friday, JANUARY 29, 2010 magh 16, 1416, SAFAR 12, 1431 Hijri

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Leading News

Bangabandhu murder
All 5 convicts hanged in Dhaka buried at homes

UNB, Dhaka

The five former army officers hanged in Dhaka Central Jail on Wednesday night for the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members were all buried Thursday at their native villages after funerals under tight security.
They were executed shortly after the Appellate Division dismissed their pleas for a review of the Supreme Court verdict confirming their death sentence in the Bangabandhu Murder Case.
They are Lt Col (sacked) Syed Faruque Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed (Artillery), Maj (retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed (Lancer) and Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda.
UNB Naogaon correspondent reports: Lt Col Syed Faruque Rahman was buried at his family graveyard at Marma Mallickpur village in sadar upazila at 9:35 am under a security cover put up by police and RAB forces.
UNB Chuadanga correspondent says: Maj Bazlul Huda was buried beside his parents at Nagar Boalia graveyard after two namaz-e-janazas at about 2:40pm.
His first namaz-e-janaza was held at Hatboalia football ground at about 2:10pm and the second one at Nagar Boalia mosque.
Earlier, his body was taken to his village Hatboalia in Alamdanga upazila at 9:30 am on Thursday on his last ride home from the capital. The body was handed over to his younger brother Nurul Huda and sister Mahfuza Lizi.
Nurul Huda said his brother had told him that he (Bazlul Huda) had not submitted any mercy petition.
Col Sultan Shahriar was buried at his family graveyard at Gopinathpur in Kosba upazila of Brahmanbaria district at 7:30 am. He was buried in presence of his relatives, the Deputy Commissioner, the Police Super and villagers.
UNB Patuakhali correspondent reports: AKM Mohiuddin was buried at his family graveyard at Neta village in Golachipa upazila at about 2:45pm in presence of the law-enforcers.
His body reached the village in the backwater district at about 2:30pm. His cousin Milton Talukdar received the body from the pallbearers.
Local leaders and workers of Awami League demonstrated against the burial of Mohiuddin at his native village.
On the other hand, Muhiuddin Ahmed was buried at his native village Nijkata in Kalapara upazila of the same district at about 4:10pm.
Muhiduddin's body reached his village at about 3:15pm. His uncle Abul Hossain received the body.
Five hangmen - Raju of Dhaka Central Jail and Shahjahan, Sanwar, Farooq and Hafiz from Kashimpur Jail-hanged the rebel army officers for the killing of the country's founding father in a predawn putsch on August 15, 1975.
Sultan Shahriar Rashid and Syed Farooq Rahman were hanged first at 12:05am. AKM Mohiuddin and Bazlul Huda walked to the gallows at 12:35am while Muhiuddin Ahmed at 1:05am.
Mercy petitions of four of the condemned convicts were summarily rejected by the President. The Supreme Court also rejected their petitions for review of the death penalty awarded by a special judge's court and confirmed by the High Court.

 34 hawkers & 11 cops injured, 135 shops burnt in Ctg clashes

BSS, Chittagong

At least 45 people, including 11 cops, were injured in a series of clashes between hawkers and traders in Reazuddin Bazar in the city last night and Thursday.
Police, however, controlled the situation deploying 13 platoons of law-enforcers at 4 pm today, and firing nearly 150 teargas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the warring groups. The entire area stretching from Jubilee Road to Station Road turned into a battle field when traders of Reazuddin Bazar and street hawkers were locked into a series of clashes since 8 pm last night to 4 pm Thursday.
The clash forced the traders of the busiest business hub Reazuddin Bazar, the Station Road, the New Market areas and their adjacent areas to keep their shops closed till 5 pm today. At least 135 makeshift shops were reportedly set ablaze by the employees of Reazuddin Bazar Business Association (RBBA), Abdur Rahim, a hawker in the Station Road area claimed.
Of the injured, six persons were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, while others were treated locally.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Sohel, owner of Meraz Telecom of Riazuddin Bazar, alleged that the hawkers damaged several roadside shops on the Station Road area last night.
Eyewitness said the clash erupted after the leaders of Reazuddin Bazar Traders Association asked a makeshift fruit traders on the footpaths to stop their business and also tried to demolish some makeshift shops around 7:40 pm last night.
Both the feuding groups hurled thousands of stones each other and the clash spread over one km area from Chittagong Railway Station to Tinpoler Matha and New Market to Jubuli Road area, that left 18 hawkers and shop owners injured.
Police controlled the situation after hurling near about 75 tears shells and baton-charges. The feuding groups started again pelting stones each other at 11 am today after the last night clash that lasted for two hours from 8 pm.
Vehicular movement came to a standstill on Station Road, New Market and Kotwali areas from 11 am to 4 pm today. Police said over six platoons of policemen, four platoons of riot police, three platoons of Rapid Action Battalion and others members of the intelligence agencies were engaged in controlling the situation.
Salamat Ullah, President of RBBA, claimed that over 20 shop owners and members of RBBA were injured in the incident. Mohiuddin Mahmud, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kotwali Police said, they hurled about 260 teargas shells from last night to till 3 pm Thursday.
Over 11 police officials, including Deputy Commissioner north of police Banoj Kumar Mujumdar and assistant commissioner Kazi Helal Uddin, were injured. He said over 13 platoons police, APBN, RAB and other law enforcers were deployed in the trouble torn areas.

 JS pays rich tributes to Bangabandhu
BSS, Sangsad Bhaban

The Jatiya Sangsad Thursday paid rich tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rhman and expressed profound gratitude to Almighty Allah following the execution of the killers of great leader and his family members.
As the proceeding of the House began this afternoon, Speaker Abdul Hamid Advocate read out a statement and in an emotion- charged voice said, "the trial of the Bangabandhu's killers after prolonged struggle over the last 34 and half years brought forth the universal fact that none is above law and none can obstruct its normal course".
He said Jatiya Sangsad is the highest forum for enacting laws and the Constitution was passed in line with the great expectation of the people after the Independence. But the killers violated the Constitution after killing Bangabandhu and obstructed the course of law through enacting the infamous Indemnity Ordinance, he pointed out.
"The killers never thought that the history would not take the responsibility of the heinous acts of the killers, who even deprived Father of the Nation of his lawful rights, applicable for even a commoner," he said.
The Speaker said the nation realized the matter after 21 years and sent their representatives to the 7th Parliament to put the Constitution in its right place. "The 7th Parliament led by the daughter of Bangabandhu and then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina annulled the infamous indemnity ordinance and paved the way for trial of the killers in civil court," he said.
Although the trial was obstructed time and again, he said truth has ultimately prevailed after 13 years of the judicial process that freed the nation from the curse of the history's most heinous crime with the execution of five of the 12 killers last night.
"Law is like a flowing river which cannot be obstructed.
None is above law and it has again been proved through the execution of the verdict on Bangabandhu Murder Case after long 34 years," the Speaker said.
Later, a munajat was offered seeking divine blessings for eternal peace of the departed souls of the August 15 martyrs. Awami League lawmaker AKMA Awal conducted the munajat.

  Ruling AL hails execution of Bangabandhu killers
UNB, Dhaka

LGRD Minister and Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam Thursday said the nation could erase a little the blemish for the Bangabandhu killing through the execution of five of the killers, as the ruling party staged processions across the country to hail the belated justice.
He said judgment against the criminals didn't end here-the government would also execute verdicts in all killings, including during war crimes, grenade attacks and jail killings.
After attending a meeting on the Dhaka Declaration of CIRDAP at a city hotel, the minister said the government changed people's belief about justice that killers can go scot-free.
"The country has come out from the previous malpractice where there had been cry in the wilderness for justice," the ruling-party leader added. He observed that the people now believe that the right to law is established through the execution of the verdict on the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
"The sin can never be erased but the criminals must be brought to book," said Ashraf, whose father Syed Nazrul Islam, country's acting President in exile during the liberation war, was also slain during the jail killings inside the Dhaka Central Jail on Nov 3, 1975 following the August coup.
The minister called upon those countries where the other fugitives from the Bangabandhu Murder Case are hiding to send them back. He asserted that they would run the fugitives in "at any cost to execute the verdict".
Asked whether they have any apprehension of sabotage, the minister said the people are happy about the executions. "So, there wouldn't be any chance of subversive act in the country."
Asked about the view regarding abolition of 'Baksal' through the killing of Mujibur Rahman, the AL leader said, "The beneficiaries of the killing of Bangabandhu, who were in power many times, say so."

   BSF kills 93 people in 13 months
818 Bangladeshis killed on border in nine years

TBT Report

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) has killed yet another Bangladeshi citizen on the border Thursday taking the number of such killings to 93 during the period from January 1, 2009 to January 28, 2010 and to 818 in nine years from January 2000 to January 2010.
The latest incident of killing a Bangladeshi citizen by BSF took place on Shibganj upazila in Chapainawabganj border on Thursday.
According to UNB News Agency, a cattle trader was shot dead by BSF along Ohidpur frontier in Shibganj upazila in Chapainawabganj early Thursday. The victim was identified as Shyamal Karmakar, son of Noren Karmakar of Bishroshia village of the upazila.
Major Nazrul of 39 Rifles Battalion, said when Shyamal was bringing cattle from India at about 5am BSF members of Chandnichak border outpost opened fire, leaving him dead on the spot. The BSF later dragged away the dead body into their camp, locals said.
BDR sent a letter to their Indian counterparts protesting the killing and demanding immediate return of the body. With this seven Bangladeshis were killed by BSF in first 28 days of 2010 taking the total number of deaths to 93 during the period from January 1, 2009 to January 28, 2010. This shows that the killing spree of BSF on Bangladesh border continues unabated despite India's repeated pledges to stop such killings.
The number of Bangladeshis killed by BSF during the nine years period from January 1, 2000 to January 22, 2010 stands now at 818. BSF also injured 857 and abducted 897 Bangladeshis in the same period.
The killings of unarmed Bangladeshis by the BSF on the border are continuing in clear violation of the spirit of good neighborliness as well as international law and despite repeated pledges by the Indian authorities to stop it.
In every meeting between BSF and BDR and also between the higher level officials of the two countries, the Indian side assures that killing of Bangladeshis by its forces on the border would come to an end immediately. But this pledge is seldom implemented.

  Dhaka, Delhi discuss maritime boundary
BSS, New Delhi

Officials of Bangladesh and India met here Thursday to find out an amicable solution to the maritime boundary demarcation dispute between the two countries.
This is the first bilateral meeting between Dhaka and Delhi for resolving the dispute over water territory in the Bay of Bengal.
The meeting was held in line with the discussions between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh on January 11 in New Delhi.
During the Sheikh Hasina's state visit to New Delhi, the two countries resolved to settle the maritime boundary disputes bilaterally. "Today's meeting is successful and fruitful discussions were held," informed sources told BSS without elaborating.
"More such meetings will be held in future," the sources added. Additional Foreign Secretary Khorshed Alam led the Bangladesh side while the Indian side was headed by T. S. Tirumurti, Joint Secretary of Bangladesh-Sri Lanka-Myanmar (BSM) of the Ministry of External Affairs.

  20 wounded in BCL infighting
UNB, Dhaka

At least 20 BCL activists were injured when its rival groups clashed at Jagannath University and adjacent Kabi Nazrul Govt College in the old Dhaka city Thursday.
Campus sources said series of clash started at 3-15 pm when a group of BCL of JU entered Kabi Nazrul College to get admitted its supporters by force.
Protest by the rival group of Kabi Nazrul College led to the clash.
Both sides used sticks and brickbats leaving 15 activists wounded. Seven cars parked in the college campus were damaged and class rooms ransacked.
Vehicular movement halted in busy Victoria Park area for about two hours.
Additional police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control at about 5:15 pm.
Later, regrouped and equipped with lethal weapons BCL cadres of Kabi Nazrul College entered JU campus and attacked the rivals. About half a dozen activists were wounded in the clash that continued till 6 pm when police used batons to disperse the unruly students. The injured were treated in nearby clinics.

Back Page

President for increasing training for armed forces
UNB, Dhaka

President Zillur Rahman Thursday emphasized increasing modern training and education for the members of the armed forces for building a more efficient military in the country.
The President, also the supreme commander of the Armed Forces, made the suggestion when Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Shah M Ziaur Rahman paid a courtesy call on him at Bangabhaban, ahead of his Sing-apore trip for a security meet. During the meeting, the air chief informed the president that he is going to Singapore Saturday to attend 'Asia-Pacific Sec-urity Conference and Singapore Air Show 2010'.
The conference will be held from January 31 to February 3 with representatives from 146 countries participating.
"The experiences to be gathered from the conference would help improve the professional skill for both officers and airmen of the air forces," the air chief apprised the president.
He sought the president's cooperation in building a modern air force and said that the present government has taken necessary programmes for development of the air force.
"A more efficient air force will be built in the country through implementation of the programmes," the air chief hoped.
The president gave him a patient hearing and assured his "all-out cooperation" in the development of the air force. Secretaries of the president's office were present at the meeting.

   Preparations for Ekushey Book Fair at final stage
BSS, Dhaka

Preparations for holding the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2010 on the premises of Bangla Aca-demy from February 1 are at the final stage.
The Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, is expected to inaugurate the month-long fair at 3:00 pm on February 1.
"Our preparation is at the final stage. The academy compound is almost ready and the rest of the work would be finished shortly," said Murshid Anwar, deputy director of the coordination and public relations department of the Bangla Academy.
He said the book fair steering committee has allocated spaces to 432 organisations and publishing houses to set up their stalls on the academy premises. The number can be raised further.
Like the previous years, book lovers and visitors will get 25 percent concession on the price of book published by different publishing houses and organisations and get 30 percent concessions on books published by the Bangla Academy.
This year, different spots at the venue will be named after noted writers and persons. There will be corners in the names of poet Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, liberation war and children.
The deputy director said list of new books and other information of the fair will be uploaded on the internet regularly and two news bulletins on book fair will be published daily.Seminars will be held regularly on the theme 'History of the Lan-guage Movement in 1952'. Murshid said tight security would be ensured at the fair venue and its adjoining roads likewise.
In the last year there were 436 book stalls at the Ekushey Book Fair and the total sale proceeds were Taka 18 crore. Poetry collections top the list of 2,741 new books unveiled in the last year's fair, closely followed by novels and essays. Bangla Academy sold books worth Taka 58 lakh in the last year's fair.
A total of 422 stalls were set up in 2008, 400 in 2007, 477 in 2006 and 464 in 2005 book fair. The fair witnessed the highest 653 publishers participating in the 1994 fair.
The fair or Amar Ekushey Book Fair, popularly known as Ekushey Boi Mela, is the most popular book fair in the country, which continues during the whole month of February every year, and is dedicated to the language heroes, who died on February 21 in 1952. Chitta-ranjan Saha of Muktodhara Publishing House was the first to set up a stall on the Academy premises on February 21, 1972, to mark the Shaheed Day, which was later announced as International Mother Language Day.
The Bangla Academy took over the fair in 1978 and in 1984 it was named Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, according the Academy sources.

   New generation needs to know BAKSAL to resist one-party rule

UNB, Dhak

BNP front ranking leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said on Thursday the new generation should be made aware what BAKSAL was for resisting the fresh bid of Awami League to revive one party rule in the country.
He was speaking at a roundtable on "Establishing One Party Rule BAKSAL and Democracy Killing Day' at the Jatiya Press club, organized by Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal, farmers of wing of BNP. Mosharraf said the present government in guise of democracy is again trying to reestablish one party rule which has been manifested in its activities including politicizing the administration and planting its men in key institutions.
The ruling party has turned parliament one-party by tactfully keeping out the opposition, he added. The BNP leader said Awami League claiming sole agent of liberation war had hacked democracy by introducing one-party BAKSAL rule in 1975. Turning to the government recent decision of rationing gas in the industrial belt, former Power and Energy Minister Mosharraf said the declining trend of export will continue and industries face closure for want of adequate gas.
Krishak Dal acting president Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, also BNP senior joint secretary general, said the new generation is not aware how democracy was buried by Awami League by establishing one party BAKSAL rule.
Selima Rahman, Sham-suzzaman Dudu, Syed Moazzem Hossian Alal, Takdir Hossain Jasim Ruhul Amin Gazi and Abu Saleh were among others took part in the roundtable.

   Govt to review ongoing reform activities in power sector
BSS, Dhaka

The government is contemplating review in the policies relating to power generation and distribution system to bring greater efficiency in delivery system.
The authorities have alre-ady unbundled the system partly handing over the power generation and distribution to newly created public entities in distribution system (under government's control) and also to private sector power generation plants.
The review programme is aimed at infusing dynamism into power generation both in the public and private sector. "We are planning to review the adopted policies as many of those have been failing to fulfill our target," a top official of the power ministry told BSS.
He said the system within the framework of the Vision Statement, a set of specific programs and measures was taken not only to establish financial viability of the sector, but also restructure it to put it on a new and sound footing. "It was designed to respond effectively to the current demand for power and to maximize the long-term development potentials of the power sector in Bangladesh but desirable results could not be achieved as most of the entities was created without addressing the fundamental institutional deficiencies," the top official said.
Initially a vertically integrated utility named Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) was solely responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity throughout the country. Before the unbundling, the system loss of PDB was around 48 per cent and account receivable was 6 to 8 months. Now the system loss with the PDB is 20 per cent, DPDC 18 per cent, DESCO 9.2 per cent, REB 13 per cent, WZPDCO 16 per cent and North Zone's 29 Per cent respectively.
The overall account receivable of these agencies is around 3 to 5 months. At the fag end of the 90s, the money lending agencies at a meeting suggested the government to divide the PDB and form separate distribution and generation entities for better management. The government, however, started the unbundling in power sector through creating Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA) in 1990, following that it created DESCO (1998), WZPDCO, North Zone power Distri-bution Company.
In 1998, the government formulated the private sector power generation policy and unbundled the power generation through allowing the private players in generation.

    No village without primary school by 2011: Afsarul Amin
BSS, Manikganj

Minister for Primary and Mass Education Dr Afsarul Amin Thursday said there would be no village without a primary school and hundred percent children would be brought under education by 2011.
"The government will increase the stipend and introduce tiffin in the schools in special areas for checking students dropouts from primary schools" he said while speaking at a reception to the schools that achieved 100 percent pass record in the last primary stationary examination at Daulatpur Pilot Balika High School here.
The minister said the government would build a special type of schools for the children of river erosion-prone and haor areas.
The government is able to provide the students with books from Class-I to Class-IX free of coast, he said adding that the vacant positions of the teachers would be filled within two or three months. Later, the minister attended the inaugural ceremony of Amena Khatun Junior Girls High School as the chief guest.
Afsarul Amin also attended a public meeting in Daul-otpur upazila organized by local Awami League, where he said the entire nation is overwhelmed with joy today as it freed from the stigma through execution of the murder of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu.

    CIRDAP aims at halving poverty by 2015
UNB, Dhaka

The second ministerial meeting of CIRDAP Thurs-day adopted the Dhaka Declaration 2010 having agreed to ensure a pro-poor policy and resources to contribute towards achieving the goal of reducing hunger and poverty at least by half by 2015.
Newly elected CIRDAP chairman Syed Ashraful Islam, who is also the LGRD Minister, read out the second Dhaka declaration on rural development at a press briefing at a city hotel.
The three-day ministerial meeting of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) concluded today adopting the declaration.
Ministers, Deputy Mini-sters and high-profile representatives from the 14-member countries and 45 donor agencies took part in the ministerial meeting.
The second ministerial meeting of CIRDAP agreed on eight policy issues for contribution of the regional grouping towards promoting an integrated rural development policy in its member countries.
The meeting underscored the need for empowering the local government for effective administration of policies and programmes for rural development and poverty alleviation. It also called for intensive efforts to ensure the access of rural poor to resources by suitable policy reforms within the national legal provisions.
The CIRDAP member countries also agreed to make CIRDAP an effective regional platform for providing timely interventions and appropriate issues in rural development and poverty alleviation. In 1987, the first Bangladesh-CIRDAP Mini-sters' meeting on rural development in Asia-Pacific also adopted a Dhaka Declaration, which focused on economic growth with equity through people's participation as the basic element for the alleviation of rural poverty.

    2 JMB outfits to die for killing ex-RU professor
BSS, Rajshahi

A court here on Thursday sentenced two front-ranking leaders of Jama'atul Muja-hideen Bangladesh (JMB) for killing a professor of the Economics Department and registrar of Rajshahi University (RU).
The convicts were identified as Shahidullah Mahbub, son of Abdus Sattar of Sagard-anga under Naogaon district and husband of the executed JMB leader Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai's niece, and Shafiullah Tarek, son of Abdur Rahman Master of Itagachha under Satkhira district.
Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Monzurul Basit found the convicts guilty of the murder charges and pronounced the verdict in a crowded courtroom here this afternoon. The court also fined each of them Taka 5,000.
Six other accused in the case identified Abu Isa Enamul, Golamur Rahman Mostafa, Abul Kashem Tufan, Abdul Matin, Abdur Rahman Arif and Mujibur Rahman were acquitted as the charge brought against them could not be proved.
Prof Yunus, a senior most teacher of Economics Depart-ment and former registrar of Rajshahi University was murdered when he was on morning walk near his Binodpur residence on December 24, 2004.

Editorial

Getting rid of stigma

After long 34 years of the brutal killings of the Father of the Nation Bangabnadhu Sheikh Mujibur Rashman along with most of his family members, five of the 12 condemned convicts have been hanged after mid-night on January 27. The completion of the legal process took long 13 years. The justice has been delayed, but it has been ensured at long last and the nation has got rid of the stigma over the Bangabandhu murder.
Five of the 12 convicts on death row Lt Col (sacked) Syed Faruque Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed (Artillery), Maj (retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed (Lancer) and Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda were hanged inside the Dhaka central Jail after their review petitions were dismissed by the Supreme Court earlier in the day. Four of them except Shahriar Rashid Khan also prayed in vain for presidential clemency. One of the 12 convicts died while 6 others are on the run abroad.
The way for the execution of the death sentence on five detained convicts was finally paved as the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected their petitions for a review of its judgment. Earlier, the Appellate Division bench concluded the petition hearings Tuesday and set Wednesday for the crucial order. The Supreme Court on November 19, 2009 upheld the High Court verdict confirming death sentences of 12 accused in Bangabandhu murder case.
Bangbandhu was killed on August 15, 1975. On September 26, 1975 then President Khandokar Mustaque Ahmed promulgated Indemnity Ordinance to block the trial of killers. After 21 years following Awami League's return to power the Indemnity Ordiannce was repealed on November 12, 1996. A case was filed in 1996 and a trial court on November 8, 1998 sentenced 15 army personnel for the August 15 murders to death. The HC upheld the punishment of 12, and acquitted three. The appeals were filed by the five in Jail against the High Court verdict. The leave to appeal petition was granted on September 23, 2007. After two years, the hearing of the appeals began on October 5, 2009 and ended on November 12. On that day the five-member appellate bench of the Supreme Court set the date for delivering judgment on November 19.
Then came on schedule the Supreme Court's historic verdict in the historic case of the assassination of a historic personality, the founder of the independent Bangladesh. The carnage, the case, the trial and the judgement as well as the execution all will go down in history as unprecedented events to be remembered by the posterities for time immemorial. It may be pointed out that the trial of Bangabandhu murder case was held in a regular court under normal laws, and not in any special tribunal. So there is no scope for raising any question about the transparency and impartiality of the trial. The trial and the final verdict have proved the independence of judiciary and existence of rule of law in the country. The killing of Bangabandhu has been a stigma on the nation and the verdict and its execution have largely helped the nation get rid of it through the legal process.
Now, that the curtain has been drawn on a sensitive chapter of national history it can be said that the murderers have violently removed Bangabnadhu from power to the eternity of history only to find their places in the dustbin of history as criminals of worst type. It is unfortunate that the nation had to wait for long 34 years for the completion of trial and punishment of the killers of Bangabnadhu, but it is now a matter of relief that justice, though delayed, has finally been ensured. The execution of the killers of Bangabandhu has left a clear message that those who commit crimes like grisly killing can seldom escape punishment. The people of Bangladesh can now feel that despite their failure in saving the life of Bangabandhu, they have at least succeeded in awarding his killers capital punishment through process of law.

  Unemployed youths

The number of unemployed youths in the country is increasing rapidly. A grim picture of the state of youth unemployment has been revealed by State Minister for Youth and Sports Ahad Ali Sarker. said, currently, a total of 4. 25 crore youths are unemployed in the country.
The state of unemployment in the country is undoubtedly very alarming. One of the major problems of the country now is massive unemployment. Earlier estimate had said that 15 million, of the total 70 million workforce, remain unemployed posing a threat to the economy. Now, 4.25 crore youths are unemployed. This unfortunate situation has resulted from the lack of adequate employment opportunities at home and the country's failure to avail itself of the opportunity for securing their jobs abroad as most of them are unskilled. Worse still, the manpower market abroad has shrunk due to the global recession and job cut in different countries which used to import manpower. In the present day world, manpower is considered everywhere as precious national assets, but it is appalling that we are unable to utilise properly our human resources.
It goes without saying that the huge jobless people are passing days in dire hardship and contributing to the social instability. They are considered as a burden not on themselves and their families alone, but also on the nation which is deprived of their services. Adequate employment opportunities are not there for them to be engaged in works. To end this situation, massive employment generation in the country is a must.

Analysis

The road not taken

President Obama's Cairo speech marked an effort to defuse the cumulative anger in the Muslim world about past Western policy and seek an end to years of mistrust.

Dr Maleeha Lodhi

President Barack Obama's approach to terrorism is increasingly reminiscent of the policy of his predecessor, George W Bush. This is what was conveyed by his actions in the wake of the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a US airliner and the suicide bombing days later that killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration obviously needed to respond to a threat that is real and sustained. But the raft of security measures that were announced raised a fundamental question: had the Obama Administration relapsed into employing an old policy toolkit, rather than frame a different strategy to deal more comprehensively and effectively with the threat than had been the case in the eight years of the Bush administration?
The new security initiatives represented no break with the past approach. Plans were set in train to intensify US airport security by installing full-body scanners that will digitally undress passengers. Racial and religious profiling will be revived by instituting a list of 14 nations whose citizens will now be subjected to vigorous searches at American airports and full "pat downs" at airports worldwide of passengers flying to the US.
This response follows the well-worn path of taking "visible steps" each time there is an incident or terrorist attempt. Their aim is as much to allay public concerns as to enhance security. The debate in the Western media today swirls around how costly, effective, intrusive or disruptive these security procedures will turn out to be.
What is more disturbing is that these measure single out for extra screening people from what are designated as "countries of interest," including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria, as well as from nations listed as "state sponsors of terrorism" - Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Nearly all are Muslim countries and many ostensible "allies" of the United States.
This has set off a storm of protest in Pakistan and other countries over a move that will exacerbate tensions and provoke hostility from the very nations whose support Washington needs to fight terrorism. Declaring entire populations of a country potential suspects and stigmatising them will hardly win the US any hearts and minds. As an American attorney put it, citizens from these countries will "now wear a badge of presumptive guilt," thanks to requirements that breach human rights law.
The step runs counter to Obama's Cairo speech of June 2009 in which he promised to chart a new beginning with the Muslim world on the basis of "mutual respect." The discriminatory measures undermine this goal and risk strengthening the widespread perception in the Islamic world, fuelled by Bush's disastrous policies, that Muslims are the target of implacable Western hostility.
These measures also try to redeem defects in American intelligence by shifting the blame elsewhere. It was an intelligence failure that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab to almost blow up a Detroit-bound plane. Only the failure of the explosives to detonate averted a disaster. The new procedures expose weaknesses in American intelligence that is unable to pinpoint potential terrorists and separate them from the rest of the population of these 14 countries. But detection will still depend on good intelligence not "pat-downs" or profiling.
The US security establishment also misses the point when it defines the threat in terms of countries rather than by identifying the underlying causes and radicalising influences that lead to terrorism as well as create "sanctuaries" in people's minds. Increasingly, the threat is "located" in cyberspace from where activities are directed and support mobilised.
As the noted French scholar Olivier Roy recently wrote, "the threat comes not from some soil that can be invaded or occupied, but from within the globalised Web." Globalised young people who are being lured by Al-Qaeda's message are often radicalised "neither (in) Pakistan nor Yemen nor Afghanistan….These terrorists go there after being radicalised in the West or in a Western environment."
This underlines the need to understand the spread and complexity of radicalising influences and experiences - from Palestine and Iraq to Afghanistan - involving a new generation of violent extremists before embarking on a fresh phase of fighting terrorism. The Jordanian doctor who bombed the CIA outpost near Khost had apparently been radicalised by Gaza and Iraq.
What the US has yet to do - to fulfil the promise of Obama's Cairo speech - is to evolve a global strategy that also addresses the structural problems and conditions that contribute to radicalisation and enable extremist ideologies to lure followers from among the young. The sense of political injustice that pervades the Muslim world provides the oxygen to terrorists and wins adherents for their narrative. This can only be countered by an approach that deals with causes, and not just symptoms and challenges the narrative that extremists use to justify violence.
Counterterrorism cannot just be about the capture or elimination of terrorists. Unless there is a strategy to prevent others from following their path and to halt the flow of recruits from among angry, disaffected youth, terrorism cannot be successfully combated.
President Obama's Cairo speech marked an effort to defuse the cumulative anger in the Muslim world about past Western policy and seek an end to years of mistrust. But his foreign and security policies have not been consistent with these objectives.
That requires dealing with the issues that are close to Muslim hearts and minds and the most proximate cause for the spread of violent extremism: non-resolution of long festering disputes and conflicts in the Muslim world - from Palestine to Kashmir - foreign occupation, political injustice and socio-economic deprivation.
So far Obama's record has not advanced the goals of his Cairo speech. US disengagement from Iraq appears increasingly problematic. A strategy to escalate the war in Afghanistan has been put in place, but devoid of political content. Drone attacks in Pakistan have been ratcheted up. A faltering effort to restart the Middle East peace process to address Palestine has been pushed back by Israel. US-prompted air strikes are underway in Yemen. Washington is also being driven into taking a more aggressive stance towards Iran, which can mire the US in a wider confrontation in the Islamic world.
In many of the 14 countries that the US has placed on a virtual "black-list," traditional Islamic political movements are being outflanked in a sea of anti-Americanism by militant organisations with sympathy for Al Qaeda's narrative, even if they disagree with its methods. This is a disturbing trend which needs to be reversed, not reinforced by US actions.
Nothing illustrates this better than the American reliance on the drone-launched missile campaign to "take out" militant targets in Pakistan's tribal territory. This militarisation of counterterrorism de-emphasises and detracts from the need to engage in the ideological battle against Al Qaeda and its militant allies. If there is a steady stream of young men eager to replace those killed by drone strikes, is the campaign against the terrorists being won or lost?
For all the claims about the effectiveness of this remote control "no-risk covert war," the strategic costs of alienating and infuriating the overwhelming majority of the public far outweigh the presumed tactical gains. To ignore the ramifications of a rising political backlash is to be locked in denial.
The question Washington needs to ask is whether its anti-terrorism efforts can succeed in an environment of intense and growing anti-American sentiment. The only way to reverse this trend is to move decisively to resolve disputes, heal conflicts and engage with the grievances in the Muslim world that are leveraged by the extremists. Until strategies are fashioned to deal with the unjust situations in which Muslims find themselves as victims, the danger of radicalisation will increase.
As the US seeks ways to enhance homeland security, it needs to recognise that without a longer-term, comprehensive strategy that has political, economic and ideological components, it will only be preparing for the last terrorist attempt while new threats continue to be spawned.

The writer is a former envoy of
Pakistan to the US and the UK, and a former editor of The News.

  Uncle Sam in Subcontinent

In Delhi, in his characteristic understated tone, the US Defence Secretary delivered a bombshell, warning of an Al Qaeda plot to spark a new war between India and Pakistan.

Aijaz Zaka Syed

Back home in subcontinent, they say you should stay away from the cops as much as possible. Their friendship and animosity are both injurious to your health.
America often reminds me of those cops back home. Its friendly hug and angry adversity are equally deadly. It ends up inventing new problems for its friends and allies, even as it ostensibly tries to resolve the existing ones.
What do you make of Robert Gates' shenanigans in the subcontinent? As if India and Pakistan do not have enough of their issues and problems, Americans are now poking their nose into the subcontinent affairs.
In Delhi, in his characteristic understated tone, the US Defence Secretary delivered a bombshell, warning of an Al Qaeda plot to spark a new war between India and Pakistan. An alliance of Al Qaeda and Taleban working with groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba that claim to champion an independent Kashmir! It seems our worst nightmare has just come true.
Praising India's restrained response to the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, suspected to be carried out by Lashkar, the Pentagon chief warned: "I think it's not unreasonable to assume India's patience would be limited were there to be further attacks."
Of course, given the recent history of the region, it's not possible to dismiss the defence secretary's warning lightly. The threat to the subcontinent's peace and stability has never been greater. And who is more qualified to comment on the issue than Mr Gates? No one else in the Obama administration has been mired in the Af-Pak quagmire as long as Gates has been - for more than quarter of a century.
After all, as the CIA's No. 2, Gates had been the pointman for the US during the 1980s in channeling financial and military aid to the US allies at the time: Afghan mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation. Lest we forget many of those US allies or mujahideen leaders are today part of Taleban and Al Qaeda leadership, including a certain sheikh called Osama bin Laden.
So Gates obviously knows what he is talking about when he warns of a gathering Al Qaeda storm over South Asia. And given his understanding of the region, the Pentagon boss should also know that if Al Qaeda has joined hands with Af-Pak Taleban and pro-Kashmir groups based in Pakistan, the credit goes to the US policies in the region. Let's face it. This is just another unintended consequence of America's morally bankrupt and politically disastrous policies and wars in the Islamic world.
I agree with Secretary Gates when he urges India and Pakistan to "recognise the magnitude of the threat that the entire region faces." This is a serious threat. And as an Indian who loves his country and desperately wants lasting peace and normal relations, if not thick friendship, between India and Pakistan, the US warning is deeply disturbing.
This is especially disturbing to me as an Indian Muslim. Because we go through hell every time there are tensions between India and Pakistan. Imagine our plight when there are attacks on India, ostensibly carried out by some lunatics based in Pakistan.
I know, as many of my fellow Indian Muslims would say, this has nothing to do with us and we do not have to be apologetic for terror attacks on India originating in Pakistan. But this isn't how things work in the real world out there. Our friends in Pakistan do not seem to have a clue how much we suffer for the actions of a lunatic fringe across the border. Recently, barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the hero and leading light of Pakistan's celebrated lawyers' movement, stunned many in India by claiming at a peace conference in Delhi that "at least 40, 50, 60 locals" had helped a handful of Pakistanis execute the ?Mumbai attacks.
When some angry Indian Muslims confronted Ahsan, he wriggled himself out by saying he was merely toeing the official Pakistani line of diverting Indian attention back to the so-called Muslim factor in India. I don't know what is 'official Pakistani line' on Indian Muslims but I must tell our friends across the border that we have already suffered enough on account of Pakistan.
As Indian journalist Seema Mustafa poignantly wrote in a recent piece: "Indian Muslim is a direct victim of terrorism in that he has been made to pay a heavy price for the terror attacks in India. He has been arrested, interrogated, tortured at will by the police with the help and support of the ruling governments in the states and the centre. He has been made to respond to "Pakistan-sponsored terrorism," as if he is responsible for the violence. He finds new suspicion and distrust in the eyes of those around him, and is made to feel guilty for terrorism he barely understands and definitely does not support."
I am absolutely on the dot with Seema Mustafa on this. Pakistan would do Indian Muslims a huge favour by not involving us in its mess. We have enough of our own problems, thank you very much! Returning to the US warning and the combined threat of Al Qaeda and other terror groups, the issue cannot be seen in isolation of the US policies in the region, especially its dual standards in the Middle East.
If Afghanistan and Pakistan are burning today, you do not have to look far for the answers. Yet another OBL tape this week reminded all of us once again about the origins and causes of this long festering conflict. But the more things change for the self-styled coalition of the willing, the more they remain the same. As if the unravelling of one nuclear state was not enough, Americans are now looking to drag India into this widening, deepening mess. With Kashmir continuing to simmer, its growing strategic ties with the US and Israel and its increasing role in Afghanistan, India may already be an inviting target for the Al Qaeda-Lashkar-Taleban combine although you can't treat them as a ?single behemoth.
The consequences of India unravelling, just as Pakistan has been unravelling, are too horrific to imagine. Remember this is the world's largest democracy and a nation of 1.3 billion people. It has a myriad problems of its own but it has largely remained an oasis of peace and stability in a troubled neighbourhood, largely thanks to its pluralistic society and the strength of its democratic institutions.
The US war in Afghanistan already has Pakistan in a dangerous, existential turmoil. And now it is threatening India, the region's biggest economy and a pillar of strength in an unstable region. If India gets involved in this mess, the whole region will unravel.
India and Pakistan can prevent this by joining hands and taking on the shared challenges they face in extremism, extreme poverty and backwardness. They must start talking with each other at the earliest. Because when they do not talk to each other, the extremists speak on their behalf and big boys of this world get a perfect excuse to exploit the situation.
If the US wants to really help India and Pakistan - incidentally both its allies now - it should help them bridge their gulf and help them take on the hurdles they face on the road to peace and progress. But that may be too much to ask of the Americans who have been the biggest beneficiary of India-Pakistan tensions. The South Asian neighbours are amongst the biggest buyers of the US made weapons.
During Gates' visit to Pakistan this week (after India) he was confronted by a senior official at the National Defence University in Islamabad: "Are you with us or against us?" To which a shaken Gates retorted: "Of course we're with you." When it comes to strategic interests though, Americans are on nobody's side. The only thing that matters is their national interest.

Aijaz Zaka Syed is Opinion Editor of Khaleej Times. Write to him at aijaz@khaleejtimes.com

Viewpoints

Divisions over Afghanistan

Ahead of today’s critical London conference, confidence in American leadership on Afghanistan is not what it might be at this crucial juncture.

Simon Tisdall

Karl Eikenberry's leaked cables raise fundamental questions and do nothing to bolster confidence in US leadership. It's just possible that Eikenberry, the US ambassador in Kabul who opposed US President Barack Obama's Afghan troop surge, suddenly realised the error of his ways. Perhaps he woke up on December 1, just as the president was about to unveil his plan for 30,000 US reinforcements, and thought: "Silly me! I've been barking up the wrong tree all along! Stan McChrystal is totally right. I take back everything I said."
It's also possible, and more plausible, that Eikenberry was told to pipe down or decided to toe the line once last year's administration policy debate was over and Obama had made his decision. The envoy has since told Congress his concerns have been addressed.
Eikenberry's distancing of himself from his previously strongly held views, either out of loyalty to Obama or for fear of losing his job, does not mean those views are invalid or irrelevant, then or now. Two diplomatic cables authored by Eikenberry last November and published in full recently for the first time raise fundamental questions about US and Nato strategy that remain germane, disquieting, and largely unresolved.
The decision by an unnamed "American official" to leak the cables to the New York Times ahead of today's critical London conference on Afghanistan also suggests that policy disagreements within the US government, involving the White House, the state department, and the Pentagon's civilian and military leadership, are still simmering away.
Somebody on the inside in Washington (where the report originated) is playing politics with the war, and it's not just the Republicans. That's a disturbing message for America's allies and regional leaders as they gather in London for one last, big effort to jointly force a way through the Afghan morass. And it is one more piece of evidence that confidence in American leadership on Afghanistan, meaning Obama's leadership, both at home and abroad, is not what it might be at this crucial juncture.
Eikenberry that is to say, the former, unreconstructed Eikenberry says, in short, that McChrystal's much trumpeted counter-insurgency strategy is so much baloney and won't work. Sending additional forces will only increase the Afghan government's dependency syndrome and plunge the US further into a quagmire, he argues.
Echoing regional analysts who also question where the US and Nato are heading, Eikenberry wonders aloud whether it would be better to concentrate instead on bolstering Pakistan, strategically more important, vastly more populous, and potentially much more dangerous. There is a risk, he concludes, "that we will become more deeply engaged here [Afghanistan] with no way to extricate ourselves short of allowing the country to descend again into lawlessness and chaos".
Whew! as diplomats say. Maybe it's not surprising the ambassador was told, or volunteered, to button his lip. For his cables precisely articulate the worries that are currently inducing leading Nato combat troop contributors such as Canada and the Netherlands to pull out. Here, laid out in black and white, are troublesome issues that to this day persuade France to hold back and convince a reluctant and affronted Germany that its troops must stick to non-combat roles.
Mark the beginning
Officials now insist the summer of 2011 will not mark the beginning of a "withdrawal". Their preferred word, as the stabilising Western role "evolves" towards training and support, is "drawdown". But whatever the language used, and however it is phrased, surely the watching Taliban and assorted foreign extremists know its true meaning and can smell the fear.
It's plain the Western alliance, for all its vaunted might, is unsure of its footing. Like the grand old duke of York, it is uncertain whether to go forward or back, it is neither up nor down. It is scared it may stumble; it dreads defeat; and it would really rather not be there at all. London is an attempt to steady the nerves. But there's no hiding the fact: just when it is most needed, confidence in America's leadership is fading.

  Looking Beyond Minarets

In Britain, for example, police concerns about and action against violent extremism among South Asians ?poison ongoing efforts to ensure a better integration of Muslims.

Shada Islam 

Switzerland's vote to ban the building of new minarets exposes a damaging fissure in Europe. It has provoked outrage among Muslims and applause from Europe's increasingly popular anti-Muslim politicians.
As such, it appears to deepen the divide between Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans. However, although predictable, the reactions are misleading: for all the furore over minarets, European Muslims today are focused less on religious symbols and more on securing recognition as full-fledged European citizens. The brouhaha over the minarets also comes as a new reminder that while European politicians may win votes in some places by ranting against Islam, prosperity, stability, security and social peace across the continent depends on the successful integration of Europe's Muslim citizens.
The overarching challenge for European governments is to shift the focus from bans and restrictions on Islam and Muslims and instead try to forge a cohesive and inclusive society where all citizens - including the continent's Muslims - feel at home. Building belonging, accommodation and acceptance, however, remain much too low on the agenda of most European ?Union governments.
European leaders have for long preferred to refer to Muslims as "foreigners" and immigrants rather than as citizens who can be Muslim and European at the same time. On the other hand, European Muslims have long lived outside the mainstream, demanding special privileges and treatment, rather than focusing on concerns such as jobs and education which they share with the larger society.
Most of Europe's 20 million Muslims came to the continent from South Asia, Turkey and North Africa in the 1960s and 1970s to work in the steel and textile factories, coal mines and, as Europe grew increasingly prosperous, the expanding services sector. The much sought after immigrants were, however, expected to go home once their contracts expired.
Many countries like Germany did little to try to integrate their "guest workers" and excluded them from any right to acquire full citizenship and nationality. As Europe's economies slowed, formal immigration was stopped although most countries did allow ?family reunions.
In theory, most European policymakers today recognise the importance of implementing successful pro-integration, anti-racist and anti-discrimination policies. In practice, however, the EU's focus on European Muslims is coloured by security and counter-terrorism concerns. EU anti-discrimination policies get lost in the maze of measures being enforced by states across the continent to combat radicalisation, especially of young men of Muslim descent.
In Britain, for example, police concerns about and action against violent extremism among South Asians ?poison ongoing efforts to ensure a better integration of Muslims.
In addition, although Europeans are increasingly secular, it is difficult to overlook many Europeans' deep, historical prejudice against Islam, with Muslims viewed as "the other", echoing once blatant prejudice against ?Jewish communities.
Many still cling to an out-dated notion of Europe as a continent anchored in Christianity, with Muslims as permanent outsiders and Islam and Europe as fundamentally incompatible.
The acrimonious debate over admitting Turkey to the Union now seems to be accelerating Islam and Europe toward a damaging collision course. Switzerland's anti-minaret move comes on top of French efforts to ban the burqa, the all-enveloping veil worn by an extremely small minority of ?Muslim women.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy - who like German Chancellor Angela Merkel opposes Turkish entry into the EU - has initiated a nationwide discussion over what it means to be French, a move that many see as creating more walls between French Muslims and their fellow citizens.
In the Netherlands, fiery far-right politicians like Geert Wilders woo voters by denouncing Islam as a fascist ideology while elections to the European Parliament this summer led to the election of two members of the xenophobic British National Party.
Other politicians, who routinely link Islam to terrorism, warn that Muslims and immigrants are stealing jobs from Europeans and sponging off the continent's social welfare systems. Racism is also a factor.
Meanwhile demands by some Muslims for special privileges such as segregation by gender at public swimming pools and hospitals and the practice of tribal customs, including polygamy, genital mutilation, forced marriages and honour killings, prompt concerns that Muslims do not share European values. A minority of young Muslims are indeed falling prey to radical ideologies. Europe's diverse Muslim communities and their leaders often pay too much attention to demanding their rights and not enough on fulfilling their obligations as European citizens. Such attitudes encourage the view propagated by some US analysts and, Europe's far right politicians that Muslims are determined to transform a once-tolerant continent into what has been termed Eurabia, a land where the Sharia will reign supreme, adulterers will be stoned and thieves will have their hands cut off.
Europe, according to this vision, is morphing slowly but surely, into the ultimate battleground for a clash of civilizations. The reality is more complex. While the radical actions of some Muslims make headlines and provide fodder for Europe's far right, Muslims represent a mere three percent of the population of the continent, hardly the numbers to ensure a Muslim take-over of Europe.
True, a minority of Muslims may live on the radical fringes of society but a large majority accepts European norms and lives successful and integrated lives, belying the stereotype of European Muslims as obsessed with their religion, unable and unwilling to integrate into mainstream society.
New studies on Muslims in Europe by organisations such as the Open Society Institute paint a picture of communities of European Muslims living comfortably and in peace with their non-Muslim neighbours. The OSI and the British Council are working on projects which focus on living in a "shared Europe" where conflict and confrontation between different religious communities in not inevitable, provided governments implement ?correct policies.
Addressing Europe's unease about accepting multiple identities, a recent Gallup poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Muslims in France and Germany said they were loyal to their country and saw no contradiction between being French/German and Muslim. In Britain, a 2007 Gallup study found that despite Muslims' strong identification with their religion, a majority condemned terrorist attacks on civilians and did not want to live in segregated communities.
Also, most European governments are finally waking up to the challenge. Across the continent, efforts are being made to change school curricula to reflect Europe's multicultural landscape while state authorities are encouraging the recruitment of ethnic minorities into the police force, health services and government offices. They are also working to promote the setting up of businesses by Muslims and other ?minority groups.
Meanwhile European business leaders, worried about shortages of skilled and unskilled workers, are pressing governments to open their doors to new migrants and are stepping up the search for workers in Europe's ?migrant communities.
Such efforts have to be sustained. The onus is on European leaders and policy makers to marginalise the far right's discourse of hate and anger. But European Muslims must also work equally determinedly to counter extremist and radical ideologies in their midst. If Europe is to prosper and grow, European policymakers must recognize urgently and publicly that Europe is now a multicultural society whose members are willing to celebrate diversity rather than fear it.

Shada Islam is a senior programme executive at the European Policy Centre in Brussels. She writes in her personal capacity for the Yale Center for the Study of Globalisation.

  Rising unrest threatens Philippine polls

Nearly 90 people were killed in politically motivated killings across the country last year, even before the start of the 120-day election
period that began early this month.

Manny Mogato

Spiraling political violence and the introduction of a new voting system have raised the risk that national polls in the Philippines in May produce the outcome markets fear most of all - a failed election that nobody wins.
Asset prices in the Philippines are generally very resilient to violence and lawlessness, particularly in the restive southern islands. And investors have long become accustomed to the "guns, goons and gold" culture of elections in the archipelago.
But even markets that generally take unrest and insurgency in stride would be unsettled by one particularly dangerous scenario, in which the elections do not give any candidate a credible mandate. That could lead to months of uncertainty and further delay overdue efforts to reduce the fiscal deficit.
The risk of this scenario becoming a reality remains relatively low. But with political killings running at an unprecedented level, and doubts surrounding the implementation of automated voting, it cannot be ruled out. And the uncertainty is likely to act as a drag on markets in the months ahead. "The constraint we face is that even if we see risk aversion offshore dissipate, the election risk premium may curtail any bullish (sentiment) or optimism in the local market," said Jun Trinidad, economist at Citigroup in Manila.
Nearly 90 people were killed in politically motivated killings across the country last year, even before the start of the 120-day election period that began early this month. The death toll was well above the single-digit level of killings that preceded the election period in previous polls. Some fear that the new system of automated vote counting, aimed at preventing fraud, could stoke increased violence.
"The automation process has changed the rules of the game and politicians who fear they could no longer manipulate poll results are more tempted to eliminate each other," said Benito Lim, political science professor at Ateneo de Manila University. Some politicians may also use intimidation to scare voters on election day, resulting in low turnout, he said.
A high-level of violence will not, by itself, be a major shock for markets - they are used to it. The average death toll for the four-month election period every three years in the Philippines is around 100, government records show.
But if unrest reaches a level that threatens the legitimacy of the election, or if automated vote tallying proves problematic, it would be a different story.
THAT would impose a much higher risk discount on Philippine asset prices, analysts say. Investors would shun long-term debt papers and shift to short-term holdings or sell altogether and the credit default swap spread would widen.
Antonio Herbosa, managing director at the Center for Global Best Practices, a financial advisory firm, said if the elections failed, the stock market's main index could tumble below 2,600 points to the lowest levels since July 2009. The index is currently trading around 2,940 points. The peso, which has been strengthening against the dollar in line with other risky but bullish Asian currencies, would also take a hit, analysts say.
If an election failure was solely due to technical problems, the impact on markets would be limited, Herbosa said. "It would be totally a different story if the failure is in the context of the incumbent perceived to be wanting to stay in power," he said. Concerns that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo might try to hang on to power beyond the constitutional limits of her term have unsettled markets at times over the past year. Most analysts believe it highly unlikely that she would seek to exploit any problem with the elections to remain in office, however.
ARROYA says she shares concerns that the May 10 polls could face problems. Asked by a group of foreign correspondents over dinner at the presidential palace last week if she was worried about the possible failure of the polls, she replied: "Yes." "It's something that has never been tested," Arroyo said of the computerized tally. But she added: "It might fail in some areas, but not in a national scale." Manila has yet to launch a comprehensive and effective educational campaign on the new system, with thousands of uneducated voters expected to be disenfranchised. That increases the risk of violence on and after election day on May 10.
Security officials say more than a third of the country's 1,600 cities and towns are prone to election violence due to the presence of Maoist-led and separatist rebels, militants, and armed groups of political warlords.
The Philippines is perceived by investors and multilateral financial institutions to have done little to impose the rule of law, especially in rural areas, where private armies dominate.
That contributes to an image of uncertainty and insecurity for investors that hurts the long-term economic prospects of the country. The World Bank's World Governance Indicators, widely watched by investors, have recorded a sharp drop in the image of the Philippines over the past decade. The Rule of Law indicator has dropped from 52.9 in 1998 to 39.7 in 2008. Indicators are on a scale of 1 to 100, and the lower the number, the less the rule of law is upheld.
The decline in the Rule of Law rating for the Philippines puts it below Malaysia at 64.6, Thailand at 54.1, and even Vietnam at 41.6.
Among major regional competitors only Indonesia fares worse at 28.7, but the Indonesian rating has been rising steadily as the rating for the Philippines falls.
To address poll-related violence caused by private armies under the control of political warlords, Arroyo has mobilized the army and police to dismantle about 170 armed groups. She imposed martial law for more than a week in December on the lawless southern province of Maguindanao to dismantle the 2,000-member civilian militia force of her political ally, the Ampatuan clan, who helped her win the 2004 presidential polls.
Some members of the clan face charges for the November murder of 57 people, including 30 journalists, who were attacked on their way to witness the filing of nomination papers in what was the country's worst poll-related crime.
Arroyo also ordered authorities to collect more than 1 million unregistered small arms nationwide, about a third of them in the troubled southern island of Mindanao. But no administration since the Philippine independence in 1946 had succeeded in dismantling private armies and in collecting loose firearms in the hands of civilians, and skeptics doubt Arroyo will succeed in her campaign. "The level of violence and political killings in this country is just horrendously unacceptable," said Peter Wallace, head of Wallace Business Forum consultancy.

International

US wants India to be transparent with Pakistan about its Afghan role

APP, Washington

U.S. Defense Secretary discussed the need for New Delhi to be transparent with Pakistan about Indian activities in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Wednesday. A Defense Department spokesman also discounted Indian security training role in Afghanistan."We did Afghanistan with the government in Delhi and discussed the need for the Indian government to be as transparent as they can be with the Pakistani government about their activities in Afghanistan," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday.Morrell was echoing Defense Secretary's remarks on the issue during his visit to New Delhi last week.
Responding to a question about role for India in Afghanistan, where the international forces are fighting Taliban insurgency, Morrell observed there is no consideration underway currently for India's security-related role in Afghanistan.
"They (Indians) clearly have contributed much in the monetary sense, financial support to the governemnt in Afghanistan and that is greatly appreciated by us, by the Afghans and, I think, by the international community. But beyond that, I think, you saw him (Gates) speak to this talk of perhaps the Indians providing training to Afghan forces. And that is not something that we, that I think, anybody is pursuing at this point," he said at a briefing.
In a press interaction in New Delhi, Defense Secretary Gates said India and Pakistan had deep suspicious about each other in terms of activities in Afghanistan and there needed to be full transparency.
He appeared to In a press conference in New Delhi, Gates cited deep suspicions between India and Pakistan about each other with regard to Afghanistan and called for "full transparency." His remarks also appeared to discount the notion that India contribute troops to serve in Afghanistan.

  British Parliamentarians endorse call for Kashmir Conference

APP, London

A number of British Parliamentarians have endorsed the suggestions of former Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry to hold a moot on Kashmir similar to Afghanistan Conference for bringing peace and stability in South Asia.
The parliamentarians were taking part in a discussion organised by the Chair of All Parties Parliamentary Group on Kashmir Lord Nazir Ahmed at the House of Lords on Wednes-day. Speaking on the occasion, Barrister Chaudhry apprised the British members of Parliament of the current situation prevailing in the Indian held Kashmir and said there could be no region in the region without first resolving the Kashmir issue.
He remarked that the road to stability and peace in Afghanistan lay via Kashmir and it was important for the world community to realise the gravity of the situation in the valley where the human rights of the people of Kashmir continues to be violated with impunity.
He also spoke of the threat by the Indian Army chief of waging war simultaneously with Pakistan and China and said the world must take notice of his bellicosity.
"Any small incident on the Indo-Pakistan border or the Line of Control could trigger a nuclear war as both the countries are nuclear powers," he said.
The former premier of Azad Kashmir called for intra Kashmir dialogue to be followed by an international conference on the disputed Himalayan State for resolving the issue that has been hanging fire for the past 62 years between Pakistan and India.
Barrister Chaudhry pointed out that US President Barack Obama on the occasion of his election had spoken of the importance of resolving the Kashmir dispute and had suggested appointing former President Bill Clinton as his special envoy on Kashmir.
"It was unfortunate that due to strong pressure exerted by the Indian lobby, Obama could not appoint anyone as his representative on Kashmir," he said.
Furthermore, Barrister Chaudhry who is the head of the People's Muslim League, said even though Richard Holbrooke has been made special envoy for Pakistan and Afgha-nistan but his writ does not extend to Kashmir.

  N Korea fires artillery near disputed sea border
BBC Online

North Korea has fired artillery near its disputed maritime border with South Korea, a day after the two exchanged shots in the same area, reports say.
The North fired several rounds of artillery toward the border early on Thursday, Yonhap news agency reported.
According to an unnamed official quoted by the Associated Press, the shells landed in North Korean waters.
The South had not responded, the official said. On Wednesday, it called the North's firing "provocative".
But the North said the firing had been part of an annual military drill which would continue.
The second incident in as many days comes after the North designated two no-sail zones in the area, including some South Korean waters, until 29 March.
On Wednesday, the North's initial artillery rounds landed north of the sea border, while Seoul's forces fired at the rounds while they were in the air, the AFP news agency reports.
'Crude diplomacy'
The BBC's John Sudworth, in Seoul, says the incidents are being seen as a crude piece of military diplomacy rather than a direct threat, another example of the North's strategy of escalating tension to strengthen its negotiating hand. The western sea border is a constant source of military tension between the two Koreas. There have been three deadly exchanges between the two Koreas along the sea border in the past decade.
In the most recent incident, last November, their navies fought a brief gun battle that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded.
South Korea recognises the Northern Limit Line, drawn unilaterally to by the US-led United Nations Command to demarcate the seas border at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The line has never been accepted by North Korea.
Relations between the two Koreas have fluctuated in recent months. Talks about their jointly-run Kaesong industrial estate closed without agreement on 21 January. The attempt at dialogue took place amid fresh tensions apparently provoked by a South Korean think tank's analysis of a likely military coup or mass uprising in the North when the North's leader Kim Jong-il dies.

  London talks target Afghan management, money and men
Internet

Afghanistan can only enjoy peace and prosperity if world powers help build up its army and economy and pay militants to desert the Taliban-led insurgency, world leaders said Thursday. But in return, the Afghan government will have to take drastic steps to root out corruption and improve the lives of the population, opening speakers at a major conference in London said.
"Security in Afghanistan needs a broader, more comprehensive approach to security in the region and the causes that give rise to insecurity," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.
Success will only come from combining "the needed protection, justice, employment and good governance," Karzai said.
For eight years, Western forces led by NATO under United Nations mandate have been battling Taliban-led militants in Afghanistan, in an aim to stamp out Islamist terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.
"The increase in our military efforts must be matched by economic and political efforts," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who hosted the London talks. "There will be more tough times ahead," Brown said, stressing that the military surge was nevertheless "turning the tide."
That campaign should include an appeal to lower-ranking militant fighters to desert the insurgency, alliance leaders agree.
"We must reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers who are not part of al-Qaeda or other terrorist networks," Karzai said.

  Petraeus sees deal in SW
Dawn Online, Washington

Pakistan may now be able to reach a deal in South Waziristan that allows traditional tribal elements to return to the area, says US Central Command chief Gen David Petraeus.
Speaking at the Institute for the Study of War, Washington, Gen Petraeus also noted that the Pakistani military had caused considerable setback to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan forcing them to withdraw some from some of their key strongholds.
"They may be able to reach a deal that allows the traditional tribal elements to return to that area," he said. But the deal will not include those who were part of the extremist forces involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, blowing up the Marriott Hotel, attack on a visiting cricket team and killing of innumerable innocent Pakistani civilians, he added. Dr Kim Kagan, the founding director of the war institute, however, asked the general if he would define the Pakistani military operations as defeating the TTP? Gen Petraeus said he was not sure if the operations could be defined as defeating the TTP or other extremist elements in Pakistan "but they have certainly set them back very considerably". The Pakistani military, he noted, had cleared and held the Swat valley, Swat district and the Malakand division.
They had also conducted important operations in Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber; and about three or four months ago launched an important operation in South Waziristan, he added. This was the area previously controlled by Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed last year, and his extremist followers, the general said.

  Myanmar's Suu Kyi rejects minister's release comment
AFP, Yangon

Myanmar's detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday described as "unfair" a minister's comment that she would be released in November as it pre-empted a court decision, her lawyer said.
Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo reportedly told a meeting of local officials in central Myanmar last week that the release of the 64-year-old, who has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years, would come in November.
Suu Kyi "said the home affairs minister's comment was totally unfair," her lawyer, Nyan Win, told AFP after meeting her on Thursday.
A decision is expected from Myanmar's top court within three weeks on an appeal against her conviction last August. The conviction related to an incident in which a US man swam to her house and she was sentenced to another 18 months under house arrest.
"She said the case has not reached the end yet. She said the court has the right to make its own decision. Saying this is hurting the court decision," Nyan Win said. "She also said this comment is legally not correct." The extension of Suu Kyi's detention sparked an international furore as it keeps her out of elections promised by the regime some time this year.
After learning of the minister's comments, her National League for Democracy (NLD) party initially said a November release would be "no strange thing" as that is when her sentence will be completed.

  Ozawa receives another bullet, suspected bullet sent to Japanese PM

Xinhua, Tokyo

Another bullet along with a threatening letter was sent to the Democratic Party of Japan Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa's office in the Diet building on Thursday, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
The office of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also received a package sent on the same day and addressed to the Japanese premier containing a bullet-like object and investigators are trying to deduce the exact nature of the object, according to the police.
On Tuesday a bullet was sent to the Tokyo residence of Ozawa in an envelope with a letter demanding that he resign, police said. Ozawa's personal secretary found the envelope in Ozawa's postbox at around 5:30 p.m. and reported his finding to the police.
Since last month, envelopes containing bullets and letters criticizing and threatening Ozawa have also been sent to Ozawa's office, the DPJ headquarters and the TV Asahi Corporation's head office.

 Pakistan deplores Israel’s ‘aggressive action’ in East Jerusalam

APP, United Nation

Voicing deep concern over Israel's "provocative and aggressive" actions in occupied East Jerusalem", Pakistan reaffirmed full support for an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
"The consequences of our collective failure in the Middle East are disastrous for the region and beyond. What adds to the pessimism is the continuing grave situation on the ground in terms of humanitarian plight of the Palestinian people," Pakistan's Acting Permanent Representative Raza Bashir Tarar told the UN Security Council.
"Amidst this human tragedy, the ongoing provocative and aggressive actions of Israel in East Jerusalem have compounded the plight of Palestinian people and made a political settlement all the more difficult," he said during a discussion of the Middle East question.
There was recognition of the fact that a just settlement of the Palestinian question was central to end the cycle of suspicion and discord that had undermined peace and security in the Middle East, as well as strained relations between neighbours in the region, he noted. The question was how to convert that growing international consensus into credible action that would bring to fruition the search for peace.
An immediate end to the illegal practices affecting the Palestinians' human rights was the most important prerequisite to creating an environment of trust and confidence, the Pakistani representative said.That, coupled with the international community's active engagement, was the only way forward toward peace and a two-state solution in line with relevant Council resolutions.
Returning to the negotiating table was the only option, Tarar said.
Efforts to create facts on the ground that prejudiced the outcome of negotiations were not recognized, or acceptable to the international community.It was necessary to learn from past half-hearted attempts and aborted peace processes.
The Pakistani representative said greater political will was needed to bring the parties together to a sustained negotiation process, in good faith and without preconditions, to achieve a comprehensive agreement in a reasonable timeframe.

  Iran faces consequences over nuclear program - Obama
Reuters, Washington

President Barack Obama said his focus on nuclear disarmament had strengthened U.S. diplomacy in dealing with North Korea and Iran, and he warned Tehran faced "growing consequences" over its nuclear program.
In his State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, Obama touched on some of the thorniest foreign policy issues he has faced in the past year, including his effort to develop a new approach toward Iran and North Korea as they expand their nuclear programs.
Obama, whose new initiative to curb nuclear weapons helped earn him the Nobel Peace Prize, said he was working with Russia to complete a major nuclear arms reduction treaty.
The two sides failed to reach an agreement on a replacement for the strategic arms reduction treaty, START, before it expired in early December. But they agreed to extend the protections of the treaty as they continue negotiations, which are due to resume on Monday in Geneva.
"To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades," Obama told Congress.
"And at April's Nuclear Security Summit, we will bring 44 nations together behind a clear goal: securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists."
INTERNATIONAL APPROACH
Obama said his focus on an international approach to reducing nuclear arms and preventing proliferation had "strengthened our hand in dealing with those nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of these weapons."
He referred specifically to North Korea and Iran, which says its uranium enrichment program is aimed at developing nuclear energy and not atomic weapons.
The focus on nuclear arms control "is why North Korea now faces increased isolation and stronger sanctions-sanctions that are being vigorously enforced," Obama said. "That is why the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated," he said.

  UK's Blair faces ‘pivotal day’ at Iraq War inquiry
Reuters, London

Former British prime minister Tony Blair makes a much-anticipated appearance before an inquiry into the Iraq War on Friday, his personal reputation as well as that of the Labour government at stake.
The decision to send 45,000 British troops to invade Iraq in 2003 was the most controversial of Blair's 10-year premiership, provoking huge protests, divisions within his Labour Party and accusations he had deceived the public over his reasons for war.
Seven years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and almost three years after Blair handed over to Gordon Brown, the issue still provokes anger.
Families of some of the 179 soldiers killed in Iraq will join an anti-war demonstration outside the building calling for Blair to be considered a war criminal. Some Labour leaders fear the inquiry, and especially Blair's appearance, will reignite strong feelings on the issue among voters, denting support for a party already trailing the Conservatives in polls in the run-up to an election due by June.
"It's a pivotal day for him, for the British public and for Britain's moral authority in the world," said Anthony Seldon, a political commentator and biographer of Blair.
"This is an enormous day and it goes way beyond him and his own reputation."
The inquiry is likely to focus on the public justification the government gave for war, notably the "dodgy dossier" of September 2002.

  Syria jails two for fomenting unrest in Iraq
AFP, Nicosia

Damascus has jailed two Syrians convicted of seeking to foment unrest in Iraq for nine and seven years, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.
"The state security court on January 26 sentenced two Syrians, Abbas Yusif and Maher Yusif, to nine and seven years in prison, for attempting to cause trouble in Iraq," SOHR said in a statement.
According to the newspaper Al-Iraqi, the condemned men were arrested "while trying to supply bombs to an armed group" in the war-torn country. The Iraqi paper did not give the group's name, while the decision by the court in Damascus went unreported in the official Syrian media.
The Syrian advocacy group said the court also "interrogated Mustafa Ibrahim Qadhi, an Algerian, who had gone to fight in Iraq for Al-Qaeda and was then sent to Syria to liaise with groups there wishing to fight in Iraq," adding that a new hearing has been scheduled for Sunday.
Damascus, which has been accused by Washington and Baghdad of facilitating the flow of Arab combatants into Iraq, has strengthened security along its porous borders in recent years and claims to have arrested hundreds of alleged insurgents.

  Human Rights Watch rejects Hamas’ claims on rockets
BBC Online

Human Rights Watch has rejected claims by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that it did not target civilians during the war in Gaza a year ago.
Hamas said that the hundreds of missiles launched at Israel during an offensive on the Gaza Strip were targeted at the Israeli military.
But Human Rights Watch said the claim Hamas rockets only accidentally harmed civilians was "belied by the facts".
A UN-backed report accused both Hamas and Israel of committing war crimes.
Israel launched a 22-day offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008, bombing Palestinian cities before sending in ground troops.
Hamas launched its highly inaccurate Qassam rockets in increased numbers at Israeli towns near the Gaza border, before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Palestinians and rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans died conflict but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.
'War crime'
"Hamas' claim that rockets were intended to hit Israeli military targets and only accidentally harmed civilians is belied by the facts," the New York based group said. "Civilians were the target, deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime."
A former international war crimes prosecutor, South African Judge Richard Goldstone, investigated the offensive and said crimes had been committed on both sides.
The UN General Assembly demanded that both sides launch independent investigations into their behaviour during the offensive, called Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli Defence Force.

  Russia arms trader plays down Iran missile sale threat
Reuters, Moscow

Russia's state arms trader declined to say on Thursday whether it would go ahead with the sale of S-300 anti-aircraft hardware to Iran, but made clear it did not view the systems posing a threat if Iran obtained them.
The possible sale of the S-300s, which could protect Iran's nuclear facilities against air strikes, is a sensitive issue in Russia's relations with the United States and Israel, which have pressed Moscow not to proceed with the deal.
"I just don't quite understand why supplies of the S-300 system to Iran trouble you so much," Anatoly Isaikin, the head of Rosoboronexport, replied after being repeatedly asked about the deal at a news briefing. "This is purely a weapon of defence, not attack," he added. "This weapon cannot pose any threat to any neigbours, close or distant."Russia is under intense Western pressure to distance itself from Iran in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme, but has refused to rule out the delivery of the S-300 system.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli official told Reuters Russia had yet to ship the S-300's "main systems"-such as radars and interceptor missiles-to Iran. Analysts say the S-300 could help Iran thwart any attempt by Israel or the United States to bomb its nuclear facilities from the air. Isaikin said journalists must be guided by statements made by other Russian officials last year. "From my part, I just want to say I have nothing to add to these statements."
Last year, Russian officials said Iran was not under international sanctions that would restrict its purchases of defence systems, but left it unclear whether any parts of the S-300 had actually been delivered.

  China calls for end to ‘prejudiced’ EU arms embargo
Xinhua, Beijing

China Thursday said the European Union's arms embargo represented political prejudice and called for its early lifting.
"The EU's arms embargo, in nature, is political prejudice against China, which runs counter to world tides and China-EU all-round strategic partnership," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular press briefing. Ma's comments came after Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Tuesday that his country, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, was weighing the pros and cons of the embargo.
France had been one of the main supporters of lifting the embargo and "Spain is following that line," Moratinos said Tuesday. The EU imposed arms embargo on China in 1989. In 2005, European discussions on lifting the embargo were shelved due to pressures from some EU members and other countries.
"China's request to scrap the embargo is aimed at removing political prejudices against the country and ensuring its equal rights," Ma said.
"We hope the EU will make an early political decision, lift the arms embargo unconditionally and thoroughly so as to remove the obstacle to the sound growth of the China-EU relationship," Ma said.

Business/Economy

Computerization of govt activities needed to curb corruption: Muhith

UNB, Dhaka

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said that computerization of the government activities is very much needed to establish good governance and also to curb corruption in the country. He noted that to fulfill the dream of Digital Bangladesh, digitization process should be ensured in every sphere of life, which would lead to the establishment of e-commerce and e-governance.
"The ultimate outcome will be good policy and good governance," Muhith said while speaking as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of City IT 2010 Computer Fair at the BCS Computer City in city's IDB Bhaban.
SME Foundation chairman and AmCham President Aftab-ul-Islam, ATN Bangla chief adviser Saiful Bari and Bangladesh Computer Samity president Mustafa Jabbar were present as special guests.
BCS Computer City president Mozibur Rahman Swapon gave the welcome address at the function.
The Finance Minister said the computer system in the country should be further developed and there is need for expanding the software industry.
He said the government has already launched digital portal for all the 64 districts in the country. "These portals have enormous potential… we have to use those widely." Muhith said that to fulfill the dream of Digital Bangladesh, steps would be taken to digitize the government and also the business sector. Besides, the government would set up cyber café in the rural areas to increase connectivity, he added.
Speaking at the function, Bangladesh Computer Samity president Mustafa Jabbar urged the Finance Minister to make provision of a fund of around Tk 500 crore in the next national budget to disburse loans at low interest among the teachers and students for purchase of computers. Mentioning that computer businessmen in the country are mostly small and medium entrepreneurs, he said the government should make arrangement for collateral-free loans at low interest for them. Some 157 organisations are participating in the 10-day fair where attractive discounts are being offered on items like laptop, notebook or net book. Apart from the permanent stalls, there will be another 30 stalls in the fair.
The fair will remain open everyday until February 6 from 10 am-7 pm with an entry fee of Tk 10. However, the school students and disabled persons will be allowed free entry.

 BITAC arranges jobs for 150 unemployed youths in last six months

BSS, Dhaka

About 150 unemployed poor youths mostly women got employments after successfully receiving technical training from the ministry of industries during the last six months.
Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre (BITAC), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Industries, took the initiative under a Taka 32 crore six-year project styled 'Self Employment and Poverty Alleviation (SEPA)'.
The trades include light machine tools, RMG maintenance, general welding (refrigerator and air-conditioning), plastic processing, household appliance maintenance and other disciplines.
This was disclosed at a certificate giving ceremony and distribution of appointment letters by recruiting companies among the trainees simultaneously held at the BITAC auditorium in the capital on Thursday.
Vice chairman of Bengal Group Jashim Uddin and director of Dekko Group Akhtar Jamal handed over the appointment letters to State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Munnujan Sufian. Presided over by BITAC director general Asish Kumar Paul, the function was addressed, among others, by SEPA project director Dr Ihsanul Karim.
Speaking on the occasion, Munnujan Sufian said steps would be taken to provide the trainees with loans with lower interest rates from the Karmashangsthan Bank so that they can start small industry on their own.Quoting the Prime Minister, the state ministers said poverty has become great enemy towards economic emancipation of destitute people. She hoped that the efforts are being taken by the BITAC that would contribute a lot to make a digital Bangladesh.
She said the government has embarked on a plan to set up adequate technical trade centres (TTCs) at district and upazila levels to meet the huge demand for skilled manpower in various sectors.Asish Kumar Paul urged all the trainees to engage their lessons learnt from the technical training in their respective fields.Jashim Uddin pointed out that the private sector has a huge manpower shortage but it cannot meet the demand due to lack of skilled and productive workforce. The private sector could be benefited enormously by expediting their speed of work if skilled workforce is available in the country, said Akhtar Jamal.
Dr Ihsanul Karim said an assessment on the basis of requirement of multinational companies would be carried out to identify the total demand of manpower and accordingly unemployed youths would be trained up on different trades.
Some 10,000 youths would be given training on 12 disciplines at Dhaka, Chittagong, Chandpur and Khulna centres within next five years, said Dr Karim, also additional director of BITAC.

  China now Japan’s top trade partner
ANN

Japan's exports to China have topped those to the United States for the first time since World War II, while Japan saw its largest year-on-year drop in both exports and imports, statistics released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry showed. Japan's trade surplus rose 36.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.81 trillion yen-the first increase in two years. Although China-bound shipments in 2009 dropped 20.9 percent from a year earlier to 10.24 trillion yen, China became the largest purchaser of Japanese products because exports to the United States plunged by a whopping 38.5 percent to 8.74 trillion yen, mainly due to the worldwide economic contraction.
Total exports in 2009 on a customs-cleared basis stood at 54.18 trillion yen, posting a 33.1 percent drop from a year earlier, while imports fell by 34.9 percent to 51.37 trillion yen.
A huge fall in shipments of motor vehicles, iron and steel products, and others such as semiconductors, pushed down overall exports in 2009. Motor vehicle exports fell especially steeply-by 51.3 percent-from a year earlier.
By area, exports to the European Union fell 40.9 percent from the year before, while the drop in exports to all Asian nations stood at 26.6 percent. Japan's shipments to Asia stood at 29.35 trillion yen, accounting for more than half of total exports.
The United States had been the largest importer of Japanese products, followed by China since 2001. But exports to the United States plunged to below the 10 trillion yen mark from 14.21 trillion yen in 2008 as a result of the economic downturn. Shipments to China, meanwhile, stayed above the 10 trillion yen level.

  EU in ‘critical’ employment phase
AFP, Barcelona, Spain

The EU is in a "critical" employment phase, with the jobless rate in the 27- nation bloc expected to hit 10 percent this year, Europe's biggest business organisation said Thursday.
But if governments take the "right measures, European economies can return to creating jobs in a short amount of time," Gerardo Diaz Ferran, vice president of BusinessEurope, said at a meeting of EU employment ministers.
"We find ourselves in a critical phase in terms of employment. Despite the tentative recovery, it is likely that the unemployment rate will reach 10 percent in the EU by the end of the year which would mean 28 million European workers would be out of work," he told the gathering in Barcelona.
"What is most urgent now is to prevent long-term unemployment and encourage labour activity with the necessary structural reforms," he added.
Reducing labour costs, promoting worker mobility to regions with more jobs, greater training and "modernising" labour protection laws were among the measures he recommended to promote job creation in the European Union. "Europe has the highest level of labour protection in the world. Member states have welfare systems that protect workers during difficult times. We should preserve the substance of those systems but we also need to modernise them. This will be the only way to maintain them," said Diaz Ferran.
He recommended "flexicurity"-which mixes lifelong learning and job training, flexible labour market policies and high levels of social protection-as the way to modernise Europe's labour policies.
"Contrary to what people say, flexicurity is not a policy for 'boom times'. On the contrary, it has shown all its potential, above all during times of crisis," said Diaz Ferran. The unemployment rate in the EU was registered at 9.5 percent in November, meaning 22.899 million people across the bloc were out of work, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.
The European Commission forecasts the rate EU will breach the 10 percent mark this year with best-case projections predicting the loss of 7.5 million jobs over 2009-10.

  Sarkozy blasts globalisation, ‘indecent’ wages
AFP, Davos, Switzerland

French President Nicolas Sarkozy went on the warpath over globalisation and "indecent" pay for finance executives in a hard-hitting speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.
Sarkozy also implicitly criticised China and backed US President Barack Obama's plans to clampdown on banks as he described how free market capitalism veered out of control and caused the financial crisis of the past two years.
"From the moment we accepted the idea that the market was always right and that no other opposing factors need be taken into account, globalisation skidded out of control," Sarkozy declared.
Without state intervention to support the financial system there would have been "total collapse," he said. "Not to draw the conclusion that we must change our ways would be, quite simply, irresponsible."
Sarkozy backed the US president's plan to restrict the size and operation of US banks. "President Obama is right when he says that banks must be dissuaded from engaging in proprietary speculation or financing speculative funds," he said.
Taxing the "exorbitant profits of finance to combat poverty" would "contribute to putting us on the path of a moralisation of financial capitalism," Sarkozy said, also praising British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for proposing the tax.
"We cannot avoid the debate on a tax on speculation. Whether we wish to restrain the frenzy of the financial markets, finance development aid or bring the poor countries into the fight against climate change, it all comes back to taxing financial transactions."
Joining the Davos offensive against the finance industry, he said: "There is indecent behaviour that will no longer be tolerated by public opinion in any country in the world.

  Philippines sees accelerating economic growth
AFP, Manila

The Philippines will see economic growth accelerate to as high as 3.6 percent this year following an encouraging pick-up in the final quarter of 2009, the government said Thursday. The global financial crisis and a series of deadly storms dragged gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2009 to an 11-year low of 0.9 percent, the Economic Planning Department said.
However the economy turned around in the final quarter, expanding by 1.8 percent year-on-year for the Southeast Asian nation's highest growth since the world plummeted into turmoil in late 2008. "The global rebound is underway, our economy has proven itself resilient, and elections will bring fresh mandates and new energy to our society. We are thus optimistic," Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos told reporters.
He said the official GDP growth target range for 2010 was 2.6-3.6 percent, with the economy to be boosted by increased government spending ahead of national elections in May.

Obama: jobs top priority in 2010
AFP, Washington

President Barack Obama Wednesday vowed to make job creation his top priority in 2010, in a bid to restore America's faith in his change crusade after a first year in office soured by economic misery.
In his debut State of the Union address, Obama vowed to battle a host of "big and difficult" challenges which dragged down his administration and demanded unity from Congress to pull the United States out of the mire.
"I have never been more hopeful about America's future than I am tonight. Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit," We don't allow fear or division to break our spirit."
Obama vowed that he would not "walk away" from his stalled effort to pass comprehensive health care reform and said his administration's early actions last year had staved off a repeat of the 1930s Great Depression.

National

City dwellers under mosquito wrath DCC fails to understand the magnitude

UNB, Dhaka

There is nothing new in occasional proliferation of mosquito, but this time it has emerged with a greater intensity as DCC seems to have failed to understand its magnitude, leaving the nightlife in disarray.
"There has been an outpouring of complaints by city dwellers in the Sanitation and Health department of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) to deal with their woes caused by mosquito, but the DCC is yet to wake up," a source in the DCC told UNB Wednesday.
When contacted, a number of DCC officials recognized the severity of the problem but those responsible to deal with it refused to talk to the newsmen.
"Nightlife in this densely populated mega city has become miserable due to the absence of a regular anti-mosquito drive. Annihilating mosquito should not be an unmanageable problem, but the DCC cannot claim that it's doing enough to tackle it," said Farzana Tahsin, mother of an SSC examinee.
She said her son is going to sit for the SSC examination next month and he loves studying at night. "But, unfortunately he cannot do that."
When sought comments, Dr Nasim-us-Seraj, senior insect control officer of mosquito control department of Dhaka City Corporation, declined to talk about the measures the DCC has taken to tackle the problem. "I cannot talk to media about it," he said.
Dr Seraj, who first refused to talk to any reporter saying that he was going to attend a meeting, later suggested the UNB correspondent outside his room to meet the DCC Chief Health Officer to have information about it.
"The Chief Health Officer may talk about mosquito but I don't know what he'll say about flies," said Dr Seraj who is also an entomologist.
As the UNB newsman had been at DCC Chief Health Officer Brig Gen Dr Md Shawkat Ali's chamber to have information, he was informed that Shawkat Ali was in a meeting.
M Enamuzzaman Shahed, administrative officer of DCC's health department, informed that there is an office order that the DCC officers could only talk to the press about some particular things. "But, I'm not entitled to tell you about mosquito," he said, showing the path to meet chief public relations officer M Abdur Rahman.
PRO Abdur Rahman, however, informed that he has no information about the mosquito menace or any mosquito-killing drive taken by the DCC authorities. "The officials concerned responsible to conduct the mosquito-killing drive can tell you about it," he said.
He, however, admitted that there has been a proliferation of mosquito across the city and "there is no doubt that the problem is getting out of proportion."
When sought help to meet the mayor to draw his attention to the mosquito menace, his (Mayor's) personal secretary Mir Mustafizur Rahman suggested that he should try to make an appointment to meet him at a convenient time later.
"After a meeting with the Brazilian Ambassador, the honorable Mayor has already left the office," he told the UNB correspondent at about 3:25 pm.
Shewrapara, Kazipara, Mirpur, Pallabi, Mohammadpur, Gendaria, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Rampura, Kilgaon, Basabo, Madartek, Uttara and Dhaka University are among the areas that are now facing the wrath of mosquito.

  Bumper potato production likely in 8 dists of Rangpur, Dinajpur zone

UNB, Rangpur, Jan 28

The potato growers of eight districts of Rangpur and Dinajpur zone have been expecting bumper production in the current season due to prevailing favourable weather.
The officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) also expressed the hope that the production in the current season may exceed the target.
Farmers have brought more land under potato cultivation as they got fair price of their produce in the last season. Besides, easy availability of fertilizer and insecticides also prompted them in potato cultivation on vast tracts of land.
The growers are now busy nursing their fields providing irrigation and spraying insecticides on the plants as a preventive measure to save the plants from the late blight.
Harvesting of potato would start early March, sources said. Farmers said they cultivated potato in eight districts of the zone during the current season exceeding the target to get maximum profit.
According to DAE some 1.56 lakh hectares have been brought under cultivation against the target of 1.50 lakh hectares this season.
A total of 28,23,552 mts of potato is expected to be produced this year in these districts. Growers said the production cost would be less in the current season as the price of fertilizer was reduced three times.
Farmers had to spend Tk 15,000 to 20,000 for cultivation of potato on 25 decimal of land in the last season. But the cost would not be more than Tk 10,000 on the same land this year, said the growers.
Aftab Hossain a grower in Nabdiganj under Pirgaccha upazila in Rangpur cultivated potato on 8.25 acres of land. He expects to harvest about 1000 sacks of potato (85 kg per sack) if the present weather condition continues till end of February.
Per sack (85kg) potato was sold between Tk 1800 to Tk 2200 in the last season.
Alhaj Mostafa Azad Chowdhury, managing director of Motahar group of industries also former president of Rangpur Chamber and commerce and Industry, said bumper potato production is being expected this season but the number of cold storage is quite insufficient in the region for preservation of potato.
There are 25 cold storages in the region having preservation capacity of around 25,30,000 sacks of potato.
He said the government should take initiative for export of potato and demanded 20 percent incentive in potato like other agricultural products so that traders could export it abroad.
Additional director of DAE of Rangpur and Dinajpur region Shakawat Hossain said the growers in the zone brought record areas for potato cultivation this year and they may achieve bumper production if favourable weather prevails.

   BD Medical Assistance Team leaves for Haiti today
UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Medical Assistance Team will leave here for Haiti today (Friday) with a view to providing medical assistance in post-earthquake situation in Haiti.
Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr AFM Ruhul Haque Thursday formally conveyed farewell to the Haiti-bound medical assistance team at Officers Mess of the Dhaka Cantonment, said an ISPR release.
The 30-member team comprises of 17 from Army Medical Corps, 3 from Army Signal Corps and 10 civilian medical personnel.
The team carried necessary medical equipment and medicine with them provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Directorate General of Medical Services.
The medical team will stay Port-au-Prince for one month. Duration of the stay may be increased for further requirement.
Among others, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Health Adviser to the Prime Minister Prof Dr Syed Modasser Ali, State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Capt (retd) Mujibur Rahman Fakir, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Renata Lok Dessallien and high military & civil officers were present on the occasion.

   US govt funded health projects inaugurated
UNB, Dhaka

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Denise Rollins and Health Advisor to the Prime Minister Prof Dr. Syed Modasser Ali jointly inaugurated two new U.S. government funded health projects Thursday.
A release of the US Embassy said the US$13.5 million "MaMoni" project will improve maternal and newborn health to the more than 3.5 million people living in the Sylhet and Habiganj districts.
The US$13 million "Modhumita" project will provide HIV prevention services to high-risk groups, including injecting drug users, transgender sex workers and their clients, and HIV positive people across Bangladesh.
The U.S. government, through USAID, is working to improve the lives of the people of Bangladesh, especially the very poor.

Sports

South Asian Games begins today
UNB, Dhaka

The capital Dhaka is ready to host the eight-nation 11th South Asian Games, known as Olympics of South Asia, today the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate the prestigious 12-day sports meet of the region through a gala ceremony.
Some 1800 athletes and 700 officials are expected to take part in the 23 disciplines of sports for the 158 gold medals at stake at 20 venues across the country.
Sporting disciplines: Archery, Athletics, Bad-minton, Basketball,
Boxing, Cycling, Football, Golf, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Karate, Shooting, Squash, Swi-mming, Cricket, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Volley-ball, Weightlifting, Wrestling and Wushu Preparations for the meet were completed today with final touches given in the 20 venues including five new ones-Kabaddi Stadium, Handball Stadium, Boxing Stadium, Wodden Floor Gymnasium and Gulshan Shooting Complex-to hold the games in a benefiting manner.
Bangladesh is hosting the South Asian Games for the third time after successful staging of the 2nd SAF Games in 1985 and the 6th SAF Games in 1993.
Around 11,800 school students, 1300 Ansars, 1000 Army men will take part in various colourful displays at the opening ceremony that will begin at 4 pm.
The three and half hour opening ceremony will feature rich tradition, heritage and culture of Bangladesh as well as the latest innovation of exhibit art - the aquatic show. The aquatic show will take the opening ceremony to a new height as it is a new concept in the sub-continent. State-owned Bangladesh Television (BTV) will telecast live the opening ceremony from the BNS.
Chinese and French choreographers groomed the local school students, defense personnel and the artists to present a splendid show. SAF and Commonwealth Games gold winning shooter Asif Hossain Khan will carry the Bangladesh national flag in the opening ceremony.
Custodian and skipper of national football team Aminul Haq and famed athlete Nazmun Nahar Beauty will take oath on behalf of the participating athletes.
Bangladesh for the first time introduced the torch relay race in the 11th SA Games following the style of Olympics. The torch of the 11th SA Games was ceremonially ignited today (Thursday) at the Meghna-ghat Power Stadium, some 35 kilometers from zero point of the capital.
National sports award winning swimmer Wing Comdr Rafiqul Islam carried the torch, which was lit by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and then handed over to another sports award winning veteran sportsman Bashir Ahmed to carry to the Games venue.
BFF and SAFF President Kazi Salahuddin will carry the torch inside the Bangabandhu National Stadium tomorrow (Friday) before lighting the torch tower at the top of the stadium after change of hands by 11 other celebrated local sportsmen.
A play based on Nachole's Queen, Broto-chari Dance, Santal Dance will be some of the highlights at the opening ceremony. The concert for Bangladesh's Indepen-dence hosted by Ravi Shankar and Beatles star George Harrison, and the 7th March address of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will also be displayed on a water screen.

  SAG torch ceremonially lit at Meghnaghat
UNB, Dhaka

The torch of the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) was ceremonially ignited on Thursday at Meghnaghat Power Station, some 35-kilometers away from the capital on the bank of river Meghna.
Finance Minister and Chairman of the Games Organizing Committee AMA Muhith, at a festive occasion, lighted the torch, which started its journey to Bangladesh from traditional Adam's Peak of Sri Lanka on January 24.
Bangladesh for the first time introduced the torch relay race in the 11th SA Games following the style of Olympics.
National sports award winning swimmer Wing Comdr Rafiqul Islam carried the torch at the lighting ceremony, which was lit by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and then handed over to another sports award winning veteran sportsman Bashir Ahmed to carry to the Games venue.
To mark the occasion, a traditional boat race competition was arranged at the river Meghna where the Manjur Quader-led boat, 'Rocket', emerged champions and the Zahidul Islam-led 'Salmoti' became runners-up. Abdul Mannan-led boat, 'Tiger', finished third among six participating boats.
State Minister for Youth and Sports M Ahad Ali Sarkar, BOA and Army Chief General MA Mubeen, Golam Dastagir Gazi MP and Kaiser Hasnat MP and the representatives of eight participating countries were present on the occasion.
Later, the torch was carried by speed boat to Postagola Ghat and reached its final destination at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in the afternoon.

  China seeks Winter Games 'breakthroughs'
AFP, Beijing

China will strive for "historic breakthroughs" at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and beyond but will struggle to match its Summer Games dominance, the country's top winter sports official said Thursday.
Reflecting its desire to raise its still-nascent winter sports profile, China is sending its largest delegation ever to the February 12-28 Vancouver Games with 91 athletes, said Zhao Yinggang, head of Chinese winter sports.
But he declined to speculate on China's potential medal count in Canada or offer his expectations for the country's possible future greatness on the ski slopes and ice rinks.
"In sports where we hold future promise, we must overcome difficulties, turn the impossible into the possible
and realise historic breakthroughs," Zhao told a news
conference.

  India misses Dravid, Yuvraj for South Africa Test
AFP, New Delhi

India will be without three key players, including Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh, when it defends its number one Test ranking against South Africa next month.
Key batsmen Dravid and Yuvraj, and pace bowler Shanthakumaran Sree-santh, were on Thursday excluded from a 15-man squad for the first of two Test matches starting in Nagpur on February six.
The second-ranked South Africa need to win the series 2-0 to displace India from the top. A 1-0 result in favour of the Proteas will leave both teams level on 123 rating points.
Dravid fractured his jaw bone and Yuvraj tore a cartilage on his left wrist during the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka earlier this week.
Sreesanth suffered a hamstring strain during the first Test of the same series in Chittagong.
All three players are also likely to miss the second Test against the Proteas in Kolkata from February 14, the team for which will be named later.
Veteran batsman Venkatsai Laxman, who needed stitches on a bruised finger during the Chittagong Test, was declared fit to play.
The squad includes three uncapped players, batsman Subramaniam Badrinath, reserve wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha and promising seamer Abhimanyu Mithun, for the first Test.
Mithun, 20, a right-arm seamer, grabbed 47 first-class wickets in nine matches in his debut season, helping Karnataka reach the Ranji Trophy final earlier this month.
Badrinath is still to play a Test after three one-day appearances, while Saha replaces Dinesh Karthik as the second wicketkeeper, behind skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India squad for first Test:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Subra-maniam Badrinath, Harbha-jan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Sudeep Tyagi, Pragyan Ojha, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wriddhiman Saha. Coach: Gary Kirsten (RSA).

   Henin to play Serena in dream Australian Open final
AFP, Melbourne

Justine Henin capped her remarkable comeback by storming into the Australian Open final on Thursday where she will meet the imposing Serena Williams gunning for her fifth title.
The tenacious Henin is playing her first Grand Slam since coming out of an 18-month retirement and kept her historic run going with a 6-1, 6-0 demolition of unseeded Chinese Zheng Jie.
Williams also had to negotiate Chinese opposition and was made to work hard by 16th seed Li Na before grinding her down 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1) under a hot sun on the Rod Laver Arena to set up an enticing decider on Saturday. Fifth seeded Andy Murray faces 14th seeded Croat Marin Cilic in the first men's semi-final later Thursday, while world number one Roger Federer takes on French 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga today.
Ever since she announced her return to tennis the talk has been about whether Henin could emulate Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters, who won last year's US Open on her own comeback.
And the former world number one has lived up to expectations after being handed a wildcard by organisers. She destroyed Zheng as she stayed on track to add to her seven Grand Slam titles, including the 2004 Australian Open.
"The dream continues. I am going to play the number one and defending champion," said the 27-year-old, who became the first wildcard to reach the final here.
"I wasn't sure about what I would feel on the court and how things would go. I have just enjoyed my tennis and taken it step by step. I can't wait for the final now, it is an amazing feeling."
Asked if she seriously expected to get this far, she revealed she was quietly confident, having booked a flight out for next Sunday before the start of the tournament.
"I was curious about how things would go and I'm very happy to come back like this," she said.

  Rooney slaps down noisy neighbours
AFP, Manchester

Wayne Rooney's 91st-minute header secured a 3-1 victory for Manchester United over rival Man-chester City at Old Trafford and carried the holder through to a League Cup final meeting with Aston Villa.
The England forward struck with a close range header from a Ryan Giggs cross following a well-worked short corner and clinched a 4-3 aggregate semi-final victory, denying City what would have been a place in their first major final for 29 years.
On an evening of high drama at Old Trafford, former United forward Carlos Tevez-scorer of both goals in City's 2-1 first leg victory last week-was again prominent as his 75th minute goal tied the aggregate scores at 3-3. After a goalless first half, Rooney sent Giggs racing clear in the 51st minute and, after City appeared to have halted the attack, Michael Carrick's pass found veteran midfielder Paul Scholes who finished clinically from a dozen yards.
In the 70th minute, the tie looked decided after Darren Fletcher laid a Nani pass into the path of Carrick who scored with a precision 'pass' into the corner of the City goal.
But Tevez struck five minutes later, flicking the ball powerfully into the home goal from eight yards after United failed to deal with Craig Bellamy's cross.
The build-up to the second leg had been intense; the feud between Tevez and Gary Neville, the FA warning both clubs about their behaviour, City's chief exec Garry Cook appearing in a televised rally in which he gloated to his club's fans that they would become "the biggest and the best in the world."
There had also been a major operation by Great Manchester Police, who made a number of pre-match raids around the region in an effort to avoid the crowd trouble that had marred the first leg.
Against this backdrop, the game started at a frenetic pace with United playing Rooney as a solitary striker ahead of a five-man midfield. Nani, so impressive in helping Rooney score four in the weekend league victory over Hull, forced young City defender Dedryck Boyata to make a superb defending header with Rooney poised to connect.

  Bangladesh keen to put up improved show: Jamil
TBT Report

With a well-prepared team at its disposal, Bangla-desh hockey team would be keen to put behind the disappointments of Colombo South Asian Games this time with an improved performance at its home ground, the General Secretary of Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) Khondoker Jamil Uddin said on Thursday.
Bangladesh finished last out of four contestants in the last South Asian Games in 2006. "We've come into the Games with good preparations. Boys worked hard over the last one year under the guidance of German coach Gerhard Peter Rach. They have learnt a lot during their tour in Europe. I think our training tour of Europe, where the boys played against the tougher opponents, will play a vital role in the build up of the team," the General Secretary hoped.
The 11th South Asian Games (SAG) begins today, while the Bangladesh hockey team starts its campaign on Saturday, taking on Sri Lanka at Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka.
Khondoker Jamil is of the opinion that a second-place finish is difficult but not improbable. "Though we've targeted a bronze in the Games, it would not be surprising if our boys go beyond our expectations," an optimistic Jamil said.
He believes that the Europe tour of the Bangladesh hockey team has boosted the players' confidence ahead of the South Asian contest. "They've got ample opportunities to play against better opponents in Europe. Now they'll find it easier to play against the South Asian teams. European teams are used to play power hockey. Our tour in Europe infused confidence in our players, who are now craving to apply their learning at the South Asian level. "
However, Jamil agreed to the fact that Bangladesh players will have to go under pressure and show great determination to achieve their target. "India and Pakistan are always very strong opponents, Sri Lanka is not lagging behind also. But if our players can give their best they can hold off any Asian team," Jamil said. On the team's preparation, he said adequate number of practice matches is an important component of a team's preparation for any international event and BHF has ensured it for the Bangladesh national hockey team for the SAG.
Jamil also heaped praise on German coach Gerhard Peter Rach, who worked hard with his coaching staffs to build a strong, fighting phalanx for the Games.
"Gerhard worked hard to establish cohesion and coordination in the team. We've brought a video analyst also to help the team. Our players have improved tremendously in the last few months, especially in the area of penalty corner conversion. They have reduced the gap with the top Asian teams. Now they are capable of handling the pressure of big occasions," he said.