The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Strongly condemning the arrogant remarks of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders about country's glorious Liberation War, Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC) yesterday demanded legal action from the Government against Jamaat and asked the Election Commission not to register it as a political party.

"The Government should take legal action against Jamaat and ban its religion-based politics," the ALCWC said in a resolution, urging the Election Commission (EC) to take initiative to declare the 'war criminals' and religion-based political parties ineligible for taking part in polls and not to register Jamaat as a political party.

Presided over by party Acting President Zillur Rahman at its Dhanmondi office, the ALCWC meeting, which was adjourned on October 22, also urged the Caretaker government to withdraw the state of emergency and lift the ban on indoor politics across the country.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, Zillur Rahman demanded the release of their detained AL President Sheikh Hasina, General Secretary Abdul Jalil and other leaders.

He reaffirmed party vow to free the former Prime Minister through legal and constitutional processes. Zillur also demanded the execution of the death sentence against the killers of Bangabandhu after completing the trial of the murder. The meeting asked the caretaker administration to take proper initiative to control the price hike of essentials and distribute fertilizer and agricultural tools among the farmers.

The AL sub-committee headed by party Presidium member Tofail Ahmed placed its proposals on the electoral reforms at the meeting, which approved it unanimously.

Zillur informed that the subcommittee prepared the draft set of proposals based on the AL-led alliance's 31-point electoral reform proposals that was announced on July 15 in 2005.

ALCWC members Syeda Zohra Tajuddin, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Motia Chowdhury, Syed Ashraful Islam, Mukul Bose, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Abdul Mannan, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Akhtaruzzaman, Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed, Abdur Rahman, Dewan Farid Gazi, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Professor Abu Sayeed, Asaduzzaman Noor, Raji Uddin Raju, Abdul Mannan Khan, Dr Hasan Mahamud, Dr Dipu Moni and Begum Mannujan Sufian were among others present at the meeting.

Staff Reporter

Standard Chartered Bank, one of the largest foreign banks in Bangladesh, has launched its activities at the new country head office situated at Gulshan Avenue in the city.

Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, Governor of Bangladesh Bank and Lord Adair Turner, Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered PLC jointly inaugurated the new country head office of Standard Chartered Bank yesterday.

Osman Morad, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh and senior officials of the bank, among others, were present on the occasion.

The new office reiterates Standard Chartered Bank's commitment in Bangladesh and their confidence in the future of the country, says a press release.

The new head office has 110,000 square feet of space across seven floors that accommodate nearly 700 staff members. Standard Chartered Bank has also introduced in the new head office their largest branch in the country with 16 counters, separate suites for priority credit cards and multiple ATM machines. Despite being a state-of-the-art building that match global standards, Standard Chartered's new country head office is also very environment friendly-it uses only energy efficient lights and printers that have been configured to default both side usage to reduce total paper usage. Even the centrally chilled water air conditioning system in this office is approximately 30 per cent more efficient than conventional systems to save energy.

Sensitive locations in the new head office such as data centre are fire protected using gas flooding systems and has been especially constructed to resist fires for up to 2 hours in case of an emergency.

The entire building can run at full capacity for three days with available power backup facility and is designed to withstand earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 7 in the Richter scale.

The new country head office deploys the latest technologies available for work place safety with sprinklers, fire escapes, fire hydrants, heat detectors, fire alarms, fire-resistant furnishers and a closed-circuit television (CCTV) system that monitor internal as well as external areas of the building.

UNB, Dhaka

Newly made BNP acting secretary general Major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed Thursday expressed unflinching loyalty to the leadership of chairperson Khaleda Zia and said they would abide by her decisions when she comes out of prison.

"We all are under the leadership of Khaleda Zia. We will accept her decisions when she comes out of prison … We will secure here release through legal battle," Hafiz told reporters at his Banani residence at noon.

Pointing to reports in a section of the press he said there is no grouping in BNP branded as reformist and pro-Khaleda group. "We are all followers of Khaleda and shall remain united under her leadership."

Meanwhile, the acting chairperson discussed Saifur Rahnman had telephonic talks with chairperson's adviser Hannan Shah about the steps to forge unity in the party and advance for facing the upcoming election.

Hafiz said he met with ailing Khandkar Delwar Hossain in BIRDEM hospital Wednesday night but had no talks as he was sleeping at that time. "I'll meet him and discuss the party affairs when he recovers."

He said he also discussed the developments in the party with Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar and other senior party leaders who congratulated him, advised and suggested steps to carry out the party activities.

"We have sent letter to Election Commission requesting to recognize the new leadership in holding dialogue on electoral reforms.

About the war criminals, the BNP leaders said it was essential to hold trial of war criminals.

He told a correspondent that Jamaat was in alliance with BNP in the past. "We will take decision after discussion with the party leaders if the alliance will continue."

BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh yesterday signed a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for financing a US dollar 170 million project on good governance and anti-graft campaign as part of the government's reform initiatives.

Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Mohammad Aminul Islam Bhuiyan signed the agreement with ADB's country director Hua Du for the government's "Good Governance Programme" under which the bank is to offer an amount of 150 million dollars from its concessional loan window as a budgetary support.

The rest of the amount is expected to come from other development partners on governance, anti-corruption reforms and judiciary support, and the government itself, officials said.

The programme aims at strengthening the anti-graft campaign, transparency and accountability of the judiciary, particularly on its role in the anti-corruption agenda and bring good governance and anti-corruption initiatives into the mainstream within selected sectoral level agencies to enhance their effectiveness.

It is also intended to bring good governance and anti- corruption initiatives into the mainstream within selected sectoral level agencies to enhance their effectiveness and strengthen the ongoing consensus building on good governance, integrity and anti-corruption reforms and support judicial reforms with a focus on the performance.

The soft-term loan will mature in 24 years, including a grace period of eight years, with an interest charge of one percent during the grace period and 1.5 percent thereafter while the loan proceeds were expected to be utilised over a period of four years from the date of effectiveness, roughly up to September 2011.

A number of other senior officials of concerned ministries and agencies of the government, the Danish embassy, which is to offer extra support to the programme, and the ADB witnessed the signing of the agreement.

ADB officials said they offered Bangladesh an amount of 8.76 billion US dollars as loans since the country became its member in 1973 while its development assistances mainly focused on power, energy, local governance, communications and transport, education, agriculture, water resources and governance sectors.

Staff Reporter

Visiting leaders of the Bangladesh-British Chamber of Commerce (BBCC) yesterday offered to set up a training institute for human resource development in Bangladesh under joint venture.

The offer came at a meeting between the BBCC leaders and the leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at its conference room. BBCC Chairman Dr. Wali Tasar Uddin made the proposal on behalf of the organisation. "We want to promote investment, joint venture initiatives for training, research and development opportunities between the traders in Bangladesh and the UK," he told the meeting.

FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain, who chaired the meeting, supported the idea and urged the non-resident Bangladeshis in the UK, who mainly represent the BBCC, not to concentrate their investment only in Sylhet.

"You should look for business beyond Sylhet region as well," he said.

The FBCCI chief said British consultants in the engineering, water; agriculture and business service sectors feature a prominent role. "UK financial service continues to play an important role in the trade and development."

He said there are good prospects for technical and marketing collaboration in several sectors like fish processing, food and vegetable processing, fish hatcheries, education and health sectors.

Bangladesh and the UK have very substantial business relation from Bangladeshi point of view, with the bilateral trade volume at US$ 1.45 billion.

Of this, Bangladesh's annual export to UK is about US$ 1.7 billion with US$ 899 million surplus while its import from UK is US$ 274.56 million.

FBCCI vice presidents Mohammad Ali, Dewan Sultan Ahmed, directors- Abul Kashem Ahmed, Harunur Rashid, BBCC senior vice chairman Saad Gazi, director S I Azad Ali, Bangladesh chapter president Hizkil Gulzar were, among others, on the occasion.

Staff Reporter

Disagreeing with IMF apprehension about economic slowdown due to adversities, Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday ruled out any big setback in the GDP following floods and high inflation "Only a quarter of this fiscal year has passed off, and it's too early to say anything about the GDP growth at this stage," he told reporters at Zia International Airport responding to a volley of questions about the country's economic health.

The Finance Adviser returned home after a fortnight-long visit to the United States. In the US, he attended meetings of the World Bank and IMF. Expressing optimism, he listed some positive economic indicators, including 15-16 per cent export growth, robust growth of remittance and the import of raw materials in July-August was on the up.

When his attention was drawn to the comments and observations by British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said nobody in the IMF had informed him that the GDP growth of Bangladesh would be 5.5 per cent this fiscal.

Recently, Anwar Choudhury and the IMF said that GDP growth of Bangladesh would not exceed 5.5 per cent because of the recent devastating flooding across the country. "We cannot tell anything about flood damage right now. Anyone can tell anything from their own perception, but you have to have concrete statistics when you are talking about GDP," he replied to the projections given by the donor-country diplomat and the multilateral donor agency.

Replying to a query, Dr Aziz denied having any negotiation with the IMF regarding a new agreement.

The Finance Adviser stuck to his guns over the overheated domestic market as he again blamed external pressure for recent inflation. "There is no linkage of monitoring system about fluctuation of inflation on the market prices," he said.

Staff Reporter

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday launched its Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) 2008-2013 for Bangladesh to strengthen the capacity of the country's health system for long-term sustainable health improvement for all.

WHO Regional Director for South East Asia Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, Health Adviser Maj Gen (Retd) Dr ASM Matiur Rahman and LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal jointly launched the CCS at a function at Sonargaon Hotel in the morning.

The Strategy is well aligned with and complementary to the objectives and strategies of HNPSP. Health and Family Welfare Secretary AKM Zafarullah Khan presided over the launching ceremony.

Seven strategic directions, including promoting the access of vulnerable groups to health services ensuring continuum of care through the life course, were identified in the CCS to address the priority health and development challenge in Bangladesh.

The overarching principles of WHO Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) 2008-2013 are primary healthcare approach, human right to health and gender equality and equity.

Addressing the programme, WHO Regional Director Dr Samlee Plianbangchang said the CCS is a medium-term framework for WHO cooperation in and with the country, highlighting how it will do and with whom.

"It acts as a guiding organization-wide reference for country work for planning, budgeting and resources allocation in the country."

He mentioned that the development of WHO Country Cooperation Strategy is basically a joint endeavor between WHO and the concerned national health authorities.

Emphasizing on multi-sectorality of health development, Dr Plianbangchang said the success in health development for improving the health of entire population in the country depends on the inputs and actions from other sectors than health. "Multi-sectoral involvement in health development is an essential requisite for long-term sustainable health improvement for all people," he added.

Acknowledging the contribution of World Health Organization, Health Adviser Maj Gen (Retd) Dr ASM Matiur Rahman said WHO's contribution has been valuable in relation to all of these elements.

He said since 1972 WHO has been a trusted partner of Bangladesh in the development of health policies, norms, standards, regulations and in the institutional capacity building as well as in human resource development.

WHO's technical assistance to the health sector of Bangladesh, over the years, has significantly contributed to the government's effort for health development in the country, he said.

The Health Adviser mentioned some significant contributions of WHO in Bangladesh that include the improvement of blood transfusion services, the community-based skilled birth attendants programme, maternal health voucher scheme, introduction of new vaccines and the introduction of auto-disable syringes (that has enhanced the impact of EPI) and the effective preparedness and response to public health emergencies, such as Nipah virus, SARS and Avian Influenza.

LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal highlighted the issues of environmental health and thanked WHO for the excellent support provided to the Department of Public Health Engineering to address the challenge relating to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.

Environment and Forests Secretary AHM Rezaul Kabir, ERD Secretary M Amnul Islam Bhuiyan, Country Representative of UNHCR Pia Prytz Phiri and WHO Country Representative Dr Duangvadee Sungkhobol also spoke on the occasion.

WHO Bangladesh CCS 2008-2013 was developed through an interactive consultation and planning process that involved the government officials, development partners and other stakeholder such as major NGOs.

The primary inputs to the CCS 2008-2013 were comprehensive analysis and review of country's health and development priorities, current and expected development assistance, the impact of recent WHO collaborative work and the directions given in the WHO global and regional policy frameworks.

Staff Reporter

Leaders of the major political parties welcomed the Separation of the Judiciary from the Executive yesterday, terming it as a great event in the history of the nation.

They also thanked the Caretaker Government for implementing the long awaited Separation of Judiciary from the Executive.

They said this while talking to journalists separately yesterday. The political leaders expressed the hope that the people would get justice easily without any hassles timely as an outcome of the development.

Welcoming the separation, Awami League (AL) Acting President Zillur Rahman said a new journey has begun as the longstanding demand of the people for the Separation of the Judiciary was implemented yesterday. He said the AL government led by Sheikh Hasina took some steps towards separation of the judiciary but could not implement it. The financial authority was given to the Supreme Court during the AL rule, he added.

Zillur said, "We hope that the ordinary justice-seekers will now get justice and separated judiciary will fulfill the expectation of the people."

He said it was important to ensure accountability of the judiciary side by side with its independence to rip benefit from the separation.

Acting BNP Secretary General Major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed thanked the Caretaker Government for separating the judiciary from the executive and termed it as a historic development for the nation.

He claimed that the BNP Government took a number of steps towards the separation of judiciary but could not complete the task.

He said the judiciary would now be able to dispense justice without external influence, be that from the executive or otherwise.

Anti-reform BNP leader Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah said the Caretaker Government deserves thanks for separating the judiciary from the executive fulfilling the constitutional obligation, at long last. Welcoming the separation, Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain said justice would now depend on the integrity and wisdom of the judges. He suggested that a transparent process of the appointment of judges should now be implemented so that the ordinary justice seekers get justice.

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said the separation was a long-cherished expectation of the people but the judiciary could not be separated due to bureaucratic tangles and vested political interest groups, who were in power.

"The separation has been possible following the Supreme Court verdict and initiative of the Caretaker Government," he said, thanking the interim administration.

Menon, however, observed that independence of the judiciary has not yet been ensured. People will get benefit only if the judiciary could overcome "the disrepute of corruption and nepotism", he added.

JSD President Hasanul Huq Inu said the separation of the judiciary was a constitutional mandate and there should not be debate over it.

Staff Reporter

Parents of a Bangladeshi student in New York urged the government to take step to protect their son Sajid from harassment of false rape case filed by his wife with the New York Police.

They urged this at a press conference at the National Press Club in the city yesterday claiming that Sajid Huq was victim of swindle and harassment by his wife Nadin Murshed.

Sajid is a research student of PhD programe under the New York Colombia University who, recently, was apprehended by New York police on charge of rape and now on the bail in the USA. Sajid's father former Additional Secretary Janikul Huq and mother Samina Huq, at the press conference, said their son Sajid came to Bangladesh during the summer vacation and engaged in marriage with one KAS Murshed's daughter Nadin Murshed, resident of House No-21, Road NO-121, Gulshan. The couple went to New York on 27 August 2007. After few days, one Ershaduzzaman claiming himself as legal husband of Nadin Murshed informed Sajid over telephone and by mail that he did not divorce Nadin and she had a long illegal relation with one Shakib Chowdhury, they added.

Janikul Huq said Nadin's family concealed the previous marriage of her and cited her as a virgin in the marriage document.

When Sajid knew about Nadin's previous marriage, she became furious to Sajid and threatened to destroy Sajid's future life, if he discloses the matter and divorces her, said Sajid's parents.

Janikul filed a cheating case with the Gulshan police on 29 September against Nadin Murshed, her father KAS Murshed, elder sister Sharmin Murshed.

Sajid's family said now Nadin's family stays in the US.

Court Correspondent

A court of Dhaka yesterday recorded the confessional statement of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and two of his associates in a case filed in connection with the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.

Other accused are Hannan's brother Munshi Mohibullah alias Mofizur Rahman alias Ovi and Sharif Shahidul Alam Bipul. Newly appointed Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Sultan Mahmud Thursday recorded the confessional statements of the accused.

The accused have revealed that they were involved in the conspiracy and their participation led to the attack.

They have also disclosed the names and addresses of their cohorts. The Magistrate was recording the confessional statements till writing of this report.

On October 23, these accused with another were placed on a 10-day remand in this case.Two days before the completion of the remand, three of the four accused were produced before the ACMM and they made the confessional statements.

BSS, Dhaka

Bangladeshi expatriates in Britain have established three airlines namely the Air Sylhet, the United Airlines and the Royal Bengal Airlines.

The Air Sylhet is basically an UK-based company and will operate from the UK to various European destinations and Bangladesh. The United Airlines has already started operation and the Royal Bengal will go into operation soon.

Chairman of the visiting Bangladesh-British Chamber of Commerce (BBCC) Dr Wali Tasar Uddin said this on Thursday while exchanging views with leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at its Motijheel office in the city.

FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain presided over the meeting. Two vice-presidents and directors of the Federation were also present. The 17-member BBCC delegation is visiting Bangladesh and meeting various chamber bodies and trade associations, exchanging views and exploring ways and means on how to engage in meaningful business collaboration from both sides.

The Bangladesh expatriates seek to forge closer business ties and invest in their homeland for contributing to the country's efforts to achieve accelerated development.

The BBCC was formed in 1991 and since then, its business delegations take up almost annual visit to Bangladesh. Most members of the BBCC have their ancestral homes in the greater Sylhet region and their visits also create scope to see relatives and friends. Dr Tasar Uddin said as part of facilitating business, the BBCC has already brought an English firm for apparel sourcing. It has already set up an office in Dhaka to bring British buyers for Bangladesh garments for marketing in the UK and other European destinations.

The BBCC leader said the Bangladesh community in the UK is demanding formation of a special economic zone at Sylhet and thanked the caretaker government for initiating the move to implement it.

He said the British Bangladeshi community is contributing to development of Britain. They are running 12,000 restaurants, grocery stores, departmental stores, real estate business, and garments and other small and moderate businesses. Side by side, they want to contribute to their homeland development, he said.

Dr Tasar Uddin said the BBCC has set up the Sylhet Foundation to promote various facilities, including business and investment.

Earlier, the FBCCI president praised the role of the BBCC in promoting bilateral ties and said Bangladesh and Britain are very active trade partners having 1.45 billion US dollars business turn over in the last year. Out of it, Bangladesh's export was 1.17 billion dollars.

He said about 50 British companies are currently investing in Bangladesh and he hoped more investment would flow from the British sources.

Staff Reporter

Bangladeshi young writer and novelist Tahmina Anam's "A Golden Age' about the birth of modern-day Bangladesh has been short listed for this year's Guardian First Book award worth 10,000 pounds.

Tahmima Anam's first novel, A Golden Age, was published by John Murray in 2007.

In all, five books have been shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award: three novels, a biography and a work of non-fiction, according to The Guardian. Other books include Catherine O'Flynn's "What Was Lost", which is part mystery, part dissection of modern consumer society, Dinaw Mengestu's depiction of an Ethiopian immigrant's quest for a fully realised life in "America, Children of the Revolution", and Rosemary Hill's biography of the architect and originator of the Gothic revival, "Augustus Pugin".

She was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1975, and grew up in Paris, New York City, and Bangkok,as a consequence of her father's career with the Unicef.

Tahmina was trained as an anthropologist, earning a PhD from Harvard University. In 2005 she completed an MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, London, and is the recipient of a Writing Fellowship from the Arts Council of England.

She comes from an illustrious literary family in Bangladesh. Her father Mahfuz Anam is the editor and publisher of The Daily Star, one of the leading English newspapers of the country. Her grandfather Abul Mansur Ahmed was a renowned satirist and politician whose works in Bengali remain popular to this day.

Tahmina's first novel was published in March, 2007 from John Murray. She picked Bangladesh Liberation War as her first subject to write the novel A Golden Age. She was inspired by her parents who were freedom fighters during the war.

Tahmima also researched about the war which covered the central part of her post graduation. For the benefit of her research, she stayed in Bangladesh for two years and took interview of hundreds of war fighters. She also worked in the set of Tareque and Catherine Masud's critically acclaimed film 'Matir Moina' (The Clay Bird) which reflects the happenings during that war.

The shortlist for Guardian award also includes Indian origin journalist-writer Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book on US hostilities in Iraq.

The Guardian First Book Award is considered unique among book prizes as it is open to all first-time authors and because of the input of readers' groups. The Guardian said that this year was a very strong year for first-time authors.

Claire Armitstead, the Guardian's literary editor, said there was an extraordinary strength and diversity on the shortlist. "In the age of mass-market retailing, it is wonderful that the biography of a 19th-century architect could be right up there," she said.

Armitstead is joined on the panel this year by the novelists Kamila Shamsie and Maggie O'Farrell, presenter Mariella Frostrup, journalist and author Simon Jenkins, Phillippe Sands QC and the Guardian's features editor, Katharine Viner. The prize will be announced in December.