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The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, also leader of the opposition in parliament, on Monday said her party wanted the constitutional government to function and offered cooperation to the government for continuity of democracy.
   ‘We want the constitutional government to continue functioning, and we are for cooperation with the government to [help it] stay in power. We do not want to see any unconstitutional government [usurp power] any more,’ Khaleda said while exchanging views with editors and senior journalists at a tea party at Lake Shore Hotel in the city. ‘But the government has a responsibility to keep an environment for the opposition to cooperate with them.’
   It was her first meeting with the editors and senior journalists since an emergency rule was imposed by the military-backed interim government in 2007.
   ‘We will be in the parliament and also on the streets in the coming days to raise voice against the anti-people activities of the government. Mere attending parliament sessions do not help democracy to flourish or strengthen it,’ Khaleda said in response to some senior journalists’ insistence that she should return to parliament for the sake of democracy.
   Khaleda said many of her party leaders and activists had warned her that the BNP would never win the elections under a caretaker government which was hostile to the party and an Election Commission that tried to split the party. ‘Still we had contested the polls for the sake of restoration of democratic process and to put an end to emergency rule.’ In this context she also said, ‘BNP might not have won the polls, but it is not a party to win only 30 seats in parliament’.
   She complained, ‘The ruling party does not want us in the parliament. Whenever we prepare for going to the house, they start character assassination of the opposition leaders. The speaker of parliament himself has termed the house a fish market the other day, while some of the treasury bench members recently observed that the parliament had turned into a zoo.’
   Referring to some journalists’ aspiration that there should be a cordial relationship between the government and the opposition, Khaleda said, ‘Friendship can never be a one-way traffic. The governing party has never approached us for discussion on any national issues. Had they done it, and had we failed to respond, you could have blamed us for non-cooperation.’
   As regards the recent agreement between Bangladesh and India, Khaleda said her party would oppose any deals signed with any country in violation of national interests. ‘We put national interest above everything and will never compromise it.’
   Replying to a question from a journalist about the BNP’s allegation that the government had signed a ‘secret’ deal with India, Khaleda said she had come to know about the secrete deal from newspaper reports and demanded that the government should inform people about the contents of the deals signed with India. ‘The government did not place the agreements in the parliament although they were supposed to place them in one month. She [prime minister] just said she did not sign any secret deal but did not say what deals she had singed with India.’
    Khaleda said the entire frontier remained completely unprotected. ‘Indians are rampantly killing members of the Bangladesh Rifles and the people living in border areas,’ she said.
   ‘Price of essentials have broken all records although they promised to provide rice at Tk 10, green chilly at Tk 5 and fertiliser free of cost and give job to one from each family,’ she said. The government is yet to fulfil the pledges it made to the people but it seems they are eager to implement commitments made to foreigners,’ she said.
   On Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman’s request not to call hartal, Khaleda said, ‘We did not call any hartal in past one year but it did not help the government. Rather the ruling party itself had called hartal in Kishoreganj.’
   Khaleda also referred to deterioration of law and order and activities of Chhatra League and Juba League across the country. ‘Businessmen cannot heave a sigh of relief for extortion by Chhatra League and Juba League,’ she said.
   ‘None of our activists can stay at the halls of residence at Dhaka University. An innocent and meritorious boy, who was not involved in politics, was killed during infighting of Chhatra League. No one expected what the home minister said about his death,’ she said.
   She pointed to ‘persecution of journalists’ across the country and media gagging by ‘instructing media house owners’ to select guests in talk-shows. She also referred to filing of more than 20 cases against Amar Desh editor.
   Khaleda kept mum when New Age editor Nurul Kabir asked as to why her party did not allow its front organisations to elect their leadership through elections.
   The journalists attending the function included the Independent editor Mahbubul Alam, Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, News Today editor Reazuddin Ahmed, Inqilab editor AMM Bahauddin, senior journalist ABM Musa, Sadeq Khan and Ataus Samad, columnist Mahfuzullah, Kaler Kantha editor Abed Khan, the Bangladesh Observer editor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, Manabzamin editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman, Sangbad’s executive editor Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul, Sangram editor Abul Asad, Channel i managing director Faridur Reza Sagar and director and head of news Shykh Seraj, Nayadiganta editor Alamgir Mohiuddin, ntv managing director Enayetur Rahman, National Press Club president Shawkat Mahmud and general secretary Kamaluddin Sabuj,  Dhaka Reporters Unity president Shamim Ahmad, bdnews24.com chief editor Towfiq Imroz Khalidi and Sheershanews.com editor Ekramul Haq.

The Election Commission is likely to announce in a week the schedule for elections to the Dhaka City Corporation, which has been long overdue, said election commissioner Sakhawat Hossain.
   ‘The commission is expected to finalise in a week the electoral code conduct and announce the schedule for the DCC polls soon after finalisation of the regulations,’ he said.
   Election commissioners earlier on several occasions said the city cororation polls would be held by the end of March 2010. The Dhaka mayor and city ward commissioners served out their tenure in May 2007.
   ‘An inter-ministerial meeting which is expected to be held in a week will approve the electoral code of conduct. We hope the commission will be able to announce the schedule by the middle of this month,’ Sakhawat said while briefing newsmen on Monday.
   He said the commission had almost completed preparations for the DCC polls.
   The commission sources said a total of 2,027 polling stations would be set up for 37,55,074 registered voters in the DCC area. The number of polling booths will be as many as 9,505 with a ratio of 395 voters for each booth.
   The commission has estimated that around 34,000 officials and employees will be needed to conduct the DCC polls and it has almost finalised the process for their appointment.
   Dhaka city mayor, 90 councillors for 90 wards and 30 women councillors will be elected in the DCC polls for a five-year tenure.
   The commission has meanwhile decided to shift temporarily the Dhaka divisional election commissioner’s office to a suitable place to hold the city polls smoothly.
    A High Court on January 25 asking the government and the Election Commission to explain in four weeks why they should not be directed to demarcate the wards of the DCC on the basis of the latest census before holding elections to the city corporation raised doubts about whether the commission would be able to hold the polls within the timeline it had announced.
   The High Court issued the rule after hearing a writ petition filed by a Dhaka city voter, Shamim Molla of Khilkhet.
   It would take at least six months if the commission is to complete the task of DCC area demarcation.
   Sakhawat dismissed the possibility of shifting the time for the polls. ‘The court has imposed no restrictions on holding the polls.’
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, had earlier said the commission would appeal to the Supreme Court for an expeditious disposal of the writ petition over demarcation of city wards before the city corporation polls.
   He, however, said, ‘There are instances in the subcontinent of courts settling such disputes after polls. Dispute over demarcation of electoral areas is not important. What is important is to ensure that every voter can exercise their franchise.’
   The commission will hold by-election to Bhola-3 constituency by May 7 this year as the parliamentary seat has been declared vacant by the commission after a court order.
   ‘The commission on Sunday published a gazette notification declaring the parliamentary seat vacant and now the speaker of the house will formally announce the gazette notification in the parliament,’ Sakhawat told reporters.
   The High Court in October last year declared illegal the parliamentary membership of Awami League’s Jasim Uddin. The court observed that Jasim had violated the provisions of electoral laws by contesting the polls before expiry of a period of five years after his punitive retirement from the army.
   An election commissioner said the commission had allowed retired army officer Jasim Uddin to contest the December 29 polls with the Awami League ticket from Bhola-3 constituency in response to the army’s legal opinion.

The government on Monday decided to expand its social safety net programme to urban areas in the form of rice sales to the ultra poor in Dhaka and other cities at a ‘fair price’.
   The decision came at a meeting of the food planning and monitoring committee at the secretariat with food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzaque in the chair. Finance minister AMA Muhith and agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury, among others, attended the meeting.
   ‘We have decided to distribute cards among 24.7 lakh ultra-poor families in Dhaka city, other divisional headquarters and district towns to ensure food security of the urban poor who are yet to come under any social safety net programmes of the government,’ Razzaque said after the meeting.
   It would require 1.5 lakh tonnes of rice in three months for sale of the staple at Tk 22 a kilogram under the social safety net programme, he added.
   Those who do not have land or permanent income source will be eligible to get the cards to be distributed from February 21 initially for three months. ‘But one must have the national identity card to get the fair price card. Preference will be given to families run by women,’ the minister said.
   The meeting decided to extend the coverage of the fair price cards to all other cities across the country without reducing the rice price of OMS.
   The food ministry at the meeting, however, proposed to sell low-priced rice to around seven lakh poor people in and around the Dhaka city and reduce the OMS rice price amid a rising trend in rice prices.
   The finance minister and agriculture minister opposed the food ministry’s proposal to re-fix the price of OMS rice at Tk 19, said an official who attended the meeting.
   Matia argued that such steps might adversely affect the food grain production while the finance minister said the government should not give any more subsidies here, said the official adding that the two ministers also disagreed with the proposal for selling rice to the ultra-poor below the OMS rate.
   The food minister said that 10,000 families in each of 90 wards and 25 unions in and around the capital, 5,000 in each divisional headquarters and 10,000 in every district towns would be provided with the fair price cards to cushion the destitute against price hike of the staple.
   Each card-holder would be able to buy 20 kilograms of rice a month at Tk 22 a kg.
   Meanwhile, the price of fine rice further increased by Tk 1-2 a kilogram in the last couple of days while the price of coarse rice remained stable at Tk 26-27 a kilogram, according to the official record of the food ministry.
   Earlier on Wednesday, the government decided to prepare a list of 4,000 poverty-hit families in every ward of Dhaka city for providing rice at low price.
   The government resumed open market sales of rice in Dhaka and its adjacent areas on January 20 at Tk 22 a kilogram to keep the rice prices at affordable level.
   The OMS of rice has already been extended to all other divisional headquarters – Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet, Chittagong and Rangpur.
   The programme would continue until the prices of rice stabilises, the minister said adding that the operation of OMS might be extended to the upazila level also if necessary.
   The ward commissioners have been asked to list the poor families in cooperation with the lawmakers in the respective localities.
   ‘We will ensure that the process of listing the ultra-poor families is not politicised,’ the food minister said in reply to a query.
   He said the government this time was not willing to deploy Rapid Action Battalion or any other forces to control rice prices as such initiatives earlier did not work.

Bangladesh signed off their campaign in the 11th SA Games on Monday winning as many as 18 gold medals that included key events of football and cricket.
   The hosts added four gold medals on the penultimate day from football, boxing and wusu which sealed their third position in medals table something which has never happened in the past.
   The Bangladesh Olympic Association had expected to win maximum 17 gold medals, but the athletes showed that they were capable of doing even better. Bangladesh’s successes came despite their failures in two key disciplines – athletics and swimming.
   Footballers put an icing on the cake when they thrashed Afghanistan 4-0 in the final to win the SA Games gold for only the second time in their history. Bangladesh had won their previous SA Games football gold in the 1999 Katmandu Games.
   The last time Bangladesh hosted an SA Games, their football team failed to go beyond the first round, but this time they not only emerged as the gold medallists but also won all matches.
   The final was surprisingly a one-sided affair with Bangladesh scoring two goals in each half. It was their biggest victory in any final of an international competition. The footballers’ success came a day after the host cricket team beat Sri Lanka by six runs to win the gold.
   Bangladesh, however, began their gold rush on the penultimate day far away from the capital when Misbah Uddin beat his Indian rival S Samarjit in the final of his wushu event at Sylhet BKSP.
   The hosts had some expectation from archery, but it all ended in frustration after they lost the finals of both men’s team and individual events. A bad omen followed in the boxing ring after their first finalist Foysal Mollah lost his bout.
   Then came the golden moment when Jewel Ahmed Jony and Abdur Rahim, the two other boxing finalists, won their battles to present the hosts two gold medals in less than half-an-hour.
   There was still no good news from the swimming pool and athletics track as the hosts went gold-less in both the disciplines. Sahjahan Ali Rony, who had won the face-saving gold medal for Bangladesh in last SA Games, however, finished with silver in his 50-metre breaststroke.
   Shehan Saearuwan Abeypitiyage of Sri Lanka and Naseem Hamid of Pakistan emerged as the fastest man and woman in track where Bangladesh’s Masudul Karim and Shamsunnahar Chumki finished seventh and fifth respectively.
   The curtain of the meet will fall today with a closing ceremony which will be preceded by a marathon race and men’s and women’s singles finals of table tennis. Bangladesh has a contestant in the marathon but has no chance in table tennis as they have none in the finals.

Secretaries to the government at a meeting on Monday recommended immediate appointments, even on ‘ad-hoc basis’ if needed, to the vacant positions at various levels in public services.
   They also underlined the need for inter-ministerial coordination to speed up the development activities under various ministries, said a senior official.
   The meeting, presided over by cabinet secretary M Abdul Aziz at the Cabinet Division, directed the top bureaucrats to carry out the government’s decisions on time and ensure regular monitoring over field-level development activities.
   The secretaries, however, asked for three separate public service commissions for Class I cadre, non-cadre and technical cadre services since the present commission can hardly cope with the huge task and takes much time for completing any appointment process, said a meeting source.
   ‘The secretaries have been asked to expedite implementation of the development projects under various ministries and over-all administrative functions,’ Abdul Aziz said after the meeting.
   Talking to reporters, he said the secretaries had discussed as to how the inter-ministerial coordination could be enhanced.
   The meeting mentioned that 29 per cent of the annual development programme was achieved in the last six months.
   ‘The secretaries have been asked for ensuring 100 per cent implementation of the ADB and help implement five-year plan of the government to begin in 2011,’ said Aziz.
   He said 259 decisions out of 343 taken in the cabinet meetings were so far carried out after the Awami League-led government took over in January 2009.
   The cabinet secretary asked the secretaries to submit monthly report on the ministries’ activities on a regular basis.
   The secretaries also ask for enactment of a law on the contempt of court and introduction of attorney service.
   The senior officials were asked for achieving the government’s election agenda in the areas of health, food, housing, information technology.
   Among secretaries present, 21 spoke at the meeting. But there was no representation from the law ministry as the Cabinet Division did not invite anyone of the two additional secretaries, now appointed acting secretaries (current charge) to two divisions of the ministry in absence of the secretary.

Keraniganj police station, including the officer-in-charge, were sued on Monday over the ‘custodial’ death of a murder suspect on January 31.
   Addu Miah, father of the victim Lutfur Rahman Miah, alias Manik, filed the case with the court of chief judicial magistrate Shahriar Arafat on Monday, accusing the police officials of torturing his son to death under police custody. The accused are officer-in-charge of Keraniganj police station Mohammad Asaduzzaman, sub-inspectors Zahidur Rahman and Harun-or-Rashid.
   Appearing in the court, Addu Miah appealed for investigation of the case by the Criminal Investigation Department of the police.
   On February 1, Keraniganj police detained Manik in connection with the murder of a woman. He is said to have hanged himself in the toilet of the police station. The police later filed a case of unnatural death.
   Talking to New Age over cell phone, Addu Miah said, ‘The police officials had tortured my son to death after taking him to their custody.’

The Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd, better known as CityCell, has been served a show cause notice by the telecom regulatory authorities on Monday, asking the cell phone operator to explain why it was selling unauthorised connections.
   The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission sent the notice after lawmaker Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh was threatened over a cell phone by miscreants recently.
   The Rapid Action Battalion and BTRC, in response to the threats made over a newly registered cell phone number, in a joint drive arrested three employees of two cell phone distributor companies — Lokman Hossain, Rafiqul Islam (Miraj), Shafiqul Islam (Ranju) — on Thursday.
   ‘Soon after the incident, we found at least 26 removable user identity module cards which were sold on February 2 or 3 in the city, but the papers of the cards are yet to reach our office,’ Mahfuzur Rahman, director of technical and corporate affairs of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd, told New Age on Monday.
   He said the Citycell, after investigation, sent a list of 26 users to BTRC, seeking advice and permission to take legal action against them.
   ‘In reply to the letter, BTRC sent the notice today asking Citycell to reply within 30 days,’ said Mahfuzur Rahman.
   When approached for comment, BTRC’s chairman Major General (Retd) Zia Ahmed told New Age that some of the connections have been found to be used for illegal and criminal purposes.
   He said the BTRC would examine the connection selling process of all operators in the country.
   ‘Though we sent the letter to only one company, it is a warning to all mobile operators in the country,’ he added
   The total number of active mobile phone subscribers reached 52.43 million at the end of December 2009. Of them Citycell offers post-paid and pre-paid code division multiple access mobile services all across the country to 1.95 million people.
   Intelligence sources, however, said extortion and threats to high-profile people over cell phones is unabated.
   The callers and the sellers of the R-UIM cards and subscriber identity module cards are still out of the lawmen’s dragnet due to fake registration, sources said.
   RAB sources said they are trying to nab the callers but tracing them is difficult as the R-UIM cards reach the subscribers after passing through dealers, sub-dealers and retailers.

The United States faces ‘serious and significant’ threats within cyberspace, the White House’s top counter-terrorism advisor said Sunday, adding it was an issue of national security.
   ‘The threats and the vulnerabilities within the cyber domain are serious and significant,’ John Brennan told NBC, adding a cybersecurity board had been set up at the White House.
   ‘It’s a very complex and complicated challenge, but we are working very closely with the private sector.’
   Last month a row over internet freedom erupted between China and the United States as Beijing denied any state involvement in cyberattacks on internet search engine Google.
   The president, Barack Obama, said he was ‘troubled’ by Google’s statements it had been attacked by China-based hackers, and demanded official answers.
   The US internet giant has threatened to abandon its Chinese search engine, and perhaps end all operations in the country over the cyberattacks. It has also said it is no longer willing to bow to Chinese government censors.
   ‘We’re looking at these issues from the standpoint of espionage, from governments, from different individuals, whether they be hackers or terrorist organisations,’ Brennan said.
   ‘National security is something that is at risk. That’s why what we’re trying to do is to ensure that our networks, our government networks, our private sector networks have the ability to withstand these attempts to hack in.’
   The US House of Representatives last week overwhelmingly approved a bill aimed at protecting the internet and vulnerable computer networks by funding cybersecurity research and training.

Kuwait has showed keen interest in providing all-out support to different development projects in Bangladesh and also expansion of bilateral trade and business between the two brotherly Muslim countries.
   The assurance came when visiting Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina had separate meetings with amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah and her Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Nasser Al- Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah in Kuwait City on Monday.
   The Bangladesh premier spent a very busy day in the Kuwait City Monday, the second day of her three-day state visit to the oil rich Arab country.
   During the meetings, they discussed matters related to different bilateral interests and expansion of trade and business between Bangladesh and Kuwait for the mutual benefits of two peoples.
   Other important issues like Bangladeshi manpower export, river dredging and Kuwaiti investment in Bangladesh’s development sector also came up prominently for discussion during these meetings, said prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad while briefing the newsmen.
   Referring to the Kuwaiti investment in Bangladesh, Hasina urged the Kuwaiti entrepreneurs to invest more in Bangladesh taking advantage of her government’s ‘lucrative’ investment policy.
   In this context, she said her government would provide possible assistance for foreign investment in Bangladesh and laid emphasis on exchange of visits programmes of the businessmen of two countries to widen the way for further enhancing the trade relations between the two countries.
   About the manpower export, she said her government was providing training to the Bangladeshi workers on the language, customs, laws and technical know-how to enable them to work efficiently in different host countries.
   Hasina said Kuwait could import more Bangladeshi semi-skilled, skilled and technical people experienced in construction, power, water, civil aviation, petro-chemical, gas and hospital works as they are gentle and law abiding.
   Listing different pro-people programmes undertaken by her government, Hasina said her government had provided subsidy in agriculture inputs including fertiliser and diesel to boost production.
   Referring to her government’s mega capital dredging and maintenance programmes to restore navigability of the country’s major rivers, she sought Kuwait supports to this end.
   During the meetings, the amir and the prime minister of Kuwait greeted Hasina for her party’s landslide victory and her election as the prime minister of Bangladesh through the last general election held in a free, fair and peaceful manner.
   They expressed the hope that the parliamentary democracy would be further consolidated on a firm footing in Bangladesh under the able and prudent leadership of Hasina.
   Referring to her role on the climate change issue, the amir and the prime minister of Kuwait said Bangladesh had come in the forefront of world leadership to stand beside the most vulnerable countries through the bold leadership of Hasina.
   In these meetings, the Kuwaiti leaders recalled with great respect the role of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and also his daughter Hasina’s vision towards building a poverty and hunger free prosperous Bangladesh.
   Earlier, on her arrival at the Bayan Palace, the Kuwaiti prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, received Hasina as a smartly turned out contingent gave her the state guard of honour.
   Besides, two tiny tots presented the prime minister bouquets when national anthems of the two countries were played. Later, the Kuwait prime minister introduced her cabinet colleagues and chiefs of three services standing on a presentation line to Hasina.
   The prime minister also introduced members of her entourage to her Kuwaiti counterpart. Later, they held a meeting. Afterwards, Hasina went to Seif Palace where she held a meeting with amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.
   As the programme is over, the prime minister paid a call on speaker of Kuwait parliament (Maslis-e-Ummah) Jassem Al Khorafi at the parliament building in Kuwait City Monday afternoon.
   During the meeting, they discussed matters of different bilateral issues including strengthening the parliamentary democracy.
   Sheikh Rehana, younger sister of the prime minister, expatriate welfare and overseas employment minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, foreign minister Dipu Moni, state minister for forest and environment Hasan Mahmud, ambassador-at-large M Ziauddin, Bangladesh ambassador to Kuwait Shahid Reza, principal secretary MA Karim, press secretary Abul Kalam Azad and deputy press secretary to the prime minister Mahbubul Haque Shakil were present on the occasions.

Visiting US official Judith A McHale on Monday said US scholarships were open to madrassah students in Bangladesh.
   Her invitation to students of the religious schools came during her visit to Uttar Badda Islamia Alia Madrassah, where a
   student told her that the madrassah students were seldom given a chance to go for study in the United States.
   ‘Our doors are open for you and you are welcome to the United States.’
   She visited the Madrassa to witness US initiative of teaching English to students in religion-based educational institutions, which are madrassahs in Bangladesh.
   The US initiative is apparently intended to counter religious extremism because it is commonly perceived and often alleged that Islamic schools breed radical fundamentalism.
   ‘Yesterday (Sunday), I talked to students of Dhaka University on the possibility of studying in the United States,’ Judith, the US under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, told reporters after visiting the Uttar Badda Madrassah.
   ‘The US is proud to work with madrassahs in Bangladesh.’ Judith urged the students there to reach out and take the opportunity to study in the United States.
   Judith, however, did not clarify or elaborate on the number of madrassah students that the US might allow.
   In her earlier remarks made at the Dhaka University, Judith said the US might allow 20,000 students every year to study there.
   The US government, through some non-governmental organisations, provides the madrassah teachers with training in English language, information and communication technology, human rights, democracy and other issues to sensitise the madrassah pupils.

New Chief Justice M Fazlul Karim on Monday lamented that even on the verge of completing the first decade of 21st century, Bangladesh as a nation had failed to ensure access to justice
   for all.
   ‘The goddess of justice has eluded us and shut her mighty doors on the face of our poor, wretched, destitute and the disabled. It is possibly our collective shame as a nation,’ the chief justice said at a function arranged to felicitate him by the lawyers of the Supreme Court.
   Chief Justice Karim called upon the members of the Supreme Court bar to take every month at least a single case free of charge and fees for the poor and destitute especially underprivileged women, children and the disabled people who cannot otherwise have any access to justice.
   ‘Even if a small section of bar members takes part in this noble task a lot can be achieved in ensuring justice for the poor litigant public, which perhaps won’t be a bad start,’ he said.
   The new chief justice stressed the need for simplifying the existing case management procedure and doing away with the procedural quagmire for speedy disposal of cases. He said effective court management was considered a science and practised in most of the developed countries.
   ‘It is high time for us to embrace new methods and technology to manage our court system for securing justice for the litigants within shortest possible of time as dreamt of at the time of our glorious War of Independence,’ he said.
   Chief Justice Karim said, ‘I seek co-operation from both the bench and the bar to address the burning issue and ease the pressure on the court and burden of the litigant public.’
   Judges of both the High Court and the Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court were also present at the function.
   Earlier, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Supreme Court Bar Associa- tion president AFM Mesbah-uddin traditionally felicitated the new Chief Justice.

China has found another 170 tons of tainted milk powder in an emergency crackdown that has made it increasingly clear many products discovered in
   the country’s 2008 milk scandal were repackaged for sale instead of destroyed.
   The growing number of cases in recent weeks challenges the government’s earlier promise to overhaul its approach to food safety after hundreds of thousands of children in that scandal were sickened by milk products tainted with an industrial chemical. At least six children died.
   Already, tainted milk products have recently emerged in China’s largest city, Shanghai, and in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shandong, Liaoning, Guizhou, Jilin and Hebei.
   China’s 10-day emergency crackdown on the products is set to end Wednesday, and it was not clear whether it would be extended. The country’s biggest holiday, the Lunar New Year, starts this weekend, and already some offices are closing and millions of people are going on vacation.
   In the latest discovery, officials recalled more than 170 tons of milk powder tainted by the industrial chemical melamine and closed two dairy companies in the northern region of Ningxia, the China Daily newspaper reported Monday.
   The report said officials seized 72 tons of the powder but were still looking for the rest, which had been repackaged by the Ningxia Tiantian Dairy Co. Ltd. and sold to factories in the neighbouring region of Inner Mongolia and the bustling southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian.
   Dairy suppliers in the past have been accused of adding melamine, which is high in nitrogen, to watered-down milk to make it appear protein-rich in quality tests that measure nitrogen.
   The report said the tainted powder should have been destroyed in the 2008 scandal, and that Ningxia Tiantian Dairy got it from an unnamed company as a debt payment.
   ‘Our small companies were in total trust of their partners because they’ve been doing business and having good relations with them for a long time,’ Zhao Shuming, secretary-general of the Ningxia Dairy Industry Association, told The Associated Press. ‘They didn’t expect those companies would hurt them.’
   China Daily quoted Zhao as saying many small dairies, including Ningxia Tiantian, don’t have the technology to even test for melamine.
   ‘Flaws in the previous system led to the current chaos. What if companies with tainted milk also hold back their stocks for this round of checkups and reuse them later, just like what’s happening now?’ the newspaper quoted him as saying.
   Zhao spoke more carefully Monday, telling the AP, ‘We have strict checks and our client companies have strict checks too.’
   The 2008 milk scandal was China’s worst food safety crisis in years. Chinese officials knew tracking and getting rid of the tainted milk products from the scandal would be difficult, and it didn’t promise to destroy seized products itself.
   Instead, it issued guidelines on how to destroy the tainted products, suggesting they be burned in large-capacity incinerators or that small amounts be buried in landfills. In the southern city of Guangzhou, however, the local government took over the disposal after one garbage company poured tainted milk into a city river.
   China also issued a new food safety law last summer that places more responsibility on food producers to ensure their products are safe.

The government and the lenders are at loggerheads over the tender process of the multi-purpose Padma Bridge which might make the former miss the proposed deadline in February for inviting international bidders, said officials.
   The communications ministry, the main implementing agency of the $2.4 billion dollar project, has prepared a single tender for both the rail and road portions of the bridge. But the Japan International Cooperation Agency, one of the four major lenders, has demanded separate tenders for the two-tier bridge with a four-lane road on the top and a broad-gauge railway track below.
   This disagreement might force the government to delay the invitation of tenders for the country’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project, and so the bridge will take longer than the expected time to be completed, said sources.
   The Awami League-led government prioritised the bridge as its number one project and set February as the deadline to invite tenders to select the pre-qualifying bidders. It also expressed the desire to compete it by 2013, the last year of its five-year tenure.
   A high-profile meeting between the government representatives, including the finance and communications ministers, and the lenders was held on Sunday at Economic Relations Division’s office to review the progress of the project.
   Communications minister Abul Hossain told New Age that they have ironed out some of the disagreements, but still need the lenders’ permission for inviting pre-qualification tenders.
   ‘We have given them papers and documents on the tender process during the meeting. Now the donors will prepare harmonized policies for the whole process, from tender procedure to procurement,’ he said.
   There is no alternative to waiting for the harmonized policies which might delay the tender procedure, said the minister, adding that the lenders would provide the major portion of the project’s cost.
   The World Bank is committed to lend half of the project cost of $2.4 billion and Asian Development Bank has pledged $550 million. The Islamic Development Bank has promised to increase its pledged loan of $120 million and the JICA has assured $300 million.
   Officials of the communications ministry and ERD said that the lenders, whose chief coordinator is the World Bank, are expected to hold a meeting shortly to prepare harmonized policies to carry forward the project that is expected bring Bangladesh’s poor southern region into the mainstream economic development.
   According to poverty maps, the incidence of poverty in Patuakali, Barguna, Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira, all of which are located in the southern part of the country, is higher than that of the central and eastern parts.
   The bridge is expected to contribute an additional 1.2 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product annually as it will spur economic activities in the less advanced southern districts, said a study by JICA.
   The 6.15km Padma Bridge, 1.35km longer than the Jamuna Bridge, will be 21.10 metres wide and have a 4km approach road at Mawa and a 12km one on the other side of the river.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula number two Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri called for attacks against US interests ‘everywhere,’ in an audio message released on the internet on Monday.
   ‘American and Crusader interests are everywhere and their agents are moving everywhere,’ Shahri said. ‘Attack them and eliminate as many enemies as you can.’
   The US-based SITE monitoring service said Shahri said Yemeni Muslims ‘must be united in this battle front and support the mujahedeen,’ and urged ‘Muslims elsewhere in the Arabian peninsula to do the same’ and ‘embrace jihad.’
   Shahri praised the December 25 alleged attempt to blow up a US airliner by Nigerian Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, saying: ‘We salute the glorious invasion of Farouk,’ and ‘we repeat what our Sheikh Osama said, that America will not dream of security until we live in security in Palestine.’
   He was referring to an audio message last month by Osama bin Laden, in which the al-Qaeda chief warned the US president, Barack Obama, of further attacks and described Abdulmutallab as a ‘hero.’
   Shahri also said that al-Qaeda aims to gain control of the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea.
   He emphasised ‘the importance of Bab al-Mandab, which, if we, God willing, controlled it, and brought it back to the house of Islam, would be a great victory and would give us great influence.’
   Then, he said, we could ‘close the door and tighten the noose on the Jews, because through (Bab al-Mandab), America brings support to them by the Red Sea.’
   He thanked the Somali Al-Shebab militants for offering to support al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and called for cooperation ‘in our
   next battle against the leader of the infidels, America, for you and we are on the shores of Bab al-Mandab.’
   In late December the Yemeni government began a stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda, to which the US has contributed intelligence information, as international pressure mounted following the failed airliner bombing.
   Speaking on Sunday, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said that while a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat, the threat from al-Qaeda is greater.
   ‘I think that most of us believe the greater threats are the trans-national non-state networks,’ she said, referring to al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Afghanistan, North Africa, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
   She cautioned that the terror network is evolving to become ‘more creative, more flexible and more agile.
   ‘They are, unfortunately, a very committed, clever, diabolical group of terrorists who are always looking for weaknesses and openings and we just have to stay alert,’ she said.

Gana Bishwabidyalay at Savar on Monday accused Bangladesh Chhatra League activists of attempting to grab its 11 acres of land and looting construction materials worth Tk 5 lakh.
   On resistance, they beat deputy registrar Mir Murtaza Ali and four other employees leaving them wounded.
   Mir Murtaza filed a case with Ashulia thana naming 12 BCL leaders including Mazhar Anam, former joint general secretary of the central committee, and about 90 unnamed activists.
   Witnesses said BCL activists led by Mazhar and armed with lethal weapons broke down the boundary wall of the university at 7:00am and hung a signboard claiming their ownership of the land.
   When the deputy registrar with a number of employees went to the spot and resisted the BCL activists they beat him and 4 others leaving them wounded. As residents of the area assembled there and strongly opposed the invaders the BCL activists retreated fearing of mob attack.
   While retreating, the activists took away construction materials worth Tk 5 lakh kept there for extension work of the campus, said engineer Mahmudur Rahman of the university.
   He said the police were informed of the mater but they came after the activists left the scene.
   Ashulia thana officer Mirazul Islam said none of the accused could be arrested as most of them were residents of Mirpur.

Former director general of National Security Intelligence Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury was on Monday given to fresh police remand for three days in connection with the 10-truck Chittagong arms haul case.
   Investigating CID police officer Maniruzzaman produced the former NSI boss before the court seeking seven-day remand for further interrogation.
   Chowdhury was arrested on May 15 last year from his residence in Dhaka city. He was already twice in police remand.

Two activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League were injured in an attack by the activists of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir at Rajshahi University Monday night.
   The injured were Asad and Kawser of Bangabandhu Hall.
   Campus sources said the Shibir men attacked Asad and Kawser while they were entering their dormitory at about 8:00pm, leaving them injured.