Govtment 'didn't hinder Grameen Bank'

London, Oct 21 — The government never impeded the activities of Grameen Bank, the foreign minister has claimed and said it only investigated former managing director Muhammed Yunus which revealed 'a lot of things'.

Speaking at a seminar in London on Thursday, Dipu Moni also said the government did not drag the Nobel Peace laureate to court, instead it was Yunus himself who decided to move the court.

"We didn't take him to court. It was Prof Yunus who entered the court (first)," Dipu Moni insisted.

Instead of impeding the activities of Grameen Bank, the government only conducted an investigation into its affairs and those relating to Yunus, the foreign minister claimed.

"We just did an investigation ... that's all we did … and from the investigation a lot of things came out."

The minister made the comments while trying to dispel misgivings arising out of rumours that the government is trying to take over the bank.

The government relieved Yunus, 70, of his Grameen Bank job on Mar 2 this year when it found that his age limit had already exceeded and his reappointment in 1999 as the managing director had not been done with prior approval from the central bank.

Yunus announced his 'resignation' on May 12 which followed his losing a series of determined court battle against his 'removal' as the micro-lender's managing director for flouting reappointment rules.

Stating that Bangladesh is a land of law-abiding people, Dipu said, "When we think about our society, whoever it is and whichever positions he/she is in, there is something called law.

"And you cannot go on violating laws just because you have friends all over the world. If you violate the laws and for that the institution suffers, people suffer, country suffers, then you will have to face it (law) some day."

Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) of the UK organised the public discussion on Thursday at the Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament, titled 'Unlocking the Potential of the Bangladeshi Diaspora'.

Saying the government is proud of Grameen Bank, Dipu said, "It's a Nobel winning institution. It's a statutory body. It's a part of the state. Its not an NGO as it was promoted in different parts of the world."

In Oct 1983, the Grameen Bank was founded as an independent bank by the government legislation with Dr Yunus as its MD.

She said that a statutory body is not allowed to run in the UK or anywhere else this way. "We did not stop it. Rather, we've nurtured this institution. We're committed to its continued successes and welfare of the large number of borrowers of this institution."

"We [the government] cannot say that we'll implement laws when it comes to a common man and will not implement it when it comes to a person who is a very celebrated man all over the world. We cannot do it… not as a responsible government," she added.

Norway's national TV NRK aired a investigative foreign documentary on November 30 titled "Fanget i Mikrogjeld" or "Caught in Micro debt" which raised allegations of unauthorised transfer of funds from Yunus' Grameen Bank to another sister company Grameen Kalyan, which was in no way involved with micro-credit operations.

According to the documentary, Yunus transferred funds destined for Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan.

Responding to the allegations, Grameen Bank claimed there was no wrongdoing in the agreement between the bank and Grameen Kalyan, under which it received Tk 3,917 million from Grameen Bank.

The government formed a committee to investigate the matter which triggered a great deal of discussion about the institution in the local and international media as well as in society.

Indicating to the enquiry, the foreign minister on Thursday said, "Maybe, our government would have been better off in many ways if we haven't touched it. We didn't touch it willingly… I must tell you."

She said, "It was the Norwegian media that dropped it in front of the public and then our media depicted whatever is happening. It made the matter so big that as a democratically elected government we had to take it into account."

CJA chair Rita Payne presided over the discussion where former British MP and chairman of ERIS Keith Best and first British Bangladeshi MP Rushanara Ali were also present.

Former UK High Commissioner to Bangladesh Peter Fowler, editor of BBC Bengali Service Sabir Mustafa, Seamark Group chairman Iqbal Ahmed OBE and Managing Partner of ATCP Ifty Islam also spoke at the discussion.
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Govt'll wait for talks with BNP: Suranjit

Dhaka, Oct 21– Awami League advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta has said the government will wait until the last day of its tenure for discussion with opposition BNP on the caretaker government system.

He said this while addressing a seminar titled 'Caretaker Government and the Reality', organised by Shuchinta Foundation, a platform of Bangladeshi youth, at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium on Friday.

Suranjit, also chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry, claimed that though BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia wanted to join the House to discuss the caretaker government issue, party's standing committee member Moudud Ahmed suggested holding road march "to protect the constitution by not joining the House".

The senior Awami League leader said: "It's impossible to return to democratic process by violating the constitution."

About Khaleda's announcement of waging 'war' against the government, during its road march programme, to force it to quit, Suranjit said: "We've been defeating those, with whom she has declare the war, since 1952."

He criticised Khaleda for her recent remarks about the standard of International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated during the 1971 liberation war.

The BNP chief in various rallies of the party, during the road march to Sylhet and Chapainawabganj, termed the war crimes trial a farcical one and demanded immediate halt to it.

She also demanded release of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, its secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, executive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee, assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Quader Molla and senior BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, who are facing the charges.

Referring to Khaleda's remarks, Suranjit said: "She should give testimony to the court that they are not war criminals. People are aware of your whereabouts and the roles of those during the war."

Constitutional law expert Dr M Zahir, former army chief M Harun-or-Rashid, senior journalist Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Shuchinta Foundation executive director Mohammad A Arafat also spoke at the programme.
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Ex-Bangladesh Army major named: report

New Delhi, Oct 21 – A section of the Indian media on Friday reported quoting unidentified officials of the country's National Investigation Agency (NIA) that a youth arrested in connection with the Sep 7 blast at the Delhi High Court has said a former officer of the Bangladesh Army was involved in the plot.

The Kashmiri youth, a student of a medical college in Sylhet, was arrested by NIA after his arrival in Delhi from Dhaka earlier this month.

TimesNow TV channel quoted unidentified sources in the investigation agency stating that efforts were on to identify the retired major of the Bangladesh Army after Wasim Akram Malik named him as one of those who had been involved in the plot.

The blast at the entrance of the Delhi High Court killed at least 15 and left many others injured.

NIA had produced Malik in a court in Delhi on Oct 7 and he was remanded to agency's custody for two weeks. He was again produced in a court on Friday and his remand was extended for three more days.

Special NIA Judge H S Sharma allowed NIA to quiz Malik for three more days after the agency told the court that they needed to arrest some more persons linked to the case.

Wasim is the son of a government official based in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir and he was studying in a medical college in Bangladesh. Wasim's parents, however, said that an incarcerated Hizbul Mujahideen militant, whom they got arrested for kidnapping their other son Junaid in 2010, set the police after their family after the blast in front of Delhi High Court on Sep 7 last. Jammu and Kashmir police, however, described Junaid, who is yet to be traced, as a militant of Hizbul Mujahideen.

Kishtwar came into focus after investigations revealed that an email purportedly circulated by HuJI among media organisations to claim responsibility for the blast had in fact been sent from the town in Jammu and Kashmir state of India.

Wasim was the third Kashmiri to be arrested in connection with the Delhi High Court blast. Earlier, two youths, Aamir Abbas and Abid Hussain, were arrested from Kishtwar.

Talking to journalists, Wasim's father Riaz ul Hassan Malik, an employee of India's state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, and mother Shameema alleged that their son was being tortured by investigators.

Riaz ul Hassan had earlier claimed that he had received a letter from police authorities in Kishtwar informing him that NIA wanted to question his son in connection with the Delhi High Court blast. He had also claimed that he had made arrangements so that NIA sleuths could talk to his son, who had been in Bangladesh, over telephone. Malik had also agreed to cooperate in the investigation and he asked him to return. His parents had received him at the airport in Delhi and then handed him over to the NIA officials.

Malik's father had in November 2010 lodged a complaint with the Jammu and Kashmir police that his youngest son Junaid had been kidnapped by Hizbul Mujahideen militants.

Police action on the basis of his complaint had led to unearthing of a recruitment module of terrorist networks and three Hizbul Mujahideen operatives, including one Azhar Ali, had been arrested. The police, however, could not trace Junaid.

NIA purportedly started suspecting Wasim's role in the Delhi High Court blast after they questioned incarcerated Azhar Ali in a jail in Kashmir.

Wasim's family claimed that he had been in Kishtwar on the day of blast at Delhi High Court and had not only withdrawn money from bank ATMs but also shopped in the malls, where he might have been caught on CCTV.

"My son is innocent and he had nothing to do with the blast in Delhi," said his mother Shamima Begum, who is a headmistress of a government school in Kishtwar.

Wasim, who had been in Kishtwar on Eid vacation, had gone back to Bangladesh on Sep 9, just two days after the blast.

Due to tacit cooperation between the security agencies of Bangladesh and India earlier in 2009 and 2010, a number of top leaders of insurgent organisations active in northeastern Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur had landed in the custody of the law-enforcing agencies of India.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sep 24, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh had upheld the security cooperation between his country and Bangladesh as an example. "In South Asia, there are encouraging signs of cooperation in the area of security, as exemplified in India's growing cooperation with Bangladesh. Such cooperation is adding to the security of both our countries," he had said.
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UN calls for Gaddafi death probe

Geneva, Oct 21 - The United Nations and human rights groups called on Friday for a full investigation into the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and voiced concerns that he may have been executed, a war crime under international law.

Images filmed on mobile phones before and after Gaddafi's death showed him wounded and bloodied but clearly alive after his capture in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, and then dead amidst a jostling crowd of anti-Gaddafi fighters.

"If you take these two videos together, they are rather disturbing because you see someone who has been captured alive and then you see the same person dead," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told Reuters Television.

Asked whether Gaddafi may have been executed, he said: "It has to be one possibility when you look at these two videos. So that's something that an investigation needs to look into."

Under the Geneva Conventions which lay down the rules of conduct in armed conflict, it is prohibited to torture, humiliate or murder detainees.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which upholds respect for the 1949 pacts, said it had no information on Gaddafi's death. "In general, a captured person must be treated correctly," an ICRC spokesman said.

Russia believes that Gaddafi should have been treated as a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Conventions and should not have been killed, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday, calling for an investigation.

"If Colonel Gaddafi was killed after his capture, it would constitute a war crime and those responsible should be brought to justice," Claudio Cordone, senior director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, interviewed by CNN in Sirte near the drainage ditch where Gaddafi was captured, said: "We do not think he was caught in crossfire. Did Muammar Gaddafi die from wounds or did he receive a fatal head wound after he left this area?

"We are calling for an autopsy and an investigation. This is a blemish on the new Libya that he died under suspicious circumstances," he said.

Some 95 bodies were found after Libyan transitional forces took Gaddafi's besieged hometown, including several bodies executed with gunshots to the head, according to Bouckaert.

Gaddafi's body lay in an old meat store on Friday as arguments swirled over his burial and the circumstances of his death.

With a bullet wound visible through the familiar curly hair, the corpse shown to Reuters in Misrata bore other marks of the violent end to a violent life that was being broadcast to the world in snatches of grainy, gory cellphone video.

A television station based in Syria that supported Gaddafi said on Friday that the slain Libyan leader's wife had asked for a U.N. investigation into his death.

ARRESTED ALIVE, KILLED LATER

Colville said it was a fundamental principle of international law that people accused of serious crimes should be tried if possible. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in June for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and their intelligence chief for crimes against humanity.

"Summary executions are strictly illegal under any circumstances. It's different if someone is killed in combat. There was a civil war taking place in Libya. So if the person died as part of combat, that is a different issue and that is normally acceptable under the circumstances," he told Reuters.

"But if something else has happened, if someone is captured and then deliberately killed, then that is a very serious matter," he said.

Libya's interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said Gaddafi was killed in a "crossfire" while being brought to hospital after his capture. A doctor who examined Gaddafi's body said he had been fatally wounded by a bullet in his intestines.

But a senior interim ruling National Transitional Council source told Reuters Gaddafi was killed by his captors: "While he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," the source said. "He might have been resisting."
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It's freedom with checks in enclaves

Lalmonirhat, Oct 20 —Various shortfalls still overshadow the 'freedom' of Dahagram-Angarpota enclave residents.

As the enclave residents celebrate their long-awaited 24-hour access to the mainland, the question still haunting their mind is: "How long will it take them to be really free; free as other citizens of Bangladesh?"

The Tin Bigha corridor, connecting the enclave with the mainland, has been opened round-the-clock since Sep 8. The residents of the locality, bound by the clock for over six decades, can now frequent the mainland on their wish.

During the Wednesday's visit of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, they got a chance to finally see her in close-up, adding to their celebration of freedom.

However, even such joys cannot make them shake off their helplessness from their minds.

A 60-plus Rahima Begum, easily differentiable from the thousands crowding Dahagram School grounds by her age, her wrinkles and her walking stick, now has only one hope.

"I was born amid lack of freedom-like situation, I grew up in it, and now my time is nearly up. Now I only hope the next generation will get the taste of what I never knew," she said.

While the prime minister herself gave them that assurance, other enclave residents echo Rahima Begum's sentiments.

"A lot of problems are still there. We'll really be free once they are addressed," Sardarpara village's Shukkur Ali said.

"Many Hindu families went off to India permanently due to the various problems of the enclave," Ali, a rickshaw-van puller by profession, added.

Former member of Dahagram union council, Mohammad Yunus Ali, said problems still exist.

"I own around 15-bigha [1 bigha = 0.3306 acres] land. But the land has no registration with the Bangladesh government. Since the taxes for the land are unpaid or there is no government-backed proof of my ownership, I can't sell it."

Mentioning that temporary markets are held at Patgram in the mainland on Thursdays and Mondays, Ali said: "We [enclave residents] are allowed to take only 30 cattle to sell at the markets each week using the corridor."

Ghatiatari village resident Majidul Islam pointed out the same problem. "We have to take serial numbers from the local chairman to cross with the cattle. But that takes months. As a result, we cannot sell them when we wish to."

He said the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) has set up high-powered spotlights and that they would illuminate around one square mile of the area. "Insects and pests, attracted by the light, will harm the crops."

Majidul also wants power connection, a good college and presence of doctors at the newly-built health complex in the enclave.

Nonetheless, enclave residents like Ali, Yunus and Majidul are happy to be able to freely access the corridor all the time.

"There was a 6pm deadline to return home in the past. Now, since it's no longer there, we can work longer," Ali said.

He added that before the corridor was opened round-the-clock, they were forced to go to India's Mekliganj to buy essentials.

"I was assaulted several times by Indians and also had to serve jail-term. And if we needed to sell anything, we had to send it to India by requesting and begging our Hindu neighbours for help."

The Dahagram-Angarpota enclave, which falls under Lalmonirhat's Patgram Upazila, cover 18.68 square kilometres and houses around 16,000 people.

India leased the Tin Bigha corridor to Bangladesh through the 1974 treaty, signed between Bangladesh's independence architect and then president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi.

On June 26, 1992, the lease agreement was implemented and Bangladeshis could access the corridor, heavily guarded by the BSF, for only an hour a day. The duration was extended to 12 hours, from 7.30 am to 7.30pm, from Apr 27, 2001.

There are 111 Indian enclaves within the Bangladesh territory while 51 Bangladeshi enclaves lie inside India. A newly-signed protocol between the two neighbours provides for exchanging the enclaves, in line with the 1974 treaty, and addresses issues like the six-kilometre unmarked border and snatched land areas.
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BJP opposes land deal with Bangladesh

New Delhi, Oct 21– Strongly opposing the deal New Delhi inked with Dhaka last month to resolve the dispute over land boundary, India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party threatened to nail down the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government on the issue during the winter session of the country's Parliament.

Advani is currently crisscrossing India campaigning against the country's Congress-led coalition government, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He made the remark on Dhaka-Delhi land deal while addressing a public rally in Guwahati, the main city in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam on Thursday.

"Enough is enough. We will oppose it (the land deal between Bangladesh and India) tooth and nail during the winter session of Parliament and ask for explanation from the government," said veteran BJP leader and former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani.

Though the BJP protested against the Delhi-Dhaka land deal and staged agitations in Assam, Advani was the first national leader of the party to speak against it, turning it into yet another weapon for the opposition to attack the government.

India's central government has been facing an onslaught from the opposition over a series of alleged corruption scandals that came to the fore over the past couple of years.

During Singh's visit to Dhaka on Sep 6 and 7, Bangladesh and India signed a protocol to be added to the land boundary agreement the two neighbours had inked in 1974. The protocol was inked to settle long-pending disputes between the two countries over some stretches of the more than 4096 kilometre long border.

Advani said that Singh had not taken him or any other opposition leader into confidence before New Delhi had inked the land deal with Dhaka. "Two days before the Prime Minister went to Bangladesh (in September), many of my party leaders and I were invited to accompany him. But we were not told that Assam's land would be given to Bangladesh," said the senior BJP leader.

"If we knew Assam's land was being given away we would have protested before the land agreement was signed between the two countries," he added.

Advani's nationwide campaign or Jan Chetana Yatra was being seen by political analysts as a move to re-position himself as the prime-ministerial candidate from his party for the 2014 parliamentary elections in India.

Bangladesh and India have been negotiating the deals to settle the issues related to enclaves, adverse to possession of land and portions of un-demarcated border ever since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made her landmark visit to Delhi in January 2010.

The deal, however, triggered protests in Assam, with some social organisations and political parties alleging that India's central government had given away the state's land to Bangladesh without taking consent of the State Assembly, Parliament or the people living on the border.

Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi, however, said that the State did not lose, but gained in the deal, which sought to resolve the decades-old boundary dispute between the two neighbouring countries.

Gogoi is one of the four Chief Ministers, who accompanied Singh to Dhaka on the latter's two day official visit to Bangladesh. The others were Mukul Sangma of Meghalaya, Lal Thanhawla of Mizoram and Manik Sarkar of Tripura.

The Congress, which leads the coalition government in the Centre in New Delhi, is also in power in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram, while Tripura is ruled by a coalition of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and other leftist parties.

The Assam Gana Parishad, a regional political party in Assam, said that the central government in New Delhi and state administration, headed by Gogoi, were misguiding the people of the state, after giving away land to Bangladesh without consulting residents of the areas along the border between the two countries.

The All Assam Students' Union, an organisation with influences in Brahmaputra Valley, staged road-blockades to protest against the deal.

Advani on Thursday said that the central government of India had no right to give away Assam's land to Bangladesh without taking the Parliament into confidence.
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Bangladesh make steady start

Chittagong, Oct 21 - Half-centuries from opener Tamim Iqbal and captain Mushfiqur Rahim took Bangladesh to a commanding 255 for four at the close of day one of the first Test on Friday.

Captain Rahim (68) and Naeem Islam (eight) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

Rahim, who hit five boundaries during his knock, was dropped on 16 by West Indies captain Darren Sammy at slip off Marlon Samuels.

He added 79 for the fourth wicket with former captain Shakib Al Hasan (40) before Shakib fell to an edge to Samuels behind the stumps.

Local boy Iqbal hit five boundaries during his 52 before he top-edged a straight delivery from Samuels to Kraigg Brathwaite at mid-wicket.

Raqibul Hasan (41) fell lbw to Sammy, two overs before the tea interval.

West Indies managed to take just one wicket in the morning session when paceman Ravi Rampaul dismissed opener Imrul Kayes (10), caught by wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh, in the 12th over.

Shahriar Nafees, who came in at number three, retired hurt after a Fidel Edwards bouncer hit him in the face and left him bloodied.

Nafees had looked in good touch and hit four boundaries during his 21 off 18 balls before he was forced to leave the field.
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Gaddafi killed in hometown

Sirte, Oct 20 - Muammar Gaddafi was killed by Libyans he once scorned as "rats", succumbing to wounds, some seemingly inflicted after his capture by fighters who overran his last redoubt on Thursday in his hometown of Sirte.

Two months after Western-backed rebels ended 42 years of eccentric, often bloody, one-man rule by capturing the capital Tripoli, his death and the fall of the final bastion ended a nervous hiatus for the new interim government, which is now set to declare formal "liberation" with a timetable for elections.

The killing or capture of senior aides, including possibly two sons, as an armored convoy braved NATO air strikes in a desperate bid to break out of Sirte, may ease fears of diehards regrouping elsewhere - though cellphone video apparently of Gaddafi alive and being beaten may inflame his sympathizers.

A Libyan official said Gaddafi, 69, was killed in custody.

"We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country," interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said in Tripoli as the body was delivered, a prize of war, to Misrata, the city whose siege and suffering at the hands of Gaddafi's forces made it a symbol of the rebel cause.

"It's time to start a new Libya, a united Libya," Jibril added. "One people, one future." A formal declaration of liberation, that will set the clock ticking on a timeline to elections, would be made by Friday, he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who spearheaded a Franco-British move in NATO to back the revolt against Gaddafi hailed a turn of events that few had expected so soon, since there had been little evidence that Gaddafi himself was in Sirte.

But he also alluded to fears that, without the glue of hatred for Gaddafi, the new Libya could descend, like Saddam Hussein's Iraq, into bloody factionalism: "The liberation of Sirte must signal ... the start of a process ... to establish a democratic system in which all groups in the country have their place and where fundamental freedoms are guaranteed," he said.

President Barack Obama, who chose a back seat in Libya as he worked to extract American forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, offered a veiled warning to other autocrats, such as Syria's beleaguered Bashar al-Assad: "The rule of an iron fist inevitably comes to an end," Obama said.

NATO said it would wind down its military mission in Libya.

SHOT IN HEAD

A spokesman for the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Benghazi, Jalal al-Galal, said a doctor who examined the fallen strongman in Misrata found he had been shot in the head and abdomen. Jerky video obtained from Sirte showed a man looking like Gaddafi, with distinctive long, curly hair, bloodied and staggering under blows from armed men, apparently NTC fighters.

The brief footage shows him being hauled by his hair from the hood of a truck. To the shouts of someone saying "Keep him alive", he disappears from view and gunshots are heard.

"They captured him alive and while he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," one senior source in the NTC told Reuters. "He might have been resisting."

Driven in an ambulance from Sirte, his partially stripped body was delivered to a mosque in Misrata. Senior NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters that DNA tests were being conducted to confirm it was Gaddafi. He would be buried in Misrata, most likely by Friday according to Muslim custom.

Officials said his son Mo'tassim, also seen bleeding but alive in a video, had also died. Another son, heir-apparent Saif al-Islam, was variously reported to be surrounded, captured or killed as conflicting accounts of the day's events crackled around networks of NTC fighters rejoicing in Sirte.

In Benghazi, where in February Gaddafi disdainfully said he would hunt down the "rats" who had emulated their Tunisian and Egyptian neighbors by rising up against an unloved autocrat, thousands took to the streets, loosing off weapons and dancing under the old tricolor flag revived by Gaddafi's opponents.

Mansour el Ferjani, 49, a Benghazi bank clerk and father of five posed his 9-year-old son for a photograph holding a Kalashnikov rifle: "Don't think I will give this gun to my son," he said. "Now that the war is over we must give up our weapons and the children must go to school.

"But Gaddafi was a terrible dictator and this was the only way to get rid of him. We want everything people have in free countries - want people to live in peace as you do across the Mediterranean where life doesn't require the machinegun."

In Sirte, a one-time fishing village that Gaddafi's grandiose schemes styled a new "capital of Africa" for the "king of kings", fighters whooped with delight and brandished a golden pistol they said they had taken from Gaddafi.

Accounts were hazy of his final hours, though there was no shortage of fighters willing to claim they saw Gaddafi, who had long pledged to go down fighting, cringing underground, like Saddam eight years ago, and pleading for his life.

FINAL HOURS

One possible description, pieced together from various sources, suggests Gaddafi tried to break out of his final redoubt at dawn in a convoy of vehicles after weeks of dogged resistance. However, he was stopped by a French air strike and captured, possibly some hours later, after gun battles with NTC fighters who found him hiding in a drainage culvert.

NATO said its warplanes fired on a convoy near Sirte about 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), striking two military vehicles in the group, but could not confirm that Gaddafi had been a passenger. France later said its jets had been in action at the time.

Libyan television carried video of two drainage pipes, about a meter across, where it said fighters had cornered a man who long inspired both fear and admiration around the world.

After February's uprising in the long discontented east of the country around Benghazi -- inspired by the Arab Spring movements that overthrew the leaders of neighboring Tunisia and Egypt -- the revolt against Gaddafi ground slowly across the country before a dramatic turn saw Tripoli fall in August.

LIBERATION

An announcement of final liberation was expected in an address by the head of the NTC prepared to the nation of six million. They face the challenge of turning oil wealth once monopolized by Gaddafi and his clan into a democracy that can heal an array of tribal and ethnic divisions he exploited.

The eight weeks since the fall of Tripoli have tested the nerves of the motley alliance of anti-Gaddafi forces and their Western and Arab backers, who had begun to question the ability of the NTC forces to root out diehard Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte and a couple of other towns.

Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces on August 23, a week short of the 42nd anniversary of the military coup which brought him to power in 1969.

By averting a possible dispute in Libya and internationally about where to try him, and denying him a final platform for his trademark lengthy speeches, the summary killing on a desert road may have been helpful for Libyans, some analysts said.

Hundreds of NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town of Sirte for weeks in a chaotic struggle that killed and wounded scores of the besieging forces and an unknown number of defenders. One NTC official on Thursday recalled an estimate that some 40,000 have died this year.

"There is now this massive expectation. Up to now they've had an excuse that they are running a war. They don't have that now ... Everything now has got to happen," John Hamilton, a Libya expert at Cross Border Information, told Reuters.

"That's a hard task. They have to deliver for the people ... On the other hand, this may renew the honeymoon they enjoyed when Tripoli fell."

Some fear instability may linger and unsettle that process.

"Gaddafi is now a martyr and thus can become the rallying point for irredentist or tribal violence -- perhaps not in the immediate future but in the medium-to-long term," said George Joffe, a north Africa expert at Cambridge University.

"The fact that NATO can be blamed for his death is worrying, in terms of regional support, and may undermine the legitimacy of the National Transitional Council."

The death of Gaddafi is a setback to campaigners seeking the full truth about the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland of Pan Am flight 103 which claimed 270 lives, mainly Americans, and for which one of Gaddafi's agents was convicted.

Jim Swire, the father of one of the Lockerbie victims, said: "There is much still to be resolved and we may now have lost an opportunity for getting nearer the truth."
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Death of Gaddafi avoids awkward trial

London, Oct 20– Muammar Gaddafi's apparent death from wounds received during the fall of Sirte means a long and complex trial that could have divided Libya and embarrassed Western governments and oil firms will be avoided.

A senior National Transitional Council (TNC) military official said the former Libyan leader died after capture having earlier been injured in a NATO airstrike on a convoy fleeing the town. Earlier reports and rumours of his capture had sparked celebrations across Libya and helped oil prices lower.

Had he been taken alive, there would have been potentially acrimonious debate over whether he should be tried in Libya or extradited to the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for his arrest along with his oldest son and spy chief earlier this year.

Any trial might have given the flamboyant, often idiosyncratic Gaddafi a podium from which to harang both Libya's new rulers and Western powers, as well as potentially try to embarrass them on issues they would rather forget. As Libya was nudged back from international isolation in the last decade, international oil companies signed deals worth billions.

But worse still for the transitional government and NATO, analysts say, would have been for Gaddafi to have remained at large, perhaps simply disappearing into the Sahara to form new militias and destabilise Libya and its neighbours.

"It is hugely symbolically important," Alan Fraser, Middle East analyst for risk consultancy AKE, said of the killing.

"It helps the NTC move on. If Gaddafi has been killed instead of captured, that means they will also avoid a long drawnout trial that could have been very divisive and revealed awkward secrets."

Human rights groups had long said it was important for the Libyan leader to be held to account and any local trial would have offered Libya's new government a chance to showcase its improved accountability.

'Mixed result'

But critics complained many international and locally organised warcrimes trials can sometimes turn into long, drawnout legalistic events or even drift towards becoming show trials. Former leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic often either refused to acknowledge their jurisdiction or use them to berate their new captors.

The ousted leader might well have used the opportunity to open old political wounds and inflict as much new political damage as he could.

"Colonel Gaddafi's death is a mixed event for the new Libyan authorities," said Daniel Korski, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a long-term supporter of NATO intervention.

"They avoid a drawn-out judicial drama a la Slobodan Milosevic, which could have rallied people in the ex-dictator's support, but his death also robs the new Libyan government of the opportunity of showing themselves better than he was.... His death, in such violent circumstances, also risks creating a martyr figure out of a man whose deeds in life would never have merited such acclaim."

International media would have jumped on any juicy details on how Western states wooed Gaddafi, helped bank his billions and rebuild his oil industry. Many large firms struck deals with Tripoli including Italy's ENI, France's Total, Britain's BP and others.

That risk has not entirely gone away. Some of Gaddafi's sons may still be at large and could potentially stand trial themselves.

Too much killing?

If Libya's NTC had wanted to try Gaddafi locally, they would have had to swiftly build an entire legal system within which to do so. Gaddafi's Libya had little in the way of credible legal infrastructure and there might have been serious questions over the legitimacy of any process.

With Osama bin Laden killed in a U.S. special forces raid earlier this year and al Qaeda and Taliban leaders also increasingly targeted through drone strikes, some worry assassination or "accidental" killing of foes -- rather than messy trials or imprisonment in places like Guantanamo Bay -- has become an all too attractive option.

"To say that it is better for everyone that he be killed rather than captured is to say that the legal approach has disadvantages, and that is to surrender to cynicism," said Rosemary Hollis, head of the Middle East studies program at London's City University.

"It's hard to see that as a good thing. In Gaddafi's case, on previous form had he been put on trial he would simply have rambled endlessly and would have ended up undermining his own credibility."

With his death, she said, there was a risk the death might further incense some of his more diehard supporters and other radicals, particularly if it emerged he was killed by the NATO strike or executed after capture. Other analysts warn Gaddafi's death may be far from the end of Libya's troubles.

"If you look at Iraq, Saddam Hussein's capture did not stop the insurgency," says Anthony Skinner, Middle East director of risk consultancy Maplecroft. "They are both very different countries, but Libya also has ethnic divisions and whatever happens there are a lot of issues to solve."
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Palestinian UN bid seen decided in November: diplomats

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 21- A Palestinian quest for UN membership is likely to come to a head on or around November 11, when Security Council ambassadors plan a final meeting to decide their response, diplomats said on Wednesday.

The date represents a delay in dealing with the Palestinian application, submitted by President Mahmoud Abbas on September 23, amid hopes that indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks scheduled for next week could get a peace process off the ground.

The November 11 meeting could result in a vote by the divided council, diplomats said. The United States, which supports its ally Israel in strongly opposing the membership bid, is considered certain to veto it but the Palestinians may seek a vote anyway if they can show majority support in the council.

The Palestinians have long held the status of an "observer entity" at the United Nations, but that does not allow them to vote. They say they have now acquired the effective attributes of a state and merit the full UN membership that Israel has.

Membership is formally approved by the 193-nation General Assembly but that requires a Security Council recommendation.

"The 11th (of November) will probably be the end of the Security Council consideration process, one way or the other," a senior council diplomat said following a meeting of envoys on Tuesday that agreed to a timetable. "If the Palestinians want a vote, there will be a vote."

Such a Palestinian request would be channeled through Lebanon, the sole Arab state currently on the 15-nation council.

Under UN rules for applications, council diplomats are currently discussing technical issues of whether Palestine is a state, is "peace-loving," and willing to fulfill the obligations of the UN charter -- all requirements for membership. But members are expected ultimately to vote on political grounds.

TIMETABLE

Diplomats said indications so far were that the Palestinians would push for a vote next month, but that could change if prospects improved for peace negotiations.

International mediators will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials on October 26 in Jerusalem to try to revive direct peace talks that ended more than a year ago.

"If they were to make progress, and there were to be further meetings over the following few days, then obviously that could affect the Security Council timetable," said the senior diplomat, who asked not to be identified.

Many analysts, however, think a breakthrough is unlikely, with the Palestinians continuing to reject direct talks unless Israel halts settlement activities in the West Bank and Israel refusing to do so.

While the Palestinian application looks certain to fail in the council, Abbas has made a major effort to attract nine votes in support -- which would oblige the United States to use its veto and be seen by Palestinians as a moral victory. To pass, council resolutions need nine votes and no vetoes.

Diplomats currently expect eight council members to back the Palestinians and six to vote against or abstain. There is uncertainty over Bosnia, the three members of whose collective presidency -- Muslim, Serb and Croat -- disagree over which way to vote, diplomats say.

If the application fails in the council, the Palestinians could ask the General Assembly to upgrade their status to "nonmember state" observer, which would not require council endorsement. That would imply UN recognition of statehood and could help the Palestinians join international bodies.
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Clinton talks tough on militants ahead of Pakistan trip

Thu, Oct 21th, 2011 6:45 am

KABUL, Oct 20- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a tough warning to Pakistan on the eve of a visit to the country Thursday, saying it was time for Islamabad to decide whether it would help or hinder the US-led war on militants.

Clinton, in Kabul for meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, used a news conference to announce her visit to Islamabad, where she will be accompanied by the new US top military officer and new CIA chief to deliver what amounts to an ultimatum.

"We must send a clear, unequivocal message to the government and people of Pakistan that they must be part of the solution and that means ridding their own country of terrorists who kill their own people and cross the border to kill in Afghanistan," Clinton said.

"We're going to be fighting, we're going to be talking and we're going to be building. And they can either be helping or hindering, but we are not going to stop our efforts."

Clinton's visit to Pakistan, which had not been announced due to security concerns, comes at a tricky moment in relations between Washington and Islamabad following charges by US officials that Pakistan is playing a double game with militants who operate on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.

US and Afghan officials have drawn links between elements within Pakistan and both September's 20-hour attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul and days later the assassination of Afghanistan's top peace envoy.

The tensions have complicated the outlook as the Obama administration pushes ahead with plans to draw down troops and hand security control to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

DETERMINED MESSAGE

Clinton will be joined for talks in Islamabad Friday by new CIA director David Petraeus and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, a clear sign that Washington is determined to get its message across.

U.S. officials had earlier said Clinton would seek to strike a constructive tone in discussions with Pakistani leaders, who have strongly denied backing insurgents and accused the United States of ignoring Pakistan's own interests in the battle against militants.

But Clinton Thursday took a clearly combative tone, saying Islamabad had a choice to make. "It is a time for clarity. It is a time for people to declare themselves as to how we are going to work together," she said.

Clinton said the United States still believed it would be possible to reach a political solution to the decade-old conflict in Afghanistan and repeated that the Taliban should agree to enter the non-violent political process or faced "continued assault" from the U.S.-led alliance.

"Reconciliation is still possible. Indeed, it represents the best hope for Afghanistan and the region. But success will take an inclusive national dialogue and sustained political (support), including from Afghanistan's neighbors," she said.

Karzai, for his part, said the focus of the Afghan peace effort would now be Pakistan -- which he said effectively controlled the militants and provided them with safe havens from which to launch their attacks.

"Unless we pay attention to sanctuaries, and unless we go to the proper authority that leads and controls all that, we will not be able to have either a successful peace process or a successful campaign against terrorism," he said.

Clinton, too, focused on militant safe havens in Pakistan, saying it was time "to turn with real intensity to the safe havens within Pakistan," including those allegedly used by the Haqqani network, one of the most feared of such groups.

"Now it is a question how much cooperation Pakistan will provide going after those safe havens," she said.

Clinton's visit to Pakistan comes a day after army chief General Ashfaq Kayani told parliament's defense committee the United States should focus on stabilizing Afghanistan instead of pushing Pakistan to attack the Haqqanis in the border region.

"The problem lies in Afghanistan, not Pakistan," a committee member told Reuters Wednesday, quoting Kayani. The MP spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan's powerful military, which sets security and foreign policy, has been reluctant to attack the border region of North Waziristan, saying it was stretched fighting homegrown Taliban fighters elsewhere in Pakistan.
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Govt pocketed Padma fund: Khaleda

Naogaon, Oct 19 — The government has 'gulped down the money given by foreigners to build a bridge on the river Padma', BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia alleges.

She levelled the charge of fund misappropriation at a street rally in Naogaon on Wednesday, though the donors are yet to give any fund for the Padma bridge project.

About the World Bank's suspending fund for the project following allegations of corruption, the opposition leader said, "The government has gulped down the money given by the foreigners for the project. So the World Bank suspended the funding."

She said it is not possible to implement such a large project without foreign funds.

"The Padma bridge will not be built if this government holds the power. So they'll (the government) have to go," she added.

The BNP chairperson also demanded withdrawal of a sedition case against Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini, a leader of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote. He is facing arrest warrant in the case.

"The consequences of arresting Mufti Amini will not be good," she said.

Starting from Dhaka for Chapainawabganj in the morning on Tuesday, Khaleda's motorcade reached Bogra in the afternoon. After an overnight stay in Bogra, the home district of BNP founder and her husband Ziaur Rahman, she reached Naogaon in the noon and thereafter, left for Chapainawabganj.

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10 new judges take oath

Dhaka, Oct 20 —Ten newly appointed High Court judges have taken oath.

Chief justice Mohammad Muzammel Hossain administered the oath at the Judges' Lounge of the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The president appointed Supreme Court lawyers S H Mohammad Nurul Huda Jaigirdar, K M Kamrul Kader Ripon and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar, and deputy attorneys general Mohammad Mojibur Rahman Miah, Mostofa Jaman Islam and Mohammad Ullah on Oct 4.

Supreme Court lawyers A K M Shahidul Haque and Abu Taher Mohammad Saifur Rahman, Law and Justice Division acting secretary Shahidul Karim and district judge Mohammad Jahangir Hossain got appointment on Wednesday.

With the fresh additions, the number of High Court judges stands at 98.

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Huda denies Padma bridge blame

Dhaka, Oct 20 — A former communications minister has denied the allegations of corruption in the Padma Bridge project brought by the prime minister.

"The prime minister has lied about me regarding the Padma bridge project," BNP's Nazmul Huda told the press at an emergency meet on Thursday.

"The World Bank committed to the large loan for Padma Bridge because of the four-party alliance (led by BNP) government's success with Mahakhali flyover, DUTP (Dhaka Urban Transport Project) and other projects," he said.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina at a rally on Wednesday said that corruption in the communications ministry during the last BNP government led to the suspension of funds.

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Hasina blames BNP for Padma mess

Lalmonirhat, Oct 19 — The World Bank suspended funding for the Padma bridge project due to 'corruption during the BNP's tenure', prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

"Corruption in the communications ministry during the last BNP government led to the halting of funding," she told a public meeting at Patgram on Wednesday.

Several cases over charges of corruption had been filed against Nazmul Huda—the communications minister of the last BNP-led four-party alliance government—during the caretaker government's tenure.

On a visit to Lalmonirhat to declare officially Tin Bigha corridor open round the clock, the prime minister said the difficulties in signing of Teesta deal and swapping enclaves with India would be overcome soon.

She also inaugurated Dahagram-Angorpota power distribution line at Dahagram School ground.

After the inauguration, she assured residents of Dahagram-Angorpota enclaves that the government would provide all help to improve their living standard.

In her speech, Hasina also slammed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

"We want that there are no hartals, killings or militancy in the country so that people can live peacefully. We want our people to live with pride, but Khaleda Zia wants the people of the country walk with their heads down. She lives with terrorists and criminals," she said.
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Eid-special counter for launch tickets

Dhaka, Oct 19 – Launch owners have opened a special office at Purana Paltan in the city for sale of advance launch tickets and cabin booking to reduce the sufferings of the homebound people during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.

General launch passengers will be offered a 10 percent discount on the prices of tickets, in case of journeys over 100 kilometres.

The launch owners made the announcement at an inter-ministerial meeting at the shipping ministry in presence of shipping minister Shahjahan Khan on Wednesday.

After the meeting, Shahjahan told reporters that the Launch Owners Association have decided not to increase launch fares during the festival.

He said the launch owners opened the office and counter at Purana Paltan at their own cost to reduce the hassles of buying tickets.

The minister further said the government has decided to launch another launch terminal at Postagola cremation ground to reduce pressure at Sadarghat launch terminal.

President of the Launch Owners Association Mahbub Uddin Ahmed warned of stern action if allegations of charging additional fares are found against any vessel owner during the festival.

As per the latest launch fares announced by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), it is Tk 1.30 for 1 to 100 km and Tk 1 for over 100 km. The minimum fare is Tk 12.

Member of the parliamentary standing committee on the shipping ministry Nazrul Islam Babu, shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader, BIWTA chairman Shamsuddoha Khandaker and director general of the sea transportation directorate Jobair Ahmed were also present at the meeting.
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Why Muhith in office? asks Khaleda

Chapainawabganj, Oct 19 — The opposition chief has asked why the finance minister is still in office if does not know how to revive the stock market.

"Money that belonged to 3.3 million investors has been looted and laundered off abroad," BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia said on Wednesday.

"As a result, the value of our currency has fallen. The price of dollars and pounds has risen. Those who looted the share market have yet not been tried.

"Now the finance minister says he does not understand share markets. Then why is he in office?" Khaleda asked.

Finance minister A M A Muhith on Tuesday expressed his frustration over the flagging capital market and said he does not know how to tackle the situation.

"There is no problem with the primary market. The problem is with the secondary market," he had told reporters at his office.

"A slew of measures are being taken to steady the secondary market. Still, the market is not returning to normal. I don't know how it will get right," he added.

Khaleda raised her question addressing a public meeting to close the second road march of the opposition at the Chapainawabganj Government High School ground on Wednesday.

Starting from Dhaka for Chapainawabganj in the morning on Tuesday, Khaleda's road march motorcade reached Bogra in the afternoon. After overnighting in Bogra, the home district of BNP founder and her husband Ziaur Rahman, she reached Naogaon in the noon and spoke at a rally.

The march entered Chapainawabganj around 5pm. She started for Dhaka at 8.15pm from the Chapainawabganj Circuit House.

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Hitches in Teesta deal, enclaves to go soon: PM

Lalmonirhat, Oct 19 (bdnews24.com) — Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said the difficulties over signing of Teesta deal and swapping enclaves with India will be overcome soon.

On a visit to Lalmonirhat on Wednesday to declare Tin Bigha corridor open round the clock, Hasina said, "India is a friendly country. We have good relations with them. I hope the Teesta deal will be signed soon."

The corridor connects Dahagram-Angorpota enclaves along the border.

Asked about enclaves, she said, "We are hopeful about this, too. I hope it (enclave swap) will start soon."

She arrived at the corridor around 12:45pm. Indian health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and state minister for home affairs Jitin Prasada welcomed her there.

Earlier, she inaugurated Dahagram-Angorpota power distribution line at Dahagram School ground.

After the inauguration, she assured residents of Dahagram-Angorpota enclaves that the government would provide all help to improve their living standard.

"Everything will be done to ensure your education, health, shelter and food. Those having no house will get houses for free," she said.

She emphasised on education to diminish poverty. "There is no alternative to education. So, a college and a madrasa will be built here."

"You have lived lives of prisoners for long. Your imprisonment has ended with the opening of the corridor 24 hours a day," she said.

Awami League's Dahagram unit president Mohammad Kamal Hossain presided over the inaugural function. Health minister A F M Ruhal Haque and state minister for power Enamul Huq accompanied the prime minister.

THE CORRIDOR

The corridor gate, which had always been shut after 6pm despite the 1974 treaty between India and Bangladesh, was thrown open at 6pm on Sep 8 following signing of a protocol during Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka.

The protocol to the 'Agreement Concerning the Demarcation between India and Bangladesh and Related Matters', signed on Sep 6, seeks to address all outstanding land boundary disputes for a final solution.

The corridor had so far been kept open from morning until evening to visit or come out of the enclaves falling under Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat. Now, it will be under the vigil of Indian security men.

Bangladesh was granted the route through the Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Mujibur Rahman treaty of 1974. But the authority remained with India, though Bangladesh in exchange for the enclaves had given South Berubari area.

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GP must pay: BTRC chief

Dhaka Oct 19 (bdnews24.com)—Grameenphone must pay the Tk 30 billion in 'unpaid revenue, SIM taxes and interest', but there is still time for talks, the BTRC chairman said on Wednesday – just five days before the regulator's deadline.

"They have to pay," retired major general Zia Ahmed told bdnews24.com in an exclusive interview, "the doors for discussions are still open."

The BTRC deadline for GP ends on Oct 24, but both parties refused to soften their positions, fighting a war of words through the media since the Tk 3034 crore letter arrived at the operator's imposing headquarters in capital's Baridhara on Oct 3.

"Grameenphone can always get a copy of the audit report if they want," Zia Ahmed insisted.

"They can also bring international experts to negotiations with us," he added.

Zia Ahmed was responding to GP offensive in the past few days when Norway's Telenor-controlled mobile operator termed the audit "flawed" and said the auditors lacked sufficient knowledge of the industry.

Three days earlier, Sigve Brekke, the Bangkok-based chairman of Grameenphone, said on Sunday he did not see any reason for the company to pay that sum and alleged that the audit by the regulators was 'flawed'.

"We would like to see the audit report," Brekke had told a press conference.
"We are not questioning the regulator's right to conduct audit but we have concerns about the process," said the Telenor official. "They have to follow best practices and international standards."

The GP chairman said he wanted international auditors to do the job. "As an investor, we will protect our investment, as well as the interest of our thousands of shareholders and 35 million customers."

"If they can prove that some parts of the audit report exaggerate the claims, we'll obviously deduct that amount," Zia Ahmed said in Wednesday's interview.

"Grameenphone must sit for negotiations by Oct 24," he told bdnews24.com. "I firmly believe that Grameenphone will pay up."

GP has been saying it is ready for talks but only after the 'withdrawal' of the Oct 3 letter. The BTRC says the taking the letter back has not been on the cards.

The BTRC chairman defended the audit process. "Grameenphone hadn't raised any objections when the audit began six months ago. Why are they talking about international audit now?"

On Sunday, the telecoms minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu said at a function: "The government will act within the law."

In the wake of the deadlock, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, the group CEO of Telenor, the majority owners of Grameenphone, met prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday and expressed concern about the fate of its investment in Bangladesh.

A day later, Brekke, also the Asia chief of the Norwegian company, said he saw "a huge potential" for Bangladesh's telecom industry, with high demand for voice and data connectivity.

Telenor owns 55.8 percent stake in GP, Grameen Telecom 34.2 and the rest 10 percent is held by public and GP employees.

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Ashraful, Razzak axed for WI Tests

Chittagong, Oct 18 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Bangladesh axed former captain Mohammad Ashraful and left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak in naming a 14-man squad on Tuesday for the upcoming Test series against West Indies.

Middle-order batsmen Raqibul Hasan and Naeem Islam were recalled in the Test side which also saw no place for paceman Shafiul Islam.

Shafiul, who claimed 2-21 in Tuesday's final one-day international against West Indies, was left out in favour of Shahadat Hossain.

The Test series begins on Friday in Chittagong, where Bangladesh skittled West Indies out for 61 runs and romped to an eight-wicket win in the third ODI.

The second Test will be held in Dhaka from October 29 to November 2.

SQUAD:

Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Shakib Al Hasan, Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Mohammad Sohrawordi, Shuvagata Hom

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Education for all children: PM

Dhaka, Oct 18 (bdnews24.com)—The prime minister has emphasised ensuring education for children, saying that it will usher in a bright future for the country.

"Child rights have to be established. Ensure that no child is deprived from education," Sheikh Hasina added, while addressing a programme organised by Sheikh Russel Shishu-Kishor Parishad on Tuesday, marking the 47th birth anniversary of her youngest brother Sheikh Russel.

She continued that the children are the future leaders of the country and urged them to concentrate on their studies to become good human beings.

Only two days before, education minister Nurul Islam Nahid claimed at a programme in Sylhet that more than 99 percent of eligible children go to school. However, there are debates over the government statistics.

She reminisced of her younger brother and his death in the Aug 15 killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other family members, and lamented, "Rehana and I survived since we were in Germany at the time. If we had taken him with us, he would have survived."

Hasina went on to highlight various initiatives taken by the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust to help out deprived children.

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AL backs Shamim, Ivy adamant

Dhaka, Oct 18 (bdnews24.com)–Narayanganj City mayor candidate Selina Hayat Ivy has said she will be there in the race, hours after her party gave out its support to rival Shamim Osman.

"I pursue politics with Awami League. I am now in the field, and would be there in future. I've no scope to step back," she told bdnews24.com on Tuesday night.

"People will answer me on Oct 30 through vote," she added.

Ending days of suspense, Awami League announced Shamim Osman as its favourite Narayanganj City Corporation mayor candidate.

Earlier in the evening, party's acting general secretary Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif told bdnews24.com that Awami League had decided to lend out its support to Shamim.

When asked for a reaction to the party position, Ivy said, "I am outside. I don't know what Mr Hanif has said."

The former Narayanganj municipality mayor added that she would issue an official reaction on Wednesday after confirming the party's announcement.

There have been confusions over the ruling party's support to its two members who are vying for the first NCC polls.

Both are members of influential political families.

Over Election Commission's repeated warnings, Awami League's top leadership held multiple prolonged meetings with the two but was unable to convince either to withdraw.

Ivy, who is a doctor by training and the daughter of Ali Ahmad Chunka, the former Narayanganj municipality mayor, will be running the polls with 'pen-inkpot' symbol.

Shamim, whose brothers Nasim and Selim are MP and BKMEA president respectively, has been given 'wall clock'.

Six candidates are contesting the mayor's post while 300 for councilor posts in the NCC elections scheduled for Oct 30.

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Dhaka City to split in two

Dhaka, Oct 17 (bdnews24.com) — The cabinet has in principle cleared a proposal to amend local government law to split Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) into two separate entities.

The proposal to amend the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009 was cleared at Monday's cabinet meeting, prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.

As per the proposal, the civic body will be divided into two — north and south. The new northern city corporation will be formed with 36 of the total 92 wards and the southern one will have the remaining 56.

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Khaleda begins road march for CG system

Dhaka, Oct 18 (bdnews24.com)—Opposition leader and BNP chief Khaleda Zia has set off her second road march as she is heading toward Chapainawabganj to gain support for reinstatement of the caretaker government system.

Her convoy, consisting of more than 2,000 vehicles, set off from House Building intersection of the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in Uttara around 10.45am on Tuesday.

Large number of supporters and activists of the party greeted her on her way to Uttara.

The road march has been organised to demand that the government put the caretaker government system back in place. The party and its alliance also demands mid-term elections, saying the government has failed to run the country.

Khaleda is set to address four street rallies in four districts during the two-day march.

Following a Supreme Court decision ordering the scrapping of the 13th constitutional amendment that had introduced the caretaker government system, the government repealed the 15-year-old system through the 15th amendment this year.

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Prisoner swap for captured Israeli soldier underway

JERUSALEM, Oct 18 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - A long-awaited prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas began before dawn on Tuesday when the first of hundreds of Palestinian inmates were bused from their jails to border crossings where they will be swapped for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The first phase of the exchange, expected to take several hours, will end a saga that has gripped Israelis over the five years of Shalit's captivity in Gaza.

A long and heavily guarded convoy left a prison in Israel's southern Negev desert where the majority of inmates had been held. A small group of female prisoners departed from a second jail in the center of the country.

Most prisoners will be taken to the Kerem Shalom crossing that borders Egypt and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Others will be released in the West Bank.

Egypt, which helped broker the deal, will receive Shalit from his Hamas captors and hand him over to Israel at the same time as the 477 Palestinians are officially released.

The deal received a green light from Israel's Supreme Court late on Monday after it rejected petitions from the public to prevent the mass release of prisoners, many serving life sentences for deadly attacks.

Shalit, now 25, was abducted in June 2006 by militants who tunneled into Israel from the Gaza Strip and surprised his tank crew, killing two of his comrades. He has since been held incommunicado and was last seen looking pale and thin in a 2009 video shot by his captors.

Upon his release, Shalit will be flown by helicopter to an air base in the center of Israel where he will be greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reunited with his family. Later he will fly to his home in northern Israel.

In the second phase of the swap, expected to take place in about two months, a further 550 Palestinian prisoners will be freed, officials said.

HIGH PRICE

The repatriation of captured soldiers, alive or dead, has long been an emotionally charged issue for Israelis. Many have served in the military as conscripts and see it as sacrosanct. But they also feel stung by the high price they feel Israel is paying for Shalit.

"I understand the difficulty in accepting that the vile people who committed the heinous crimes against your loved ones will not pay the full price they deserve," Netanyahu wrote in a letter, released by his office, to bereaved Israeli families.

Hamas prepared a heroes' welcome in Gaza for 295 of those due to be sent to the coastal territory. Palestinians regard those jailed by Israel as prisoners of war in a struggle for statehood. Israel has some 6,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the point that the prisoners left their jails "a historic moment."

Of the prisoners, 41 will be exiled to Turkey, Qatar and Syria.

Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, tightened its blockade of the coastal territory after Shalit was seized and taken there.

The deal with Hamas, a group classified by the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization over its refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence, is not expected to have a direct impact on efforts to revive Middle East peace talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival, has been pursuing U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood in the absence of negotiations with Israel that collapsed 13 months ago in a dispute over settlement-building in the occupied West Bank.

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Investors insist on PM's assurance

Dhaka, Oct 17 (bdnews24.com)—Retail investors on a hunger strike since Sunday have said they will continue with their protest until the prime minister 'herself' gives specific orders to prop up the tumbling share market.

The individual protestors, who were dispersed by police on the street in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rushed a press briefing at the National Press Club Monday noon.

Bangladesh Capital Market Investors' Unity Council organisation secretary Shahadat Ullah Firoz told journalists: "Police forced us out of the DSE area. We will hold our hunger-strike programme here. Our protest will continue until the prime minister gives specific orders on the issue."

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Cabinet nods DCC bifurcation

Dhaka, Oct 17 (bdnews24.com) — The cabinet has in principle cleared a proposal to amend local government law to split Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) into two separate entities.

The proposal to amend the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009 was cleared at Monday's cabinet meeting, prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.

As per the proposal, the civic body will be divided into two — north and south. The new northern city corporation will be formed with 36 of the total 92 wards and the southern one will have the remaining 56.


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Stocks protest rolls into the night

Dhaka, Oct 16 (bdnews24.com) — Small, individual investors on a hunger strike have demonstrated overnight at Motijheel in the capital for stock market stability.

Threatening to fast to their death since Sunday from morning, they say they will not break their fast unless prime minister Sheikh Hasina reassures them.

"We'll not break our fast until the prime minister or her representative gives an assurance to maintain stability in the stock market," Bangladesh Capital Market Investors' Unity Council president Mizanur Rashid Chowdhury told reporters in the afternoon on Sunday.

They began the hunger strike with the start of the day's trading on Dhaka Stock Exchange. Many of the protesting small investors wore white scarf as a symbol of burial cloth to convey the message that they are dead and buried.

Jatiya Party chairman Hussein Muhammad Ershad, BNP leader Abdul Moyeen Khan, Communist Party of Bangladesh central leader Sazzad Zahir Chandan, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president A S M Abdur Rob and general secretary Abdul Malek Ratan, and Bangladesh Jatiya Party chairman Andalib Rahman Partha came to speak to the demonstrators.

Ershad urged the investors to put off their demonstration, saying he would convey their message to the prime minister.

He also demanded exemplary punishment to 'those behind the fall'.

BNP leader Moyen Khan expressed his solidarity with the protestors.

"The share market sees fall whenever Awami League comes to power. It happened earlier, and this time again," he said and added that his party would compensate the investors once they came to power.

"Those behind the crash will be tried," he said.

Rob said, "Going by the situation, it doesn't look like there exists any government worth the name."

Earlier, Communist Party of Bangladesh central leader Sazzad Zahir Chandan also announced party's solidarity with the protestors.

"We'll do whatever is needed for the investors," he said.

The members of the Bangladesh Capital Market Investors' Council began their hunger strike in front of the DSE in the morning on Sunday as share prices continued to sink right since the opening of the week's trading. Traffic on the street in front of the DSE came to a grinding halt around 2:45pm due to the demonstration.

Sazzad Hossain, joint secretary of the council, told bdnews24.com that they would fast unless a circular on the tax cut decisions taken on Wednesday was published.

The market regulator, Securities and Exchanges Commission, held talks with stakeholders on Wednesday, following investors' agitation over the last few days in protest against the slump in the market.

At the end of a meeting with the National Board of Revenue, SEC chief M Khairul Hossain said the NBR had agreed to provide income tax rebate on stock market investment, lower taxes on mutual funds and also halve the current 0.10 percent tax at source on stock market brokerage commission.

Of the 263 issues traded on the DSE on Sunday, 250 declined, only 11 advanced and two remained unchanged.

The DSE general index plummeted 181.31 points or 3.25 percent to 5387.04 points. The turnover stood at Tk 2.58 billion.

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Padma row near-over, Muhith claims

Dhaka, Oct 16 (bdnews24.com) – Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith says the government has 'almost' resolved the confusion with the World Bank over its funding of the much-hyped Padma bridge project.

"We've almost reached a solution. I can't say anything more about it," he told reporters on Sunday at the finance ministry.

He said the government is preparing a letter to clarify its position on the international money lender's allegations of corruption in the project.

"Prime minister Sheikh Hasina's advisor Moshiur Rahman has been told to prepare the letter. He'll send it to her after finishing it."

He said, "I'll send it to the World Bank vice-president after it comes to me. Afterwards, the government will issue a press note in this regard."

He also said that all of these would happen this week.

Muhith termed the uncertainty over the WB funding as a 'temporary matter' and added, "Everything will be fine."

The country's biggest-ever infrastructure project worth $2.9 billion is to be co-financed by the World Bank, with the global lender offering a $1.2-billion assistance promise. But last week they announced suspension of funding on charges of corruption and irregularities in the tender process.

Although allegations was levelled against communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, and the secretary of bridges division was transferred over the matter, Bangladesh government has so far denied the charges.

The corruption issue came to light when World Bank requested the Canadian authorities to inspect an alleged misconduct of SNC Lavalene, which had been short listed for Padma bridge project's monitoring.

Quoting World Bank vice president Isabel Guerrero, foreign minister Dipu Moni on Sunday said they have assured that the deadlock over the project's funding would be resolved soon.

She told reporters that the World Bank vice president gave the assurance during a conversation on Oct 13. "I told her that we need this."

The government signed loan deals with the WB on Apr 28, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on May 18, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) on May 24 and with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on June 6 this year to get $2.4-billion credit.

The ADB will give Bangladesh $615 million, IDB $140 million and JICA will give $415 million for the project. The government will spend the rest of money from its coffers.

The 10-kilometre bridge will be the longest in Asia. Six kilometres of the bridge will be built over the river while four kilometres on the land to link the country's central region with the South.

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