DHAKA, 10 January 2008 — The army-backed interim government in Bangladesh yesterday appointed five advisers with the rank of ministers to fill “Cabinet” vacancies.
The vacancies were created after four advisers suddenly quit the government on Tuesday, apparently taking responsibility for inefficient and irresponsible handling of critical issues.
Another adviser resigned in late December after two ancient statues of the Hindu deity Vishnu disappeared from Dhaka airport while being sent to a French museum for an exhibition.
President Iajuddin Ahmed swore in the new advisers at the presidential palace at a ceremony attended by foreign diplomats. They are former Attorney General A.F. Hasan Arif, noted economist Hossain Zillur Rahman, Rasheda K. Chowdhury, head of a non-government organization, former chief of military intelligence retired Maj. Gen. Golam Quader and A.M.M. Shawkat Ali, a former top bureaucrat in the Agriculture Ministry.
Meanwhile, pieces of the two stolen statues were uncovered at a rubbish dump two weeks after they were stolen en route to an exhibition in Paris, officials said yesterday.
The 1,500-year-old artifacts were to have featured in an exhibition on Bangladesh culture and history at Paris’ Guimet Museum.
They went missing from Dhaka’s Zia International Airport on Dec. 23, prompting the Bangladesh government to cancel the exhibition.
“On the information of the arrested people we have found pieces at a rubbish dump on the outskirts of Dhaka,” said investigating officer Sohel Imtiaj.
Authorities said earlier the suspects admitted smashing the exhibits out of fear of being found with them.
“So far we have recovered 46 broken pieces of the stolen artifacts, about 30 percent of the two statues,” said acting keeper of the National Museum Shawpan Kumar Biswas. “If we find all the pieces we are optimistic that it might be possible to reconstruct the statues,” he added. A first consignment of 42 items was sent to Paris on Dec. 1.
In another development, a court in Dhaka yesterday remanded Bangladesh Nationalist Party senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman to police custody for one day rejecting police demand for seven days’ custody of the accused. Tarique, son of detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, faces extortion charges.
During the hearing, Tarique, who looked sick and weak, said he was subjected to “physical and mental torture” in police custody.
