Tuesday Bangladesh News 2

Power tariff for distribution 
agencies increases by 16pc 
Agencies to propose price hike at consumer level 
Staff Correspondent 

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday approved 16 per cent increase in power tariff for distribution agencies with effect from October 1 leading the agencies to contemplate price hike proposals at consumer level.
  The commission chairman, Ghulam Rahman, said the average tariff for the agencies, which purchase electricity from the Power Development Board to supply to the consumers, had been increased from Tk 2.04 per kilowatt-hour to Tk 2.37.
  Officials at agencies like the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited and the Dhaka Electricity Supply Company told New Age that they had already started calculating how much price should be increased at consumer level once the new tariff came into effect.
  ‘We are now calculating how much cost will be increased if we purchase electricity at 16 per cent higher rate. Once PDB formally informs us of the power price hike, we will apply to the commission for increasing price at consumer level after taking the Power Division’s approval,’ DPDC managing director Ataul Masud told New Age.
  DESCO managing director Saleh Ahmed said they would submit an application to the commission for increasing power tariff within one week after they were formally asked to pay higher tariff for electricity.
  Special assistant to the chief adviser for power and energy and mineral resources ministry M Tamim, who earlier said that the interim government would not increase power price, told New Age on Monday, ‘The government hasn’t decided yet whether the PDB would be allowed to increase tariff from October 1.’
  ‘The PDB has got the Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval to increase power tariff, but as a government entity, it [PDB] has to come to the ministry to enforce the decision,’ he added.
  He continued: ‘We earlier decided in principle not to allow the PDB to increase power price. We have not backtracked from our position yet. The BERC has completed its job of approving new rate. The government will discuss the issue further.’
  Sources in the power and energy ministry said the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, earlier directed the Power Division not to increase power price. ‘The division will discuss the BERC approval with the chief adviser to take a decision on the issue,’ he said.
  BERC chairman told New Age that once the PDB had increased bulk power tariff, five agencies, including PDB might come up with separate proposals of tariff hike for consumers.
  ‘We have directed the agencies to absorb the shock of tariff hike by reducing system loss and making less profit. Even after that they want to come to us with price hike proposals at consumer level,’ he added saying ‘They [agencies] can submit applications, but we will not allow them to make windfall profit.’
  Ghulam, however, said the decision on power tariff hike at consumer level could not be taken before January as they would go for public hearing if the agencies submitted applications for price hike.
  Justifying the decision to increase power tariff by 16 per cent for agencies, he said the decision was taken considering the cost of generation of electricity. ‘If PDB is not given just and reasonable cost of power it produces, it will not be able to continue power supply to consumers. We have taken the decision considering the public interest.’
  The Power Development Board earlier submitted application to the commission to increase power tariff at distribution agency-level by 33.20–48.70 per cent and at consumer level by 31.10–69.30 per cent.
  The commission on July 3 rejected the proposal for tariff-hike at consumer level and decided the commission would first decided on tariff increase at agency level and posted for August 20 a public hearing, where different stakeholders gave opinions against and in favour of price hike.
  The commission chairman and its commissioners expressed dissatisfaction over the PDB’s performance and nagging load shedding at different stages of the hearing.
  The commission in its order asked PDB to start ‘service quality programme’ immediately to provide better service to consumers and submit a report by January 2009.
  It also asked the PDB to submit monthly report on the reliability of the power generation units and number of outages — be they forced or scheduled.
  The commission ordered the PDB to submit a five-year plan to improve power generation with demand forecast by February 1, 2009. The strategy plan will be different than the Power Sector Master Plan.
  It also asked the PDB to formulate an action plan to realise regular as well as recover outstanding bills.
  Commission members Imdadul Haque, Salahud Deen Ahmed, Mokhlesur Rahman Khondoker and Md Khulilur Rahman read out the order at the commission office in Dhaka. 
Hasina’s bail in extortion 
case rejected 
Staff Correspondent 

The High court on Monday summarily rejected the petition filed by Awami League’s president and former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, seeking bail in the Tk 5 crore extortion case filed by businessman Noor Ali.
  The High Court vacation bench of Justice Sheikh Rezwan Ali and Justice M Rais Uddin pronounced the 90-minute verdict, putting in limbo the release of Hasina on bail.
  Hasina’s counsel Rafique-ul Huq told reporters that he would appeal against the High Court’s verdict to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The process of appeal, however, will not begin until the Supreme Court’s vacation ends on October 12, and the procedure of appeal disposal is usually a time-consuming matter.
  Hasina, one of the top politicians was arrested last year amid a crackdown on the politicians after the proclamation of the state of emergency on January 11, 2007. Another former premier, Khaleda Zia, also the BNP chairperson and Hasina’s bitterest rival, has been set free on bail in all the graft cases filed against her during the purge.
  In the ruling, the High Court observed that there was no urgency in granting bail to Hasina as the bail was sought on medical grounds and she was freed by an executive order for medical treatment abroad.
  As she has already been allowed to go to the United States for treatment, there is no need of immediate bail for her, the court observed.
  ‘Sheikh Hasina’s appearance in the court is imperative for seeking bail on medical grounds,’ said the court, observing that she could not get bail in absentia.
  Although bail was sought on medical grounds, Hasina’s counsel also argued that she should be granted bail in order to ensure participation of all political parties in the upcoming national elections, scheduled for December 18. The government should ensure a level playing field for all by giving her bail, he asserted.
  Dismissing the argument, the court said that ‘a political view’ could not be considered for granting bail to any accused person.
  Apparently disappointed, Fazle Noor Tapas told reporters that they would move to the chamber judge of the Supreme Court for provisional petition, seeking permission to appeal against the High Court’s ruling.
  During the current annual vacation of the Supreme Court that will last until October 12, the chamber court will sit for only one day on October 6. As such, the appeal process and disposal may take a long time.
  The Unique Group’s managing director, Noor Ali, lodged a case with the Tejgaon police station on June 13, 2007, accusing Hasina, her cousin Sheikh Helal and his wife Rupa Chowdhury of extorting Tk 5 crore from him.
  The three were accused of taking Tk 5 crore for helping Ali’s firm to win a contract from the Power Development Board in 1997.
  The army-led joint forces arrested Hasina at Sudha Sadan, her residence, on July 16, 2007, and sent her to jail the same day, showing her arrested in a Tk 2.99 crore ‘extortion’ case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury with the Gulshan police station on June 13, 2007.
  She was later shown arrested in the extortion case filed by Noor Ali.
  The High Court vacation bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mamnoon Rahman on September 16 granted bail to Hasina in the Azam case, now under trial at a Special Judge’s Court set up in the Jatiya Sangsad complex. The court also stayed, till October 19, the proceedings of the case.
  Hasina’s two other bail petitions for the Niko and barge-mounted power-plant graft cases were filed on Monday with a High Court bench of Justice M Anwarul Haque and Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury.
  The petitions may come up on the list of the cases to be heard by the bench today.
  On September 23 another High Court bench of Justice AKM Fazlur Rahman and Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal accepted the petitions for hearing, but returned them as the bench has no jurisdiction to hear them. 
BARAPUKURIA COALMINE GRAFT CASE
ACC to press charges against Khaleda 
Staff Correspondent 

Anti-Corruption Commission has decided in principle to press charges against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia along with ten of her former cabinet colleagues and five others in the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case.
  The commission’s spokesman and director general (admin), Hanif Iqbal, disclosed this at a press briefing on Monday.
  He also said that the investigation report in the Zia Orphanage Trust fund embezzlement case, filed against former prime minister Khaleda Zia and six others including her eldest son Tarique Rahman, was submitted to the commission on September 10.
  ACC sources said the investigation report recommended pressing charges against Khaleda, Tarique and five others in the case.
  Khaleda was released from jail on September 11 after the High Court granted her bail in all four cases including the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case.
  A High Court bench on August 28 granted Khaleda interim bail for four months in the Barapukuria case, filed by ACC on February 26, accusing sixteen persons of embezzling Tk 158.71 crore from the bidding process.
  ACC’s fresh investigation report recommended pressing charges against Khaleda, her former cabinet colleagues M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Matiur Rahman Nizami, M Shamsul Islam, MK Anwar, Aminul Haque, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and AKM Mosharraf Hossain, commission sources said.
  It also recommended pressing charges against former energy secretary Nazrul Islam, Petrobangla’s former chairman SR Osmani and former director Moinul Ahsan, former managing director of the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Sirajul Islam, and chairman of Hosaf Group Moazzem Hossain.
  After finding the first investigation unsatisfactory, ACC ordered second investigation into the case in June, which found reasons for pressing charges against Khaleda and others for irregularities in the bidding process that also caused a loss of Tk 493.79 crore to the exchequer, officials said.
  Hanif said that the commission decided to sue 24 persons, including seven engineers of Chittagong Development Authority and 17 contractors, for alleged corruption in constructing the road connecting Chittagong Oxygen junction with Kaptai Road.
  The persons would face charges of misappropriating Tk 79.34 lakh of the contract value of about Tk 2 crore.
  They include superintendent engineer Iqbal Hossain Majumder, executive engineer Kazi Hasan Shams, assistant engineers Nurul Amin Bhuiyan and Mohammad Ilyas and sub-assistant engineers Syed Golam Sarwar, Jahangir Alam and Hamidul Haque and contractors Abul Kalam M Shamsuzzaman, Khandaker Jasim Uddin, Ishaq Chowdhury, Saleh Zahur, Mohammad Ismail, Shamsul Alam, Jahirul Haque, Mohammad Aman, Yakub Chowdhury, Saifullah Chowdhury, Manjur Ahmed, Nurul Islam, Mohammad Ali Akbar, Iqbal Hossain, Noor Mohammad, Khandaker Jasim Uddin and Abul Kalam Azad.
  Hainf said the ACC approved submission of charge sheets in two graft cases, including one against former lawmaker Mahmudul Haque Rubel.
  Rubel will face charges of embezzling corrugated iron sheets meant for relief while Abul Kalam Azad, a security guard of Zia International Airport, will be charge-sheeted for amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 1.6 crore, the ACC director general said.
  The commission on Monday forwarded the names of 11 government employees to the Truth and Accountability Commission for considering their clemency applications. With these 11, the ACC has so far sent 90 applications to the truth commission.
  Responding to a question, the ACC executive said the application of a politician, the first to apply for truth commission clemency, was yet to be sent. 
Eid tomorrow if moon sighted today 
Staff Correspondent 

Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the two major religious festivals of the Muslims, will be celebrated all over Bangladesh on Wednesday if the Shawal moon is sighted today.
  If it is not, Eid will be celebrated on Thursday, ending 30 days of Ramadan fasting.
  The National Moon-Sighting Committee will meet this evening to verify whether the moon has been sighted anywhere in Bangladesh.
  President Iajuddin Ahmed and Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed will issue separate greetings to the people on this auspicious occasion, and offer felicitations to the heads of state and governments of the Muslim nations.
  They will exchange Eid greetings with the people from all walks of life at Bangabhaban and the Chief Adviser’s Bhaban on Eid day.
  BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and secretary-general Khandakar Delwar Hossain, in separate messages, have conveyed Eid greetings to the people.
  Khaleda called on the affluent people to help their poor neighbours so that they can celebrate Eid properly. ‘It is very difficult for the poor people to celebrate Eid due to the soaring price-hikes.’
  She will exchange Eid greetings with the people from all walks of life at the Dhaka Ladies Club on Eskaton Garden Road on Eid day.
  The main Eid congregation in Dhaka will be held at the National Eidgah at 8:30am, or at Baitul Mukarram in case of inclement weather. There will be separate arrangements for women.
  The first Eid congregation at the Baitul Mokarram mosque will be held at 7:30am, the second one at 8:30am, the third one at 9:30am, the fourth one at 10:30am and the fifth one at 11:15am.
  The first Eid congregation at the central mosque of the Dhaka University will be held at 8:00am and the second one at 9:00am. Congregations will be held at Salimullah Hall and at Shahidullah Hall at 8:00am.
  The first Eid congregation at the Bab-e-Rahmat in Arambagh will be held at 8:00am, the second one at 9:30am and the third one at 10:00am.
  Other major Eid congregations in Dhaka will be in the Gendaria Dhupkhola East End Club’s field at 7:45am, Kalabagan Bashiruddin Road Jame Masjid at 8:30am and Azimpur Dayera Sharif at 10:00am.
  In Rajshahi city, the main Eid congregation will be held at the Central Eidgah field at 9.00am. In case of inclement weather, the congregation will be shifted to the Shah Makhdum (R) Mosque at the same time. Congregations will also be held Shaheb Bazar at 9.00am and 10.00am, at Sagorpara at 9.30am and at Tikapara Eidgah field at 9.30am.
  In Barisal, the main Eid jamaat will be held at Hemayet Uddin Central Eidgah Maidan at 9.00am, at Baitul Mokarram at 9.00am, at Jame Kashai mosque at 10.00am, at Eabaidullah mosque at 8.30am and 10.00 am. Eid congregations will also be held at Amanatganj Power House, Tablig Jamat Markaj, Kawnia Akon Mosque and BM College mosque at 8.30am, and at Gorasthan road, Anjumane Hemaete Islam, BM School, Sadhur Battala Ground, Mahmudia Madrassah, A Kader Chowdhury School Ground, Natun Bazar, Battala, Fakir Bari mosque and Jail Khana mosque at 9.00am.
  In Bogra, the main Eid congregation will be held at Sutrapur Central Eidgah Maidan at 9:00am.
  The BSS adds: Over 200 Eid congregations will be held at the traditional and temporary venues in Chittagong. The main congregations will be held at 8.30am and 9.15am at Jamiatul Falah Mosque, and one jamaat at MA Aziz Stadium at 9am.
  The other main Eid jamaats, to be organized under the auspices of the CCEJC, are Andarkillah Shahi Jame Mosque, Laldighi Maidan, Parade Ground, Polo Ground Maidan, Shah Amanat Shah Dargah Maidan, Port Colony Jame Mosque, Metropolitan Police Lines Maidan, Agrabad Jamboree Field and Bayzeed Bostami Dargah Maidan between 8.30am and 9.30am.
  The UNB adds: As announced by the government, the national flag will be hoisted atop public and private buildings on Eid day.
  Besides, the main thoroughfares from Dhaka Gate in Banani to Bangabhaban, and the road islands, will be decorated with national flags and banners inscribed with ‘Eid Mubarak’ in Bengali and Arabic. Public buildings will be illuminated on the Eid night on a limited scale.
  The Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar will air special programmes and the newspapers will publish special supplements on Eid-ul-Fitr.
  Improved diet will be served in different hospitals, jails, government children homes, vagrant welfare centres and homes for the distressed.
  Films will be screened and cultural programmes arranged in different parts of the city, and a children’s reunion will also be held at the Shishu Academy after Eid-ul-Fitr.
  The Shishu Park will remain open to the poor children on the day. Cultural functions, friendly football matches and Eid gatherings of children will also be arranged across the country.
  Divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, thana nirbahi officers and officials of the local government bodies will organise programmes in their areas. 
Half of RMG workers to have 
Eid without bonus 
Kazi Azizul Islam 

At least a half of the country’s garment workers are set to spend Eid-ul-Fitr without festival allowance while some of their fellows have been lucky enough to get meagre amounts as law does not oblige employers to pay festival bonus, says a rights group.
  Labour leaders and rights activists said it was very inhuman that workers, who ensured 76 per cent of the country’s export earnings, would not get allowances to celebrate the nation’s biggest festival.
  ‘Our rough survey shows that workers in at least 50 per cent of the garment factories have not received any bonus or festival allowances,’ Jago Bangladesh Garment Workers’ Federation president Bahrane Sultan Bahar told New Age on Monday.
  Sultan said many garment factory owners cleverly paid half month’s salary of workers as a pre-eid payment to keep workers calm amid a wave of uproars and angry outbursts of workers in the apparel industry.
  ‘Such payments will rather put low-paid garment workers into trouble after eid as only a half of their wage will be left for the whole next month,’ he said.
  Nayan Mia, an activist of Awaz Foundation, a garment workers’ forum that surveyed factories in Chairman Bari and Airport Road areas in the city told New Age that out of 26 factories, only two — Madona Fashion and Jessie Fusion— paid bonus equivalent to one month’s basic wage to workers. Some of the rest employers paid a lump sum amount to workers as festival allowances while others forgot about eid bonus, Nayan said.
  The forum’s coordinator Nazma Akter said some employers paid a nominal amount between Tk 200 and Tk 500 as eid bonus per worker.
  ‘It is very sad that the poor workers are deprived of a festival bonus even after hard work round the year, helping their employers earn millions of dollar in export revenues,’ said Nazma who represented workers in the tripartite committee that revised garment industry wages in 2006.
  President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Anwarul Alam Chowdhury admitted that many garment factories might have not been able to pay festival bonus.
  ‘The garment owners who cannot make average profits throughout the year struggle to pay workers their regular wages, and extra payment becomes quite difficult for them,’ argued Parvez. ‘Moreover, laws don’t oblige employers to pay festival bonus.’
  The BGMEA leader appreciated entrepreneurs who offered festival allowances to their workers. ‘It is a good practice.’
  Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies executive director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed said if the employers were honest and truly sympathetic to workers, they could offer allowances.
  ‘Employers are legally bound to share profits (with their workers), they must ensure festival holidays with allowances and offer annual incentives on performances of workers,’ Sultan cited.
  The labour rights activist suggested that the government should force the employers to pay bonus during festivals and ask authorities to stop providing incentives to the garment factories which do not pay special allowance to their workers. 
Govt to strengthen law against 
sale of tainted baby food 
Staff Correspondent 

The interim administration has initiated a move to tighten the laws against the marketing and sale of any baby food products and substitutes of breast milk, raising the period of imprisonment from two to five years for any offence, following the marketing of Chinese companies’ melamine-contaminated powdered milk here.
  ‘The draft amendment to the Breast Milk Substitutes (Regulations of Marketing) Ordinance 1984 has proposed increase in the jail term from two years to five for repeating an offence, with a fine of Tk 1,00,000,’ the health and food adviser, AMM Shawkat Ali, told a press briefing at the secretariat on Monday.
  The draft amendment to the law proposed by the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition will be sent to the law ministry within a day or two for vetting before it is submitted to the council of advisers for approval, the adviser mentioned. The government has taken the move after media reports early this month that some Chinese companies were producing melamine-mixed powered milk, consumption of which has caused the illness of more than 50,000 babies in China and the death of a few.
  Shawkat admitted that some companies or agents had, without registration, imported baby milk products mixed with poisonous melamine and marketed them throughout the country.
  He named five companies that have not yet received registration but are selling baby food products in the local market — Mow Enterprise, Chittagong (Sweet Baby-2); M/S Allway Trading Ltd, Dhaka (Yashili-1, Yashili-2); Renown Associates Ltd, Dhaka (Premiavita Formula-1, Premiavita Formula-2); Jes International, Dhaka (Baby Care-3, Baby Care MF); and Maisha Health Care, Dhaka (Fabi Milk-1, Fabi Milk-2).
  When he was asked why action was not being taken against those unregistered companies and the government officials who allowed the marketing of the questionable food items, the health adviser, also a former secretary, said he has asked the commerce secretary to immediately form a taskforce or an inter-agency committee to identify the importers, sellers and others involved and bring them to justice. ‘The taskforce will also determine the next course of action against the marketing of the food items injurious to babies’ health.’
  He said that three brands of injurious milk products have been so far identified and they were being seized after mobile courts began operating.
  ‘The deputy commissioners of all districts have already been instructed to take steps against marketing of baby milk products by unregistered companies to check any heath hazards,’ said the adviser.
  Shawkat said he had talked to doctors at different hospitals but had not received any reports of children’s illness caused by melamine-mixed food items.
  He said that the concerned authorities would continue to closely monitor the market and take measures for testing milk products in the shortest possible time. 
Cadbury orders recall as fallout from China milk crisis continues 
Agence Frnace-Presse . Beijing 

British sweet maker Cadbury said Monday it ordered a recall of China-made chocolates over safety fears in the latest fallout from the ever-widening scandal over tainted Chinese dairy products.
  The company issued the recalls in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia after internal tests ‘cast doubt’ on the safety of chocolates made in the company’s Beijing plant, it said in a statement.
  ‘As a result of these tests... we have received results that cast doubt on the integrity of a range of our products manufactured in China,’ said the statement from Cadbury Asia Pacific.
  It was not clear if the tests had shown the products contained traces of melamine, the industrial chemical blamed for sickening 53,000 Chinese children and killing at least four.
  AFP could not reached company officials in Beijing or at its Asian headquarters in Singapore.
  The products are the latest in a list, expanding by the day, of China-made foods and drinks that have been removed from stores around the world since the scandal was first exposed earlier this month.
  More than a dozen Asian and African countries, plus the 27-member European Union, have taken steps to ban or otherwise limit consumption of Chinese milk-product imports.
  Laos and Mali on Monday became the latest to order such measures.
  The crisis is among the most serious in a litany of product-safety scandals emerging from China’s chaotic and corrupt manufacturing industries in recent years.
  Besides the toll in mainland China, five children in Hong Kong, one in Macau, and four people in Taiwan have reportedly developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese products.
  The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, vowed over the weekend to work to restore his country’s reputation, saying it was facing the problem ‘candidly’.
  However, a Chinese human rights group said Monday the government was suppressing media coverage vital to assigning blame and preventing a recurrence.
  ‘China has tightened its grip on media freedom to contain rising nationwide outrage at tainted milk products,’ China Human Rights Defenders, a network of domestic and foreign human rights activists, said in an emailed report.
  It cited several instances of reporting by Chinese media censored or banned by authorities. AFP could not immediately verify the allegations.
  Normally used in making plastics and fertiliser, melamine is believed to have been added to milk to give it the appearance of higher protein content.
  The rights group said the central government had ordered all Chinese media to toe the official line on the issue, thereby preventing exposure of ‘deep-seated problems in the system.’
  Xinhua reported last week that officials at Sanlu Group, the dairy firm at the centre of the scandal, knew as far back as December that babies were falling ill but did not report the problem to local authorities until August.
  The report, citing a Cabinet investigation, said those local officials then waited one month to pass the concerns onto higher authorities.
  Police in northern China have detained 22 people in raids on a ring that made and sold the industrial chemical melamine and added it to milk, Xinhua said.
  Nineteen of those detained in Hebei province were managers of ‘pastures, breeding farms and milk purchasing stations,’ the news agency reported.
  The detentions came after more than 800 police raided 41 ‘pastures, breeding farms, and milk purchasing stations’ in and around the city of Shijiazhuang.
  Shijiazhuang is the headquarters of Sanlu. 
Politicians head home to 
celebrate Eid, Puja 
Staff Correspondent 

With the elections to the ninth parliament barely 11 weeks away, most of the politicians have gone to their respective constituencies to seize upon the Eid- ul-Fitr and Durga Puja festivities as an opportunity for electioneering in the guise of socialising with the electorates.
  Though the mid-level leaders, especially those who aspire to contest the polls on tickets of different political parties, have headed home to celebrate the festivals in their respective constituencies, many top leaders of the parties, including the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, will be staying in Dhaka during the celebrations. Khaleda will exchange Eid greetings with people from all walks of life at the Eskaton Ladies’ Club at 11:00am on the Eid day.
  The party secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, is expected to visit his ancestral home in Manikganj after saying Eid prayers in Dhaka.
  Party standing committee members M Saifur Rahman and RA Gani will celebrate Eid in Dhaka, Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui in Gazipur, Khandakar Mahbubuddin Ahmed will stay in Dhaka and M Shamsul Islam will be in Munshiganj while Mahbubur Rahman has already gone to Dinajpur.
  Among other senior leaders of the party, ASM Hannan Shah will celebrate the Eid in Gazipur, vice-chairman MK Anwar will be in Comilla, joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan in Sherpur, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdullah al Noman will be in Chittagong. Office secretary Rizvi Ahmed will celebrate Eid in Rajshahi.
  The Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina will celebrate the Eid with her son and daughter in Virginia, US. The acting party president, Zillur Rahman, will celebrate the festival in Dhaka while general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam will be in Kishoreganj and attend the grand Eid congregation at Sholakia.
  Party presidium member Tofail Ahmed is already in Bhola while Amir Hossain Amu will celebrate the Eid in Dhaka. Suranjit Sengupta has already gone to Sunamganj to celebrate the Eid and the Puja.
  Jatiya Party chairman Hussein Muhammad Ershad, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury and Communist Party of Bangladesh president Manjurul Ahsan Khan will celebrate the Eid in Dhaka. Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed and Jatiya Samajtanrik Dal president Hasanul Huq Inu will stay in Dhaka.
  Jamaat-e-Islami amir Matiur Rahman Nizami will be in Dhaka while his secretary general Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid will be in Faridpur.
  Among the former lawmakers of BNP, Mohammad Shahjahan has left for Noakhali, Moazzem Hossain Alal for Barisal, Ilias Ali for Sylhet, Abdul Momin Talukder for Bogra and Shah Nurul Kabir Shaheen for Kishoreganj; Awami League leader Asaduzzaman Noor has gone to Nilphamari, Faruq Khan to Gopalganj, Abdul Mannan to Bogra, Abdur Rahman to Faridpur and Sultan Muhammed Mansur to Sylhet to celebrate Eid. 
People in rush to reach 
destinations outside 
capital 
Govt offices remain open today 
Staff Correspondent 
 

Bus, train and ferry terminals continued to be full on Monday with homebound people leaving the capital for enjoying Eid-ul-fitr with near and dear ones.
  Although the three-day public holiday for the Eid begins Wednesday, the people started leaving the city Thursday night as Sunday was also a government holiday on the occasion of Lailatul Qadr.
  The government offices, however, will remain open on Tuesday, an official says.
  The government appeared undecided as offices closed on Monday afternoon about whether Tuesday should be a working day prior to the Eid-ul-Fitr.
  The city’s inter-district bus stands, Kamalapur rail station and Sadarghat launch terminal got packed as thousands of people were streaming to the stations for their home-bound journeys since morning.
  Hundreds of passengers were waiting at the Gabtoli inter-city bus terminal amid uncertainty as they could not manage any tickets. Many of those who got tickets alleged that they were waiting for hours for the buses.
  Bus owners were charging extra money for Eid tickets, a number of passengers complained while talking to reporters. But transport employees issuing tickets rejected the complaints saying that they used to charge below the government approved rate earlier. ‘As all buses will have to return empty, we cannot reduce the fare during Eid,’ said an employee.
  Many passengers were seen in a tussle to occupy seats in launches at Sadarghat from where launches ply 41 river routes of the country.
  Situation at the launch and train stations were comparatively better as homebound passengers have got much time ahead of Eid this year, officials concerned said.
  But travelers complained that it was not possible to board the crowded launches even with a ticket by afternoon or evening as overloading was strictly prohibited this year.
  The whole of Sadarghat terminal has been brought under a security cordon. Ten to twelve policemen were seen keeping guard at each of eight entry gates.
  Kamalapur rail station was teeming with people waiting for the 22 inter-city trains, station master Jitendra Saha said.
  Four special Eid trains will be in operation on Tuesday, while the 12 daily mail trains are operating as usual, he said.
  RAB personnel were deployed to boost station security for the holiday crowd.
  Station manager Rezaul Haq said rail passengers were served better this year than before. 
HC puts constituency dispute 
hearing on backburner 
Staff Correspondent 

A High Court bench on Monday ordered the final hearing on the writ petition challenging the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies out of the list of the cases to be heard by the bench.
  The order, passed by the High Court vacation bench of Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana and Justice M Rezaul Haque, put the final hearing on the writ petition on the backburner apparently causing a setback to the Election Commission’s move for expeditious disposal of the case to have the way cleared for announcing the schedule for the national elections to be held on December 18.
  The court passed the order after the petitioner’s counsel sought time for the hearing.
  As the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the Election Commission’s counsel, Mahmudul Islam, told the court that the case ‘should be disposed of urgently’ as the commission could not announce the polls schedule amidst the legal tangles.
  On September 20, chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed declared December 18 as the polling day for the much-awaited ninth parliamentary elections, stalled after the proclamation of the state of emergency on January 11, 2007.
  On August 7, the High Court, after hearing a writ petition filed by former BNP lawmaker Abdul Mannan, also a former state minister, stayed for three months the gazette notification of the EC redrawing the parliamentary constituencies.
  The stay lasts through the first week of November, while the writ hearing will have to be processed in another High Court bench after the Supreme Court reopens on October 12.
  The High Court bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuque Hossain Ahmed, while ordering the stay, had also issued a rule on the government and the commission to explain why the July 10 gazette notification should not be declared unconstitutional and void.
  Former attorney general Mahmudul Islam and Shahdeen Malik appeared for the commission while Zainul Abedin and Nasir Uddin Ashim for the writ petitioner. 
Gen Moeen for next elected govt to decide on trial of war criminals 
United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka 

The army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, Monday expressed the hope that the next elected government would make decision on trial of war criminals.
  ‘Thirty-seven years have gone by…but no government did take any initiative to try the war criminals,’ he told reporters when asked about freedom fighters’ demand for the trial.
  ‘I’m sure that an elected government, when comes to power through a free and fair election, will look into the matter,’ General Moeen said after exchanging Eid greetings with the freedom fighters at the War-Injured Freedom Fighters Rehabilitation Centre in the city’s Mohammadpur area.
  The chief of army staff distributed essential commodities among the members of their families as Eid gift.
  Farid Miah, on behalf of the war-injured freedom fighters, placed a 3-point demand with General Moeen. The demands are introduction of food rationing, permanent rehabilitation, and regular allowances for them.
  General Moeen gave a patient hearing to them and assured them of all-out cooperation in resolving their problems.
  Earlier, the army chief hosted a reception at the Army Headquarters Banquet
  Hall in honour of 40 faculty members of various universities who will leave for Jeddah on invitation to visit King Khalid University, Nazran University and Jizan University in Saudi Arabia. 
London physicians to scrutinise Tarique’s medical reports 
late this week 
Staff correspondent 

The physicians of Tarique Rahman, ailing son of the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, are likely to make the recommendations about his treatment in London on Wednesday, according to his lawyer Ahmed Azam Khan. ‘Doctors completed medical tests of Tarique Rahman. The reports of the tests are expected in a day or two. They would sit together on Wednesday to make the recommendations,’ said Ahmed Azam Khan.
  He said Tarique Rahman was likely to be admitted to Wellington Hospital, a private hospital, specialised in medicine, cardiac services, neurosurgery, liver, orthopaedics and rehabilitation.
  Dr Kazi Mazharul Islam Dolon, a Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital associate professor, accompanying Tarique in London, however, said no hospital was selected for Tarique’s treatment. ‘Medical tests are completed. But the main surgeon is out of the station. He will set the next course of treatment in consultation with the other physicians.’
  Ahmed Azam Khan said Khaleda Zia would bear the medical expenses of Tarique. ‘She has sent about Tk 6.34 lakh to London from her personal account for the treatment.’
  Tarique left Dhaka for London on September 11 as the government had released him on bail on health ground on September 3.
  He is suffering from a number of health complications, including fracture in his spinal bones. 
Spectrum of 17.5 MHz sold out to 
three mobile phone operators 
Staff Correspondent 

The Bangladesh Telecommu-nications and Regulatory Commission on Monday sold out 17.5 MHz spectrum to the three mobile operators for Tk 1,400 crore.
  The three companies — Grameenphone, Banglalink and Aktel — purchased 7.5, 5 and 5 MHz spectrum respectively, at the rate of Tk 80 crore per MHz, to expand their network in response to the demand for additional frequency with the increasing number of cellular phone users in the country.
  With these additional frequencies, the amount of Grameenphone’s frequency will rise to 22 MHz, Banglalink’s to 17.4 MHz and Aktel’s to 17.8 MHz.
  These three companies, which applied for the frequency last March, bought the frequency for the first time in Bangladesh after a meeting between them and the BTRC to settle the new spectrum allocation issue.
  ‘The mobile operators used to get spectrum free of cost earlier. But we though this practice should not be continued. So for the first in the country we have given the frequency in exchange for money,’ Manzurul Alam, chairman of the BTRC, told newsmen at a meet-the-press programme organised in the Setu Bhaban.
  ‘The quality of the service of these mobile operators will now be improved because of the increase of spectrum,’ said Alam hopefully.
  Describing the activities of the BTRC in the last two years, its chairman said, ‘Our main motto was to expand the technology to its maximum extent to enable the people, including the rural masses, to avail themselves of the facilities of the state-of-the-art technology.’
  In response to a question whether the BTRC will be able to work freely in the way it is doing now after an elected government takes charge, Alam said, ‘Whatever we did was for the betterment of the people and I hope the next government will not interfere in our affairs.’
  ‘The moment we feel that there is any undue interference by the government in the future, we will quit. We have done all our work very transparently, and we even issued licenses to the different kinds of telecom operators through open auctions so that nobody could raise any question,’ he added.
  ‘Within a short period of time, the commission is expecting the telecom act to be amended, which will facilitate our work by giving us the necessary liberty,’ said the BTRC’s chairman hopefully.
  Referring to reduction of the internet charge to benefit the users, Alam said, ‘The commission is mulling over reduction of the bandwidth price so that the end users will have internet connectivity at a lower rate. We will also introduce discipline in all the internet service providers of the country by issuing licences so that they cannot charge extra price.’
  He said a decision in this connection will be made in late October. He hoped that due to the effect of the measures the commission has taken so far, internet penetration will increase by 30 per cent by 2015.
  ‘We are working hard so that the mobile users can enjoy the number portability system and International Mobile Equipment Identity from next December,’ he told reporters.
  The effect of these two new systems will be extremely beneficial because the mobile users will have the chance to switch over to another cell phone operator without changing his/her existing number, and will be able to make the mobile set dysfunctional if it is lost or stolen, which will discourage further stealing of mobile phones.
  ‘We are continuing our negotiations with around 30 countries to send our satellite into orbit. We have already got a foreign consultant who will work on the project,’ said Alam.
  As regards the ‘roaming cost’ in the South Asian region, Manzurul Alam, who is also the chairman of the South Asian Telecommunications Regulators’ Council, said, ‘The Council is thinking of how an uniform roaming rate can be set for this region.’
  He said the commission’s office would be shifted to Ramna, just behind the Engineers’ Institution of Bangladesh, on October 12.
  The vice-chairman of the BTRC, Hasan Mahmood Delwar, and the two other commissioners, SM Munir Ahmed and Aliwardy Khandkar, were also present at the meet-the-press programme. 
AL prepares manifesto with pledge 
to continue anti-corruption drive 
Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee 

The Awami League has prepared its draft election manifesto, based on a 31-point charter adopted by its allies in 2005, for the ninth parliamentary elections with the pledge to continue the present anti-corruption drive if voted to office.
  The proposed manifesto, aiming to include new faces in the list of nominees for the 2008 national polls, will also set specific targets in the political, economic and social sectors whether the party attains power or not, the party’s information and research secretary, Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin, told New Age.
  A committee to look after the election issues of the party, headed by HT Imam, recently finalised the draft manifesto for the parliamentary elections to be held on December 18, 2008.
  The election was originally scheduled for January 22, 2007, but was stalled because of the promulgation of the state of emergency, on the heels of political turmoil in late 2006, by
  a military-backed interim administration pursuing a number
  of political reforms agenda.
  In the changed political scenario, the AL proposed strengthening of the constitutional bodies like the Public Service Commission, judiciary and Election Commission by amending the necessary provisions to ensure rule of law and stop the politicisation of these constitutional bodies.
  The draft manifesto is now being scrutinised by the senior party leaders, including AL’s president Sheikh Hasina who is now in the United States of America.
  It may also include several reform proposals put on the plate by the interim administration, said party sources.
  The initial draft was prepared by the party’s information and research secretary Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin, after consulting a number of prominent economists, social and political scientists and civil society actors.
  ‘It was basically drafted for the stalled January 22 elections, but now many provisions have been incorporated in line with the changes that have taken place over the last one and a half year,’ he added.
  Lenin said the manifesto would have two parts — the executive summary and elaborations.
  The Awami League’s acting general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam, told New Age said that the party may go for another version of the manifesto after a grand alliance of like-minded parties is forged before the next elections.
  The draft manifesto will be placed before the members of the party’s presidium to elicit their opinions, and then the central working committee of the party will give it the final approval sometime after Eid-ul-Fitr. 
BNP hatching conspiracies 
to foil polls: AL 
Terms Hasina bail refusal an ominous sign 
Staff Correspondent 

The Awami League on Monday said that the BNP-led alliance had raised a five-point charter of demands as it was hatching conspiracies to foil the parliamentary elections scheduled for December 18 and warned that it would be a disaster for the country if the polls were not held on time.
  The party leaders also lamented the High Court’s refusal to grant bail to the party president Sheikh Hasina and termed it an ‘ominous sign’.
  The acting party president Zillur Rahman has termed the bail denial a great injustice to Hasina.
  Addressing a discussion marking the 62nd birthday of Hasina the leaders also demanded withdrawal of all ‘false’ cases against her.
  Awami Juba League, youth front of the AL, organised the discussion at the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue, presided over by Mizanur Rahman.
  Party presidium member Amir Hossain Amu said some political parties, which had been responsible for the January 11 changeover, were now hatching conspiracies to foil the parliamentary polls.
  He said the people of the country were anxiously waiting to see an elected government assume office and they would not accept any plots against the elections. ‘A disaster awaits the country if the elections are foiled’, Amu warned.
  Expressing his indignation at the High Court’s refusal to grant bail to Sheikh Hasina, Amu said such attitude would surely call the role of the court into question. He demanded permanent release of Hasina.
  Al presidium member Suranjit Sengupta said that the BNP had placed a five-point demand with an aim to push the elections into uncertainty…The BNP-Jamaat alliance is hatching conspiracies to foil the parliamentary elections.
  He said the elections must be held on December 18 as scheduled, because there is no alternative to elections.
  Referring to the High Court’s refusal to grant Hasina bail, he said the signs were growing ominous. ‘Allow Sheikh Hasina to return home or we will be compelled to take to the streets…Don’t force us to do that…’, Suranjit cautioned.
  At a separate programme, the acting AL president, Zillur Rahman, said the High Court’s refusal to grant bail to Hasina was a great injustice when it was granting bail to others.
  ‘Everyone is getting bail…I am disappointed that she [Hasina] has been denied bail…It’s a great injustice…’, he said while talking with reporters at an iftar party hosted by Islami Oikya Jote faction leader Mesbahur Rahman at a city hotel.
  Zillur said [the Mesbahur-led] Islami Oikya Jote was a partner of the AL-led ‘grand’ alliance as the party believed in secularism. 
France, India vow to boost civil 
nuclear cooperation 
Agence France-Presse . Marseille, France 

Indian and French leaders vowed Monday to boost nuclear energy cooperation at an annual summit on EU-India ties dominated by trade, global warming and the world financial crisis.
  ‘France, which has great trust in India and its prime minister, has worked hard so that India can have access to civilian nuclear energy,’ said the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
  He made the comment at a press conference with the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, who arrived in France from the US, where he took India a major step closer to rejoining global nuclear commerce after 30 years in the cold.
  Singh was to meet Tuesday in Paris with French political leaders and nuclear energy executives and was expected to sign a major nuclear trade pact.
  If the deal goes through, French nuclear giant Areva said Monday it hoped to negotiate the delivery to India of two third-generation European Pressurised Reactors, as well as nuclear fuel.
  The US House of Representatives on Saturday passed a major atomic energy pact with New Delhi, which if it gets Senate approval will allow India access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy, provided it allows UN inspections of some of its nuclear facilities.
  India was banned from nuclear trade three decades ago after it carried out its first nuclear test and refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the Vienna-based Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted the ban earlier this month after hard lobbying by Washington.
  Sarkozy said at Monday’s summit in the southern French port of Marseille that European Union and Indian leaders had decided to ‘accelerate talks’ aimed at reaching a free trade deal.
  Singh, the leader of the world’s largest democracy and one of its fastest growing economies, said he wanted the agreement signed by the end of 2009.
  The European Union is India’s largest commercial partner — ahead of China — with annual bilateral trade totalling around 60 billion euros (88 billion dollars).
  But India ranks only ninth behind South Korea in the EU’s list of major trading partners.
  Europe is keen to boost ties with the emerging Asian giant, which is seen as a relative haven of stability in an often volatile region which includes Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  The global financial crisis also figured in the Marseille talks.
  India has so far been relatively unscathed by the meltdown in the US banking system, but on Monday European banks were again caught up in the turmoil, with bail-outs, sales and attacks on the shares of financial institutions multiplying across the continent.
  Sarkozy said that during their talks Singh had shared the French president’s call for a global summit to establish ‘a new international financial system.’
  Climate change was also discussed during the talks that lasted about an hour.
  Brussels has long accused New Delhi of failing to make stringent efforts to reduce carbon emissions, while India has underlined its status as a developing country that cannot be expected to slow its modernisation.
  ‘The world needs India in its fight against global warming,’ said Sarkozy, noting that he did not see how ‘India can fight global warming without nuclear energy, which is a clean energy.’ 
Arrangements for prisoners 
to celebrate Eid 
Bibhas Chandra Saha 

The prison authorities have taken all the necessary arrangements so that the prisoners can observe the Eid in a befitting manner.
  The deputy inspector-general of prisons, Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui, said that the prisoners can say their Eid prayers together inside the jail.
  ‘The authorities have arranged three congregations on the Eid day — the general prisoners will take part in the first congregation at 8:00am, the second one will be for the VIP prisoners and the last one, at 9:00am, will be for the condemned prisoners,’ he said.
  There is less pressure as far as the VIP prisoners are concerned since there are only 51 of them, and they will say prayers in the second congregation.
  Special food will be given to all the prisoners, including the jailed VIPs, on Eid day. The menu will include vermicelli, meat, pilau and hilsa fish.
  There is no provision of sacrificing animals inside the jail but the prisoners can do so outside with the help of their relatives.
  As per the provision, the relatives of the prisoners will be allowed to meet them and can give them delicacies after they are checked, he said.
  The authorities will arrange cultural programmes for the prisoners, in which artistes from outside can also perform.
  The programmes include the games of volleyball, carom and ludu, and cultural programmes like singing, recitation and comedy. However, the authority put special emphasis on comedy which dissipates the habitual gloom of the prisoners.
  The prisoners have been participating in sports and cultural competitions for the last 10 days. Those who come out first, second and third in the competitions will be awarded attractive prizes. Complimentary prizes will also be distributed.
  Separate arrangements are made for the women prisoners.
  At present there are about 10,000 prisoners in the extremely overcrowded Dhaka Central Jail. 
EID SALES
Boon to apparel, shoe 
traders, dull for others 
Staff Correspondent 

Experience of traders in Eid sales is mixed this year with the apparel and shoe sellers calling it a boon while traders of furniture, electronics and ornaments reporting a dull sale.
  Sales picked up in the last two weeks of Ramadan, market men said giving mixed reaction over their business in one of the largest religious festivals of the Muslims.
  Sellers of durable items like furniture or electronic said increasing costs of essential commodities, transportation and treatment had eroded the consumers’ capacity forcing them (sellers of consumer durables) to experience a dull business.
  ‘Sales are quite good and better than previous years,’ said Tariqur Rahman Milan, chief executive officer of Artisti Collection and a leading local brand of menswear.
  An executive of Aarong told New Age that most of the outlets recorded more than expected sales as most of their new arrivals for Eid — be they saris, salwar kamiz, kids wear and panjabees — were acclaimed by the consumers.
  The turnover of Aarong, a concern of BRAC, in terms of Eid sales that include apparel, ornaments and leather crafts and other gif items, is expected to be around Tk 70 crore this year, sources at Aarong said.
  ‘We had a target of Tk 62 crore this year against Tk 55 crore of the previous year, but we are to make upward revision on our target,’ an Aarong executive said.
  Fashion market observers said Eid apparel market has been dominated by local boutiques, which introduced thousands of apparel items of varying designs, including that of the ethnic minority communities.
  Nasir Khan managing director of the Jennys Shoes, that launched more than 50 designs for Eid, said he was frustrated with the early Ramadan sales, but in the last two weeks of Ramadan, the sales peaked up.
  Khoka Sikder, chairman of the Bangladesh Shoe Merchants Association, said he had reports that shoe sellers across the country were happy with the sales.
  Selim Rahman, managing director of Hatil Complex and a leader of the Bangladesh Furniture Industries Association, said furniture sellers were frustrated with the dull Eid sales this year.
  Nurul Abser, director of Electro Mart, said Eid sales of electronic appliances were by no way satisfactory in comparison with the sales of the previous years.
  New Age Sylhet correspondent adds: Eid shopping got momentum in Sylhet after 20th of Ramadan. Businessmen were satisfied with their Eid sales and they found buyers preferring locally produced garments and local popular brands.
  The ornament shops also experienced more buyers, but most of them were buying imitation ornaments instead of that of gold.
  New Age Khulna correspondent adds: Although the retailers were happy with the sales, wholesalers said the turnover was less than that of the past few years.
  The retailers said sales picked up at the end Ramadan with apparel, imitation ornaments, shoes and different electronic goods were on high demand.
  New Age Rajshahi correspondent adds: The Eid sales got momentum in Rajshahi at the end of the month of Ramadan with the shoppers crowding at footpaths to posh shopping malls depending on their capacities.
  Salesmen, however, said sales disrupted a little in the past two days due to inclement weather.
  New Age Barisal correspondent adds: Sellers in most markets said they had experienced a dull business this year as the buying capacity of the commoners had decreased due to price hike of essential commodities and last year’s cyclone Sidr followed by this year’s flooding. 
Police foil attempt to lay siege to ministry by Nat’l Committee 
to Protect Oil, Gas 
Staff Correspondent 

The police on Monday foiled the attempt of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power
  and Port to lay siege to the ministry of energy in the secretariat.
  The committee tried to lay siege to the ministry in protest against the government move to award nine offshore blocks to the international oil companies.
  The police attacked the leaders of the committee when they began their march to the ministry from the Muktangan.
  The committee leaders, Syed Abul Moksud and Tipu Biswas were slightly injured in the police attack.
  The leaders held a rally at the Muktangon first.
  The convener of the committee, Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah said the interim government had finalised its move to lease the blocks to the multinational companies, which went against the national interest.
  The member secretary of
  the organisation, Anu Muhammad said an artificial gas and power crisis was created in order to hand over the gas and oil blocks to the companies.
  The people are ready to resist any such covert attempts by the government, Anu said.
  They demanded removal
  of the special assistant to the chief adviser, Tamim, claiming that he was ‘collaborating’
  with the multinational companies.
  The rally was addressed by Syed Abul Moksud, Noor Mohammad, Sushanta Kumar Das, Bimal Biswas, Tipu Biswas, Ahsan Habib Lablu, Saiful Huq, Bazlur Rashid Firoz and Zonayed Saki.
  Before holding the rally, a memorandum was handed
  over to the office of the chief adviser.
  The caretaker government was not interested in the public opinion on the issue, the memorandum said, adding that only an elected government was entitled to take a decision in this regard.
  This government has no right to hand over the blocks without informing the people of it, the memorandum said. 
Obaidul Quader off to 
Delhi for treatment 
Staff Correspondent 

Awami League joint general secretary Obaidul Quader left Dhaka for New Delhi for medical treatment on Monday, two days after he was barred from boarding a Jet Airways plane at Zia International Airport.
  He left ZIA at 9:25am by a Jet Airways flight and was accompanied by an Awami League leader Tarique Shams Khan Himu.
  Obaidul left Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital by an ambulance for ZIA at 7:30am. Awami League leaders and activists bade him farewell at the airport. He sought blessings of the countrymen for his recuperation.
  Obaidul, also a former state minister for sports, youth and cultural affairs, was severely injured in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka that left at least 24 people, including a party’s front ranking leader Ivy Rahman, dead and injured and maimed many others.
  Since then, he has been suffering from a number of serious ailments, including a neurological disease causing muscle wastage and weakness.
  He was released on bail at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital on September 5, where he remained for treatment. He was arrested on March 9, 2007 on graft charges.
  Earlier, the BSMMU medical board, led by Prof AKM Anwar Ullah, examined him and suggested him to go to Apollo Hospital of Delhi in India for follow up treatment of the metallic pellets which still remain in his body.
  The medical board also suggested a metallic-friendly MRI of cervical spine also in abroad and absolute bed rest for three weeks.
  He may have to go to Germany for the metallic-friendly MRI after treatment at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi, his lawyer AKM Aminuddin Manik said. 
EC unaware of BNP, allies’ 
5-point demand 
Staff Correspondent 

The Election Commission has said it is not aware if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance has raised a five-point demand for ensuring participation of all political parties in the next general elections.
  ‘We know nothing about any such demands of any party’, election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told New Age at the commission secretariat on Monday when he was asked if the alliance’s five-point charter of demands would be met before the parliamentary polls.
  The BNP-led alliance on Sunday announced that it would stage rallies across the country on October 12 to press home its five-point charter of demands, which includes deferment of the upazila polls to ensure participation of all political parties in the ninth parliamentary elections scheduled for December 18.
  The demands also include complete withdrawal of the state of emergency, cancellation of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Ordinance, deferment of the upazila elections by a rational length of time, withdrawal of the GATCO, Niko and Barapukuria cases, and freeing all the detained politicians before Eid. 
StanChart CEO surrenders, gets bail 
Bdnews24.com . Dhaka 

Standard Chartered Bank CEO Osman Tarik Murad was granted bail Monday after surrendering to court in a car seizure case for which an arrest warrant had been issued against the foreign national.
  Murad appeared before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court seeking bail after an arrest warrant was issued against him on September 22.
  Afroza Jamil filed the case against Murad and the bank’s senior manager Zia Hasan Chowdhury on March 30.
  The case claimed that the plaintiff’s husband bought a car with credit from Standard Chartered, but the bank forcibly seized the car before repayment of the loan.
  Murad’s lawyers told the court that their client was a Pakistani national, involved in activities relating to Bangladesh’s economic development and policy-making in line with global markets. He is not involved with bank loan and loan recovery, the lawyers said.
  The plaintiff’s husband failed to make repayments as per the loan conditions despite repeated requests by letter, they said.
  The car was seized according to the loan conditions, Murad’s lawyers said.