Polnews24: Aug 29, 2010

Sunday

Bus tickets for Eid-trip already sold

Thousands of city dwellers are becoming frustrated for not finding advance Eid tickets as they desired to celebrate the holy Eid-ul-Fitr, the greatest religious festival of the Muslims, with their near and dear ones at village homes.

Hundreds of people crowded at the counters of Gabtoli, Shayamoli and Kallanpur bus terminals yesterday for advance tickets but the staff of many counters told them that their advance tickets have already been sold. It was the third day for selling of the advance Eid tickets.

The city dwellers alleged that black marketeers have already collected the lion's share of the tickets. They are now charging from the home-goers more than two to three times high than the actual price of tickets, ignoring the government warning. But there is none to see the agony of the home goers.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the Eid-ul-Fitr, passengers are compelled to undergo innumerable hardship as well as harassment in the ordeal of purchasing tickets. They are forced to accept the back marketeers terms as they have no alternative avenue left, if they want to go to their homes to celebrate the holy occasion, said the dwellers. An artificial crisis of tickets is being created to force Passengers frustrated people to buy tickets at high price, alleged the passengers.

Wazed Ali, an employee of a school and a resident of Motijheel area wants to go to Barisal, his home district. He tried for two hours at Gabtoli bus terminal to get advance Eid tickets but all his efforts went into futile.

He said that a group of people who are relatives of the staff members of the company collected five to seven tickets in one name. They will sell those before two or three day's of the Eid with high price. This group artificially created the ticket crisis, he alleged.

Some counter staff members said that the advance tickets for Eid have already been sold. Actually there is no crisis of tickets, they make an artificial ticket crisis, said Manjur Alam, who will go to Comilla on the night of twenty-eight of Ramzan.

Some people alleged that the terminal counter staff are taking the excessive fares more than the government approves charge. But there is no authority to monitor it.

About the ticket crisis, Abul kalam Azad, a staff of Saudia Counter said we are selling advance tickets for every day not at all time altogether.

When asked about the reason for ticket crisis, manager of a Hanif Enterprise, seeking anonymity said that the black marketeers are too influential to capture the tickets. The black marketeers with the help of local influential people have grabbed most of the tickets.

He also said that Hanif Enterprise counter, most of the owners of the inter-district bus companies had increased the number of coaches, yet there is a ticket crisis.

Another counter manager of Nabil Enterprise blamed the black marketeers that each of the black marketers hired young men to collect tickets from the booths and preserved those for selling at higher rates later.

Many passengers alleged that there is no authority in the bus terminals to look after the passenger's harassment. They asked the concerned government authority to look after matter.

On the other hand, the Eid advance ticket for train service will start from 31 of this month, sources said.

Volumes may exceed 10 million tonnes a year, up from the 4.1 million tonnes now crossing 10 land ports, the shipping ministry officials said, with 15

Dhaka stocks ended its four-week bull run last week after market regulators, stock exchange authorities and Bangladesh Bank took separate steps to cool down the swelling market.

The benchmark general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange shed 89.91 points, or 1.33 per cent, in the past week to close at 6,653.29 points on Thursday.

Market operators said that decisions of regulators and central bank squeezing margin loan and investment of financial institutions on capital maker pulled down slightly over-priced stocks that had grown for four consecutive weeks.

The Bangladesh Bank on Sunday asked non banking financial institutions with extra investment of their paid-up capital and 25 per cent of their reserve on share market to withdraw additional investments by December 2010.

The stock exchange authorities halted trading of shares of a number of companies because of unusual hike in their prices.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday decided to enforce a margin loan disbursement system based on current market price of any share and its net asset value.

The new calculation method virtually squeezed loan facilities for the investors and the market responded with the DSE general index plunging by 128 points on Wednesday.

But in the final session on Thursday, the index moved up marginally.

Most of the major sectors shed prices during the week. Banks and non-banking institutions declined by 2.7 per cent each.

Insurance companies closed negative after a long rally of gains in recent weeks. General insurance and life insurance companies dropped by 0.12 per cent and 2.65 per cent respectively.

Telecommunications sector slipped by 3.0 per cent and fuel and power sector by 2.2 per cent.

The average daily turnover declined by 6.30 per cent to Tk 1,774.03 crore from the previous week’s Tk 1,861.24 crore.

Capital market analysts said that the market fell last week because of regulatory interventions.

They said the prices of most of the shares have remained over-priced even after last week’s fall and the market needs more correction.

Salahuddin Ahmed, a former chief executive officer of DSE, said that the market witnessed a correction last week after the regulatory interventions.

Mohmood Osman Imam, who teaches finance at Dhaka University, however, said the market needs more correction as most of the shares are still over-priced.

The SEC officials will sit today with authorities of Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges and merchant bankers to discuss the market situation.

Land port loads to double by 2013

Government officials expect the volume of goods trucked into Bangladesh to more than double by 2013, with eased transhipment with India, Nepal and Bhutan, they said last week.

Volumes may exceed 10 million tonnes a year, up from the 4.1 million tonnes now crossing 10 land ports, the shipping ministry officials said, with 15 land ports slated to be in service.

Five land ports, now out of service, are expected to come on stream, and the infrastructure of six is to be upgraded.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) slated nearly Tk 40 crore to improve Benapole Land Port infrastructure, said Irtiza Ahmed Choudhury, a member of the Bangladesh Land Port Authority.

A proposal to buy two straddle carriers, four mobile cranes and 13 forklifts awaits shipping ministry approval, he added.

Choudhury said a Tk 982 crore low-speed track for Birol Land Port in Dinajpur was approved by Ecnec in April of last year, as was the current upgrade of the metre-gauge Parbatipur-Kanchan-Panchagarh rail link to broad-gauge tracks.

Four of the five land ports to be developed are: Teghamuk in Rangamati; Ramgarh in Khagrachari; Haluaghat in Mymensingh; and possibly Belonia in Feni. (Belonia, a land port announced last year, was slotted on land disputed with India, so is delayed.)

"We will soon select a separate land for the [Belonia] port and initiatives to develop infrastructure will be taken immediately after acquisition of the land," said Choudhury.

Darshana in Chuadanga was to be the fifth, but it has no road link with India. "The shipping ministry is working on a proposal to set up the land port in Jiban Nagar instead of Darshana," he said.

The Ramgarh and Teghamuk customs stations of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) may become land ports if the shipping ministry is approves the proposal. Haluaghat still has no customs station, Choudhury admits, but he expects approval of Gobramukh and Koraitali as customs stations. Haluaghat improvements are the next priority.

-Daily Star

Harry Potter star Emma wants apparel workers’ wages trebled

Harry Potter star Emma Watson was in Bangladesh last month on an unannounced five-day trip in the second week of July to see the living conditions of the workers who make apparels for the consumers in the west.

She visited the city’s slums where many of the apparel workers live. She also had been to a village in Rajshahi to see the homes of weavers and taught school children there. The 20-year old British actress felt sorry seeing their living condition in the city slums.

She felt that the wages of the workers, who stitch apparels for the consumers in the western developed countries needs to be trebled so that they could afford an acceptable living standard. A video footage on Emma’s visits to the workers’ slums, the waving units in Rajshahi and to a roadside school, has been uploaded in You Tube. New Age spoke to a leader, praised by Emma for demanding better wages for the apparel workers. But Amirul Haque Amin, the secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, did not know that she was the famous Harry Potter star, brought to his office by Bangladeshi fair trade activists.

She praised us for our movement for better wages and facilities for the apparel workers,’ Amin told New Age. ‘The workers here, who make apparels for western consumers, needs to be better paid and have better facilities,’ Emma told them.

Emma’s visit was sponsored by UK-based fair trade fashion organisation People Tree. People Tree sources apparels from Bangladeshi fair trade companies who use organic cotton threads, natural dyes and pay maximum wages to the workers. Emma stitched apparels and wove fabrics to have a first hand experience in the manufacturing process at a factory, which exports to People Tree. She dyed natural yarns and fabrics, swam in a river and took a walk along the river barefoot.

Emma is brand promoter for People Tree, which favours payment of maximum wages to workers abroad so that they could afford a decent living.

Chief of a Bangladeshi company which supplies handloom fabrics to People Tree told New Age that Emma was delighted to see weavers and craftspeople living comfortably in a Rajshahi village as they work for fair trade companies. But she was unhappy to see the living conditions in the city slums of the apparel workers, who had had to leave their villages expecting a better life. ‘Even though the cost of living is much less in Bangladesh, less than $6 a week in wage is appalling, especially considering the hours that they work,’ Emma said, in an interview, posted in her website.

The workers seem to work around the clock and still do not have enough money to buy food to feed their families, or live any kind of life at all, she said. ‘I really do hope that they achieve their goal [demand for increased minimum wages] of $18 a week. If they can, it would be life changing for them,’ Emma said.

About the living condition of the apparel workers in the slums, Emma told UK journalists that there are no facilities there [in slums] to speak of. She said, ‘In the building we visited, I saw one shower, one cleaning place and one hole in the floor which was the toilet. This was for the whole floor. That floor had maybe eight or nine rooms coming off it, and each room housed a whole family, that is 32 people to one toilet.’

On her way to Rajshahi, she stopped by a school to teach a math class and, after the lesson, she gave the students presents.

Many Nobel peace prizes betray founder’s aims: book

Guardians of the Nobel Peace Prize have betrayed the original aim of rewarding ‘champions of peace’ by picking laureates such as the Red Cross or the US president, Barack Obama, according to a book seen by Reuters on Friday.

‘The Nobel Peace Prize, What Nobel Really Wanted’, contains hitherto unpublished diaries by a late committee chairman showing fierce disputes in past decades over how to interpret the 1895 will of the award’s founder, Sweden’s Alfred Nobel.

The committee is ignoring Nobel and making a peace prize according to their own ideas. It’s a moral failure,’ author and lawyer Fredrik Heffermehl told Reuters of the English-language book which expands on one in Norwegian in 2008.

Guardians of the prize have in the past rejected Heffermehl’s interpretation of Nobel’s intent, and criticism of many prizes since the 1950s, as speculative.

Heffermehl said that Nobel, a philanthropist and the inventor of dynamite, wanted to reward ‘champions of peace’, with more stress on demilitarisation and peace congresses than given by the Nobel committee in recent decades.

He said Obama, who won in 2009, should not be on the list — despite his goal of nuclear disarmament — partly because of US involvement in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Disputes outlined in diaries by Gunnar Jahn, head of the five-member committee from 1942-66, showed a deep awareness of problems in correctly interpreting Nobel’s will, Heffermehl said.

Jahn once threatened to quit because he felt too many awards were going to institutions, such as the Red Cross.

‘If we continue to give the prize to institutions I shall have to ask (parliament) to free me from the task as member of the committee,’ he wrote in 1963. ‘We really cannot constantly give the prize to those who have healed the wounds of war.’

In the end, he approved the 1963 award to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which had also won in 1944 and 1917.

In 1958, Jahn said he was ‘rather aghast that several of the committee members were fixed on Helen Keller as their candidate.’ Keller, a deaf-blind author and political activist who died in 1968, never won the prize.

Over the years, however, Jahn went along with some choices criticised by Heffermehl, such as an award to the UN children’s fund UNICEF in 1965.

A key problem is that Nobel’s will is vague.

The official translation says the prize should go to ‘the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.’

Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute, has said that Heffermehl exaggerates Nobel’s faith in peace congresses that were more popular 100 years ago — Nobel once said his dynamite factories could end war faster than such meetings.

Peace has had wide interpretations in recent years, with Nobel prizes going to Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai in 2004 and Bangladeshi banker Mohammad Yunus in 2006.

Mairead Maguire, who shared the 1976 prize for peace efforts in Northern Ireland, called Heffermehl’s book ‘an imperative read for those concerned about the integrity’ of the prize.

Gates Foundation's biggest research funding for South Asian newborns

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is providing the biggest ever funding for a single research on causes and origins of newborns' death in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, sources in city said on Saturday.

The $11 million funding was committed to conduct the research in one urban and three rural sites in three South Asian countries in 42 months to know the etiology of community acquired infections in neonates, a term refers to babies aged between zero and 28 days.

Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are together the home to one- third of neonatal deaths in the world which loses 3.7 million babies each year before they complete one month of their age. An estimated 130,000 neonates die alone in Bangladesh and half of them from infections within one month of their age.

A three-member delegation of BMGF arrived in the city on Friday to see for themselves the progress of the study that includes a state of the art microbiological laboratory in Dhaka Shishu Hospital. The delegation on Sunday will travel to Sylhet, Bangladesh site of the study.

"The study is the biggest ever of its nature in the world," Prof. Abdullah Baqui of Johns Hopkins University, US, told BSS in an interview. Baqui, one of two co-principal investigators of the study, said such type of studies was done earlier in Kenya and Bangladesh over a very small number of children.

But this time, he said, the study would be conducted over 66,000 live births who would be enrolled and followed up for two months each to collect blood, swab and nasopharyngeal samples to know the nature of viral and bacterial infections.

Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) says at least half of the newborns or nearly 65,000 children aged less than four weeks die due to infections. As a result, the country could not achieve much to save newborns, despite a robust decline of deaths of children aged between one and five years.

According to available statistics, Bangladesh has successfully reduced mortality of children under one year and five years of age, but marked a very little success to cut deaths of neonates, who account 57 percent of total under five child deaths.

Bangladesh, where an estimated 3,500,000 babies are born each year from a 150 million total population, is currently reducing neonatal deaths by only 3 percent per year against a 6 percent reduction of infant mortality and 9 percent death cuts of children aged between 1 and 5 years.

"The ultimate objective of the study is to substantially check the mortality of newborn babies," Prof. Samir K Saha, principal investigator and executive director of Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) said. Samir and his foundation would lead the research in the countries, with the secretariat at Dhaka Shishu Hospital.

Samir said infection is the leading cause of deaths for newborns and bacterial etiology of hardly 5-10 percent of such neonatal infections are known through blood culture. The present study would try to know the distribution of pathogens that cause disease to babies in community settings.

Teletalk to reduce internet rate further

Post and telecommunications minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu has urged all to use Teletalk as it is an organisation of the country.

Moreover, the telecom minister requested everyone to help the public telecom service provider.

He was addressing the inauguration ceremony of Narashingdi's first Teletalk service and customer care centre at the Sadar Upazila on Saturday noon.
The telecom minister said that Teletalk incurred a total loss of Tk 1600 million in 2007 and 2008.

"Teletalk customers have increased and it earned Tk 70 million recovering the loss after the government came to power," he added.

Razu said that the government has already signed an agreement worth 211 billion with China, which will enable the government to provide third generation (3G) network across the country.

"3G will be introduced soon through fiber optic cable. The internet speed will increase phenomenally across the country. Optical fiber performs three functions – internet, television and telephone."

The telecom minister further added, "Internet rate was double before Teletalk came in the market. We'll try to reduce the rate further so that the people can be benefited."

Deputy commissioner Amrita Barai, police superintendent Dr Akkas Uddin Bhuiyan, district Awami League vice-president advocate S A Hadi, Narashingdi Judges' Court's public prosecutor advocate N M Ruhul Amin, owner of M/S Sakir and Brothers and Teletalk Service Centre Hazi Abdus Sattar, among the others, were present at the inauguration ceremony.

Microsoft co-founder files patent suits against Facebook, Apple, Google

A company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Friday blasted Apple, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Yahoo! and others with a patent infringement lawsuit filed in a US court.

Seattle-based Interval Licensing, an Allen company, accused 11 online commerce and Internet search firms with infringing patents on fundamental Web technologies Interval developed in the 1990s.

‘Interval Research was an early, ground-breaking contributor to the development of the Internet economy,’ said Allen spokesman David Postman. ‘This lawsuit is necessary to protect our investment in innovation.’

Postman stressed that the technology at issue was created by Interval Research, a company founded by Allen and David Liddle in 1992, and not patents acquired from other firms.

The list of defendants in the lawsuit included AOL and Internet auction house eBay as well as online movie rental firm Netflix and retail chains Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples.

‘We believe this suit is completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously,’ Facebook said in response to an AFP inquiry.

Google also slammed the lawsuit. ‘This lawsuit against some of America’s most innovative companies reflects an unfortunate trend of people trying to compete in the courtroom instead of the marketplace,’ a Google spokesman told the AFP.

Microsoft, which Allen founded with Bill Gates in 1975, was not named in the suit.

Barua's presence in Jamaat TV channel raises question

The presence of a minister and a top government law official in a programme of a television channel owned by a suspected war criminal has created controversies regarding trial of war crimes.

Industries minister and Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua on Friday inaugurated the second anniversary of Diganta TV, of which Jamaat-e-Islami executive committee member Mir Kashem Ali is the chairman of management committee. Additional attorney general MK Rahman, Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) president AK Azad and prominent freedom fighter Kader Siddique were also present there.

There are allegations of war crimes against Kashem, who was a leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha (predecessor to Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat), during the liberation war in 1971.

The government has recently formed the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), investigation committee and lawyer panel to try the war criminals. Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla have already been arrested in this regard.

Earlier, home minister Shahara Khatun had said that the identified war criminals were prohibited to leave the country. Kashem is on that list.

Shahriar Kabir, convenor of ICT Sohayak Mancha, expressed his discontent over Barua's presence in the programme.

He told bdnews24.com, "It is not proper for a sitting minister to attend their programmes. Barua has to shoulder the responsibility for this.

Barua's Samyabadi Dal was with us when we were staging movement for the trial of the war criminals, he said, "How can he attend the programme of Diganta TV now?"

"We will request the prime minister to ensure that cabinet members do not attend any programme of suspected war criminals."

Barua could not be reached for comment as he had already left the country on Saturday morning.

However, on May 22, he had said, "war crimes trial is this government's electoral pledge. The whole country is united on this issue."

Regarding his presence in the programme, MK Rahman told bdnews24.com, "I went there after hearing that Barua was going to attend."

He was surprised and questioned back, "Is this Kashem the same person who had fled the country some days back?"

While Azad commented, "I went there as a professional. I own a media also and it is normal for me to attend programme of another media."

I did not consider any political aspects, he added.

Kader Siddique, when asked about his presence as a freedom fighter in the programme of a suspected war criminal, said, "I was there the same way a minister did."

He also said, I do not consider any channel to represent any political party.

A prominent leader of movement for war crimes trial and convenor of War Crimes Facts Finding Committee MA Hasan told bdnews24.com, attending such programme indicates support to the owners of the organisation.

"It looks very bad when a minister attends the programme of an organisation owned by Kashem as there are various allegations against him," he said.

"Barua has to explain this behaviour to the public."

On Aug 20, the Liberation War Museum rejected a donation of Tk 5 million by Islami Bank through the prime minister for the construction of a new building, on grounds of involvement with suspected war criminals. Kashem, chairman of Diganta TV, is a former chairman of Islami Bank.

-bdnews

New int'l airport to cost Tk 50,000cr

Building another international airport nearby Dhaka will cost Tk 50,000 crore, a pre-feasibility study by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism suggests.

The ministry has sought approval of the cabinet committee on economic affairs to implement the project under public-private partnership (PPP). It is likely to be placed in the committee meeting tomorrow.

The ministry proposal said as the project involves a huge budget, it would be logical to implement it through PPP.

Alongside the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, the government has decided in principle to build another airport named Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib International Airport.

A nine-member pre-feasibility study committee has been formed headed by a member of civil aviation authority. After visiting seven sites in Gazipur, Tangail, and Mymensingh districts, the committee preferred three among those.

A high level meeting held at the civil aviation ministry made recommendation for the site in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh covering 2,600 hectares of land. About 1,000 acres of land of Bangladesh Army remain unused in the area, which could be an advantage.

The ministry sources said the cabinet committee on economic affairs would make the final selection of the site.

The civil aviation ministry put forward several logics for building another international standard airport nearby Dhaka.

Aviation is increasing substantially in the country and about 80 percent of the air passengers use Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, said the ministry proposal adding the airport has only one runway and its annual passenger handling capacity is 80 lakh. This is inadequate compared to increasing number of passengers.

The proposal also said due to space constraint in the terminal building, modern five-level security concept cannot be employed which is mandatory as per the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines.

As the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is surrounded by residential area and cantonment, its extensive future expansion is impossible. These make building another international standard airport near Dhaka an urgent necessity, mentioned the proposal.

-Daily Star

34,000 Aila-hit people get low-cost bank accounts to get aid

As many as 34,000 Aila-affected people in Satkhira and Khulna got bank accounts for Tk 10 thanks to the Bangladesh Bank’s initiative to make their payments for farm and other financial assistance hassle-free.

The people, devastated by the cyclone Aila in 2009, have long been suffering from unusual delay in receiving cash assistance from the government for reviving their agriculture and other means of living.

Bringing an end to the unnecessary delay in disbursement, the central bank directed the state-owned banks in Satkhira and Khulna districts to allow the cyclone-hit people open bank accounts for Tk 10 so they can receive their cash assistance without any unusual delay.

BB governor Atiur Rahman told the news agency on Saturday that offering affordable bank accounts to the disadvantaged people was a step forward in bringing positive changes for the ultimate benefit of the people.

He said the people were now getting the cash assistance directly to their bank accounts, which is faster and hassle-free.

The governor said the central bank was also considering such account facilities for the people in the disaster-prone areas, who needs cash assistance in case of natural calamity.

Satkhira deputy commissioner Md Abdus Samad told the news agency that the Aila-hit people were now getting their financial assistance directly to their bank accounts.

He said they also started disbursing Tk 19 crore as house building grant to 10,000 people, who lost their houses to the devastating cyclone.

‘Each of the family will get Tk 20,000 for rehabilitation,’ the DC added.

Samad said the affected people would soon get the financial assistance for agriculture to their bank accounts.

Let no military general ever aspire to capture power again

The two recent verdicts nullifying the 5th and 7th amendments to our constitution can definitely be termed as epoch-making. If ever there were moments in our history when pronouncements from the judiciary elevated us, energised us, emboldened us, and above all restored our pride in ourselves, the pronouncements of the aforementioned two judgments were such moments.

The whole nation stand in unison in expressing their unbridled admiration and gratitude to the supreme judiciary for the two historic judgments that not only throws into history's dustbin two very shameful periods of our recent history, but also firmly shuts the door for any future aspirants of illegal power on ever making such effort.

The judgments prove, if proof was ever necessary, that illegality, however powerful and omnipotent it may appear at any given time, will ultimately have to surrender to the will of the people as enshrined in the democratically adopted constitution of any country.

They prove that whatever set back democracy may face in Bangladesh, ultimately only a government elected by the people can have legal power to rule. They nullify any other means of attaining state power.

Those who have lived through Zia and Ershad eras remember well the anguish the democracy loving people of the country suffered. The dream of a Sonar Bangla suddenly felt like a plaything in the hands of ambitious generals who could takeover state power, do whatever they felt like, and then amend the constitution with retrospective effect to give legal cover to their illegal actions.

When Bangladesh was born, it was the dream of every freedom loving Bangalee that ours would be a country where we would never ever have an army rule. We would be fundamentally different than Pakistan in that we would never be governed by an un-elected leadership.

This dream was shattered with the brutal murder of Bangabandhu along with his family, followed by the killing of our four national leaders when Khandaker Moshtaque and a few majors started the politics of killing, and captured power by force.

The arrogant voice of Maj Dalim still resonates in this writer's ears, when he announced in the morning of August 15, 1975, "Sheikh Mujib ke hottya kora hoechey" [Sheikh Mujib has been killed]. Col Taher's so-called Nov 7 uprising brought Ziaur Rahman to power, spilling the blood of many officers and soldiers.

Zia's tenure itself later faced many coup attempts, which were all brutally suppressed, and hundreds of officers and soldiers were court martialled and put to death. Zia himself fell victim to one such coup, and was gunned down in Chittagong. Court martial of his killers led to the deaths of several other officers.

Bangladesh not only saw her democratic dreams evaporating into thin air, she also appeared to have entered into a phase of illegal power grabs, and killings and counter killings. Those who did not live through those days cannot fully appreciate the despondency and frustration suffered by the people at that time.

Of all the actions of Ziaur Rahman, the one for which perhaps he will be most condemned, is the Indemnity Act, by which he gave constitutional protection to self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu. By this single action Gen Zia made Bangladesh perhaps the only country in the world where killers were protected by the country's constitution.

Gen Ershad's capturing of power was a follow through of the politics set afoot by Zia. However, Gen Ershad started in quite a unique way. Few days before he actually replaced the elected government of Justice Sattar, he held a press conference claiming that the constitution should be amended so the army could be given a permanent share in state power, and a say in running the state affairs.

His was a veiled threat, and when Justice Sattar refused to oblige, he tore off that veil and captured power on March 24, 1982. It was rumoured that he wanted to implement an Indonesian or Turkish model of army-civilian rule.

If we take the two generals' regimes together, we can see how slowly but surely Bangladesh moved away from the ideals of our liberation war, and how our dreams of a democratic Bangladesh came crashing down till the mass uprising, that restored democracy in December 1990, started us off on a renewed course towards democracy.

As we congratulate our judiciary for these two momentous verdicts, and once again reaffirm our commitment and determination to strengthen democracy, the most important thing to remember at this moment would be that for democracy to truly flourish we have to build institutions that sustain it.

One such institution is the judiciary itself. We are getting such historic verdicts because we have an independent justice system and highly qualified judges. We must do everything to further enhance both the quality and the prestige of this institution, and the executive branch of state should never interfere in the appointments and promotions of judges.

An important component of institutionalising democracy is a strong, vibrant, freely functioning, independent press. Harnessing it with stringent contempt rulings is not helpful, and cannot truly reflect the fundamental values expressed in the two judgments discussed above.

We must do everything to further strengthen all constitutional bodies, and also ensure their quality and independence. The newly formed Information Commission, and Human Rights Commission must be allowed full independence to operate. We must fully allow the oversight functions of all parliamentary standing committees.

Key for a transparent and accountable government is to allow the check and balance mechanism, inbuilt in a democratic system, to function properly.

Only then we will enjoy the fruits of the two momentous judgments.

-Daily Star

Tarique, Khaleda meeting rumour :BNP chairperson going for Umrah tomorrow

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to perform Umrah has started a rumour in the party that she would meet her elder son Tarique Rahman during the trip.

Party top brass said Tarique wouldn't fly to Saudi during Khaleda's tour, as he has to take treatment at a London hospital twice a week.

But many journalists have made preparations to cover the possible reunion of the mother and son.

Tarique, also senior vice chairman of the party, is reportedly under treatment in London. He left the country on Sep 11, 2007 after obtaining bail in all cases.

Khaleda's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko released on parole left for Bangkok on July 19, 2008. He too is reportedly sick.

The two haven't met their mother since they went aboard.

Tension heightened among party activists and supporters as the government recently raised questions about the illness of Tarique and Koko.

They alleged the government is trying to implicate Tarique in August 21 grenade attack case and planning to force Koko to return home by cancelling his parole only to keep BNP and its chief Khaleda Zia under pressure.

“The government wants to mount pressure on Khaleda Zia using the false cases against them so that she refrains from organising any movement,” said Kamal Mia, 54, a party member, who came from Comilla to meet a central leader.

While talking to The Daily Star, Zahidul Islam, party's Naogaon district unit general secretary, said, “Grassroots leaders and workers are really worried about chairperson's sons as they think government made them a target to prolong its tenure.”

Mahbubul Alam, party's Barguna district unit president, said grassroots workers and supporters are worried about Tarique and Koko and the government's attitude to them made them apprehensive.

“Is it democracy? The government adopted a hostile attitude to Tarique and Koko as it wants to destroy Zia family,” he added.

Against this backdrop, Khaleda Zia's Saudi trip piqued curiosity in and outside BNP. Party chairperson's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel, however, ruled out Tarique's meeting with his mother in Saudi Arabia.

Party insiders said Koko's wife and daughter, chairperson's adviser Mosaddek Ali Falu and BNP Vice President Shamser Mobin Chowdhury may be in Khaleda's entourage.

-Daily Star

Non-govt teachers demand Eid allowance

Non-government teachers and employees have demanded festival allowances, salaries of Aug and Sept before the Eid-Ul-Fitr.

The demand was made on Saturday in a statement signed by principal Mohammad Selim Bhuiyan, who is the chairman of Shikhyak Karmachari Oikya Jote, platform of teachers and employees.

Teachers have never received festival allowances before any Eid and as such they were deprived from the joy of Eid, the statement said.

Eid-Ul-Fitr will be held on Sept 10 or 11, but Sept 9 has been fixed for giving them the current month's salary, it also said.

-bdnews

Tarique, Khaleda meeting rumour :BNP chairperson going for Umrah tomorrow

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to perform Umrah has started a rumour in the party that she would meet her elder son Tarique Rahman during the trip.

Party top brass said Tarique wouldn't fly to Saudi during Khaleda's tour, as he has to take treatment at a London hospital twice a week.

But many journalists have made preparations to cover the possible reunion of the mother and son.

Tarique, also senior vice chairman of the party, is reportedly under treatment in London. He left the country on Sep 11, 2007 after obtaining bail in all cases.

Khaleda's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko released on parole left for Bangkok on July 19, 2008. He too is reportedly sick.

The two haven't met their mother since they went aboard.

Tension heightened among party activists and supporters as the government recently raised questions about the illness of Tarique and Koko.

Mahbubul Alam, party's Barguna district unit president, said grassroots workers and supporters are worried about Tarique and Koko and the government's attitude to them made them apprehensive.

“Is it democracy? The government adopted a hostile attitude to Tarique and Koko as it wants to destroy Zia family,” he added.

Party insiders said Koko's wife and daughter, chairperson's adviser Mosaddek Ali Falu and BNP Vice President Shamser Mobin Chowdhury may be in Khaleda's entourage.

-Daily Star

Biman to bank on experience in air

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is likely to increase the retirement age of pilots to 62 years from the existing 57 years to get the services of the experienced cockpit crew for a longer period.

The issue of raising the service age limit of the pilots was discussed at a meeting of the board of directors of Biman yesterday. Participants said the board discussed the matter 'positively' and is expected to give a go-ahead to the matter at the next meeting.

"We plan to increase the retirement age in line with the civil aviation rules to use the services of experienced pilots for more years," said a member of the board, seeking not to be named.

The hike in age is set to come at a time when nearly 10-fleet Biman suffers from a shortage of pilots.

The national flag carrier, having 125 pilots, will need more in the days ahead as it will get delivery of 10 planes purchased from Boeing. The delivery will start next year.

"We will immediately require 16 pilots after we get delivery of two aircraft next year," said the Biman board member.

But Biman will not pay compensation if any pilot loses licence after 57 years for medial unfitness, he added.

Presently, the Biman's pilots, after passing 57 years of age, fly based on contractual arrangements with the carrier. Now out of 125 pilots, 7 are flying on contract basis, according to Bangladesh Airlines Pilots' Association (Bapa).

Due to using experienced pilots on contract basis, the board member expects that the financial impact for enhancing the service age period may be minor.

"It appears that there will be no major financial implication," he said.

The airline's initiative to enhance the service age of pilots also comes in line with the rules of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and International Civil Aviation Organisation, which had earlier raised the retirement age of pilots.

"We have demanded an increase in our retirement age as per civil aviation rules," said Bapa President Captain Ashraf Khan.

"The airline will be benefited. It takes a lot of time to make an experienced pilot," he said.

-Daily Star

Railway left in the lurch

The struggling Bangladesh Railway is yet to get the much-needed $600 million loan as for three and a half years bureaucracy had been stalling the rail reforms that the multilateral donors insisted on, officials concerned said.

The donors had initially released $130 million but they are now saying it would not be able to release the remaining $600 million more to build rail lines, buy locomotives, improve signalling system and other works unless the reforms are introduced to make Bangladesh Railway independent.

The Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency had committed $730 million funding to revamp the 150-year-old Bangladesh Railway. Since the independence of the country, this is the first time multilateral donors had pledged such a huge financing for the sector, railway officials said.

According to official documents and sources, the initiatives stalled or lost pace due to the roles of different ministries that did not want to give up their control over the railway.

Fed up with the government's delays, the ADB on June 16 wrote, "Despite our continued mutual efforts, we have yet to see sufficient progress [regarding the reforms] that will allow us to proceed with the processing of the second loan." The ADB had previously released $130 million to Bangladesh as the first part of its $430 million loan.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain, however, gave assurance that the reforms are just around the corner.

"We are creating the Bangladesh Railway Division where its director general will be a grade-1 officer. Whatever decisions the railway take, they would be executed," the minister told The Daily Star.

He added that the ministry has made a summary on the reforms package and it will be sent to the high-powered secretary level committee headed by the cabinet secretary next week. This committee will scrutinise the proposal and send it to the cabinet for its approval. When the cabinet approves it, Bangladesh Railway will turn into a division.

"The reforms are being done in such a way that the donors will be satisfied," he said, adding that the donors were unhappy with the ministry's poor performance in the past but are now very supportive as it has sped up the work.

In this regard, the ministry sent a proposal to the cabinet division on August 11, requesting to take necessary measures to form the railway division.

Since the reforms initiatives were launched in 2006, the communications ministry apparently did not pursue the scheme seriously. At first the ministry appointed British consultant Pricewaterhouse Coopers in early 2007 to formulate the reforms package.

The consultant took a long time framing the proposal and it submitted its report on November 5, 2008. Then the ministry sat on the report for one year. In November last year, the ministry sent the proposal package to the cabinet division for approval.

The cabinet division sent back the proposal to the ministry asking it to take opinions of the finance and the establishment ministries.

This process continued till April last. It was sent back to the Bangladesh Railway for its opinion in May.

These opinion exchanges brought in some vital changes in the reforms.

Prepared in line with the Indian Railway Board, the proposal suggested an organogram where a 10-member Bangladesh Railway Board will be set up with the director general of the railway acting as its the chairman, who will hold the rank of a secretary and work under the minister directly. Members of the boards will enjoy the rank of additional secretaries. This idea seeks to make the Bangladesh Railway autonomous.

But the finance ministry opposed the idea and suggested putting the communications secretary between the chairman and the minister's communication. Thus the chairman would be regarded as a grade-1 official without the status of a secretary, railway officials said.

According to the proposal, there will be no appointment to the post of additional secretary and posts of joint secretaries if the proposed railway division is created. The railway board officials will discharge the secretarial jobs under the directive of the communications secretary.

A top rail official requesting anonymity explains, "This means, the DG [director general] would not report directly to the minister, he would report to the secretary as he is doing now."

Meanwhile, senior railway officials sat for a meeting on August 13 where they demanded more authority of Bangladesh Railway like the Indian Railway. Otherwise, they said the main objective of the reforms would not be attained.

The meeting demanded the government immediately approve the reforms to get the fund promised by the donors.

Director General of Bangladesh Railway Md Belayet Hossain responding to a question on the railway's role in the stalled reforms told The Daily Star, "I have nothing to do in this regard. Everything is depending on the ministry."

REVAMPING THE RAILWAY
The reforms initiative was launched with the signing of $430 million loan agreement with ADB in February, 2007. Later, the World Bank committed $200 million and JICA $100 million in various development projects in the railway.

In 2007, ADB released $130 million, of which $30 million went to the reforms project and the rest for construction of double rail track between Tongi and Bhairab.

The projects the ADB promised to fund include strengthening Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge, upgrade signalling in 14 stations between Ishwardi and Darsana, restoration of repair yards and extension of loops at different stations from Khulna to Parbatipur and construction of metre gauge track from Bogra to Jamtoil.

World Bank pledged to fund six projects, including restoration of 71 kilometres of rail line (Akhaura-Laksam section), double tracking of the same routes and buying 15 metre gauge diesel-electric locomotives and 50 metre gauge coaches.

JICA showed interest in providing money for the construction of double-line projects from Chinki Astana to Laksam, procurement of rolling stock and rehabilitation of Paharpur workshop.

The development partners are also pushing the government for bringing the proposed reforms immediately to get funds for the Padma Bridge, which includes a railway line, said communications ministry officials.

Railway in Bangladesh remains a neglected sector contrasting with many other developing nations including our next-door neighbour India. For being the safest and cheapest mode of transport, railway should have by now become the chief mode of transport for both passengers and goods in a populous country like Bangladesh, observed a number of railway officials.

"Instead of expanding, the railway network has rather shrunk over the years," one of them regretted.

-Daily Star

JP won't backer of army or unconstitutional rule

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad or his party will not appeal to the Appellate Division against the High Court verdict that declared the seventh amendment to the constitution illegal.

“Neither our party nor the party chief will appeal against the verdict. Our chairman has welcomed the historic judgment, as he as well as the party strongly support of democracy,” Anisul Islam Mahmud, a presidium member of Jatiya Party, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The HC on August 26 declared Ershad's military rule between March 24, 1982, and November 10, 1986 unconstitutional. The verdict suggested that Ershad be prosecuted and punished in the light of the Supreme Court judgment declaring the fifth amendment illegal. The HC also placed the matter to parliament and the government for taking decision to this end.

The verdict was against the military rule of that particular time, not the rule after 1986, said Mahmud, adding that, "We think this is positive."

Asked about the reason for accepting the verdict, he said, "We respect the verdict, as we are strong supporters of democracy, not military or unconstitutional rule. Jatiya Party handed over the state power in 1990 for the sake of democracy."

On the verdict day, HM Ershad said his party would come up with a detailed reaction after getting the copy of the verdict. He, however, welcomed the judgment terming it historic.

Sources in the party said they are in close contact with Awami League policymakers so that Ershad may escape the punishment as stated by the HC.

In his reaction to the verdict, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on August 26 said regular appeal would be automatically filed with the Appellate Division and the Supreme Court will give the final judgment over the case. But the government will not contest the judgment on the seventh amendment, he added.

Meanwhile, the HC bench asked petitioner Siddique to surrender his bail bond to the lower court from where he obtained it and explore other legal options to deal with his problem.

-Daily Star

Rental power boost for railway

The government is going to implement four projects of Bangladesh Railway involving Tk 900 crore to reinstate two rail routes and develop a third one to ensure smooth supply of fuel for the upcoming rental power plants.

Of the total amount, Tk 280 crore will be funded from Indian credit under a deal signed recently.

The communications ministry will seek permission from the cabinet committee on economic affairs today for quick implementation of the projects and 10 percent advance payment for the contractors.

The rental power plants will be set up and commissioned within 2011, said the communications ministry proposal.

Reintroduction of Railway's Panchuria-Faridpur-Pukuria route and setting up of rail track on Pukuria-Bhanga route will cost Tk 267 crore. Under another project, rehabilitation of Sholoshahar-Dohazari and Fatehabad-Nazirhat railway routes will be implemented at a cost of Tk 203 crore.

These routes will be used for supplying fuel to Dohazari, Hathazari and Faridpur power plants.

Under another project the ministry will procure 10 broad gauge diesel electric locomotives costing Tk 217 crore. The ministry will also spend another Tk 183 crore for collecting 180 BG bogey oil tank wagon and six brake vans.

To overcome the severe power crisis, the government has planned to generate 1,200 megawatt of electricity through rental power plants, said Power Division sources adding it has already awarded contracts to 18 private sector companies in this regard. These units will run on either diesel or furnace oil and will supply power to the national grid within three to nine months.

Government has also initiated steps to set up diesel-run power plant on its own. Work orders have been awarded to 10 contractors for setting up 10 power plants to produce a total of 820 megawatt of electricity.

A high official of the Energy Division hoped the plants will start production in full swing from March next. He added that the units will consume 7.5 lakh metric tonnes of additional fuel in nine months from March to December. Of this, furnace oil requirement is 4 lakh metric tonnes while demand for diesel is 3.5 lakh metric tonnes.

-Daily Star

Halt gas supply to CNG-run vehicles :FBCCI chief

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FBCCI) President AK Azad yesterday suggested the government to stop gas supply to CNG stations and new household consumers.

“Gas supply to motor vehicles and household consumers is totally a misuse. Gas should be supplied to only industries. Government should look into the matter,” he told a meeting at Bidyut Bhaban drawing the attention of Finance Minister AMA Muhith who was present in it.

The FBCCI president also suggested the government to increase the price of gas.

Recognising the suggestion, the Finance Minister said this is absolutely correct. “The motor vehicles are consuming gas at the price of water. The gas is not sold to motor vehicles at its proper value,” he said.

Both Energy Secretary Mesbahuddin and Energy Regulatory Commission's Chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain rejected the FBCCI president's suggestion saying that it would not be justified to raise gas price when the government is not being able to supply gas as per demand.

Coming out of the meeting, some of the business leaders, however, questioned the wisdom of the apex chamber body's chief.

They said the CNG to motor vehicles have been introduced as part of the government move to free air pollution.

“So far, several thousand crore taka has been invested in the sector. Now, how a responsible person like the apex chamber's president can suggest suspending this business,” said a businessman on condition of anonymity.

Criticising Azad's statement, a leader of Bangladesh CNG Refuelling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners' Association said he has made such a suggestion “only to satisfy the Finance Minister.”

Against the backdrop of nagging gas crisis, the government has already ordered the CNG refuelling stations to remain closed 6 hours a day from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

-Daily Star

Governor of Chinese province due today

China's Yunnan province Governor Qin Guangrong will arrive here today on a two-day official visit to discuss with government leaders setting up of Bangladesh-China direct road and rail connectivity.

Governor Qin will tour Bangladesh at Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's invitation extended during her visit to Kunming, capital of Yunnan, in March this year.

The governor is expected to call on the premier and hold talks with Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister GM Quader and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni.

Officials said the two sides have decided to sign two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) in the fields of agriculture and tourism.

Earlier, the Yunnan province authorities made a proposal for five MoUs in the areas of agriculture, education, energy, civil aviation and tourism and cooperation between Bangladesh and Yunnan.

Foreign ministry sources said regional connectivity, particularly setting up of Chittagong-Kunming road and rail link, increasing trade and commerce and joint efforts to curb poverty will dominate the talks.

According to sources, bilateral relations between Bangladesh and China have reached a new height following Sheikh Hasina's China visit in March. China too sent its Vice President Xi Jinping here in June.

Bangladesh is stressing the importance of regional and international connectivity and has taken appropriate steps to establish road and rail link with Asian Highway, sources added.

Earlier, the Yunnan governor was due to arrive yesterday for a three-day visit and later it was reduced to two-day.

-Daily Star

Transfer window now in October

The players' transfer for this season's Bangladesh League has been delayed to the first week of October.

In an emergency executive committee meeting of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday, it was decided to shift the transfer date to October 1 to 7, from the original date of September 1 to 20.

In some other developments, the contract of Robert Rubcic for the job of national team coach has been approved and the signing with the 46-year-old Croatian will be done through the internet.

It is also expected that Rubcic will join the players early next month.

The committee also confirmed that the calendar for the upcoming season will be announced in the first few days of September, and it will have as many as 45 tournaments, including age-group tournaments.

However, the focal point of the meeting was the change in the transfer date.

The change took place after seven clubs -- Brothers Union, Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society, Farashganj Sporting Club, Arambagh Krira Sangha, Chittagong Mohammedan, Chittagong Abahani, Feni Soccer Club and Sheikh Russel -- made the demand to the BFF league committee.

The clubs had pleaded with the BFF to defer the transfer by two months and start it in November, following discussion with the club representatives.

They first sent the letter to BFF president Kazi Salahuddin who asked the clubs to give it to the league committee and having discussed the contents of the letter, the committee referred it to the executive committee meeting.

The plea made by the clubs was deemed 'realistic' because the clubs would find it difficult to make payments as the initial transfer window fell in the middle of the Eid Ul Fitr holidays.

"The clubs made the demand and we think it is realistic, as the last ten days of the transfer window [September 1-20] will clash with the Eid holidays," said BFF general secretary Al Musabbir Sadi.

In the first letter, the clubs claimed that they “have been going through financial trouble following the third edition of the Bangladesh League, which took 10 months to be completed instead of five. Consequently the clubs had to pay more money to the foreign players as well as spend additional money to run football camps.

“Despite having known the extent of the financial status facing the clubs, the football federation hurriedly announced the players transfer for the 2010 season without announcing the annual calendar.

“Hence, the clubs are now in the dark about when the league will start and finish. The clubs therefore appeal to the BFF to announce the annual calendar before the announcement of transfer.”

The transfer window for the foreign players however has remained between September 1 and October 15.

-Daily Star

Political atmosphere may heat up after Eid

The political arena of the country is likely to be hot after the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr as the anti-government movement by the country's opposition political parties, opined political analysts.

The main opposition BNP, its main ally Jamaat-e-Islami and right leaning different nationalist and Islamic parties are taking preparation for waging a tougher movement against the Government.

The types of movement programme of the parties may be demonstration, rally and procession in the capital and across the country. A long march towards Sylhet protesting Government silence on Tipaimukh Dam issue and a road march towards Chittagong protesting the transit to India and its use of Chittagong and Mongla ports may also be announced which will make the political bed hot.

The opposition parties likely to announce a hartal (general strike) after Eid-ul-Fitr, sources said.

Some leftist parties may also go in the streets against the government due its recent drive against garments leaders and garment workers and other issues.

BNP has already announced that it will form a massive anti-government movement after Eid. So it is taking preparation by easing its internal quarrel and reorganising the party in the month of Ramzan.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) members of the party at its recent meeting strongly urged the party's policy-makers to launch a tougher movement in presence of party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. The Chairperson at the meeting assured of waging a tougher action programme after Eid.

Khelada Zia yesterday (Saturday) at an iftar party in the capital, hosted by like-minded eight political parties, clearly said that a tougher movement against the government would begin after Eid along with the country's nationalist and Islamic forces.

According to the party sources, programmes of movement will be finalised after Khaleda Zia's Saudi Arabia visit. She would leave the country on August 30 for performing Umrah. BNP may launch long march towards Sylhet and road march towards Chittagong after the visit.

BNP Standing Committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told The New Nation, "Our party leaders and workers are ready to wage anti-government movement. We will prepare the schedule of the movement after return of our Chairperson (Khaleda Zia) from Umrah."

Another Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan told this reporter that the schedule of the programme would not be finalized yet now, but they would finalise the programme soon.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, one ally of BNP, is also taking preparation to launch action programme demanding release of its detained top leaders including its Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami.

The party has already observed a countrywide demonstration programme yesterday (Saturday) despite meeting, rally and procession are banned.

Jamaat Acting Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam at a press conference on Thursday said there was no alternative to movement against the government. The problems of the people must be solved and Jamaat leaders had to be freed through tougher movement, he added.

On the other hand, the initiatives have been taken to strengthen the BNP-led four-party alliance and to expand the alliance for strengthening the anti-Government movement.

As part of strategy to strengthen the alliance, its components already hosted iftar party where Khaleda Zia and other leaders of different like-minded parties joined. Khaleda Zia joined the Jamaat iftar on August 23 and that of Islami Oikkya Jote on August 25.

In this purpose, Khaleda Zia and the alliance leaders yesterday (Saturday) joined an iftar hosted by like-minded eight parties at hotel in the capital where Khaleda indicated of expanding the present four-party alliance.

Khaleda Zia did not join the Armed Forces Division's iftar party rather she joined the iftar party of the eight parties yesterday hosted by Jagpa, NPP, NDP, Bangladesh NAP, NAP Bhasani, Muslim League, Labour Party and Islamic Party.