BANGLADESH

Muslims in Bangladesh are observing Ashura, the 10th day of the lunar month of Muharram in Islamic calendar, on Tuesday.

"The tragic incident at Karbala and the teachings of Ashura inspire us to raise our voice against injustice and walk through the path of truth and peace," president Mohammad Zillur Rahman said in a statement.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina in her statement invited the people to stand together to establish justice and thereby reflect the teachings of Ashura in the country.

Hossaini Dalan of Dhaka took out a procession around 10.30am carrying replicas of Hussein's mausoleum, called Taziya, the portraits of Prophet Mohammad's two grandsons—Imam Hasan ibn Ali and Hussein.

Imam Hussein's statement, "I have neither come out to attain power nor to create anarchy. Rather, I have come out to correct my grandfather's followers," inspires the Shi'ite community to bring out Taziya procession on this day to commemorate the tragic incident of Karbala, said Bakkar Reza Mazlum, the spokesperson for the organisers.

Countless pilgrims were chanting traditional 'matam', mourning for Hasan and Hussein.

Many were bleeding from the traditional chest beating that is performed to remind oneself of the suffering Hussein and his companions had gone through.

The procession would go through Azimpur and end at Dhanmondi Lake in the afternoon.

Another procession in the morning took off from Imambara and went through Bakshibazar, Najimuddin Road, Chawk Bazar, Chadni Ghat, Urdu Road before returning to Imambara.

Processions were also brought out from Mohammadpur and Mirpur where estranged Pakistanis are camped.

Muslims everywhere, especially the Shi'ites, observe Muharram to commemorate the slaying of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein Ibn Ali in 680 AD in the battle of Karbala.

On the first day of Muharram, the army of Caliph Yazid laid siege to Hussein and his followers in the desert near Karbala.

Hussein was killed in the battle 10 days later after he had refused to pledge loyalty to Yazid. Hussein was beheaded and his head was taken to Damascus, the seat of the Ummayad dynasty to which Yazid belonged.

For the Shi'ite, Hussein's death symbolises confronting oppression in the face of overwhelming odds.

During the ceremony, the Shi'ites beat their chests and gash their heads with swords to show their grief and echo of the suffering of Imam Hussein.

It is mainly observed in Iran and Iraq with majority Shi'ite Muslim population and in other countries with sizeable Shi'ite communities, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

Several million pilgrims converge on Karbala on the occasion.

The day also bears significance for Sunni Muslims as Moses fasted on this day to express gratitude to God for liberating the Israelites from Egypt. According to tradition, Prophet Muhammad fasted on this day and asked everyone to do the same.

The day is a public holiday in Bangladesh.

—The Election Commission will seek explanation from the local government ministry on the workings of election deadline and areas of the wards.
The amended city corporation law states that elections will have to be held in old and split city corporations within 90 days, a deadline that doubles in case of new city corporations.

However, local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam said after the bill was passed in parliament that if the polls are not held within 90 days, it will be held within the next 90 days.

But, the matter was not mentioned in the amended law leaving the Commission in confusion. At same time, the law says nothing as to whether the areas of the wards would remain the same or would be demarcated again, adding to the confusion.

"So we will be sending a letter to the government seeking clarification," election commissioner M Shakhawat Hossain told .

A circular issued on Dec 1 regarding the amendment, and the new law calls for elections within a stipulated time after the circular is published. The local government has also sent a letter to the EC calling for the polls.

"The law says that the polls in the split city corporations will have to be held within 90 days, but does not say anything about holding polls during the next 90 days. We will have to clarify the matter with them [ministry]," Shakhawat added on Monday.

"Elections can be held under this commission if the vote is held in the first week of February. For that, we will have to declare the schedules by the end of the third week of this month. It is not impossible to hold the polls within 90 days but it will be very difficult."

However, the commissioners have expressed their reservations about hosting the ballots within the constitutional deadline ending on Feb 29, as the tenure of the commission led by A T M Shamsul Huda will end nearly two weeks before that. The outgoing commission feels that declaring the schedules and leaving the vote to a new commission would only create complications.

"The whole process should be completed under a single commission," another election commissioner Muhammad Sohul Hossain told .

"We could have start the process, but it is better not to as the new commission might have different plans about the election. So we do not want to stage this election."

WARD AREA

The commissioners are also puzzled over the area of the wards. The civic body has been split in two — north and south. The new northern city corporation comprises of 36 of the total 92 wards and the southern one has the remaining 56. The wards that fell under the new northern part are wards numbered 1-23, 37-47 and 54-55. The southern half has wards numbered 24-36, 48-53, 56-92

"The gazette published refers to the wards using their old numbers. We do not know whether they will have to be renumbered or whether their areas will have to be marked again," Shakhawat Hossain pointed out.

"We do not even know whether the boundaries of the old wards in the new city corporations will be redefined."

EC officials are saying that the wards will have to be renumbered using two new sequences. However, the LGRD ministry did not send issue separate gazette about demarcation of ward areas.

The chief election commissioner is currently abroad and will return on Dec 10. The commission will decide on the issues in a meeting after his return, the two commissioners said adding that until then their comments are personal.

—Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the businesses of Bangladesh and Myanmar to forge close partnership for mutual gains.

Hasina went to Myanmar on Monday and attended a dinner co-organised by the Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the foreign ministry said in a media statement on Tuesday.

Earlier, the prime minister met Union foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin and discussed the bilateral issues and possible way forward to take the existing friendly relations to a greater height.

Hasina's Myanmar trip follows US secretary of state Hilary Clinton's high profile tour of the country.

The main opposition BNP has claimed that the Awami League has designed a "blueprint" to hold a "one-sided" election, and that former autocratic ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad is part of the conspiracy.

"Like the 1990s, a big mass and student movement is the need of the hour to foil this conspiracy. There is no alternative," BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a discussion here on Tuesday to mark the Anti-autocracy Day.

"The Awami League along with the former autocratic ruler has now emerged as 'neo autocrat' by holding power like an extremely heavy burden. They are conspiring to restore the BKSAL-type one-party rule in a different manner," Alamgir said.

Sarbadalio Chhatra Oikya, a conglomerate of students' organisations of the '90s, organised the discussion at the National Press Club auditorium on the occasion of Anti-autocracy Day.

The BNP, Awami League, Left parties and the then Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh had launched a united movement against the then autocratic ruler Ershad and forced him to step down on Dec 6, 1990. Since then, BNP and some other political parties and socio-cultural organisations observe Dec 6 as Anti-autocracy Day.

At Tuesday's discussion, Alamgir said the bifurcation of Dhaka City Corporation into separate north and south entities was also a part of this government "blueprint".

Urging the youth to step up and save the country from this "neo-autocrat", the BNP leader said the country is not safe under the present government.

He also alleged that the government did not take any initiative to stop the construction of Tipaimukh Dam by India.

"After visiting India, two advisors of the prime minister have said that Bangladesh will benefit if the dam is constructed. This is even as environmentalists and experts are concerned that the cross-border structure is a 'death trap' for 30 million people in the Meghna river basin," he said.

Alamgir also said the Awami League is least bothered about protecting national interests.