JS panel wants undisclosed money in stocks

The parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry will again recommend the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, to allow legalisation of undisclosed money on the capital market, now hit by liquidity crisis, in the budget for the next financial year.

'I think that the opportunity for investing undisclosed money in the capital market would be included in the budget,' the committee chairman, AHM Mostafa Kamal, told reporters after a meeting with Dhaka Stock Exchange directors at the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel on Tuesday

'We will recommend the finance minister at the standing committee meeting on Thursday to allow investment of undisclosed money in the capital market,' the committee chairman said.

Although the standing committee on the finance ministry had already recommended allowing investment of undisclosed money in the capital market before the budget proposal was made, Muhith did not keep the provision in the budget proposal for the 2011–12 financial year.

The minister proposed the budget in the parliament on June 9 with a provision to allow legalisation of undisclosed money in treasury bonds and infrastructure development fund by paying 10 per cent tax.

Sources in the finance ministry said that some of the standing committee members had approached the minister in the past week to include the provision in the budget before its passage by June 30, but Muhith showed no interest.

Both Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges have demanded a similar facility for the share market.

Kamal, however, told reporters on Tuesday that the committee would meet the finance minister for discussion of making the budget capital market friendly.

He hoped that the finance minister would understand the need for allowing investment of undisclosed money in the stock market.

Kamal said that they had discussed with DSE leaders on how to overcome the current crisis in the capital market.

He said that the people responsible for the market debacle should be punished. 'But, first, we need to build confidence among the general investors.'

Kamal, who was also linked with January's stock market debacle by an investigation, said that it was now an appropriate time to invest in the market.

He said that because of the inaction of banks and non-banking financial institutions, the market was facing a liquidity crisis and hoped that the banks and NBFIs would invest in the market after the budget.

He observed the market will be stable once the Securities and Exchange Commission takes full control of the market.

'The PE [price-earning] ratio is now very low in the market. If I had money, I would have invested now,' he said.

Among others committee members, Ashraf Ali, Farida Rahman, MA Mannan and Abdur Rahman were present.

The DSE president, Shakil Rizvi, senior vice-president Ahsanul Islam and vice-president Md Shahjahan also attended.

Source : New Age

Distributorship system launched, but partially

The new system of distributorship for marketing sugar and soya bean oil was launched partially on Tuesday as the refiners could not totally scrap the existing Delivery Order (DO) system.

Although the distributorship system was supposed to be launched experimentally from 1 June, the concerned businesses did not keep the deadline set by the Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry had to extend the deadline to 20 June to give the refiners enough time to complete the appointment of distributors and drop the DO system.

Commerce secretary Gulam Hossain on Tuesday told New Age, 'All the big refiners, including the City Group and Meghna Group, have launched distributorship of oil and sugar partially from today, but none of them has submitted to the ministry the complete list of their appointed distributors.'

When asked about the possible performance of the distributorship system, Ghulam Hossain said it would take at least 3 or 4 days for the monitoring committees to evaluate the new system.

The government on 21 March issued 'The Essential Commodities Marketing and Distributor Appointment Order 2011' that made it mandatory for the oil and sugar refiners to appoint distributors within 90 days and scrap the DO system.

The commerce ministry on 16 June at a meeting with the refiners extended the deadline for the second time. The meeting decided that the DO system would be valid till 30 June by which time the appointment of distributors must be completed.

Deshbandhu Sugar Mills Ltd has already started supplying sugar to its 162 appointed distributors and prepared a list of 200 distributors who are yet to pay their deposit.

An executive of the mill said that a ship carrying 5,300 tonnes of sugar had reached Chittagong Port at the beginning of this month, and almost all the sugar has been supplied to the distributors and the system is doing well. The next ship carrying sugar is supposed to reach the port on 5 to 7 July.

He said that the distributors are getting supply orders after submission of deposit money, and have been asked to keep the wholesale price of sugar at Tk 55 per kg and the retail price at Tk 57 per kg.

He said that the distributors are buying sugar at Tk 52.56 per kg directly from the mill.

According to the Order 2011, the distributors have to collect the concerned product through supply orders which cannot be handed over to another person. The supply order will expire after 15 days.

Source : New Age

Change in temperature unlikely

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at many places over Barisal and Chittagong divisions and at a few places over Dhaka, Rajshahi, Rangpur,Khulna and Sylhet divisions till 6:00pm today.

Moderately heavy to heavy falls are also likely at places, Met Office said.

Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital today at 6:49pm and rises tomorrow at 5:12am.

The country's highest temperature, 35.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded on Tuesday in Rajshahi and the lowest, 24.5 degrees, in Cox's Bazar and Rangamati.

Source : New Age

British minister visits acid victims

Alan Duncan, British Minister of State in the Department of International Development, visited Acid Survivors Hospital in Dhaka on Tuesday.

'At the hospital I have seen many women

who have been victims

of acid throwing and learnt that the incidence of the crime has declined recently. But still it is far too bad a problem,' he said.

He had commended the foundation for providing treatment and support to the acid victims and expressed hope to continue their support to the ASF.

During the visit, Alan Duncan was accompanied, among others, by Chris Austin, country representative, Bangladesh at the Department of International Development and ASF executive director Monira Rahman.

The ASF receives funding from the DFID through Manusher Jonno Founda-tion, a release said.

Source : New Age

Atiur Rahman, Jamilur Reza Chy get Sheltech Award

The Bangladesh Bank governor, Atiur Rahman, and noted engineer Jamilur Reza Chowdhury were awarded Sheltech Padak 2010 on Tuesday.

They were given the award for their contribution to their respective fields at an award ceremony at the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.

Sheltech chairman Kutubuddin Ahmed and managing director Toufiq M Seraj handed the award comprising a crest and a cheque worth Tk 2 lakh to each of them.

BB governor Atiur Rahman who was a Dhaka University development studies teacher also worked as a director of Sonali Bank and chairman of Janata Bank board of directors earlier.

Atiur, also a researcher and author of around 50 books, was the president of research organisation 'Samunnay' and Credit Development Forum.

Receiving the award, Atiur declared to give Tk 1 lakh to one Sitesh Babu of Shrimangal, who cares ailing forest birds and animals, for development of his zoo and the remaining Tk 1 lakh to develop the nursing faculty of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University.

Engineer Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, who was a teacher at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was the vice-chancellor of BRAC University. He was the fuel and mineral resources adviser of the caretaker government in 1996.

Jamilur, who worked in the field of engineering for around 48 years nationally and internationally, said Bangladesh could not make expected progress in the field of engineering mainly for dependency on foreign engineers.

Source : New Age

Robi launches single rate roaming

Tele communication company Robi Axiata Limited recently launched single rate roaming as a part of 'Axiata Roam'.

Targeting travellers

and corporate customers, Robi took the initia-

tive and such facility would significantly improve the roaming experiences of the customers, a press release said.

It also said this roaming facility includes low rate for all call back to the home country, all local calls to the visiting country and SMS.

This service is applicable for countries

with Axiata network of mobile operators such as Malaysia (celcom), Indonesia (XL), Srilanka (Dialog) and Cambodia (Hello).

Both the post-paid and pre-paid customers

can enjoy this roaming facility. Moreover, post-paid customers will enjoy internet roaming absolutely free.

Source : New Age

Discussion stresses tobacco control to cut cancer prevelance

Deadly disease cancer would come down by fifty per cent in Bangladesh if the use of tobacco could be controlled, said Professor MA Hai at a discussion in the capital.

The discussion titled 'Cancer care initiative', organised by AK Khan Foundation, was held at the Sonargaon Hotel.

Khawja Younus Ali Medical College and Hospital professor MA Hai as chief guest thanked AK Khan Healthcare Trust for its initiative to set up a modern non-profit mother and child care centre for the people of Chittagong.

AKKHCT chief medical director Bimalangshu Dey presented the keynote speech in which he highlighted the vision, mission and goal of AK Khan Healthcare Trust.

He announced that they would officially launch tomorrow cancer screening programme for slum women at Korail Basti in Dhaka.

AK Khan Foundation chairman Shamsuddin Khan presided over the programme and said he would try to fill his father's dream of a women and children hospital for poor people.

Medical doctor Salim Reza, Sultana Razia Begum, Eyal Attar and Suranjana Chowdhury also presented papers on 'triple negative breast cancer', 'cervical cancer: prevention and screening', 'hematologic malignancy: diagonostic' and 'molecular diagnostics' respectively.

The programme was coordinated by Palliative and Supportive Care Foundation medical doctor Rumana Dowla and Square Hospital's clinical haematological physician Manzur Murshed.

Source : New Age

RU students continue movement for TSCC

The students and cultural organisations of Rajshahi University held cultural programmes and launched a mass signature campaign on Tuesday, demanding the immediate opening of the Teachers and Students Cultural Centre at the institution.


Around 200 general students, members of the Progressive Students Alliance, platform of four leftist student organisations, and Kendrya Sangskritik Jote, platform of more than 15 cultural organisations, gathered in front the university central library at about 11:00am and staged cultural performances and collected signatures.
The speakers at the programme demanded opening of the TSCC building after immediate completion of its construction work.
They complained that although the authorities had more than once assured them of taking measures in this regard but they did not keep their word.
They also demanded the implementation of the policy regarding the operation of the TSCC, approved at the last syndicate meeting in January this year.
They threatened to go for tougher movement, including holding strikes, if their demands were not met soon.
Chowdhury Muhammad Zakaria, proctor of the university, came to the spot in the afternoon and assured the gathering that measures would be soon taken on the matter.
Later on he told the reporters that the issue would be raised at the upcoming syndicate meeting on 27th June.
The authorities would give space to the cultural organisations to run their activities until the TSCC was opened, he added.
Source : New Age

Crowd marks last day of Rajshahi mango fair

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/metro/23345.htmlThe seven-day mango fair in the Rajshahi city witnessed a huge crowed on the concluding day on Tuesday.

The fair, organised by the Rajshahi City Corporation on its Green Plaza premises, began with only one stall, which later grew to 10.

People from the city and suburbs visited the fair to buy fruits and books on fruits and to have an experience of the fascinating varieties of mango species.

One of the organisers said favourable weather on the last day provided the visitors to enormous scope to swarm the fair ground with friends and families.

He also said the last few days' rainy weather cause huge loss to the vendors. The visitors, however, expressed enthusiasm for the fair and mangoes.

Rajshahi Medical College third year student Rubayet Jannat Bithi told New Age that she, along with her friends, went to the fair just to have a look at the mangoes kept in display.

Shefali Gosh, while visiting the fair with her five-year-old daughter, also said that she wanted her daughter to be familiar with various kinds of mangoes.

College teacher Abdul Wadud, however, said he was there to collect some books on mangoes.

Mango vendor Minhazul Abedin told New Age that he was selling 20 different types of mangoes.

He, however, wanted the RCC to organise such fairs at the beginning of a season except the Rainy season.

Rajshahi panel mayor Sariful Islam Babu, also convener of the fair organising committee, said the RCC organised the fair with an aim to introduce the city dwellers to mango varieties.

Earlier, Rajshahi mayor AHM Kharizzaman Liton inaugurated the fair on June 15.

The fair also featured a seminar where the speakers demanded government fund allocation for the mango growers and setting up several cold storages to preserve mangoes.

Source : New Age

CCC starts drive to clear canal embankments

At least 84 shanties and 17 makeshift shops were demolished on the first day of the eviction drive launched by the Chittagong City Corporation on Tuesday to clear the embankments of two canals to free the city the from water-stagnation.

In the drive 45 shanties and 11 shops on the banks of Mirjakhal and 39 shanties and six shops on Kabir Shawdagor Khal in Bakalia were demolished.

The city corporation has been carrying out the drive to check recurrence of water stagnation causing sufferings to city dwellers in the monsoon.

Chittagong City Corporation magistrate Kazi Mohammad Abdur Rahman conducted the evection drives, officials said.

Talking to the news agency, Saleh Jahour, superintended engineer of the city corporation, said similar drive would be carried out to clear the canal embankments in the port city.

He said roads and water passages would be built on both sides of the embankments.

Source : New Age

Yet another deadline for counters of city bus service in Ctg

The deadline for launching counter system of city bus service in the Chittagong city has again been extended up to July 5.

This is for the third

time that the deadline

has been extended in

just one month on the different pretexts, including lack of preparation for the task.

Earlier on May 25, the Chittagong Metropolitan Police held a meeting with transport owners' associations where they decided to introduce the counter service by June 05 on all the city routes.

Later, the transport owner associations requested the CMP to extend the deadline up to June 25.

Sources in different transport operators said this time they requested the CMP to extend the deadline, pleading the transport strike in greater Chittagong from June 26 and lack of overall preparation for launching counter service.

The decision to extend the deadline up to July 5 came at a meeting held at the CMP headquarters Monday morning, with CMP commissioner Mohammad Abul Kashem in the chair.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting was attended, among others, by deputy commissioner (traffic), CMP and transport operators of the city.

Faruk Ahmed, deputy commissioner (traffic), CMP told New Age that the deadline to launch counter service in the Chittagong city had been extended up to July 5.

'Transport operators requested the CMP to extend the deadline showing insufficient preparation and transport strike as the reasons. On July 5, the counter service be would be launched on 12 routes,' said he.

'There will be no extra fare. All transport operators will have to comply with the government-fixed fare,' added Faruk.

Abul Kalam Azad, president of the City Bus, Minibus, Human Hauler Owners' Association,

told New Age that the preparation for launching counter service was not completed.

'For the service, there will be about 150 counters on 12 routes. We will not charge fare going beyond the government-fixed rate and want to ensure minimum fare of Tk 05 with the launching of counter system in the city,' said Azad. 

A total of four transport owners' associations provide transport service on 12 routes of the Chittagong city.

Mentionable that the initiatives to introduce the counter service in the city were also taken two times — in 2003 and in 2008. But, due to the unwillingness and lack of co-ordination among the transport owner associations, the counter service initiative finally went in vain.

Source : New Age

Duck rearing changes Shahanara’s life

Housewife Shahanara Akhter of Charpara at Itna in Kishoreganj has become a role model in the village development committee after her success in improving her standard of life through rearing poultry.

She joined Food Security for Ultra Poor programme funded by the European Union in Haor Region in March 2009 after her husband, a non-government primary school teacher, lost his job due to prolonged illness which also restricted him from laborious job.

The mother of three children was one of the 55,000 targeted poor who received Tk 4700 as income generating support from the project run in the district by CARE Bangladesh.

It is one of the four projects under FSUP-H covering 135,000 households in 8 poverty prone districts mostly in northern region of the country.

Shahanara, who has spent her entire savings and sold her husband's inherited land for his treatment, bought 80 local variety ducks with the project money and is now getting 77 eggs every morning from her flock which lay 9 months in a year.

In Haor region, the ducks have free access to water bodies and require minimum investment for food. Shahanara earns Tk 350 per day by selling the eggs in local market.

Her hard work soon upgraded Shahanara's position from a simple member to the president of the village development committee.

She has received basic training in poultry rearing and vaccination and participated in the awareness training on health, education, access to public services, income generating activities, literacy and other social issues.

She herself gets the vaccine from local upazila livestock office and administers those to the ducks.

Shahanara now has attained great confidence and capability in managing her family members which include her three school-going children.

Source : New Age

35,000 families suffer for want of food in Bhola

Around 35,000 families which were marooned due to the depression caused by tidal surge in Bhola have been suffering much due to lack of food and shelter.

Several thousand houses in Tulatoli, Majher Char of Bhola sadar, Syedpur of Daulatkhan upazila, Char Nasrin of Tajmuddin uapzila, Kolatolir Char, Char Nizam of Monpura upazila, Char Kukri-Mukri, Dhalchar, Char Patila and Sikderer Char of Charfassion uapzila went under water five days ago.

Although the water is receding, the victims are now suffering for lack of food. Many of them have been passing days under open sky as their houses were totally damaged.

The relief and food items which were distributed among the victims from the government were quite insufficient, said an inhabitant of Kolatolir Char of Monpura.

Besides, diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases have been broken out in some water-logged areas due to lack of pure drinking water.

Bhola civil surgeon, Sahe Alam Sharif, said that around 50 people had been affected with water-borne diseases in the last two days. Temporary medical teams had been sent to some affected areas and health officials of upazilas concerned.

Charfassion upazila nirbahi officer, Nur-e-Alam, said 15 tonnes of food had been allocated for the victims.

District relief office source said the extent of loss caused by the tidal surge had been estimated at Tk 50 core in seven uapzilas of the district.

Fifty-four kilometres of embankment of the River Meghna out of 100 kilometres had been affected, the sources said.

Around 11,000 houses had been damaged either partially or totally and 19,000 acres cropland went under water, 250 educational institutions and religious institutions were affected and fishes worth Tk about 1 crore were washed away.

Source : New Age

Indian army chief calls on navy, air chiefs

Visiting Indian army chief General VK Singh called on Bangladesh Navy chief Vice Admiral ZU Ahmed and air chief Air Marshal SM Ziaur Rahman at their offices at the navy and air headquarters in Dhaka Tuesday.

According to an ISPR press release, they discussed matters of mutual professional interests during the meetings.

Singh is currently in Dhaka on a five-day official tour being accompanied by his spouse Bharati Singh and senior Indian army officers.

Source : New Age

Rules discourage Germans keen on social business

German entrepreneurs keen to invest in Bangladesh's social business told finance minister AMA Muhith on Tuesday they find its rules and regulations not supportive.

They are in Bangladesh as members of a joint delegation of EU and Germany.

They said they were interested to invest 30 million Euro in Bangladesh's textile sector to start a social business.

Johannes Merck, vice-president of Otto Group,

a German corpora-

tion, said that the existing rules and regulations would not support their investment.

The joint delegation

led by German federal minister for economic cooperation and development Dirk Niebel and European Union's development cooperation commissioner Andris Piebalgs was hold a meeting with Muhith.

Muhith told the delegation, 'we will see what we can do in this regard.'

After the meeting, he told reporters that the country needs new rules and regulations to encourage private investment in social business.

He also said that some investment came through Grameen Bank's Muhammad Yunus when so many rules and regulations were not there.

Earlier, the delegation told the state minister for environment Hasan Mahmud at a meeting at his secretariat office that EU would support Bangladesh in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.

Source : New Age

President for more research on healthcare

The president, Zillur Rahman, on Tuesday called on the medical practitioners to carry on more researches on the country's healthcare so that it could reach world-class quality.

He was addressing the first convocation of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University at the Bangaban-dhu International Conference Centre in the capital.

Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque, education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, health adviser to the prime minister Syed Modasser Ali, University Grants Commission chairman AK Azad Chowdhury and BSMMU vice-chancellor Pran Gopal Datta, among others, also addressed the convocation.

Former adviser to the caretaker government, Zillur Rahman Siddiqi  was the convocation speaker.

Source : New Age

NAP protests against agri inputs price hike

The Bangladesh National Awami Party formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club on Tuesday in protest at the hike in the prices of agricultural inputs, namely fertiliser, diesel and electricity.

The speakers at the programme said that the price hike would seriously hamper the food production of the country.

M Golam Mostafa Bhuiyan, secretary general of the party, criticised the government saying that it had breached its commitment to supply the agricultural inputs to the farmers free of cost.

The increase in the prices of agricultural inputs will result in the food price hike, he added.

The downsizing of the government subsidies for the agriculture sector in the proposed national budget of 2011-12 will also affect the sector, he viewed.

National Democratic Party chairman Khandokar Golam Murtaza termed the price hike as destructive for the farmer community.

They called for a concerted movement against the government in this regard.

Dhaka city president of Bangladesh NAP Muhammad Kamaluddin, founder chairman of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangshad Ismail Hossain Bengal and National Peoples Party president Fariduzzaman Farhad also attended the programme, among others.

Source : New Age

Prof Zaker Hossain passes away

Renowned zoologist, noted bird researcher and emeritus professor of Dhaka University Zoology Department Kazi Md Zaker Hossain died of a heart attack at his Lalmatia residence in the city at 2:00pm Tuesday.

He was 81.

He is survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, students, colleagues, and a host of relatives and well- wishers.

He was buried at Banani Graveyard following a Namaj-e-Janaza on Du central mosque premises after Maghrib prayers.

DU vice-chancellor professor AAMS Arefin Siddique condoled the death of professor Zaker Hossain and prayed for peace of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to members of the bereaved family.

Source : New Age

Tremor jolts capital, other parts

A tremor jolted the capital and some other parts of the country Tuesday morning.

The Meteorological department said the tremor measuring 4 on the Richter scale shook the areas at 10:50am.

Its epicentre was 64 kilometres of the capital somewhere near Comilla-Chandpur border region.

There was no immediate report of damages or casualties.

Source : New Age

Sylhet DC sued for making defamatory comments

Sylhet's deputy commissioner was sued on Tuesday on charge of making defamatory comments about the members of the committee of a Hindu temple in the city.

After holding the hearing at noon, the chief judicial magistrate court ordered the Kotwali thana's officer-in-charge to conduct an inquiry and submit his report.

Asit Bhattacharya, joint convener of the committee named the Committee to Resist Grabbing Land of Temple of Sri Sri Gopal Jeu, located in Gopaltila at Tilagar in the city, filed the case against deputy commissioner Abu Syed Md Hashim.

The plaintiff in his allegation stated that the accused, during an interview on April 30 broadcast by Desh TV, a private television channel, commented that 'the people who are waging a movement to protect the land were themselves involved in land-grabbing, as I have been informed.'

Advocate Abdul Mawdud Kaisar, Prashanta Kumar Pal, Biman Chandra Das, Nitu Kanta Das, Humayun Rashid Suyeb and Monit Uddin appeared for the plaintiff in the hearing.

Deputy commissioner Abu Syed Md Hashim denied the allegation brought against him.

'I did not make any such comment and if I did, I had no intention to hurt the sentiments of any persons or any organisation,' he claimed.

The members of the incumbent governing body of the Akhra of Gopal Jeu at Tilagar, in association with a section of the leaders of the ruling Awami League and its front organizations, reportedly leased out some 4 acres of the temple's land several months back, which has angered the Hindu community in the city.

Source : New Age

Abducted Bangladeshis well: Afghan envoy

The five Bangladeshi workers abducted in Afghanistan are in good health and Afghanistan is trying to rescue them, the Afghan ambassador in Bangladesh has said.

Abdul Rahim Oraz told the expatriates' welfare minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, in Dhaka on Tuesday that the Afghan government was regularly enquiring about the abductees.

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped seven Bangladeshi construction workers in a northern Afghan province of Balkh on December 19 last year. Two of seven workers were released on December 21. The abducted men were employees of a South Korean road construction company.

Oraz, however, could not say clearly when it would be possible to rescue them.

A delegation led by the Afghan ambassador met the minister to recruit construction workers from Bangladesh to Afghanistan.

After the meeting, the expatriates' welfare minister told reporters the Afghan government had recently embarked on massive construction works in the war-torn country.

Mosharraf said the Afghan authorities wanted to hire scores of skilled workers from Bangladesh and that the Afghan envoy assured him of providing security to the Bangladeshi workers.

'They have been told to make a formal proposal to take manpower from Bangladesh. When we

get their proposal, we

will send a delegation there to examine the possibilities.

'We will not send people there if there is any security risk.'

Referring to the government initiatives to send manpower to Iraq, the overseas employment minister said war was not taking place in all parts of Iraq and Afghanistan. 'It will all depend on the report of the teams whether we will send manpower.'

About the latest situation in Malaysia, he said a delegation of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training would go to the southeast Asian country soon carrying 100,000 hand written passports.

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/national/23399.html

BCL men stop tender bid submission in Rajshahi

Leaders and activists of the Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League's associate body of students, on Tuesday stopped tender process for the supply of medicine and stationery to the upazila health centre at Durgapur in Rajshahi.

Sources said that tender submission had closed on Tuesday. Some contractors were going to submit tender documents at the Durgapur health complex.

The Durgapur upazila council vice-chairman, Banesa Begum, also an Awami League leader, went there along with her supporters to submit tender bids.

A group of Chhatra League leaders about 12:30pm reached the place and asked Banesa to make an arrangement so that they could together submit the bids, which led to an altercation.

At one point, Chhatra League men attacked the gathering and dispersed the contractors from the place Banesa refused to reach a negotiation. They also tried to beat the husband of Banesa but he managed to get away. 

They captured Banesa Begum and confined her to a room of the health complex for an hour.

The Chhatra League men then started beating people who were present there. A large number of policemen reached the spot and controlled the situation.

Banesa Begum told New Age that the Chhatra League activists had attacked her supporters in the presence of lawmen.

She also alleged that the Chhatra League men had confined her to a room for an hour. The police later rescued her, she said.

The upazila unit Chhatra League president, Azahar Ali, however, brushed aside any such allegation.

The upazila health officer, Anisur Rahman, told New Age that they had closed the tender submission because of the fracas.

The Durgapur police officer-in-charge, Ohidul Islam, told New Age that they had controlled the situation immediately.

Source : New Age

Demand for making edn a fundamental right

Educationists on Tuesday called for incorporation of education as a fundamental right in the Constitution, now awaiting  sweeping amendment.

Speaking at a roundtable they said that the citizens would be able to fight for equal opportunities of education if it was made a constitutionally recognised fundamental right.

The state must create equal opportunity for all the citizens irrespective of their financial or social status to get education as the Constitution made education a responsibility of the state.

Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, co-chairman of the committee which formulated the new national education policy said that the government should make education a fundamental right of the citizens in the Constitution, now in the process of amendment.

National Front of Teachers and Employees hosted the discussion on budgetary allocation for education at National Press Club.

Former Jahangirnagar University vice chancellor Qazi Saleh Ahmed, Dhaka University professor Akhtaruzzaman, NFTE chief convenor Quazi Faruque Ahmed spoke, among others.

Kholiquzzaman said that in his budget speech, the finance minister forgot to mention the government's new education policy.

He said that the finance minister should have mentioned the new education policy in the national budget for the next fiscal.

He said that the budget for the next fiscal should have set aside a special allocation for a permanent Education Commission, under the consideration of the government and also for the creation of an accreditation council for private universities.

He said that sustainable development would remain a distant dream without giving due importance to education.

Kazi Saleh said that educational institutions run by the military gets a big allocation from the education sector, though defence gets a massive allocation from the national budget.

He said that the government should consider whether their educational institutions run by the military could be run with the funds they get from the budget.

Source : New Age

Massive rigging in UP polls

The Election Commission on Tuesday asked the concerned authorities to withdraw the deputy commissioner of Feni and officer-in-charge of Sadar model thana immediately for their negligence in discharging electoral duties, and reported massive rigging in the Union Parishad polls there.

The EC sent two separate letters to the Ministry of Public Administration and Police Headquarters.

Inspector general of police Hasan Mahmud Khondker on Tuesday evening told New Age that they had received the EC's letter and would take due action.

Elections to six union councils of sadar upazila in Feni were held on June 16 amid massive rigging, stuffing of ballot boxes, snatching of ballot papers and intimidation of voters. The Election Commission was forced to suspend polling in the two unions of Fazilpur and Motbi.

The New Age correspondent in Feni reported that several socio-cultural organisations distributed sweetmeat and celebrated the news of the prospective withdrawal of the OC of sadar thana, Aminul Islam. The district bar association brought out a procession in the court's premises to express their joy over Aminul's withdrawal.

Local people alleged that DC Abdul Kuddus Khan and Aminul Islam were responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the district town and were involved in the massive rigging of polls in favour of candidates backed by the ruling Awami League.

Aziz Ahmed Chowdhury, president of Awami League's district unit, also held the DC and OC responsible for deterioration of the law and order situation in the district town.

Source : New Age

Hasan smells plot behind protest at deal with US co

State minister for environment Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said that there might be a 'conspiracy' behind the ongoing protest against the government's contract with a US company for exploration and extraction of gas from two blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

He once again lambasted economist Anu Muhammad, who is the member-secretary of the National Committee for Protecting Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, for opposing the deal with oil giant ConocoPhillips.

'We are now facing acute shortage of gas. Our electricity generation is inadequate, industries cannot operate for lack of gas and even cooking in many households has been hampered,' Hasan told reporters at his office.

He said that there might be some conspiracy if anyone educated opposes gas extraction in the present scenario and said Anu Muhammad is a professor of economics and so he should not speak on any issues relating to geology.

Earlier on the day, a joint delegation from the European Union and Germany called on the state minister and discussed various projects on mitigation of the effects of, and adaptation to, climate change, and environmental pollution.

When reporters referred to the failure of the authorities concerned to protect the rivers surrounding Dhaka city from pollution, Hasan said that the government could not clean the rivers in two years as they had been polluted for over 60 years.

On Sunday, Hasan Mahmud castigated Anu Muhammad in the Parliament for calling hartal in protest against the production sharing contract that the government had signed with ConocoPhillips.

Digressing from the budget discussion, he railed against the economist, calling him 'Monu Mohammad', which drew the media's criticism.

He called the national committee a 'foreign agent and spy' which wanted to stay in the limelight by making an issue out of the contract signed with ConocoPhillips, which, according to the committee, gives only 20 per cent of the extracted gas to Bangladesh and allows the company to export the rest. This contract, said Anu Muhammad, will benefit only the US company, not the country.

He told the House that a professor of economics had no right to speak on oil and gas as he has no knowledge of mineral resources.

When asked whether parliamentary norms allowed him to criticize any outsider in the House who is not present to defend himself, Hasan said they could discuss anything in the country's interest.

Source : New Age

People to settle who will run country: PM

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said the people will settle the question who will govern the country.

She made the remark when a nine-member joint delegation led by Birk Niebel, economic cooperation and development minister of Germany, and Andris Piebalgs, European commissioner for development, called on her at the Prime Minister's Office Tuesday  morning.

Hasina said she and her party always believe in people's welfare and reiterated her government's strong commitment to root out corruption and militancy from Bangladesh.

She said the government would never allow using the soil of Bangladesh for terrorist activities.

'We won't allow any evil forces to use even an inch of our land for terrorism and militancy,' the prime minister was quoted by her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad as saying.

Hasina said she had narrowly escaped many terrorist attacks on her life. 'Nothing can keep me from working for the people's economic emancipation. I've dedicated my life for the wellbeing of the people.  I work only for them.'

She mentioned that during the last BNP-Jamaat alliance, 'Bangladesh was known to the international community as a country of militancy and corruption.'

After taking office, the present government through hectic efforts has been able to free the nation from such a stigma, the premier said.

As the European ministers praised her leadership, the prime minister said the government was working to ensure national food security and protect the nation from the disastrous impacts of the climate change.

She informed the European delegation of the government activities to dredge the rivers in the country to restore their navigability.

On development activities, Hasina said the European Union and its member countries could provide funds to the Bangladesh government for launching integrated programmes for the development of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

She told the delegation about the establishment of Asian University for Women in Chittagong and the plan on setting up a full-fledged university in Rangamati for ensuring higher education facilities for the hill tracts people.

The premier also informed the delegation of the various facilities provided by the government for flourishing the private sector in the country. She mentioned the spectacular progress made by private television channels and mobile phone companies in the country during her previous rule.

Describing the European Union as a tested friend of the country, she said Bangladesh would remember the European Union's support to restore democracy through the December 29, 2009 elections in free, fair and acceptable manner.

Hasina observed that Bangladesh could not be developed at the desired level as democracy here was not allowed to function uninterruptedly by the military and unconstitutional rulers after the assassination of  Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15 in 1975.

Ambassador at-large M Ziauddin, PM's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad and German ambassador in Dhaka Holger Michael were present.

Source : New Age

Dhaka receives 2 liberation war cannons from Delhi

As a token of good will, India has handed over to Bangladesh two cannons used in the liberation war.

The cannons were delivered to Bangladesh authorities through Benapole border on Tuesday noon, customs commissioner Abdul Mannan Sikder told the news agency

Though not useable now, the cannons would be preserved as a historic mark of the liberation war.

Source : New Age

HC wants end to hill cutting

The High Court has issued a rule seeking explanation from the authorities concerned why an order should not be given to take necessary steps to stop hill cutting.

A bench comprising justices Farid Ahmed and Sheikh Hassan Arif issued the rule on Monday.

The Prime Minister's Office secretary, the environment secretary, the director general of environment department, the deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar, the superintendent of the district's police, the chiefs of Tenknaf and Ukhia police and the upazila nirbahi officers were made respondents to the rule returnable in three weeks.

It ordered Teknaf and Ukhia police to take steps against those involved in hill cutting.

Source : New Age

BNP accuses govt of ruining agriculture

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday accused the government of ruining the agricultural sector after laying the economy and was now plotting to take away people's right to franchise.

The party's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a rally at the party's central office in Dhaka said that the government had claimed itself to be 'farmer-friendly ' but farmers had fallen prey to their plundering.

'They have ruined the farmers. Growers had to sell potato for Tk 2 a kilogram. There was a bumper outturn of rice but the looters of the ruling Awami League have taken it away.

They even withdrew all forms of subsidy in the

agricultural sector,' Fakhrul said at the rally held in protest at increase in prices of fertilizer and other agricultural equipment and inputs.

Fakhrul said that in its latest conspiracy, the ruling Awami League was out to hold the elections during its tenure in the government to protract its regime snatching away people's right to franchise by scrapping the caretaker government provision. 'People know it better how to thwart conspiracies. The BNP will come up with tougher programmes against such government moves,' he said.

The party's standing committee member MK Anwar said that the government kept none of its election-time pledges, including free distribution of fertiliser to farmers.

He criticized the government for not buying rice from growers at a reasonable price. 'You claim to be farmer-friendly but do not pay them the minimum production cost. You are buying rice from abroad for Tk 40 a kilogram but do not bother to pay same to local growers,' he said.

Anwar said that the government had plundered Tk 4,800 core through malpractice in fertiliser. 'When the BNP left office in 1996, fertiliser sold for Tk 4 a kilogram. The price has now increased to Tk 20 a kilogram,' he said.

He said that whenever anyone says anything about the economy, the finance minister replies with 'all rubbish, bogus.'

'These words are not decent. There much decent words and use them. Otherwise, people will throw you in the garbage,' he said.

BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, vice-chairmen Abdullah Al Noman, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury,  and Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, the party chief's adviser Shamsuzzman Dudu, joint secretaries general Amanullah Aman and M Shahjahan, organising secretary Fazlul Huq Milan and leaders of front organisations also spoke at the rally, presided over by the Dhaka city unit convener, Sadeque Hossain Khoka.

The BNP will form a human chain on June 22 in front of the National Press Club demanding that the party's city unit leader Chowdhury Alam should be traced.

The party will also go on demonstrations demonstration in front of the party's central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka on June 25.

Source : New Age

China trusted friend of Bangladesh: Dipu Moni

The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, now in Beijing has said the steady increase of mutual cooperation and support in the entire gamut of the bilateral relations over the years has made China a trusted friend of Bangladesh.

'Today, our bilateral relations which have grown from strength to strength over the last decades have been raised to the level of closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation,' she said in a statement at a seminar on 'Foreign Policy of Bangladesh: Priorities and Challenges and issues of Bangladesh-China Relations' at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing Monday.

Dipu Moni said Bangladesh and China were working together to build on its historic, intellectual, spiritual and people-to-people relationship within the framework of sovereign statehood. 'Our task is challenging, exciting and full of hope,' she added.

The foreign minister said China had been deeply engaged in the major development efforts of Bangladesh. The joint efforts taken by Bangladesh and China in various areas of collaboration have contributed to a significant rise in development activities, both in terms of economic and social progress.

In bilateral trade, she said there was a very deep level of engagement of Bangladesh with China which crossed  $7 billion annually in 2010.

Bangladesh and China are also collaborating in diversified areas of agriculture, infrastructure, power, education, culture, civil aviation, telecommunication and industry.

Dipu Moni said China's contribution and cooperation in infrastructural development continued to be highly appreciated by the people of Bangladesh. The six Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridges and the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in Dhaka stand as testimonies to the ever-growing friendship.

'We are also working to construct the 7th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge, establish a deep-sea port and some power plants with Chinese cooperation and support,' she told the seminar.

Source : New Age

College student wounded in police fire

A student of Habibullah Bahar College was wounded as the police shot at him 'from a short distance during a gunfight' at a check point set up near the Rajarbagh police lines in Dhaka on Monday night.

The injured Tanvir Islam Sajib, 23, was admitted to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic, Rehabilitation. He was hit with three bullets in the legs, the family said.

The police shot at him as he tried to get away after the police found him in possession of a weapon at the check point about 10:30pm.

Tanvir said that he along with Shakil and Nur Mohammad Ronnie were riding a motorbike and the police stopped them and found the weapon from them.

The victim said that the police had captured him and shot him from a short distance.

Ronnie was arrested by the Motijheel police when he was getting away. Shakil escaped.

Tanvir's mother Sufia Begum said that his son had been kept for hours without treatment after his arrest.

The Paltan police, however, brushed aside the allegation of keeping him without treatment and said that Tanvir had been sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after 'the gunfight.'

No policeman, however, was injured, the police said.

The investigation officer of the case, Paltan police subinspector Mohammad Jasimuddin, said that Tanvir had become wounded when the police and group traded fire at the check point.

Source : New Age

Bill for compensating landowners placed in JS

The land minister, Rezaul Karim Hira, introduced a bill in parliament on Tuesday

seeking approval for payment of compensation to citizens whose land would be acquired for building the 26-kilometre Dhaka Elevated Expressway.

In the Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project (Land Acquisition) Bill 2011, the government proposed to give flats or land plots and money in compensation to citizens whose land would be acquired for the expressway.

The government owns 80 per cent of land needed for the 26-kilometre expressway while it has to acquire 20 per cent more belonging to citizens.

The expressway is designed to link Shahjalal International Airport with Kutubkhali on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, says the bill.

The bill proposes payment of due compensation to the landowners so that no untoward incidents could occur at the time of acquisition of land for the expressway.

It states that the government had taken the priority project to cut down the city's traffic congestion.

The expressway would be built under public-private partnership at a

cost of Tk 8,703 crore.

The law minister, Shafique Ahmed briefed parliament on May 22 about the Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project (Land Acquisition) Ordinance, 2011 promulgated by the president on May 12 when parliament was not in session.

The Constitution requires the government to place the ordinance in parliament at its next session.

Under the ordinance, the land for the expressway would be considered to have been acquired in 'public interest'.

It states no compensation would be given to anyone building any structure

against public interest on the land acquired.

It also disqualifies landowners from filing lawsuits with a court against the action taken under the ordinance.

The government engaged an Italian-Thai company for building the expressway under private-public partnership.

Source : New Age

National committee drumming up support for hartal

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports on Tuesday called on the Awami League-led government to cancel the inequitable deal signed with US company ConocoPhillips for extraction of the gas of two gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

The also called on the government to pass a Bill in the Parliament to stop export of the mineral resources of the country.

The national committee on Saturday, at a press conference, announced the hartal on July 3 in protest against the deal with the US company signed on Thursday.

The national committee marched from the Paltan crossing to Bahadur Shah Park in Old Dhaka to drum up support for the half-day hartal called by it in the capital to underline the demand for cancellation of the 'one-sided' deal.

The leaders said the deal was contrary to the national interest as most of the extracted gas would be exported by the company, according to the deal which has been fashioned in line with the Model Production and Sharing Contract 2008.

Prior to the march, the committee staged a rally in Paltan crossing where its leaders Nur Muhammad, Zulfikar Ali and Khan Asaduzzaman Masum addressed the activists.

The committee will march today (Wednesday) from Jatrabari to Saidabad.

The former presidents and general secretaries of various left-leaning student organisations, in a press statement, denounced the verbal attack in the Parliament by the state minister for forest and environment, Hasan Mahmud, on the national committee and its leaders on Sunday.

They said that his comments, in which he termed the national committee as an organisation of street urchins and criticised the role of Anu Muhammad, were indecent.

Many prominent leftist leaders are involved with the committee and Anu Muhammad is an eminent economist and teacher of the Jahangirnagar University, said the former student leaders.

They called on the Awami League leaders to refrain from making such sweeping comments as the hartal has been called to save the natural resources of the country from exploitation by foreign companies.

Former student leaders Nur Ahmed Bakul, Ruhin Hossain Prince, Belal Chowdhury, Ragib Ahsan Munna, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, Razequzzaman Ratan and Aslam Khan and others were among the signatories to the statement.

Source : New Age

Health activists demand govt stop user fee collection

Health rights activists on Tuesday urged the government to revoke provision for user fee collection its patients in public hospitals as 'it is undemocratic, unconstitutional and inhuman.'

Government hospitals, who are state-owned health care providers, cannot charge user fee from patients, they said at a press conference on budgetary allocation for the health sector organised by Swasthya Andolan at the National Press Club in Dhaka.

Farida Akhter, executive director of the organisation, said, 'We have always been against user fee collection and we have demanded that the government should revoke the provision. But the government has

kept the provision for user fee collection in the health policy.'

Patients do not benefit from user fee and the money collected is distributed to physicians, technicians and other members on the hospital staff, she said.

She said, 'The government is going to formulate the Patient Welfare Fund Policy. This fund will be set up by collecting money from patients.'

Syed Mahbubul Alam, programme director of the Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust, said that the government had ignored prevention of diseases such as sanitation in the proposed budget.

He said, 'Public health and treatment are not

similar. But the government has not allocated any money for the prevention of diseases.'

They criticised the government for lowering budgetary allocation as the allocation in the outgoing financial year is 6 per cent while the allocation for the health sector in the budget proposed for the 2011–2012 financial year is 5.9 per cent.

They said that the government had proposed allocation of money for telemedicine. But in Bangladesh where patients do not get the service directly in the hospital, how the government would ensure telemedicine for patients, they said.

They demanded that the government should reconsider the health sector allocation and take steps to ensure health care for the mass people.

They also demanded specific allocation for the prevention of diseases, workers' health and priority for mental health in the proposed budget.

Paediatrician Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, among others, attended.

Source : New Age

Hasan remanded in custody again

Hasan Syeed, arrested on charge of torturing his wife Rumana Monzur, a Dhaka University teacher, was on Tuesday remanded in police custody again for two days in a case of attempted murder.

Metropolitan magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan granted the remand after case investigation officer, subinspector Bahauddin Faruki of Detective Branch produced Hasan in the court with a 10-day prayer for remand.

Hasan had earlier been remanded in custody for a total of three days in two phases by the same court. 

DB police on June 15 arrested Hasan at a relative's house in the city's Uttar Mugda 10 days after committing the crime on June 5.

On Tuesday, Hasan was produced in the court by the case investigator after interrogation during a one-day remand on Monday.

In his petition, the case investigator said that he needed to visit the place of occurrence with the accused to verify his statement.

Rumana, assistant professor of international relations department at Dhaka University, was tortured allegedly by her husband at their Dhanmondi residence on June 5.

Hasan also tried to gouge out Rumana's eyes, badly affecting her eyesight.

Rumana's father retired major Monzur Hossain filed the case with Dhanmondi police station the following day.

Source : New Age

Doors not closed for caretaker talks: ministers

Law minister Shafique Ahmed and special parliamentary committee co-chairman Suranjit Sengupta on Tuesday sought to reassure the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party that the doors for discussion on the caretaker government system still remained open.

They came up with the statements in response to BNP leader Moudud Ahmed's claims that the government had closed all doors for talks between the government and the opposition by approving the bill on constitution amendment with a proposal for scrapping the caretaker government provisions.

At a briefing at the media centre at the parliament building, Suranjit Sengupta said, 'Even if the doors for talks on caretaker government are closed, discussions can still be held on an election-time interim government.'

Suranjit insisted that the cabinet's approval of the constitution amendment bill had not closed the doors rather opened up a new avenue for discussion.

'The ruling and opposition parties together can form an interim government through discussions, even if there are no chances for talks on the caretaker government provision,' he said.

Suranjit, also a member of Awami League advisory council, accused Moudud of trying to 'mislead' the people by misinterpreting the constitution in a bid to create political instability in the country.

Law minister Shafique Ahmed on Tuesday said that the BNP still had chances to join a discussion on the issue of constitution amendment even after the cabinet's approval of the amendment bill.

Shafique made the comments at an exchange of views on the proposed power of attorney act-2011 organised by the legislative and parliamentary affairs division under the ministry of law, justice and parliamentary affairs.  

Disputing Moudud Ahmed's claims, Shafique said, 'The cabinet's approval does not mean that it has turned into a law. The bill will be placed in parliament and be sent to the standing committee and will return to parliament after scrutiny. BNP has opportunity at each of the stages for discussions.'

Moudud on Monday said that the door for talks on the caretaker issue had been closed by the cabinet's approval of the amendment bill.

The cabinet on Monday approved the special parliamentary committee's report containing 51 recommendations on the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Bill- 2011.

Shafique said the committee had prepared the recommendations after taking opinions from 'all quarters'.

He said that the opposition did not cooperate with the special committee in the process. They can give their opinions on the report in parliament, he added.

On the proposed act on power of attorney, Shafique said that it would stop illegal sales of property and land grabbing.

Source : New Age

NATO defends credibility after civilian deaths

NATO defended its air war in Libya on Tuesday, insisting it took care to avoid civilian casualties after Italy warned that its first such mistake this weekend left alliance 'credibility at risk.'

'I would suggest that our reputation and credibility is unquestionable,' said Wing Commander Mike Bracken, the mission's military spokesman.

Italy's foreign minister Franco Frattini issued the credibility warning after NATO admitted accidental civilian deaths Sunday when a malfunctioning bomb hit a Tripoli residence — an embarrassing incident for a mission aimed at protecting civilians.

'What is questionable is the Gaddafi regime's use of human shields, (and) firing missiles from mosques,' Bracken told reporters from operation headquarters in Naples, Italy.

The strike in Tripoli came after NATO voiced regret for another friendly fire incident in which it hit rebel military vehicles in Brega last week.

Bracken however rejected claims from Muammar Gaddafi's regime of further civilian deaths Monday from NATO bombs.

He said an air strike in the western Tripoli suburb of Sorman on Monday hit a legitimate military target. The regime said 15 people, including three children, had died in that bombing.

'If you look at our track record, we have taken utmost care to avoid civilian casualties and we will continue to do so,' said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu.

Frattini on Monday said: 'We cannot run the risk of killing civilians. This is not good at all.'

'NATO's credibility is at risk.'

Meanwhile, senior Libyan rebel leader Mahmud Jibril arrived in China on Tuesday as Beijing intensifies its involvement in efforts to resolve the crisis in the wartorn country, calling on the two sides to talk.

Jibril, the top foreign affairs official in the Libyan opposition's National Transitional Council, will meet with the Chinese foreign minister ,Yang Jiechi, during his two-day visit, ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

'China's immediate task is to promote peace and encourage talks,' Hong said, adding the situation in the north African state, where unrest broke out in mid-February, 'should not be left as it is anymore'.

'The Libyan crisis has lasted for four months — during this period of time, the people of Libya have suffered to the fullest extent the chaos caused by war, and infrastructure was greatly damaged,' Hong said.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, also insisted that Britain could continue its Libya operations for 'as long as is necessary', and expressed irritation at warnings from the military that it is overstretched.

In a leaked briefing paper, Air Chief Marshal Simon Bryant, the deputy head of the Royal Air Force, warned its ability to carry out future missions would be under threat if Britain's involvement in Libya extended past the summer.

Last week First Sea Lord Admiral Mark Stanhope, the head of the Royal Navy, also warned that the armed forces, slimmed down by budget cuts, would have to make tough choices if the Libyan campaign lasts more than six months.

Source : New Age

Rumana rejects allegation of infidelity

Rumana Monzur, an assistant professor of the International Relations Department in Dhaka University who was brutally tortured by her husband Hasan Syeed, denied his allegation of infidelity at a press conference on Tuesday.


‘Please, do not believe in his allegation. I am urging you to look for the truth. Ask those with whom I stayed during my days abroad,’ said Rumana, bursting into tears at the crowded press briefing organised by her family in LabAid Specialised Hospital in Dhanmondi.
The mother of five-year-old Anushe also demanded justice for her husband’s inhuman torture which has blinded her for life.
Rights activist, academics, columnists and lawyers were also present at the press conference, the first called by Rumana since her husband on June 5 beat her up mercilessly and tried to gouge out her eyes.
The gruesome incident was highlighted by the press on June 12 as the victim’s father had wanted to avoid any publicity for the sake of the family’s reputation.
Rumana, who is doing post-graduate work at the University of British Columbia in Canada, was taken to India for treatment on June 14, and Syeed was finally caught by the police on June 15 after the High Court ordered them to bring him to book.
Rumana’s father, Major (Retd) Monzur Hossain, filed a case with Dhanmondi thana on June 6 against Syeed who remained in hiding for 10 days and was later arrested from a relative’s residence in Uttar Mugda.
Syeed, after being arrested, alleged that his wife had an affair with an Iranian during her stay in Canada.
When the media raised the allegation at Tuesday’s briefing, the rights activists present shouted, ‘Shame, shame’.
Terming the allegation of ‘infidelity’ as a typical weapon of patriarchy, the attendees called upon the media not to emphasise it.
Cultural personality Sara Zaker alleged that it is unfortunate and ‘shameful’ that most men still possess the brutal mentality of beating up their wife if they suspect them of having an affair with another man.
Khushi Kabir said that the media’s publicising of the allegation of infidelity was ‘insensitive’ and it should emphasise Syeed’s brutality rather than soil the victim’s character.
Columnist Rehnuma Ahmed said that the media should be more ‘sensitised’ in addressing the issue. ‘It is Rumana who is the victim. She should not be the one who has to defend herself,’ she pointed out.
Rumana returned home last month for research work and planned to return to Canada after three months.
After being brutally mauled by her husband on June 5, Rumana underwent treatment at LabAid Specialised Hospital in Dhaka and went to Chennai in India on June 14 for better treatment of her eyes.
She returned from India on June 20 after eye specialists there found no cure for her eyes.
Rumana was examined by eye specialists both at Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai and Aravind Eye Hospital in Pondicherry.
‘Her eyes will not recover unless a miracle happens’, said Rumana’s father Monzur Hossain.
Since the news was flashed in the media, a number of human chains and demonstrations were staged at home and abroad, demanding exemplary punishment of Hasan Syeed.
Source : New Age

People’s buying power keeps rice price up: JS panel

Despite a bumper harvest rice price is not falling because of increased buying power of the people, a parliamentary standing committee observed on Tuesday.

The committee on food and disaster management ministry also blamed global market for the rising prices in Bangladesh.

At its 26th meeting the committee expressed satisfaction over the stocks and at the stable market price of food grains in the country.

It, however, asked the government to take steps to build farmers' capacity so that they could protect themselves from middlemen in getting the benefits of official food grain procurement.

The committee laid stress on the growers getting the price support from the government's food grain procurement.

It advised the ministry to increase supply of food grains in the market. 

The committee called for the allocation of food grains for relief at the beginning of the fiscal year, and at the end of it, to ensure transparency and stopping misuse of the government's relief programmes.

It also asked the government to make the people aware of disaster management by holding drills and exhibitions.

Source : New Age

Nepal risks political chaos over constitution task

Having won an extension to do in three months what it failed to manage in three years, Nepal's parliament has only deferred a crisis that threatens the Himalayan nation's fragile peace process.

Elected in 2008 after a decade of civil war between the government and Maoist insurgents, the 601-member parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was given a two-year mandate to write a new constitution.

But even after a one-year extension granted in 2010, the country's bickering political parties were unable to reach a consensus on the new charter — meant to pave the way for fresh elections and usher in a new social and political order after centuries of inequality.

Facing a constitutional crisis, political leaders agreed late last month to a further three-month extension and downgraded the task to just hammering out a first draft for the public to see.

But analysts believe the chances of producing a working document are slim, and warn that Nepal is teetering on the brink of political chaos that could permanently derail the peace process begun when the war ended in 2006.

Krishna Khanal, a political science professor at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University, believes parliament's failure to meet the new August 31 deadline could result in its collapse and a return to authoritarian rule.

'A power vacuum and a struggle for power will ensue,' he said.

Khanal envisaged a scenario where president Ram Baran Yadav, whose current role is largely ceremonial, could make a play for power.

'But I don't think his party (Nepali Congress) would back him, and in that case, the Maoists are likely to take over,' he said.

At the heart of the rift between the largest party in parliament, the Maoists, and the opposition Nepali Congress is the integration of around 19,000 Maoist combatants into the national security forces — a key part of the peace process.

In a policy paper published this month, a Kathmandu-based think-tank, Martin Chautari, said resolving the integration issue and a host of other constitutional roadblocks remained 'politically challenging.'

In the absence of any agreement on such fundamental aspects of the peace process, 'it is difficult to gauge the exact gains of the extension other than averting an immediate political crisis', the paper said.

The first extension of the Constituent Assembly in 2010 was followed by a crippling, eight-month leadership vacuum, during which lawmakers held 16 failed attempts to elect a new prime minister.

Over the entire one-year extension period, the full Constituent Assembly met just eight times for a total period of 95 minutes.

The paralysis has fuelled public anger in what is one of the world's poorest nations — all a far cry from the euphoria and optimism that followed the end of the civil war and the abolition of the unpopular monarchy.

Stunted economic growth has forced many to seek work overseas, and thousands of Nepalese have taken to the streets in recent days to protest against the lack of progress in delivering the constitution.

'There's a lot of frustration. People expect to see significant improvement. Not only the common people but the young leaders are also frustrated,' said Anagha Neelakantan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

Opinion over the strategy of the powerful Maoists is divided, with some like Neelakantan still hopeful that the former rebels remain committed to the constitutional process.

'There are differences among the parties but the Maoists are not pushing against democracy,' she said. 'The parties are not so far apart but the Maoist party is in a complex form of transformation.'

Others like Tilak Pathak, a political writer for Nagarik newspaper, argue that the Maoist participation in parliament is largely cosmetic and aimed at consolidating an urban power base.

'The Maoists may seem accommodating but they haven't given up the communist model. They might propose a parliamentary election with their combatants intact,' Pathak said.

'The differences between these parties have become sharper. The Nepalese people may never get a secular and inclusive constitution because the politicians think they will gain by prolonging the transition,' he warned.

Source : New Age

Rape victim succumbs to burn injuries

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/23419.htmlA young housewife, who was raped and set on fire by goons in a remote Noakhali village on June 12, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Tuesday, eight days after fighting a grim battle for life.

The victim, Nurjahan Begum, 22, mother of two children, was admitted to the burn and plastic surgery unit at DMCH in a critical condition on June 15 and died at about 1:20am on Tuesday, the hospital sources said.

Her family said that the alleged rapists Omar and Faruk, and the former's mother Rokeya Begum, went to her house at village Dhakkhin Masumpur on the night of June 12 and set her alight after she had approached a village arbitration with her complaint.

'Omar and his mother surrendered to a Noakhali court on Sunday and the court granted a three-day remand each for them,' the case investigation officer, subinspector Mehdi Hasan, told New Age on Tuesday.

Family members said that Omar and Faruk, neighbours of the victim, had sneaked into her room after she went to toilet early June 11 and raped her in front of her terrified children.

Her husband was away at Chittagong when the incident took place. After the victim went to a village-arbitration with the complaint, Omar, Faruk and Rokeya Begum went to her house at about 8:00pm on June 12, doused her with petrol and set her alight.

Jamshed Hossain, the victim's husband and driver of a CNG-run three-wheeler in Chittagong, said no human rights organisations or legal aid providers had come forward with assistance as yet.

Her family appealed to the government to bring the perpetrators of the crime to book.

Rights watchdog Odhikar reported 1,242 cases of rape in January 2009-May 2011.

Source : New Age

Dhaka ranks 25th in ‘failed states’ index

Bangladesh ranked 25th in this year's Failed States Index prepared jointly by the Washington-based bimonthly magazine Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, an independent research and educational organisation.

Bangladesh, which held 24th position in the annual ranking of the world's most vulnerable states in 2010, moved one point down the ranks this year suggesting improvement in its performance on a battery of indicators.

African country Somalia retained the top spot on the Failed States Index for the fourth year in a row with 113.4 score while, Pakistan is at number 12, Myanmar is at 18, Nepal at 27, Sri Lanka at 29  Bhutan at 50 and India at 76.

Other countries among the top 10 are Chad, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Iraq.

The findings were made available on the Foreign Policy web site on Tuesday.

Bangladesh scored 94.4 in the FSI rankings that analysed 177 countries using 12 social, economic and political indicators of pressure on the state, along with over 100 sub-indicators including such issues as uneven development, state legitimacy, group grievance and human rights. Each indicator is rated on a scale of 1-10, based on the analysis of millions of publicly available documents, other quantitative data, and assessments by analysts.

A high score indicates high pressure on the state, and therefore a higher risk of instability.

About Bangladesh, the Foreign Policy web site said, 'It is perhaps a measure of progress that instability in Bangladesh so far in 2011 has been the product of a turbulent stock market. Not so long ago, the idea that international investors would come to Bangladesh…would have seemed preposterous. But in recent years, investors have poured their money into Bangladeshi stocks. Fears that banks and other big investors might pull out triggered mass protests across the country… several times this year.

Despite the frequent shocks, Bangladesh's macro-economy still looks strong and the government promised in May that it would see the best growth in decades, it said.

'Bangladesh will need years of similar growth to transcend its years of stagnation: Two out of five Bangladeshis live under the poverty line. Any improvements will also be fighting the environmental clock. If sea levels rise just by 1 metre, scientists warn, 17 percent of the country could be submerged,' the Foreign Policy said.

Since 2005, the index has been published annually by the Fund for Peace and the Foreign Policy magazine.

Ken Brill, president of The Fund for Peace, characterised the FSI rankings as providing a quick snapshot of how well states were coping with the variety of pressures with which they must contend.

He said that pressures on governments ripple across economic, political and social indicators; sometimes necessary steps taken to address one indicator adversely affect another.

The FSI 2011 will be formally launched on June 29 in Washington.

The Fund for Peace is an independent research and educational organisation based in Washington, and Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970.

Source : New Age

BNP vows to ‘thwart’ move to amend constitution

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday vowed to 'thwart' the government's move to 'unilaterally' amend the constitution scrapping the caretaker government system.

An emergency meeting of the party's highest policy making body, the national standing committee, on Tuesday night, opposed most of the changes the cabinet had approved on Monday for amendment to the constitution.

The people cannot accept the changes, including scrapping of the caretaker government system and deletion of the words 'Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah shall be the basis of all actions', the meeting resolved.

It also termed 'undemocratic' the proposed provision barring any amendment to a number of parts, articles and provisions of the constitution.

 The meeting also said that the government had closed the doors for resolution of the crisis through discussions by approving the proposed amendments to the constitution.

The approval proved that the government's proposal for discussions aimed to 'confuse' the people, the meeting said.

The meeting followed the cabinet's approval of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Bill that proposed sweeping changes to the constitution, including scrapping of the caretaker government system.

The BNP and its allies have been opposing the move and enforced two countrywide general strikes in protest.

With BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, also the leader of the opposition, in the chair, the meeting was attended by RA Gani, Moudud Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, MK Anwar, Nazrul Islam Khan, Hannan Shah, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Rafiqul Islam Mia and Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Source : New Age

BNP says no to EC invitation

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday turned down the Election Commission's invitation for dialogue, branding the EC 'controversial' and accusing it of indulging in 'biased and motivated' acts.

'The present commission has lost the people's confidence for its weak and partisan attitude. Discussion with such a commission on electoral matters will be of no benefit because it won't ensure the holding of fair elections,' said the letter signed by BNP's acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

The BNP said that all the initiatives that the EC has taken since its formation, including registration of political parties, were biased and motivated.

The country's main opposition party said the EC's activities during the regime of the past interim government were carried out at its instruction and were aimed to uproot the BNP and make another party win the polls.

'This controversial commission, at the fag end of its tenure, should not take initiatives to reform and update electoral rules. The job should be left for the next commission,' observed BNP in the letter which was taken to the EC by one of the party's assistant office secretaries.

The tenure of the incumbent commission, formed during the regime of the military-controlled interim government, will expire in February 2012.

The EC has already held talks with several registered political parties to elicit their opinions on further amendment of the electoral laws, and issues like funding of polls expenditure by the state, introduction of e-voting, formulation of rules on demarcation of constituencies and the procedure of appointment of election commissioners.

Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told newsmen said they would respond to the BNP's letter afterwards.

On June 13 the BNP did not participate in the dialogue with the EC, which later invited the party again to the talks on any day between June 19 and June 21.

BNP's chairperson Khaleda Zia, at a news conference on June 16, rejected the invitation, alleging that the incumbent commission was not impartial.

'BNP's decision [not to join the dialogue] is sad. The Election Commission has nothing to do if anyone does not come,' Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters on Monday.

Source : New Age

44 killed in Russia plane crash

A passenger jet slammed into the ground and caught fire while trying to land on a foggy night in northwestern Russia, killing 44 people and leaving eight survivors badly hurt, officials said on Tuesday.

Authorities quickly blamed the pilot for the deadliest crash in Russia since Polish president Lech Kaczyski's plane went down in April 2010, saying he had apparently tried to land despite bad weather and poor visibility.

The Tupolev-134, with 43 passengers and nine crew, crashed on a roadside 700 meters short of the runway at the Besovets airport outside the northern city of Petrozavodsk at 11:40pm local time on Monday.

'The preliminary information is that 44 people were killed,' emergency situations ministry spokeswoman Irina Andriyanova said. 'Eight people were injured and seven of them are in a very serious condition.'

The plane veered off course while coming in to land and controllers ordered the pilot to circle again, but it hit a power line, briefly blacking out the runway lights, Itar-Tass news agency cited a local emergency official as saying.

The plane scraped the treetops and hit a motorway near the airport, breaking into pieces. Photos and video footage showed flames shooting from the wreckage, body parts lying on the road and the plane's wheels lying upside down by the roadside.

'I managed to take a woman or a girl out of there, she was light,' news web site www.lifenews.ru quoted a witness as saying. He said he and his father had removed several more people before the plane blew up.

'I didn't have time to do anything else, it all started to explode,' he said. 'Everything caught fire, there was no way to get close.'

The deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, who oversees Russia's aviation industry, said pilot error was the most likely cause.

'From the initial external data the pilot's mistake is clear,' Ivanov said in Paris.

'In bad weather conditions he veered to the right of the runway and in foggy conditions searched for the runway visually until the last minute, did not find it, and what happened,' Ivanov said.

The plane hit a car on the road, dragging it under the fuselage, Itar-Tass reported. It was unclear how many people were in the car.

Www.lifenews.ru, which posted a full list of passengers, said a 10-year-old boy named Anton had survived the crash but had an open hip wound and had lost a lot of blood. His 14-year-old sister was also injured and in hospital.

The passengers included two Ukrainians, a Swede, a Dutch national and four people with both Russian and US citizenship, the emergency situations ministry said. Germany's foreign office said a man with German-Russian dual citizenship was killed.

The president, Dmitry Medvedev, offered his condolences to victims' relatives and ordered authorities to aid survivors, the Kremlin said. The prime minister, Vladimir Putin, also offered his condolences, the government website said.

A video made by a witness on her mobile phone and broadcast on state-run Rossiya-24 television showed flames soaring from the wreckage into the night sky near where the plane crashed, in the region of Kareliya 700 km northwest of Moscow.

Lifenews quoted a traffic controller at the airport, Sergei Shmatkov, as saying the pilot rejected his advice to circle again. The pilot reported passing a marker 6,600 meters from the runway, but the plane disappeared from Shmatkov's radar screen and never came into view, he said.

In April last year, Polish President Kaczynski's official Tupolev Tu-154 plane crashed near Smolensk airport in western Russia when it missed the runway in dense fog after the pilot rejected controllers' advise to land elsewhere.

All 96 people on board died including Kaczynski, his wife and a large number of senior officials. A Russian investigation blamed the crash on pilot error.

The Tu-134 plane that crashed on Monday was operated by the private company RusAir and was travelling from Moscow's Domodedovo airport. RusAir, which specializes in charter flights, declined immediate comment.

Source : New Age

Democratic space, fight against graft crucial for dev

Democratic space and fight against corruption are essential to harness the huge development potential of Bangladesh, European Union and Germany said Tuesday.  

Bangladesh is a new democracy where the government and the opposition should keep space open for talks, European Union commissioner for development Andris Piebalg said at a joint press conference with German minister for economic cooperation and development Dirk Niebel in Dhaka.

Democratic space is crucial for maintaining economic growth and development, Andris Piebalg said.

German minister Dirk Niebel laid stress on fighting corruption to reach benefit of development to the poor.

He said civil society was a partner of politicians for development of the country. 

'They [civil society] are better part of politicians,' he said.

Describing Bangladesh as a stable country in the region, they said the EU and Germany were working for building a longer term strategy to help Bangladesh to become a middle-income country.

The two visiting European dignitaries came up with their views after a meeting behind closed doors with a select group of representatives of non-government organisations and media.

Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, executive director of Centre for Mass Education in Science, told New Age that the EU and German ministers wanted to know the conditions in which the civil society organisations were working in Bangladesh.

They also wanted to know about human rights and governance situation here, he said. 

'Most of the members of the civil society said the scope of their work should be wider. Their works should not be undermined,'said Ibrahim, a teacher of physics at Dhaka University.

The Daily Star editor, Mahfuz Anam, said the government could not accommodate dissenting voices.

He said the people had expected a lot from the government as it had come to power with a huge majority.  However, frustration brewed as many promises were not fulfilled, he added.

Boishakhi Television's chief editor and chief executive officer Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul said the government had enacted Right to Information Act, but the people could not get its benefit as the government and non-government organisations could not provide necessary manpower.

Most of the civil society organisations could not function properly as they were over politicised, he said.

Most of the representatives of the civil society organisations said 'democratic scope' was shrinking in Bangladesh, where custodial killing, disappearance of people and repression on leaders and activists of opposition political parties had become common incidents, a representative of a rights organisation told New Age.

They said judiciary had become an 'extension of the executive branch' and Anti-Corruption Commission had been weakened.

Source : New Age

Ministers’ absence from JS budget discussion criticised

Awami League lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta on Tuesday strongly criticised the ministers, including the finance minister, for remaining absent in the parliament during discussions on the budget proposal for the 2011–2012 financial year.

The speaker, a ruling party whip and the only independent lawmaker supported Suranjit when he raised the issue. The chief whip and the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, however, defended the ministers.

Suranjit took the floor on a point of order and calling the speaker's attention said that none of the ministers but the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was present in the parliament during discussions after the interval of the maghrib prayers.

'It is disheartening for us that we are talking the budget but the finance minister and his other cabinet colleagues are absent,' Suranjit said.

He said that the finance minister was absent, the planning minister was absent and even not a single cabinet member was there.

When he was saying this, the home minister entered the parliament followed by the finance minister and some others.

The speaker, Abdul Hamid, agreed with Suranjit's observation and said that 80 per cent of the ministers were absent although all of them should have been present.

'I think that it is a must that at least a half of the ministers should be present in parliament,' he said adding that the ministers might have some other duties but most of them should be present.

He said that the presence of the ministers encourage the lawmakers when they speak about different ministries.

Hamid said that two finance ministry officials were in the parliament and he had arranged their seating in the gallery so that they could take note of necessary points but they could not be seen at the time.

After the speaker had spoken, whip ASM Firoz took the floor and supported what the speaker had said. But he said that the ministers were in the parliament and were listening to the discussions sitting in their rooms. 'I hope they will be in the house from now on.'

The independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim then took the floor and said that he disagreed with the practice of listening to discussions staying in the rooms and demanded that the ministers should be present in the session in person.

'I expect your [speaker's] ruling that the minister should be present in the session as the session begins after office hours,' he said.

The chief whip, Abdus Shahid, however, defended the ministers, saying that they took notes as they listened to the discussions sitting in their rooms and that the issue should not be discussed there.

The finance minister said that he had attended the session to listen to the discussion every day and stayed for a long time although sometimes he had been late.

'I was late sometimes but the reason for my delayed presence is the budget and the lawmakers,' Muhith said adding that the lawmakers visited them to discuss the budget which caused the delay.

Source : New Age

4 more killed in UP polls violence

Four more were killed in Mymensingh, Chandpur, Chuadanga and Jamalpur on Tuesday and Monday night in polls-related violence, raising the number of people killed during the ongoing second phase of the Union Parishad elections to 21.

The elections to 133 UPs were held on Tuesday amidst stray clashes, leaving at least 150 injured. Polls to 147 unions are scheduled to be held today.

The elections, which have been marred by clashes, intimidation and snatching of ballot boxes, began on May 31 and will continue till July 5.

According to the UNB, a man who was shot in a clash with the police on Sunday died at Gouripur Hospital in Daudkandi on Tuesday.

The deceased was identified as Abdus Sobhan, 34, nephew of defeated chairman candidate Abul Hossain of Nayergaon South Union of South Matlab upazila of Chandpur, and son of Abu Zafar of Juranpur village of Daudkandi upazila in Comilla.

Abu Yousuf, 25, of Ashwinpur village of North Nayergaon union of Matlab South died on the spot after being hit by a stray bullet.

Besides, two policemen, three Ansar members and five other people were severely injured. They are receiving treatment at various hospitals.

In Chuadanga a BNP-backed member candidate at Hauli union in Damurhuda upazila was killed in an attack, allegedly by his rivals, during polling on Tuesday.

The deceased was identified as Nazrul Islam Nazu, 38. He was also the member of No 2 ward and president of the BNP ward unit.

His wife Mini Khatun claimed that supporters of rival candidate Asgar Ali asked Nazu to leave the area when her husband went to visit a polling centre in the Youth Club at 11am.

When he ignored their order, they beat him to death, said Mini.

However, in spite of the incident, voting at the centre went on smoothly, apparently due to prompt action taken by local officials.

In Mymensingh, a defeated UP chairman candidate of Rampur UP in Phulpur upazila was fatally stabbed to death by supporters of his opponent, and died in Mymensingh Medical

College Hospital on Tuesday.

Reazuddin Dulal, joint secretary of the Juba League unit in Tarakandi, was defeated in the UP election held on June 2. Supporters of his opponent Nazirul Haq Talukdar, also defeated in the election, hacked him with sharp weapons when he was returning home from Kashiganj bazaar on June 15 evening.

Fatally wounded, he was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital where he died on Tuesday.

The New Age correspondent in Jamalpur reported that a man was killed in Islampur upazila on Monday night.

The victim was identified as Mofazzal Hossain alias Bucha Munshi, 60, of village Degreer Char Khalifa Para at Charputimary union in Islampur upazila.

According to the police, Bucha Munsi, cousin of defeated chairman candidate Shahid Kazi, came under the attack by supporters of Md Alim, another defeated candidate, while going home. They stabbed his chest and he died on the spot. Police recovered the body and sent it to Jamalpur General Hospital's morgue for autopsy.

Our correspondent in Pabna reported that at least 50 people were injured in separate clashes in Sujanagar upazila of Pabna on Monday night. Of them, 17 were admitted to the Sujanagar Upazila Health Complex.

 There were clashes between the defeated candidates at Udoypur village under Nazirpur union, Fakirpur and Momrajpur village under Satbaria union of the upazila on Monday night.

 In Fakirpur village the men of defeated member candidate Abdul Kuddus attacked the residence of rebel candidate Abdul Baten at about 10.00pm and wounded 10 people. Of them member candidate Abdul Baten, his wife Monwara Khatun, daughter Shukhi Khatun and neighbour Nasir Uddin were admitted to Sujnagara Upazila Health Complex in a critical condition.

 At about 10pm on Monday the supporters of defeated member candidate Rafik Mondol attacked the voters in the village and injured 10 people. Of them Shipul Ahmed, 28, Kayum Mollah, 40, and Ashrafun Khatun, 25, were admitted to the upazila health complex.

The New Age correspondent in Narsingdi reported that at least 50 people were injured in a clash between two rival groups in Amirabad and Sonkanda villages in Raipura upazila on Tuesday.

Police said that about 500 people led by Morshed member attacked Majnu Miah and Apan and some 4 other supporters of UP chairman Abdul Haque Sarkar in Sonakanda village.

Source : New Age

Ex-SC judges can hold offices, appear in AD

The Appellate Division on Tuesday ordered retention of the constitutional provisions allowing former Supreme Court judges to hold judicial or quasi–judicial offices and former High Court judges to appear in the Appellate Division.

The seven-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Justice SK Sinha, ordered retention of the provisions, incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the constitution which had earlier been declared void by the highest court, till December 31, 2012 to enable parliament to make necessary amendments to the constitution.

With Tuesday order, all the changes made to the constitution as regards the judiciary and the judges by the Fifth Amendment through martial law proclamations have been retained by the Supreme Court.

The government, however, on Monday approved a bill seeking amendment to the constitution and the bill proposed retention of Article 99(1) and (2).

The court passed the order after hearing a government petition for modification of its May 11 ruling which had ordered retention of some provisions, including the Supreme Court's authority over the subordinate judiciary and Bangladeshi citizenship, made by the Fifth Amendment to the constitution, until December 31, 2012.

Moving the government petition, attorney general Mahbubey Alam sought retention of Article 99(2) to allow retired High Court judges to appear in the Appellate Division.

The court, however, asked him to seek retention of Article 99(1) that stipulated provisions for holding judicial or quasi-judicial offices in the service of the republic by the former (be retired or removed) Supreme Court judges.    

The provisions made by the Fifth Amendment through martial law proclamations 'are hereby provisionally condoned until December 31, 2012 in order to avoid disastrous consequences to the body politic for enabling the parliament to make necessary amendments to the constitution and also for enacting laws promulgated during the aforesaid period,' the court said.

Earlier on May 11, the Appellate Division ordered retention of Article 6 dealing with Bangladeshi citizenship, Article 44 guaranteeing the right to move the High Court for the enforcement of the fundamental rights and Article 102 that had restored authority to the High Court to pass necessary orders to enforce fundamental rights, Article 96 making provisions for the Supreme Judicial Council for removal of judges and holders of constitutional offices and repealed Part VI-A of the constitution, which was added by the Fourth Amendment making provisions for forming a 'National Party' as the lone political party in the country, will also be retained, the court ordered.

Source : New Age