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The High Court on Tuesday issued a rule suo moto on the government to explain in 48 hours why the killing of two brothers in Rapid Action Battalion custody in ‘crossfire’ early Monday in Madaripur would not be declared illegal.
   The High Court bench of Justice AFM Abdur Rahman and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad issued the rule after newspapers had reported that two brothers, Lutfor Khalasi and Khairul Khalasi, said to be regional leaders of ultra-left Sharbahara Party, were killed in ‘crossfire.’
   The rule was issued on the home secretary, Rapid Action Battalion director general, RAB 8 commanding officer and RAB 8 officer Major Ohiduzzaman who arrested the two at Jatrapur of Rupganj in Narayanganj early Saturday.
   The death of the two was reported just 36 hours after the family had expressed fears that the two might be killed in custody.
   Lutfor’s wife Jharna Begum and son Bablu Khalasi claimed the battalion did not give them any information after the battalion had picked up Lutfor and Khairul early Saturday.
   Jharna Begum and Bablu at a briefing in Madaripur on Saturday appealed so that the brothers would not be killed in the name of ‘crossfire.’ They also said at the briefing that the battalion had killed Lutfor’s third brother Obaidul Khalashi in July 2008.
   The High Court came up with the rule while the law enforcers continued with killing people in the incidents of ‘crossfire’ or ‘encounter’ taking the total figure of extrajudicial killings to 1,462 since June 24, 2004 when the first case of such ‘crossfire killing’ by the Rapid Action Battalion took place.
   The police and other law enforcement agencies then started killing people in extrajudicial incidents.
   Of the 1,462 victims of extrajudicial killing, 240 were killed in 2004, 396 in 2005, 355 in 2006, 184 in 2007, 149 in 2008 and 138 in 2009.
   Such extrajudicial killing goes unabated while the government is yet to reply to the rules issued by the High Court, including two in 2006 and another in June 2009, regarding extrajudicial killing by law enforcers in the name of ‘crossfire’ or ‘encounter.’
   The High Court first came up with a ruling on extrajudicial killings on May 25, 2006.
   In the ruling, the High Court bench of Justice M Awlad Ali and Justice Zinat Ara asked the government to explain why the killing of Tunda Ismail, who was in fetters in police custody, should not be properly investigated and why the offenders should not be brought to justice.
   Tunda Ismail, arrested in an arms case and remanded in police custody for interrogation, was killed in ‘crossfire,’ as claimed by the police, at Lalbagh on May 22, 2006.
   The court passed the order in response to a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Mizanur Rahman seeking enforcement and protection of fundamental rights.
   His counsel M Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan told New Age on Tuesday the government was yet to reply to the rule.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Mamnoon Rahman on August 6, 2006 issued a rule asking the government and the Rapid Action Battalion to explain why they should not be directed to ensure the security of the people detained in their custody.
   The court issued the order after hearing a writ petition filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, which sought the court’s directive on the government and the battalion in protecting the life of anyone in detention from being killed in ‘crossfire’ or ‘encounter.’
   Although the case came up on the list of cases to be heard in a High Court bench two weeks ago, it could not be heard as the jurisdiction of the bench had been changed and the government was yet to reply to the rule, the rights group’s counsel Manzill Murshid told New Age on Tuesday.
   In a recent development, the High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui on June 29 issued a rule asking the government to explain why extrajudicial killing by law enforcers in the name of ‘crossfire’ or ‘encounter’ would not be declared illegal.
   The court also asked the government, home secretary, inspector general of police and RAB director general to explain why they would not be directed to take departmental and legal action against the perpetrators of such extrajudicial killings.
   Deputy attorney general Razik Al Jalil, the designated state law officer for the High Court bench that issued the rule, on Tuesday told New Age, ‘We are yet to get comments from the government offices concerned needed to reply to the rule.’
   The court issued the rule after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by three rights organisations — Ain o Salish Kendra, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and Karmajibi Nari — challenging the legality of the extrajudicial killing.
   The petitioners’ counsel, Saifur Rashid, told New Age on Tuesday he would request the court to set a date for the final hearing in the writ petition after the winter vacation of the Supreme Court for an expeditious disposal of the writ petition.
   After Tuesday’s ruling, attorney general Mahbubey Alam, however, told reporters, ‘We will reply to this rule in time after obtaining comments from RAB.’
   A number of cases have also been filed against RAB personnel on various charges, including killing people in the name of ‘crossfire.’
   In an incident, 10 battalion members were sued on June 16 on charges of killing two Dhaka Polytechnic Institute students on May 27 on Manik Mia Avenue.
   All the successive governments kept arguing such extrajudicial killing was inevitable to improve law and order. With such comments by successive governments, the law enforcers have continued with feeding the media with a similar story saying when they raid a place to arrest ‘terrorists’ or go to seize illegal arms along with detained ‘terrorist,’ the terrorists’ associates attack them, leading to gunfights and after the gunfight, they find the ‘terrorist’ killed after being caught in the firing.
   From the time when extrajudicial killing started taking place, national and international quarters, including rights groups, have continued with criticising such killing and demanding an end to suck killing.
   Against such backdrop, the Awami League-led government assumed office on January 6 after a landslide victory in the December 2008 general elections on the wings of a number of pre-election pledges, which include putting an end to extrajudicial killings.
   The extrajudicial killing, however, still continued unabated with the government gradually shifting its position — from condemnation to justification — regarding such killing.
   A month inside Awami League-led government’s assumption of office, the foreign minister told a review meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 4 the AL-led administration would pursue a ‘zero tolerance’ policy in respect of extrajudicial killing.
   On May 6, the LGRD and cooperatives minister, who is also the ruling Awami League’s general secretary, said ‘no extrajudicial killings will be allowed to be used as a tool of law enforcement agencies.’
   At around the same time, Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj, then state minister for home affairs, however, first came up in defence of law enforcers, saying they ‘have the right to self-defence as per the constitution.’
   On May 16, the home minister endorsed her deputy’s take on extrajudicial killings.
   The law minister, who appeared to be against such killing, on September 6 said he ‘was not witness to any such incidents [killing in crossfire]’ nor was he ‘aware of such [extrajudicial] killing.’
   The government’s shift from condemnation to justification of extrajudicial killings marked a full circle when the prime minister told a news conference in New York on September 27 she was not for extrajudicial killing but if a criminal would open fire, law enforcers could not sit idle.
   Exposing the government’s unwillingness to end extrajudicial killing, the shipping minister, Shahjahan Khan, on October 3 said the government would need to continue with extrajudicial killing until terrorist activities and extortion were uprooted.
   In the latest development on the government’s stand on the issue, the home minister, Sahara Khatun, on Tuesday claimed that no incident of ‘crossfire’ had taken place in the country since assumption of office of the Awami League government.
   ‘We are not carrying out any crossfire right now. No such incident took place since our government had assumed office,’ she told reporters after a special law and order meeting at the home ministry.

The home minister, Sahara Khatun, has said no ‘crossfire killings’ have taken place since the current government took office, hours headquarters early Tuesday.
   Tuesday’s incident took to 126 the total death figure from extrajudicial killing such as ‘crossfire’ or ‘encounter’ of the Rapid Action Battalion and the police after January 6 when the Awami League-led government assumed office.
   The deceased was Mohammad Hasan alias Boma Hasan, 35, a resident of the district headquarters.
   The police said one of its teams raided a banana plantation in the area about 2:30am on information that a group of PBCP operatives were holding a meeting in the place. The Jhenaidah police officer-in-charge, Matiar Rahman, said, ‘As the police team reached the banana plantation, the outfit operatives firing into the lawmen, who fired back. The gunfight continued for about 20 minutes.’
   Hasan died after being caught in the firing at one point, and his associates managed to get away, the police said.
   The police said they had seized a shutter gun, four bombs and two bullets from the place. The body was sent to the Jhenaidah General Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination, the police said.
   Two policemen were also injured in the ‘gunfight.’ The injured police men were admitted to hospital.
   The police said Hasan was wanted in seven criminal cases, including ones related to murder and bomb attack.

An ultra-left Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-People’s War) leader was killed in ‘crossfire between his associates and the police’ at Baniakanda in the Jhenaidah district after the High Court questioned the government about unlawful deaths.
   The court gave the government and the Rapid Action Battalion 48 hours to explain the shooting and killing of two brothers in Madaripur, asking why the deaths should not be ruled extrajudicial.
   Sahara told reporters at the secretariat on Tuesday, ‘There has been no crossfire since our government has taken office’.
   ‘We’re not killing (people) in crossfire,’ she stressed.
   Brothers Lutfor Khalashi, 40, and Khairul Khalashi, 38, both alleged to be extremists, were killed in what RAB said was ‘an exchange of gunfire’ in Madaripur early on Monday.
   The deaths were reported just 36 hours after family members voiced fears that the two might be killed in custody.
   The home ministry has repeatedly rejected concerns of human rights organisations from home and abroad.
   The current government, like previous administrations, says law enforcers only open fire in defence, and deaths by shooting occur only where the suspect has been armed and exchange of gunfire takes place.
   Such incidents are often referred to as ‘crossfire’ killings in the media and common parlance, a term that has come to imply suspicious, or extrajudicial killings.
   More than 80 people have been killed in ‘crossfire/encounter/shootout’ incidents in the first nine months of the Awami League-led government, according to human rights group Odhikar.
   The ‘crossfire’ issue came to the fore after formation of the elite force Rapid Action Battalion on March 26, 2004.
   In five years, 577 people have been killed in ‘crossfire’ in 472 incidents since the elite force’s inception, RAB has said.
   Also asked by reporters about ‘arrests without warrants’ on Tuesday, the minister said, ‘No mass arrests have been made during this government’s tenure. Investigations will be carried out if we get such information.’

Grassroots leaders and activists of the opposition BNP became sharply divided in most of the party’s district units over holding council sessions to establish factional stronghold.
   With just 21 days left before the party’s national council session, no committee could be formed of any district unit and the first two attempts to hold council sessions at district levels were marred by in-party violence.
   Although the central body tried to resolve the conflicts in October and several joint secretaries general sat with the district leaders, all such efforts seem to have gone in vain as the conflict continues.
   The long-awaited conference of the Chittagong city unit BNP was marred by clashes between the followers of two rival leaders in which about 20 people were injured on Monday. On the same day, the council session in Faridpur was also foiled by violence.
   A faction of the Rajshahi city BNP on Tuesday went out on demonstrations demanding that the city unit convening committee should be scrapped. The faction, otherwise, threatened that they would not allow the holding of the council session on November 21.
   A similar situation is prevailing in all major districts, especially in areas known as BNP’s stronghold.
   Some leaders of the district units belonging to one faction blamed their rival faction for the violence. Some of them also blamed a section of central leaders for patronising the conflicts in their own interests and some others said the ruling
   Awami League was patronising conflicts by instigating rival groups.
   A rival faction of the Mirsarai upazila BNP in Chittagong Tuesday afternoon stopped Gayeshwar Chandra Roy from attending the council session of the unit. The upazila administration earlier ordered Section 144 on the programme venue and the council session was later held at Barayahat. Gayeshwar attended the programme there.
   Factional clash left 20 injured, including former lawmaker Kalimuddin Ahmed Milon, at the council session of Chhatak municipality unit in Sunamganj on Tuesday.
   More than 100 activists were injured in at least a dozen incidents of violence which took place across the country over the formation of upazila and union council units of the party in the past week. In many places, rival committees were also formed.
   The upazila administrations of Mirsarai in Chittagong, Srinagar in Munshiganj, Fakirhat in Bagerhat, Patnitala in Lalmonirhat and Debiganj in Panchagarh imposed Section 144 on council venues of the upazila units of the BNP apprehending untoward incidents.
   Separate conferences were held at Kulaura in Moulvibazar on November 12 while 14 people were injured in violence at the Tala upazila BNP conference on November 13.
   On the same day, at least 20 people were injured in a clash between two groups of BNP activists at Bhelaguri of Hatibandha in Lalmonirhat over the formation of the union council BNP committee.
   At least 20 BNP activists were injured in a factional clash at Maijbari of Kazipara in Sirajganj on November 14 over the holding of the union unit conference.
   The party’s secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said they suspected the government might have a role in the incidents of violence.
   ‘The national council session will be held as per schedule and such incidents in the lower units will leave no impact on the national council session… We have taken the incidents seriously. We will hear the people concerned and take action, if necessary,’ he said. Delwar said he would investigate the incidents of Chittagong.
   After Monday’s violence in Chittagong, the BNP chief’s adviser ASM Hannan Shah, who was chief guest at the programme, went straight from Chittagong to Khaleda Zia after midnight past Monday and informed her of what he had seen.
   ‘I told her to investigate the incident and take action against the people responsible for creating chaos so that such people in other units cannot be inspired from the happenings,’ said Hannan Shah. He too brushed aside possibilities of the national council session being hampered by the incidents of violence.
   ‘If needed, the central body will elect the leaders after bringing the councillors in Dhaka,’ he said.
   The party’s joint secretary general Gayeshwar Chandra Roy also echoed him. Gayeshwar said some enthusiastic supporters of individuals and people outside the party were responsible for the violence. ‘This is not unusual in large parties. If it was the other party, there would be more incidents of violence.’
   Although the party’s national standing committee sat Monday night, the issue of in-party violence was not discussed.
   After the meeting, standing committee member RA Gani said the incidents were unexpected and it should not have happened.
   BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed said violence in politics was nothing new. ‘Awami League men foiled the council session of the National Awami Party of Maulana Bhasani years ago. Although such incidents are shocking and unexpected, but they could occur because of competition for leadership,’ he said.
   Another member of the standing committee, Mahbubur Rahman, said whatever caused such violence was condemnable. He said the holding of the national council session would not be hampered by such incidents. ‘But discipline should be ensured in all tiers of the party.’

Leaders of rival groups of Chittagong city BNP have been summoned to Dhaka in a bid to patch up their differences that marred their conference on Monday amid clashes undermining the image of the party.
   The party secretary general, Khandker Delwar Hossain, has asked seven top leaders of the two rival groups to meet him at the party central office at Naya Paltan at 12 noon today.
   Those invited to the meeting are Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Abdullah Al Noman, M Morshed Khan, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, Syed Wahidul Alam, Ershad Ullah and Shamsul Alam.
   Meanwhile, the rival groups Tuesday held rallies and paraded the city streets blaming each other for triggering the clashes that left about 50 activists hurt.
   Followers of Amir Khasru, convenor of city BNP, squarely blamed central joint secretary general Noman for the incident. They held rallies at different places of the city.
   Supporters of Noman brought out procession in the city and held a rally in front of the party office. They chanted slogans against Khasru and demanded his resignation.

Law enforcement agencies were on Tuesday asked to keep watch on all madrassahs and relatives of the convicts in the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case and beneficiaries of the assassination until execution of the verdict in the case, said a lawmaker for a Dhaka constituency.
   They were also directed to ensure foolproof security at all key-point installations such as courts, diplomatic enclaves, and important personalities, their relatives, and the members of the family of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to stave off any untoward situation centering on the verdict in the Mujib murder case appeals scheduled for November 19.
   The directives were given at two meetings — one with senior law enforcement agency officials and the other with lawmakers for Dhaka city constituencies —at the home ministry on keeping law and order around and at the time of verdict announcement.
   The government has also ordered lawmen to adopt special strategy to prevent any acts of sabotage centering on the announcement of the verdict in the appeals in the Mujib murder case scheduled for Thursday.
   ‘The police and other law enforcement agencies will follow special strategy so that no evil force can carry out any act of sabotage over the announcement of the verdict in the Bangabandhu murder case on November 19,’ the home affairs minister, Sahara Khatun, told reporters on Tuesday after presiding over a special law and order meeting.
   She said the lawmen were put on the highest alert to thwart any untoward incidents before the verdict, Eid-ul Azha on November 28 and Victory Day celebrations on December 16.
   ‘Lawmen have been asked to keep watch on madrassahs, relatives of the convicted killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and beneficiaries of the assassination until the execution of the verdict in the Bangbahndhu murder case,’ said a lawmaker who attended the meeting in the home ministry.
   The ruling party lawmakers were advised to remain alert and to stay in their respective constituencies on November 19 to create mass awareness among the citizens of acts of sabotage. They were also asked to prevent overenthusiastic people from bringing out any processions after the court verdict, the lawmaker said.
   The legislators were asked to contact the police in case of any possibility of sabotage anywhere. The home minister sought cooperation of lawmakers in keeping law and order.
   The inspector general of police at the meeting assured the lawmakers that the situation was under control as he did not fear any possibility of any act of sabotage, according to the lawmaker.
   The state minister for law, Quamrul Islam, after the meeting said he hoped the verdict would meet the people’s expectations. But no one should express jubilation over the verdict, whatever it might be, he said. ‘We do not fear any acts of sabotage but all should remain alert so that no untoward incidents take place.’
   Earlier at a meeting with the Awami League’s central executive committee members in her residence on Saturday, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, feared fanatic militant groups might try to carry out act of sabotage before and after the Supreme Court verdict and asked party men across the country to remain alert against any unwarranted situations.
   Tuesday’s meeting, also attended by the superintendents of police from Dhaka, Manikganj, Narayanganj and Gazipur, asked for additional security measures in areas surrounding the capital at the time.
   ‘Courts across the country, schools in the city and diplomatic missions of the United States, United Kingdom, India, Italy and France, big hotels, VVIPs and persons involved in the Mujib murder trial have been kept under special security coverage,’ said a senior home affairs ministry official.
   Asked about the reported arrest of about 1.5 lakh people without warrants during 10 months of the Awami League-led government, the home minister, who earlier claimed law and order was far better that it was any time during the tenure of the past governments, said, ‘There has been no incident of mass arrest after the present government took over.’
   The state minister for LGRD and cooperatives, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, told the meeting the Juba League would begin stay-awake-at-night programme at midnight past November 18 by lighting candles at the Central Shahid Minar till the execution of the verdict, said a meeting source.
   He urged all lawmakers for the Dhaka city constituencies to take up such programmes.

Load-shedding across the country turned severe again in the last two days as power generation was reduced considerably after the 400MW Meghnaghat independent power plant was shut down for scheduled maintenance, and also because other plants are not being supplied sufficient gas.
   Most parts of the city suffered frequent power outages, some areas for up to six hours everyday, in the last two days as power generation slumped to only around 3,400-3,500MW from around 3,800MW, further widening the margin between supply and demand which is around 4,500MW.
   The power supply situation in the city had improved in last two months after the sweltering summer, but the latest dip in generation has resulted in frequent outages throughout the country.
   PDB officials said that the Meghnaghat IPP closed down for 10 days for the scheduled annual maintenance two days back, resulting in significant decrease in over-all power generation.
   Officials claimed that power generation by other power plants adjacent to Meghnaghat could not be increased as they were not getting enough gas, although around 60-70 million cubic feet of gas was supposed to be saved because of the closure of the Meghnaghat plant.
   ‘We are not getting more gas for the power plants in and around Haripur, which have been facing gas shortage for months, despite the closure of the Meghnaghat plant. The gas authorities can say better where the saved gas is going,’ the PDB’s chairman, Alamgir Kabir, told New Age on Tuesday.
   He said that over-all they were generating around 800MW less electricity just because of gas shortage.
   However the managing director of Titas Gas, Md Aziz Khan, claimed that some of the PDB’s power plants, like those in Ashuganj and Ghorasal, were getting more gas after the closure of Meghnaghat.
   ‘As we do not have any dedicated gas line for any power plant, the closure of any plant will not ultimately result in increase of gas supply to other power plants. For instance, many industries are supplied gas from the gas line which feeds the Meghnaghat plant,’ he said.
   Aziz said that as there was a shortage of around 150 mmcfd of gas, and the industries take away additional gas when any power plant is shut down.
   The PDB has shut down the Rauzan power plant as per the government’s directive in order to feed the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Ltd. Chittagong, the country’s biggest port, is suffering from massive power cuts.

Taliban militants blew up a girls’ school in Pakistan’s Khyber district on Tuesday, the third such attack in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan so far this month, officials said.
   An intelligence official in the area said Taliban attacked the government-run school overnight when no one was at the property.
   ‘The girls’ middle school was badly damaged because of the explosion, now the school building is almost out of use. The classrooms, desks and chairs were also damaged,’ Farooq Khan, a local administrative official said.
   The incident took place at Yousaf Kely village near Bara town, around 20 kilometres south of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province which has been hit by five suicide attacks in the last eight days.
   Islamist militants have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in the northwest of the country in recent years.
   Nearly 200 schools were destroyed in the Swat valley alone during a two-year Taliban uprising to enforce sharia law in a district once favoured by Western tourists for its ski slopes and mountain air.
   Following up a similar offensive in Swat this summer, Pakistan has been fighting against homegrown militants in Khyber and pressing a major assault designed to crush Taliban sanctuaries in South Waziristan.
   Authorities last month shut schools across Pakistan following a suicide attack on a university campus in Islamabad, although most have since reopened.

Bangladesh has improved its ranking in the much-talked about Global Corruption Perception Index, moving up to the 13th position from the 10th in 2008, although political and bureaucratic corruption is still believed to be rampant.
   Transparency Interna-tional, in its index released on Tuesday, placed the country at the 139th position among 180 countries, reckoning its performance to be one of the fastest improvements in diminishing corruption. Bangladesh tied with Belarus, Pakistan and the Philippines in the latest index.
   The local chapter of the Berlin-based corruption watchdog attributed the progress in Bangladesh’s ranking to the anti-graft drives and institutional reforms initiated by the interim government in 2007 and 2008 as well as pre-polls pledges by the ruling Awami League to continue the initiatives to curb corruption.
   The TI’s Corruption Perception Index 2009 is said to have taken into consideration data from seven sources that covered the last two years and included surveys from 2008 to September 2009.
   This year Bangladesh scored 2.4 points in a scale of 10 compared to 2.1 points the previous year. Any score below 3 points is considered to indicate prevalence of massive political and administrative corruption.
   Bangladesh topped the list of the most corrupt countries for five successive years between 2001 and 2005 — a stigma that sparked off criticism at home and abroad of the previous Awami League regime and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government.
   However, the officer bearers of Transparency International Bangladesh voiced concern at the recent changes in the procurement rules, ineffective Parliament, tender manipulation, interference in the functions of upazila parishads by lawmakers and malpractice in providing essential services to the public.
   ‘Unless there is strong political commitment followed by the necessary actions, it will be difficult to continue and sustain improvement in Bangladesh’s anti-corruption performance in the years to come,’ said Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the TIB, while releasing the index at a press conference in the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
   He mentioned that corruption was a global issue and that the recent financial crisis was the manifestation of corrupt financial practices by people in developed countries. ’We believe that developed, industrialised countries should help the poorer countries with technical and financial assistance to tackle the menace of corruption,’ he added.
   With below 1.5 score, civil war-torn Somalia and Afghanistan have been ranked the most [180th] and second-most [179th] corrupt countries respectively, followed by pariah Myanmar [177th] in the 3rd and Sudan and Iraq both in the 176th position. New Zealand has been placed at the top position with 9.4 points, followed by Denmark in the second and Singapore and Sweden jointly in the third position.
   Bangladesh is the only country in South Asia which improved its ranking although Bhutan with 5 points, India with 4.3 points, Sri Lanka with 3.1 points and the Maldives with 2.5 points are still better placed, according to the index.
   Bangladesh has washed off some of the stain from its image at a time when corruption has increased worldwide — 80 countries scored less than 3 points, indicating an alarming rate of corruption in the world, said Iftekharuzzaman.
   Welcoming the step taken by the Anti-Corruption Commission to take some cases to the higher courts, he said that the justice delivery system must be improved and the government must make some other institutions ready to resist corruption.
   At least 14 points in the Awami League’s election manifesto contained pledges to put in place the right institutions, with due reforms, to address corruption, the TIB official pointed out.
   The former chairman of the trustee board of TIB, Muzaffer Ahmad, said that the year 2008 had carried more weight in their perception as the TIB could not take into account the data of the full year of 2009.
   When asked how the TIB looked at the reports of tender manipulation, its current chairman and former adviser to the caretaker government, Hafizuddin Khan, said they were against such practices, including relaxation in the requirements for participation in the tender process that might instigate corruption.
   Muzaffer expressed confidence in the pledge made by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to address corruption by establishing a transparent administration and taking measures such as making wealth statements by the ministers and Members of Parliament compulsory. The format for submitting the wealth statements, prepared by the finance minister, is now pending with the Prime Minister’s Office, he said. ‘Let’s see what the prime minister does.’

Abdul Majid, 11 months inside his arrest at Uttara in an arms case, has been identified as an Indian and suspected of being a leader of the Kashmir-based Islamist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen of Pakistan and having involvement in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, intelligence officials said.
   Passing himself off as Abdul Majid, Indian citizen Yousuf Bhat had stayed in Bangladesh for several years with the forged identity and carried out militant activities, the officials said.
   During interrogation by the Criminal Investigation Department in the August 21 grenade attack case, he told the investigators that his real name is Yusuf Bhat.
   He also admitted to having connections with Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Maulana Taijuddin, brother of the detained former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, and leaders of the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.
   Hizbul Mujahideen is a front organisation of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, which works in the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
   Additional senior assistant superintendent of police Abdul Kahhar Akand of the Criminal Investigation Department, who is investigating the grenade attack case, said Yusuf Bhat was from Terigaon at Kulgaon of Islamabad in the Indian Kashmir.
   ‘Yousuf Bhat was staying in Bangladesh with the forged identity of Abdul Majid and carried out militant activities and supplied militants in Bangladesh with arms and grenades from Kashmir,’ Kahhar Akand said.
   In reply to a question, Kahhar said, ‘Yousuf Bhat had stayed in Bangladesh for years and he went to Pakistan and India several times.’
   A high official on the investigation team said Yusuf Bhat is a close friend of the fugitive accused Maulana Taijuddin. The group was supplying extremists in Bangladesh with grenades and arms from Kashmir.
   The police arrested him at Uttara in January in an arms case and he was on November 10 shown arrested in the August 21 grenade attack case by the Criminal Investigation Department based on information divulged by Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami founder Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, also chief of the Islamic Democratic Party.
   He was produced in court on November 11, seeking him to be remanded in custody for 10 days but the court allowed him to be remanded for five days for interrogation.
   Yousuf Bhat was on Tuesday remanded in custody again for four more days after the completion of his earlier remand period.
   The department earlier identified two Harkatul men, Mohammad Monir and Mohammad Idris, who helped the attackers on August 21, 2004 to get away in a white microbus after the incident.
   Former BNP state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, now in jail, was earlier remanded in custody for 12 days for interrogation in the case.
   They also interrogated Abdus Salam Pintu, Dhaka City Corporation ward commissioner Ariful Islam Arif and Bangladesh chapter Harkatul chief Mufti Abdul Hannan in the case.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has urged the UN and the developed countries to give the most vulnerable countries and the least developed countries priority and keeping them as separate group to face the adverse effect of climate change.
   ‘There should be a separate adaptation and mitigation fund for MVCs and LDCs in tackling the grim challenges of climate change caused by global warming,’ she said while addressing a joint working dinner in Rome Monday night.
   The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and the Italian foreign minister, Frattini, jointly hosted the dinner for the heads of state and government of 10 selected countries who are now in Rome to attend the 3-day World Summit on Food Security began here on Monday.
   Speaking at the dinner, the Bangladesh premier said the MVCs and LDCs did not want to be put in the same group with developing countries, including the advanced developing ones when considering financial benefits.
   ‘MVCs and LDCs should be given priority and kept as a separate group and there should be separate adaptation and mitigation fund for them,’ she added.
   In this context, Hasina said the climate fund should not be loans but grants and there should be no conditionality. ‘Such fund must be additional and distinct from ODA targets of 0.7 per cent of their gross national income for developing countries and 0.2 per cent for LDCs as affirmed by the Brussels programme of action,’ she said.
   The prime minister said the MVCs and LDCs did not want adaptation, mitigation, and technology transfer support to be in one basket. She said there was absolute necessity of a new legal regime under UNFCCC ensuring social, cultural and economical rehabilitation of climate migrants and refugees that Bangladesh and countries in both groups were witnessing.
   Welcoming British prime minister Gordon Brown’s and European Union’s climate financing proposal, the premier said in terms of need they were inadequate but good as base to work with.
   ‘We should go further and beyond the European Union proposal meaningfully,’ the Bangladesh premier said. She expressed the hope that it is indeed possible to have a successful COP 15 in Copenhagen.
   If the developed countries could invest trillions of dollars in resurrecting the world economic situation, and spend three million dollars for armaments, they could surely contribute generously to the climate fund as proposed to be established in Copenhagen in December this year, she said.
   ‘With a worldwide population expected to cross nine billion by 2050, and increasing adverse effects of climate change, many unpredictable and difficult challenges are expected to emerge,’ she pointed out.
   The prime minister said a dominant challenge would be the threat to the agriculture and thus food security. ‘It is, therefore, critical to address climate change issues immediately and realistically.
   Bangladesh and other MVCs are, however, worried that in the current dialogue and negotiations on climate change issues, their concerns would be sidelined by the disagreements between the developed and developing countries,’ she continued.
   The prime minister said Bangladesh would do its utmost to follow the guidelines contains in the declaration by the World Summit on Food Security and fulfil its responsibility. ‘Bangladesh also hope the developed countries would fulfil their responsibilities as delineated in the declaration, and also commit themselves in Copenhagen to come up with an universal acceptable agreement,’ she added.
   Hasina said for Bangladesh and other MVCs, Copenhagen means justice, reconciliation and a fresh and united start for common safety of mankind. ‘Therefore, in Copenhagen, we expect the outcomes to ensure binding specific cuts in greenhouse emissions from all major emitters. The outcome must also ensure predictable and legally binding commitments and addressing the adaptation needs of MVCs, low-lying costal LDCs, and small Island countries,’ she said.

The High Court on Tuesday asked the government not to give Niko Resources any payment for gas from the Feni gas-field until the disposal of a case that the government had filed in a lower court for compensation for the blow-outs at Tengratila gas-field.
   A High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui delivered the verdict after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by three rights bodies — the Bangladesh Environment Lawyers' Association, Ain o Shalish Kendra and Odhikar in 2005 after the two blow-outs in Tengratila gas-field.
   The HC in its verdict, however, declared legal the Niko's joint venture agreement with the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company for Tengratila (Chhatak) and Feni gas-fields.
   The rights organisations challenged Niko's joint venture agreement with Bapex, a subsidiary of Petrobangla for the Feni and Tengratila gas-fields, and sought the High Court's verdict to ensure that Niko paid adequate compensation to the victims of the blow-outs in 2005.
   In response to the writ, the HC in September 2005 issued an injunction restraining the government from making any payment to Niko and directed it to freeze all the bank accounts maintained in Bangladesh by the Canadian company.
   The court also asked the government and Niko to explain why the agreement should not be cancelled and proper legal action should not be taken against Niko as the agreement was signed in an 'illegal' manner.
   The government in June 2008 also filed a damage suit with a Dhaka court against Niko, claiming Tk 746.50 crore as compensation for the destruction of properties and gas reserves in and around the Tengratila field in Sunamganj after the company refused to pay the government anything.
   Both the company and the government recently took a move to go to HC to get the injunction against payment to Niko for Feni field's gas vacated as the company proposed to drill two more gas wells there to increase production.
   Petrobangla owes Niko around $32 million in gas bills for the gas from Feni, but many energy experts protested against the government's move to pay Niko the bill until it pays compensation for the twin blow-outs at Tengratila.
   The High Court, in its verdict, directed the government not to pay Niko for the gas that Petrobangla has been purchasing from the Feni gas-field from 2004 until the disposal of the government's case or until Niko and the government has reached a settlement over the issue of compensation.
   The controversial joint venture agreement with Niko was signed for the development and production of gas from Chhatak and Feni fields by the BNP-led government in 2003 after the previous Awami League government declared the fields abandoned or marginal despite its huge gas reserve.

Australian doctors successfully separated joined-at-the-head Bangladeshi twins after more than 24 hours of surgery on Tuesday, saying the girls were 'in great shape' but faced a difficult recovery.
   Two-year-old Trishna and Krishna, rescued from certain death in a Dhaka orphanage, were placed in induced comas after leaving the operating theatre unattached for the first time, doctors said.
   'The moment of separation was a rather surreal moment,' Leo Donnan, chief of surgery at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, told reporters.
   'There was relief but I think everyone realised there was still a long way to go and that the girls have a very difficult time ahead of them.'
   Doctors worked through the night to prise apart the twins' brain tissue at about 11:00am (0000 GMT) before reconstruction experts closed up their heads using bone and skin tissue, some 32 hours after they were wheeled into the operating room.
   'The girls have now come out of the theatre and they're in intensive care,' Donnan said.
   'Everything's gone very well. They're in great shape which is fantastic... they're both in good condition and healthy. I think they're better than we thought they'd be.'
   The girls will spend the next few days sedated, on ventilators and under close monitoring before being gradually woken up, Donnan said.

More than 49 million Americans - one in seven - struggled to get enough to eat in 2008, the highest total in 14 years of a federal survey on 'food insecurity,' the US government said Monday.
   While the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, said programmes such as food stamps softened the impact of an economic recession, anti-hunger groups pointed to the huge increase from the preceding year when 36.2 million people had trouble getting enough food and a third of them occasionally went hungry.
   'The survey suggested that things could be much worse but for the fact that we have extensive food assistance programmes,' Vilsack told reporters. 'This is a great opportunity to put a spotlight on this problem.'
   About 14.6 per cent of US households, equal to 49.1 million people, 'had difficulty obtaining food for all their members due to a lack of resources' during 2008, up 3.5 percentage points from 2007 when 11.1 per cent of households were classified as food insecure.
   About 5.7 per cent of households, or 17.3 million people, had 'very low food security,' meaning some members of the household had to eat less. Typically, food runs short in those households for a few days in seven or eight months of the year, USDA said.
   The president, Barack Obama, called the USDA report 'unsettling' and vowed to reverse the trend of rising hunger.
   'Our children's ability to grow, learn, and meet their full potential - and therefore our future competitiveness as a nation - depends on regular access to healthy meals,' Obama said in a statement.
   USDA's annual report was based on a survey conducted in December 2008, soon after financial markets slumped and when the jobless rate was marching toward its current 10.2 per cent.
   'The numbers are even worse than people otherwise believed,' said Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action Centre, an anti-hunger group. 'We all know we have the worst downturn since the Depression.'
   David Beckmann of the anti-hunger group Bread for the World called for stronger federal anti-hunger programmes.
   'The recession has made the problem of hunger worse, and it has also made it more visible,' he said.
   Vilsack said the report represented 'an opportunity here for the country to make a major commitment to end childhood hunger by 2015,' an administration goal.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has urged the Malaysian government to ensure maximum facilities for the Bangladeshi expatriates living in the ASEAN country.
   She made the call when a five-member delegation led by the Malaysian deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Dato' Haji Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin, called on her at her hotel suite in Rome on Tuesday noon (local time).
   The Malaysian deputy prime minister highly hailed the leadership of Hasina for her strong role in saving Bangladesh's economy from the recent economic recession and its people from the negative impacts of the global food crisis.
   The two leaders also exchanged views on the global climate change and its impacts on the globe, particularly on the developing and the least developed countries.
   Hasina in this regard reiterated her call for giving priority to the developing countries and LDCs, the worst victims of the global warming, in mobilising all financial assistance to tackle the climate threats.
   She hoped that at the upcoming Copenhagen climate meet the international community would come forward with all necessary assistance to the climate-victim nations, including Bangladesh.
   The prime minister observed that climate change and food production are closely interlinked as food production is severely harmed by the global warming consequences.
   About the expatriates' issues, the prime minister recalled that during the 1996-2001 Awami League government, the then Malaysian government had taken 'outstanding measures for betterment of the Bangladeshi expatriates living over there'.
   During the meeting, the Bangladesh prime minister and the Malaysian deputy prime minister exchanged gifts.
   Foreign minister Dipu Moni, principal secretary to the prime minister MA Karim, press secretary to the prime minister Abul Kalam Azad, ambassador Ziauddin and Bangladesh ambassador to Italy Masud bin Momen were among others present.

The United States should 'scrap' a ban on its citizens travelling to Cuba, two key US lawmakers said Tuesday, blaming the policy for hampering Washington's efforts to promote democratic reforms there.
   'US law lets American citizens travel to any country on earth, friend or foe - with one exception: Cuba. It's time for us to scrap this anachronistic ban, imposed during one of the chilliest periods of the Cold War,' said Republican Senator Richard Lugar and Democratic Congressman Howard Berman.
   Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate foreign relations committee, and Berman, who chairs the house foreign affairs committee, noted that legislation to overturn the ban has been introduced in both chambers of the US Congress.
   The lawmakers charged that the travel ban, imposed in the aftermath of the 1959 Cuban revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power, had hurt US efforts to promote democratic reforms in the socialist-run island.
   The travel ban 'has left Washington an isolated bystander, watching events on the island unfold at a distance,' they said.'

The Khulna Medical College academic council in an emergency meeting on Tuesday imposed a ban on student politics on the college campus and decided to open the college on November 21.
   The council also decided to open all the dormitories on November 19 (Thursday) and formed a probe committee to investigate Monday's clash between two groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists after which the college was closed for an indefinite period.
   According to sources present in the academic council meeting, the
   meeting, chaired by the college principal Professor Dr KP Sarkar, was called at noon.
   They said that four students were beaten up by their rivals at the students' dormitories during the clash between two rival BCL groups at and around no 1 gallery of the college where the college authorities had arranged reception for the newly elected Bangladesh Medical Association leaders from Khulna. The ceremony was postponed immediately.
   Meanwhile, all the students of the college have left the college dormitories by 10:00am on Tuesday as per the decision of the academic council meeting held on Monday.

Kushtia Polytechnic Institute was declared closed till December 4 following a bomb explosion that left a Chhatra League leader injured on Tuesday.
   The injured was identified as Tanvir Alam Parvez, BCL joint convener of the institute.
   Witnesses said Tanvir was injured as a bomb suddenly exploded at Mir Mosharraf Hossain hostel when he was standing near a window of the hostel at about 11:00am.
   He was taken to General Hospital.
   The authorities later at an emergency meeting suspended all classes of the institute till December 4 apparently to avoid any untoward incident.
   The authorities also asked the inmates of three hostels to vacate their dormitories by 4:00pm Tuesday.
   However, ongoing examinations of the institute will be held as per schedule during the period.
   Principal Lutfor Rahman said the explosion might have occurred following an internal feud between two groups of BCL activists.

A three-member parliamentary sub-committee was formed Tuesday to investigate the alleged corruption in tender process of Kamalapur Inland Container Depot for awarding work order to GATCO during the BNP coalition rule.
   Entire top order of the past government, including former premier Khaleda Zia, landed in jail in the GATCO graft case filed by the past interim regime amid an anti-corruption crackdown amid state of emergency.
   Headed by Shamsul Huq Chowdhury, the sub-committee was formed at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry with its chairman Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury in the chair.
   Briefing newsmen at the Jatiya Sangsad media centre, Chowdhury said the committee also recommended cutting short the term of Kamalapur ICD tender and procurement process to three years from earlier 10 or seven years. During the BNP regime, the ICD tender and procurement process made for seven years.
   He said the meeting also suggested shifting the ICD from the congested Kamalapur to Gazipur area.
   The head of committee told reporters that there were over 8,000 posts remaining vacant under the shipping ministry, of which 520 security posts were vacant alone at Chittagong Seaport.
   He said, 'The meeting recommended that the shipping ministry make recruitment for those posts on an urgent basis.'
   The lawyers at the meeting also discussed further development of seaports, particularly Chittagong port.
   A joint team of the parliamentary standing committee and the shipping ministry will visit some countries in mid-January next to see and gather experience of the developed management of the seaports of those countries for further development of Bangladesh seaports.
   At the briefing the parliamentary standing committee member and shipping minister, M Shajahan Khan, said the present government had taken some pragmatic steps to activate Mongla seaport and make it profitable.
   ‘The level of loss being incurred by the port has been reduced following those steps,’ he said.
   The shipping minister informed the reporters that inauguration for circular water transport around Dhaka city on trial basis will be held at Aminbazar on November 22.