The New Nation - Internet Edition

CEC, ECs meet President: Emergency to go at suitable time

Staff Reporter

Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday called upon President Prof Dr Iajuddin Ahmed at Bangabhaban in the afternoon and apprised him of the Election Commission's latest preparations for holding the December 29 parliamentary elections.

Talking to reporters the CEC said that they discussed election preparation, and necessity of lifting the state of emergency before the elections.

During the meeting, Election Commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hossain, were also present.

Quoting the President the CEC said, state of emergency would be withdrawn at a suitable time after assessing the atmosphere.

"The ensuing general election will not be held under the state of emergency. We do hope it will be withdrawn in proper time," he said adding that lifting of emergency is a much-talked-about issue with all political parties.

He said that the Commission had suggested to the Chief Adviser that the emergency be lifted for polls, and the interim government head had promised that it would be withdrawn in due time.

Dr Huda said the Commission thought it would not be wise to keep the emergency in force on the polling day.

Replying to a question about the fate of corruption suspects, who filed nomination papers, the CEC said those who would not qualify in accordance with the law would be dropped from the race.

BB asks banks to realise default loan ahead of polls

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh Bank has instructed the commercial banks to use all possible means to realise the default loans ahead of the elections, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said yesterday.

"We're always telling the bankers to realise the classified loans. It's their concern," he told a stipend distribution ceremony of Shahjalal Islami Bank Foundation at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre.

Speaking about awarding nomination to the loan defaulters, the Governor advised the bankers to go for appeal in the upper courts against the loan-defaulting candidates who submitted nomination papers after obtaining stay orders from the courts.

The prospective candidates of the parliamentary election have submitted nomination papers to the returning officers by November 30. The scrutiny of nomination papers is scheduled on December 3 and 4.

Many influential political leaders, who are loan defaulters, from two major political parties have submitted nomination papers to contest the general election slated for December 29.

Replying to a question after the meeting, Dr Salehuddin told reporters that the central bank has also instructed the commercial banks to ensure presence of their executives in case of any hearing on the loan defaulter cases.

As per the law, the loan defaulters are ineligible to take part in the election, but they will be given

opportunity to defend themselves during the hearing. Representation by the banks during the hearing would facilitate banks to establish their points.

"Use the opportunities to realize the classified loans through whatever means you can," the Governor told the bankers.

He also informed that the central bank would modernize its credit information bureau (CIB) to ensure latest information on defaulters as and when necessary.

Bangladesh Bank, he said, will send the defaulters' list to the Election Commission after the EC sends the list of candidates to the central bank.

Shahjalal Bank awarded stipends to 202 students of colleges and universities at the function, attended by the bank's Board of Directors and clients.

Effect of global recession: Jute export earnings decline by 65 pc

Syful Islam

Raw jute export has declined drastically in the last four months of the current fiscal believed to be the effect of the ongoing global economic recession.

Export earnings from the sector declined by 65 per cent during July-October period of the this fiscal, statistics of the Export Promotion Bureau shows.

The main three importers China, Pakistan and India have nearly stopped raw jute purchase from Bangladesh causing price fall in the local market, too, stakeholders say.

Exporters said China has stopped to give new purchase order to Bangladesh during the last two months. Besides, worker unrests in the Indian jute mills have reduced demand of raw jute. Pakistan has reduced raw jute purchase due to the affect of global economic recession. These factors have shrunk raw jute price by Tk 300 to Tk 400 in per 40 kg.

Sources said raw jute export during the first four months of the current fiscal stood at 4.60 lakh bale worth Tk 244 crore against 11.16 lakh bale of the same period last year.

President of Bangladesh Jute Association Rezaul Karim said that the global economic recession has started to bite Bangladesh economy.

"The 65 per cent downtrend of raw jute export is the affect of the economic tsunami," he added.

Stakeholders said at present Bangladesh is exporting raw jute to 25 countries of which major portion goes to China, Pakistan, Thailand, Italy, Germany and Vietnam. But, 88 per cent of total export goes to China, Pakistan and India. In the last four months 1.16 lakh bale of raw jute went to China 2.60 lakh bale to Pakistan and 39 thousand bale to India.

Rezaul Karim said 36 per cent jute mills in China have shut down due to the effect of the global economic recession.

"Jute goods manufactured in China mainly go to Europe and America. But, due to the economic recession Chinese export has experienced big blow resulting in less raw jute import from Bangladesh. Besides, labour strike in Indian has stalled production that has effected negatively Bangladesh's raw jute export. Pakistan has also reduced raw jute import," he said.

Raw jute traders said jute was selling between Tk 1,100 and Tk 1,200 per 40 kg during the month of July and August. But at present it came down to Tk 700 to Tk 800 per 40 kg. They said the price reduction is causing huge financial laws to the farmers.

They said unless government buys raw jute, farmers will face huge loss which will discourage them to cultivate jute in future. A total of 55-lakh bale of raw jute was produced last year, which may come down to 40-lakh bale to 45-lakh bale this year.

They, however, said despite demand cut in the international market; demand of raw jute has increased in the local market. The demand of raw jute in the local market last year was 32-lakh bale but this year it may rose to 38-lakh bale, they informed.

Maharashtra CM offers to quit, Deputy goes: More heads to roll: Rice due in Delhi tomorrow

Vilasrao Deshmukh

Agencies, Mumbai

The chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra has offered to resign amid criticism of the handling of the Mumbai attacks.

Vilasrao Deshmukh said he was awaiting a Congress party decision. His deputy, RR Patil, has already resigned.

Correspondents say there are calls for more resignations amid questions over the response to the attacks, and whether all the gunmen have been found. Attackers targeted multiple locations from Wednesday, killing at least 172.

On Monday, Mumbai began to return to normal with markets and schools open and heavy traffic on the streets.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opened cross-party talks on setting up a federal agency of investigation after the attacks. The attacks have increased tensions with Pakistan after allegations that the gunmen had Pakistani links.

Islamabad denies any involvement, but India's Deputy Home Minister Shakeel Ahmad told the BBC it was "very clearly established" that all the attackers had been from Pakistan.

Indian Minister of State of External Affairs Anand Sharma described the attacks as a "grave setback" to the normalisation of relations with Pakistan.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Pakistan to co-operate. "I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation and that is what we expect," she said during a visit to London.

Deshmukh told a press conference on Monday: "I have offered to resign. If the responsibility of the attacks is on the chief minister, then I will go."

Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday, saying he took "moral responsibility".

His successor, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, said he was "disinclined" to take the post but had done so to "answer the call of duty".

The BBC's David Loyn in Delhi says the resignations are not likely to be the last, with public anger now of a different order to what it has been during previous terrorist incidents.

Our correspondent says the latest revelation, in police reports, that personal belongings of 15 men were found aboard an abandoned ship from which the attacks were launched has raised questions as to whether all the gunmen have been found.

Only 10 militants have been identified, one of them captured alive. Quoted by a private TV channel, survivor Azam Amir Qasab apparently confirmed that there were 15 attackers.

Questions have been asked about India's failure to pre-empt the attacks, and the time taken to eliminate the gunmen.

A report in the Hindustani Times newspaper said a militant from the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Toiba arrested and questioned in February told intelligence services he had inspected the five-star Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi-Trident hotels, which were among targets attacked last week, and several other buildings in December 2007.

Quoted by his interrogator, the militant said he had passed on information to the group's operational commander. Lashkar-e-Toiba has denied involvement in the attacks.

Also, Reuters news agency quoted Damodar Tandel, head of Maharashtra's main fishermen's union, as saying he had warned the government about attempts to bring RDX explosives to Mumbai by sea but no-one acted on the information.

The violence which began on Wednesday night finally ended on Saturday morning, when Indian troops killed the last of the gunmen at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

"I have gone by my conscience and put in my papers," Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil was quoted by news agency Press Trust of India as saying.

Public anger has been building up against Mr Patil ever since media reports that he made light of the terror attack by saying that such "minor incidents do happen in big cities".

Mumbai protests

On Sunday, Prime Minister Singh held a cross-party meeting in Delhi.

Mr Singh was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying he planned to increase the size and strength of the country's anti-terrorist forces.

While the vast majority of victims were Indians, at least 22 foreigners are known to have died, including victims from Israel, the US, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Thailand and France. One Briton, Andreas Liveras, was also killed.

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Mumbai on Sunday to protest at the perceived government failures.

Police continued on Sunday to sift through the debris in the Taj hotel.

They are also questioning the one attacker who was captured alive to try to establish who masterminded the assault.

Hillary named US Secretary of State

Hillary

BBC Online

US President-elect Barack Obama has nominated his former rival Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state.

The news follows weeks of speculation as to what role the former first lady would play in the Obama administration.

Mrs Clinton lost out to Mr Obama when the two contested a bitterly fought race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. At a news conference in Chicago, Mr Obama also announced nominations for other key National Security team posts.

Although the two repeatedly clashed during the nomination race, Mrs Clinton went on to campaign for Mr Obama as he took on Republican John McCain in the race for the White House.

Former president Bill Clinton had cleared the way for his wife's appointment by reaching a complicated agreement on his financial arrangements, reports said.

Correspondents said there had been fears her nomination could falter over the appearance of conflicts of interest between her husband's charitable foundation and lucrative speechmaking schedule.

Mr Clinton has agreed to release the list of donors to his foundation by the end of the year, officials overseeing the presidential transition said.

He has also agreed to submit future engagements, speeches and sources of income to the State Department and the White House and to take a more behind-the-scenes role in the daily running of his foundation, sources said.

The current secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, praised Mrs Clinton as an "inspiration" who would "bring enormous energy and intellect" to the role.

"And most important I know her to be somebody who has what you need most in this job: which is a deep love of the United States of America."

McCain likely to arrive today

McCain

UNB, Dhaka

Senator John McCain, who was Republican nominee for the last US presidential election, is likely to arrive here today but official confirmation was not available.

"Previous schedule is still on…Arrival time may be changed but we can confirm it only tomorrow," official sources said. But there is also indication that the trip might be cancelled for reasons unknown. The visit was part of a regional trip, the US Embassy earlier said. McCain would be accompanied by Senator Joseph Lieberman and Senator Lindsey Graham, all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

ACC under pressure, says Hasan Mashhud

UNB, Dhaka

Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury yesterday admitted that there has been pressure on his Commission and there have been efforts to influence its activities.

"There has been pressure (on the Commission). There have been efforts to influence (the activities). Situations have been shown as excuses in different ways. We've also seen things being discussed whether there is anything to do in case of political initiative and whether a case can be filed differently," he told reporters in the Commission's regular briefing.

Asked where the pressure came from, he only said that the main thing was to see whether the ACC has been influenced. "It could be judged after a few days."

Mashhud also acknowledged that the reconstituted Commission could not accomplish as expected due to debates, suspicions, inconvenience and judicial process.

He said the anti-graft watchdog would face challenges under the next political government that would assume power from the caretaker government after the election.

The ACC chairman said the ACC activities could face obstacles from different agencies under the next government. He also said the challenges could be of positive sense when the next elected government would want the Commission to do more. "The Commission is ready to face all the challenges."

The former army chief-turned-anti-corruption campaigner said he and other Commissioners did not come to the Commission giving any undertaking.

Replying to a question about harassing politicians, Mashhud dismissed the allegation saying that the anti-graft campaign launched by the ACC was not intended against any particular quarter.

He said the ACC's relationship with the government would be of 'working relationship' and if the Commission faces problems during the next government they would try to resolve those with the help of all.

"There should not be any hindrance to ACC activities under any circumstances," Mashhud said.

If the political government does not cooperate, he said, they would raise the issue with the judiciary whether the Commission could work independently. "I'm not thinking at all that we shall not receive cooperation."

About any move by the political government to curtail ACC power, Mashhud said it could be done keeping in consideration the risks involved. "I don't think it'll be possible. If such a situation arises then we'll think what to do."

Asked about the risks, he declined to elaborate.

HC directive: Give whereabouts of Liakat in 72-hr

Staff Reporter

The High Court directed the government yesterday to notify it within 72 hours as to the whereabouts of expelled Jubo League leader Liakat Hossain, who was picked up from a house in Dhanmondi by law enforcers on November 26, according to relatives.

His wife said, "Some six or seven armed men identifying themselves as RAB members whisked Liakat away from my father's residence and we have no contact with him since then despite appealing to authorities." RAB has denied involvement in the incident.

The HC on Monday issued a show cause notice to the government to explain why Liakat was not produced in court within 24 hours of 'arrest' according to the law, and why his detention should not be declared illegal.

The bench of justices Nazmun Ara Sultana and Mohammad Rezaul Haque passed the order on a writ petition by Liakat's wife Farhana Hossain.

The Home Adviser, Director General of the Rapid Action Battalion, Inspector General of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate have been asked to reply to the notice.

Liakat's lawyer Abdul Baset Majumder told the court that his client was leading a "peaceful life" after his release from jail in September and that he had been illegally arrested and detained.

The Jubo League leader, one of 23 'top criminals' listed by the previous BNP government, was arrested on October 1 in 2003 and released on a High Court bail order on September 4 this year.

RU VC assaulted over appointment

UNB, Rajshahi

Rajshahi University Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mamnunul Keramat Ali came under assault as his residence was ransacked on Sunday night by some unruly employees over the postponement of their appointments, campus sources said.

They said the RU employees who were earlier appointed on temporary basis staged sit-in demonstrations on the campus after they came to know at about 4pm that their appointments had been withheld by an order from government authorities. Later, they demonstrated in front of VC's residence, and at one stage, stormed into the residence and vandalized doors and windowpanes.

Police rushed in and brought the situation under control. Additional police were deployed on the campus to fend off any further trouble.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission put off the controversial appointments of 544 employees.

The employees were appointed against 255 posts in 2004 without any prior appointment circular.

The jobs of some 200 employees were confirmed, but that of the rest remained pending.