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Jyoishtha 12, 1420 Razab 15, 1434 Vol 1 No 66

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Education

Teach For Bangladesh: Bridging the education divide

International

Myanmar Muslims given 2-child limit

15

sunday, may 26, 2013 | www.dhakatribune.com

Sports

Bayern Europe’s champions

16 pages with 8-page business tabloid | Price: Tk10

‘Non-politicians’ damaging the BNP’s image

Poisoning the food chain

Veteran leaders blame Khaleda for relying on ‘advisers’ and ignoring their opinions Khaleda’s special personal n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla Mazhar, secretary Shamsur Rahman Shimul

Toxic waste from tanneries at Hazaribagh is jeopardising not only the environment. It is also being unwittingly used in producing fish and poultry feed, posing serious threats to the long-term health both of consumers and the food producers Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

Senior leaders of main opposition BNP has attributed their apparent “failure” in the country’s political arena to the influence of people with little or no political background on their chairperson, Khaleda Zia. They also vented frustration on her recent move to take a hard line, which they say was influenced by ally Jamaat-e-Islami and Islamist platform Hefazat-e-Islam.

They believe BNP is being pushed to an awkward corner politically due to her recent statements including army’s possible intervention in the country’s critical period, support for Hefazat’s programmes and ultimatum to the government to realise the demand for restoration of caretaker government system, as the party failed to capitalise on all these issues.

The BNP veterans blamed the increasing distance between Khaleda and party policy-makers to the intervention of “non-political” people in the party matters including Nagorik Odhikar Rakhya Committee Convener Farhad

Hartals disrupting the Telenor wary of Grameen report n education system Muhammad Zahidul Islam

n

Mushfique Wadud

The country’s education system is in peril as repeated strikes called by the opposition parties pressing for their demands are eventually, in turn, hampering the daily routine of schools, colleges, universities and other institutions.

Students as well as their guardians and teachers have expressed frustration over the confrontational politics as they feel that the whole education system is on the verge of collapsing due to the serial strikes. Academic activities in all educational institutions are disrupted as classes and examinations cannot be continued regularly.

The students and guardians said despite the urges made to the political parties to shun violence during protests and save the students’ academic lives, the situation however did not change but worsened in the last few months.

Nasreen Sultana, a mother of a child attending the Viqarunnisa Noon School, said: “My daughter will get poor grades if such situations continue to persist. The political parties should settle their differences and come to consensus to save the country and its education system.”

At the latest, the BNP-led 18-party alliance has called a nationwide dawnto-dusk hartal for today demanding the

unconditional release of its leaders and activists and protest the government’s decision of imposing a ban on meetings and rallies for a month.

The main opposition and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami have already observed four nationwide strikes this month alone and a total of almost 30days have already been lost this year due the frequent strikes.

The Higher Secondary Examinations which was scheduled for today have been rescheduled for Thursday.

However, this scenario is not new in the context of the recent violent political activities.

This year, the SSC, HSC, O-level and A-level examinations had to deal with several postponements and reschedulings as several strikes were observed during the examination period. There were even incidents where a rescheduled exam had to be postponed again by the authorities due to the strike. The strikes also required the examinees of the ongoing O and A level exams to sit for their tests at midnight.

Dhaka Education Board Chairman Prof Taslima Begum said they have to face major problems while rescheduling examinations. “Today’s exam has been shifted to Thursday but we cannot be certain about any rescheduled date which creates a challenge to map the completion of the examinations,  Page 2 column 2

The country’s largest mobile operator, GrameenPhone (GP), is worried about a commission report into Grameen Bank, and is seeking assurances it will be left out of the report before it files an application for the telecom regulator’s 3G auction, sources said.

The Norwegian minister of trade and industry, Trond Giske, recently brought up the issue in a letter to Commerce Minister GM Quader, writing: “I trust the government of Bangladesh will do its best to resolve this matter in a fair and open manner, so that Telenor’s and GP’s significant long-term investments are not harmed.”

The minister said GP, majority owned by Norwegian state-owned Telenor, would like to expand operations in Bangladesh and participate in the auction. “Unfortunately, at the moment Telenor finds that the framework conditions for investing in Bangladesh are highly uncertain due to the interim report from the Grameen Bank commission.”

The minister pointed out Telenor had been GP’s major shareholder since the start and “provided the necessary financing and expertise to develop GP as the largest listed company in Bangladesh.”

The commission’s report alleges that Tk96bn was laundered using GP in the past 15 years. It points to the telecom’s licence not being issued in the proper way, and how attempts to set

Inside News

International

makes it clear that both Bangladeshi and US interests must be protected. She says lengthy negotiations will ensure that all concerns are addressed but she did not elaborate on when the deal might be signed.

peace conference to end the civil war face prospects of collapse after President Bashar al-Assad’s foes fail to cut an internal deal. The Syrian National Coalition has failed to leave Islamists out of their ranks.

3 Dipu Moni affirms the worth of Ticfa but

8 Syrian opposition talks at an international

Metro

Op-ed

lists of unfit structures but the capital development authority constantly fails to take any actions on structures erected in breach of building codes. Several of these buildings are at risk of imminent collapse.

needs to be continuously vigilant against individuals and groups that try to influence the government or the administration for their own benefit, at the expense of industry, the economy and society as a whole.

5 Rajuk’s probe committees have extensive

Nation

6 Cyclone Mahasen has taken its toll on

fisheries and livestock resources worth Tk118.8m in the country’s southern region, official figures show. The four worst affected districts are Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali and Jhalakathi.

11 Salman Sakir writes about how the country

Sport

13 The Bangladesh women’s football team is out of contention for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after losing 4-0 to a powerful Philippines. Iran lost to Thailand 5-1.

Bangladesh, the hosts, find themselves out of the tournament without scoring a single

matters right led to further violations of the law.

Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission’s 3G license auction was scheduled for June 24 but moved to July 31. The last date for filing applications is June 12.

Sources said before applying for the licence, both the GP board and Telenor want confirmation the Bangladeshi

‘I trust the government of Bangladesh will do its best to resolve this matter in a fair and open manner, so that Telenor’s and GP’s significant long-term investments are not harmed’ telecom giant will not be included in the GB commission report.

The Norwegian minister in his letter said: “Telenor has not been a party in the review by Grameen Bank commission, as it relates to matters between the Bangladeshi government and Grameen Bank.”

The minister, during a visit to Bangladesh in the first week of April, met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Telecommunication Minister Advocate Shahara Khatun, Commerce Minister GM Quader, Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose among others.

Meanwhile, Sigve Breakke, GP board chairman and Telenor’s executive

vice-president has been visiting Bangladesh frequently. Last week he met with the telecom minister, BTRC chief, and commerce secretary and is scheduled to meet with the finance minister and other high officials during his next visit on June 2. He visited Bangladesh five times in the last month to address the issue.

On Wednesday, he told his inner circle they need confirmation about the GB commission report before going for the auction.

Back in March, he told journalists they were concerned about their licence and won’t take part in the 3G auction if the uncertainties then facing the telecom industry were not resolved. The numerous issues were cause for concern among all the industry players.

GP sources said, Breakke would meet journalists when he returns next week and clarify their position.

Meanwhile, Mahmud Hossain, GP’s chief corporate affairs officer told the Dhaka Tribune: “There are lots of issues related to the industry. So we will meet with the BTRC chairman this week and try to fix a meeting with the finance minister.”

He said GP is yet to decide about taking part in the 3G auction and the issues have to be resolved first.

Telenor owns 55.8% of GP’s shares and Grameen Telecom owns 34.2%, the remaining 10% is owned by general retail and institutional investors. l

Bishwas, adviser Ruhul Alam Chowdhury, chief coordinator of her security force Fazle Elahi Akbar, press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan and former bureaucrat Sabihuddin Ahmed.

They claimed the party is being run by non-politicians and the suggestions of those with political backgrounds are being ignored in the process, which they believe is pushing BNP to a difficult situation and forced the party out of the driver’s seat in the negotiations with the government.

After her statement about the army intervention, the party’s acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, had to clarify her stance and claim she was misquoted by the media, causing a loss of face.

Alleging that Jamaat was pressuring BNP to take the hard line earlier than it had planned, the policymaking-level leaders said, Khaleda’s repeated public calls to take to the street at a time when party men are not ready, is forcing the  Page 2 column 3

Rana Plaza death toll now stands at 1,129 n Tribune Report The death toll of collapsed Rana Plaza at Savar reached 1,129, as two workers, who were rescued alive, died in hospital.

Mohammad Ashraful, 18, a worker at New Wave Fashion, died at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday, while Anju Ara, 18, an ICU patient at Square Hospital died on Friday night.

Ashraful, came from Gouripur upazila of Mymensingh, was rescued on the day of the collapse, and was admitted to a local hospital. He was moved to DMCH for better treatment on the same day.

Hospital sources said Ashraful had an operation yesterday, and died in the post-operative ward of the hospital.

Meanwhile, Square Hospital officials said Anju was admitted to the hospital on April 29. “She was facing orthopedic problems and was under supervision of Dr Mesbah Uddin Ahmed,” a hospital official said.

Mohammad Zillur Rahman Chowd­ hury, assistant deputy commissioner of Dhaka DC office told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have been informed about the deaths. Following a government order, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Savar Thana Kamrul Hasan Molla has already given compensation of Tk20,000 to the deceaseds’ relatives.” l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Nation pay homage to Nazrul n Tribune Report

People from all walks of life yesterday paid homage to the National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam by placing wreaths at the grave of the legendry poet on Dhaka University campus, marking his 114th birth anniversary.

A delegation led by Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ulAlam Hanif paid their tribute to the poet.

Awami League presidium member Sahara Khatun, AL joint general secretary and Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Cultural Minister Abul Kalam Azad, AL organising secretary Ahmad Hossain, Jubo League chairman Omar Faruk Chowdhury, general secretary Harun-or- Rashid, Chhatra League president HM Badiuzzaman, general secretary Siddiqi Nazmul Alam placed wreaths and offer fateha at the poet’s mazar.

Besides, students, teachers, officials and employees of Dhaka University led-by Vice Chancellor Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique paid their homage to the poet.

BNP Standing Committee member Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia paid tribute to the poet on behalf of the party.

Hundreds of people from all walks of life thronged the mazar of Nazrul to pay their homage.

Later, different socio-cultural and political organisations, including family members of the poet, Juba League, Chhatra Dal, Chhatra League, National Museum, Cultural Affairs Ministry, Nazrul Institute, Bangabandhu Sanskritik Jote, Jahangirnagar University, Nazrul Academy and Bangladesh Nazrul Recitation Parishad paid their tribute to the poet.

Students of Sangeet Department of DU and the country’s noted singers, including Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, rendered Nazrul Sangeet and recited Nazrul’s poems. l

Editors float a new platform – Editors’ Council n BSS Editors of various national dailies yesterday formed a new platform called the Editors’ Council aiming to achieve full freedom of the press and protect the right to expression.

The organisation also aims to enhance the professional skill of newsmen and strengthen the editorial institution.

The Editors’ Council was constituted unanimously at a meeting held at the office of Daily Star with the editor of the Daily Samakal, Golam Sarwar, the editor of the Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam, and the editor of the Daily Manabjamin, Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, as its president, general secretary and treasurer respectively.

According to a press release issued by the general secretary of the Editors’ Council, the new organisation would be given a total shape soon with the framing of its constitution.

The other members are Mahbubul Alam (Independent), Anwar Hossain (Ittefaq), Motiur Rahman (Prothom Alo), Reaz Uddin Ahmed (News Today), AMM Bahauddin (Inquilab), AHM Moazzem Hossain (Financial Express), Nurul Kabir (New Age), Shyamal Dutta (Bhorer Kagoj), Imdadul Huq Milon (Kaler Kantha), Nayeem Nizam (Bangladesh Protidin), Khondokar Muniruzzaman (Sangbad), Alamgir Mohiuddin (Naya Diganta), Mostafa Kamal Mazumdar (New Nation), Mozammel Huq (Korotoa), MA Malek (Azadi) and Architect Taslim Uddin Chowdhury (Purbakone). l

Suspected mugger killed in police firing n UNB A suspected mugger was killed in police firing in the city’s Agargaon area last night.

Police said sub-inspector Rakib along with his team was paroling the area riding two rickshaws in plainclothes since evening.

Around 9pm, they said, three muggers swooped on SI Rakib’s rickshaw and tried to snatch his valuables.

When SI Rakib challenged them, the muggers set off a cocktail targeting the law enforcers. The law enforcers then fired gunshots, leaving two of the muggers injured.

Later, another SI, Mohsin, took one of the unidentified injured to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. l

The grave of Kazi Nazrul Islam at Dhaka University premises is covered by floral wreaths as people pay their respect at the 114th birth anniversary of the national poet of Bangladesh

Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune

PM wants Nazrul’s dream of FBCCI unhappy with hartal call secular society in practice n Tribune report

n Tribune Desk Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stressed the need for building a non-communal, modern and democratic Bangladesh ensuring equal rights of all to materialize the dream of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

“The dream of Nazrul will come true if we can build a secular, democratic and exploitation-free Bangladesh by ensuring equal rights of all,” she said at a function, marking the celebration of 114th birth anniversary of rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city yesterday.

The Prime Minister offered government support for more research on the works of Nazrul and translation of his literary works to make those familiar to the world community.

Emphasizing on introducing the new generation with the creative works of Nazrul, she said that her government wants to make sure of passing on his creative works from generation to generation. “We want to make him familiar with the posterity by focusing on his two main creations - literature and songs.”

Paying glowing tributes to Nazrul, Hasina said the poems and songs of the poet was a driving source of renaissance. “Nazrul’s writings epitomized that aspiration of the Bengali people.”

The desire for freedom and dreams of the Bengali people were projected in the literary works of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. “Nazul is a symbol of humanism.”

Hasina said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

had settled the poet in Dhaka conferring him with the honour of the National Poet.

She expressed her hope that the dream of building a happy, prosp erous and exploitation free Bangladesh as dreamt by the national poet would materialize soon.

Chaired by Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad, the function was also addressed, among others, by Cultural Affairs secretary Ranjit Kumar Biswas and member of poet Nazrul’s family Khilkhil Kazi.

Eminent Nazrul expert and chairman of the Trustee Board of Nazrul Institute Dr Rafiqul Islam gave a commemorative speech on national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Later, the Prime Minister witnessed a colourful cultural function. l

One-sided initiatives by businessmen to stop hartals will not yield positive results unless those who call hartals come forward in the interest of the country’s economic sustainability said Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

“The main opposition is calling hartal one after another while businessmen are trying to get the two opposing poles to reach a consensus,” he told reporters yesterday after a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the minister’s secretariat office.

In the first week of May the FBCCI demanded that the government enact a law to stop hartals in the interest of economic development and political stability.

The law minister, Shafique Ahmed,

later said the government was not considering any plans to ban hartals.

Strikes are a democratic right, he said, but the political parties should enforce them in a peaceful manner. He urged the opposition to stop damaging the economy and halt subversive activities in the name of protests.

In March the FBCCI sent two letters – one to Khaleda Zia and the other to Sheikh Hasina – requesting them to sit with the apex trade body to find an alternative to hartals.

The main opposition BNP did not respond to the letter but the prime minister met with the federation. Conservative estimates place the cost of strikes at $200m (Tk15bn) per day.

Annually the expense is even greater, costing 3-4% of Bangladesh’s GDP of $110bn, according to an estimate based on a Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries survey. l

BGMEA keeps government waiting to form RMG wage commission n Mohosinul Karim The government is yet to form the full wage commission for garment workers – although two weeks have passed since its announcement – as garment owners have not nominated their representatives for the body.

The labour and employment ministry has been waiting to get the list of nominees from Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to form the commission and publish a gazette.

“After we receive the nominations, we will publish the gazette on the wage commission including names of people in it, its jurisdiction, timeframe for submitting recommendations and

Hartals disrupting  page 1 column 2

more of all some available dates contradicts with other exams.”

Some teachers of the schools said the students might have to take the upcoming half yearly examinations scheduled for June 9 without completing the full syllabus as classes were not held regularly. The teachers fear that, in such a case, problems would emerge during the annual exams.

Principal Manju Ara Begum of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College said they have been taking classes on weekends to make up for the losses which, however, is not sufficient to cover the academic damage done.

Farhad Hossain, principal of Monipur High School and College said: “We had to cut the duration of our summer vacation to make up for the losses but still we cannot fully complete the syllabus.” He said the total academic calendar of the school have been jeopardised due to the strikes in such an important time of the year.

Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique said: “Though examinations are held on hartal days, classes are not. We are trying to make up by taking classes on the weekends but the academic loss cannot be covered.” l

other benefits. The commission will start working only after the gazette is published,” Labour and Employment Secretary Mikail Shipar told the Dhaka Tribune.

BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said they had finalised the names of their nominees and the association board would sit today for its approval.

“We will send our nominations to the ministry after getting the board’s approval,” he said yesterday.

On May 12, the labour ministry announced the formation of the national wage board to ensure minimum wages for garment workers in the presence of garment owners and BGMEA office bearers, labour leaders and government officials.

Jute and Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, a member of the cabinet committee on garment industry, announced on behalf of the labour ministry that the minimum wages would be effective from May 1.

Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar, however, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the minimum wages would be effective from the day the commission suggested. The process would be completed within November, he said.

According to the labour ministry, the government already appointed district judge AK Roy as the chairman of the commission. Other members will be nominated from government officials, garment owners and representa-

tives of garment workers.

The commission will fix the new salary structure of RMG workers in consultation with its members and other stakeholders concerned.

Bangladesh is the largest exporter of garment products after China, contributing nearly 80% of the country’s earning from exports.

The sector has been plagued with accidents, and rights activists have been accusing garment factory owners of oppressing workers. Around 4 million people, mostly women, engaged in the sector toil hard for as little as Tk3,000 a month.

The move for forming the wage board was prompted by widespread criticism over the poor salaries and

conditions of the factories, most of which do not comply with the international safety standards.

Bangladesh’s garment industry came under limelight once again after 1,127 people, mostly RMG workers, were killed in a building collapse at Savar on April 24. The ninestorey building housed five garment factories.

The European Union, the largest importer of garment products from Bangladesh, threatened to revoke its preferential trading facility. Several US senators have also reportedly been pushing the Obama administration to cancel Bangladesh’s GSP facility.

If cancelled, Bangladesh could face millions of dollars in taxes.l

‘Non-politicians’ damaging the BNP’s image  page 1 column 6

senior leaders to ignore them and further increasing the divide.

Claiming that Khaleda Zia took the hardline after her return from Singapore without any discussion with them and relying on non-political men specially her personal staff.

Farhad Mazhar held an hour-long meeting with BNP chairperson on March 30 at her Gulshan office and the next day Khaleda addressed a press conference terming the then ongoing violence as “genocide” and urged the government to stop “mass killing” during the spates of violence that broke out just after the death sentence was handed to a Jamaat leader for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. Farhad on April 3, just a few days before Hefazat’s long-march urged the government not to obstruct the programme and accept their demands. He also urged the government to arrange for food and accommodation for the demonstrators.

Party leaders said that BNP’s direct support to the Hefazat programme was a mistake and this pushed them

backward.

“We should not trapped by the Jamaat’s propaganda. Hefazat was the creation of Jamaat and we simply trapped into it. International community did not see the support into a good way,” a senior leader said, preferring to remain unnamed.

He also said Awami League got the issue and will tell the international community that they have the capacity to evict militancy from the country while BNP will shelter militants and turn it into a militant state. “It is really a huge setback for the party.”

Farhad Mazhar held an hour-long meeting with Khaleda on May 5 when Hefazat men took position in the Shapla Chattar for realisation of their 13-point demand charter. After the meeting, she called on the Dhaka city residents to support the programme and provide demonstrators with food and water. However, even BNP leaders and activists did not respond to the call.

A BNP standing committee member, requesting anonymity, said, “We waited in the meeting room, but madam [Khaleda] was late. We later found out

that she was in a meeting with Farhad Mazhar. If she finalises programme consulting with non-political men then what is the use of party leaders.”

He also said that chairperson’s personal staffs are also very influential and that recommendations by members of the standing committee, the highest policymaking forum of the party, is often ignored during decision making to accommodate their suggestions.

Another senior leader said, “When madam consults with us on political issues, she seemed convinced but after leaving the office, the programmes change. We actually do not know who is doing this.”

He also said chairperson’s recent remarks especially supporting the Hefazat’s programme and to call the city dwellers to stand beside the Hefazat men cornered the party and created an image crisis. The leader also said giving 48 hours ultimatum to the government was not a wise decision.

“Awami League successfully handled the issue and pushed us back as we failed to cash on Hefazat’s programme,” he said adding that the standing committee members could

not avert the responsibility as they took the ultimatum decision.

“But the decision for giving ultimatum for 48 hours was taken on the dais when the non-political parties pressured Khaleda Zia to go for sit-in programme,” he said.

On May 4 during the opposition’s meeting, immediately before BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia took the stage, the party’s top tier, along with her personal staff and leaders of associate wings, were contemplating whether to go for a sit-in programme at the venue. The non-political leaders and personal staff pushed the chairperson to go for a sit-in programme. However, the veteran political leaders opposed the idea.

Also many senior leaders including Khaleda herself cannot trust some policymakers like Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Moudud Ahmed. These two leaders have a huge influence in the party but also maintain good ties with the government.

They also said the Bengali daily, Amar Desh, has its own agenda as two of its owners are directly involved with Jamaat’s politics. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

PM asks opposition to join JS n Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee Renewing her call to the BNP, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the opposition to join the parliament and place their proposals on upcoming national polls to evade political standoff.

The premier came up with the call while addressing party’s Kishorganj district chapter leaders at Ganabhaban on Saturday – two days after BNP’s call for holding dialogue to reach a consensus on poll-time interim government.

“Join the Parliament and place your proposals. I am assuring you that no Magura and February 15- type elections will be held in the country again,” she said.

“All elections held under the incumbent government were free, fair and credible,” Hasina claimed adding: “People’s constitutional and voting right will be protected under any circumstances.”

“It is the people who will decide whom they will put in power.”

She urged the opposition BNP to shun the politics of destruction that claims lives of innocent people and destroy public property.

Accident hurts 8 in city

Claiming that people of the country are now living in peace she said the government has succeed in freeing the nation from the clutches of militancy and fundamentalism.

“But Khaleda Zia cannot stand the progress of the country. Only Allah knows what could make her happy,” questioned Hasina.

Later, Kishorganj district unit AL Acting President Syed Wahidul Islam addressed the view-exchange meeting while Acting General Secretary MA Afzal placed the organisational report.

Among others, party leaders Kazi Zafarullah, Alauddin Ahmed, Syed Ashraful Islam, Mahabub-Ul-alam Hanif, Ahmod Hossain, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, and Faridunahar Layli were present.

Earlier, BNP on Thursday alleged that the government was making “practically impossible” the day-to-day political activities of the opposition.

The same day it reiterated its call for a dialogue to reach a consensus on poll-time interim government to hold a neutral and impartial election participated by all political parties. l

n Ashif Islam Shaon

BNP renews call for dialogue n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla Senior leaders of the main opposition BNP again urged the government yesterday to sit for dialogue, and discuss poll-time interim administration to oversee the next general elections, slated for early January 2014.

Reiterating that the BNP did not have any reservations about what to call the interim administration, they said the government could call it anything if it did not like the term “caretaker”.

“We only want the interim government to be non-partisan and not multi-partisan. Come and discuss it to finalise how the poll-time interim government can be formed,” said standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy during a discussion at the National Press Club. “We want a dialogue.

No alternative to dialogue to end crisis: Ershad n Manik Miazee Jatiya Party chairman and ruling government ally, HM Ershad, yesterday said, there is no alternative to an effective dialogue in resolving the current political crisis in the country to maintain democratic practice.

“The government must be elected in a democratic way, people will not accept any other approach,” he said while talking to a delegation of Buddhist Youth Festival group at his Banani office.

Claiming that Jatiya Party wants to compete in the next general elections as a single party, the former military dictator said, the country is going through a terrible situation and its people are at loss due to the ruling and the opposition parties’ activities.

Greeting the group on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, he said Jatiya Party is doing politics to establish peace in the country.

“Our slogan is: Change for Peace. We all have to come forward to bring the change,” he said.

He denounced the September attacks on the Buddhist community at Ramu in Cox’s Bazar. The former president said: “Such incident would have never happened if Jatiya Party was in power.”l

40 Shibir activists arrested in Chittagong n BSS A joint team of the city’s Panchlaish police and detectives detained 40 activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, (ICS) the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, from a community centre in Panchlaish area yesterday.

Shah Abdur Rouf, assistant commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (Panchlaish zone) said police arrested them from ‘King of Chittagong’ community center in Panchlaish around 12:45pm where the ICS activists allegedly gathered to plan acts of sabotage.

They have been picked up in connection with different cases filed for carrying out destructive and subversive activities.

The detainees were taken to Panchlaish police station for primary interrogation, the police official added. l

It is to be seen now if the government really wants it.”

Goyeshwar said: “People of the country know free and fair elections can not be held under the prime minister. If the government has carried out massive development works across the country, why is it afraid to hold the next elections under a non-partisan government?”

Addressing another programme at the same venue, Rafiqul Islam Miah, another standing committee member, said the government’s plan to keep the BNP out and hold the next elections would be resisted.

Describing “repression” by law enforcers of opposition programmes, Rafiqul said: “We cannot declare war against them [police]. But keep in mind that it is not our weak point; we are only following democratic practices.” l

3

Sunday, May 26, 2013

People rescue the driver of the CNG-run auto-rickshaw rammed by a town service bus at Matsya Bhaban intersection in the capital yesterday morning Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

A recklessly driven bus rammed a number of vehicles leaving at least eight people severely injured at Matsya Bhaban intersection in the capital’s Ramna area yesterday morning.

Eyewitnesses said the bus had disobeyed the traffic signal then the incident happened ahead of VVIP movement.

The law enforcers were about to close the road for Prime Minister’s motorcade movement in the area around 9:45am.

But the bus of route-3 heading to Fulbaria from Abdullahpur speeded forward from the left side sensing that once the road is closed it will take time to be reopened.

The bus with increasing speed kept going forward stubbornly, and could not stop when the signal light turned red then at the one stage of forwarding it hit an auto-rickshaw.

Immediately after the incidents a number of pedestrians, member of law enforcing agencies rushed to the spot and rescued the victims.

The CNG-run auto-rickshaw’s driver was rescued after breaking a portion of the vehicles.

After the incident, vehicular movement was halted for about half an hour, though the VVIP motorcade could pass the intersection without trouble.

Shah Alam, officer-in-charge of Ramna police station, said though the driver and helper of the bus managed to flee the scene, they seized the bus and other vehicles.

Among the injured five people, including two passers-by were admitted in Dhaka Medical College Hospital while rest of the injured were released after primary treatment.

The hospitalised victims’ were – auto–rickshaw driver Nur Hossain, 35, its passengers Achhia Begum, 32, her daughter Faria Tabassum, 8, and two pedestrians – Afzal Hossain, 50, and Masud Hossain, 55. l

User fee sharing to be back in public hospitals A vested group is reportedly trying to squeeze Tk1bn from the exchequer n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Public hospital staff, including doctors, are said to be trying to fill their pockets by getting their hands on a Tk1bn fund, collected as “user fees,” from the exchequer.

Sources said the system of sharing “user fees” with public hospital staff was suspended for two years following a High Court (HC) order.

Patients are treated for free in public hospitals but pay to use diagnostic facilities. According to arrangements for the sharing of the fees, half the amount is allocated to the exchequer, and the remainder is to be disbursed among hospital staff and doctors.

According to sources because of the HC order, the entire amount collected as “user fees” over the last two years, estimated to be around Tk2bn, went to the exchequer. They said a process of distributing Tk1bn among doctors and staff of public hospitals was nearly complete.

After coming to power in 2010, the current government increased the amount charged as “user fees,” and decided to share half the amount collected with doctors and staff of the hospitals.

Following the publication of several news reports on the issue, the president of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh Monjil Morshed filed a writ petition with the HC to secure a ban on the government’s decision.

The ban remained till last year when the HC issued a stay order on it following an appeal by the Secretary of Health (Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal 2616).

Investigations revealed there are no definitive policies outlined with regard to sharing of “user fees.” The practice continued for 26 years following a written order issued by the Ministry of Health in 1984, during the tenure of the Ershad government.

The Ministry of Finance however complained every year about discrepancies found in audits due to the practice, because there is no policy pertaining to it.

The finance ministry is reportedly planning to award an “economic code” to validate raising money from the government exchequer’s fund for this purpose.

This raised health rights activists’ suspicions that there could be huge amounts illegally transacted for the issuance of the “economic code.”

Name of hospital User Fees Due

(million taka) Dhaka Medical College Hospital 8-10 National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital 5-6 Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital 2-3 Chittagong Medical College Hospital 20 National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases

25– 30

ShaheedSuhrawardi Medical College and Hospital 7-15 National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology 7– 15 National Institute of Mental Health 7– 15 National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital 7– 15 Orthopaedic Hospital 7-15

There are also allegations about Dr Noman Chowdhury, associated with the ruling party backed doctors’ association Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad (Swachip), has been using his influences to release Tk1bn from the government.

Dr Chowdhury, an assistant professor of the Department of Radiology and Imaging at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), is alleged to have charged 3% commission to ensure the funds’ release.

BNP enforces 12-hour hartal today n Tribune Report Opposition BNP leaders yesterday said, they are prepared to face imprisonment if their demand of holding the next general polls under a non-partisan interim government is not met.

“BNP knows how to make the government realise the opposition’s demand. Government should not think that tomorrow’s hartal is the last one. If needed, we will go to prison,” said Shamsuzzaman Dudu, advisor to the BNP chairperson yesterday.

He was speaking at a press conference on the eve of a 12-hour nationwide hartal today.

The 18-party alliance on Friday called the dawn to dusk countrywide hartal protesting the ban on meeting and processions, demanding unconditional and immediate release of its detained leaders and activists and introduction of a non-party interim government to oversee the next general polls.

Addressing a pre-hartal briefing at party’s Naya Paltan headquarters

in the capital, Dudu said the partywill continue its movement but is ready to hold dialogue to finalise the poll time interim government.

“BNP is ready to hold dialogue at any place if the government makes clear which issue it wants to discuss,” he said.

‘BNP is ready to hold dialogue at any place if the government makes clear which issue it wants to discuss,’ says Shamsuzzaman Dudu He added, there will be no movement if the government accepts the demand of non-party interim government to oversee the next general polls. “BNP has no objection if the government completed its tenure.”

Condemning the issuing of arrest warrants against two editors, Dudu said, “After assuming the office, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu started repressing the media. It is dreadful than any time in history.”

While asked about setting fire to party’s standing committee member Moudud Ahmed’s effigy, Dudu said neither Jubo Dal nor BNP men were involved in the incident.

He alleged that police started arresting the opposition leaders and activists ahead of hartal.

Dhaka city unit BNP member secretary Abdus Salam, assistant office secretary Abdul Latif Jony and other senior leaders were present in the briefing.

Meanwhile, hartal activists torched and vandalised vehicles and exploded crude bombs in the city ahead of the hartal, reported the state owned news agency.

Police and witnesses said the activists mainly Jamaat-Shibir exploded few crude bombs at city’s Naya Paltan, Mouchak and Motijheel areas this afternoon.

“Miscreants set fire to a bus in front of Islamia Eye Hospital of Khamarbari at Farmgate this afternoon and fled from the scene quickly,” Assistant Commissioner (media wing) Mohammed Abu Yusuf told the BSS. l

The Swachip leader, however, denied all allegations and said clinicians were spreading propaganda about him because generally they did not get a share of the “user fees.”

Dr Chowdhury said he was trying to get the fund released because it was the right of public hospital doctors and staff, and said he was ready to pay 10% commission to officials of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh to get what is their right.

There are also allegations against the Auditor General’s office about not releasing any fund without commissions.

Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub, president of the Health Rights Movement National Committee, said the manner in which the money was received and spent was “totally inappropriate.”

He said most patients who go to public hospitals are poor and spend their hard-earned money for diagnostic tests. He also suggested that rather than sharing the money raised with doctors and staff, it should be spent on the overall development of the public health sector so that it could benefit the common people.

Reportedly, only few departments, namely radiology and imaging, radiotherapy, pathology, biochemistry,

blood transfusion, are directly involved with diagnostic tests in public hospitals.

Sources said while doctors and staff of these departments were delighted at the possibility of receiving their share of the fund, the departments not involved with tests, were very dissatisfied because they would not get any share of the money.

They said they too should get a share of the money raised because they also contribute towards the treatment of patients in public hospitals.

They claimed the current government formulated a draft policy soon after assuming power enabling all employees to get a share of the fund raised from user fees but it never saw the light of day.

Although an exact estimate of the amount that is due on all user fees is difficult to make, some reputed hospitals reportedly owe large sums to the government.

Director (finance) of the Health Department Dr Sayedur Rahman said the department earns around Tk1.25bn every year from organisations it runs across the country. “But I can’t immediately say how much of that amount consists of user fees,” he said. l

Arrest warrant served at Tarique’s residence: Quamrul n Tribune Report A warrant for arrest of BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman has been issued and dispatched to his address in Dhaka.

State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam yesterday disclosed the information while addressing at a discussion meeting at the Shilpakala Academy.

Dhaka divisional unit of Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote organised the discussion, marking the 114th birth

anniversary of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Quamrul said the government would take action against Tarique, the eldest son of BNP chief Khaleda Zia, at any cost.

“Although Tarique was not found at his Dhaka address, the government has traced his present position,” he said. Quamrul reiterated that the government would seek Interpol’s help to bring back Tarique. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Two deported from Maldives for forged visas n Rabiul Islam

‘Narayanganj will be freed from Godfather’ n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj

Two Bangladeshis arrived in Dhaka yesterday after being deported from the Maldives as their visas were forged.

An official of Shahjalal International Airport said one of the deported immigrants, Md Arshad, had gone to the Maldives with immigration clearance from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).

“I went through a middleman named Hasan by paying Tk190,000,” Arshad told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday. He said he was supposed to join work on May 7.

“Many people from my area have gone to the Maldives – I encouraged many to go and work there, but after going there I was told that my visa was not valid,” he said, adding that he was detained by police and had to stay in jail until deportation.

The airport official could not ascertain the identity of another deported Bangladeshi. When contacted, BMET Director for immigration Mizanur Rahman yesterday said: “We are worried because visas for the Maldives cannot be checked online; we clear a Maldives immigrant against a guarantor.” l

Narayanganj City Corporation Mayor Dr Selina Hayat Ivy yesterday declared she would clean Narayanganj of “Godfathers” within the next six months.

Ivy, also the advisor of Santrash Nirmul Towki Mancha, was at the Chashara Shaheed Minar premises to break the hunger-strike by the platform’s leaders and activists.

She said this six months have been given so that the criminals could repent, otherwise the authority would go for tougher movements with all walks of people against the godfathers, who are unabatedly committing violence, killing and extortion in the city.

Santrash Nirmul Towki mancha is a civic platform, which was formed on March 17 to press the law agencies to nab and produce the killer of Towki before the court.

Tanvir Mohammad Towki, 17, a meritorious student of A-level in the town gone missing on March 6, and police recovered his dead body on March 8.

Towki’s father filed a murder case with the sadar police station against unknown assailants. l

A BSTI team led by a magistrate sealed a water-bottling unit at Sayedabad that runs water straight from the WASA pipe into jars for sale in the city

‘Drug syndicates more powerful than government’

Higher Secondary Education

Textbooks unlikely to reach students in time n

Mohammad Jamil Khan

n Mushfique Wadud Higher Secondary students might not get some of their textbooks of the new curriculum as the authors are yet to start writing them with the new academic year only 36 days away.

National Curriculum and Textbook Board officials said they need at least 10 to 15 days for evaluation and some other tasks to do after they receive dummies but they couldn’t say for sure when they will get them.

Officials fear that the HSC students may not obtain some textbooks of the new curriculum in the beginning of the academic year as it is quite difficult to write a full textbook within this short time.

According to government announcement, the new academic year for HSC will begin from July 1. The admission process started on May 18.

But all the six writers and editors selected for writing English textbook have not yet been able to meet to discuss a plan before they start writing textbooks.

The first meeting was scheduled to be held on May 28. Officials said the same problem lies in preparing Bangla textbooks The authors, however, put the blame for delay on the NCTB officials saying that they were asked to write quite late.

Those selected for writing English textbooks told the Dhaka Tribune that they received the letter to this end on May 14.

When contacted, one of the editors chosen for English Textbook, Dhaka University English Department professor Syed Manjurul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that they would hold a meeting on May 28.

Before the meeting he declined to comment on if they can finish writing the textbooks on time.

“I need to discuss with other writers before commenting on whether it is possible for us to write a textbook without mistakes in such a short time,” he said.

When contacted, NCTB Chairman Shafikur Rahman said he believes students will get their books on time. “We are working on this.”

When asked if there is coordination between the writers, he said: “The ministry and NCTB are working with the writers.”

The government decided in 2012 to introduce new curriculum to the secondary and higher secondary level to modernize the education sector.

Secondary level students got their textbooks as per the new curriculum in the beginning of the new session starting from January this year. l

Rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur at many places over Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong, and Sylhet divisions and at a few places over Dhaka, Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions until 6pm today.

Moderately heavy to very heavy falls are also likely at places over Barisal and Chittagong divisions, Met Office said. Day and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over Barisal and Chittagong divisions and may rise elsewhere over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 6:39pm today and rises at 5:12am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 33.8 degree Celsius was recorded yesterday at Sylhet and lowest 22.0 degrees at Chittagong. Highest and lowest temperature recorded in some major cities yesterday were: High

Members of drug syndicates in some cases are more powerful than the government, speakers at a programme said yesterday.

People from all walks of life should come forward and work jointly to raise their voices against such syndicates to make the country a better place for the young generation, said Mohammad Iqbal, director general of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC).

He was speaking at a discussion called “Anti-drug Awareness Campaign among Youth” organised by the DNC in collaboration with South Korea’s Narcotic Division of Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (SPO), held in the city.

Addressing the programme chief guest CQK Mustaq Ahmed, senior secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs, said drugs are not consumed only in roadside slums but also in higher society.

He said drug use had spread among the

upper classes through private university students.

Mustaq said drug use is on the rise due to prices being lower than on international markets. He urged people from all walks of life to raise awareness and prevent drug abuse in Bangladesh.

The senior secretary said members of DNC and law enforcement agencies are working to end the menace.

Mojibur Rahman, a director of the DNC presided over the programme that was attended by special guests Cheol-Hee Lee, director of South Korea’s SPO along with consular and deputy chief of mission of Soth Korea’s embassy, Kim Hyun Joo. Representatives from several private organisations and NGOs attended and spoke at the event.

The Narcotics Division of SPO handed over two Hyundai microbuses, 30 laptops and multimedia projectors to the DNC to monitor drug related activities. l

Ticfa signing declaration likely after partnership dialogue

Ashulia factories shut after police– Little change in workers clash temperature likely Tribune Report n n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman n UNB Twenty garment factories were shut The two-day second partnership diaWEATHER

City

Dhaka Tribune

Low

Dhaka

32.0

24.1

Chittagong

25.4

22.0

Rajshahi

30.6

24.0

Rangpur

32.6

26.0

Khulna

32.6

23.6

Barisal

29.3

24.5

Sylhet

33.8

25.5

Cox’s Bazar

25.2

23.0

PRAYER TIMES Fajr

3:47am

Sunrise

5:12am

Zohr

11:56am

Asr

3:17pm

Maghrib

6:39pm

Esha

8:05pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

at Tongibari in Ashulia industrial area yesterday as workers, demonstrating to press home various demands including wage hike, clashed with police leaving at least 50 injured.

Officer-in-charge of Ashulia Police Station, Badrul Alam, said the workers of Natural Denim Garment factory started the protest in the morning demanding implementation of the new wage board for the workers.

Chase and counter-chase broke out as police tried to disperse the agitated workers. The garment workers hurled brick chips at police when police charged baton and lobbed teargas shells to disperse them, leaving at least 50 injured. They were admitted to different local hospitals.

In another incident, several thousand garment workers in the Ashulia Industrial Belt staged demonstrations demanding implementation of the new wage board.

Ashulia Industrial police Inspector Faruk Hossain said the demonstration began when workers of Knit Asia Garment Factory found an indefinite closure notice on the factory’s main gate.

Workers from the Ashulia Industrial area, including Washing and Design Garment in Jamgarah, Jonron Garments and New Asia Garment in Narsinghapur also left their workplaces to stage demonstrations. The protesters went to the Abdullahpur-Bipile road to create a blockade. On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, reports UNB. Following the violence, the authorities of 20 garment factories suspended operations in their factories.

Meanwhile, garment workers of Board Bazar area blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway for about 30 minutes following a rumour of death of a fellow worker in a road accident. l

logue between Dhaka and Washington begins today to discuss four broad areas of cooperation: trade and investment, governance and development, security cooperation and regional integration.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque will lead the Bangladesh delegation while US State Department Under Secretary for political affairs Wendy Sherman heads the US side.

They will discuss trade and investment issues including labour rights and the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (Ticfa).

A senior official of the ministry, preferring to remain unnamed, said: “An announcement of signing Ticfa between Dhaka and Washington is expected after the dialogue.”

He said the signing itself would take some time, as it has to be approved by the cabinet.

On May 22, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said Ticfa, which is an official

platform to resolve conflicts and problems in trade and commerce, would be good for Dhaka and Washington “provided we formulate the agreement in such a manner that it will protect interests of the both the countries.”

The State Department Assistant Secretary for Business and Economic Affair Jose Fernandez, three deputy assistant secretaries and a Pentagon brigadier general will accompany Sherman along with representatives from over 25 US companies.

Talks at the foreign ministry start at 10am, divided into a working group and a plenary group.

The working group will have a number of meetings, said a senior foreign ministry official, also requesting anonymity. It will discuss trade and investment, development and governance, and security cooperation issues on the first day.

Private sector representatives will have a series of meetings with different chambers on May 26 including BGMEA, FBCCI and MCCI. They will also attend a networking lunch hosted by FBCCI.

At the plenary session the next day the private sector will present its findings, followed by presentations by the working groups.

The official said: “During lunch we will discuss regional and global issues in a multilateral context.” Afterwards a joint statement will be issued.

US Ambassador Dan W Mozena at a briefing last week said various aspects of labour rights would be discussed, including formation of unions and work safety.

The US business delegation is scheduled to meet Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Commerce Minister GM Quader and Board of Investment Executive Chairman SA Samad to discuss Bangladesh business environment, said another foreign ministry official.

They will attend four seminars at the Dhaka Chamber on trade and investment, labour rights, energy sector and regional integration.

The team will visit the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, the Beximco industrial complex and a readymade garment factory, said the ministry official. l

Death in Police Custody

Another probe body formed

n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj Police formed another probe body to investigate the death of Shamim Reza allegedly in police custody in the district.

The chief of probe body Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Dhaka Zone Faruk Hossain on Saturday visited the house of the victim at Jhauchar and stayed there from 11:00am to 2:00pm.

He talked to the victim’s family members and others.

Two other members of the probe body are Additional SP of Narayanganj Sazzadur Rahman and Additional SP of Narsingdi Subroto Roy. People staged protest rally in presence of the DIG and demanded punishment to three policemen – Officer-in-Charge Atikur Rahman Khan, Inspector (investigation) Arup Tarafder of Sonargoan Police Station and Assistant Police Super of B Circle Uttom Prashad Pathok for the murder.

Shamim Reza, 26, son of Hazi Alauddin of Jhauchar village was picked up by Sonargoan police on May 14 as a suspect for killing local Union Parishad Chairman Rafiqul Islam’s second wife, her brother and two housemaids.

Shamim’s father said the investigation officer (IO) of the four-murder case Inspector Arup Tarafder confined his son to a congested room and tortured for seven days to extract false statement confessing his involvement in the murders.

The IO also demanded Tk500,000 from him and they paid Tk250,000 to free his son, he said.

Police produced Shamim Reza before the court on May 20 where he gave confessional statement saying that he was involved in the killings, police claimed.

Later the court sent Shamim to jail and as his condition deteriorated jail authorities shifted him to the Narayanganj General Hospital.

The emergency department of Narayanganj General Hospital referred Shamim to Dhaka medical College and Hospital where he died on May 22.

Narayanganj police earlier formed a three-member probe body headed by Additional Superintendent of Police (crime) Asrafuzzaman.

Both the probe body will separately investigate the incident, DIG Faruk Hossain said.

Shamim was a MBA degree holder from the government Tolaram College in Narayanganj. l

EC disqualifies 40 political parties n Mohammad Zakaria The Election Commission will not register 40 out of 43 political parties as they do not fulfil the necessary requirements.

The commission will send letters to the 40 political parties today, informing them about their disqualification for EC registration.

The EC is now examining the applications of the remaining three parties.

Meanwhile, it will register Bangladesh Muslim League following a High Court order while it has decided to investigate the field-level organisational structure of Bangladesh Nationalist

Front and Bangladesh Sangskritik Muktijote, which failed to meet the criteria set by the EC for registration.

Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz yesterday said the commission cancelled applications of 40 parties after a primary scrutiny.

The disqualified parties are: Bangladesh Jalali Party, Bangladesh People’s Democratic Party, Bangladesh New Sangsad League, Bangladesh Awami Party (NAP Bhashani), Bangladesh Jatiya League, Muktijoddha Communism Democratic Party, Bangladesh Jatiya Dal, Gono-Odhikar Party, Bangladesh Gonoseba Andolon, Bangladesh Janata Dal, Bangladesh Probashi Dal,

Bangladesh Trinomul League, Bangladesh Anjuman Al Islah, Gonotantrik Islamic Movement, Mukto Rajnoitik Andolon, Jatiya Muktijoddha Gonotantrik Oikya Front, Bangladesh Islamic Party, Jomiyot-e Ulamaye Islam and Nezami Islamic Party, Bangladesh People’s League, Public Party, Bangladesh Jonogonotantrik Dal, Matribhumi Dal, Bangladesh Gono-Odhikar Dal, Bangladesh Liberal Democratic Party, Bangladesh Gonoshakti Dal, Bangladesh Baam Front, Janata Mahajote Bangladesh, Sammilito Gonotantrik Party, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Hindu League, Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party, Bangladesh

Samyabadi Dal, Bangladesh Minority Party, Bangladesh Communist Party, Bangladesh Red Star Party, Bangladesh Labour Party, Krishak Sramik Party, Democratic People’s Party, Bangladesh Gesnariyas Party, and National Awami Party (NAP) Bhashani.

On October 23, the EC issued a mass circular, seeking applications for registration.

According to section 90(B) of the Representation of the People Order (RPO), for registering with the EC a party must have a central committee, committees in at least 21 districts and 100 upazilas each of which must have at least 200 members. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Metro

5

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Rajuk waits for a disaster to respond

BMP marks 60% voting centres The authority comes up with a probe committee and a list of unfit structures every time, but never follows up as risk-prone Our Correspondent, Barisal n

n Abu Hayat Mahmud Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (Rajuk), the authority in charge of looking after the planning and development of Dhaka and its adjoining areas, has been under the spotlight after the tragic collapse of the eight-storey Rana Plaza in Savar that claimed 1,129 lives and injured thousands – the biggest industrial disaster in recent history.

After the Savar collapse, Rajuk formed five monitoring teams and coordination committees under the Building Construction Act 1952 (amendment 1987) and the Real Estate Development and Management Act 2010, to identify violations of existing building codes and take appropriate action when necessary.

The committees coordinated with various professional bodies, the civil society, journalists and environmentalists. In addition, a three-strong mobile court was formed, consisting of Rajuk officials, to ensure immediate action against any anomaly.

However, the capital development authority has in the past failed to take any effective step against the risky buildings erected breaching the existing building codes.

Rajuk Chairman Nurul Huda told the Dhaka Tribune: “Continuous efforts are on to take action against illegal and risky structures. But manpower shortage is badly hampering our activities.”

The real estate regulator undertook the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) in 2004 to build Dhaka into a more organised and better structured metropolitan, encompassing the peripheral areas like Savar, Narayanganj and Gazipur.

But very little of the DAP has been implemented.

Nurul Huda said a plan was underway to divide the DAP area into eight zones so that proper monitoring and supervision of construction activities and infrastructures could be ensured.

A number of Rajuk officials said the authority sometimes could not take action against illegal buildings due to High Court stay orders.

Rajuk’s Executive Magistrate Rokon-ud-Doula told the Dhaka Tribune: “More than 5,000 cases against Rajuk are hovering at the court. For this reason we cannot take decision or action against many disputed buildings.

“It often happens that when we decide to move against a doubtful building and serve the owner a notice, the owner files a writ petition with the

These two buildings, 34 and 36, in the AGB Colony, a government staff quarter in Motijheel, were declared ‘abandoned’ long ago. But government employees and their families continue to live there with fear of collapse as no initiative is in sight to build new staff quarters. The picture was taken on May 24 Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune High Court and secures a stay order.

Due to long cue of cases, these petitions remain hanging at the court.”

The Rajuk authority, in a survey conducted during 2008-2010, identified more than 300 vulnerable buildings in Dhaka city.

In January 2010, Rajuk chief Nurul Huda had announced that the city development authority would demolish 5000 illegal buildings in the capital.

“Rajuk already identified 5,000 buildings which were constructed violating National Building Code (BNBC).

The owners of these buildings have been issued notice to demolish the illegal portions. If they do not comply Rajuk would take step to demolish the illegal parts,” he said.

The Rajuk chief has long been citing lack of manpower as a reason for their

laxity.

Back in 2010, he said, “RAJUK suffers from acute manpower shortage which impedes its plan to demolish illegal and unplanned structures. We have now only one magistrate though there should be eight. This causes problems in carrying out regular drive to dislodge illegal structures.”

A senior Rajuk official argues the agency’s responsibility ends with the approval of designs.

Sheikh Abdul Mannan, member of Rajuk’s Planning Division told the Dhaka Tribune: “We made a list of the vulnerable buildings in 2008 and 2010 and informed the Dhaka City Corporation [DCC]. But they never took any step against those buildings.”

“Rajuk’s responsibility is only to approve designs. Monitoring and supervi-

sion are the responsibilities of the local government, that is, Dhaka City Corporation,” he said. Seeking anonymity, a Rajuk official however claimed that there was no legal bar on the regulator in taking actions against illegal and risky structures.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has recently recommended that Rajuk should fine the owners of more than 9,000 illegal buildings in Dhaka city and launch a drive to demolish some of these structures.

Like the Rajuk chairman, Sheikh Abdul Mannan also cited manpower shortage for failing to act.

“Only five officers run the department [that conducts demolition drives]. Apart from the manpower shortage, we also do not get police support on time. So we cannot properly

conduct eviction drives against illegal structures in the city,” he said.

Another Rajuk official, also on condition of anonymity, said under Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) Project, the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) has given approval to housing and infrastructural designs, which needs a final approval from Rajuk.

The Rajuk official said a total of 107,391 structures have so far been constructed under the project, without Rajuk’s final approval.

Md Afsar Uddin, authorised officer of Rajuk, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are trying to stop such illegal activities in the NCC as the area is under the DAP.” He also said local people obstructed a Rajuk mobile court that went to the area last year to run an eviction drive. l

Special team to monitor Commuter train DEMU starts its poll spending formal journey in Chittagong n Mohammad Zakaria The Election Commission (EC) has formed a special monitoring team to control election spending of the candidates in the upcoming Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal city corporation elections scheduled to be held on June 15.

The team will commence its activities today as the time for scrutiny and withdrawing of nomination papers for mayoral and councillor candidates comes to an end, EC officials told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Led by the additional deputy commissioner, it comprises a representative of the EC, official of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), an Anti-Corruption Commission representative and additional district police superintendent as the members of the committee and the upazila election officer as the member- secretary.

The team will observe any possible violation of electoral code of conduct grossly of financial nature by the candidates, as they will be required to submit statements of every seven days’ election expenditures.

If any discrepancy is observed by the team, it will take actions against the respective candidates, EC officials said.

Besides this, the vigilance and observation team of the EC led by returning officer has also started their activities to oversee any violation of electoral laws during the four city corporation polls.

The EC will deploy the special monitoring teams in every ward under the central committee. Candidates will also submit return of poll expenditures to the returning officer by 30 days of publishing the gazette.

For holding a free, fair and peaceful election, it will also deploy 40 executives and 20 judicial magistrates to maintain law and order during these four city polls. The executive magistrates will be active from Monday and judicial magistrates will start their work from June 13 to June 15.

Magistrates may impose a fine of Tk50,000 or six -month imprisonment on a person found guilty of violating the electoral code of conduct following a summery trial.

On the other hand, the EC is deploying its own observer in these four city corporation polls. The observers will report to the assistant returning officer, returning officer and the EC on any kinds of violation of electoral laws. The first grade officials of the EC have been appointed as observer. l

Children, who received certificates after completing a month-long acrobatic workshop, pose with guests at Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka Saturday Banglar Chokh

n Tribune Report

Trader shot, Tk400,000 snatched n Our Correspondent, Sylhet A gang of muggers shot a businessman and robbed him of Tk400,000 yesterday afternoon from Boroshala in front of Sylhet Cadet College in the city.

Nurul Islam, 35, owner of a mobile recharging shop at Dayar Bazar of Companiganj, Sylhet, was admitted at Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital with bullet wounds on the top of knee of his left leg.

Police said Nurul Islam was going by a CNG auto-rickshaw to the city with the money.

As the vehicle reached the area, four youths on two bikes approached from two sides, then they snatched the bag of money by shooting Nurul Islam and fled the scene. l

10 Jamaat leaders and activists sent to jail n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Bangladesh Railway formally launched two commuter train services on Chittagong-Laksham and Chittagong-Fouzdarhat routes yesterday.

Two more sets of commuter trains, known as diesel electric multiple units (DEMUs), will ply between Chittagong city and Chittagong University (CU) route from next week and it will gradually be extended to different short distance routes of Chittagong, Railway Minister Mujibul Hoque said while inaugurating the trains in Chittagong, according to BSS. Of the two, one named “Chittagong

Each DEMU can carry 300 passengers at a time which can run at a speed of 60 kilometres per hour Circular Train” will ply across the port city every day and the minimum fare is Tk 15, said railway sources.

Another one, named “Chittagong-Laksham Commuter Train” will make one round trip between Chittagong city and Laksham of Comilla daily. The maximum fare for this 132km route is around Tk 66.

The DEMU can make faster trips as it has engines at both ends and moves at a speed between 70 to 80km per hour, Chittagong railway station manager Shamsul Alam said.

Fourteen DEMUs have been imported from China, and six more will soon arrive by June, according to the railway sources.

A Diesel Electric Multiple Unit or DEMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on- board diesel engines.

Each DEMU train, having three coaches, can make six trips a day within 20 to 30 km distance like Chittagong-Fouzdarhat route, railway source said.

With city corporation elections less than three weeks away, the Barisal Metropolitan Police (BMP) has marked 60 out of the 100 voting centres as riskprone.

Shoyeb Ahmed, deputy commissioner of BMP (headquarters), said the list was made on the basis of reports prepared by the Special Branch of police and would be submitted to the returning officer.

According to sources, the riskprone centres were selected on the basis of their location and placement.

Centres near roadsides and houses of prominent mayor candidates, political leaders and terrorist activists were marked. The centres’ remoteness and infrastructural conditions, including the surrounding security like buildings and boundary walls were also taken into account.

BMP sources said 34 out of the 57 voting centres under Kotwali were identified as risk-prone, 20 out of 30 were identified under Kawnia and 6 out of 13 under the Airport police station areas of the Barisal City Corporation.

On the issue, Mujibor Rahman, the returning officer for the third BCC election, said he considers all voting centres as risk-prone until the casting and counting of votes end. “We will take special arrangements to maintain the law and order surrounding the riskprone centres after we receive the list from BMP.” Earlier, the number of voters in the first BCC election held on March 20, 2003 were 164,950 which increased to 179,293 in the second election held on August 4, 2008. The number of voters has now increased to 210,482 for the upcoming BCC election which is scheduled to be held on June 15. l

Railway Minister Mujibul Hoque inaugurates DEMU train on Chittagong-Laksham and Chittagong- Fouzdarhat routes yesterday Focusbangla Each DEMU can carry 300 passengers at a time which can run at a speed of 60 kilometres per hour.

Inaugurating the trains yesterday, Railway Minister Mujibul Hoque ordered the railway security forces to remain alert so that the miscreants cannot get the scope for further destroying the train service.

Forest and Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud, Primary and Mass education Minister Dr Afsarul Ameen, Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad, MP, Abul Kashem Master,MP, Director General of Bangladesh Railway (BR) Abu Taher Chittagong city AL President A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury, among others, addressed the function as special guests. l

Ten Jamaat leaders and activists including the Barisal city secretary, a journalist of Sangram and three government employees were sent to jail yesterday.

They were arrested from Farid Manzil, a house in Barisal city ‘s Sagordi area during a police drive on Friday night.

The men arrested were identified as Jamaat’s Barisal city secretary Jahiruddin Md Babar, the Sangram’s bureau chief Professor Shah Alam, an office superintendent of the Atomic Treatment Centre at Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital campus Abul Bashar, sub-assistant officer of Department of Agriculture Jhalokathi Syed Abdul Wahab, work assistant of the Water Development Board Barisal office Abdus Sattar, and prominent leaders and activists of Jamaat in Barisal Bazlur Rahman, Ahmed Ali Ashraful Alam, Waliullah, and Abdul Mannan, Shakhawat Hossain, in charge of Barisal Kotwali police station said the Jamaat leaders and activists were arrested when they met secretly to plan sabotage for today’s opposition alliance strike.

The men were produced in court and indicted for explosions, ransacking transport and public property. The magistrate rejected their bail prayer, and sent them to jail, said the case investigation officer Sub-Inspector (SI) Kabir.

Meanwhile, Advocate Mojibor Rahman Sarwar, lawmaker, convener of the 18-party alliance and city BNP president condemned the arrest of the Jamaat leaders and demanded their immediate release, he alleged the police are playing the part of ruling party cadres to hinder the opposition’s image ahead of the Barisal City Corporation elections. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Gazipur BNP men on the run

Road in sorry state

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

The Gouranadi-Paisarhat road lies in a dilapidated condition, causing suffering to people. Local people urged the authorities to repair the road immediately to lessen the woes of commuters

Focus Bangla

45 women and two infants return from Indian jail n Our Correspondent, Narail Forty-five Bangladeshi women along with two infants, both aged around six months, returned home after serving two years in Indian jail.

Rescue Foundation of India, Indian Police and Border Security Force of India handed them over to the Bangladeshi authorities at Benapole check post around 8pm on Friday.

On the issue, Executive Director Binoy Krisno Mollick of Rights Jessore said: “We, together with the home ministry took the initiative to bring the arrestees back and finally they returned home. The returnees were handed over to their respective families today [yesterday].”

Officer-in-charge of Benapole check

post police (immigration), Kamruzzaman, said the returnees were trafficked to India through the Jessore border. The women were between 20 to 28 years of age and residents of different areas of Narail, Jessore, Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Chittagong and Sylhet districts.

According to Benapole check post immigration sources, human traffickers took the young women to India promising arrangements of good jobs. The Indian police arrested the trafficked women from Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and other Indian cities on charge of residing there illegally. Later, the Indian government decided to repatriate them after exchange of letters between the two governments. l

Hundreds of local BNP leaders and activists are passing their days in constant panic with many of them going into hiding fearing arrest.

On Tuesday at about 10:30pm Sub-inspector Abdul Basar of Tongi police station caught a mango trader Aslam Hosain, 25, from Chata bazar area as a suspected drug trader.

Later the SI took Aslam to Earshad Nagar area under the foot over bridge.

Mizanur Rahman, a rickshaw garage owner, came to police to enquire about what really happened and wanted to free him from police.

An altercation followed. At one stage police tried to arrest Mizan too; Mizan somehow managed to free himself from the police and dashed off to cross over to the other side of the busy Dhaka-Mymensingh highway but he was run over and killed by a truck.

Protesting the death, local people torched a police vehicles and blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway for about one and a half hours and vandalised at least 50 vehicles in the area.

Tongi police filed a case accusing over 250 unknown people on charge of torching police vehicles.

Momotaj Uddin, General Secretary of 12 no (former) ward BNP in Tonig Earshad Nagar said, Mizan Uddin was the president of 2 no block Jubodal under 12 No (former) Ward.

He said they fear police might arrest and harass them in the case.

However, Ismail Hossain, officer-incharge of Tongi Police Station denied the allegation and said: “Police didn’t file any case to harass anybody.”

Soon after the news of Mizan’s death spread local people took to the street and set fire to a police van (Gazipur- Ma- 02-0133).

SI Abul Basar fled the area. Local people blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at the point from 10.30pm to 12.00am and vandalised at least over 50 vehicles.

On information, additional police came to the spot and took the situation under control.

Local quoting Nizam Uddin, brother of Mizan, said: “Police pushed Mizan under the wheels of the truck as Mizan went there to request police to free Aslam.

OC Ismail, however, denied the allegation: “The sub-inspector Abul Basar was withdrawn for not discharging his duty properly.”

He also said there was no direct allegation against Aslam. But he was detained on charge of selling drug.

Rezaul Haque, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Tongi Police Station, said police managed to capture the truck.

But the truck driver and Aslam detained for questioning managed to flee. The body of Mizan was sent to the Gazipur Sadar Hospital morgue for post mortem. l

Mahasen’s toll in Barisal worth Tk118.8m

Fisheries and livestock offices are yet to take rehabilitation measures At least nine dairy and 27,790 poulinflicting damages of Tk60.1m in Tk2.5m in Patuakhali. Besides, a total n Our Correspondent, Barisal try firms were badly damaged by Maof 118 fishing boats worth Tk800,000 Jhalakathi.

Cyclone Mahasen has taken its toll on fisheries and livestock resources worth Tk118.8m in the country’s southern region, official figures show.

AKM Aminul Huq, deputy director of the Department of Fisheries in Barisal, said Mahasen damaged resources worth Tk84.13mn in four out of the six districts under Barisal division.

The four worst affected districts are Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali and Jhalakathi, while Barisal and Pirojpur had got spared, he said.

According to the divisional fisheries office, 82.56 tonnes of fish, cultivated in 749 ponds on 95.52 heactres of land were washed away by flash floods triggered by heavy downpour and storm,

In Patuakhali, Mahasen demolished two fishing boats, fish culivation in 18,592 ponds on 1,172 heatres of land,

The four worst affected districts are Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali and Jhalakathi causing a damage of Tk17.03m. More than 15 hundred tonnes of fish, 21 tonnes of shrimp and 8 tonnes of fish fries were washed away by flash flood affecting more than 19 thousand farmers and traders.

Saline water, carried inland by storm surges, intruded into 167 ponds on 19 hectres of land damaging sweet water fish cultivation worh more than

were completely smashed.

In the district of Barguna, 2,668 metric tonnes of fish cultivated in 22,163 ponds on 1,285 heactres of land were swept away by the cyclone, causing damages worth over Tk57.7m, the divisional fisheries office said.

The livestock sector of the Barisal division, on the other hand, sustained losses worth more than Tk34.5m due to Mahasen, divisional livestock resources officer Bishwanath Malakar informed.

Mahasen caused more than Tk4.93m damage to livestocks and poultry firms killing 369 animals and injuring 9,428 including buffellows, cows, oxes, goats, hens and ducks.

hasan, causing a loss worth Tk1.13m and Tk6.77m respectively, Biswajit informed.

He also expressed fears that this season animal food crisis might turn out to be severe as Mahasen damaged 3,145 tonnes of animal fooder worth Tk75.9m.

The fact that vast strechtes of grazing fields and shaols had been inundated, would add to the crisis, he added.

Officials from the divisional fisheries and livestock office said the authorities would decide on the required level of rehabilitation measures after completing the final assessment of the damages. l

One killed as tornado lashes 15 upazilas in Jessore n Our Correspondent, Narail A woman was killed plus 50 were injured and several hundred thatched houses damaged, scores of trees uprooted and standing crops on a vast tract of land damaged as a tornado lashed 15 villages under Chowgacha upazila in Jessore on Friday evening.

Local people said Sharmin Khatun, 18, daughter of Walier Rahman of Kharincha village under the upazila died on the spot after a thunderbolt hit her.

Meanwhile, Chowgacha Upazila Nirbahi Officer Delwar Hossen Matubbor said the storm swept over 15 villages in the upazila.

According to primary estimate, 50 people including women and children were injured and a several hun-

dreds thatched houses damaged.

Besides, boro and vegetables on a vast tract of land were damaged and hundreds of trees including fruit-bearing uprooted during the fifteen-minute tornado, he said.

Among the injured person – 10 people have been admitted to Chow-

Hundreds of thatched houses and standing crops on vast tract of land damaged

gacha upazila Model health complex.

Rest injured were taken first aid from different clinics.

According to villagers and officials, the storm coupled with hailstorm caused damages to houses, crops and properties at Shinhojhuli, Salua,

Afra, Fulsara, Nimtola, Jagonnathpur, Koerpara, Laskerpur, Sajali, Sadipur, Chanpur and Hakimpur villages in the upazila.

Abdul Majid, 55, a marginal farmer of Nimtola, said: “I had cultivated boro on two bighas of land this year.

I would harvest the paddy within few days but yesterday’s storm shattered all of my hopes as my paddy is now under three feet water.”

“If the rain water will not reduce in shorter time my paddy will rot,” he lamented.

According to district agriculture extension department, farmers of the district were expecting bumper boro yield this as they have got fertiliser and seed in fair price. Moreover, suitable weather has helped paddy growers a lot.

After the storm, UNO Delwar Hossen Matubbor along with public representatives visited the affected areas.

“We have started assessing the damages to start the relief activities in the district, the UNO added.

Our Jhenaidah correspondent reports: A housewife was killed as a thunderbolt struck her at village Matilalpur in Moheshpur upazila on Friday evening.

The victim was identified as Rokeya Begum, 38, wife of Bahar Ali of the village.

Chairman of Banshbaria union parishad Abdul Latif said, when gutsy wind blew over the area in the evening, Rokeya received the thunder strike when she was trying to come outside of her house. l

Demanding release of leaders, activists of Juba Dal bring out a procession in Narayanganj

Two UPDF men detained with firearms n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

Gaibandha people vulnerable to Sub-human life in 70 slums of Comilla arsenic-related diseases n

Law enforcer’s detained two men with arms and ammunition who were allegedly member of United Peoples Democratic Front from Chingulipara under Ramgorh upazila of Khagrachhari yesterday.

A joint force of Police and Army nabbed Kishor Tripura, 28, son of Sachindra Lal Tripura of Dhamaipara under Matiranga upazila, and Sajai Marma, 35, son of Kayojai Marma of Hapchhari under Ramgorh upazila in the district, around 4am in the morning.

Police said they recovered a pistol, eight rounds of bullet, two cell phones, one bag, cash Tk4000, and some other important documents from their possession.

Police were suspecting that the men might belong to the UPDF, a regional political party based in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which seeks to establish full autonomy of the area. l

n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

UNB

People of four upazilas in Gaibandha despite being under the “Sanitation, Hygiene Education and Water Supply in Bangladesh” project are highly vulnerable to arsenic-related diseases as they are compelled to drink from 33 arsenic polluted shallow tube wells (STWs) due to no alternative water sources.

The project was conducted in Gobindaganj, Palashbari and Sadar upazilas for the last three years with financial supports of Government of Bangladesh and Unicef.

Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) supervised the overall activities of the project as a line department while NGOs including TMSS, SKS Foundation and Uddyog implemented it as field agencies.

During 2011 and 2012, water of to-

tal 1423 STWs in the project area, ring wells and Tara pumps were tested positive for arsenic by the community hygiene promoters (CHP).

Based on the CHP report, engineers

As there are no alternative source for clean water, people are compelled to drink water from the arsenic detected STWs despite the constant fear of arsenic-induced diseases of DPHE conducted an arsenic detection programme at the water sources and found arsenic beyond tolerable limit in only a ring well at the house of Abu Sayeed at Dumurgachha village of Gobindaganj upazila and 66 STWs at project command areas of the upazilas.

Following the detection, as per the government guidelines, arsenic

iron removal plants (AIRPs) were constructed at the arsenic detected ring well and 33 STWs to ensure supply of arsenic-free water.

However, the AIRPs were not constructed at the other 33 tube wells till the expiration of the project in December last year due to unknown reason.

As there are no alternative source for clean water, people are compelled to drink water from the arsenic detected STWs despite the constant fear of arsenic-induced diseases.

When contacted, executive engineer of DPHE SM Halim Uddin admitted the fact and stressed that it was essential to construct AIRPs at sources where arsenic was detected.

Meanwhile, locals urged the authorities concerned including Unicef to investigate the matter and take necessary measures. l

A total of 130,000 dwellers of 70 slums in Comilla city are leading a subhuman life for various reasons, including squalid housing and lack of access to education.

Most of the residents are leading life riddled with problems in various ways, very few of them being owners of the shanties of the slums.

Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction Project (UPPRP) sources said most of the slum dwellers are rickshaw pullers, pushcart drivers, hawkers, vendors, maidservants and beggars.

UPPRP is working for the development of dwellers of 59 slums of the old municipality area under Comilla City Corporation. Some 17,000 families are living in these slums. Besides, there are 12 slums in the city, which house at least 50,000 people.

According to a survey, as the rooms are available at low rent, these slums remain over crowded, causing various

health problems to the inmates.

The slum dwellers have to lead life amid many acute problems, including toilet crisis, lack of safe drinking water and water logging caused by improper drainage system.

Most of the children of the slums do not get the chance to go to school, while many of them are involved in child labour. The slums are called safe havens for drug traders and drug addicts, who are involved in various crimes including mugging.

Mariam Begum, a dweller of Chandpur slum, said it was very difficult for them to send their children to school as they live from hand to mouth.

Former convener of Sachetan Nagarik Committee Badrul Huda Jenu said there was not any visible plan for the development of the slum dwellers.

Particular attention should be given to some matters, especially sanitation problem, pure drinking water and health services, he added. l

Dhaka Tribune

Education

7

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Teach For Bangladesh: Bridging the education divide n Mushfique Wadud Zahid Hossain graduated from Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research. His field of study was mainly on education systems and teaching methods. Though he was trained to be a teacher, he does not want to go into the teaching profession.

He says that he wants to take the Bangladesh Civil Service examinations and work in government service. Asked why he does not like the teaching profession, he says teaching carries low salaries and few career opportunities.

“If I take an assistant teacher’s post in a government primary school, I’ll have to be in the same post till my retirement. There is no career ladder in the teaching profession.”

Like Zahid, most graduates of top universities in Bangladesh do not want to be teachers. When a graduate from a top university takes up teaching, it’s usually because he or she finds no other opportunities. Many take primary teaching as a transitional profession and leave as soon as they get another opportunity. Experts have long been pointing out that this unwillingness of good graduates to take to primary

Disparity is now a major problem for the education sector of Bangladesh.

Authorities often neglect the government primary schools where low-income families send their children for a free education teaching is having a serious impact on the quality of education in the country.

Teach For Bangladesh, an organisation working to expand education opportunities mostly for underprivileged children, has taken the initiative to address the problem.

The organisation will recruit the best graduates from top universities and will place them in government and NGO-run primary schools so that students from lower income households will get a quality education. Officials say they will handsomely reward teachers so that talented graduates are encouraged to pursue this profession.

Disparity is now a major problem for the education sector of Bangladesh.

Authorities often neglect the government primary schools where low-income families send their children for a free education.

Some 800 students study at the city’s Nobaberbagh Government Primary School and there are only eight teachers. Schoolteachers say that it sometimes becomes quite difficult for them to conduct all the classes.

This situation is not something unique. Most government primary schools in the country have a shortage of teachers and children of low-income groups, who cannot send their children

The application process for Teach For Bangladesh is going on and graduates can apply for fellowship till June 7. Fellows will work full-time for two years in their schools. Interested graduates can visit http://www.teachforbangladesh.org/ for admission process.

to private schools because of tuition fees, are not getting a quality education. At many private schools in the city the teacher-student ratio is 1:20 or 1:25.

Bangladesh has made significant progress in the education sector over the years but at the same time disparity has not fallen, and many think it is actually rapidly increasing.

A 2009 Unicef report clearly highlighted the disparity in the education sector. The report says that education indicators are worse in urban slums than in other urban areas, and even worse than in rural areas. According to the report, the net attendance rates for pre-school education is 26% in urban areas, 22% in rural areas and only 13% in slums. Net attendance rates for primary education is 84% in urban areas, 81% in rural areas and 65% in slums.

The primary completion rate is 80% in urban areas, 80% in rural areas and only 48% in slums. Drop out rates for primary education is 1% in urban areas, 1% in rural areas and 8% in the slums.

Maimuna believes that the Teach for Bangladesh initiative will help to address the disparity in Bangladesh’s education sector. She said that the graduates they will recruit will work as a change agents in government primary schools across the country.

She says there will be 35 teachers in the first batch and they will work for different schools in the city for two years. She said that the organisation wants to increase the number of teachers in the classroom to 400.

Maimuna Ahmed, the chief executive officer of Teach for Bangladesh believes that the experience the graduates will earn in the programme will help them further develop their leadership qualities.

The programme was launched in Bangladesh on May 16 and at the launching ceremony, US ambassador to Bangladesh, Dan W Mozena said that he believes Teach for Bangladesh will help bring quality education to the children of Bangladesh. He said that his son was a volunteer at Teach For America and the experience he gathered changed his life forever. He said that the theme of the Teach For All network is people helping people and people changing people. He said the experience of being a teacher will have a positive impact on the graduates’ lives. He encouraged government, private organisations and donors to help the initiative.

Founder of Teach For America and CEO of Teach For All, Wendy Kopp said that one of the positive things of the Teach For All programme was that it helped to create new leadership. She believes the Teach For All network has changed the lives of many people around the world and says that the programmes are helping to lessen disparity in the education sector. Wendy believes that the programme has great potential in Bangladesh.

Zarifa Zakaria, a Dhaka University graduate who applied for a fellowship in the programme says her dream is to ensure that every child gets a quality education and that is why she has chosen to join.

In 1990, Teach For America enlisted its first group of 500 talented young

Primary education is free but not always up to scratch. Better teachers can be agents of change

Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

Teacher to all: An interview with Wendy Kopp The founder of Teach For America and CEO of Teach For All, visited Bangladesh for the launch of Teach For Bangladesh. She speaks to Dhaka Tribune about lessons she has learnt along the way What were your goals when you first started Teach for America?

How many teachers do you have now? In how many countries?

Let’s just go back very quickly and explain how this initially came to be. I have to say 24 years ago when I started the journey of Teach For America, I never ever could have envisioned that we would bring the idea to Bangladesh.

I was simply a college senior who was searching for something that I was not finding which was an opportunity to make a real difference in the world. All the recruiters at the time were recruiting senior university graduates like myself – corporate recruiters trying get us to commit for two years to go to work for their firms. But I did not want to do that. I wanted something that would give me real responsibility in the world.

Then it occurred to me: why were the members of my generation not being recruited to commit two years to teach in our poorest communities.

We have 10,000 teachers in 46 regions in the US alone. These teachers do not major in education and they did not want to be teachers: they wanted to become doctors, lawyers, and corporate executives.

We have programmes in 27 countries, and we have about 14,000 teachers across the world. Teach For All network started five years ago. So, many of the 27 organisations are in the early stage - one or two years old - and so the number will grow.

leaders to address the problem of educational inequity by committing two years to teach in the United States’ highest-need schools. Now the programme

You started Teach for America about 24 years ago. Tell us about your journey.

Let me share the three most salient lessons of my journey of the last 24 years.

The first lesson is the solvability of problems. When you see statistics, you understand the extent of the challenges in educaplaces more than 7,000 teachers in 35 urban and rural regions, with a growing body of research, which demonstrates that these teachers are more effective

tion. In the US, we have 16 million kids living below the poverty line. They really have very few prospects of attaining the kind of education that can help them move out of poverty.

I think about 20 years ago. Most people of our country did not even talk about it.

But, now the conversation has completely shifted. Today we know we can solve this problem. We have seen evidence every day in classrooms that we can make meaningful differences and solve these problems in the education sector. Once we realise we can solve a problem, we can solve it.

The second lesson is the role of leadership in making changes. Leadership is fundamental. You know it from your own works, always where you have progress, you have incredible leadership. So, the answer in education: there is no one answer.

There are so many things we need to do differently in order to get what we are trying to do, but at the core of the solution will be in advancing student achievement than traditionally trained teachers.

At present, the Teach For All network includes chapters in 27 countries

the leadership. What we have seen in Teach For America and Teach For All is this programme can be an unparalleled source of the leadership we need to solve the problems in education.

The final lesson is the universality of problems from place to place. Once you realise how similar the problem is, you realise the solutions are sharable. So we realised that we had the potential to create a movement to ensure educational opportunity for all.

What do you think about the potential of Teach For Bangladesh?

I am so excited about Teach For Bangladesh because no one has more potential than you do here in Bangladesh. I know it will contribute to the global movement to ensure educational opportunity for all. I wish it the best of luck and am really looking forward to working with it and learning from my colleagues in Bangladesh. l across Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East, with programs in 1020 more countries expected to join in the next two years. l

Talking with Maimuna Ahmed, CEO, Teach For Bangladesh Maimuna Ahmed, the CEO of Teach For Bangladesh tells Dhaka Tribune how the programme can have an impact in addressing the nation’s disparity in education What are the goals of Teach for Bangladesh?

The goal of Teach For Bangladesh is to address the disparity that exists in education today. We want to bridge the gap. The way we are doing this is: we are recruiting the best graduates with the most leadership potential coming out from the best universities and we will place them in the lowest income schools to teach for two years.

How many graduates will you recruit?

Attracting top graduates will be the project’s biggest challenge

Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

We will have 35 fellows in the first batch.

These fellows will be working in different schools in Dhaka city - mostly government primary schools and also schools run by JAAGO Foundation and BRAC schools.

The idea is that during those two years our fellows will teach at a very high standard in the classrooms, changing the academic possibilities for the students, but at the same time they themselves will undergo change so

that after those two years they can become better professionals in various sectors.

Please tell us about the selection process of fellows.

Our final deadline for application is June 7. We have already got several hundred applications. We are looking for people who have excellent academic qualifications and leadership potential.

We will select individuals in three steps.

First, people will submit online application. Then we invite people for a phone screening and then we invite people for a day-long assessment at our assessment centre. During this assessment, there will be different activities.

The applicants must have finished their undergraduate education. This is a full time paid fellowship. Fellows will get a handsome salary.

Your fellows are fresh graduates, but

one needs special training to teach.

How will the graduates you are recruiting teach without training?

In our programme, we will recruit the most qualified and best graduates coming out of the best universities. They will be given six weeks intensive pre-service training, during which they will learn the basics of how to manage classrooms, how to plan lessons, how to maintain relationships in schools and colleges, etc.

After the training, we will place the graduates in their schools. During their two year fellowship, they will get on-going training on teaching and leadership development.

We want our fellows to have the maximum impact on their students and society.

you think the top graduates will continue teaching?

One of the big problems with Bangladesh’s education sector is that talented do not want to go into it due to poor salary structure. Do

Tell us about your future plan?

You are right. Right now, the most talented are not going into school teaching. We want to completely reverse the paradigm.

The way we are doing that is showing young people that there is a way in which we are creating a platform for them to go into the schools in a structured environment and actually have a significant impact on the students.

At the same time, they would have the leadership development and get experience and exposure that will make them competent candidates in the long term for employment in both the education sector or in the development sector.

Our plan is to have 400 teachers in classrooms and about 800 to 1,000 alumni in the coming years. l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Russia says Assad regime agreed to take part in Syria peace talks n Agencies

Demonstrators chant Islamic slogans as they wave Syrian opposition flags during a protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul on Friday REUTERS

Syria opposition unity talks face spectre of collapse

The Istanbul talks, aimed to alter the Syrian opposition’s Islamist-dominated membership, has failed due to power struggles “There is a last-minute attempt to er negotiations. “He has the right to gan with months of peaceful protests n Reuters, Istanbul revive a kitchen-room deal. The coa- submit papers to the meeting like any and evolved into an armed revolt after Syrian opposition talks aimed at presenting a coherent front at an international peace conference to end the civil war faced the prospect of collapse after President Bashar al-Assad’s foes failed to cut an internal deal, opposition sources said on Friday.

The failure of the Syrian National Coalition to alter its Islamist-dominated membership as demanded by its international backers and replace a leadership undermined by power struggles is playing into the hands of Assad, whose forces are attacking a key town as his ally Russia said he would send representatives to the conference, coalition insiders said.

After two days of meetings in Istanbul, senior coalition players were in discussions late into the night after veteran liberal opposition figure Michel Kilo rejected a deal by Syrian businessman Mustafa al-Sabbagh, who is the coalition’s secretary-general, to admit some members of Kilo’s bloc to the coalition, the sources said.

Kilo has said that his group wants significant representation in the opposition coalition before it will join.

lition risks undermining itself to the point that its backers may have to look quickly for an alternative with enough credibility on the ground to go to Geneva,” a senior opposition source at the talks said.

The international community is walking a little faster than the opposition.

It wants to see a complete list of participants from the Syrian side for Geneva and this means that the coalition has to sort its affairs Much to the frustration of its backers, the coalition has struggled to agree on a leader since the resignation in March of respected cleric Moaz Alkhatib, who had floated two initiatives for Assad to leave power peacefully.

Alkhatib’s latest proposal - a 16-point plan that sees Assad handing power to his deputy or prime minister and then going abroad with 500 members of his entourage - won little support in Istanbul, highlighting the obstacles to wid-

other member, but his paper is heading directly to the dustbin of history. It is a repeat of his previous initiative, which went nowhere,” a senior coalition official said.

Washington threatened on Wednesday to increase support for the rebels if Assad refused to discuss a political end to the violence, a sentiment echoed on Friday by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has been pressing the European Union to amend a weapons embargo to allow arming the rebels.

Concerned by the rising influence of Islamists in the rebel ranks, Washington has pressured the opposition coalition to resolve its divisions and to expand to include more liberals.

“The international community is walking a little faster than the opposition. It wants to see a complete list of participants from the Syrian side for Geneva and this means that the coalition has to sort its affairs,” a European diplomat said.

President Assad has vowed to defeat what he calls terrorists and foreign agents behind the uprising, which be-

Gas cylinder explosion on Pakistan school bus kills 17 children n AP, Islamabad At least 17 children were burned to death in eastern Pakistan on Saturday when a faulty gas cylinder exploded on the bus taking them to school.

Police officer Mohammed Rasheed said seven children were also injured in the explosion on the outskirts of the city of Gujrat.

“This is a very sad incident. Accord-

ing to our information, at least 17 children were burned to death,” he said.

“The school bus caught fire after the blast. We have transported all the victims to a nearby hospital.”

Gujrat is about 200 kilometres southeast of the capital, Islamabad.

The accident comes after a pair of suspected militant attacks killed nine people in two different areas of northwest Pakistan on Friday.

In the deadlier of the two attacks, suspected militants armed with heavy weapons attacked a police convoy in Mattani, 20 kilometres south of the main northwest city of Peshawar, killing six policemen and wounding seven others, said senior police officer Shafiullah Khan.

In the second attack on Friday, a suicide bomber walked up to a vehicle

The accident comes after a pair of suspected militant attacks killed nine people in two different areas of northwest Pakistan on Friday

Pakistani women mourn the death of their relatives, who were killed in gas cylinder explosion on a minibus AP

owned by an Afghan religious leader in Peshawar and set off his explosives, killing three people, said police officer Riaz Ali Shah.

The leader, Haji Hayatullah, was not harmed in the attack because he was in a nearby mosque attending Friday prayers. Hayatullah’s driver and guard were killed, said Shah.

A passerby was also killed and two others were wounded, said Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan.

There are more than 1 million refugees in Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. l

months of military repression.

Washington and Moscow have been compelled to revive diplomacy by developments in recent months, which include the rise of al-Qaeda-linked fighters among rebels and reports of atrocities and accusations that chemical weapons are being used.

The United States, which suspects Assad’s forces of using the banned weapons, is also concerned they could eventually fall into the hands of jihadists now fighting Assad.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet privately in Paris on Monday to discuss their efforts to bring Syria’s warring parties together, US and Russian officials said.

Russia said the Syrian government had agreed in principle to attend the planned peace conference, which could take part in Geneva in the coming weeks.

Senior opposition figures said the coalition was likely to attend the conference, but doubted it would produce any immediate deal for Assad to leave power - their central demand. l

Seven Filipino marines, four militants killed in clash n AP, Manila At least seven Filipino marines and four Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in a clash Saturday as the military launched an offensive against al-Qaeda-linked gunmen who have been blamed for recent kidnappings and of trying to sabotage a road project in the southern Philippines.

Nine other marines and about 10 Abu Sayyaf fighters were wounded in the gunbattle that raged for an hour in a sparsely populated village on the fringes of the coastal town of Patikul in Sulu province, military spokesman Brig Gen Domingo Tutaan said.

Reinforcement troops were hunting down the fleeing militants, who were believed led by Julaswan Sawadjaan, an Abu Sayyaf commander blamed for kidnappings for ransom, including of a Jordanian journalist and two European tourists, who are still held by the militants.

A son of Sawadjaan was believed to have been killed in the firefight, Sulu’s military commander, Col Jose Cenabre, said, adding the marines initially had difficulty returning fire because the militants took cover near a row of houses. l

Russia says the Syrian government has agreed, “in principle”, to attend an international peace conference proposed

by Russia and the US, and criticised what it called attempts to undermine peace efforts.

The summit has been suggested by the US and Russia and could take place in the Swiss city of Geneva.

“We note with satisfaction that we have received an agreement in principle from Damascus to attend the international conference, in the interest of Syrians themselves finding a political path to resolve the conflict, which is ruinous for the nation and region,” Alexander Lukashevich, Russian foreign ministry spokesman, said on Friday.

The statement was followed by an announcement of a meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Paris on Monday, where they will continue discussions about the peace conference.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is also expected to join that meeting.

Faisal Mekdad, Syrian deputy foreign minister, said after talks in Moscow on Wednesday the government would soon decide whether to take part in the conference aimed at bringing government and opposition representatives together for talks.

Lukashevich said international action including a May 15 UN General Assembly resolution that praised the opposition and condemned President Bashar al-Assad’s forces has “essentially pushed [the opposition]to reject negotiations”.

Some European media have reported that the conference has been tentatively scheduled to be held on June 10.

But Lukashevich said such reports “cannot be taken seriously” because the ranks of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s foes remain so divided.

“Demands to immediately name a

specific date for the conference without having clarity about who, and with what authority, will speak in the name of the opposition, cannot be taken seriously,” Lukashevich said.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition, which is currently meeting in Istanbul to discuss an interim government, has said it will only go to “Geneva II” if Assad steps down as president.

Louai Safi, a senior member of Syria’s main opposition, told Al Jazeera, “The fact that it has been announced in Moscow, rather than in Damascus, is a worrying point, as we want to hear

We note with satisfaction that we have received an agreement in principle from Damascus to attend the international conference, in the interest of Syrians themselves finding a political path to resolve the conflict, which is ruinous for the nation and region the spokesperson of the Syrian government making that statement with clarity.”

“There is a lot of ambiguity. What does it mean, ‘in principle’?,” he said.

“We want to hear definitive answers....We want to see a clarity of the purpose of Geneva.”

The Syrian National Coalition, which is main opposition group based outside the country, entered a second day of talks on Friday aimed at finding an approach to the joint Russian-US peace push.

The first Geneva meeting in June last year ended in a broad agreement aimed at forming a transition government in Syria and introducing a long-lasting truce.

But the deal was never implemented because of disagreements over Assad’s role in the new government and neither side’s decision to lay down their arms. l

A member of the Free Syrian Army inspects the damaged buildings after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, in Al-Tarrab neighborhood near Aleppo International airport May 20 REUTERS/Nour Kelze

World Watch Mosque blast kills 12 in Afghanistan

Authorities in eastern Afghanistan say explosives transported by suspected Taliban fighters accidentally detonated while they stopped at a mosque, killing 12 people.

Local official Qasim Desewal said Saturday that four civilians and eight militants died in the blast during evening prayers the night before in Ghazni province’s district of Andar. He said that the Taliban had apparently stopped at the mosque while traveling and the explosives they were carrying went off while they were inside.

Four girls killed in 1963 civil rights bombing awarded

President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on Friday granting the United States’ highest civilian honour to four black girls killed in a civil rights-era church bombing in 1963. Congress awarded Congressional Gold Medal to 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair. The girls’ deaths at the height of conflict over the end to segregation were instrumental the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin.

35 arrested for burning man alive in Bihar

At least thirty five people, including 20 women, were arrested for burning a man alive at Kurkron village in the state of Bihar in India on Saturday. Sources said Jainandan Mandal, husband of Kishanpur Baluwa

village head Chimo Devi, was first beaten up and then thrown into his brick kiln on Friday. Meanwhile, more people were expected to be arrested in connection with the murder case. According to police, hundreds of tribal people attacked Jainandan’s brick kiln and killed him over an old land dispute.

Australia warns on 3D printed gun

Australia’s New South Wales police commissioner on Friday issued a warning on the potential for 3D printed guns to be used in serious crimes in the state. Techworld reports, the cops used the Liberator pistol blueprints produced by US firm Defense Distributed. Meanwhile, they have also tested the 3D-printed firearms. Sources said the original plans were downloaded more than 100,000 times before the company pulled them down from its site because of the pressure created by the US State Department.

Zoo keeper mauled by tiger ‘broke safety rules’

A zoo keeper who was mauled to death by a tiger had no reason to be in its enclosure, according to the animal park’s owner. Sarah McClay, 24, was attacked by a Sumatran tiger at South Lakes Wild Animal Park, in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, on Friday afternoon. She was taken by air ambulance to Royal Preston Hospital but died later from her injuries. Cumbria police said the tiger was locked in its enclosure following the attack and that members of the public were not at any risk during the incident.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Myanmar Muslims given 2-child limit Officials claim limit on children will help ease tensions with Buddhists, whose population is growing slowly

n Guardian News Service Muslims in a province of Myanmar have been ordered not to have more than two children in an attempt by the government to stop Buddhist attacks on Muslims.

State officials said the two-child limit in the state of Rakhine would ease tensions between Buddhists and their Muslim Rohingya neighbours.

Local officials said the new measure was part of a policy that will also ban polygamyin two Rakhine townships that border Bangladesh and have the highest Muslim populations. The townships, Buthidaung and Maundaw, are about 95% Muslim.

The measure was enacted a week ago after a government-appointed commission investigating the violence issued proposals to ease tensions, which included family planning programmes to stem population growth among minority Muslims, said Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing. The commission also recommended doubling the number of security forces in the volatile region.

“The population growth of Rohingya Muslims is 10 times higher than that of the Rakhine (Buddhists),” Win Myaing said. “Overpopulation is one of the causes of tension.”

Sectarian violence in Myanmar first flared nearly a year ago in Rakhine state

People from a Rohingya internally displaced persons camp pass time in a mosque, where they were evacuated to shelter from cyclone Mahasen when it landed, outside of Sittwe, Myanmar REUTERS between the region’s Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya. Mobs of Buddhists armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes, leaving

hundreds of people dead and forcing 125,000 to flee, mostly Muslims.

Since the violence, religious unrest has developed into a campaign against

the country’s Muslim communities in other regions.

Containing the strife has posed a serious challenge to President Thein

9

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Sein’s reformist government as it attempts to institute political and economic liberalisation after nearly half a century of harsh military rule. It has also tarnished the image of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticised for failing to speak out strongly in defence of the country’s embattled Muslim community.

Win Myaing said authorities had not yet determined how the measures will be enforced, but the two-child policy will be mandatory in Buthidaung and Maundaw.

The policy will not apply yet to other parts of Rakhine state, which have smaller Muslim populations.

“One factor that has fuelled tensions between the Rakhine public and Rohingya populations relates to the sense of insecurity among many Rakhines stemming from the rapid population growth of the Rohingya, which they view as a serious threat,” the government-appointed commission said in a report issued last month.

Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar does not include the Rohingya as one of its 135 recognised ethnicities. It considers them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Bangladesh says the Rohingya have been living in Myanmar for centuries and should be recognised as citizens. Muslims account for about 4% of Myanmar’s roughly 60 million people. l

Japanese PM Abe visits Myanmar n Reuters, Yangon

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began his landmark visit to Myanmar yesterday by visiting Myanmar’s mausoleum in Yangon.

The mausoleum commemorates General Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, and six members of his national council who helped then Burma gain its independence from British colonial rule.

General Aung San and his men were assassinated in Yangon on July 19, 1947, six months before Burma gained independence from Britain.

Abe’s visit marks the first time in 36 years that a Japanese leader visited the country. Former Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda visited Myanmar in 1977.

On Saturday Abe was also scheduled to visit various Yangon landmarks, including cemeteries of Japanese citizens. Later he will meet with Aung San Suu Kyi. The Japanese leader is expected to announce a hefty development aid package. Abe is said to be very interested in securing Japanese investments in Myanmar.

Abe will also visit the Thilawa industrial zone being developed by Japanese firms.

Abe will fly to the capital, Naypyitaw, on Sunday to meet Myanmar’s president, Thein Sein. l

N Korean envoy delivers IMF chief Lagarde escapes formal probe in court letter to China’s president n Reuters, Paris

n AP, Beijing A top North Korean envoy has delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong-un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing’s efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.

North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae’s three-day visit was seen as a fence-mending mission after Pyongyang angered Beijing with recent snubs and moves to develop its nuclear program.

Choe returned to North Korea late Friday.

The official China News Service said Choe delivered the handwritten letter from Kim to Xi at an afternoon meeting at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing. It gave no details about the letter’s contents.

North Korea is willing to work with all sides to “appropriately resolve the relevant questions through the six-party talks and other forms,” Choe was quoted as saying by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. He said Pyongyang was “willing to take active measures in this regard.”

In a report released early Saturday,

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted Choe as telling Xi that the alliance with China “cannot be exchanged for anything,” but didn’t make any reference to his remarks on the stalled talks or Pyongyang’s nuclear arms development.

Choe offered no details on how North Korea planned to resume the talks, according to CCTV. North Korea walked away from the six-party nuclear disarmament talks in 2009 over disagreements on how to verify steps the North was meant to take to end its nuclear programmes. Foreign observers often claim that North Korea has a history of raising tensions in an attempt to push its adversaries to negotiations meant to win aid.

Since its third nuclear test, in February, North Korea has repeatedly said that any future diplomatic talks would have to recognise it as a nuclear power. That’s at odds with the basis of the six-party talks and puts Pyongyang at loggerheads with Washington, which says it won’t accept North Korea as an atomic power and demands that talks be based on past commitments by the North to abandon its nuclear programmes. l

French magistrates decided on Friday not to place IMF chief Christine Lagarde under formal investigation over her role in a 285-million-euro ($368.5m) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Lagarde instead was given the status of a “supervised witness” after two full days of questioning on her 2008 decision as Sarkozy’s finance minister to use arbitration to settle a legal battle between the state and businessman Bernard Tapie.

The decision removes a headache for Lagarde, the only French national heading a major international institution today, and for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for which a formal investigation of her would have been highly embarrassing.

Emerging from a Paris court late on Friday evening, a composed-looking Lagarde read from a statement asserting that she had not acted against the public interest.

“My explanations answered questions raised about the decisions that I had made at the time,” she told reporters. “My status as a supervised witness

Guatemalan ex-president Alfonso Portillo extradited to US n Reuters, Guatemala City A US grand jury decided in 2009 that Portillo, who was in office from 2000 to 2004, should face charges that he laundered $70m through US banks.

A Guatemalan court cleared Portillo of local embezzlement charges in May 2011, but the country’s Supreme Court later endorsed an extradition request by the United States that Portillo face money-laundering charges.

“This decision is an important affirmation of the rule of law and due process in Guatemala,” the US embassy said after Portillo was flown out of the country.

Local authorities picked Portillo up from a military hospital where he was receiving treatment for liver problems.

He was transferred to the hospital in April from a jail where he had been held pending a decision on the extradition.

Portillo’s lawyers said police put the former president on a plane headed for New York.

“They showed up at the hospital, said, ‘Get dressed, put on this shirt and we are taking you to the air force base,’” attorney Mauricio Berreondo told reporters just before the flight took off.

“See you soon Guatemala, this is a kidnapping,” local media quoted Portillo as saying at the airport.

The US grand jury’s indictment claims Portillo, 61, laundered government money through US and European accounts. French prosecutors are also

Former Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo (C), accused of corruption, is escorted before boarding a plane for his extradition to the US on Friday REUTERS

investigating the allegations.

Claudia Paz y Paz, Guatemala’s attorney general, said the extradition was conducted properly and there were no legal reasons to prevent it. “As far as I know, there is no legal action pending,” she said. “It’s solid.”

Portillo took office promising to redistribute wealth in the poverty-plagued Central American country.

He fled Guatemala for Mexico shortly after completing his term in 2004.

He was extradited from Mexico to Guatemala in 2008 to stand trial on the embezzlement charges.

Portillo’s supporters were quick to defend the former president.

“He hasn’t committed a single crime,” Carlos Estrada told reporters at the airport. In a cry to arms, he said: “We’re going to take the country, it doesn’t matter what it takes, even our lives.”

Portillo’s extradition came just days after former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, 86, had his 80-year genocide conviction annulled by Guatemala’s top court. The May 10 conviction had been hailed as a landmark for justice in the Central American nation where as many as 250,000 people were killed in a 1960-1996 civil war.

Rios Montt, whose government was supported by the administration of US President Ronald Reagan, had been found guilty of overseeing the killings by the armed forces of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil population during his 1982-83 rule.

Critics say the annulment of his conviction highlights the weaknesses of Guatemala’s justice system. l

IMF chief Christine Lagarde leaves after magistrates gave her a “supervised witness” status in an arbitration case in Paris on Friday REUTERS is not a surprise for me because I always acted in the interest of the state and according to the law.”

She added: “Now, it’s time for me to go back to work in Washington, and I will of course be briefing my board.”

The status of supervised witness means that in any future hearings, Lagarde would answer questions as a

Journalist and author Haynes Johnson dies n AP, Washington Haynes Johnson, a pioneering Washington journalist and author who helped redefine political reporting in addition to appearing on PBS and teaching journalism at the University of Maryland, died Friday at a Washington area hospital after suffering a heart attack. He was 81.

Johnson entered Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, earlier in the week for tests on his heart, according to an article posted on the Merrill College’s website.

Haynes Bonner Johnson was born in New York City on July 9, 1931. His mother, Emmie, was a pianist and his father, Malcolm Johnson, a newspaperman.

Johnson’s shoe-leather reporting and keen insights on the struggle of Southern blacks during the civil rights era won him the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 1966, one of many honours showered upon him during a brilliant career that spanned more than 50 years.

He spent around 12 years at The Evening Star before moving to The Post, in 1969. He was a columnist for the Post from 1977 to 1994.

Former Post executive editor Leonard Downie told the newspaper, “Haynes was a pioneer in looking at the mood of the country to understand a political race.

Haynes was going around the country talking to people, doing portraits and finding out what was on people’s minds. He was a kind of profiler of the country.” l

witness accompanied by a lawyer.

It is much less serious than being placed under formal investigation, which would have indicated “serious or consistent evidence” pointing to her probable implication in a crime.

The IMF reaffirmed its confidence in Lagarde, who took over the helm after her predecessor, Frenchman Domi-

nique Strauss-Kahn, quit in mid-2011 over a sex assault scandal.

“The Executive Board has been briefed on this matter several times and on each occasion expressed confidence in the Managing Director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties,” spokesman Gerry Rice said in Washington.

The case goes back to 1993 when Tapie, a colorful and often controversial character in the French business and sports world, sued the state for compensation after selling his stake in sports company Adidas to then stateowned bank Credit Lyonnais.

Also a one-time Socialist minister who later supported the conservative Sarkozy, Tapie said the bank defrauded him after it resold the stake for a much higher sum. Credit Lyonnais, now part of Credit Agricole, has denied wrongdoing.

Lagarde was not accused of financially profiting herself from the payout and has denied doing anything wrong by opting for an arbitration process that enriched Tapie. With interest, the award amounted to 403 million euros.

However the court, which specializes in cases involving ministers, targeted her for complicity in the misuse of funds because she overruled advisers to seek the settlement. l

Around 1,00,000 expatriate Indians may face deportation from Saudi Arabia n Tribune Report As Saudi Arabia implements its controversial naturalisation law or Nitaqat, which seeks to replace foreigners in companies with its own people, India is in the midst of a gigantic effort to bring back over 75,000 people in the next few months, reports Times of india.

After having failed to regularise their work status, these people have applied for emergency exit certificates to leave the country by July 3, the deadline set

by Saudi Arabia for deportation of illegal workers.

If these people, whose number is growing, can’t leave the country by July 3, they are likely to be arrested.

On his way to Saudi Arabia, in what is first bilateral visit by an Indian foreign minister to the country in five years, Salman Khurshid said he will take up the issue with his counterpart, Prince Saud Al Faisal, Saturday even as he added that Saudi authorities were well within their rights to implement their laws.

“In terms of logistics involved, it obviously is a challenge but we have a grace period and we need to do whatever we can during that period,” said Khurshid.

Nitaqat makes it obligatory for companies to hire a minimum number of local people before employing foreigners and while the law is not new, Saudi authorities have now started to identify ‘illegal’ work-

ers and send them back. Out of the over 8 million expatriates in Saudi Arabia, Indians account for 2.45m, the largest.

Out of those who have applied for emergency certificates, applications of close to 57,000 have been processed by Indian authorities. However, the Saudi authorities are processing these applications only at the rate of 500 per day making it impossible for India to meet the July 3 deadline. According to the Indian government, Nitaqat mostly impacts blue collar-workers who have stayed back illegally in the country after the expiry of their work visa.

“For all we know, after all this many more Indians would be able to come to Saudi Arabia legitimately,” said Khurshid in Jeddah.

Khurshid said massive rehabilitation work will be necessary also for the rehabilitation of those coming back. “We have already warned the state governments that a little bit of hand holding will be required,” said the minister.

Khurshid’s visit to the country is the latest by Indian ministers and bureaucrats since Saudi authorities announced their decision to identify illegal workers.

Those who have visited the country for a dialogue over the issue include minister for overseas Indian affairs Vyalar Ravi, Junior Foreign Minister E Ahmed and adviser to PM TKA Nair. l

10 Dhaka Tribune

Editorial

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

the Editor Musharraf gets bail in Benazir murder case

Letter of the day

Collateral lessons

May 20

May 22

Business as usual

Kudos to the author. Spot-on, and quite an enjoyable read.

T

he BGMEA’s recent announcement to not disburse the wages of the dead workers to their families would be farcical if it were not so disgraceful. Then, to add insult to injury, it had the gall to claim the prime minister’s funds given to these families were sufficient.

A month ago the BGMEA showed signs of positive assurances, gushing with sympathy and compassion for the victims and their families, and announcing it would set up funds for them.

Fast forward a month later, and their tone has changed.

Rather than take up the mantle of responsibility, the BGMEA has backtracked.

That it gave the surviving workers a minimal compensation package with only their outstanding wages, refuses to pay the dead workers’ outstanding wages, using grants given from Fast forward a month the Prime Minister’s Relief and later, and their Welfare Fund as an excuse to tone has changed. not cough up, is outrageous.

Rather than take The PM fund has no conup the mantle of nection with workers’ wages. responsibility, It was given out independentthe BGMEA has ly by the PMO. The garment owners are still accountable backtracked and for them to shirk their responsibilities is inexcusable.

The families of the dead workers need the money, as these workers were one of, if not the sole, breadwinners of their families. How will these families survive?

Given that the Rana Plaza collapse is the worst garment disaster in the nation, and given the international mood, it boggles the mind that the BGMEA would think to make the kind of statements it has. And the fact is there appears to be no mechanism for holding it accountable.

Part of the problem is that it can say anything, and do an about face altogether.

That needs to be changed.

Which way the water flows

P

rime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned from the water summit in Thailand a few days back, where she delivered an address on trans-border water sharing and the settling of international water conflicts.

We are however, yet to see any settlement on most of our water-sharing issues with India, the most pressing of which is the Teesta.

It’s surprising that the PM didn’t mention this matter at the summit, a perfect place to do so, but she went an extra mile the wrong way by citing our Ganges water sharing agreement with The Teesta in India as an example of successBangladesh is drying ful cooperation, an agreement up rapidly and, as which, for many, leaves much to one of the major be desired. sources of water for But that’s not the worst of the northern regions, it. The Teesta in Bangladesh is which account for drying up rapidly and, as one 14% of the nation’s of the major sources of water for the northern regions, which total cropland, account for 14% of the nation’s this spells massive total cropland, this spells mascalamity sive calamity.

Unfortunately, that calamity is guaranteed once India’s plans for 23 hydropower projects begin operating later this year.

Additionally, an Indian barrage on their side of the Teesta River diverts copious amounts of water away from Bangladesh, and the absence of any agreement at all means the country isn’t obliged to behave any differently.

A water sharing agreement was in the making until the chief minister of West Bengal shot it down last year. Since then very little headway has been made in subsequent diplomatic meetings.

In light of that, the PM’s optimistic comments about the possibility of “judicious settlements” seem to hold very little water.

CROSSWORD

Fundamentalist Islam May 21 Waliul Haque Khondker I would like to congratulate the author for a well researched article, albeit lopsided! He missed out on the fact that Bengal has been inhabited primarily by Muslims of Hanafi Jurisprudence since 9th century AD. The recent discovery of two Abbasid coins in Bangladesh, one from Paharpur dated 172 Hijri corresponding to 788 AD from the time of Khalifa Harun al-Rashīd (786-809AD) and the other from Mainamati minted during the reign of Khalifa Abu Ahmad ‘Abd-Allah al-Muntasir Billāh (861-862AD), attests to this early Arab - Bengal trade link with which came the Ulama-Mashaeks to preach the religion of peace, Islam.

They came with the “Message” to Bengal, and not the Arabian culture within which Islam flourished in the Arabian peninsula! Eventually Islam spread in Bengal amongst the indigenous people and within its culture. Pala dynasty of Buddhist origin being the rulers at the time, made the job of the Ulama-Masheks relatively easy!

Trade with the Arabs continued and one of the trading items was Arabian horses!

The conquest by Ikhtiyr al-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyār, a Turk from the Khalij tribe, in early 13th century was not the first contact with Muslims in the region. The story goes, when Bakhtiyar appeared before the gates of Nawdia, the capital of the Sena dynasty of Bengal, with only eighteen horsemen, the people guarding the gates of the city mistook them for a party of Muslim horse traders and opened the gates. This certainly suggests that Muslim horse traders were a familiar sight in Bengal before the conquest.

The Salafi movement started in the 13th century by Ibn Taymiyya the grandson of Imam Hanbal (of Hanbali jurisprudence), which has now broken up into over 150 groups on various differences including supporting and opposing suicide bombings!

Haji Shariatullah and his Faraizi movement was like a passing shower which dissipated soon after

BGMEA evades paying wages of dead victims May 24

The infected souls must be eliminated by hook or by crook from society!

Lily Mazid Mridha “BGMEA evades paying wages” – As always.

Hafiz Al-Asad Talha April I am not surprised at all. This is the nature of Bangladesh government.

Fahad Salahuddin Saber

Mourinho to leave Real Madrid at end of season May 21

The boss is back, back to his kingdom … BPL. Shamim Hasan

DOWN 1 Operatic air (4) 2 Tinge (4) 3 Needy (4) 4 Imply (5) 5 Ward off (5) 6 Make brown (3) 7 Finished (5) 12 Drink (3) 13 Little devil (3) 15 Say further (3) 16 Slippery fish (3) 17 Henhouse (5) 18 Venomous ill-will (5) 19 View (5) 21 Consumer (4) 22 Facts given (4) 23 Eat into (4) 25 Sheltered side (30

the death of his son Dudu Mian! Instead, the likes of Nawab Abdul Latif, coincidentally from Faridpur also as Haji Shariatullah, came up with developed ideas following the ideology of Sir Syyid Ahem of Aligarh University. Disillusioned with the pitiful social, political, economic and intellectual condition of the Indian Muslims at the time, Sir Sayyid argued that the Muslims had no choice but to cooperate with the ruling British authorities to enhance their political standing and, at the same time, pursue modern education and learning (especially that of modern science, philosophy and technology) in order to reinvigorate Islamic thought and thereby improve the existential condition of the Indian Muslims.

Such a reformist approach to Islamic thought was shared and successfully implemented by Nawab Abdul Latif in Bengal, who is today widely considered to be the father of Islamic modernism and re-awakening in Bengal!

So it would be erroneous to conclude that “Salafists have been part of the Bengali Muslim story since at least as long as Salafism has been around,” as the author propounds!

Nabil Ahsan I wonder why the author brought into focus the incidents of terrorism from 2001 onward. The discussion that followed is more of a discussion of jurisprudence. The introductory paragraph, when read in context, however, leads one to conclude that “Salafis” are terrorists. This I believe is not an accurate presentation of facts. On the contrary, the more relevant discussion in connection with terrorism would have been the developments in the Arab world during the tyranny of Arab leaders who in guise of introducing secularism engaged in widespread uprooting of oppression of Islamic clerics. This was perceived as a threat to Islam, the reason why most Islamists in the Muslim region are suspicious of western secularism. This lead to the development of radical ideas of anarchy,

those inspired to some extent by Syed Qutb and adopted by Iman Al-Zawahiri, the mentor of the infamous bin Laden.

The 19th century is the era of discussion if one wants to find the root cause of terrorism in the Muslim community. The “Salafi Jurisprudence” while it may be criticised on a number of grounds should nonetheless be equated with terrorism per se.

Zeeshan Nabil Ahsan: Thank you for your considered comment; you raise some good points. Sadly, the conclusion that Salafists are engaged in terrorism, given that Al Qaeda, the Taliban and even our domestic JMB and Huji are Salafists, is inevitable.

I’m aware of the fact that others, such as Hizb-utTahrir are not, but one wonders if it’s not just a matter of time. But the reason for listing those attacks was not because I wanted to make a connection between terrorism and Salafism, but because I wanted to show that some of the 13 demands in Hefazat’s charter have been raised before, albeit violently.

Regarding your questions about the causes of terrorism: I have in fact attempted to establish the link between colonisation, oppression, marginalisation and reactionary violence, from the 13th century up to the 19th. I have also shown how imprisoning or persecuting clerics can aggravate the situation.

Hope that helps.

Also I wouldn’t call Salafism a jurisprudence. I call it an ideology. That’s my modest opinion. farook The author does not explain why the Salafist movement, whose roots he traces back to the Hanbali madhab, should find a footing in our Qawmi madrasas which, to the best of my (albeit, very limited) knowledge, overwhelmingly subscribe to the Hanafi madhab.

Warid value rises by over 1,500 times

MTV comes to Bangladesh

May 22

May 21 Great initiatives for music lovers. I’m waiting for good quality music videos.

We hardly get good quality music videos in Bangladesh.

S M Tahidul Islam

So, when the transactions took place in 2010 what were BTRC officials doing?

Sleeping or taking bribes?

SMI

BNP to clarify on Babunagari statement, Col Taher verdict today May 23 What would they say?

Saif Kamal

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Sumaiya Shams

I can see he is catching the next plane to London, and Heathrow.

Banglar Bagh

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Saving capitalism from the capitalists?

T

n Salman Sakir he Savar tragedy has claimed the lives of more than 1,100 workers and approximately 2,500 people are injured. Considered to be the deadliest garments-factory accident in history, Bangladesh, and the whole world, is trying to find out what went wrong and who are responsible for the tragedy.

The players who have been considered responsible are the building owner, factory owners and, the apparel buyers. The degree and, extent of responsibility of each of this group is debatable. However, all three can be classified under one umbrella – capitalists. The Savar tragedy resonates with the book, Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists by Raghuram Rajan and Lu-

igi Zingales.

The authors suggest several things in their book. The first is that “the free market is the form of economic organisation most beneficial to human

from globalisation. In the context of free trade, the RMG industry has been the dominant industry, employing four million people and earning $20bn every year. Being the second-largest

The RMG industry has been the dominant industry, employing four million people and earning $20bn every year society and for improving human condition.” Bangladesh has experienced impressive growth in GDP and GDP per capita over the last two decades, while experiencing substantial reduction in poverty. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, its per capita income stands at $923 this year. Much of this growth can be contributed to free trade and the country benefiting

exporter of garments, the industry has contributed to the growth of the national economy, generated employment, and improved the living standard of the people. On the other hand, the major buyers who source from Bangladesh have also helped Bangladesh economy and society to grow.

The authors’ second point is that “free markets can flourish over the long

Sinking the PPP n F S Aijazuddin

T

here could not have been anything as distressing a sight as watching the Titanic, its hull ruptured by an iceberg, sink slowly into the Atlantic Ocean. Until now, that is.

This month, another multi-tiered vessel – the Pakistan Peoples Party – has gradually begun its descent into deeper waters. Nature is not to blame; the iceberg upon which the PPP has foundered is of its own making. Like the Muslim League, it is no longer the party envisioned by its leader.

The Pakistan Peoples Party was launched on November 30, 1967 in the drawing room of Dr Mubashir Hasan,

PPP, allowing it to atrophy. When in 1977 he needed it, it was incapable of conveying the plasma of his expectations.

Mr Bhutto was not the Bhutto of 1970. I heard him mesmerise a crowd in Karachi’s Liaqat Bagh during the run-up to the 1970 elections. I gleaned his speeches avidly as if they were assignments in a course on oratory. But after he came to power, I caught myself snoozing during his interminable harangues on state television.

On the morning of April 4, 1979, I boarded a Fokker aircraft for Rawalpindi/Islamabad airport. Two officers in Army uniform sat in adjacent seats. One was holding a single pager, a news-sheet carrying the head-

There must be millions of PPP stalwarts today across the country entitled to a plausible explanation for their party’s debacle in the recent elections

a professor at Lahore’s University of Engineering & Technology. Its manifesto was drafted by Mr J Rahim, a former bureaucrat. In that small room, Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (once General Ayub Khan’s foreign minister) was elected as its chairman by a coterie of founder members. Since then, the PPP has emerged as the only party with a national following. Even the PML-N – its closest rival – could find no retort to the condescending congratulations of the MQM leader Altaf Hussain in which he described the PML-N as a Punjab-based party.

Over the years, the PPP has suffered damage as much from its enemies as from its own leadership. In 1977, Mr Bhutto (then prime minister) over-engineered his election campaign, convinced that his performance from 1972 to 1977 would compensate for his waning popularity.

But during the five years that he was in charge, Mr Bhutto had sidelined or humiliated those who had propelled him into power, most noticeably and unconscionably his senior minister J Rahim. Wantonly, he neglected the arterial network of the

line: “Bhutto Hanged,” and below it his official photograph as prime minister.

The road to Islamabad in those days went through Rawalpindi, past the jail where Mr Bhutto had been hanged at dawn that morning. There was not one person on the road outside the jail. No Peoples Party workers, no mourners, not even a policeman to keep the curious at bay.

Benazir’s death on December 27, 2007 left the PPP effectively leaderless. Under a will, she nominated her husband as regent until their son Bilawal could attain political maturity.

What Ms Bhutto could not prevent was a pruning by her widower of all those whom she trusted, and he clearly did not.

Their elimination has been gradual, one by one. No dramatic Night of the Long Knives, as in 1932 when Adolf Hitler acted with brutal swiftness against his colleagues and therefore potential rivals.

Mr Zardari has followed no particular order. Initially, Mr Amin Fahim, Naheed Khan (BB’s confidant), and later Sherry Rahman. Interestingly,

run only when the government plays a visible role in determining the rules that govern the market and supports it with the proper infrastructure.”

In Bangladesh, there are rules and regulations for the free market to operate. However, there are debates about how effective and visible these rules are. Regarding the country’s infrastructure, it is widely agreed that it is very inadequate and outdated.

Many entrepreneurs will argue that developing the infrastructure will improve their trade and, consequently, increase the economic growth of the country. In spite of the inadequate infrastructure, the RMG industry has grown phenomenally in the last two decades.

The third point is “the government is subject to influence by organised private interests. Therefore, the incumbent private interests may be able to leverage the power of government regulation to protect their own economic position at the expense of the public interest by repressing the same free market through which they originally achieved success.”

The Savar tragedy is a perfect example of how this is possible. The factory owner built eight-storeyed building even though he did not have the permit to build eight floors; he used his political clout and muscle power to construct it without bothering to get recognition from the relevant bodies.

Again, the building was constructed with low-quality materials. It was possible for him to do this because of his ability to manipulate the local political scenario. On the day before the building collapse, he said that the building did not have any structural problems – he tried to maintain his rent without any regard for the lives of the workers in the building.

If the factory owners are evaluated, the same thing is observed. They achieved success as exporters by taking advantage of the free market and by utilising the workers who made clothing for them. On the fateful day, even when the workers did not want to enter the building, the management of the factories forced them to enter the

building and start work.

This decision by the management led to the death of more than a thousand workers. The management wanted to meet their deadlines in shipping the products; they put their personal profits ahead of the lives of the workers, even though it was the workers for whom they achieved their original success.

In the book, after outlining the problems that capitalists can cause in capitalism, the authors suggest a few recommendations. Their first suggestion is to “reduce incumbent capitalists’ incentives to oppose markets.”

The building owner and, the factory owners had incentives to oppose the free markets in terms of higher rent and more profit respectively (the factory owners forced the workers to work to maintain and maximise their private profits).

Now, the government can enact and enforce strict labour laws, and allow trade unions to operate. It can also enact laws to punish building and factory owners who endanger the lives of the workers. These may dissuade the owners to endanger the lives of the workers for their personal gains.

Then, the authors recommend to “provide a social safety net for the economically distressed to help maintain broad political support for free markets.”

There have been many strikes and agitations by the RMG factory workers over low wages, long work hours, and sometimes, difficult working conditions. Their wages have not kept up with the rise in rent and overall inflation, which has made their lives difficult. These workers are not entitled to pensions, medical allowances, death benefits, etc.

They feel exploited and consider themselves victimised by the garment factory owners and buyers. The workers feel that they are being exploited by the powerful forces of the free market and may start resenting the free market. When the government introduces a social safety net for these workers in collaboration with the factory owners and the buyers, the workers will feel

more valued and less exploited. This will increase their support and consequently, the economically distressed populations’ support for the free market.

The authors’ third recommendation is to “keep the borders of the economy open to free trade and, maintain a high level of competitive pressure on the incumbent firms.”

Bangladesh has kept the borders of the economy open to free trade, which has allowed the readymade garment industry to experience phenomenal growth. There is also a high level of competition between the garment factories. Unfortunately, the competition has been with prices where one factory tries to undercut the price of another factory.

Compounded with this is the longterm downward trend of clothing prices in the international market – this has created more problems for the workers, in terms of wages not keeping up with inflation. If the factories start competing in terms of quality while bargaining for higher prices from the buyers, it may benefit the workers as well as the factory owners.

The final recommendation is to “educate the public regarding the benefits of free markets to build political support for free market policies, or more specifically, oppose governmental interventions in the market designed to protect incumbents at the expense of overall economic opportunity.”

Most of the people in Bangladesh do understand and realise the benefits of free trade. The garments industry has employed almost four million workers.

However, the gains of free trade need to flow more to the workers so that they can live a decent life.

Also, the country needs to be aware so that individuals and groups cannot influence the government or administration (like the Savar tragedy) to benefit themselves at the expense of the industry, economy and society. The RMG industry is a vital industry of the country and, it is possible for the whole society to benefit from its prosperity. l Salman Sakir is an economist.

Harnessing Bangladeshi emotion the first two had been seated on either side of Benazir in the car after they left the Liaqat Bagh ground, and Sherry had transported the fatally injured leader to the hospital in her own car.

In time, others also fell from grace: Husain Haqqani (a casualty to Memogate), Khwaja Tariq Rahim (a former Punjab governor reduced to occasional advisor), Shah Mahmood Qureshi (the foreign minister forced to defect to PTI), Jahangir Badar (replaced as secretary-general by Mian Manzoor Wattoo), and two prime ministers, Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, who fell afoul of the courts.

The most recent blow to the party has been from Aitzaz Ahsan. He was considered by many to be the only person who could have staged a coup (when Benazir was in exile and Zardari in jail) to the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Chosen and groomed by Mr Bhutto himself, a trusted favourite of Benazir Bhutto, the lawyer who defended Asif Zardari throughout his eight year incarceration, Aitzaz possessed all the appropriate credentials: A minister in government, a leader of the opposition when not, and always a staunch loyalist. If there was anything he lacked, it was the courage to move the alphabetical scale a notch, from AA to BB. In the wake of the PPP electoral route in the Punjab in the 2013 elections, Aitzaz has offered to resign his senate seat. Other PPP high rankers, for less altruistic reasons, have also proffered their resignations. Those resignations have not been accepted.

They are expected to remain on the bridge of the damaged Titanic.

There must be millions of PPP stalwarts today across the country entitled to a plausible explanation for their party’s debacle in the recent elections.

They will not receive it from their current leadership, Mr Zardari’s explanations after a party post-mortem notwithstanding. They might though find the answer in Mr Bhutto’s first speech as president to a demoralised nation on December 20, 1971: “We have not failed,” he said. “We have been failed.” l F S Aijazuddin, OBE, is the author of more than a dozen books.

n Toffael Rashid

E

motions are such an amazing facet to living life. Many psychologists have tried to develop an understanding and apply rational theory and models to it. And yet emotions remain an incredibly vast and widely misunderstood subject matter, and in many instances are implied as a bad thing.

A very common tactic in the business world is to dismiss another’s opinion by calling it “an emotional response” and so imply that the person making the opinion is not balanced to give a rational view. Indeed, in today’s society “being emotional” about something implies that one has lost control and perspective.

And yet it is emotion that provides the entire colour and texture that makes our lives interesting. Psychologists agree that there are broadly 16 major human emotions: Joy, Sadness, Acceptance, Disgust, Fear, Anger, Surprise, Anticipation, Optimism, Love, Submission, Awe, Disappointment, Remorse, Contempt, Aggressiveness.

Imagine your daily life without these feelings ... it would be a very dull experience.

Bangladeshis are famously one of the most emotional people in the world. It is hardwired deep into the DNA of every citizen. Indeed it’s no surprise that Rabindranath Tagore was recognised for his talent to capture emotions through his poetry when he became Asia’s first Nobel laureate winning the Nobel Prize in 1913 for Literature. And it is these emotions that make up so much of this nations personality and character.

I have travelled to over 70 countries across five continents and in all that travel, Bangladesh is the only place where I have met a person for the first time and been invited that very same evening to have dinner at that person’s home with their parents, wife and children.

It is an amazing kindness and sense of hospitality that Bangladeshi people should be very proud of. Emotions are at play in many of our day-to-day activities and at the heart of everything that is wonderful about Bangladeshi people.

So, what does emotion have to do with the world of business and money making? After all making money

demands cool and calculated rational thinking.

That is true in part but when only operating that way, one misses a huge opportunity: much of Bangladesh’s economy remains at a commodity level. When buying and selling goods and services, consumers in Bangladesh are often just offered purely rational and functional benefits.

For example, when buying oranges at New Market, you just find the freshest, the biggest or the ones from the famed orange orchards of Chaatuk in Sylhet. All these factors are purely func-

As we all now know, Bangladesh has been identified by many leading bodies as one of the next 11 economies to watch around the world tional and rational. But what if buying an orange somehow made you feel you were making the best choice for your child’s health, that because you chose that orange, you were a good parent who was putting their family first? Or what if when you bought that orange it made you feel like you were living a health conscious life, or it made you and others think that you were a stylish and modern person who knew what things were trendy?

All of a sudden, what was just an orange has suddenly begun to stand for something additional ... a functional product is slowly turning into a brand.

Brands at their most basic level can be defined as “a set of tangible and intangible promises” made by a provider, which motivate them to meet a guaranteed level of product performance or service delivery.

Using my orange example, the tangible part would be the freshness, the size, the source, the taste etc. And in Bangladesh the functional benefits are well known for every single product category from oranges to fish to rice to saris to cars to banks to cell phones to hospitals.

My point is proven by how businesses of the same category all seem to be next to each other in the marketplace: all the orange sellers are next to each other, as are the pharmacies, book sellers etc.

When one walks around these

markets, the only differences on offer are the functional benefits of that particular product category. None of these businesses have stated to think about the “intangible promise” that a brand could also make; it seems that the majority of local brands play only through the functional facet, leaving the emotional part silent … a tragic oversight given that Bangladeshi people are one of the most emotional people on earth.

The principles of marketing and branding should be a critical tool for societal upgradation. The legacy of “negotiation economy” is that in pursuit of the lowest possible price, quality is always sacrificed and so, across society, Bangladeshis are left with sub-standard choices.

At their most basic level, brands are shorthand for a promised level of quality, a “seal of authenticity” for the particular range of benefits that a company will offer. If applied across the entirety of the economy and civic infrastructure it will, in one stroke, raise our standards forever.

If Bangladeshi companies are to prosper in Bangladesh (with ever more international companies entering the country) as well as thrive within the global economy, they will need to integrate these “intangible” promises into their brand contract. These brands contracts must delight Bangladeshis who will treasure them as unique and wonderful manifestations of their national culture, and feel a genuine emotional connection whenever they use or interact with these brands.

As we all now know, Bangladesh has been identified by many leading bodies as one of the next 11 economies to watch around the world.

Political turmoil notwithstanding, Bangladesh truly is at the juncture of unfulfilled potential. We keep being told this and by so many that at some point, we must grasp the opportunity and make good of our potential. It can be done – Silicon Valley was built is less than 15 years, Singapore in 20 years.

And those who were brave enough to grasp those opportunities presented through the diligent application of business basics retain huge market shares and profits today. l Toffael Rashid is a global marketing professional.

12

Dhaka Tribune

Entertainment

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Choir Bangla’s new album hits the market n Punny Kabir

Artistes of Chhayanaut at the festival celebrating Kazi Nazrul Islam’s 114th birth anniversary

Sadia Marium/Dhaka Tribune

Chhayanaut’s Nazrul Utsob 1420 ends n Afrose Jahan Chaity At the advent of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s 114th birth anniversary, the country’s cultural arena is now buzzing with varied programmes which give a brief sketch of the flamboyant life and works of the poet.

Chhayanaut’s tribute to the rebel poet was a two-day commemorative programme titled “Nazrul Utsob-1420” which concluded yesterday at the cultural organisation’s main auditorium in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.

Highlighting the poet’s inspirational works, the leading artistes celebrated the secularist and revolutionary spirit of Nazrul on the backdrop of the current turbulent situation of the country. The event featured discussion, musical performances, dance

Today In Dhaka Exhibition

‘Elemental Antiquity’ Nazmul Haque Time: 3pm-8pm Dhaka Art Centre House 60, Road 7/A, Dhanmondi ‘Fata Morgana’ Rokeya Sultana Time: 12pm-8pm Bengal Art Lounge, Gulshan-1 ‘Grief of Time’ Biplob Goswami Time: 3pm-8pm Dhaka Art Centre House 60, Road 7/A, Dhanmondi ‘Beyond Human Nature’ Nasreen Begum Time: 10am-8pm Athena Gallery of Fine Arts Progoti Shorani, Badda ‘Light and Shadow ‘ Ferdausi Priyobhashini, Karu Titas Time: 12pm-8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts Dhanmondi

Film

Aito Bhalobasha, Most Welcome Blaka Cineworld Life of Pi 3D, Finding Nemo 3D, Parker, Iron Man 3 Star Cineplex, Bashundhara City Panthapath

recital and recitation. A total of 200 artistes took part in the festival. Moreover, Chhayyanaut also celebrated the 91st anniversary of the famous publication of the poet’s extraordinary poem “Bidrohi.”

“Nazrul Utsob 1420” was opened with the speech of Professor Sanatkumar Shaha and the cultural programmes started with a vibrant dance performance choreographed by eminent dancer Sharmila Banerjee with the chorus recital of the song “Karar Oi Louho Kopat.” Then, the students of Chhayanaut rendered “Tora Shob Joyodhoni Kor,” and “Ei Amader Bangladesh” in chorus. An array of solo performance also enriched the programme.

Tanvir Ahmed presented “Andh Khana Chad Hashiche Akashe,” and

Afsana Runa sang a Nazrul’s romantic piece “Mukhe Keno Nahi Bolo” among others. Some timeless Nazrul Geetis on the theme of monsoon were especially sung by the solo performers on the rainy evening. Ahkam Ullah and Ishrat Ferdousy recited Nazrul’s famous poems.

The programme featured performances of prominent singers like Shahin Samad, Ferdous Ara, Yeakub Ali Khan, Khairul Anam Shakil, Kalpana Anam, Lina Tapashi Khan, Yeasmin Mushtarin, Mofijur Rahman, Abhijit Kundo and many more. Besides, celebrated dancers Munmun Ahmed, Warda Rihab and her troupe presented a dazzling recital on the occasion.

The festival is joint collaboration by Grameenphone, Masrangaa and Square Group of Industries. l

Band Choir Bangla’s new album “Notun Kore Pawa” featuring songs of Nazrul, Tagore, Lalon and Salil Chowdhury is out now in the market. The launching ceremony of the album was held on May 24 where the band members performed two Nazrul Geeti from the album: “Bajao Probhu Bajao” and “Dur Dipbashini.”

The album, presenting a total of nine tracks including six Nazrul Geeti, has been released under the banner of Laser vision. Tanveer Alam Shawjeeb, leader of the band and also a celebrated Nazrul singer, is the music arranger of all the songs.

Iron Man 3 arrives in Dhaka n Entertainment Desk Bashundhara City’s Star Cineplex has brought the Hollywood blockbuster “Iron Man 3” for the action movie lovers here in the city.

Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits Tony Stark (Iron Man) against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at ev-

ery turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

The film was both critically and commercially successful. It is the 16th film to gross over $1 billion. It currently ranks as the eighth highest-grossing film of all time . l

movies 12:35 am HBO Bloodsport

3:10 pm Fox Movies Premium The Darkest Hour

3:30 pm HBO

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

4:40 pm Fox Movies Premium 2012

9:05 pm Zee Studio The Lion King

9:30 pm WB Constantine

9:30 pm Star Movies Lockout

11:00 pm Zee Studio

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

11:30 pm Star Movies Gladiator

11:51 pm WB

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

talkshow 12:00 am Channel I

Ajker Shongbaadpotro

12:30 am ATN Bangla Lead News

1:15 am ATN News Young Night

1:30 am Bangla Vision Front Line

7:30 am ATN News Shath Rong

11:30 am CNN Talk Asia

1:00 am Channel 24 Beyond the Gallery

4:00 pm NDTV24*7 Walk the Talk

comedy 8:30 am Sony Entertainment TV Comedy Circus Ke Ajoobe

10:00 am Big CBS Prime

It Only Hurts When I Laugh

12:30 pm Comedy Central Up All Night

2:30 pm Big CBS Love

‘Ashes Blood Rivers’ premiered

Everybody Loves Raymond

3:30 pm Sony SAB

Taarakh Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma

6:30 pm Comedy Central

n Limana Solaiman

Saturday Night Live

“Ashes Blood Rivers,” a sensational play was staged at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Shilpakala Academy yesterday at 6pm and again at 8pm. The third staging will take place in Chittagong on May 29 at the Theatre Institute Chittagong. The play is written by Shahidul Mamun, directed by Faiz Zahir and choreographed by Lee Pei Jung.

The play is a spellbinding depiction by artists from the countries containing River Pearl, Ganges, Mekong, Nile and Seine. It creates a modern myth of rivers, environment, civilisation and power.

The story is of a cruel King, who against all odd sets off to find the source of a great river with his servants. Onboard of the ship, there is a eunuch who is present to please the king. In fact, the entire journey was for the king’s pleasure and satisfaction.

On his way, he is faced with lot of obstacles, firstly he comes across his ancestors who warn him against fighting the tide. Then he runs into ancient men who request the king to set them free of all obligations, but the king did not heed their plea. He believes that he must reach the source where it is expected that he will find “the great serpent” that will bring him success and riches beyond all expectations.

When finally he reaches the destination, the land seems barren of all beauty that is usually present at the source of a river. He meets a mesmerisingly beautiful woman there, whose visage seems familiar to the king. But to the

The Simpsons

Northern Theatre stages ‘Waiting for Godot’ today n Entertainment desk n Entertainment Desk While Ranbir Kapoor’s recent back in-

7:30 pm FX

10:30 pm Sony SAB

Waah Waah Kya Baat Hai

drama 10:00 am Color Sanskaar

1:30 pm Desh TV Jao Pakhi

1:30 pm Zee Studio Cruel Intentions 3

2:30 pm Zee Café The Mentalist

5:30 pm Channel i Protishod

6:00 pm Star World One Tree Hill

6:15 pm Baishakhi TV Kajola Union

6:45 pm Channel nine A scene from ‘Ashes Blood Rivers’ staged yesterday at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy lady, the king himself looks like the ugly monstrous and vicious serpent.

On a talk with Dhaka Tribune, Shahidul Mamun shares his reason and inspiration for the amazing piece of work: “The play was written with two things in mind, firstly, it depicts the common crises of men from all over the world, and how our livelihood is affected by our own activity. Secondly, the so called development and technological advancement has a negative impact on common men, the play questions our integrity, whether we want this development that is not equally beneficial

for everyone concerned. It is a plea to all, we want a more environment friendly atmosphere where everyone can prosper.”

The theatre production is a part of the project “Confuence of Rivers” presented by the Asian People’s Theatre Festival Society in collaboration with Aranyak Natyadal Dhaka. The society brought together artists from Hong Kong, Thailand, Bangladesh, Uganda, France and Taiwan to create a physical theatre piece about rivers. The artistic and expressive piece is presented through theatre performances, work-

Ranbir Kapoor turns street fighter

The theatre wing of Northern University Bangladesh, Northern Theatre will stage Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece “Waiting for Godot” today as part of its ongoing eight-day theatre festival. The play will be shown at 7pm at the Studio Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

The play features frustrations of the civilians after the post-World War II through the apparently meaningless interactions between two waiting men Vladimir and Estragon - who were looking for the arrival of Godot, who is supposed to solve all the problems.

Besides their various eccentric dialogues, activities, the pair encounters with the landlord Pozzo. All these characters continue “stream of consciousness.” But Godot, for whom they were waiting, never appears. l

The special characteristic of Choir Bangla is they do not use any instruments instead they produce music with their organs. “This is a new form of a band in Bangaldesh. But, it is common in Western countries,” shared Shawjeeb, who completed his graduation in sound engineering in Canada, in an interview with Dhaka Tribune.

The band consists of a total of 15 members. “We have composed many other songs. In this album we have included six Nazrul songs as the album has been released on the eve of the 114th birth anniversary of the National Poet. In the future, the listeners will get more songs of different genres from our band,” said an optimistic Shawjeeb.

ON TV

jury and subsequent physiotherapy session gave us a hint that he’s doing an action sequence, little could B-town guess that Ranbir’s character is that of a street fighter!

In his upcoming film Bombay Velvet, which is being directed by Anurag Kashyap, Ranbir Kapoor plays the role of a street fighter and his fans shall get to see a lot of action sequences! Apparently, the movie is set in the 60′s and Ranbir’s role will be that of an angry, aggressive and ambitious young man!

Much like Bollywoods very own angry young man Amitav Bachchan!

Explaining his role, Ranbir Kapoor says: “It is an intense role in which I am playing an ambitious street-fighter. It’s a film based in the 1960s. The role requires me to be a fighter, boxer, some-

body who is charged up, ambitious and aggressive.” Ranbir Kapoor is paired opposite the beautiful and charming, Anushka Sharma! The two, will play lovers in the backdrop of a rising metropolis which is mired in violence and greed.

The film portrays how the lives of two lovers are changed with a change in the face of Bombay of 1950-70, which is fast evolving into a metropolis.

This film is, supposedly, the first film of a trilogy planned by Anurag Kashyap. Even the film’s music would be reminiscent of 1960s! It is expected to hit the screens sometime in July this year.

Ranbir is one of the most demanding actors of Bollywood in recent times. The choosy youngster has also drawn the attentions of the critiques by giving outstanding performances in “Rockstar," "Barfi" and many more. l

Sadia Marium/Dhaka Tribune

Shei Bari Nei

7:35 pm RTV

shops and outdoor performances.

Besides Bangladesh, it will be staged in countries such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Uganda, France and England.

It is a great joy to let everyone know that this brilliant play will be showcased in France from July 5 to 13th in the 8th International Drama/Theatre Education Association (IDEA) congress. Also, it will be staged in two theatre festival in England. The play presents the theatre and cultural situation of Bangladesh with a unique opportunity to present its talent and promote the artistic abilities of our prodigies. l

Thanar Naam Shonir Akhra

Jackie Chan gets ‘Academy Salute’ n Entertainment Desk

News Hour

Jackie Chan will be the special guest at “An Academy Salute to Jackie Chan,” featuring a screening of “Police Story III – Supercop.”

Hosted by Entertainment Weekly’s Geoff Boucher, Chan will participate in an onstage conversation before the screening of the 1992 action movie, which co-stars Michelle Yeoh, on Monday, June 3, at 7:30pm at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. There will be special viewing hours for the Academy’s latest exhibition, “KICK ASS! Kung Fu Posters from the Stephen Chin Collection,” in the Grand Lobby Gallery immediately following the screening.

The Academy’s summer of kung fu continues with a salute to this renowned martial arts master, action star and comedian. l

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Did you know?

In 1968, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go “Open”, allowing both amateurs and professional players to compete. When Swiss Roger Federer won his first French Open title in 2009, he equalled Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slam titles and became the sixth man to win all four majors

Sport

Sunday, May 26, 2013

14 Djokovic in way of Nadal history

14 Mumbai enter IPL final after tense finish

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Mazzarri to replace Stramaccioni at Inter

Resilient BD bow out empty handed n Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh’s Nuby Ching Marma fights for the ball with Philippines’ Maria Park during their last match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers at BNS yesterday

BCB to form their own anti-corruption unit n

Minhaz Uddin Khan The Bangladesh Cricket Board has decided to set up their own anti-corruption unit as a reaction to the recent spot-fixing controversy that struck South

Asian cricket.

The Board has already circulated a job vacancy notice for someone to head the anti-corruption unit.

Meanwhile, to make the job easy for the BCB anti-corruption team, the Board will soon draw up regulations and ask for aid from the government to implement them, as Bangladesh has no laws to handle corruption in sports.

The spot-fixing controversy has shaken the game’s governing bodies and caused sufficient damage. Names of international cricketers, officials and even umpires emerged from the investigations, staining the image of the nation, the boards, and, above all, the game.

The revealing of the ICC Anti-Cor-

Jamal appoints Omar as interim coach n Shishir Hoque Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club have appointed their academy's Gambian coach, Omar K Sisse, as the interim head coach for the upcoming Super Cup, confirmed Sheikh Jamal manager Anwarul Karim Helal yesterday.

Helal said that their Nigerian coach, Joseph Afusi, would serve a one-month vacation and Omar would be in charge of the team for the 12-day meet in midJune.

"Afusi is our main head coach but he is on vacation for a month. This is why we are not taking on anyone new. As Omar is in charge of the academy, we appointed him as the head coach for the Super Cup. We hope to place him as Afusi’s assistant coach for the upcoming season too; it would be a test for him," said Helal.

Sheikh Jamal, under their Gambian coach, will begin preparing for the Super Cup from Monday.

Meanwhile, the top teams will also start preparations from this week. Holders Abahani will start getting ready from Wednesday under the guidance of their assistant coach Amalesh Sen. Treble winners Sheikh Russel were also called upon to prepare for the Super Cup by their coach Maruful Haque. l

ruption Security Unit in Dhaka the past week to query a few doubtful matches from the second edition of the Bangladesh Premier League came as a shock and surprise.

In fact, the investigation revealed the names of cricketers who had put the nation’s reputation at stake, alongside their own.

Meanwhile, the Board has yet to name a chief executive officer, a year after the demise of the previous CEO, Manzur Ahmed. BCB General Manager Nizamuddin Chowdhury has held the position in the interim.

“The ad-hoc committee runs the board at the moment. Only the elected body of the Board can assign permanent employees for the organisation,” said Sajjadul Alam Bobby, an ad-hoc committee member and former vice-president.

The National Sports Council (NSC) named the BCB ad-hoc committee in November 28 last year, nearly 10 months after the death of Manzur. But no initiative was taken by the last elected board to fill his post. l

BCB never tried to hide BPL doubts: Jalal Younus n Minhaz Uddin Khan The BCB never attempted to veil the issue of the doubtful matches in the second edition of Bangladesh Premier League; rather, it was the International Cricket Council’s decision to start an investigation, said BCB media department chairman, Jalal Younus yesterday.

“In February, ACSU (ICC Anti-Corruption Security Unit) likely had questions about a match. They visited the country a number of times since then. But this is the ICC’s matter,” said Jalal.

“It is not necessary that everyone on the board should know about this. The ACSU members came on their own and interviewed few players. This is their matter, and I don’t want to comment on it,” he said. A couple of matches in February this year looked mechanised.

The matches, which the tournament champions Dhaka Gladiators lost, were suspected of being fixed, and were questioned by media, while BCB found nothing wrong. “We never tried to hide anything, or else we would not have spent so much to support the ACSU investigation,” said Jalal. l

Mumit M/Dhaka Tribune

Not a single goal, not even a win or draw for the hosts Bangladesh in their first ever AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers campaign as they finished their last game of the qualifiers yesterday with a 4-0 defeat against Philippines at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Malditas forward Maria Park was the star of the game as she netted a brace and an assist in their four goal route.

However, the performance graph of the home side in the three matches of the meet is positive. After conceding nine goals in their opener against Thailand, Bangladesh put a better performance in their second game against Iran where they conceded only two goals. Despite the loss, Bangladesh put an even better performance yesterday against a side who put three goals in four minutes at Iran in the opener.

The Bangladeshi women created quite a few chances to end their goal drought in the meet but the national star forward Sabina Khatun alone missed three golden opportunities in both halves. Following a counterattack in the first half, Khatun ran free on a long ball which the onrushing Philippines goalkeeper could not gather. Sabina managed to take a shot at a goal but a defender blocked the attempt at

the edge of the 18-yard box. l

Match Highlights Philippines

4–0 Bangladesh

19” GOAL! Forward Maria Park placed the ball into the far post from the d-box to put the Malditas ahead.

25” Golden opportunity for the hosts!

After a free run, Sabina Khatun found onrushing Philippines goalkeeper coming 30 yards out but her shot at goal was blocked by a defender at the edge of the box.

29” GOAL! Jesse Anne doubled the lead for the Filipinos with a soft touch from goalmouth clash.

18” Sabina missed another chance when her shot from 18 yards was saved by Philippines goalie.

31” Sabina skipped past two defenders inside the penalty area but was stumbled by the goalie at the last moment before taking the shot.

84” GOAL! Defender Catherine Ruth took a long range shot from almost halfway that bounced once and entered into the right post.

90+5” GOAL! Maria netted her second of the night with a cool header.

Thailand beat Iran to top group Match Highlights Thailand

5–1 Iran

46” GOAL! Boothduang took a corner from the left that flew into the head of unmarked Nisa whose back header went into the net.

65” GOAL! It was Nisa again. The in-form striker this time dribbled past three Iranians inside the d-box and slotted into the far post.

69” GOAL! Breaking into the left of the penalty area, Nisa’s shot was saved by the goalie but Maijarern made the perfect use of the rebound as she fired the ball over the goalie into the net.

74” GOAL! Receiving a ball from Nisa, skipper Seesruam grounded the ball into the bottom right corner to beat the diving goalie. Seesruam immediately subbed off.

79” GOAL! Sara Ghomi’s first shot on target was stopped by the goalie, Ghomi found the rebound and made sure this time it hit the back of the net.

85” GOAL! Second hat-trick for Nisa in three games! The Thai forward received a ball inside the box, hanged around for a moment then placed home.

n Shishir Hoque Thailand striker Nisa Romyen continued her outstanding form in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers as she slammed yet another sensational hat-trick against a weary Iran side yesterday to put her side through to the final round.

After scoring four goals against the hosts, Bangladesh, on the first match day and a winning one against Philippines in the second game, Nisa contributed to all five goals of the Thai side yesterday, netting thrice and assisting two in their last group B qualifiers match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium to secure the final spot.

Thailand were all over their opponents throughout the game. Unlike their opponents, they looked soothing in the first half and started their natural attacking game in the second where they produced all five goals. Maryam Rahimi was the only lively performer of Iran who broke into the opponents’ terrain several times but could not find the net due to lack of support from her teammates.

However, Rahimi was the architect of their only goal of the game scored by Sara Ghomi, which they celebrated like they won the match.

Thailand needed just a draw to go through and they started the game with a relaxed mood making one real attack in the first half. Thai coach Piyakul made a small change in the stroke of the first half bringing in midfielder Supaporn Gaewbaen in place of Dangda Taneekarn to bolster their midfield.

Piyakul saw his strategy change pay off as Nisa broke the deadlock just a minute into the second half. Nisa arguably scored the best goal of the meet in the 65th minute when she dribbled past three Irani defenders, Kamangar, Ghanbari and Kousar, inside the d-box to score her second goal of the evening. Nisa then provided assists for their next two goals before scoring her eighth goal of the meet to complete the rout.

“This tournament was really tough as only the winner of the group is supposed to qualify for the next round, and we proved our potential by winning all three matches,” said Piyakul Kawnamkang.

“I know it’s even tougher in the next round, but we will try our best to do better there,” he said. “We were unable to control our emotions after conceding the first, and perhaps conceding consecutive goals in a very short time,” said Iran’s coach Costa. l

Weaving Malditas’ World Cup dream MSC confirm Super n Raihan Mahmood Jesse Anne Shugg, the wily forward of the Philippines national women’s team, dreams of taking the Malditas to the final round of the Women’s World Cup in the future. The 21-year-old Filipino, of Canadian origin, firmly believes they can make this dream come true.

The Malditas, as the Philippines women’s team are called, have set their eyes on a World Cup berth. They have their own way. The current national women’s team boasts more than 15 players who are based in USA and naturally the players are a little ahead of the typical Philippines or other ASEAN countries.

The Philippines Football Association quite suddenly thought of including their by-blood citizens in their women’s national team and Shugg is one of them. As Philippines have a good number of expatriate citizens in the USA, the association set its eye on forming a team with them to have an extra edge.

Shugg is yet to visit Philippines but she represents the country due to her football skills. Playing in the centre of the field, she explores the opposition with her superb footwork and cool–headed finish. However, failing to deliver against arch rivals Thailand

ended in a defeat and also their hope of moving to the final round of the AFC Women’s Cup was vanquished. The shock was quite evident in her words.

“We would not have lost the match.

We were not supposed to. We were focused to win it but could not. If we had won the match, I believe it would have opened new doors,” said Shugg.

The players are staying in the Hotel

Ornate at Bijayanagar and its head of operations, Meraj Saleque, revealed their situation. “The players cried.

We had not seen such a scene. I think Philippines set the target of winning against Thailand but they conceded a single goal defeat,” said Meraj.

“The association has taken a good initiative, focusing upon the players who play abroad. We did not spend much time together but in the future we will and hope to achieve the targets,” said the University of Miami student.

Shugg loves attacking football, and in her teens she idolised US star Mia Hamm. Now, however, she loves the style of the captain of Canada’s women’s soccer team, Christine Sinclair.

Sinclair led Canada to a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She played a spectacular tournament, scoring an Olympic-record-setting six goals. “She is my idol now, I love her attacking instincts and want to play like her,” said the forward.

Philippines coach Ernie Nierras provided a more detailed picture. “Our motto is to take the women’s team higher than the men’s team. Philippines started women’s football back in 1984 but top level success is yet to be achieved. With the introduction of the women’s pro league next year we will succeed,” she said. l

Cup participation n Shishir Hoque

After a week of drama, Mohammedan Sporting Club officially announced yesterday that they will take part in the upcoming third edition of the Super Cup, scheduled to begin on June 14. The Dhaka powerhouse sent a letter to Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday confirming their participation in the big-budget meet.

The Black and White earlier refused to take part due to the unavailability of their local players but perhaps, fearing criticism, they finally agreed to play.

"Three of our key players (Wahed, Maruf, Rajani) are currently abroad but they confirmed their return home soon. And also, for the sake of furthering football, we decided to play in the Super Cup," said Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan, member in charge and director of Mohammedan.

After confirming their participation, the Motijheel outfits will begin a training camp as well as preparations for the meet from Wednesday.

Mohammedan coach Saiful Bari Titu

said they have enough local players to take part and also admitted that those local players, who hadn’t yet gotten a chance to make the first 11 for the foreign players, will now get an opportunity to show their worth.

BFF announced last Thursday it would hold the Super Cup from June 14 to 25 after meeting with club officials.

But Mohammedan, the champion of

Three of our key players are currently abroad but they confirmed their return home soon. And also, for the sake of furthering football, we decided to play in the Super Cup the inaugural edition, said they might not participate in the tournament which raised criticism within and outside the club.

Afterwards, the club management sat with the football team management, including the coaches and managers, to establish the possibilities of assembling players, who were released from the camp after the conclusion of the Bangladesh Premier League. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sunday, May 26, 2013

10 things to know A look at 10 of the top topics at the French Open, the clay-court Grand Slam tennis tournament that begins Sunday and ends June 9

2. WHY WASN'T NADAL SEEDED NO. 1?

1. WHY STOP AT SEVEN? Rafael Nadal already owns a record seven French Open titles - he broke a tie with Bjorn Borg by winning last year - and is widely considered the favourite to add No. 8. He is 36-2 this season, reaching the finals of all eight tournaments he's entered, winning six. And he's as good as it gets on red clay.

Djokovic in way of Nadal history

AFP

Serena may be one to beat, Azarenka brings new mindset to French Open n Reuters, PARIS Old foe Novak Djokovic and damp weather conditions are the most likely obstacles to claycourt machine Rafael Nadal's bid for a record-extending eighth French Open title over the next two weeks.

Nadal, who last year beat Bjorn Borg's record of six Roland Garros crowns, has lost only one match on the Paris clay and has already won five titles on the slow surface this year.

However, Serbia's Djokovic ended the Spaniard's eight-year reign at the Monte Carlo Masters to show he is beatable on the red dust after all.

Cold and wet weather could also threaten Nadal, whose devastating top spin works best on dry courts.

Temperatures are set to barely reach 15 degrees Celsius in the first week of the French Open, with rain showers forecast every day from Tuesday onwards, con-

ditions reminiscent of 2009 when the Spaniard lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.

"The only negative thing is this cold," Nadal, who came back this year from a seven-month knee injury layoff, told a news conference on Friday.

Nadal, with 11 grand slam titles on all surfaces to his name, is just happy to be back playing and winning at Roland Garros again this year is not the be-all and end-all.

"If you can ask me if I win one grand slam during the whole year or win six tournaments like I already did, I will choose to win six tournaments," said the third seed, who first meets Germany's Daniel Brands.

World number one Djokovic, in contrast, has put a lot of pressure on his shoulders having yet to triumph at the French Open.

He has asked his support team and reporters not to tell him who his potential

second or third round opponents are so he can focus on his opener against Belgian David Goffin.

Djokovic, who lost early in Rome and Madrid, could meet Nadal in the semi-finals of a tournament deprived of world number two Andy Murray, who pulled out because of back problems.

"This is the tournament that is the number one priority of my year, of my season. This is where I want to win and I'm going to go for it," Djokovic, who beat Nadal in the Monte Carlo final, told a news conference. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet, seeded sixth and seventh respectively, will be out to end France's 30-year drought for a men's grand slam champion.

The last Frenchman to win a major tournament was Yannick Noah, who beat Swede Mats Wilander in the final at Roland Garros in 1983.

In Tsonga's way stands second seed Roger Federer, who has a smooth-look-

Mumbai enter IPL final after tense finish Brief Score Mumbai Indians 169/6 (Smith 62) Rajasthan Royals 165/ 6 (Dravid 43, Harbhajan 3-23) Result: Mumbai won by 4 wickets

n Agencies Star-studded Mumbai Indians overcame a middle-order collapse to edge out Rajasthan Royals by four-wickets in the tense second qualifier here at the Eden Gardens on Friday and set up Sunday’s IPL-VI title clash with two-time champions Chennai Super Kings.

Chasing 166 for victory, Mumbai Indians rode on a responsible half-century by in-form opener Dwayne Smith (62 off 44, 6x4, 2x6) and two sizeable partnerships to romp home with one ball to spare.But it was Harbhajan Singh who walked away with man of the match award for scalping three wickets

Becker backing new Asian tennis league

n AP, Paris Boris Becker is backing a new tennis league in Asia featuring former and current players.

The three-time Wimbledon champion is joining ex-players Justin Gimelstob and Mahesh Bhupathi in founding the International Premier Tennis League.

Plans for the league were announced Friday. It will consist of mixed teams in various Asian cities, with a player draft held in January 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Play is expected to start in December 2014.

Retired players and a number of current top-10 stars plan to participate.

Among them are Pete Sampras, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na and Caroline Wozniacki.l

for 23 runs, taking two catches and hitting the winning runs, a boundary to the extra-cover fence.

Mumbai Indians started the chase on a positive note with Smith and Aditya Tare stitching together 70 runs in 9.1 overs. Tare was more aggressive of the duo as he slammed a 27-ball 35 with the help of three boundaries and two sixes After Tare was caught by Sanju Samson at long-on off Kevon Cooper, Smith consolidated the position, adding a quickfire 55 for the second wicket with Dinesh Karthik. But Mumbai Indians almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, losing five wickets for 35 runs.

However, they managed to hold their nerves to script the last-ball victory.

Rajasthan Royals lost the match mainly because of their ineffective bowling and atrocious fielding. While absence of a spinner made the fivepronged bowling unit look ordinary on a slow wicket. l

The Indian government on Saturday announced a new law to deal with unfair practices in sport amid damaging allegations of spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League competition.

"The government of India has decided to enact a standalone legislation to deal with unfair practices in sport. The government is committed to bring this law as soon as possible," Law Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters in New Delhi.

Sibal said the new legislation would deal with dishonest practices like spot-fixing which has been under the spotlight since three cricketers were arrested on May 16 for deliberately bowling badly in exchange for money.

"We cannot let down millions of fans out there for whom cricket is a

Rosberg fastest in crash-hit practice n AFP, Monte Carlo Nico Rosberg topped the times for Mercedes in Saturday morning's third and final crash-hit free practice session ahead of Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old German steered clear of much of the mechanical carnage around him in an hour of action that included four major accidents and a stoppage when Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa survived a high-speed collision with the barriers that wrecked his car at Sainte Devote.

The end of the session was also halted prematurely with a second red flag, following another accident, leaving Rosberg fastest — for the third successive session in his home town — ahead of nearest rival Romain Grosjean of Lotus who, remarkably, crashed twice.

Defending triple world champion Sebastian Vettel was third-fastest for Red Bull. l

India announces new law to curb unfair practices n AFP, New Delhi

ing draw until a potential quarter-final clash with his sometime nemesis.

World number one Serena Williams is the top favourite in the women's draw although defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia is also a natural candidate for a second Roland Garros title.

Once a self-described "cow on ice" on clay, Sharapova now feels at home on the slowest surface.

"It never came easy for me to play on the clay and that's why it took many years. But yet I felt like with every year I was getting closer," she told a news conference. Eleven years after winning her only French Open, Serena is also feeling sharp as she bids for a 16th grand slam singles title.

"Just looking back at a few of my matches years ago and looking now, I definitely feel like I'm getting into that zone that I have always wanted to be in and I feel a lot better about it," the American said. l

passion. But the new law will not apply to cricket alone. It will apply to all sports in which unfair practices are being used to change the outcome or course of a game," Sibal said.

Sibal did not specify what punishments would be handed out.

Spot-fixing is an illegal activity where a specific part of a game, but not the outcome, is fixed.

India Test paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was among the players arrested by police in a widening probe into corruption in the Twenty20 competition.

Sreesanth, who has played 27 Tests and 53 one-dayers for India, is alleged to have been paid four million rupees ($72,000) to give away around 14 runs in an over while playing against the Kings XI Punjab on May 9.l

Asad Rauf will fight to clear name: family n AFP, Karachi Troubled Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf will fight to clear his name in an ongoing spot-fixing scandal in India, family sources told AFP on Saturday, saying he had returned to his home in Lahore.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) this week withdrew the 57-yearold umpire from next month's Champions Trophy in England in the wake of media reports that he was under police investigation.

Mumbai police on Friday refused to confirm whether Rauf would be called in for questioning, as media outlets in India and Pakistan tried to track the umpire down.

Rauf's family said he returned to his home in Lahore a few days ago.l

3. WHO COULD STOP

NADAL?

The man who is ranked and seeded No. 1, Novak Djokovic, is one of the two players to beat Nadal this season, and he did it on clay, no less.

Djokovic also has won eight of their 11 meetings since the start of 2011.

A six-time major champion, Djokovic is trying to complete a career Grand Slam (at least one title at each of tennis' four most important tournaments) in Paris after losing to Nadal in the final last year.

4. WHAT ABOUT FEDERER?

Almost always overmatched against Nadal, particularly on clay, Federer still can show up with the serve and forehand to beat anyone else on any surface; he just hasn't been doing it as often as usual lately. The owner of a record 17 Grand Slam titles took a few months off to rest and recharge, so that affects the numbers, but this is the first season since 2000 that Federer has failed to win at least one title before the French Open.

5. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE?

The French Open often has produced unpredictable results and champions - Gaston Gaudio, anyone? - but this has been quite a run by the Big 3 of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic: Dating to the 2005 French Open, that trio has won 30 of the last 32 Grand Slam tournaments. And the guys who claimed the other two - Andy Murray at last year's U.S. Open, and Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 U.S. Open both pulled out of the French Open.

7. COW ON ICE?

6. CAN SERENA LOSE? She sure did a year ago at Roland Garros, and quickly, too: It is her only first-round exit in 50 Grand Slam appearances. Since then?

She is 67-3 with Wimbledon, U.S. Open and London Olympics titles, and a return to the No. 1 ranking at age 31. She comes to Paris on a 24-match winning streak, the longest of her distinguished career.

8. SHOW THEM THE MONEY?

That's how Maria Sharapova famously described her awkward movement on the red clay years ago, but just look at her now. She won 2012 French Open to complete her career Grand Slam and five of her last six titles came on slippery surface. ''The most difficult aspect is the footing,'' John McEnroe said about playing on clay, ''the inability to make that quick first step that you're able to do on a surface where you can stop and start on a dime.''

Top tennis players have been lobbying for a bigger cut of the revenues at Grand Slam tournaments, and they're getting it. The French Open boosted overall prize money by nearly 18 percent this year, to about 22m euros. And the singles champions? They each get 1.5m euros (about $1.9m), a 20 percent bump.

The US Open recently promised to hike its total purse to $50m by 2017.

9. FRENCH CHAMPION?

10. LOVE AND LOVE?

It's been quite some time since the French fans had a French champion to cheer for at their Grand Slam tournament — or any Grand Slam tournament, for that matter. Yannick Noah was the last man from France to win a major championship in tennis, and he did it all the way back in 1983 at Roland Garros. Only Spain has as many men (three) currently ranked in the top 20 as France does: No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 9 Richard Gasquet, No. 17 Gilles Simon.

There are some familiar faces spending time with top tennis players, whether it's golf star Rory McIlroy with former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki or music act RedFoo with two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka or two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin with 12th-ranked Maria Kirilenko. Sharapova, formerly engaged to basketball player Sasha Vujacic, is now linked to 28th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov (who beat Djokovic this month in Madrid).

AP, PariS

Spain's Rafael Nadal (R) speaks with his compatriot Fernando Verdasco during a training session on the eve of the start of the French Open at the Roland Garros yesterday

After a surprising second-round loss at Wimbledon last year, Nadal was off the tour for a little more than 7 months, missing the last two Grand Slam tournaments and every other event - and missing out on the ranking points they offer. So he slid down to a current spot of No. 4, and while French Open would have been allowed to bump him higher, it chose instead to stick to its policy of strictly adhering to rankings when seeding players.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

15

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Santos accept Barca, Madrid bids for Neymar n AFP, MADRID

Quick Bytes

Shakib, Tamim in CPL auction Shakib Al Hassan and Tamim Iqbal were named in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), as the tournament committee announced the drafted grading of the players into three categories – A, B and C grades – where two of Bangladesh’s top cricketers are named in pool A. For the first time ever, West Indies is going to start the franchisee base tournament, where six teams will compete with 15 players on each side. Antigua, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago will participate in this inaugural tournament. 14 West Indian and 12 international cricketers were named in pool A, including the star all-rounder, Shakib, dashing opener, Tamim, alongside Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik, Shaun Marsh of Australia and others. The 24 match inaugural CPL tournament will start from July 30 and the final will take place on August 24.

– Mazhar Uddin

Asian Continental Chess Championships

Grand Master Niaz Murshed drew with Mongolian Grand Master Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan in the 8th round of the open championship match of the Asian Continental Chess Championships yesterday in Manila, Philippines. Niaz played with white pieces and earned 4½ points out of eight games. In the women’s championship, Sharmin Sultana Shirin received bye in the 8th round.

– Shishir Hoque

Wari edge Baridhara

Sixth-placed Wari Club handed table toppers Uttar Baridhara Club a shocking 3-2 defeat in a dramatic Premier Bank Bangladesh Championship League match at the Kamalapur stadium yesterday. Tenjing opened the scoring for Wari just 13 minutes on the clock before Khalekuzzaman restored the parity in the 27th minute for Baridhara.

Titu put Wari ahead once again in the 41st minute but Dalim's 78-minute goal equalised the margin. Rubel scored in the stroke of the second half to seal Wari's third victory of the season. Chittagong Abahani are the biggest beneficiary of the Wari victory as they are now just one point behind Baridhara, having played the same number of games (10). Wari moved to fifth place with 12 points.

– Shishir Hoque

Indoor Corporate Cricket from June 7

After finishing a successful indoor university cricket tournament, 3crics is all set to start another, called “Indoor Corporate Cricket Tournament,” which will take place from June 7 to June 9. Three legendary cricketers, Atahar Ali Khan, Akram Khan and Khaled Mashud Pilot, are the main organisers. In this tournament, 16 corporate teams with eight players on each side will compete among four groups, and four teams in each group will play three matches in the first round. The champion will receive Tk5m and the runner up will get Tk2m. The man of the series will win an LED TV and the man of the match in every game of the tournament will receive a mobile phone. Khaled Mashud, also a former captain of the Bangladesh cricket team captain, said, “We all love cricket but usually corporate people don’t have the opportunity to play such competitive cricket matches. So we tried to create a platform for those who wish to play. It will refresh their minds as they work hard in their fields.”

– Mazhar Uddin

5th Kiit Int'l Chess Grand Master Enamul Hossain Razib and FM Sk Nasir Ahmed earned five points each after the end of the 8th round games in the Elite category of the 5th Kiit International Chess Festival in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in India. GM Ziaur Rahman and FM Debaraj Chatterjee earned 4½ points each.

– Shishir Hoque

Day’s Watch Star Cricket 4:00pm New Zealand Tour of England Second Test, Day 3 Channel 9 7:30pm IPL, Final: Chennai v Mumbai ESPN 11:55pm La Liga: Espanyol v Barcelona Star Sports 5:00pm F1 Raceday 11:55pm La Liga: Real Sociedad v Real Madrid

US actor Will Smith strikes a pose as he visits the UEFA Champions Festival in east London yesterday prior to the start of the Champions League final match at Wembley

AFP

Brazilian club Santos have confirmed they have accepted two offers, believed to be from Barcelona and Real Madrid, for their 21-year-old star Neymar.

"In a meeting with representatives of the management committee of the club, Neymar Junior received the proposals received and he will analyse them in the coming days before taking a definitive decision," read a statement posted on the club's website late on Friday Brazilian time.

According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, the vice-president of Santos, Odilio Rodrigues, confirmed that the two offers received were from Barcelona and Real Madrid, adding "we did everything that was in our power to keep Neymar at Santos."

The Brazilian international has long been a target for Barca, who reportedly had a bid turned down earlier in the week, but Real are believed to have now entered the race as president Florentino Perez plans a clear-out of the current squad after a disappointing season that led to the end of manager Jose Mourinho's time in the Spanish capital.

Neymar is out of contract next season, meaning he could have left for free this time next year, but any transfer does not just depend on Barca and Madrid reaching an agreement with Santos and the player as Santos only own 55% of his economic rights.

Therefore, the Spanish giants will also have to negotiate a deal with investment groups DIS, which owns 40% of his rights, and Teisa, which holds the remaining five percent. l

Leave knives at home, De Rossi tells Cup fans

Sociedad out to bounce back

n AFP, Silandro

Real Sociedad will have to recover quickly from the news that their coach Philippe Montanier will leave to join Rennes at the end of the season as they face Real Madrid in a crucial match in their quest to claim the fourth and final Champions League place from La Liga.

Montanier has decided to bring his time in San Sebastian to an end after two seasons despite the guarantee of European football next season, with his side currently ahead of Valencia thanks to a better head-to-head record with just two games to go.

However, striker Imanol Agirretxe believes they are capable of putting the Frenchman's decision to the back of their minds and concentrating on Sunday's game.

Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi has called on Roma and Lazio fans to bury their grievances ahead of the sides' first ever meeting in an Italian Cup final on Sunday.

De Rossi's appeal comes less than two months after the sides' last meeting at the Olympic Stadium was marred by bloodshed when two fans were stabbed amid running riots, which also forced locals to hide and shopkeepers to close early.

Those incidents led politicians to declare that future derbies would no longer be held in the evening but since then, both sides qualified for the final.

Ahead of Sunday's encounter, when a place in next season's Europa League

will also go to the winner, De Rossi said: "There are always big concerns when such an important match is to be played.

"I'm confident people will want to come and have a good time, but they need to leave all the knives and weapons at home."

De Rossi was speaking at a reception held for both teams by the Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano. It was the second such event for the sides, some of whom met the Pope during a public reception on Wednesday.

The midfielder, who has been sent off several times during hotly-contested derbies, suggested the players could perhaps play a role in calming tensions.

"We also have a responsibility as players," he added. "When we're on the pitch we should try to avoid making exaggerated gestures and try to show an example.l

n AFP, Madrid

Madrid are also adjusting to the news that they will have a managerial change at the end of the season after it was officially confirmed on Monday that Jose Mourinho will depart the Spanish capital come the end of the campaign.

Already guaranteed to finish second, Madrid having nothing to play for, but Agirretxe is not buying talk that they will be demotivated.

"They are not playing for anything, but at the end of the day they know how to play very well. Real Madrid are Real Madrid, I have never seen them relaxed or taking a game easy and in this sense it will be a very difficult game."

Mourinho will at least be able to manage his penultimate game in charge from the technical area as his two-game ban for being sent-off during Real's defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey final last Friday only applies to domestic cup fixtures.

Day's Fixture

Getafe

Valencia Osasuna Real Sociedad

Malaga Espanyol Valladolid At Madrid Real Betis At Bilbao

v Rayo Vallecano v Granada v Sevilla v Real Madrid v Deportivo v Barcelona v Celta Vigo v Mallorca v Real Zaragoza v Levante

Cristiano Ronaldo is also free to play as he too received a two-game cup ban for his red card against Atleti, but their opponents will be without their top-scorer Carlos Vela due to suspension.

Meanwhile, champions Barcelona continue their quest to match Madrid's record tally of 100 points from last season when they visit Espanyol in the Catalan derby.l

Five great European Cup/Champions League final goals Players from Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich will hope to etch their names in European football history on Saturday when the two German sides clash in the final of the Champions League at Wembley. Ahead of the game, AFP Sports looks back at some of the most memorable goals to have graced the 57 previous European Cup and Champions League finals

Alfredo Di Stefano for Real Madrid v Eintracht Frankfurt (Glasgow, 1960)

The crowning glory of the great Real Madrid team of the 1950s was their sensational 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt in front of 127,000 people at Hampden Park, which secured their fifth consecutive European Cup. Frankfurt had just reduced the deficit to 6-2 when Di Stefano received the ball from kick-off, surged forward, and beat goalkeeper Egon Loy with a crisp low strike to complete his hat-trick.

Dejan Savicevic for AC Milan v Barcelona (Athens, 1994)

Johan Cruyff's Barcelona 'Dream Team' entered the 1994 final in Athens as favourites against a Milan side depleted by injury and suspension, only for Fabio Capello's team to prevail 4-0 in one of the great European final displays.

Savicevic put the Italians 3-0 ahead two minutes into the second half with an outrageous lob from the right-hand apex of the penalty area after charging down defender Nadal's attempted clearance.

Lars Ricken for Borussia Dortmund v Juventus (Munich, 1997)

Dortmund's last appearance in the Champions League final, at Munich's Olympiastadion, saw them produce a stunning upset by overcoming Italian giants Juventus 3-1. Ricken, a 20-year-old Dortmund native, scored his side's decisive third goal just seconds after coming on as a second-half substitute, racing on to a through ball and deftly chipping Angelo Peruzzi from 25 yards.

Sanchez to stay and fight for place at Barca n AFP, Madrid

Mazzarri to replace Stramaccioni at Inter

Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez has said he is determined to stay at the club and play on a more regular basis despite interest from other sides.

The Chilean has started just 17 of Barca's 36 league games this season as they have strolled to a fourth title in five seasons, but says he expects to turn down offers from elsewhere to prove himself in the Catalan capital.

"Everyone expects more of me and I know I can give a lot more," he told a press conference on Friday.

"I see myself here next season, despite a lot of options I have had to leave.l

Inter Milan have fired coach Andrea Stramaccioni and will replace him with former Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri, the club said Friday.

Mazzarri had been linked with a move to Inter ever since announcing he would leave Napoli at the end of this season.

And Inter president Massimo Moratti confirmed as much when he said: "I've chosen Mazzarri. I'm sorry for Stramaccioni."

Moratti added: "That takes nothing away from the esteem I hold for Stramaccioni's talent and potential.

"I'm convinced he'll become one of

n AFP, Rome

the great Italian coaches but it might also be necessary to save his professional future after a particularly unlucky year, and maybe he needs to find an easier situation than Inter.

"We're coming to a difficult season and I thought we'd need a coach with Mazzarri's experience."

The move comes after a torrid season for the Italian giants who finished a dismal ninth in Serie A and missed out on European competition for next season, just three years after winning the Champions League under Jose Mourinho.

Mazzarri will thus become the sixth Inter coach since that memorable night in Madrid.l

Zinedine Zidane for Real Madrid v Bayer Leverkusen (Glasgow, 2002)

Perhaps the greatest Champions League final goal sprang from the left foot of Zidane in his side's 2-1 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park. With the score 1-1, Roberto Carlos chased a pass from Santiago Solari down the Madrid left and hooked a high ball to the edge of the penalty area. The stadium held its breath as Zidane adjusted himself and then met the ball with a hip-high volley that flew into Hans-Joerg Butt's top-right corner.

Hernan Crespo for AC Milan v Liverpool (Istanbul, 2005)

The 2005 final in Istanbul ended in heartbreak for Milan, who let a 3-0 lead slip before losing on penalties to Rafael Benitez's Liverpool, but defeat seemed unthinkable when Crespo put Milan three goals in front on half-time. Kaka dispatched a sumptuous pass from just inside his own half that arced around sprawling Carragher, before Crespo used the outside of his right foot to stab a first-time finish over goalkeeper Dudek.

Wigan Athletic's Omani goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi (L) signs autographs as he arrives in the Omani capital Muscat on Friday. Habsi won the English FA Cup with his team AFP

16

Dhaka Tribune

Back Page

Sunday, May 26, 2013

80 villages of Cox’s Bazar inundated by sea water Almost 80,000 people marooned n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

Ward No 6 of Cox’s Bazar sadar upazila remains under sea water since Mahasen hit the coast on May 16. About 80,000 people are marooned in the district

Dhaka Tribune

US Congressman in city to ‘Unified curriculum can curb militancy’ inspect garment factories n Arif Ahmed

n UNB George Miller, a senior member of the US Congress, arrived in the city yesterday to personally inspect garment factories in Bangladesh, the world’s second largest apparel exporter now under the microscope due to frequent disasters.

The US congressman will meet workers, victims, factory owners and government officials during his visit.

Miller, the top Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, is the first member of Congress to visit Bangladesh since the April 24 Rana Plaza collapse that killed 1,127 people and injured over 2,500 others, making it one of the worst industrial tragedies in world history. The eight-story building housed five garment factories, a bank and a shopping mall.

Miller has been pressing major American companies whose products are made in Bangladesh to sign onto a new building and fire safety agreement. The binding and enforceable accord has already been inked by more than 31 companies worldwide.

“This trip to Bangladesh is an important opportunity to examine the circumstances surrounding the tragic events that have taken so many lives and threaten the lives of so many others,” Miller said in a web release issued from Washington.

“I hope to learn more about three particular aspects of these tragedies and American involvement in this burgeoning industry - worker safety and health conditions and the impact of the recently inked fire and building safety agreement, garment workers’ rights to form unions without fear of retaliation

or persecution, and whether Bangladesh is guaranteeing labor rights and acceptable working conditions that are expected if the United States is to maintain tariff relief provided under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), a decision on which is expected imminently,” Miller said.

While more than 30 large retailers and brands based in Europe and Canada have signed the agreement to increase safety and workers’ rights at readymade garment factories, only two US companies have joined this historic accord.

Most large American companies, like Wal-Mart and GAP, have so far refused to sign on.

Rep Miller has a long history of working against the use of sweatshops and has been urging major brands and retailers to sign on to this accord. l

A unified curriculum for the country’s Alia, Kawami madrasas and all the other educational institutions would eliminate militancy and politics, in the name of Islam, said speakers at a seminar titled “Political Economy of Madrasa Education” held at Dhaka University’s RC Majumder Arts Auditorium.

The programme was organised by Bangladesh College-University Teachers’ Association’s Dhaka University unit.

The speakers further added, due to a lack of scientific knowledge and less job opportunities, the madrasa students easily get involved in militant politics.

Addressing the programme, Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique said: “The education system could not be framed appropriately, as a result poor

people make wrong decisions about their children’s education.”

The VC admitted the difficulties regarding the admission of madrasa students in certain departments of the university like Economics, Law and English.

Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman said, no other governments in the world except Bangladesh have ever continued multi-educational systems.

He added: “We do not want to stop madrasa education system, rather we can make all the schoolsto give religious teachings if the curriculum is modified in a way to avoid communalism and militant activities.”

Kaberi Gayan, a teacher of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University said, students of Kawami Madrasa become unemployed and disappointed as they lack knowledge on the basic principles of religions and Islam as well as modernisation. l

At least 80,000 people were marooned, as 80 villages were submerged in sea water due to deep convection over the Bay and full moon. Coastal upazilas of Kutubdia, Moheshkhali and Teknaf were inundated by tidal surge, as waters started to raise since last morning.

According to sources, sea water level increased about two metres than the normal height due to influence of full moon.

Teknaf upazila parishad Chairman Shafiq Mia told reporters that 30 villages of his upazila went under 2-3 feet tidal water since Thursday. Besides, another 30 villages of the Dhalghata union were also flooded by tidal water, the union’s Chairman Ahsan Ullah Bulu claimed, adding that sufferings of the marooned people were increasing day by day.

Meanwhile, 20 villages of Kutubdia were flooded due to broken embankment, alleged the upazila’s Chairman ATM Nurul Bashar Chowdhury.

According to sources, worst tidal surge affected villages are: Jalia para, Side para, Khankar Dail, Sudar para, Dakkin Jalia para, Nazir para, Moulavi para, Mondal para, Panchhari para, Majer para, Dakkin para and Paschim para of Teknaf upazila.

Moreover, at least 300 dwelling houses, 150 shrimp farms and 400 acres of croplands and salt beds have gone under 2-4 feet tidal water, sources said.

Locals demanded immediate repair of the damaged dams in Teknaf, Moheshkhali and Kutubdia upazilas.

On the other hand, heavy rainfall was continuing in Cox’s Bazar town, Teknaf, Moheshkhali, Kutubdia, Ramu upazilas and its adjoining areas since Friday mid-night. Cox’s Bazar met office recorded 79mm rainfall yesterday.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department said a deep convection is taking place over North Bay and its adjoining areas.

Under its influence, squally weather may also the maritime ports. Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla have been advised to keep hoisted local cautionary signal number three.

All fishing boats and trawlers over the North Bay have been advised to remain close to the coast and proceed with caution till further notice. l

Sweating Bangladesh surveyor races to avoid next tragedy n Bloomberg

No-man’s land

Amid an international outcry and promises by retailers to improve worker safety, Bangladesh is struggling to conduct even a crude assessment of the country’s garment factories.

To appreciate the Sisyphean task, spend a day with Mohammed Helal Ahmed, a 42-year-old-civil engineer in the Rajdhani Unnyan Kortripakhkha (Rajuk) or Dhaka city development authority, as he struggles through cursory factory inspections.

His day starts with a decrepit government car that breaks down and a list of misspelled factory names with partial addresses. Factory owners deny him entry to their buildings and stall for time. He encounters blocked fire exits, roofs sagging under heavy water tanks, and former apartment buildings that have been joined haphazardly. Workers whisper about cracks in walls, only to be shushed by security guards.

“It is completely unbelievable,” Ahmed said at sundown, sweat pouring off his forehead and his back aching after surveying four of the seven factories that had been on the day’s agenda.

“So much work is needed immediately.

Real action is needed.”

Until such action is taken, Ahmed and his 50 colleagues at the Rajuk are mostly compiling data in a superficial survey of the city’s factories. Even this basic step is hobbled by shortages of cars, engineers, money and information, emphasising that efforts to oversee improvements cannot depend on the Bangladeshi government’s limited resources.

Instead, any attempt to improve safety conditions for Bangladesh’s 3m or so garment workers will live and die on a coalition including retailers and unions that was cobbled together in the weeks after the horror of Rana Plaza.

Ahmed’s surveys are a first round in the process still being hammered out to improve safety in the hope of avoiding disasters like the one at Rana Plaza, the factory building that collapsed and killed 1,127 people a month ago.

In two weeks, Ahmed and his colleagues at the Rajuk have surveyed about 300 of more than 3,500 factories in the sprawling capital of 18m people.

Close to 90% of those visited evoked serious concerns, warranting immediate repairs or demolitions, said Emdadul Islam, chief engineer at the Rajuk. About 1,500 more factories outside the city lie in a no-man’s land of jurisdictional confusion, he added.

Retail pledge

The surveys are supposed to be followed by real inspections, including tests of steel beams and concrete, and then final plans for remediation, if resources can be found. For now, all that the local officials are trying to do is build a database that includes every factory, to collect photocopies of building plans and approvals, and to eye the situation.

“For evaluation we need experts,” said Tarek Uddin Mohammed, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Asia Pacific in Dhaka. “The government doesn’t have the necessary workforce.”

Discussions continue far from Dhaka, in places like Geneva and Frankfurt, among union leaders and retailers over the best methods for distributing money, and for working with local officials. A group of more than 39 retailers, mostly European, have pledged as much as $500,000 each for five straight years in one major fire and safety monitoring agreement. They’ve also agreed to pay for upgrades with suppliers.

At a May 23 meeting in Geneva, the

International Labor Organisation together with retailers discussed the hiring of a safety inspector and team, and pinpointed factories with urgent needs under that agreement, which will cover 2,000 factories, according to Christy Hoffman, deputy general secretary of UNI Global Union.

Cost of upgrades

“We want to get moving very quickly,” Hoffman said by phone. Though unlikely to start in June, inspections will begin in the coming months, she said.

Five years of renovations and retrofits could cost western retailers and Bangladesh owners as much as $600,000 a factory, or $3bn over the next five years, according to an estimate by the Workers Right Consortium of Washington. So far, retailers have promised just $2.5m each for fire safety training and inspections, with the cost of any upgrades to be thrashed out between each factory and the retailers.

Determining the most urgent needs may not be easy either. Until two weeks ago, the Dhaka authority had no idea how many factories fell under its jurisdiction, let alone their condition.

Islam, the chief engineer, borrowed a membership list from the industry lobby. He was surprised to discover 3,500 or so factories, he said in an interview in his office, sitting under a yellowing, map of Dhaka at least 60 years old.

Mountains of documents

The surveys were begun independent of the retailers’ accord and are being supplemented by other documents.

Factory owners are submitting structural drawings and soil samples to the development authority as well.

To sort through the mountain of paperwork, the authority has sought help from professors at the Bangladesh Uni-

versity of Engineering and Technology, said Mohammed Mujibur Rahman, head of the department of civil engineering.

“We are kind of overburdened at this stage, because we have to find time to do this in addition to our academic programme,” Rahman said. “We are trying to prioritise some of the buildings that are reported to be most at risk and are visiting those first.”

A preliminary inspection can take as long as a week. Testing concrete samples, running simulations on models and checking the foundations of buildings can take a month. A 30-member team of structural experts has raced through 100 analyses in two weeks, while hundreds more pile up.

Cracked walls

Ahmed asks for documents showing the building plans, the engineers who designed the factory and soil samples.

Officials hum and haw, produce some documents and promise to send the rest to his office.

Ahmed tours the factory, walking past piles of green sweatshirts emblazoned with I Heart NY graphics, and stops under a long crack running along the east wall.

He looks worried, and repeats his request for the engineer’s name and firm.

On the opposite wall, a long crack runs from floor to ceiling.

The windows have metal grills, which means that in a fire, workers wouldn’t be able to jump out, and be forced to use one of three fire exits, two leading to indoor stairwells and one to an external metal staircase. His colleague steps on the metal staircase outside and reaches for balance as it wobbles under his weight.

“Problems, problems, lots of problems,” says Ahmed as he exits the building. “Half the paperwork is missing. The staircase is not safe.”

Union support

Quick action is needed for the industry, said Kalpona Akter, director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, a nongovernmental organisation founded by two former child garment workers to promote safer factories.

“There are so many factories that are unsafe, and we need to move faster to ensure the safety of the workers,” she said in an interview in her office in Dhaka. “Workers here have waited too long, and paid with their lives for delays.”

Under the fire and safety accord, whose supporters include Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB) and Inditex SA (ITX), the two largest clothing retailers, there will be safety inspections and fire safety training at about 2,000 participating factories.

Any upgrade spurred by inspections will be mandatory with the burden resting on the factory owner. Retailers will negotiate “commercial terms with their suppliers which ensure that it is financially feasible,” including joint investments, loans, business incentives or paying directly for renovations, according to the terms of the accord. The deal also requires retailers to continue their orders with the factories for at least two years, ensuring the upgrades are made.

Rana Plaza

Rana Plaza, which collapsed April 24, was one of them. Its construction had been approved by local officials in Savar, and it had not been inspected by Dhaka officials after the 2010 shift, according to interviews with Sheikh Mamman, a member of the planning committee of Rajuk and Islam, the chief engineer at Rajuk.

On this day, Ahmed stands in front of a seven-story building that was redistricted to Dhaka in 2010. It’s actually

two adjacent apartment buildings that have been joined at the third floor by putting in concrete slabs and removing walls.

“It was designed as an apartment building, and now it’s a factory,” he said. “It’s a huge issue.”

The factory, Dica Tex Ltd., makes clothes for a few European brands, including infant clothing for Dimo Tex, and T-shirts for Fashion Point and Camel Active, according to labels on clothing seen by Bloomberg News.

The two German companies, Dimo Tex, based in Wenden, and Camel Active, didn’t respond to messages, nor did Fashion Point, which is based in Istanbul. A box containing a single fire blanket hangs by a fire extinguisher near the entrance to each floor, with a warning that the fire blanket is not meant for adults.

One day’s work

The owner, Muhammed Mushoraf, declined to comment when contacted later on his cell phone. Dirk Huette, identified by a factory manager as the managing director of the company, did not return calls to his cell phone. A director of the company, Abu Ansab Rubel, did not return calls either.

Ahmed makes copious notes in a small, black notebook. He asks for photocopies of the building plan, which still show a residential design, with bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and verandas.

He walks around the building, shaking his head, as darkness settles. It’s time to return to Dhaka, more than two hours away in traffic. Workers gather at the grilled windows of the onetime apartment building. Ahmed waves from the truck and drives off.

Four factories down, some 3,200 left to go. l

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