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Two non-governmental organisations in a joint study have found that the northern indigenous people are deprived of their rights to franchise as they frequently face threats of eviction from their homesteads from campaigners of major election contenders.
   ‘Most of the indigenous people find that their votes were cast before they even reached at the polling centres,’ M Zakaria, a researcher of the northwest indigenous livelihood study conducted by Bangladesh chapter of CARE and Gram Bikash Kendra, said while releasing the study at a seminar on Thursday.
   The study looked into the socio-economic conditions, access to natural resources and government organisations, land rights, food security and medicare facilities of the indigenous people, said the organisers.
   During pre-election campaign, the candidates and their followers intimidated the indigenous people, and sometimes even repressed them physically for supporting the candidates. These people cannot cast their votes without fear, according to the study.
   The study observes that the indigenous households, mostly dependent on agriculture and natural resources including wild animals, have only eight months of food security a year. Seventy-four percent families are dependent on farm work, mainly through selling their labour, said the study.
   The study also found that 36 per cent indigenous families do not have homesteads and 61 per cent do not own arable land. The indigenous families are also rapidly losing their land, said the report.
   The indigenous people are facing discrimination from the government services and the union councils.
   Except the non-governmental organisations, the indigenous people have little representation either in government or in semi-government organisations, the report said.
   Regarding healthcare, the report said 81 per cent of the indigenous people depend on their indigenous system and often rely on the witch doctors.
   The report found that 86 per cent children between 6 and 10 years attend school and only 68 percent complete primary education.
   The report found seven percent of the women were raped within the last year and often faced different types of sexual harassment at their work places.
   The report recommended a separate land commission, constitutional recognition of ethnicity and culture of the indigenous people and boosting social harmony to establish social security of the indigenous people.

A six-member team of journalists led by Abu Jafar Khan, secretary of the Patuakhali Press Club, visited Baufal on August 11 noon.
   They visited the house and family of Manjur Morshed, who was tortured by BNP cadres on Tuesday for a report he had filed about the local BNP lawmaker.
   The team collected some of the local journalists and opened the Baufal Press Club, which had been locked up, and held a protest meeting there.
   From that meeting, journalists of Bauphal and Patuakhali Press Clubs announced a programme of boycotting all positive news of lawmaker Shahidul Alam Talukdar till he apologised unconditionally.
   They also demanded immediate removal of Nur Muhammad, officer-in-charge of the Bauphal police station due to his partisan role and refusing to accept a case lodged by the journalists.
   The protesting journalists gave an ultimatum of seven days and warned that it would be followed by tougher programmes if their demand is not fulfilled.
   Aminul Islam, local correspondent of Ittefaq and president of the Bauphal Press Club, presided over the meeting.
   Qamruzzaman Bachchu and Md Sohel, Bauphal correspondents of Janakantha and Manav Zamin, Abu Jafar Khan, Patuakhali correspondent of Banglabazar, Jafar Khan of Jugantar, Golam Kibria of Naya Diganta, Swapan Farazi of Tentualia, Enayetur Rahman, editor of daily Rupantor and others addressed the meeting.
   After the team from Patuakhali left Bauphal, the local journalists went into hiding again because the BNP cadres were on continuous patrol on the streets.
   The Patuakhali team returned in the afternoon and also held a protest meeting at the Patuakhali Press Club condemning the assault.
   The Barisal Reporters Unity observed protest programmes including a protest rally and in the city on Thursday.
   Barisal Journalist Union, Mass Line Media Center, BM University Journalists Association and journalists of Gournadi, Agailjhara, Bauphal, Muladi and other places expressed their solidarity with the unity and participated in the programme.
   The protesting journalists chanted slogans against the increasing repression on journalists in the southern region and demanded punishment of those responsible.
   They condemned the recent attacks on journalists at Bauphal and at Borhanuddin in Bhola by Hafiz Ibrahim, the local lawmaker of Borhanuddin.
   The rally was presided over by Mir Maniruzzaman, president of the Barisal unity and addressed by Swapan Khondokar, secretary Anisur Rahman Swapan, Arup Talukdar, Toufiq Maruf and Mintu Bose, Nazrul Biswas, convener of Grassroots Journalists Forum, Akter Faruk Shahin and Liton Bashar, Barisal correspondents of daily Star and Ittefaq, Tapan Bose of Agailjhara Reporters Unity, and others.

The two leaders of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of the ruling BNP, and one of their associates, were placed on a two-day police remand again on Thursday.
   At the end of their three-day remand on Wednesday, the Ramna police produced the two leaders, Mostafizur Rahman Mamun and Harunur Rashid alias Dog Shishir, and their associate Ashraf Ali before the chief metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday and sought a five-day remand.
   Submitting the police forwarding report, the prosecution said the accused had given important information during the police interrogation.
   ‘They have more illegal arms and named some of their associates during the police interrogation which is to be verified’, the prosecution said.
   Opposing the police remand and praying for bail, the defence lawyer, Reazul Islam Azad, said the allegation brought against Mamun was false and fabricated.
   ‘It is a political game to destroy Mamun’s political carrier’, he argued.
   Hearing both the sides, the metropolitan magistrate, Shafiq Anwar, rejected the bail petition and granted two-day police remand.
   The court also directed the investigation officer of the case to take necessary step for treatment of Mamun.
   On August 6, a team of the Rapid Action Battalion arrested the three from a room of the Mush Enterprise at Aziz Co-operative Market at noon in possession of a pistol with ammunition.

The police recovered the bodies of a truck driver and his helper from Keraniganj early Thursday more than three days after their abduction along with the truck from the Uttara.
   The bodies of driver Sohag Miah, 30, and helper Ayub Ali, 25, were found lying in a wetland at Chunkutia Chanditola under the Keraniganj police station.
   They were strangled and the killers dumped their bodies at the wetland, suspect the police.
   The police said the hijackers hired the truck for carrying sand and hijacked the truck from the House Building area in Uttara on the night of August 7.
   The truck owner, Abdul Jabbar of Lalbagh filed a general diary on the following day and the police arrested five people, Rashid, Shahid, Pintu, Selim and Jahangir, suspecting their involvement.
   The police took them on a five-day remand on Wednesday and based on their statements, the Uttara police, with the assistance of the Keraniganj police, recovered the bodies from Chunkutia. The bodies were sent to the Mitford Hospital morgue for post mortem examination.
   The truck could not be recovered till Thursday.

The security personnel arrested a Hindi-speaking man from the runway at the Barisal Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
   The police and airport sources said the man, aged about 35, identified himself as Alamgir, and denied to give any details.
   Crossing the security fencing in the eastern part of the airport, Alamgir entered the runway, and the security men caught him at about 4:25pm, just 45 minutes before the landing of a GMG flight.
   He was handed over to the Babuganj police, and later sent to the jail after he was produced before the court on Thursday morning.
   The airport authorities announced special security alert following the incident.

Bangladesh Air Force Wing Commander M Nazimuddin Miah died on August 10 in Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka. He was 49.
   Wing Commander Nazimuddin was suffering from diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases and other diseases.
   He was buried in BAF Shaheen Graveyard at Tejgaon on 11 August after janaza at BAF Tarmac.
   The chief of Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Fakhrul Azam, senior BAF officers and relatives of the deceased attended the janaza.
   Wing Commander Nazimuddin was born in Tangail on 5 April 1956.
   He was commissioned in Bangladesh Air Force in Legal Branch on 12 September 1984.
   Prior to his death, he was serving as Directing Staff at Command and Staff Training Institute.
   He is survived by his wife and two sons.

A Dhaka City Corporation woman employee was killed and seven others were injured in a road accident at Uttara in the capital on Thursday.
   The police said the accident took place at about 2:00pm when a truck of the corporation carrying the employees fell into a roadside ditch at Ashulia after being hit by a covered van. The employees were going to Gabtali after collecting garbage from Uttara area.
   Motijan, 40, wife of Nazrul Islam, died on the spot, and three of the injured, Yasmin, 25, Rabi Hossain, 25, and Asgar Ali, 35, were admitted to Suhrawardy Hospital in ‘critical’ condition.

nce minister, M Saifur Rahman, on Thursday inaugurated a bridge named after his slain predecessor Shah AMS Kibria of the main opposition Awami League on the river Khowai in the district.
   In a rare gesture of respect for political opponents, the government named the bridge after Kibria.
   While inaugurating the ‘Kibria Bridge, Saifur recalled the contributions of the Kibria to the country’s development and economy and sought divine blessings for the departed soul.
   The shipping minister and minister in charge of Habiganj Akbar Hossain, the state minister for liberation war affairs, Rezaul Karim, the commerce adviser, Barkatullah Bulu, the BNP lawmaker, Abu Lais Mohammad Mobin Chowdhury and the Habiganj Municipality chairman, GK Gaus, were present on the occasion.

Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal on Thursday called upon all the left political forces to be united to end the ‘misrule’ of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
   ‘The alliance government is engulfed in corruption and looting and the people have become frustrated with their misrule, the BSD convenor, Khalequzzaman, told a Muktangan rally.
   He also called upon all the left political forces to be united to unseat the alliance government.
   The two main political parties — the BNP and the Awami League — are in confrontation over reforming the caretaker government and the Election Commission for holding elections in free and fair environment, he said.

Non governmental organisations’ should submit a detailed plan of their activities, programmes and goals to remove confusion or scepticism among the public. AHM Abul Qasem, the secretary for LGRD and cooperatives, on Thursday said there is scepticism about the activities of some of the organisations. ‘The whole sector got a bad name because of few organisations.’
   Qasem spoke as chief guest at the launching ceremony of the country strategic plan of Plan Bangladesh, an organisation working on children.
   He said the government is unable to carry out all the projects needed by the people and urged the non-governmental organisations and the business community to take part for the welfare of the people.
   He suggested that non-governmental organisations should present their detailed plans and activities before the public to remove misunderstanding about their goals and activities.
   Qasem suggested that the organisations should work in coordination with the local government and put their sincere efforts in providing quality education.
   ‘Quality of education has deteriorated and the dropout rate is high among children,’ he said.
   Presenting the ten-year plan, Plan Bangladesh country director Edward Thomas Espey said it would continue to operate in four development programmes under a Child Centred Community Development Framework.
   The programmes are enabling environment programme addressing weak governance and social exclusion, community learning programme, community health care programme and family economic security programme addressing economic development of the landless.
   To carry out the programmes, the organisation will spend $35 million in the next five years. Seventy percent of its funding comes from 27,200 sponsored children, which it plans to increase to 34,200 by 2009.
   Visiting regional director of Plan Asia, Michael Diamond told New Age that he was impressed by the work carried out by Plan Bangladesh and termed it one of the most successful operations.
   In response to a question regarding the organisation’s micro-credit interest rate, officials said its 18 percent ‘service charge’ was far lower than that of many leading non-governmental organisations who charge 40 percent interest.
   About 18,000 organisations, of which about 200 are foreign, are active in Bangladesh. A number of them were heavily criticised in the past for their alleged exploitation of poverty, charging high interest rates and interference in religion and politics.

The capacity of the Chittagong port increased and the average period of stay of ships reduced in the last fiscal 2004-2005.
   However, port users are not happy with the quality of service at the country’s main sea port.
   Sources at the Chittagong Port Authority said container handling rose by 14.05 per cent and cargo handling by 5 per cent in 2004-2005 fiscal.
   The average period of stay of ships at the port came down to 3.9 days from 4.5 days in 2003-2004.
   Sources said 6,46,259 TEUs containers and 2,43,87,389 tonnes of cargos were handled last fiscal while the quantity was 5,59,257 TEUs and 1,93,91,296 tonnes in the previous fiscal.
   The CPA director (traffic), Ahsanul Kabir, told the news agency that some machinery including rubber gantry crane was brought and one stop service was introduced during the period, which has helped in enhancing the port handling capacity.
   The port has the capacity to handle two lakh TEUs containers but it handled over three times higher than the capacity last year, CPA sources said.
   Any modern port in the world uses 70 per cent of its capacity, the sources said.
   They attributed the rise in the port capacity to modernisation and an increase in efficiency.
   Despite increase in the port capacity, port users are not happy with the quality of service.
   Various problems facing importers and exporters in the port still persist although the authorities had taken some steps in this regard last year, a port user said.
   He alleged that a section of port officials have held hostage the port users who are left only at the mercy of them.
   The chairman of the Port Users Forum and Shipping Agents Association, Parvez Sajjad Akhter, said the average period of stay of ships at the Chittagong port was still higher than the ports of neighbouring.
   The authority has employed surplus workers at the port, he said, alleging that they were harassing the port users by forcing them to provide work to extra workers.
   The vice-president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries, MA Latif, said the bribe incidents at the port were increasing day by day. Though TIB published detailed report on bribes at the port, the authority has not taken any step in this regard.

Forest officers backed by security forces recovered about 500 cubic feet of teak wood worth over Tk 5 lakh stacked in a water reservoir of a saw mill at Fisheryghat at Mainimukh under Langadu upazila of the district Wednesday.
   The costly teak, extracted illegally from government reserved forest, was stacked at the saw mill of one Faizul Azim for smuggling after conversion, said sources in the forest department.

Ahmad Taufique Chowdhury, former national amir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, died of cardiac arrest at a city hospital on Wednesday evening. He was 74.
   Chowdhury left behind his wife, one son, and three daughters to mourn his death. He was buried in the Mymensingh Ahmadiyya graveyard on Thursday afternoon after janazas at Bakshibazar in Dhaka, and Mymensingh.
   Taufique joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in 1957 and served the religious group till 1997.

Three members of a family, including a pregnant woman and her two-year-old baby, were killed by some unidentified assailants at Pashchim Medda in the district town early Thursday.
   The victims were identified as Akter Hossain, 38, a contractor, his pregnant wife Sabrina Akter Jolly, 20, and daughter Orna, 2.
   The police said a gang of criminals entered the house of Akter at about 1:00am by cutting grills and hacked them to death.
   Police suspect that the assailants killed them over previous enmity. The bodies were sent to Sadar hospital morgue for autopsy. A case has been filed.

The officer-in-charge of the Shyamnagar police station has been closed and another sub-inspector of police suspended for neglect of duty during investigation into two sensational cases.
   On instruction from the higher authorities, the police super, Abdur Rahim, on Thursday took the punitive action against OC Kanchan Mahmud and SI Abdus Salam.
   The police super said the some miscreants slaughtered Anita Halder, wife of Krishnapad Halder, at village Dhankhali in Shyamnagar upazila on March 13. A case was filed in this connection.
   On May 22, the criminals kidnapped Victor Halder, 7, a relative of the slain housewife, demanding Tk 500,000 as ransom for the minor boy’s release.

Over 100 hundred retired additional secretaries, joint secretaries, deputy secretaries and senior assistant secretaries are yet to get their pension files released even after two months of submitting pension applications.
   Their files have remained stuck up with the administrative branch of the establishment ministry for the last two months.
   The retired officials plead with the high-ups of the establishment ministry everyday for release of their files after submission of pension forms, sources concerned told the news agency.
   According to the rules, the branch concerned should complete the procedure within one week of the submission of pension form.
   But some retired officials complained the ministry officials often harass them showing no respect.

Shanti Ranjan Mukharjee, 72, a veteran sports and cultural personality and former general secretary of Narayanganj district sports association, was run over by a bus on Chamber Road in the town on Thursday.
   The accident occurred at about 1:45pm, when the Kanchpur-bound bus of Nasib Paribahan crushed Shanti under its wheels while he was crossing the road. He died on the spot.
   Immediately, the local people seized the bus. But its driver and helper managed to escape.