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Living became a nightmare for people of Dacope, an upazila in southwestern Khulna, after May 25 when the region was battered by water surges whipped up by cyclone Aila that ripped through the coastline into India.
   And it has not yet changed for the better for them, even five months inside the devastation.
   The people, who lost all they had to the cyclone, started living in makeshift shelters and on high land such as roads, living on the help dished out by government agencies and non-governmental organisations.
   The upazila administration soon after the cyclone said 25,067 houses were destroyed and 8349 damaged.
   The people could not get back to their homesteads as they are yet to be rebuilt or repaired, and the affected continued living in makeshift shelters or under the open sky.
   Air reeking of human excreta and other bad smells started hanging heavy on them as the area now has a few sanitary latrines. Most of the people now need to defecate in open spaces.
   The Department of Public Health Engineering said 183 pond sand filters, 697 tube wells, 183 sand filter ponds, 177 drinking water ponds and 16,948 latrines were destroyed at Dacope. The administration could repair only 80 of the tube wells.
   The residents said the DPHE people started distributing drinking water among the affected after the devastation, but that too stopped on June 13.
   Most of the people affected who were employed in various jobs before May 25 have now go fishing to earn their living and what they get can hardly meet their needs.
   'Thousands of people go fishing in small areas of water bodies and the amount of fish they catch these days can hardly meet the need for the families,' said 50-year-old Mahiuddin Gazi, a resident of Sutarkhali in the upazila.
   Mahiuddin said they were not getting adequate food and water. They receive some food and water from government agencies and non-governmental organisations, but the amount was too little to meet their needs.
   'The government is now running a food-for-work programme and is paying Tk 100 per head, but a large number of people remain outside the programme coverage. The amount is also too small to run a family, especially amid the spiral of essential goods prices,' said 63-year-old Akkas Ali, a resident of Kamarkhola.
   'We are faced with an acute shortage of drinking water as all our sources of drinking water were destroyed and nothing has as yet been done to repair or restore them,' said 40-year-old Joynob Bibi, wife of Abdul Gani, also a resident of Kamarkhola.
   She said they needed to fetch water from a distance of four kilometres and when cannot do that, they drink from the nearby river. The water is dirty and most of them have contracted diarrhoea, and skin and other waterborne diseases.
   Joynob said they harvested rainwater in earthenware pots for drinking, but they used up the stock in a few days after the rainy season. Not many of them have extra pots to harvest rainwater for months. 'We send our children to schools with pots so that they could fetch some water from water sources on their way home.'
   'We find it hard to manage food. We have no drinking water. We have no sanitary facilities. We have a latrine for more than a hundred families. We relieve ourselves in open spaces,' said 45-year-old Moksed Sardar, a resident of Nalian.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, Quazi Atiur Rahman, said the administration had provided the people affected with 2,400 tonnes of rice and Tk 10 crore in cash in relief, Tk 3 crore in house building grant in the upazila.
   About 10,500 people are getting 30 kilograms of rice a month under the vulnerable group feeding programme and 5,644 people have been brought under the food-for-work programme coverage, in which the people get Tk 100 each a day for 40 days.

People of Dacope, which was battered by water surges whipped up by cyclone Aila on May 25, are badly in need of warm clothes as winter is closing in and they are living in makeshift shelters or on high land such as roads.
   Their houses, destroyed or damaged during the cyclone, are yet to be rebuilt or repaired and most of them have but fishing to earn their living.
   The upazila administration soon after the Aila devastation said 25,067 houses were destroyed and 8,349 damaged, forcing the people to live in makeshift shelters on the roads.
   'We do not know how we could pass the winter. Our homesteads are still under water. We have not been able to rebuild them,' said Syed Ali Sardar, 50, who, with seven others of the family, now lives in a makeshift shelter on the Sutarkhali embankment at Dacope.
   Most of the people left their homes for shelters with what they had on. And they lost all they had to the cyclone. Now they barely meet their daily needs mostly from fishing and they have no money to buy clothes.
   Cough, fever, headache and pneumonia have already become prevalent in the affected areas as winter started setting in.
   'Two of my brothers have caught cold. One of them has been running temperature for a few days,' said Parul Khatun, a higher secondary student, coughing.
   She said the family of seven was passing days in 18 feet long and 10 feet wide makeshift shelter with only two mats, three thin wrappers and a few clothes. They have no blankets or warm clothes.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, Quazi Atiur Rahman, said the people were suffering from cold-related diseases and he had informed higher authorities of the matter and requested the authorities to arrange distribution of warm clothes.

All-rounder Naeem Islam held his nerve to score his maiden half-century, leading Bangladesh to a nail-biting one-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the fifth and final one-day international in Chittagong on Thursday.
   Naeem remained unbeaten on 73 off 90 balls as Bangladesh reached 222-9 with six balls to spare after the first career ODI century by Brendon Taylor had guided Zimbabwe to a competitive 221-9 in their 50 overs.
   Naeem sealed the dramatic victory putting on 35 runs in the last-wicket stand in which his partner Nazmul Hossain's contribution was just one run.
   The right-hander struck medium pacer Justice Chibhabha three sixes off consecutive deliveries in the 48th over to take the momentum away from Zimbabwe after Bangladesh had lost their ninth wicket for 187 runs.
   With the close finish, Bangladesh took the five-match series 4-1, their fourth consecutive series victory in the year, three of which came against Zimbabwe. Bangladesh, who had also defeated West Indies, have not lose any series this year and they claimed 14 victories from 19 matches.
   This is only the second one-wicket victory for Bangladesh in their one-day history. Their previous one-wicket victory also came against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2007.
   Zimbabwe looked set for a consolation victory after they had already lost the rubber when Taylor cleverly crafted his unbeaten century of 118 off 125 balls, giving them a shot in the arm.
   Bangladesh skipper Sakib al Hasan won the toss and asked them to bat under cloudy overhead condition. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who was later adjudged man-of-the-series for his 15 wickets, struck twice with the new ball and when Mahmudullah and Sakib joined him in the demolishing act Zimbabwe appeared to be clueless again.
   But Taylor was the only exception as he fought a lone battle against the spinners to complete his century in 48.5 overs with a gentle push towards point for a single as Zimbabwe plundered 19 runs off the final over.
   Sakib took 3-29 to become Bangladesh's most successful bowler. Razzak and Mahmudullah also claimed three wickets each, but not before conceding 56 and 52 runs respectively.
   Razzak and Mahmudullah were outstanding in their respective first spell of five overs giving away 26 and 16, but both of them had to bear the brunt of Taylor's onslaughts at the final stage. The tail-enders provided Taylor a great support to lift Zimbabwe after Bangladesh had reduced them to 113-7 in the 29th over.
   Bangladesh, in reply, had suffered an early shock when a delivery from Christopher Mpofu struck Tamim Iqbal in his left hand which forced him to take treatment at a local hospital.
   The run-out of Ashraful and untimely dismissals of Junaed Siddique (19), Roqibul Hassan (31), Sakib (20) and Mushfiqur Rahim (23) saw them on the back-foot before a 69-run sixth-wicket stand between Mahmudullah and Naeem lifted their morale.
   When Mahmudullah (34) too failed to prolong his innings despite having a good start, Bangladesh needed Tamim to return to the crease with his bruised hand. But the local boy missed his opportunities having been one of three run-out victims leaving only Naeem to finish off the game and he did it with aplomb.

The government is thinking about reserving 10 per cent of the seats in all government secondary schools for children of the choice of lawmakers, education ministry officials told New Age on Thursday.
   'Almost all the lawmakers receive requests from various quarters for admission to government schools every year, but neither heads of the schools nor education directorate officials heed their requests. The ministry is preparing an admission policy which will have a provision of reserving 10 per cent of the seats in every school for the children chosen by local lawmakers,' said an official of the ministry.
   'As local peoples' representatives, we face requests for admission every year, but we fail to do anything in this regard. The officials involved in the admission process act according to their will,' said a lawmaker who is also a member of the parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry.
   'Keeping 10 per cent or more seats reserved for lawmakers' chosen children has also been discussed in the parliamentary standing committee's meeting held in late September and October. We are preparing the admission policy in light of discussions of the standing committee,' he said.
   Since 2001 a committee headed by the director-general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education has been assigned to complete the admission process for the 24 schools located in the capital. In other places the admission committees are headed by the deputy commissioners.
   'According to the proposed admission policy the admission committees will henceforth be headed by regional education officers instead of DCs,' said the official.
   There are now 317 government secondary schools in only 191 upazilas across the country.
   'By November 15 the admission policy will be completed and the schedule of selling admission forms and holding exams will be announced immediately after that,' said an official of the DSHE.
   In Dhaka there are only 8,000 seats in different classes in 24 public schools, but as many as 45,000 students take part in admission tests every year.

The government has decided to find out some potential sectors to ask the commercial banks for productive investment of their excess liquidity, piled up to the tune of more than Tk. 22,000 crore, sources at the finance ministry said.
   Government policy maker, they said, were worried that such idle liquidity could set off inflation and price increases, causing imbalance in micro-economy.
   'We will have to find a way to increase investment to utilize the banking sector's excess liquidity which could result in inflation and leave a negative impact on price level,' finance minister AMA Muhith told a meeting on investment and capital market on Thursday.
   Sources present at the meeting told New Age that at a next such meeting they would discuss the potential sectors where investment could be made to utilize the banking sector's excess liquidity.
   Governor of the Bangladesh Bank Atiur Rahman, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry and Awami League lawmaker AHM Mustafa Kamal and chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Ziaul Hassan Siddiqui were present at the meeting.
   The finance minister also asked the officials concerned to make preparations for off-loading shares of the government-owned companies in the capital market to make it vibrant.
   Excess liquidity was more than Tk 30,000 crore until the first week of October, but went down to Tk 22,000 after the central bank asked the commercial banks to keep more dollars instead of Taka through 'open position sale' operation.
   Excess liquidity in the country's banking sector reached all time high in the month August, indicating a sluggish trend in investment scenario that is still persisting, according to financial analysts.
   Overall excess liquidity with the commercial banks stood at Tk 35,051 in August 2009, registering a more than 160 per cent growth over the figure of the same period of the previous calendar year, according to the Bangladesh Bank.
   The amount of excess liquidity was Tk 27,000 crore, 23700 crore and 21500 crore in April, March and February 2009 respectively, the BB data showed.
   The meeting sources said that the finance ministry and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee have also asked the BB governor to solve the problem of excess liquidity using different monetary instruments.
   Besides, they also discussed about the possible impact of off-loading GrameenPhone's share in the country's capital market as trade of the GP share is likely to be commenced soon.
   Chairman of SEC explained the present position of the capital market as well as its possible future scenario, the meeting sources said.
   The international monetary fund last week warned Bangladesh that excess liquidity and resurgent international commodity and food prices might push inflation to a double-digit level in next summer.
   'We believe the central bank should reduce the risk by mopping up excess liquidity from the market', the IMF adviser Masato Miyazaki said during a recent visit to Dhaka. Investment in the private sector might jump on a quick recovery from the recession, he said.
   An IMF statement said BB should start issuing a sufficiently large amount of BB bills so that excess liquidity is taken out even if the government starts drawing on its deposits with BB.
   Masato also suggested that the government should impose tax on commercial banks if they hold excess liquidates.
   The inflation rate fell to 2.2 percent in June from a double-digit mark a year ago. The rate however rose to 4.7 percent in August, clearly showing a rising trend in commodity prices.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has asked the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to implement the minimum wage scale in all its member-factories, as she announced major measures for the export industry's security, growth, and financial and marketing facilities.
   'Many of the BGMEA-member factories are implementing the minimum wage. But, at the same time, other factories are not implementing the minimum wage. I urge these factories to implement the wage,' she said addressing the inaugural ceremony of the three-day 20th Bangladesh Apparel and Textile Exposition 2009 at Sonargaon Hotel on Thursday.
   She made a request to the factory owners not to run after profit only but to do some work for welfare of the people, particularly for their workers.
   The prime minister also renewed her warning against any further chaos in the readymade-garment sector, which suffered a latest shock from violent clashes a few days back.
   In view of the security problems, the government is considering introducing 'industrial police' and 'industry intelligence force' to main discipline in the apparel industries, she announced. The prime minister categorically said the patrons behind creating instability in the garment industry would be found out in order for the export sector to run undisturbed.
   To maintain stability in the RMG sector, the prime minister sought cooperation of the factory owners as well. 'You will have to maintain discipline in your respective factories,' she said.
   In order to boost production, the prime minister requested the finance minister to take necessary steps regarding loan rescheduling and rehabilitation of the resuscitating 270 sick garment industries of the country.
   She also directed the shipping ministry to examine whether the amounts of service charge at Chittagong seaport for the shipment of export cargos could be readjusted.
   Hasina suggested the factory owners that they should explore new markets of Bangladeshi garments in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and in the Middle-East countries.
   She told her business audience that the government was working to arrange duty-free access of Bangladeshi garment products to the market of the United States.
   'Our government will present the issue of Bangladesh's duty-free access to the US market at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation to be held in Geneva this month,' she said.
   About the imperative for ensuring workers' welfare, the prime minister reminded that the workers were that force which helped the factory owners to earn money.
   She told the audience that though the government had introduced rationing system for the garment workers, many factories did not take the ration from the government yet.
   'Take the ration from the government and distribute food among the garment workers at reduced price,' she said.
   With the BGMEA president, Abdus Salam Murshedy, in the chair, the inaugural ceremony was also addressed by finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam and commerce minister Faruk Khan.
   BGMEA's first vice-president Nasiruddin Chowdhury gave the welcome address of the annual function of the country's main export industry, which employee nearly three million workers and earns about 76 per cent of the national export incomes.
   In his address, the finance minister stressed the need for fast banking and finance-management system for expediting trade and business in the country.
   He described the country's banking and financing institutions as complex and riddled with procrastination.
   The finance minister said, 'The government will continue to facilitate social investment in various sectors for ensuring economic emancipation of the country.'
   The BGMEA president in his address put forward an 11-point demand for further development of the RMG sector.
   The demands included giving additional exchange rate against every dollar on 30 per cent of the export price, increasing time limit for loan rescheduling without down payment from September 2009 to June 30, 2010, re-fixing weekly holiday on Sunday withholding the existing staggered policy.
   The prime minister at the function was honoured with a crest. She later distributed crests among successful garment workers and their meritorious children, entrepreneurs and buyers.
   She later visited various stalls of the BATEXPO'2009.

The United Nations announced Thursday it will evacuate more than half of its international staff based in Afghanistan after a deadly Taliban attack on a guesthouse for UN workers.
   But the UN said it had no intention of abandoning Afghanistan, where 100,000 US-led foreign troops are battling a bloody insurgency eight years after the extremist Taliban regime was driven from power.
   About 600 expatriate staff, from a total of 1,100 foreigners, will be temporarily relocated either within Afghanistan or abroad, UN spokesman Dan McNorton said.
   There was no immediate breakdown, but McNorton said the vast majority would be leaving the country on a temporary basis.
   'The only people who will remain are regarded as essential staff. This is to ensure the safety of all our staff in Afghanistan,' he said, adding the evacuations will begin immediately.
   The UN has about 5,600 staff in Afghanistan, about 80 per cent of whom are Afghans, and the relocations will affect around 12 per cent of total deployment.
   The decision would be reviewed regularly and was expected to be effective for 'a number of weeks while additional security is being put in place,' McNorton said.
   In a statement, the UN said it was 'fully committed to helping all of Afghanistan's people, as it has been for more than half a century'.
   'Every effort will be made to minimise disruption to our activities while these additional security steps are being taken,' it said.
   The move comes eight days after Taliban suicide gunmen stormed a Kabul hostel in a dawn attack that killed five UN workers.
   The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, denied the evacuation amounted to a withdrawal from Afghanistan.
   'We are not pulling out and will not pull out,' he told reporters.
   'The UN is putting in place immediate additional security measures for its international and Afghan staff.
   'We will do what we can to avoid disruption of our work,' he added.

Angry Afghan villagers protested on Thursday against what they said was the killing of 11 civilians in an air strike by foreign troops, but local authorities said only fighters were killed. Civilian casualties caused by Western forces have stoked anger toward foreign troops, which the NATO commander, US army General Stanley McChrystal, says undermines the Western mission.
   Some 300 protesters paraded dead bodies of the air strike victims on streets of Lashkar Gah, capital of restive southern Helmand province, where 10,000 US Marines and 9,000 British troops have fought the war's heaviest battles.
   A spokesman for Helmand's governor confirmed an air strike had taken place, saying it killed eight Taliban insurgents. A press officer for NATO-led forces in Kabul said troops had conducted an operation in the area, but gave no further details.
   Demonstrators chanted slogans against the government and the United States. A Reuters reporter in Lashkar Gah said the dead bodies shown at the demonstration included young male teenagers.
   'Are they Taliban or civilians?' asked one demonstrator in tears.
   Protesters said the victims were killed in the raid late on Wednesday while working in a wheat field outside the city. Some women were among the demonstrators, a rarity in conservative southern Afghanistan.
   'Death to the governor, down with the government and the United States,' said Khan Mohammad, leader of the protesters, who said he had lost four of his nephews in the bombing.
   Civilian casualties have been a main source of friction between the president, Hamid Karzai, and the foreign troops led by NATO and the US military in recent years.
   The United Nations says 1,500 civilians were killed in the first seven months of this year. More than two thirds were killed by Taliban fighters, and 23 percent were killed by Western and pro-government forces, it says. The rest could not be attributed.

The LDP chairman, Oli Ahmed, on Thursday night urged the government to keep confined the activities of the Directorate-General of Forces Intelligence within the cantonment to check repeat of unfortunate incidents like BDR mutiny.
   'Presently, BDR is crippled. Border is unprotected. Smugglers are active. Reconstitute BDR strongly on an emergency basis. Time is running out fast,' said the former army officer in a valedictory statement in parliament.
   Quoting the prime minister that move is on to destabilise the situation and the ruling party general secretary's similar statement, Oli posed a question if the situation is so, 'what would be the condition of us and the country?'
   He then answered to his own rhetorical question: 'It seems that none of us has any security.'
   The LDP leader advised the government to take action against the real culprits without taking recourse to vengeance. 'It is not correct to arrest indiscriminately after any occurrence,' he said.
   He said the intelligence agencies must be strengthened and they should gather information before any occurrence.

The third session of the ninth Jatiya Sangsad was prorogued Thursday with the speaker and the leader of the house calling upon the boycotting opposition lawmakers to return to the parliament to deliver the responsibilities the people had vested in them.
   Speaker Abdul Hamid read out the prorogation order of the president at 9:00 pm.
   He pledged to continue with his efforts to bring the opposition lawmakers back to the parliament.
   'I hope that the parliament will be livelier with the participation of lawmakers from all the parties,' Hamid said reminding them that the parliament was the centre of all activities to ensure rule of law.
   The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in her valedictory speech urged the speaker to take fresh initiatives to bring the opposition lawmakers back to the house.
   Lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led opposition alliance, which has been boycotting the parliament since the previous budget session over a seating row inside the chamber, skipped the entire third session.
   Many opposition lawmakers, however, submitted notices and questions to the parliament and they were transacted in regular businesses. They also took part in the committee meetings and parliamentary delegations abroad.
   The session, which began on September 7, witnessed three general discussions on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, the recent bomb attack on the ruling party lawmaker, Fazle Noor Taposh, International Day for Democracy and Tolerance and a thanks-giving motion to prime minister Sheikh Hasina for her role at the United Nations where she had delivered her speech in Bangla.
   It also held an unscheduled discussion on the constitution to mark the Constitution Day on November 4. The country's constitution was adopted on the day in 1972. The ruling party lawmakers urged the government to return to the main constitution, which was amended 14 times.
   The prime minister also hinted at amendment of the constitution keeping the sensitive provisions intact.
   The house also held discussions on a report prepared on the basis of a parliamentary investigation against the alleged corruption of the former speaker, Jamiruddin Sircar, his deputy Akhter Hamid Siddiqui and former chief whip, Khandaker Delwar Hossain. The house asked them to return the money they had wasted from the public exchequer.
   The session stretching 22 working days passed 11 bills, including the Local Government (Union Parishad) Bill 2009, Local Government (City Corporation) Bill 2009 and Local Government (Municipality) Bill 2009. A total of 22 bills were tabled in the house during the session.
   It also passed The Father of the Nation's Family Members' Security Bill 2009 providing the surviving members of the family of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman security for life, Public Procurement (Second Amendment) Bill 2009 to allow inexperienced business entities or persons to take part in public works and procurement of goods or services in the public sector worth up to Tk 2 crore. The house also approved the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill 2009.
   The session transacted as many as 3,479 notices from lawmakers on different ministries seeking answers from the ministers concerned. The prime minister during her weekly question-answer session replied to 25 out of 234 questions from the lawmakers.
   The speaker on November 4 expunged from the parliamentary proceedings the entire statement the jute and textiles minister, Abdul Latif Siddiqui had made on October 12. The speaker also regretted the two 'metaphoric' words he had used in the house on October 11 while blasting the lawmakers for being absent from the parliament.
   Oli Ahmed, the lone lawmaker of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, in his concluding remarks requested the speaker to take initiatives to being the mainstream opposition party back to the house.
   Oli Ahmed pointed out the government's weaknesses, including laxity in maintaining law and order, and urged the prime minister to take necessary steps to ensure peace and security of the people.
   He called upon the government to strengthen the activities of the intelligence agencies and said that the activities of the Directorate of General of the Forces Intelligence should be confined to the cantonment.
   'It [limiting the DGFI activities] will help prevent repetition of tragic incidents like the mutiny in the Bangladesh Rifles,' he said.
   Independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim also took part in the concluding day's deliberations.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Thursday said the name of Ziaur Rahman could not be erased from the minds of the people by burning books written on him.
   Blasting the incident of setting books on Ziaur Rahman on fire at Sonargaon museum, Khaleda said the country's independence and sovereignty was restored through the uprising of mass people and soldiers on November 7, 1975.
   She was launching a commemorative volume, Biplab Sanghati, based on the events of November 7 and edited by the party assistant publicity secretary Mohiuddin Khan Mohan, at her office on the day.
   The volume features Khaleda's accounts of November 7, and articles of Emajuddin Ahmed, Maniruzzman Miah and others.

Death Row convict AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed made 'a mockery of the highest court' by saying that he came to know about his conviction after being deported to Dhaka, although he had sought asylum in the United States and had admitted his involvement in killing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his application.
   Anisul Huq, the chief prosecutor in the appeals in Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's murder case, pointed this out in his concluding argument during the 24th days' hearing of the appeals on Thursday.
   The five-member Appellate Division bench of the Supreme Court will resume the hearing on Sunday when attorney-general Mahbubey Alam will make his submission.
   In the application that Mohiuddin had filed seeking asylum in the USA, he had stated that he was involved in killing the country's founding President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, and he might be hanged to death on his return home as he had already been sentenced to death in the case, said Anis.
   Mohiuddin filed a petition seeking permission to appeal against his conviction after being deported to Bangladesh in 2007. He explained the delayed filing of the petition by saying that he had come to know of his conviction after being arrested.
   'I had opposed Mohiuddin's plea but the court rejected my submission as the US court's document on Mohiuddin's application for asylum was not available then,' Anis said.
   Anis, displaying the US court's documents submitted by Mohiuddin, told the court, 'The convict committed a heinous crime by killing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, and made a mockery of the highest court by denying his knowledge of the case.'
   Demanding conformation of the death sentences of the all convicts, Anis argued that the all the 60 witnesses in the case, in their depositions, had mentioned the names of the convicts, so neither the trial court nor the High Court had done any wrong by convicting the accused.
   He refuted the defence plea that the confessional statements made by condemned prisoners Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan and Mohiuddin Ahmed to magistrates were legally unacceptable as they had been in police custody for more than 15 days, which was a violation of the law dealing with remand.
   Anis said that the convicts were interrogated for long in different cases but they were not in police remand more than 15 days in one case. 'No magistrate can remand any suspect for more than 15 days according to the law.'
   Referring to the depositions made by the magistrates who had recorded the confessional statements, Anis said that those statements were recorded in accordance with the law.
   He argued that the depositions of 60 prosecution witnesses have as much weight as the confessions, so the conviction of the accused persons cannot be reversed.

The prime minister’s adviser on establishment ministry and administrative affairs, HT Imam, on Thursday hinted that the Anti-Corruption Commission was looking into allegations of irregularities against many officials, including a number of secretaries, who were made officers on special duty immediately after the Awami League-led government assumed office.
   ‘There are allegations against many officials who were made officers on special duty…The authorities might have sent their names to the ACC for investigation. You will see the results very soon,’ Imam told reporters while exchanging views on administrative affairs at the establishment ministry.
   He said dishonest officials would face departmental proceedings.
   Asked whether any honest and efficient officials had been deprived of promotion on political consideration, the adviser, confided that political considerations did usually work to some extent in the top administration since the government had some ‘grey areas’.
   Imam, a career bureaucrat-turned politician, said different types of considerations did work in the cases of promotions and postings in the top bureaucracy, including joint secretary, additional secretary and secretary, where competition was very tough.
   The government was also considering appointment of professionals or experts to some posts in the administration on contractual basis to ensure better service delivery to the public, according to the adviser.
   The adviser said that some competent officials might have been deprived of promotion, but not on political consideration. ‘We have asked all concerned to file applications by November for review of the promotions…We will consider each and every case so that honest and efficient officers are not deprived of promotion.’
   Imam, also a former cabinet secretary, said that one’s loyalty to the country, merit and honesty would be considered for any promotion in bureaucracy.
   Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, Molla Waheeduzzaman and establishment secretary Iqbal Mahmood were present at the meeting.
   The Awami League-led government on September 7 promoted a total of 494 officials, mostly from the administration cadre to the levels of deputy secretary, joint secretary and additional secretary in excess of the approved vacant positions in the organogram and made them OSDs.
   About 350 officials, including 11 secretaries, 58 additional secretaries, 95 joint secretaries and 87 deputy secretaries, are idling the time away in the establishment ministry as officers on special duty, according to an official record.
   Many of the senior officials, dumped as officers on special duty, fear they might lose their jobs on political consideration.
   Imam said a total of 3,091 officials, including 81 secretaries, 259 additional secretaries, 739 joint secretaries and 2,012 deputy secretaries, were made OSDs during the tenure of the BNP-led alliance government between 2001 and 2006.
   He, however, could not give the number of officers made OSDs in the nine months of the incumbent government.
   Actions would be taken against those who had been involved in corruption and irregularities, the adviser said and assured all that the present government would not force anyone into retirement on political consideration. ‘Many officers were forced to retire by the BNP-led alliance government. But we want to come out of such practices.’

The leader of the house and prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Thursday urged the people to remain alert so that none could snatch their democratic rights as she aired apprehensions about motives of the parliament-boycotting opposition.
   ‘Is the opposition party out to impede the hard-earned democracy?’ she threw the hard-hitting question, without naming the BNP.
   In her winding-up statement in parliament before the prorogation of its third session—which ran all through without the main opposition in the house — the prime minister said the opposition party was not supporting the democratic practices and processes of the country.
   ‘When the appeal hearing on Mujib murder case is at the final stage, when reinvestigation is launched into the August 21 grenade attack, when process is under way for trying the war criminals, investigation is going on into the BDR Headquarters tragedy, what signal the opposition party is giving?’
   Already opposition leader Khaleda Zia has given an ultimatum to the government, saying that the government’s time has run out, the prime minister noted.
   ‘With such ultimatum what signal the opposition party is giving? Are they trying to impede the democracy of the country when the people, after a long wait, got their own democratic government?’ she further questioned.
   Hasina said the 3rd session of the ninth parliament ended successfully, but, unfortunately, the opposition party did not come to the parliament.
   ‘Despite all our efforts, the opposition party did not come to the parliament. But why not joining parliament? What can be the reasons for their absence from the house? She asked.
   At the end of her valedictory speech, while giving thanks to the speaker, MPs and all other officials concerned, the prime minister struck a note of humour as she gave thanks to the ‘chair of the opposition leader’ as the seat of Khaleda Zia remained vacant for her long absence.
   ‘But, I hope, the opposition leader will join the parliament from the next session and I will give my thanks to her in her presence,’ she said.
   Hasina told the house that her government had formulated the country’s ever-biggest budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal for ensuring people’s overall socioeconomic development and turning Bangladesh into a modern and developed one.
   ‘But corruption and panic respectively spread by the BNP-Jamaat and the subsequent caretaker governments are creating obstacles to the path of implementing the development initiatives of the present government,’ she said.
   The PM categorically said the Anti-Corruption Commission would continue its actions against corruption independently and the government would not interfere in any decision or activity of the ACC.
   ‘In our government, the ACC will not conduct anti-corruption drive for getting publicity,’ she said.

At least four, including a leader and an activists of the ruling Awami League’s Bagerhat unit, were injured in an bomb blast in front of the Muktijoddha Club, close to the Awami League’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue, in Dhaka on Thursday.
   The lawmen could not immediately establish the target of the attack and said they could find no evidence or explosive substance at the place.
   The injured, admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, are Bagerhat Awami League activist Sheikh Nazrul Islam Mithu, 50, also president of the Bagerhat Bus Owners’ Association, Kachua upazila unit Awami League joint secretary Nasir Uddin, 45, and pedestrians Kartik Lal Das, 48, and Abdur Rashid, 60, also a retired accountant of the housing and public works ministry.
   The police and witnesses said the blast took place in front of the Muktijoddha Club near the Awami League office on Bangabandhu Avenue about 2:00pm just after two Awami League leaders had got down from a rickshaw. The pedestrians who were injured were waiting to catch a bus.
   ‘I heard a bang and saw a streak of light. The next moment I fell on the ground bleeding in parts of my body,’ Kartik Lal Das, who was injured, told New Age at the emergency ward of the hospital.
   Dhaka Medical College Hospital physician Mostafa Kamal told newsmen, ‘The splinters found in the injuries of the four match the ones found in the injuries of the people wounded in the attack on AL lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh on October 21.’
   Awami League lawmaker for the Bagerhat 2 constituency Mir Showkat Ali, who took the injured to the hospital, told newsmen, ‘I reached the spot just after the explosion and found two of my party colleagues fallen on the ground bleeding.’
   The Shahbagh police officer-in-charge, Rezaul Karim, however, told newsmen at the hospital, ‘We are yet to establish the nature of explosion as we have found no splinters in the injuries of the four admitted to the hospital.’
   The Ramna zone deputy police commissioner, Atiqul Islam, said, ‘We cannot say anything about the cause of the explosion before investigation.’
   The police, Rapid Action Battalion and high officials of other law-enforcement agencies visited the spot.
   Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh came under a bomb attack when he was leaving his office at Motijheel by car at night on October 21. Twelve people were injured in the attack.

Amid reports that it was building a dam in Tibet on the River Brahmaputra, China Thursday assured India that it would not do anything to damage other nations’ interests.
   ‘China is a responsible country and will not do anything to damage the interests of others,’ foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a bi-weekly press briefing when asked to comment on reports that China was building a dam on Yarlung Zangbu River or Brahmaputra.
   The foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, had said Wednesday India had repeatedly raised with China the issue of construction of a dam by it on the River Brahmaputra and Beijing had consistently denied any such engagement.

Faced with an impending security force operation, a top leader of the Maoists on Thursday said the ultras were ready for talks with Delhi provided some of their conditions were met, including withdrawal of paramilitary forces deployed in naxal-hit states.
   Detailing the conditions, top Maoist leader Kishenji told the news agency over phone that Delhi would have to first withdraw para-military forces deployed in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of West Bengal and secondly the problems of tribals would have to be treated in a sympathetic way.
   ‘Also both the Centre and the state governments will have to apologise to the tribals for the prolonged torture meted out to them and the consequent suffering from the time of Independence,’ Kishenji said.

The government has approved the ‘One House, One Farm’ scheme, initiated by previous 1996 Awami League government, at the Executive Committee of National Economic Council meeting on Thursday.
   The four year-long project cost has been set at Tk 11.97 billion and will be implemented in 9,640 villages.
   Some 28,92,000 people from 5,78,400 families will be benefited from the project, the planning minister, AK Khandaker, told reporters after the meeting, headed by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
   The project will be implemented with government fund through ‘village organisations’, comprising 30 to 40 per cent women, which will be formed in 9,640 villages under 1,928 unions.
   It will cover 482 upazilas of the 64 districts.
   The project was first approved on January 2, 2001, to be effective from July 2000-June 2005, at a cost of Tk 2.5 billion.
   But the succeeding BNP-Jamaat government on June 22,2002 changed the project name.
   The minister said, ‘The Awami League in its election manifesto pledged to launch the project. The approval has been made to keep the promise.
   ‘We have re-launched the scheme to bring the rural people into the mainstream of the economy.’
   A country’s overall progress depends on the development in the rural areas and the project in the past had significantly contributed to the improvement of rural economy, Khandaker said.
   ‘But we do not realise why the BNP government hindered the excellent project,’ he added.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, Thursday warned that tough actions would be taken against her party lawmakers if found involved in terrorist activities, extortion and tender manipulation, sources said.
   She issued the warning at the Awami League Parliamentary Party meeting at the Sangsad Bhaban.
   Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, asked her party lawmakers to settle the intra-party disputes in their respective constituencies.
   ‘Visit your constituencies frequently and supervise development activities in your respective areas,’ she said and advised them to behave with the senior leaders of their respective constituencies in a decent manner.
   Hasina further warned her party legislators that tough action would be taken if there were any allegations of embezzling development funds against them, an AL MP told New Age.
   Referring to the recent bomb attack on the AL MP Fazley Noor Taposh, she said conspiracies were being hatched against the government as well as her party, sources said. The leader of the house told her party colleagues to guard against such conspiracies and move about carefully.

The president, Zillur Rahman, leaves for Turkey today on a six-day tour to attend the 25th session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation under the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
   The COMCEC economic summit, being held in Istanbul in marking the commercial bloc’s 25th founding anniversary, begins on November 9. The function will be chaired by the COMCEC chairman and Turkish president, Abdullah Gul.
   Zillur is scheduled to return home on November 11.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, leaves Dhaka for Bhutan this noon on a three-day official visit.
   It will be the first visit of Hasina to any SAARC country after her assumption of office as the prime minister following her party’s landslide victory in the last December 29 general election.
   According to official sources, a trade agreement would be signed between Bangladesh and Bhutan during the visit.