The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bangladeshi killed by Indian Khasia tribesmen

UNB, Sylhet

A Bangladeshi young man was killed by unruly Indian Khasia tribesmen at Sonahar border in Goyainghat upazila Sunday.

The deceased was identified as Abdul Gani, 30, son of late Shamsul Alam of Monaikandi village in the upazila.

Local people said the Indian tribal miscreants shot Abdul Gani to death when he went to the Sonahar frontier to collect firewood in the morning.

Police recovered the body in the evening and sent it to local hospital morgue for autopsy yesterday.

A case was filed.

Emergency won't be a bar to JS election: Ershad

UNB, Dhaka

Defending state of emergency, Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad yesterday said the emergency won't be a barrier to holding the national election as the just concluded elections to four city corporations and nine municipalities were held smoothly.

He said many political parties demanded lifting of emergency before holding the upcoming parliamentary elections. "But Jatiya Party made no such demand, as I think emergency will not create any bar to holding the national election. Rather, it will have a supportive role."

Speaking at the party's extended meeting at the Diploma Engineers Institute in the city, the former President said the voters had cast their votes in the just completed local body elections without any fear.

He said in the last 15 years, no election was held so peacefully and neutrally in the country as the elections to the four city corporations and nine municipalities.

"If the government thinks, the country is entirely under its control, they can lift the emergency."

Ershad demanded upazila elections before the parliamentary elections, saying that it is the brainchild of his Jatiya Party, which introduced the upazila system.

Calling the tenure of the immediate past government as a black chapter in the country's history, he said they had joined the 14-party grand alliance to save the country from the hands of corrupt suspects and terrorists.

"We're still in the grand alliance as it has not been disbanded yet. The grand alliance can again be reactivated before the (national) election," he said.

The Jatiya Party chairman said if they could go to the state power again, they would run the country dividing it into eight provinces under a federal system. "It is impossible to run the country of 15 crore people under a unitary government."

He said the main challenge of the present non-political government is to hold free, fair and neutral general election. The election must also be free from the influences of the corrupt suspects, terrorists and black money holders, as it is the spirit of 1/11.

Mentioning various development works during his 9-year rule, Ershad said the country strayed from the mainstream of development as the previous governments had failed to follow-up with the developments that had occurred under him.

Jatiya Party leaders Begum Roushan Ershad, Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Kazi Zafar Ahmed, Ruhul Amin Hawlader and Zahirul Islam were, among others, present at the meeting.

4-party in trouble to hold programmes, but AL is free: Delwar

UNB, Dhaka

BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said yesterday that the four-party alliance was not being allowed to hold political protests while there was no problem for the Awami League to hold similar programmes.

"They (AL leaders) are talking freely and holding programmes without any problem, but we are not allowed to do so," Delwar told reporters in front of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).

Delwar went there with an intention to meet Tarique Rahman who suffered injuries after he slipped in a bathroom of the prison cell at BSMMU.

But the prisons authorities did not allow him to enter the hospital to see Tarique, a BNP leader and elder son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Delwar repeated his demand for release of Khaleda and Tarique from jail. Otherwise, he said, they would gradually build a tough movement to realise their freedom.

Delwar asked all activists of the BNP-led alliance to make the planned human chain protest plans for August 27 a success.

Phulbari Day today

UNB, Dinajpur

National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Electricity and Port (OGPC) observes the Phulbari Day today in memory of those killed for protesting open pit extraction of coal two years ago.

At least 3 men were killed and several hundred wounded in clashes with police-BDR when several thousand people protested on August 26, 2006 demanding cancellation of contract with Asia Energy for extraction of coal of the Phulbari mine.

Dinajpur unit of OGPC today formed human chain in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office demanding cancellation of contract with Asia Energy for open pit extraction of coal.

The committee has planned to offer special prayer at the grave of those killed and milad mehfil tomorrow. Rashed Khan Menon of Workers Party and Manjurul Ahsan are scheduled to join tomorrow's programme.

The DC and SP said adequate measures were taken to maintain peace.

ACC sends 2nd list of 18 corrupt to TAC for clemency parade

UNB, Dhaka

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday sent a second list of 18 corrupt individuals, predominantly sub-registrars, to the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) for considering clemency in return for their ill-gotten wealth.

"We today sent the applications of 18 persons to the TAC…The relevant documents have also been forwarded with their applications," ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal told the Commission's regular briefing.

The majority of the 18 individuals are sub-registrars, he said, adding that others include one businessman, one teacher and retired and serving government officials.

Sub-registrars' domain, dealing with land registration, is black-marked as one of the most corrupt sectors in the country.

Some of the officials have already been implicated in bribery cases, he said.

Earlier, Hanif said, the Commission had sent (on August 14) a list of 17 persons to the TAC for considering their applications for clemency.

Responding to a question, he said in addition to 35 persons referred to the TAC, three more individuals have applied to the ACC for referring their cases.

To another questioner, Hanif said no application has been scrutinized before sending to the TAC.

Asked whether there would be any scrutiny in future, he said, "There is no mention of scrutiny in the ordinance (by which TAC was formed)."

In reply to a query, the ACC spokesperson said, "I don't see any reason why those who consider themselves innocent will apply."

Replying to a question, he said that no politician has yet applied to refer his or her case to the TAC for exoneration.

Tongi power plant resumes operation

UNB, Dhaka

The 80-MW Tongi peaking power plant that tripped on Sunday morning following gas leakage in cooling system resumed operation at 9:10 pm the same day, but another now shut down.

Official sources said the 100-megawatt Baghabari plant was forced into shutdown yesterday at 5:41 pm when its gas supply was found low.

"We had to shut down Baghabari plant for low pressure in gas supply," said a senior official of the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB).

The country experienced more than 1000-MW load shedding due to a huge shortage in electricity generation.

The PDB and independent power producers (IPPs) jointly produced about 3,400 megawatts against an officially recognised demand for 4,450 megawatts of power.

But industry-insiders believe the demand is more than 5,000 MWs. But the authorities concerned always show a lower figure to hide the actual power shortage.

For poor electricity supply, many areas in the capital city had to experience 4-5 hours of power cuts in different spells. The outage situation in port city Chittagong is worse still.

Iceland President cancels his visit to Bangladesh

UNB, Dhaka

Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson will not come to Dhaka to night.

President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson was scheduled to arrive here to night from China, but he returned home from Beijing canceling his 5-day trip to Bangladesh, according to his tour programme.

A new schedule of his visit to Bangladesh was not yet known.

Tarique gets bail in Tk 1 cr extortion case

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The High Court yesterday granted Tarique Rahman six-month interim bail in an extortion case.

The bench of justices Tariqul Halim and Sheikh Abdul Awal gave the orders after former primer minister Khaleda Zia's elder son made the appeal.

Ahmed Amin Bhuiyan, owner of Uday Tower, a multi-storey building in Gulshan, filed the case with Gulshan Police Station on March 8 last year.

The plaintiff in his complaint said Tarique had called him at Hawa Bhaban, the BNP chiarperson's political office, in January last year and asked him to regularly pay money.

Tarique had also demanded Tk 1 crore at the time, which Bhuiyan agreed to pay under duress.

When Bhuiyan had gone to Tarique with a cheque of Tk 1 crore, the all-powerful BNP leader refused it and demanded the sum in cash.

Then, the plaintiff's brother Faruk Ahmed took the money in two briefcases to Hawa Bhaban where Tarique's assistant Apu received them.

Tarique informed Bhuiyan the next day that he had the money.

Bhuiyan was a BNP candidate from Noakhali-2 constituency in the forestalled January 22, 2007 elections.

Khaleda and her son have appealed for bail in six cases including the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The hearing will be held on those appeals tomorrow.

Barisal court acquits: 13 accused in 2005 series blast case

UNB, Barisal

A special court here yesterday acquitted all the 13 accused in one of the 12 cases filed in the sensational series bomb blasts in Barisal in 2005.

Judge of Barisal Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal Court Rabiul Hassan delivered the verdict saying the charges against them could not be proved and as such they were acquitted from the charges.

Sub-Inspector Mosharraf Hossain of Barisal Kotwali police station filed the case on the serial bomb blasts outside the local Roads and Highways Department (RHD) office on August 17, 2005.

Later Sub-Inspector Borhan Reza submitted the charge sheet on December 24 same year accusing the 13 in the case.

After examining 22 out of 25 witnesses and other records, judge Rabiul Hassan also ordered the release of the accused from custody if they are not wanted in any other case.

The acquitted persons are: Golam Morshed Chowdhury Reza, Jalal Arefin, Hafez Saiful Islam, Abu Yusuf Majumdar, Abu Solaiman Sujan, Maruf, Jasimuddin, Abdus Sobahan, Giasuddin, Sarwar, Abdur Rahim, Zahid Babu and Ziaur Rahman Zia.

Earlier, out of 12 cases filed in connection with the serial bomb blasts, trial in four cases were completed. In three of the tried cases, all the accused were also acquitted from the charges. But in one case seven accused were convicted, prosecution sources said.

NCC refers 145 names to TAC for clemency

UNB, Dhaka

The National Coordination Committee (NCC) on serious crime and corruption has referred the names of 145 corrupt persons to the Truth and Accountability Commission for considering their applications for clemency in return for their illegal wealth.

"Yes, we today received 145 cases from the NCC. This is the first referral by the NCC," a well-placed source told UNB.

The source, however, would not divulge any other details about the names referred.

The Anti-Corruption Commission also today sent a list of 17 individuals, the source added.

But, ACC spokesperson Col Hanif Iqbal told the Commission's regular briefing yesterday afternoon that applications of 18 individuals have been forwarded to the TAC.

Meanwhile, according to TAC sources, the Commission has already decided to extend the timeframe by another month beyond September 1 because of poor response from hesitant mercy-seekers.

In another development, the TAC will get down to hearing clemency applications on September 1.

Earlier, the TAC fixed August 25-28 for speaking to 21 applicants who applied before the day's referral. If satisfied with their statements, the applicants would be provided with the prescribed forms to make the declarations. During that period, the applicants would be informed about the dates for hearing.

Accordingly, TAC reportedly spoke to four applicants today and they filled up the prescribed forms to make declarations. The date for hearing their applications has been set for September 1.

Writ challenging Truth Commission filed

BSS, Dhaka

A writ petition challenging the formation of Truth and Accountability Commission (Truth Commission) was filed with High Court Division of the Supreme Court on Monday.

Human Rights activists Dr Dipu Moni, Farida Akhter, Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasiruddin Ahmed jointly filed the writ petition that might be presented tomorrow before a division bench comprising Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuk Hossain Ahmed for hearing, petitioners' counsel said.

The Truth and Accountability Commission (Truth Commission) started its function from August 3 last.

Justice Habibur Rahman Khan was appointed chairman of the commission while Major General (retd) Monjur Rashid Khan and former comptroller and auditor general Asif Ali were made members.