BANGLADESH

The BUET VC has convened an emergency meeting of the Syndicate, the highest policy-making body of the premier university, on Monday as the BUET stalemate was yet to be resolved.

The meeting scheduled to be held at 5pm will discuss the overall situation, Prof Nazrul Islam told bdnews24.com on Sunday evening.

The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) reopened on Saturday after a 44-day shutdown stemming from protests by its teachers and students seeking ouster of the Vice-Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor.

No classes were held at the university on Saturday, the first day of resumption of academic activities at the university.

No classes took place on Sunday too.

Some of the demonstrating teachers said they pressed on with their protests at personal level by skipping classes but without any formal declaration of any protest plan to avoid facing contempt of court charges.

The High Court on Aug 14 in a rule ordered authorities to start the admission process of the first-year students amid the teachers' protests.

"The emergency syndicate meeting has been called under such an unusual situation. The meeting will discuss various issues including that of teachers not joining classes defying court's orders," he added.

Admission test to BUET for the 2012-2013 academic sessions has also become uncertain as the protesting teachers have been boycotting classes and other academic activities for more than a month.

In the wake of movement demanding resignation of the VC and Pro-Vice Chancellor, the BUET authorities had advanced the Eid-ul-Fitr vacation to close it on July 10. The decision, however, failed to deter the protesters from going ahead with the movement.

One of the teachers, seeking anonymity, said the teachers were not attending classes claiming personal reasons to stay away from court contempt.

Asked whether the Syndicate would pressurise the teachers to join classes, he said, "The members of the body will take decisions after discussing several issues."

Meanwhile, the Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid is leaving Dhaka on Sunday night on a seven-day visit to attend the 'Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference' in Mauritius. He is scheduled to return on Sep 2.

On July 11, 24 teachers holding administrative posts resigned and the Teachers Association announced that the teachers would resign en masse on July 22 if their demand was not met.

They, however, postponed the 'resignation decision' until July 30 after Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid had said a solution would be worked out after discussions with the Prime Minister and the President, days before the court slapped the ban on any protests on the BUET campus.

The BUET authorities shut the university on July 10, a month in advance for Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr, until Aug 24 and the teachers and students erupted in protest.

A platform of medical and dental college admission-seekers on Sunday announced that they were resuming their protests against the new enrolment system from Monday.

The students said at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity that they would assemble at the Central Shaheed Minar at 9am for 'peaceful' demonstration.

Farzana Afrin, representative of the platform, claimed students of various medical colleges, universities, schools and colleges across Bangladesh have thrown their weight behind them.

She said a 'civil assembly' would take place at 11am and a memorandum will be submitted to the Prime Minister's Office at noon.

"We'll be compelled to wage tougher agitations from Aug 28 if no announcement comes [from the government] within Monday," Afrin warned.

On Aug 12, Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque said the government had decided to enrol students at the medical and dental colleges based on their SSC and HSC GPAs from this year in lieu of admission tests.

The Minister's announcement triggered off protests by admission seekers and guardians.

The admission-seekers had staged daylong demonstrations on Aug 13 and 14 Dhaka's Central Shaheed Minar, the National Press Club and the Shahbagh intersection resulting in huge tailbacks across the capital.

The students put off their protest on Aug 14 and on the same day the government decision was challenged in the High Court. The court ordered authorities to explain why the new system would not be declared illegal.

Amid the ongoing protests, the Health Minister had said the medical and dental admission 'coaching centres were instigating' the demonstrations.

At Sunday's press conference, the student demonstrators demanded closure of all coaching centres claiming no one was instigating their demonstration or was associated with it. They also argued against the new enrolment system.

On Aug 23, another petition was filed in the High Court in a bid to secure an order to start admission process like previous years.

Unknown miscreants have shot a Bangladeshi citizen to death at a food mart in Connecticut's East Hartford in the United States.

The deceased, Belal Tarafder, 47, was gunned down during an attempted robbery around 11pm local time on Saturday, NBC Connecticut reported on Sunday quoting police.

He had been working as a clerk at the Circle H Food Mart situated at 1084 Burnside Avenue for the last five years.

Belal hailed from Moulvibazar. Saturday night was supposed to be the last night on the job.

NBC said in its report that East Hartford police responded to the mart around 11pm on a suspicious activity call. Upon arrival, the officers found the store clerk suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

There are two other businesses located in the plaza where the Circle H Food Mart is. Village Pizza was open and crowded. Police have already interviewed several witnesses.

Witnesses described the suspect as a black male in his late teens to early 30s. He was wearing a dark coloured shirt, light coloured shorts and a dark coloured baseball hat. He was carrying a handgun.

NBC said police were investigating the murder. The East Hartford Police Crime Investigation Division is working with the State Attorney's office on the investigation.

At least nine people were killed as a micro-bus skidded off the road and plunged into a ditch in Ramganj upazila of Laxmipur Sunday afternoon.

Police and locals said the accident occurred around 3.30pm at the Ramganj-Hazjiganj highway.

The deceased were identified as one 'Joynal', 40, from Ramganj's Noahgaon area, his wife Nasima, 35, daughter, 10, niece Rabia, 20, Amina Begum, 40 and Monowara Begum 50, Harun-or Rashid,65, Zakia Sultana, 12 and 'Tamanna' 13.

Ramganj Upazila Chairman Munir Chowdhury told bdnews24.com that police have recovered nine bodies so far from the micro-bus.

He added they met the accident on their way to join a family marriage programme in Chandpur's Faridganj Upazila

When approached, the officer-in-charge of Ramganj Police Station could not give the exact number of causalities adding that the micro-bus had been recovered from the ditch.

The Department of Environment (DoE) has fined the Ibn Sina Pharmaceutical Industries Limited for operating a manufacturing facility without its clearance for the last 18 years.

The department's Director (Enforcement) Mohammad Muneer Chowdhury slapped the penalty after a hearing on Sunday, a DoE statement said.

The fine was collected from Managing Director of the facility Abu Naser Mohammad Abduz Jahed, it further said.

"The operation of such a large manufacturing facility illegally for 18 years is an unprecedented violation of the environmental laws," Muneer Chowdhury said adding that they have taken the 'exemplary step' to ensure that the law is abided to everywhere.

The step came after the DoE discovered the illegal operation in a recent raid on the facility located in Kaliakoir in Gazipur. The factory officials allegedly did not cooperate with the DoE on the matter on that day and the MD on Sunday apologised to the DoE Director in writing for that.

"The factory authorities have been told to submit without delay all records of their production plan and waste management," the DoE official added.

The company's General Manager and Secretary Mohammad Shaheed Farouqee, Plant Manager Rafiqul Haque, Quality Control Manager Abdul Khaleque and Manager (Engineering) Momtajul Karim represented the company at the hearing.

They apologised for building and operating the plant without clearance for so long, the statement added.

The facility built over 13 acres of land had been producing drugs including antibiotics, anti-histamines, anti-ulcerants and anti-paretics.

"The DoE does not want destruction of any organisation but it wants environment-friendly management alongside investment and employment," the DoE Director said.

He added there was no more scope to neglect the environment during investment and that it should get the highest priority.

Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Advisor Dr Mashiur Rahman on Sunday said he would have no problems stepping down if the Prime Minister wanted and it removed complications regarding the World Bank financing of the Padma bridge project.

He made the comment amid whispers that he had resigned to meet one of the global lender's conditions for getting back on board for the ambitious scheme.

"If my resignation resolves the complexity over the $ 2.9 billion loan, then why once, I will resign ten times if needed," Mashiur, also the project's integrity advisor, told journalists in front of his official Hare Road residence.

"But if there are any accusations, then the proofs behind them have to be presented and I will have to be given the scope to defend myself."

He skirted a direct reply when asked if he had resigned already. Mashiur said the government should come up with a statement on the matter first and then he might give his reactions. The Finance Minister will speak for the government, he insisted.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith did not appear for journalists to take questions on the issue, neither did he go to his office. Around 3:15pm, his Assistant Personal Secretary A S M Rashed told journalists that the Minister will not be talking with them on the issue just yet.

However, a well-placed source has confirmed bdnews24.com he met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina around noon.

bdnews24.com's Senior Correspondent Reazul Bashar said that the car carrying the advisor when he left his residence around 5:15pm had the flag of Bangladesh on it, a clear sign that he was still in office.

The Washington-based lender had given a number of conditions for the government to fulfil after raising graft allegations and suspended the fund for the project in September last year after Canadian authorities launched investigation against SNC-Lavalin, a firm shortlisted as consultant of the project.

On June 30, it cancelled its promised loan of $1.2 billion for the country's biggest-ever infrastructure project claiming that the government did not implement their requisites.

After the deal was scrapped, Information Communications and Technology Minister Syed Abul Hossain, who was the Communication Minister when the allegations were raised, resigned and former Bridges Secretary Mosharraf Hossain was sent on leave.

After Eid, rumours swirled that the advisor would also be following similar steps and a number of dailies ran stories on the issue on Saturday.

Muhith on Saturday told bdnews24.com at his Minto Road residence that the barriers to an understanding with the World Bank are being removed one by one. He also expressed hopes of reaching a resolution within a week.

The advisor time and again ducked questions from the media crew on Sunday about the gossips that he had stood down.

Mashiur went on to compare his predicament with a character of Franz Kafka's well-known novel 'The Trial': "The author showed a person on trial, but without saying what crime he had committed."

He also referred to James Frazer's comparative study of mythology and religion, The Golden Bough, and pointed out, "When people in ancient Greece started working on any establishment, they would put human blood in its foundation. When they were not getting any human blood, they started using chicken blood."

"When even that became scarce, they started building on the shadow of chickens. A business revolving around the shadow started afterwards."

At this stage, journalists asked whether the government was not giving him the scope to explain himself. Mashiur said, "If you want to blame anyone, he should be given the chance to defend himself."

The World Bank was to fund $ 1.2billion for the six-kilometre bridge that was estimated to cost $ 2.9billion. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were supposed to fund most of the remaining budget.

Even though, the World Bank cancelled their funding, ADB and JICA extended the deadline for their deals to Aug 31. So the government will have to reach a resolution with WB before that.