The New Nation - Internet Edition

Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games: Bangladesh retains supremacy in athletics

Shamsuddin of Bangladesh, who clinched gold in 200
metre sprint and Rakhi Saha of West Bengal, the fastest
woman of the Second Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games, pose for a
photograph at the Army Stadium on Sunday. Banglar
Chokh

Sports Reporter

The athletes of Bangladesh retained their supremacy on the concluding day of the athletics competition of the Second Indo-Bangladesh Bangla Games at the Army Stadium on Sunday.

Yesterday the athletes of Bangladesh bagged four gold medals out of six golds. The visiting West Bengal team earned rest of the two golds on the second day.

Bangladesh finished their athletics campaign with nine gold medals while West Bengal team of India completed their mission with five golds.

In the men's 200 metre sprint, Shamsuddin of Bangladesh clinched the gold while Rahmat Ullah Molla of West Bengal bagged silver and Masudul Karim of Bangladesh got bronze.

In the women's 100 metre sprint, Rakhi Saha of West Bengal and Najmun Nahar Beauty of Bangladesh touched the finishing line taking same time. But Rakhi Saha was adjudged the fastest woman of the game by virtue of photo-finishing. Nazmun Nahar Beauty unfortunately became second while Ranjita of West Bengal finished third.

In the men's 1500 metre sprint, Selim Miah of Bangladesh achieved the gold medal while Sushovon Hajra of West Bengal bagged silver and his compatriot Aroj Mondol got bronze.

In the men's 110 metre hurdles, Asadur Rahman of Bangladesh captured gold and his compatriot Abdul Hafiz collected silver while Santosh Saha of West Bengal earned bronze.

In the men's 4´400 relay, Bangladesh team grabbed gold while West Bengal team bagged silver. Bangladesh team consists of Afzal, Mainul, Mozammel and Abu Taher.

In the women's 4´400 metre relay, West Bengal team clinched gold while Bangladesh team bagged silver.

Gen Moeen in India on high profile tour

Moeen U Ahmed

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed yesterday arrived in New Delhi on a weeklong visit at the invitation of Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor.

General Moeen was received at the airport by the Bangladesh High Commissioner to India and representatives of the Indian Armed Forces.

During the visit, the Army Chief will call on Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister KC Antony. Besides, he will meet the chiefs of the three services of India.

General Kapoor will host a dinner yesterday in honour of General Moeen.

The Army Chief will lay wreath at the Amar Jyoti Jawan Mausoleum this Monday morning.

He will also visit the Indian Military Academy in Deradun, Ajmer Sharif and Goa.

On his way back home, the Army Chief will call on West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in Kolkata. He is scheduled to return on March 1.

Earlier in the day, General Moeen left Dhaka for New Delhi by Jet Air at 12:05pm, nearly three hours behind the schedule as the aircraft landing was delayed at Zia International Airport (ZIA). He was accompanied by his wife Nazneen Moeen and four military officers.

He will be given guard of honour at the South Bloc in New Delhi, the principal seat of the Indian administration.

General Moeen was scheduled to go to India last year but had to postpone the trip due to back-to-back floods twice in the last rainy season.

Bikalpadhara, Samyabadi Dal favour polls in December

Bikalpo Dhara leaders led by the party's Secretary
General Maj (retd) Abdul Mannan holding the dialogue with
Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda at the
Election Commission Office in the city on Sunday.
FocusBangla

UNB, Dhaka

Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh and Samyabadi Dal said they would favour general election next December while Workers Party demanded holding the polls earlier as the Election Commission Sunday kick-started a second round of dialogue with political parties.

Bikalpa Dhara secretary general Maj (retd) MA Mannan and Samyabadi Dal president Dilip Barua made their observations separately as Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda wanted to know what could be the convenient time for their parties for holding elections if the voters' list is finalized by October.

However, Workers Party and Samyabadi Dal also demanded announcing a tentative date for elections and lifting the state of emergency "immediately".

The EC on Sunday sat with the three political parties to discuss the outcome of its first round of dialogue with the parties on proposed electoral reforms. Election Commissioner M Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain were present at the dialogue held at the EC office with the CEC in the chair.

"It'll be convenient for campaign after Aman paddy harvest in November and polls can be held in December," BDB secretary general Major Mannan, who led an 11-member delegation to the meeting, told the EC during the discussion.

He said elections in Bangladesh are always held in a festive mood, and people would feel relaxed after harvesting home new crops. "Because," he said, "September-October could be difficult time due to rains, storms and floods for election campaigning."

The BDB delegation chief, however, told the Commission that they would not mind if the polls were advanced to September or October. The CEC reminded that September is the month of fasting.

During the dialogue, Dilip Barua, an ally of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance, first preferred elections after Eid-ul-Azha, which means in January 2009. But the CEC said he would not go beyond December this year-the dead end of the timeline set by them for holding stalled polls.

"Elections should be held between December 15 and 25 this year," Barua, who led a 10-member delegation, told reporters later coming out from the dialogue.

He said his party sought specific dates for the elections which will create urgency to complete the preparation of voters' list as well as remove public confusion about the holding of the elections.

However, Workers Party and Samyabadi Dal both demanded holding elections before December. Otherwise, the left-duo observed, the confusion about holding elections would be hanging over. "So, the date of elections should be announced just after the dialogue."

The Samyabadi Dal also asked the EC to recommend the government for lifting the emergency as it would "totally hamper" the elections.

About announcing date for elections, CEC Huda said announcing the date would facilitate the parties, but that would not be wise now.

"We're working as per our target (elections by December 2008), but we're also trying to do it earlier, if possible," he said.

Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon, who led an 8-member delegation to the dialogue, said the only reason for not lifting the state of emergency-when even the Chief Adviser is telling that everything is alright-is "suppressing people's fundamental rights".

"Practicing fair democracy and running the state isn't possible suppressing the fundamental rights… Our demand is the state of emergency has to be lifted just now," he said, adding that elections could not or would not be held under state of emergency.

The chief of the Workers Party, also an ally of the AL-led 14-party alliance, alleged that the executive power of the EC is being curbed. "The Law Adviser is stating that elections can be held under state of emergency, when the CEC is telling the opposite… There are clear contradictions between the statements whereas the caretaker government is obliged to help the CEC…it's not doing that," Menon said.

On the moot point of lifting the emergency, CEC Huda virtually corroborated the politicians' plea as he said he couldn't understand how elections could be held under state of emergency since electoral campaign should have to be facilitated.

"Emergency means 10 people can't assemble… The Commission's formulation of electoral atmosphere is needed so people can move freely and fairly," he said.

Besides emergency, he said, the Election Commission also has asked the CA in their recent meet to gradually withdraw the ban on indoor politics outside Dhaka.

"Otherwise, when the time of registering the parties will come, they would have to change their constitutions as per the Commission's criteria of ensuring democracy within the party. Holding council of the parties will be needed for that, and also the district committees' meeting," said CEC Huda.

About the Workers Party demand for not delimitating the parliamentary constituencies at this moment, the CEC said they are constitutionally bound to do it.

"We'll do the task… There are many people who want to foil the elections, and what will happen if anyone goes to court accusing the Commission of not doing the task," CEC Huda posed question.

About the Samyabadi Dal and Workers Party demand for banning the war criminals from contesting elections, CEC Huda said the matter is not under the EC's jurisdiction and it is not their duty to try the war criminals.

Besides, based on tenor of the entire dialogue with political parties, the EC is going to send a report to the government with recommendations on issues that came out from the dialogue but not under the jurisdiction of the EC.

"The issues like expanding seats in the parliament, abrogating article 70 of the Constitution about floor crossing, restricting the war criminals from elections or politics, bicameral legislative and others would be described in the report with recommendations," he said.

During the dialogue, all the three political parties asked the EC to concentrate on controlling the electoral expenses, whatever it would be, if they want to gift the nation a black money and muscle power-free election.

The camps would have to be strictly monitored camps since these are the main places where most of the money is spent, the parties observed.

However, Samyabadi Dal and Workers Party stand against holding local-body elections prior to national elections as they cited past example of General Zia and Ershad that after garbing power, these two had fortified their positions by holding local elections prior to national elections.

SA close to victory against Bangladesh

Medium pacer Shahadat Hossain and his teammates
celebrate after dismissal of Jaques Kallis during the third
day of the first Test between Bangladesh and South Africa at
the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday.
FocusBangla

UNB, Dhaka

Skipper Graeme Smith's brilliant half century and Neil McKenzie's responsible innings guided South Africa close to victory against Bangladesh in the first test of the two-match Warid Test Series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday.

The visitors opened the 2nd innings after the lunch on the 3rd day yesterday to chase an easy target of 205 runs and made 178 for 4 in 57 overs in the 2nd innings at stumps, just 27 runs away from victory with six wickets in hand.

Proteas openers G Smith and N Mckenzie gave a solid start to their 2nd innings putting on 52 runs in the opening stand.

Smith scored 62 runs off 104 balls with six fours before trapped lbw by Mohammad Rafique while McKenzie made 26 off 32 balls with two fours before being caught by Habibul Bashar at mid-on, off a Shahadat Hossain Rajib delivery.

One down batsman Hashim Amla scored a patient 46 runs off 90 balls with seven fours before he was caught by Junaid Siddiqui at slip, off a Rafique ball while Jacques Kallis added seven runs off 27 balls before being caught by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, off a Shahadat delivery.

AG Prince and AB de Villiers remained unbeaten on 24 and 8 runs respectively as the bails were drawn for the 3rd day.

Veteran spinner Mohammad Rafique claimed two wickets for 49 runs in 22 overs with four maidens while Shahadat Hossain Rajib, who earlier grabbed six wickets in the first innings, today took two wickets for 48 runs in 14 overs in the second innings.

Earlier, resuming the 2nd innings today with overnight 125 for 4 in 48 overs, the Bengal

Tigers were all out for 182 in 73 overs just before the lunch to take an overall 204-run lead.

All rounder Jacques Kallis caused the major damage to the hosts innings taking five wickets for 30 runs in 14 overs with four maidens with Bangladesh losing last six wickets for 34 runs.

Kallis struck early as he claimed the wicket of night watch batsman Junaid Siddiqui (64*) after he added only 10 runs to his take his score 74 runs off 184 balls with six fours before giving an easy catch to wicket keeper Mark Boucher with Bangladesh score 148 for 5.

Another night watch batsman Aftab Ahmed (13*) soon followed Junaid, trapped lbw by DW Steyn, making 24 off 81 balls with one four leaving the score same (148).

Mohammad Rafique scored 14 runs off 21 balls with two boundaries before being clean bowled by Kallis while hard-hitting batsman cum pacer Mashrafe Mortaza made 11 off 12 balls with two fours before caught by GC Smith off Kallis.

Pacer Shahadat Hossain Rajib scored not out 9*, Shakib Al Hasan made 3 and Mushfiqur Rahim 2.

Proteas wicket keeper Mark Boucher made the world record with 417 dismissals sending Shakib Al Hasan to the dressing room. Earlier in the day he caught Junaid Siddiqui and Mushfiqur Rahim to equal Australian wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist's 416 dismissals.

Apart from Kallis' five-wicket haul, Dale Steyn, who captured 3/38 on the 2nd day (Saturday), finished his spell with 4 for 48 runs in 18 overs with two maidens.

Bangladesh 1st innings - 192 for all in 54.4 overs; Aftab Ahmed 44, Ashraful 34, Shakib 30, Mashrafee 29, Nafees 25, Bashar 11, Mushfiqur 7, Junaed 1, Tamim 0, Rafique 0, extras 11, Morkel 5/50, Steyn 3/27 and Botha 2/57.

South Africa 1st innings - 170 for all in 60.3 overs; Villiers 46, Amla 25, Botha 25, Kallis 17, Boucher 11, Smith 10, Prince 10, Steyn not out 7, McKenzie 5, extras 10, Rajib 6/27, Rafique 2/25 and Ashraful 1/9.

Bangladesh 2nd innings -- 182 for all in 73 overs (Overnight score 125 for 4 in 48 overs) Junaed 74, Ashraful 24, Aftab, 24, Nafees 16, Rafique 14, Mortaza 11, Sakib 3, Bashar 2, Musfiqur 2, Tamim 2, extras 9, Kallis 5/30, Steyn 4/48 and Ntiny 1/35.

South Africa 2nd innings -- 178 for 4 in 57 overs Smith 62, Amla 46, McKenzie 26, AG Prince batting 24, AB de Villiers batting 8 Kallis 7, extras 5, Rajib 2/48, Rafique 2/49.

Musharraf considers exit strategy: Taliban call for peace talks with new govt

Musharraf

Agencies

President Musharraf is contemplating a swift exit from office rather than the ignominy of being forced out by the winning coalition, according to unnamed aides quoted in the British press ( Watch ).

A "close confidante" of the embattled president is quoted in The Sunday Telegraph to say Musharraf now believed he had run out of options and was pondering an exit strategy.

He said, sketching out a notional timeline that will be carefully watched in Western capitals, "I think it is now just a matter of days and not months because he would like to make a graceful exit on a high."

Musharraf is said to be keen to avoid a power-struggle, which may be inevitable considering the newly-elected parliament is chock full of members implacably opposed to him and theoretically capable of cobbling together a two-thirds majority to impeach him and remove him from office.

His aide said, in what many believe to be an attempt to burnish Musharraf's description of himself as a democrat at heart that the President "may have made many mistakes, but he genuinely tried to build the country and he doesn't want to destroy it just for the sake of his personal office".

The remarks are surprising because Musharraf's official spokesman insisted just days ago that he would serve out his full term and leave office only in 2012. The spokesman stressed that the President saw the February 18 elections for what they were - a parliamentary rather than a presidential poll - and was keen to work with the victorious coalition.The report said Musharraf had considered resigning immediately after the election results were known, but had been persuaded by party loyalists that this could precipitate a crisis. Taliban militants said Sunday they were ready for peace talks with Pakistan's new government, but only if it rejects President Pervez Musharraf's "war on terror" in the country's tribal belt.

A rebel spokesman quoted Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud-accused by Musharraf of masterminding the slaying of ex-PM Benazir Bhutto-as calling for negotiations with parties that beat the president's allies in elections. The announcement comes amid US concerns about Islamabad's commitment against extremists, following Monday's victory by Bhutto's opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the party of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

"The Taliban movement welcomes the victory of anti-Musharraf political partiest and announces its willingness to enter into negotiations with them for bringing peace," Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar said, quoting a statement by Mehsud.

"Taliban are ready for negotiations with the political parties as long as they do not re-impose war on them. If they do so, then Taliban will continue their activities against them," Omar told journalists in Peshawar by telephone.

He urged the new administration to "avoid repeating the mistakes of Musharraf government". Omar says he is a spokesman for Taliban groups operating in the tribal areas but there is no way to independently verify his claim.

Musharraf's regime swung between peace deals and negotiations with the militants-which were criticised by Western allies-and all-out military offensives in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

The PPP and Sharif's party agreed on Thursday to form a coalition but are still hammering out their policies on the future of Musharraf, a key US ally, and on how they will deal with mounting Islamic extremism.

In fresh violence on Sunday, three security personnel and one militant were killed after dozens of rebels attacked a security post Sunday near Peshawar.

Another militant was shot dead after wounding three troops with a grenade in the tribal region of North Waziristan, officials said.

Hundreds of people have died in months of clashes with Taliban militants in Pakistan, and the country has been hit by a wave of suicide attacks over the past year.

The most high-profile bombing killed Bhutto at a political rally on December 27. The Pakistani government said Mehsud orchestrated the killing and accused him of links to Al-Qaeda, but he has denied all involvement.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party responded to the Taliban statement by saying that political and economic solutions were needed to deal with extremism.

"Our stance is that General Musharraf has mishandled the situation to stay in power. We feel that if Musharraf steps down, half of the terrorism would end," party spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told AFP.

If a PPP-led coalition manages to muster a two-thirds majority in parliament, it could seek to remove Musharraf, either by impeaching him or having his election as president last year declared illegal.

The PPP said Sunday it was considering working with the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which was part of the pro-Musharraf coalition that ruled from 2002 to 2007.

"The Pakistan People's Party wants to take all political forces along to form the government and is discussing the possibility of cooperating with the MQM," PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

He said there were different opinions within the party and "nothing has been finalised."

While Sharif is pressing for Musharraf's ouster, the PPP is more coy on its plans for the president, whose popularity has slumped as basic commodity prices soar and Islamist violence intensifies.

"You cannot impeach him right now because you don't have two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and the Senate. Since we cannot do it now, there is no need to say anything about it," Babar said. Pakistan Taliban warn new government to keep clear

Bid for power plants: Summit group for review of decision

Staff Report

The Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation (SIML) has requested the government to review its decision on excluding the company from the tender processes for the 330 to 450MW Bibiyana and Sirajganj independent power plants.

Through separate letters to concerning department of Bangladesh Government, the company has justified their position and claimed to have been declared non-qualified over contradictory facts, source from the Ministry of Power informed.

Summit Power was the only local power company to apply the pre-qualification tenders for the two power projects, has sent separate letters to the Director General of the Power Cell and forwarded it to the Power Division. The letters requested the responsible department to revise the decision, which has disqualified them, said the source.

The Government has selected four foreign companies and consortium to take part in the tender for the Bibiyana plant and three of them for the Sirajganj plant on the recommendations of the tender evaluation committee, headed by the Power Cell Director General Abdul Jalil.

Sources said the tender evaluation committee had almost nothing to do with the process as the pre-qualification applications for Bibiyana were evaluated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank and for Sirajganj by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Initially, the consortium of the Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation and the US-based GE Energy was conditionally pre-qualified to take part in the tender for Bibiyana.

Sources in the Power Cell said the IFC consultants observed that Summit bid did not have the net worth of US$100 million as they took into consideration the consolidated figures of the Summit Group - the Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation and its subsidiary, Summit Power Limited.

In the letter for Bibiyana, Summit Group said, 'It appears to us that the Power Cell made the aforesaid conclusion [to exclude the SIMC] on the basis of "consolidated" figures [of the Summit Group], not the "company" figures. The company [SIMC] is the legal entity, not the group which has no legal recognition either in the Bangladesh Companies Act 1994 or the Bangladesh Income Tax Ordinance 1984.'

Referring to Section H.2.2 of the pre-qualification documents, 'We would like to point out that the consolidated figures do not represent the fair value of our net worth as these are based on the historical costs; whereas the company figures are stated at fair values as per the IAS/IFRS issued by the international accounting standards committee/board,' officials added.

Summit was declared non-responsive in the Sirajganj tender as well, but was not given any clarification why it was declared non-responsive.

In its letter, Summit said, 'we have submitted our financial statements to the Power Cell that are IAS-compliant and our financial statements for the three months ended on September 30th 2007 audited by SF Ahmed and Co, one of the leading audit firms in the country and the representatives of Ernst and Young, clearly demonstrate that the net worth of the company as on September 30 was equivalent to US$121,025,082'.

Unusual price hike now matter of concern: Adviser

Staff Reporter

Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman yesterday admitted that unusual price hike of essentials has become the matter of concern as people got panicked due to the same.

"We have to free the society from the panic of unusual price hike of essential commodities," apparently frustrated adviser Dr Rahman told newsmen after a consultation meeting with government high officials.

He said the Government is working to keep the price of essentials within the reach of common people. To this effect a market-monitoring agency will be formed soon which will be coordinated by commerce adviser himself.

National Board of Revenue chairman Mohammad Abdul Mazid, Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Ziaul Hassan Siddiqui, Bangladesh Rifles Director general Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed and senior officials concerned were present at the meeting.

Dr Rahman said effort is on to keep the price of essential at logical level.

It became an institutional challenge to keep the commodity price under control, he said.

He said the prices of essentials would, of course, rise in the local market consistent with the prices in international market, but the prices should not go up irrationally. "The recent price-hike of soybean oil has been too much."

He also expressed dissatisfaction about the "irrational" increase in the price of Soyabean oil imported one month before.

Soyabean oil is now selling at Tk 110 per litre as compared to a range between Tk 97 and Tk 101 as per the Commerce Ministry market report taken on February 13.

"We want to control such irrational price… the price-hike should be rational," the Commerce Adviser said.

The government, he added, would try to take a move to rationalise the prices of nine essential items in the "core food basket" through discussion with the importers and traders as they convened the Monday's meeting for the purpose.

Sloan came on tourist visa, says Home Ministry

UNB, Dhaka

The government didn't allow international human rights lawyer William Sloan to hold press conference here on February 22 as he came to Bangladesh on tourist visa to see some paintings, not on business he was doing here, it was officially stated Sunday. A news release issued by Home Ministry said Sloan had told the immigration officials during his arrival at Zia International Airport on February 16 that he was very interested to see different paintings. s a tourist, it was only logical for him to see different paintings according to the country's existing law. "But, without doing that, Sloan, also president of the American Association of Jurists, the Canadian chapter, attended dinner with lawyers, gave interviews to private media and also sat in meetings with politicians as well as university teachers though he was asked not to engage in such activities," it said.

The government clarification said that, being a foreign tourist, no one could deliver e speech about a country's political and sub-judice matters. "For that reason, the government did not allow Sloan to arrange press conference on February 22 at Sonargaon Hotel." During his visit, the HR jurist had spoken about the political detainees here, including former rulers like Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia.