wednesday, JANUARY 20, 2010 magh 7, 1416, SAFAR 3, 1430 Hijri

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Leading News

Sheikh Hasina pays rich tributes to Jyoti Basu
Sonia, Pranab, Sharad Pawar and Advani attend his funerals

UNB, Kolkata

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with a number of top Bangladesh leaders paid their glowing tributes to veteran Marxist and longest-serving Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu at high-profile state funerals at Bidhan Sabha Bhaban on Tuesday noon.
Indian ruling Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agricul-ture Minister Sharad Pawar and BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani were among the dignitaries who joined thousands of mourners to bid farewell to the legendary left politician.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister and her entourage paid their last homage to Jyoti Basu placing floral wreathes as his body lay in state at the Bengal Legislative House (Bidhan Sabha Bhaban). She placed wreathes on the coffin as the president of Bangladesh Awami League and on behalf of her political conglomerate Grand Alliance.
Earlier at 7:30 am (local time) the leftist legend's body was taken out from Peace Haven in Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, where the body was kept after Basu died on January 17, for the last rides on a hearse draped in white flowers and red flags of his party CPI (M).
Then, with hundreds of people standing on two sides of the streets, Jyoti Basu's hearse led by a pilot car of the Kolkata Police was driven to the Bidhan Sabha Bhaban, also known as Mohakaran, the secretariat building of the state government. The great politician's body was also taken to the CPI (M) party headquarters in Alimuddin Street area. Thousands of party colleagues, supporters and well-wishers thronged the party office to show their last respects to their departing comrade.
Jyoti Basu's mortal remains were kept at the Alimuddin Street stop for five hours. Then, with gun salute at Mohorkunja, previously known as Citizen's Park, the body was handed over to the state-run SSKM Hospital, as per last wish of the ever-memorable politician.
The 96-year-old had multiple organ failures and had been hospitalized since January 1, owing to a reported acute respiratory failure.
Prime Minister Hasina also signed the condolence book in which she wrote: "Bangladesh and its people are profoundly shocked at the death of Jyoti Basu. He was not only a great politician of India but also the real friend of Bangladesh. We have lost a great friend."
Hasina in her writing also recalled great contribution of Jyoti Basu during the 1971 liberation war when one-crore Bengalis took shelter in West Bengal due to killings and raping by the Pakistani forces and their local collaborators.
"Jyoti Basu's death has created social and political vacuum in the subcontinent," the Bangladesh PM said in an eloquent tribute to the late leader.
Hasina inside the Bidhan Sabha Bhaban consoled Chandan Basu, son of Jyoti Basu, and other bereaved family members.
Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad, Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdury, Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon MP, JSD president HasanuL Haq Inu MP, Samyabadi Dal president and Industries Minister Dilip Barua, Awami League general secretary and LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni and Awami League joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif accompanied the Prime Minister.

 Conspiracy is still on against country’s independence: BNP
Zia’s birth anniversary observed

UNB, Dhaka

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia Tuesday placed floral wreath and offered fateha at the mazar of slain President Ziaur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party paying tribute to the late leader on his 74th birth anniversary.
This day in 1936, the army-chief-turned-politician was born in Bogra.
Flanked by party leaders and workers, Begum Zia placed the wreath at the mazar at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar around 11:30 am. She later joined a Doa mahfil organized there by Jatiyatabadi Olama Dal to pray for divine peace on the departed soul of Ziaur Rahman as well as peace, progress and welfare of the country and its people.
The Leader of the Opposition then inaugurated a free medical camp arranged on the mazar premises by Dhaner Shish, a pro-BNP creative organization, to provide free treatment and medicines for the destitute. Khaleda distributed medicines among some poor men and women. She also opened voluntary blood-donation programme of ZISAS.
After the mazar programmes, the BNP chairperson went to the BNP central office at Naya Paltan at 12:30 pm and inaugurated another free medical camp organized by Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) in front of the party office.
Talking to reporters at Zia's mazar, BNP secretary-general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said those who are against the country's independence and sovereignty killed Ziaur Rahman.
"Conspiracy against the country's independence and sovereignty is still on," he said, without elaborating. He said the conspiracies to thwart the ideals of Ziaur Rahman as well as destroy the nationalist forces have not succeeded but the conspiracies are still being hatched by "local and foreign quarters". Asked about the Awami League general secretary's remarks at Monday's press conference, the BNP SG said people are witnessing who are creating anarchic situation in the country.
Replying to another statement of AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, he said, "The Awami League government has no way but to implement the agreements signed during the recent visit of the Prime Minister to India as they (AL) have given commitment to that country."
Among the BNP leaders present were also Dr Khandaker Moshrraf Hossian, Dr RA Gani, Brig Gen (Retd) Hannan Shah, MK Anwar, Mirza Abbas Selima Rahman, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Amanullah Aman.

 411 more ‘political cases’ to be dropped
Total 2380 cases: 2377 against AL, 2 BNP, 1 JP

UNB, Dhaka

The government Tuesday decided that 411 more 'politically motivated' cases be bundled out, as the charges were leveled against the ruling-party persons during the immediate-past interim regime or the previous BNP-led coalition on political considerations.
An official spokesman said the decision was taken at the 12th meeting of the inter-ministerial committee formed to deal with such cases filed with the ill intention of "political harassment".
A total of 869 cases, including 824 under the penal code and 45 under the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), were placed at the meeting.
This bunch also contains none of the cases filed against BNP-Jamaat leaders and workers amid a massive anti-graft drive conducted by the army-led interim government under state of emergency following the 1/11 changeover.
Of the 411 cases recommended for withdrawal, one is against Habibur Rahman Mollah MP and another against former MP Alhaj Mokbul Hossain, said Adv Qumrul Islam, chairman of the inter-ministerial body and also State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
He said that of the 45 cases filed by the ACC, the committee decided to drop 23 cases, 20 for further scrutiny and rejected another two cases.
On the cases under penal code, he informed that they have decided to drop 388 cases, 374 cases for further scrutiny and another 62 cases were not recommended for withdrawal.
He informed that they would need around two months more time to finish the process of recommending withdrawal of politically motivated cases.
Replying to another question, the State Minister said till the day's meeting, they had recommended withdrawal of 2,380 cases. The central panel has so far received the applications on 6,793 cases from the district-level committees.
Adv. Qumrul told another questioner that the ACC would take their own decision following their case-withdrawal recommendations. "The ACC is fully independent and there is no scope for making intervention into their work."
TBT report adds: The scrutiny committee on October 13 in its eighth meeting recommended dropping one case against opposition leader Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman and one corruption case against former president and Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad MP. Earlier on August 26, one case against BNP MP Moudud Ahmed was also withdrawn. In other wards, of the 2380 cases recommanded to be dropped 2377 are against AL leaders, 2 against BNP leaders and 1 against JP leader.

  Nizami opposes deals with India, calls for movement against govt

UNB, Dhaka

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami has asked the government to make public details of the three controversial agreements signed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her visit to India.
Addressing a press conference at the party's central office Tuesday Nizami viewed that the agreements are anti-sate and against the national interest.
He called upon the nation to build up a strong movement against the government and to foil the anti-state agreements.
"The agreements are not only anti-state and against the public interest. Implementation of the agreements will ruin the country's economy and make us dependent on India. It actually ensured widening Indian market in Bangladesh," he said in a written statement.
The Jamaat chief questioned the veracity of the agreements linking two other sovereign states - Nepal and Bhutan - without their presence. "How it is possible that an international agreement was signed linking Nepal and Bhutan without presence of their representatives," he said.
He said India, in fact, got multi-faced transit facility by declaring the Ashuganj as 'port of call' taking the rights of using the Chittagong and the Mongla ports as corridor to the north-eastern states of India.
Nizami viewed that under the deals Indian army would enter into Bangladesh in the name of transportation of goods. "That will be perilous for our security and independence."
He was critical of the Prime Minister for failure to reach a deal ensuring sharing of water of the Teesta, a longstanding demand of the people.
The Jamaat chief viewed that the Indian offer of selling 250MW electricity is intended to reach Bangladesh national grid and thus make us dependent on India.

   Monetary policy puts inflation on top
BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh Bank (BB) Tuesday announced the monetary policy, putting inflation on top of its agenda for the second half of the current 2009-10 fiscal year.
The half- yearly strategic guideline of the central bank also outlines the policy stance to be followed in the next six months to spur economy, perusing sustainable growth in trade, industries and agriculture.
The policy, for the first time, focuses on financial inclusion of the missing people who have not been getting institutional services for a long time, said BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman while announcing the policy at a crowded press conference at the central bank's headquarters here.
The governor candidly admitted the looming risk of inflation mainly because of increase of the food prices on both the local and international markets.
The average inflation shows up tend recently after a significant fall in the first half of the current financial year. Dr Atiur cautioned that the average inflation would rise further in the second part of the fiscal if commodity prices continue to rise.
He, however, assured that the BB would monitor the situation regularly and would pursue a monetary policy to contain the inflation at a tolerable level. The governor also expressed the hope that average inflation could be maintained at the fiscal target of 6.5 percent should the supply of commodities remain steady.
He strongly suggested for government's intervention at the market through effective measures like OMS (open market sale).
Dr Atiur said that the central bank would monitor if any excess liquidity creates inflationary pressure on the market and credit resources go for conspicuous consumption instead of productive sectors. But, he seeks supporting measures like OMS to keep supply of essential goods steady.

    DU clash: Case filed against JCD leaders
UNB, Dhaka

The academic activities of Dhaka University Tuesday were disrupted as a two-day student strike began Tuesday at the call of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal to protest Monday's attacks on its leaders, while the authorities initiated actions against the troublemakers.
Sub-inspector Nasim Uddin on behalf of Shahbag thana filed a case accusing some 200/300 persons, including central JCD leaders, in connection with Monday's violent clash. Only eight of those sued by the police were named.
The accused JCD leaders are central senior vice-president Shahidul Islam Babul, general secretary Amirul Islam Khan Alim, joint secretary Amiruzzaman Shimul, Asaduzzaman Polash, organizing secretary Anisur Rahman Khokon, cultural affairs secretary Tariqul Islam Titu, science and technology affairs secretary Ferdous Ahmed Munna and social service affairs secretary Mahbubul Alam Azam.
Meanwhile, the university syndicate in an emergency meeting, chaired by Vice-chancellor Dr Arefin Siddique this (Tuesday) afternoon, formed an eight-member high-powered committee to probe the incidents and submit report identifying those responsible "immediately".
Pro-VC Prof. Dr Harunur Rashid has been made convenor of the committee.
The DU authorities also lodged general diary with Shahbag thana at noon Tuesday in connection with the campus violence.

Back Page

Speaker urges opposition to join JS, discuss Dhaka-Delhi communiqué

UNB, Dhaka

Speaker Abdul Hamid Advocate Tuesday advised the truant opposition party to join the parliament session to discuss the Bangladesh-India joint communiqué and agreements, instead of talking wide of the mark outside the House.
"The opposition party is disseminating propaganda that the present government is going to sign several agreements with India throwing away the interests of the nation. This propaganda is not true," he told reporters after the inaugural session of a national workshop at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
"We will sit with experts and government high officials to discuss those issues and then we will go to take further steps," he said.
Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) and the Ministry of Commerce with support from the European Union (EU) have jointly organized the two-day national workshop for the Members of Parliament of Bangladesh on Multilateral Trading System and Doha Development Agenda. Chaired by BFTI Chief Executive Officer MA Taslim, the function was also addressed, among others, by Commerce Minister Faruk Khan, World Trade Organization (WTO) Councilor Sayed-ul-Hasim and Additional Secretary of Commerce Mustafa Mohiuddin.
Speaking on the occasion, Speaker Abdul Hamid called upon the lawmakers to be aware of the rules and procedures that govern international trade as well as the contemporary issues that affect the external sector of the country. "This awareness is essential to frame sound policies that will uphold our commitment to opening trade and helping Bangladesh to reap the benefits of global free trade," he said.
Mentioning the roles of WTO in expanding global trade, Abdul Hamid said the WTO is an umbrella organization and it works for liberalization of trade to enhance the world trade without discrimination. Recalling government commitment to liberalizing trade, he said they did not go back on pursuit to expand trade and to participate effectively in the open and fiercely competitive international trade arena.
"We need mainly two things: to be able to offer diversified and competitively priced commodities and formulate trade policies that help Bangladesh protect its national interest without restricting trade," he told the function.

  Devotees from 28 countries arrive to join Bishwa Ijtema
BSS, Gazipur

A large number of devotees from 28 countries have arrived here to attend the three-day Biswa Ijtema (world congregation) of the Muslims beginning on January 22.
The foreign devotees are staying in different mosques around the ijtema ground, said Abdul Quddus, one of the organizers of the ijtema.
He said the 28 countries include India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. Devotees from a total of 70 countries are likely to join the ijtema.
The foreign devotees would be allowed to stay in special pandels erected for them from Thursday. A total of 25,000 foreign devotees are expected to join this year's ijtema.
The authorities have almost completed all preparations for the Ijtema. State Minister for Religious Affairs Shajahan Mia Tuesday visited the ijtema ground to see the preparations. The state minister was accompanied by Religious Affairs Secretary Abdur Rab and Tongi Municipality Mayor Advocate Azmat Ullah Khan. The government is taking adequate security measures and ensuring various facilities for all devotees in the ijtema.
The government has taken all steps against militant activities in the country.
Huge canopies have been erected on the ijtema ground. Measures have been taken to ensure supply of electricity and water in and around the ijtema venue and ensure sanitation and health services for the devotees.
The Prime Minister has allocated Taka 5 crore for development of the Ijtema ground ahead of the 45th congregation of the world Muslims.
Millions of devotees are expected to take part in the 'akheri munajat' (concluding prayer). President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, opposition leader, ministers, MPs and senior officials will take part in the akheri prayer.
The government will deploy more than 10,000 security personnel and install 48 close circuit cameras in and around the ijtema ground.

   5th amendment
HC jurisdiction in outlawing constitutional amendment challenged

UNB, Dhaka

Senior advocate TH Khan Tuesday challenged the jurisdiction of the High Court in declaring illegal and void the Constitution Fifth Ame-ndment brought thro-ugh martial-law proclamations following the August 15 changeover.
Making his argument for leave to appeal against the impugned High Court judgment, he submitted that the High Court under its writ jurisdiction cannot set aside an Act of Parliament-the fifth amendment that ratified usurpation of state power by junta-and make amendment to the Constitution on its own choice. Khan said, "The powers of the High Court are not boundless; it can issue certain orders and directions but cannot promise the moon."
To underpin his contentions, the veteran lawyer referred to article 102 of the Constitution (writ jurisdiction of the High Court division).
"It is only the Parliament elected by the people has given power how to amend any provision of the Constitution, the supreme law of the Republic," he contended. Citing the article 142 of the Constitution, Khan said Parliament has the authority to amend any provision by way of addition, alteration, substitution or repeal by act of parliament.
Advocate Khan, the counsel for intervener in the case and BNP secretary-general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, further submitted that in 1980 the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in resolving a case had legalized martial law proclamations, regulations, and orders.
Since the judgment of the Appellate Division is binding on the High Court division as per article 111 of the Constitution, the High Court had authority to entertain the writ petition by issuing a rule and later delivering its judgment that invalidated the fifth amendment of the Constitution.
In a crucial ruling on August 29, 2005 upon a writ petition, the High Court declared illegal the Constitution Fifth Amen-dment that had endorsed usurpation of power in a row by Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, Justice AM Sayem and Maj General Ziaur Rahman since the August 15, 1975 changeover till April 9, 1979. The hearings remained inconclusive before a six-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice M Tafazzul Islam.
Another identical petition filed by three lawyers as interveners in the case will be heard analogous. The hearing spell resumes Thursday, court sources said.

   Chevron completes second seismic survey on block-7
UNB, Dhaka

The US-based international oil company Chevron has completed its second seismic survey on block-7 located in the country's southern region, as the country is in a desperate quest of new gas find to meet fuel shortages.
This latest seismic survey by the IOC started in March 2009 and completed in December, covering 268 seismic-line kms of onshore areas that include land, river and transition zone. The survey also covered 197-km offshore waters of the Bay that include shallow marine and transition zones. Petrobangla officials, who have been closely working with the American company, are expecting a good reserve in the new field-at a time when many parts of the country, especially industrial belts, cry for gas while many households and productive units in the capital often run out of the fuel. Petrobangla Chairman Prof Hossain Mansur told UNB that his organisation has extended full support to the Chevron move as the country extremely needs gas supply.
He hoped a good result from the seismic survey, but refrained from making any speculation about possible find in the big block.
After the completion of the second seismic survey, now the Chevron officials plan to start drilling in the fourth quarter of 2010 after analyzing the results of this concluded survey.
The foreign firm in July last completed the major part of the two-dimensional (2D) seismic survey in the block-7 encompassing the onshore areas, including part of Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna and Bhola districts. But, again, the IOC moved for a second seismic survey in order to delineate a better feature of the gas block.
According to official sources, the second 2D survey consisted of a total area of 450-km seismic line. Of this, 240-km line falls in the onshore areas while the remaining 200 kms in the offshore area. The seismic area consists of villages, agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, terrestrial habitat and marine habitat.
While the country has been experiencing nagging energy crisis, Petrobangla officials believe the 2D seismic survey results of the block-7 may bring some good news for the energy sector. The officials said that it will take four to five years to start gas production from the field, if gas is found. Chevron Bangladesh, which is now operating in three gas fields across the country, launched the seismic survey in the block 7 last March to delineate potential gas reserves and initiate subsequent exploration as part of its agreement with the state-owned petroleum corporation, Petrobangla.

    Gas talks conclude without decision
BSS, Dhaka

ConocoPhillips, the US based oil and gas company has asked the Petrobangla to allow them to explore more areas or full seismic in the disputed areas in the Bay of Bengal.
According to the ministry of energy and mineral resources, the US company, selected to explore Block 10 and 11 in the Bay, sat with the energy and foreign ministry Tuesday to resolve some issues which was raised in the first round talks in October last. However, it failed to reach any decision. "This issue is not related with the Petrobangla or any ministry as we are abide by the cabinet decision," a top government official said preferring anonymity.
"We did not get any response from the Petrobangla," a Conoco official said following a meeting with the energy ministry, but, he did not like to elaborate. During the meeting with the foreign ministry, ConocoPhillips apprised that there is no legal bar to allow the company to do seismic in the disputed areas as per UNCLOSE rule. They told the foreign ministry "the seismic will never be a cause of any critical damage in the Bay." "The line ministry (energy) can send the issue to the high ups to the government to do something in this regard," an official of the foreign ministry told BSS.
According to the energy ministry the US company asked the ministry to allow them to explore equal size of areas from the adjoining areas of block 10 and 11 what they will loss due to the cabinet nod. According to an official source, during the first round negotiation, the US based company Conoco wants 8 blocks, which is not approved by the cabinet body. Although Petrobangla selected Conoco as a right bidder to explore 8 blocks in the Bay.
In the first round of talks, ConocoPhillips asked the Petrobangla to allocate them more blocks as the India and Myanmar borders are overlapping the areas of block 10 and 11. In first round of talks Conoco raised the same question that blocks 10, and 11 are close to the overlapped waters and Bangladesh authorities are not allowing the companies to explore for gas on that areas that cut huge areas of the proposed block.
According to the foreign ministry sources, India lodged a complaint on 10 and Myanmar on the block-11.

Editorial

Spectre of campus violence

The spectre of campus violence is back with full fury. The Dhaka University, which was free from major violence and armed conflicts for about three years, turned into a battlefield again on Monday. Rival Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) activists clashed on the university campus Monday, leaving at least 15 people, including the DU Proctor and the JCD central president injured. the JCD, the student wing of opposition BNP, however, alleged involvement of pro-government Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) in the clash and called strike at the University for January 19 and 21 to demand resignation of the VC and exemplary punishment of the outsiders who triggered the trouble.
According to agency reports, the fierce clash took place between the supporters of the newly formed JCD central executive committee and some other JCD leaders who were not included in the new committee-known as rebel group. The clash ensued at about 10am when the leaders of the new committee, led by its president and general secretary came to the campus. "Around a dozen gunshots were fired and some handmade bombs blasted amid the reign of terror, which also spread all through the campus that looked like a battlefield." Later, activists of the ruling party's student front, BCL, intervened and drove the JCD leaders out of the campus. They also brought out a procession.
A 101-member new JCD committee was formed on January 1 this year with Sultan Salauddin Tuku and Amirul Islam Alim as president and general secretary respectively, which triggered controversy in a section of JCD activists. The rebel group declared the leaders of central committee unwanted on the campus and barred them from entering the campus since its formation.
Violence on the campus is nothing new in the country. Chhatra League and Chhatra Maitri clashed on January 7 at Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute resulting in the death of Maitri leader Rezanur Chowdhury Sunny. On that single day fierce clashes took place between the activists of Chhatra League and Chhatra Shibit at three places -Khulna BL College, Meherpur Government College and Dinajpur Government College leaving around 80 people injured. The three places had turned into battle grounds due to the clashes between the activists of the two rival student organisations on the occasion of welcoming the admission seekers. Besides, Rangpur Government College was closed sine die on January 17 following clashes between BCL and BCL (JSD). On January 18 Dinajpur Textile Institute was closed for an indefinite period to avert clashes between two feuding groups of BCL.
But what happened on Monday on the Dhaka University campus is the worst of all as sharp weapons and firearms were carried openly by the rival activists in presence of the authorities and police. There may be dissention and discord over the formation of the committee of an organisation. But why should they lead to such violent incidents marked by use of arms. Moreove, what was the cause of the involvement of BCL in the factional clash of JCD. All these happened because politics has become ugly nowadays in some cases. Keeping in line with the national politics the student politics too in the country has lost the right direction as it has taken the shape of politics of string. It is very unfortunate that the campuses of educational institutions are so frequently turning into battlefields and rival activists are using words of weapons against each other instead of reasoning and ideals.
It is very alarming that the campuses are becoming restive again much to the detriment of educational pursuit. During the last one year three students were killed, more than 1,000 injured and about 30 educational institutions were closed at different times following campus violence. Time has come for all political parties and saner people to make concerted efforts to put an end to this disastrous trend.

  OMS of rice

The government will start Open Market Sale (OMS) of rice today at the rate of Tk 22 per kilogram in four labour-intensive districts, including Dhaka, as an interventional measure to stem an upturn in the market prices. The other three districts are Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Gazipur where large numbers of garment workers live and work. Each customer can buy a maximum of 5 kg of rice a day. The outlets will remain open every day from 9am to 4pm, except on Fridays. Besides, Food Department will also sell rice from trucks at the same price in different densely-populated areas of the capital.
This is a welcome move of the government as the prices of rice along with some other items have shot up alarmingly. Even according to a Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) report coarse rice of various varieties was selling at Tk 26 to Tk 28 Monday. It goes without saying that the common people are plunged in deep trouble as some most essential items including rice, pulses, edible oil, onion, sugar etc are costing much more now. The prices of rice has soared despite bumper production of paddy. The fruits of bumper crop did not reach the people. The main reason of this unfortunate development is manipulation by business syndicate which could not be broken by the government. Against this backdrop, the introduction of OMS of rice is a timely step. But instead of keeping it restricted to four districts only, the OMS operation should be introduced throughout the country as poor people live everywhere.

Analysis

The hunt for Hakimullah

Journalism has been in most cases reduced to reporting from a safe distance the claims and counter-claims of parties to the conflict.

Rahimullah Yusufzai

Imagine a most-wanted man listening to the radio carrying reports of his death and hearing not very well-informed analysts talking about its consequences. All this sounds bizarre, but this is what seems to have happened on Jan 14 when the CIA fired its drones to kill Pakistani Taliban commander Hakimullah Mahsud in the remote Shaktoi area in South Waziristan.
Hakimullah survived, claiming that he wasn't even there at the time of the attack and contradicting his spokesman, Azam Tariq, who had earlier said that the "ameer," or head, was in Shaktoi but had left before the pilotless US spy planes struck the mountainous village.
In an audiotape released later to the media, Hakimullah made fun of reporters and analysts who reported and analysed his death. He didn't realise that the media, hungry for news but lacking access to the military-controlled theatre of war, was merely reporting the claim of unnamed Pakistani security officials who were confidently saying that Hakimullah had been killed. It was strange that the US authorities weren't ready to make any such claim, but Pakistani officials, apparently not even taken into confidence about the attack, were excitedly announcing Hakimullah's death.
This wasn't the first time that wrong claims were made about the death of some most-wanted militants, such as Baitullah Mahsud, Qari Hussain, Maulana Fazlullah, Shah Dauran and Faqir Mohammad. Such claims are still being made and the media duly reports whatever it is told, without bothering, or being able, to check and crosscheck facts. The handicapped media sometimes also reports the wild claims made by the militants. Journalism has been in most cases reduced to reporting from a safe distance the claims and counter-claims of parties to the conflict.
In Hakimullah's case, Interior Minister Rahman Malik repeatedly claimed last year that he had been killed in a shootout with supporters of another Taliban commander, Waliur Rahman, following a dispute over the succession of Baitullah. Even when it became obvious that Hakimullah was alive and that no clash had even taken place between his men and Waliur Rahman's after Baitullah's death in a US drone strike on Aug 5, the minister kept insisting that Hakimullah's brother, having a close resemblance with him, had taken his place and was giving interviews to the media.
As far as Hakimullah is concerned, he escaped the attack in question, and he may have survived strikes in the past. So he remains a major target, both for the US and Pakistani armies. He was already public enemy number one of the Pakistani government after claims of responsibility by his Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for most of the suicide attacks and bombings against security forces and law-enforcement agencies in the country.
The military operation in South Waziristan last October was specifically launched against his group to wrest control of the Mahsud tribal territory and deny sanctuaries to local and foreign militants and terrorists aligned to it.
Hakimullah is also on the hit-list of the US, but he earned further American wrath when he was seen recently in a videotape with Jordanian suicide bomber Dr Humam Khalil al-Balawi, who killed seven CIA agents and caused injuries to another six in a suicide attack in late December in a secret base in Afghanistan's Khost province. The dramatic increase in US missile strikes in the aftermath of the suicide bombing at the CIA station, first in North and then South Waziristan, is evidence enough that revenge is the major motive for these attacks.
The CIA, which primarily operates the missile-fitted spy planes, will continue to hunt Hakimullah, using every resource at its disposal, because it must avenge the loss of its seven agents to raise the morale of its employees. Both the CIA and the US army are convinced that the Khost suicide bombing was planned in Waziristan with assistance from Taliban militants.
Hakimullah may not have played any significant role in planning the suicide bombing, but he provided evidence of his involvement by agreeing to appear in the video with Dr al-Balawi. The Jordanian in his farewell statement also made it clear that he was undertaking the suicide mission to avenge the death of the late TTP head Baitullah and the suicide attack was thus seen as a joint operation.
Twice in three days recently, US drones attacked suspected hideouts of militants in Shaktoi in the hope of eliminating Hakimullah. More than 30 people were killed in these attacks, apparently mostly Pakistani tribal militants, but the prime target managed to get away. Taliban sources conceded that improved intelligence about the whereabouts of their ranking figures was due to infiltration of their ranks by US and Pakistani government spies.
In a situation when Taliban fighters start suspecting their own colleagues, one could expect reprisals and beheadings of those accused of spying. Such a situation could sap the militants' morale, which already was low after their having lost strongholds in South Waziristan, the birthplace of the Pakistani Taliban, and in Bajaur, Mohmand, Swat and the rest of Malakand Division.
The TTP has also suffered setbacks in Orakzai Agency, which is critical for its operations in Peshawar, Kohat, Hangu and other place due to its central location. In fact, the decrease in the number of acts of terrorism in Peshawar and its surroundings is attributed to the military's advance into the Ferozkhel Mela area in Orakzai Agency and control of the approach roads to Peshawar and Kohat. The improved security, as a result of police sacrifices and vigilance in and around Peshawar, has also made it difficult for vehicle-borne suicide bombers to enter the city to attack targets.
Shaktoi's emergence as a new TTP sanctuary will force the security forces to try and seize its control. The military is claiming control of 80 per cent territory in the Mahsud-populated territory in South Waziristan, but its operations would be incomplete if it is unable to capture the remaining, and far tougher, mountainous and forested area where the militants have converged.
Shaktoi is near the boundary with North Waziristan, where the presence of Pakistani and foreign militants has become a bone of contention between the US and Pakistan as Washington is pushing Islamabad to start military action against the Haqqani network of the Afghan Taliban and their tribal allies. Until then, the US will continue drone attacks against all those tribal territories that are beyond the control of the Pakistani security forces.
The mild, and at times hollow, protests by Pakistan leaders and government functionaries including the president and the prime minister, won't change the US determination to go after the Pakistan-based militants who kill American and Nato soldiers and threaten to inflict defeat on the world's only superpower in Afghanistan.
Rather, the US policy to uses drones in Pakistan will continue as long as the Obama administration considers it an effective and essential part of its strategy to stabilise Afghanistan. It would be another matter that if the drone attacks kill far more other people than the few who are targeted, thereby further radicalising the population and contributing to the anti-US sentiment in Pakistan and the Muslim world.
Pakistan's stated policy opposing the US drone strikes is also hard to believe, considering the fact that these missile attacks have facilitated its own task by eliminating some of its most dangerous enemies, such as Baitullah and Haji Omar. Since the government itself was unable to get these militants, Islamabad would be pleased if Hakimullah and the other militants too were taken out by the American drones. This is one reason why many Pakistanis are convinced that the authorities are secretly cooperating with the US in carrying out the drone strikes, even though they publicly complain about it in a bid to calm down resentment among people.
It also explains the government and military's reluctance to follow the parliament's unanimous resolution against the US drone attacks and its recommendation for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the NWFP and its tribal areas. That resolution wasn't meant to be implemented and the government's meaningless protests on this count shouldn't be taken seriously. And thus, for the foreseeable future, the US drone attacks and Pakistan's military operations in the tribal areas will continue, in the hope that the militants, after having lost all public support, will be eventually defeated.


The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar. Email: rahim yusufzai@yahoo.com

  Sri Lanka’s Choice

As presidential elections loom on January 26, the public is faced with a choice between two candidates who openly accuse each other of war crimes.

Chris Patten

Pity the poor Sri Lankan voter. As presidential elections loom on January 26, the public is faced with a choice between two candidates who openly accuse each other of war crimes.
The current exchange of charges and counter-charges between retired Gen. Sarath Fonseka and President Mahinda Rajapaksa must be particularly confusing to those Sri Lankans who consider both to be war heroes rather than war criminals. Many from the ethnic Sinhalese majority feel that, regardless of the human costs in the last months of the long-running civil war that ended last year, both leaders deserve credit for finally finishing off the terrorist Tamil Tiger rebels.
With the Sinhalese nationalist vote thus split, the two candidates are focusing their energies on winning the votes of the country's minority ethnic Tamils - which is surely one of the stranger political ironies of early 2010. After all, both General Fonseka and Rajapaksa executed the 30-year conflict to its bloody conclusion at the expense of huge numbers of Tamil ?civilian casualties.
By early May, when the war was ending, the United Nations estimated that some 7,000 civilians had died and more than 10,000 had been wounded in 2009 as the army's noose was being drawn tight around the remaining rebels and hundreds of thousands of noncombatants, who could not escape government shelling. The final two weeks likely saw thousands more civilians killed, at the hands of both the army and the rebels.
After the war, the Tamils' plight continued. The government interned more than a quarter million displaced Tamils, some for more than six months, in violation of both Sri Lankan and international humanitarian law. Conditions in the camps were appalling, access by international agencies was severely restricted, and independent journalists could not even visit. Barbed wire and military guards insured people could not leave or tell their stories to anyone.
By the end of 2009, most of the displaced had been moved, and the nearly 100,000 remaining in military-run camps were enjoying some freedom of movement - important steps brought about mostly as a result of international pressure and the authorities' desire to win Tamil votes. However, a large portion of the more than 150,000 people recently sent out of the camps have not actually returned to their homes nor been resettled. They've been sent to and remain in "transit centers" in their home districts.
Now, put yourself in a Tamil's shoes, and decide whom to vote for in the presidential election: Choose either the head of the government that ordered the attacks against you and your family, or the head of the army that carried it all out.
On January 4, the Tamil National Alliance, the most important Tamil political party, made its choice and endorsed General Fonseka after he pledged a 10-point programme of reconciliation, demilitarisation and "normalisation" of the largely Tamil north. There is some hope his plan might be a sign that top leaders realise that, after decades of brutal ethnic conflict, peace will only be consolidated when Sinhalese-dominated political parties make strong moves toward a more inclusive and democratic state.
What counts more than campaign promises, though, is what the winner actually does in office, and based on past performance, it is hard to imagine either candidate making the necessary constitutional reforms to end the marginalisation of Tamils and other minorities - the roots of the decades-long conflict. Left unaddressed, Tamil humiliation and frustration could well lead to militancy again.
While Sri Lankan voters face a difficult decision, for the international community, the choice is clear. Whoever wins, the outside world should use all its tools to convince the government to deal properly with those underlying issues to avoid a resurgence of ?mass violence.
In the interest of lasting peace and stability, donor governments and international institutions - India, Japan, Western donors, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank - should use their assistance to support reforms designed to protect democratic rights, tie aid to proper resettlement of
the displaced, and a consultative planning process for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged, overly militarised north.
UN agencies and nongovernment organisations should have full access to monitor the programmes to ensure international money is spent properly and people receiving aid are not denied their fundamental freedoms.
In short, this means not giving Colombo any money for reconstruction and development until we know how it will be spent.
And if we see funds not being used as promised, it means not being afraid to cut them off until.
While there may not be much to choose between the candidates, the rift between General Fonseka and Rajapaksa - and the consequent divisions among Sinhalese nationalist parties and the renewed vigor of opposition parties - has at least put the possibility of reforms on the agenda. International leverage, correctly applied, could help expand this small window for change, leading to the democratisation and demilitarisation the country desperately needs to move finally beyond its horrific war and its bitter peace.


Chris Patten is co-chairman of the International Crisis Group

Viewpoints

New global order

The rise in terrorist activity can be attributed to economic failure especially the inability of the economy to create jobs for the young in the more backward areas of the country.

Shahid Javed Burki

As the world enters the second decade of the 21st century, the global political and economic structures are being reshaped in significant ways. The previous system was the outcome of a major conflict, the Second World War.
It was dominated by the country that played a decisive role in defeating the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese in East Asia. The system that emerged had institutional structures in the areas of economics and international politics. In both the United States, the victor in the Second World War, was the leader. It was challenged for a while by the Soviet Union but its collapse in 1991 left it as the sole superpower.
Some analysts, most notably Francis Fukuyama, labelled this development the end of history, arguing that with communism beaten back so decisively, the world would proceed in one direction. Liberal democracy and capitalism would be the accepted ideologies for managing the political and economic systems.
This triumphalism lasted for about a decade. Two far-reaching developments took place in the first decade of the present century. On Sept 11, 2001, 19 terrorists belonging to an obscure Islamic group not much known in the West struck the United States destroying the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and badly damaging the Pentagon near Washington. Almost 3,000 people were killed, the largest loss suffered by the US on its mainland since the civil war. The US responded by first invading Afghanistan and later Iraq, two Muslim countries in the heartland of Islam.
Was the clash of civilisation predicted by the political scientist Samuel Huntington, asked many analysts? And then six years later the US economy began collapsing and for several months it appeared that the country along, with the rest of the West - perhaps also parts of the emerging markets - was heading towards the kind of economic collapse seen during the years of the Great Depression.
It was in the midst of these crises that the American electorate chose a new president, Barack Obama, sending to the White House the first black American to occupy that hallowed space and the one who won the election promising both change and hope. He brought the first while the second has still not manifested itself. While the US was dealing with these challenges, China began what in an earlier work I called the country's "second economic rise". President Obama has reacted to the arrival of this challenger in the field of economics in a surprising way. Rather than attempting to contain China as most of his predecessors would have done, he has expressed a strong desire to work with this new challenger to reshape the global economic order.
One important point that should be made at this stage is that this time around, the global structure is being reformulated as a result mostly of economic developments, not because of the end of a military conflict when power passed from the vanquished to the victorious. This certainly occurred after the end of the Second World War. It was also military defeat that led to the change in the political order in the Middle East when the victors carved up the Ottoman Empire into many pieces with unanticipated consequences. This time the impetus for change is coming from economic developments.
The effort to change and transform the world was begun in some earnestness in November last year when the new American president paid his first official visit to East Asia. What emerged from this visit was a new three-tier system of global governance with America and China at the top, the G20 in the middle and the rest of the world at the bottom of the arrangement. Is this a sustainable arrangement or will it be compromised from within by the powers who have been given a lesser role to play than they believe is their due? Will the new structure be able to deal with some of the area-specific problems such as the rise of extremism in the Islamic world that threatens world peace and prosperity or is it important to add to it some side structures?
As suggested in an earlier article, one important component of the developing global structure is the evolving relationship among four countries: China, India, Pakistan and the United States. Three of these countries are in Asia, the fourth is still the only superpower in the global economic and political systems. Three of these countries are among the five largest economies in the world.
Two of them - China and India - are by far the most rapidly growing large economies in the world. They are also the only two countries in the world with populations of more than a billion people each. Given that, why should Pakistan, an underperforming part of the developing world and a country beset with seemingly intractable economic problems, be included among the other three to define a quadrilateral relationship? This is a fair question to ask and one not too difficult to answer.
For a number of reasons, some of them related to the several models of economic development pursued by Pakistan over the last several decades, the country has created an environment that encourages a significant number of youth in its very young population to adopt extremist ideologies as a way of leading their lives. In 2009, extremism and associated acts of terrorisms took a heavy toll on the economy. There was also a heavy loss of life: more than 600 people were killed in the last three months of the year in dozens of terrorist acts attributed to the activities of extremist groups, especially the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
The rise in terrorist activity can be attributed to economic failure especially the inability of the economy to create jobs for the young in the more backward areas of the country. There is a fear that if Pakistan's economic situation continues to deteriorate it could have adverse consequences not only for the country but also far beyond its borders. One reason for thinking in terms of an arrangement encompassing these four countries is to pull back Pakistan from the abyss towards which it seems to be headed.

  A debate that threatens France's social fabric

Thanks to the grand national debate on French identity, a section of society is giving free rein to sentiments that diminish France and the ideals of fraternity and brotherhood it has striven to defend.

Vaiju Naravane

By launching "a grand nation-wide debate" on what constitutes French national identity last November, President Nicolas Sarkozy has opened up a veritable Pandora's box of ill-feelings and hatred bordering on xenophobia.
The move was prompted by purely electoral calculations. Regional elections are to be held in March and the Socialists and their Left-wing allies control all but two of France's regions. Mr. Sarkozy was hoping to widen his electoral base, wooing backers of the extreme Right, anti-immigrant National Front which, polls indicate, has recently rebounded after its last election defeat. By enlarging his constituency in the first round of the two-round vote, Mr. Sarkozy hopes to give his candidates a better chance of carrying off the second round run-off.
Ironically, by accident or design, the debate was launched with great fanfare on November 1, the 55th anniversary of the outbreak of the Algerian war of independence which kicked off on Toussaint Rouge (Red All Saints Day) in 1954 and lasted till 1962, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Algerian community in France saw this lack of sensitivity as being in poor taste.
France is home to Europe's largest community of Muslims, an estimated five million, most of whom come from former French colonies and protectorates in Africa such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Mali and Ivory Coast.
At the behest of Mr. Sarkozy, the debate was initiated by Eric Besson, Minister for Immigration, Integration and National Identity, a former Socialist who changed sides to become the President's hatchet man in all matters concerning immigration and the crackdown on asylum-seekers and economic migrants. Most of his former Socialist colleagues understandably disapprove of Mr. Besson and even new fellow travellers from the President's Right-wing UMP party look upon his gung-ho attitude to expulsions (including those of Afghan asylum-seekers whose country is currently under occupation by French soldiers as part of the international coalition) as truly distasteful.
The Ministry's website has received several hundred thousand hits and many of the messages are shocking in their virulence. The debates are organised by prefects in public places such as town halls and schools, and have, more often than not, produced an outpouring of xenophobic hate and anti-Islamic sentiment. Over 80 per cent of those expressing themselves say they feel that the French national identity is "weakening" or being "diluted" by foreigners and foreign influences including "alien religions."
The question whether or not to ban the burqa, now under discussion in Parliament, has added another ugly dimension of Islamophobia to the already strident debate. Undoubtedly, Europe is going through a phase of xenophobia as is evident from the outlawing of construction of minarets in Switzerland and the repeated attacks on foreigners in Spain, Italy, Denmark and other nations. France, it appears, is no different, although one has always hoped it would be the one exception, given its revolutionary past and strong republican values.
The debate has come in for such zealous criticism from academics, thinkers, social activists, and members of the Left-wing Opposition as well as a few members of the President's own governing coalition, including the former Prime Ministers Alain Juppe and Dominique de Villepin, and caused such an upheaval that it was hoped Mr. Sarkozy would allow the matter to die a quiet, natural death. But the President, whose personal political ambition is total and unbounded, recently declared that he had every intention of continuing the debate.
Several groups of academics have signed petitions calling for the scrapping of the Ministry of Immigration, Integration and National Identity, saying it brings back shameful memories of the persecution of Jews during various periods of French history, including the sordid episode of Dreyfus and the hounding of Jews during World War II. Other groups of academics and thinkers have published articles and pamphlets against what they see as the stigmatisation of foreigners and French citizens of non-white origin.
In an article, a group of researchers calling themselves The Collective For a Real Debate says: "No references are included [on the Ministry website] to those communities residing in French overseas departments or territories or in underprivileged suburban housing estates … Hidden behind this "debate on national identity" lies another one that has to do with France's colonial history and its legacy, and the unspoken question is not "What is it to be French?" but rather: "Can one be black, Arab, Asian, or from a French overseas department or territory and be French?" … And we're not just talking about any immigrant here; the most "coloured," the "inheritors" of colonies, the most fervent advocates of "ethnic factionalism," and those who refuse to assimilate. In other words, "those who don't love France," who are heard booing the national anthem or who demonstrate in the streets when Algeria qualifies for the World Cup, cause havoc in the suburbs, destroy the economy in "our" exotic overseas paradises, and seek to diversify the "ethnic" and religious profile of the republic. The same people who are weakening "our" soul, our "essence" and who force their women to wear the burqa…
"Ignoring, worse, even stigmatising these components of French society means that the debate on identity is flawed from the outset. Rather than advancing thinking, Eric Besson's initiative offers an opportunity to steal the thunder from a shaky extreme right on the eve of a strategic election, at the midway point of the President's term in office …"
Historian and political scientist Patrick Weil, author of the award-winning study France And Her Foreigners, is an authority on questions of immigration and identity, and has served on the commission that recommended a ban on the "ostentatious" wearing of religious symbols in state schools. He is a signatory to a petition that calls for the dismantling of the Ministry of Immigration, Integration and National Identity. Signed by several prominent public personalities, the petition states: "It is time to publicly take a stand on this nationalistic grabbing of the idea of the nation, of our universal ideals which are the foundation of our republic." Posted on the web on January 7, it has already attracted over 25,000 signatures and won the backing of leftist and centrist parties.
Mr. Weil, who is speaking on national identity at a seminar in New Delhi told The Hindu in an exclusive interview: "This debate was a presidential initiative. By nature the question of identity is a complex issue anywhere and immediately becomes controversial. Why did the government and the President of France launch that debate? The main reason is clearly linked to immigration with an implicit prejudice that French citizens whose roots are in Africa or in North Africa, whose parents, grandparents have come from these foreign countries, might represent and I quote "a problem because they don't adapt very well." It is a way of marginalising the minorities and the government's calculation is that by stigmatising the minorities it will get the majority vote. This is a manufactured debate in order to shift the focus from questions such as unemployment, taxes, the economic crisis or inequality."
National identity should never be the business of governments, Mr. Weil said. "It can be a topic of academic research, of discussion in civil society. It is not a matter for governments because a nation's identity is a social and historical construct that cannot be defined by law or decree."
Most of the so-called "foreigners" (read 'coloured' and Muslim) are, in fact, second or third generation French citizens, who have been relegated to the margins of society. Their marginalisation and ghettoisation in underprivileged semi-urban housing estates often lead them to crime, gang warfare, social failure and, more recently, religious extremism, especially Islamic fundamentalism. Statistics show an over-representation of these populations in the country's prisons. They show unemployment rates that are three times the national average.
"The majority of the French "issued from immigration" [as the rather distasteful term goes] are, in effect, French in the sense they have a French nationality. So if these French persons are in fact French, why pose the question of French identity? It presupposes that there is something called "Frenchness" that lies in certain predetermined behaviour patterns, mores (dress, food, religion, culture) and customs and that a person can claim to be French only if he has submitted to these cultural dictates," explains philosopher Constance Beth.
President Sarkozy's grand national debate has given the genie the freedom to come out of the bottle. His narrow political ambitions have unleashed long bottled feelings of insecurity and hatred. And a certain section of society, with the highest political unction, is giving free rein to sentiments and acts that diminish France and the universal ideals of fraternity and brotherhood it has striven to defend.

  Settlements: A major obstacle to peace

It has now become obvious that the Obama administration has backtracked from its commitment to resolve the issue in a just manner.

Mohammad Jamil

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently urged the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume peace talks without preconditions in Washington's latest bid to return both sides to the negotiations table. Hillary backed the key Palestinian aim of creating a state along the borders that existed before the 1967 Israel-Arab war, but said the lines would be modified through mutually agreed land swaps, presumably to account for some Israeli settlements that would remain. But Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat has demanded that Israel comply with its commitment under the 2003 peace roadmap, which calls for a halt to all settlement activity. It has to be said that the construction of the wall and settlements in the West Bank obscures the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. It has now become obvious that the Obama administration has backtracked from its commitment to resolve the issue in a just manner.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, in a joint news conference with Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, said that illegal settlements constitute a major obstacle to peace talks.
A US-backed peace proposal was first floated in 2002, and in 2003 a road map to peace was worked out, setting a series of benchmarks designed to move Israelis and Palestinians over three years towards the creation of a Palestinian state that would exist in peace with Israel. The Palestinians and Israelis accepted the basic outlines of the plan after it was formally introduced by the then US president Bush in June 2003. The US, European Union (EU), Russia and the UN supported the plan and were to supervise its implementation. However, there has been limited progress toward its goal of a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It appears that when the US is not interested in resolving a conflict it resorts to preparing roadmaps that take decades of bickering and debate or are never implemented. But when it is serious about resolving an issue, it is done immediately. Take the case of East Timor: a resolution was passed in weeks and implemented to give the people their right to self-determination.
On the other hand, for the last sixty years United Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and Palestine have not been implemented. It is regrettable that the US and the West have different benchmarks or standards for Muslim countries. The fact remains that when a public protest fits into the geopolitical designs of western powers, they call it a popular movement and award it with a colour label. In recent years three countries were given colour labels; orange revolution to Ukraine, rose revolution to Georgia and cider revolution to Lebanon. The Kashmiris have not been so lucky. How perceptive was the Greek historian Thucydides when he said, "The strong do as they can and the weak suffer as they must." It is the cornerstone of US foreign policy to protect Israel, and it lends unqualified support even when it continues to occupy Arab lands and commit atrocities on Palestinians.
In July 2004, the International Court of Justice declared the occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel as illegal. It said that Israel was under an obligation to cease forthwith the construction of the wall built in the occupied Palestinian territory including in and around Jerusalem, and to demolish raised structures. The court had called upon the UN General Assembly and Security Council to take action to halt construction work, but to no avail. Unfortunately, the international community seems to be oblivious to the fact that Palestine is one of the flashpoints and real threat to world peace. In fact, the spectre of terrorism it faces today is partly due to Israel's intransigence to honour its commitment to implement the two-state solution.
After Hamas won the elections of the Palestinian Authority, the US and the EU cut off aid to the Palestinian people. And to make things worse for the Palestinians, Israel refused to hand over millions of the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) own customs duties, which was nothing but downright theft. There is no denying that the Palestinian people had voted overwhelmingly for Hamas to lead them and, so far, the group has behaved responsibly except when it vociferously demands to stop construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The problem is that Israel and its backers want Hamas to recognise the State of Israel and disarm, even as Palestinians are being killed and humiliated by Israeli defence forces.
Palestinians continue to suffer at the hands of Israeli thugs and each passing day is becoming more repressive and intolerable with relentless Israeli policies of dispossession and deprivation. During the last 40 years, a number of initiatives for peace have been taken in the context of Security Council Resolution 242 but none have succeeded. The Palestinian problem continues to defy any solution, primarily due to the intransigence of Israel, which is supported and encouraged by the US. The Palestinian tragedy has been further compounded by the treachery of the Arabs, duplicity and silence of the international community, and the incompetent leaderships of Muslim countries.
With subsequent efforts at negotiated settlement through the Oslo Accord, the Security Council Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967 provided the basic framework for negotiations and peace by "emphasising the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war", asked for "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the Arab-Israel conflict" and respect for "sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area, and their right to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries". The Oslo Accord was based on the principle of "Land for Peace", and the US was a guarantor for the implementation of the agreement. It is well known that the Israeli lobby afflicts the US Congress and the president. President Obama is no exception. The immense power of the Jewish lobby is a proven fact, and there is a perception that nobody on Capitol Hill will dare defy this all-powerful lobby though the US has suffered immensely because of its unqualified support to Israel.

The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at mjamil1938@hotmail.com

International

NAB seeks review of SC order on NRO
Dawn Online

The National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking review of its short order in the National Reconciliation Ordinance case that requires removal of the bureau's chairman and prosecutor general.
Sources told Dawn that the petition had been filed on Friday, a day before the government submitted a petition in the apex court seeking review of its decision on the NRO.
In its short order, the court had expressed displeasure over the performance of the NAB and directed the government to remove its Chairman Navaid Ahsan and prosecutor-general Danishwar Malik.
The sources said that NAB officials did not know what charges were there against the bureau because the court had not yet issued its full judgment.
However, the sources in the bureau were confident that the NAB would be able to clear its position in the court because it had not committed any leniency in pursuing cases against people in the government, including President Asif Ali Zardari and some federal ministers.
In its petition, the NAB has not defended itself because filing the review petition was just to meet the requirement of filing it within the mandatory period of 30 days.
"When the detailed judgment of the court is issued the NAB will be able to know the exact charges and will incorporate its point of view and clarifications in the review petition," the source said.
Sources in the government said that although the apex court had directed the government to remove top officials of the NAB, it could not do so because the government had to follow the procedure to remove them that was required for removal of a judge of superior court.
According to the National Accountability Ordinance, the government has to file a case of removal of NAB chief and prosecutor general in the Supreme Judicial Council with credible evidence that they are involved in corruption or severe illegality.
Meanwhile, the NAB has presented the third progress report on NRO cases to the Supreme Court.

  Pakistan says India dampening peace hope
Dawn Online

Foreign Office accused India on Monday of dampening peace prospects in the region by continuing its 'vicious' propaganda campaign against Pakistan.
"Indian foreign secretary's vitriolic remarks against Pakistan yet again reveal that the Indian government persists in its propaganda campaign that only vitiates the atmosphere, darkens the horizon and dampens hopes for peace and tranquillity in South Asia," said Foreign Office Spokesman Mr Abdul Basit.
He was reacting to Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Raos television interview, in which she accused Pakistan of failing to dismantle the terror infrastructure carrying out attacks inside India.
"All the events you have seen over the last few days basically point to the basic and undeniable fact that the infrastructure of terrorism which operates out of Pakistan and territory under Pakistan control has not been dismantled and it continues to be directed against the Indian people," Ms Rao had said, asking Pakistan "to do more" to address Indian concerns.
Mr Basit rejected the allegation of state-sponsored terrorism and asked India to examine its own track record.
"Pakistan invites India to a deep introspection of its own policies and conduct, notably in Jammu and Kashmir as elsewhere."India, he said, "sadly remains out of tune with the realities of today".
Reiterating Pakistans dedication to peace in the region, the spokesman said: "It remains committed to a vision for peace and prosperity for the region based on a cooperative endeavour of all regional states."

  Celebrations muted as Japan-US security pact turns 50
AFP, Tokyo

Japan and the United States on Tuesday marked the 50th anniversary of one of the Cold War's defining security pacts, but an unprecedented level of mistrust between the allies kept celebrations muted. No major state events were planned in Tokyo to mark the milestone treaty, in which the former adversaries in 1960 stood united against communist Russia and China.
Half a century on, the alliance has been strained since a centre-left government took power in Tokyo four months ago, vowing more "equal" ties with Washington after more than five decades of almost unbroken conservative rule.
The new government has signalled a new embrace of Japan's pacifist stance and announced a review of key agreements governing the often-unpopular US military presence in Japan, where 47,000 American troops are now based.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama last week ended a naval refueling mission that has backed US forces in Afghanistan since 2001, and has announced a review of a pact on the relocation of a major US air base. US President Barack Obama's administration has repeatedly asked Japan's new leaders to stick by the original agreement, under which a new Marine Corps air base would be built on the southern island of Okinawa by 2014.
Despite the row, both sides praised the treaty signed on January 19, 1960, which strengthened a 1951 pact that allowed US forces to be stationed in Japan while providing for the nation's defence under the US nuclear umbrella. Hatoyama said it was thanks to the pact "that Japan has maintained peace, while respecting freedom and democracy, and enjoyed economic development in that environment since the end of the last World War to this day".

  N.Korea holds talks with S.Korea despite threats
AFP, Seoul

A South Korean team held talks in North Korea Tuesday about a joint business project despite last week's threats from Pyongyang to cut contacts and launch a possible attack on its neighbour.
The two sides began two days of talks to discuss ways to revitalise their jointly-run industrial estate at Kaesong just north of the border, Seoul's unification ministry said.
The two sides agreed last week to hold the meeting at Kaesong, the latest in a series of apparently conciliatory moves by the North after months of tensions.
But the meeting appeared in doubt Friday when the North launched a verbal broadside against the South-hours after it had agreed to accept food aid from Seoul.
Its National Defence Commission, the top decision-making body, threatened to cut all dialogue and cooperation unless the South apologises for an alleged contingency plan to handle regime collapse in the North.
The commission also warned of a "holy war" against the South should there be any attempt to carry out the plan. "North Korea has taken a stance that is hard to understand," South Korea's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan told a forum, noting its "serious threats" while at the same time accepting aid and agreeing to the Kaesong talks. The JoongAng Daily, in an editorial Tuesday headlined "The North's erratic behaviour" agreed. "Given the North's recent behaviour, it seems as though it would be impossible for even God to understand North Korea's policies and actions toward South Korea," the paper said.

  Gates calls for closer defense ties to India
AP/ UNB, New Delhi

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates appealed Tuesday for closer military cooperation between America and India to bring stability to South Asia.
In an opinion piece published in The Times of India ahead of his visit here, Gates said the two nations have been drawn together by their shared values and should push for even greater cooperation in confronting new security threats. "We must seize these opportunities because the peace and security of South Asia is critical not just to this region, but also to the entire international community," he wrote.
Gates was scheduled to arrive in India on Tuesday afternoon for a two-day visit that would include meetings with the prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister.
The visit was expected to focus on regional security, Afghanistan and the tense relations between India and Pakistan. Indian government officials declined to comment on Gates' visit, which comes as India ponders whether to buy scores of fighter aircraft, as well as other expensive hardware, from U.S. military contractors.
"There are also a lot of other defense acquisitions that are on the table," Lalit Mansingh, former Indian ambassador to the United States, said, adding that India was also interested in hearing of U.S. progress in fighting Islamic militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It will be the first high-level talks between the two nations since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was honored at the White House in November at the Obama administration's first state dinner.
The Indian and U.S. militaries conduct joint military exercises and regular exchanges, and India is a big client for U.S. arms dealers. The United States has been trying to lower tensions between India and Pakistan to free up both nation's military and economic resources. India, with its emerging economy, could be an important regional power in the U.S. view, while Pakistan could be a stronger bulwark against Muslim extremism.

  Karzai orders security review after deadly Kabul attack
AFP, Kabul

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai Tuesday ordered a review of security in Kabul after a brazen Taliban attack highlighted the vulnerability of the city's defences, his office said. Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and armed with machineguns launched an attack on commercial and government buildings on Monday, sparking battles with security forces that left five people dead and dozens injured.
Karzai called in security officials Tuesday to discuss how the militants could have staged such an audacious attack at the gates of his fortified palace, his office said in a statement.
"After security briefings by the ministers of defence and interior, it was agreed that the current security plan for Kabul be reviewed and that they report back to the president for approval," the statement said.
Seven insurgents also died in the attacks, which included at least two suicide blasts and hours of gun battles between security forces and militants who had taken up positions in commercial buildings in the city centre.

  Army: Morale is down in the boots : Gen Kapoor
APP, Islamabad

Indian Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor has finally accepted that morale in the Army was down on account of senior Generals being prima facie being found guilty of encouraging and indulging into corrupt practices. Gen Deepak Kapoor made this embarrassing admission at his annual Press conference on the eve of Army Day, says Indian media reports.
The controversy has dented the image of the Army, Gen Kapoor said responding to a question at the one-hour-long Press meet in New Delhi last week, the report.
When specifically asked whether the jawans and young officers, who were risking their lives in the defence of the nation, would feel demoralised at the involvement of senior officers in such a scam, the Army chief said, "Yes, it was the case."
The reports added that General Kapoor has admitted it. On the action to be taken against Military Secretary Lt General Avadhesh Prakash and three others who were involved in the Sukna land controversy, the General's answer was not forthright.

  Thailand extends emergency rule in south
AFP, Bangkok

Thailand extended a nearly five-year state of emergency in the troubled Muslim-majority south on Tuesday, as a bomb attack by suspected insurgents blew off a senior soldier's legs. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his cabinet had renewed emergency rule in the kingdom's southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia for a further three months until April 19.
But he said he would push at a meeting of the national security council next month for the imposition of a law granting an amnesty to Islamist militants in the south and their sympathisers.
More than 4,100 people have died since shadowy separatist militants launched an insurgency in the region in January 2004. Emergency rule was imposed in mid-2005.
Suspected rebels detonated a roadside bomb with a mobile phone signal as a military truck escorting teachers passed by in Yala province early Tuesday, wounding four soldiers, security officials said.
The captain of the teacher protection unit lost both legs in the blast and another of the troops was also seriously wounded, they said. The militants in the impoverished south often target teachers, deeming them a symbol of the Bangkok government's efforts to impose Buddhist culture on the predominantly Muslim region.

 Iran says may hit Western warships if attacked
Reuters, Tehran

Iran's defence minister warned on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic could strike back at Western warships in the Gulf if it were attacked over its nuclear programme, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Ahmad Vahidi said there were now more than 90 war vessels in the Gulf-a waterway crucial for global oil supplies-and that they had created a "military environment" there.
They included submarines, aircraft carriers and destroyers, he said during a conference in Tehran on the Gulf.
"What is the reason underlying the deployment of this many warships and what aim are they pursuing ... are they arrayed against Iran?" Fars quoted Vahidi as saying.
"The Westerners know well that the existence of these warships in the Persian Gulf serve as the best operational targets for Iran if they should want to undertake any military action against Iran," he said.
Iran has often warned it would retaliate for any attack on its nuclear facilities, which the West suspects form part of a drive to develop bombs. Tehran denies the charge.
Neither Israel nor the United States have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the long running row over Iran's disputed nuclear ambitions. "The Americans have made conflicting comments (on the possibility of an attack on Iran)," the official IRNA news agency quoted Vahidi as saying.
Last month, Vahidi said Iran would strike back at Israeli weapons manufacturing sites and nuclear installations if the Jewish state attacked the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities. Israel is believed to be the only nuclear-armed Middle East state. Iran has often said it has missiles able to reach the Jewish state.
Iran, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, says its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity, not making bombs, but its failure to convince world powers about the peaceful nature of its work has led to U.N. and U.S. sanctions.

  Orphaned Haitian children to be allowed into US
BBC Online

The US says it will temporarily allow orphaned Haitian children into the US, following last week's earthquake.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the move would allow children eligible for adoption in the US "to receive the care they need".
Other nations said they were speeding up the process to allow Haitian children to join adoptive families.
Dutch adoption agencies sent a plane to pick up some 100 Haitian children who are being adopted by Dutch families.
A number of Haitian children had adoptions pending before last Tuesday's devastating earthquake.
But there are fears that in many cases vital paperwork will have been lost because orphanages were among the many buildings wrecked or damaged by the quake.
Children's advocacy groups have warned against starting new adoption processes in the midst of an emergency.
'Complexities'
"We are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time," Ms Napolitano said in a statement.
"While we remain focused on family reunification in Haiti, authorising the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States will alow them to receive the care they need here."
Ms Napolitano did not say how many Haitian children might be involved.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier told CNN she was "personally directing that we do everything we can to try to find and identify those children who are already adoptable... and to try to expedite all the paperwork... to get them to their new home".
The US authorities are encouraging US families with pending adoptions to contact them with information about their case.
Officials believe there are at least 300 cases pending, while advocacy groups say there may be some 900 adoption cases under way.
On Sunday, several Haitian children adopted by Dutch families arrived in the Netherlands.

  US Blackwater lawsuit signatures sought by Iraq
BBC Online

Iraq has begun collecting signatures for a class action lawsuit on behalf of people killed or wounded in incidents involving US security firm Blackwater.
It will seek compensation for a number of such cases, the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
Incidents include the 2007 killing of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad's Nisoor Square.
Last month, a US judge dismissed charges against five Blackwater guards over those killings, which Iraqi officials described as "regrettable".
Immediately after the US decision, the Iraqi government issued several angry statements pledging that it would continue to "act forcefully and decisively to prosecute". It has become a notorious incident in Iraq, with the government now taking the initiative in organising the families of the victims to launch civil suits against Blackwater, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad.
About 50 family members turned up at the prime minister's office after being invited to a meeting at which most of them signed powers of attorney, authorising the government's lawyers to sue the company on their behalf.
Some confirmed that they had already signed compensation agreements with Blackwater. Others said they had neither signed anything nor taken any compensation. They included a man whose son was killed in the Nisoor Square incident.
Lawyers for the five guards say they were acting in self-defence, but witnesses and family members of those killed maintain that the shooting on 16 September 2007 was unprovoked.
Investigations have produced no evidence to support the guards' claim, our correspondent says.

  Google postpones launch of mobiles in China
AFP, Beijing

Google said Tuesday it had postponed the launch of two mobile handsets in China, in the latest fallout from its threat last week to withdraw from the Asian giant over cyberattacks and censorship.
The US company said in an email to AFP that the phones featuring Google's Android operating system and developed in cooperation with Motorola and Samsung had been scheduled to be unveiled Wednesday with China Unicom. "The launch has been postponed," Google said, without specifying when or if the launch would take place.
Google said last week it was considering abandoning its Chinese search engine, and could shut its China offices, over theft of its intellectual property by hackers allegedly based there.
The row has threatened to strain ties between the United States and China.
The California-based company says it is no longer willing to bow to Chinese Internet censors by filtering search results on google.cn, but is still seeking talks with Beijing on a solution.
When asked about the status of talks on Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said he was "not aware of the situation" and countered that China was in fact the "biggest victim" of hacking activities in the world.

  Nano technology tackles heart disease
BBC Online

A molecule designed to find, latch onto, then treat hardened arteries could offer a new way to tackle heart disease, say its inventors.
Nanoburrs, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), target only damaged cells in blood vessel walls. Once attached, they can release drugs in precisely the right place.
But the British Heart Foundation warned the technology was some years from being used in patients.
The hardening of the arteries which supply the heart, or atherosclerosis, can eventually lead to blockages which can cause heart attacks.
The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal says specialists normally use tiny balloons to force open the vessels, then place a tube called a stent inside to keep it open.
Often the process triggers a rapid re-growth of tissue around the stent which can lead to the artery blocking again, and a recent advance has been a stent which releases drugs for a number of days after insertion to keep this process under control.
The MIT approach offers another way to get these drugs to exactly the right place. Its nanoburrs are coated with proteins which can only stick to a structure in the blood vessel wall called the "basement membrane".
This is only exposed when the wall is damaged, so only damaged sections of blood vessel are targeted. Once in place, a reaction takes place to release the drug over a prolonged period - up to 12 days so far.
Long way off
Professor Robert Langer, one of the authors of the research, said: "This is a very exciting example of nanotechnology and cell targeting in action."
He said the technology could target any condition in which the cell wall was compromised in this way, including certain types of cancer, and other inflammatory diseases.

  Nigeria religious clashes spread in Jos
BBC Online

Religious clashes have spread to a new area of the central Nigerian city of Jos, where fighting on Sunday reportedly killed 20 people.
Rival gangs of Christian and Muslim youths have put up roadblocks and gunfire is reported from the city, a BBC reporter says.
Extra troops and police are been sent to the newly affected areas. More than 60 arrests have been made since Sunday.
The area has a history of ethnic and religious tension.
At least 200 people were killed in clashes between Muslim and Christian groups in 2008 and 1,000 died in outbursts of violence during 2001. The Plateau State authorities have yet to confirm how many people have died in the latest clashes.
Houses, mosques and churches were set alight on Sunday and a 24-hour curfew was put in force.
Plateau State spokesman Dan Manjang said it was not yet known what had sparked the unrest.
He told the BBC's Network Africa programme there were reports that it may have started after a football match - although he said that would surprising.
Reuters news agency quotes residents as saying the violence started after an argument over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the 2008 clashes.
Nigerian Red Cross official in Jos Awwal Madobi told the BBC that families had fled the violence.
"Some are in the church, some in the mosque and the NDLEA (Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency)," he said.
"It's not that they are directly affected but they are scared and want to be somewhere secure for their safety."
He said they needed blankets and food as they had fled empty-handed.
Correspondents say such clashes in Nigeria are often blamed on sectarianism, however poverty and access to resources such as land often lies at the root of the violence.

  Talks only choice for Palestinians: Abbas
Xinhua, Ramallah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday evening that the Palestinians don't have any choice other than negotiations.
When attending the ceremony of the Armenian Christmas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Abbas said the Palestinians "are not going to stop working for peace," the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported.
The Western-backed Palestinian president called on the Israelis "to adopt peace in order to enable the two peoples, the Israelis and the Palestinians, to live in harmony side by side in their two independent states."
"We hope that the year 2010 will be a year of peace and the year of establishment of the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas added.
Abbas said on Friday in a speech addressing his Fatah party's revolutionary council that he rejected ending the long-standing conflict with Israel by weapons.
However, Abbas called on the Palestinians for peaceful resistance against the expansion of Jewish settlements and the Israeli construction of the separation wall in the West Bank.
Since 2002, Israel has been building a cement wall along the borderline with the West Bank, saying the wall is aimed to prevent Palestinian militants from waging attacks on Israel.

Business/Economy

Bangladesh will come out of LDC list by 2021: Muhith
UNB, Dhaka

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Monday said Bangladesh will be able to come out of the list of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by 2021 if they can move forward with the targeted pace.
"We have set 2021 the target to come out of the LDCs. For this, we hope to achieve the growth rate of 8% by 2015, which may not be difficult if we go ahead with the Five-Year Plan," he said briefing reporters at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
"If 8% growth is achieved, it will not be impossible to reach 10% growth. The pace with which we are intending to go ahead, we will be able to achieve our target by 2021," added Muhith, a former bureaucrat turned politician. He thought that they need decentralization of power as well as the national budget to achieve the target as these two are the major barriers.
Muhith listed education and illiteracy as other problems. "Women development has been good and they are really moving ahead. But, problems are there in the health services sector, nutrition and food security. Food security is yet to make a stable shape in the country. He viewed that the situation is getting normal as Bangladesh as a typical LDC country is doing well in macro-economic management.
He said Bangladesh, among the LDCS, gets very low external assistance. It is less than 2% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Underscoring the need for more aid, the Finance Minister said, "We also need more investment as our investment is low. Our public investment is barely around 16 percent." Answering to a question, he said the major failure of the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) is the donor countries and agencies had failed to provide 0.2% of their GDP to the LDCs. He said that the LDCs are doing better, but they faced setbacks in the last two years. They faced the first debacle of food crisis in the later part of 2007 and then the global economic recession.n
The mid-income countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka have got most of the assistance, he added.
Muhith suggested a different type of financial system for the LDCs, especially for countries vulnerable to climate change.
Some LDCs also need market access as their domestic market is small. "I think it would be possible to point out the problems and crisis of the LDCs in the Istanbul Conference," said the Finance Minister.
He also held separate meetings with UN Under-Secretary General Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, also the Executive Secretary of ESCAP and UN Under-Secretary General Cheick Sidi Diarra.
Earlier in the day, Muhith presented the keynote paper at the inaugural session of the high level Policy Dialogue on the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries.

 BoI chief for SARRC common market to spur economic growth

UNB, Dhaka

Board of Investment chairman SA Samad Monday floated an idea for building a regional seaport and a common market for the South Asian countries to spur the region's economic growth. "It is necessary to set up an international-level joint seaport in the SARRC region for faster economic growth in this area," the BoI chief told reporters after a seminar at a city hotel.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and SARRC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) jointly organized the seminar titled 'Regional Cooperation in South Asia :
Potential Sector for Joint Ventures and Investment' with FBCCI president Annisul Huq in the chair.
The BoI chairman said the SAARC countries' GDP growth might double if they can remove the prevailing institutional barriers among them, like customs, poor banking and policies.
Terming the Bangladesh-India joint communiqué very positive approach, he said the SAARC countries should increase their cooperation in all sectors to make a common market. "The SAARC countries, which are huge countries in terms of population, can make a common market to create a strong economy," Samad said.
However, the chief of the investment board lamented that regionalism is dearer to the people in this region despite the SAARC countries having very strong bond in social and cultural sectors. "The spirit of regionalism is not strong in this region," he told the audience from the business communities of the South Asian countries. Referring to Bangladesh government's vision 2021 for strengthening regional and sub-regional relations, Samad said the other countries of this region should have a will to enhance the trade relationship with the neighboring countries.

  Japan’s recovery still fragile
AFP, Tokyo

The world's second-largest economy is recovering but Japan still faces tough challenges, led by the twin threats of deflation and unemployment, the country's finance minister said on Monday.
"The economic situation is still severe, falling short of a self-sustained recovery, even though it is beginning to pick up," newly-appointed Naoto Kan said at the start of a 150-day parliament session.
"Looking ahead, there are the risks of a further worsening of the employment situation and deflation, and the foundation of a strong, private demand-led recovery is still fragile." Asia's top economy plunged into deep recession in 2008 as the global downturn sharply cut into its exports, but it grew at a modest 1.3 percent on an annualised basis in the July-September quarter.
Kan, referring to a stimulus package announced last month-Japan's fourth since the global economic crisis hit-said: "The government will tackle deflation and make sure the economy will recover."
The centre-left government submitted a bill for 7.2 trillion yen (79.1 billion dollars) in spending as part of the package announced last month which it says is worth a total of 274 billion dollars.
To help finance the package and other spending, the government plans to issue new bonds worth 9.342 trillion yen (102.6 billion dollars), Kan said. Japan's public debt is around 180 percent of gross domestic product, largely due to massive spending during the economic "lost decade" of the 1990s.
Kan's predecessor Hirohisa Fujii, who stepped down this month citing health problems, has warned that "Japan's fiscal situation is serious."
Japan's new debt issued this fiscal year will reach 53.5 trillion yen, topping tax revenue for the first time since 1946, the government has said.
Kan said that more than 52 percent of public spending will be financed through bond issues rather than tax revenues. International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, speaking in Tokyo, said tackling soaring government debt is one of the top priorities for global policymakers as a fragile economic recovery takes hold. "We have to fix the consequences of the policies which have been put in place" in response to the global economic crisis, he said.
Addressing the high level of sovereign debt is "probably the top priority" facing developed, and many emerging, economies in the coming years, he said.

  Britain facing decade of economic pain
AFP, London

Britain faces the prospect of a decade of economic pain, after binging on cheap debt, and its recovery will rely on trading more with Asian tigers like China, forecasters warned on Monday.
The economy, expected to have escaped recession in the last quarter of 2009, faces a "challenging" 2010, according to the Independent Treasury Economic Model (ITEM) Club economic forecasting group of auditors Ernst and Young.
"The UK economy has moved out of a decade of debt and into a decade of painful readjustment," the ITEM Club said in a key report published on Monday. "After years of relying on domestic spending and borrowing the economy now needs to rebalance towards saving and exporting, or risk stagnating."
British gross domestic product (GDP) will meanwhile "struggle" to reach 1.0 percent this year. "The UK is facing another challenging year," added chief economic adviser Peter Spencer.
"We are no longer in a position to borrow-the massive debts that we racked up in the last decade now need to be repaid. "The consumer is completely cashed out-with consumer spending likely to increase by just 0.4 percent this year." However, Britain will fare better if the country trades more with Asian powerhouse economies like China, he added.
"It is vital the UK rejuvenates its overseas investment model and starts selling into countries such as China, where we have an exceptionally low market share compared to our leading competitors.
"The UK's recovery is reliant on a roaring trade with the tiger economies," Spencer added.
Official data due on January 26 is widely expected to reveal that Britain exited its longest recession on record during the fourth quarter of 2009, or three months to December.
But the ITEM Club said Monday that this was due to exceptional emergency stimulus measures-like the new-for-old vehicle scrappage scheme that has boosted the troubled auto sector.
Another measure was British finance minister Alistair Darling's temporary cut in taxation on goods and services-or value-added tax (VAT) -- but this expired at the start of the year.

  India to provide additional 30 MW of power to Nepal
PTI, Kathmandu

India on Sunday announced that it would give an additional 30 MW of power to Nepal, which is facing an acute shortage of electricity.
India, which is already providing 20 MW of electricity to Nepal, would give another 30 MW of power, External Affairs Minister of India S M Krishna told reporters as he wound up his three-day visit here.
Nepal is seeking 30 MW more, which India has promised to provide.
Officials of the two countries had on Friday signed an MoU in power sector under which five villages of Nepal would be electrified at the cost of Rs 6.3 crore.
Nepal currently imports 20 MW of electricity from India from the Tanakpur barrage situated in the Indo-Nepal border. With India agreeing to give another 30 MW, Nepal will now receive 50 MW of electricity to deal with power deficit.
At present, Kathmandu and other major cities of the country are going through an eight-hour electricity cut daily due to the low level of water in the reservoirs of the major power stations of Nepal.

 Oil prices rise, UAE welcomes current level
AFP, London

Oil prices rose on Monday as the United Arab Emirates, an OPEC member, described current price levels as "very reasonable."
Crude futures had fallen earlier on Monday amid doubts over the strength of economic recovery in the United States, the world's biggest energy consumer, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery jumped 54 cents to 78.54 dollars a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March rose 35 cents to 77.46 dollars a barrel in London midday deals.
United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli on Monday said that world oil prices are "very reasonable."
Hamli was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a four-day alternative energy forum being held in the UAE capital. He was subsequently asked if he preferred prices to be in excess of 100 dollars a barrel and said: "I don't like over 100 and don't like 30."
"I am not comfortable with volatility in prices." The UAE is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
At its last meeting in December, the OPEC oil producers' cartel warned of lingering weakness in the world economy as it decided to hold its crude output quotas unchanged.
Oil prices jumped by around 80 percent in 2009 as traders were heartened by evidence that the battered global economy was on the mend, with the eurozone, Japan and the United States escaping a fierce recession.

  Experts back power import from India
BSS, Dhaka

Experts in power sector support the initiatives of electricity import from India to meet the country's growing energy demands.
The experts from home and abroad shared their idea with BSS on how a regional grid and power trade among neighbouring countries would benefit all of them.
They also expressed their firm belief that importing power from India would help Bangladesh meet its immediate energy needs irrespective of the amount of electricity it would get from that country.
The experts also strongly contradict the claim that the government would entirely open the local electricity market to India through the import deal.
SA Moyeed, who was the chairman of the Power Development Board (PDB) during the BNP-led four-party alliance government, observed that electricity import from India would benefit the country.
He strongly supported the recent understanding on energy cooperation between the two close neighbours.
SA Moyeed, also a researcher and promoter of regional power grid, entirely negated the claim that importing power would completely open Bangladesh market to India.
"We are in a global market", he said and referred to Malaysia, Singapore, USA, Canada and different European countries those are sharing energy market through integrated power grid.
Professor Pushkar Bajracharya, member of the National Planning Commission of Nepal, observed that the regional energy cooperation would help meet power crisis and encourage investment in this sectors in different countries, including Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

Asia faces ‘golden opportunity’ after crisis
AFP, Taipei

Asian financial institutions face a "golden opportunity" after the global slump left their Western counterparts struggling, the deputy head of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund said in Taipei Monday.
Tony Tan, deputy chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) said Asian firms were in much better shape to play a major role on the region's expansion over the next several years.
"Asian financial institutions and markets have been given a golden opportunity," he told a forum in the Taiwan capital, according to the text of his speech.
"The globalised Western banking system, hampered by capital constraints and re-regulation, will likely not be able to intermediate the massive capital demand needed to finance Asian growth."
"This leaves the playing field unusually open for Asian financial institutions and markets, particularly for the next few years."
The GIC is the world's fourth-largest sovereign wealth fund, managing a global portfolio of more than 100 billion US dollars.
Asian banks have benefited from entering the crisis with relatively healthy levels of capital, liquidity and non-performing assets, but now they must act fast, Tan said.
"Asian banks and capital markets will need to develop quickly to step into the breach," he said.
"Regulatory and development authorities in the financial sector in Asia need to cooperate as never before with each other and financial institutions to develop regional financial and capital markets."

National

Cold situation worsens affecting normal life and agriculture in N-region

BSS, Rangpur

The sweeping cold wave again intensified Tuesday as the climate behaves 'abnormally' this season affecting agriculture due to adverse impacts of the ongoing global climate changes, scientists, officials and experts said.
The severity of cold increased due to falls in the temperatures coupled with blowing stronger winds, clouds, fogs and mists causing untold suffering and miseries to the people and severely affecting normal life in the northern region. The situation forced the people staying indoors and affecting businesses, education, office and normal agriculture activities as the sun remained covered by fogs and clouds amid blowing of stronger cooler winds and falling of mists from the saturated air.
The administrations, dozens of NGOs, affluent people and businessmen, voluntary, socio- cultural and charitable organisations have further intensified distribution of warm clothes among the distressed cold- hit people to mitigate their sufferings and miseries.
Agri-scientists and experts while talking to BSS Tuesday expressed their concern over the prevailing peculiar and unpredictable climatic conditions adding that the growth of Rabi crop plants might be affected if the situation further continues. Renowned rice scientist and Dinajpur Hub Manager of Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) Dr MA Mazid told that germination of newly sowed Boro seeds is being affected due to cold injuries and lower temperatures.
"Growth of Boro seedlings is being stranded as a result of the situation caused by the ongoing clime changes and the growing crop plants are facing hurdles in preparing their foods by photosynthesis process for lack of sunlight," he said.
Though the Boro seedbeds prepared earlier are sustaining the cold injuries, the newly sowed seeds are failing to germinate and the potato plants are being affected partially as the sun frequently appears almost on the alternate days, he said. Dr Mazid, Deputy Director of DAE Kamal Shariful Alam and environmentalist MG Neogi Tuesday said the normal growths of the Rabi crops including Boro seedlings and plants are being affected to some extents due to the reasons.
They said that due to long cold spell this season caused by climate changes, Boro rice farmers are facing serious problems in saving their Boro seedlings for a number of reasons.
Germination of Boro seeds is being hampered and their root formation and normal leaf development are being affected because of the prevailing lower temperatures than the normal, they said. Minimum 9-16 degrees Celsius temperatures are required for normal tiller formation and if the night temperatures remain below 10 degrees, it will seriously hamper normal development of the rice plants, they said.
They feared that under such lower temperatures and weather, Boro plants can face severe problems in preparing their foods through photosynthesis and in-taking of the nutrients from the soil for normal growths. They suggested the farmers to cover their Boro seed beds with polythene sheets till the sun appears, put water in the seed beds, use Sulphur fungicides like cumulous and mixture of urea and potash to face cold injuries in saving Boro seedlings.
Dr Mazid, who was the former Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Agronomy Division of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute at Gazipur, suggested the farmers to transplant Boro seedlings by February 15 as much as possible for getting the highest yields. "The farmers can get one tonne more paddies per hectare if they plant the seedlings in between third week of January and February 15 and Boro production significantly reduces when the seedlings are planted after February 15," Dr Mazid said.
Besides, the farmers can avoid natural calamities side by side with getting more yields if the Boro seedlings are planted within February 15 under the adverse impacts of the ongoing climate changes, Dr Mazid added.
"If the situation continues, the overall farming and production of Rabi crops including Boro paddy may be affected seriously," the agri- scientists and experts said.

  DMCH burn unit to be elevated to 100-bed facilities
BSS, Dhaka

The government is developing the 50-bed burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) to a 100-bed facility and concerned project approval process is underway.
The initiative has come from health minister Dr AFM Ruhul Haque when he visited DMCH burn unit immediately after taking over the ministry. He asked the concerned authorities to prepare the project accordingly, which is now waiting for final approval of the highest government authorities.
DMCH burn unit project director Dr Samanta Lal told BSS of the new move and said the project implementation will begin as soon as fund will be approved and placed for utilization.
He said the presence of DMCH burn unit has already become known to people all over the country only to put the arrival of the number of burn patients on the rise. The additional capacity of the unit will help meet the victims' growing need, he said.
A visit to the burn unit showed victims are crowding in this section of DMCH and physicians are taking hard time to provide them seat and treatment, medicine and other support logistic in congested rooms.
The number of patients stand almost three time bigger than the facilities available at this moment in the burn unit. More significantly, the number of physicians and nurses are also quite insufficient to take care of the victims, the spot visit showed.
The expansion of the capacity should therefore accompany with the rise in the number of physicians, nurses and supply of medicine and such other things, Dr Samanta said.

   Faridpur district administration to set up central relief depot

BSS, Faridpur

Faridpur district administration has decided to set up a central relief depot with the help of the affluent people, NGOs and other organizations for helping the poor people of the district during natural calamities.
The decision came at a meeting held here Monday with the deputy commissioner (DC) of Faridpur in the chair. The meeting held in the conference room of DC decided that Faridpur being disaster prone area the people particularly the poor often face sufferings in flood and winter.
Narrating their sufferings DC Helaluddin Ahmed said the poor people have been suffering a lot in the current cold wave sweeping the district. He said that the large number of poor were given only 3000 pieces of blankets and a cash of Taka 60 thousand on behalf of the government which is very meager against the requirements. Those relief good were distributed through MPs and UNOs in the upazilas, but the quantity was insufficient, the DC said.
The DC urged the NGO representatives and others to come forward and set up a central relief store for helping the poor in case of natural disaster. He also asked the affluent people of this district to extend their cooperation.
The representatives of the NGOs and other organizations assured of their help and cooperation.

  Free plastic surgery camp begins at Faridpur
BSS, Faridpur

The eighth eleven day long free plastic surgery camp organized by Faridpur Welfare Foundation (FWF), a local voluntary service organization began here at Faridpur General Hospital.
A total of 250 patients with congenital facial deformation and burn injuries out of 750 patients were selected for free operation in the camp.
A team of five eminent plastic surgeons of Holland led by Dr.
C.A. Spronk along with Professor Dr. P.H. Spawen, Dr. Karina, Dr. Laten Bake and Dr. S.Bannick will perform the operation which has started Tuesday morning. Besides, twenty local physicians will assist them.
The inaugural function was held at the hospital premises which was addressed, among others, by FWF president Shamim Haque, Civil Surgeon Dr. Bashirul Islam, B.M.A. Faridpur unit president Dr. ASM Jahangir Chowdhury Tito and B.M.A. Secretary Dr. Khabirul Islam. It was presided over by FWF secretary Ali Asgar Manik.
It may be mentioned that FWF has been organizing free plastic surgery camps since year 2000 and so far about one thousand patients were operated upon.

  RAB rescues abducted school girl, arrests 11 in Rangpur
BSS, Rangpur

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) rescued an abducted school girl of Dhaka and arrested 11 abductors from a house in Benipukur village under Mithapukur upazila here on Monday, RAB and police sources said.
The sources said that some miscreants abducted Fatema Akhter Bilkis, 13, daughter of Belal Gazi of Lane 4 in Motijheel Gopibag area in Dhaka city while she went out of home for purchasing a pen and notebook from nearby shop on January 14 in the evening.
Her father filed an abduction case with Motijheel Police station in Dhaka in this connection and the victim's relatives and police started their hectic efforts to rescue the abducted girl, who is also a school student.
Later, the abductors demanded Taka 30,000 as ransom for her release over mobile telephone to her parents. Motijheel Thana police informed the matter to Rangpur RAB camp after secret information about her location in a Rangpur village. Accordingly, a special RAB team led by Captain Ahsan Hossain and ASP Anwar Hossain conducted a sudden aid at the house of one Abdul Halim Miah in Benipukur village and rescued the girl in the small hours Monday.
The RAB also arrested abductors Mahbubar Rahman, 38, Ibrahim, 36, Chand Mian, 38, Mintu,30, Shahidul Islam, 30, Ashraful, 25, Fazlul Haque, 27, Abdul Halim, 32, Ruhul Amin, 45, Harun Ar Rashid, 32, and Faruk, 20, of different villages in Rangpur and Lalmonirhat districts.

  Eight bridges to be constructed in Jessore
BSS, Jessore

Government has under taken a project involving Taka 1 crore 5 lakh for constructing eight bridges in 8 upazilas (one bridge in each upazila) of the district.
The initial expenditure for construction of each bridge has been fixed at about Taka 18 lakh under the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.
Jessore districts Relief officer Nasir Uddin said a good number of bridges have remained incomplete due to lack of accurate data. As a result, public suffering is being created, he added.
He said the present government has taken necessary initiatives to complete the construction of culvert and bridges soon for removing suffering of people.
The tender would not be allowed less than 5 percent, which is specifying in the tender, he said adding that lottery will be drawn for selecting the tender.

  3 women killed, 25 injured in road crash in Bagerhat
UNB, Bagerhat

Three women, including a mother and her daughter, were killed and 25 people injured as a bus skidded off the road after hitting a tree on Mathabhanga Bridge on Khulna-Bagerhat road in Sadar upazila Tuesday noon.
Two of the deceased were identified as Parveen Begum, 35, wife of Salam of Shelabunia village of Mongla upazila and her daughter Ruma, 5 while the identity of another woman, aged about 50, could not be known immediately.
Police said the accident occurred at about 12:30noon when a Begerhat bound bus from Mongla crashed into a roadside tree and turned turtle as its driver lost control overt the steering, killing the three on the spot.
The injured were rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital and Sadar Hospital. Condition of five injured were stated to be critical.
On information, police recovered the bodies and sent those to Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Police seized the vehicle but its driver and helper managed to flee the scene.
A case was filed.

 Death toll in Kishoreganj boat capsize rises to 5
UNB, Kishoreganj

Two more bodies were recovered from the Dhaleswari river here Tuesday noon, raising the death toll in Monday' s boat capsize to five.
The rescuers recovered bodies of six-year-old Jibon and Rupalee Sarker, 10, from the river. Three other people were still missing in the accident, police said.
Police said a mechanized boat carrying around 50 people-far beyond its capacity-sank due to strong currents while it was anchoring at the river bank at Banglapara under Astagram upazila about 1:30pm.
Three women drowned and five other people went missing in the boat capsize.
The relatives of the missing ones were seen waiting on the banks of the river while some others looking for their dear ones by boat.
The passengers were mostly Hindu devotees going to a temple to attend a religious function.

 Govt. undertakes master plan to reach education to every houses in CHT: Bir Bahadur

BSS, Rangamati

Chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, Bir Bahadur, MP said the present government has undertaken a master plan to reach the light of education to every house in the CHT.
The government would go on working to turn CHT to a centre of attaining higher education utilizing the natural scenic beauty of the hilly region, said Bir Bahadur, adding that a full-fledged university with world-standard modern structure and a medical college would be built shortly.
He reiterated his government's vow while inaugurating an English-medium school at Bandarban at the auditorium of Bandarban Collectorate School as the chief guest on Sunday.
Deputy Commissioner of the district, Mizanur Rahman attended the function as special guest while Superintendent of Police Kamrul Ahsan, councilor of CHT Regional Council Shafiqur Rahman and Bandarban sadar upazila chairman, Abdul Quddus were among others, addressed the function.
The English medium school started its journey this year with modern facilities and latest curriculum in Bandarban.

 Substantial credit-flow towards agriculture can help attaining food security

BSS, Rajshahi

Substantial credit-flow towards the potential agriculture sector can help attaining food security along with boosting the country's economic position.
Speakers revealed this while distributing loan among the share-croppers and small and medium enterprises at a function organized by the local branch of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) on Haragarm Union Complex Bhaban here Monday.
They also viewed that building of a strong national economic base is largely depends on bolstering the rural economy and added that 50 percent achievement of the government pledge to build Digital Bangladesh could be possible through the banking sector.
In this address of welcome, RAKUB Zonal Manager Abdul Khaleque Khan stated that Taka 36.44 crore was disbursed as agricultural loan along with recovering Taka 18.22 crore including Taka 5.34 crore as classified loan in the zone during the first half of the current fiscal.
He also said the zone has able to reduce its classified loan to 33 percent from 44 percent in last one and half years.
General manager of Bangladesh Bank Nirmal Chandra Bhakta addressed the ceremony as the chief guest with branch manager Mahfizur Rahman in the chair.
Terming the agriculture as the main driving force of the country's economy, the chief guest said the agricultural production and employment opportunities could be enhanced to a greater extent through successful execution of the government's credit policy and programs.

 GTZ sets up 1.75 lakh fuel saving cooking furnaces
BSS, Rangpur

German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) has set up some 1.75 lakh fuel saving and environment-friendly cooking furnaces (Bandhu Chula) in the rural areas of the country.
This was stated by Training and Monitoring Officer of GTZ Mohammad Sagar while visiting the fuel saving and environment- friendly furnaces at 15 households in Mithapukur upazila here Monday.
Sagar led a GTZ team that visited beneficiaries in different adjoining villages in the upazila.
While talking to the beneficiaries and local journalists, the GTZ officials said that the Bandhu Chulas have enormous beneficial properties like saving fire woods, no environmental pollution and smoke-related diseases of the womenfolk.
Non-governmental organisation SAFE has set up a total of 170 such Bandhu Chulas in different villages of Mithapukur upazila alone in the district with the assistance of the GTZ as various other NGOs have set up the same in many other areas in the country.

 Police arrest 95 persons in Rangpur
BSS, Rangpur

Police in separate anti-crime raids arrested a total of 95 persons including some alleged criminals from different places in the district in 48 hours till Tuesday morning.
Police said the arrested persons include listed terrorists, criminals, abductors, smugglers, thieves, absconding warrantees and accused, drug traffickers and peddlers, muggers, extortionists and other anti- social elements.
Police also recovered good quantities of smuggled goods, phensidyl, locally produced wine, lethal weapons, stolen goods and other illegal things during the drives.
Police arrested professional drug traffickers and smuggler Anarul Haque, 27, Rohidas, 36, Fazlul Haque, 55, and Parimal Sarker, 40, and seized a total of 14 bottles phensidyl, 950 gram ganja, 2.4 liters of rectified spirit and other narcotics substances. Of the arrested, Kotwali police netted 16 persons, Gangachara six, Taraganj six, Badarganj 10, Mithapukur 34, Pirgachha 13, Pirganj five, Kawnia four and DB police arrested one person during the raids.
The arrested persons were later sent to jail Tuesday when police produced them before different Rangpur courts, police said.

Sports

Mahmudullah defies India with fifty
AFP, Chittagong

Gautam Gambhir closed in on a rapid half-century as India raced to 122-1 in their second innings at stumps on the third day of the opening Test against Bangladesh on Tuesday.
The opener (47 not out) added 90 for the opening wicket with stand-in captain Virender Sehwag (45) after India had narrowly avoided conceding the lead to Bangladesh for the first time in six Tests. Bangladesh were bowled out for 242 in their first innings shortly after tea in reply to India's 243. India got off to a strong start, with left-handed Gambhir and Sehwag dominating the Bangladeshi attack with attractive shots during their 17-over partnership.
Sehwag fell just three balls after hitting a straight six off left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan, caught by Raqibul Hasan at square-leg while attempting another big shot.
Nightwatchman Amit Mishra was unbeaten with a 21-ball 24 when play was called off due to bad light.
Bangladesh's Mohammad Mahmudullah earlier hit an impressive 69 for his maiden half-century. He put on 108 for the seventh wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim (44) to raise his team's hopes of gaining the lead.
The hosts were tottering at 98-6 before being revived by Mahmudullah and Rahim, but three late wickets by Indian leg-spinner Mishra saw them concede the lead.
Bangladesh failed to cope with India's pace in the morning, when they lost three wickets in the space of 30 runs, but Mahmudullah and Rahim denied the visitors success for more than two hours with their sensible knocks.
The duo applied themselves remarkably well, patiently waiting for loose deliveries. Mahmudullah played some handsome shots in his 108-ball knock before being caught behind off paceman Shanthaku-maran Sreesanth.
Wicketkeeper Rahim had been batting confidently before he fell to a loose shot, caught by Sehwag at mid-wicket while attempting to hit Mishra against the turn. Rahim struck six fours in his 104-ball knock.
Mishra and left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan finished with three wickets each, while seamers Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth grabbed two apiece.
India looked set to gain a sizeable lead in the morning session when Zaheer, Sharma and Sreesanth struck in quick succession.
Bangladesh added nine runs to their overnight total of 59-3 when Sharma had former captain Mohammad Ashraful caught in the slips by Rahul Dravid for two.
Home skipper Shakib Al Hasan started aggressively, hitting four boundaries in his 17 before being caught by Sehwag, who timed his jump to perfection at gully.
Raqibul Hasan (17) was the third batsman to fall in the first session, edging a lifting delivery from Sreesanth to wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik.
Play was delayed for the third successive day due to dense fog which had restricted play to 63 of the stipulated 90 overs on the first day and just 24.5 overs on the second day.
The second and final Test will start in Dhaka on January 24.
Scorecard
India 1st innings: 243 (S. Tendulkar 105 not out, V. Sehwag 52, Shahadat Hossain 5-71, Shakib Al Hasan 5-62).
Bangladesh 1st innings: (overnight 59-3):
Tamim Iqbal b Zaheer 31
Imrul Kayes lbw b
Zaheer 23
Shahriar Nafees c
Laxman b Sharma 4
Ashraful c Dravid b
Sharma 2
Raqibul c Karthik
b Sreesanth 17
Shakib c Sehwag b
Zaheer 17
Mushfiqur Rahim c
Sehwag b Mishra 44
Mahmudullah c Karthik
b Sreesanth 69
Shahadat c Yuvraj
b Mishra 11
Shafiul c Yuvraj b Mishra 6
Rubel not out 0
Extras: (b4, lb1, nb12, w1) 18
Total: (for all out; 65.2 overs) 242
Falls: 1-53 (Kayes), 2-58 (Nafees), 3-58 (Iqbal), 4-68 (Ashraful), 5-89 (Shakib), 6-98 (Raqibul), 7-206 (Rahim), 8-228 (Shahadat), 9-235 (Mahmudullah), 10-242 (Shafiul).
Bowling: Zaheer 20-4-54-3 (w1), Sreesanth 11-1-55-2 (nb7), Sharma 13-3-47-2, Mishra 16.2-2-65-3 (nb5), Yuvraj 5-1-16-0.
India 2nd innings:
Gambhir not out 47
Sehwag c Raqibul b
Shakib 45
Mishra not out 24
Extras: (lb5, nb1) 6
Total: (for one wicket; 22.2 overs) 122
Falls: 1-90 (Sehwag).
Bowling: Shafiul 6-0-35-0, Shahadat 5-0-13-0, Rubel 2-0-20-0 (nb1), Shakib 6.2-0-28-1, Mahmudullah 2-0-12-0, Ashraful 1-0-9-0.

  Taekwondo team promises to give best efforts
TBT Report

Bangladesh won one gold in taekwondo in the last South Asian Games (SAG) in 2006 but this time Bangladesh Taekwondo Federation (BTF) expects better performances from the players to gain more success in the South Asian meet.
"We won one gold in the Colombo SAG but now we are more confident and expecting at least two golds," Mahmudul Islam Rana said at a news conference at Olympic Bhaban in the city on Tuesday.
The 11th South Asian Games will be held in Dhaka and some other cities across the country from January 29 to February 9 with all eight South Asian countries taking part in the meet.
"All of our players are equally well-prepared and yearning to show their prowess. All of them have the ability to win gold medal," Rana said.
However, he said Mizanur Rahman and Raisul Kabir are the main players in the Bangladesh Taekwondo Team with great prospects.
"These two are having the brightest prospects to strike golds but we want more medals from the other players also," the General Secretary added.
BTF officials also announced a 10-member Bangladesh Taekowando Team - which comprises six men and four women - for the SAG. .
BTF Vice President Mushfiq Hossain Kamal, Korean coach Lee Ju Sang and the Manager of Bangladesh Taekwondo Team Saidur Rahman Swapan also spoke on the occasion.

  Federer, Djokovic win

AFP, Melbourne
World number one Roger Federer, former champion Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko won through to the second round but Robin Soderling was a seeded casualty at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Federer, chasing his 16th Grand Slam title, dropped the opening set, but rattled home against the 37th-ranked Russian Igor Andreev 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), 6-0 in two hours 44 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic, who won the Open two years ago, accounted for Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-3, 6-2, while Davydenko continued his impeccable start to the year, cruising past German Dieter Kindlmann 6-1, 6-0, 6-3.
But Swedish eighth seed Soderling became the first men's top-10 casualty, bowing out to Spain's 113th-ranked Marcel Granollers 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Federer's performance gave him an early indication of how he stacks up in the opening Grand Slam of the season after losing to Russian Davydenko in his last two matches.
"I know if my body is there and my game is there, I can beat anybody," Federer said.
"I'm through in the second round. It's not very deep yet, but at least I got some information, and I feel like I'm playing really well."
Although he stormed through the final set to love with three service breaks, it looked early on as though the Swiss legend was facing a tough tussle against the man who took him to five sets in the fourth round at the 2008 US Open. Third seed Djokovic fought back from an early break in the opening set to beat the 74th-ranked Spaniard in just over two hours.
Djokovic's path in his quarter was cleared somewhat by the upset loss of Soderling and 16th Spanish seed Tommy Robredo earlier Tuesday.Davydenko beat world number two Rafael Nadal in the final, and Federer in the semis, in Doha before heading to Australia for the year's first Grand Slam.
The Russian, four times a Grand Slam semi-finalist but yet to reach a decider, said his confidence had never been higher.
"Now I feel like I can beat everyone," he said. "Before no, mostly I was losing against these guys (top players). "But now I can beat everyone, it's a good feeling."
French Open finalist Soderling made 67 unforced errors and was scathing in his assessment of his performance. "I started terrible and finished terrible," he said. "I played a horrible match today and I am terribly disappointed. I didn't feel good at all and I didn't play well." Elsewhere, qualifier Louk Sorensen became the first Irishman to win a Grand Slam singles match for 30 years, beating Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Spanish ninth seed Fernando Verdasco progressed with a hard-fought 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/1), 7-5, 6-2 win over Australian Carsten Ball and French 10th seed and 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.

  Angola, Algeria into Nations Cup quarters
AFP, Luanda

Angola and Algeria became the latest teams to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations' quarterfinals after a 0-0 draw here on Monday.
The split result suited both teams perfectly, with Angola going through as Group A winners on five points and Algeria as runners-up on four points.
Mali, who beat Malawi in the simultaneous game up in Cabinda 3-1, was also on four points but missed out on the head-to head performance with Algeria.
Angola now progress to face the runners-up of Group B - either Ivory Coast, Ghana or Burkina Faso, in their Luanda fortress on Sunday, with Algeria taking on the Group B winners in Cabinda the same day. Angola coach Manuel Jose reflected: "We were nervous in the first half, and had a great chance but couldn't score.
"Then we heard at half time that Mali were leading in Cabinda so in the second half we tried to minimise the risk of defeat. It wasn't good for the fans but we had to avoid risks, our main objective was to qualify."
He said the absence of key players Flavio and Dede and the suspended Stelvio had had a major bearing on the game.
"The return of players like Flavio will be fundamental to us. Our task now is to get them back for the quarter-final."
Asked which of the Group B teams he would most like to face the Portuguese added: "The coach of Burkina Faso is a former player of mine, the team doctor is a great friend of mine, but friendship aside I don't prefer one team or another."
Algeria coach Rabah Saadane said his World Cup qualifiers had done well in difficult conditions.
"The temperature was very high with a lot of humidity so the conditions weren't favourable to us.
"We were at risk in the first-half but after the break we improved our defence and we achieved the essential, to qualify."
A traffic snarl up outside meant the game started with the 11 November stadium only half full, the crowd including the Algerian supporters - all ten of them - and Angola's number one fan, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
Jose made two changes from the XI that saw off Malawi 2-0, with Jamuana starting for suspended Stelvio and Zekalanga coming in for injured star striker Flavio, scorer of three of Angola's six goals up to Monday.
Algeria had only one alteration from the side that beat Mali 1-0, with Blackpool attacker Hamer Bouazza taking the place of Strasbourg midfielder Yassine Bezzazz.
Algeria were at the hosts' heels from kick-off, desperate to avoid the ignominy of a first round exit with South Africa 2010 looming.
After an open first quarter Angola were looking dangerous on the attack, with Mabina for one testing Desert Foxes' keeper Faouzi Chaouchi in the 17th minute.
On the half hour Chaouchi could only punch away Manucho's centre cum shot as the evenly balanced first half continued at a breathless pace.

   IPL auction shuns Pakistan stars
AFP, Mumbai

Pakistani cricketers will not feature in the third edition of the Indian Premier League this year after being ignored by franchises at the players' auction on Tuesday.
None of the 11 Pakistanis who went under the hammer, including flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi, were sold despite their national team being the reigning World Twenty20 champions.
Pakistani cricketers took part in the IPL's inaugural season in 2008, but were denied permission by Islamabad to play last year due to growing political tensions with India.
Multi-millionaire owners of the eight clubs, who attended the auction, declined to comment on why the Pakistanis were kept out.
But a franchise official, who preferred to remain unnamed, told AFP that he was not surprised.
"We were not sure if the Pakistanis will get visas and we did not want players who won't be available," he said. "Besides, there is also the security issue. No one was willing to take a chance."
Of the 66 players up for bid, only 11 were sold, with West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard and New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond drawing the highest prices at 750,000 dollars each.
Pollard was picked up by Mumbai Indians, owned by India's richest industrialist Mukesh Ambani, while Bond went to Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders.
Another West Indian, Kemar Roach, attracted 720,000 dollars from 2009 champions Deccan Chargers. Promising South African paceman Wayne Parnell was sold to Delhi Daredevils for 610,000 dollars.
The auction was held for cricketers not already linked with any IPL team and was limited to the third edition, which will be held across India from March 12 to April 25.
From 2011 onwards, when the number of teams will be increased from eight to 10, a fresh auction will be held for all cricketers for a three-year term.
Other star players who were ignored at the auction were Australian Test wicket-keeper Brad Haddin, England spinner Graeme Swann, West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan and Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan.

  Benin out to shock mighty Egyptians
AFP, Benguela

The Africa Cup of Nations Group C game between Egypt and Benin here today will match the continent's heavyweights up against the underdogs, who are fired-up to get their first-ever win in the competition.
The Squirrels are third in Group C with a point from two matches, but still have a chance of progressing to the next round if they shock the African champions and second-placed Nigeria lose to Mozambique.
"We have not given up yet because we still have a match to play and if we get the results we wish for, we could still remain in the tournament. We will fight till the end," said Benin coach Michel Dessuyer.
Benin have already pulled off a shock result in the qualifiers when they pipped the Black Stars of Ghana 1-0 at home in September courtesy of a late winner by youngster Mohammed Aoudou.
Six-time champions Egypt, on the other hand, will be hoping to extend a new record of going unbeaten in 15 matches in the championship since the 2004 tournament, where they last lost 2-1 to bitter regional rivals Algeria.
The previous record of 14 games without defeat was held by Cameroon, who achieved this record between 1984 and 1988.
The Pharaohs are top of Group C after they recorded maximum points from their first two matches against Nigeria and Mozambique.
They thus became the second team after the Ivory Coast to reach the last eight in Angola and as a result coach Hassan Shehata will give several fringe players a run out against the Squirrels on Wednesday.
Shehata has disclosed that first-choice goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary will, along with several other key players like Al Ahly central defender Wael Gomaa, be rested and so afford him an opportunity to assess the likes of ENPPI midfielder Abdelaziz Tawfik and Moatasem Salem from Ismaila.