BANGLADESH

Violent clashes between police and protesters have left at least 10 law enforcers injured during a blockade programme in the city.

The United People's Democratic Front (UPDF)-backed Democratic Youth Forum (DYF) started the bloackade from 8am on Sunday to protest obstruction to their earlier programme to besiege the Parbatya Chattagram Land Dispute Resolution Commission office.

Police fired 20 rounds of rubber bullets and teargas shells to calm the situation after the clash erupted in Swanirbhar area in Khagrachari around 10am.

At least 10 police personnel were injued when the angry protesters swooped on them at one stage of the clash.

Four of the injured cops – Sub-inspector Obaidur Rahman, and constables Mohammad Jashim, Arafat and Mamum Mia – have been rushed to the Zila Sadar Hospital.

Soon after the Swanirbhar area had turned into a battle field, a team of Rapid Action Battalion-7 rushed to the spot to calm the situation.

"The situation is under control now," Khagrachharhi Assistant Superintendent of Police Kanon Debnath told .

Additional armed police has also been deployed at the site to avoid any further trouble.

Although DYF had announced to enforce a 33-hour blockade in the morning, the programme was later limited to 21 hours.

In a statement, forum's central president Natun Kumar Chakma said, "The government is conspiringly using the commission's Chariman Khademul Islam Chowdhury to throw tribal people out of their their own lands."

"The government is trying to foil the agitation by using RAB," he added.

A 'sorry' Speaker Abdul Hamid, on Sunday said 'un-parliamentary' remarks of the MPs criticising Bishwa Sahitya Kendra founder Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed will be deleted from proceedings.

He also criticised the news reports based on which the MPs had harshly criticised the noted litterateur on June 3 for making 'objectionable' remarks about the lawmakers and ministers.

"Some national dailies have shown a very irresponsible attitude by publishing such reports without checking the facts," Hamid said in a ruling in the beginning of the session.

Prof Ali Ashraf MP, who was presiding the session on June 3 in absence of the Speaker and his deputy Shawkat Ali, had asked Prof Sayeed to tender an unconditional apology for his alleged remarks made at a discussion organised by the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) on June 2.

His call came after several MPs including ruling Awami League's Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Jatiya Party's Mujibul Haque Chunnu and independent MP Fazlul Azim criticised Sayeed citing Bengali daily Inqilab's report that he commented that 'MPs and ministers act like thieves and dacoits and breach oath'.

But Sayeed, later on the same night, termed the contempt of Parliament allegation 'completely baseless' and 'false' and said he would not apologise for remarks which he never made.

On the following day, TIB had sent a copy of his speech and a video footage of his address at the programme to Speaker Hamid.

The Speaker on Sunday said, "I read his speech's copy and watched the CD. I came to the conclusion that his speech and the report published on the newspaper are totally different."

He said the report was the root of the unexpected event.

"Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed is a respected personality of the country. The un-parliamentarian remarks made in the unscheduled discussion [in Parliament] will be expunged."

He also asked the news media to be more careful about news reports.

Police prevented on Sunday launches headed for Dhaka from Barisal apparently to prevent people from joining an opposition rally, saying there was a chance of a cyclone.

But neither the weather office, nor the Barisal Launch Terminal authorities had any information of the inclement weather.

Police in the evening asked passenger ferries at the Barisal terminal to anchor in the mid-river.

Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Shaheduzzaman said, "Scheduled launch trips to the capital have been cancelled due to disastrous weather."

Launch communications on other routes will remain uninterrupted, he added.

The incident coincided with the one that took place ahead of opposition BNP's rally on Mar 12, when launch and bus communications with Dhaka from across the country were suspended allegedly by authorities.

The BNP and its allies are preparing for a rally at Naya Paltan on Monday and a senior opposition leader announced that they were expecting 1.5 million people in attendance.

Senior observer at Barisal Met Office Pranab Kumar Roy told bdnews24.com, "The weather is normal today. There is no cautionary signal in effect."

Assistant Boat Officer of Barisal Launch Terminal Bashir Ali said, "We don't have any instructions. Police have cancelled all the scheduled trips to the capital."

Terming the government 'fascist', opposition BNP has alleged that the government is once again conspiring to obstruct Monday's rally of the 18-Party Alliance.

Police had detained over 100 opposition leaders and activists across the country ahead of the rally to be addressed by Chairperson Khaleda Zia, party's Assistant Office Secretary Abdul Latif Jony said in a statement issued on Sunday evening.

"The fascist Awami League government is going ahead with its conspiracy to obstruct people from joining the June 11 rally like it did ahead of the Mar 12 rally," he said.

Police continued to obstruct opposition activists by setting up check-posts at entry points of Dhaka city and harassed them in the name of searching hotels in the capital, he said.

A list of detained leaders and activists of the party had also been attached with the statement.

"This is an incomplete list, as we are still receiving news of detentions across the country," it said.

According to the list, the detainees include over 25 opposition leaders of Dhaka, 28 of Khulna and 26 of Gazipur.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Sunday allowed the opposition BNP to hold its rally in the capital on Monday outlining 11 conditions to be adhered to during the programme.

BNP's Assistant Office Secretary Abdul Latif Jony received a letter signed by DMP Deputy Commissioner (Headquarters) Habibur Rahman around 8pm on Sunday.

The conditions include limiting the use of loudspeakers in the rally area from Fakirapool Crossing to Nightingale Crossing and its duration to three-and-a-half hours.

The letter also specified that the rally stage should not be used for any purpose other than making political speeches, and acts that could go against the law and public interest would not be allowed.

The DMP also mandated that the rally stage could not be set up on the main road, people could throng the rally venue only two hours prior to its start and the rally must end by 5:30pm.

The conditions also include that people cannot gather in any open place before or after the time permitted for holding the rally, and traffic cannot be hampered and people's movement cannot be obstructed outside the area fixed for the rally.

The main opposition led 18-party opposition alliance is set to hold the rally at 2pm on Monday in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters.

The law-enforcers had specified similar conditions for opposition's Mar 12 rally at the same venue.

The Bangladesh Restaurant Owners' Association on Saturday declared all restaurants smoke-free in a move to ensure clean environment for public health.

The announcement is seen as a 'boost' for the anti-tobacco campaign as they said the proposed hike in tobacco taxes in the proposed 2012-13 budget could not meet their demand of 'higher' tobacco taxation.

"Today we declare all of our restaurants smoke-free," Kamar Uddin Ahmed Khokon, President of the association announced at the National Press Club.

He said they would ensure that the decision was followed in all of around 55,000 restaurants in the country.

Anti-tobacco activists hailed the announcement, but they said there would be challenge to implement it as the existing 2005 tobacco control act did not include restaurants in its public place definition.

However, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan said he would issue an ordinance within a month in this regard.

"I can assure you that within a month restaurants will be declared public place through an ordinance," he said while speaking at the function.

With at least 43 percent adults consume tobacco, World Health Organisation estimates, 57,000 people die and more than 350,000 suffer due to tobacco related illness in Bangladesh.

Experts suggested the government to ensure smoke-free environment following the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) that Bangladesh ratified as study showed passive smoking also kills.

"When the government is not doing it, we are trying to do something," Restaurant Owners' Association President Khokon said as he believed smoke-free restaurants would also help their business.

"If customers are not allowed to smoke inside (restaurants), they will not stay for long time. We will get opportunity to serve more customers," he argued.

Secretary General of the association M Rezaul Karim Sarker Robin told bdnews24.com that they had already formulated a strategy with the help of Dhaka Ahsania Mission to implement the decision.

A 'smoke free' sign would be placed inside the restaurants while managers would be instructed to ensure it.

"Owners have been requested to visit and monitor their restaurants," Robin said.

Hailing the move, Coordinator of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in Bangladesh Taifur Rahman said if restaurants were identified as public place in the law the implementation would be easy.

"It has been proposed in the revised (draft) act," he added.

The Restaurant Owners' Association officials also believed that once identified as public place, they would be able to strictly enforce the decision.

Economists estimated the medical cost of tobacco consumption was twice the revenue the government earns from the industries.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith's hope for a 7.2 percent GDP growth and pegging the inflation rate at 7.2 percent in the new fiscal year will be very tough to achieve, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) observes.

The private research organisation made the observation while presenting its analysis of the budget for the 2012-2013 on Friday at a press briefing at the capital's BRAC Centre Inn.

CPD's Distinguished Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said, "Though the inflation rate on food is decreasing but inflation on a point-to-point basis is still over 9 percent while the average inflation rate is more than 10 percent."

"The budget indicates that the prices of fuel and power may be increased in future. Then the prices of food products will escalate the inflation rate. Then it will become very tough to curb the inflation," he said.

He said, "The measures needed to achieve the goal of this budget are not in clearly outlined in the Finance Minister's proposal. Administrative revolution is necessary to implement this budget."

About the proposed facility in the budget to whiten 'black money', Dr Bhattacharya said, "CPD has always been vocal against the facility. This system will discourage the real taxpayers."

The new budget proposes to expand the facility for whitening 'black money' with a 10 percent penalty without any bars on where that money has to be invested. The Finance Bill states that untaxed money will be allowed to be legalised in case of undisclosed income.

"The Finance Minister did not say anything about this issue in his budget speech. A change in the Finance Bill has provided the backdoor for the facility. We are still protesting the facility of whitening black money," Bhattacharya said.

The CPD also protested the budget's proposal to increase minimum income tax to Tk 3,000 from Tk 2,000.

Bhattacharya said, "We had suggested increasing the tax-free income level from Tk 180,000 to Tk 200,000 in the budget. But we are surprised that the Minister did not consider our suggestion. But increasing the minimum tax to Tk 3,000 was the real surprise."

"It's against social justice since inflation is going up gradually. This decision brings the people with lower income under income tax."

He, however, did not think the deficit of Tk 520 billion is too big a figure to be worried about. "In numbers, the deficit can look like a very big one. But it's not big considering that it is 5 percent of GDP."

"What we are actually worried about is the bank borrowing."

"The budget proposes to borrow Tk 338.84 billion from domestic sources, of which Tk 230 billion will be borrowed from banks. This may reduce the rate of loan flow to the private sector as well as hamper the investment sector," the former Executive Director said.

Foreign funding included, the proposed budget has a deficit of Tk 460.24 billion and the shortfall is Tk 520.68 billion excluding foreign funds.

To meet the shortfall, the government plans to borrow Tk 338.84 billion from domestic sources, including Tk 230 billion from banks. The government also plans to get Tk 74 billion from savings certificates.

"The Finance Minister earlier had said a portion of the subsidy of the current fiscal will be transferred to the next fiscal year's budget. But he did not say anything about it."

Bhattacharya said the budget also did not mention the total size of subsidy.

The CPD was critical of the drop in the budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector and increase in the power and energy sector. Bhattacharya maintained that equality should be followed in budgetary allocation for all the sectors.

"Discrimination should not be created between urban and rural areas."

He said the prices of urea and Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertilisers would have to be increased if subsidies were not increased in the farm sector. "As a result, the production costs will go up and prices of food products will also increase. Inflation will edge up as a rule."

The CPD Distinguished Fellow also expressed his concern over the implementation of Tk 550 billion ADP. "The expenditure of the current year has to be increased by one and a half times to execute the ADP."

About the proposal to impose a flat 1.20 percent tax at source on all kinds of exports from the upcoming fiscal abolishing the existing tax slabs of 0.60 percent and 0.70 percent, he said that a negative scenario was created in the export sector in the last few months.

"I think that it was not proper to raise the tax rate to a large extent at this moment."

He remarked that the funding for the social security programmes was not enough.

"Though many organisations like the Pay Commission, Regulatory Commission etc. were thought to be made effective in the next budget, it didn't come true. Non-implementation of the PPP is also regretful."

The economist said the government signed a loan agreement with the IMF just a year ahead of the next general election.

"For this reason, the government has to cut the amount of subsidies. On the other hand, it has to raise taxes. So, this budget can be called 'mysterious'."

Wasfia Nazreen, the second Bangladeshi woman to conquer world's tallest peak Mount Everest, has dedicated her feat to the women's rights activists of the country.

"This is not only my achievement. I could not have done it without the support of the people of my country," she told reporters after her plane landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital at 1:25pm on Saturday.

"I'm dedicating my victory to those associated with women's rights movement."

Following her arrival in the country, Wasfia visited and paid her respect to the martyred intellectuals of 1971 Liberation war at the memorial erected in their memory at the capital's Rayer Bazar.

On May 26, the 29-year-old mountaineer reached the 8,850-meter high (29,035 ft) summit of Mount Everest from the southern side at 6:26am (Nepal time) with Ngima Girmen Sherpa and Da Kusang Sherpa.

From the top of the world, she said she had dedicated the feat to the resilience of the women in Bangladesh.

Wasfia is the fourth Bangladeshi mountaineer to hoist Bangladesh's flag on the top of Everest just a week after Nishat Mazumder did it as the first Bangladeshi woman.

Asked whether she ever thought of retreating after facing fearsome obstacles on her journey to the peak of Everest, Wasfia told reporters, "I never thought of retreating. But yes, there were times when I thought I would die."

"An avalanche had totally covered Camp-3 just a while after we left the place for Camp-4. We would have died if we were still there," she said while sharing some of her experience.

Also one of the Sherpa had saved her life once as she slipped from the track, Wasfia added.

Expressing her feelings about the moment when she achieved the feat, Wasfia said, "It was 6:25am (Nepal time) and sun was rising when I set my foot on the peak. I could see the summit of the 8,481-metre high (27,825 ft) Mountain Makalu from there."

"I could look at it from top. It's plainly impossible to express the beauty in words."

Wasfia, a rights activist, writer and development practitioner, said she wants to promote the women freedom fighter who fought bravely for Bangladesh's independence in 1971.

"We have failed to give proper respect to them yet after 40 years of independence. I want to tell the world about them from the highest peaks of all the continents," she said.

As Bangladesh turned 40 last year, Wasfia ventured into climbing the seven summits, the highest mountains in each of the seven continents through the 'Bangladesh on Seven Summits' campaign in July 2011.

As part of this effort, last year she climbed the 5895-metre-high Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa in October and near-seven kilometre high Mount Aconcagua in Argentina in December, the second highest of the Seven summits.

She also called on the country's young generation to quit any practice of corruption and dirty political view in order to work for the betterment of the country.

Wasfia announced that she would open a mountaineering training centre for women in the country for practical training. "I hope the centre will be launched in 2013. Initially, 50 women will be included in the training programme."

She congratulated Nishat Mazumder, the first Bangladeshi women to conquer Mount Everest. "When she ascended to the Everest summit, I was at Camp-3. This is a matter of pride to have two Bangladeshi women to conquer Mount Everest in one week."

Nishat scaled Everest's summit on May 19 from the northern side of the mountain in Nepal with M A Mohit, the second Bangladeshi to have conquered the Everest.

Earlier on May 24, 2010 Musa Ibrahim became the first Bangladeshi to scale the summit.

Mohit is the first Bangladeshi to scale the mountain twice. He first scaled the mountain peak on May 21 last year.

The government has strongly protested two articles appearing recently in The Economist and expressed its doubts over the intention of the writers.

"We feel very sad to see a gradual deterioration of quality and objectivity in the articles appearing in your well-reputed magazine over the past few years, particularly with respect to Bangladesh," said a rejoinder of the foreign ministry issued on Saturday.

The London-based magazine published two articles - "Politics in Bangladesh: Banged about: The prime minister sets the country on a dangerous path" and "Bangladesh's toxic politics: Hello, Delhi: It is up to India to try to stop Sheikh Hasina ruining Bangladesh" – in its May 26 issue.

The rejoinder said the two articles not only reflected a high level of ignorance of the reporter(s) about today's Bangladesh but were also full of misinformation and inaccurate conclusions.

"The Economist, in these articles, also shows utter disrespect towards the people of Bangladesh as far as their capability and ingenuity to address national issues is concerned, and nakedly invites foreign intervention!"

One of the reports said Bangladesh had 170 million poor Muslim, reacting to which the foreign ministry rejoinder urged the weekly to check facts before publishing stories in the future.

"We urge your reporters to study the demographics of Bangladesh for future reporting," it said.

The rejoinder, quoting several well-known international personalities including US President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, said Bangladesh had made significant progress in the recent times.

President Obama has told Sheikh Hasina last year in New York: "…You and your government are doing an excellent job in empowering women and in countering terrorism."

The rejoinder stated that the articles on Bangladesh's domestic politics seemed to be favouring return of an undemocratic rule in the country.

"Accusing the government of murder and attack on activists and journalists — without providing a thread of proof — is a malicious act and a demonstration of truly poor journalism by The Economist," the foreign ministry protested.

Three students, all from Mirpur in Dhaka, drowned on Friday in the ditch of the Madhabkunda waterfall in Moulvibazar.

The deceased were identified as Shahriar Ahmed, a 10th grader of Mirpur Bangla School and College, 'Munna', a ninth grader of Baitul Mamur Madrasa and 'Ashik', an HSC examinee from the Mirpur Commerce College.

They drowned around 1pm and divers from Sylhet recovered the bodies around 5:45pm, Baralekha Police Station Sub-Inspector Masudur Rahman said.

They were in a team of eight students from several institutes in Mirpur. Seven of them went to take a bath in the ditch as another one was sick, Munna's classmate Omar Hannan Rifat, who was in the team, too, told 
Witnesses said the trio drowned as they crossed a danger line marked with a rope.

The BNP has announced to hold its June 11 rally in front of its party headquarters as the authorities were yet to approve a venue for the opposition's pre-announced programme.

The party's Standing Committee member Tariqul Islam announced the opposition decision at a press briefing on Saturday. He said that they have not yet got permission for a venue and use microphones for the rally from the police and other relevant authorities.

"We'd like to request the government to grant permission for the rally promptly," he said adding "otherwise, we are determined to hold the Jun 11 rally in front of our party headquarters at Naya Paltan."

Earlier from a Mar 12 rally in Dhaka, the BNP chief Khaleda Zia had given the government a 90-day ultimatum to restore the caretaker government system, which the Awami League-led coalition government annulled through the 15th amendment of the Constitution last year.

BNP chief had warned of announcing 'tougher agitation programmes from a rally in the capital on Jun 11 if her party's demands were not met by Jun 10.

The BNP chief is expected to announce fresh agitation programmes from Monday's rally. Khaleda had already held meetings with leaders of the 18-Party Alliance on Thursday and discussed the issue.

The BNP-led alliance had sought permission from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police on May 24 to hold the rally either at Paltan Grounds or Manik Mia Avenue or in front of the BNP headquarters at the Naya Paltan in the city.

The Jatiya Krira Parishad has already said that no rally can be held at the Paltan Grounds. There were no words regarding the other two venues the BNP has applied for.

Tariqul Islam, a former minister during the BNP-led government, on Saturday alleged that a delegation of the party, comprising of the Opposition Chief Whip in Parliament Zainul Abdin Farroque, MPs Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee and Abul Khair Bhuiyan, and Dhaka Metropolitan BNP unit Member Secretary Abdus Salam, could not meet the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner though they had waited for long on Thursday and Saturday.

"The officials there did not show least courtesy to the BNP delegation which is regrettable," he said.

The BNP leader alleged that the government was trying to thwart the rally. "BNP's rally will take place on Monday no matter whatever the obstacle is," Tariqul said.

He added that if there were any attempts to thwart the rally, the government would have to take the responsibility for 'unpleasant incidents'.

Tariqul also came down hard on police for not yet permitting to use microphones for the rally. He hoped that the number of people taking part in Monday's rally would be greater than the Mar 12 rally.

Terming Justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury an 'arrogant' man, senior jurist Barrister Rafique-ul Huq has said that 'Khoda' (God) has sent the High Court judge to trial.

"None can escape Khoda's justice, or else why our Justice Manik (Justice Chowdhury's nickname) is facing danger?" Huq told a programme in Dhaka on Saturday.

"Justice Manik drove steam roller over all of us. He was too arrogant. Khoda doesn't like an arrogant, swollen-headed man," he added.

Ruling MPs have been demanding removal of Justice Chowdhury since he censured parliament Speaker Abdul Hamid for his remarks criticising a verdict on the ownership of a piece of land. The speaker, however, is yet to react over the issue.

"The judiciary and the parliament are in a dispute over the issue," Rafique said and suggested settling the issue at the earliest. "Don't let it be an issue among the masses and in the media."

"So many appointments [of judges] in past few years have been politically influenced. It is difficult to get honest judgment from them. Such problems will end if qualified people are appointed," he said.

"Judges will have to grow beyond partisanship," he observed at the programme organised by the Reporters' Mukto Chinta Forum.

Barrister Rafique is the convenor of a citizen's rights organization, Nagarik Andolan. He has been in focus for his political comments on political issues.

Even though the senior 18-Party Alliance leaders including BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had secured bail in an arson attack case, chances of their release have remained uncertain as a chargesheet in a bomb explosion case has been submitted.

The Public Prosecutor involving the case has already sought a decision from a court to produce the alliance leaders in the Secretariat bomb explosion case. They will have to wait for their release until a decision regarding the petition comes.

BNP says the government has resorted to the tactic of "production warrant" to delay the release of the leaders despite securing bail from the High Court.

Production warrant is an order issued by a trial court to produce a person before the court in connection with criminal proceedings pending against the accused.

The new twist has come amid concerns that the country's politics could become more confrontational in the coming weeks as the government has refused to a June-10 deadline for restoring the caretaker government system.

BNP Chairperson Kahleda Zia is expected to announce fresh protest programmes from a rally planned for Monday in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters.

The defendants' lawyers have said they will move the court on Sunday to withdraw the petition filed by the Public Prosecutor.

A lawyer of the alliance leaders, Zoynal Abedin Mesbah, told bdnews24.com that he along with senior lawyers will go to the Dhaka Senior Special Tribunal and will seek an order to withdraw the petition seeking warrant to produce the accused in the court.

The lawyers representing the state, however, said the accused would have to file fresh bail prayers as their bail duration in the bomb explosion case has expired. They will have to stay behind bars if they fail to secure bail afresh.

Mesbah also said the accused would not get freedom until the petition is withdrawn.

A lawyer representing the state at a trial court, Abdullah Abu, told bdnews24.com that the alliance leaders had secured bail in the Secretariat bomb explosion case filed at Shahbagh Police Station until police submitted chargesheet in the case.

"They (alliance leaders) will have to seek bail anew as the chargesheet has been submitted," he said.

A High Court bench of Justices Salma Masud Chowdhury and F R M Nazmul Ahsan granted bail on Thursday to 30 leaders of the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance in a vehicle torching case during an opposition-sponsored countrywide shutdown on Apr 29.

Meanwhile, the Investigation Officer of the Secretariat bomb explosion case submitted chargesheet on May 31 against 29 leaders of the opposition alliance. A hearing is scheduled to take place on July 26.

On Apr 29, during the opposition-sponsored countrywide shutdown protesting against the 'forced disappearance' of one of BNP's Organising Secretaries, two crude bombs were hurled at the Secretariat and a vehicle was torched near the Prime Minister's Office.

Police filed two cases with Shahbagh and Tejgaon police over the incidents accusing 29 leaders of the alliance for the bomb explosion and 45 for the arson attack incident.

Ilias Ali, also the Sylhet unit BNP chief, has been missing since Apr 17.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has given 'verbal permission' allowing BNP to install a stage and hold Monday's rally in front of the party headquarters at Naya Paltan.

"Though belated, we have finally got verbal permission for Monday's rally and building the stage," the opposition Chief Whip in Parliament Zainul Abdin Farroque told reporters after a meeting with DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed on Sunday.

Farroque said the DMP Commissioner had assured them that a copy of the written permission would be sent to the BNP office within an hour.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia is expected to announce fresh agitation programmes from Monday's rally after a deadline for restoring the caretaker government system expired on Sunday.

"We sought police assistance to hold our rally peacefully," he said.

He vowed to make the rally a success.

A four-member BNP delegation, led by Farroque, joined the hour-long meeting at the DMP headquarters.

The other members of the delegation were BNP lawmakers Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee, Abul Khair Bhuiyan and Dhaka Metropolitan Unit Member Secretary Abdus Salam.

Farroque said they would begin installing the rally stage opposite to the BNP headquarters by Sunday noon.

On whether the rally permission had any conditions attached to it, he said, "We have been told anything like that."

"We also gave no condition."

The 18-Party Alliance rally is scheduled to commence at 2pm on Monday.

The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange posted a 43.11 points gain around an hour into trading on the week's fourth business day on Wednesday.

The DGEN reached 4785.04 points or 0.91 percent higher around 11:25am.

Shares and mutual funds worth around Tk 618.30 million changed hands so far with prices of 178 issues advancing, 15 declining and 14 remaining unchanged.

The index reached its peak at 4787.24 points around 45 minutes into the day's trading.

The DGEN closed at 4741.93 points or 1.41 percent up on Tuesday with a turnover of around Tk 1.96 billion which was around Tk 1.31 billion less than Monday's.

The DSE ended Monday's trading around 179 points down while it gained around 121 points at the opening of the week's trading.

The key index lost 63.59 points or 1.33 percent during last week's trading with a daily average turnover of around Tk 1.93 billion which was around Tk 1 billion less than the week before.

The ruling alliance MPs have asked the Chief Justice to remove Justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury in three days for his comment against the Speaker or they have threatened to revive the constitutional provision to impeach judges.

Hours after Justice Chowdhury commented during court proceedings that the Speaker has 'committed a crime similar to sedition' by criticising a verdict of the High Court, the ruling alliance MPs blasted the judge in the parliament and asked the Chief Justice to constitute judicial council for his removal.

Minister without portfolio Suranjit Sengupta, while speaking in the parliament on Tuesday, gave three days to remove Justice Chowdhury.

"Otherwise, the Section 96 of the 1972 Constitution will be revived," he said.

The Parliament had the power to impeach judges following the Section 96 of the 1972 Constitution. Military ruler Ziaur Rahman amended the provision and vested the power to the Supreme Judicial Council. The President can ask the Chief Justice to constitute the Supreme Judicial Council, according to the Constitution.
On Tuesday's session the Workers Party MP Rashed Khan Menon raised the issue of Justice Chowdhury despite reservation of the Deputy Speaker, who was on the chair.

Then Suranjit, Tofail Ahmed and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim of Awami League, Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Mujibul Haque of Jatiya Party spoke on the issue and bitterly criticized Justice Chowdhury for his comment.

Other MPs, who were present in the House, were encouraging the speakers by thumping their tables when they were criticizing Justice Chowdhury or was mentioning the word 'impeach'.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was in the House when the issue was raised, but she left as soon as the MPs started speaking on the issue.
Suranjit said, "I am drawing attention of the Chief Justice and I will say that he (Justice Chowdhury) has violated the Constitution. What was discussed in the Parliament that cannot judged. He has violated the Constitution by doing that. He cannot remain a justice anymore."

He urged the President Zillur Rahman and the Chief Justice Mohammad Muzammel Hossain to form Supreme Judicial Council to remove Justice Chowdhury.

"We'll wait for three days. We'll see whether the Chief Justice forms any Supreme Judicial Council. If he doesn't, we'll revive our right to save the sovereignty of parliament," Suranjit said.

"He who violates the Constitution should not be on that chair," he said.

"We have abandoned the right to impeach. But we can bring it back in five minutes," he added.

Tofail termed Justice Chowdhury 'sadist'. "He likes to insult others."

Calling Justice Chowdhury by his nickname 'Manik' Tofail said, "He is a lucky guy. Abdul Matin Khasru made him justice when he was the law minister. BNP did not confirm him. We confirmed him as High Court judge after we came to power this time."

"There is another one...Manzill Murshid. It seems that he has no other job to do. He reads newspapers, goes to Manik and gets rules issued," he said.

"He (Justice Chowdhury) punished a traffic police personnel by ordering him to perform sit-ups for not saluting him. This judge wanted a seat in the business class though he bought a third-class ticket," he added.

Earlier on the day, lawyer Manzill Murshid drew Justice Chowdhury's attention to newspaper reports on remarks of the Speaker when the court was dealing the petition of handing over a land occupied by the Sarak Bhaban under Communications Ministry.

The Speaker last week in Parliament criticised a High Court verdict over the ownership the land. In the verdict, the court ordered the Roads and Highways Department on May 29 to hand over the land to the Supreme Court, which the court said the original owner of the land.

Speaker Abdul Hamid then urged the court to reconsider the verdict and said people would stand against the judiciary if they get agitated with court verdict.

Criticising the Speaker, Justice Chowdhury on Tuesday said Hamid has instigated people against the Supreme Court and the government, which 'is a crime similar to sedition'.

Tuesday's discussion in Parliament on the issue started when Workers' Party MP Menon drew Deputy Speaker's attention on point of order. The Deputy Speaker, however, seemed unwilling to allow any discussion. "Nothing serious happened in Parliament so that you can raise point of order. The discussion can be held tomorrow," he said.

Menon said, "The Speaker did not ask anyone to stand against the court. He spoke about coordination among the administration, judiciary and parliament. So, such attitude towards the Speaker cannot be accepted."

The MPs shouted that they wanted to have a discussion.

Awami League MP Sheikh Selim said parliament should pass a motion seeking apology from Justice Chowdhury.

The Deputy Speaker said he would prefer a discussion on Wednesday as he knew nothing about the issue.

"There are news reports in the internet. We have copies. We are sending those to you," Selim replied.

JaSad MP Badal said, "Such signs were seen during the Pakistan period. It's a bad sign...when the government is trying to make everything right, they are being obstructed."

Jatiya Party's Mujibul said Justice Chowdhury had become a judge 'at the mercy' of the Awami League government. "He is mentally ill. He has no authority to go to court," he said.

He also demanded revival of the Section 96 of the 1972 Constitution to ensure accountability of the judges.

At the end of the discussion, Deputy Speaker Shawakat Ali said, "We'll take decision after talking with the Speaker."

The Finance Minister A M A Muhith is expected to place Tk 1.9 trillion budget in the parliament on Thursday prioritising power, roads and physical infrastructure for the next financial year.

Insiders say that a meeting with the Prime Minister on May 11 finalised the budget framework for the next fiscal with a deficit of five percent of the GDP. Finance Minister, Finance Ministry and National Board of Revenue officials involved with the budget process were present at the meeting.

Those familiar with the details say that the 2012-13 budget will look towards 'infusing dynamism into rural development, human resource development and a stronger welfare system' on the back of a Tk 550 billion annual development plan.

Non-development expenditure will be over Tk 350 billion.

Local government, power, primary education, health and family welfare will receive most of the development funds. These are also among the top five ministries in terms of total budgetary outlay, according to sources.

However, defence ministry will get highest allocation if development and non-development outlays together taken into consideration. Defence is expected to receive Tk 120.88 billion for the next fiscal.

According to sources involved with the budget process, subsidies on petroleum, power and agriculture will rack up the total figure to Tk 345.33 billion almost 20 percent of the total outlay. Development expenditures on the other hand will be almost a third of the outlay.

Just about three-fourths of the budgetary outlay will be financed through the government's revenues. Tax collection worth Tk 1.12 trillion will account for 80 percent of the total revenues next year.

Bank borrowing amounting to Tk 201 billion will cover almost 40 percent of the half trillion taka deficit. The remainder will be made up through foreign aid and other sources.

The finance minister will be targeting an inflation of 7.5 percent although it apparently spun out of control this year.

When considering individual ministries, energy and mineral resources, and industries will see their allocation almost double. Primary and mass education funds will increase by about 40 percent, roads by 33 percent, and rail and waterways will increase by about 25 percent each.

GDP

The Finance Minister in the coming budget is targeting a 7.2 percent GDP growth for the next fiscal. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) based on economic indicators of nine months (July-March) predicting GDP growth for the current year at 6.32 percent.

Digital budget

A media statement of the government said on Tuesday that the finance minister will place the budget using digital tools. All the budget documents will be released on the website after it is placed in the parliament.

The budget related information will be available on www.bangladesh.gov.bd, www.nbr-bd.org, www.plancomm.gov.bd, www.imed.gov.bd, www.bdpressinform.org, www.pmo.gov.bd,

Recruiting agency owner Sayeeduz Zaman Bachchu who confessed to killing a teenage girl in the city’s Hatirpool area was taken on a four-day remand on Sunday.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rezaul Karim passed the order after Detective Branch of police produced him before his court seeking a 10-day remand for questioning him.
Police recovered the body of a teenage girl sliced into 26 pieces from a multi-storey commercial building in the city’s Hatirpool area on Saturday.
Local people first found a leg of the female body at a narrow passage outside ‘Nahar Plaza’ and informed Shahbagh police.
Police reached the spot around 11:30 am and conducted simultaneous searches inside the building and its surrounding areas to recover the remaining parts of the remaining body up to 1:30 pm.Detectives picked up six people, including Bachchu, on Saturday following the recovery of the dismembered body of Rumi, 15, daughter of Saddam Fakir of Gazipur Kazipara village in Alfadanga upazila of Faridpur district.
During interrogation, Bachchu, 28, owner of Sonali Travels located on the 13th floor of the commercial building, told police that he got introduced with Rumi over mobile phone two and a half years back.
He brought the girl to his office from Mirpur-10 at about 6 pm on Friday and had sex with her there.
Later, he strangulated Rumi to death at night thinking that he would be in trouble if outsiders come to know about her presence in his office, a police officer quoted Bachchu as saying.
Later, Bachchu sliced the body into at least 26 pieces, detached flesh from the bones and threw those in different areas.

The head coach of Bangladesh Cricket team Richard Pybus is looking forward to perform better in the upcoming tri-nation T20 tournament in Zimbabwe through building a strong team work as well as a good relationship among the players.
Addressing the first press conference at the Media Centre of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Monday, the newly appointed head coach of the Bangladesh cricket team Pybus said, “We are looking for additional talents identification that helps the team to play well”.
The new Bangladesh coach joined the Tigers on Monday and vowed to take the challenge of the tri-nation T20 tournament beginning on June 18 in Zimbabwe as his first assignment.
The 47-year-old Englishman gave his first appearance before the media here today.
Replying to a query regarding non-playing of test match by the Tigers for the last four months, Pybus said, it will not be too difficult to set with the pace and we can hope for better.
Pybus said he had been in Pakistan and experienced with the sub-continent weather; in addition, he had been experienced with the South African multi-cultural weather, both will help him to adjust with weather as well as the team.
AHM Mustafa Kamal MP, president of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Mr. Nizamuddin Chowdhury, BCB’s acting chief executive officer (CEO), were also present at the conference.Mustafa Kamal said we believe that the glorious career of new coach will take forward the teams’ performance.
Asked by journalists BCB’s President said Pybus will have complete freedom within his working arena; the board will provide him all-out support and never hinder to gain his objectives, strategic plans and goals related to the team.
Pybus was appointed Bangladesh head coach for a two-year term on May 30, in place of Australian Stuart Law who resigned in last April.
He will be Bangladesh’s third coach in a year as Law had been in the post for only nine months after succeeding another Australian Jamie Siddons in July last year.
Pybus hasn’t been in charge of an international side since 2003 but had flown to Bangladesh earlier last month to appear in interview for the post.
He arrived in Dhaka on May 10 and spent the subsequent day holding meetings with BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal as well as some of the board directors and a handful of national players.
Pybus, who took up coaching in his mid-twenties, was appointed Pakistan coach for their 1999 World Cup campaign before returning to the South African provincial side. He coached Pakistan again until the 2003 World Cup and had stints with Titans and Cape Cobras (South Africa), and Middlesex. He was with Cobras until March 2012 and was also linked to the South Africa job last year.

Five sustained burn injuries as a fire broke out at Ghorasal thermal power plant Monday suspending power generation in no-1 unit of the power plant.
Official sources said the fire originated from a generator circuit-breaker  at about 11 am when repair work was going on at unit 2 of the power plant.
The injured were-foreman Abdul Ahad, electricians Raja Miah, Al Amin, Babu Miah and Amin .They were first rushed to the clinic of the power plant and then shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as their condition deteriorated. Condition of Abdul Ahad and Amin was stated to be critical.
Fire fighters of the power plant and a unit of Polash fire brigade extinguished the fire within 30 minutes.
Power generation at 55 megawatt no-1 unit of the power plant was suspended due to the fire incident.

The High Court on Monday asked the government why making public servants officers on special duty (OSD) without any specific reason and time limit should not be declared unlawful.

The bench of Justices Mirza Hussain Haider and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarker issued the rule asking the Public Administration Secretary to respond within eight weeks.

The court issued the rule following a writ petition filed by former Secretary Asaf-ud-Daula.

It also ordered the Secretary to explain why the Public Administration Ministry should not make specific guidelines on OSD. He will also have to submit a report with a list of the officials of the ministry made OSD in past 10 years and the expenses the government had to bear for them.

The petitioner's lawyer Anik R Haque told the court that only the Public Administration Ministry has as many as 591 officials as OSD. Of them, three are Secretaries, 37 Additional Secretaries, 146 Joint Secretaries, 170 Deputy Secretaries, 190 Senior Assistant Secretaries and 45 Assistant Secretaries, according to him.

"These officials are paid Tk 15.031 million in basic salary every month. They are being paid from the taxes people pay," he said at the hearing.

In many cases, he added, skills of these officials were not used properly as they are made OSD.

He also said a circular issued in 1991 had explained that reasons behind OSD. "There has been no specific reason to make OSD 90 percent of those who are OSD now," he added.

OSD are usually political victims with having no work to do with either in the policy making or the implementation process of the government.

Sending officers on special duty is seen as a punishment because the government of the day feels no need to have them, mostly for political reason.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have caught a member of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on chargesof intruding into Bangladesh through Meherpur border.

BGB's Mirpur sector Assistant Commandant and 29 Battalion's Commander Maj Zahid said the trooper was arrested from Bajitpur on Monday afternoon.

He has been identified as Satya Paul Singh, a soldier from Shahpur camp under 119 Battalion of BSF.

BGB Bajitpur camp Commander Subedar Jalal Uddin said Satya intruded into Bangladesh while chasing a cattle trader.

As Satya crossed the border and came close to BGB's Bajitpur camp, he was detained, he added.

Maj Zahid told reporters that BSF 119 Battalion has been informed about the matter and the BSF member would be handed over to India at a flag meeting.

Jahedul Islam Sourav on Monday confessed in a court to having a role in the attack on internet newspaper bdnews24.com journalists and staff who are nursing their injuries at a private hospital.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Keshob Roy Chowdhury recorded Sourav's statement in his room under section 164 of Bangladesh Penal Code.

In his confession that took several hours, Sourav also named others involved in the attack.

After the confession, Sourav along with the other two, Ilias Master Sumon and Mir Hossain arrested in connection with the same attack, were sent to jail.

Sourav was produced taken to court after a four-day remand in police custody.

The court's General Recording Officer, police Sub-Inspector Farid Miah told bdnews24.com about Sourav's confession.

The other two arrestees will be produced before court for their statement on Tuesday, said investigation officer of the case Imdadul Islam, a Sub-Inspector of Banani Police Station.

The assailants stormed into the online newspaper's office premises at Amtoly in Mohakhali on May 28 night. The newspaper's English Desk Sub-Editor Newaz Mohammad Riffat and Correspondent Salauddin Wahed Pritom were stabbed during the attack. Office assistant Ruhul Amin was also knifed.

All of them were taken to the city's United Hospital, where they are still receiving treatment.

Police arrested Sourav, Sumon and Hossain the day after the attack had taken place.

On information gleaned from them, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Imran Molla, 20, and Yakub Ali, 22, from Savar for their alleged involvement in the attack.

Journalists have demanded that private TV station ATN Bangla's Chairman Mahfuzur Rahman be questioned in the homicide investigation of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.

They said remarked recently in London that the couple victims to an extra-marital affair which were 'defamatory'.

They demanded that the ATN Bangla boss be interrogated following his claim that there is a video footage of the reason behind the murders.

The station's Senior Reporter Runi and Maasranga Television's News Editor Sagar were killed in their Rajabazar flat on Feb 11. As police failed to make any progress in the investigation, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were given the charge to investigate the murders.

The statement issued by the journalists' unions said, "Such remarks on ATN Bangla journalist Runi by the company's owner are inhumane, beyond courtesy and defamatory."

Presidents of two factions of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Ruhul Amin Gazi, General Secretary of one faction Abdul Jalil Bhuyian, Acting General Secretary of the other faction M Abdullah, President of two factions of Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) Abdus Shahid and Omar Faruq, General Secretaries Muhammad Baker Hossain and Shaban Mahmud, National Press Club President Kamal Uddin Sabuj and General Secretary Syed Abdal Ahmad, Dhaka Reporters' Unity President Shakhawat Hossain Badshah and General Secretary Sazzad Alam Khan Tapu signed the statement.

The journalists' unions have been demonstrating demanding arrest of the killers of the couple.

India will not build Tipaimukh multipurpose dam project on the Barak River in Manipur without the consent of Bangladesh, a top bureaucrat said on Monday in fresh assurance.

"If Bangladesh does not come along with us, we will not be going ahead with the construction (Tipaumukh project)," Secretary to India's Ministry of Water Resources Dhruv Bijai Singh told a group of Bangladeshi journalists in New Delhi.

The Bangladeshi media team will visit the Tipaimukh dam project site.

The Indian government has been saying that it would not take steps on the proposed project, which would adversely affect Bangladesh amid protests from opposition and environmental activists.

The sub-group of Joint Rivers Commission is going to meet at the end of this month to begin study of all aspects of the project with specific reference to the dam's probable impact on Bangladesh, the Secretary said.

India offered Bangladesh to invest in the $2 billion project and the sub-group will also study the partnership stake.

"Money is limited and if India finds the project problematic, it would build dam elsewhere, Singh said.

The Indian government has a plan to implement flood mitigation and hydro-power generation project in Tipaimukh, 210 kilometres from Sylhet border.

The Secretary said no construction work had begun on the site, refuting reports to the contrary.

Joint Rivers Commission

Indian Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal in the meeting with the journalists claimed that it was Bangladesh that proposed the Tipaimukh project in 1974.

When the journalists asked him for relevant documents, his office supplied the agreed minutes of the sixth JRC meeting held in November, 1973.

"The commission considered the study of Barak Dam project in the context of floods in India and Bangladesh and recommendation that this project be reviewed by the Superintending Engineers of Bangladesh and India, for flood moderation and protection to Sylhet, Cacher and adjoining areas," the minute said.

Bangladesh's High Commissioner to India Tareq A Karim in his meeting with journalists on the same day said between 1972 and 1982, the rhetoric was same but it was changed in 1982 when it was stated that the project would be harmful for Bangladesh.

There were 13 JRC meetings from 1972 to 1975, eight from 1978 to 1982 (during the BNP regime), 11 JRC meetings from 1982 to 1991, but none from 1991 to 1996 .

There were three JRC meetings between 1996 and 2001 while two JRC meetings were held from 2002 to 2006. During the period of the current government only one JRC meeting took place.

Electricity

The dam will create a reservoir of 22,000 hectares of land and it would be filled during flood time, Secretary Singh said. The standard practice is to fill up the reservoir when there is flood with excess water, he explained.

The reservoir can contain nine billion cubic metres of water and it is over six times larger than Kaptai lake reservoir.

The electricity production capacity of the project is 1,500 megawatt and depending on availability of water, the power generation will fluctuate, according to the senior official.

A highly placed source in the Indian diplomacy said given the existing technology, power unit cost is so high that the project would not be financially feasible.

No irrigation project

The Indian Secretary categorically said there would be no diversion of water as the project did not consist any irrigation component.

When asked about construction of barrage in Phuler Tal, he said there was no such project.

Phuler Tal is 100 kilometres down from Tipaimukh and in the case of a barrage, water is diverted to other areas.

Teesta deal

Water Resources Minister Bansal said there was political will from both the governments to sign the agreement and they were trying to sign the agreement 'as soon as possible'.

Bangladesh and India failed to sign the interim Teesta water-sharing agreement during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September last year due to strong resistance from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The High Court on Monday asked the government and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) why Section-2 CC of the SEC Ordinance that allowed the regulator 'special power' would not be declared unconstitutional.

The section of the SEC Ordinance allows the regulator to impose any condition if it is not contradictory with Company Act 1994 or any other laws. SEC issued the circular asking directors to hold minimum shares to retain in the boards following Section-2 CC, which the market analysts describe as 'special power'.

The bench of justices Hasan Foez Siddique and Jahangir Hossain issued the rule following five separate writ petition filed by 24 directors of five companies challenging the legality of the section of the SEC Ordinance-1969.

Additional Attorney General Murad Reza said the government and SEC would have to respond to the rule within a week.

He said the petitioners had pleaded for cancellation the SEC order of minimum shareholding by directors following Section-2 CC of the ordinance, but the court issued the rule rejecting their plea.

Chief Justice Mohammad Mozammel Hossain on Sunday morning sent the petitions to this bench for hearing after it was referred to him.

The five companies who filed are NCC Bank, Markentile Bank, South-East Bank, National Life Insurane and Prime Finance.

Llawyer Dr Kamal Hossain, former Attorney General Mahmudul Islam, Barrister Akhtar Imam and Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmud argued for the petitioners while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the SEC during the hearing.

The petitioners filed the writs at the High Court on May 22. The court had sent the matter to the Chief Justice to give the decision after hearing all sides.

These five writs were filed after the court cancelled three writ petitions filed by directors of three companies challenging the legality of the SEC circular making it mandatory for directors of listed companies to hold minimum sahres.

The writs question the legality of the Section-2 CC of the SEC Ordinance following which the market regulator had issued the circular.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) are in a tug of war over issuing licences for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.

The ministry had recently sent the draft licence policy to the telecoms regulator, who on Thursday wrote back saying the draft needed a review as it was not in line with the telecommunications law.

The process to finalise the policy on issuing licences to stop illegal VoIP calls began last year. BTRC was supposed to start issuing licences from April, but the process is lingering on as the two keep exchanging letters.

Telecoms Secretary Sunil Kanti Bose told bdnews24.com: "We have done away with the system of evaluating the application of firms by marking them to ease the licensing process in the final policy. Concurrently, the authority to form the scrutiny committee has been vested with the ministry."

"The final policy has also dropped BTRC's proposal to specify the number of licences to be issued."

"BTRC will take too much time if it is given the job to evaluate applications and form the scrutiny committee. That's why the decision was taken," the Secretary reasoned.

Bose further said they had seen to it that big firms did not get the licences. "If the licences are given to general entrepreneurs, the number of unemployment will be reduced."

But BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed has a different story to tell.

"The telecoms law doesn't support the changes made in the licence policy by the ministry. We've asked the ministry to review their decision," he told bdnews24.com.

Secretary Bose, however, said he did not get any letter from BTRC. "But if I get the letter, the answer will be sent on Sunday or Monday."

"The letter to BTRC will say the ministry's decision on the process will not be changed." He said the process of issuing licence will be finished 'at the soonest'.

The BTRC lost its right to issue any telecom licences to the telecom ministry following the amendment to the telecommunications law in 2010. The tug of war between the two institutions had begun since then.

According to the law, anyone must apply to the BTRC for any kind of telecom licences. BTRC will issue the licences following the government's approval.

The draft policy sets the licence application fee at Tk 5,000 while the fee for licence authorisation is Tk 500,000 with a bank guarantee of Tk 250,000. Successful operators will have to return 20 percent of their earnings to the government while Tk 10,000 will be charged for renewing licence every year.

The draft policy also bars the licenced operators, who will be known as VoIP Service Provider (VSP), from making more than 90 calls at one time.

According to the BTRC statistics, nearly 40 million minutes of international calls are made legally to and from Bangladesh per day while 10 million minutes of calls are terminated illegally on average.

BRTC said the government loses Tk 50 million in revenue every day due to illegal VoIP and currently every international call charges $0.3 for Bangladesh.

The man who killed a 16-year old girl has said today that he had cut her body into 26 pieces after raping her to avoid arrest.

Saiduzzaman Bachchu told police and journalists on Sunday that his fear that he would be forced to marry her forced him to commit the macabre murder.

Police recovered the body parts of the girl, identified as 'Rumi', daughter of one Saddam Fakir of Kajiaparha at Alphadanga in Faridpur, from two buildings at Hatirpool in Dhaka on Saturday.

Police made the recovery after local people informed them of finding a piece of the girl's leg beside Nahar Plaza on Saturday morning.

Some pieces were retrieved from a room of Sonali Recruiting Agency on the 12th floor of the plaza, some from a room of Sky Garden Hotel on the 11th floor and the rest from the roof of an adjacent five-story building.

The recruiting agency owner, Bachchu, 30, was detained following the recovery.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said Bachchu told them during interrogation that he and Rumi came to know each other through mobile-phone conversation and the Faridpur girl had visited him in Dhaka once, a year ago.

He had bought Rumi a cell phone during that visit, Rahman added.

"Ten to twelve days back, Bachchu got in touch with Rumi once again, when she had come to visit her aunt at Mirpur. He (Bachchu) brought Rumi to the office of Sonali Recruiting Agency from Mirpur in an auto-rickshaw at 6pm Friday."

Bachchu also confessed having sex with Rumi that night, Rahman said as police produced him before the media at the detective police office.

Bachchu said at the media call that other shopkeepers around began gossiping seeing Rumi in his office and he had the door locked from outside.

He said that he strangled her with his hands fearing that people may force him to marry the girl.

Then, Bachchu first severed the head from her body with a knife, before cutting other parts off their joints. He also took off flesh from the severed parts through the entire night.

"I threw parts of the body outside the room and some parts into the toilet so that nobody could suspect there was any girl in my room," Bachchu said.

He could not escape on Saturday morning as police and journalists had already arrived.

Detective Branch's Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam told journalists Bachcu was from Faridpur and was separated from his family. He was staying at his office at Nahar Plaza.

Islam said Rumi was from a poor family and her two other sisters live at a shanty in the capital.

The anti-graft body will quiz former army chief and Destiny 2000 Limited President Lt Gen (Retd)Harun-Ar-Rashid over allegations of irregularities in the multi-level marketing company.

"The commission had decided to interrogate anyone it thinks necessary," Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Commissioner M Badiuzzaman told reporters on Sunday.

"Accordingly, now the commission thinks it is necessary to quiz Harun-Ar-Rashid," he added.

Harun had been the Coordinator of the Sector Commanders Forum. He had stepped down following news reports alleging corruption in the company.

Until Sunday, ACC interrogated 16 officials of Destiny, including Managing Director Rafiqul Amin. Those quizzed on Sunday are Destiny Vice Presidents Nepal Chandra Biswas and Sheikh Tayabur Rahman, Destiny Aviation Director Abul Kalam Azad, and Destiny Assistant Executive Director Zakir Hossain.

Irregularities at Destiny were found in an investigation conducted by Bangladesh Bank. ACC started investigating the irregularities after those were reported in the media. It formed a two-member body comprising its Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sarder and Assistant Director Toufiqul Islam to investigate the irregularities.

The panel submitted its report after two months of investigation on May 23. The probe found evidences to substantiate the irregularities taking place at Destiny and its sister concerns.

The report said top officials of the company were involved in corruption of several crores of Taka. The money was earned through import and real estate businesses. The top officials of the company siphoned off the money earned through corruption to their personal accounts, said the investigation report.

Parliament may ask Bishwa Sahitya Kendra founder Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed to appear before the House for explaining his 'objectionable' remarks against members of parliament and ministers.

Presiding officer Prof Ali Ashraf said Abu Sayeed must tender an unconditional apology for his remarks.

He also urged MPs for issuing notice for hampering their special rights.

Prof Ashraf, who was presiding in the absence of Speaker Abdul Hamid and Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali, made the observation during the time allocated for unscheduled discussions.

Sayeed, at a discussion arranged by the Transparency International, Bangladesh on Saturday, had said that MPs and Ministers act like thieves and dacoits and breach oath.

Independent lawmaker Fazlul Karim initiated the debate over the statement in the House. Jatiya Party lawmaker Mujubul Haque Chunnu and Awami League's presidium committee member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim followed and castigated Sayeed.

Terming the MPs' statements 'appropriate', Ali Ashraf said the country belongs to the people and "they have elected us".

"The speech does not speak well. We can call him to parliament. We have to set an example. He has to apologise unconditionally. Nobody has the right to undermine parliament," he said.

"Undermining parliament is a bad augury. We have to take action against this," the presiding officer said adding that such instances are blots on democracy.

In his statement, without naming Sayeed, Fazlul, said, "An intellectual has made an irresponsible comment at a discussion organised by the Transparency International Bangladesh. His statement is regrettable."

Urging the parliament to concentrate whether action can be taken against Sayeed, he said, "This kind of statement will not be good for democracy."

Chunnu said, "He (Fazlul) has not mentioned the name. It was Prof Abu Sayeed ... Politicians have done great things for the country."

"Politicians have made sacrifices for the sake of the country. Intellectuals can only give a advices. He has dishonoured the electorate," he added.

Selim was the man to speak on the issue last.

He said, "This is an attack on parliament and democracy. Intellectuals have become the conscience of the nation. But we can't find them when the country needs them."

"What do they do? From where do they spend so much money? I want to ask the finance minister, what is their source of money? They organise one or two seminars every week. How do they manage to own such expensive cars?" he went on.

Selim continued, "They become mad if an elected government stays in power. They get respectable positions during the tenure of an unelected government. What was their role after the 1/11? Don't we know that? You (Syeed) had not uttered a single word when businessmen, students and teachers were arrested after 1/11."

"Transparency International, Bangladesh looks for corruption in the ministries ... who are they?"