BANGLADESH

Bangladeshi adventuress Wasfia Nazreen has conquered another world summit.

The indomitable mountaineer on Dec 16 reached the near-seven kilometer peak of Aconcagua in Argentina, at 3:25pm local time.

Aconcagua is also the second highest of the seven summits, which are the highest points of each continent, at 6,962 meters or 22,975 feet.

Wasfia dedicated this victory to the struggle of the martyrs of 1971, calling on greater recognition for the contribution of the women who had participated and suffered in the War.

"It took a great deal of maneuvering to time the summit on our Victory Day, and I am humbled and honoured to have been part of a tough team who made it happen," she said.

"There were many logistic and financial hurdles aside from the actual climbing and we crossed all of them," said the leader of the expedition.
The Aconcagua Park rangers later formally announced that this was the first time a Bangladeshi had climbed the mountain.

Wasfia says her team climbed Alpine style instead of Expedition style, therefore, not taking help of any fixed ropes, high-altitude porters and the use of supplemental oxygen.

After the climb, her team submitted a letter to the Argentine ministry of foreign affairs urging better bilateral relationship between Argentina and Bangladesh.

Wasfia Nazreen started 'Bangladesh in Seven Summits' foundation in July 2011. As part of this effort, she has already climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Traffic on Daulatdia-Paturia ferry route has resumed after nearly seven hours of halt because of dense fog.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Paturia pier manager Biddut Kumar told  that ferry services resumed around 9am on Sunday.

"We stopped the services after a ferry (Khan Jahan Ali) got stranded in mid-river around 2am on Sunday due to poor visibility caused by heavy fog," he said.

During the halt, four ferries were stranded in Daulatdia and three in Paturia, creating a huge jam, Kumar said.

Gridlocks were seen on both sides due to traffic disruption overnight.

The work to build the Padma bridge would start within a year, communications minister Obaidul Quader said Saturday.

"The fog on the way to implement the project will go away. The work to implement the project is on, only formalities are left. It will begin within a year," Quader told reporters while visiting a site of the project at Mawa in the morning.

It is his first visit to the site after he took oath as the communications minister earlier this month.

Quick building of the bridge became uncertain when the World Bank had suspended funds promised for the longest bridge following allegations of corruption in river dredging, appointment of consultants and selection of pre-qualified contractors on the project. The government has denied the allegations.

Earlier this month, the prime minister had said the bridge would be constructed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. The communications minister on Dec 11 said the same thing.

"The government's top priority is the Padma bridge project. I have been working [to start the project] with people concerned since I took charge of the ministry. The bridge will be there," the minister said.

In response to a newspaper report that there is no improvement in the project, Quader said, "Padma bridge is not a matter of word only…the proof is in the project s

Christians in Bangladesh are celebrating their biggest religious festival Christmas.

Churches across the nation have been decorated tastefully, as also some prominent hotels in the city.

Churches, Christian missionary schools and many homes have set up cowsheds, as it is believed that Jesus was born in one.

Many hotels are organising Christmas kids' parties where Santa Clauses will bring presents for children.

Santa Claus, who is not strictly a part of Christian beliefs, is a mythical figure believed to bring gifts on the Christmas Eve for children.

According to the Christian belief, the God needed a female to implement his plan. The female was Virgin Mary who is known as Bibi Mariam to the Muslims.

Christians believe Mary, despite being virgin, gave birth to a child by the God's blessings. The child was named Jesus according to angel Gabriel's saying.

Christians believe Jesus appeared on earth to preach the Jews who went astray.

Prayers have been held in churches across the country. St. Mary's Cathedral at Kakrail led by Archbishop of Dhaka Paulinus Costa, prayed for peace and prosperity on Sunday morning.

The president, prime minister and the opposition leader have greeted the Christian community on the eve of Christmas, their largest religious festival.

Christmas is held on Dec 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, believed to be the son of god by majority of Christians.

President Zillur Rahman in his message said Jesus Christ was one of the greatest men who had come to earth to direct the mankind towards peace and righteousness.

"He called upon people to follow the path of truth, justice and tolerance."

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina in her message said Bangladesh was a nation of communal harmony.

"Here, there is complete freedom for people of all religions and ethnicity to profess their religion," she said.

"I hope Christmas will serve to further strengthen the bonds between Christians of the country and members of other communities," she added.

Opposition chief Khaleda Zia said she prayed for Christmas to be a merry and festive occasion for the Christian community and everyone else.

"May God be with us," she said in her message.

The first namaj-e-janaza in Bangladesh of late Awami League leader Abdur Razzak was held on Sunday at the south plaza of the parliament building.

The funeral prayer of the leading organiser of the 1971 Liberation War took place around 3pm after his body was taken there from his Gulshan residence.

Speaker of parliament Abdul Hamid, deputy speaker Shawkat Ali, cabinet members and MPs attended the janaza along with his family members.

Before the janaza, Razzak's son Nahin Razzak urged everyone to pray for the departed soul of his father.

A second janaza is scheduled to be held at the National Eidgah Maidan afterwards.

After that, the body of the Shariatpur-3 legislator, who never lost an election, would be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar for the masses to pay their last tributes.

His body was taken at the south plaza of parliament after the president Zillur Rahman and prime minister Sheikh Hasina paid their last respect to the 69-year-old veteran politician at his house.

Razzak's body was taken there from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after the Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight carrying his remains from London landed at 12:15pm.

His family members including his wife Farida Razzak and two sons were with the body.

The Awami League advisory council had died at King's College Hospital in London at 03:50pm local time (9:50pm Bangladesh standard time) on Friday while under treatment.

Ruling party advisory council members and his long time associates Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Abdul Jalil paid their floral tributes to him at the airport.

Awami League presidium members Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Quader and Shahara Khatun, Faruk Khan and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, ruling party ally Workers' Party president Rashed Khan Menon and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD) president Hasanul Haque Inu, among others, were also present at the airport.

After Sunday's events, Razzak's body would be kept at the mortuary until Monday when the remains would be taken to his village at Shariatpur's Damudda.

He would be buried at the capital's Banani graveyard later in the day.

A three-day festival was underway on Friday to celebrate 175 years of the port city's renowned Chittagong Collegiate School.

Festival committee convenor Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury told  the celebrations began around 3pm with a rally of the present and former students of the school.

"But the school's former student Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will officially inaugurate the programme on Saturday morning," he said.

At least 2,500 former students have already registered to join the festival, he added.

Shahjalal University of Engineering and Technology (SUST) professor and famous novelist Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, former state ministrer Iqbal Mahmud, politicians Mosharraf Hossain, Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu, M Morshed Khan and Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury are likely to attend the programme, among the former students.

After the rally, 12 present students would be awarded with a scholarship.

The school is scheduled to hold a reception to honour Yunus Saturday morning. The day's later programmes include sharing the memories by the former students and a cultural prohgramme.

The festival will end with a series of programmes that include blood donation camp, discussion and reminiscence in the morning and cultural event Sunday afternoon.

Chittagong Collegiate School, established as Chittagong Government School in 1836, is one of the oldest schools in the country. The school was the first English medium high school in Chittagong.

Famous personalities like poet Nabinchandra Sen, scientist Abdullah Al Moti Sarfuddin, Kolkata City Corporation mayor Deshapriya Jatindra Mohan Sengupta were the school's students.

Celebrated novelist Humayun Ahmed, scientist Jamal Nazrul Islam, former Bangla Academy director general Mustafa Nurul Islam, actors Ataur Rahman and Abul Hayat also went to this school.

A three-day festival was underway on Friday to celebrate 175 years of the port city's renowned Chittagong Collegiate School.

Festival committee convenor Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury told  the celebrations began around 3pm with a rally of the present and former students of the school.

"But the school's former student Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will officially inaugurate the programme on Saturday morning," he said.

At least 2,500 former students have already registered to join the festival, he added.

Shahjalal University of Engineering and Technology (SUST) professor and famous novelist Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, former state ministrer Iqbal Mahmud, politicians Mosharraf Hossain, Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu, M Morshed Khan and Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury are likely to attend the programme, among the former students.

After the rally, 12 present students would be awarded with a scholarship.

The school is scheduled to hold a reception to honour Yunus Saturday morning. The day's later programmes include sharing the memories by the former students and a cultural prohgramme.

The festival will end with a series of programmes that include blood donation camp, discussion and reminiscence in the morning and cultural event Sunday afternoon.

Chittagong Collegiate School, established as Chittagong Government School in 1836, is one of the oldest schools in the country. The school was the first English medium high school in Chittagong.

Famous personalities like poet Nabinchandra Sen, scientist Abdullah Al Moti Sarfuddin, Kolkata City Corporation mayor Deshapriya Jatindra Mohan Sengupta were the school's students.

Celebrated novelist Humayun Ahmed, scientist Jamal Nazrul Islam, former Bangla Academy director general Mustafa Nurul Islam, actors Ataur Rahman and Abul Hayat also went to this school.

A foreign container ship ran aground on Friday in Chittagong port channel.

Officials, however, said the ship that stuck onto the ground was not hampering shipping movements in the port.

Deputy conservator of the port Captain Nazmul Alam told  that the Panama-flagged Hanjing Samarang ran aground in the middle of No 1 Buoy and No 2 Buoy of the port channel around 1pm.

"The ship came to Chittagong from Port Klang in Malaysia and it ran aground while coming to the port jetty from the outer anchorage," he added.

Port secretary Syed Farhad Uddin said that the ship will be brought to the port jetty at midnight during the high tide.

With the clock ticking for the first ever Textbook Festival scheduled to be held on the New Year's Day, around 10 million copies of textbooks are yet to reach the upazilas.

The government had planned to supply all schools in the country with textbooks by Jan 1. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate the Textbook Festival by handing over a set of books to one student of each class up to Class IX under the general, madrasa and technical education boards at Gano Bhaban at 10 am on Dec 29.

However, according to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), some 95 percent primary education-level textbooks and 96 percent secondary education level books have so far been supplied by Thursday. Khulna Sadar upazila and the upazilas under Rangpur division were yet to get the deliveries.

NCTB chairman Professor Mostafa Kamaluddin is, however, hopeful that all the remaining upazila headquarters will get textbooks within the stipulated period.

"Textbooks will reach all primary and secondary students on Jan 1, the day Textbook Festival is observed across the country," he said, adding that "some complication" had led to the delay.

The deadline for supplying textbooks in the upazila headquarters was Nov 30, but it was extended to Dec 8 in accordance to the demand of some printing publications. "Despite that, some publications could not supply books in time. Legal action will be taken against those who failed to supply textbooks in time by deferring their bills," Kamaluddin added.

The NCTB chairman said the government would distribute around 221 million textbooks this year free of cost among primary and secondary students.

Though free textbooks are given at primary level every year, the government distributed around 232 million textbooks free of cost among around 32.02 million students of the secondary school level in 2010 for the first time.

A total of 19 printing organisations, including three from India, have printed the textbooks this year through international tender invitation.

The 48-hour transport strike in eight districts of the Rangpur Division has been called off from 6pm Friday after 12 hours.

Vehicular movement on 26 inter-district and local routes resumed after the strike was withdrawn.

The strike was enforced by the Rangpur Divisional Road Transportation Workers' Federation from 6am.

Federation president Akther Hossain Badal told  that the transport strike was called off following discussion with executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers' Federation Shajahan Khan, who is also the shipping minister.

Badal said that the minister assured them of taking legal actions against those responsible for the attack.

Rangpur district superintendent of police Saleh Mohammad Tanvir also confirmed the withdrawal of the strike.

The federation at a meeting on Thursday evening decided to enforce the strike after a clash between two groups of rival transport workers in Rangpur bus terminal area in the afternoon leaving at least 30 injured, including Rangpur Divisional Motor Workers' Association general secretary Abdul Majid.

It enforced the strike in protest at the attack and demanding removal of illegal encroachments from the terminal area.

The strike virtually snapped communication with the rest of the country from Friday morning to evening.

The strike left commuters to suffer. Many students from different districts failed to reach the examination centre Carmichael College to attend the admission test for the National University.

A large number of police were deployed at several key points of the town on Friday morning to avoid any unpleasant situation.

Abdur Razzak, MP, one of the leading organisers of the 1971 Liberation War, died at London hospital at 9:50pm Bangladesh Standard time (BdST) on Friday, an embassy official said.

Rashed Chowdhury, the press minister of the Bangladesh High Commission, told  of his death.

The 69-year-old was on life support for hours,  London correspondent said, contrary to the media reports that he had passed away.

Several news media announced around 6.30pm that the senior leader had died and also cited condolence messages from the president, prime minister and the opposition leader.

However, when contacted, the prime minister's office, Awami League office and opposition leader's office had no reactions.

His long-time political colleague Tofail Ahmed told  at 7pm he had contacted London around 6pm and the life support had not been taken off.

Razzak has long been suffering from liver diseases. Doctors at King's College Hospital were planning to transplant his liver on Dec 11 but later said his kidney needed to be transplanted, too. They had been planning to do both surgeries at a time.

A member of the ruling Awami League advisory council, Razzaq was minister for water resources during the 1996-2001 Hasina government, but failed to secure a Cabinet seat when the party returned to power in 2009.

Instead, he was made the chairman of the parliamentary committee on water resources ministry. He led a 10-strong parliamentary fact-finding mission on Tipaimukh dam project to India in late 2009 and in his report to parliament he said that the Indian government had assured the team that they would not implement any project that would harm Bangladesh.

He became general secretary of the Awami League in the post-1975 difficult days, but later broke away to resurrect BKSAL in the early 1980s when Sheikh Hasina had returned home to take over the reins of the troubled party.

The BKSAL, which he virtually led, merged with the mainstream Awami League in the late 1980s, but Razzaq never got back the coveted position of the general secretary. He was made a member of the policymaking presidium, became a minister when Awami League ended its 21-year wait for state power in 1996.

He was widely believed to be instrumental in making the Indo-Bangla 30-year water sharing treaty happen in 1996.

Razzak was arrested and imprisoned many times by the Ayub Khan government in 1964-65, then from 1967 to 1969 for participating in the Six-Point Movement. After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, Razzaq was yet again arrested. His last imprisonment came in 1987 during H M Ershad's autocratic regime.

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee was in forefront of the local collaborators who helped the Pakistani army in looting and killing hundreds of people at Parer Hat in Pirojpur district in March 1971, a witness told the International Crimes Tribunal on Wednesday.

Sultan Ahmed Hawlader, the fourth witness to be presented before the three-judge tribunal headed by Nizamul Haque, said he had seen the Pakistani army personnel coming at Parer Hat in Pirojpur sometime in early March during the 1971 Liberation War. A number of locals had assisted the Pakistanis in the loot and arson that followed, he added.

"Delwar Hossain Shikder, who is now known as Delwar Hossain Sayedee, had led the heinous crimes," Hawlader said.

The tribunal has asked the prosecution to produce Sayedee, the first to face prosecution for his alleged war crimes such as murder, rape, arson and loot, before the court on Thursday. Sayedee was indicted on Oct 30, 2011 on 20 counts of "crimes against humanity".

Sayedee was present in the court on Wednesday when his counsel finished the cross-examination of the third witness, Mizanur Rahman Talukder. However, after Hawlader's deposition, the defence counsels told the court that they were not prepared to cross-examine the fourth witness.

Sayedee's lawyer Tazul Islam told the court that his client was ill and needed physiotherapy. "It's difficult for him to stay in the courtroom for a long time."

The court allowed Sayedee to get some physiotherapy on Thursday morning and ordered the defence to present him during the cross-examination of Hawlader.

On Mar 25, 2010, the government had constituted the high-powered three-member tribunal along with a special investigation agency and a prosecution cell. This was in line with the election pledges of the ruling Awami League to bring war criminals to justice.

Five of the seven high-profile war crime suspects so far to face trial belong to Jamaat while two are from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The other Jamaat leaders to face trial are party chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.

The two BNP leaders are Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury MP and former minister Abdul Alim. The tribunal had granted conditional bail to Abdul Alim on Mar 31.

If convicted, the accused face a maximum of death penalty or a minimum of 10 years of imprisonment for crimes like mass killings, murders, arsons and rapes under the International Crimes Tribunal Act.

Fog has continued to disrupt ferry services on Daulatdia-Paturia route.

Like previous nights, ferry services were hampered for nearly 11 hours until Wednesday morning.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Daulatdia pier assistant general manager Zillur Rahman told  that ferry services resumed around 9:30am on Wednesday.

Ferries Shah Paran, Amanat Shah, Shah Jalal and Matiur Rahman got stranded in Daulatdia pier while Khan Jahan, Keramat Ali, Hamidur Shah Ali and Kumari in Paturia pier, leaving hundreds of passengers into severe trouble.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will visit India's Northeast early next year, according to a senior local official.

She will visit Tripura on Jan 12 next year to participate in a convocation programme of Tripura University, vice chancellor Prof Arunoday Saha said on Wednesday. "The university will confer upon her honorary doctorate degree - Doctor of Literature - during her visit."

This will be her maiden to the region.

"Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has given her consent to attend the 9th convocation of the Tripura University scheduled for Jan 12," Prof Saha said

The vice president of India, Hamid Ansari, is likely to handover the degree to Sheikh Hasina at the programme.

Earlier, governor of Tripura D Y Patil and chief minister Manik Sarkar during their visit to Dhaka had extended separate invitations to the prime minister and Awami League president to visit the state.

Tripura shares a long 857-km border and has a close cultural affinity with Bangladesh.

Sarkar, along with Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla and Mukul Sangma of Meghalaya accompanied Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh on his two-day Bangladesh tour on Sep 6-7.

After his return from Dhaka, he told reporters "The Bangladesh prime minister is keen to visit Tripura, and the Tripura University in consultation with the Indian and Bangladeshi authorities is giving final shape to her visit."

Sarkar added, "Hasina will be the first Bangladeshi prime minister to visit the Northeast. It will further enhance the bilateral relation between the two nations, and boost trade and business relations between the northeast region of India and its closest neighbour Bangladesh."

The Tripura government is preparing for a grand reception to the Bangladesh premier and the Indian vice president.

Hasina is expected to hold a high level meeting with the Tripura chief minister and other top Indian officials in Agartala to finalise more strategies to boost trade and business between Bangladesh and India's northeastern states.

She will stay here on Jan 12 and leave for Dhaka the next day.

Hasina may also visit one or two locations of the erstwhile base and training camps of Bangladeshi "Mukti Bahini" (Bangladeshi freedom fighters) in Tripura, which had over 16 such camps in various parts of the state where the freedom fighters took arms training to fight out Pakistani occupation forces.

Moreover, during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, over 1,600,000 Bangladeshi nationals had taken shelter in Tripura. Their number exceeded the then population of the state.

Another round of power tariff hike is set to be announced on Thursday.

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) member Selim Mahmud told  on Wednesday the announcement will be made at a news conference at the BERC office in Karwan Bazar in Dhaka.

"The cost of electricity at consumer level (retail) is increasing. The process (of rate fixing) is already complete," Mahmud added.

The BERC member, however, would not reveal the extent of hike now.

BERC had raised bulk price of electricity for the third time this year by 31.16 percent on Nov 24. The increase took effect in two phases: from Dec 1 and subsequently from Feb 1.

The government on Feb 8 raised the average retail power tariffs by five percent to Tk 4.20 from Tk 4 from Feb 1.

The consumer-level tariffs were, however, not applicable for using up to 100 units in houses, irrigation and non-residential religious, social and educational institutions.

Mass hearings on the hike of retail power price were held in the power distributing companies from April to November.

Rural Electricity Board (REB) proposed to raise retail power price by 12. 97 percent, West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZOPDCO) 18.99 percent, Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) 21.94 percent, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) 11.93 percent and Power Development Board (PDB) proposed to raise the tariff by 21 percent.

Selim said the tariff rates would be same for all companies except REB.

The president will hold dialogues on forming the new Election Commission with parties represented in parliament from Thursday.

His press secretary A K M Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan told  on Dec 18 that Jatiya Party (H M Ershad) and Jatiya Shamajtantrik Dal (JSD Inu) had been invited to the first day's dialogue.

Each party will be asked to bring 10 delegates, he said.

In reply to a question, he said among the parties who were not in parliament, 'important' ones would also be asked to join the dialogue.

There are 38 political parties registered with the Election Commission, of which only eight are represented in parliament.

They are: ruling Awami League, opposition BNP, Jatiya Party, Jatiya Shamajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Workers' Party, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Bangladesh Jatiya Party and Liberal Democratic Party.

The Awami League-led ruling alliance has 239 seats, the BNP-led opposition alliance 32, Jatiya Party 25, Jamaat-e-Islami two and LDP one.

The present Election Commission, led by chief election commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda, commissioners Sohul Hossain and M Shakhawat Hossain, started off on Feb 5, 2007 during the caretaker government regime.

The commission gave the caretaker government a draft law that they believe will help the EC stay credible. During the present government's term, it discussed the proposal with registered political parties.

The EC is supposed to submit the draft to government this month.

There have been 19 election commissioners and 10 chief election commissioners in Bangladesh since independence.

The 15th amendment to the constitution limits the number of election commissioners to five.

Urging the border guards to leave the 'regretful' past behind in an effort to strengthen the BGB, home minister Shahara Khatun has said the paramilitary force is going to be divided into four zones.

"The killing of 74 people, including 57 army officials, on February 25-26, 2009 was sorrowful… pathetic. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina's intelligence saved the day," she said at a reception to honour freedom fighters from the then East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) on Tuesday.

EPR was renamed Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) after liberation in 1971. The paramilitary force was further christened Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Dec 20 last year.

On Dec 8, parliament passed the Border Guard Bangladesh Bill-2010 with the provision of death penalty for offences such as rebellion, killing and arson within the paramilitary force.

The law repealed the existing one in a bid to restructure BDR in the wake of the killings of army officers at the Peelkhana headquarters in February 2009.

"The trial of the mutiny is in final stages," Shahara said on Tuesday. "Those responsible for killings and loot will be punished through proper trial."

She also said the government is thinking of sending BGB members to the UN's peace keeping mission.

DIVIDING BGB IN ZONES

The home minister said the Border Guard Bangladesh Bill-2010 proposes to divide the BGB into several zones.

Seeking anonymity, a BGB official told  that the decision to divide BGB into four zones aims to increase manpower in the frontier security force.

The headquarters of the northwest zone will be at Noagaon, northeast headquarters at Sarail in Brahmanbaria, while the southeast headquarters will be stationed at Chittagong, the BGB official said.

"The issue is awaiting the finance ministry's approval. We hope it will be finalised soon," he said.

According to the official, an officer of brigadier rank, or of same status, would be made the region commander for each zone.

"A decision has also been taken to add four more sectors to the existing 12 sectors,'" he said. The sectors in the pipeline are Sreemangal, Thakurgaon, Bandarban and Bagaichharhi.

BORDER HEROES HONOURED

A total of 119 freedom fighters from the erstwhile EPR were honoured on Tuesday. Of them, lance naiks Nur Mohammad Sheik and Munshi Abdur Rouf were awarded Bir Shrestha, the highest military award of Bangladesh, for their contribution during the 1971 Liberation War.

Eight others were awarded Bir Uttam, 32 given Bir Bikram, while Bir Pratik was conferred on 77 former EPR fighters.

Of them, 57 were given reception at the Peelkhana headquarters of BGB, and the others at different sectors on Tuesday.

State minister for home Shamsul Hoque Tuku was special guest at the function.

At the reception function, Sepoy Sheikh Moktar Ali, an award-winning freedom fighter, said Sepoy Ashraf had clasped Captain Sadeque of Pakistani Army in the arms in Chuadanga district on March 26, 1971. Both had died from bullet injuries. But Sepoy Ashraf was not given any reception.

The government has given its nod for three agreements with Orion Group to add 1,088 Megawatt (MW) electricity to the national grid from three privately run coal-based power plants.

The move is part of the government's plan to boost power production amid increasing demand.

Representing either side, managing director of Orion Group Salman Obaidul Karim and power secretary of Power Development Board (PDB) Mohammad Azizul Islam signed agreement papers to set up three coal-fired power plants, at the Bidyut Bhaban here on Tuesday.

This is the first initiative to generate substantial power using energy. At present the 250-MW coal-fired power plant near Barapukuria coalmine is the country's lone coal-fired power plant.

The new coal-based power plants will be set up at Mawa in Munshiganj (capacity 522 MW), Anwara in Chittagong (283 MW), and at Labanchora in Khulna (283 MW).

The government also signed another deal with Solarium Power Ltd to produce a further 18 MW solar power.

Solarium Power Ltd managing director Nazmul Abedin and PDB secretary Azizul Islam also gave their written consent.

Energy adviser to the prime minister Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, power division secretary Abul Kalam Azad, state minister for power Mohammad Enamul Haque, and PDB chairman A S M Alamgir Kabir were present on the occasion.

The four deals will formally be signed soon, the gathering was informed.

The government has already said the thermal solar system will be set up at Phulpur in Mymensingh district (capacity 18 MW), the country's first renewable energy-based power plant with a capacity over 1 MW, to become the largest renewable energy-based power plant in the subcontinent.

MORE POWER SOON

Of the three deals inked with Orion, the power plant to be set up at Mawa will start generating electricity within 45 months, while those at Labanchora and Anwara would start operation within 36 months.

The government would purchase power per unit from Mawa plant at Tk 4, and for Tk 3.80 per unit from the two others, it was informed.

Solarium, meanwhile, plans to start commercial operation in two years and will sell power to the government at Tk 5.50 per unit. The plant will cost Tk 2.35 billion, Nazmul Abedin, managing director of Solarium, said at the signing ceremony.

Orion Group chairman Obaidul Karim said, "We will invest US$ 1.4 billion to set up the three coal-based plants."

The prime minister's energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said the deals were part of the government's efforts to augment power generation to meet the rapidly increasing demand.

Calling the deals a step towards fulfilling the government's commitment to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to people, he said power supply across the country has significantly improved in the three years since this government came to office.


SUPPLY NOT ENOUGH NOW
The nation's power demand of 7,000 MW every day exceeds daily production by nearly 2,000 MW at present.

At present, natural gas fuels 82 percent of power generated in the country, furnace oil fuels 5 percent, diesel another 7 percent, while water and coal make up for a total of 6 percent power generated.

Generating power by using gas, many experts say, is a luxury for a nation like Bangladesh.

The Sheikh Hasina government has set a target to raise power generation up to 15,000 MW by 2016.

Deals have already been struck to set up 48 power plants to meet the target, of which 17 are quick rental plants, three are rental, 10 are independent power producers, and 18 are state-run power plants.

As a result, officials said, around 2,500 MW have been added to the national grid over the last three years. Of this, 1,581 MW is generated by 20 plants set up during this government's tenure and 825 MW comes from power plants agreed on during the caretaker government's regime.

The results of Masters final examinations of 22 disciplines held in 2008 under the National University (NU) have been published.

An official release said the results were published on Monday.

The disciplines include Sanskrit, Bangla, English, History, Islamic Studies, Arabic, Islamic History and Culture, Philosophy, Political Science, Social Science, Social Work, Physics, Biochemistry, Zoology, Statistics, Psychology, Soil Science, Home Economics, Management, Finance and Banking, Marketing and Pali.

The results will be sent to the colleges concerned. It will also be available on the website - www.nu.edu.bd and www.nu-results.net

A total of 73,196 students sat for the Masters final examinations in 30 subjects.

The results of other departments will be published soon.

Results of Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations will be published on Dec 28.

"The results are being published within 37 days after the exam ended," education secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury told  on Wednesday.

The education ministry earlier announced that it would publish the results within Dec 31.

JSC and JDC examinations started from Nov 1 and ended on Nov 21.

A total of 18,61,113 students took part in the exams --15,37,422 students for JSC and the rest 3,23,691 students sat for JDC.

The examination is being held since 2010 for the Grade-VIII students. This year, the exams were held at 2009 centres simultaneously.

All the papers saw creative questions except for Bengali second paper, English first and second paper and Mathematics.

Like the previous year, students failing in three subjects would be allowed to get themselves admitted to Grade-IX but they would have to take part and pass in the next examination, according to the education ministry.

This year, the physically challenged students were given extra 20 minutes. Moreover, those who cannot see or write were allowed to have a writer.

Chief election commissioner (CEC) A T M Shamsul Huda has mixed feelings about president Zillur Rahman's initiative to hold talks with parties represented in parliament on the new Election Commission's (EC) formation.

Though the outgoing CEC is confused about success of the idea, he reckons it as "optimistic". "But I don't think they will reach a solution with this," he told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the idea.

"(However) even if they find no solution, the dialogue will create a framework and an idea of what kind of EC the political parties want," he added.

President Zillur Rahman is scheduled to hold dialogues with political parties from Dec 22. The parties represented in Parliament have already been invited to join the talks with a 10-person delegation each.

Jatiya Party (H M Ershad) and Jatiya Shamajtantrik Dal (JSD Inu) have been invited to the first day's dialogue.

There are 38 political parties registered with the EC, of which only eight are represented in Parliament.

The president's decision came on Sunday amid the main opposition BNP's demand for consultation with the opposition to form the new poll panel.

Distinguished people from various fields joined bdnews24.com in celebrating its fifth anniversary of setting new trends of journalism.

Curtain was raised on programme began by cutting a cake at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in the evening on Tuesday.

Editor-in-chief of Bangladesh's first internet newspaper, Toufique Imrose Khalidi, is presenting a brief glimpse of bdnews24.com's operations. Photos and videos are also shown.

A beta version of bdnews24.com was launched by legendary woman freedom fighter Khurshid Jahan Begum.

Khurshid Jahan was one of the thousands who joined the war of independence in 1971 with a five-month infant in her arms, and 40 years on, she hit the headlines when bdnews24.com ran a report on her on the 40th Victory Day.

Launching its journey with news, the bilingual online newspaper diversified its contents through innovations. It has contents for children, technology news seekers, as well as news of sports.

Readers hit nearly 40 million times on several pages of the website every month. The site is hit from 300,000 IP addresses daily; sometimes the figure goes as high as 500,000.

Former chief justice and chief adviser to the caretaker government Muhammad Habibur Rahman, former chief election commissioner Justice Abdur Rauf, justice A T M Afzal, chief election commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda, former advisor to the caretaker government Gitiara Safia Chowdhury, Navy chief Vice Admiral Zahir Uddin Ahmed, ambassador of Myanmar in Bangladesh U Min Lwin and former diplomat Wali-ur Rahman, among others, attended the programme.

The politicians who attended the programme include health and family welfare affairs adviser to the prime minister Dr Syed Modasser Hossain, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Enamul Huq, Awami League MP Akhtaruzzaman Babu, BNP acting secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Communist Party of Bangladesh president Manzurul Ahsan Khan, former commerce minister and BNP chairperson's adviser Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and BNP MP Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie.

Veteran journalists former Jai Jai Din editor Shafik Rehman, The Independent editor Mahbubul Alam, The News Today editor Reazuddin Ahmed, Maasranga TV chief executive officer Syed Fahim Munaim and head of news Shah Alamgir were also in attendence.

Power Development Board chairman Asif Mahmud, Dhaka Stock Exchange president Shakil Rizvi and Merchant Bankers' Association president Mohammad A Hafiz joined the celebrations.

Media personality Ali Zaker, renowned magician Jewel Aich and Bidisha, among others, attended the function.

India on Tuesday regretted the recent deaths of three Bangladesh nationals in the incidents of firing by the BSF along the border.

New Delhi, however, maintained that the BSF personnel had opened fire in self-defence after being attacked by the miscreants on the Indian side of the border at Govindpur in Malda district and at Narayanganj in Coochbehar district of West Bengal.

In the wake of the latest deaths along the Kurigram-Dinajpur border, the Ministry of External Affairs of the Indian government issued a statement.

The Indian government said that its policy of restraint along its border with Bangladesh 'emboldened' the criminal elements, who of late stepped up attacks on the personnel of its Border Security Force.

New Delhi also called upon Dhaka to do its bit in curbing illegal activities and restrict movement of people along the border, especially during night hours.

The BSF too issued a statement alleging that its soldiers were coming under increasing attacks by cattle smugglers and other border criminals after they started exercising self restraint in use of lethal weapons.

"The BSF has issued instructions to continue this restraint but not to hesitate in use of appropriate force in life threatening situations, in exercising their legal right of self defence," read the statement issued by the paramilitary force of India.

The external affairs ministry in its statement said: "The Government of India regrets all incidents of deaths on the border, of Indian and Bangladesh nationals. To prevent loss of lives along the border areas, the BSF has exercised the utmost restraint and has resorted to firing in self defence only in rare cases.

The Government of India has taken various steps, including strict control on firing, introduction of non-lethal weapons, round-the-clock domination and intensive patrolling. It has also imposed night time restrictions on the movement of people in the border areas."

"Unfortunately," it added, "this policy of restraint has emboldened criminal elements who have stepped up their attacks on BSF personnel deployed along the border in order to facilitate their illegal activities. A number of attacks have been recorded on BSF personnel and posts along the India-Bangladesh border over the last few months.

A spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs narrated New Delhi's version of the two separate incidents along border in Kurigram and Dinajpur (Malda and Coochbehar in India) in the night/early hours of Dec 16 and 17.

He said that a group of around 50-60 miscreants involved in illegal activity along the border in Malda not only pelted stones when challenged by the BSF soldier, who was on duty at his post, but also tried to drag him towards the Bangladesh side of the border.


"Sensing imminent danger to his life, his two colleagues fired four rounds in all resulting in the miscreants fleeing the scene, leaving the BSF soldier behind."


According to the Indian government's spokesman, in the other incident at Coochbehar, around 30-40 miscreants involved in illegal activity attacked a BSF soldier with bamboo sticks and sharp-edged weapons, when he challenged them.


"Sensing imminent danger to his life, the BSF jawan first hurled a non-lethal stun grenade and then as a last resort opened fire at the armed miscreants in self-defence."

New Delhi claimed that both incidents had taken place 200 to 250 metres from the international boundary inside Indian territory. "A BSF soldier was injured in the incident and is currently in hospital undergoing treatment. The BSF has ordered an enquiry into these incidents," read the statement.

New Delhi stressed that the Coordinated Border Management Plan, signed by India and Bangladesh in July 2011, envisaged joint responsibility of both the BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh to synergise their efforts to ensure effective control over cross-border illegal activities and crimes as well as for the maintenance of peace and harmony along the border.

"It is the view of the Government of India that illegal activities, which sometimes lead to regrettable loss of lives on both sides along the border, need to be addressed through joint collaborative efforts and mechanisms. The Government of Bangladesh has been urged to take measures to restrict the movement of people along the border, especially during night hours," it said.

"The Government of India proposes to continue to work closely with the Government of Bangladesh to maintain peace and harmony along the border," it added.

The BSF too in its statement requested the BGB for more co-operation in preventing movement of miscreants particularly cattle smugglers across the Bangladesh during night hours.

A parliamentary watchdog has held former caretaker chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, army chief Moeen U Ahmed, the then police chief and officers of army's intelligence agency responsible for the violence at Dhaka University in 2007.

In its report submitted to the parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry on Tuesday, the sub-committee formed to investigate the atrocities recommended punishment for them, panel head Rashed Khan Menon told reporters on Tuesday.

Violence broke out in DU after army men camped on the campus beat up some students on Aug 20, 2007 following an altercation with a few students on the university playground during a football match.

The students had also assaulted some senior army officers, rampaged through the capital, burning and damaging dozens of vehicles as they clashed with the police. The army men then launched a ruthless assault on the students that went on for several days.

The violence spilled on to Dhaka's streets and spread across the country, shaking the caretaker government backed by the influential army.

After taking charge, the Sheikh Hasina government constituted a sub-committee to run an investigation into the incidents.

The sub-committee heard statements of army officials, teachers and students. The students, however, blamed Fakhruddin and Moeen for the violence.

The then army chief, in a statement through teleconference from the US, declined his involvement with the violence. For his part, Fakhruddin sent an email, which the committee termed "incomplete".

Menon, also head of the parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry, had on Dec 8 said that the sub-committee finalised its report with recommendation to take legal steps against "those who had been in charge" then.

WHAT REPORT SAYS

The report makes 11 observations and 13 recommendations.

This s the first time a parliamentary committee had made such detailed investigation into a matter, Menon said.

Outlining the committee's observations, he said Fakhruddin and Moeen cannot avoid responsibility of the incidents.

Former police chief Nur Mohammad was also blamed for negligence of duty.

Menon said the direct involvement of DGFI, the army's intelligence wing, delayed release of the students and teachers who were arrested.

The report has recommended making the offenders compensate those injured and pay for their treatment, as also compensate the family of rickshaw-puller Anwar, who was murdered in Rajshahi.

It also recommended amending the university ordinance of 1973 to create more effective proctorial bodies.

Menon said the committee had suggested that sentences some of the students were facing be withdrawn.

Twelve cases have been filed in six city police stations and 120 people arrested over Sunday's unrest, bomb explosions, arson, vandalism and clashes with police in the capital.

A Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) press release on Monday said that police filed 11 of the cases.

Of the cases, four were filed under the Speedy Trial Act.

Three cases each were filed with Paltan and Motijheel police, two each at Shahbagh and Ramna police stations, and two each with Tejgaon and Badda police.

Of the 120 arrestees, 119 of them have been charged in the Speedy Trial Act cases.

Police said 13 vehicles were torched in the capital on Sunday.

Several crude bombs were exploded in different parts of the city including in front of the BNP headquarters on Sunday following the day's earlier incident at Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) where police swooped down, dispersed a gathering of main opposition BNP and arrested several activists as they allegedly created anarchy there.

One person was injured in the explosions, while another, an alleged carrier of bombs, died in Motijheel.

The police had detained more than 100 party supporters following the incident with BNP claiming the number is 300.

On Monday, six more bombs exploded in front of the BNP's Naya Paltan office in two phases, while two more went off at the capital's Bijaynagar area.

Law enforcers claim that the opposition activists are carrying out these pre-planned disruptive activities, but BNP refuted the allegations and said the government-backed violent incidents took place just to thwart the opposition's programme.

Ferry services on the two major routes of the country have faced trouble overnight due to dense fog, creating gridlocks on the piers.


In this reason many people faced problen to goto their destination.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) Kewrakandi pier manager M A Baten said ferry operation on the Mawa-Kewrakandi route stopped around 11pm on Sunday.

Five ferries anchored in the mid-river that time while five others remained stuck in the pier overnight.

The ferries resumed services around 8:30am on Monday, he added.

BIWTC Paturia pier manager Ashraf Ullah Khan said a ferry got stuck on the pier while five at Daulatdia around 11:30pm on Sunday.

Four other ferries also got stuck in the middle of the river until the fog eased around 8am on Monday, he added.

Pier officials said about 2.5 kilometres of gridlock had been created on the Dhaka-Paturia highway due to the disruption of the ferry services.

A conductor and his associate have been injured after their bus has caught fire at Badda.

The fire originated from a mosquito coil on Sunday night when they were asleep, police said on Monday.

"Their quilts caught fire from a mosquito coil and they suffered burn injuries while trying to douse the fire," Badda Police Station sub-inspector Jahangir Alam told .

The RM Paribahan bus, standing near Hossain Market on Swadhinata Sarani, caught fire around 11:30 pm, the official said.

Locals rescued the victims and informed police, he said.

They were immediately taken to the General Hospital with burn injuries and then sent to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where they were given first aid.

Firemen doused the fire immediately, he said

SO BE CAREFUL

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) will begin hearing on framing charges against BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury on Jan 15.

The tribunal, which is dealing with crimes against humanity involving the Liberation War, rejected six pleas of Salahuddin on Monday and set the date.

The BNP leader's six petitions, filed on Dec 5, included appeals that the tribunal abide by the international covenants where Bangladesh is a state party, recognition of Evidence Act 1872 and Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, and allowing 11 months to prepare his defence as the prosecution has had that much time.

Tribunal chairman Nizamul Huq said in his order that the tribunal had given Chowdhury’s petition for allowing the Evidence Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure in the procedure, but noted that the tribunal was established with a specific purpose and goal.

He said the war crimes tribunal was established for the detention, prosecution and punishment for crimes against humanity, genocide and other such international crimes.

The International Crimes Tribunal Act of 1973 clearly states that those laws will not be applicable in the proceedings of this case and as such the petition merits no consideration. It was rejected.

Huq said that the matter of allowing foreign counsel at the tribunal rested entirely upon the Bangladesh Bar Council, which prohibited them from appearing in front of any court of the country.

If the bar council allows foreign council, the tribunal ‘may allow’ foreign lawyers, said Huq stressing on the ‘may’.

However, there was no bar on foreign consultants as advisors outside the court ‘not within the premises of this court’, said Huq. He dismissed the petition.

Regarding live telecast of the proceedings and allowing electronic media in the court room, the tribunal chief said there were no such instances in the world although ‘[live telecast] sounds very nice’.

Sometimes court proceedings are telecast but they are recorded versions, said Huq. He also said that the tribunal may consider broadcast of certain parts of the trial later on, but at this point of time, the application ‘having no merit stands rejected’.

Salauddin Quader had asked for 11 months to prepare his defence since the prosecution had also been given that much time in another petition.

The tribunal responded saying that it firmly that both parties should have enough time to prepare for their cases. But it was absurd for one party to demand the same amount of time simply because the other side has taken that much.

Besides, Huq said, “The onus of proof lies with the prosecution. And it is natural for them to take a longer time than the defence.”

He said that considering individual cases and the tribunal was competent to deal with petitions for more time beyond the minimum time of 21 days for defence.

“In one case that is currently ongoing the defence has been allowed about three months for the preparation.”

Huq rejected the petition.

As regards the petition to define crimes against humanity, Huq said the crimes were in fact defined in the act. Besides, he noted, there was also the possibility of taking assistance from other judgements from abroad. This petition was also rejected.

As for the petition to abide by the international covenants that Bangladesh is a party to, the tribunal said it was a matter relevant for the government and not the tribunal. He said the tribunal would only follow its laws and nothing more. And the petition was rejected.

On Oct 4, the prosecution submitted its investigation report against Salahuddin for his alleged crimes against humanity during the 1971 war.

A case was filed against the BNP MP on July 26, 2010.

The investigation agency had appealed to the Tribunal on Dec 15 last year to detain him. Within a day of filing the appeal, he had been arrested on the charge of killing one during a general strike when a car was torched.

He was subsequently shown arrested for crimes against humanity on Dec 19 last year.

Apart from Salahuddin, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary-general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, assistant secretaries-general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla, executive council member Delwar Hossian Sayedee and former member of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman's cabinet Abdul Alim were arrested on charges of crimes against humanity.

However, Alim was later freed on conditional bail.

 Eight bombs have exploded near BNP's Naya Paltan headquarters -- four immediately after a police-cordoned rally ended, and as many in the evening.

While a man had died in Sunday's explosion of a homemade bomb at Motijheel and another person was injured, no one was yet reported injured in Monday's series of explosions.

Paltan police chief Shahidul Haque told  that all eight appears to have been homemade bombs. He said two blasts were reported in front of Jonaki cinema hall, two in front of Hotel Ekattur -- both around 5pm -- and four other blasts took place in front of the BNP office around 6.45pm.

The police charged batons and dispersed BNP supporters who had gathered near the party headquarters after the explosions in the immediate aftermath of Monday afternoon's protest rally there.

The law enforcers suspect BNP supporters, on their way back from the rally, exploded the bombs.

On Sunday, several homemade bombs were exploded in front of the BNP office. An RTV driver was injured in an explosion in the area, while another person had died in Motijheel in separate incidents.

With over 100 party leaders and activists arrested in the aftermath of Sunday's blasts, the BNP had announced protest demonstrations on Monday afternoon. The police, though, barred them from holding a rally.

Cordoned off by police and RAB personnel in front of the Naya Paltan office, BNP leaders declared that they would take out a public procession on Wednesday to protest Sunday's arrests and Monday's police obstruction to what they called was a peaceful protest.