Dhaka, March 2
A senior officer of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), identified as the “ringleader” of the bloody rebellion, has been arrested and a massive manhunt was underway to track down about 1,000 fugitive soldiers facing murder charges.

Suspecting conspiracy behind the two-day mutiny that left at least 73 Army officers dead, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sought the assistance of the FBI and the Scotland Yard to probe the massacre, as authorities said they have discovered another mass grave in the BDR headquarters.

Touhidul Alam, Deputy Assistant Director of the BDR, who led a rebel delegation in talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been taken into custody while attempting to flee the country, said Nabo Jyoti Khisha, chief of Lalbagh police station where a case has been filed.

“The massacre took place under his (Alam’s) leadership ... the rebels had accepted him as their leader,” Khisha said.

The police claimed that they have gathered “enough evidence” against Alam and other conspirators of the two-day mutiny.

Among the 73 officers who were killed was BDR chief Maj-Gen Shakil Ahmed. Mutilated bodies of his wife, Nazneen, and three other civilians were recovered from the mass graves and drains inside the BDR complex. Seventy-two army officers are still missing.

As the police and intelligence investigations got underway in Bangladesh’s most high profile case, troops launched a massive manhunt to 1,000 fugitive soldiers blamed for the mutiny.

The Home Ministry put out a notice asking people to inform their nearest police stations immediately if they have any information about absconding BDR personnel.

“We have already gathered enough evidence including the statements of survivors and the process is underway to collect more,” said Khisha.

The Lalbagh police has filed cases against three other BDR deputy assistant directors and two lower rank soldiers of the paramilitary troops for leading the revolt, taking hostage, setting fire and hiding the bodies of the officials.

Meanwhile, President Zillur Rahman today led thousands of mourners at a mass state funeral for the 49 army officers and one family member slain in the violent mutiny.

Air force jets flew overhead in salute at the mass funeral prayers held at the national parade ground here today. Army chief Gen Moeen U Ahmed was also present.

Hasina has already indicated that she plans to form special tribunals to try those who organised the mutiny, which she has described as “planned massacre” that may have received outside help. — PTI

Islamabad, March 2
Pakistan today denied an Indian newspaper report claiming its military intelligence was linked to the bloody mutiny in Dhaka by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troopers last week.

On Sunday, an Indian daily citing unnamed sources, said arrested mutineers had “thrown up the name” of senior Bangladeshi businessman and politician, Salauddin Qadeer Chowdhury - who is close to Pakistan’s “military intelligence complex” and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — DPA

Colombo, March 2
The Sri Lankan army today released photographs and video footages showing Tamil Nadu politicians, including MDMK chief Vaiko, with LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran.

Discovered at the rebel satellite communication centre in Puthukudiruppu west yesterday, the photographs show "certain South Indian politicians in LTTE camps in Wanni", the defence ministry said.

The army said Vaiko had been "photographed" in LTTE uniform, firing pistols with Prabhakaran and delivering "brain-washing lectures to the LTTE cadres". "These photographs reveal that the plans for a greater Tamil Eelam were already on the way," the defence minister quoted an analyst as saying.

Vaiko could not be contacted for comment as he was currently lodged in a jail in Tamil Nadu. The MDMK chief and his supporters were taken into custody on Saturday when they tried to show black flags to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to Tuticorin.

“The soldiers have found several recent photographs and video footage in a building earlier occupied by the LTTE cadres, showing certain south Indian politicians in LTTE camps in Wanni,” the ministry said.

Three of the released photographs show a young Vaiko in conversation with Prabhakaran. It is not, however, known when these photographs were taken. — PTI

Quetta (Pakistan), March 2
An unknown militant group holding an American working for the United Nations in Pakistan has said it would kill the hostage, John Solecki, in four days if its demands were not met.

The Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) gave the latest deadline in a letter delivered to a local news agency in Quetta late yesterday.

Solecki, 49, the head of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in south-western Baluchistan province, was kidnapped in the provincial capital of Quetta on February 2 after gunmen ambushed his car and shot dead the driver.

“If our demands are not met then we will kill him, and state agencies will be responsible for it,'' the group said in the letter. The group attached a list of 1,109 names of people it said were missing and being held by Pakistani security agencies, and demanded their release.

This is not the first deadline Solecki's captors have given. The BLUF had earlier demanded UN intervention to secure the release of 141 women it said were held in Pakistani torture cells, provide information about more than 6,000 missing persons, and resolve the issue of Baluch independence under the Geneva Convention.

Baluchistan, the largest but poorest of Pakistan's four provinces, lies on the border with Afghanistan. Separatist militants have fought a low-scale insurgency there for decades. — Reuters

With workers of Pakistan’s two main parties, the PPP and the PML-N, clashing in various cities across the country, common friends within have stepped up conciliation efforts to retrieve the situation for the democratic system.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman, while talking to reporters, said the government was ready for talks to calm the situation. She said Sharifs should avoid inflaming popular sentiments and return to dialogue table to sort out differences.

Coalition partners Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the JUI, and Asfandyar Wali Khan met President Asif Zardari at dinner on Sunday evening in a bid to diffuse the situation. Both had earlier talked to Nawaz Sharif. From London, British Foreign Secretary David Milliband had earlier spoken to both Zardari and Nawaz Sharif and urged them to avoid confrontation that may derail the democratic process.

Senior diplomats from Islamic and Western countries also held meetings with political leadership of the country voicing their concern over escalating political tensions.

Balochistan CM Aslam Raisani flew into Bahawalpur to meet ex-Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif. “It was a positive meeting and I am encouraged by the response,” Raisani said after the meeting, adding that the SC verdict that disqualified Nawaz and Shahbaz from polls was regrettable.

Kuala Lumpur, March 2
As many as 43 Indian workers, who have been languishing in a Malaysian detention camp for the last two months would be repatriated soon, a senior High Commission official said today.

“We want to see that they get their dues and are repatriated back home,” the official told here.

The Malaysian employer, a company called Silvertrade Sdn Bhd based in the southern state of Johor, had agreed to repatriate them. Eight Indian nationals, who had worked along with the 43, had approached the commission officials in January seeking assistance, the official said.

“The eight said that they had completed their term of service in this country but were still forced to work more than the stipulated period by the employer without renewing their work permits,” the official added. — PTI

 Houston, March 2
US Indian scientist, Veerbhadran (Ram) Ramanathan, will share top award for environmental achievement, 2009 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, with Prof Richard Alley, for finding warning signs of climate change in the upper atmosphere and in the deepest ice sheets.

The $20,0000 award, consisting of cash prize and gold medals, will go to Richard Alley, professor of geosciences at Penn State University, and Veerabhadran (Ram) Ramanathan, professor of atmospheric and climate sciences in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, whose focus has been the substantial influence of sooty pollution on climate and health in South Asia. — PTI