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The local consultative group of 32 bilateral and multilateral lending and donor agencies and countries has asked the government to include explanation on the incidents of ‘crossfire’ in the poverty reduction strategy paper and place the strategy paper in the parliament for a national consensus.
   The suggestions have been included in the ‘LCG comments on the draft PRSP’. The World Bank country director, Christine I Wallich, who is the chair of the group, has recently sent the comments to the principal secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, who heads the national steering committee on the PRSP preparation.
   The 73-page document contains the group’s observations about the drawbacks in the draft of the strategy paper, which, according to sources in the Planning Commission, is expected to be finalised within the next month.
   ‘More details on the strategies to achieve these objectives, however, are needed, both in the text and the policy matrix. Broad areas where more details would be welcome are the separation of the judiciary and the executive, police reform, clarification on the incidences of ‘‘crossfire’’, consolidation of jail reforms, improving the functioning of the lower judiciary, and promoting legal literacy,’ comments the group in the chapter on ‘justice’.
   The group has suggested the inclusion of a number of specific measures in the document to get rid of confrontational politics, corruption and law and order. It has also underscored the incorporation of democratic governance and transparent voting system in the document.
   The lenders and donors have urged ‘the government to table the PRSP formally for discussion by the full parliament. This could help build national consensus around the poverty reduction strategy.’
   The lenders and donors have repeatedly termed the ‘crossfire’ deaths extra-judicial and asked the government to put an end to it. Three hundred and fifty-four persons have been killed in such incidents since June 2004.
   Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, a member of the General Economic Division of the Planning Commission and also member-secretary of the national steering committee on the PRSP preparation, said the inclusion of an explanation on ‘crossfire’ incidents and the placement of the strategy paper in the parliament required a political decision.
   ‘I cannot comment on such issues as crossfire and parliamentary discussion of the PRSP as both the issues are political,’ he told New Age. ‘The government will decide on both the issues.’
   He added that the government appreciates comments and suggestions as regards the strategy paper, irrespective of where those come from.
   The local consultative group has also urged the government to speed up reforms to achieve the targets set out in the document. ‘The present pace of structural reforms (privatisation of enterprises and banks, improvements in power and transport infrastructure and regulation, reforms in public administration, better revenue administration, liberalisation of trade, etc) may not allow Bangladesh to achieve the growth rates set out in the document.’
   The group also believes that direct investment that contributes to growth should receive more stress in the PRSP. Infrastructure investment, too, will be important both for growth, as well as its direct impact on poverty reduction.
   It has also underlined specific policy formulation to face the post-multi-fibre arrangement era. ‘The PRSP draft stresses the risks facing Bangladesh from the phasing out of the multi-fibre-arrangement, but it would be helpful, too, to identify more preciously the policies envisaged to diversify exports and improve international competitiveness more generally.’

The World Bank has asked the government to start aligning budget formulation with the poverty reduction strategy paper within three months, ahead of the national budget for the 2006-07 fiscal year.
   The multilateral lending agency has stressed the setting of realistic ceilings for the overall budget and sectoral programmes within a medium-term framework, prioritising sectoral programmes on the basis of the PRSP goals and targets and linking the fund disbursement process to the priorities.
   ‘Unless serious efforts are made quickly to implement the PRSP, it will be discredited as were previous plans,’ the bank’s country director, Christine Wallich, wrote in a letter to the finance secretary, Zakir Ahmed Khan, on June 22.
   The letter cautions that unless the basic capacity is developed quickly and the budget is aligned with the strategy paper, the lender-driven document may suffer the same fate — lack of implementation of budgetary goals and targets — as previous plans like the five-year development plans. The strategy paper is now at the final stage of preparation.
   The bank has, however, mentioned that the key activities of expenditure prioritisation, resource allocation, fund-release changes and expenditure reporting and monitoring can be phased over 3-4 years.
   The first year of the medium-term framework will be the annual budget; and the framework, to be updated each year as part of the normal budget preparation cycle, will be the bridge between the annual budget and the PRSP, says the bank.
   Apart from the budget-making process that has undermined the effectiveness and quality of public spending in Bangladesh, a range of other issues such as procurement, civil service reform, political interference, inadequate auditing, oversight, transparency mechanisms and governance need to be addressed, observes the bank.
   The letter appreciates the devolution of budget formulation to four line ministries as ‘an important start’ but says the framework approach has been adopted in an accounting sense only.
   ‘Much more needs to be done to improve the substance and quality of the budget preparation, budget execution and budget management in order to make the framework approach an effective tool for improving public resource management and for operationalising the PRSP,’ it adds.
   The letter also points out that given the optimistic target setting in the annual development programme and weaknesses in budget formulation, the current system relies excessively on control mechanisms — the fund-release process and the revised budget — to maintain fiscal discipline.
   The bank also emphasises the revision of the present fund-release system so that the highest priority activities rather than quick spenders can be assured of funding.
   The letter says, particularly in the Bangladesh context, political constraints make it difficult for the government to set realistic budget ceilings for the annual development programme, and leave out marginal projects.
   ‘Assuring greater funding certainty for priority activities will also provide incentives to line ministries to accelerate their implementation, and encourage them to develop sector-wide programmes to help achieve PRSP goals; while making it easier for the Finance Ministry to hold them accountable for results/performance.’
   In favour of a revision of the fund-release system, the bank argues that the finance ministry can give itself more room for manoeuvre by limiting initial fund releases to two quarters for all (except for high priority projects); and if cash shortfalls emerge, focus on fund cuts only in low-priority activities.
   ‘The fund release process can also be used as an effective lever to develop (and secure compliance with) an improved outputs/results-oriented monitoring system,’ reads the letter.
   It says such a practice will also obviate the need for the finance and planning ministries to spend 2-3 months to produce a revised budget each year — a time which could better be spent on improving the quality of expenditure prioritisation, resource allocation and monitoring.
   ‘There is no easy or painless way of effectively linking the budget process and the PRSP,’ says the letter.
   The changes should be implemented in phases while concurrently building internal capacity to carry them out, it adds.
   Dwelling on the ongoing process of the joint country assistance strategy by lending agencies, the letter says the strategy implies a common assessment of the PRSP, agreement on a common set of outcomes and common understanding of the strategies needed to deliver these outcomes.

Energy ministers of India and Myanmar meet today in New Delhi ‘to explore an alternative route for a gas pipeline from Myanmar to India in case Bangladesh does not join the proposed tri-nation gas pipeline project’.
   Bangladesh has, meanwhile, declined a last-minute invitation to send a representative to the meeting.
   The energy minister of Myanmar, Lun Thi, is scheduled to reach New Delhi today for talks with the Indian petroleum minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, to explore an alternative route in case Bangladesh opts out, the Indo-Asian News Service, a New Delhi-based news agency, reported Tuesday.
   The Indian high commissioner, Veena Sikri, paid a courtesy visit on the adviser to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Mahmudur Rahman, on Tuesday whereby she said Bangladesh might send a representative to the talks if it wanted.
   Mahmud told the Indian envoy that it would not be possible to send a representative in such a short notice and wished ‘good luck’ for the talks.
   On Monday, Aiyar told reporters in a teleconference from Romania that India had forwarded an invitation to Bangladesh to send a representative for the talks, says the IANS report. ‘We have informed Bangladesh about the proposed talks between India and Myanmar on Wednesday, and through the Bangladesh high commissioner forwarded an invitation to send an envoy to the talks.’
   In case the Bangladesh envoy arrives, ‘we would convert the schedule to trilateral talks or we would have bilateral talks with Myanmar,’ he was quoted to have said.
   Bangladeshi representatives in Delhi, however, said they were not aware of any such invitation.
   ‘There has been no indication that there were to be trilateral talks,’ a Bangladeshi embassy official told the IANS.
   The Myanmar minister’s visit comes in the wake of ‘no forward movement’ in the proposal to construct an India-Myanmar gas pipeline passing through Bangladesh, reports the news agency.
   According to the original proposal discussed and agreed upon in January, the pipeline was to be routed through Arakan (Rakhine) state in Myanmar and the Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura before crossing Bangladesh to reach Kolkata.
   However, Bangladesh wants India to first address issues like reduction of trade imbalance, providing corridor for Nepalese goods to Bangladeshi ports and access to hydroelectric potential in Bhutan for setting up the pipeline through its territory.
   The Press Trust of India quoting officials said the Indian foreign ministry were opposed to acceding to Bangladeshi demands.
   The IANS reports that India and Myanmar are considering an alternative route. The new plan, which would work out to be more expensive and difficult to execute, may see the pipeline enter India through the northeast part of the country, it says.
   When asked if Bangladesh would be excluded from the tri-nation gas pipeline, Mahmud said, ‘If they could do without Bangladesh, let them do, good luck to them. We do not have any problem if our neighbour gets a fruitful result from the bilateral talks.’
   He said if India and Myanmar could find a better route for the gas pipeline, they would obviously go for that, but ‘if they feel that the route through Bangladesh will be a better option, they will come to us. We are waiting for the outcome of the bilateral negotiations between India and Myanmar’
   When asked if Dhaka would put forward the conditions if Delhi wants to set up the pipeline through Bangladesh, the advisor said, ‘Of course.’

The government has begun a drive to cleanse the capital of inefficient and corrupt policemen for their involvement in different criminal activities.
   As part of the drive, some 30 traffic police sergeants were transferred from the capital on Monday and Tuesday, and more are in the queue, said a police official adding that the drive is being conducted following a recent report submitted by an intelligence agency.
   The report has identified more than 100 policemen having wealth beyond their income.
   The policemen have been leading luxurious life which is not matching with their earnings, the official said.
   The action began after the arrest of a traffic police sergeant, Zulfiqar Ali, for his alleged involvement in looting of over Tk 13.50 lakh from a money exchange agent, Azhar Ali, at Gulistan on June 28.
   Earlier two more traffic police sergeants — Asaduzzaman Asad and Monirul Islam — were taken into the police custody on February 9 after they made allegation that the criminals had confined them in a house. But the police later found that the two were involved in criminal activities.
   Lawyers caught another traffic police sergeant, Mahfuz, when he with his brother tried to abduct a businessman from the High Court premises on April 3. He was detained in the jail.
   Besides, three policemen were arrested as they reportedly tried to commit a robbery at a house in Shyampur on April 11.
   Two policemen were beaten by a mob for their attempt for snatching at Kotwali in Old Town, and a police constable was arrested for his suspected involvement in sexually abuse with a teenage girl at a guesthouse in Gulshan in April.
   A police sub-inspector and a terminated member of the Rapid Action Battalion were arrested for committing a robbery at Pallabi in May. The two with seven others were charge-sheeted in the case filed under the Speedy Trial Act.
   Outside the capital, two policemen and a cook of police barracks were detained on June 28 for their alleged involvement in raping a teenage girl in Manikganj four days ago.
   In Meherpur, villagers caught 11 policemen and a member of the village defence party when they committed a robbery at a businessman’s house in Gangni upazila on June 16. The officer-in-charge of the Gangni police station was also withdrawn.
   Apart from the policemen, an army sergeant, Badrul Alam, with his brother was accused in a case filed with the Cantonment police station for snatching $ 8,500 from a money exchange agent on June 30.
   The state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, told the parliament on June 28 that some 131 police members have been so far arrested for their involvement in extortion or committing criminal activities since the ruling four-party alliance came in power in 2001.
   Of the total accused, 23 police personnel have already been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and fined, the minister added.
   The Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, SM Mizanur Rahman, told New Age that they would never allow any member of the force to involve in criminal activities.
   Action is being taken against the policemen, if they are found guilty of any offence, he said. ‘It’s a continuing process.’
   Another senior police officer attributed ‘bribe’ to the main reason for the involvement of policemen in criminal activities.
   ‘Many of the policemen have been bribing the high-ups to have lucrative postings since their recruitment. To collect the money, the policemen get involved in such criminal activities,’ he added.

The formation of a Counter Intelligence Unit to contain crime and irregularities by police personnel hangs on the balance amid strong lobbying by influential police officials and a section of the ruling alliance leaders, sources in the home ministry said.
   Interference of the policemen and political leaders have resulted in the shelving of the final draft of the unit in the ministry for nearly two years, virtually encouraging the law enforcers to carry on malpractices like extortion, snatching, robbery and even killing, they added.
   The draft, finalised in mid 2003, was supposed to be placed before the cabinet for final approval, but the influential quarters managed to ‘stop’ it in the final stage, a top home ministry official said.
   ‘The top police officials warned that the whole police department may go against the government once the unit is formed while “some influential leaders of the ruling alliance” opposed its fearing that the government may lose its control on the police,’ he said.
   Under the heel of increasing incidents of crime like extortion, toll collection and bribery by the law enforcers, the BNP-led alliance government, after assuming power in 2001, took a move to form the unit.
   A meeting of the law and order committee on May 14, 2002 decided to monitor corruption, political influence, extortion, bribery and nexus between police and the criminals as these factors resulted in the deterioration of law and order situation.
   It formed an eight-member sub-committee headed by the Cabinet Division additional secretary as its convener and the deputy secretary (police) of home ministry as the member secretary, and asked it to submit a final proposal of the unit.
   The sub-committee later formed another four-member committee, headed by the joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Abdul Kuddus Khan, and a senior assistant secretary of the home ministry as its member secretary.
   The four-member committee submitted a draft proposal about the formation of the unit to the main committee in February 2003.
   The draft proposal was later given final shape after scrutiny and was supposed to be sent to the cabinet, but since then it is remaining in the ministry and getting dusts, the home ministry officials said.
   The then inspector general of police, Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury, openly opposed it. ‘There is no need of such a unit since the police department itself has a monitoring unit,’ he said and suggested that the police department monitoring unit should rather be made effective.
   The home ministry officials, however, remained firm saying that the whole police department was corrupt and its monitoring unit failed to stop the malpractices.
   There are 15,000 complaints of malpractices pending with the police headquarters, but there is hardly any move to reduce the backlog, said an official.
   ‘It is already too late and the government in the fag end of its tenure will dare to form the unit,’ another senior official told New Age on Tuesday.
   ‘The alliance government will not take any risk ahead of the general election. Besides, the government needs to have full control on the police administration to contain the anti-government movement.’
   Officials said the issue recently came up for discussions again as some high profile police officials were found to have been linked with notorious criminals and also in killing, bribery and other unsocial activities.
   Whenever extortion, robbery, snatching or toll collection takes place by the police, the state minister for home affairs is made aware of it and formation of the unit is discussed.

The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, on Tuesday asked the Biman Bangladesh Airlines to improve management efficiency before buying any aircraft.
   A Biman delegation, led by the state minister for civil aviation and tourism, Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin, met Saifur to seek his favour for the purchase of 10 aircraft for Biman.
   Saifur only hinted a support to the procurement of four aircraft for international routes.
   He did not give any guarantee of money from the government. He also blamed the Biman authorities for not returning the money taken in loan through government undertaking. Biman now has a Tk 350-crore capital.
   The multi-million dollar purchase of aircraft requires involvement of the prime minister, cabinet committee on purchase and the Biman board.
   Mir Nasir’s move to buy four Boeing-777-200-ER aircraft and With 14 aircraft, Biman Bangladesh has operations, connecting 26 destinations across three continents. Biman is reported to have earned a growth of 8 per cent in revenue and 17 per cent in terms of carrying passengers.
   ‘I cannot give them money from the Bangladesh Bank. They must improve management efficiency and make Biman cost-effective,’ Saifur told journalists after the meeting. ‘Biman also has a record of not paying money back to the government.’
   He advised Mir Nasir to take initiatives to buy two aircraft for short-distance routes and two more for long distance.
   One of the Biman aircraft crash-landed in Chittagong on Friday and another skidded off the runway at Sylhet airport in October 2004; there were no casualties in any of the cases.
   Referring to the incidents, Saifur said, ‘One escaped in the name of Shahjalal while the other in the name of Shah Amanat. How long will Biman sustain on the good wishes of pirs and fakirs [saints and hermits]?’

A 24-member special team on Tuesday joined the operation to remove the damaged DC-10 aircraft to pave way for the restoration of international flight operations at Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport.
   The aircraft that crash landed Friday morning will be removed to the makeshift platform, 150 feet off the accident spot, by this morning and operations of the international flights could be resumed thereafter, airport officials said. They, however, failed to say the accurate time of resumption of the international flight operations.
   The officials said the special team, including 8 Dhaka-based Biman engineers, joined the rescue team to spearhead the progress of works at the airport base and had targeted to remove the wreckage by at 8:00am today.
   ‘We are ready to drag the wreckage as we have almost completed separation of different components of the aircraft to facilitate its easy removal,’ said the principal engineer, Md Yusuf.
   The airport authorities, meanwhile, have strengthened surveillance deploying army, air force, police, ansar, civil aviation and intelligence agency members.
   Strong security watch requires to be ensured as different costly components, including engines, seats and other outfitting, dismantled from the damaged aircraft are being kept at the airport premises, the officials said.
   ‘We beefed up security from the day of the accident and it would be continued until the completion of rescue works of the aircraft to restore a normalcy here with the removal of the wreckage,’ said the airport manager, Farhad Shahin.
   The aircraft with 214 passengers and crew on board ran aground after crash landing at the airport runway on its way to Dhaka from the United Arab Emirates. Although the aircraft damaged severely, the passengers and the crew escaped narrowly.

The police killed five gunmen who attacked a religious site in Ayodhya on Tuesday that is claimed by both Hindus and Muslims and is a flashpoint for sectarian violence, while a sixth attacker blew himself up.
   The unidentified gunmen raided a complex which houses a makeshift temple to Hindu God-king Ram which was built over a 16th-century mosque torn down by a Hindu mob in 1992.
   Tensions over the site in the town of Ayodhya, about 600 kilometres southeast of New Delhi have caused widespread riots in the past and security forces were alerted across the country to prevent trouble after Tuesday’s raid.
   Hardline Hindus, accused of destroying the mosque in 1992, condemned the incident. The nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party announced a nationwide protest against the act on Wednesday.
   No group claimed responsibility but the right-wing Shiv Sena party blamed the raid on Islamic militant groups they said were supported by neighbouring Pakistan. Activists from the party burned a Pakistani flag in India’s financial hub Bombay.
   The six attackers arrived by car and an explosives-laden jeep. One blew up the jeep, killing himself, next to a tall, yellow iron railing fence around the 80 acre complex, officials said.
   ‘The body was in shreds,’ local college teacher VN Arora told Reuters by telephone.
   That blast ripped open a hole in the fence through which the five gunmen entered the complex, firing at police inside. They were killed after nearly two hours of fighting, officials said. ‘It looked like very powerful explosives were used to create a passage into the complex. All the attackers were wearing black trousers and shirts which made them look like commandos,’ said Arora.
   Television footage showed the charred shell of the jeep, with its top and back missing, next to the complex. Nearby on the pavement was a charred, severed arm.
   The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, appealed for calm. ‘It is fortunate that the attack was foiled and the attackers were killed during the shootout,’ he said in a statement. ‘It is also fortunate that no damage occurred to the physical structures at the site of the incident.’
   Home ministry officials said they had general information that important facilities and religious sites around the country could be targeted and states had been alerted about it.
   ‘Obviously it was a militant group which launched the ghastly attack ... their identity is being established. The information is they were not locally from Ayodhya,’ Home Secretary VK Duggal told a news conference.
   One of the attackers was a suspected suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body, half of which was apparently blown off during the shootout, an Uttar Pradesh official said.
   Five automatic rifles and three grenades were recovered from the dead men, he added. Pakistan condemned the attack. ‘Pakistan is against terrorism in all its forms,’ a foreign ministry spokesman said.
   Hizbul Mujahideen, a militant group fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir, alleged that Hindu groups had orchestrated the attack.

Final preparations were being made for the annual summit of the Group of Eight club of rich nations, with host Britain predicting a ‘satisfactory outcome’ on the key issues of climate change and African poverty.
   While protesters kept up the heat on the G8 leaders, clashing with police in Edinburgh and blocking the gates of Britain’s nuclear submarine base, Tony Blair’s government played down comments from the US president, George W Bush, which seemed to bode ill for the question of global warming.
   Speaking to British television, Bush made it clear he would never accept a deal with his G8 partners at the secluded and tightly guarded Gleneagles golf resort that set Kyoto-style limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
   ‘If you’re trying to make me say I support Kyoto, the answer is no,’ Bush told ITV, adding that he preferred to see Gleneagles as a springboard to a new era of global cooperation to develop new energy technologies.
   The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, played down Bush’s remarks Monday, saying the president’s choice of words didn’t mean that the results of the three-day Gleneagles summit that opens Wednesday ‘will be unsatisfactory’.
   ‘I believe there will be a satisfactory outcome both in respect of aid to Africa and in respect of climate change,’ said Straw after talks in London with his German counterpart Joschka Fischer.
   While top-level diplomats haggled behind the scenes, the most intensive police operation ever in Britain for an international gathering—involving more than 10,000 officers from all over the country—gathered pace.
   Fears of trouble outside Gleneagles on opening day were heightened when anti-G8 protesters and black-clad anarchists clashed with police in Edinburgh, bringing part of the city centre to a halt.
   Some 60 people were arrested, and 20 protesters and police suffered minor injuries, as bottles and stones were hurled at riot police, an Edinburgh police spokesman said.
   On the other side of Scotland, four people were arrested at a boisterous but orderly attempt by anti-nuclear protesters to blockade the Faslane naval base, home of Britain’s nuclear submarines and its sea-going Trident missiles.
   More protests were planned for Tuesday, at a petrochemical plant and a detention centre for asylum seekers, along with a bid to light bonfires in the rolling hills around Gleneagles at dusk.
   Last Saturday, in the biggest demonstration so far, more than 200,000 people formed a human circle of solidarity with Africa in central Edinburgh, demanding robust G8 action on aid, trade and debt relief for the continent.
   The peaceful march coincided with the Live 8 concerts for Africa that took place in several big cities around the world, from Tokyo to London to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Another Live 8 is set for Edinburgh on Wednesday.
   Britain’s most senior diplomat, or ‘sherpa,’ at intensive pre-G8 negotiations, Sir Michael Jay, said Monday that the last 48 hours before the summit could be the most difficult.
   ‘I very much hope that it will be possible to reach a consensus agreement on climate change at Gleneagles,’ he told foreign journalists in London.
   ‘I don’t want to be over-optimistic because we have got 48 hours to go, and the last 48 hours of negotiations are often the most difficult. But I do sense a desire, if possible, to reach agreement on these issues.’
   The Group of Eight comprises Britain, which currently also holds the rotating European Union presidency, plus Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
   Guests at this year’s summit include leaders of seven African countries (Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania) and those of four emerging economic powers (Brazil, China, India and Mexico).

The Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh on Tuesday asked the education minister, M Osman Farruk, not to seek the opinions of vice-chancellors of the private universities regarding laws and regulations.
   A delegation of the association met Osman at the education ministry on Tuesday and engaged in a heated discussion over the proposed amendments to the Private University Act 1992.
   Referring to the ministry’s repeated meetings with the vice-chancellors, MA Rahman, owner of Manarat International University and also convener of the association, told Osman, ‘You cannot speak to the vice-chancellors. They are merely our paid employees and do not share our profits or losses.’
   The association also threatened Osman that universities would not abide by the laws if the amendments to the private university act ignored their opinions.
   ‘We will not abide by the law and must go for a legal battle against the proposed amendments,’ founder and vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University, Quazi Azher Ali told Osman.
   ‘It will not bring any good to the education ministry or the University Grants Commission if it tightens control over the activities of private universities,’ said MA Hashem, a BNP lawmaker and chairman of the North South University Foundation.
   He said the owners would run their universities as they pleased since they provided the funds. ‘We will not abide by the rules and regulations of the commission or the ministry.’
   Osman in reply said, ‘Those unwilling to comply with the rules or the act will have to fend for themselves.’
   ‘It has become difficult for me to go to social functions as people from all walks of life blame me for the massive irregularities at some of these private universities,’ said Osman.
   ‘There are universities running for years next go massage parlours and automobile workshops. We will not tolerate it any longer.’
   ‘You will not find single man on the streets or any of the newspapers willing to speak on behalf of the private universities,’ Osman told the association.
   He added that the BNP encouraged private universities despite severe criticism from different quarters.
   ‘It is not true that the private universities were established against the backdrop of a failure of public universities but merely to supplement the public universities as the seats are limited.’
   Representatives of the Eastern University, Presidency University, Asian University, Daffodil International University, Victoria University, Stamford University and the University of Asia Pacific were present at the meeting among others.
   Faruque Ahmad Siddiqui, the secretary for education, was also present.

The government on Tuesday placed a bill in Jatiya Sangsad seeking to appoint tax ombudsman to inquire into allegations against National Board of Revenue officials and employees.
   The minister for finance, M Saifur Rahman, piloted the bill that was sent to the relevant parliamentary standing committee for further scrutiny.
   The committee was asked to submit its report to Sangsad in a day. The bill is likely to be passed this evening.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry was scheduled to convene a meeting to discuss the bill Tuesday
   evening.
   According to a provision in the bill, the president will appoint a person, having a minimum of 20 years’ experience in tax administration or tax profession, general or financial administration or legal and judicial administration, as tax ombudsman.
   The person will be appointed for four years without any extension or re-appointment.
   The status of the proposed position will be equal to that of a High Court judge.
   Under a provision in the bill, the ombudsman will inquire into the complaint of any aggrieved person or into the misrule of a tax official on the instruction of the president, prime minister, finance minister, the reference of Jatiya Sangsad or on the instruction of the Supreme Court.
   The tax ombudsman will also conduct any suo moto inquiry and submit its report with recommendations for preventive or corrective measures. The tax ombudsman will, however, not be able to inquire into the issues pending in appropriate courts, or tribunal or the revenue board.
   The bill also provisions that an official authorised by the tax ombudsman will be able to conduct a search at any place, in house or in office on a reasonable belief that there could be materials or documents useful for the inquiry.
   The ombudsman will be able to summon revenue board officials on a reasonable belief that it would be helpful to ensure justice for a petitioner.
   The tax ombudsman will not inquire into allegations raised by an unidentified petitioner.
   The ombudsman will send recommendations to the finance minister for necessary action on the decisions made by the revenue board officials, if the ombudsman is convinced that NBR officials concerned have made an injustice to a petitioner.
   The bill says an NBR official will be allowed to submit a review petition to the finance minister against the decision or recommendation of the ombudsman.
   The government will announce a budget of the office of the ombudsman, who will be able to recruit the required number of employees, consultants, experts and liaison officer to help him in the discharge of his responsibilities.
   The bill also says the president will be able to remove the tax ombudsman following constitutional provisions as applicable to a High Court judge.

The Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company on Tuesday sent back the design for a second relief well that the Canada-based Niko Resources proposed to drill to seal off two exploded wells at the Tengratila gas field in Sunamganj.
   The experts of Bapex, a Petrobangla subsidiary, observed that the design was similar to that which exploded on June 24.
   The blow-out took place during the drilling of a relief well to seal off a well that had blown out on January 7.
   The Bapex experts said Niko should submit step-by-step details of the design, lists of possible dangers during the drilling and precautionary measures.
   Sources in Bapex said the two explosions took place because of faulty designs. ‘There was an operational failure during the first drilling and the second blow-out took place because of an execution problem,’ said a source.
   ‘If the Niko design for the second relief well is approved, there is a chance of another explosion. The company made a similar design probably to save money,’ he said.
   Niko submitted the design to Petrobangla on June 30 and it was sent to the joint management committee of Bapex for approval.
   Energy and mineral resources adviser Mahmudur Rahman, however, said Bapex had asked Niko to develop the design.
   He said more study on the site would be required for the second relief well. ‘They [Niko] proposed to drill the well 250 meters off the one that exploded on June 24. We have to check whether the area is suitable and free from risk,’ he said.
   ‘Besides, we have to check whether there are any gas pockets on the path of the relief well,’ said Mahmud.
   He told reporters that he had suggested Petrobangla and Bapex to hire an international expert experienced in drilling relief wells and controlling blow-outs.
   Mahmud said the government had decided, after an examination of the plan out of caution, to remove uncertainties of all sorts.
   He said both the arrangements for the drilling of the new well and the vetting of an international expert would run simultaneously so that the preparation to control the flames could not be delayed or hampered.
   Mahmud expected the drilling to begin on July 24.

Bidisha Ershad, estranged wife of former military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad, has sent two letters to Ershad asking him to send back their son Eric.
   Speaking at a press conference at her Gulshan residence ‘Niketan’ Tuesday, Bidisha
   said she had sent the letters through a courier service and a messenger.
   ‘I have requested Ershad through personal letters just to have a glance of my ailing son,’ she said.
   Quoting doctors, she said Eric needs both father and mother, otherwise his condition might deteriorate. She said she would send somebody to Ershad in a day or two to bring back Eric.
   About the allegation made by Ershad at a press conference, Bidisha said ‘Ershad is an elderly man. He speaks incoherently. He is resorting to mud-slinging to get media coverage. This is why he is lying against me’.

The Election Commission is likely to announce the election schedule to the reserved seats for women in Jatiya Sangsad shortly.
   The commission has already started preparation for holding the election and the preparation is almost at the final stage, said a source in the commission.
   Meanwhile, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed July 13 for the hearing of a petition that had sought leave to appeal against the High Court verdict delivered on May 30 rejecting three writ petitions — two against the 14th amendment to the constitution and the other against the Jatiya Sangsad (Reserved Seats for Women) Election Act 2004.
   The chamber judge of the Appellate Division, Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury, fixed the date for hearing in a full bench upon a prayer of the appellants.
   Though the case regarding constitutionality of the provision of the seat reservation made by the 14th amendment to the constitution and the law on the elections is pending with the Appellate Division, the Election Commission proceeds for holding the elections, as the court has not stayed the proceeding for holding the elections.
   The commission go ahead with the preparation as it has to hold the election within the prescribed time.
   According to the Jatiya Sangsad (Reserved Seats for Women) Election Act, the elections have to be held within 90 days from December 7, 2004, when the act came into effect.
   The commission could not hold the elections, as the High Court on January 4 stayed the elections.
   In the May-30 verdict, the High Court, however, ordered that the days spent in trying the cases would be excluded in counting the 90-day limitation of holding the elections.
   Now the commission will have to hold the elections by August.
   Meanwhile, the commission on January 5 published separate lists of lawmakers belonging to different political parties and alliances, and also allocated the 45 reserved seats for women to the parties and alliances in accordance with the principle of proportional representation.
   According to distribution of the reserved seats by the Election Commission, the alliance led by the BNP deserves 30 reserved seats, Awami League 9, Jamaat 3, Jatiya Party (Ershad) 2 and the alliance led by Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Naziur) 1.

Bahrain’s top diplomat in Iraq was wounded in an ambush Tuesday and the Pakistani ambassador narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, as insurgents targeted Muslim envoys in an apparent new tactic.
   Three days after the abduction of Egypt’s envoy, the Iraqi government’s spokesman said the attacks were ‘a message of terror’ to dissuade governments from expanding ties with the war-torn country.
   Pakistani ambassador Yunis Khan said two cars came up from behind and fired on his vehicle as he was around a kilometre (half a mile) from his residence in the capital’s central Mansur district.
   An embassy official, who did not wish to be identified, said the attack provoked a firefight between Khan’s guards and the assailants.
   Khan was appointed in mid-April and was accepted as ambassador in mid-June, according to the official.
   Earlier, gunmen aboard a pickup truck opened fire on Hassan al-Ansari, the Bahraini charge d’affaires, while he was travelling in his car with diplomatic-license plates also in Mansur, an interior ministry source said.
   Ansari was treated at Yarmuk hospital for a gunshot wounds before leaving with guards.
   Witnesses said he was ambushed by at least eight gunmen after leaving his residence.
   The Iraqi government’s spokesman Leith Kubba said the targeting of foreign diplomats is part of a calculated effort by insurgents to discourage countries from dealing with the Iraqi government.
   In further violence, four female employees at Baghdad airport were killed and three others wounded when the minibus transporting them to work was attacked in Baghdad’s western Ameriyah area, an interior ministry source said.
   Seven Iraqis, including three soldiers, were killed in various attacks north of Baghdad, said security sources.

The government and the Indian conglomerate Tata are yet to settle their differences over issues such as Bangladesh’s jurisdiction over Tata’s power plant, dispute settlement authority, amount of required gas and the coal field.
   The Power Division iterated on Tuesday, the fourth day of talks, that Bangladesh favours that the power plant should be established according to the laws of the land and Tata experts insisted that they should follow Indian laws.
   The Bangladesh side, headed by power secretary Nazrul Islam, did not budge from its position regarding dispute settlement.
   The government’s position is that any disputes should be settled through arbitration at home while Tata demands that it should be held in England.
   The Petrobangla officials repeated that it would not be possible to supply 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas to the Tata plant for 15 years. Tata demanded a supply of 2TCF gas for 30 years.
   Petrobangla offered Tata a coal field away from the main field at Barapkuria, developed by a Chinese company, but Tata wanted a portion of the main field.
   Sources in the division and Petrobangla said such issues might not be settled during the current round of talks scheduled to end on July 7.
   The wrap-up meeting between the Tata delegation and the government committee, headed by the finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan, will be held today and Thursday.
   The Tata delegation, led by Tata Sons executive director Alan Rosling, had talks with sub-committees on gas, power, land and communications beginning Saturday, for Tata’s $2.5 billion investment proposal in steel, fertiliser and power plants.