BANGLADESH

Rapid Action Battalion seized around 3 lakh litres of furnace oil which was being hauled for black market in Chittagong Sunday night.

Rab also arrested 23 people for their alleged involvement with the illegal sale of the furnace oil of the state-run Padma Oil Company Ltd.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Rab-7 conducted a drive at the Karnaphuli river bank known as Anu Majhir Ghat under Double Mooring Police Station at around 11:30pm and captured the people when they were loading the stolen furnace oil in an oil-tanker.

The Rab personnel also seized an oil-tanker named OT Prianka and 11 fake vouchers of the oil.

“They collect oil from Padma Oil Company depot and sell it to various vessels in Karnaphuli River,” said Rab-7 Commanding Officer (acting) Major Ziaul Ahsan.

He said the law enforcers were trying to trace them for the last four days.

The arrestees, in primary interrogation, denied their involvement with the incident and said that they collect furnace oil from different shipyards at Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong.

“We are investigating that whether any official of the company is involved with hauling oil from the company,” said the Rab official.

CNG refilling stations revert to their previous 4-hour shutdown on Tuesday as the government order on 6-hour shutdown expired on Monday.

All the CNG stations in the city and elsewhere will remain closed from 5:00pm to 9:00pm everyday from Tuesday instead of the existing 3:00pm to 9:00pm.

“We’ll follow the 4-hour shutdown schedule from Tuesday,” Zakir Hossain Nayan, president of Bangladesh CNG Association, told journalists on Monday.

He said the association leaders had a meeting with Petrobangla officials on May 16 where the authorities concerned endorsed the new shutdown schedule of CNG refilling stations.

Petrobangla chairman Dr Hussain Monsur could not be reached for comments in this regard despite repeated attempts to contact him on Monday evening.

The Power and Energy Ministry in March at a high-level meeting decided that all CNG stations across the country will remain shut for six hours from 3:00pm to 9:00pm from March 21 to enhance gas supply to power plants to boost power generation.

The meeting also decided that the 6-hour shutdown will remain effective for two months only and after the expiry of the period, the 4-hour shutdown at CNG stations will be reintroduced.

The cabinet approved in principle the draft Bangladesh Water Act, 2012 on Monday with a provision of maximum five-year jail term or Tk 5 million in fine or both for wasting water.

The draft act, prepared in light with the National Water Policy to give the policy a legal framework for better management and use of water resources, was passed in a meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Cabinet Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuyian told reporters.

The draft would be presented to the cabinet again for final clearance after vetting by the law ministry, he said.

It stipulates that those violating the law would be sentenced up to five years in jail or fined Tk 5 million or both, depending on the level of violation, he said.

It also proposes fixing price for 'extra' water used from any source for meeting basic requirements like irrigation or personal use, the secretary said.

The cabinet had sent back the draft to the National Water Resource Council for correction when it had been placed in August last year.

The then government passed the water policy in 1999.

"It (the act) will prevent people from wasting water. After implementation of the law, it will be possible to supply pure water to the people," Bhuyian said.

"Underground and ground water levels are decreasing due to wastage of water. It happens as there is no law to check the wastage," the secretary said.

"This is a bad omen for us. The risk of quake increases when the level of water decreases," he added.

According to the draft act, the price of water would be fixed depending on the quantity of water used, the secretary said. "No one will have to pay for water used in household or farming."

In line with the policy, the draft proposes to keep the price of water 'logically less' for poor or underprivileged people, he said.

The price would be higher in case of commercial or industrial use, he added.

Former Director-General of the Water Resources Planning Orgnaisation Mohammad Shahjahan said the draft proposes to form a special tribunal to prevent water pollution and retention of water resources.

"The tribunal will take steps to assess damage caused by wasting water, try the violators of the act and collect fines," he added

He said the price of water would be fixed to ensure government's control over water.

Slapping fine on mobile phone operators has been proposed for the SIM cards used for illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.

"We'll take a final decision on slapping fine for illegal VoIP action soon," Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Zia Ahmed told  on Monday after a meeting of the telecom regulator.

Bangladesh government currently does not offer VoIP licences. BTRC has sent a draft guideline to the telecom ministry for issuing licences to VoIP service providers.

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is a set of facilities for managing the delivery of voice information using the internet.

Asked about the amount of fine per SIM card used for illegal VoIP service, the commission chairman said they would sit later to fix the amount.

Why mobile phone operators

Ahmed said every SIM card has to be sold after registration in line with the law.

"But this law is not followed many a time," he said.

"It will be possible to prevent illegal VoIP service up to a certain extent if SIM cards are sold after proper registration," he added.

BTRC officials said around one million SIM cards were closed in drives against VoIP in the past three years. Of them, BTRC closed around 600,000 while the operators closed the rest.

"Illegal VoIP service will decrease if the operators strengthen monitoring. Besides, they will become more alert if we fine them," Ahmed said.

Bangladesh has six mobile phone operators - Grameenphone, Banglalink, Airtel, Robi, Citycell and state-owned Teletalk.

According to the BTRC, the average daily legal international calls were of around 35 million minutes in April. The amount had been over 50 million minutes previously, BTRC officials said. Every international call gets $0.3 for Bangladesh, according to them.

The foreign ministry has strongly protested opening fire by India's Border Security Force (BSF) and killing of two unarmed Bangladeshi nationals recently.

Md Durul Islam (38) of Chapainawabganj received bullet wounds on May 16 as BSF personnel opened fire when he was inspecting his own maize field. He succumbed to the injuries the same day. Another Bangladeshi national, Faruk Ali, also died as a result of firing by the Indian border guards in the same area on April 14, according to a media statement of the ministry.

The ministry has requested India to conduct an inquiry into the incidents and take appropriate action against the BSF personnel responsible for such deplorable acts.

It has also called for immediate effective action to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future.

While registering its protest over continuation of such killings by BSF, the ministry recalled the commitment of the Indian leadership to put an end to such acts of violence.

The ministry reminded that the Indian side had reiterated its assurance with respect to incidents of firing by BSF at various forums, the most recent one being at the Joint Consultative Commission meeting between Bangladesh foreign minister and external affairs minister of India on May 7-8.

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The Indian government has formed a $2 billion fund to assist member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to tackle balance of payments crisis.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said at a programme of Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) on Sunday that Bangladesh will be able to take loans worth above $400 million through swap arrangement.

India recently finalised the initiative at a meeting of SAARC Finance Governors' in Nepal. The Reserve Bank of India will fund the initiative.

Under the swap arrangement, each country will be given loans in three instalments according to their demand. The interest rates for the first two instalments would be two percent more than London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). The third instalment would cost two and a half percent more.

The initiative for loan within South Asian Countries came up for discussion in January this year due to the hike in dollar prices and liquidity crisis. Following the fifth conference of SAARC Finance Ministers in Dhaka, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said that India suggested a swap arrangement between SAARC countries and that it would soon be implemented.

India will offer swap arrangement of $2 billion both in foreign currency and Indian rupee.

RBI said the swap arrangement will be entirely funded by India and it will be offered in US dollar, euro and Indian rupee against the domestic currency or domestic currency denominated government securities of the requesting country.

The swap arrangement is intended to provide a back stop line of funding for the SAARC member countries to meet any balance of payments and liquidity crises, till longer term arrangements are made, RBI said.

It would also help if there is a need for short-term liquidity due to market turbulence, the Indian central bank added.

With the launch of this facility, member countries can now approach Reserve Bank of India for availing of the facility.

The swap amount available to various member central banks has been arrived based on two months import cover subject to a floor of $100 million and a maximum of $400 million per country, RBI said.

The requesting member countries will be able to make drawals of US dollar, euro or Indian rupee in multiple tranches. Each drawal of three months tenor and can be rolled over twice.

The first rollover will attract normal interest rate which is equal to LIBOR (for three months) plus 200 basis points. However, the second rollover will attract 50 basis points more than the normal interest rate.

SAARC countries will have to enter a bilateral swap agreement with India which will need final approval from the Indian government to avail themselves of the facility.

The opposition alliance can sit with the government if it agrees for a non-partisan poll-time government and if there is a clearly spelt out agenda, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has said.

"I want to tell the government that we want to discuss. But before that the government will have to make a clear and written announcement on non-partisan and impartial government," she said at the end of a mass hunger strike organised by the BNP-led alliance at Mahanagar Natya Mancha in Gulistan.

"We won't sit for any discussion without any agenda," she added.

The strike ended after Khaleda received sherbet from the daughter of missing party leader M Ilias Ali.

Khaleda's statement was aimed at clarifying her and her party's stance in response to various quarters calling the two parties across the table to settle their disputes.

The hunger strike programme was announced to demand release of BNP's missing leader M Ilias Ali, withdrawal of cases against BNP leaders and reinstatement of non-party caretaker government for overseeing the national election.

"No matter how many changes the government brings to the constitution, passes laws … no election will be held in this country under Awami League," Khaleda said.

"Now the government is luring the opposition saying that the president will oversee the election," she said.

"But we want to make it clear that this president is a partisan president. [No election] under his supervision will be accepted," she said.

"The government will have to either meet the demand of non-partisan government or step down," she added.

According to the latest constitutional amendment the ruling party brought last year, the next general election can be held under a partisan government as the non-party caretaker government provision has been scrapped.

BNP has been demanding cancellation of the amendment to reinstate the system of non-party caretaker government.

The European Union and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently urged the political leaders for sitting in a dialogue to settle the issues through discussion.

During her hour-long speech, Khaleda threatened to continue with movement if their demand of non-partisan government is not met by Jun 10. She also threatened of launching intensified agitation if arrested BNP leaders are not released from jail.

"We won't have any alternatives but to enforce countrywide general strike," Khaleda said. She also criticised police harassment of the family of Ilias Ali by setting up close circuit TV cameras at their house.

She once again blamed the government and the law enforcers for kidnapping Ilias Ali.

Regarding the killing of Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi, she said, "The journalists had learned a lot of information regarding corruption in the government. They would have disclosed those outside the country, had they survived."

"The government itself helped their killers escape. The law enforcing agencies are unable to capture the killers as they have already left the country," she added.

The opposition chief claimed that a relative of the prime minister and a member of the cabinet are directly involved in the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project.

She claimed that many of the ruling party lawmakers are laundering money as they are preparing to flee the country in future.

Regarding the recent appointment of VC at JU, she said, "A partisan professor has been appointed from another university flouting rules."

Some BNP activists who had not been seen in active politics for quite a long time for their controversial role during the last caretaker government also participated in the hunger strike programme.

Family members of the arrested BNP leaders also joined the strike.

Sanwara Group Director Mujibur Rahman has filed a Tk 2-billion defamation suit at a Chittagong court against private channel Ekushey Television Chairman Absus Salam and four others.

The others accused in the case filed on Sunday with the First Joint District Judge Mohammad Bahauddin Ahmed's court are ETV General Manager Maj (retd) Rezaul Karim, Senior Reporter Mahatheer Faruki, and Reporters Faruq Hossain and Mohammad Osman.

Mujibur, son of ruling party MP of Chittagong-8 constituency Nurul Islam BSC, filed the case following a report aired on ETV on Mar 2 and 3 over lands of Sanwara Holdings Limited, plaintiff's lawyer Syed Qudrat Ali told .

The report termed Mujibur as 'land grabber' and 'extortionist', he said.

"Mujibur Rahman has been defamed by the ETV report. So he has filed the case seeking Tk 2 billion in compensation," he added.

he government has appointed 2,262 of the finally selected candidates of the 30th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations conducted by Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC).

The appointees have been asked to join their designated ministries or departments by June 3.

The public administration ministry issued a circular in this regard on Thursday.

Of the total, the highest 560 were appointed in health cadre, 277 in administration, 187 in police, 55 in agriculture, 53 in customs and excise, 25 in economic cadre, 10 in food, 35 in taxation, 56 in fisheries, 20 in foreign affairs and 42 in Ansar cadre.

Besides, 15 were appointed in family planning cadre, seven in cooperatives, five in railways (transportation and commercial), two in commerce, six in postal, 15 in information (general and programme) and 39 in audit and accounting cadre.

Amid dispute with Bangladesh over funding the Padma bridge project, the World Bank says the annual total disbursement for the World Bank–supported projects in Bangladesh has seen an upward trend over the past four years.

The World Bank's current portfolio in Bangladesh consists of 34 active projects with a commitment of $5.8 billion, the highest-ever for the country, a media release of the bank said on Sunday, referring to a portfolio review completed jointly with the government.

The total disbursement for all World Bank-financed projects in the current fiscal until Apr 30 was worth $400 million while the disbursement for the same period in the last fiscal was $305 million, it said.

The portfolio review found satisfactory progress in many projects and noted the need to speed up implementation in others, it added.

The release, however, did not say anything about the $2.9-billion Padma bridge project, halted after the global lender suspended $1.2-billion fund alleging corruption.

"We are encouraged to see results in many areas such as increase in girl's enrolment in schools; schooling, reduction in under-five child mortality or better disaster preparedness that have made Bangladesh a role model for its neighbours," it quoted World Bank Bangladesh's Operations Advisor Christine E Kimes as saying.

"The Government of Bangladesh is fully committed to ensure that external financing is well utilised and for the purposes intended," it said quoting Economic Relations Division's Additional Secretary Arastoo Khan.

Denying the World Bank allegations, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said earlier in the day, "Construction of Padma bridge will begin with our own funding if we cannot find alternative financier."

State-run oil-gas exploration company BAPEX has found fresh reserves of oil at Kailashtila and Haripur oil fields in Sylhet.

Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Mansur made the announcement at a press briefing at his office at Karwan Bazar on Sunday.

The reserves have a combined 137 million barrels of oil but according to primary estimates, about 55 billion barrels can be extracted a year, Chairman Mansur said.

The current market value of new oil has been put at Tk 420 billion to 450 billion.

BAPEX submitted its report on exploration of the fresh reserves to the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation or Petrobangla on Sunday. The oil reserves were found using 3-D seismic survey.

Kailashtila alone has a reserve of 109 million barrels, of which 44 million barrels can be lifted.

The Haripur oil field is believed to have a reserve of 28 million barrels of oil including 11 million barrels extractable in one of the two layers of the reservoir.

"It will take some more time to learn about the oil reserve in the other layer at the Haripur oil field," said Hossain Mansur.

Asked who may be given the job to lift the oil, he indicated that 'a local company' may get the job.

The latest discovery has brought new hopes for Bangladesh's energy-starved economy, added the Petrobangla Chairman.

According to Petrobangla officials, the reserve is enough to meet the country's oil demand for two years as the annual oil demand is around 25 million barrels.

Energy expert Prof Badrul Imam told . "Bangladesh requires oil from 22 million to 25 million barrels every year on average. According to the estimate, Bangladesh may fuel its operations for more than two years with the fresh oil reserves."

Earlier, about 650,000 barrels of oil were extracted from an oil field in Haripur after the field was discovered in 1986. But extraction from the field came to a halt on the grounds that it had not been done following proper procedures.

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Saudi authorities Thursday beheaded a man for murdering one Bangladeshi and stabbing another during a bid to rob them, according to the Saudi interior ministry.
Sultan Al Sahli, a Saudi, was convicted of killing one of the Bangladeshis with a blow to the head, and stabbing and wounding the other, said the ministry, cited by state-run Saudi Press Agency news agency.
Sahli wanted to steal their mobile phones and money, the agency said.
His beheading brings to 26 the total number of executions in the kingdom so far this year.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said the government plans to start construction work on the Padma Bridge project, the largest ever infrastructure project in the country, in the next fiscal year.
“We firmly believe, we’ll be able to start the construction work in the next fiscal year,” he told at a pre-budget discussion at Sonargaon Hotel in the city.
The Finance Minister also said he does not think there is any reason to worry about the financing of the Padma Bridge.
On GDP (gross domestic product) growth projection for the next fiscal, he said the 7.2 percent GDP growth projection should not be considered as “too much ambitious.”
On black money, Muhith said: “We didn’t show too much dependence on the black money in the previous fiscals. Since, we’ve big reforms plan regarding the stock market in the next fiscal, we don’t want to touch it.”
He indicated that investments of black money in the capital market would continue through the next fiscal year, considering the sensitive nature of the stock market. Currently, black money is allowed to be invested in stocks by paying tax at 10 percent.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) jointly arranged the function titled ‘The 33rd Consultative Meeting of National Board of Revenue’ with AK Azad in the chair. The even was telecast live by private television channel NTV.
NBR chairman Dr Nasiruddin Ahmed, FBCCI first vice president M Jashim Uddin and vice president Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu, former FBCCI president Akram Hossain, BGMEA president M Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, DCCI president Asif Ibrahim, Standard Bank chairman Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed, BARVIDA president Abdul Mannan Chowdhury, actor Elias Kanchan, and leaders of different district chambers, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Unveiling the government’s plan for the upcoming budget, Muhith said the neglected communications sector especially railways would get special allocation in the next budget to ensure smooth communication system in the country. “Railways sector remained neglected for long… we’ll look into it.”
He said the next budget will have specific directions for the next five years on the use of energy resources and electricity generation. He admitted that all the quick rental power plants could not come into generation timely.
The Finance Minister also said that the government will keep significant allocation for four areas –- skill development, maize production, poultry industry and beet sugar.
He assured the entrepreneurs that the government would consider a stimulus package for setting up Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in industrial areas.
About pre-shipment inspection (PSI), Muhith said: “We want to say bye to the system. Hope it will go soon.”
He said the key objective of the next budget will be to maintain the growth trend and the government will try to make a balance between demand and supply. “To maintain the balance, some may be benefited and some may be affected.”
The Finance Minister also assured the business leaders of accommodating their proposals in the next budget. “If not possible, we can bring changes after the budget placement.”
FBCCI president AK Azad sought a provision for imposing penalty with regular tax on whitening undisclosed income.
He also said the businesses do not favour the government decision allowing the investors to invest black money in stocks by merely paying tax at 10 percent.
“We’re urging the government to withdraw the proposal as it’ll surely discourage honest taxpayers and hurt them… it won’t be a good example for future either.”
The FBCCI chief said those who have undisclosed money can be brought under the income tax net through imposing appropriate penalty.
He also urged the Finance Minister to take initiatives and sit with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to find out a way to resolve the ongoing political conflict in the country.
“You’re a senior minister of the government… I request you to take steps to find out a solution,” he said, adding that confrontational political programmes hit the economy hard.
Azad alleged that some ‘top dogs’ shattered the country’s capital market and sought a legal provision in the next budget to bring back into the market the money they had taken out as hefty profit.
The FBCCI president also sought permission for investing abroad and urged the Finance Minister to give specific directives for that.
He said: “No Bangladeshi investor is now allowed to invest abroad…but there’s ample scope to invest in many countries, including neighboring Myanmar. We want an announcement in the next budget in this regard.”
Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu demanded special allocation for railways to cut pressure on roads and reduce road accidents.
Jashim Uddin said the government needs to generate additional 2000 to 3000 megawatt of electricity to achieve the projected 7.2 percent GDP growth for the next fiscal.

Nishat Mazumder has climbed to the fearsome and unforgiving peak of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain at more than five miles high, as the first Bangladeshi woman.

She ascended to Everest's 8,850-meter-high (29,035-foot-high) summit from the northern side of the mountain in Nepal on Saturday morning with M A Mohit, the second Bangladeshi to have conquered the Everest.

An accountant by profession, Mazumder was accompanied by Mohit, a veteran climber who made it to the top of Everest, Manaslu and Cho-Oyu-3 summits higher than 8,000 metres.

"We found out from her Sherpa that Nishat and M A Mohit have made it to the top around 9:30am," Bangla Mountaineering and Trekking Club founder Inam Al Haque told  on Saturday.

Both Mazumder and Mohit are members of the club.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has congratulated Mazumder on her success.

Mazumder, the second child of her parents, was also the first Bangladeshi woman to have conquered three Himalayan peaks higher than 6,000 metres. She conquered Himalaya's Mera Peak (6,653.78 metres) in 2007, Singchuli Peak (6,501 metres) in 2008 and Makalu Peak (8,493.3 metres) in 2009.

Born in Laxmipur, Mazumder completed her secondary education at Bottomley Home Girls High School and higher secondary education at Shahid Anwar Girls College. She did her bachelors and masters in accounting from Dhaka City College and currently works for Dhaka WASA.

Mazumder dedicated her ascent to Plan International's 'Because I am a Girl' campaign. NGO Plan Bangladesh co-sponsored her expedition that began on Apr 9.

Musa Ibrahim, member of Bangladesh's North Alpine Club, was the first Bangladeshi to have conquered the Everest on May 22, 2010.

Weather conditions on the mountain have been challenging this year, prompting several expeditions to cancel their plans to try to reach the summit.

May is considered the best month to climb Everest, when climbers get about two windows of good weather for their bid for the summit.

'Because I am a girl'

When Plan Bangladesh launches its 'Because I am a Girl' campaign this October they plan to urge everyone to raise their hands, 'Hands Up!' they call it, in support of women's empowerment.

Nishat Mazumder, their champion, will have already raised her hand on top of the Everest. "Now that has got to be the highest raised hand in the world, right? You couldn't get any higher than the Everest," said Nova Shams, Plan's spokesperson in Dhaka.

Given her unprecedented feat as a Bangladeshi woman, Mazumder will naturally feature prominently in the campaign that will be launched on the global Girl Child Day on Oct 11 globally.

"And this ties in really well with our theme," Shams told  She has shown that woman too can overcome daunting odds with the family support and mental resolve.

Kill again,BSF don't stop their kill in bangladeshi.India's Border Security Force has killed another Bangladeshi citizen on Dinajpur border despite the Indian government's promise to stop killing along the border.

The incident occurred early on Friday morning at the district's Daudpur border in Birampur, Commander of the 40th Battalion of the Border Guard Bangladesh Lieutenant Colonel Tayebul Haque told .

The deceased has been identified as Saidur Rahman Chiku, 50 who is the son of Abdul Gafur of Birampur Upazila's Poli Mahmudpur village.

He used to rustle cattle from India, Haque said.

The BGB Commander said Saidur and his companions were on their way to India when members of BSF's Gobindapur camp threw grenade at them near pillar no. 289/25 (a).

Saidur received wounds from the grenade and fell to the ground. The BSF members then opened fire at him and killed him, he said.

The BSF has taken Saidur's body, Haque said.

The BGB Commander said they tried to communicate with their Indian counterparts to get the dead body back. "The BSF is yet to respond."

In 2011, the international human-right outfits Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International had severely criticised the Indian government for continuous killing of unarmed Bangladeshis along the border.

Human Rights Watch found numerous cases of indiscriminate use of force, arbitrary detention, torture, and killings by the security force, without adequate investigation or punishment.

The BSF chief, Raman Shrivastava, after a four-day visit to Dhaka on Sep 30 last year said his forces had introduced non-lethal weapons in many places to bring border killings down to "zero level".

According to reports, over 900 Bangladeshi nationals have been killed by the BSF over the last decade, many of them when they crossed into Indian territory for cattle rustling or other smuggling activities.

An overseas telephone call was made to the Rapid Action Battalion on Friday afternoon asking it to release the large shipment of the banned club-drug Yaba tablets seized from Asadganj in Chittagong.

Acting commander of RAB-7 Maj Ziaul Ahsan Sarwar told  that the call was made from an 'unknown' number on the mobile phone of Cox Bazar camp unit commander of RAB-7 Captain Rashid around 4pm.

"The person on the other side asked him to release the Yaba shipment that was seized in the morning. He then hung up the phone," he added.

Maj Sarwar said after they were informed of the matter, they tried to contact the phone number, but found it switched off.

"The (phone) number is not from any of the mobile phone operators of the country. We're looking into issue," the RAB official said.

RAB-1 and RAB-7 in a joint drive seized 270,000 banned Yaba tablets and arrested drug peddler Abdur Rashid along with his three accomplices at Asadganj in Chittagong.

RAB personnel claim that it is so far the largest Yaba seizure. The estimated value of the banned drugs is around Tk 90 million.

Police have set up close circuit TV cameras at the gate of missing BNP leader Ilias Ali's Banani house.

His friend Rafiqul Islam Hilali, who stays in the house, told  that the law enforcers did not even seek permission to install the cameras.

"They came and set up cameras hurriedly," he said.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media and Community Service) Masudur Rahman said the cameras were set up outside the house and they were being monitored 'centrally'.

"We have given utmost importance to the security of the missing BNP leader's family," he added.

On Apr 18, police had found Ilias' car abandoned near his house. He and his driver Ansar Ali have been missing since then. The opposition and his family have been claiming that government henchmen had picked him up.

BNP has enforced several nationwide general strikes over the issue. Cases over violence during the shutdowns saw 33 top opposition leaders, including BNP Acting Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, arrested.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will lead a mass hunger strike of the 18-party opposition alliance on Sunday at the capital's Mahanagar Natya Mancha in Gulistan.

BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan on Saturday confirmed the hunger strike at a rally held in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters.

Earlier in the day, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Motijheel zone Deputy Commissioner Anwar Hossain told  that the opposition was given the approval to hold the protest programme at the Natya Mancha.

The main opposition had requested the government to allow them to use one of the three places – the Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB) premises, or any vacant place at Mahanagar Natya Mancha or Ramna Green – as the venue for protest programme.

Nazrul at the rally said, "We will protest the government's repression through this peaceful mass hunger strike. Our leader Khaleda Zia will be with us there."

The hunger strike would he held from 10am to 4pm. BNP last staged any similar programme on July 13 last year at the Institution of Engineers premises.

The decision to stage the hunger strike was taken at an 18-party opposition alliance meeting at Khaleda's Gulshan office on Thursday night following a countrywide dawn-to-dusk general strike that day demanding release of top opposition leaders held in cases over violence during a shutdown on May 29.

The programme has also been called demanding withdrawal of cases against top opposition leaders, election under a non-party and neutral government and return of missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali.

Protesting a trial court verdict to jail 33 senior leaders of the opposition alliance on Wednesday in connection with an Apr 29 arson case, the opposition had enforced Thursday's general strike.

Language movement hero Saiful Islam Bahauddin Ahmed Chaudhury has passed away. He was 81.

Chaudhury, a former information secretary, died at the Dhaka Community Hospital at Maghbazar in the city on Wednesday.

His body has been kept in the BIRDEM Hospital mortuary. His burial will be held after his two sons return from the UK and the US, according to his relatives.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has condoled the death of Chaudhury, who along with Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had been charged in the historic Agartala Conspiracy case by the then Pakistan government in 1968. In the case, they had been accused of plotting to separate the East wing of the then Pakistan and form a new country, Bangladesh.

Chaudhury also played a very significant role in the historic Six-Point Demand in 1966.

Born in Dhaka in Oct 31, 1931, Bahauddin Chaudhury was member of famous Chaudhury family of Ulania village under Mehendiganj Police Station of Barisal.

He graduated from the Dhaka University and later joined journalism as an assistant editor of the daily Insaf.

He had also worked for other publications, including Sangbad, Morning Sun, Barta of Rajshahi, Azad, Dinkal and Lal Sabuj.

Train link with Ishwardi snapped as unidentified people uprooted the lines and slippers in the early hours of Thursday have been restored after around a seven-hour break in operations.

"The connection was restored by setting up a by-pass route around 1:15pm," Railway Eastern Zone Traffic Engineer Sujit Kumar Biswas told .

The rail communication snapped when two bogies of a Dhaka-Ishwardi local train went off-track around 6am near the station's loco-shed. At least 20 passengers have been injured.

Officer-In-Charge of Iswardi Police Station Israil Hossain told  that an unknown number of miscreants pulled off around 20 feet of the track sometime around dawn just before the opposition enforced nationwide shutdown begun.

The injured were given primary treatment at the Ishwardi Upazila Health Complex.

A Dhaka magistrate court on Thursday granted bail to the Baisakhi Media Ltd and Destiny 2000 Ltd Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and two others in a case over submitting fake stamp papers to the Joint Stock Company.

The defendants surrendered to the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Saifur Rahman as arrest warrants were issued against the trio on Monday.

The other two accused are Irfan Ahmed Sunny and Syed Sajjad Hossain, also directors of the media company.

The defendant's lawyer Ehsanul Haque Samaji told  that the court had granted his clients bail until June 10 which is also the next date for the case hearing.

On Monday, M N H Bulu, Chairman of BNS Group of Companies, filed a fraud case accusing the trio of falsifying an annual financial statement.

Bulu claimed that he was the owner of 64,000 shares of Baisakhi Media Limited which the accused transferred to Destiny 2000 Ltd through forgery.

According to the lawsuit, the defendants submitted fake stamp papers to the Joint Stock Company on June 29, 2009 and transferred the shares to Destiny 2000 Ltd.

It further said the plaintiff had signed an agreement with Destiny 2000 Ltd to handover his shares on condition that the company would payoff his bank loans. But as the Destiny did not fulfil the condition the agreement was cancelled, the plaintiff said.

Various graft allegations have recently been raised against Destiny Group including conducting illegal banking operations following a report by the central bank, the Bangladesh Bank. The parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry has asked the government to investigate the allegations after reports by Bangladeshi media.

The National Board of Revenue has already asked banks to freeze the accounts of Amin, his wife and top five officials of the Destiny.

Opposition chief whip and BNP leader Zainul Abdin Farroque has said that the arrest of top leaders of the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance was a proof that the government wanted to eliminate the opposition.

"Our agitation cannot be subdued through such arrests and false cases. Shutdown will continue," Farroque said.

He was talking to journalists on Thursday at the party's Naya Paltan headquarters, which law enforcers cordoned off since the early hours.

The measure has been taken as a countrywide shutdown is being enforced by the opposition demanding release of the senior leaders.

The opposition alliance declared the day-long shutdown on Wednesday after a Dhaka court denied bail of 33 top opposition leaders and sent them to prison in a case over torching a vehicle during the Apr 29 shutdown.

Police detained three including BNP's Education Secretary Khairul Kabir Khokan at around 9:30am on Thursday from the party headquarters.

"We have enforced 13 shutdowns over the last three and a half years. Awami League had enforced 33 lockdowns in a year and 175 in the five years during our tenure," the opposition chief whip said.

"We are enforcing the shutdown to free democracy."

Farroque added that the opposition would continue its movement demanding reinstatement of the caretaker government, 'return' of missing M Ilias Ali, one of BNP's organising secretaries, and release of the detained senior leaders.

BNP Joint Secretary General Mizanur Rahman Minu said, "We do not want to enforce shutdowns. But the government is forcing us to do so."

"They have arrested nearly all senior leaders, including Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, of a major political party like BNP in a false case," he said adding that in such a situation they had not other option but to enforce lockdowns.

Former and current BNP MPs will stage a token hunger strike for two hours on Saturday demanding release of arrested leaders and whereabouts of missing M Ilias Ali, a party statement said.

The statement signed by opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque said on Thursday that the programme would be held on the pavement of the Parliament's South Plaza from 10am.

Farroque told reporters at the party's headquarters, "Our current and former MPs will protest against the government's oppression and failures through the programme."

He said BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed would be present as the chief guest at the programme.

One of BNP's Organising Secretaries M Ilias Ali and his driver Ansar Ali has been missing since Apr 17 midnight. The opposition enforced five day-long shutdowns last month to press for his 'release' alleging that law enforcers picked up their leader.

On Wednesday, a Dhaka court ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other leaders after refusing them bail in a case filed over charges of torching of a bus in front of the Prime Minister's Office during a shutdown on Apr 29.

The opposition alliance is enforcing a nationwide shutdown on Thursday protesting the court decision. Six buses and a taxi were torched in Dhaka in a spell of pre-hartal violence.

BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan has said that the government would not be able to quash the opposition movement even if they made more arrests.

He was talking to reporters after the party's Education Secretary Khairul Kabir Khokon and two others were detained from the party headquarters during the countrywide day-long shutdown on Thursday.

Cordoned by law enforcers, the BNP leader said, "The government would make a mistake if they think that the movement and the BNP can be weakened by making arrests and filing cases."

"Rather, arrests and oppression would give the agitation more momentum," he added.

Nazrul claimed that the people have been observing the shutdown spontaneously.

He criticised government's 'oppression' and said, "The government activities indicate that it has been weakened and feeling insecure. That's why it has resorted to oppressing opposition."

Criticising Khokon's detention, he said, "He was detained from in front of the party office. He was talking there and was chanting slogans. He did not set alight any vehicles or vandalise anything. Why was he arrested?"

Asked about the future course of the opposition, the BNP leader said, "It will depend on the government's behaviour. Party and [opposition] alliance chief [Khaleda Zia] will decide."

On Wednesday, a Dhaka court ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other leaders after refusing them bail in a case filed over torching of a bus in front of the Prime Minister's Office during a shutdown on Apr 29.

The opposition alliance is enforcing a nationwide shutdown on Thursday protesting the court decision.

Police on Thursday detained BNP Education Secretary Khairul Kabir Khokan and two others near the party's headquarters at Naya Paltan as the opposition enforced a day-long nationwide shutdown demanding release of senior leaders.

Paltan Police Station Officer in Charge Shahidul Haque confirmed  that the trio was picked up around 9.25am. "They have been taken to the Detective Branch office."

One of them has been identified as BNP activist Manjurul Haque, while the third is yet to be named.

Security personnel cordoned off the BNP' headquarters from Wednesday night. A large number of police have been deployed in the area and they have stopped anyone entering the office since morning.

Law enforcers took control of the streets in Dhaka from dawn keeping the opposition supporters away.

On Wednesday, six buses and a taxi were torched in Dhaka on the eve of the nationwide shutdown demanding release of top opposition leaders jailed in a case over arson during a similar general strike.

Earlier, a Dhaka court ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other opposition alliance leaders after refusing them bail in a case filed over charges of torching of a bus in front of the Prime Minister's Office during a shutdown on Apr 29.

The general strike on Apr 29 had been enforced in protest against the disappearance of one of BNP's organising secretaries, M Ilias Ali.

The daylong general strike called by the BNP-led opposition alliance got off to a casual start on Thursday amid tight security in the capital Dhaka.

Law enforcers took control of the streets in Dhaka from Thursday dawn keeping the opposition supporters away. However, explosion of five crude bombs were reported in Mirpur during the beginning hours of the shutdown.

Traffic was thin but all sorts of vehicles were seen plying the streets of Dhaka. Long-route buses remained off the streets but trains were running on schedule.

Meanwhile, security officials cordoned off the BNP's Naya Paltan headquarters from Wednesday night. A large number of police have been deployed in the area.

A number of BNP leaders, including standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan spent the night at the office. Police have not allowed anyone to enter the office since morning.

On Wednesday, six buses and a taxi were torched in Dhaka on the eve of the nationwide shutdown demanding release of top opposition leaders jailed in a case over arson during a similar general strike.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Dhaka court ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other leaders after refusing them bail in a case filed over charges of torching of a bus in front of the Prime Minister's Office during a shutdown on Apr 29.

The hartal on Apr 29 had been enforced in protest against the disappearance of one of BNP's organising secretaries M Ilias Ali.

Police arrested a youth in Jessore on Wednesday on charges of chopping off four fingers and an ear of a schoolgirl who declined his proposal.

The arrestee, 18-year-old Ibrahim, would harass the 10th grader on her way to and from the Narangali School, Kotwali Model Police Station Officer in Charge Abdul Jalil told reporters.

The victim was admitted to the Jessore Medical College Hospital after the attack when she was once again headed for her home from the school in the afternoon.

Ibrahim fled the scene when local people rushed to the spot on hearing the shriek of the girl.

JMCH physician Noor Kutubul Alam told  that the girl had lost four fingers of her left hand and the right ear in the attack. "She has some other wounds, too."

The OC said the process to file a case in this regard was underway.

Six buses and a taxi have been torched in Dhaka on the eve of a nationwide shutdown called by the BNP-led 18-party alliance demanding release of its top leaders jailed in a case over arson during a general strike.

A bus was torched at Karwan Bazar and another in front of the Rajarbagh Police Lines around 3pm on Wednesday, Fire Brigade control room in-charge Qazi Nazmuzzaman told .

Local people doused the fire in a Dwip Bangla Paribahan bus at Panthapath around 6pm, he said.

Another bus was torched at Malibagh and a cab at Tikatuli in the afternoon, Qazi said.

Two more buses were set ablaze in Mirpur around 7:30pm.

"Fire fighters reached the sites and doused the flames," he said and added that no casualty was reported.

Earlier in the day, a Dhaka court ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other leaders after refusing them bail in a case filed over charges of torching a vehicle in front of the Prime Minister's Office during a shutdown on Apr 29.

The opposition called a countrywide general strike for Thursday demanding release of the leaders.

The hartal on Apr 29 had been enforced in protest against the disappearance of one of BNP's organising secretaries M Ilias Ali.