The New Nation - Internet Edition

BCB bans fourteen rebel cricketers for 10 years

President of Bangladesh Cricket Board Major General
Sina Ibn Jamali addressing a press conference at the Mirpur
Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday. NN
photo

Sports Reporter

Bangladesh Cricket Board has banned the 14 Bangladesh cricketers for 10 years who have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL). President of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Major General Sina Ibn Jamali said yesterday that those persons who would join in the ICL , would be banned for ten years. Sina Ibn Jamali was addressing a press conference held at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.

He added that the players, coaches, trainers,who would join the ICL, would be banned for 10 years.

When asked about the national crickters and the other crickters, who joined the ICL , the BCB boss told the newsmen that they knew about them by electronic and print media. If BCB gets confirmation that a cricketer would take part in the ICL, the ban would be applicable for that player also. Former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar, Aftab Ahmed, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh, Mosharrof Hossain, Nazim Uddin and Alok Kapali announced their retirement from domestic and international cricket on September 14. The eight national cricketers submitted their resgnation letters to Bangladesh Cricket Board on the same day. The players will take part in the upcoming ICL scheduled to start from October 10.

Besides, Mohammad Rafique, Taposh Baisya, Monjurul Islam, Mohammod Sharif, Golam Mabud, Mahbubul Karim also joined in the ICL.

Sina Ibn Jamali said that those cricketers, who joined the ICL, could not take part in the internatinal competitions as well as domestic cricket meets for 10 years. He added that they would discuss with their lawyers about those rebel cricketers to fine them.

When asked about the rebel cricketers that if the cricketers would try to return to Bangladesh's cricket, the board will consider their issues.

Policy summit with politicians in Nov: Guidelines for next govt to be worked out

Staff Reporter

The government is planning to hold a policy summit in November this year on three important issues with the participation of political leaders and civil society members, Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman told newsmen yesterday.

The three issues are investment growth, administrative reform, and education.

The seminars, expected to be attended by the two former prime ministers- Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, will decide the course of actions of the next governments and forward some recommendations over the issues.

At a press briefing at commerce ministry, Dr Zillur said: " The present government is working to hold an election with the participation of all political parties. Now we are at the stage of working on enhancing the quality of the political parties and their members so that no unwanted people can be elected."

He said the seminars will be organised as complimentary to the dialogues that was held earlier with the political parties.

Zillur said the government will expect political parties to share their views on the issues in the summit so that the next elected government could easily deal with the matters.

"Actually our plan is to engage the top political leaders in the summit so that they could give the guidelines for the next government. Next elected government will have to face a lot of challenges, particularly in dealing with investment, administrative reforms and education."

"We want to leave the things for the next government," Dr Zillur said.

Being asked if the seminars intend to bring consensus among the political parties the Commerce Adviser said the main course will be starting the discussion. "The seminars will be organised to make the political parties concur to resolve problems through discussion."

Replying to a question Dr Zillur said, " We have to work despite the limitation. But we will be trying to ensure participation of the two former PMs. They have done many things for the country. We should not undermine any of their achievements."

Challenges facing Nepal’s Maoist rulers

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

The Himalayan Republic of Nepal is passing through defining moments of history with its Maoist rulers pursuing the target of establishing a federal system replacing the process of establishing a Westminster type of democracy initiated in 1990.

As a first step towards that the Constituent Assembly elected in April has deposed King Gyanendra abolishing the 239-year-old Hindu monarchy and elected in his place titular president Ram Baran Yadav.

Maoist Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal Prachanda who has just ended his first visit to India, has been assured financial support to rebuild the country, and of review of the 1950 treaty of peace and friendship with India.

In return Nepal will take measures for the promotion of investor friendly, enabling business environment to encourage Indian public and private sector investments in Nepal.

Discussions on the development of water resources, including hydro-power generation, irrigation, flood control and other water related cooperation, will be pushed forward between the two sides, a press statement says.

The Nepali Prime Minister badly needed the support as his government is faced with formidable challenges in giving the land-locked country a sustainable democracy. The popular verdict that his party got in general elections two years after the 2006 peace deal that ended decade-old armed civil war should now be translated into specific economic activities that would benefit the 24 million people.

The Constituent Assembly which is set to write a new constitution on the principles of federalism has yet to adopt its own rules of procedure. A federal system that the Maoists promised during the elections on the basis of ethnic composition of the people now looks difficult to implement as ethnic groups appear unlikely to function as separate administrative units, knowledgeable Nepalis say.

Meanwhile, 75 districts did not have elections for the last eight years and are functioning without a sense of direction coming from the centre. Same is the case with village level elected bodies. As the new leaders take time to take policy lines even the law enforcing agencies are suffering from lack of guidance, insiders say.

Signs are there that the Maoists who have been elevated from fighters in the jungles to rulers in Kathmandu appear to be desperate to keep the house in order. They have embraced the capitalist model of development and have welcomed not only grants and loans from donors but also foreign investment public or private in Nepal.

Known for their anti-Indian stance Maoists are now too eager to change the image. This can only be natural as the 1950 agreement provides for free movement of citizens of the two countries through their common border, and Nepali rupee is tagged with the Indian rupee to maintain a stable exchange rate. More than three million Nepali citizens work in India and can have the right of franchise if they want to.

Consequently India maintains the largest diplomatic presence (embassy having total strength of 2000 men) in Katmandu. Informed senior Nepali citizens say, although the strength of the regular army rose from about 30,000 to about 100,000 in five years in the face of insurgency, it can hardly operate without Indian influence.

Maoists face a crucial test of dealing with the regular army which they earlier fought. The government needs to rehabilitate all Maoist fighters.

About 19,000 Maoist soldiers have now been sheltered in cantonments on the understanding that there will be a token absorption of the Maoist fighters in the Army.

Faced with undeclared opposition to such merger, Maoist leaders are now talking about the creation of an Industrial security force which their critics see as an attempt to raise a private army. Creation of such a force, it is feared, would antagonise the army which earns handsome foreign exchange for the country through participation in UN peace-keeping operations.

The people of the Terai (plains) again have been agitating for autonomy or independence from the hill people.

Govt conspiring to foil JS polls : Zillur

Awami League acting President Zillur Rahman
addressing the view exchange meeting with the Mahila Awami
League leaders at his residence in the city on Wednesday.
FocusBangla

Staff Reporter

Acting President of Awami League Zillur Rahman, yesterday blamed the Caretaker Government for engaging in a conspiracy to foil the December parliamentary election as per the roadmap.

He also informed that the party had started taking preparation for participating in the national election and any polls ahead of the JS polls would be resisted by all means.

Zillur made this comment while addressing a delegation of Mohila Awami League at his Gulshan residence.

He also accused the Government of trying to arrange a parliamentary poll according to a blueprint.

Zillur warned that if the Government tried to hold upazila polls ahead of the parliamentary election, it might create anarchic situation and pull the country towards uncertainty.

Asked about the existence of the AL-led grand alliance, he said the issue would be finalised after the return of Sheikh Hasina from the US.

Asked about the comments of Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad that he was keeping regular contact with Sheikh Hasina over phone, he said he did not know anything about it. Ershad himself could say better about this.

When asked to comment on the government's initiative to bring the two former prime ministers AL Chief Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, Zillur Rahman said, "Now Hasina is under provisional release. During this provisional period she will not sit with anyone, even with the chief executive of the country."

He added that only after Hasina's unconditional release from jail, she herself would decide whether she would sit with anybody for talks or not.

Asked when Hasina would return home, he informed the journalists that she was likely to return home on October 7 or a day after.

Zillur further alleged the caretaker government is now out to rehabilitate "the corrupt and miscreants" of the last BNP-Jamaat regime who played controversial role during the liberation war.

"To conclude the insufferable misrule of BNP-Jamaat alliance government, the present caretaker government brought about the political changeover of 1/11. But they failed to fulfill the expectation of the country's people. Rather they were now working to bring them back.

Zillur also alleged that the government had usurped people's fundamental rights by imposing state of emergency and he termed it a plot to eradicate politics from the country.

"The caretaker rulers should understand one thing-the state cannot be ruled by force," he said.

3 fishing trawlers capsize in Bay: 10 missing

Ships remained anchored at Mongla Port on Wednesday
due to monsoon depression in the sea. FocusBangla

UNB, Bagerhat

Three fishing trawlers sank yesterday in the Bay of Bengal, leaving a least 10 fishermen missing amid depression.

Some survivors who managed to swim ashore said heavy winds caused the accident, as some 28 fishermen were aboard at Narikelbaria and Kotka areas. "Of them, about 18 returned safely but the rest remained unaccounted for," said Alauddin, one of the trawler owners from Kachikhali area.

coast guard captain Abidur Rahman said search for the missing was on at various points of the coast.

Due to the monsoon depression, thousands of scared fishermen with their trawlers took shelter at small rivers of the Sundarbans.

Meanwhile, some 100 fishermen who were reported missing after trawlers capsized Monday night have managed to return to safety by swimming or with the help of other trawlers.

But some 25 trawlers that went under water remained untraced in the depression-hit rough sea.

The low-lying areas of nine upazilas in Bagerhat district were submerged because of abnormal tidal surge.

Many shrimp farms were washed away by the tidal surge in Bagerhat, said fisheries department official Nittanondo Das.

S Talpatty issue unresolved: Maritime boundary talks end in disagreement

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh and India could not reach any agreement over the crucial issue of demarcation of their maritime boundary in the energy-rich Bay of Bengal, during the 3-day parley, which concluded in Dhaka yesterday.

"We agreed to disagree, we sat to reach understanding," MAK Mahmood, additional foreign secretary, told reporters at the end of the hectic negotiations that took place after 28 years.

The last meeting was in 1982 and it ended after preliminary talks. over demarcation of the boundary.

MAK Mahmood said, "We've difference of opinion on the flow of the common river Haribhanga."

The Indian side claimed that midstream flows on the eastern side of the Haribhanga while Bangladesh claimed that it flows on the western side of the river.

The Hariabhanga River is located at the estuary near the disputed Talpatty Island in the Bay of Bengal. Over the years the river has changed its course.

Mahmood said Bangladesh placed all data and documents in support of their arguments and positions. The Indian side did the same.

"It's like a brainstorming session," he said, adding that exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and territorial coastline all came up for discussion.

Asked if they made any progress, Mahmood in a diplomatic parlance said a meeting after a break of 28 years is itself a progress.

Indian team leader and chief hydrographer Rear Admiral BR Rao, while quickly leaving the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, said: "We had wonderful discussion. We discussed various options and methodologies."

He said it was a technical-level meeting and more discussions would take place in future.

Bangladesh shares the bay with India and Myanmar but has not demarcated the sea territory with them, which is creating disputes mainly over offshore search of oil and gas. None of the countries have yet claimed their marine boundaries in the UN.

Back in June, New Delhi and Yangon strongly opposed Bangladesh's offshore block bidding for exploration of oil and gas. Previously, Dhaka raised objections when India and Myanmar floated an international tender for searching offshore in 2006, accusing them of overlapping Bangladesh territory but did not get any reply from India.

Officials said the two sides discussed the matter of 'starting point' in drawing the dividing line from the coastline to the exclusive economic zone that has apparently overlapped claims of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar due to the funnel-like shape of the Bay of Bengal.

The Bay of Bengal has become very important, especially after India's discovery of 100tn cubic feet (tcf) gas in 2005-06 and Myanmar's discovery of 7 tcf gas at the same time. Besides, India also discovered two billion barrels of oil.

The bay in Bangladesh's territory, which has not been tapped at all, promises huge natural resources, experts say. In 2006, sedimentary rock oolite was discovered, which promises oil and gas.

India and Myanmar need to finish the maritime demarcation with Bangladesh shortly as they are set to file their claims to the UN on June 29 and May 21 next year respectively.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Bangladesh also has to file its claim within July 27, 2011.

Bangladesh is yet to make any progress in preparing its papers with proper boundary survey due to lack of experience, skilled manpower and equipment. The government is planning to take help from the US, Britain and Australia, sources in the foreign ministry said.

All polls dates on Monday, says CEC

Staff Reporter

Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday told journalists that he would announce the dates for elections to Parliament, upazila and Dhaka City Corporation on Monday after completion of dialogue with all political parties.

However, Adviser for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives M Anwarul Iqbal said that Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed would announce the polls date after his return from China in consultation with the Commission.

Asked to clarify the comment made by the Adviser for the LGRD on announcement of polls date, Dr Huda explained that according to rules in the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and the Constitution, the CEC always declares the election date, it is not declared by the Chief Adviser.

He said the Commission would sit in dialogue with BNP and its partners Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote on Saturday to complete the dialogue with political parties, particularly on electoral reform issues.

"After the talks, we will meet with the Chief Adviser to let him know about the progress of the dialogues. Then we will set the dates for elections," Dr Huda said.

He told that the Commission has already received the letters from Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote yesterday on their preparation to join the dialogue.

However, the BNP said it is not ready to sit for talks with the Commission today (Thursday) that led to the rescheduling of the dialogue on Saturday.

"We'll finish the dialogue in a single day (on Saturday)," the CEC hoped.

He said the Commission would announce the specific dates for all elections after making a fresh plan and counting the days carefully for the time lag since the earlier plan about the polls did not stand.

"We've to find out how much gap will there be among the elections," he observed.

Asked whether the upazila polls would be held ahead of general polls, he said, "We had a plan before. But now the plan is not working. We have to make a new plan."

He said the decision as to which election comes first would be taken through discussion.

The CEC said the schedules would not be announced now and hoped that there would not be problem with the election schedule after declaring the specific dates for elections.

Election Commissioners M Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the Adviser for LGRD yesterday told reporters that the Chief Adviser is likely to address the nation on various issues including the elections schedule after his return from China.

He, however said that EC would announce the final date and schedule of the elections.

"The Chief Adviser should address the nation so that the people do not lose faith in the upcoming elections," the Adviser said.