The New Nation - Internet Edition

18 policemen awarded

BSS, Barisal

Barisal Police Administrations awarded 18 police officials as 'Officer of the Quarter' for their performances in nine police stations in the district during the last one year.

The award giving ceremony was held in the Police Lines In- Service Training Centre on Sunday.

Police Supper of Barisal Taufique Mahabub Chowdhury distributed awards as ther chief guest.

The 18 police officials were selected based on their timely submission of chargesheets, settling a huge number of cases, accelerated investigation process, and making arrests under warrants.

The award winners are: SI Monirul Islam and ASI Soharab Hossain of Babuganj thana, SI Mahabubul Alam and ASI Ali Hossain of Ujirpur thana, SI Akhter Morshed and ASI Borhan Uddin of Bakergonj thana, SI Afjal Hossain and ASI Golam Sarwar of Banaripara thana, SI Salam Mollah and ASI Sohel Rana of Gournadi thana, SI Shafiqul Islam and ASI Shahjalal of Agailjhara thana, SI Yunus Ali and ASI A Kuddus of Muladi thana, SI Shawkat Akbar and ASI Md. Mohasin of Mehendiganj thana and SI Sultan Ahmed and ASI Habibur Rahman of Hizla thana.

Film Award to be given on Oct 23

UNB, Dhaka

The National Film Award for the years 2002 to 2007 will be distributed on October 23.

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed will distribute the awards among the winners at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, said a PID handout.

With a view to holding the award giving ceremony, a meeting was held yesterday at the Information Ministry with Secretary Jamil Osman in the chair.

A 27-member organizing and management committee has been working to hold the programme successfully, the handout said.

SC's no to ACC pleas vacating HC stay orders

UNB, Dhaka

The chamber judge of the Supreme Court yesterday straightway said no to Anti-Corruption Commission pleas for vacating High Court orders having granted bail to four political bigwigs of Awami League and BNP, the two former ruling parties who got into trouble after the recent changeover.

They are AL general secretary MA Jalil and presidium member and ex-minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, and ex-MPs Mosaddek Ali Falu of BNP and AHM Mustafa Kamal alias Lotus Kamal of Awami League, who are all facing corruption charges. The court also declined to overturn the bail of suspected drug-lord Amin Huda.

The stance of the Chamber Judge virtually upheld the High Court orders that granted them bail in corruption cases, court sources said.

Besides, Chamber Judge MA Matin also refused to hear ACC pleas for staying the High Court orders that had stalled the trial-court sentences against former state ministers Iqbal Mahmood Tuku and Amanullah Aman in graft cases.

Separate special courts set up in the parliament complex to deal with high-profile corruption cases under the current purge jailed Tuku for 9 years and Aman for 13 years for amassing wealth and concealing information about it.

The Chamber Judge asked the counsel for the ACC to file regular leave-to-appeal petitions against the High Court orders with the regular bench of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Barrister Fazle Noor Tapash, a counsel for the freed Selim, told UNB that tough the Chamber Judge upheld the bail secured by his client, but it vacated the previous High Court stay on operation of the ACC-filed ill-gotten wealth case proceedings against him.

Zillur dismisses report on seat distribution

UNB, Dhaka

Commerce and Education Advisor Dr Hossain Zillur yesterday dismissed a report that said 300 parliamentary seats will be allocated in favour of Awami League, BNP and pro-government quarters giving 100 seats to each.

"Our responsibility is to hold a successful and meaningful election. We don't have any involvement with this report. We don't know what is being published for what purpose," he told reporters at the Secretariat after a meeting with Communications Advisor Maj Gen Ghulam Kader and LGRD Advisor Anwarul Iqbal.

On the government's political dialogue with BNP and Jamaat today, Zillur said, "We're at the end of the dialogue process and

we're going to end it through tomorrow's dialogue."

He expressed the hope that the dialogue with BNP and Jamaat will be held in a free and frank manner as happened with other parties in the past and it will be constructive, positive and successful.

The Advisor said spontaneous participation in the political dialogue would lead all towards the election and it will be successful. "With all good intention, we are all moving towards a specific target."

China to buy Bangladeshi products worth $80 m

UNB, Dhaka

Chinese importers will sign several contracts today to import Bangladeshi products worth US$ 80 million to reduce huge trade imbalance against Dhaka.

The Chinese entrepreneurs will buy jute and jute-goods, marine products and leather from their Bangladeshi counterparts under the deals.

"Although it is not big but reflects our sincerity and willingness to address Bangladesh's concern about the trade gap," leader of a visiting Chinese Trade and Commerce delegation Liang Wentao told UNB yesterday evening.

Wentao, who is leading a 20-member delegation comprising representatives of eight companies, said China does not want trade imbalance with other countries. "But we can't to wipe out the deficit-we want to address it sincerely."

Current trade imbalance between the two countries comes to a staggering figure of around $3 billion, as China's comparatively cheap products have a big marker in Bangladesh.

Wentao, Deputy Direct General of the Asian Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said the issue of trade deficit is a headache for different countries caused by different structures of economies of different countries.

He, however, said bilateral trade between Dhaka and Beijing has been on the rise as last year trade stood at $ 4.4 billion, an increase of 30 percent over the previous year.

In reply to a question, Wentao said Bangladesh could be an attractive destination for Chinese textile industries which are being shut down or going out of China.

"We're always telling our entrepreneurs to come to Bangladesh and invest here," he said.

Asked about lowering tariffs to enable more access of Bangladeshi products to the Chinese market, Wentao said basically lowering tariffs or duty does not help much, but still China bilaterally as well as under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement provided duty-free access to a good number of Bangladeshi export items.

Replying to a question, the delegation leader said both China and Bangladesh are strong in the garment sector, but they are in conflict as China has diversified its garment products.

Expressing confidence about improving bilateral trade and economic cooperation, he hoped that Bangladesh would be able to improve its domestic economy and diversify its export basket.

Wentao, who is now on a tri-nation tour of India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, said the Chinese government is ready to extend any financial and technical cooperation in infrastructure building or development of any industry like jute in Bangladesh if initiatives come either from the Bangladesh government or entrepreneurs.

He last visited Dhaka a decade ago, and was now impressed to see the development that took place here. He praised the micro-credit innovation by Nobel laureate Prof Mohammad Yunus to alleviate poverty.

FEMA urges political parties to register with EC

DU Correspondent

Fair Election Monitoring Alliance known as FEMA strongly urged all political parties to register with the Election Commission (EC) to contest the upcoming national elections.

The registration of political parties is significant to establish internal democracy within the parties and creating accountable political parties to strengthen the democratic process in the country.

FEMA, which was formed in 1995 to strengthen democratic process in the country, also urged the EC to be flexible about political parties' registration

FEMA believes that Political parties cannot run without democracy and need practice internal accountability for the sake of democracy in the country.

"We have seen in the past that political parties devoid of internal democracy and financial accountability can never promote or strengthen democracy within the parties," said Feroz M Hassan, president of FEMA.

Hasan said the registration of the political parties was the long-standing demand of FEMA.