The New Nation - Internet Edition

Group art show begins : Celebrating 400 years of Dhaka

Visitors watching artworks at Zainul Gallery of Fine
Arts Institute yesterday. NN photo

Staff Reporter

A group art exhibition of six artists under the banner of 'Walk and Work' was inaugurated at Zainul Gallery of the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka University yesterday to celebrate the 400 years of Dhaka as capital city.

Artist Rafiqun Nabi, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University, inaugurated the show as chief guest, while eminent sculptor Prof Hamiduzzaman Khan was present as special guest on the occasion.

The participant artists are Md Ahkamul Haque Tunir, Md Al-Akhir Sarker, Md Adnan Sufian, SSK Mukaddas Muhammad Shadi Ahmed, Mokadesur, Sadek Ahmed and Md Rashed Kamal Russell.

Artist Rafiqunnabi said, "This exhibition will help to recognise the Dhaka city for the young generation and also help to realise the heritage of the city."

Everybody should know the history of his country. We are lucky that we have got Dhaka as capital that has a rich heritage of 400 years. For this reason, everybody should come forward to raise the heritage of Dhaka city to all especially for the children, said Rafiqun Nabi.

A total of 30 artworks of the six artists are on display at the gallery. Most of the artworks are of watercolour, pen drawing and mixed media.

Artist Mukaddas, a participant and organiser of the exhibition, said they had organised a group art exhibition in 2005 which topic was natural beauty of hill areas of the country. "To reminiscence the 400 years of Dhaka we have tried to focus on the rich cultural heritage of Dhaka as a capital city," he said.

The exhibition will cover all-important structures of the Dhaka city, which were built during the Mughal period.

In the works of Ahkamul Haque, he portrayed the architectural beauty of Chawkbazar, Akhir Sarker represented the old structures of Shakharibazar and Adnan Sufian sketched aesthetics view of the Farashganj area.

Mukaddas sketched a drawing of Curzon Hall, while Rashed Kamal Russell portrayed the St Gregory High School with mixed media in the show.

The gallery remains open 12:00 noon to 8:00pm everyday.

McCains Bangladeshi daughter at Republican convention

Cindy McCain and her daughter Bridget appear at the
Republican National Convention in Minnesota.
Reuters

UNB, Dhaka

Cindy McCain and her daughter Bridget appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota.

Bridget McCain, who was taken to America from a Bangladeshi orphanage by McCain's wife Cindy in 1991, was introduced to delegates in Minneapolis in her first appearance of the presidential campaign, according to a report released by Telegraph.co.UK.

Wes Gullett, a former aide to McCain, told the audience that Mrs McCain had spotted Bridget and another child among 160 abandoned babies at a centre run by the late Mother Teresa in Dhaka. Bridget had suffered a cleft palate so severe that she could not be fed, while the other had a serious heart condition.

Fearing both would die without medical attention, Mrs McCain demanded that she be allowed to take the children back to the US, and applied for visas. She argued furiously with Bangladeshi officials until they were signed. "I don't know where I got the nerve," Mrs McCain said later.

The first McCain knew of Bridget, Gullett told the convention, was when he met his wife at the airport in Arizona. He asked: "Where is she going?" to which she replied: "To our house."

He said: "I remember John's face. That day he was not the tough war hero senator. He was like every other new father, full of love and emotion."

Gullett and his wife Deborah adopted the other baby and called her Nikki.

Miss McCain, 17, was placed at the centre of a political scandal in 2000, when her father ran against George W Bush for the Republican presidential candidacy. After McCain, who had taken his adopted daughter on the campaign trail, won the New Hampshire primary, a Bush campaign phone poll asked voters in South Carolina: "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"

McCain lost the South Carolina primary and his campaign never recovered.

After her daughter's introduction at the convention, Mrs McCain, 54, clasped her daughter's hands and the two could be seen wiping away tears.

Flood situation in Bogra worsens

A young girl fetching drinking water from a far off
area as the low-lying parts of Bogra went under flood water
due to damage of a flood protection embankment in
Shariakandi Upazila of the district. Focus Bangla

UNB, Dhaka

Flood situation deteriorated in some parts of the country with the rise of water level in various rivers but eased in north and north-eastern region yesterday.

In Bogra, a portion of a flood protection embankment was washed away by the raging flood waters while more low-lying areas in parts of the country would likely to be flooded.

The latest bulletin by Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said low-lying areas in the districts of Chandpur, Sirajganj, Tangail, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur;

Dohar and Nawabganj of Dhaka, Shibganj and Sadar of Chapainawabganj are likely to be inundated by next 24-48 hours.

The bulletin also said flood situation in the north and north-eastern part is likely to improve further in the next 24-48 hrs.

Meanwhile, the mighty Brahmaputra-Jamuna started falling at all the monitoring stations and is likely to improve further in the next 24-48 hours, the bulletin said.

Reports reaching UNB from Sherpur, Faridpur, Goalanda (Rajbari) and Bogra said fresh areas went under floodwater in these districts while flood situation remained unchanged in Jamalpur.

In Bogra, a portion of flood control embankment of Water Development Board on the bank of river Jamuna was washed away at Chandanbaisha Talukder Para in Sariakandi upazila, flooding many areas of the upazila and neighbouring Dhunat upazila early yesterday.

Locals said Kamalpur, Chandanbaisha, Kutubpur, Bhelabari, Fulbari, Narchi unions of Sariakandi upazila and Gosaibari, Bhandarbari and Nimgachhi unions of Dhunat upazila went under floodwater after the embankment collapsed. The River Padma was flowing around 88 cms above danger level at Goalanda point in Rajbari district Wednesday, aggravating flood situation. Train service was also disrupted due to flood.

In Faridpur, water levels of Padma, Arial Khan and Madhumati rivers rose yesterday, inundating fresh areas.

Around 50,000 people have been marooned in Sadar, Bhanga, Sadarpur and Charbhadrason upazilas of the district during the current flooding.

In Sherpur, over 100 villages of Sadar, Nakla and Sreebardi upazilas were submerged with the raging flood waters in rivers Dashani and Mrigi.

BTCL officials in dilemma over future service status

UNB, Dhaka

Some 400 engineers and non-engineering cadre-service officials of the newly created Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) are now in a dilemma over future of their career following the transformation of the state-owned telecom sector.

After the creation of the new state-owed public limited company BTCL, these cadre officials of the defunct Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) were asked to join the new entity without mentioning the status of their service under the new management.

The BTTB officials joined the BTCL in compliance with government order and since they have been working under the new corporate body in the country's telecom sector.

The BTCL started functioning on July 1, 2008 by taking over all assets and liabilities of the now-defunct BTTB.

However, on July 16, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPoT) issued an order asking the new management to define the status of their officials and employees and inform the ministry about the matter.

The ministry also asked the BTCL management to prepare the terms and conditions for the officials and employees. But, up till now, the BTCL management could not put in place any "service terms and conditions" for the staff members. Expressing frustration, a senior official of BTCL, who joined from the BTTB as a telecom cadre officer, said under the new company nothing but the name did change.

This official noted that under the new corporate body, they have to work under a new business competition with other private telephone operators.

"But, we don't have any discretionary powers to take our own decision for the sake of our own business. Still, we have to seek decision from the higher authority in addressing any case relating to either customer service or business improvement," said the official on condition of anonymity.

He said everything in BTCL moves in the old style of BTTB, which creates only frustration among the officials and employees.

Post and Telecoms Ministry sources said the government might have to face complications in dealing with the cadre officers in the BTCL as their recruitment was under the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Since July 1, two new state-owned public limited companies have been created by the caretaker government under a reform recipe.

Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd. (DPDC) was created dissolving the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA) while BTCL came out from BTTB.

But in DPDC, all the officials and employees were recruited under fresh appointment to a 3-year term under a new enhanced salary structure.

On the other hand, BTTB officials and employees were absorbed in the BTCL under the old appointment with old salary structure.

Final DCC voter list today, printed copies by Sept 10

UNB, Dhaka

The voter list with photographs in the Dhaka City Corporation areas will be finalized today while its printed copies will be published by September 10, in the run-up to the important DCC polls.

Shortly after the publication of the printed voter list, the Election Commission will announce the schedule for Dhaka City Corporation elections, Deputy Election Commissioner for Dhaka Division Biswas Lutfor Rahman disclosed yesterday.

"The DCC voter list will be finalized before announcing the election schedule," he told reporters replying to questions at Dhaka city election office.

The DEC said 35,26,004 voters are registered in the final voter list, down from 36,36,196 found on the voter list made before the slated January 22, 2007 general election that was cancelled amid a grave political crisis over election issues.

He said the voter list for the DCC areas are being finalized today following the past announcement and the

printed list would be found within a week in four registration offices in the city.

Replying to a question, he said the voter inclusion in the registration process would formally end tomorrow in the DCC domain. But simple mistakes on the final voter list would be manually corrected by the authorities concerned.

"If there are any clerical mistakes after publishing the final voter list, these will be manually corrected," he said.

He said the voters need not necessarily take the national identity card for casting their vote, but the voters and their voting centers could be easily identified by using their Id numbers if available with them.

About corrective measures, Lutfor Rahman said the Election Commission launched a three-day crash programme on August 26, involving 188 assistant registration officers, to sweep out all blunders from the DCC voter list.

"We've made hundred-percent scrutiny during the rechecks on the voter list," he said, underlining the interim regime's pledge to present a flawless voter list against the backdrop of the past crisis.

Proceedings of MiG graft case adjourned till September 20

BSS, Dhaka

The Trial Court on Wednesday adjourned the proceedings till September 20 of the MiG purchase graft case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and five others.

Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder set the next date as the defence counsels said they would go to the High Court with the plea that they might not get justice from this Court.

The Defence counsels said this when the Court took initiative to record the deposition of a witness rejecting their prayer for keeping the proceedings suspended.

On August 20, the Court framed charges against the six accused including Sheikh Hasina in the case. The others, who were indicted in the case, are former Air Chief Air Vice Marshal (retd) Jamaluddin, former Defence secretary Syed Yousuf

Hussain, former joint secretary of the Ministry of Defence Mohammad Hossain Serniabat, Air Commodore (retd) Mirza Akhter Maruf and Managing Director of UNIC Group Noor Ali.

The Court dropped the name of former Army Chief General (retd) Mustafizur Rahman from the case as he died recently.

The then Bureau of Anti-corruption (BAC) lodged the case on December 12, 2001, accusing Sheikh Hasina and four others of misusing public money amounting to about Taka 700 crore by purchasing the MiG fighter jets from Russia when Awami League was in power.

The chargesheet of the case was submitted on January 29, 2003, dropping two of the accused and including four new persons in the case. All the accused obtained bail from the Trial Court.

Those accused in the FIR and dropped from the charge sheet were former joint secretary of the Ministry of Defence Brig Gen (retd) Iftekharul Bashar and former deputy secretary of the Ministry Hasan Mahmud Delwar.

The accused, including Sheikh Hasina, filed separate petitions with the High Court at different times seeking quashment of the charges against them.

But, the High Court after hearing rejected the petitions on September 6 last year by discharging the rule issued earlier.

Later, the accused filed appeal petitions before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, but they were rejected after hearing.

Govt urged to frame manpower export policy

Staff Reporter

Leaders of Coalition of Local NGO's, Bangladesh (CLNB) yesterday called upon the government to formulate a policy for manpower export from the country.

They demanded it at a press conference held at Alliance of Sramik Federation office at city's Topkhana area. The CLNB organised the press conference.

Harun-ur-Rasid, President of CLNB said that the employment prospect of our worker in Korea and European countries have become bleak due to bureaucratic inefficiency.

"Only 12,500 applicants, out of 87,000 have finally succeed to register their names to get job opportunity in Korea recently due to bureaucratic hassle," he alleged.

"Around 50,000 applicants of Nepal have been able to get their final registration to get job opportunity in Korea without language test whereas Bangladesh government took language test from the applicants," he informed.

Due to complex policy of the government, huge number of job seekers of Bangladesh have failed to get job opportunity in Korea and European countries, he added.

Leaders of CLNB placed a set of proposals including appointing a special assistant of chief adviser to expand the manpower market of the country, appoint skilled persons at the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE), withdraw corrupt employees from EWOE etc.

CLNB will hand over memorandum to the chief adviser to meet their demands on October 4 in this regard.

General Secretary of Bangladesh Alliance of Garments Sramik Federation Moin Uddin Mandal, General Secretary of Bangladesh Landless Sameti, SCOP leader Harunar Rasid Bhuyan addressed at the press conference.

BDR-villagers clash leaves 50 injured in Chuadanga

UNB, Chuadanga

More than 50 people were injured as villagers clashed with BDR jawans at Jagannathpur in Damurhuda upazila yesterday.

BDR said a patrol team of Jibon Nagar border outpost chased a group of smugglers numbering about 15 when they entered into the village from across the border with smuggled goods at noon. The smugglers left behind goods, including phesidyl, bicycles and low-grade fertilizer.

Joining with the villagers the smugglers attacked the BDR team with sticks and pelted brickbats. BDR were reinforced from the outpost and the clash - chase and counter-case lasted more than an hour.

Angry villagers partially damaged a BDR vehicle. BDR fired ten warning gunshots to scare away the fighters.

Soon senior BDR officials rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Local BDR commander Lt. Colonel Sultan Ahmed said the untoward incident took place as the smugglers on chase mingled with the villagers and mislead them into the clash. They met with the UP chairman and village elders and settled the matter amicably.

BDR held Israfil, Asadul, Zafar and Safin from the spot during the clash. All but Safin were later set free.

Sheltech executive killed in Lalmatia

UNB, Dhaka

An executive officer of Sheltech, a real estate company, was gunned down by unknown assailants at Lalmatia in the city yesterday afternoon.

The victim was identified as Masud Parvez, a Sheltech executive officer of land division and son of Yeasin Ali. He used to live with his family at Moghbazar in the city.

Police said Masud along with his car driver Nazir and a Sheltech official Mahfuz went to Lalmatia for business purposes.

When they reached near House No. 2/2, Block-E, Lalmatia, some assailants opened fire at Masud at about 2:30pm, leaving him seriously injured. But Nazir and Mahfuz were unhurt.

Masud, also a theatre member, was rushed to Square Hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Police could not say anything immediately about the motive behind the killing.

Police later picked up Nazir and Mahfuz for interrogation.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Zillur warns of stern action against anarchists in RMG factories

Staff Reporter

Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman yesterday warned of stern action against "anarchists" in the readymade garment factories.

"Coordinated initiatives of owners, workers and government would be taken in future in every sector of the industry," said the Commerce Adviser yesterday while inaugurating food-rationing programme for the garment workers during Ramzan.

The Adviser called upon all to discharge their duties to ensure working environment in the garment sector and reminded that the garment industry is a sector of pride for all.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) organised the programme at Dilon Complex on Gazipur crossing on the Dhaka-Gazipur road.

Dr Hossain Zillur said this initiative would play a supplementary role in developing production and business for the owners. Apart from the Open Market Sale (OMS) Programme of the Government, BDR's Dal-Bhat and TCB's fair-price shopping progarmmes to offset price rises, BGMEA's initiative would help keep the prices of essentials stable during Ramzan, he hoped.

Under the rationing recipe for some two million workers in the export industry, rice will be sold at Tk 27.10 per kg while lentils Tk 80 and gram Tk 50. BGMEA introduced the rationing system in country's 11 places and opened eight medical camps.

The BGMEA authorities through the Adviser handed over a 36-seat pickup van to Gazipur Police Administration to ensure security for the garment factories.

BGMEA president Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury, vice-president Mahmud Hasan, Deputy Commissioner M Borhanuddin Bhuiyan and Police Super M Abdul Baten were among others present on the occasion.

ADB to provide $ 14.6 m for Padma Bridge design

Staff Reporter

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide US$ 14.6 million loan assistance to start design work of Padma Bridge this month.

The assurance was made by the newly appointed ADB Country Director Paul J Heytens when he called on Communication and Housing and Public Work Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Quader at his office yesterday.

They discussed different issues relating to mutual interest particularly construction of Padma Bridge. Nurul Huda, Deputy Country Director and Senior Project officer Ahmed Faruq of ADB among others were present.

Earlier, the ADB Country Director met with Communication Secretary Dr Mahbubur Rahman at his office.

JCD brings out victory procession

DU Correspondent

The leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), student wing of BNP, expressed the joy on the Dhaka University campus over release of Tarique Rahman on bail yesterday afternoon.

They brought out a victory procession from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) to DU campus to celebrate the release of Tarique at 4:30 pm.

Hundreds of jubilant JCD activists of DU and other universities and colleges of the city took part in the procession and they exchanged sweets among themselves.

Later, JCD leaders led by its president Azizul Bari Helal and general secretary Shafiul Bari Babu met Tarique Rahman at the hospital and exchanged pleasantries with him.

JCD DU unit general secretary Saiful Islam Firoz said it has been proved that Tarique Rahman was innocent as no charge could frame against him.

He hoped Tarique`s mother Begum Khaleda Zia would be released soon through legal process and not under any condition.

The organisation staged a demonstration on the campus marking the day (September 3) as Black Day as BNP chairperson Begum Khgaleda Zia was arrested on this day last year.

Holy Ramzan

Rasulullah (SM) said. "Those who perform Taraweeh and Tahazzud prayer in the month of Ramzan with the hope of virtue, will be forgiven of their sins," (Bukhari. Muslim)

Taraweeh should he performed preferably in 'jamat' in the mosque. There are two ways of offering this prayer. One is called 'Sura Taraweeh', offered with some Surah, mostly not lengthy. It does not need much time.

The other way is 'Khatam Taraweeh'. It takes more time, and is a process of continuous recitation of the verses of the holy Quran from the beginning to the end by the Imam, who leads the Taraweeh prayer. Thus, in 'Khatam Taraweeh' the Imam is necessarily a 'Hafiz-e-Quran'. It takes reasonably longer time. In Bangladesh Khatam Taraweeh is offered in many mosques. The Imam recites the Quran in such division each day so that it (The Holy Quran) ends by the night of Shab-e-Qadr.

It is also a practice of 'Sabr' (patience) of the devotees saying Taraweeh after day-long fasting. The rozadars though tired, take part in the congregation of Taraweeh as they find it as an opportunity to show allegiance to the rituals ordained by Allah.

The Holy Quran reveals: "They are proper Muslism who pass their nights in 'sijda' and 'qiam' (in Salat) towards their Lord".

-Abdul Muqit Chowdhury