Nepal gets new PM

Nepal's new prime minister, Baburam Bhattarai, is a Maoist party ideologue who played a key role in transforming the rebel guerrillas into a political set-up that won elections in 2008.

The 57-year-old engineer from rural western Nepal, is the vice chairman of Maoist party, which waged a decade-long 'People's War' that ended in 2006 after the deaths of 16,000 people.

His brief stint as finance minister in the Maoist-led government that fell in May 2009 earned him accolades for a rise in revenue collection in one of the world's poorest countries.

Bhattarai, who studied in India, has worked for a long time in the shadow of Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal — better known as Prachanda.

But Prachanda proposed Bhattarai as the party's prime ministerial candidate after the resignation of Jhalanath Khanal, leader of the Unified Marxist Leninist party, earlier this month.

Born in the family of priests in Gorkha, a hill district from where Nepal's erstwhile Shah rulers hailed, Bhattarai persistently campaigned for the end of monarchy, which was deposed in 2008.

In the late 1970s, while studying engineering in Delhi, he was also schooled in Marxist ideology by Nepal's veteran politicians who were in exile, fearing persecution.

In 2005, when the Maoist insurgency was at its peak, Bhattarai argued for an alliance with parliamentary parties, which paved the way for mass protests in 2006 and the end of the monarchy two years later.

'I believe that the country's future is very bright and we can accomplish the task of constitution drafting and complete the peace process,' Bhattarai told parliament on Sunday.

But some expressed scepticism over his ability to lead a coalition government, saying Bhattarai, who spent years justifying the Maoist insurgency, may flounder in Nepal's fractured political environment.

He has described himself as introverted and he has earned a bookish reputation based on rigid ideals — in contrast to the colourful Prachanda.

Sudheer Sharma, editor of Nepal's leading newspaper Kantipur, described Bhattarai as a 'dedicated leader' but added that 'this is his first foray into leading the country and therefore we can't be sure whether he can deliver'.

'With the full backing of his party, he has the chance to take the country ahead. But, I would also like to caution that it's yet to be seen whether he can work as well in a team,' Sharma said.

Nepal's politics have suffered repeated deadlocks in recent years as rival parties struggle for power while little progress has been made on the nation's much-needed post-war reforms.

Source : New Age

Rebels tighten noose on Gaddafi bastion

Libyan rebels closed in on Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte from both east and west on Sunday, a senior military commander said, as the insurgents also scrambled to get Tripoli back on its feet.

Rebel forces moved 30 kilometres closer to Sirte from the west and captured the town of Bin Jawad 100 kilometres to the east, the rebel commander in Misrata, Mohammed al-Fortiya, said.

'We took Bin Jawad today' on the eastern front, and 'the thwar from Misrata are 30 kilometres from Sirte' in the west, Fortiya said.

Rebels pushing west from the oil hub of Ras Lanuf had been stuck for four days outside Bin Jawad, a key town on the road hugging the shores of the Gulf of Sirte, as Gaddafi's forces kept up a defiant resistance.

Sirte is the elusive Gaddafi's last bastion after rebels smashed his forces in Tripoli and seized his Bab al-Aziziya headquarters, and now the insurgents are focusing on capturing the embattled Libyan leader.

Although his whereabouts remain a mystery, there is widespread speculation that Gaddafi is holed up in Sirte, 360 kilometres east of Tripoli, among tribal supporters there.

Fortiya said talks were under way with tribal leaders in Sirte for its surrender, adding that only tribal leaders were involved, and that to his knowledge no direct contact had been made with Gaddafi himself.

'We are negotiating with the tribes for Sirte's peaceful surrender,' he said.

In the capital, where life is slowly returning to normal after six months of bloody rebellion to end Gaddafi's 42-year iron-fisted rule, sporadic gunfire was heard overnight.

As rebels scrambled to get Tripoli on its feet and appealed for funds, the Arab League early on Sunday urged the UN Security Council to unlock billions of dollars in Libyan assets and property.

Several explosions and machine-gun fire rattled Tripoli overnight, but it was unclear if those responsible were Gaddafi loyalists or rebels celebrating the takeover of the capital a week ago.

Rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, meanwhile, promised that Gaddafi and his senior aides would be given a fair trial if they surrendered.

'We call on Muammar Gaddafi and his associates to surrender so we can protect them and spare them illegal execution,' Abdel Jalil said. 'We guarantee them a fair trial, whatever their position.'

The rebels have offered a $1.7 million-dollar reward for Gaddafi's capture, dead or alive.

Speaking in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the rebellion began in February, the National Transitional Council (NTC) chief also called for emergency humanitarian aid for Tripoli, especially medical supplies.

'We are calling all the humanitarian organisations and telling them that Tripoli needs medicines, first aid products and surgical material,' Abdel Jalil told a news conference.

Blaming 'sabotage by Gaddafi's forces' for water and electricity shortages in Tripoli, he said: 'We are working on resolving these problems.'

Abdel Jalil's plea for help was heard loud and clear at Arab League headquarters in Cairo where a special meeting of foreign ministers urged 'the UN and countries concerned' to 'unfreeze the assets and property' of Libya.

A statement early on Sunday by the ministers also called on the United Nations 'to permit the National Transitional Council to occupy the seat of Libya in the United Nations and its various organisations.'

NTC number two Mahmud Jibril, who headed the Libyan delegation at the Cairo gathering, warned of 'instability' in Libya if the rebels failed to restore salaries and services.

Meanwhile NTC spokesman Mahmud Shammam said the rebels would start distributing 30,000 tons of petrol to Tripoli residents and would also provide cooking gas within the next 48 hours.

They were also working to bring the Zawiyah refinery back on line, Shammam said, pleading for patience and calling on all public, private and oil sector employees to return to work.

'We are starting from point zero in this situation. Do not ask for miracles, but we promise to try to make this difficult period as short as we can,' Shammam said.

He admitted that there were still pockets of pro-Gaddafi resistance.

'Anybody who thinks that there is not a fraction of people who support Gaddafi or that there is no fifth column who will try to trouble the peace of Tripoli would be mistaken.'

On Sunday insurgents expanded their control over the airport and other parts of Tripoli where some pockets of resistance remained.

On Saturday they said they had captured the base of the elite 32 Brigade, commanded by Gaddafi's son Khamis, after a NATO air strike and seven hours of fierce fighting that left 11 rebels dead.

In an adjoining cinder-block building an AFP correspondent saw the charred remains of some 50 people who residents said were captives killed on Tuesday by rifle fire and grenades.

Rebels also captured on Friday the Ras Jdir border post with Tunisia, through which it was feared that Gaddafi, his henchmen and family might try to escape.

They also took two villages from which Gaddafi loyalists had been bombarding Zuwarah, between the border and the capital, an AFP correspondent with them said.

Tripoli residents are preparing for the Eid al-Fitr celebration which ends the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan next week.

Meanwhile the United Nations, African Union, Arab League and European Union urged both sides in Libya to avoid reprisals, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after a gathering of the so-called Cairo Group.

Source : New Age

Police yet to record FIR

The police are yet to record the First Information Report, submitted to the Ramna police, on the death of the former deputy attorney general, Momtaj Uddin Ahmed, who was allegedly tortured after being arrested on August 11 and died at Square Hospitals in police custody on Friday afternoon.

'We have received the complaint…We are investigating. After investigation, we will decide whether or not it will be recorded as a case,' the Ramna thana's officer-in-charge, Rafiqul Islam, told New Age.

After the death of MU Ahmed, his widow Selina Ahmed on Friday sued home minister Sahara Khatun, attorney general Mahbubey Alam, home secretary, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, Detective Branch's deputy commissioner and Shahbagh thana's officer-in-charge on charge of killing her husband.

Sources in the police said that any allegation should be recorded with the concerned thana either as a General Diary or a case.

Ramna thana's officer-in-charge, when asked, declined to make any comment.

He, however, requested this correspondent to contact the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's media cell if he had any other questions.

A group of lawyers, led by Supreme Court Bar Association's president Khandker Mahbub Hossain, submitted the First Information Report, signed by Selina, to the Ramna police on Friday night.

MU Ahmed's colleague Sana Ullah Miah told New Age on Sunday that the police had received their FIR, and given them a copy of the receipt.

Ramna thana's operation officer, sub-inspector Altaf Hossain, who received the FIR, on Friday night told New Age, 'We have received the complaint, but a decision has not yet been made whether it will be recorded as a regular case or a General Diary, as the officer-in-charge is out of the office.'

 But on Sunday, when asked, Altaf refused to make any comment.

On Saturday, the police took MU Ahmed's body from BIRDEM's mortuary without informing his family or his lawyers. Later, he was buried at Bogra.

MU Ahmed, who was admitted to the hospital on August 16, breathed his last at around 1:10pm on Friday. Before being admitted to Square Hospitals, he underwent treatment at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in custody.

Within hours after his arrest on August 11, MU Ahmed fell sick in the office of the Detective Branch and was taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, but the physicians there referred him to the NICVD.

Source : New Age

SCBA, BNP blast AG

The Supreme Court Bar Association and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday brushed aside the attorney general's accusation of committing 'politics of dead body' and held him responsible for the death of MU Ahmed. 

The bar association president, Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, at a news con- ference in his house said that the attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, was responsible for the death of former deputy attorney general MU Ahmed.

MU Ahmed, who was admitted to hospital on August 16 as he suffered a heart attack after his arrest on August 11 in a case filed in connection with a fracas in the High Court between the lawyers leaning towards the BNP and the ruling Awami League when the court warned Khaleda Zia against making any derogatory comments about the constitution in the future, died in Square Hospitals in police custody on Friday.

'If the attorney general had wanted, he could have saved the life of MU Ahmed. We sought bail for him but it was the attorney general who opposed it in court and he rather sought that all [the accused in the case] should be sent to jail,' he said.

Mahbub said that after the court ruling for the medical treatment of MU Ahmed at government expense, he had requested the attorney general to take the responsibility but Mahbubey Alam refused to do so. 'A day after, he asked me to continue with the treatment on our own,' he added.

The acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at an iftar party blasted the attorney general for his remark about doing politics over dead bodies  saying that it was the Awami League that was engaged in such politics.

'Politics of dead bodies is typical of the Awami League. The party has proved this several times. After the BNP had left office in 2006, it [the Awami League] killed a number of people with oars and sculls on the streets of Dhaka. Now the party says that we are engaged in politics of dead bodies,' he said.

The government implicated MU Ahmed in a false case, Fakhrul said. 'Ahmed was not even in Dhaka on the day the fracas took place in the High Court. But the government arrested him at his house and tortured him in custody.'

Khandakar Mahbub said that MU Ahmed's widow had filed a first information report with the police but it was yet to be recorded as a case. 'We will take action after the Supreme Court reopens or even during the Eid holidays,' he said.

As for attorney general's claim of being hurt at his allegation of doctoring MU Ahmed's inquest report comment and his plan for filing a defamation suit, Mahbub said, 'If he had gone there on humanitarian grounds, he could have informed us or taken the people of his party. He went there in his car and left in a police vehicle through the basement.'

'His activities made us doubtful. Why did he go there with a magistrate instead of his party people or us?' Mahbub said.

The Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum president, Rafiqul Islam Mia, also a BNP standing committee member, demanded a judicial inquiry to the death of MU Ahmed.

At a human chain of Jatiyatabadi Muktijuddher Prajanma, Rafiqul demanded punishment of all who are responsible for the death of MU Ahmed.

He asked the attorney general why he had gone to the hospital. 'You did not even offer condolences on the death of MU Ahmed.'

Source : New Age

Irene batters shuttered New York

Hurricane Irene battered New York with heavy winds and driving rain on Sunday, knocking out power and flooding some of Lower Manhattan's deserted streets even as it lost some of its strength.

Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday morning but was still sending waves crashing onto shorelines and flooding coastal suburbs.

There was about a foot of water in the streets at the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan and the tide seemed to be rising, although there was less damage than many had feared.

'It's not bad as we they said it would be. The streets are flooded but not as bad as I thought,' said John Harris, 37, who defied an evacuation order and stayed home overnight in the Rockaways. 'But I'm going to keep my eye on it. I know how to get out of here if I have to.'

Heavy rains and wind forced the closure of three bridges leading to the Rockaways peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean, and further east on Long Island sand-beams built to hold off the flooding and protect coastal businesses appeared to have failed. Irene was blamed for at least nine deaths in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida as it headed up the East Coast. About 3.3 million homes were without electricity and several million people were under evacuation orders.

New York City's normally bustling streets were eerily quiet after authorities ordered tens of thousands of residents to evacuate low-lying areas and shut down its subways, airports and buses.

Forecasters said Irene still posed a serious threat of storm surge that could raise water levels by as much as 4 to 8 feet in coastal areas from Virginia to Massachusetts. Isolated tornadoes in the New York area were possible.

The storm dumped up to eight inches of rain on the Washington region, but the capital appeared to have avoided major damage. Some bridges were closed but airports remained open and transit operated on a normal schedule.

Rick Meehan, mayor of Ocean City, Maryland, said initial assessments showed flooding and continuing power outages in some areas of the seaside resort, but not much damage.

'It looks like we dodged a missile on this one,' Meehan told the local Fox News station, WBOC News.

From the Carolinas to Maine, tens of millions of people were in the path of Irene, which howled ashore in North Carolina on Saturday, dumping torrential rain, felling trees and knocking out power.

'The edge of the hurricane has finally got upon us,' New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the more than eight million people who live in New York as he warned that tropical storm-force winds would hit the city.

Times Square, often called the crossroads of the world, was almost empty as Irene rolled into the city with full force.

Broadway shows were cancelled, coffee was hard to come by with Starbucks stores closed and burgers and fries were in short supply as McDonald's outlets were shut.

The city's streets were quiet although some people were out checking on the storm's damage.

'I was hoping to come out to see the worst,' said Tom Wall, 38, a mechanical engineer dressed in sandals and an orange rain jacket as he walked along the South Street Seaport. 'So far it's much less dramatic than I expected.'

After Irene, weather watchers were keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Jose, which formed near Bermuda.

Bloomberg had warned New Yorkers Irene was a life-threatening storm and urged them to stay indoors to avoid flying debris, flooding or the risk of being electrocuted by downed power lines.

In midtown Manhattan, there was a substantial police presence on the streets but most people heeded Bloomberg's warning to stay inside.

About 3,70,000 city residents were ordered to leave their homes in low-lying areas, many of them in parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.

Some refused to leave. Nicholas Vigliotti, 24, an auditor who lives in a high-rise building along the Brooklyn waterfront, said he saw no point. 'Even if there was a flood, I live on the fifth floor'

Flood waters forced officials in Hoboken, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, to evacuate a storm shelter, the mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmer, said on Twitter.

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre said Irene's winds dropped to 65 miles per hour on Sunday morning but forecast a storm surge of up to 8 feet for Long Island and metropolitan New York. That could top the flood walls protecting the south end of Manhattan.

Summer vacationers fled beach towns and resort islands. More than a million people left the New Jersey shore and glitzy Atlantic City casinos were dark and empty.

This year has been one of the most extreme for weather in US history, with $35 billion in losses so far from floods, tornadoes and heat waves.

The US president, Barack Obama, who cut his vacation short on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard to return to the White House, was keeping a close eye on preparations for the hurricane.

Utility company Consolidated Edison warned that downtown Manhattan, including Wall Street, could face more blackouts as low-lying areas flooded.

When Irene hit the North Carolina coast on Saturday, winds howled through power lines, sheets of rain fell and streets were flooded or littered with tree branches.

Source : New Age

Gowher Rizvi asks reporters not to be myopic

Prime Minister's adviser for international affairs Gowher Rizvi on Saturday asked reporters not to be myopic on the issue of allowing transit to India through Bangladesh territory. 

'We need to widen our vision. Don't be myopic,' Rizvi told them at an iftar party hosted by Diplomatic Correspondents, Bangladesh.

He said, Bangladesh and India does not require a fresh agreement on transit as they had given their formal consent on the issue in the 1974 agreement on trade for mutual use of their waterways, roadways and railways for the transportation of goods between two places in one country through the territory of the other.

'Now, only operational modalities would be finalised by the two governments,' he said.

Rizvi said Bangladesh government would fix the charges for allowing the use of its waterways, roadways and railways for the passage of goods keeping in consideration the cost of infrastructure, their maintenance, electrification and environmental and other aspects.

'However, it is also important to keep the competitiveness of the charges,' he said.

He said that the two countries would sign several agreements, protocols and memorandums of understanding during the two-day visit of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka beginning September 6.

He said that Bangladesh and India would also sign a framework agreement on various shared issues, including water, trade, education and culture.

Rizvi, however, evaded a question New Age asked whether the framework agreement would also include the issue of defense cooperation.

Asked whether the framework agreement will incorporate the provisions of the 30-year Bangladesh-India Friendship Treaty the two countries had signed in 1972, he said those elements 'would never come back'.

He said that Bangladesh government would make public the agreements it would sign with India during  Manmohan Singh's visit.

Some of the agreements would be placed in parliament, he said.

'Don't tell me what the traders say,' he said when asked about the concerns expressed by the business community that Bangladesh would lose its trade advantage or the market in the seven or eight north-eastern Indian states if Bangladesh gives transit through its territory between India and its northeastern states, which are not landlocked.

He said, 'the entire Indian market would be open for us.'

DCAB president Raheed Ejaz and general secretary Abdul Majid also spoke.

Source : New Age

Skeleton said to be of lawyer Shamsul found

The police on Saturday recovered a partial skeleton suspected to be of the former Sylhet district lawyers' association president Shamsul Islam Chowdhury, who went missing on July 17.

A police team, led by SMP deputy commissioner Ezaz Ahmad, launched a drive on Saturday and recovered the partial skeleton on the bank of the River Surma River near Brahmangaon in the Sunam-ganj district headquarters.

The drive was conducted based on the statement of the accused Ansar Ali, Ismail Hosen and Borhan in a case after their arrest on August 18. The arrested are now remanded in policy custody for five days, the police said.

The Sylhet Kotwali police officer-in-charge, Khandaker Nawroz Ahmed, said that a DNA test would be conducted on the skeleton to establish whether it was of Shamsul Islam.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested Ansar, Ismail and Borhan on August 19 in connection with the case.

The battalion, quoting the arrested, said that Shamsul had been killed by his younger son Munna as Shamsul had refused to put the family's wealth in Munna's name.

Senior lawyer Shamsul went from his house at Mirbuxtula in Sylhet on July 17. Munna had filed a general diary with the Kotwali police in this connection two days after his father had gone missing.

Several days after the filing of the general diary, Munna went into hiding, said another general diary Munna's elder brother Mahmud Chowdhury filed with the police, the police added.

Source : New Age

SWACHIP concerned over doctors’ harassment

Leaders of Swadhinata Chickashak Parishad has expressed concerned over the harassment on doctors at the country's different places in a deliberate manner to tarnish the image of physicians.

In the joint statement of health minister and SWACHIP central committee president AFM Ruhal Haque and secretary general Iqbal Arslan said a vested quarter had been involved in tarnishing the image of doctors at a time when the country witnessed a huge success in health sector under prime minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership.

They favoured steps to end all forms of harassment on doctors for the sake of continuing the success in the health sector and ensuring healthcare facilities to all, the statement.

Source : New Age

Road blockade halts traffic movement

Traffic movement on Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in Sripur upazila remained halted for about one hour on Saturday due to road blockade by pack factory workers, who agitated for payment of their arrear wages.

The police said workers of the factory, Bangladesh Master Pack Limited, at Gilarchala in the upazila stopped work at 8:00am and blocked the highway demanding payment of their wages of the current month ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

Later, the agitating workers also hurled brickbats at the workers of a nearby pack factory apparently in a bid to force them to join their programme.

Source : New Age

Nazrul’s death anniv observed

The 35th anniversary of the death of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam was observed on Saturday in keeping with the Bangla calendar.

The revolutionary poet and lyricist died at the age of 77 on Bhadra 12, 1383, which fell on August 27, 1976.

Nazrul, born on May 25, 1899 at Churulia in Bardwan of West Bengal, was invited to the post-partition Bangladesh as the national poet. His work, which also includes about 3,000 songs, transcends sectarian boundaries.

He is often referred to as the rebel poet because of his most famous poem Bidrohi or the Rebel, and his strong sympathy and support for revolutionary activities leading to India's independence from the British rule. His songs and poems were frequently used during the independence war of Bangladesh as well.

Nazrul was also a writer, musician, journalist and philosopher. He was

sent to jail for his literary works against the then British rule. He had suffered from dementia and aphasia since 1942 till

his death.

In recognition of his contribution to the Bangla literature and culture, Dhaka University conferred on the poet the honorary Doctor of Literature degree at a special convocation in 1974. In January 1976, the Bangladesh government granted him citizenship of Bangladesh and awarded him Ekushey Padak.

Several government and non-government organisations and Nazrul enthusiasts marked the occasion with cultural programmes across the country.

Cultural organisations, educational institutions and others paid tribute to the poet by placing flowers on his grave by the Dhaka University mosque in the morning. The day started off with Nazrul's family placing flowers on the grave.

The Bangla Academy, Shilpakala Academy and Nazrul Institute, Nazrul Academy, Nazrul Abritti Parishad, Nazrul Sangeet Sangstha, Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts, Udichi

Shilpi Goshthi, Satyen Sen Shilpi Goshthi and

Banga held separate programmes.

Different agencies and organisations such as the cultural affairs ministry, Dhaka University, National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Nazrul Academy and Nazrul Institute paid respect by placing flowers on the poet's grave.

The University of Dhaka organised a discussion at its Nazrul Complex on the occasion.

The Nazrul Institute held a discussion in its office at 11:00am, which was followed by a cultural programme. Rafiqul Islam, the chairman of the institute trust, presided over the programme.

Ruling Awami League leaders placed wreaths on the poet's grave. The Bangla Academy held a discussion in its seminar room on August 25.

Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Radio and private television channels aired programmes portraying the rebel poet's life and works.

Source : New Age