n Reazur Rahman Rohan, from Chittagong

It was a stroll in the park for Bangla-desh who breezed past Nepal by eight wickets and 27 balls to spare in their second Group A game in the ICC World Twenty20 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowd-hury Stadium yesterday.

The game was expected to be one-sided, but the determination and dedication from the Nepalese in their maiden match against a Test playing nation was admirable.

It was known that dew will play a big role in the night a air and Tigers skipper Mush qur Rahim wasted no time in opt-ing to eld rst after winning the toss.

With dew already coming in to play the ball was di cult to grip which took some bite o the Bangladesh attack, but nothing could be taken away from the 85-run partnership between the No 4 and 5 Paras Khadka and Sharad Vesawkar.

The duo concentrated on playing the full 20 overs and showed great pa-

tience in the middle before blasting in the last ve overs to land a respectable 126 for ve.

The Tigers however showed no mer-cy in chasing the small total as they pounced on to every opportunity of sending the ball over the rope.

Anamul Haque started from where he left o in the rst match as he slammed a six over ne leg and a four from point in the rst over.

Tamim Iqbal, who made 30, joined the party soon and showed no hesita-tion in using his feet to clear the bound-ary, but one slog too many cost the lo-cal boy his wicket as he was caught at short third man which ended the 63-run opening stand.

Anamul was looking in sublime touch before a silly miscommunication saw him run out making 42 o just 33 balls. Sabbir Rahman, promoted to No 3, and Shakib al Hasan began an onslaught that saw the pair add 53 runs in 5.1 overs as Bangladesh raced to 132 for two to se-cure their second consecutive victory.

Sabbir (21) struck a four and six each while Shakib at the other end smashed whatever came his way. Shakib struck four big sixes along with a boundary to remain unbeaten on 37 from just 18 balls.

Earlier, Nepal were o to a shaky start losing opener Subash Khakurel in

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Putin signs Crimea treaty, Russia suspended from G8n Agencies Russian President Vladimir Putin, de-fying Ukrainian protests and Western sanctions, yesterday signed a treaty making Crimea part of Russia but said he did not plan to seize any other re-gions of Ukraine.

In a ercely patriotic address to a joint session of the Russian parlia-ment in the Kremlin, punctuated by

standing ovations, cheering and tears, Putin lambasted the West for what he called hypocrisy. Western nations had endorsed Kosovos independence from Serbia but now denied Crimeans the same right, he said.

You cannot call the same thing black today and white tomorrow, he declared to stormy applause, saying Western partners had crossed the line over Ukraine and behaved irresponsibly.

He said Ukraines new leaders, in power since the overthrow of pro-Mos-cow president Viktor Yanukovich last month, included neo-Nazis, Russo-phobes and anti-Semites.

Putin said Crimeas referendum vote on Sunday had shown the overwhelm-ing will of the people to be reunited with Russia after 60 years as part of the Ukrainian republic.

Frances foreign minister, mean-

while, said leaders of the Group of Eight world powers have suspended Russias participation in the club.

The other seven members of the group had already suspended prepa-rations for a G8 summit that Russia is scheduled to host in June in Sochi.

To the Russian national anthem in Moscow, Putin and Crimean leaders signed a treaty on making Crimea part

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

20 pages plus 8-page Treehouse childrens supplement | Price: Tk10

Chaitra 5, 1420Jamadiul Awal 17, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 355

B1 | INSPECTIONS LEAD TO FEAR OF JOB LOSS11 | BUT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY7 | A PASSAGE TO PAKISTAN

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

TREEHOUSE | TALES FROM THE CITY

News5 Two major canals in the capital Shahzadpur and Shutibhola canals have become victims of rampant encroachment and indiscriminate waste dumping, as authorities concerned reportedly remained soft against the canal-grabbers.

Nation6 A portion of the Shahjadpur-Khukni-

Enaetpur road, stretching 11 kilometres, lies in a sorry state with big potholes in the centre, causing immense su erings for both commuters and pedestrians.

World8 Its borders are patrolled by Russian troops and it adopted the ruble on its rst day of independence welcome to the worlds latest pariah statelet, Republic of Crimea.

INSIDE

Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman walk o the eld after their teams victory during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup qualifying cricket match against Nepal at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chittagong yesterday AFP

TIB: Parliament has no opposition n Ashif Islam Shaon andRabiul Islam

Corruption watchdog Transparency In-ternational, Bangladesh has observed that there is no opposition in the cur-rent 10th parliament.

There is no opposition in this par-liament. There is a ruling party. If Ja-tiya Party is the opposition, why are they part of the government? TIB Ex-ecutive Director Iftekharuzzaman said while placing its Watch Report on the Ninth Parliament yesterday at a press conference in the city.

The Jatiya Party, led by Prime Minis-ters Special Envoy HM Ershad, has not been able to play the role of an opposi-tion as they are yet to clarify what their roles exactly are, the TIB says.

The organisation believes that the current parliament will not run its full ve-year-term, and if not, the country can get an active opposition. Iftekhar hoped that the present situation would

be temporary. He said: Literally they [Jatiya Party] are the opposition party. But we do not see them playing that role in the House.

Iftekhar said: Before the election, they [ruling party] said there will be talks

after the 10th parliament election and the 11th election will be held in a conven-ient time. But the time was not xed.

The January 5 election was held as part of a constitutional obligation to hold the election by January 24. But we cannot say there is any opposition

in this parliament in a real sense, the TIB executive director said.

The JaPa formed the opposition with its 34 MPs, led by Presidium mem-ber Rawshan Ershad, also the leader of the opposition. There are also two min-isters from the party.

The study also found that quo-rum crisis in ninth parliament caused the country over Tk104 crore. Of the amount, Tk4 crore was incurred be-cause of the oppositions absence.

Former opposition leader Khaleda Zia made a record of having the lowest attendance 2.39% of the total ses-sions. According to an estimated ac-count, around Tk78,000 is spent every minute the parliament is in session.

The TIB has recommended that the government enact a law to resist the absence of lawmakers or parties with a provision to scrap membership as penalty. It suggests that the maxi-mum absence of a lawmaker could be

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Tigers a step away from Super TenMinnows Nepal left reelingin a urry of boundaries

12 reserved seat candidates millionairesn Mohammad Zakaria About 24% of the total 48 candidates who are going to contest the elections to women reserved seats of the 10th parliament are millionaires, said a re-port released by Sushasoner Jonno Na-gorik (SHUJAN) yesterday.

The report said 27.43% out of 38 Awa-mi League candidates are millionaires and they have movable and immovable wealth worth over Tk 1 crore each.

However, the income of nine can-didates from AL and Jatiya Party who were MPs in the ninth parliament has increased by 151%. The net assets of

nine women MPs of the last parliament have increased by nearly six times on average in last ve years.

SHUJAN, an organisation of civil so-ciety members working for establishing good governance, released the report at a press conference at the Dhaka Report-ers Unity. The report was prepared on the basis of information given in the a davits of 48 aspirants.

Of them, AL-nominated candidate Pinu Khan topped the list whose net assets increased by around 25 times while JP-nominated candidates Mah-jabin Murshed and Noor-e-Hasna Lily

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

ISLAMI BANK DONATION

Inu, Noor make contradictory statementsn Tribune ReportTwo ministers yesterday made contra-dictory statements on accepting dona-tions from the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited for the fund raised for the attempt to set a new Guinness world record of the national anthem sung by most people on March 26.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said the government should give back Isalmi Banks money while Cul-tural A airs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor claimed that the government had

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Report says Tk104 crore was wasted for quorum crisis in ninth parliament; law minister terms the study biased

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Putin signs Crimea treaty, Russia suspended from G8 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6of Russia. During his address, Putin was interrupted by applause at least 30 times.

In the hearts and minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia, Putin said. He thanked China for what he called its support, even though Beijing abstained on a UN resolution on Crimea that Mos-cow had to veto on its own, and said he was sure Germans would support the Russian peoples quest for reuni ca-tion, just as Russia had supported Ger-man reuni cation in 1990.

And he sought to reassure Ukraini-ans that Russia did not seek any further division of their country.

Dont believe those who try to frighten you with Russia and who scream that other regions will follow after Crimea, Putin said. We do not want a partition of Ukraine. We do not need this.

Making clear Russias concern at the possibility of the US-led NATO military alliance expanding into Ukraine, he de-clared: I do not want to be welcomed in Sevastopol (Crimean home of Rus-sias Black Sea eet) by NATO sailors. Moscows seizure of Crimeahas caused

the most serious East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.

Before Putins speech, Ukraines interim prime minister, ArseniyYatse-niuk, sought to reassure Moscow on two key areas of concern, saying in a televised address delivered in Russian that Kiev was not seeking to join NATO, the US-led military alliance, and would act to disarm Ukrainian nationalist mi-litias.Mild sanctionsDespite strongly worded condem-nations of the Crimean referendum, Western nations were cautious in their rst practical steps against Moscow, seeking to leave the door open for a diplomatic solution.

US President Barack Obama im-posed sanctions on 11 Russians and Ukrainians blamed for the military sei-zure of Crimea, including Yanukovich, and two aides to Putin. Putin himself, suspected in the West of trying to res-urrect as much as possible of the for-mer Soviet Union under Russian lead-ership, was not on the blacklist.

EU foreign ministers agreed to sub-ject 21 Russian and Ukrainian o cials to visa restrictions and asset freezes.

Washington and Brussels said more

measures could follow in the coming days if Russia formally annexes Crimea.

Highlighting rifts in the EU, member state Austria o ered yesterday to medi-ate between Moscow and the West.Moscow timePutin has declared that Russia has the right to defend, by military force if necessary, Russian citizens and Russian speakers living in former Soviet republics.

In a symbolic gesture, Askyonov an-nounced on Twitter that Crimea would switch to Moscow time from March 30, putting it two hours ahead of the rest of Ukraine.

In the Crimean capital Simferopol, the local government and businesses set about preparing for the switch to Russian rule.

Banks scrambled to introduce the rouble as an o cial currency alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia, although the switch could take place at the end of the month after March pensions and sala-ries are cleared, banking sources said.

The pan-European Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe cancelled a meeting to discuss sending a monitoring mission to Ukraine because the 57 members are deadlocked. l

Inu, Noor's contradictory PAGE 1 COLUMN 1not taken any kind of aid from the bank as peoples emotion is involved with the anthem.

Our national anthem will not be sung with the nancial aid of any or-ganisation that works as an ally of the Jamaat-e-Islami, war criminals and militant forces, Inu said at a pro-gramme at the Bangla Academy.

It could not be possible to set the record with the aid of evil forces. The money will be given back as early as possible, he said.

Noor, however, told reporters at the Secretariat: The government did not take any kind of aid from the bank al-though it is a legal bank.

The statements from the ministers came at a time when criticism has been widespread, especially on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, regarding collection of money from the Islami Bank.

When contacted, the banks Execu-tive Vice President Ataur Rahman, how-ever, told the Dhaka Tribune that the bank had donated Tk3 crore to the gov-ernment fund following a letter from the Bangladesh Association of Banks.

We have handed over the moneyand now it is the governments deci-sion how to spend it, he said.

Asked for his reaction to Noors statement, Ataur said the bank would not make any comment on the issue.

A recent photograph of the Islami Bank published in newspapers showed its Vice-Chairperson Mustafa Anwar handing over a cheque to Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina. A press release of the bank said the donation was for celebrat-ing the governments Sonar Bangla in Million Voices programme. The photo showed Finance Minister AMA Muhith, State Minister for PowerNasrul Hamid, PMs Energy Adviser Taw q-e-Ela-hiChowdhury present at the ceremony.

At least 300,000 people will gather at the National Parade Ground in the capital on March 26, the Independence Day, to sing the national anthem in a bid to set a new Guinness World Record.

Muhith last week sought Tk100 crore from private companies, including Tk15 crore from mobile operators, for the beau-ti cation work on the occasion of the T20 World Cup and holding the national an-them record attempt programme.

The companies, which donated to the PMs fund, issued press releases, saying they had made the donations for the two events; only Islami Bank said it had donated Tk3 crore for the Guinness record attempt. l

TIB: Parliament has no opposition PAGE 1 COLUMN 330 days instead of 90 days at present.

TIB Trustee M Ha zuddin Khan was present at the occasion. Researchers Morsheda Aktar, Fatema Afroz and Juliet Rozeti presented the report.

Ha z, adviser of a caretaker government, said there was controversy surrounding the 10th parliament election and the countrys democracy was at some risk. He said there was no alternative to a strong opposition.

Quorum crisis, boycott culture a waste

A total of 222 hours and 36 minutes were wasted during the 19 sessions of the ninth parliament.

According to the study, only 8.2% or 109 hours and 44 minutes was spent enacting laws during the ninth parliament. Many important laws were enacted following discussions of only three to four minutes.

In the Indian Lok Sabha, 53% of the total time is spent enacting laws.

Iftekhar said this culture ofabsence was unique in the democratic world.

It is embarrassing and also a sign of indi erence to the peoples votes.

According to the report, the opposition partys absence was 34% of the sessions during the fth parliament, 60% of the eighth and down to a record breaking 82% of the ninth.

However, there were some positive sides to the last parliament including an increase in the presence of lawmakers, especially from the ruling party, to 63%.

The TIB also nds that the number of businessmen turning into lawmakers increased in the ninth parliament to 57% from 17.5% in the rst parliament. On the other hand, the number of lawyers decreased to 14%.

The Berlin-based graft watchdog

has recommended that lawmakers cannot remain absent in the House for over seven days without leave. It also asks the government to nalise the bill on code of conduct for lawmakers, publish information of sessions and standing committee decisions on websites, discuss international accords in parliament and x the minimum session at 130 days.

Law Minister Anisul Haq terms the report biased.

About TIBs prescription to hold fresh elections and make the parliament e ective, the minister yesterday asked: Where has the TIB brought the prescription from? What is its validity?

I am sorry to say that the report is biased and it is not expected from TIB, he said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat after a meeting with Norwegian Ambassador Merete Lundemo. l

Tigers a step away from Super Ten PAGE 1 COLUMN 2the fourth over to Farhad Reza before Sagar Pun and Gyanendra Malla tried to use the powerplay to utmost e ect.

First Sagar took nine of Mashrafe bin Mortazas third over, fth of the innings, followed by Malla who struck two fours in the next over bowled by Shakib.

However, Al Amin, who conceded eight o his rst over, returned with a double blow for the Nepalese.

Al Amin caught Sagar o the rst ball and three deliveries later got the ball to nip back which struck Malla plumb in front. At 39 for three it was looking like the start of a collapse for the Associate nation, but their skipper and Sharad had di erent ideas.

They picked up the odd boundary while the wet out eld allowed them to maneuver for singles. It was a mystery why Mahmudullah, who conceded just eight runs o his four overs in the pre-vious match, was not used as Mush q

opted for medium pacer Nasir Hos-sain instead.

Nasir, who usually bowls o spin, was impressive in the rst over giving away just a single, but his inconsistency cost 21 runs in the next 12 balls he bowled.

After settling in both Paras and Sha-rad played some innovative shots scoops and drives over the extra cover which were a treat to the eye and in the process they also ticked the score-card past 100.

However it was one of his innovative attempts where he moved across his stumps trying to chip over the elder at short ne leg that saw his stumps rattled by Mashrafe in the penultimate over.

The Nepalese captain made 41 o 35 balls before Sharad (40), frustrated on his new partner Bhandari who failed to connect three balls in a row in the last over by Al Amin, was found short of crease on the last ball trying to sneak a single from Mush q. l

12 reserved PAGE 1 COLUMN 3Chowdhury ranked second and third. Their net assets increased by around 15 and seven times respectively.

If the values of wealth were men-tioned in the a davits, the number of millionaire candidates would increase, the report said.

SHUJAN has analysed the assets of 48 candidates as the election commis-sion has cancelled the nominations of two candidates, one each from AL and Jatiya Party, for default in telephone bills.

Of the 38 AL candidates, 10 are mil-lionaires. Nilufar Zafar Ullah, wife of AL presidium member Kazi Zafar Ullah, has wealth worth over Tk 5 crore.

The annual income of the nine aspir-ants and their family members has in-creased by over 1.5 times on average in last ve years. Of them, the income of Sanjida Khanom has increased by over 15 times.

Although the annual income of Tarana Halim and Mahjabin and their family members reduced by around 22% and 85% respectively, their net as-sets have increased by around 2.2 and 15 times.

Of the total candidates, 12 have as-sets worth over Tk 1 crore while only three have assets worth less than Tk 3 lakhs.

According to the report, 34 out of 48 candidates have completed grad-uation while six could not complete school education. Twelve candidates are businesspersons while only three are housewives. Besides, none of the aspirants is accused in any case.

Referring to a news report, SHUJAN o cials claimed that nepotism dom-inated throughout the procedure of nominating the candidates. As a result, at least nine aspirants of the 48 are not actively involved in politics.

Meanwhile, Farhad Hossain, sen-ior assistant secretary of the EC, told the Dhaka Tribune that none of the 48 candidates for reserved seat polls withdrew their candidacy on Tuesday, the last date for withdrawal of candi-dature. So, they are going to be elected unopposed, he added. He said the com-mission will publish the gazette of 48 women MPs today and announce the reschedule for the polls in two seats, 21 days after publishing the gazette. l

Dhaka observes Crimea crisis carefully n Sheikh Shahariar ZamanForeign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque yesterday said the government has been closely observing the crisis evolv-ing Crimea of Ukraine.

We are closely monitoring the de-velopment in Ukraine, the Foreign Secretary told the Dhaka Tribune.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday signed a treaty to absorb Crimea as part of the country amid Western sanctions and sporadic pro-tests in and out the country.

Quoting a senior o cial of the min-istry, sources said Bangladesh position would be aligned with that of Group of 77. G-77 is yet to take any position in this regard, he added.

When asked about a letter from Washington seeking Bangladeshs support on Crimea, the o cial said generally all countries expresses their positions based on national interest and Bangladesh is not also out of the concept.

Few days ago, China, a member of the organisation, had abstained itself from a UN resolution on Crimea, in which Moscow cast its veto power. l

EC asks to close Bakerganj OC n Mohammad ZakariaThe EC asked the authorities concerned to close the Bakerganj police station OC of Barisal yesterday on charge of phys-ically harassing an on-duty assistant returning o cer in Hizla upazila here during the third phase of upazila pari-shad elections held on March 15.

In this regard, the commission sent a letter signed by assistant secretary Ashfakur Rahman to Barisal returning o cer Dulal Talukder to close the OC, whose name, however, was not stated in the letter.

Earlier, Dulal alleged to the EC that the OC assaulted assistant returning o cer Zahidul Islam and his assistant Hiron Bepari publicly without any rea-son while they were visiting Hizla Gov-ernment primary school polling centre on the polls day and dragged them out the centre by collars.

The copies of the letter was also sent to senior secretary of the home minis-try and the IGP to take action. l

Joy: ICT to be given rst priorityn Ahmed ZayeefThe government will give rst priori-ty to the Development of information technology sector, prime ministers son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said yesterday.

Joy said this in a view-exchange meet-ing with IT specialists, representatives from IT industries and young entrepre-neurs at Ruposhi Bangla hotel in the city.

During this time we will try to achieve one billion dollar export limit from the sector.

The Centre for Research and Infor-mation organised the meeting.

Around hundred IT specialists, rep-resentatives of IT industries and young entrepreneurs attended the programme.

Joy said: We have a lot of achieve-ments in the IT education, IT skill de-velopment and establishment of relat-ed infrastructures.

Shamim Ahsan, president of the Insti-tute of Technology and Management said manpower in IT sector was 2.5 lakh but it was only 25,000 just ve years back.

Junayed Ahmed Polok, sate minister for telecommunication, said: We want to build digital Bangladesh by 2021. That is why the ICT policy is going to be changed. l

Khaleda to appearin court today n Md Sanaul Islam TipuBNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is likely to appear before a Dhaka court today in the charge frame hearing in Zia Orphan-age and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

The chairpersons counsel Md Sanaullah Miah told the Dhaka Tri-bune that, Khaleda Zia will appear in the Special Judge Court no-3 around 12:00pm.

Md Ariful Islam, bench o cer of the court, said the newly appointed Judge Basudev Roy would hear the cases to-day, which was xed on February 16.

Earlier on January 15 last year, Khaleda secured permanent bail in the cases and the court on February 16 this year granted a time petition to Khaleda until today for the last time to frame the charge.

With this deferral, the court had ad-journed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case 41 times and the Zia Charitable Trust graft case 11 times for charge frame hearing.

Zia Charitable Trust graft caseOn August 8, 2011, the ACC led the

case with Tejgaon police station against

four people -- Khaleda, her former po-litical secretary Harris Chowdhury, his assistant personal secretary Ziaul Islam Munna and Manirul Islam Khan, for-mer personal secretary of BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka -- on charge of abusing power for collecting funds from unknown sources.

The IO of the case, pressed charges against the accused on January 16, 2012.

Of them, Harris has been staying abroad since 2007 while Ziaul and Monirul are now on bail.

Zia Orphanage Trust graft caseThe ACC led the case with Ramna

police station on July 3, 2008, accusing Khaleda, her son Tarique Rahman and four others, for misappropriating over Tk2.10 crore from the trust, the amount came as grants from a foreign bank.

The four accused are Mominur Rah-man, nephew of late president Ziaur Rahman, Khaledas former Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Uddin Siddique, and BNPs former lawmakers Kazi Salimul Haque and Sharfuddin Ahmed.

On August 5, 2010, the IO of the case submitted charge sheet. l

EC silent on allegations of irregularitiesn Mohammad ZakariaThe Election Commission is still silent in taking action against the allegations submitted by many candidates since the rst phase of upazila parishad polls.

The commission was not taking the allegation in cognizance as huge speci c allegations, EC sources said, adding that the EC was not taking any action though the district election o cers sent investi-gation reports regarding the allegations.

When asked, Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz yesterday told report-ers that miscreants knew better if the election would see the rise in violence in the next phase of upazila parishad polls.

Ask them [miscreants] about it as they are responsible. The commission is just trying to hold free and fair elec-tions, he said.

Regarding the allegations, the com-missioner said the commission had tak-en actions against the valid allegations.

On Sunday, the commission re-ceived an allegation from Gazaria upa-zila in Munshiganj that Awami League rebel candidate vandalised the Gazaria union parishad on March 8 and torched election mikes of Awami League

backed candidate Refayet Ullah Khan on March 7. Though the district elec-tion o cer had informed the commis-sion about the matter, the EC was yet to take any action.

In Fenis Fulgazi upazila, chairman candidate Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury submitted written allegations to the commission against the ruling party backed candidate Ekramul Haque that Ekramul was violating the electoral code of conducts.

The commissions enquiry commit-tee sent a report on the allegation, but the commission did not take any action against it.

However, Mahtab allegedly sent a letter to the commission to transfer the incumbent o cer concerned from the area.

On the other hand, ruling party cad-res attacked BNP leaders and activists and torched 14 residences of them on March 15 in Bhola sadar upazila. But police did not take any action in this regard.

Meanwhile, the election campaign-ing is getting momentum ahead of the fourth phase upazila parishad polls scheduled to be held on March 23. l

Two policemen withdrawn for misappropriating gold bars n Ashif Islam ShaonTwo police o cers of Rampura police station were withdrawn yesterday for misappropriating gold bars.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Depu-ty Commissioner Mohammad Anwar Hossain said Kripa Sindhu Bala, o -cer-in-charge, and Nasim Ahmed, in-spector (investigation), of the station had been withdrawn to speed up activ-ities at the station.

The police o cials claimed that they had been withdrawn as part of a routine transfer.

However, DMPs Deputy Commis-sioner (media) Md Masudur Rahman said they had been closed and shifted

to DMPs logistics and procurement de-partment for misappropriating 165 of 235 gold bars seized in a drive in the Bank Colony Balur Math area.

On March 13, a sub-inspector seized a private car but the driver and two pas-sengers ed the spot, said a few police o cials of the station.

On March 16, two youths came to the police station and asked for the gold bars. Police arrested them.

Another member of the smugglers' group informed a high o cial of the station over phone about the real num-ber of gold bars.

Interrogating the detainees and the alleged policemen, the two police o -cials were found guilty. l

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT a airs adviser to the PM, speaking at a view-exchange meeting at Hotel Ruposhi Bangla yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, March 19, 2014

BNP to lay siege to DC o ces tomorrow n Mohammad Al-Masum MollaThe BNP will lay siege to the depu-ty commissioners o ces across the country tomorrow (Thursday) in pro-test at vote rigging and attacks on the 19-party alliance leaders and activists by the ruling party men during the third phase of Upazila Parishad elec-tions on March 15.

The party will also submit memo-randums to the DCs on the day, citing vote rigging and illegal stamping on ballots.

We will lay siege to the deputy commissioners o ces across the country on March 20 protesting the violence, killing, vote rigging, attacks on BNP-backed candidates and snatching of ballot boxes that took place in last three phases, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, said.

Addressing a press brie ng at the partys Nayapaltan headquarters, he alleged that the illegal government has increased the level of violence to ensure the victory for the ruling par-ty-backed candidates.

News reports showed that these in-cidents took place with direct support of the administration. The only target of the violence in the upazila elections was to divert peoples attention.

Rizvi said that they repeatedly brought allegations to the election commission, but the commission played a silent role. The EC turned into a rubber stamp institution.

The BNP leader claimed that every day party leaders and activists were go-ing missing mysteriously.

According to todays news report, at least 13 bodies were found in last 24 hours. These bodies are sometimes identi ed and sometimes unidenti ed. People of all strata, including politi-cians, journalists, businessmen, public representatives and students, became the victims of government-sponsored terrorism since it came to power. l

Ctg polls o cials complain of MPs interference in pollsn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong The election o cials of Chittagong yesterday alleged that lawmaker were unnecessarily interfering in upazila elections in the district.

They put forward the allegation to Election Commissioner (EC) Md Javed Ali in a view-exchange meeting in the conference room of divisional commis-sioners o ce in the port city around 11am ahead of fourth phase of upazila election.

Mohammad Abdullah, divisional commissioner of Chittagong, presided over the view-exchange meeting where the EC addressed as a chief guest.

Md Nowsher Ali, deputy inspec-tor general of Chittagong range, Md Sha qul Islam, commissioner of Chit-tagong Metropolitan Police, and AKM Ha z Akhter, superintendent of police

in Chittagong, were in the view-ex-change meeting among other o cials and representatives of the EC and law enforcement agencies.

Sanaul Haque, additional deputy commissioner (general) and returning o cer of Chittagong district, alleged that the lawmakers were participating in the election campaign and interfering in the polls activities for which EC o cials nd it di cult to play a neutral role.

In reply, the EC warned if anyone did not go by the election code of conduct lawful action would be taken against them, no matter who they were.

He also instructed law enforcement agencies to tighten security for voters, election o cials and media persons to ensure a fair and free election.

In Chittagong, election will be held in seven upazilas on March 23 in the fourth phase of the upazila poll. l

Shah Newaz: Miscreants know if polls to see violence n Mohammad ZakariaElection Commissioner Md Shah Newaz yesterday said miscreants knew better if the election would see any rise in violence in the next phase of upazila parishad polls.

Ask them [miscreants] about it as it was they who are responsible for vio-lence. The commission is trying to hold free and fair elections, he told report-ers at the EC secretariat in the capital.

Replying to a query about curbing violence, the commissioner said: The EC alone cant stop it. The EC is taking necessary steps to curb it.

Theres no way that EC can know beforehand if any violence would erupt in the elections. So it is di cult to take pre-emptive measures. The main thing is that how e ectively the commission is tackling the violence when it ares, he said.

Asked about the eld level cooper-ation, he said: Miscreants in the eld level are desperate and causing trou-bles. The commission has directed law enforcers to take action. We are taking all possible measures to hold free and fair polls.

He also said as candidates were re-sorting to illegal means to win the elec-

tions violence comes as its inevitable outcome.

Asked if the polling o cers are feel-ing helpless, he said: We are not get-ting such reports. But if anyone feels helpless, we will provide them with all kinds of supports. The number of law enforcers has been increased.

About the third phase of polls, he said: We have taken measures in the areas prone to violence. Votes in 26 centres were suspended. We could have taken more steps, if we had come to know about it earlier. But suspension of elec-tion is not the solution.

The commissioner added that the intensity of violence in the third phase was tolerable. The incidents of death during election took place far from the centres. l

Four BNP leaders sent to jailn Tribune Report Courts in Dhaka and Rajshahi sent four central leaders of Bangladesh National-ist Party to jail yesterday.

A Dhaka court xed March 23 for the bail hearing on three detained lead-ers partys acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee members Mirza Abbas and Abdus Salam.

Earlier on March 16, they were sent to jail after the court had rejected their bail petitions in connection with three separate cases led with Ramna police station.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan gave the or-der when they surrendered before the court seeking bail.

Earlier on March 9, a ve-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice

Muzammel Hossain scrapped the HC order that granted bail for eight weeks to ve top BNP leaders, including the three.

Defence counsel Md Sanaullah Miah led the criminal miscellaneous case against the bail order rejected by the metropolitan magistrate court.

The three cases were led in connec-tion with the killing of a policeman and three others in petrol bomb attacks dur-ing the anti-government protests from December last year to January this year.

On January 3, three passengers suf-fered serious burns in a petrol bomb attack on a public bus at Paribagh in the capital.

Later, two passengers, including a woman, died from their injuries at burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Rajshahi Metropolitan Magistrate Court-1 sent former mayor of Rajsha-hi City Corporation Mizanur Rahman

Minu, also joint secretary of BNP, to jail yesterday in connection with at-tempt-to-police murder case, our dis-trict correspondent reports.

Judge Sidhartho Mondol cancelled Minus bail prayer and sent him to jail.

On June 4 in 2011, BNP brought out a procession led by Minu, but police stopped them at Shaheb Bazar zero point that led a clash between cops and BNP men.

During the clash, Boalia police sta-tion o cer-in-charge Khan Moham-mad Shahriar was injured by bullet.

Sub-inspector Jahangir Alam lodged a case against BNP and Jamaat men.

On February 3 this year, police pressed charges against 130 BNP men, including Minu and city BNP secretary Sha qul Haque Milon. Minu surren-dered before the court at noon yester-day and sought bail, but the court sent him to jail. l

Freedom ghter tortured in presence of Mir Kashemn Udisa IslamA new prosecution witness yesterday told the war crimes tribunal that he had been tortured repeatedly at an al-Badr camp situated in Daleem Hotel in Chittagong City during the 1971 Liberation War and accused Mir Kashem Ali was present at that time.

Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, 66, a commando freedom ghter, submitted his deposition as the 16th prosecution witness. He was captured by the Pakistani troops and their accomplices in al-Badr force two days after the Eid-ul-Fitr and taken to the camp.

Jamaat-e-Islami Treasurer and key nancier Mir Kashem is facing 14 charges for committing crimes against humanity. He was allegedly the commander of al-Badr forces in Chittagong.

The witness said: After some beatings, they locked me in a room of the camp where I met some known people including my younger brother Dastagir Chowdhury. At night, al-Badr members Nurul Afsar and Mir Kashem brought Sha ul Alam to our room. He was bleeding. As they left the room, some of the al-Badr members advised everybody to take lessons from his torture.

We learnt from one Swapan, who used to serve us food, that my captors have already killed many people in

the camp and threw their bodies in Karnaphuli River.

Jahangir also said juvenile Jasim, aged around 14-15 years, was brought to the room the next day.

Before being captured, Jahangir had gone to India in April and took training Chakulia, the witness said.

Al-Badr man Afsar o ered me to announce through radio that everything was under control and the freedom ghters could come back. But I disagreed.

Then they tortured him and showed his injured body to the other detainees to scare them. Accused Mir Kashem was then present, Jahangir said.

During the cross-examination by defence counsel Mizanul Islam, witness Jahangir said he had no idea

that the Mahamaya Building, which had later been known as Daleem Hotel, was under control of non-Bengali Biharis led by one Motya Gunda.

The International Crimes Tribunal 2 then adjourned the hearing until today for placing new witness.

Mir Kashem was arrested on June 17, 2012 at the daily Naya Diganta o ce in the citys Motijheel area and has been kept at Kashimpur High Security Jail. He is the chairman of Diganta Media Corporation that also owns Diganta TV. According to the government, Mir Kashem had given a US lobbyist rm $25m to spread propaganda against the war crimes trials.

Bergmans hearing March 27 The same tribunal yesterday xed March 27 for hearing of Bangladesh-based British journalist David Bergmans explanation over the alleged derogatory comments he made about the tribunal in his blog posts.

The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan passed the order after receiving the explanation. Bergman was present in the court room along with his family members.

Earlier the tribunal asked him to explain his critiques in person or by engaging a lawyer following a petition by Supreme Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad. The petitioner alleged that Bergman had termed the tribunals claim of 30 lakh martyrs wrong. l

Azhar involved in Jharuar Beel massacren Udisa IslamThe defence of Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam yesterday took the whole day to end cross-examination of the prosecutions fourth witness who in his deposition said the accused had actively taken part in Jharuar Beel mas-sacre in Rangpur when around 1,200 people had been killed.

Meser Uddin, 66, a freedom ghter from Ramakrishnapur under Badar-ganj police station testi ed at the war crimes tribunal 1 on Sunday.

During the whole day cross-examina-tion, the defence questioned the witness

about the geographical position of Jharu-ar Beel. In the morning session, defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder grilled him about the railway station and the rail tracks of Badarganj and Parbatipur after more than one and a half hours. After the tribunal intervened, he took three more hours to close the cross-examination.

The witness disagreed with the de-fence suggestion that the massacre of April 15 and 16 in 1971 had been com-mitted by a group of the Pakistani oc-cupation forces. Conducting prosecu-tor AKM Saiful Islam and his assistant Tapos Kanti Baul were present.

Meanwhile, the tribunal had to de-

fer proceedings in the case against Mobarak Hossain until today since the cross-examination of Meser Ali in Azhar case took the whole day.

The defence was set to produce the second witness yesterday to defend Mobarak, an alleged razakar from Brah-manbarias Akhaura. On December 15 last year, the accused appeared in the witness box from the dock to defend his case as the rst defence witness.

In the case against fugitive BNP lead-er Zahid Hossain Khokon alias Khokon Razakar, the prosecution pleaded for time to place the 23rd witness. The tribunal then deferred the trial until March 24. l

Judges pay hike likely this monthn Tribune ReportThe government yesterday tabled in parliament a bill proposing 50% addi-tional allowances for the Chief Justice and judges of the High Court and Ap-pellate Divisions of the Supreme Court.

Law Minister Anisul Huq tabled the Supreme Court Judges (remuneration and privileges) Bill-2014 in parliament.

The bill, if passed, will amend the existing Supreme Court Judges (remuneration and privileges) Ordi-nance-1978.

The proposed law says the judges

will get 50% of their basic salary as spe-cial allowance every month.

Not only the Chief Justice and judg-es, the commissioners of the Anti-Cor-ruption Commission and other autono-mous bodies will get similar allowance, the law ministry o cials say.

Since its opening sitting on January 29, the government has not tabled any bill in the last 20 sittings of the 10th Jatiya Sangsad, practically devoid of a true opposition.

Parliament resumed its sitting on March 18 after a ve-day recess since March 12.

After its initiation in the House, the bill went to the parliamentary standing committee on the 10-member parlia-mentary standing committee on law ministry headed by the former railway minister Suranjit Sengupta.

The watchdog has been given three days to examine the bill and bring out changes to it, if it thinks necessary. The standing committee will then place its report to the House by March 23.

The bill is likely to be passed after the speaker includes the bill in the days business, parliament secretariat o cials say. l

Two JMB snatchers on 10-day remandn Our Correspondent, MymensinghA Mymensingh court yesterday placed two members of Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh on a 10-day remand in connection with the snatching of three convicted JMB militants from a prison van in Trishal upazila.

The two convicts are microbus drivers Zakaria and Russel, arrested from Shakhipur upazila of the district.

On February 23, in a dramatic operation, members of banned Islamist out t JMB killed a policeman and snatched three of their top detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh on the Dhaka-Tangail highway. l

RMG worker raped in Narayanganj n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj A readymade garment worker was alleg-edly raped by an adult several times who lured her of marriage in Fatullah area un-der Sadar upazila of Narayanganj.

The victim led a case in this connec-tion with Fatullah Model police station as a plainti yesterday morning.

According to case statement, she met Shamim while working in a garment factory and developed intimate relation-ship. In the meantime Shamim estab-lished illicit physical relationship with her for last few months by luring her of marriage.

The victim said Shamim recently started to avoid her when she used to

raise the topic of their marriage and now she thought that he had deceived her.

Shamim again raped her on last Sat-urday.

Akter Hossain, o cer-in-charge of the police station con rmed the matter and said: A case was led in this regard. We are trying our best to arrest the culprit. l

TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman speaks at a seminar marking the International Womens Day, at Cirdap auditorium in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

SHUJAN Secretary Badiul Alam Majumder speaks at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Jamaat-e-Islami Treasurer and key nancier Mir Kashem is facing 14 charges for committing crimes against humanity. He was allegedly the commander of al-Badr forces in Chittagong

Theres no way that EC can know beforehand if any violence would erupt in the elections. So it is di cult to take pre-emptive measures

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, March 19, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:48am

Sunrise 6:03amZohr 12:06pm

Asr 4:28pmMagrib 6:09pm

Esha 7:25pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Dry weather likely n UNBLight rain or thundershowers accom-panied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at one or two places over Khulna, Barisal and Dhaka divisions and in the regions of Comilla, Noakhali and Sylhet until 6pm today.

Weather might remain mainly dry with temporary partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country, Met Of- ce said. Day and night temperatures may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 6:09pm and rises at 6:03am tomorrow.

Countrys highest temperature 36.0 degree Celsius was recorded in Jessore and lowest 15.2 degrees in Srimangal yesterday.

Highest and lowest temperatures recorded in some major cities yesterday were:

Dhaka 33.8 20.5 Chittagong 30.6 19.0Rajshahi 35.3 17.8 Rangpur 32.5 18.3 Khulna 35.5 22.0Barisal 34.5 22.6Sylhet 34.4 19.0 Coxs Bazar 33.0 19.0

Protection gear for treating nipah patients14 fatalities out of 27 cases this year so farn Moniruzzaman UzzalThe Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has de-cided to provide doctors, nurses and health o cials working in the 28 nipah virus-prone districts with personal protection equipment, which includes special dress, shoes, mask, cap etc.

Considering the high infection rate of the nipah virus, healthcare o cials at the medical colleges and civil surgeons o ce in the nipah-prone districts would receive the protection equipment, do-nated to the IEDCR by the USAID.

Apart from treating patients su er-ing from nipah infection, the protec-tion equipment would also be used for treating patients of other infectious diseases like in uenza H5N1, H7N9 and MERS coronavirus.

Professor Dr Mahmudur Rahman, director of the IEDCR, told the Dhaka Tribune that nipah virus infection was a major public health concern for Ban-gladesh, as the mortality rate of the dis-ease was very high.

During December 31 last year to Feb-ruary 28, at least 27 reported cases of nipah virus infection have been found in 13 districts, including 14 fatalities 11 male and three female.

Specialists at the IEDCR have re-

portedly found a new dimension of nipah cases compared to previ-ous years. Although patients were earlier found usually in a speci c local-ity or in a family, this year individual patients were reported from scattered locations.

Human Nipah virus (NiV) infection,

an emerging zoonotic disease, was rst recognised in a large outbreak of 276 reported cases in Malaysia and Singa-pore from September 1998 through May 1999.

NiV is a highly pathogenic para-myxovirus belonging to genus Henipa-virus. It is an enveloped RNA virus.

Preferred to stay unnamed, sev-eral epidemiologists told the Dhaka Tribune that although the nipah virus usually spread through raw date sap, researchers were trying to nd out whether the virus also spread through ripe fruits eaten by birds.

IEDCR Director Mahmudur said it was very unfortunate that people ig-nored repeated cautions against con-suming raw date sap, and continued to drink it even after hearing the news of deaths.

The IEDCR has rapid response teams in the infected districts, while all medi-cal o cers concerned had also been trained on treating nipah and other in-fectious diseases, he added.

Asked about the e ectiveness of the awareness campaigns, Dr Mahmudur said it was partially true that the campaign was not enough, but added that people should comply with expert advice and refrain from drinking raw date sap. l

Numberof Cases

Numberof death

Nuummbmbeeroff CCaassesesess

NNumbbeerroofofff ddddeaeath

NIPAH SITUATIONDECEMBER 31, 2013 TO

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

Manikganj 2 2Magura 5 2Faridpur 5 4Rangpur 4 2Shariatpur 1 1Kushtia 1 0Rajshahi 1 0Natore 1 0Dinajpur 1 0Chapainawabganj 1 0Naogaon 1 1Madaripur 3 2Dhaka 1 0TOTAL 27 14

Name ofthe districts

ACC seeks wealth statements of Mannan andhis wifen Tribune ReportThe Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) served notices to former state minister for housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan and his wife Ha-sina Sultana yesterday.

The anti-graft watchdog asked them to submit their wealth statements within next seven days.

The commission served the notices in connection with an inquiry into the allegations of their ammassing illegal wealth.

During primary inquiry, the ACC of- cials found inconsistencies between their wealth statements and their sources of income.

In January the ACC launched pre-liminary probes against three former ministers, three members of the par-liament, and three former lawmakers of the BNP, the Awami League and the Jatiya Party.

The probes were launched over al-leged discrepancies in their wealth statements submitted to the Election Commission last year. l

Trader's body exhumed for autopsyn Our Correspondent, Gazipur Following a court order for a post mor-tem examination, the body of a trader was exhumed yesterday, four months after his death.

Family members of Ka l Uddin al-leged that Nazmul Haque and his men beat up Ka l in Zoina Bazar area on Au-gust 2 last year, while the trader died from his wound on November 6.

Following a court order based on a case led by the victim's wife, Upazila Nirbahi O cer Aziz Hyder Bhuiya or-ganised the exhumation yesterday. l

ACC seeks information on 6 managing directors of Petrobangla companies n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The Anti-Corruption Commission yes-terday sought information on six man-aging directors of the companies under the state-run Petrobangla in connec-tion with its inquiry against Petroban-gla Chairman Md Hossain Monsur on charge of acquiring illegal wealth.

ACC Deputy Director Ahsan Ali served a letter to the Petrobangla chairman asking him to submit certi- ed photocopies of the documents on whether there were any inquiry con-ducted against six managing directors of Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited MD Nurul Absar, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Com-pany Limited MD engineer M Nowshad Islam, Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited Meer Mohammad Abdul Matin, Sundarban Gas Company Limited MD M Nurul Islam, Sylhet Gas Fields Limited MD engineer M Tofazzal Hossain, and Barapukuria Coal Mine Company MD M Aminuzzaman.

The ACC also asked the Petrobangla chairman to submit investigation reports, if any, on those six managing directors by March 25 to the ACC headquarters.

ACC earlier on March 10 asked the Petrobangla chairman to submit docu-ments including lists of appointments, all tender documents and lists of contrac-

tual works made in the last four years. The companies, however, are yet to

provide any information to the ACC even after the deadline was over on March 16.

After speci c allegations, the ACC on March 9 assigned its deputy director to inquire into alleged involvement of Petrobangla chairman in accumulating illegal wealth through appointments in 13 of its companies violating rules.

The allegation said the chairman in connivance with some of his associates appointed a good number of employ-ees violating the rules of the company.

Meanwhile, Petrobangla Chairman MD Hussain Monsur served a legal notice on the Daily Jugantor asking it to compensate him Tk100 crore and publish an erratum on his newspaper seeking apology for running false news on him.

Barrister Ashraf Uddin Bhuiyan served the legal notice on behalf of the Petrobangla chairman. The legal notice made the dailys acting editor Saiful Islam, Publisher Salma Islam, the reporter concerned and chairman/managing director of the Jamuna Printing and Publishing Limited respondents.

The notice said the newspaper pub-lished seven false and defamatory arti-cles terming Md Hussain Monsur a cor-rupt person. The newspaper published the news item in a bid to malign the im-age of Monsur, the notice reads. l

New industrial waste regulations on cards n Tribune Report The Department of Environment has said a new standard and guideline for managing industrial wastes will be added as part of the countrys environmental regulations.

Sludge generated from E uent Treatment Plants used in textiles and other industries pose serious threat to our environment. A Waste Manage-ment Standards and Guidelines has be-come extremely important as an initial step towards a solution to this prob-lem, Ra que Ahmed, director for in-ternational convention at the DoE, told a stakeholder session discussion.

Sludge is the solid residue generated during treatment of wastewater, and cur-rently there are no o cial instructions on how to dispose this sludge in an environ-mentally friendly manner, he said.

The DoE, together with Promotion of Social and Environmental Stan-

dards in the Industry (PSES), a joint programme of the governments of Ger-many and Bangladesh, initiated by GIZ, held the discussion.

He said: The DoE is quite serious in addressing this pollution issue and having this in mind. We look forward to the enhancing our engagement with GIZ in this regard.

Following this consultation process, we expect to see Standards and Guidelines for textile and hazardous wastages from other industries nalised and gazetted to become part of the environmental regulations, said Elke Shrestha, a senior adviser for the PSES.

The stakeholder session followed years of cooperation with DoE that in-volved collecting representative sam-ples of sludge, sending them to Germa-ny for laboratory analysis, drafting of Standards and Guidelines and training of DoE o cials last year. l

Grameen Bank o ce robbedn Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah Robbers looted Tk8,000 and valuables from Bishoykhali Bazar branch of Gra-meen Bank in sadar upazila of Jhenai-dah yesterday.

Qamrul Islam, manager of the branch, said eight masked robbers had come on three motorcycles and stormed into the branch around 4:15pm. They had taken all employees and clients present hostage at gunpoint and looted the cash, seven mobile phone sets and a gold chain from a client.

The amount of looted money could have been much more if the branch authorities had not deposited their collection to a local branch of Janata Bank just before the robbery, the manager said.

Jhenaidah Sadar police station OC Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury said no case had been led as of yesterday evening. l

The Fisheries Department takes out a colourful rally in the capital yesterday, marking the Jatka Conservation Week 2014 DHAKA TRIBUNE

PM: Vested quarters active against developement n Emran Hossain Shaikh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said a vested interests quarter was now shedding crocodile tears for BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami as they do not want the country to develop and prosper.

She said: When the country is mov-ing forward, this quarter is now making conspiracies by taking sides with the BNP-Jamaat.

"The leader of the opposition did not attend the parliament session in the last ve years, then why shed crocodile tears for them? I think that they do not want the country to move forward, she said while addressing a party pro-gramme marking the birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at the Bang-abandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.

Sheikh Hasina, who is also the presi-dent of the ruling Awami League, said despite such conspiracies, the Awami League knows it very well how to en-sure welfare to the people.

It is our duty to ful ll the dream of the father of the nation. We have to build a hunger and poverty-free Ban-gladesh and this is our commitment, she added.

The premier also said though the anti-liberation forces were defeated in 1971, they continued to hatch conspira-cies against the country.

Killing, militancy and violence erupt across the country whenever BNP comes to power, she said adding that the AL-led government had been more fo-cused on the countrys development after the success of its previous tenure.

Senior leaders of the party, including Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Matia Chowdhury, among others, also addressed the programme which was chaired by Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury. l

JU admission seekers held for cheating n JU Correspondent Jahangirnagar University authorities yesterday held at least eight students for allegedly cheating in admission tests by getting answers through mo-bile text messages.

One of the suspects, Indrajit Dat-ta, was detained after he was caught red-handed as he received answers from outside on his mobile phone during an oral test of the biotech-nology and genetic engineeringdepartment.

The authorities also held seven other admission seekers suspected of cheating in written tests earlier and seized papers and mobile phones from them.

We came to know from a secret source that a particular circle provided answers to question papers of the ad-mission test to the applicants through mobile SMS, Shahedur Rahman, chair-man of the departments admission committee told the Dhaka Tribune.After getting the information, we re-examined the answer sheets of the stu-

dents and found at least eight of them with the same answers. Those students got 15 out of 15 both in Bangla and Eng-lish, but none of them achieved GPA 5 in their SSC and HSC results, the pro-fessor added.

Later, the university authorities de-cide to keep an eye on the suspected cheaters during the viva voce.

We detained them and seized their mobile phones, Shahedur said.

However, only Indrajits phone in-box still contained the correct answers to the test questions, he said.

The authorities took Indrajit to the proctors o ce for questioning, while the other suspects were released after providing information.

Indrajit claimed that he paid Tk2 lakh to some unidenti ed people after standing 10th on the merit list of the written test.

Indrajit would be handed over to the police, JU Proctor Tapan Kumar Saha said, adding: We would ask the central admission committee to take proper steps regarding the matter after nishing our investigation. l

O cials of a mobile court check shes for the presence of formalin at a market in the capital's Uttara yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

City canals fall victims to encroachment and waste dumpingDhaka Wasa to reclaim 26 canals under a water supply and sanitation projectn Abu Hayat MahmudTwo major canals in the capital Shahzadpur and Shutibhola canals have become victims of rampant en-croachment and indiscriminate waste dumping, as authorities concerned reportedly remained soft against the canal-grabbers, and have also failed to re-dig, demarcate and monitor the condition of the canals.

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewer-age Authority (Wasa) o cials claimed that the city canals had no illegal oc-cupants; but residents of Shahzadpur, Uttar Badda, Khilbari Tek, Nurerchala, Jauar Tek alleged that negligence by the authorities have allowed encroach-ers to grab parts of the Shahzadpur and Shutibhola canals.

Abul Khayer, a resident of Shahza-dpur, said most locals dumped their household wastes in Shahzadpur canal and many even occupied signi cant portions of the canal in the absence of proper maintenance.

The workers of Wasa come after a long period of time to clean only the gar-bage, but take no step to re-dig the ca-nal, he said, adding: The canals width has reduced because of encroachment by land owners near the canal.

K Jamal, another resident living near the bank of Shutibhola canal at Uttar Badda, said the bed of the canal was full of polythene-waste and other garbage.

As the canal is lthy and uncared for, people of its adjoining areas throw their household wastes including a huge number of poly-bags in it. In rainy season, it becomes almost impossible to live in this area because of over ow of rainwater with garbage, he said.

According to Dhaka Wasa, Dhaka used to have 65 canals but the number

has come down to 43 over time. Of the existing ones, around 20 canals have also nearly vanished because of en-croachment, Wasa o cials said.

In a bid to ensure sustainable deliv-ery of storm water drainage and waste-water disposal from the city, the gov-ernment in September 2008 approved the Dhaka Water Supply and Sanitation Project (DWSSP), in association with the World Bank.

As part of the project, Dhaka Wasa has taken steps to reclaim 26 canals from illegal occupation by building walkways, channels, lining and plant-ing trees along demarcation of the ca-nals embankments.

The Shahzadpur canal passes through Pragati Sarani, Shahzadpur, Shutibhola and Uttar Badda; while the Shutibhola canal winds its way through Shutibhola mouza, Satarkul mouza and the eastern part of Ulan mouza.

According to a 2007 survey by Wasa, the 1.91km-long Shahzadpur canal was 9 metre wide on an average, and the 3.68km-long Shutibhola canal was around 10-20 metre wide.

However, during a recent visit to the area, the Dhaka Tribune found that di erent establishments built near the banks of the canals has caused the width of Shahzadpur canal to narrow down to around 5-7 meter, while Shutibholas width had become around 9-10 meter.

The dumping of household wastes and poly-bag into the canal by locals has also reportedly caused the depth in di erent areas of the canal to come down to around 2-3 meter.

AFM Abdul Aziz, project director for the DWSSP, told the Dhaka Tribune: We will immediately start the devel-opment of Shahzadpur canal, Shutib-hola canal and Abdullahpur canal.

Dhaka Wasa has asked invitation

for tender to appoint contractors for the implementation of the project, he added.

Aziz said the project consisted of

constructing open RCC (reinforced concrete) rectangular channel, closed RCC box-culverts, walkways, erection of demarcation pillars and tree plan-

tation.He claimed that constructing walk-

ways and planting trees would depend on space availability, but demarcation

pillars would be erected at 10 metre gaps, while waste containers would also be set up on both sides of the channel at suitable locations. l

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, March 19, 2014

500 students from DU, Buet to get laptop loann Muhammad Zahidul IslamThe government will soon introduce a project which would enable university students to secure loads for buying lap-tops without the need of a guarantor, said a source at the division of Informa-tion and Communication Technology.

Under a pilot project starting May this year, some ve hundred students from Dhaka University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technol-ogy (BUET) will be able to avail this fa-cility from state-owned Janata Bank.

State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak and other o cials from the divi-sion already held a meeting with Janata Bank o cials at his o ce yesterday in this regard.

Sources said, each student will be able to take a loan of Tk36,000 under the pilot project, for which requires no guaranty while the repayment method was yet to be nalised.

The government had been planning to o er this special loan for the universi-ty students from last year, but could not manage a commercial bank to support the idea.

We are ready to disburse this loan, but we need to prepare a scheme before we can do that, Janata Bank Managing Director and CEO SM Aminur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also said for agriculture, central bank gives banks a loan on a 4% interest rate and the banks add another 6% and then disburse it,

Same think can happen here and we are ready to do it, he said.

Citing a recent study, a high o cial of the ICT division said, 70% of the stu-dents in public universities come from rural areas and only 6% of them have personal laptops.

So rural students will get priority for this loan, the o cial said.

We are also trying to engage some local and international donor agencies to support the program as our plan is to turn our whole student population in a modern working force by equip-ping them with the latest ICT-related technologies, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak told the Dhaka Tribune.

He, however, added that the initia-tive depends mostly on the success of this pilot project.

Janata Bank MD said, For our secu-rity, we need guaranty but it is not pos-sible to take guaranty from the institu-tions.

Earlier, Rupali Bank and Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) expressed in-terests in the project, but later backed o .

Source at the ICT division also add-ed the government also plans to dis-burse loans among 80,000 university students to help them buy a personal laptop. l

JnU Chhatra League and Teachers Association postpone demo n Mohammad Jamil KhanThe Jagannath University (JnU) Teach-ers Association and the Hall Recovery Sangram Parishad led by the university unit Bangladesh Chhatra League have postponed their ongoing agitation pro-gramme to retrieve their grabbed halls.

On the other hand, the Progressive Students Alliance led by the left stu-dent parties took the lead of the on-going demonstration and warned that they would cordon o the secretariat and the prime ministers o ce if their demands were not met in face of the demonstration.

In a written statement yesterday, JnU unit Chhatra League announced that they would postpone the demon-

stration until the probe formed sub-mitted their report, while the teachers association, in their statement, claimed that they postponed the demonstra-tion as JnU unit Chhatra League Secre-tary Shirajul Islam alleged stopped the tender work of Chemistry Department. The teachers said they would not par-ticipate in any demonstration led by anyone like Shirajul.

However, JnU Teachers Associa-tion Secretary Dr Parimal Bala said they would start new programmes, if needed.

Meanwhile, agitated students led by the progressive alliance brought out pro-cession on the campus around 10am and staged demonstration by setting re to tires in front of Bangladesh Bank Sadar-ghat Branch.

The students also blocked the Chit-taranjan Avenue, suspending vehicular movement for two hours. Later, the stu-dents announced new demonstration programmes around 2pm through a media brie ng at the university cafeteria after holding a rally in front of the Shah-hed Ra q building.

As per new demo programme, they would hold protest rallies and proces-sions on March 19, 20, and 24, along with a view exchange meeting with the local residences on March 31.

They would also hold a sit-in pro-gramme in front of the JnU vice-chan-cellors o ce on April 2. They also warned to cordon o the secretariat and the PMO, if their demands were not met by then. l

Shahjadpur canal is lled with wastage, hampering water ow of the canal. The photo was taken yesterday ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

Two committees formed over implementing DAP n Mohosinul KarimThe cabinet committee on Detailed Area Plan (DAP) yesterday formed a sub-committee and a technical com-mittee to assist the cabinet committee to ensure proper use of land in the DAP area.

Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sharif was made convener of the sub-committee and he would recom-mend the cabinet committee for im-plementing the DAP over changing character of land.

Meanwhile, Rajuks member of planning wing was made convener of the technical committee for suggesting the cabinet committee after conduct-ing feasible examination of the land in the DAP area.

The decisions were taken in the cabinet committee meeting held at housing and public works ministry conference room with committee chief Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain in the chair, Min-istrys Senior Information O cer SM Golam Kibria told the Dhaka Tribune.

Members of the sub-committee are Environment and Forest Minister Anowar Hossain Manju, secretaries of land, local government, environment and forest and housing and public works ministries, director general of directorate of Environment and Water Development Board and Chairman of Rajuk.

The members of technical commit-tee are: deputy directors of directorate of urban development, department of architecture and directorate of en-vironment, representatives of Dhaka Wasa, Water Development Board and

Inland Water Transport Authority while Rajuks Director (Town Planning) would be its member secretary.

Sources, who attended the meeting, Minister for Housing and Public Works Ministry Mosharraf Hossain expressed his dissatisfaction over slow progress of the DAP implementation.

It was discussed in the meeting that realtors, who were given permission to develop land and construct buildings, are taking relatively higher prices.

So, the government would take re-alistic decision in this regard after re-viewing the DAP plan soon, he added.

At the meeting the minister said the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipaksha should give emphasise on ensuring the water owing facilities while giving approval of land development and construction of buildings in the planned area.

Committee Members, Communica-tion Minister Obaidul Quader, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mah-mud, Environment and Forest Minister Anowar Hossain Manju, Shipping Min-ister Shajahan Khan and Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sharif, attended the meeting.

A procession is brought out in the city yesterday, marking the 94th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the National Childrens Day DHAKA TRIBUNE

Minister for Housing and Public Works Ministry Mosharraf Hossain expressed his dissatisfaction over slow progress of the DAP implementation.

Locals block road demanding repairsn Our correspondent, BarisalAgitated locals blocked and dug sec-tions of the road and held demonstra-tion demanding immediate comple-tion of repair of Barisal-Nabagram road in Barisal city yesterday.

Around 4,000 agitated residents of Barisal city blocked the Barisal-Naba-gram Road by felling logs, cut roads by digging and staged sit-in from Govern-ment Syed Hatem Ali College Chow-matha to Ruiar Poll areas of the road.

Locals alleged that the repair and reconstruction of the vital eight-kilo-metre long road connecting vast areas of western part of the city and east-ern part of Jhalokati district remained suspended following the changing of mayor after city corporation election of June 15, 2013. Kawsar Hossain, one of the

residents in the area, said that the con-tractor left the site of work without com-pleting the task more than a year ago.

Vehicular movements on that half-done road cause regular acci-dents, spread dust, and create health problems like asthma and diarrhoea among the neighbouring residents, al-leged Nasimul Alam, another resident.

AKM Shahidul Islam Talukdar, local councillor of ward 22 of Barisal City Corporation, contacted with BCC May-or and expressed his solidarity with the participants of the movement. The mayor assured him of starting the work within seven working days.

The agitated locals opened the road for vehicular movements after two hours, giving the authority a seven-day ultimatum, the ward councillor said.

Nurul Islam, superintendant engi-

neer of BCC, said Md Samraj, nephew of Shawkat Hossain Hiron, Barisal city AL president and former BCC mayor, received the work order of Tk20 m for construction of footpaths and recon-struction and repair of 1.5 kilometre part of the Barisal-Nabagram road in November 2012 and started construc-tion work as scheduled.

Humaun Kabir, BCC engineer in charge of monitoring that work, said that contractor Samraj stopped the work after the defeat of Hiron and sub-sequent winning of BNP leader Ahsan Habib Kamal in BCC election.

BCC issued show cause notice against Samraj last month and in re-ply he assured resumption of the work soon. If he failed, punitive action would be taken against him, the BCC o cials said. l

A week of body recovering passes, police yet to le casen Our Correspondent, Kurigram Family members of Kalu Sheikh al-leged that police were reluctant to le a case against culprits although one week has passed since the body was recovered .The deceaseds mother Zamila Begum of Char Mia Para village, Roumari upa-zila made the allegation. She said the family had been feeling unsafe as the culprits were issuing death threats after their names were revealed.

On top of that, the police have been seem associating with the killers in plain view, the victims family mem-bers alleged.

Kalu Sheikh was killed on March

7. The Indian Border Security Force recovered the body on March 11 and handed it over to Border Guard Ban-gladesh.

The deceaseds wife Momtaz Be-gum said: My husband was killed over a land dispute. After his body was re-covered, we went to the police station but police did not take our case.

Deceaseds sister Monira Begum said the killers were pressuring the po-lice not to lodge a case.

Meanwhile, Rajibpur police station O cer-in-Charge Helal Uddin said: It is not true that we did not consider the allegations.

The BGB gave the body to us and the decision to le a case or not will be made after getting the autopsy report. l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, March 19, 2014A tale of potholes and broken promisesHorrible road a headache for locals; authorities pay no heedn Our Correspondent, Sirajganj A portion of the Shahjadpur-Khukni-Enaetpur road, stretching 11 kilometres, lies in a sorry state with big potholes in the centre, causing immense su erings for both commuters and pedestrians.

Locals said it had become common a situation on the road to see vehicles stuck on potholes as well as on muddy land which often creates tra c conges-tion on both sides of the road for hours.

While talking to this correspond-ent local commuters shared their woes. They said the road was neither t for ve-hicles or for pedestrians.

Rasel Hosain, a resident of Shahjad-pur, said: Earlier when the road was in ne condition, we reached the district town within 30 minutes, but now it takes three hours, which is not only killing our time but also taking a toll on our health.

He alleged that the Road and High-ways Department had not conducted renovation work on the road for the last couple of years.

Communication Minister Obaidul Quader visited the road on May 25 last year and had assured the locals that he would take measures to repair the road soon. But no actions have been taken.

Local Member of Parliament Hasibur Rahman Swapan said the road would be a crucial issue to local people during

the upazila election scheduled to be held on March 31. He apprehended that local people might not cast vote in favour of Awami League nominated candidate in the upcoming upazila poll since the local people become irritated with the sorry state of the road.

The Awami League leader also ex-pressed his concern to Health Minister Mohammad Nasim when he visited the area on Saturday.

It was learnt that the minister made a phone call to the communication minis-ter and Quader assured the veteran Awa-mi League leader that the road would be renovated within 1 to 2 days. But the Road and Highways Department is yet to take any measure to x the road.

Swapan said: If the road is not re-paired it would be tough for the Awami League nominated candidate to seek support from voters.

Upazila Nirbahi O cer of Shahjadpur Russel Sabrin said, The road is very cru-cial. The renovation is important to miti-gate the su erings of the people.

When contacted, Executive Engineer of Sirajganj Roads and Highway Depart-ment Mohammad Moniruzzaman said, A project will be taken to repair the road in future. The potholes on the roads would be repaired as soon as the health and communication ministers give as-surances. l

Teachers, students forced to participate in poll campaign n Our Correspondent, BargunaAn Awami League backed candidate is allegedly forcing teachers and students of di erent schools at Betagi upazila in Barguna to take part in his election campaign, hampering their education-al activities.

Election to Betagi upazila will be held during the third phase of the upazila poll scheduled to be held on March 23.

In this regard, the BNP-backed can-didate Shahjahan Kabir sent a written complainant to the local administra-tion, seeking measures.

In the letter, the rival candidate said AL-backed chairman candidate Golam Kabir had been forcing teachers and students with the help of local admin-istration to join his election campaign.

Teachers of Betagi Degree Collage, Putiakhali Secondary School, Bibichini Talgachia Secondery School, Kaunia Collage, Chopkhali Secondery School and Chopkhali Johur Uddin Madras-sah, Dokkhin Chopkhali Gpvernment Primary School, Danmari Chatra Gov-ernment Primary School, Uttara Chop-khali Government Primary School, and

Char Chokhali Government Primary School could not do their regular ac-tivities as they have to participate in election campaign.

If the teachers are entrusted with the responsibility of presiding o cer and polling o cer, they would get in-volved in vote rigging, the letter said.

Some teachers, who preferred to be unnamed, said, they were participating in election campaign following the di-rectives of local Awami League leaders.

Betagi Upazila Secondary Education O cer Shahjahan Ali Sheikh said, We will not engage the teachers, who are working for an Awami League candi-date, in election jobs.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (general) Mohammad Ali, who is now also serving as district returning of- cer, said We will take legal actions as a chairman candidate made complaint against his rival candidate.

Golam Kabir, however, di ered with the allegation and said, No one is par-ticipating in election campaign halting educational activities as far as I know. Everyone, after nishing o ce hours, is doing election campaign. l

Once a freedom ghter, now a rickshawpullerSultan ghting a di erent battle to make ends meet n Our Correspondent, LalmonirhatIn 1971, Sultan Miah fought for the coun-trys independence and his left leg was left un t for work due to injuries. In a strange twist of fate, however, this free-dom ghter, who never reveals his woes to anybody, has been pulling rickshaw for the last 14 years to make a living.

Sultan earlier had a small grocery shop in the village but could not contin-ue the business due to lack of capital.

The war veteran lives with his wife Jahanara Begum and daughter Rina Khatun in a rented house at Shaheed Shahjahan Colony in the town. He had a four-decimal land in Khochabari village under Lalmonirhat municipality but sold it seven years ago to arranger his el-der daughter Shefali Begums wedding. The 15-year-old Rina Khatun works as a housemaid at a nearby house.

I want to marry Rina o but I dont have much money to do that. My wife has been asking me to save money for

Rinas wedding but I failed to do so. Ive to pay Tk 30 a day to rent the rick-shaw but I cant pull it for long because of the injury in my leg, said Sultan.

I make Tk 70-80 a day by pulling rickshaw, which is insu cient to bear all the family expenses. Thats why we of-ten starve for half of the day, he added.

Sultan says he receives a monthly allowance of Tk 2,000 as a freedom ghter from the government but the whole amount is spent on house rent and medicine for himself and his wife.

The 58-year-old joined the Libera-tion War when he was just 18. He re-ceived training in India and fought against the Pakistani forces under group commander Soleman Ali of sec-tor-6 in di erent areas of Lalmonirhat, including Bawar, Goddimari, Votmari, Dawabari, Daliya and Singimari. He also fought in Dimla and Daliya of Nil-phamari at the time.

Moza Miah, a fellow wear veteran, said, Sultan was a brave member in

their group as he was always the rst to act on the group commanders order.

While in the battle eld, Sultan was always very caring about his fellow ghters. We would love him very much, said another fellow ghter Abu Hossain.

Describing her husband, Jahanara said he was physically un t for hard work.

He needs to take rest all the time but its a pity that he now has to work very hard to make ends meet. We want to have sh or meat on the menu but we cant as rice, vegetables and other items gobble up the meagre amount he brings in, she said.

Now the couples only dream is to save enough for arranging their young-er daughters wedding but they are un-sure of the time it will take to save the required amount.

I would rather die than beg for col-lecting the money. I am a war veteran and thats why begging is not for me, Sultan said in a determined tone. l

Woman raped, tortured n Our Correspondent, LalmonirhatA woman was raped, tortured and the rapist cut-o her hair in Mosta village under Gokunda union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Sunday night.

According to sources, neighbour Anisur Rahman, 32, son of Motabbel Hossain, used to disturb the woman, a mother of a child. The rapist entered the victims house at 10pm and raped her while her husband was not in the house.

At one stage, the victim caught the rapist and screamed for help. Hearing her screaming, locals went to the spot.

But they did not dare to protest the rapist as he was from in uential family.

Later, the rapist along his relatives physically tortured the victim and cut o her hair. The victim led a case in this connection.

The rapist and his relatives vandal-ised and looted her house as she led the case. Police said the victim was pre-paring to lodge another case with the police station.

She was admitted to Lalmonirhat Sadar Hospital. The Residential Medical O cer in the hospital Dr Nabiur Rah-man said she was seriously hurt as she was hit by sharp weapons. The Investi-gation O cer SI Asaduzzaman said the police were trying to arrest the culprits.

Con rming the incident, OC Mah-fuzur Rahman said the police had re-corded the case and arrested one of the accused. l

Pregnant woman ght for life as husband pours boiling water on her n Our Correspondent, PirojpurA husband poured boiling water on his six-month pregnant wife on March 8, centering on dowry, and con ned her in a room for four days in Pirojpur.

The name of the victim is Asma Ak-ter, 22, daughter of Atahar Ali Mollah, hailing from Amtola area of Sadar union under Nazirpur upazila in the district. She got married to Sohag Hawlader, 27, son of Rashid Hawlader of Barisal three years back.

Locals rescued the critically injured

Asma and took her to Nazirpur Upazila Health Complex.

Atahar Ali said he had given Tk10,000 as dowry to his son-in-law during her marriage. But later on, Sohag started physical and mental torture on Asma de-manding additional dowry.

Asma said: I have been pregnant for six month. On March 8, I was cooking rice, while Sohag started pressurising me to bring additional Tk50,000 from my parental house. When I refused, he poured boiling water on me.

Sohag con ned me up into a room

and rubbed salt and chilli powder on my wounds. I ed to my fathers house after four days of the incident, she added.

Health Assistant of upazila health complex, A Matin Sarder said: Some parts of the body were badly burnt.

Md Khaleque Hawlader, o cer-in-charge of Nazirpur police station said: I contacted with Atahar Ali Mollah upon learning about the incident. I discussed the matter with Pirojpur district police su-per and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Barisal police. Atahar was sent to Banan-ipara police station. A case was led. l

A campaign against netting jatka (hilsa fry) being conducted in the Padma River in Faridpur yesterday, marking the Jatka Preservation Week DHAKA TRIBUNE

30 hurt in Rajshahi BCL attackn Tribune Report At least 30 students were injured in an at-tack by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men at a hostel of Rajshahi New Govt De-gree College in the city early Tuesday.

Witnesses said the BCL activists had an altercation with some general students of the college on the campus during a farewell ceremony for the HSC examinees on Monday morning.

As a sequel to the incident, a group of 15-20 BCL men attacked the students of the dormitory around 12:45am, leaving 30 injured. l

Students of Sheikh Sayera Khatun Medical College form a human chain in Gopalganj district town yesterday, protesting vandalism at one of their hostels DHAKA TRIBUNE

7Long Form Wednesday, March 19, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Kazi Anis Ahmed

I was supposed to go to Lahore in January 1971, but I didnt make it there until just this year.In 1971, my father a Ben-gali was still an o cer in the Pakistan Army and he had been posted to the western side of the country. My mother, only 25 at the time, faced the prospect of traveling alone with both my brother, barely a year and a half, and me practically a newborn 2,000 kilometres from her home in Dhaka. So she did the smart thing; she left me with my grandparents to go set up home rst. My grandmother would follow in a few weeks and deposit me with my parents. Before that trip could take place though, war broke out.

The story of my family is not atypi-cal of what many Bangladeshi families went through in 1971. My fathers

youngest brother, a 17-year-old in Jessore, left home one morning with the hope of crossing the border to join the Mukti Bahini; he was never found again. Another uncle spent most of the nine months of war on the run, a hunted man.

My mothers brother walked all the way past the border to join the famous camp of Khaled Mosharraf. He came back to Dhaka with two grenades in his pockets, but was arrested by the Pakistani Army before he could carry out his operation. Fortunately, he su ered no worse than imprisonment. Another uncle was also captured, and tortured.

Everyone lived in terror and penury common to war times, and in dreadful uncertainty about the future. Despite the loss and the torment, my family was lucky. There are families who lost most of their loved ones; we lost ultimately only my fathers youngest brother.

Among those who made it back home, though, my parents and brother

were the last to return. They had be-come interned in West Pakistan along with scores of other Bengali o cers and their families during the war. For families on either side of the sepa-rated nations, the hardest part was not knowing when, o