BANGLADESH

The Coast Guard and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), in separate raids, seized 125,000 pills of banned but popular club-drug yaba from Teknaf and Ukhia areas.

The seized narcotics are estimated to have a market value of around Tk 57.5 million.

"A Coast Guard unit seized 100,000 yaba pills at Golar Char area near Naf River around 11:30pm on Tuesday, though none could be arrested," Teknaf station coast guard commander lieutenant Mohammad Bodruddoza told .

According to Bodruddoza, the Coast Guard unit chased a suspicious fishing trawler from Myanmar and found the yaba pills hidden in a container.

The Coast Guard personnel seized the boat but failed to detain anyone, the official said.

Bodruddoza estimates the street value of the seized pills around Tk 50 million.

Meanwhile, Cox's Bazaar BGB-17 unit have seized 25,000 yaba pills from the Ukhia area.

The commander of the unit, lieutenant colonel Mohammad Khalequzzaman said the banned drugs were seized from a microbus at Morichya joint check-point on Cox's Bazaar-Teknaf road. They were wrapped in polythene and concealed inside the air-cooler of the vehicle.

The BGB official says the pills have an estimated street value of around Tk 7.5 million.

Though the BGB detained three alleged drug smugglers from the microbus, they refused to give out any names, he said.

A combination of methamphetamine and caffeine, and a popular substitute for the party drug Ecstasy, yaba tablets made its way into Bangladesh's party scene in early 2005. A series of sensational raids in 2007 and media coverage of the issue brought the drugs into limelight that year, leading to calls for strict prevention of its spread.

Methamphetamine, the key component of yaba, is highly addictive and causes withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, insomnia, confusion, tremors, convulsions, anxiety, paranoia, and aggressiveness.

The search committee, formed to propose new Election Commission members to the president, has received names and is working to make a short list.

The committee met at the office of the Appellate Division judge, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, who heads the committee. The deadline set by the committee to receive suggestions from political parties ended Tuesday afternoon.

"We have received quite a number of suggestions and will finish making a shortlist within a day or two," comptroller and auditor general Ahmed Ataul Hakim, also a member of the committee, told journalists after the meeting.

The committee will suggest two names against each post of chief election commissioner and election commissioners to president Zillur Rahman who will form the new electoral commission according to the constitution.

The tenure of the incumbent commission led by A T M Shamsul Huda will end in the middle of February.

The president formed the search committee, following a series of dialogues with apolitical parties having representation in parliament, to reconstitute the commission.

Though main opposition BNP took part in the dialogue, it demanded restoration of the caretaker government system, which was scrapped on June 30 last year through the 15 amendment to the constitution, before reconstitution of the commission.

The High Court's Justice Md Nuruzzman and Public Service Commission chairman A T Ahmedul Hauqe Chowdhury, are the other two members of the search committee.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia on Monday reiterated her party's stance of not taking part in any national elections under a government led by a political party.

She threatened that the incumbents would be unseated by mass uprising if the caretaker government was not reinstated, during her brief address before setting off for a mass procession in Dhaka.

Beginning around 4.15pm from the party's headquarter in Naya Paltan, the procession covered Kakrail, Shantinagar, Malibagh and Mouchak before finishing at Moghbazar at around 5pm. Khaleda, who was in a car at the middle of the procession, reached around 6.15pm.

"There is still some time left. Reinstate the caretaker government, or else the people will take you down in uprising," Khaleda Zia said in her address.

She called on the people to make BNP's Dhaka grand rally on Mar 12 a success.

"On Mar 12 the people of the nation will be in Dhaka. From that rally I will announce important programmes," Khaleda said.

The BNP Chairperson said there would be 'three times as many people' at the grand rally. "So pick where you will run while there's still time," she added.

Khaleda called on those 'in the Awami League who loved the country' to join her 'Dhaka Chalo' march on Mar 12, saying, "Save your country and save yourselves."

She had earlier declared plans to hold this countrywide public procession on Jan 29. But the programme was postponed for a day after Dhaka metropolitan unit of Awami League also called for a rally the same day and the police imposed Section 144, banning all gatherings in the capital on Sunday apprehending law and order crisis.

The opposition party's processions in other metropolitan cities, including Chittagong, Rajshahi and Barisal, were also postponed after the police there imposed similar restrictions.

Khaleda blamed the government for Sunday's four deaths in clashes between the police and opposition protesters. She said there would be protest programmes in every district on Tuesday and prayers at every mosque on Feb 3.

'HASINA LIES'

Khaleda said prime minister Sheikh Hasina had lied about BNP's association with the failed military coup-d'etat. "BNP does not believe in politics of deadline. It was Awami League who had given us a deadline, saying they had a trump card. Their trump card was to bring a military-backed illegal government to power," she said.

"It was Awami League who was behind all the military coup in the country, not BNP," she asserted.

"We believe in people's coup, not military coup," she said.

The former prime minister said the government was scared of the people and hence 'the firing on people'. "They did nothing but loot and plunder in the last three years. They did nothing for the people," Khaleda claimed.


PROCESSION AFTER PROCESSION

Metropolitan BNP member-secretary Abdus Salam said that despite various 'hurdles', the party and members of its associate organisations from all wards in the capital joined the procession.

Police stopped traffic on one side of Naya Paltan road from around noon on Monday after BNP activists started gathering at the venue.

Within an hour, the stretch between Nightingale Restaurant intersection and Fakirapul's AGB Colony road was filled with activists dressed in bright colours, especially green, and carrying festoons and effigies of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, his wife and party chief Khaleda, and their son and BNP senior vice-president Tarique Rahman.

Members of the four-party opposition coalition and other like-minded parties also participated in the procession.

Though Khaleda herself was on a car, many senior leaders walked or went on trucks.

Khaleda promised better governance once her party returned to power.

"We will listen to everyone's advice to run the country. There will be employment for the youth, rejuvenation of the broken ties with the Muslim world. We will not let the country be servile to others," she said.

SECURITY MEASURES

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) reportedly deployed an additional 5,000 law enforcers in the capital, equipped with water canons and riot cars to tackle any untoward incident sparked by the mass procession.

A large number of police officials have been deployed along the procession route at Naya Paltan, Khilgaon, Matijheel, Bijoy Nagar, Kakrail, Shantinagar, Malibagh, Moghbazar. Additional police members were placed in front of the BNP headquarters since 8:30am on Monday.

Additional deputy police commissioner Mehedi Hasan told that the police have taken all necessary preparations to ensure security.

The government has extended the deadline by another year for private universities to get their own campus.

As before, they will not be permitted to launch new faculties, programmes, subjects or open new extensions to their campus, but they can take in new students.

An education ministry meeting on Monday decided that the universities who were yet to meet the requirement must do so and inform the University Grants Commission within a year.

Those at the meeting were informed that North South University, Chittagong University of Science and Technology, International Islamic University, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, International University of Business, Agriculture and Technology, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, Chittagong, Bangladesh University of Business and Technology, Independent University Bangladesh, Stamford University, Premier University and City University had established their own campus on an amount of land specified by the Private University Act-2010.

The campuses of BRAC University, East West University, Gana Bishwabidyalay, South East University, The University of Asia Pacific, Daffodil International University and Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology were undergoing construction. Seven other universities had secured the land and their building designs had been approved but were yet to begin construction. They were asked to complete and transfer the new campus within a year.

Yet another 18 had bought the land but their building plans had not been approved. They had been asked to get the plans approved within six months.

IBAIS, Atish Dipankar University and Dhaka International University had been asked to resolve ownership disputes within three months.

Northern University, UITS and Leading University, which had cases with the government and the UGC, were asked to resolve the matter through court as soon as possible.

There was no decision on Darul Ihsan University as there was an ongoing judicial probe into irregularities at the university.

The universities who had not bought enough land were asked to do so within six months.

Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations began on Wednesday across the country.

On the first day, students under general education board are sitting for Bengali (compulsory) first paper, those under Dakhil board are sitting for Easy Bengali first paper and those under Vocational board are sitting for Bengali Language and Bangladeshi Culture first paper.

This year, all the papers will see creative questions except Bengali second paper, English first and second paper and mathematics.

The tests commenced simultaneously in 2,464 centres under eight general education boards, Dakhil and vocational board.

Practical tests will go on until March 4.

An estimated 1,420,057 students of 26,855 educational institutions will sit SSC and equivalent tests. Among them, 735,229 are boys and 684,828 girls.

This year, among 1,052,969 students sitting SSC tests, 532,818 are girls and 520,115 are boys. For the first time, girls have outnumbered boys by 12,667.

In addition, 275,930 students are taking Dakhil tests and another 91,158 students are taking SSC (Vocational) tests.

The education ministry had said the examination results will be published within 60 days like the previous year. Information will be exchanged online among the education board control rooms and related examination centres.

This year, the number of total students taking part from abroad is 274. They are sitting for the tests at Jeddah, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain and Tripoli centres under Dhaka Education Board.

This year, the physically challenged students are getting 20 minutes of extra time instead of 15 minutes.

Moreover, students with disabilities, who cannot see or hear or are suffering from cerebral palsy or who cannot write, will be allowed to take transcribers with them.

The finance minister has said measures will be taken against those responsible for the stock market turmoil based on the findings of an ongoing investigation.

"Cases were filed against some of them. Further investigations based on the probe committee's report are ongoing and legal actions will be taken against those found guilty," A M A Muhith told parliament on Tuesday.

Formed in Jan 2011, the four-member inquiry team, led by Bangladesh Krishi Bank chairman Khandker Ibrahim Khaled, in its April report based mostly on interviews with stakeholders, had proposed further investigation into the volatility in the share market, saying that there had been games behind the instability.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had been overhauled following a proposal by the Khaled-led panel. The SEC had later filed cases against several for alleged involvement in market manipulation.

The finance minister said an eight-strong panel with a secretary in charge had been launched to review the returns on government savings certificates.

In reply to another question, Muhith said Bangladesh had active Joint Economic Commission with 18 countries. The Bangladesh-Vietnam commission would meet in February, Bangladesh-Sri Lanka commission in March and Bangladesh-UAE commission in April.

He also said that during the BNP-led government, total remittance influx was Tk 193 billion, while in the first three years of the incumbent government the influx was Tk 338 billion.

An hour of trading at the country's premier bourse has seen 175 points or 4.22 percent knocked off the Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index (DGEN) on the second last trading day of the week, with prices of most shares and mutual funds falling.

The DGEN stood at 3978.48 points around 11:59am on Wednesday with shares worth Tk 778.80 million changing hands by then. Prices of 227 issues fell, seven remained unchanged and only two rose.

Despite opening on Tuesday with a rise in the general index, the Dhaka Stock Exchange ended up closing in the red, 132.15 point lower than the opening, after day-long fluctuations.

On Monday, the DSE managed to close in the green, gaining 103 points. On Sunday, the DGEN dropped below the 4200-point mark to 4183.07 points, the lowest since the market instability in 2010.

The index close dropped below the 4200-point mark for the last time on Nov 19 2009, over 26 months ago.

Previous week's trading saw a loss of 458.9 points or 9.29 percent. The daily average turnover was Tk 2.41 billion, 19 percent lower than that of the previous week.

Although the market stabilised a little last month after the market regulator SEC had declared a package of incentives, the stocks started taking a battering in the first week of the new year.