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The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday posted for November 19 the judgment on the appeals of five death-row convicts against a High Court verdict that had upheld the death sentences of the five and seven others.
   A trial court in 1998 sentenced 15, out of the 20 accused in the Mujib murder case, and the High Court in 2001 upheld the death sentences of 12 former army personnel on charges of killing the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and all but two of the family on August 15, 1975.
   The five-member Appellate Division bench, presided over by Justice Tafazzul Islam, set the date after hearing in the appeals for 29 days. The court started the hearing on October 5.
   On the closing day of the hearing, Khan Saifur Rahman, counsel for Faruque Rahman and AKM Muhiuddin Ahmed, and Abdur Razzaque Khan, counsel for Sultan Shahriar, rebutted the state arguments.
   After the completion of hearing from the defence, the attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, expressed his gratitude to the court for giving a patient hearing with utmost satisfaction of both the defence and the state counsel.
   ‘We all have become part of history getting to be associated with the historic case,’ the chief state law officer said in his valedictory statement as the countdown for the judgment began.
   On August 24, the Appellate Division chamber judge, Justice Mohammad Muzammel Hossain, posted for October 5 the hearing in a plea filed by Anisul Huq, the chief prosecutor of the case, seeking a short date for final hearing in the case.
   The chief justice, MM Ruhul Amin, on October 4 instituted the special bench, headed by Justice M Tafazzul Islam, to resume the hearing. Other members on the bench are Justice Md Abdul Aziz, Justice BK Das, Justice Muzammel Hossain and Justice SK Sinha.
   The case was being delayed for hearing because of shortage of judges in the Appellate Division. But as soon as four new judges were elevated to the Appellate Division in July, the government moved for an expeditious hearing in the appeals.
   The government on August 23 submitted the summary of its arguments in the Mujib murder case to the Appellate Division.
   The Appellate Division bench of Justice Tafazzul Islam, Justice Joynul Abedin and Justice M Hassan Ameen on September 23, 2007 allowed the five death-row convicts to appeal against the High Court verdict, delivered in 2001, on five points.
   The five points are whether the August 15, 1975 killing was part of a mutiny in the army, whether a civilian court could try army men, whether the delay of about 21 years in filing the first information report of the case was justified under law, whether the charge of conspiracy was established by proper investigation and evidence and whether the case suffered disjointed deposition of witnesses.
   Accusing the government of delaying the hearing in the appeals by about two years, defence lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun said they had submitted the summary of the arguments in October 2007, but the government submitted the summery of its arguments on August 23, 2009, causing a delay in the hearing.
   The Dhaka district and sessions judge, Quazi Golam Rasul, on November 8, 1998 sentenced 15 of the 20 accused to death for killing Mujib and all but two of the family.
   Mujib’s personal assistant Muhitul Islam filed a murder case with the Dhanmondi police on October 2, 1996, about 21 years after the killing.
   The High Court on December 14, 2000 delivered a split verdict in the case. Justice M Ruhul Amin, senior judge of the High Court bench, upheld the death sentences of 10 convicts while the other judge, ABM Khairul Haque, retained the death sentences for all the 15.
   On April 30, 2001, Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim in the final High Court verdict in the case upheld the death sentences of 12 and acquitted three others.
   Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Muhiuddin Ahmed and Bazlul Huda, who were in jail at the time, filed petitions with the Appellate Division seeking permission to appeal against the verdict.
   AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed filed a similar petition after the US government had deported him to Bangladesh from Los Angeles on June 17, 2007.
   The prosecution in their arguments said the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not an act of mutiny but of murder as only Sheikh Mujib, his family and relatives were killed on the night and the guilty army officers, therecore, could certainly be tried in a conventional court.
   The state counsel also said mutiny was exclusively triable by a court martial, but in the case of murder, the Army Act 1952 provides concurrent jurisdiction to both a court martial and an ordinary criminal court.
   As for scope and jurisdiction of the third judge, the government said it would depend on the third judge’s discretion whether she or he would hear the whole case or only the disputed points.
   Defence counsel in their arguments said the killing of Sheikh Mujib and the members of the family were part of an army mutiny and the case should be tried by a military court.
   They argued Mujib’s case was similar to the case of former president Ziaur Rahman, killed in a mutiny which had originated in the Chittagong cantonment and culminated in the killing of Ziaur Rahman in the Chittagong circuit house.
   Mutiny was not a penal code offence, the defence counsel said, adding that it was an offence under the army act and exclusively a matter to be tried by a court martial in keeping with the provision of Section 31 of the Army Act.

The police will take all-out security measures during the delivery of the verdict in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case on November 19 to prevent any unwarranted incidents.
   ‘The Supreme Court has set a date for delivering the verdict, and it’s very significant for the nation. We will ensure tough security on that day,’ the Inspector-General of Police, Nur Mohammad, told a press conference in the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s headquarters on Thursday.
   He said that in the last few days they have beefed up security for high-profile individuals and at all the key places.
   The IGP, replying to a question, said that significant progress has been made in the investigation of the bomb attack on Awami League lawmaker Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapash, which would be disclosed later.
   When he was asked whether the former state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, has been found to be involved in the 21 August, 2004 grenade attack case, the IGP said investigation is going on and the charge-sheet would be submitted at the proper time.
   Nur Mohammad said the meeting decided to instruct field-level policemen not to stop any truck carrying sacrificial cattle to the capital, even though the trucks or drivers do not have proper documents, before the upcoming Eid unless any they have any specific information that illegal things are being carried by any truck.
   He said that the police would take all necessary steps to ensure that that no untoward incident takes place over the disposal and purchase of the hides of sacrificed cattle and goats. He also sought everyone’s cooperation to stop extortion and illegal toll collection.
   When his attention was drawn to the finance minister’s recent remark that a part of the illegal small arms that are seized again go to the criminals in the subcontinent, the IGP expressed his displeasure at the minister for making such a comment. ‘You journalists better ask the minister, not me, about the basis of his information,’ he exclaimed.
   He said there is no chance of those firearms going back to the criminals as they are shown as evidence in the cases filed after seizure or recovery.
   The IGP also said they have assigned uniformed and plainclothes lawmen to ensure that no unrest in the garments sector can take place ahead of the Eid.
   When his attention was drawn to the country’s south-western region which is infested by outlaws, the IGP claimed that the situation has improved a lot and will become even better if enough manpower and vehicles can be provided to the lawmen in the camps there.
   When he was asked about the execution of the High Court’s directive, issued to him on Tuesday, to stop within 48 hours earth-filling and encroachment on the Turag River, the IGP said he is yet to receive the order but has already instructed his forces to take the necessary steps out of social responsibility.

Bangladesh and India are likely to finalise bilateral agreement on mutual transit facilities when the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, visit India in December, the foreign minister, Dipu Moni, told reporters on Thursday.
   Hasina is expected to go to India on a three-day official visit beginning on December 19, she said.
   The Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will arrive in Dhaka on November 14 on a two-day official visit to discuss preparations for Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi.
   ‘The prime minister leaves for Delhi on December 19,’ Dipu Moni told reporters in the foreign ministry on Thursday.
   ‘She will operationalise deals with India on transit facilities to Bhutan and Nepal,’ she said.
   Dhaka and Delhi will also ‘operationalise’ the agreement on allowing India to use Ashuganj as a transit point under an existing water protocol between the two countries, the minister said.
   The foreign secretary, Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, defined the process of removing policy barriers and reaffirmation of commitment by ‘operationalisation.’
   He said the two countries needed to make some preparations to make the existing transit agreements effective.
   Delhi, pursuing Dhaka to get transit facilities for the north-eastern states of India, has agreed to give Bangladesh transit facilities to reach Bhutan and Nepal through its territory during Dipu Moni’s visit to Delhi in September.
   She hinted that the signing of a treaty on sharing the Teesta water was unlikely during Hasina’s visit in December. ‘I think we need some time to sign the deal on sharing the Teesta water.’
   The Indian foreign secretary will visit Dhaka on November 14 for two
   days to discuss the
   preparations for the Bangladesh prime minister’s visit to India, Muhammad Imran, director general of the foreign ministry, said.
   Nirupama Rao will call on Hasina and the foreign minister, Dipu Moni. She will also hold talks with the Bangladesh foreign secretary, Mohamed Mijarul Quayes.
   She is expected to call on the leader of the opposition in parliament, Khaleda Zia, also the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The government on Thursday decided to withdraw 293 more ‘politically-motivated cases’ mostly against members of the ruling Awami League.
   The decision came at the ninth meeting of the national review committee on withdrawal of politically-motivated cases at the home affairs ministry with state minister for law Quamrul Islam in the chair.
   The meeting did not recommend withdrawal of any such cases against leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance.
   ‘A total of 293 cases out of 659 placed at the meeting have been recommended for withdrawal. Of them, 21 cases were filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the rest 272 were under the penal code.’ Quamrul, also the head of the review committee, told reporters after the meeting.
   He said the committee did not receive any appeals from the BNP-led four party alliance for review on the day.
   Replying to a query, the head of the review committee said the government would also consider withdrawal of harassment cases against the leaders and activists of the BNP-led alliance.
   ‘We may get appeals from some leaders of the opposition party for withdrawal in the coming meeting. We will recommend for quashing the cases against the opposition leaders also if those are found to have been filed for harassments,’ he added.
   The committee has so far recommended withdrawal of a total of 1,183 cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and under the Bangladesh Penal Code, mostly against AL leaders and activists and only two filed against the BNP leaders.
   The meeting recommended quashing of cases against Khulna mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque, Kamal Ahmed Majumder, Haji Selim, Salman F Rahman, Mizanul Haque, Manikganj municipality mayor Ramzan Ali and Tongi municipality mayor Azmat Ullah among others.
   The committee at the previous meeting on October 13 recommended dropping 297 cases filed with political intension including one against senior joint secretary general of BNP and former premier Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman.
   Earlier the sixth meeting had decided to drop a liquor case against BNP’s central leader and former law minister Moudud Ahmed.
   The committee is reviewing the ‘harassment cases’ filed during the tenures of the BNP-led alliance government (2001-06) and the immediate past interim administration of Fakhruddin (2007-08).
   BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and her two sons—Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman—filed applications on April 30 seeking withdrawal of all 20 cases lodged against them during the interim government’s rule.
   The government on February 17 set up the inter-ministry committee to review the ‘politically motivated’ cases, especially those filed against politicians, during the regimes of the BNP-led alliance government and the interim administration.
   The national committee has so far received 5,132 cases recommended for withdrawal by the district committees from across the country.
   The ultimate fate of the ACC cases recommended for withdrawal was depending on the Anti-Corruption Commission, Quamrul said, adding that the recommendations were sent to the ACC and also to the courts concerned for their considerations.
   He said the review committee would conclude its job by January 2010.

The government on Thursday allowed import of 30,000 tonnes of potatoes as part of an initiative to lower essential goods prices and keep the market stable as it fears inflation might further increase after Wednesday's announcement of the seventh pay scale for government employees, officials said.
   The commerce ministry in a circular on Thursday allowed 14 companies and traders to import potatoes, which now sell for prices between Tk 28 and Tk 29 a kilogram.
   The government has allowed potato import as part of the initiative it has taken to keep the market stable.
   Economists, meanwhile, said the announcement of the seventh pay scale for government employees might further push up the prices of essential goods on 'rational expectations of the people.'
   'We have already strengthened the market monitoring mechanism. Four commerce ministry monitoring teams are keeping watch on the market. The ministry is also thinking about allowing import of eggs, potato and day-old chick,' a commerce ministry official said.
   The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, when he announced the seventh pay scale on Wednesday, ruled out any possibility of price increase on the announcement of the pay scale.
   'We have already taken an initiative to keep essential goods prices stable,' he added. Prices of major essential goods, including rice and edible oil, are steady, the minister said. 'We believe there will be no further increase in commodity prices after the announcement of the pay scale.'
   The 14 companies the government allowed to import potatoes with phytosanitary certificates - inspection intended to prevent the spread and introduction across national boundaries of pests of plants and plant products - under the quarantine rules are
   The companies allowed to import potatoes are SS International, Mannan Brothers, Shapla Trading, GM Enterprise, Sapnil Enterprise, Kabir Enterprise, Sattar Enterprise, Famous International, Mollah Traders, Ripa Enterprise, Rajdhani International, Flora Trade, Polak International and SS Trading.
   Officials said the government could also allow the egg traders to import eggs and day-old chicks mostly from India.
   The commerce ministry earlier allowed import of 20 crore eggs from India. Local traders, however, imported only 1.5 crore eggs from India as the commerce ministry later ordered a ban on egg import.
   The commerce secretary, Feroz Ahmed, on Thursday told New Age the ministry was trying to reduce the gap between the demand and the supply of essential goods by allowing imports of more goods through local importers.
   'There are no scopes for essential goods prices to go up because of the announcement of the seventh pay scale,' he said.
   'The announcement of the seventh pay scale is good news for government employees. But the government will need to dispel the fear about essential goods price increase because of the announcement,' Mustafa K Mujeri, director general of the Bangladesh Development Studies, told New Age on Wednesday.
   Akbar Ali Khan, former finance adviser to the caretaker government, said the government could dispel the fear about price increase by ensuring sufficient supply of goods to the market.

Unruly youths on Thursday snatched the tender box and ransacked the room of the engineer at Kotalipara upazila local government engineering office, officials and police said.
   The LGED had invited tenders for construction work of Tk 2.54 crore which included extension work of primary school buildings, sinking of deep tube-wells and construction of sanitary latrines.
   One of the bidders said a group of local contractors since Wednesday had been trying to settle the issue and apparently after reaching a compromise dropped tenders on the scheduled date on Thursday.
   Not satisfied with the negotiation, a group of young people swarmed into the upazila LGED engineer’s office at about 11:00am and took away the tender box. They also smashed the glass doors and windowpanes to create panic, the bidder said.
   Upazila engineer Shafiur Rahman cancelled the tender process and also filed a general dairy with Kotalipara police in this connection.
   Local contractors blamed activists of the ruling party’s student front Chhatra League for the incident.
   Kotalipara Chhatra League secretary Nazrul Islam Munnu, however, refuted the allegations and said the local contractors themselves were responsible for the untoward incident.
   Officials at the department concerned and police did not name anyone in connection with the incident.
   The officer-in-charge of Kotalipara police station, Khandaker Abul Kashem said some unruly youths had snatched the tender box before the police arrived.
   The tender box could not be recovered till writing of this report on Thursday night.

The riot police in Nepal’s capital Thursday used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of Maoists who held their biggest anti-government protest since they lost power in May.
   Thousands of activists chanting anti-government slogans and waving red flags blockaded the government compound in central Kathmandu from early morning, and the police said violence broke out when demonstrators attempted to enter a prohibited area.
   ‘We used force after the protesters tried to breach our security cordon,’ deputy superintendent of police Kanchha Bhandari said, adding 14 rounds of tear gas were fired.
   The protest brought government ministries to a virtual standstill, with most civil servants and ministers staying away from work for the day.
   The police put the number of protesters at 16,000 although the Maoists said around 200,000 of their supporters had turned out, travelling to the capital from far-flung parts of the country.
   ‘Nepal may have become a republic, but we have yet to achieve true people’s rule,’ protester Shanchalal Waiba said outside the Singha Durbar government complex.
   ‘This protest may bring difficulties to the people in the short term, but in the long term it will bring a better future.’
   The Maoists won landmark elections last year and abolished the monarchy, but their government fell after just eight months when the president overruled their attempt to sack the head of the army.
   The two-day blockade is part of a fortnight-long series of nationwide protests being held by the former guerrillas, who fought a decade-long civil war against the state that killed more than 16,000 people and ended in 2006.
   The Maoists say the president’s move was unconstitutional and are demanding an apology and a parliamentary debate on the role of the head of state.
   Maoist leader and former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda or ‘the fierce one’, said the protesters’ main aim was to restore ‘civilian supremacy’ over the military.
   ‘Our achievements have been hijacked and civilian supremacy has been hijacked. The main aim of our protest is to restore it,’ he told reporters outside the Singha Durbar complex.
   ‘Unless the president’s move is corrected, we will continue our protests.’
   The rally began in celebratory mood, with activists dancing and playing traditional music as they handed round dishes of rice and curry.
   But the atmosphere later turned sour with one television station showing the riot police using axes to destroy musical instruments left behind when the demonstrators fled their baton-charge.
   The Maoists said four of its lawmakers were among 20 protesters injured in the clash with the police, adding they were taken to hospital with minor injuries but later released and rejoined the rally.
   Senior party members later addressed the cheering crowd from a makeshift platform surrounded by the police in riot gear, declaring the day a success, before the protesters began to disperse.
   ‘We have managed to stop ministers and civil servants from entering Singha Durbar. We will continue the protest on Friday with the same level of enthusiasm,’ said Maoist leader Janardan Sharma.

Amnesty International called for Bangladesh to ensure accountability over its February mutiny and said dozens if not hundreds suspected of involvement suffered torture.
   The London-based human rights group said suspects detained after the mutiny described torture methods including the insertion of needles under their nails and the use of pliers to crush their testicles.
   Seventy-four people, including 57 senior army officers, were killed in the bloody siege at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Dhaka February 25-26.
   After negotiating an end to the mutiny, authorities detained thousands of suspected mutineers. The Bangladesh Rifles says 48 have died but has denied allegations that some were tortured to death.
   In a report made public on Thursday, Amnesty International voiced concern about both the mutiny and the aftermath.
   ‘This is an opportunity for the government of Bangladesh to show its commitment to the international human rights treaties that it has ratified by ensuring that those suspected of committing crimes are brought to justice under internationally recognised fair trial standards,’ it said.
   The report said dozens, if not hundreds, of personnel from the Bangladesh Rifles suffered torture in custody.
   One woman whose husband was arrested in April told Amnesty International that she barely recognised him when she saw him at a court hearing.
   ‘He looked very ill. When I got closer, I saw blood around his toenails,’ she said.
   ‘He could talk to me for a few minutes. He told me he had been blindfolded for the previous 15 days, had not been allowed to sleep for more than one hour a day, and has had electric shocks applied to his head,’ she said.
   The mutiny took place the month after prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s civilian government took charge, ending two years of military-backed rule.
   The mutineers initially said they were protesting over pay and conditions, but the secular-minded government has alleged that Islamic militants helped carry out the uprising.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has expressed her government’s firm conviction to continue its effort to enhance professionalism of the members of the Bangladesh Army and their multifarious development.
   ‘Our efforts to increase capacity of the Bangladesh Army would continue as the present government is pledge-bound to build up a modern army in the country,’ she said while addressing the National Standard Presentation Parade of the East Bengal Regiment of the Bangladesh Army at MR Chowdhury Parade Ground in Chittagong Cantonment Thursday morning.
   She said despite resource constraints Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took massive programmes to build up strong and independent armed forces in the war-ravaged Bangladesh immediately after the country’s War of Independence.
   The prime minister said eventually Bangladesh had now got smart, skilled and professional armed forces which are now working as a vanguard of protecting the country’s independence and sovereignty.
   Pointing to the new generation armed forces, Hasina said they had to know the true history of the emergence of the beloved motherland which was wrested with a huge sacrifice and dedication.
   Acquiring true history about the War of Independence is a national responsibility of every patriotic citizen; the prime minister said adding that the history had been repeatedly distorted in the past.
   She said the distorted history was incorporated in school curriculum to misguide the new generation.
   Hasina lauded the country’s most disciplined force— the Bangladesh Army — which has been formed with the representation of the people of all regions, class and social strata.
   She expressed the hope that their excellent harmonious coexistence irrespective of religions and colors in the army would encourage all.
   The prime minister greeted 28th, 29th, 30th and 32nd East Bengal Regiment to earn the capacity of carrying the national flag saying that the Regiment was closely involved to the creation of the country.
   Earlier on her arrival at the helipad in Chittagong Cantonment, the prime minister was brought to Parade Ground by a ceremonial motorcade where she was received by Chief of Army Staff General Md Abdul Mubeen, Chittagong Area Commander and GOC 24 infantry division Major General Md Shamim Chowdhury and EBR Commandant Brigadier General Abu Sohel.
   A smartly turned out contingent of the EBR presented a parade on the occasion and the prime minister inspected
   the parade and took the salute.
   Among others, commerce minister Faruq Khan, primary and mass education minister Afsarul Amin, former president HM Ershad, former army chief Mahbubur Rahman, local MPs, diplomats and high civil and military officials were present on the occasion.
   Later, the prime minister placed wreaths at the mass grave of martyred EBR personnel and offered munajat there. She also talked to the family members of the martyred and enquired their wellbeing. She planted a sapling there and also signed the visitor’s book.

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday pressed charges in court against Arafat Rahman, younger son of the opposition chief Khaleda Zia, in a money laundering case.
   The ACC filed the case on March 17 with the Kafrul police station, accusing Arafat Rahman of laundering 28,84,000 Singapore
   dollars and 9,32,000 US dollars.
   The charges have been submitted to the chief metropolitan magistrate’s Court on Thursday afternoon.
   Earlier, ACC deputy director Abu Sayeed confirmed the approval of the filing of the charges.
   Sayeed is also the investigation officer of the case.
   The case details say the amount was deposited to a Singapore bank account of Arafat by foreign companies that were to be awarded construction work in Bangladesh during the rule of Khaleda’s 2001-2006 administration.
   In the event of a guilty finding, Arafat will face a maximum seven years in jail.
   Ismail Hossain Simon, son of former BNP shipping minister Akbar Hossain, is another accused in the case.
   The investigation officer appealed to the court to issue arrest warrant against Simon.
   Some 23 persons have been made prosecution witnesses.

Unidentified persons on Thursday threatened to bomb the Chittagong Press Club and the Court building through a mobile message.
   The president of the Chittagong Press Club, Abu Sufian, and general secretary, Rashed Rouf, received short messages containing the threat on their mobile phones after midnight from a mobile bearing the number 01821277002.
   Abu Sufian told New Age that the message sender had threatened to explode time-bombs and remote-control bombs in the CPR and the Court building in the period between 10:00am and 2:00pm on Thursday.
   ‘The message sender neither identified himself nor showed any cause for the threat,’ added the CPC’s president.
   The police, on receiving information, rushed to the CPR and Court building but found nothing after conducting a thorough search, said sources, adding that security had been beefed up in both the places in response to the threat.

The Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari, is suspected of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 sale of three French submarines to the Pakistani Navy, the daily Liberation reported Tuesday,
   In addition, investigators believe that the non-payment of the full amount of the agreed kickbacks may have led to the deaths of 11 French nationals in a 2002 terror attack in the city of Karachi.
   In the report, Liberation says it acquired documents that allegedly show that Zardari received 4.3 million dollars in kickbacks from the sale of three Agosta 90 submarines for 825 million euros (currently 1.237 billion dollars).
   The documents were sent to the Pakistani National Accountability Bureau by British authorities in April 2001 and indicate that Zardari received several large payments into his Swiss bank accounts from a Lebanese businessman, Abdulrahman el-Assir, in 1994 and 1995.
   According to a former executive of the French naval defence company DCN, French authorities chose el-Assir to act as intermediary in the deal.
   He allegedly deposited a total of 1.3 million dollars in Zardari’s bank accounts between August 15 and 30, 1994, one month before the submarine contract was signed, and then 1.2 million dollars and 1.8 million dollars one year later.
   According to DCN employees who testified in the terror attack investigation, the kickbacks to Pakistan in the deal totalled 10 per cent of the purchase amount, with 6 per cent, or 49.5 million dollars, going to the military and 4 per cent, or 33 million euros, being funnelled to political circles.
   In 2001, former Pakistani Navy chief-of-staff Mansour Ul-Haq was arrested for his part in the deal and forced to repay 7 million dollars, the daily says.
   Legal proceedings against Zardari were dropped in April 2008, several months before he was elected president. However, the husband of the assassinated former Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto was imprisoned from 1997 to 2004 on corruption charges unrelated to this affair.
   The Pakistani president is one of his country’s richest men, with a net worth estimated at 1.8 billion dollars.
   The ongoing investigation in Paris into the May 8, 2002, terrorist attack that killed 11 DCN employees in Karachi may shed new light on the submarine purchase and his part in it.
   The victims were in Karachi to complete work on the three submarines. According to French media, the magistrate looking into the bombing has rejected the theory that it was the work of al-Qaeda.
   He is now considering the possibility that it was carried out by Pakistanis, either because only 85 per cent of the agreed kickbacks to politicians had been paid or because of negotiations carried out by French authorities to sell submarines to India, Pakistan’s enemy.
   In any case, some French parliamentarians are now demanding to be allowed to look into how the submarine contract with Pakistan was negotiated and executed.

National English daily of India, the Statesman, Thursday said Bangladesh, which was considered as a safe haven for north-east militants involved in anti-Indian activities, is reportedly mounting pressure on them to leave the country.
   Quoting intelligence agency sources, the newspaper observed that there is a visible change in the behaviour and action of Bangladesh government and BDR.
   ‘They are now not just talking but acting as well,’ the Statesman quoted a senior intelligence official as saying.
   Intelligence inputs said the BDR had increased its patrolling along the routes which were used by ULFA and other NE militants to infiltrate into India.
   Bangladeshi security agencies have started carrying out raids in the hideouts of groups involved in anti-India activities, a home ministry official said, quoting reports.
   The ULFA operatives in Assam, too, have started talking about the sudden change in the attitude of the Bangladesh government.
   'The comfort level of ULFA operatives who
   have taken shelter in Bangladesh has come down severely.
   There are reports that the militants are shifting their base from main Bangladesh cities to remote areas touching north-eastern India and Myanmar to avoid arrest,’ said the intelligence official.
   ‘The change of heart was evident from the recent action by the BDR. They picked up two militants and handed them over to the BSF early this month near Indo-Bangla border in Tripura.
   This is something Indian security forces would never have dreamt of, especially as India and Bangladesh do not have an extradition treaty,’ the official stated.

The Power Development Board has received 28 bids for installation of 10 peaking power plants in the public sector with a combined capacity of 830MW.
   The companies submitted their bids on Thursday, the last day of submission, and the PDB opened the tender box on the same day.
   The PDB received three bids for the 70MW plant in Bera from Hyundai Corporation, SUMEC Group and Energy Pac, and two bids from Messer's Entrerrious and Guangdong Power for the 100MW plant in Dohazari.
   It received only one bid for the 50MW plant in Baghabari, from the China National Electric Wire and Cable Import Export Corporation. The same company is also the lone bidder for 50MW plant in Daudkandi.
   Three companies - Elesewedy Power Project, Entrerrious and Guangdong - submitted bids for the 100MW plant in Hathazari. Five companies - EnergyPac, China National Electric Wire and Cable Import Export Corporation, Daewoo International and a joint venture of Dong Feng Electric and Green Power - submitted bids for the 50MW plant in Katakhali.
   The PDB received five bids for the 50MW plant in Shantahar from Elesewedy Power Project, Hyundai, Energy Pac, Daewoo and a joint venture of Dong Feng and Green Power.
   Four companies - Hyundai, Dong Feng, Energy Pac and Daewoo - submitted bids for the 50MW plant in Faridpur, and Entrerrious, Hyundai and Energy Pac submitted bids for the 100MW plant in Gopalganj.
   Entrerrious and North East Electric Power submitted bids for the 200MW plant in Ghorasal.
   All the plants will be powered by furnace oil while the Ghorasal plant will have the option of dual fuel (gas and furnace oil).
   The PDB chairman's, Alamgir Kabir, told reporters that they hope to complete the evaluation of the tenders in one month.
   Regarding the China National Electric Wire and Cable Import Export Corporation, which is the lone bidder for two plants, Alamgir said that the PPR would allow evaluation of a lone bid, and if it were found technically responsive and financially acceptable, the company would be awarded the contract.
   The plants are expected to start generation by two years.
   Alamgir said that the PDB was continuing evaluation of tenders for the eight rental power plants for which it received 63 bids on 29 November.
   Although the PDB initially said that it could complete evaluation of the bids for the rental plants with a combined capacity of 530MW in a week, it could not do so till Thursday.

Two parliament veterans from the treasury and opposition benches on Thursday locked in a war of words over whether the four fundamental principles of the country's 1972 constitution should be restored.
   The ruling Awami League's lawmaker, Suranjit Sengupta, suggested that the country should go back to the spirit of the original constitution of 1972 the four fundamental principles of which were democracy, secularism, socialism and Bengali nationalism.
   'There is no option but to go back to the original constitution,' the ruling party lawmaker told a Meet the Reporters programme, organised by Dhaka Reporters Unity, He said that the government should wait until a Supreme Court observation comes on the fifth amendment to the constitution to bring further amendments to the constitution.
   'The High Court in a historical verdict set aside the Fifth Amendment declaring it illegal. It also asked for restoration of the 1972 constitution. Since the matter is pending with the Appellate Division, it would be wise to wait for the verdict,' Suranjit, also chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on law ministry, said.
   The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party's lawmaker, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, said that he personally supported the ruling party's proposal to go back to the original constitution. But the party should regard highly the amendments brought to the constitution until August 15, 1975.
   The amendments include trial of the war criminals, handling an emergency situation and formation of a one-party system of government (BKSAL).
   ‘It is a moral responsibility of the ruling party, having a four-fifth majority in the parliament, to uphold those provisions as they were incorporated by the great leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman…,' Salauddin said.
   He criticised the role of the High Court judges during the last military-backed caretaker government saying that they did not have courage to grant bails to detained politicians at that time.
   Both the lawmakers came up with identical opinions on Article 70 of the constitution that bars floor crossing in the parliament.
   DRU president Shamim Ahmad conducted the programme while general secretary Pathik Saha made the welcome address.

The government will procure Aman rice at Tk 22 per kg while paddy at Tk 14 from December 7, as it has set the total procurement target at 3 lakh tonnes.
   The food minister, Abdur Razzaque, disclosed this to reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting at the conference room of his ministry on Thursday.
   'We've set a target to procure 3 lakh tonnes of rice and paddy from December 7, as the procurement drive will continue up to February 28,' Razzaque told the journalists.
   He said the rice millers would have to buy 50 per cent of the crops directly from the farmers at the government-fixed price to supply the government so that the farmers get the fair price of it, not the middlemen.

Japan’s clothing brand Shimamura is set to start buying garments from Bangladesh, industry sources said. Fast Retail, owner of top Japanese clothing brand Uniclo earlier started buying garments from Bangladesh.
   Two top executives of the Shimamura Company Limited arrived in Dhaka on Thursday and discussed with industry leaders the possibility of apparel trade with Bangladesh. They also visited garment factories.
   'We are very much hopeful as the top men from Japan's Number 2 clotting retailer are in Dhaka,' said the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters' Association president, Fazlul Hoque, after the meeting with the Shimamura president Masato Nonaka.
   Jyunichi Yanagisawa, the general manager of the $4.5b Shimamura, also attended the meeting.
   Invited by the BKMEA delegation which visited Japan recently, Nonaka was expected to be in the Japanese delegation of apparel importers which attended the Bangladesh Knit Expo and BATEXO in the first week of November. But Shimamura executives later decided to visit Bangladesh individually.
   Eighty per cent of Shimamura's apparel import worth $2 billion is supplied by China; the remaining of Shimamura's import is supplied by Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.
   Industry sources said after its rival Uniclo had started buying garments from Bangladesh, Shimamura started inquiring about made-in-Bangladesh ladies wear, knitwear and other garments and hosieries.
   Shimamura operates nationwide chain stores under the name Fashion Centre Shimamura, which sells fashion and utility apparel products and related items for females aged between 25 and 45.
   It also operates other stores such as Birthday, which sells baby products, Chambre, which sells fashion accessories for women, and Divalo, which offers women’s shoes and other apparel items.

There is a terror threat and it is more widespread than believed earlier by the India government, which says it now knows more about the plot since the alert last week, reports NDTV on Wednesday.
   Now Intelligence sources have warned that there could be multiple and simultaneous attacks in five cities that American terror suspect, David Headley, visited. Headley is believed to have had links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba.
   Part of the latest assessment is based on FBI leads. The rest is based on human intelligence and electronic surveillance by Indian agencies. Security authorities suggest that there could be perhaps 50 to 60 attackers involved.