The New Nation - Internet Edition

Manna’s wife blames: United Hospital for his death

Shelly Quader

Staff Reporter

Shelly Quader, wife of late film star Manna, at a press conference in the city alleged that her husband died due to negligence and wrong treatment by the doctors of the United Hospital.

She urged the Chief Adviser to take action against those responsible for the death of her husband. "If the culprits get punishment, it will be a landmark," remarked Shelly.

She demanded proper investigation of the incident and interrogation of the doctors and nurses on duty during Manna's hospitalisation. "Manna died prematurely because of the negligence of the hospital authority," she claimed. The press conference was held at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday where the late matinee idol's son, Siam Imtiaz, brother Prince Talukder Panna and other family members were present.

Shelly claimed that there was no specialist doctor in the hospital to treat Manna after he was rushed there with chest pains on February 17.

Shelly rejected the explanation of the hospital authorities and termed it an eye-wash.

Meanwhile, an official of the United Hospital termed Shelly's allegations baseless. Cardiology specialist Zahiruddin M Ilias was present when Manna was rushed to the hospital, she added.

"We protest her statement and we will formally make our position clear later today (Wednesday), said Shejuti, the official when she was asked by phone to comment on Shelly Quader's allegations.

Thai Exhibition 2008 begins in city: Bangkok proposes FTA with Dhaka

Visitors at a stall on the opening day of the 4-day
Thai Exhibition-'08 at Hotel Sheraton in the city yesterday.
Focus Bangla

Staff Report

Four-day long Thailand Exhibition-2008 began yesterday in the capital with pledge to expose new business chances between the two friendly countries.

On the opening day of the exhibition, Bangkok renewed their proposal for bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh to accelerate two-way trade.

Secretary for the Ministry of Planning Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury inaugurated the exhibition at Hotel Sheraton. Thai Ambassador in Dhaka Chalermpol Thanchitt and Kazi Habib Sattar, president of Bangladesh-Thai Chamber accompanied him in the opening ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Thai envoy Chalermpol Thanchitt reiterated their proposal for signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh as he said both the countries' economy would be benefited to a great extent for such development.

Trade between the two countries has increased substantially within a few years and now fluctuating in the range of approximately US$425 to 525 million, he added.

The Planning Secretary in his speech said, diplomatic and economic relations between Bangladesh and Thailand have increased much over the years and the bilateral relationship will continue to strengthen in the coming days.

" Thailand is the second-largest economy in this region. Despite huge potential of trade and investment, the Bangladeshi traders are not taking actual benefits, that's why the bilateral trade balance largely declines towards the Thai side," he said.

Jafar Chowdhury said Bangladeshi traders have comparative advantages of exporting chemical fertilisers, leather products, medicines to the Thai market. " Now the investors should take such advantage."

Bangladesh exports yarn and fibers, frozen fishes and meat to Thailand while imports cement clinkers, polymers, fabrics, machinery and parts, iron and steel, refrigeration and parts, rubber and rubber products from Thailand.

The Thai Embassy and the Thai Trade Center in Dhaka jointly organised the fair participated by at least 43 companies featuring their 11 categories of products.

The products include chemical products, construction materials, hardware and machinery, auto parts and accessories, electrical appliances, food and beverages, garments, textiles and fashion accessories, gift and decorative items, health and beauty, household and kitchenware products, leather products and footwear, and textiles and garments.

The exhibition will remain open for traders from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm and for public from 3:00 pm to 8:00pm everyday this month.

No instruction from Riyadh restricting issuance of visas to Bangladeshis

UNB, Dhaka

Saudi Ambassador in Dhaka Abdullah M Al-Obaid Al-Namla yesterday affirmed that his mission did not receive any official instruction from Riyadh restricting the issuance of visas to Bangladeshis.

"It was purely a technical problem," the envoy said during a meeting with Foreign Secretary Tauhid Hossain at the Foreign Ministry following speculations on stoppage of issuing visas to Bangladeshi workers.

The Foreign Secretary discussed the problems relating to manpower export from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia.

He said currently around 1.7 million Bangladeshi skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers are working in Saudi Arabia.

In such a large Diaspora, the Foreign Secretary said, it was quite obvious that there would be some unscrupulous elements and lawbreakers. "Unfortunately, there have been attempts to attribute the actions of few towards the entire community in general who are sincere and law abiding," he added.

He also drew the attention of the envoy towards the recent news in different print and electronic media depicting a derogatory picture of Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia.

Media reports have claimed that there was an actual ban on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers and the Saudi Embassy in Dhaka was not issuing any visa to Bangladeshis for the last week.

The secretary said the government of Bangladesh was ready to cooperate with Saudi authorities to bring the few culprits to book and urged the authorities of Saudi Arabia to be compassionate and considerate towards the general law abiding workers from Bangladesh so that they did not suffer for the faults of the few.

In reply, the Saudi Ambassador categorically mentioned what was being published in various news media was not based on facts. He said the seizure of criminals and defaulters by law-enforcing authorities was a routine matter in Saudi Arabia and it was being conducted without any prejudice to any particular community.

He emphasized foreigners or natives, whoever were involved in culpable activities, were to be punished as per Saudi law.

The Ambassador said in a large community like of Bangladesh, it was very normal that a few could have been involved in illegal activities.

He said in Saudi Arabia the media were now enjoying greater freedom. They now have free access to the local police station to gather news to file their crime reports.

In this regard, he suggested more balanced reporting in local media in the interest of Bangladesh.

The Saudi Ambassador also suggested that the Bangladeshi workforce should be trained and briefed about Saudi laws and customs and the importance of abiding by the laws before they embark for Saudi Arabia.

He said the Saudi visa system is run centrally and due to technical debacles, around 3,00,000 visa were pending for issuance worldwide.

TIB anti-corruption concert on March 8

Staff Reporter

To observe the 100 years of International Women's Day, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) and Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) will jointly organise a concert at Gulshan Youth Club in the city on March 8.

The concert will start at 2:00pm and will conclude at 9:00pm where artistes Farida Parvin, Syed Abdul Hadi, Kangalini Sufia, Azam Khan, Fahmida Nabi, Shahed, Mehrin, Kafil and Krishnakoli and band groups Souls, Renaissance, Maksud O Dhaka, Dalchhut, Aurthohin, Black and Yatri will perform. Besides, a band group of garments workers named 'Awaz' will also perform.

This was disclosed at a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday.

Dr Iftekharuzzamn, Executive Director of TIB, Abu Taleb Mian, Director General of ACC, artistes Shahed, Bappa Majumder, Fahmida Nabi, among others, spoke at the conference.

Dr Iftekhar said, "The aim of the concert will be to establish women rights and create awareness about anti-corruption as women rights and anti-corruption movement are close to each other. In one hand, it is impossible to establish women rights without effective prevention of corruption, on the other hand it is the first pledge to empower the women in the country."

Chairman of ACC Lt Gen (Retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, Chairman of Trustee Board of TIB Prof Muzaffar Ahmed, Secretary General Mahfuz Anam, Trustee Sultana Kamal and Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed, educationist and writer Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and human rights activist Khushi Kabir, among others, will be present in the concert, he said.

An advisory council was formed to organise the concert. The members are - Dr Syed Manjurul Islam, Begum Mushtari Shafi, Dr Maleka Begum, Dr Geeti Ara Nasrin, Dr Kaniz Siddiqui, Dr Sumaiya Khayer, Ayesha Banu, Sonia Nishat Amin, Ayesha Khanam, Selina Hossain, Mili Rahman, Ferdousi Priyobhashini, Dilara Zaman, Angella Gomez, Shirin Akhter, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Sara Zaker, Zobaira Rahman Linu, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Naquib Khan, Samia Zaman, Munira Morshed Munni and others, said the organisers.

If someone wants to enjoy the concert, he or she has to collect coupon from the organisers and the FM band radio stations. The contact number is 01711-405148, they said.

'Top terror’ killed in crossfire with RAB in N’ganj

UNB, Narayanganj

A "top terror" of the district was killed in an "encounter" between his cohorts and RAB troops in Rupali residential area under Bandar upazila in early hours of Wednesday.

The deceased was identified as Mahe Alam Dipu, 32, son of Shah Alam of Laxmankhola village in the upazila.

Sources said acting on a tip-off, a team of the Rapid Action Battalion arrested the fugitive Dipu from Dhaka on Tuesday night, a week after his return from his hideouts.

He went into hiding after securing bail from a local court in the sensational Shahin murder case of Bandar police station. The killing took place early last year.

Besides, he was accused in a number of other criminal cases, including murder and robbery. His father and younger brother, Zaman, are in prison in connection with the murder.

After his latest arrest, the elite force proceeded along with Dipu towards his village home in a bid to recover arms and arrest his accomplices.

"When they reached the area at about 4am, several of his associates opened fire on the law-enforcers, forcing them to fire back. He was hit by bullets and died on the spot," says an official account of the shootout.

After the incident, a firearm was recovered from the spot.

The body was taken to the General Hospital morgue for autopsy.

DU Central Library to be modernized

DU Correspondent

The Central Library of Dhaka University, the richest library in the country, possesses rare collection of 6,17,000 books, manuscripts, journals along with microfilms, microfiches and CDs.

The library is now regarded as the most valuable research center among the libraries of the South Asia for its huge rare collection that draws the attention of researchers from home and abroad.

The rare manuscripts that are facing decay due to lack of preservation for a long time and normal wear and tear were being converted into Compact Discs (CD) so that the researchers can use these easily. A cyber center equipped with 25 Computers and two Servers will be set up soon for the students, teachers of the university and the researchers, library sources said.

The library authority yesterday arranged a seminar on 'Manuscripts' at the cyber centre room.

Vice Chancellor of the university Prof SMA Faiz inaugurated the seminar as chief guest, while Pro VC AFM Yusuf Haider was present as special guest with Prof Shamsuddin Ahmed in the chair.

Prof Abul Mansur Abu Musa and Librarian Khandakar Fazlur Rahman addressed the function where two keynote papers were presented.

DU VC said the manuscripts of the authors are very important to the researchers for reaching the right conclusion.

The library authorities have to try to reach the facilities to the students and draw them there, he said adding that the reputation of a university depends on the richness of the library.

The library started its journey in 1921 with 18,000 books including 1,250 manuscripts for higher education and research work of the university's teachers and students. In 1925, the university authority formed a high level committee to collect manuscripts from home and abroad. At present, it has 30,000 manuscripts. The Committee collected at least 17,000 manuscripts from East Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal in 1933.

The manuscripts are diverse in calligraphy and subjects, including poetry, drama, history, grammar, religious books, astrology and letter in languages including Bangla, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Maithili and, Assamees.

The university authority is using modern technology like air coolers, dehumidifiers to preserve the valuable collections.

Duty on import of poultry feed to go

BSS, Dhaka

The government has decided to withdraw the 10-percent duty on import of poultry feed to reduce the financial load on the industry affected severely by bird flu.

Director General (DG) of the Department of Livestock Sunil Chandra Ghose said this while talking to BSS yesterday.

He said the bird flu has largely been contained over the recent weeks and the issue of the recovery of the industry is now coming to the fore as the disease has left behind severe damage to the poultry stock and support services.

The DG said the government has established close surveillance mechanism in highly vulnerable areas and maintaining watch all over the country to detect new outbreak as the reports of new incidence have sharply declined. "We have put to test only two reported infection cases on Tuesday," Sunil said adding if they prove positive with specific infectious virus, the authorities will ask for destroying the birds.

Meanwhile, the Livestock Department has hired 300 trained personnel with FAO funding and placed them in 100 vulnerable upazilas, three in each upazila, to maintain surveillance and report new incidence.

Donors, including USAID, UNICEF and World Bank, are also providing consultants and other technical supports, including testing kits and bio-safety know-how, to successfully overcome the situation.

He said 11,25,676 birds were culled up to March 3. The number of eggs destroyed stood at 14,75,000. There have been 201 outbreaks in 103 upazilas involving 340 firms and 72 family yards farming.

Niko graft case: Khaleda to be questioned today

UNB, Dhaka

Detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will be questioned today's afternoon in connection with the Niko graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission against her and four others.

"Khaleda Zia, the former Prime Minister, will be questioned at 3 pm today at the makeshift jail," DIG (Prisons) Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told UNB yesterday afternoon.

According to sources, the court has allowed Masud Ahmed Talukder, one of Khaleda's lawyers to be present during the questioning.

The investigating team of Taskforce-23, including investigating officer ACC assistant director Sahidur Rahman, will question her and record her statement, the sources added.

On February 17, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Golam Rabbani passed an order to question the former Prime Minister following an application from the IO of the case.

Eight cocktails recovered from RMCH

UNB, Rangpur

Eight cocktails were recovered from a dormitory of Rangpur Medical College Hospital on Tuesday night.

Acting on a tip off, police recovered an abandoned bag containing the cocktails from the latrine between room no 23 and 24 in Mukta Hostel.

Later, the cocktails were defused. None was arrested in this connection.

$ 120m UNDP, DFID project to help urban poor

Staff Reporter

The UNDP and the Department for International Development (DFID) have jointly initiated a US$ 120 million development project to improve the livelihoods and living conditions of 3 million urban poor and extremely poor people, especially women and girls in Bangladesh.

The project titled 'Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (UPPR)' will be implemented in cooperation with Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), including the municipalities and city corporations concerned.

The project, which will continue till March 2015 and cover 30 towns, including Dhaka City Corporation, will support local capacity for the development and implementation of poverty-reduction strategies at town level.

Links to financial institutions, such as local banks and micro-finance bodies, to provide access to a wide range of financial services by community groups, including housing improvements and business development support, will also be provided through the project.

It will ensure that the implementation of pro-poor urban development and poverty-reduction strategies at town level influence policy development at the national level.

This project aims to mobilize the urban poor communities and groups to create healthy living environments and support urban poor families to acquire resources, knowledge and skills to increase their incomes and assets.

The project also tends to deliver benefits to poor people through pro-poor urban policy, said a UNDP release Wednesday.

"As part of the global commitment made through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UNDP will continue assisting Bangladesh to fulfill the promise and we are thankful to the UK Government for its support to eradicate poverty", said UNDP Country Director Mr. Manoj Basnyat.

The Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (UPPR) project builds on the experiences of the earlier UNDP-funded Local Partnerships for Urban Poverty Reduction Project (2000-2007).

Pak nuke expert in hospital

BBC News

Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan has been taken to hospital for treatment for fever and low blood pressure, his family and officials say.

His wife Henny told the Reuters news agency that her husband was apparently suffering from an infection but his condition was not serious.

In 2006 doctors operated on Dr Khan for prostate cancer.

Two years earlier, the scientist publicly confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

He has been kept under virtual house arrest in Islamabad since then, even though President Musharraf later pardoned him.

CID asked to reinvestigate Ctg arms haul case

Chittagong Correspondent

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a specialized agency of the police, has again been engaged for reinvestigating the biggest ever arms and ammo haul case took detected here in the port city in 2004.

The court of Metropolitan Sessions Judge in Chittagong yesterday ordered the CID to carry out total reinvestigation of the case following a petition from the Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) M Akbar Ali.

The court heard the petition and subsequently asked the Additional Inspector General (AIG) of the CID to takeover the case for reinvestigation. The court also set deadline for submitting the latest findings on or before April 5 this year.

The Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police earlier tabled a petition seeking appointment of the CID for reinvestigation of the case. The Public Prosecutor now moving with the case expressed dissatisfaction over the charge-sheet produced earlier and called it defective.

Sophisticated military hardware laden in 10 trucks were seized from the jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) on April 1, 2004.

Slain BNP leader: Jamaluddin’s son sent to jail in Ctg

UNB, Chittagong

Slain BNP leader Jamaluddin's son Chowdhury Forman Reza Liton and his two friends were arrested on Tuesday night on charge of assaulting a police official.

When produced before the CMM court yesterday morning, it ordered Reza and his friend Jahangir Alam into jail while granted bail to his another friend, Moonmoon.

Police held Reza along with his two friends in Agrabad access road area in the port city after he physically assaulted Bandar thana Sub-Inspector Suman, said OC of Chittagong Port police station Jahangir Alam.

"Reza physically assaulted Sub-Inspector Suman as he asked Reza to stop his car while he was driving past his car recklessly," the OC said.

Later, police arrested him and his friends Jahangir and Moonmoon and took them to Bandar thana. The OC said Reza again went wild when they tried to interrogate him in front of Bandar Ward Commissioner M Zakaria.

Anti-Diabetic tea launched

Staff Reporter

An herbal anti-diabetic tea "Diabeno" a new formula made from natural elements was launched in the city yesterday.

A team of five scientists under the supervision of Bangladesh Council of Science and Industrial Research (BCSIR) have invented the medicine after a prolong research. 'Diabeno' is made from the leaves of Jarul tree (Lagerstroemia Speciosa).

Prof Dr Chowdhury Mahmood Hasan, Chairman of BCSIR said, "It is our pleasure to present the Herbal Medicine to the mass. I think this medicine will really be beneficial to the diabetic patients."

He requested the government to pay more attention to the development of science and research sector, so as to stop brain drain from the country.

AK Azad Khan, President of Diabetic Association of Bangladesh said medicine made from plants was safer than synthetic medicines and it is a praiseworthy success of the BCSIR. He also mentioned that 65 per cent of the total medicines of the world are made from plants.

The major functions of 'Diabeno' are to control diabetics, to help in transmission of insulin from the pancreas, to reduce fatness and to prolong the youth of people. Specialists hoped that it might reduce the sufferings of the insulin users.

Fame Pharmaceuticals has bought the right of the formula of 'Diabeno' for manufacturing and marketing the medicine across the country.