13 countries craft plan to save tigers

In this photo taken January 20, two adult male tigers look on at Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Photo: APAP, HUA HIN

More than a dozen Asian nations aim to double the numbers of wild tigers by 2022 and prohibit the building of roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects that could harm their habitats.
However, a draft declaration that was to be adopted by the 13 countries Friday includes no new money to finance the conservation efforts which scientists said must be more than doubled.
The draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, mentions only a commitment from countries to use money from ecotourism, carbon financing and infrastructure projects to pay for tiger programs.
"With political will and implementation of the needed action, the extinction of the wild tigers across much of their range can be averted," the declaration states. "Tiger conservation is important to protect biodiversity and preserve a vital part of our national heritage."
Officials at the first Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation, in Thai coastal resort of Hua Hin, were to adopt the declaration Friday. It will then be considered for approval by heads of state of the 13 countries in September at a meeting in Vladivostok, Russia.
Tiger numbers in recent decades have plummeted because of human encroachment — with the loss of more than nine-tenths of their habitat — and poaching to supply a vibrant trade in tiger parts. From an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, the number of tigers today is less than 3,500.
John Seidensticker, head of conservation ecology at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and chairman of the Save the Tiger Fund, said the draft declaration included all the components for ensuring a steady recovery of tigers.
Along with a target for doubling tiger populations, countries would agree to protect core tiger habitats as well as buffer zones and corridors that connect key sanctuaries and national parks. The declaration also supports maintaining a permanent ban on the trade of tiger parts and reducing poaching through beefed-up law enforcement.
"If we get everything done in this declaration, we will turn tiger populations around so in fact it's a positive not a negative," Seidensticker said. "For me, I'm very happy with this."
The meeting which opened Wednesday was organized by Thailand and the Global Tiger Initiative, a coalition formed in 2008 by the World Bank, the Smithsonian Institute and nearly 40 conservation groups. It aims to double tiger numbers by 2022.
The 13 countries attending the meeting are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

15 Somalis dead as Islamist attacks spark fighting

AP, Mogadishu

A medical worker says the heaviest fighting in months has killed at least 15 civilians in Somalia's capital.
Ali Muse says women and children were among the dead and that more than 30 people were wounded. Muse heads the ambulance service in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
A spokesman for the Islamic insurgency says the fighting started when the Islamists attacked government bases and African Union peacekeeping troops around the city.
Sheik Ali Mohamoud Rage says the attack early Friday was a response to a plan by peacekeepers and the government to wrest back control of the battered seaside capital.
Somali police spokesman Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Barise says Somali forces beat back the insurgents.

5 executed killers of Bangabandhu buried at their village homes

Nation rids itself of stigma

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina takes part in a prayer in the House yesterday for Bangabandhu and his family members killed in the August 15, 1975 bloodbath. Photo: PIDStaff Correspondent

The five executed killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were buried yesterday following the hangings in Dhaka Central Jail in the first hour of the day.
They were buried at their ancestral village homes. Five ambulances, escorted by Rapid Action Battalion and police, transported the bodies to the burial sites.
Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan was buried at Gopinathpur of Kashba upazila in Brahmanbaria, Syed Farooq Rahman at Marma Mallikpur village in Naogaon, Bazlul Huda at Hatboalia village of Alamdanga upazila in Chuadanga, and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed at Neta and Nijkata villages respectively under Golachipa upazila in Patuakhali.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered shokrana namaz and recited from the holy Quran in her official residence Jamuna after the executions.
Hasina, one of the two surviving daughters of Bangabandhu, expressed deep satisfaction over the executions, and called upon the people as well as her party leaders and activists to resist any conspiracy with patience.
Awami League leaders and activists led by Deputy Leader of the Parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi of the capital in the morning.
"The nation is now stigma free," said Sajeda Chowdhury, adding that she had been waiting for the executions for long. "The nation was waiting for the day," she said.
Other AL leaders also expressed their satisfaction with the executions, and demanded immediate extradition of the other six fugitive condemned killers.
The parliament in a special munajat also expressed deep gratitude to the Almighty yesterday for the executions.
LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam said the executions prove that the rule of law exists in the country. It also proves that nobody can escape the long arm of the law after committing a crime, the AL general secretary told reporters at a capital hotel expressing his reaction.
Our Patuakhali correspondent reported, Milton Talukder received his cousin AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed's body around 2:30pm.He was buried in his family graveyard at 2:45pm after a hurried namaz-e-janaza. About 200 people however staged a demonstration there protesting against the funeral. They also manhandled AKM Mohiuddin's another cousin Kabir Hussain Talukder, and threw shoes at the body.
AL activists and other local people brought out a march when Mohiuddin Ahmed's body reached his Nijkata village around 3:15pm. Abul Hossain Howlader, an uncle of Mohiuddin, received the body. He was also buried following a namaz-e-janaza.
Golachipa AL unit leaders and activists staged demonstrations against allowing funerals for AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed when the bodies entered the upazila town around 11:40am.
The namaz-e-janaza of Bazlul Huda was held in Hatboalia High School field around 12:05pm, reported our Kushtia correspondent. Huda's younger brother Nurul Huda received the body.
Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan's son Ashraf Rahman Khan received his father's body at Gopinathpur around 6:30am. Sultan was buried in his family graveyard, our correspondent reported.
Syed Farooq Rahman's body reached his village Marma Mallikpur around 8:45am reported our Rajshahi correspondent.
Police handed over the body to Farooq's cousin Dewan Asadur Rahman Mithu. His janaza was held at 9.30am.
People at the janaza demanded to see Farooq's uncovered body before burial, and police allowed them to have a look, following which he was buried.
Local AL activists brought out a procession near Farooq's house after the burial, celebrating his exceution.

6 stay out of reach

Staff Correspondent

None of the remaining six convicted killers of Bangabandhu, now holed up in different countries, could be brought back yet despite the government's diplomatic manoeuvres.
The government even does not yet have specific information about the whereabouts of a number of the absconding killers because of their frequent change of location. It already sought assistance from the Interpol in this regard, but for no result.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, however, yesterday claimed that the government has information about the fugitives and is working to bring them back to face justice.
The six absconding killers are Lt Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col (retd) Nur Chowdhury, Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Mazed and Risalder Moslehuddin.
Five of the 12 convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were executed early yesterday at Dhaka Central Jail.
Another convict, Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe in 2002.
All the subsequent military and civil governments coming to power following the coup of August 15, 1975, until the Awami League came to power in 1996, awarded and rehabilitated the leaders of the upheaval politically instead of punishing the self-declared murderers.
General Ziaur Rahman and General Ershad, who became the president of the country, and former prime minister Khaleda Zia--all created opportunities for the killers and directly or indirectly rehabilitated them politically. They also assisted the killers in getting power and authority.
Sources in the administration and intelligence agencies said the government has specific information about two of the six absconding convicts.
Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury now resides in the USA and is trying for getting political asylum in Canada, they said.
The government has requested the US government through its embassy in Washington to deport Rashed Chowdhury.
Another convict Lt Col (retd) Nur Chowdhury, after a long stay in Germany, has also sought political asylum in Canada.
No specific information regarding the locations of four others is available, but different sources say they are hiding in Libya, Pakistan, Kenya and Hong Kong.
According to the sources Lt Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, one of the key plotters of the massacre of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members, is settled in Benghazi, Libya, where he owns a construction business.
He used to be a frequent visitor to Pakistan before he was admitted to a hospital there after a road crash a couple of months ago.
One source says Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim is now in the UK, but Rashed Chowdhury, press minister of Bangladesh High Commission in London, told The Daily Star yesterday that they had searched for Dalim in the UK for the last one month but could find no trace of him.
Another source says Dalim lives in Pakistan and often travels to Libya, particularly Benghazi.
Dalim has a business in Kenyan capital Nairobi and some other African countries. He even has a Kenyan passport, sources said.
Capt Abdul Mazed frequently visits both Benghazi and Pakistan while Risalder Moslehuddin lives in Libya.

India visit not only a failure, harmful too: Khaleda

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday speaks at a press conference in her Gulshan office. Photo: StarStar Online Report

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's India visit was not only a failure, but also a harmful event for the country.
In her formal reaction to the visit, Khaleda Zia at a press conference at the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office said the prime minister returned home empty-handed.
Khaleda rejected the joint communiqué signed during the prime minister's visit and urged the people to wage vigorous movement against the anti-people moves.
She said the prime minister apparently gave transit to India in guise of allowing them to use our port and rail facilities.
"Be conscious, exchange views with each other on the demerits of the treaties and take preparation for a final movement to protect the country's sovereignty," she said.
Khaleda said, "They claimed that the visit was hundred percent successful. But the reality is it was not only a failure, it turned out to be harmful too for the nation. The people of the country got disappointed at the failure of the prime minister."
"People expected that the prime minister will bring something from India that will work for our welfare. But they were disappointed as the prime minister returned empty-handed," said the former prime minister.
She also said she was wondered to see the warm reception accorded to the prime minister on her return from India resulting in untold sufferings for the city commuters.
"It's India that can accord her such reception, not the people of Bangladesh," the leader of the opposition said.
She said the people became angry viewing the huge reception to the prime minister who returned home after giving away everything to India.
The people never saw such reception to the prime minister, Khaleda said adding it was actually meant to cover the failures keeping the people in darkness.
"She (Hasina) sold the country to India. People did not give her the mandate to sell the country," Khaleda said in reply to a question from a journalist after she read out her written statement.
On the $ 1 billion credit line announced by India, Khaleda said the total money would be used for infrastructure development of the rail and road link for the use of India.
“We will lose our market in eastern provinces of India and road, rail and the country’s security may be at stake,” Khaleda added.
Khaleda decisively announced that they were not anti-Indian and her party believed in regional cooperation.
Criticising the PM's speech on allowing Bangladeshi television to run in India, Khaleda said the government was working in favour of India.
“It is injustice. Indian channels are allowed in Bangladesh when our channels are prohibited in India and our prime minister said that was not her issue,” Khaleda added.
She expressed deep shock at the death of veteran Indian politician Jyoti Basu.
Khaleda also conveyed sympathy to the people suffering from freezing cold and asked the government to stand beside the poor community.

'Ordinary' Tigers cripple top test team

The Bangladesh fielders are happy to see the back of VVS Laxman of India in the first test of the Idea Cup two-Test series at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Cricket Stadium in Chittagong on Sunday. Photo: AP Star Online Report

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan and paceman Shahadat Hossain shared eight wickets which caused India's collapse in the first innings of the first test of the Idea Cup two-Test series at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Cricket Stadium in Chittagong on Sunday.
Left-arm spinner Shakib took four wickets at the cost of 52 runs and Shahadat bagged four for 51 runs as ICC test number one India struggled to reach 213-8 when the opening day's play was called off nearly 30 minutes before scheduled close due to bad light.
Sachin Tendulkar (76 not out) and stand-in captain Virender Sehwag (52) were the only batsmen to give a good account in a dismal batting performance.
The others failed to cope with a disciplined pace-spin combination, just a day after Sehwag had described Bangladesh as an "ordinary side."
Earlier, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and elected to field against India.
The match kicked off one-and-half hours late due to foggy weather.
It is the sixth test match between the two neighboring countries.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Shahriar Nafees, Imrul Kayes, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shafiul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain.
India: V Sehwag (captain), G Gambhir, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, KD Karthik, I Sharma, Z Khan, A Mishra, S Sreesanth.

Proshika unrest: 9 Faruque's men sued

Star file photoStar Online Report

Khondokar Mohammad Kamrul Hossain, a staff of Proshika, on Sunday filed a case with a Dhaka court against nine supporters of the non-government organisation's former chairman Qazi Faruque Ahmed.
Metropolitan Magistrate Roksana Begum Happy took the case into cognizance and directed the officer-in-charge (OC) of Pallabi Police Station to submit a report by March 4, 2010 after an investigation into the matter.
On January 12, a group of people backed by Faruque ousted the anti-Faruque group from the head office of the NGO and took control of the building.
Some 20 to 25 people stormed the Proshika Bhaban at the city's Mirpur-6 and beat five to six Proshika officials and ousted those from the office on the day.
Last year, the governing body of Proshika removed Faruque from the chairmanship of the organisation and appointed Abdul Wadud as its chairman.

Dhaka-Aricha highway blocked for 2 hours

Local people block the Dhaka-Aricha highway for about two hours after a seven-year-old girl was injured in a road accident in Manikganj Sunday morning. Photo: Star Star Online Report

Locals blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway for about two hours after a seven-year-old girl was injured in a road accident in Manikganj Sunday morning.
The injured was identified as Salma, reports our Manikganj correspondent.
Following the accident, the angry people vandalised the bus and blocked the highway at about 10:00am, stranding hundreds of vehicles on both sides of the road.
Meanwhile, the communication was restored after the people left the highway at about 12:00pm.
Locals said a speedy bus hit Salma as she was crossing the highway at about 9:00am, leaving her seriously injured.
She was brought to Manikganj Sadar Hospital.
Additional police were deployed in and around the area to avert any untoward incident.

US missile strike kills 12 in Pakistan

AP, Mir Ali

Intelligence officials say a suspected US drone missile strike on a house in Pakistan's volatile tribal area has killed at least 12 people.
The officials say Sunday's attack occurred in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan.
Drones also targeted a meeting of militant commanders in the Shaktoi area on Thursday, killing 12 people in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.
The officials said the identities of those killed in Sunday's attack were unknown.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Sunday's strike was the ninth since the beginning of the year, an unprecedented volley of attacks since the CIA-led program began two years ago.

Hunger and hope, thirst and frenzy grip Haiti

People gestures as a US helicopter makes a water drop near a country club used as a forward operating base for the US 82nd Airborne Division in Port-au-Prince on January 16. Photo: AP AP, Port-au-Prince

Precious water, food and early glimmers of hope began reaching parched and hungry earthquake survivors Saturday on the streets of this shattered city, where despair at times turned into a frenzy among the ruins.
"People are so desperate for food that they are going crazy," said accountant Henry Ounche, in a crowd of hundreds who fought one another as US military helicopters clattered overhead carrying aid.
When other Navy choppers dropped rations and Gatorade into a soccer stadium thronged with refugees, 200 youths began brawling, throwing stones, to get at the supplies.
Across the hilly, steamy city, where people choked on the stench of death, hope faded by the hour for finding many more victims alive in the rubble, four days after Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake.
Still, here and there, the murmur of buried victims spurred rescue crews on, even as aftershocks threatened to finish off crumbling buildings.
"No one's alive in there," a woman sobbed outside the wrecked Montana Hotel. But hope wouldn't die. "We can hear a survivor," search crew chief Alexander Luque of Namibia later reported. His men dug on. Elsewhere, an American team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew got water to three survivors whose shouts could be heard deep in the ruins of a multistory supermarket that pancaked on top of them.
Nobody knew how many were dead. Haiti's government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies — not counting those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press.
In a fresh estimate, the Pan American Health Organization said 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake. Bellerive said 100,000 would "seem to be the minimum." Truckloads of corpses were being trundled to mass graves.
A UN humanitarian spokeswoman declared the quake the worst disaster the international organization has ever faced, since so much government and UN capacity in the country was demolished. In that way, Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva, it's worse than the cataclysmic Asian tsunami of 2004: "Everything is damaged."
Also Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton flew to Port-au-Prince to pledge more American assistance and said the US would be "as responsive as we need to be." President Obama met with former Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton and urged Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
As the day wore on, search teams recovered the body of Tunisian diplomat Hedi Annabi, the United Nations chief of mission in Haiti, and other top UN officials who were killed when their headquarters collapsed.
Despite many obstacles, the pace of aid delivery was picking up.
The Haitian government had established 14 distribution points for food and other supplies, and US Army helicopters were reconnoitering for more. With eight city hospitals destroyed or damaged, aid groups opened five emergency health centers. Vital gear, such as water-purification units, was arriving from abroad.
Thousands lined up in the Cite Soleil slum as UN World Food Program workers distributed high-energy biscuits there for the first time. As the hot sun set, the crew was down to just a few dozen boxes left from six truckloads. Perhaps 10,000 people were still waiting patiently, futilely, in line.
Seven months' pregnant, and with two children, 29-year-old Florence Louis clutched her four packets. "It is enough, because I didn't have anything at all," she said.
On a hillside golf course, perhaps 50,000 people were sleeping in a makeshift tent city overlooking the stricken capital. Paratroopers of the US 82nd Airborne Division flew there Saturday to set up a base for handing out water and food.
After the initial frenzy among the waiting crowd, when helicopters could only hover and toss out their cargo, a second flight landed and soldiers passed out some 2,000 military-issue ready-to-eat meals to an orderly line of Haitians.
More American help was on the way: The US Navy hospital ship Comfort steamed from the port of Baltimore on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive here Thursday. More than 2,000 Marines were set to sail from North Carolina to support aid delivery and provide security.
But for the estimated 300,000 newly homeless in the streets, plazas and parks of Port-au-Prince, help was far from assured.
"They're already starting to deliver food and water, but it's mayhem. People are hungry, everybody is asking for water," said Alain Denis, a resident of the Thomassin district.
Denis's home was intact, and he and his elderly parents have some reserves, but, he said, "in a week, I don't know."
Aid delivery was still bogged down by congestion at the Port-au-Prince airport, quake damage at the seaport, poor roads and the fear of looters and robbers.
The problems at the overloaded airport forced a big Red Cross aid mission to strike out overland from Santo Domingo, almost 200 miles away in the Dominican Republic. The convoy included up to 10 trucks carrying temporary shelters, a 50-bed field hospital and some 60 medical specialists.
"It's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now. The airport is completely congested," Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said from the Dominican capital.
Another convoy from the Dominican Republic steered toward a UN base in Port-au-Prince without stopping, its leaders fearful of sparking a riot if they handed out aid themselves.
The airport congestion touched off diplomatic rows between the US military and other donor nations.
France and Brazil both lodged official complaints that the US military, in control of the international airport, had denied landing permission to relief flights from their countries.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, who has 7,000 Brazilian UN peacekeeping troops in Haiti, warned against viewing the rescue effort as a unilateral American mission.
The squabbling prompted Haitian President Rene Preval, speaking with the AP, to urge all to "keep our cool and coordinate and not throw accusations."
At a simpler level, unending logistical difficulties dogged the relief effort.
A commercial-sized jet landed with rescue and medical teams from Qatar, only to find problems offloading food aid. They asked the US military for help, surgeon Dr Mootaz Aly said, and were told: "We're busy."
As relief teams grappled with on-the-ground obstacles, the US leadership promised to step up aid efforts. In Washington, Obama joined with his two most recent White House predecessors to appeal for Americans to donate to the cause.
"We stand united with the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience," he said.
Their resilience was truly being tested, however.
On a back street in Port-au-Prince, a half-dozen young men ripped water pipes off walls to suck out the few drops inside. "This is very, very bad, but I am too thirsty," said Pierre Louis Delmar.
Outside a warehouse, hundreds of desperate Haitians simply dropped to their knees when workers for the agency Food for the Poor announced they would distribute rice, beans and other supplies. "They started praying right then and there," said project director Clement Belizaire.
Children and the elderly were asked to step first into line, and some 1,500 people got food, soap and rubber sandals until supplies ran out, he said.
The aid official was overcome by the tragic scene. "This was the darkest day of everybody living in Port-au-Prince," he said.

Adjournment sought on hearing of 5th amendment

Star Online Report

Two separate petitions were filed on Sunday with the Supreme Court, seeking adjournment of Monday's scheduled hearing on the pending petitions filed against the High Court verdict that had declared the fifth amendment to the country's Constitution illegal.
The fifth amendment had legitimised all governments that had been in power following the coup of August 15, 1975 till April 9, 1979 including late president Ziaur Rahman's ascension to the presidency.
With the two new petitions, a total of six petitions against the HC verdict are now pending with the apex court.
Of the petitions, two separate leave-to-appeal petitions had been filed last year with the SC, challenging the HC verdict, and two others were filed on January 5 this year, seeking reinstatement of a stay order on the HC verdict.
BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain and three SC lawyers--Tajul Islam, Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan and Munshi Ahsan Kabir filed all the six petitions.
On January 5 this year, the SC's Appellate Division fixed January 18 for hearing all the petitions, which have been enlisted as item No-6 for hearing on Monday's cause list of the court.
Tajul Islam, one of the petitioners, on Sunday told The Daily Star that they filed the petitions seeking eight weeks' adjournment on the scheduled hearing on the petitions.
Earlier on January 3, the Appellate Division lifted its four-year old stay order on the HC verdict and also allowed withdrawal by the incumbent government and Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust of two leave-to-appeal petitions against the HC verdict.

Hasina nominated for Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque

Sheikh HasinaStar Online Report

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been nominated for this year's Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque as she had significant contribution to human development.
The prime minister of Bangladesh was also nominated for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2009.
The Asiatic Society of Kolkata awards the “Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque” annually to an eminent person of international repute for significant contribution to international understanding or inter-cultural cooperation or for significant contribution towards human progress.
Outgoing Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty during his farewell call on the prime minister at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) handed over a letter of the Asiatic Society to her in this regard on Sunday.
The letter reads: “The Council of the Asiatic Society in its meeting decided, unanimously, to confer the Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque 2009 on Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh.”
Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela were awarded with the plaque respectively in 1987 and 1989. Other recipients of the plaque included Dr Javier Pervez de Cuellar, 1988, Rev Desmond Titu, 1990, Yasir Araft, 1993, Aung San Suu Kyi, 1995, Dr Gabriel Garcia, 1998, Gunter Grass, 1999, Fidel Castro, 2000, Ernst Steinkellner, 2006, Pranab Mukherjee, 2008, Dinkar Kowshik, 2007, Somnath Hore, 2004, Ustad Bismillah Khan, 2003, Pandit Ravi Shankar, 2001, and Prof Amartya Sen, 1994.
The prime minister and the Indian high commissioner discussed various matters of national, regional and international development, Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters after the meeting.

Mymensingh, Netrakona road crashes kill 7

Mymensingh, Netrakona road crashes kill 7

At least seven people were killed and 32 others injured in three road accidents in Mymensingh and Netrakona Sunday afternoon.
Five people were killed and 12 others injured as a bus crashed into a human hauler (Laguna) on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Jamtala in Mymensingh Sadar upazila Sunday afternoon, reports UNB.
Three of the deceased were identified as Rubel, 25, son of late Abdul Kadir and Dulal, 40, son of late Muslem Uddin of Digarkanda in Sadar upazila and Abdul Hye, 45, son of late Hatem Ali of Radhakanai village in Phulbaria Upazila in the district.
Police said a Jamalpur-bound passenger bus coming from Dhaka hit the hauler coming from the opposite direction at about 12:30pm leaving four people dead on the spot and 13 others injured.
Nine of the injured were admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH) where an unidentified person succumbed to his injuries.
Police seized the bus but failed to arrest its driver.
In Netrokona, one person was killed and 20 others injured when a bus skidded off the road and fell into a paddy field at Gumai under Kalmakanda upazila around 9:00am.
The deceased was identified as Kasur Ali, 54, of Rahamatpur village under Kalmakanda upazila.
Four of the injured were taken to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital in critical condition.
In another accident, a trolley driver named Eklash Mia was killed in Gugbazar after his trolley fell into a ditch around 11:00am.

Govt set to import palm oil from Malaysia

A worker loads an oil tanker with crude palm oil. Photo: InternetStar Online Report

Bangladesh for the first time in the government-level is going to sign an agreement with Malaysia to import palm oil aiming to keep stable the local edible oil market, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan said on Sunday.
The agreement is expected to sign in the next week between the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) and Malaysian government.
The commerce minister revealed this in a meeting with Malaysian Plantation, Industry and Commodities Minister Bernard G Dompok at the secretary office without mentioning the quantity of the palm oil to be imported

Nearly 1,000 climate protesters released

Demonstrators gather outside Bella Center, the venue of the Climate Conference, on December 12, 2009. The UN climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen to way out how the world will be protected from global warming. Photo: APAP, Copenhagen

Danish police said they have released hundreds of activists who were detained during a mass rally to demand an ambitious global climate pact.
Police also said only 13 of the 968 people detained during the demonstration in Copenhagen remain in custody Sunday. Of those, three — two Danes and a Frenchman — are set to be arraigned in court on preliminary charges of fighting with police.
An estimated 40,000 people joined Saturday's mostly peaceful march toward the suburban conference center where the 192-nation U.N. climate conference is being held.
Riot police detained activists at the tail end of the demonstration, when some of them started vandalizing buildings in downtown Copenhagen.

Follow-up process begins as apex court delivers verdict

BSS, Dhaka

Jail authorities has initiated the follow-up process of the final verdict in the Bangabandhu Murder Trial conveying the five convicts in prison the apex court's decision upholding their death penalties, officials said on Friday.
Jail officials said the process began as they informed the decision to the condemned five ex-army officers at Dhaka Central Jail hours after the Supreme Court's Appellate Division pronounced the judgment.
Legal experts and concerned lawyers said the judgment was likely to be executed in two months after exhaustion of two more legal steps that were open for the convicts.
"The jailor accompanied by several other prison officials went to the isolated cells of the convicts and loudly read out the copy of the Appellate Division's short order last evening in line with the Jail Code," a senior jail said.
He added that the five ex-army officers wanted to see their relatives as well as their lawyers as they apparently preferred to seek a review of the verdict by the apex court itself as the last legal step ahead of seeking the presidential clemency.
Lawyers of the convicts also told newsmen that they were preparing for filing petitions for review of the judgment.
Several legal experts separately told newsmen that the execution of the verdict could take as high as two months as according to the constitution they were entitled to the opportunity to seek a review of the verdict at the Appellate
Division within 30 days, and if rejected they would have a last chance to seek presidential clemency within subsequent seven days.
Under the jail code, a death row convict would be hanged in between 21 and 28 days on exhaustion of the last legal option.
State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam, however, told newsmen after the verdict on Thursday that the assassins could be hanged by late December or early January on exhaustion of legal procedures.
The five death row convicts are sacked lieutenant colonels Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Muhiuddin Ahmed, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and sacked major Bazlul Huda are in jail while the first three of them faced the trial in person since the process began in 1996 while the rest two were brought back home later abroad where they were hiding.
A total of 11 ex-army officers were to walk gallows but six of them were hiding abroad while Foreign Minister Dipu Moni
On Thursday told newsmen that a process was expedited to track them out and bring home to expose to justice

Suicide bomber kills 13 in western Afghanistan

Afghan soldiers secure a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday. Photo: AP/File AP, Kabul

A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle killed 13 people, including a police officer, and wounded 30 others Friday in a busy city square in western Afghanistan.
Several children were among those wounded in the morning explosion, said a doctor at the hospital in Farah city, Shir Agh Asas.
Afghan police shouted, "Stop! Stop!" at the motorcyclist before he detonated the explosives, provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askar said.
Provincial governor Rohul Amin said the deadly blast occurred about 50 metres from his compound in a crowded square in the city of Farah.
"These days Taliban are causing high casualties because the foreign forces and Afghan forces have been conducting operations against the insurgency in the region," Askar said.
An operation three days ago in another part of the province killed five insurgents, including a Taliban commander and a bomb-maker, said Askar.
The violence comes a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in his second inaugural address, said he has placed national reconciliation with insurgents at the top of his peace-building agenda.
"We invite dissatisfied compatriots, who are not directly linked to international terrorism, to return to their homeland," he said.
Karzai also set a five-year benchmark for the Afghan security forces to be in the lead in defending the nation, a goal that would allow international forces to take on more of a support role.
As the inaugural ceremony took place in Kabul on Thursday, a suicide bomber killed two U.S. service members in the southern province of Zabul, local officials and Nato said. Hours later, another suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy marketplace in another province, killing 10 civilians, including three boys, and wounding 13 other people.
Also on Friday, three civilians were wounded in a roadside bomb in Khost province, according to Wazir Pacha, deputy police chief of Khost.

Man shot dead in Mirpur

Star Online Report

Unidentified assailants on Thursday night gunned down a middle-aged man in the capital's Mirpur area.
On information, Shah Ali police recovered the body of the around 40-year-old man, who was not named instantly, from Block-F at Mirpur-1 this morning.
The officer-in-charge of the Shah Ali Police Station told The Daily Star this morning that they recovered the bullet-hit body after being informed by locals.
He also said the reason behind the killing could not be known immediately.

Rebels blow up train track in India, killing 1

Photo: NDTVAP, Patna

A passenger train derailed after Maoist rebels blew up a key track in eastern India, killing one person and injuring at least 30 others, a police official said Friday.
The rebels bombed the track shortly before the train passed through a sparsely populated area in Jharkhand state Thursday night, said Sindhu Hembram, a deputy inspector general of police.
Eight of the train's coaches went off the tracks and toppled over, killing one woman instantly, Hembram said. Five of the 30 injured passengers were in critical condition, said BN Mete, a railway official.
Efforts were underway on Friday to clear and repair the track, which is one of main rail routes linking the cities of Calcutta and Mumbai.
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting for more than three decades demanding land and jobs for farm laborers and the poor.
Thousands of people, including police, militants and civilians, have died in the violence in recent years.
The rebels have called for a 24-hour strike in Jharkhand on Friday to protest next week's elections for the state legislature.

8 militants killed in reported US strike in Pakistan

The picture shows an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as Drone plane. Photo: InternetAP, Mir Ali

Missiles fired from a reported US drone killed at least eight suspected militants Friday in Pakistan's lawless tribal area along the Afghan border, intelligence officials said. It was the fourth such attack since the Pakistani military began an offensive in a nearby area in mid-October.
A drone fired two missiles at a compound being used by suspected Taliban militants in a village near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, according to two intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
The compound was destroyed and eight bodies were pulled from the rubble, the officials said, adding that two other suspected militants were wounded.
Ahmed Nawaz Dawar, a local tribesman, said Taliban militants buried those killed and took the wounded to a hospital.
US officials rarely discuss the unpopular missile strikes and the reports could not immediately be confirmed.
Anti-American sentiment is pervasive throughout Pakistan. The Pakistani government publicly condemns the US strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but many analysts believe the two countries have a secret deal allowing them.
Militants are believed to have fled to North Waziristan to escape the Pakistani offensive under way in South Waziristan. The army has retaken many towns in the region, but the militants say they avoided fighting and will now begin a guerrilla campaign.
The United States has welcomed the offensive, but wants the army to do more against the insurgents in the border area blamed for violence across the border in Afghanistan.

Pabna AL leader chopped dead

A local Awami League leader was chopped to death in Santhia upazila of Pabna district on Thursday night.
The deceased, Rezaul Karim Dipu, son of Abdul Kader of Dhulauri in the upazila, was the secretary of ‘Dhulauri’ union unit of AL, reports our Pabna correspondent.

Police said criminals chopped Dipu mercilessly as he got onto a road after saying Esha prayers at a mosque of the village, leaving him dead on the spot.
Later, the criminals left the place by firing, the police added.
Reason behind the murder could not be ascertained initially, Police Superintendent of the district Nibash Chandra Majhi said.

Killers to walk gallows

Appellate Division upholds HC verdict in Bangabandhu killing case, rejects pleas of 5 convicts

Julfikar Ali Manik and Ashutosh Sarkar

The light of justice yesterday completely removed the darkness that had hung over the nation for 34 years following the heinous killing of Bangabandhu as the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence to a dozen killers earlier confirmed by the High Court.
Amid an unprecedented tight security on the court premises as well as across the country, a five-member special bench of the Appellate Division delivered the nine-minute "short order" of the judgment around 11:45am in a jam-packed courtroom of the chief justice.
"We are of the view that it [killing of Bangabandhu] is not a case of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, rather it is a criminal conspiracy to commit the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other members of his family," said Justice Md Tafazzul Islam, the most senior member of the bench, while reading out the order.
This order dismisses the appeal petitions of five convicts against the third judgment of the High Court that handed them and seven others death penalty.
These five, now languishing in jail, had filed the petitions in October 2007 giving five different points to challenge the High Court verdict.
Of seven other convicts, six have been absconding while the other is dead.
With yesterday's verdict, their punishment remains valid.
"The appellants having failed to make out a case of extenuating circumstance to commute their sentence of death, we are not inclined to interfere with the sentence of death awarded to the appellants by the learned sessions judge and maintained by the High Court Division," says the Supreme Court verdict.
The other members of the five-member bench were justices Md Abdul Aziz, BK Das, Md Muzammel Hossain and SK Sinha. They heard submissions of the appeals for 29 days beginning on October 5.
When the delivery of the verdict was finished, the courtroom got filled with cheerful buzzes only to be hushed into silence within a few moments. After the nerve-racking silence, some of the relatives of Bangabandhu, including grandson Fazle Noor Taposh, burst into tears.
Soon the judges left the courtroom.
The emotional outburst continued for another 15 minutes. Bangabandhu's relatives, lawyers, the complainant and investigation officer of the case, and a few Awami League leaders were seen hugging each other, tears still in their eyes. They came out of the room but stayed on the court premises for a while.
"The nation has got justice," Chief State Counsel of the case advocate Anisul Huq told The Daily Star at that moment.
Attorney General advocate Mahbubey Alam said, "This verdict will be considered as the best historic judgment of the nation."
Barrister Abdullah Al-Mamun, who represented the convicts, told The Daily Star, "According to the law, we will file a review petition with the Supreme Court as soon as we get the certified copy of the judgment."
In general, most lawyers considered the verdict to have freed the nation from the shame of killing the father of the nation and set the example that no matter how powerful a killer is, they are not beyond the purview of the law.
According to lawyers, if the review petition fails to produce any result, the convicts could seek the president's mercy.
If the president refuses their mercy petitions, the convicts will get 21 more days before they are hanged within the next week, said defence lawyer barrister Abdullah Al-Mamun.
In case of absconding convicts, whenever one is arrested he will be sent to jail. He will have the right to file a petition with the Supreme Court through the jail. The court may either entertain the petition or reject it. The convict can then seek the president's mercy.
The court wore a different look yesterday with closed circuit cameras installed at two points and several metal detectors set up. Security staffs from all agencies of the government were seen everywhere in the court. They checked the chief justice's room before the court opened.
People started pouring in the Supreme Court as early as 8:00am. By 11:00am, there were so many people in the corridors of the court building that it became very difficult even to walk. Hundreds of curious onlookers were seen waiting on the footpath outside the Supreme Court boundary.
Soon after the verdict, a small group of people chanted slogans and held a rally on the court premises for a short time expressing their joy.
The whole country remained glued to TV sets for live telecasts from the court to hear the final verdict.
Many schools in the capital were kept closed. The traffic movement in the city was unusually thin for any given Thursday.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's personal assistant Mohitul Islam, who had survived the attack by a gang of army officers on the night of August 15, 1975, filed the case for the killings on October 2, 1996.
On January 15, 1997, the charge sheet was filed against 20 living and four dead persons--Khandakar Moshtaque, Mahbubul Alam Chashi, Capt Mustafa and Risalder Sarwar.
As all except the dead were brought to trial, the court examined 61 witnesses and heard submissions for 151 days.
On November 8, 1998, the trial court handed death sentence to 15 of the 20 accused.
On December 14, 2000, a two-member High Court bench gave a split verdict on the trial court's judgment: one judge upheld the death sentences of all 15 convicts while the other upheld that of 10. The judges were also divided on which section of the Code of Criminal Procedure to be followed for the death sentence of one convict.
On April 30, 2001, a third judge of the High Court resolved the matter and finally gave death sentence to 12 killers. Of them, the following are now in jail: Lt Col Syed Farooq Rahman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj Bazlul Huda, Maj (Lancer) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Lt Col (Artillery) Mohiuddin Ahmed, who appealed with the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.
The six absconding are: Lt Col Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col SHMB Nur Chowdhury, Lt Col AM Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Mazed and Risaldar Mosleuddin Khan. The other convict Lt Col Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe in June 2001 where he took political asylum.
Of the jailed convicts, Huda was brought to Dhaka from Bangkok in 1998 while AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed was brought from USA during the last caretaker government's rule. The other three were arrested in Dhaka.
According to sources, the absconding convicts took refuge in Pakistan, Libya, USA and Canada.
Soon the convicts in jail filed leave-to-appeal petitions with the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.
But its hearing was stalled with the change in government in October 2001. After the BNP-led alliance government came to power, the Supreme Court did not hear the case even for a single day.
The hearing of the leave-to-appeal petitions finally took place on August 7, 2007, and the appeals were granted on September 23 the same year.
The hearing of the appeals against the High Court verdict began on October 5, 2009.
The killers murdered Bangabandhu and seven of his family members and three security personnel at his Dhanmondi residence on August 15, 1975. Soon after the killing, their accomplice Khandaker Moshtaque took over power as president and framed an indemnity ordinance to protect the killers.
Later, subsequent military governments led by Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad had rewarded the killers with various diplomatic posts.

Hang the killers: SC

slide showStar Online Report

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the High Court verdict that confirmed death sentences of 12 retired and dismissed army men in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case.
The five-member bench comprising Justice Md Tafazzul Islam, Justice Md Abdul Aziz, Justice BK Das, Justice Md Muzammel Hossain and Justice SK Sinha delivered the verdict dismissing the appeals filed by five convicts against their death sentences in this case.
Lt Col (sacked) Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed, Lt Col (retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda, who are now behind bars, filed the appeals with the apex court in October 2007 against their convictions and death sentences by a lower court.
Of the other seven condemned killers, Lt Col (retd) Md Abdul Aziz Pasha had died earlier.
The death sentences of Col (retd) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Maj (retd) Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Lt Col (retd) SHMB Noor Chowdhury, Capt (retd) Abdul Mazed and Risaldar (retd) Moslemuddin delivered by the High Court will stand valid as they are absconding at present.
In his immediate reaction to the justice, chief counsel for the state Anisul Huq told The Daily Star, "The nation has got the justice."
Barrister Abdullah-al Mamun, counsel for convicts Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin, said they will submit a review petition with the Supreme Court within the stipulated 30 days after receiving the SC certified copy of the judgment.
The SC observed in the verdict that Justice M Fazlul Karim has properly delivered the verdict and this court cannot interfere in it.
The court said Justice Fazlul Karim has reviewed the matter of six accused as earlier two judges of the HC had expressed same opinion about the nine other accused, out of 15, in this case.
The apex court said that the trial court and the HC have properly explained the delay in filing the first information report (FIR) of this case.
The court of judges said the incidents of August 15, 1975 were a simple murder and it was not a result of mutiny.
Criminal conspiracy was committed to murder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and this was not committed for any mutiny, it added.
The court further said there was no contradiction or anomaly in the evidence and the statements in this case. So, there is nothing to interfere in the HC verdict. And the HC verdict has been confirmed, the court said.
After hearing for 29 days the appeals, the special bench delivered the verdict.
Convicts Lt Col (sacked) Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed, Lt Col (retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda, who are now behind bars, filed the appeals with the apex court in October 2007 against their convictions and death sentences by a lower court.
Earlier on November 8, 1998, Dhaka Sessions Judge Golam Rasul handed down death sentences to 15 of the 20 defendants in the case.
The court gave the capital punishment to Lt Col (dismissed) Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed, Lt Col (retd) AKM Mahiuddin Ahmed, Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda, Lt Col (retd) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Maj (retd) Shariful Haque Dalim, Maj (retd) Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Lt Col (retd) SHMB Noor Chowdhury, Lt Col (retd) Md Abdul Aziz Pasha, Capt (retd) Md Kismat Hashem, Capt (retd) Nazmul Hossain Ansar, Capt (retd) Abdul Mazed, and Risaldar (retd) Moslemuddin.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Md Ruhul Amin and Justice ABM Khairul Haque on December 14, 2000, delivered split verdicts on death reference appeals in the case.
First judge Justice Md Ruhul Amin upheld the death sentences of 10 and acquitted five -- Muhiuddin Ahmed, Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Md Kismat Hashem, Nazmul Hossain Ansar, and Moslemuddin.
Second judge Justice ABM Khairul Haque upheld the death sentences of all 15 convicts.
On January 15, 2001, Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim was appointed as the third judge to adjudicate the appeals.
He delivered the final High Court verdict in the case on April 30, 2001, affirming the convictions and death sentences of 12 of the 15 defendants. The three that he acquitted are Md Kismat Hashem, Ahmed Shariful Hossain, and Nazmul Hossain Ansar.
The deafening sound of gunshots broke the stillness of dawn on August 15, 1975 on road No 32 of Dhanmondi residential area. In less than an hour, the darkest chapter in the political history of Bangladesh was written on that fateful morning.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the following members of his family were assassinated in three separate attacks: his wife Begum Fazilatunnessa, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and nine-year-old Sheikh Russel, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal, Parveen Jamal, Bangabandhu's brother Sheikh Naser, brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabat, 13-year-old Baby Serniabat, Serniabat's son Arif, four-year-old grand son Babu, a visiting nephew, three guests, four servants, Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, a nephew of Bangabandhu, his wife Begum Arju Moni, and Bangabandhu's security chief Colonel Jamil Uddin Ahmed.

The judgment hailed

Photo: Star/Anisur Rahmanslide show Star Online Report

The nation on Thursday hailed the verdict in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case.
In his immediate reaction, chief counsel for the state in this case Anisul Huq told The Daily Star, "The nation has got the justice."
Awami League Lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh said, "Today is my birthday and this is the best gift for me."
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the verdict will be considered as the best judgment.
"Through this judgment the nation has got rid of disgrace," he said.
Hundreds of people thronged the Dhanmondi road-32 residence of Bangabandhu this morning and chanted slogan after the verdict was declared, demanding immediate execution of the judgment.

Verdict shows justice: Ashraf

Awami League General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam Star Online Report

Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Tuesday expressed his party’s reaction on the final verdict in the Bangabandhu assassination case saying it has been proved that no one is above the law, no matter how influential he or she is.
The AL welcomed the verdict on the August 15, 1975 killings that had remained as a stigma for the nation during the last 34 years, Ashraf told reporters at the party's Dhanmondi office after the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's verdict awarding capital punishment to the killers of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members.
The verdict couldn’t bring joy to the AL men, as it would not be able to bring back Bangabandhu and his assassinated family members, he added.
Ashraf, also the LGRD minister, said the AL was not a vindictive party and never will be. It only wants to establish the rule of law and human rights.
Answering a query on Prime Minister and AL President Sheikh Hasina’s reaction on the judgement, the LGRD minister said she got what she wanted.
She sought nothing but the justice, he said adding that she expressed her satisfaction after the verdict, but she was also lamenting remembering her assassinated family members.

Hasina nominated for Indira Gandhi Peace Prize

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been chosen for this year's Indira Gandhi International Prize for peace, disarmament and development.
The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust made the announcement, our correspondent from Delhi Reports.

Verdict restores rule of law: Moudud

Barrister Moudud Ahmed Star Online Report

BNP leader and former law minister barrister Moudud Ahmed said on Thursday the rule of law has been reestablished through the judgment and the nation got relief.
"We all have to accept the verdict delivered by the apex court of the country," he said while giving his reaction to the verdict in Bangabandhu murder case at his Motijheel office.
It will not be fair to consider the judgment politically, he added.

IFAD promises Tk 280 cr for agricultural development

Star Online Report

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has assured Bangladesh of Tk 280 crore financial assistance for rural agricultural development especially, in the coastal belt areas.
IFAD President Kanayo F Nwanze made the pledge at an hour-long meeting with Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque at the organisation's Rome headquarters. The minister came to Rome with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 15 to attend the world summit on food security.
"The IFAD will assist Bangladesh with Tk 280 crore for the agricultural development of the coastal belt in the country," Razzaque said.
Comprehensive projects would be launched to ensure development of the coastal areas by constructing cyclone shelters and embankments," he added.
Issues including climate change, food security and agriculture also came up at the discussion.
Highlighting different problems the country has been facing, he told the official that the main problem of Bangladesh is poverty, which needs to be reduced significantly by ensuring employment.
He also said the smallholders must be given priority to ensure food security in Bangladesh.
The minister said he urged IFAD to extend their assistance to Bangladesh, a politically stable and democratic country with good law and order.
In this context, the IFAD chief said he would take all necessary measures to involve other donor agencies including DFID, the World Bank and the US Aid for co-financing the development projects.

AG gets threat on life

Attorney General Mahbubey AlamStar Online Report

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam received a letter at his office containing a threat on his life on Thursday.
The three-page letter with a piece of shroud also threatened to kill all lawyers of the prosecution side of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case.
Kabir Ahmed, personal assistant of Mahbubey Alam, filed a general diary with Shahbag Police Station around 4:45pm in this connection.
An unknown organisation called Jamia Islamia Al Hulhulia Bangladesh owns up the letter.

Karzai sworn in for 2nd term

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, front left, walks with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, front right, at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday. Photo: AP

AP, Kabul Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his country's security forces should take the lead in tackling the insurgency there, and that the forces should be able to take control of security in the next five years.





Karzai also addressed corruption during his inauguration ceremony in the presidential palace. He says officials who are corrupt should be "tried and prosecuted." Karzai has come under intense international pressure to tackle the issue, and he described corruption as a "dangerous enemy of the state."





The president stressed he wants "expert" and competent ministers in his government, and said his administration would seriously fight drug traffickers.

SC security beefed up for Bangabandhu verdict

File photo Star Online Report

The security of the Supreme Court was beefed up on Sunday ahead of the announcement of verdict by this court in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court will deliver the verdict on November 19.
Supreme Court registrar Shawkat Hossain told The Daily Star that the authorities have strengthened the security of the SC, some judges and lawyers, so that no untoward incidents can take place on the court premises.
He said the government authorities have deployed additional security forces inside and outside the court premises and the forces have been checking up the people entering the court compound.
Shawkat Hossain also said the additional security will remain in force on the court premises after the announcement of the verdict in Bangabandhu murder case, if necessary.

Salam Pintu remanded in N'ganj attack case

Abdus Salam Pintu Star Online Report

Former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu was placed on a five-day remand in a case filed for the bomb attack on Awami League office at Chasara in Narayanganj in 2001.
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Narayanganj Arifur Rahman passed the order after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) produced him before the court praying for 10 days remand.
Earlier on Thursday, the BNP leader was shown arrested in the case following a petition by investigation officer of the case Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Yusuf Ali Mollah.
Pintu has already been arrested in connection with the August 21 grenade attack case.
The bomb attack on the Awami League office took place on June 16 in 2001 that left 20 people dead and a number of people, including former AL lawmaker Shamim Osman, injured.

DU VC gets death threat

Prof AASM Arefin Siddiqui Star Online Report

Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University Prof AASM Arefin Siddiqui on Sunday received a death threat.
Dr Siddiqui received a letter sent by post at the VC office at about 1:00pm.
The writer in the letter identified himself as Abdul Hamid and claimed to be a leader of the banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji).
The letter threatened the VC to kill him within three days if he fails to take any step for admission of the madrassa students to some specific departments within 24 hours.
They will blow up the VC office within three days, the letter said.
The letter also said the VC will have to give Tk 2 crore to them if he wants stay alive. It gave a mobile phone number in the letter and asked the VC to contact.

Explain legality of CrPC's amended rules: HC

File photo Star Online Report

The High Court on Sunday issued a rule upon the government to explain within three weeks why the amended rules of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) empowering the executive magistrates to perform judicial functions should not be declared illegal.
The HC bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury issued the rule upon a petition filed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a human rights organisation.
Earlier in the day, a SC lawyer and the president of HRPB, advocate Manzill Murshid filed the petition as a public interest litigation seeking a direction upon the government to revoke or cancel the amended rules of CrPC.
Talking to The Daily Star, Manzill said the petition challenged the amended CrPC rules, which are against the provisions of the constitution and the principles of the Supreme Court judgement in Masdar Hossain case, popularly known as Judiciary Separation Case.
He said the executive magistrates were empowered to pass orders in the cases through the amendment of the CrPC, which only the judicial magistrates are entitled to do as per the provisions of the constitution and the Supreme Court directives in the judgment of Masdar Hossain case.
“As per sections 145 to 147 of the CrPC, the executive magistrate decides issues of possession, grants ad interim injunction, appoints receiver, restores possessions and grants permanent injunction in the cases until the cases are settled by the courts of the judicial magistrate,” he said, adding that these were the judicial powers.
He also said the secretaries to the cabinet division, the president's secretariat, the Jatiya Sangsad secretariat and the law ministry were made respondents in the petition.

Court orders attachment of 3 Rid staff's properties

File photoStar Online Report

A Dhaka court on Sunday ordered attachment of moveable and immovable properties of one of the directors of Rid Pharma Ltd and its two pharmacists in connection with in a case filed against them for manufacturing toxic Paracetamol syrup that claimed lives of at least 28 children.
The accused are Rid Pharma director Abdul Gani and pharmacists Mahbubul Islam and Enamul Haque.
Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder of the Drug Court issued the order as they did not appear before the court today.
Meanwhile, the court asked officer in-charge of Brahmanbaria Sadar Police Station to appear before it in person before January 5, 2010 to explain why he could not submit any report on execution of arrest warrant issued earlier against the three accused.
The same court also rejected a bail petition of Rid Pharma managing director Mizanur Rahman in this case filed by his lawyer.
Earlier on September 16, the court ordered attachment of movable and immovable properties of the five Rid Pharma officials, including MD Mizanur Rahman, directors Sheuli Rahman and Abdul Gani and pharmacists Mahbubul Islam and Enamul Haque. A case against them has been filed in Brahmanbaria as well.
The court the same day also asked the Brahmanbaria police chief to submit their property attachment reports by October 14.
On October 12, Mizanur surrendered before a Dhaka court following a High Court directive and sought bail in the case.
Judge ANM Bashir Ullah of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's court fixed October 19 for hearing on the bail petition submitted by Mizanur in his presence.
On August 18, Mizanur's wife Sheuli Rahman, also a director of the company, appeared before the HC, sought anticipatory bail and secured bail for six months in the case.
The case in brief is that 28 children died of renal failures, following intake of Rid's Paracetamol syrup and suspension, across the country from June to August.
Earlier on August 11, the same court issued arrest warrants against the managing director of Rid Pharma, its two directors and two pharmacists after drug superintendent Shafiqul Islam filed the case with the court.
Three other cases have also been filed against Rid Pharma in Comilla, Narayanganj and Sylhet.

Check graft, population to eradicate poverty: Speaker

Speaker Abdul Hamid Star Online Report

Speaker Abdul Hamid on Sunday said poverty reduction is not possible unless corruption and growing population are in control.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a discussion on the role of municipalities in reducing poverty at city's Cirdap auditorium in the morning.
The speaker also viewed that the interest rate for the micro-credit programmes carried out by the NGOs should be reduced, terming them high.
Hamid also called on everybody to prevent corruption to eradicate poverty from the country.

Fire at indoor SKorean shooting range kills 10

A victim, who was injured in Saturday's fire at an indoor shooting range, receives treatment at a hospital in Busan, south of Seoul, South Korea, on Nov 15. Photo: APAP, Seoul

A fire tore though an indoor shooting range in southern South Korea, killing 10 people, including at least two Japanese tourists, and injuring six.
Some people were on fire as they ran out of the building Saturday, Yonhap news agency quoted a witness as saying.
An official at the National Emergency Management Agency said authorities were struggling to identify the dead because of their burns. A police official said at least two Japanese were confirmed killed and three other Japanese were presumed to have perished.
Nine Japanese tourists and their South Korean guide were inside the facility in the southeastern port city of Busan when the fire broke out on the second floor of a five-story building, police official Han Jong-seok said. He said it was not known how many other people were in the building at the time.
Yoo Seung-ho, a detective handling the case, said four other Japanese were being treated in hospitals.
He said police plan to conduct DNA analysis in coming days to identify the bodies burned beyond recognition.
A Japanese man was in life-threatening condition with severe burns at Dong-a University Medical Center in Busan, said Kim Won-ha, an emergency room nurse.
Five people _ two Japanese, two South Koreans and one person of unidentified nationality _ were being treated for burns over 50 percent to 90 percent of their bodies at Hana hospital in Busan, which specializes in burn treatment, the hospital said.
"They are in a life-threatening condition as they inhaled a lot of toxic gas," said Kim Se-yeon, a doctor at Hana hospital's intensive care unit, adding four of them were placed on respirators and the fifth also might have to go on life support.
The emergency official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing policy, said the fire raged for about 40 minutes before being put out. Police and fire officials were trying to determine its cause.
Prime Minister Chung Un-chan instructed South Korea's minister for public administration and security to visit the site and take steps to provide support to the families of the dead, Yonhap said.
Repeated calls to Chung's office went unanswered Saturday night.
Yonhap said the four indoor shooting ranges in Busan, about 200 miles (325 kilometers) southeast of Seoul, are popular with Japanese visitors to the city.
Last year, a fire and accompanying explosions ripped through a cold storage warehouse in a city south of Seoul, killing 40 people.

Tigers take winning lead over Zimbabwe

File photo
Star Online Report

Bangladesh took a 3-1 lead in the five-match Bangladesh v Zimbabwe series after a tremendous victory of six wickets in the 4th ODI at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.


Zimbabwe was dismissed for 44 by Bangladesh earlier on this day, giving the struggling African squad three of the five lowest totals ever in limited-overs internationals.


Bangladesh scored 49 for 4 (Tamim 22) in just 11.5 overs.


With this win, the tigers has confirmed their third successive series success over the Zimbabweans and their third series victory on the trot after inspiring successes in the Caribbean and Zimbabwe.


Enamul Haque and Shakib Al Hasan took three wickets apiece for the hosts, while only Malcolm Waller (13) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (11) reached double figures for Zimbabwe, which lost its first four wickets for just eight runs.


Zimbabwe's 35 against Sri Lanka at Harare in 2004 is the lowest ODI total ever, one lower than ICC associated member Canada's total against Sri Lanka at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.


Zimbabwe also has the third-lowest total 38 against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2001 and now the fifth-lowest with its innings at Cittagong.


Bangladesh kept an unchanged team that won the third match in Dhaka last week to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.


Zimbabwe replaced Forster Mutizwa with Mark Vermuelen in the only change.


Zimbabwe innings (50 overs maximum)


Fall of wickets1-2 (Masakadza, 0.5 ov), 2-3 (Taylor, 1.3 ov), 3-4 (Coventry, 2.3 ov), 4-8 (Vermeulen, 5.3 ov), 5-32 (Matsikenyeri, 13.3 ov), 6-32 (Chibhabha, 15.3 ov), 7-36 (Waller, 16.4 ov), 8-36 (Chigumbura, 17.6 ov), 9-39 (Price, 18.6 ov), 10-44 (Jarvis, 24.5 ov)


Bangladesh innings (target: 45 runs from 50 overs)


Fall of wickets1-33 (Tamim Iqbal, 6.3 ov), 2-33 (Mohammad Ashraful, 6.6 ov), 3-36 (Junaid Siddique, 7.4 ov), 4-38 (Naeem Islam, 9.1 ov)


Did not bat Shakib Al Hasan*, Mahmudullah, Enamul Haque jnr, Abdur Razzak, Nazmul Hossain

Dhaka Mass Transit Authority to be formed abolishing DTCB

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain
Star Online Report

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain on Tuesday said the government is set to form Dhaka Mass Transit Authority (DMTA) abolishing existing Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) to look after Dhaka’s transport system.


“The DMTA Act 2009 will soon be passed in the Parliament to institute a more efficient and empowered body for Dhaka’s transportation system,” he said while addressing a seminar on Urban and Transport Development.


DTCB and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) jointly organised the seminar at a city hotel.


The new body is intended to remove the inadequacies of DTCB that has so far been unable to function effectively, he said.


The DMTA Act will also have provisions to institute Dhaka Metro Rail Authority and other bodies as well, said the minister.

Kushtia AL leaders, outlaw caught with AK-47

Kushtia AL leaders, outlaw caught with AK-47
Star Online Report

Three Awami League leaders and activists and a member of outlawed Gono Mukti Fouz were arrested along with an AK-47, a shotgun and 82 rounds of bullet at Trimohoni, on the outskirts of Kushtia town, on Monday night.


The AL leaders were identified as Taslima Khan Ankhi, secretary of Kushtia Mohila Awami League, Abdur Razzak, AL leader of Daulatpur unit, and activist Rani while the outlaw was identified Shahin, reports our Kushtia correspondent.


Detective Branch of Police, Rapid Action Battalion and police along with the arrestees were conducting drives at different places in Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia to recover more firearms till filling of this report at about 12:00pm on Tuesday.


Acting on a tip-off, police intercepted a microbus carrying Ankhi, Razzak, Rani and Shahin at Trimohoni check post at about 11:00pm yesterday and arrested the four along with the firearms and ammunitions.


They collected the firearms from Daulatdia and were taking those to the residence of Ankhi in Kushtia town, Assistant Sub Inspector of Kushtia Police Station Alamgir Hossain told The Daily Star.


The ASP said all of them, including Ankhi and her husband, are involved with Gono Mukti Fouz and supplied firearms for the outfit.


Taslima, wife of former poura commissioner Kohinoor Khan, was arrested on October 30, 2006 after the bullet-hit body of Jamirul Islam alias Jamu, Jubo League leader of Kushtia town, was recovered from her house. She was released on bail after six days.

2 held with 17 firearms in Jhenidah

2 held with 17 firearms in Jhenidah
Star Online Report

Police recovered 17 firearms and arrested two arms traders from a bus at Arabpur bus stand in Jhenidah on Tuesday morning.


The arrestees are Azad Hossain and Saidul Islam of Andulia village in Chowgachha upazila, Jessore, reports our Jhenidah correspondent.


Officer in-Charge Anwar Hossain of Jhenidah Sadar Police Station said they recovered the firearms and arrested the two traders from a Rajshahi-bound bus at about 9:40am today.


The firearms apparently seem air gun and are used in different operations. The cost of those firearms is about Tk 68 lakh the OC said.


Police conducted the drive after they received information that huge firearms would be shifted to Rajshahi illegally through the district.


Police super Rezaul Karim of Jhenidah confirmed that the arrestees were illegal arms trader.


He said the seized air guns have been modified and used in different fatal cases. Those were being taken to Rajshahi zero point from Jessore BRTC counter, he said.


The arrested are taken in police custody for interrogation.

Bangabandhu case hearing ends for 22nd day

Bangabandhu case hearing ends for 22nd day
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Star Online Report

The Supreme Court concluded hearing on the appeals in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case for the 22nd day on Tuesday.


Chief counsel for the state in the case advocate Anisul Huq placed his submission before the five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Justice Md Tafazzul Islam.


The court adjourned the hearing in the case till 9:30 tomorrow.


Five convicts -- dismissed army personnel Syed Farooqur Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, AKM Mohiuddin, and Bazlul Huda, now behind the bars, lodged the appeals with the SC in October 2007 against their death sentences pronounced by the High Court.


The Supreme Court started the hearing on the appeals on October 5.

Vietnam storm kills 11

Vietnam storm kills 11
AP, Hanoi

Tropical Storm Mirinae unleashed severe flooding in parts of central Vietnam, killing 11 people, leaving two missing and forcing families onto rooftops, disaster officials said Tuesday.


Floods in Phu Yen province killed 10 people after the storm hit, drenching the region with heavy rains Monday, said disaster official Duong Van Huong.


Several villages in neighboring Binh Dinh province suffered the worst flooding in four decades after the Ha Thanh River surged over its banks, said disaster official Nguyen Van Hoa. One man drowned in Binh Dinh and two others were missing, Hoa said.


Local authorities asked the central government to send

helicopters to rescue people who were still trapped on rooftops a day after the storm, which lost force as it moved inland.


"We have received many calls for help from people who are still stranded," Hoa said by telephone.

Soldiers in speedboats navigated to submerged areas and ferried out residents.


Mirinae hit the Philippines with typhoon strength over the

weekend, killing 20 people before losing strength as it moved across the South China Sea toward Vietnam.


Both Vietnam and the Philippines were still recovering from Typhoon Ketsana, which brought the Philippine capital of Manila its worst flooding in 40 years when it struck in September. Ketsana killed 160 people in Vietnam.

In the Philippines, Ketsana and two later storms killed more than 900. Some 87,000 people who fled the storms were still living in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck.


In a separate incident in northern Vietnam on Monday, one woman drowned and five others were still missing after a whirlwind toppled two boats in the northern province of Quang Ninh, disaster official Le Thanh Nam said.

Sixteen other passengers managed to swim to safety after the boats sank, Nam said.

Five Muslims killed in Thailand

Five Muslims killed in Thailand
AFP, Yala

Suspected Islamist insurgents shot dead five Muslims, mostly civilians, in a new spate of attacks across the troubled south of Thailand, police said Tuesday.


Gunmen killed a former village chief and his deputy in a drive-by attack on their car in restive Yala province on Monday, they said.


A Muslim villager was killed when attackers broke into his house in Narathiwat province on Monday night while two Muslim rangers died in separate shootings in Pattani province, also on Monday, said police.


Separately a ranger was critically wounded in a bomb blast in Pattani.


More than 3,900 people have died in shootings, bombings, beheadings, burnings and crucifixions since a separatist insurgency erupted in Thailand's southern provinces bordering Malaysia in January 2004.

Gunmen attack Pak army HQ, 10 dead

Pakistani army troops arrive to take positions following an attack by gunmen at the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. Photo: APAP, Pakistan

Gunmen wearing military uniforms and wielding assault rifles and grenades attacked Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday, sparking a ferocious gun battle outside the capital that killed four of the assailants and at least six soldiers, authorities said.
Two of the attackers managed to infiltrate the heavily fortified compound in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, and troops were trying to flush them out hours after the initial assault, the military said. An Associated Press reporter at the scene heard four gunshots from inside the compound — long after an army spokesman said the situation was under control.
The audacious assault was the third major militant attack in Pakistan in a week and came as the government said it was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.
It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan's security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August.
Pakistani media said the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the ongoing assaults strengthened the government's resolve to launch the offensive.
"We have been left no other option except to go ahead to face them," he told Dawn television.
The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms, drove in a white van up to the army compound and tried to force their way inside, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.
The assailants shot at the guards at one checkpoint, killing some of them, and then jumped out of the van and ran toward a second checkpoint, he said. Abbas said the guards were likely confused by the attackers' uniforms.
The heavily armed attackers then took up positions throughout the area, hurling at least one grenade and firing sporadically at security forces, said a senior military official inside the compound. The official, who said top army officials were trapped in the compound during the assault, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Abbas, who told the private Geo news television channel the assault over and the situation "under full control."
But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the compound, and Abbas confirmed that two more gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi. The city, adjacent to the capital of Islamabad, is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.
Troops were closing in on the men, he said.
Abbas said six troops were killed and five wounded, one critically. An intelligence official said eight soldiers were killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver, was standing outside the gate of the compound when the white van pulled up, and shooting erupted.
"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast. Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."
The gunbattle was the latest in a string of attacks on Pakistani cities, following a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a U.N. aid agency Monday that killed five in Islamabad. The man who attacked the U.N. was also wearing a security forces' uniform and was granted entry to the compound after asking to use the bathroom.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which appeared to be a message to the army that the militants intend to ramp up their strikes across the country in response to the government's planned offensive against Taliban strongholds in the border region of South Waziristan.
Pakistan vowed Friday to launch the new offensive in the wake of the massive Peshawar bombing.
The United States has been pushing Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents using its soil as a base for attacks in Afghanistan. The assault could be risky for the army, which was beaten back on three previous offensives into the Taliban heartland.
But the army may have been emboldened by its successes against the militants in the Swat Valley and by the killing of Baitullah Mehsud.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the militants had left the government "no other option" but to hit back. "We will have to proceed," he told a local television station Friday. "All roads are leading to South Waziristan."
Islamist militants have been carrying out nearly weekly attacks in Pakistan, but the sheer scale of Friday's bombing — which killed nine children — pushed the government to declare it would take the fight to the lawless tribal belt along the border where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding.

7 Rajshahi JMB men placed on remand

Star file photo of the seven JMB menStar Online Report

The seven Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) members, who were arrested in Rajshahi division over the last couple of days, were today placed on a seven-day remand each.
BM Tariqul Kabir of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Rajshahi granted the remand when sub-inspector Hafijur Rahman produced them before the court and sought a 10-day remand for each of them.
A team of Special Branch (SB) of police have arrested seven members of the JMB from four districts of the Rajshahi division.
The JMB members are Rajshahi divisional chief of the militant outfit Ashraf alias Haider, 32, JMB ehsar (full-time) members Md Momtaz, 20, Asadul Islam, 30, Rohidul, 35, and Isarul Islam, 22 and Naogaon district chief Abdur Rahim, 30, and Natore district chief Sahabuddin, 35.

Independent secretariat for judiciary soon: Shafique

Law Minister Shafique AhmedStar Online Report

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed today said an independent secretariat for the judiciary would be set up under the Supreme Court (SC) soon in order to implement the process of the separation of the judiciary from the executive fully.
The government will take necessary steps soon in consultation with the chief justice to set up the secretariat, he said while talking to the press after the inauguration of a training programme at the Judicial Administration Training Institute in the city.
A total of 22 joint judges and sessions judges are participating in the 91st judicial administration training course that will continue till October 29.
Replying a question on trial of war criminals, the minister said the government is working for setting up well-protected rooms for holding the trail of war criminals.
It is not possible to announce a timeframe for holding trial of war criminals, he said.
Replying to another question, he said the government has finalised appointment of 211 judges through the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (BJSC) for the lower judiciary, as a number of judges are going into retirement.
The minister said the government is introducing an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system to resolve minor criminal and civil cases so that people get quick justice.

1,173 more get Purbachal plots

Star file photo of Purbachal ProjectStar Online Report

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) today announced the names of 1,173 plot winners in three categories for the Purbachal New Town Project.
The three categories are private service holders, businessmen and lawyers.
Private service holders were allocated 10 percent of the total allocation, businessmen got eight percent while the lawyers received two percent.
Over 40,000 qualified plot seekers applied for the three categories which lotteries were held today.
Earlier on September 17, Rajuk announced the names of 1,077 plot winners in four categories for the projects.
State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan formally inaugurated the draw at Osmani Memorial Hall at about 11:00am.
In his inaugural speech, the minister said the government will resolve the housing problems by constructing high-rise building across the country.
Housing Secretary Mahbubur Rahman said the lottery for the plot allocation in the Uttara project will also be held in this very month.

Obama urged to use prize as spur to peace

US President Barack Obama AFP, Paris

Citizens and world leaders urged US President Barack Obama to seize on his surprise Nobel Peace Prize win Friday to forge peace in the globe's trouble spots and rid the world of nuclear weapons.
From Tokyo to Cape Town, news that the 48-year-old had won the prestigious award just nine months into his presidency was met by a mixture of shock and appeals for Obama to solve a host of local and global issues.
The five-person Norwegian Nobel panel praised Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," in a win that astonished the laureate himself.
A "surprised" and "deeply humbled" Obama said he doubted he deserved the honour, but vowed to wield it as a "call to action" to lead a united world against its greatest challenges.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the prize as "America's return to the hearts of the world's peoples" after disenchantment with the previous presidency of George W. Bush.
Former UN chief Kofi Annan called it "an unexpected but inspired choice." But the announcement was not universally lauded.
"Who, Obama? So fast? Too fast -- he hasn't had the time to do anything yet," was the incredulous response of Lech Walesa, Poland's historic trade union leader and the 1983 laureate.
For others, Obama's promotion to the rank of global peacemaker was an opportunity to give him some new assignments.
The prize is in "good hands," said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, expressing "hope that world peace is a reality and that we have no more nuclear bombs."
The Dalai Lama, who won the prestigious award in 1989, called on Obama to champion "freedom and liberty."
The exiled Tibetan leader wrote a letter to Obama congratulating him even though the president, in an apparent bid not to upset China, avoided meeting him during the Dalai Lama's weeklong visit to Washington.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Obama's win was an "incentive" for all to do more for peace, adding that his goal of a nuclear-free world is one "we must all try to achieve in the coming years."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, said he hoped it would be a "boost to our joint efforts in forming a new climate in international politics and promoting initiatives that are critically important for global security."
The 2008 laureate, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, noted that as Middle East peace efforts remain stalled, "this time, it was very clear that they wanted to encourage Obama to move on these issues."
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said he hoped the prize would help bring about an independent Palestinian state, but the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, decried Obama's win.
"He did not do anything for the Palestinians except make promises," said Hamas spokesman Samir Abu Zuhri.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said the award "expresses the hope that your presidency will usher in a new era of peace and reconciliation."
In Afghanistan, where the United States is in the ninth year of a bloody conflict against Taliban extremists, President Hamid Karzai hailed Obama's "hard work and new vision on global relations."
But the decision was condemned by the Taliban, who said he had "not taken a single step toward peace in Afghanistan."
On the streets of Kabul, Afghans said they did not believe Obama's policies had improved the situation in their war-ravaged country.
"The situation is getting worse here," said shopkeeper Ahmad Tawab.
"At least I can say that he is better than George Bush," said tailor Abdul Hakeem, 18.
The Nobel committee acted "hastily," said arch foe Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, arguing a "good timing" for the prize would have been after US troops pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq "and the United States is standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people."
UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei -- another former winner -- said Obama had "reached out across divides and made clear that he sees the world as one human family, regardless of religion, race or ethnicity."
In Iraq, 45-year-old bank security guard Abu Istabraq said that Obama "really deserved this prize more than anyone else."
Obama "was able to calm the situation in Iraq and other countries, and he made America reach out to Islamic and Arabic countries," he said.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, said he saw "the world changing" since Obama entered the White House on January 20.
South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won the prize in 1984, saw Obama as a younger incarnation of Nelson Mandela, a 1993 co-laureate.
"It is a very imaginative and somewhat surprising choice. It is wonderful," he said in Cape Town.
Obama's Kenyan relatives reacted with delight.
"It is an honour to the family... we are very happy that one of us has been honoured. We congratulate Barack," Said Obama, the president's step-brother, told AFP. Obama's father was Kenyan and the president is considered a favourite son of the east African country.