The New Nation - Internet Edition

Law and order ahead of polls: Special drive to nab fugitive criminals, recover arms

Staff Reporter

Law enforcement agencies will launch a special drive to arrest fugitive criminals and recover illegal arms across the country following the announcement of elections schedule likely to be declared on November 2.

"We will take decision as to how we will maintain law and order in the country after the announcement of the election schedule. We will take special measures to nab terrorists and recover illegal arms to ensure holding the forthcoming general polls in a peaceful manner," said Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad while briefing journalists at the Police Headquarters yesterday.

He said fugitive terrorists, who are reportedly appearing on the eve of the parliamentary elections would also be arrested during the drive.

Asked whether any top terrorist entered the country after defacing themselves by plastic surgery, the IGP replied in the negative saying that he is not aware about such incident.

"Police have not yet found any terrorists returning from their hideouts in India on the eve of election as reported in a section of the press," he said.

Nur Mohammad said the anti-melamine drive to stop display and sale of eight brands of contaminated powder milk has been strengthened throughout the country in line with the court directives.

The brands are Sweet Baby, Yashili-1 and Yashili-2 of China Nido Fortified Instant and Anlene of New Zealand, Diploma and Red Cow of Australia, and Dano of Denmark.

He said the drive which started on Sunday would continue till the test reports from foreign experts are available.

"No one can sell or display the reported melamine-contaminated eight brands of powder milk until the expert report comes in. If we find anyone doing it, he'll be fined on the spot," he said. The IGP said during the drive on Tuesday police recovered 5835 kgs of powder milk of the banned eight brands. The maximum quantity of powder milk-4866 Kgs-was recovered from Barisal city.

Besides, the mobile courts have fined different shops Tk 4,51,500 for selling and displaying of the banned items.

Director General of RAB Hasan Mahmud Khandoker and senior police officials were present during the press conference.

The expert reports from FAO's laboratory in Bangkok are likely to be available by Sunday or Monday.

Meanwhile, the government has formed committees at district levels to review sale and marketing of powder and liquid milk and milk-based products.

According to a press release, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family on Wednesday each of five-strong monitoring committees will be headed by the deputy commissioner (DC) with the civil surgeon as the secretary.

In the wake of melamine contents found in milk powder, the ministry formed the committees Tuesday, it said.

Other members of the committee are superintendent of police, district information officer and a representative of the municipality mayor.

The committees have been tasked to ensure that proper standards are maintained while marketing milk and milk-based products.

The ministry in another press statement released yesterday said the government had been reviewing the Breast Milk Substitute (Market Regulation) Act, 1984 in a bid to up date it.

170 killed in Pak quake

AP, Ziarat

Pakistan - A strong earthquake struck before dawn Wednesday in impoverished southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 170 people and turning mud and timber homes into rubble.

An estimated 15,000 people were left homeless, and rescuers were digging for survivors in a remote valley in Baluchistan, the remote province bordering Afghanis-tan where the magnitude 6.4 quake struck.

Officials said they were distributing thousands of tents, blankets and food packages and sending in earth-moving equipment to dig mass graves. Many of those who survived were left with little more than the clothes they had slept in, and with winter approaching, temperatures were expected to drop to around freezing in coming nights. Worst-hit was the former British hilltop resort of Ziarat and about eight surrounding villages, where hundreds of houses were destroyed, including some buried in landslides triggered by the quake.

"There is great destruction," said Ziarat Mayor Dilawar Kakar. "Not a single house is intact." Aftershocks rattled the area throughout the day, including one estimated at magnitude 6.2 in the late afternoon. There were no reports of additional casualties or damage.

Kakar said the death toll from the quake was 170, with 375 injured. Around 15,000 people lost their homes, he said. Kakar appealed to "the whole world" for help, but the head of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said an international relief effort would not likely be necessary.

In the village of Sohi, a reporter for AP Television News saw the bodies of 17 people killed in one collapsed house and 12 from another.

Distraught residents were digging a mass grave in which to bury them.

"We can't dig separate graves for each of them, as the number of deaths is high and still people are searching in the rubble" of many other homes, said Shamsullah Khan, a village elder.

Other survivors sat stunned in the open.

Hospitals in the nearby town of Kawas and the provincial capital Quetta, 50 miles away, were flooded with the dead and injured. One patient, Raz Mohammed, said he was awoken by the sound of his children crying before he felt a jolt.

"I rushed toward them but the roof of my own room collapsed and the main iron support hit me," he told an AP reporter in Quetta Civil Hospital. "That thing broke my back and I am in severe pain but thank God my children and relatives are safe."

Farooq Ahmad Khan, head of the disaster authority, said 2,000 houses were destroyed and that teams were scrambling to erect shelters for 2,500 to 3,000 people.

The main quake struck at 5:10 a.m. local time and had a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It was a shallow 10 miles below the surface and was centered about 400 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan is prone to violent seismic upheavals. Wednesday's quake was the deadliest since a magnitude-7.6 quake devastated Kashmir and northern Pakistan in October 2005, killing about 80,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

A temblor of magnitude 7.5 that hit Quetta in 1935 killed more than 30,000 people.

Baluchistan is home to a long-running separatist movement, but is not considered a major battleground in the fight against Taliban insurgents that plague other border regions.

Ziarat, a hilltop resort ringed with juniper forests, has long attracted summer visitors. British officials retreated there from Quetta when the area was part of British India. Pakistanis flock to the former residence of Pakistan's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and the shrine of a revered saint.

Aug 21 grenade attack: Pintu, Mufti Hannan among 22 indicted

Mufti Hannan and Abdus Salam Pintu

Court Correspondent

Judge, Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 of Dhaka yesterday framed charge against 22 accuseds including former Deputy Minister and BNP MP detained Abdus Salam Pintu and Chief of the banned militant outfit Huji, Mufti Abdul Hannan in the two separate cases filed in consection with August 21 attack grenade.

Judge Masdar Hossain of the Tribunal fixed November 5 for recording the depositions of the witnesses. Earlier on October 27, the Judge fixed Wednesday for citing less points about whether charge would be framed against the accused or not. The prosecution and defence lawyers completed hearing on charge framing after after 13 deferrals.

The Judge Wednesday read out the charges in presence of 14 accused and they pleaded not guilty. Other eight accused of the case are on the run.

During the hearing Pintu's lawyers told the court, their client was indicted in the case following the confessional statements of Mufit Hannan, when he had told the Magistrate that, there was a meeting at Pintu's residence before the grenade attack. The defence lawyers added, nobody cannot be charged depending on the confessional statement of a co-accused. Meanwhile on October 27, Hannan was against placed on a two-day remand in another case filed for abducting a physician from Mirpur of the city. Hannan, accused in many cases, was earlier put on remand for more than 160 days for interrogation.

It may be recalled Mufti Hannan has already sought retraction of bin confessional statement he made in the grenade attack case. The prosecution lawyers tried to give explation on the involvement of the accused in the grenade attack.

The alleged grenade attack on an Awami League rally was held at Bangabandhu Avenue of the capital on August 21, 2004 which caused death of some 23 people including women Awami League leader Ivy Rahman and injuries to about 100 people.

Of the accused, leaving the eight fugitives, 13 are in jail and the other accused was released on bail. On June 11, this year Assistant Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Fazlul Kabir, also the Investigation Officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the CMM Court of Dhaka showing 412 people as prosecution witnesses.

Race to White House

In the most intensive barrage of media publicity the Obama campaign unleashed three Tv infomercials across the nation on Wednesday. Costing $6m these have been the most expensive use of electronic media so far. The infomercial underlined Obama’s dominance of the airwave. His extraordinary advantage in fund raising has been used to flood key states with Tv advertising. The Tv ads are focusing on a few key issues: taxes and jobs; energy and environment.

Barack Obama now leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is tied in two other Republican red states. Polls show Obama winning among early voters, favoured almost on every issue, banefitting from the country’s sour mood and overriding view in the eight states that are considered as crucial. Despite discouraging indicators, McCain aides insist their internal surveys show victory is still within reach. According to some polls, racial tensions and the number of late deciding voters leave room for doubt about a landslide victory for Obama. The bottom line for McCain at this states appears to be : he must overtake Obama in the red states where he is trailing or tied. Or he needs to gain some breathing space by wining Pennsylvania where he trails by 12 percentage points. The majority of polls say Obama is favoured almost on every issue in each of the eight battle ground states. To reverse this trend will be a tall order for McCain, according to many.

Nasheed elected Maldives President

Mohammed Nasheed

AFP, Male

A former political prisoner swept to victory in the Maldives' first democratic presidential election, vowing on Wednesday there would be no witch hunt after unseating Asia's longest-serving leader. Supporters of Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed celebrated in the capital of the Indian Ocean atoll nation after he collected 54.21 percent of the poll to 45.79 percent for incumbent leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

"I don't think we should go for a witch hunt," Nasheed said at a joint press conference with Gayoom, whom he has accused of repeatedly torturing him in custody.

"That will not happen because it will not help democracy."

Nasheed, 41, said he wanted to move quickly to assure the international community that he would introduce more reforms, including media freedom, in the run-up to parliamentary elections due by February.

Conceding defeat after Tuesday's elections, Gayoom said he would give his "full support and cooperation" to Nasheed taking power.

"I don't like being beaten in sports. I don't like being beaten in politics. But it is a fact of life that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. In that spirit, I accept this verdict of the people," he said.

The Maldives, a liberal Sunni Muslim nation of 1,192 coral islands and some 300,000 people, has never held multi-party elections before.

Gayoom, 71, ruled the tourist paradise islands unchallenged since 1978 and over a period of six years repeatedly jailed Nasheed, a former Amnesty International "prisoner of conscience".

Until a few years ago, anyone declaring an intention to seek high office would be banished to an uninhabited island.

Thousands of Nasheed supporters drove around Male and embraced each other at a beachfront promenade where young people had camped for days to drum up support for his campaign.

"This is spontaneous joy," said one, Aishath Aniya.

Fathimath Niusha, a 27-year-old school teacher, said she was thrilled with the change of leadership.

"I want to see how it will be under a new president," Niusha said. "All my life, it had been under Gayoom."

Gayoom had failed to win an outright victory in the first round of voting three weeks ago, prompting a run-off against charismatic Nasheed.

Nasheed, a political moderate, has promised to root out corruption, improve health care and communications in remote islands, cut state spending and turn the lavish presidential palace into the first university in the country.

The elections followed Gayoom's promise to bring political freedoms to the archipelago in the wake of pro-democracy protests and mounting international pressure.

Despite its popularity as an exotic holiday destination for the rich, the Maldives is beset with corruption, an acute housing shortage and a serious drug problem said to affect one in three youngsters.

Forty percent of the population earn less than a dollar a day, while an attack blamed on religious extremists targeted tourists last year.

In the cramped island capital Male, most voters said they simply wanted to see a new face in charge.

Local journalist Ibrahim Mohamed, 20, said he campaigned for two years to topple Gayoom as young people were fed up with his autocratic rule.

"It is really the young people who made this happen," Mohamed said. "I was arrested and locked up three times in the past two years. I was determined to work for a change."

Cyclone damages crops on 2.6 lakh hectares

Shamim Jahangir

Aman paddy, vegetables, mustard, pulses, chilli on 2,60,330 hectares of lands have been damaged in the devastating cyclone Reshmi in 30 districts in the country, according to sources of the Ministry of Agriculture.

A total of 2,60,330 hectares land with 2,15,495 under transplanted Aman, 2,655 hectares with B-Aman, 14,157 hectares of vegetables, 5,834 hectares of mustards, 4,452 hectares of pulses, 422 hectares of chilli and 17,315 hectares of other standing crops were ravaged in 30 districts across the country, sources said.

The current cyclone severely affected crops and vegetables in Borguna, Sariatpur, Madaripur, Barisal, Tangail, Narsingdi, Noakhali, Chandpur, Meherpur, Patuakhali, Jhalakhali, Perojpur, Bhola, Faridpur, Rajbari, Gopalgonj, Comilla, B'Baria, Chittagong, Laksmipur, Sirajgonj, Pabna, Jessore, Jhenaidah, Magura, Narail, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Kushtia and Chuadanga districts, sources in DAE said.

A total of 1,00,973 hectares of land with crops and vegetables were damaged in Borguna, 9,388 hectares in Sariatpur, 3,264 hectares in Madaripur, 45,048 in Barisal, 10,724 hectares in Tangail, 13,968 hectares in Narsingdi, 14,092 in Noakhali, 591 hectares in Chandpur, 14,399 hectares in Meherpur, 4,499 hectares in Patuakhali, 5,370 hectares in Jhalakhati, 4,499 hectares in Perojpur, 8,895 hectares in Bhola, 4,345 hectares in Faridpur and 5,290 hectares in Rajbari districts, sources added.

Besides another 964 hectares of land with Aman paddy, pulses, mustard and vegetables in Gopalgonj, 1,553 hectares in Comilla, 167 hectares in B'Baria, 5,275 hectares in Chittagong, 3,302 hectares in Lakshmipur, 3020 hectares in Sirajgonj, 526 hectares in Pabna, 1,969 hectares in Jessore, 150 hectares in Jhenaidah, 250 hectares in Magura, 4,820 hectares in Narail, 3,339 hectares in Bagerhat, 860 hectares in Satkhira, 1,160 hectares in Kushtia and 1,601 hectares in Chuadanga districts were also destroyed in the cyclone.

A high official of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) told The New Nation that a 30 members team, comprising high officials of the DAE has been sent out to assess the damage of crops in the affected areas.

Abdul Mazid Biswas, Director General of at DAE, told The New Nation, "They are now assessing damage of crops in cyclone hit areas and will be able to finalise the assessment within November 1." "The Ministry of Agriculture in support with Ministry of Disaster Management will start agriculture rehabilitation programme in severe flood-hit areas in first week of November," the Director General said.

Meanwhile, around 10 lakh people have been directly affected due to recent flood in 22 districts, according to Ministry of Food and Disaster Management sources. Crops of 22,984.6 acres of land were damaged fully and 3,27,749 acres partially due to inundation.

Deadline to apply for TAC clemency extended

Staff Reporter

The Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) yesterday decided to extend the deadline for the third time to apply for clemency in return for ill-gotten wealth.

The three-member Commission has decided to extend the deadline by 15 days from October 31.

"It will be the last extension," Justice Habibur Rahman Khan, Chairman, TAC told the journalists at weekly briefing at the commission's office in the city.

He said the commission would try to deal with 10-15 applications everyday and even work on Saturdays and other holidays to deal with the additional load.

Explaining the reason for the third time extension the TAC chairman said that they have got a good response after the second extension of time.

Again there have been requests from many individuals to extend the timeframe to facilitate them to take the advantage of the clemency.

The Commission initially fixed the deadline on September 1, which was later, extended to September 30. Later, the deadline was again extended to October 31.

"TAC received clemency application from a politician for the first time," he said and refused to disclose the name of the politician. He, however, said a trial court referred the name of the politician.

When asked on the extension of the tenure of TAC, which expires on January 2, 2009, Justice Khan said they have no interest about the five-month tenure of the Commission. He said they would work if the government extends the tenure in public interest.

Maj Gen (retd) Manjur Rashid, member of TAC said that three of the 17 government high officials summoned for questioning have already been questioned and the others would be quizzed next week.

They were summoned for questioning after their alleged involvement with corruption was found during hearing the clemency pleas of their subordinates.

He said that due to time constraint, TAC would not be able to deal with institutional corruption in organisations such as Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), Titas Gas and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) departments.

But during our tenure we would try to deal with certain department of BTCL.

He also said that next week officials higher than those already called would be summoned for questioning to get the real picture of corruption in BTCL.

Justice Khan said that they have received applications from 330 individuals. Of them, 24 are businessmen, 264 government servants, 31 wives of them and 11 belonging to other professions.

Of the individuals, 19 have applied directly, 141were referred by the Anti-Corruption Commission, 167 by the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on serious crime and corruption and three by courts.

Hearing of 213 clemency seekers has been completed and they have

pledged to pay Tk 22.87 crore to the national exchequer in return for

clemency. Of this amount, about Tk 11 crore has already been deposited to the government treasury by 107 individuals.

SC upholds HC stay on coalmine graft case against Khaleda

UNB, Dhaka

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the High Court order of stay halting the proceedings of the Barapukuria coalmine graft case against ex-Prime Minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia till mid-January.

Anti-Corruption Commission plea for vacating the stay to let the state side go on with the prosecution of the immediate-past premier was dismissed by the apex court.

A 5-judge regular bench of the AD, headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin, passed the order after a full-length hearing on the plea of the anti-corruption watchdog that herded up two former premiers, many ministers and MPs, business tycoons and bureaucrats into jail under a clean-up drive in the current interim period. Passing the order, the court asked the contending parties to get the pending dispute over the case resolved back in the High Court.

On October 16, the High Court stayed for three months the proceedings of the coalmine graft case against Khaleda, who came out from jail on bail in all the four cases filed against her, as also against the aforesaid bigwigs, during the post-1/11 crackdown on the political arena.

Passing the interim order of stay, a High Court division bench also had issued rule upon the ACC to explain why the case against Khaleda "should not be quashed".

The HC orders came after hearing both sides on a quashing petition filed by Khaleda against the coalmine case in which she is the principal accused.

On October 5, the ACC submitted chargesheet in the case against the former Prime Minister, her 10 former cabinet colleagues and five bureaucrats.

The chargesheet was submitted to Dhaka CMM Court for their alleged involvement in misappropriating a hefty amount of money involving the coalmine project.

In the wake of a purge following the January 11, 2007 changeover amid a political crisis over election issues, the ACC filed the case with Shahbagh police station in the capital on February 26 on charge of causing a loss of Tk 159 crore to the state coffer involving the deal.

The charge against them is that the contract of the coalmine project was awarded to the highest bidder instead of the lowest.

Barrister Rafique-ul Huq appeared for Khaleda while advocate Abdul Aziz Khan for the ACC.

Govt extends rice procurement timeframe

Staff Reporter

The government rice procurement timeframe has been extended for another 10 days from November 1 to November 10 as rice mill owners couldn't provide rice to the government go-downs within the schedule.

The timeframe for procurement of 11.6 lakh tonnes of rice has been extended for the fourth time, according to Food Ministry sources.

The government has fixed the procurement target at 12 lakh tonnes of rice and three lakh tonnes of paddy from April 15. Despite extending the timeframe for another 10 days to achieve its target, the government has so far procured 10,60,000 tonnes of rice and 46,000 tonnes of paddy only.

A senior official of the directorate of food told the New Nation that a total of 2,015 rice mills owners, including 160 auto rice mills and 1855 other

mills have contacted them to provide their rice.

"Ten percent of rice mills owners couldn't provide us rice due to bad weather last one month," he added.

"The authority has extended the rice procurement target for collecting the rest of contracted one-lakh tonnes of rice," he further said.

"We are not contacting new rice mill owners to procure rice during the extended time," he further said.

About 7,77,120 tonnes of rice have been collected till now from Rajshahi division which is alone slated to have supplied 8,02,391 tonnes of rice of the total procurement target.

The latest procurement figure of rice from the Dhaka division stands at 1,51,400 tonnes of rice out of 2,02488 tonnes. Procurement of rice from the Khulna division to-date is 1,16,400 tonnes against the target of 1,41,561 tonnes.

Besides, the procurement of rice from Chittagong, Sylhet and Barisal divisions are 11,000 tonnes, 4,000 tonnes and 2,075 tonnes respectively.

"We have now sufficient stock of rice. A total of 11.70 lakh tonnes out of the total capacity of 12.75 lakh tonnes have been stocked in government go-downs," another high official told the New Nation.

Consulting firm to promote trade with US likely

Staff Reporter

The government is likely to appoint Sorini, Samet & Associates, a Washington-based consulting firm, to help its economic trade and investment relationship with the United States, informed sources said.

The Sorini, Samet & Associates, a comprehensive consulting and government relations firm, will provide government strategic advice and technical support on the effort to gain approval of an expanded Least Developed Country preference bill by the US Congress.

It will coordinate with the government and private sector interests in Bangladesh on the effort to build support within the US Congress, US administration, private sector and new government.

The consulting firm will also provide technical input to achieve the best possible outcome in terms of the scope of coverage of benefits for the Readymade Garment (RMG) and other sectors of Bangladesh.

It will also provide technical support on the pending Generalised System of Preference (GSP) worker rights investigation of Bangladesh. The American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) filed petition before the USTR on June 22, 2007 to remove Bangladesh from the eligible beneficiary list of GSP facilities.

The consulting firm will also assist the government on public relations and media advocacy work with the particular focus on the bilateral economic and trade relationship.

Tasks of the firm also include-assisting the government in US-Bangladesh bilateral trade and investment promotion activities. It will also help other coordination and support activities of the Bangladesh embassy in Washington.