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The Bangladesh Rifles on Sunday instituted six special courts - two in Dhaka and four outside the capital - for the trial of the February 25-26 'mutiny' in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka and other BDR installations elsewhere.
   The six special courts have been instituted under the Bangladesh Rifles Order 1972, and the BDR director general will chair the three-member special courts, said a release issued by the Bangladesh Rifles on Sunday.
   The two others on each of the six special courts will be a lieutenant colonel and a major, from the army, of the border guards, the release said, adding representatives of the attorney general would assist the special courts.
   The six special courts will only try the BDR men accused of mutiny.
   According to the release, Special Court 1 was formed for the mutiny committed in Khulna, Rajshahi and Kushtia sectors, Special Court 2 for Dinajpur and Rangpur sectors, Special Court 3 for Sylhet, Comilla and Mymensingh sectors, Special Court 4 for Chittagong, Rangamati and Khagrachari sectors and Special Court 5 for Dhaka sector. The courts will also try the mutiny committed in other battalions and installation under the sectors concerned.
   Special Court 6 will try the mutiny committed in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka, other installations under the headquarters, signal sector, Sadar Rifles Battalion, BDR Hospital and the Rifles Security Unit.
   The special courts will hold their sitting to conduct the proceedings at the places of the commission of offences or at the sectors, battalions or other installations to their convenience.
   The BDR director general, Major General Mainul Islam, on Sunday told New Age, 'The procedure for the trial of the BDR mutiny has started with the institution of the special courts.'
   Article 10A(2) of the Bangladesh Rifles Order stipulates: 'The special court may take cognisance of any offence punishable under this article either of its own motion or on a complaint by any officer and shall follow such procedures as may be prescribed.'
   According to the order, the special courts now will need to notify the BDR soldiers, against whom charges will be pressed, detailing the charges against them and asking them to explain their positions in a stipulated timeframe.
   According to Rule 3(V) of the Bangladesh Rifles Rules 1971, anyone accused needs to be given not less than 27 days to be produced in the special court for self-defence after the framing of charges.
   The release said the BDR personnel would have the right to make self-defence.
   The accused soldiers, however, will need to argue in their own defence in the courts and they may take assistance of any officer of the paramilitary force or any lawyer, the release said.
   Rights groups Odhikar and Ain o Salish Kendra, however, said the accused BDR rebels would be denied justice unless they were allowed to defend themselves by lawyers of their choice.
   Article 10(A)(3) of the order says, 'A subordinate officer or a rifleman or signalman, accused of an offence under this order, shall have the right to conduct his own defence or to have the assistance of any officer of the force or of any legal practitioner of his own choice.'
   The rights watchdogs, in separate statements on October 22, viewed that lawyers were not debarred by the article from placing arguments in the special court in defence of their clients.
   'Taking assistance of a legal practitioner means the lawyer appointed by anyone accused will argue in defence of the accused,' Odhikar's general secretary Adilur Rahman Khan, also a Supreme Court lawyer, told New Age on Sunday.
   BDR personnel and civilians against whom charges of other criminal offences such as killing and looting have been levelled will, however, be tried by a speedy trial tribunal under the Penal Code.
   Their trial in the tribunal will begin after charges are pressed in the case.
   In the rebellion, 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed.
   An inter-ministerial meeting on September 15 decided to conduct trial of the BDR rebellion under the Bangladesh Rifles Order and the trial of other criminal offences committed during the rebellion under the speedy trial tribunal under the Penal Code.
   The government came up with the decision on the law and the mode of the trial of the cases in line with the observations made by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in its reply to the presidential reference on the issue, the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, had told reporters after the meeting.
   In its reply to the reference, the Appellate Division categorically said the BDR rebellion cases could not be tried under the Army Act and not even by issuing a notification under Section 5 of the act applying it to the Bangladesh Rifles with a retrospective effect.
   The Criminal Investigation Department is investigating the BDR rebellion case filed on March 1 with the Lalbagh police on charges of criminal offences committed during the rebellion.
   The case was later transferred to the New Market police and the Criminal Investigation Department took charge of the investigation.
   The CID recorded the statements of 6,250 people, including 125 members of the family of army officers residing inside the BDR headquarters and 430 civilians residing in the neighbourhood.
   About 310 members on the BDR staff, 25 firemen and 700 law enforcers, including policemen, army men and others who worked inside the BDR headquarters after the rebellion, were also interviewed.
   The CID interrogated more than 1,600 BDR soldiers and 27 civilians after the court had remanded them in CID custody. The court has so far recorded the statements of about 400 BDR soldiers and 27 civilians.
   At least 39 BDR soldiers have, meanwhile, died unnatural death in custody in Dhaka and elsewhere since the rebellion.
   The government formed a committee on May 14 with a deputy secretary of the home ministry to investigate the unnatural death of the BDR soldiers.
   Four months have already elapsed without much headway made in the investigation of incidents of unnatural death of BDR soldiers in custody while the committee has sought two more months to complete the task.

The High Court on Sunday asked the government to explain in three weeks why the amendments made to the Code of Criminal Procedure on April 8 giving executive magistrates judicial powers to deal with cases relating to possession of immovable property should not be declared illegal.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury passed the order after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Manzill Murshid on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, a rights organisation.
   The court issued the rule on the secretaries to the cabinet division, president's secretariat, Prime Minister's Office, Jatiya Sangsad secretariat and law ministry.
   Moving the petition, Manzill argued that the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act 2009, gazetted on April 8 bringing about changes to the CrPC, was a clear violation of the constitution and the 12-point directives of the Supreme Court, under which the judiciary, specially the judicial magistracy, was made independent of the executive branch of the state on November 1, 2007.
   The act amended sections 145 and 147 of the CrPC empowering executive magistrates to pass orders on the possession of immovable property, appoint receiver of such property and to grant interim or permanent injunction till disposal of the dispute by a civil court.
   These functions are of judicial nature and the executive magistrates cannot be empowered to perform such functions according to the constitution and the 12-point directive, the counsel said.
   'Moreover,' the counsel contended, 'executive magistrates have to record statements of both the parties in such cases by administering oath which is absolutely a judicial function.'
   Citing section 4A (2)(b) of the CrPC, Manzill said, 'The functions exercisable by a magistrate relate to matters which are administrative or executive in nature, such as granting of a licence, suspension or cancellation of a licence, sanctioning a prosecution or withdrawing from a prosecution, they shall, subject as aforesaid, be exercisable by an executive magistrate.'
   Through the amendments the right of the citizen to get justice by a judicial officer has been ignored, he said.
   'As per the provisions of the constitution as well as the principles laid down by the Appellate Division in the 12-point directive in the Masder Hossain case, the judicial function cannot be done by the executive authority,' he said.
   The lower judiciary, specially the judicial magistracy, was made independent of executive branch of the state on November 1, 2007 in line with the 12-point directive stripping executive magistrates of judicial powers.
   The present government amended the CrPC with 'malafide intention' giving executive magistrates judicial powers in cases relating to disputes over possession of immovable property, the counsel contended.

A parliamentary committee on Sunday dismissed another panel's recommendations for dropping the Machine Readable Passport project suggesting that the government should go ahead with the project.
   ‘There is no reason for the government to drop the Machine Readable Passport project at the moment,' Abdus Salam, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the home ministry, said rejecting a suggestion by the committee on planning ministry, headed by an opposition lawmaker, that the government should not waste money [on MRP] as the country must comply with e-passport by 2014.
   'The Machine Readable Passport scheme, if implemented, will be sheer waste of public money since we have to go for e-passport by 2014,' the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on planning ministry, Oli Ahmed, also a lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party, had told reporters after a meeting of the committee on October 29.
   He also had asked the planning ministry to tell the home and foreign ministries to stop the tender process and take up the scheme for e-passports in order to follow the rules set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
   As per the organisation's decision, the citizens of its member countries must have machine readable passports by 2010 and e-passports by 2014 on security grounds.
   Reviewing the scheme, Sunday's meeting resolved that the government should stick to its position to prepare MRPs, international bidding for which have already been floated.
   Earlier, the government approved a project worth about Tk 283 crore for machine readable passports and machine readable visas, which are already in use in many countries.
   Contradicting the planning committee's suggestion, Salam, also a ruling Awami League lawmaker, said that going for e-passport after the citizens have machine readable passports would not be so costly.

The government cancelled all daily leases of riverbanks used for storing sand and brick for commercial purposes, now that an eviction drive is on to free the country's rivers from occupiers following a binding High Court order.
   After a meeting of the Task Force on maintaining navigability of major rivers at the ministry of shipping Sunday, the shipping minister, Shajahan Khan, told reporters that 'the yearly and long-term leases will also be cancelled'.
   He said BIWTA had been asked to reclaim the occupied lands in those areas.
   However, the minister said for public interest, the lessees of the ports, motor launch repairing workshops and where vegetables and fishes are loaded and unloaded will be exempted from the eviction decision.
   To evict the occupiers from the riverbanks local committees headed by the local MP concerned will be formed. Respective DC, SP, representatives of local BIWTA and Water Development Board will remain on the committees.
   'If necessary', the minister said, 'afforestation programme will be undertaken on the reclaimed lands.'
   Shajahan said the meeting also decided to cancel the lease held by a nephew of former president Iajuddin Ahmed in Shyambazar-Sadarghat area.
   The meeting was attended by law minister Shafique Ahmed, land minister Rezaul Karim Hira, water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen and state minister for forest and environment Hasan Mahmud.
   Earlier, the High Court had wanted to know the shipping ministry's decision regarding the court's 12-point order that include cancelling long, short and medium-term leases on riverbanks to save the rivers from death throes inflicted by voracious grabbers.
   In the wake of the High Court order, a seven-member committee was formed Sunday to formulate plans for eviction from the riverbanks and make recommendations.
   The committee will submit its report within December 15. Three MPs from Dhaka city and senior officials of the shipping ministry, law ministry, land ministry, water resources ministry, forest and environment ministry will be on the committee.
   The shipping minister said from now on it would require prior permission from his ministry to build any bridge over any river.
   And the future bridges must be constructed 25 feet above the level of water. In Dhaka and its adjacent areas those bridges which are lower than 25-foot height from the water levels will be demolished.
   In a further step the government decided to introduce 'water bus' service around the capital city to ease the transport problem and associated traffic jams.

Researchers have pinpointed the source of what is probably the worst mass poisoning in history, according to a study published Sunday.
   For nearly three decades scientists have struggled to figure out exactly how arsenic was getting into the drinking water of millions of people in rural Bangladesh.
   The culprit, says the new study, are tens of thousands of man-made ponds excavated to provide soil for flood protection.
   An estimated two million people in Bangladesh suffer from arsenic poisoning, and health experts suspect the toxic, metal-like element has caused - and will continue to cause - many deaths as well.
   Symptoms include violent stomach pains and vomiting, diarrhoea, convulsions and cramps. A large dose can kill outright, while chronic ingestion of small doses has been linked to a large range of cancers.
   It has long been known that the arsenic comes from water drawn from millions of low-tech 'tube wells' scattered across the country.
   Ironically the wells were dug - often with the help of international aid agencies - to protect villages from unclean and disease-ridden surface water.
   Tragically, millions of people continue to knowingly poison themselves for lack of an alternative source of water.
   Earlier studies succeeded in filling in a few pieces of the deadly puzzle.
   They showed that water with the highest concentrations of arsenic is roughly 50 years old, and that the organic carbon which, once metabolised by microbes causes the poison to leach from sediment, does not take long to filter down from the surface.
   But the source of both the contaminated water and the organic carbon remained unknown until a team of researchers led by Charles Harvey of MIT in Boston, Massachusetts cracked the secret.
   Working in the Munshiganj, the researchers analysed the flow patterns of surface and underground water in a six square-mile area.
   They used natural tracers and a 3-D computer model to track water from rice fields and ponds, and tested the capacity of organic carbon in both settings to free up arsenic from soil and sediments.
   'We saw that water with high arsenic content originates from the human-built ponds, and water with lower arsenic content originates from the rice fields,' said Rebecca Neumann, a co-author and postdoctoral associate at Harvard.
   Chemical analysis showed that the organic compound that unleashes the poison first settles on the bottom of the ponds and then slowly seeps into the ground.
   The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, 'suggest that the problem could be alleviated by digging deeper drinking water wells below the influence of the ponds, or by locating shallow drinking wells under rice fields,' Neumann said in a communique.
   The same team of researchers plan to dig such wells in different region to see whether it leads to improved health for villages.
   Scott Fendorf, a professor at Stanford University who studies arsenic content in soils and sediments along the Mekong River in Cambodia, said the new study was clearly a breakthrough.
   'It shows that human modifications are impacting the arsenic content in the groundwater,' he said in a statement. 'The ponds ... are having a negative impact on the release of arsenic.'

Law enforcing agencies have been put on high alert amid fears of subversive acts in the run-up to the verdict in the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case set for November 19.
   The entire country, especially the divisional cities, has come under tight security with reinforcement of more than 24,000 members from police, RAB and other law enforcing agencies.
   Members from intelligence agencies including Directorate General of Forces of Intelligence (DGFI), Special Branch of police and Detective Branch have also been deployed across the country to ensure a foolproof security network.
   A security net has been put in place since Sunday at the key point installations across the country including the Supreme Court, diplomatic enclave, Dhaka University, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Central Shaheed Minar, all ports (air, land and water) and terminals (bus, train and launch) to ward off any untoward incident.
   Security has been beefed up at the Dhaka Central Jail where the condemned convicts in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case have been detained.
   The rest 66 jails including 11 central jails across the country have also been placed on high alert and all leave of jail guards has been cancelled with instructions for keeping extra vigil on the inmates.
   Besides, security for some VIP personnel including ministers, chief state counsel, vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, some judges of the Supreme Court and panel of state lawyers in Sheikh Mujib murder case has been tightened.
   These steps follow the bomb attack on Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh and death threat issued to attorney general Mahbubey Alam and Dhaka University VC Professor AMS Arefin Siddique.
   The border force has been asked to remain extra vigilant to check entrance of criminals and firearms into Bangladesh from neighbouring countries.
   Additional check posts have been set up at all the entry and exit points across the country with a view to making the security foolproof. Police and RAB personnel are currently monitoring the check posts round the clock.
   Law enforcers have already started checking vehicles and people for suspicious movement and raiding slums, residential hotels and crime-prone areas.
   State minister for home affairs Shamsul Hoque Tuku told newsmen, 'Security measures have been tightened across the country ahead of the verdict of the Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case to thwart any sort of subversive acts by ultra militant and anti-liberation forces.'
   'Special security arrangements have been made for some VIPs,' he added.
   Inspector general of police Nur Muhammad said all the key point installations have brought under tight security with the deployment of over 24,000 plain-clothes and uniformed police, RAB and armed police forces.
   'We have stepped up security for some VIPs and the people engaged in the Bangabandhu murder case,' he said.
   'Our preparations are enough to check any sort of subversive acts,' he said.
   Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque said the capital city including the Supreme Court has been brought under heavy security.
   All the police stations have been asked to tighten their patrols with motorbikes before, during and after the verdict.
   RAB director general Hasan Mahmud Khandker said the special force deployed over 2000 members in Dhaka city and more than 3000 outside Dhaka as part of its elaborate security measures. Besides, all the 12 units of the RAB have been kept on high alert.
   Supreme Court registrar Shawkat Hossain said authorities have strengthened the security at the court premises to avert any untoward incident ahead of the verdict.
   Seven-tier security has been taken in and around the Supreme Court.
   Shawkat said additional forces have been deployed in and outside the court premises and people entering the court compound had to undergo security search at the entrances.
   All the entrances except the main gate remained closed during the office hours Sunday. Some judges and lawyers were provided with additional security, which, the SC registrar felt, should remain in force even after the announcement of the verdict.

A Dhaka court on Sunday ordered Arafat Rahman, younger son of opposition chief Khaleda Zia, to appear in court on November 23 in a case regarding money laundering against him.
   Judge ANM Bashirullah of the Senior Special Judge's Court gave the order on Sunday afternoon.
   The judge also issued warrant of arrest of another accused in the case, Ismail Hossain Simon, the son of former shipping minister Akbar Hossain.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission pressed charges against the duo at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court last Thursday.
   The ACC filed the case on March 17 with the Kafrul police station, accusing Arafat of laundering 28,84, 000 Singapore dollars and 9,32,000 US dollars.
   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. Some 23 persons have been made prosecution witnesses.
   The government on Thursday extended by another month the parole of Arafat.
   Arafat, also an accused in the GATCO corruption case alongside his mother, and facing other graft cases, fell ill during detention in prison during the past caretaker government's tenure.
   He was paroled on July 17 last year for eight weeks for medical treatment abroad and flew to Bangkok two days later.
   The government has since successively extended Arafat's parole by a month each time.

The opposition BNP's sub-committee on the amendment to the party constitution and the manifesto on Sunday night submitted a 40-point amendment proposal to the standing committee consolidating the authority of the party chairperson.
   The sub-committee convener, Tariqul Islam, also a vice-chairman of the party, at a briefing in the party chairperson's office at Gulshan said they had submitted about 40 amendment proposals to update the constitution in the light of the present-day requirement and 'some bitter experience' of the past.
   The committee members at the briefing declined to detail the proposals. Tariqul only said the ideals and spirit of the constitution would remain unchanged and there would be some addition to some chapters of the constitution.
   Joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan said they had proposed not to allow a person to hold more than one post in any tier of the party. The standing committee will evaluate the proposals and they would be placed in the national council session for approval, he said.
   Party insiders said the amendment proposals related to the election of the secretary general
   in the national council session and expansion of the central executive committee.
   Both the chairperson and the secretary general will, according to a proposal, be elected by councillors and both of them will be elected for three years, sources in the committee said.
   The sub-committee has proposed formation of advisory committees at all tiers of the organisation, increasing the number of joint secretaries general to 11 and introducing five more divisional secretaries for women affairs.
   Keeping in mind the October 29, 2007 meeting at the house of the standing committee member Saifur Rahman, the sub-committee proposed a provision that will allow only the chairperson to convene standing committee meetings.
   The proposals include expanding the central executive committee to 351 members from the existing 251 to incorporate more leaders into the central level. All units of the party will have new posts of secretaries for religious affairs, freedom fighters' affairs, human resources affairs, law affairs, and science and technology affairs.
   If members of the party contest in any election in violation of the party decision against candidates nominated by the party, they will be expelled from the party, the proposals said.
   It also made it mandatory for activists to take permission from respective committees for the use of portraits of the party founder, the late president Ziaur Rahman, chairperson Khaleda Zia, and the party's senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman in posters or leaflets.

Dhaka will take its own independent decision on recognising Kosovo, keeping Bangladesh's perceived national interests in consideration.
   ‘We will make an independent decision in time,' foreign secretary Mohamed Mirajul Quayes was quoted to have told US ambassador John F Moriarty as the latter once again approached Bangladesh at a meeting at the foreign ministry Sunday to secure Dhaka's recognition for Kosovo.
   Kosovo, on February 17, 2008, declared its independence from Serbia in the final fallout from the conflict-strewn break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
   When asked whether he raised the issue of Kosovo's recognition with the foreign secretary, the ambassador told reporters, 'of course'.
   It was his fifth approach to Bangladesh to seeking recognition for Kosovo.
   On August 22, the foreign secretary said Bangladesh had no plan to recognise Kosovo 'for now'.
   He told reporters after a press briefing on Saturday, 'We are yet to change our stance'.
   Sixty three, out of 192 members of the United Nations, so far recognised Kosova, which was 1 year and 271 days old on Sunday.
   The countries that recognised Kosovo include: Australia, Canada, Japan, KSA, Malaysia, US and 22 European Union member states.
   But the South Asian countries are yet to recognise Kosovo.
   Dhaka was taking time before recognising Kosovo as it was focusing on strengthening its ties with Moscow in various areas, including a possible deal for nuclear power plants. Russia formally requested Bangladesh not to recognise the tiny Balkan nation.
   When asked what will be the basis of Bangladesh's decision for taking decision on possible recognition of Kosovo, a senior foreign ministry official told New Age Saturday, 'We should not be influenced by approaches of both US and Russia. As a sovereign nation, we would take decision on recognising a new state keeping our long term perceived national interests upheld.'
   'We also need to consider whether the new country will be able to sustain its independence,' he added.
   Moriarty also said he discussed the issues of upcoming global conference on climate change, food security and human rights with the foreign secretary.
   Serbia and its close ally Russia refused to accept the independence of Kosovo, saying such a move by Kosovo was a violation of the UN resolution (No 1244).
   Russia also threatened to use its veto power in the voting for Kosovo's membership of the UN.
   The proclamation of independence by Kosovo has not been recognised by the majority of UN countries which view Kosovo as a UN administered province of the Republic of Serbia.
   Upon a request from the Republic of Serbia, the UN General Assembly on October 8, 2008, adopted a resolution, asking the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the issue of Kosovo's declaration of independence.

A news item published Sunday in a section of the press on waiver of punishment of Shahadab Akbar Chowdhury alias Labu, son of deputy leader of the house Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, drew the attention of the home ministry.
   The ministry in a clarifi- cation on the report said Shahadab Akbar Chowdhury alias Labu applied to the president through the home ministry on waiving his punishment and fine charged on him through a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion during the last caretaker government.
   Accordingly, the home ministry sought the opinion of the law ministry on waiving the punishment of Shahadab, according to a press release issued by the home ministry Sunday.
   After examination of the documents concerned, the law ministry expressed opinion that the president in exercise of his power under Article 49 of the constitution can waive, suspend or reduce punishment of any person accused by any court, tribunal or any other authority.
   Accordingly, the press release said, the president has exercised his constitutional power vested upon him in waiving punishment of Shahadab and there is no legal bar in this regard.
   The president has waived the punishment of Shahadab based on the above mentioned opinion and there was no violation of law of the land, it added.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, arrived in Dubai at 12:25pm (local time) on Sunday.
   On her arrival at the Dubai International Airport, the prime minister was received by a five-member delegation of the UAE government. Bangladesh ambassador to the UAE Nazmul Quaunine and consul general, Dubai Mohammad Abu Jafar were present at that time.
   During her day-long stay in Dubai Hasina will participate in the 11th International Aerospace Exhibition -2009 (Dubai Airshow).
   Later, she will meet the UAE prime minister and vice- president and ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
   In the evening the prime minister will leave for Italian capital Rome to attend the World Summit on Food Security begins today.

A Dhaka court on Sunday ordered attachment of the property of three Rid Pharmaceutical Limited bosses in a case of manufacturing and marketing toxic paracetamol syrup Temset that had caused children’s death.
   Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge ANM Bashir Ullah also asked the Brahmanbaria police officer-in-charge to appear in the court on January 5, 2010 to explain his failure to submit any report on the execution of the warrant issued earlier for the arrest of the three accused — Rid Pharma director Abdul Ghani and pharmacists Mahbubul Islam and Enamul Haque.
   The court also rejected a petition filed by the managing director of the company, Mizanur Rahman, seeking bail in the case. The same court on October 19 rejected Mizan’s another petition seeking bail.
   The Brahmanbaria district and sessions judge’s court on October 27 ordered attachment of the property of Abdul Ghani, Mahbubul Islam and Enamul Haque as they were yet to surrender in court in a case filed by the Drug Administration’s assistant director Abdul Khayer Chowdhury on August 11 in Brahmanbaria on similar charges.
   Mizan’s wife Sheuly Rahman, also a director of the company, however, obtained anticipatory bail from the High Court on August 18.
   The Drug Administration in the case said the paracetamol syrup of Rid Pharma had caused the death of several children across the country and all its medicines, including vitamin syrup, were below standards.
   On July 22, Abdul Khayer Chowdhury sealed off Rid Pharma’s factory at Nandanpur in Brahmanbaria by the order of the Drug Administration.
   Four more cases were, meanwhile on August 10, filed against Rid Pharma in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Comilla and Sylhet.
   The drug authorities collected samples of Temset and laboratory tests confirmed the presence of diethylene glycol in the syrup.
   The company used diethylene glycol, meant for tannery and rubber industries, instead of propylene glycol which is five times costlier. Diethylene glycol costs Tk 200 a litre and propylene glycol costs Tk 1,100.
   At least 28 children died of acute renal failure after being administered paracetamol syrup for fever between June and August.
   Most of them were from districts surrounding Brahmanbaria where the Rid Pharma factory is located and they were reportedly administered the toxic analgesic syrup Temset produced by the company.
   On September 16, the judge of the drug court in Dhaka, M Golam Murtaza Mazumder, ordered attachment of moveable and immoveable property of the five Rid Pharma officials.
   The same court on August 11 issued warrants for arrest of the five Rid Pharma officials.
   Rid Pharma received drug manufacturing licence in 2006 and started marketing 12 drugs. The company also violated the Drugs (Control) Ordinance 1982 by manufacturing paracetamol syrup as it had obtained permission for manufacturing paracetamol suspension only, the complaint said.
   The health minister, AFM Ruhal Haque, on July 29 confirmed the presence of diethylene glycol in a batch of Temset syrup produced by Rid Pharma after receiving the report of the official committee investigating the latest spate of child deaths caused by toxic medicine.
   Analgesic syrup containing diethylene glycol caused kidney diseases in 339 children between 1990 and 1992, and most of them died. No one was punished for the offence at the time.

The biennial conference of the city unit BNP is scheduled to be held at the auditorium of Chittagong centre of Engineers’ Institution Bangladesh after 16 years today (Monday).
   There was much enthusiasm among the party leaders and activists centering the conference, as was some tension among the rival groups trying to secure position in the new committee.
   A nine-member preparatory committee, headed by the city unit convener Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury, has completed preparation for holding the conference although formation of all the 41 ward and 11 thana committees were not yet completed.
   Party sources said the city committee would be formed through discussions if the rival groups could come to an understanding. Otherwise there would be no alternative but to go for balloting.
   Meanwhile, a faction of the party led by joint convener M Nazim Uddin formed a separate committee of Kotwali thana unit on Friday and announced to hold the city conference separately, in case of failure to come to an understanding by Sunday night.
   Sources also said former minister Abdullah Al Noman, former state minister Mir Mohammed Nasiruddin and former whip Sayad Wahidul Alam were backing the faction led by Nazim, as Khashru allegedly annoyed them during formation of ward and thana committees.
   Nazim, also divisional president of Jatiyatabadi Shramik Dal, told New Age that Khashru had formed pocket committees at different ward and thana levels without holding conference.
   ‘It will create difficulties in balloting at the city unit conference and this is why we want to form city committee through an understanding,’ he said, adding that committees of few wards had not even been formed.
   He also said they would hold separate conference of the city unit at Ladies Club on Monday if Khashru did not make any understanding with them by the Sunday night.
   City unit convener Khashru, however, said they had completed conferences at all the ward and thana levels by this time adding that other preparation to hold the city unit conference had also been completed.
   He also said there was competition among the leaders centering the conference, which was usual, adding that they were optimistic of making the conference a success.
   Meanwhile, party chairperson Khaleda Zia, also a former prime minister, summoned Khashru, Noman, Nasir, Wahid and former minister M Morshed Khan to Dhaka on Sunday to discuss the complexities in holding the city unit conference.
   Khaleda also held a meeting with Chittagong leaders to discuss matters related to the city conference in the afternoon when party secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain was also present.

The people of Bhairab who on Sunday continued with the siege of Kishoreganj for the third consecutive day halting all modes of communication with the district headquarters through the upazila started feeling the pinch of the blockade.
   Some businessmen and day-labourers of Bhairab said the programme of siege had hindered their business and hampered their daily earning but said they were ready to stomach any temporary losses for a big achievement such as the upgrade of the upazila, with four others, to a separate administrative district.
   People of three upazilas — Bajitpur, Katiadi and Nikli — who have continued with their agitation in protest at the inclusion of the upazilas into the proposed Bhairab district, severing them from Kishoreganj, also said they were ready to face any sufferings caused by the blockade for an indefinite period. They believed the programme would not continue for long but their suffering would prolong if they accept Bhirab as their district headquarters.
   The Action Committee on Implementation of Proposed Bhairab District on Friday enforced the siege of Kishoreganj for an indefinite period to push for their demands for upgrade of Bhairab to a district and arrest of the people who had burnt the effigy of the president, Zillur Rahman, during a general strike in the district on November 2.
   The protesters did not allow any buses and trains to leave or reach Kishoregaj though Bhairab during the siege. They also disrupted the supply of oil from Padma, Meghna and Jamuna oil depots to the Kishoreganj district headquarters through Bhairab.
   ‘I have earn almost nothing in three days as my job at oil depots was hampered because of the blockade,’ Asidur Ali, a day labourer working with the Meghna oil depot, told New Age on Sunday. Asidur said he was not worried about the fall in earning and hoped they would be able to earn more if Bhairab could be upgraded to a district.
   An employee of the Bagdad Residential Hotel at Bhairab said the number of guests declined in three days because of the blockade.
   Santosh, the manager of wholesalers MA Bhandar, said their customers were not heading for other upazilas in Kishoreganj but they felt a decline in business in three days. ‘We have felt the pinch of the blockade, but it is nothing compared with what the people are fighting for,’ he said.
   Abu Tahir, a resident of Katiadi, said they faced suffering because of the blockade, but expressed reservations about going for an understanding with the people of Bhairab for withdrawal of the siege.
   ‘People of Bhairab look very harsh towards the people of other upazilas. Accepting Bhairab as our district headquarters means prolonged suffering as no victim gets justice from people of Bhairab,’ Tahir said.
   People of the Kishoreganj district headquarters and other districts are suffering as traffic on the Kishoreganj–Bhairab Road remained suspended. Vehicles leaving Kishoreganj for Dhaka are going via Manohardi and Kapasia.
   The cabinet at a meeting on October 12 formed a committee to examine how Bhairab could be made a separate administrative district with five upazilas — Bajitpur, Bhairab, Katiadi, Kuliarchar and Nikli — out of the 13 upazilas of Kishoreganj.
   The people have been observing a series of agitation programmes in different upazilas of the district for a month now against the government’s move to create the Bhairab district with five upazilas. Residents of all the upazilas but Bhairab and Kuliarchar have rallied against the division of the Kishoreganj district.
   People of Bhairab and Kuliarchar, two of the 13 upazilas of Kishoreganj, on November 10 enforced a half-day general strike, disrupting railway and road communications from Dhaka to Sylhet and Kishoreganj.
   People of all the upazilas but Bhairab and Kuliarchar on November 2 enforced a dawn-to-dusk general strike against the government move and in protest at the inclusion of their upazilas into the proposed Bhairab district. The demonstrators burnt the effigy of the president at Ghatail in the town during the strike.
   Uptrade of Bhairab, an upazila on the edge of Kishoreganj and sandwiched between the Meghna and Brahmaputra rivers, to a district was an election pledge of president Zillur Rahman, who was elected a member of parliament for the Bhairab constituency on the Awami League ticket, according to local residents.
   Nazmul Hasan Papon won the by-polls as the seat had fallen vacant after his father Zillur Rahman became president of the republic.

The government has decided to invite project proposals from both public sector agencies and non-government organisations for utilisation of the Tk 700 crore Climate Change Trust Fund.
   According to a decision taken by the fund’s trustee board, the proposed projects to be financed from the trust fund should be worth Tk 25 crore maximum for government agencies and Tk 5 crore for NGOs.
   The projects must focus mainly on measures to adapt to the effects of climate change that has made Bangladesh the most vulnerable country, said Hasan Mahmud, the state minister for environment and forest and also the chair of the trustee board.
   ‘We will encourage proposals on adaptation measures. We will invite the proposals in a day or two,’ he told newsmen after the first meeting of the board that finalised the modality and format of fund utilisation.
   The finance minister, AMA Muhith, one of the members of the 15-member trustee board, was also present at the meeting.
   The government may inject funds to be donated by any agencies into this trust fund and more budgetary money can also be funnelled next year, the state minister said when he was asked if more money would be spent on addressing the climate change effects.
   The trustee board will now utilise 66 per cent of the fund or Tk 466 crore for financing the projects while the remaining 34 per cent will be kept as rolling fund.
   There is another fund called Multi-Donor Trust Fund, currently being operated by the World Bank, to which different bilateral donors and multilateral lending agencies would contribute, to help the country’s efforts in fighting the fallout of climate change.

The Indian foreign secretary, Nirupama Menon Rao, left Dhaka Sunday morning after a two-day official visit.
   She discussed preparations for the visit of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to New Delhi.
   Hasina is likely to reach Delhi on December 18 after attending the global conference on climate change in Copenhagen.
   The two countries are expected to sign three agreements in addition holding discussions on other bilateral issues during Hasina’s visit.
   Nirupama Rao held a bilateral talk with her Bangladesh counterpart Mohamed Mijarul Quayes.
   She also called on the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, leader of the opposition in parliament Khaleda Zia, also Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, and the foreign minister, Dipu Moni.

Somali pirates have freed nine Bangladeshi and Indian seafarers after businessmen and clan elders in the country’s semi-autonomous northern Puntland region negotiated their release, residents said on Sunday.
   The sailors were dropped off late on Saturday in Puntland’s capital Garowe. It was not immediately clear which vessel they came from, or whether any ransom was paid. Somali sea gangs have been holding at least 13 ships and more than 230 crew hostage.
   Their release came after joint efforts by local businessmen and clan elders.