South Asia literary confce begins today

A three-day conference on 'South Asian Contemporary Literature' will begin at Bangla Academy in Dhaka today.

The Bangla Academy has organised the first conference of this kind to highlight literature of this region of the world, encourage creation of life-oriented literature and flourishing democratic spirit in literary works, said director general Shamsuzzaman Khan at a press conference at the academy on Saturday.

The finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith will inaugurate the conference as the chief guest at the seminar room of the academy at 10:00am.

The information and cultural affairs minister, Abul Kalam Azad, and the state minister for cultural affairs, Promad Mankin, will attend the function as special guests.

Shamsuzzaman Khan said Bangla Academy had organised a national literary conference in 1974, which was inaugurated by late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

In his address as the chief guest, 'Bangabandhu' had stressed the need for creation of pro-people and progressive literature, Shamsu-

zzaman said, adding Bangla Academy has organised the first international literary conference in the light of Bangabandhu's guidelines.

Bangla Academy director Abdul Hai and deputy director Murshid Anwar were present at the press conference.

The Bangla Academy director general said eminent writers from four to five countries will join the conference.

Poet Muhammad Nurul Huda will present the keynote paper in the inaugural ceremony on the first day. Bangla Academy chairman Kabir Chowdhury will preside over the function.

Guest artists John Thrope and Papiya Sarwar will render Tagore songs while Khairul Anam Shakil will present Nazrul song in the inaugural ceremony.

Dr Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Mohammad Jamir, John Thrope and Mafi Ahmed will take part in the discussions in the first day seminar titled 'International Significance of Bengal's Cultural Heritage Today'. Justice Habibur Rahman will be in the chair.

Source : New Age

Special courts demanded for dealing with drug related offences

The government should make the needed rules and regulations to ensure transparent enforcement of the drugs control ordinance in the interest of consumer safety, rights activists demanded on Saturday.


They told a workshop that in the absence of printed rules and regulations vested quarters and influential elements interpret and enforce the law according to their convenience.
They called it regrettable that no rules or regulations were made since the ordinance was promulgated in 1982.
Thy said that the rules and regulations should be available to all users so that the vested quarters could no more interpret the law to suit their convenience.
They were speaking at the workshop on 'Health Security of People: Control and Use of Drugs and  Mass Awareness' organised by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Service Trust at Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management in the city.
They called for setting up of drug courts led by magistrates under the drug administration for trying all drug related offences including deaths caused by spurious or substandard medicines.
Selim Azad Chowdhury, president of BLAST's project on consumer safety and public accountability in Bangladesh relating to drug regulatory affairs said that the government's health policy should require all hospitals and drug stores to have pharmacists.
He said that new drugs have to be sent abroad for testing due to inadequacies at the the countries backdated drug testing laboratories.  He said that it makes the exercise very expensive and time consuming.
Chowdhury said that legal action should be taken against approximately two lakh drug stores operating in the country without drug licences.
Former vice chancellor of Gono Bishwabidyalay Kashem Chowdhury said medicine cannot be treated as a commodity.
He said that as the patients have to buy medicines prescribed by physicians, the government should fix the price of medicines available in the market.
He said that except for 117 essential drugs, medicine price is fixed at the sweet will of pharmaceutical companies and not under the principles of open market policy.
Health service director general Khandaker M Shefayetullah said that the government can by improving the management of its hospitals meet 96 per cent requirement of medicines of the patients.
He also said that the finance ministry remains unconvinced about the performance of the health ministry as each year it cannot utilise a large portion of the fund allocated to it in the national budget.
To ensure quality treatment, Shefayetullah said that the doctors should write detailed instruction in Bangla in the prescription.
He also advised the doctors to prescribe common and available medicines to their patients.
Among others, prime minister's adviser for health Syed Modasser Ali and BMA secretary general Sharfuddin Ahmed attended the session.
Source : New Age

BNP to resist holding of polls without CG

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party's acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, on Saturday said that the people of Bangladesh would resist the government's move to hold the next general elections under a political government.

Alamgir made the above statement at the party's central office in Naya Paltan when the newsmen asked him to express his party's instant reaction to the placing of the Constitution Amendment Bill at the Jatiya Sangsad.

Law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister Shafique Ahmed placed the Bill with proposals for scrapping the election-time caretaker government system and considering the unconstitutional capture of state power to be treason.

The Bill, which also included proposals of the parliamentary special committee on constitutional amendments, was placed before the House from which the BNP has been absent for a long time.

'The way the government is going ahead with its plan to scrap the caretaker government provision, ignoring the popular demand for it, shows that it does not have any shame,' said Alamgir. 'The Awami League is planning to hold the next general election under its own government. We will strongly protest against this ill-motivated move.'

'We have repeatedly said that we do not accept the move for holding elections under a political government, and the people of Bangladesh as well will not accept general elections if they are not held under a caretaker government,' he said. 'The people of the country will resist such an ill-motivated move.'

The BNP spokesperson said that after June 28 his party would announce tougher agitation programmes against the government's attempt to scrap the caretaker government provision in a 'bid to hold the next polls under the ruling AL's minions'.

Later, at a pre-procession rally in front of the party's office, Alamgir warned the government against taking any unilateral step. 'It will do no good to the nation and AL itself as well.'

BNP's Dhaka city unit organised the procession to mark one year of the abduction of its leader Chowdhury Alam.

Alamgir, speaking on the occasion, asked the government to find out the whereabouts of Chowdhury Alam within one day.

'Trace Chowdhury Alam in the next 24 hours, otherwise you [government] will be held responsible for abducting him,' said Alamgir.

Chowdhury Alam was abducted by a group of unidentified men on June 25 last year.

Painting a gloomy picture of the country's deteriorating law and order situation, Alamgir alleged that the 'repressive' Awami League-led government has turned the country into a 'valley of death'.

Source : New Age

Nat’l committee drumming up support for hartal

The member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, Anu Muhammad, on Saturday reiterated that the deal signed with US company ConocoPhillips for gas extraction is contrary to the national interest.

Terming the deal signed on June 16 as inequitable, Anu said the foreign company would be benefited in many ways by the provision that allows export of gas and the country would be the loser.

He was addressing a rally staged after formation of a human chain in front of the National Press Club by the Bangladesh Juba Maitri, the youth front of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, in support of the half-day hartal called by the national committee in Dhaka on July 3 to underscore its demand for cancellation of the deal.

The rally was addressed by the Workers Party's central leaders Mozammel Haque Tara and Ragib Ahsan Munna, and Juba Maitri's general secretary Mostafa Alamgir Ratan, along with others.

The rally was followed by a procession that traversed various roads of the capital.

The national committee staged a rally in front of the Bahadur Shah Park, where the leaders said that the energy ministry has become a den of the corruption.

They called on the government to free the ministry from the corrupt officials.

Chaired by committee leader Abu Bakar Ripon, the rally was addressed by Abdus Sattar, Khan Asaduzzaman Masum and Taimur Khan, along with others.

The rally was followed by a march to Chawk Bazaar in Old Dhaka.

The national committee also staged a separate march from Mirpur-10 to Kafrul and distributed leaflets to drum up support for the hartal.

The general secretary of the Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, Saiful Huq, said that the Awami League-led government has signed the deal hurriedly, bypassing the Parliament. He called on the government to scrap the deal immediately.

The Dhaka city unit of the party organised the rally in front of the Press Club to drum up support for the hartal.

Chaired by convener of the city unit Mofazzal Hossain Moshtak, the rally was addressed by the party's central leaders Bannishikha Jamali and Abdus Salam, and also others. The rally was followed by a procession.

The Jatiya Multi Council and two other left-leaning parties also staged a rally in front of BMSSU in Shahbagh in support of the hartal called by the national committee.

Ganamancha's convener Masud Khan and Mukti Council's leader Minhaz Ahmed spoke at the rally.

Source : New Age

3 killed in Ctg road accident

Three people were killed in a road accident on the Dhaka–Chittagong Highway at Dhumghat of Mirsarai in Chittagong on Saturday.


The deceased were Kazi Badrunnesa Zimni, 32, of Ambagan at Ramna in Dhaka, her domestic help Khodeja Begum, 12, and Jamal Hossain, 25, the driver of the car that was carrying them.
The police and local sources said that the accident had taken place about 6:00am when a Chittagong-bound car collided head-on with a truck.
'Two of the car passengers and the driver died on
the spot,' said Habibur Rahman, assistant subinspector of the Highway Police outpost.
He also said that Harun-ur-Rashid, husband of Badrunnesa, who was critically wounded, was being treated in Chittagong Medical College Hospital
Source : New Age

Jahanara Imam’s death anniv today

The 17th anniversary of death of Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam, a towering personality who spearheaded the campaign for implementation of the spirit of the War of Liberation, will be observed today.

Jahanara Imam, who united the nation for trial of the war criminals, remains as an eternal source of inspiration for her patriotism, devotion, sacrifice and struggle.

Jahanara Imam died of cancer at the age of 65 in a Michigan hospital in the USA on June 26, 1994. She was born on May 3, 1929.

Marking her death anniversary the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in a message recalled the role of Jahanara Imam, mother of 1971 martyr Rumi, in inspiring her valiant son and his fellow freedom fighter friends in various ways during the liberation war.

Different social, cultural and political organizations have chalked out elaborate programmes to recall the memory and contribution of the legendary lady to the nation.

Shafi Imam Rumi, son of Jahanara Imam, participated in the War of Liberation in 1971 ignoring opportunity of engineering study in the USA and embraced martyrdom for the sake of freeing the beloved motherland from the occupation forces.

Jahanara Imam waged movement when Golam Azam was made the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.

Despite her long illness with throat cancer, she managed to lead the movement and constituted 'Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee' which staged 'Gono Adalat' (peoples' court) for holding trial of the war criminals.

Source : New Age

BRRI to sell farm machinery at 60pc subsidised price

The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute in a project planning workshop on Saturday announced that it would start selling farm machinery soon to farmers at a 60 per cent subsidised price in 20 upazilas of 10 districts under a three-year project being implemented by it.

The BRRI organised the workshop at its auditorium in Gazipur.

BRRI officials said it was for the first time that such a highly subsidised farm machinery marketing project had been undertaken in the country to empower the farmers by encouraging them to buy and utilise different equipments.

They said farm equipments like reapers, threshers, winnowers, urea super granule fertiliser applicators, and weeders had already been procured for selling them to farmers at 60 per cent subsidised prices under the project 'Farm Machinery Technology Development and Dissemination'. The BRRI has been implementing the project from last year.

The officials said a rehabilitation committee in each of the 20 upazilas would select the farmers to whom the equipments would be sold. The upazilas are in Gazipur, Gaibandha, Joypurhat, Rajshahi, Natore, Chapainawabganj, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Chandpur, and Noakhali districts.

Referring to the estimate made by a related study, they said farmers could earn an additional benefit of around Tk 7,000 per hectare on an average by using the machinery.

Scientists and other officials of the BRRI and representatives from different government and non-governmental organisations took part in the workshop chaired by BRRI director (research) Md Khairul Bashar.

BRRI director general Md Abdul Mannan and director (administration) Md Syedul Islam and agriculture ministry joint chief (planning) Nakib Bin Mahbub, among others, also spoke in the inaugural session of the workshop.

Source : New Age

BGB, drugs smugglers clash

A clash between members of Border Guards Bangladesh and smugglers left five people injured at frontier village Gazipur in Satkhira Sadar upazila on Saturday.

BGB recovered 207 bottles phensidyl in abandoned condition from the spot after the clash.

Battalion Commander of Satkhira 41 BGB Lieutenant Colonel Enayet Karim told the news agency that a gang of 40 smugglers sneaked into Bangladesh with contraband drugs through a desolate place between Main Pillar No 4 and 5 at the village Friday late night.

A BGB patrol team challenged them and the gangsters, equipped with lethal weapons swooped on the border guards triggering a clash that lasted for half an hour.

The gangsters encircled the BGB team and hurled bricks at the border guards. They also attacked them with sharp weapons and sticks.  Heavily outnumbered BGB fired six rounds in self defense and scare the attackers away.

At one stage the smugglers fled the spot leaving 207 bottles phensidyl behind.

Source : New Age

Dhaka expects breakthroughs during Manmohan’s visit this year

The government is expecting a breakthrough on the sharing of Teesta River's waters and settlement of land disputes during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka this year, said foreign affairs secretary Mohammed Mijarul Quayes on Saturday.

'We are expecting some landmark happenings during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later this year,' he said at a press briefing in the foreign affairs ministry.

The government was 'optimistic' about the resolution of various issues including sharing of Teesta's waters, land disputes at un-demarcated borders and the expediting of projects taken under the line of credit with India, he said. 'We are optimistic.'

The visit will take place well before the end of this year, said the secretary.

When asked about the concerns of the people in bordering districts on the joint boundary survey by India and Bangladesh, he said the Joint Boundary Working Group was conducting a physical survey for settling disputes on adversely possessed lands and enclaves as per the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement.

The surveys are preparatory exercises to know the actual situation on the ground before making decisions, he said. 'Maps must reflect the ground realities.'

The two governments will go for a headcount of the people in the enclaves on both sides of the border, he said.

Replying to a question by New Age on the people's concern about losing their lands to India, the secretary said, 'There is the probability of some changes in the borders and ownership of lands.'

The government 'is giving importance to the human dimension of settling the disputes on the adversely possessed lands and enclaves',' he said.

Quayes said that the visits of three Indian ministers for preparing the ground before Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka are on the cards.

Indian external affairs minister SM Krishnan is due for a three-day official visit on July 6. Home affairs minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and water resources minister Salman Khurshid will also come to Dhaka before the Indian PM's visit.

'These visits will contribute to the final outcome of Indian prime minister's visit,' said the secretary.

When asked about Indian Congress president Sonia Gandhi's proposed visit to Dhaka, he said the two governments were discussing the details of her visit.

Sonia Gandhi is expected to visit Dhaka on the last week of July.

She will join a programme on child autism organized by the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, said Quayes.

Additional foreign affairs secretary Mustafa Kamal and directors general M Sufiur Rahman, Monirul Islam and M Shameem Ahsan were present at the briefing.

Source : New Age

Attack on Limon torture protest condemned

Academics, rights activists and other professionals on Saturday condemned the attack on Friday afternoon by unnamed goons on demonstrations organised in Dhaka in protest at 'state-sponsored terrorism' against Limon Hossain.

In a joint statement, they also demanded immediate, exemplary punishment of the attackers.

They said that it was the democratic rights of any citizens to protest at any oppression by any quarters in the country.

The signatories to the statement included, among others, rights activist and former Jahangirnagar University teacher Rahnuma Ahmed, Dhaka University teachers Akmol Hossain, Jobaida Nasrin, Amena Mohsin and Gitiara Nasrin, Rajshahi University teachers Selim Reza Newton and Abdullah Al Mamun, Jahangirnagar University teachers Anu Muhammad and Mozammel Haque, Human Rights activists Hamida Hossain and Supreme Court lawyer Sara Hossain.

Goons attacked the demonstrations, where a street play was being staged, in front of the National Museum on Friday afternoon in protest against the shooting of Limon Hossain by the Rapid Action Battalion which resulted in the amputation of one of Limon's legs.

A group of young people attacked the demonstrations when the Aranyak Natyadal was stating the street play Khekshiyal (jackals) about 4:30pm.

The group attacked the stage, threw away the public address system and props and many of the spectators initially thought it was an action of the play, they said.

The people chased and captured one of the attackers as they were fleeing, said Ariful Islam, a student activist.

The police promptly arrived at the place and rescued the young man and took him away, he added.

There was no police deployment during the demonstrations which took place just 50 yards off the Shahbagh police station.

A civic forum called Sangkshubdha Nagarik Samaj has been organising demonstrations, including human chains and cultural programmes, every Friday since June 3 to protest at 'state-sponsored terrorism' against Limon.

The Rapid Action Battalion shot at Limon Hossain in the leg on March 23 in Jhalakati, less than a fortnight before his higher secondary certificate examinations were to begin.

Source : New Age

DU classes resume today

Classes at Dhaka University will resume today after a month long summer vacation.

Meanwhile, examinations under different departments as per earlier schedule were held during the vacation.

Source : New Age

Baby girl dies, mother injured

A baby girl died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital and her mother fell sick after she had reportedly tried to kill herself and her daughter in a house at Gulshan in Dhaka on Saturday.

The body of Suraiya, three years and a half old, was kept in the hospital mortuary while her mother Hamida Begum, 27, was being treated, hospital sources said.

Hamida worked as a domestic help in the house of customs officer Shahjahan at Gulshan.

The Gulshan police, quoting the employer's daughter Fatema Meem said that she had found both of them lying unconscious on the floor in the house about 8:30pm.

A long scarf was tied to their throats, the police said quoting Fatema.

Source : New Age

Girl commits suicide at RU

A female student of Rajshahi University committed suicide by jumping into a pond inside her hall of residence on the campus on Friday night.

The diseased was Umme Habiba Mimi, a second-year student of marketing and resident of Taposhi Rabeya Hall.

Her roommates on Saturday told New Age that she had been depressed after breaking up with her boy friend.

She went out with her boy friend on Friday afternoon and returned dejected to the hall about 8:00pm, they added.

She went out of her room about 10:00pm and jumped into the pond inside the hall, they said.

Some of her friends later rescued and sent her to the university medical centre. She was sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, as her condition deteriorated, where she was pronounced dead.

The Motijhar police officer-in-charge, Akbar Ali, told New Age that an unnatural death case had been filed. The body was sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

The event took to six suicide attempts on the campus in which two survived.

Nishat Farhat Tumpa, a first-year student of fine arts and border of the Paragon Female Students' Dormitory at Hetem Khan in the city, committed suicide on March 28.

Ashiqur Rahman, a master's student of accounting and information, was admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on March 15 after he had tried to burn himself.

He set himself on fire after pouring kerosene on the roof of Rabindra Bhaban. His friends said that he was having trouble with her girl friend.

Kabita Rani, a physics student, was having a hard time with her boy friend, committed suicide on March 10, her friends said.

The same day, a fourth-year student of philosophy tried to commit suicide by taking overdose of sleeping pills over a similar matter, his friends told New Age.

Sahakul Islam, a second-year student of public administration, committed suicide by taking poison on March 8. His family and fellows said that he had a troubled relationship with his girl friend.

Source : New Age