The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

In spite of strong opposition from some members of the Council of Advisers of Caretaker Government, Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Dr Ayub Quadri unilaterally decided to send 187 pieces of rare antiquities, including two stolen 1,500-year-old terracotta Vishnu statues, sources at the Chief Adviser's Office said yesterday.

"Several members of the Council of Advisers opposed tooth and nail sending the artefacts to France at a meeting with Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed. But ignoring the opposition decision was taken to send the artefacts for exhibition in Giumet Museum in France," a high official, preferring anonymity, told The New Nation.

Even the prior approval of the Council of Advisers was not sought for sending these rare artefacts from Bangladesh, the official said.

The intelligence agencies of the country had opposed the move for sending the artefacts fearing that they would never come back from France to Bangladesh once they crossed the borders.

The official said the Council of Advisers would hold an emergency meeting at the Chief Adviser's Office in the city today to discuss the situation arising out of stealing of two statues of Hindu god Vishnu.

Another high official of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs told The New Nation yesterday that a vested interest group inside the then Awami League government led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had taken up a plan for sending precious antiquities from Bangladesh to France just after independence in 1971. The plan was subsequently dropped in face of strong opposition from artists and art connoisseurs. Even, Bangabandhu himself had rejected the plan of sending the artefacts.

Meanwhile, Police, RAB and other intelligence agencies could not make any headway in the investigation into the missing Vishnu statues till yesterday.

Airport sources said intelligence agencies collected CCTV video

footages from the airport in a bid to identify the persons involved in stealing the artifacts.

Earlier, Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Dr Ayub Quadri said

he takes the responsibility for the missing of two rare terracotta statues on their way to Paris.

"I don't know how far my personal failure is there but as an Adviser

of the Cultural Affairs Ministry I'll have to take the responsibility for the missing of the statues," he said responding to reporters' queries at his ministry.

The Adviser said he personally feels that the remaining artifacts should not be sent to Guimet Museum for exhibition until the heist of the two statues is resolved.

However, he said an appropriate decision needs to be taken in this regard considering the international agreement and relations with France.

Asked if he would step down for this, the Adviser said, "Let's see."

Asked why the artefacts were being sent despite persistent protests, Quadri said there was opposition against sending of the artifacts but none said about the missing on the way.

On the other hand, France's Lyon-based Interpol yesterday contacted the Bangladesh police to inquire about the two missing terracotta statues of Hindu god Vishnu.

AIG (Interpol) Bangladesh Desk Anwar Kamal said that the Interpol

headquarters in France came to know about the missing of statues on way to Paris from newspaper reports and contacted with them.

Kamal said they have collected photos of the missing statues and other relevant information which will be sent to the Interpol Headquarters today (Tuesday).

Meanwhile, Director General of National Museum Samar Chandra Pal filed a case with Airport Police station alleging that some unidentified thieves stole the statues from Zia International Port early Saturday.

Police sources said the Director General in his FIR mentioned that 13 crates containing 145 artifacts were handed over to the Air France authorities after completing customs

formalities and the two statues were stolen from the custody of the Air France.

Police detained 11 people including two Ansars for interrogation on Sunday. Later, the Ansars were released while an employee of the civil aviation named Shankar Chandra Dev was detained from Bhola yesterday. All the 10 were shown arrested in the case filed by the National Museum director general.

The five-member Inquiry Committee headed by a Joint Secretary to the Civil Aviation Ministry yesterday made on the spot investigation at the airport and had talks with four officials of the National Museum and the Barendra Museum.

The exhibition, titled 'Sonar Bangla' was scheduled to showcase 189 pieces of Bangladeshi ancient art, over four months at Guimet Museum in Paris.

Local artists alleged that it is not a museum at all, rather it is an art collection house. The museum is also not well known and has a dubious past.

It is known that 187 pieces of antiquities including 128 life-size statues, terracotta and copper plaques, Prajna Paramita scriptures and coins from Pala, Sen, Gupta and Maurya dynasties, were selected for the exhibition.

Their insurance value totalled 45,000 euros that is equivalent to around Tk 45 lakh, sources at the Cultural Ministry said.

The insurance value of the two missing Vishnu statues was shown only Tk 2 lakh.

Named 'Vishnu' and 'Bust of Vishnu', the statues are from Gupta era of the seventh century. Since being discovered in a dig at Mahasthangarh of Bogra, they had been kept at the National Museum.

About importance of the stolen works of art, Dr Shamsuzzaman Khan, former director general of the National Museum, said, "Those are masterpieces and very valuable to our cultural heritage and social history."

Different sources said it was almost impossible to make off with the container box (wooden box) of the Vishnu statues weighing 64 kilograms without a car.

Abdullah Al Hasan, general manager of cargo terminal at the ZIA, said the vehicles of Civil Aviation Authorities, Bangladesh Biman, Air France, Voyager Airlines, police and other government agencies were working during that time. "All those vehicles had permission to be there," he added.

Abdul Quddus, senior conservation officer of Varendra Museum, first noticed that one out of the 13 boxes was missing in the cargo flight at around 1:00pm, said sources at the cultural ministry and law enforcers.

Quddus was supposed to travel with the artefacts as the government courier.

At around 8:00pm, the empty box of the Vishnu statues was found floating in a ditch beside the runway.

Earlier on Friday evening, Homebound, the shipper agent hired by the French government, carried the 145 artefacts in 13 boxes from the National Museum at Shahbagh to the cargo village at the ZIA.

The customs authorities checked those by opening the boxes one after another as it was not possible to scan those big crates handed over to the Air France officials at around 2:00am Saturday.

The Air France Cargo in a letter has notified the general manager of cargo terminal and director at the ZIA of the developments. But, the officials at the Cargo Terminal at ZIA questioned the role of the Air France authorities after the boxes containing the artefacts were handed over them.

Staff Reporter

Police in Bangladesh are searching for two statues of the Hindu god Vishnu which were stolen from Dhaka airport.

The statues were to be flown to Paris with other artefacts for an art exhibition at the Guimet Museum when they went missing on Saturday night. Dhaka police say they are questioning 12 people they have detained in connection with the theft. The statues, valued at about $65,000, were among a number of artefacts sent to France by the Bangladesh government.

"These are masterpieces and very valuable to our cultural heritage," Shamsuzzaman Khan, a former head of the Bangladesh National Museum, told the Associated Press news agency.

"The government should not have agreed to send them abroad."

The two terracotta statues were sculpted about 1,500 years ago.

Vishnu is the second god in the Hindu triumvirate, which consists of three gods responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the world.

The other two gods are Brahma and Shiva. Hinduism is a minority faith in Bangladesh, which is overwhelmingly Muslim.

The government's cultural affairs adviser, Ayub Quadri, told the BBC he was thinking of resigning over the issue.

"Ultimately we at the ministry have to take responsibility," he said.

Quadri said the government had stepped up security measures on the border with India, after reports the stolen objects could be smuggled out of the country.

The French embassy in Dhaka condemned the theft.

"It is obviously an important loss and we have no doubt that fast, decisive and efficient measures will lead to finding the criminals," charge d'affaires Jean Romnicianu told Reuters news agency.

Staff Reporter

Today is December 25, the Christmas Day - the biggest religious festival of the Christians. The Christmas, commemorating the birthday of Jesus Christ, is being celebrated across the country as elsewhere in the world with due religious fervour and enthusiasm.

Aiming to free human beings, Jesus Christ was born on this day. He gave forgiveness to the sinners. He helped the poor and needy and recovered the sick persons. He also gave life to the dead.

All churches were tastefully decorated along with illumination of Christmas tree as members of the Christian community started celebrating their greatest religious festival from last night.

On the occasion of Christmas Day, prayers have been arranged at Tejgaon Church at 9:00pm and 11:00pm yesterday night in addition to morning invocations at 6:30am, 8:00am and 9:00am today. In Kakrail Church, prayers were held at 8:30pm and 10:30pm last night and will be held at 7:30am and 10:30am today. Special prayers will be offered today seeking the continued peace, progress and prosperity of the nation.

Children and juveniles will arrange cultural functions in the churches marking the day. Distribution of Christmas cakes, gifts and exchange of greetings are other features of the occasion.

The government has taken adequate security measures to avert possible subversive activities by the vested quarters to jeopardise the celebration.

President Prof Dr Iajuddin Ahmed has felicitated the Christian community of Bangladesh on the occasion of the Christmas Day.

In a message on the eve of the day, the President said the people across the world are tied to the bond of love. Jesus Christ was one of the great men who appeared in different ages aiming to make the world as an abode of peace for the human beings through mutual respect and love.

He praised the contribution of the Christian community to the development of education and society.

The Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in his message said Jesus Christ was the pioneer of services to mankind. He preached for a peaceful world removing all hatred and envies.

Referring to the harmonious social life of different communities in Bangladesh, the Chief Adviser urged all to make their efforts to uphold the tradition.

The Chief of Christian community in Bangladesh and Archbishop of Dhaka Paulinus Costa in a message congratulated the countrymen marking the Christmas. He urged all to stand beside the cyclone SIDR affected people and prayed for their welfare.

To celebrate the day Dhaka Sheraton Hotel will organise a lavish Christmas Party at the hotel ballroom. During the carnival Christmas children party will be filled with roaming performances like mummy hunt, pin the nose, chocolate writing, Christmas maze and treasure hunt, Christmas carol musical chair, click with Santa and Santa will be there to distribute presents. An alternative raffle draw will also be there for kids and parents, according to the Hotel Sheraton press release.

The Westin Dhaka is going to organise some special events to celebrate the Christmas Day. There will be special Christmas Eve and Christmas Day lunch and dinner in the hotel restaurants and a colourful children party will be held at the hotel's grand ballroom. The tallest Christmas tree, 18-feet high, will be in the lobby of the hotel.

BBC Online

Nepal's government has agreed to abolish the monarchy as part of a deal to persuade Maoist former rebels to rejoin the interim administration.

Under the deal, Nepal will be declared a republic after a general election has been held next year and a new constituent assembly established.

The Maoists pulled out of the government in September, demanding an immediate end to the monarchy.

The latest deal was signed by Nepal's main parties, including the Maoists.

But no date has been set for the ex-rebels to rejoin the government.

The six-party ruling alliance and the Maoists said in a statement: "Nepal will be a federal democratic republic nation and the decision will be implemented after the first meeting of the constituent assembly."

Elections for the new 601-member assembly are due to be held in April.

The BBC's Nepal correspondent Charles Haviland says that, while a milestone, the move is no surprise.

The Maoists walked out of the government three months ago, vowing not to return unless the royal system was scrapped.

They have now secured what they wanted, even though the other parties in the ruling coalition had said, up to now, that voters should decide on the issue via the new assembly, our correspondent adds.

Analysts say that many Nepalis will be happy to have a republic.

The monarchy's popularity has sunk since the death of the well-loved King Birendra in a notorious palace massacre of 2001.

Efforts by his brother, Gyanendra, to tackle the Maoist insurgency led to a worsening of the country's human rights situation.

Analysts say the king lost popular support after his decision in 2005 to sack the government and assume absolute power - only to back down after huge protests.

The Maoists called a ceasefire after the king ended his controversial direct rule in April 2006 and restored parliament.

Political parties - who were then in opposition and are now in government - had promised to work with the Maoists as a prelude to bringing them into government.

The political crisis came amid a rise in ethnic and religious tension, as regional groups strove to assert their authority in advance of the elections.

More than 13,000 people died during Nepal's decade-long insurgency, many of them civilians caught in cross-fire with security forces.

AFP, Ottawa

A law making it easier for children adopted abroad to become Canadian citizens went into effect Sunday, Canada's Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration announced.

Parents formerly had to apply to sponsor the child to come to Canada, then seek permanent resident status for him or her, before finally applying for citizenship, a process that could take up to 18 months.

Now, thanks to the new law, parents can skip the first two steps and seek Canadian citizenship for their adopted child from outside the country, and the child can even obtain a Canadian passport before entering Canada.

"Now, Canadians will apply for their adopted child's citizenship abroad rather than submit sponsorship and permanent resident applications. Parents will save time and have less paperwork as the steps are merged into one," a statement on Citizenship and Immigration Canada's website said.

The streamlined procedure does not apply to international adoptions completed in Canada, it said.

"Canadian families open their hearts to adopt foreign-born children and we want to support them by making it easier for their adopted children to become Canadian citizens," said Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in May 2006, just months after taking power, that his government would streamline the citizenship process for international adoptions, as part of a broader effort to smooth bureaucracy for new immigrants.

Canada has welcomed more than one million immigrants over the past five years.