Khaleda Zia will have to explain price hike during her rule, says PM Sheikh Hasina

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said the opposition leader, Khaleda Zia, will have to explain why prices of essentials went beyond the reach of the common people during the BNP-Jamaat rule.

'When we took office in 1996, price of rice was Tk 25 and we had reduced the price to Tk 10 per kg. When we took office this time, we found price of rice at Tk 45. The opposition leader will have to answer for this price hike,' she said.

Hasina was speaking at a discussion at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, arranged by the  Awami League marking the 91^st birth anniversary of Sheikh Mujib and National Children Day.

The prime minister said her government had been able to reduce the price of rice and other essentials. 'This time, initially we've reduced the price of rice to Tk 18, but later the price has to be increased only to ensure fair price to the farmers.'

About the latest hike in rice price, she said coarse rice was now being sold in the market at Tk 32-34 per kg while the government was providing rice to lower and middle income people at Tk 24 through open market sale.

'So, it is not correct that the government could not reduce the price of rice.'

Hasina said the government would not let people to suffer from price hike of essentials. 'At all cost, we'll ensure easy life for the people.'

She said Bangladesh was still suffering from poverty and illiteracy, as anti-liberation forces had ruled the country for many years. 'War criminals, military dictators, bribe and interest mongers have destroyed the spirit of the 1971 liberation war.'

The prime minister urged the people to devote themselves to building Bangladesh as a modern country with the spirit of 1971 liberation war and ideology of  Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

She said Mujib had been successful to give the people independence and sovereignty, but the defeated forces and their associates did not allow Mujib to achieve national economic emancipation.

'They (defeated forces) wanted to destroy the Bengali nation by killing the Father of the Nation and his family members.'

Hasina said 'military dictator' Ziaur Rahman grabbed the state power following the killing of Sheikh Mujib  and had rehabilitated his killers.

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I shall miss Khandaker Delwar Hossain, says British HC Stephan Evans

British high commissioner Stephan Evans expressed his deep shock at the death of BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain.

In a condolence message Friday sent to the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, Evans said Delwar had a great impact on the politics of Bangladesh and his political acumen, experience and wisdom would surely be missed by all members of the BNP.

He said 'I should add that it was my privilege to have met Mr Delwar Hossain on many occasions during my three years in Bangladesh. I shall miss him.'

Evans prayed for salvation of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the members of the bereaved family.

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Uncertainty looms over BGMEA polls

Uncertainty still looms large over the biennial elections of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association as one of the contesting forums has decided to boycott the polls on the plea of incomplete and flawed voters' list.

The boycotting forum led by former BGMEA president Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez sought the prime minister's intervention in holding free and fair election.

The outgoing BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy, however, said the election would be held as scheduled on March 20.

'The election board is fully prepared to hold the election on March 20. All proceedings are done. The board has confirmed me,' Murshedy told UNB over phone on Friday.

Earlier, Murshedy publicly said the elections for the organisation, scheduled for March 20, would not be deferred anyway. The forum headed by Parvez Friday issued an appeal to the prime minister through national dailies seeking the PM's intervention to ensure a fair voters' list and holding election after 10 days of publishing the voters' list.

He claimed March 20 election for 2011-2012 would be a farce if the voters' list was not complete and flawless.

Forum and Sammilito Parishad led by Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, the second vice-president of the incumbent committee reached an agreement on February 19 this year and decided to prepare a flawless voters' list.

Earlier, the BGMEA board postponed its election for undisclosed reasons.

The election was scheduled to be held on February 24 to elect its office-bearers for 2011-12. A total of 3,259 voters are scheduled to elect 27 directors. According to the guideline, the elected directors will select one president and four vice-presidents to run the association for two years.

Among the vice-presidents, one is elected from Chittagong region and others from Dhaka region.

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Bangladesh Police to be awarded with Independence Award-2011

The Bangladesh Police has been nominated for the Independence Award-2011 for its glorious contributions to the country's liberation war in 1971, as they first built up resistance at Rajarbagh Police Lines against erstwhile Pakistan occupation forces.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, will distribute the award at a function at Osmani Memorial Auditorium on March 24 along with other 49 recipients nominated by the government.

At least 14 policemen of the Rajarbagh Police Lines were killed during the first resistance against the Pak occupation forces on the night of March 25, 1971.

Just after the crackdown began, the Police Lines transmitted its first message which read: 'Base for all stations of East Pakistan Police. Keep listening, watch, we are already attacked by the Pak Army. Try to save yourself, over.'

The message was sent to all districts, sub-divisions and thana headquarters through the wireless of Rajarbagh Police Lines just after the Pak Army began the crackdown, 'Operation Searchlight', after 11:30pm on March 25.

The valiant policemen equipped with .303 rifles built up the resistance against sophisticated canons and tanks of the Pak Army. The resistance led to the full-scale guerrilla warfare.

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Dr Kamal calls for political unity to establish people’s rights

Gana Forum president Kamal Hossain on Friday called on the country's progressive and democratic parties to forge a unity to establish economic, social, and cultural rights of the common people.

'Unity is possible and it was proved in 1952, 1954, 1969, 1970, and 1971,' he told a memorial meeting for the party's presidium member Maolana Ahmedur Rahman Azmi at Mukti Bhaban in the city's Purana Paltan area.

Dr Kamal criticised the government's move to export raw jute, branding it as 'taking the country back by 60 years'.

He also lambasted the government for keeping the provision of taking government's permission before lodging any case in connection to corruption by any government official.

'If the accused is a supporter of the government, will they give the permission' he asked.

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Lalan Memorial Festival begins in Kushtia

A five-day Lalan Memorial Festival, traditionally known as Dol Purnima Utsab, began at Lalan Akhra at Kushtia Friday evening.

The lawmaker for Kushtia 4 constituency, Sultana Tarun, inaugurated the festival organised by Lalan Academy.

Kushtia deputy commissioner Abdul Mannan chaired the inaugural ceremony.

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Farmers expect better boro harvest in Pabna

Farmers in Pabna expect better boro harvest than earlier years and suitable price for their crops as Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development project reduces their difficulty over irrigation costs this year.

Uninterrupted and low-cost irrigation under the project becomes the beacon of hope for the farmers in the northern district.

The irrigation cost in Pabna is 10-12 times lower than other parts of the country as they are using river water directly to irrigate lands under the project, farmers revealed.

For per 33 decimal of lands, a farmer in the project area needs to pay only Tk 180 for the boro season as against the estimated cost of Tk 2,000 for using power-run water-lifter or tube-wells, project officials and farmers said.

Korban Ali, a farmer of village Mahmudpur, told the news agency that they were not anxious about irrigation. 'We are using river water and there is sufficient water in the rice field,' he added.

The district Water Development Board said it had undertaken the project in 1991 in nine upazilas of Pabna, two of Sirajganj and one upazila of Natore.

The Tk 3.86 billion project was supposed to irrigate 18,680 hectares of land, he informed the agency.

A 157 kilometres dam was constructed to keep 1,84,534 hectares of land flood-free for this purpose.

The irrigation water of River Hurasagar was primarily diverted to three prime canals that again had 19 sub-canals. Water from these sub-canals was supplied to the cultivated land through 15 tributaries.

Previously the total system had some problems, which caused huge loss to farmers each year.

But, in the current season the board had repaired the water-flow system, which is proving to be very farmer-friendly.

A farmer of village Sagardaria, Monirul Islam Moni, said they were happy as they could irrigate lands at low cost.

Another farmer of village Mahmudpur, Abdul

Aziz said, 'The land fertility has increased due to the use of river water in

irrigation.'

Deputy chief executive officer of Pabna WDB Zahid Hossain said these lands were 'one crop land' in the past, but the crop density has increased each year.

Farmers were expecting 56,000 tonnes of rice this year when the production would range between 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes in the past, he stated.

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DNA lab to be set up for criminal investigations

The country's first-ever criminal investigation DNA profiling laboratory will be set up at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka to facilitate biological investigation of crimes.

At present the only such state-run facility is the National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory of Dhaka Medical College Hospital and the police say it is not able to meet their growing demand for examinations. The lab was set up in 2005.

'Usually, the Criminal Investigation Department of police sends its biological evidence to the DNA lab at DMCH but the lab authorities take a long time to come up with the reports.

There are not enough experts too at the lab to examine the evidence properly,' a CID official said.

Eunus Ali, a scientific officer at the lab, however, said they received evidence only after a court had passed an order for examination and they could deliver the report within seven workings days.

It currently has a 15-member staff, including six scientific officers and six lab technologists, and receives at least 30 cases a month from different government agencies for investigation, national technical adviser Sharif Akteruzzaman of the lab told New Age.

As part of the Police Reform Programme, the government in last year approved the project for setting up the DNA profiling laboratory on one acre of land in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at a cost of Tk 25 crore to be funded jointly by the

government and the Japanese Debt Cancellation Fund, CID sources said.

The police headquarters had sent the proposal in this regard to the government two years ago,

which was approved in mid-2010.

CID officials told New Age that the police headquarters had first wanted to run the laboratory under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police but later decided it should be run under the CID.

The construction of the lab will begin soon after the housing and public works department hands over the land to the authorities concerned.

Modern equipment will be purchased for the lab from foreign countries through international tender.

The chief of CID, deputy inspector general of police Saiful Alam, told New Age, 'We are going to set up the DNA lab along with some forensic labs in the country to identify criminals by examining the biological evidence.'

'Alongside the examinations of fingerprints and footprints at forensic labs, it is very important to examine the biological evidence like saliva, blood, hair, and sperm to identify the culprits accurately. The DNA lab will also help us complete investigations fast,' the DIG said.

To modernise the CID, the government has already decided to set up five more forensic laboratories under the Police Reform Programme to make investigations more effective and reliable.

All the laboratories, except one in the

Rapid Action Battalion headquarters, will be operated under the jurisdiction of the CID.

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Hasina engaged PMO in India visit preparation

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, had entrusted her own office with the preparations for her January 2010 visit to India, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The cable sent to Washington by the US ambassador in Dhaka. James F Moriarty. on January 10, 2010 and leaked by Wikileaks on March 16 reveals that the decision was

made to sidestep 'the inertia within Bangladesh's bureaucracy.'

According to Wikileaks, the prime minister's foreign affairs adviser Gowher Rizvi confided to Moriarty on January 10, 2010 that he had 'sabotaged' the PM's planned stopover in Kolkata during a 'transformational' 2010 visit to India as he believed any delay in returning to Dhaka would give her opponents time to 'put their spin' on the visit before she had a chance to tell the nation about it.

Gowher on Friday, however, told news agency United News of Bangladesh that he did not find anything authentic in the diplomatic cable.

'I can say categorically that I did not meet the US ambassador on January 10,' Gowher told the agency Friday night over telephone.

'I had absolutely no role in planning her schedules,' he told the agency.

Asked whether he met the US ambassador before or after the prime minister's visit, he said: 'I have close personal and social relations with him. I have met him off and on ever since he first arrived in Bangladesh and I continue to meet him whenever necessary for both social and work related matters.'

The texts of the cable are as follows:

Summary: 1. © Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed will arrive in New Delhi January 10 to begin her most important foreign visit since assuming office in early 2009. Recognizing the inertia within Bangladesh's bureaucracy, the Prime Minister entrusted her own office with preparations for the visit, and her advisors tell us they expect the results to ""transform"" Indo-Bangladesh relations. Hasina and her team believe that New Delhi would like to use improved Indo-Bangladesh relations to send a message to other neighbours regarding India's willingness to take a new approach to regional issues. The Prime Minister does not, however, seem to have sufficiently focused on the need to sell any agreement to a sceptical audience at home. Improved India-Bangladesh ties would serve U.S. interests by bringing greater stability and prosperity to a region that can use more of both.

PM's Office Finalizes Preparations for Hasina's India Visit: 2. © Dr Gowher Rizvi, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Foreign Affairs Advisor, met with the Ambassador early January 10 and reported that preparations had been completed for the PM's visit to New Delhi later in the day. Rizvi returned from Delhi January 8, concluding his fourth round of discussions with Indian interlocutors to prepare the ground for the PM's visit. While Rizvi confessed that the Indians had initially been sceptical of what the visit could achieve, he told the Ambassador the stage had been set for agreements to ""transform"" Indo-Bangladesh relations. Rizvi told the Ambassador that negotiations had been kept very close hold within the GOB, with the Foreign Minister only being brought into the loop within the past week. PMO Advisors H.T. Imam and Mashiur Rahman had been drafted in the final stage to help push through implementing agreements that had stalled within the bureaucracy. Rizvi was dismissive of the Foreign Ministry bureaucracy, which he said lacked creativity and vision.

Focus on Implementing Old Agreements: 3. © While the Bangladeshi press has focused on new, relatively minor, agreements (extradition, prisoner transfer, electricity sharing, etc.) that would likely be signed during the visit, Rizvi told the Ambassador that he and his Indian interlocutors had instead focused primarily on the need to implement long dormant agreements on transit and interconnectivity. According to Rizvi, there would be agreement on enhancing interconnectivity between India and Bangladesh focused on both expanding rail networks as well as water transport. The two sides would agree to allow access to Chittagong, Mongla, and Ashuganj ports in Bangladesh to India. (Note: Rizvi said of the three, Mongla had proved to be the most controversial given sensitivities in West Bengal to diversion of trade from Kolkata's port.) Rizvi said that border markets would also be authorized, which would cut down on smuggling.

And Bilateral and Regional Trade: 4. © Rizvi saw enormous opportunities for enhanced trade, particularly with India's north-eastern states. He said the agreement would also allow for transit of goods from Nepal and Bhutan through India and into Bangladesh. Rizvi said he had talked with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Aluwalia about the possibility of a future free trade agreement. According to Rizvi, the Indian leadership was committed to opening trade with Bangladesh, in part to provide competition for domestic industries. While the Indian States' interests would have to be taken into account, Rizvi said he was confident that the Indians were serious about removing trade barriers.

Maritime Boundary and Teesta Water Sharing Remain Problematic: 5. © Rizvi said the one bilateral issue that had proved most complicated during the discussions was demarcation of the Indo-Bangladesh maritime boundary. Rizvi told the … ambassador the Indians had been disappointed when Bangladesh unilaterally referred the maritime boundary dispute to international arbitration. He was slightly more optimistic on water sharing from the Teesta River. According to Rizvi, both sides had agreed that the first step would have to be a meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission and an agreement to conduct joint hydrological surveys of the river to establish the current water flow. Rizvi was optimistic that some water sharing would begin even before a final agreement was negotiated.

PM Neglects Need for Communications Strategy: 6. © Rizvi told the Ambassador he thought the PM was making a mistake by delaying her return to Dhaka until January 13, following a one-day pilgrimage to Ajmer. Rizvi confided that he had ""sabotaged"" the PM's plan to prolong her stay in India further by adding an additional stop in Kolkata. Rizvi had argued in favour of an immediate return to Dhaka following the conclusion of bilateral talks on the 12^th. At Rizvi's insistence, the PM will address Parliament upon her return to outline the results of the visit. Rizvi shared his fear, however, that this 24-hour delay would allow the media and the opposition to put their spin on the visit before the PM had a chance to address the nation. According to Rizvi, the PM believed that the agreements would sell themselves. We discussed with Rizvi the possible benefits if the Government were to offer to take the Opposition into confidence and provide a separate briefing on the results of the visit. We also discussed the value of continued Indian engagement with the Opposition.

Comment: 7. © One of the Awami League's priorities since taking office has been to improve relations with India. The February 2009 Bangladesh Rifles Mutiny dealt a temporary setback to these efforts. In recent months, however, preparations for the PM's visit to India have been her office's primary focus. The decision to hand over several high profile Indian insurgents in late-2009 helped to create a favourable atmosphere for the visit. As a result of the groundwork that has been laid, it appears that the results of the visit could well exceed the Bangladeshi public's expectations and provide a boost to the Government. In a recent poll, 80 percent of Bangladesh's population expressed support for improved Indo-Bangladesh ties. At the same time, the political opposition can be expected to criticize the Government for failing to protect Bangladesh's interests. (Poor strategic communications weakened the 2007-2008 caretaker government's hands as it tried to implement reforms. It appears that Sheikh Hasina's government has not learned this lesson from its predecessor.) That said, a positive transformation of the Indo-Bangladesh relationship could help bring greater stability and prosperity to a region that could use more of both.

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Bangladeshi BA worker jailed 30 years for plane plot

A Bangladeshi Islamic militant working for British Airways was jailed for 30 years on Friday for plotting to blow up a plane after conspiring with radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Rajib Karim, a 31-year-old computer expert who was based in northeast England, was found guilty last month of trying to use his job at the airline to plant a bomb on a US-bound flight as part of a conspiracy with Awlaki.

Sentencing Karim at Woolwich Crown Court in London, judge David Calvert-Smith said he had 'worked incessantly to further

terrorist purposes' but managed to keep his intentions hidden from his co-workers.

The jury in his trial heard Karim had first attacked BA's computer systems and then attempted to obtain a job as a cabin crew member to plant a bomb on a plane, but he was arrested before an attack could be carried out.

The judge told Karim: 'The offences were of the utmost gravity.

'You are and were a committed jihadist who understood his duty to his religion involves fighting and, God-willing, dying and then being rewarded in the afterlife.'

He added: 'It is a feature of this case that none of those who worked with you at British Airways had even the slightest notion of what was going on.'

The prosecution said Karim started to communicate in late 2009 with Awlaki, who encouraged him to find ways of smuggling a bomb on board a plane.

Awlaki, who is believed to have been hiding in a remote area of Yemen since 2007, was recently described by a senior US security official as 'probably the most significant risk' to the United States.

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