Amir-ul-Islam, Supreme Court Bar Association president AFM Mesbahuddin, UNDP country director Stefan Priesner spoke on the occasion as special guests.
   Law secretary Kazi Habibul Awal chaired the programme while national project director Salma Benthe Kadir made the welcome address.
   Speaking on the occasion, the state minister for law, Qumrul Islam, said the lawyers could play the most important role in establishing human rights.
   He said the programme would enable the lawyers and legal practitioners to know how to act in protecting human rights. ‘The law officers can play a pivotal role in encouraging the citizens about human rights.’
   Stefan Priesner said lawyers and law officers must have empathy with the human rights violation victims. ‘This initiative implies the government’s commitment towards protecting human rights,’ he added.
   About crossfire, Supreme Court Bar Association president said one could not be killed in the name of crossfire.
   Amir-ul-Islam said the theme of the training was access to justice and it must be there in the policymaking.
   He said: ‘The human rights content is getting more prominent and we need to understand that the police and magistrates are the protectors of human rights.’
   The Bangladesh Bar Council vice-chairman said access to justice means ensuring justice at the earliest and with affordable expenses.

A bomb killed seven Pakistani soldiers and wounded 11 others Saturday, officials said after the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, warned al-Qaeda is at the core of the country’s terrorist threat.
   ‘Seven paramilitary soldiers were killed and 11 were wounded in the remote-control bomb attack,’ Shafirullah Khan, the top administrative official in the northwestern tribal district of Khyber, told the news agency by telephone.
   The Frontier Corps later issued a statement confirming that seven of its members had ‘embraced martyrdom’.
   It gave their names and said they died in an improvised explosive device blast.
   Military and security officials in nearby Peshawar city said two vehicles carrying rations for Pakistani troops were destroyed in the explosion, which occurred about 15 kilometres west of Peshawar.
   Meanwhile, Pakistani troops killed 33 militants but faced mortar fire and street battles as they pressed an offensive against Taliban and foreign extremists on Saturday, the military said.
   No information provided by the army can be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers are barred from access to the area on the wild Afghan border.
   The latest casualties reported in a military statement bring to 297 the total number of insurgents reported killed since the operation was launched in the mountainous tribal terrain of South Waziristan on October 17.
   The military launched an offensive in Khyber, home to the Khyber pass into neighbouring Afghanistan, on September 1 after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a border post. That attack killed 22 policemen.
   The semi-autonomous northwest tribal belt has become a stronghold for extremists who fled Afghanistan after a US-led invasion toppled the hardline Islamic Taliban regime there in late 2001.
   Officials on Saturday blamed local militants for the attack on the soldiers. They were not specific but Lashkar-e-Islam is the main militant group fighting in that area.
   The group has ties to the Pakistani Taliban headquartered further south in the semi-autonomous district of South Waziristan, where government forces on October 17 began a separate major offensive aimed at rooting out ‘terrorists’.
   Around 30,000 troops are taking part in the South Waziristan campaign against an estimated 10,000-12,000 militants. Relief workers say more than 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.
   Numerous previous offensives in the tribal belt have had limited success, costing the lives of 2,000 troops and ending generally with peace agreements that critics say gave the insurgents a chance to re-arm.
   At the end of a visit to Pakistan on Friday, Hillary hit out against Pakistan’s silence on the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leaders.
   ‘We don’t know where and I have no information that they know where but this is a big government. You know, it’s a government on many levels. Somebody, somewhere in Pakistan must know where these people are,’ Hillary said.

Two men suspected of being involved in piracy were killed in a ‘gunfight’ between their associates and the police at Poramahal in the Sundarban east division in Bagerhat early Saturday, the police said.
   The incident took to 118 the total death figure from extrajudicial killing such as ‘crossfire’ or ‘encounter’ by the Rapid Action Battalion and the police after January 6 when the Awami League-led government assumed office.
   The deceased were Altaf Hossain, 42, and Mizanur Rahman, 35, both residents of Chandrakhali at Rampal in the district.
   The police said they were members of the priate gang Raju Bahini and were accused in se several cases filed with different police stations in the district.
   The Mongla police officer-in-charge, Md Jalal Ahmed, said they raided the area after coming to know that some crime suspects were holding a meeting at the place near the River Sheola.
   When they reached the place early Saturday, the crime suspects fired into the lawmen, who fired back, said Jalal.
   He said Altaf and Mizanur were died after being caught in the firing. Other crime suspects managed to get away.
   The policemen also seized two guns, 14 bullets and 8 cartridges from the spot, the officer-in-charge claimed. The bodies were sent to the Bagerhat General Hospital morgue for post-mortem examinations.
   Two policemen, Md Zakir Hossain and Nurul Islam, injured in the ‘gunfight,’ were being treated in Mongla health complex, Jalal said.

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Saturday accused the government of plotting to implicate the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, and her son Tarique Rahman in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case in a bid to wipe out nationalist forces from the country.
   ‘Investigations were done immediately after the 2004 incident and Mufti Hannan was arrested as per the probe… the past interim administration had also filed a charge sheet in the case. Now they have initiated a fresh inquiry and appointed their chosen persons as investigation officers only to implicate the top BNP leadership in this case,’ he said.
   Delwar was addressing a rally in front of the party’s central office at Naya Paltan protesting against filing of a fresh case against Tarique Rahman.
   He also alleged that former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and former lawmaker Nasiruddin Pintu were severely tortured in custody to extract ‘so-called’ confession involving Khaleda and Tarique in the case.
   ‘Failing to extract any such confession from them, they have now come up with another plot and are trying to extract similar confession from a former state minister, taking him into police remand,’ Delwar said.
   ‘I am branding the remand illegal as the High Court had instructed the government to interrogate him at jail-gate considering his health condition. But the government sought a stay order on the instruction and an appellate division bench
   stayed the High Court order at 7:00pm and on that same night he was taken into remand,’ Delwar said.
   The BNP secretary general alleged that the ruling Awami League was making Jatiya Sangsad dysfunctional and turning it into a place for character assassination and smear campaign against their political opponents.
   ‘Whatever had taken place in Bangladesh since the events of 1975 till today, they are putting the blame on Ziaur Rahman and his family. The have made the parliament dysfunctional and the House a place for character assassination and smear campaign. We have reasons to believe that all kinds of conspiracy to destroy the BNP have been hatching there,’ he said.
   ‘The government’s main target is Ziaur Rahman and for that reason they are on a relentless campaign against Khaleda Zia and her sons,’ said Delwar.
   ‘You have failed in every sector. Unemployment has reached its peak. Please concentrate in implementing the pledges you have made to the people,’ he told the government.
    Delwar alleged that the government did not bother about the country’s interests, rather remained happy if their ‘masters aboard’ were happy. ‘Today we have heard several people died in violence at a Tongi garment factory.
    It is a big conspiracy to destroy the country’s economy and industries and this government is part of this conspiracy for the benefits of a neighbouring country,’ he said.
   ‘They never believed in democracy. The Awami League general secretary said our leader’s statement was seditious. I ask him what was it when his predecessor had threatened to use a trump card to oust BNP government. People of the country have seen their democracy since December 16, 1971. They always supported autocracy – be it a military rule or BKSAL system. It was their leader who said “I am not unhappy” when Ershad had imposed martial law in 1982.’
   Party standing committee member Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, joint secretaries general Abdullah Al Noman, Mirza Abbas and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, organising secretary Amanullah Aman, publicity secretary Fazlur Rahman Patal and office secretary Rizvi Ahmed also addressed the rally.

Thousands of foreign workers in India face a deadline Saturday to be out of the country in a visa clampdown aimed at cracking down on tax-dodging expats and unskilled labour.
   The changes will affect expatriates working in India on a business visa, which under the new rules will be reserved for a smaller pool of senior executives, trade consultants and other specialists.
   Those who fail to meet the government's new criteria for the business visa will have to leave India by Saturday midnight and can return to the country to work only if they meet the stricter criteria for a full employment visa.
   'If a foreign national is employed in India, he must have the right kind of visa,' the home secretary, GK Pillai said in New Delhi this week.
   The number of expatriates affected by the change was not known, but experts said they expected thousands to be caught in the net.
   Viral Thakkar, a partner at global consultancy firm KPMG in Mumbai, said he saw the stricter rules as aimed at keeping foreigners out of semi-skilled jobs.
   'It is more of a restriction on semi-skilled labour coming to India,' Thakkar said.
   Immigration lawyer Poorvi Chothani also said the changes in the rules were to target tax-evading foreigners.
   Earlier, business visas were given to a wider range of occupations and employees were allowed to come for six months without paying taxes.
   'The problem comes when companies bring in people and send them back within six months and then get a new batch of people. As a result the government gets nothing,' said Chothani of the Mumbai-based LawQuest legal firm.
   'It is a corrective measure because why leave a very large tax-escape window open?' added Anjan Roy, economic adviser to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a national business lobby.
   Under the amended rules, foreign clerical, secretarial and unskilled workers will not be given work visas in India, where economists say unemployment and under-employment is rampant.
   Employment visas will not be 'granted for jobs for which large numbers of qualified Indians are available,' the home ministry said.
   Indian media reports have said the clampdown will specially hit around 25,000 Chinese with business visas who currently work in power, communication and petroleum sector projects in India.
   In the northern state of Himachal Pradesh a major road project has come to halt after Chinese employees working for the contractor had to return home.
   'The road is in a complete mess,' complained top farmers' leader Sanjay Chauhan after around 100 Chinese workers abandoned the project.
   Relations with China have lately been strained by an escalating border row.
   'I understand why the Indian government wants to make the change,' said Peter Linford, South Asia trade commissioner at the Australian high commission in New Delhi.
   He said some expatriate workers were using business visas when they should have been on employment visas.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has asked the upazial nirbahi officers to work together with people's representatives, including upazila chairmen, to ensure maximum welfare of the grassroots people.
   'No one in the world can do all the jobs alone. You have to work together with the upazila chairmen and other people's representatives for ensuring people's welfare,' she told the UNOs on Saturday.
   The prime minister was addressing the inaugural function of a two-day training workshop titled 'E-governance, service at doorsteps' arranged for the UNOs by the Prime Minister's Office in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme at a PMO auditorium.
   The training workshop was arranged as part of the Prime Minister's Office-sponsored Access to Information Programme. Sixty UNOs will be given training on e-governance in the first batch.
   The sessions of the workshop will be held at the Bangladesh Computer Council Bhaban at the city's Agargaon.
   Hasina said the government would decentralise power more and more to empower people at the grassroots level.
   She observed power was very much centralised in Bangladesh, as the country was ruled by many military dictators for a long time after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
   'As people have elected their own government now in the last December 29 polls, we want to serve them by decentralising the power,' she said.
   In democracy, people representatives have to keep in touch with the mass people and they have to play their part in functioning of the local government, Hasina said.
   Hasina said government officers and people's representatives had their own duties and responsibilities in the local government system.
   'We hope all the duties and responsibilities will be discharged with full commitment and integrity,' she told the function.
   Promising to introduce e-governance from the grassroots level to the central administration, the prime minister revealed that the government had decided to introduce e-tender system to put an end to tender manipulation.
   Hasina asked the ministries, all government institutions and departments to keep their web sites always updated to provide the latest information to people.
   The prime minister said the government wanted to stamp out corruption from all sectors utilising the information technologies.
   'We don't want to be known as a corrupt nation in the world as we used to be known during previous governments. Work hard to uphold Bangladesh's image abroad as an honest, hard-working and modern nation,' she said.
   Hasina said the Awami League had promised to turn Bangladesh into a digital country by 2021, but digital Bangladesh did not mean the use of only computers everywhere.
   'Digital Bangladesh is a modern philosophy of using appropriate technology in implementing the government's all pledges, including poverty eradication, ensuring quality education and health facilities, generating employment opportunities for the people,' she said.
   Prime minister's adviser HT Imam, state minister for science and technology Architect Yafes Osman, cabinet secretary MA Aziz and UNDP country director Stefan Priesner also addressed the inaugural function.
   Later, the prime minister handed over a laptop to a female UNO in the programme.

The corruption trial against the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will take place on November 27, judicial sources said Saturday, after a high court this month stripped him of his immunity.
   The trial was suspended last year after Italy's parliament passed legislation giving the premier immunity, but the Constitutional Court struck down the law on October 7, paving the way for legal cases against Berlusconi to resume.
   Berlusconi is accused of paying his British former tax lawyer, David Mills, 600,000 dollars (400,000 euros) to give false evidence in two trials in the 1990s.
   Mills, who was tried separately, is appealing a guilty verdict delivered in February, when he was sentenced to four and a half years in jail.
   Berlusconi has vowed to serve out the rest of his five-year term, which he won in April 2008, even if he is convicted.
   'I still have confidence in the existence of serious magistrates who issue serious sentences, based on facts,' Berlusconi said according to extracts released Saturday of interviews he gave to journalist Bruno Vespa for a book.
   'If there is a conviction at trial, we would be confronted with such a subversion of the truth that I would all the more feel the duty to resist (and stay) at my post to defend democracy and rule of law,' he said.
   Mills, the estranged husband of the British Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, once admitted receiving the money from Berlusconi but said it had been 'in recognition' for his work.
   He later recanted and said the money was a stipend paid to him by Italian shipbuilder Diego Attanasio.

Three people drowned and 10 others went missing in a trawler capsize in River Paira near Khaserghat in Patuakhali sadar upazila on Saturday night.
   The deceased were Rijia Begum, 60, Rakib, 3, and Rabbi, 4.
   Local people said a trawler carrying 40-50 passengers from Barguna sank in the river after evening when it was sailing back from Patuakhali.
   Local people recovered bodies of Rijia and Rabbi from under the water shortly after the ferry accident.
   They also rescued seven missing passengers and sent them to Patuakhali General Hospital where doctors declared Rabbi dead.
   Survivors said at least 10 people were still missing.