Archive for November 26th, 2006
Sunday, November 26th, 2006The government will investigate the Friday night's incident of in-service senior civil servants attending a surreptitious party hosted by former energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman at Uttara in the capital, which created a strong commotion and remained the talk of the town yesterday.Some advisers to the caretaker government (CG) yesterday expressed astonishment and concern over the participation of government officials in such a secret party at this crucial moment of the nation while different political analysts saw the incident as a part of a possible attempt to election engineering."None other than offenders hide their faces the way they did," Establishment Secretary ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006The Election Commission (EC) yesterday started sending election materials across the country in accordance with the EC's plan to announce the schedule for next general election this week without initiating steps to make the updated voter list credible. Sources in the EC Secretariat said the commission is considering two dates--November 29 or 30 -- for announcing the election schedule with the polling day in mid January.Acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Mahfuzur Rahman on Thursday said the election schedule will be announced this month. Rejecting the demands for making the updated voter list credible, the acting CEC also said ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday once again asked the caretaker government to announce the election schedule immediately and not to bother about the demands placed by the Awami League (AL) led 14-party combine.The immediate past prime minister also said, "The 14-party is placing demands one after another. Now it's enough is enough and the interim government should not care about those demands."She was addressing a meeting of Association of Engineers Bangladesh (AEB), an organisation of pro-BNP engineers, on the premises of Engineers Institution in the city."A lot has been done. Now declare the election schedule immediately," Khaleda asked the ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006The Awami League (AL)-led 14-party alliance plans to go for a non-stop movement to compel the chief adviser (CA) to the caretaker government (CG) to meet its 11-point demand."The chief adviser is conspiring to implement a blue-print of the previous government. So, we will go for a non-stop movement to compel him to carry out our demands," alliance leader Rashed Khan Menon told The Daily Star yesterday.According to the 14-party's scheduled programmes, the combine along with Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF) and some Islamic parties will stage a sit-in around the Bangabhaban tomorrow to force the CA to meet its ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will investigate the income and assets accounts of the persons who will contest the upcoming election, ACC Chairman Justice Sultan Hossain Khan told a seminar yesterday. “The laws regarding the ACC were passed in a way that we remain ineffective but we won't be so. We will verify the asset accounts of the candidates,” he observed.“We already had talks with the Election Commission (EC) and they will give us access to the relevant information,” he said adding that there is no legal bar in this regard.The seminar titled "Corrupt and Black Money Holders Taking Part in ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006Two rival groups at Chittagong Port are drawn into confrontation as their 48-hour ultimatum on the question of operating four sophisticated gantry cranes by a private company at Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) expires today.The Collective Bargaining Agents (CBA) is in favour of operating the gantry cranes by private company Saif Powertec Limited as per an earlier agreement while Chittagong City Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury wants it to be done by port operators.CBA General Secretary Nurullah Bahar threatened to stop all activities at the port if the CCT does not start operating by 1:00pm today.Chittagong City Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury also ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006The Awami League (AL)-led 14-party combine yesterday asked the caretaker government (CG) to suspend those senior civil servants who secretly met former energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman at his business house at Uttara in the capital on Friday night. They demanded that the CG take necessary action against those 'beneficiary' bureaucrats as per 3(a) clause of the Government Employees Special Act 1979 to bring back discipline in the administration.“The BNP-Jamaat alliance using bureaucrats partisan to them has been conspiring to make the advisers to the caretaker government cornered and use the interim administration in its favour,” 14-party coordinator Abdul Jalil told ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006Bangladesh runs the risk of being identified as a 'politically unstable country' in the international market if the present political unrest persists, leading exporters of the country said yesterday. They also fear that the country's rising export growth will dwindle significantly, as buyers have started shifting their orders to other competitor countries due to the persistent political unrest.The exporters said they have been dogged by unrest one after another from both the industry workers and political parties since May this year, which have slowed down the overall export activity.They are also facing difficulties in giving satisfactory answers to ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday expected a peaceful and acceptable solution to the country's current political crisis through consensus."I hope a political consensus will be reached to resolve the crisis," he told newsmen at Zia International Airport on his return from USA after attending different programmes, including a UN-sponsored reception, there.Prof Yunus left Dhaka on November 10 for Canada to attend a micro-credit summit.He hoped the political parties will refrain from enforcing any programme in future which will affect the economy as well as public life.Replying to a question, Yunus also expressed the hope that the next general elections ...
(read more) Sunday, November 26th, 2006Leaders of pro-BNP Association of Engineers, Bangladesh (AEB) yesterday accused the media of not writing and telecasting "neutral" and "impartial" reports on the BNP and four-party alliance and its leaders.In presence of BNP Chairperson and immediate past prime minister Khaleda Zia, the AEB leaders castigated different newspaper editors, television channel authorities and the civil society for not upholding the "good deeds and achievements" of the BNP-led four-party alliance government.The BNP chairperson showed her approval of the AEB leaders' claims at the meeting at the Engineers' Institution at Shahbagh by clapping and nodding.Criticising the civil society leaders for endorsing various international ...
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