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The Public Accounts Committee of the ninth parliament has made little progress in settling audit objections over public expenditures with the authorities apparently for lack of efforts to make it vibrant to ensure accountability of the executive branch, parliamentarians said.
   The Public Accounts Committee, considered the most powerful parliamentary watchdog to ensure the executive’s transparency, has failed to go by the parliamentary rules in holding regular meetings of the panel to settle disputes over public expenditures.
   The committee, formed on February 18 in the first session of the present parliament, held only two meetings so far, although parliamentary rules require it to hold one meeting a month.
   When asked for comments over irregular meetings, the committee chairman, KH Rashiduzzaman, a businessman-turned-lawmaker of the ruling Awami League, skipped a direct answer saying that he would call a meeting shortly.
   ‘You will come to know when we convene the meeting,’ the chairman of the parliamentary panel said.
   But members of the 15-strong committee, while talking to New Age, blamed insincerity on the part of the chairman for irregular meetings of the panel, one of the two committees required by the constitution to ensure the government’s accountability.
   One of the members has recently brought the matter to the notice of Abdul Hamid, the speaker of Jatiya Sangsad, who is supposed to call a meeting in case the chairman concerned fails to do so.
   ‘But the speaker turned a deaf ear,’ said the panel member, who belongs to the ruling AL.
   The PAC examines, as per the rules of procedure, the government’s accounts of annual income and expenditure and reports to the parliament with recommendations for remedial measures if there are irregularities and lapses of institutions.
   The committee members had questioned setting its maiden meeting’s agenda – functions of the Public Accounts Committee – by the chairman when its functions were clearly mentioned in the constitution and rules of procedure.
   The first meeting, held on April 27, asked the authorities concerned to inform the committee about the state of audit reports submitted and objections settled so far.
   The second meeting on May 15 constituted four subcommittees to handle audit objections, but it failed to name the members of the subcommittees to deliver. It also failed to set terms of reference for the subcommittees as the committee did not sit any further.
   During the seventh and eighth parliament, the PAC worked hard to settle a number of audit objections which remained pending since independence.
   There are still logjams of unsettled audit objections at different ministries, directorates, institutions and semi-government entities that require frequent meeting of the committee to resolve, said Ali Ashraf, a member of the committee.
   ‘We should sit every working day to bring to clear the piles of objections, but the progress is very slow,’ he said.
   According to a report prepared by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, there are 1,742 audit objections involving about Tk 15,000 crore of last nine years since 2000-2001 fiscal year.
   Seven Public Accounts Committees during the post-independence period discussed 4,727 audit objections after reports were placed in the parliament.
   When asked why the PAC’s activities were still going at a snail’s pace, Khan Tipu Sultan, a member of the committee, admitted that it had not performed at the expected level. He pointed out that irregular holding of meetings was one of the reasons for the slower pace.
   He, however, said that the chairman might have reasons for not holding the meetings on time.
   An opposition lawmaker, also member of the committee, observed that the PAC had held the fewest meetings among all parliamentary standing committees in the ninth parliament.
   ‘It is surprising that the committee, which should be the busiest, has held the fewest meetings,’ the opposition MP said.

In a rude reminder of the perilous January 11, 2007 political episode for her rival, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, urged the opposition leader, Khaleda Zia, to return to parliament for the sake of democracy and thus avert such consequences of standoff in politics.
   ‘Come to parliament. Democracy cannot be let down again. Mind you (Khaleda), you and I, too, had to go to jail,’ the incumbent said in her cautionary words for her political archrival and ex-PM, Khaleda, from this American city.
   Hasina made the remark of high political significance while addressing an all-party reception organised by the US chapter of Awami League at Hotel Grand Hyatt on Sunday evening. Professor Khaled Hossain, the US-unit president of the party, presided.
   This was Hasina’s first public appearance in the US city of New York after being elected prime minister at the end of ordeals following the changeover. Last year she came to the United States after release from jail on parole for treatment of her damaged ears.
   Her stark observations about a grim political future in the event of continuation of the political hostilities came in a coincidence with musings at home about a repeat of the January 11 changeover, which had heralded state of emergency.
   In the presence of several thousand Bangladeshi expatriates, mostly Awami Leaguers from different US states, she said the opposition party was not joining the parliament on the excuse of sitting arrangement though they had been given more seats than they deserve.
   Hasina said while in the opposition, the Awami League was given five seats in the front row in parliament though it had 64 MPs in the house. But the present opposition party has been given as many (5) front seats despite its total number of MPs being 29.
   It’s not the arrangement of seats but it is the question who to sit beside the opposition leader in parliament, the prime minister quipped.
   Hasina told the Bangladeshi expatriates that she and the opposition leader had taken iftar together when she also requested the opposition leader to join parliament.
   She said the January 11 events took place following ‘endless’ corruption and greed of the BNP and its ally Jamaat during their rule.
   ‘They had almost ruined the country through their reckless corruption and greed. They tried to stage another election of vote rigging,’ she said.
   Hasina said BNP-Jamaat conspiracy to stage another farcical election came light when some 1.23 core fake voters were identified by the last caretaker government.
   In a pat on the back of the caretaker-army intermediary she said the caretaker government with the help of army successfully prepared a flawless voters’ list with which the people could cast their vote freely to elect their own democratic government in the December 29 polls.
   Hasina said her government wanted to build up Bangladesh as the most peaceful nation in the South Asian region.
   She asserted her government would never allow Bangladesh to be used by militants or terrorists.
   She sought help of Bangladeshi expatriates in establishing ‘a peaceful and prosperous Bangladesh rooting out militancy and terrorism’.
   Hasina told expatriates the previous Awami League government had succeeded in developing education, health, power and energy sectors to a great extent while Bangladesh had fallen back over 20 years in seven years’ misrule.
   Now there are some people in the country criticising her new government in the name of power situation, Tipaimukh issue, leasing out gas blocks and so on, she said.
   Hasina asked the people critical of the government why in seven years not a single megawatt of electricity had been added.
   As for Tipaimukh issue, she said those who now raise voice over the Indian dam project did not say anything over the construction issue.
   She said India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh, during the last NAM summit in Egypt, assured her of not doing anything that could harm Bangladesh.
   ‘When a country’s prime minister talks in such a way, what else is left to talk? But a certain quarter in the country is trying to create an issue over the Tipaimukh dam construction,’ she said.
   The prime minister urged Bangladeshi expatriates to invest more in their homeland announcing that her government will give special incentives to expatriates.
   State minister for forest and environment Hasan Mahmud, USA Awami League general secretary Sajjadur Rahman Sajjad, organising secretary Nizam Chowdhury, vice-presidents Mahbubur Rahman, Basharat Ali and Farasat Ali, freedom fighter commander Nurannabi and acting general secretary of Bangladesh Society Dulal Miah, among others, addressed the function.
   Hasina’s son, Sajib Wazed, Awami League joint general secretaries Mahbubul Hanif and Dipu Moni, also foreign minister, US AL advisers Mohsin Ali, Siddiqur Rahman and Nurannabi, Democrat Moreshed Alam, prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad, deputy press secretaries Mahbubul Hoque Shakil, Nakib Uddin Ahmed and former BCL leader Jalaluddin Rumi were among others present at the function.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said Awami League advisory council member Abdul Jalil MP should resign first before raising any question about the election that made him member of this parliament.
   She made the remark at a press conference in New York Sunday night when a correspondent sought her comment about Jalil’s reported allegation in London that the Awami League came to power with the help of the past caretaker government and an intelligence agency.
   ‘He was given party nomination and has been elected through that election. Has he been elected that way? He should resign first before raising such question,’ said the AL chief, in her first reaction over the faux pas caused by the dissident former general secretary of her party.
   The Awami League president observed none had raised any question about the propriety of the December 29 parliamentary elections. Rather, nationally and internationally, the elections were recognised as fairest and freest.
   ‘It’s like a man cutting the branch on which he is sitting,’ she said about Jalil’s defiant posture that reminds one of his controversial statements about the party leadership while in captivity amid a crackdown on the political arena following the January 11 changeover that installed the military-backed interim regime.
   Asked whether her party would take any action against Jalil, the prime minister virtually brushed aside the matter, saying that he has been telling so many things. ‘Let him speak…I don’t have any headache about it.’
   Jalil, who had to quit his position before the recent council of the ruling party after having been sidelined since his release, was made member of the AL advisory council.
   Asked whether her government would take any action against former chief adviser of the caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed and ex-army chief General Moeen U Ahmed for putting her into jail and other unlawful activities, she answered in the negative.
   ‘We don’t believe in politics of vendetta…should a man bite a dog if the dog bites him?’ said the prime minister about the duo that had ruled Bangladesh from the front and behind the scenes for two years under the shield of emergency and unsuccessfully tried a political purge as part of an abortive drive to implement a massive reform recipe.
   Another former prime minister, Khaleda Zia of the BNP, apart from a large number of other leading politicians, was also put behind bars during the anti-graft drive.
   Asked if the national constitution would be amended with a provision of punishment against usurpers of power, the prime minister said the system of caretaker government was introduced to hold free and fair elections within a stipulated timeframe.
   The system was put into question as the BNP-Jamaat regime increased the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court to make a retired Chief Justice of their choice head of the caretaker government and rig the election to continue in power, she said.
   At one stage, Hasina further said about the episode, former president Iajuddin Ahmed was made chief of the caretaker government and Justice Aziz Chief Election Commissioner with a vile design to fraud on the elections.
   ‘Yes, I agree with you. There should be a solution,’ she said, adding that there are some people who nurture ambition to go to power without any popular base or vote or a political party.
   Asked if her government faces any international pressure for not trying the war criminals, Hasina smiled and said: ‘Don’t pay heed to rumours.’
   She said it needed time for preparation.
   Hasina said the killers involved in the August 15, November 3, August 21 incidents and the smugglers of 10-truck arms will be tried along with those who committed corruption and were responsible for running the country by unelected government.
   Asked about continued extrajudicial killings despite her assurance of stopping the ‘crossfire’, the prime minister said she was not for extrajudicial killings; but if a criminal opens fire, law-enforcers cannot sit idle.
   There is a question of self-defence. ‘We can’t allow the country to go astray. We ought to improve law and order,’ she said.
   About the recognition of Kosovo-an oft-repeated request from the United States — the prime minister said the government would a take decision on it at an appropriate time.
   On strengthening defence, she said her government did not want war but stands for a strong defence of the country.
   Asked why she did not raise the issue of the Asian Highway and dispute on maritime boundary with India and Myanmar in her speech at the UN General Assembly, the prime minister said her cabinet had already decided to link Bangladesh with the trans-border highway that would connect continents and bind together the human race.
   On the demarcation of the maritime boundary, meant mainly for settling disputes over the Bay of Bengal waters, Hasina said her government was pursuing resolution of the problem through discussions with the two next-door neighbours—India and Myanmar—keeping in mind the international law.
   If the discussions cannot bring fruitful results, next steps will be figured out, the prime minister said.

Petrobangla, the state agency dealing with oil and gas resources, will hold negotiations with the Irish company, Tullow Oil, on signing a production sharing contract for an offshore block today, officials said.
   They said negotiations with the US company, ConocoPhillips, for two other off-shore blocks will start in the first week of October.
   Officials of Tullow, which has an office in Dhaka and operates a gas field in Comilla, are scheduled to meet Petrobangla chairman Muqtadir Ali and other officials to discuss about the date for signing the proposed PSC for exploration in the shallow sea block No. 5.
   ‘The ConocoPhillips, on the other hand, has informed Petrobangla that it accepted the invitation to hold discussions on signing PSCs for two blocks. The company officials will arrive in Bangladesh from US in the first week of October for holding talks in this regards,’ said a Petrobangla official.
   He said that Petrobangla received a reply from Conoco on Thursday after the state-run corporation on September 17 had sent a letter to the company, informing it that the government has decided to award them two deep sea blocks—blocks 10 and 11.
   Muqtadir told New Age on Monday that the date for signing the PSCs would be finalised after discussions with the two companies.
   Officials said that Petrobangla would basically inform the companies about the government decision that they would not be allowed to conduct any exploration activities in the disputed waters under the blocks after signing the PSCs.
   The government had earlier approved awarding of the blocks to the companies with a condition that no exploration works would be conducted in the Bangladesh areas which were being claimed by India and Myanmar.
   ‘The disputed areas in the blocks are not that significant. So, we think the companies will agree with the government decision. If the discussion goes well, we are hoping to initial the PSCs by the second week of October,’ said an official.
   Petrobangla is going to hold discussion with the companies at a time when some rights groups and left leaning political parties are protesting the government decision to award the blocks to the foreign companies, allowing them to export gas.
   Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier this month approved Petrobangla’s proposal to award the blocks to the companies after the Cabinet committee on economic affairs, headed by finance minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith, gave the go-ahead for the deals on August 24.
   The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, which is spearheading protests, enforced a half-day hartal on September 14 in the city, demand for scrapping the government’s decision to include the provision for gas export in the PSCs.
   Around 50 protesters, including the committee leader Prof Anu Muhammad, were injured when police charged baton on activists marching towards Petrobangla on September 2.
   The committee also said that it would go for a tough movement after October 16 if the government did not withdraw its decision by that time.
   The parliamentary standing committee on power and energy ministry on September 16 claimed that the protesters were ‘misleading’ people and that the PSCs would not allow gas export.
   The committee said that the issue of PSCs would be discussed in the parliament as demanded by some lawmakers, and the parliamentary committee would hear the leaders of oil and gas protection committee.
   The committee leaders also waived black flags and held a sit-in in front of Petrobangla on September 24 and blasted the government for its ploy to buy time in the name of discussion while it was completing all the procedures to sign the PSCs.
   Petrobangla is expected to hold a press conference on October 1 to brief on various energy issues, including the issue of awarding the off-shore blocks to foreign companies for hydrocarbon exploration.

Bangladesh will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund in the coming IMF-Would Bank meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, paving the way for singing a new loan programme.
   Finance minister AMA Muhith, who will lead the Bangladesh delegation in the IMF-World Bank annual meeting on October 6-7, told the New Age that he would negotiate with the IMF officials for signing the new loan programme.
   The country has no loan programme with IMF after expiry of the fund support for Poverty Reduction Growth Facility in 2007. The multilateral lender had persuaded Bangladesh to sign the Policy Support Instrument last year, but the caretaker administration was forced to reject it because of resistance from the left-leaning political parties.
   The move for a new IMF loan programme surprised the analysts as the country does not need any balance of payment support which the multilateral lender mainly provides to its member countries.
   Foreign currency reserve in the central bank’s vault has already swelled up to $9 billion plus that is almost double from the ‘comfortable reserve requirement’ of three months import payment.
   They observed that the new programme would further increase the burden of foreign loans on the nation when the total external debt had increased from $ 973.8 million in 1974-75 to about $ 21.294 billion in 2007-2008 and the external debt service payments rose from $ 100.9 million in 1974-1975 to about $ 1.96 billion in 2007-2008.
   Muhith, however, said the country would still need IMF loans to carry out development activities, especially the implementation of the second version of the poverty reduction strategic paper.
   According to an official projection, some $40 billion will be needed to execute the three-year long PRSP-II which is expected to come into force from next December. The first version of PRSP was executed during the immediate past political regime with IMF loan programme between 2003 and 2007.
   The IMF resident representative, Jonathan C Dunn, told New Age that Bangladesh would not qualify for the PRGF loan because of its strong foreign currency reserve.
   The county will have to avail of one of the three options from a new loan programme called Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust.
   The new loan programme which was created last July consists of Extended Credit Facility (ECF), Standby Credit Facility and Rapid Credit Facility. The IMF is expected to provide loans up to US$4 billion per year to low income countries under the programme.
   Finance ministry sources said an IMF team will visit Dhaka before December to finalise the nitty-gritty of the agreement after the finance minister has done the groundwork in Istanbul.
   Director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, MK Mujeri, who was also the chief economist of the central bank during the caretaker administration, suggested that the policy-makers should remain cautious about signing a new deal with IMF.
   He pointed out that the government might need to execute many unnecessary reforms as per deal which could create problems.
   Mujeri hoped that the present elected government would be bold enough to discuss the terms and conditions of the new IMF loan in parliament for the sake of transparency.
   Jahangirnagar University economics professor Anu Mohammad observed that IMF was desperate to sign a deal with Bangladesh to interfere in the policy making issues.
   Although IMF loan is not essential for the country, the Awami League coalition regime is arranging the loan to appease the lenders, he observed.

A man was killed and seven others were critically injured in a fire caused by a gas line explosion at the five-storey BCIC Sadan building at Motijheel in Dhaka Monday morning, the police and witnesses said.
   In another incident, Bdnews24.com reports, a six-storey house on Dutabas Road at Baridhara in the capital caught fire in the morning. Another fire broke out on the second floor of the central office of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party at Naya Paltan in the afternoon.
   The government, meanwhile, formed a four-member committee led fire service and civil defence deputy director Abdus Salam in the afternoon to investigate the fire incident at the BCIC Sadan building. The committee was asked to submit the report in three working days.
   The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation earlier formed a six-member committee, headed by its technical engineering director Mohammad Shahjahan, to investigate the explosion. The committee has been asked to submit its report in 24 hours.
   The man who died in the fire was Noor-e-Maleque Md Mojibur Rahman, general secretary of the Ghorhasal Fertiliser Factory unit Sarmik League who was staying in the BCIC guest house in the building.
   All the injured were taken to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The injured are Ashraf Ali, 55, Shiplu, 30, Shahin, 32, Abdul Khaleque, 30, Ujjwal, 40, Jahid, 35, Rubel, 22 and Shaheen, 33.
   Fire service officials said the fire had originated in the 2nd floor of the building when a gas line exploded around 9:30am, breaking into pieces glasses and windowpanes that flung onto adjoining roads, injuring some pedestrians.
   Fire engines rushed to the scene and rescued the injured from different floors of the building.
   After hectic efforts for an hour and a half, the fire fighters put out the flames with the help of building staff and members of different law enforcement agencies.
   At about 11:20am, the fire fighters rescued four people from the guest house, on the fifth floor of the building, and sent them to the DMCH burn unit where Noor-e-Maleque was pronounced dead.
   All the documents and furniture on the second floor were burnt, fire service officials said. The second floor of the building houses Padma Textiles and Adco Ltd.
   The 3rd floor houses a warehouse of the BCIC and a money exchange office.
   The DMCH burn unit director, Dr Samanta Lal Sen, told New Age the condition of the injured were critical as almost 40 per cent of their body were burnt. ‘It is very difficult to describe their condition. They are in a critical condition,’ the doctor said.
   Law enforcers, including the Rapid Action Battalion, went to the scene immediately after the explosion and they said the cause of the explosion was yet to be established.
   An official of the fire service and civil defence said gas emitting from air conditioner could have been the reason for the explosion. The explosion caused some cracks in the walls of the second floor of the building.
   Later in the afternoon, the health minister, AFM Ruhal Haque, visited the injured at the hospital and inquired about their condition.
   At Baridhara, the fire originated in a flat on the second floor of the building, damaging the living room fittings and furnishings extensively. Fire service men arrived soon and doused the blaze.
   Nurul Alam, an assistant police commissioner of Gulshan zone, said, ‘A fire spread in a second floor flat of house No 2 on Dutabash Road, Baridhara. The blaze has been put under control.’
   The house is owned by Mahbubul Haque, a retired civil servant, Alam said. The cause of the blaze, however, could not be ascertained, the officer added.

Most of the metropolitan and judicial magistrates across the country are compelled to share courtrooms and chambers due to the inadequate number of rooms, which delays the disposal of the criminal cases to a considerable extent.
   According to the judges and court officials, the litigants have to undergo a lot of suffering and delay as the judges have to use the courtrooms in turn to hear their cases.
   According to Dhaka’s chief metropolitan magistrate, AKM Enamul Haque, 1.65 lakh cases are now pending with the CMM court.
   ‘There are only 18 courtrooms for 27 magistrates in the CMM court and 23 of the magistrates have to use the courtrooms in turn to hear the cases,’ he said.
   The chief metropolitan magistrate and three additional chief metropolitan magistrates, however, have their own designated courtrooms.
   A senior judicial magistrate in the Chittagong chief judicial magistrate’s court, Keshab Ray Chowdhury, said that he had to sharing a courtroom and chambers with additional chief judicial magistrate Abdur Rashid.
   According to him, judicial magistrates Abdullah Al Mamun, Ibrahim Miah and Akhtar Hossain share the same courtroom.
   A senior judicial magistrate at Gaibandha’s chief judicial magistrates’ court, Azizul Islam, said, ‘All the proceedings of my court are being delayed as I have to share a courtroom and chambers and hear my cases in turn.’
   ‘I have to leave the courtroom at 12:30pm, as another judge is scheduled at that time to hear his case,’ said Dhaka’s metropolitan magistrate Rashid Kabir.
   Dhaka’s chief metropolitan magistrate, AKM Enamul Haque, also said that the time of the disposal of cases would decrease if the accommodation problem were solved.
   ‘If a magistrate works in a courtroom in the morning, another uses it in the afternoon,’ said a staffer at the Dhaka CMM court. ‘When a magistrate dictates orders to his staffer, another magistrate cannot do so as they share the same chamber.’
   When asked to comment on the shortage of courtrooms and chambers, state minister for law affairs Quamrul Islam told New Age on August 22, ‘We will soon solve the accommodation problem.’
   The Dhaka Bar Association’s secretary, Gazi M Shah Alam, said, ‘If the government provides sufficient accommodation for all judges, more
   cases will be disposed of and poor litigants won’t have suffer so much because they won’t have to wait for such long times and thus have to pay more fees.’

Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command slams the US president, Barack Obama, as a criminal who turns a blind eye to the expansion of Israeli settlements, in an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera news channel on Monday.
   ‘Have we realised the truth of Obama the criminal, or do we still need more crimes to be carried out in Kabul, Baghdad, Mogadishu and Gaza to be sure of his criminality?’ Ayman al-Zawahiri asked.
   ‘Have we realised the lowliness of America under the leadership of the smiling and wooing Obama?’ he asked in the recording which could not be independently authenticated.
   Zawahiri accused the US president of showing little interest in curbing the growth of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, while at the same time forcing Arab leaders to make further concessions to Israel.
   ‘Obama leaves the settlements spread in the West Bank and around Jerusalem, showing little remorse, while he presses the surrendering (Arab) rulers to give in further,’ he charged.
   Egypt-born Zawahiri, the right-hand man of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, was speaking in a recording released to praise the former leader of Pakistan’s Taliban who was apparently killed in a US attack in August.
   Zawahiri eulogised Baitullah Mehsud in the 28-minute statement, reported IntelCentre, a US-based group that monitors Islamist web sites.
   US and Pakistani officials said that Mehsud had most probably died after a missile attack by an American drone in August.
   In a recording posted on the internet on September 23, Zawahiri said that Obama would be defeated by Islamist fighters.

One more person was killed in ‘crossfire’ between his associates and law enforcers at Juranpur of Damurhuda in Chuadanga early Monday.
   Monday’s incident took to 93 the total death figure from incidents of extrajudicial killing such as ‘Crossfire’ or ‘encounter’ with the Rapid Action Battalion and the police after January 6 when the Awami League-led government assumed office.
   The police claimed two law enforcers had sustained injuries during the shootout with crime suspects.
   The deceased was Hamidul Islam alias Zahid, 38, a suspected regional leader of the Purba Banglar Communist Party (Red Flag) and resident of Charulia of the upazila.
   The police said Hamidul was a regional leader of the ultra-left outfit. He was, according to the police, a close aide to one of the PBCP (Red Flag) founders Rony Biswas, killed in an encounter in 2008.
   The Damurhuda police they had raided the Juranpur field where some ultra-left operatives, led by Hamidul, was holding a meeting about 2:00am.
   As the police approached, the operatives opened into the lawmen, who then fired back.
   The police said Hamidul died after being caught in the firing while his associates managed to get away.
   The police seized a pipe-gun and a shutter gun, two bullets and some cartridges from the spot.
   The Dhamurhuda police officer-in-charge, Mashiur Rahman, said Zahid was wanted in 14 cases, including six of murder, and he surrendered to the police in 1999 and 2006 and had recently been released on bail.

The Committee to Resist Extra-Judicial Killing on Monday expressed concern over a sharp rise in killings in custody in recent times and called on the government to stop such incidents in the name of ‘crossfire’.
   The committee convener Faiz Ahmed in a statement said incidents of killing in police and the Rapid Action Battalion custody were continuing though the prime minister Sheikh Hasina had said before the election and after assuming office that extrajudicial killings would be stopped.
   ‘In recent times, extrajudicial killings in the name of crossfire are taking place frequently and most of the victims are political activists,’ the statement said.
   ‘But the government is denying killings in custody which is tantamount to legalising such killings,’ the statement added.
   The committee demanded that the government should immediately stop all types of extrajudicial killings.

A fire broke out on the second floor of the central office of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party at Naya Paltan Monday afternoon.
   Fire fighters put out the flames and suspected it might have been caused by an electric short-circuit. No casualties were reported.
   The party’s office secretary Rizvi Ahmed said he was working in his room around 12:45pm and came out of his room hearing an outcry and saw flames rising from a switch board just beside the door on the second floor of the building, which houses offices of the party’s secretary general, office secretary and treasurer.
   ‘We rushed downstairs immediately and informed the fire service and power department. The fire fighters put out the flames. It could cause no significant damage,’ he said.
   The fire service and civil defence director general, Abu Nayeem M Shahidullah, said they immediately snapped power and gas supply lines of the building and put out the flames before they could spread. He suspected the fire had been caused by an electric short-circuit.
   ‘The electrical wiring in the building seems to be too old and it might cause short-circuit,’ he said, suggesting renovation of old wiring in such places of public gathering to avoid accident.
   He also stressed the need for fire drills.
   There were not so many people in the building when the fire broke out. The Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal general secretary, Moazzem Hossain Alal, said he came hurried downstairs from the third floor immediately at the news of the fire breaking out.
   As the news spread, several hundred people gathered in front of the BNP office and police deployment was reinforced to manage the crowd. The crowd caused traffic congestion on the Inner Circular Road.
   Coming to office, the party’s secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said he expects an
   investigation of the fire incident.
   ‘It might be an accident, but occurrence of three incidents of fire in the city in a short span of time the same day call for an investigation to establish if they were any subversive acts,’ Delwar said.
   Fire also broke out at BCIC Sadan at Motijheel and in a block of flats on Dutabas Road at Baridhara in Dhaka on Monday. A man was killed and seven were injured in the Motijheel fire.
   Senior leaders Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Juba Dal president Barkatullah Bulu and Dhaka city south Chhatra Dal leader Habibur Rashid also visited the office after coming to know of the fire.

Outspoken BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury MP denied having received any new directive from his party chief Khaleda Zia over his recent ‘rhetoric’, perceived as an insinuation.
   His remark came when he was asked by the news agency over phone on Monday afternoon whether he had received any directive whatsoever from the BNP chairperson over his reportedly controversial statement in the media involving party leaderships.
   SQ Chowdhury met Khaleda on Sunday night at her Gulshan office against the backdrop of his statements that created criticism inside the party and speculations about disciplinary measures against him.
   The seasoned politician said it was a usual expression of action and reaction over any political statement — ‘it’s not like that Anjuman-e-Mofidul Islam’, a voluntary organisation disposing of unidentified bodies.
   ‘I’m not a greenhorn in the BNP, even in politics… acquaintance with Khaleda is not new as well,’ he said, adding that the matter around him was not at all an issue so the question of getting any ‘sermons’ did not arise.
   Replying to a question he said during the meeting no matter of clarifying position before the party chief was on the table.
   ‘Even I did not mark any sign of dissatisfaction in her face during my meeting with her,’ he said.
   Asked what actually he commented in the media about the BNP and its leaders, including party’s senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman, SQ Chowdhury said he had said the party would remain sound if it maintained distance from those who were branded as ‘Mr 10 per cent’.
   He had further said image of Tarique Rahman should be preserved as the party deserves his service so that ‘none can gain self-interest by selling Tarique’s name’.

Dhaka needs an investment of $ 2.4 billion or Tk 16,800 crore for building infrastructures to effectively join the Asian Highway network although such connectivity is unlikely to lower relative poverty in Bangladesh, according to a regional study.
   There is already a shortage of funds amounting to $413 million in absence of commitment from agencies for implementing projects for building connectivity to the proposed Asian Highway network, the study pointed out
   Dhaka is yet to make any projection about how much financial benefits Bangladesh would gain in exchange for allowing transit through the Asian Highway.
   Officials in the Planning Commission say the country would have to bear the cost of building necessary infrastructures, especially strengthening the national highway
   system, to be connected
   with the Asian Highway.
   The country’s urban educated and wealthy households would gain most from the regional connectivity, says the study on ‘Infrastructure for a Seamless Asia’, which forecasts a 0.11 per cent growth in gross domestic product for Bangladesh between 2010 and 2020.
   Also the poorest groups, such as rural landless and urban illiterate people, are projected to experience slightly rising income but both small and large farmers will lose as a result of economic activities of due to increased connectivity.
   ‘By far the largest gains would accrue to the urban highly educated, the richest household groupings in Bangladesh. Thus the changes are unlikely to lower relative poverty (i.e., income inequality) in Bangladesh,’ said the study.
   As northeastern India and landlocked Nepal and Bhutan have to trade through India’s narrow strip of land like a chicken neck, the joint study by the Asian Development Bank and its Tokyo-based institute has advocated use of Bangladesh territory as a corridor to reduce the cost of transportation of goods and commodities.
   ‘An appropriate solution to this issue is to build a corridor from this region to the Chittagong port of Bangladesh,’ noted the study published as a book this month. It added that this would provide cost effective access for transporting goods to and from the landlocked region, including northeastern India, Bhutan, and Nepal.
   As a result of investment in infrastructures for enhancing regional cooperation, the accumulated reduction in costs of trade is projected in a range of 10-13 per cent of value of trade for Bangladesh, 11-22 per cent for India, 1-13per cent for Pakistan and 6.5-11per cent for Sri Lanka.
   Overall, Asia needs to invest approximately $8 trillion in national infrastructure between 2010 and 2020. In addition, Asia needs to spend approximately $290 billion on specific regional infrastructure projects in transport and energy that are in the pipeline.
   The study termed financing for the projects a complicated issue as costs and benefits of a regional project are unevenly distributed. ‘One reason for the lack of progress in building a road link between Bangladesh and Nepal through India, for instance, is apparently that India believes that it would bear most of the costs but derive few of the benefits,’ observed the study.
   Only a transport corridor agreement, if it is signed for making the Asian Highway operational, can pave the way for receiving transit fees to be charged by Bangladesh for allowing use of its roads, said M Rahmatullah, transport sector consultant of the Planning Commission,
   However, it is not yet clear whether Bangladesh will be able to use Indian territory for its trade with Pakistan, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan in case of joining the Asian highway Network.
   Of the three proposed routes of the Asian Highway network, the least likely one that could have ensured third country entry for Bangladesh, apart from connectivity with India, is the Mongla-Jessore-Hatikamrul-Dhaka-Kachpur-Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf-Myanmar border.
   The study underlined the importance of comprehensive and transparent regulatory frameworks to implement regulations effectively, noting that Bangladesh and India have a bilateral inland waterways protocol, but its role has been hindered by a number of restrictions on the movement of vessels and by a lack of harmonised customs procedures and standards.

A two-member Anti-Corruption Commission team will formally start today investigation into the alleged involvement of former adviser of the army-backed caretaker government Maj Gen (rtd) MA Matin in irregularities at the Chittagong port, port officials said.
   The Chittagong Port Authority chairman, Commodore RU Ahmed, told New Age that the ACC team would be staying at the port office till October 1 to run the investigation into the irregularities in awarding contract for container handling in the Chittagong container terminal and raising the age limit of port pilots from 57 years to 60 years.
   ‘We have provided a room at port office for ACC team to run their investigation.
   The team will look into particular office files and talk to the port officials concerned to detect the irregularities,’ he said.
   ‘We are ready to help the team members in this regard,’ he added.
   The ACC took steps for the investigation after the parliamentary standing committee on port and shipping raised allegations of irregularities in the Chittagong port.
   The ACC team, headed by its deputy director Fanapillah, may sue the former adviser and other port officials if the
   irregularities are detec- ted in those particular port affairs, port officials said.

Two more BDR soldiers died in Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital Sunday night and on Monday.
   The deceased were nayek Mohammad Nurul Amin, 48, and Shawkat Osman, 28.
   The latest deaths have increased the number of BDR soldiers who died in Dhaka and elsewhere to 46 after the February 25-26 BDR rebellion.
   Mohammad Nurul Amin was rushed to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital as he suddenly fell sick on his way to Talaimari company headquarters from Khanpur camp, said a release. He was taken to the hospital about 11:00am where he was pronounced dead.
   Shawkat Osman died of respiratory complications Sunday night.
   Hospital physicians said a BDR man with respiratory complications was brought in from Kasimpur Jail Sunday noon.
   New Age correspondent reported Osman, a suspected mutineer, was transferred from the Dhaka jail to Kasimpur jail on June 19.
   When he complained of respiratory problems around 2:30am Saturday, Shawkat was taken to Gazipur General Hospital.
   He was taken to Mitford Hospital on Sunday since his situation did not improve.

Myanmar’s detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested a meeting with Western diplomats to discuss sanctions imposed on the country, her party said Monday.
   In a statement issued by her National League for Democracy, the Nobel laureate said she wanted to meet with ambassadors and heads of missions from the United States, Australia and European Union member countries.
   ‘In order to work effectively for having the sanctions on Myanmar lifted, I need to understand the sanctions imposed on Myanmar, how much the country has suffered ... and the attitudes of the countries that imposed these sanctions,’ she said.
   The request comes after Suu Kyi, 64, gave her support to US plans to engage with the isolated nation and offered to help the country’s military junta seek an end to wide-ranging sanctions that have impacted the lives of Myanmar’s people.
   The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, announced last week that Washington wanted dialogue with the ruling generals, but would not lift its tight sanctions, despite conceding the restrictions had been largely ineffective.
   Analysts said the move was a step forward for both countries but expressed doubts whether dialogue could result in any significant concessions by either side.
   Suu Kyi, the charismatic daughter of Myanmar independence icon Aung San, signed a letter on Friday to junta supremo Than Shwe, asking to be allowed to work with the regime to lift the sanctions.
   The United States has imposed sanctions on Myanmar since 1988, when an estimated 3,000 people were killed when the army violently crushed pro-democracy demonstrations.
   The EU has had its sanctions in place since 1996, further tightened in 2007 after a harsh crackdown on monk-led protests.

A court in Dhaka indicted Chowdhury Irad Ahmed Siddiqui, the BNP’s expelled standing committee member Chowdhury Tanveer Ahmed Siddiqui’s son, in a defamation case filed by Khaleda Zia’s adviser ASM Hannan Shah.
   Metropolitan magistrate Tofael Hasan also issued a warrant for Irad’s arrest as he failed to appear in the court on Monday, which was scheduled for the hearing of the framing of charges in the case.
   In a written complaint Hannan told the court that Irad, at a press briefing on March 9, made libellous remarks on him and levelled a false accusation against Khaleda Zia, saying that she had sought Tk 5 crore from Irad for nominating him as a mayoral candidate in the Dhaka City Corporation polls.
   On March 15, metropolitan magistrate Abdul Majid issued an arrest warrant for Irad in the same case which was filed in the court for making slanderous comments on, and levelling a false allegation against, the BNP’s chairperson, Khaleda Zia.
   On March 17 the High Court bench of Justice Syed AB Mahmudul Huq and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury granted Irad anticipatory bail for two months.
   On Monday, Irad’s counsel sought time for the hearing of the framing of charges as he could not appear in the court.
   The court, however, rejected Irad’s petition and framed charges against him for commencing formal trial of the case in February 2010.

The five-day Durga Puja ended Monday with the immersion of Goddess Durga amid much enthusiasm and festivity.
   Thousands of Hindu devotees joined marches in Dhaka and elsewhere as the idols of all gods and goddesses were being carried to the nearby rivers, ponds, canals and other water bodies for immersion after Bijaya Dashami, the last and largely attended ritual to bid farewell to Durga.
   Before removing the idols of Durga and other gods and goddesses from the altars of all mandap or makeshift pavilion for immersion, the Hindu devotees danced and sang kirtan.
   On the occasion of Dashami, the main traditional puja procession arranged by Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee with the image of Durga started from Dhakeshwari Temple here at 5:45pm and ended at Waizeghat on the bank of the River Buriganga at 7:00pm after parading different city streets.
   Amid rains, Hindu devotees on trucks and on foot joined the procession led by the leaders of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad and Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee.
   Reports reaching from Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal and Khulna divisional towns as well as other district towns said the Hindus immersed their gods and goddesses including Devi Durga quite peacefully and ceremonially after the end of the five-day grand celebration.
   Monday was the public holiday marking Bijaya Dashami.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, Sunday inaugurated the chancery of the permanent mission of Bangladesh at the United Nations, after the lapse of years since its construction was planned.
   The chancery is located on at 820 Second Avenue, between 43rd and 44th Avenue, New York 10017.
   On her arrival at the new permanent office of the Bangladesh mission, she was received by foreign minister, Dipu Moni, foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes and permanent representative to the UN Abdul Momen.
   After unveiling the plaque, they offered a munajat seeking welfare and prosperity of Bangladesh and its people.
   Later, the prime minister walked around the new chancery office.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, in a statement on Monday expressed concern at the death threat issued to a military officer deputed to Dhaka City Corporation by a ruling party-supported engineer brandishing firearms.
   ‘I condemn the incident. The engineer in a television interview himself boasted that he was an activist of the ruling party. His claim clearly indicates the source of his audacity and the reason behind his not being arrested after committing such a serious offence,’ she said.
   ‘Crimes by the ruling party activist are assuming uncontrollable proportions striking fear everywhere, including neighbourhoods, offices, business establishments and educational institutions. Nobody is safe nowhere,’ said the leader of the opposition in parliament.
   ‘After threatening the life of a military officer, the offender remained untouched which proves the helplessness of the general masses,’ she said.
   Khaleda said diplomats in Dhaka had earlier written to the government expressing concern over their safety and security. ‘We expect an end to such situation and demand that the government ensure security for all,’ she said.
   She also demanded a proper investigation into the city corporation incident and ensure exemplary punishment to the persons responsible.